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You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life - Albert Camus
Tuesday, May 18, 2010Souder you ignorant slut
by JimK
[Jay Leno voice] So didja see this story about Mark Souder? Can ya believe this? Kevin, this is just...I mean wow.[/Jay Leno voice] And this, ladies & gentlemen, is why most of regulars at this blog, its founder and (I believe) the current crop of posters all believe and have been right about a simple fact; social conservatism has no place in the current political arena...if it ever did. Social conservatism should be just that...social. A circumstance that is created by the practices and attitudes of citizens as a byproduct of their social interactions. Voluntary and ever-changing, it can and should only exist as a concept because we the people make it so, not because a career politician or a True Believer deems it so. It is not and should not be made part of the political - and thereby the law making - process of this country. Balko nails it with the comic-yet-tragic revelation that Souder’s mistress was used to promote his “family values” bullshit rhetoric. ATTENTION ALL SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES: MANKIND IS A FLAWED CREATURE. No man or woman is above - if I may borrow a word that succinctly sums up the concept - from sin. So stop fucking parading your “family values” around like they matter at all you friggin’ hypocrites. Just deal with running the country, and maybe not into the fucking ground? PULL UP. PULL UP. PULL UP. And while you’re at it, all you family values guys? Learn from John “Silky Pony” Edwards. Pull up, but also? Pull out.
Posted by JimK on 05/18/10 at 08:05 AM in Decline of Western Civilization Politics Right Wing Assholes •
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Friday, April 09, 2010Drop The Condom
by Hal_10000
Seriously, man. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. A Wisconsin DA is threatening to arrest teachers who obey the law and teach sex ed.
Look, we can argue about sex education in schools. We’ve had that discussion many times and long-term readers know where I fall on the subject. But this is taking it a step beyond politics. What this guy is threatening to do is imprison teachers who obey a law he doesn’t like. More than that. If I read this correctly, he could potentially register them as a sex offender, destroying their education careers and pretty much their lives. More than that, the implication here is that you could extend this even to parents who buy their kids birth control pills or teach them about condoms. Read this passage from his letter, which is loaded with political statements that are unrelated to the job of enforcing the law.
In other words, if you know your kids are fucking and give them condoms to keep them from getting pregnant, you’re complicit. I guess the best choice is to call the police. In his defense, the age of consent in Wisconsin is, in fact, 16. And my brief skimming of the relevant law is that, if two 15-year-olds have sex, that’s a crime and anyone who allows them to do so is aiding and abetting (someone with a legal background correct me if I’m wrong). If that’s the case, he’s technically right. So a big black mark on the Wisconsin legislature for not fixing this when they passed this education law in the first place. They can take the wind right of this guy’s sails by simply amending their age of consent laws. But to get back to bashing, DA’s have a degree of discretion in what they prosecute. It is common for DAs prosecuting unpopular or stupid cases to proclaim that the law forces them to do so, but this is categorical bullshit. The reason we have DAs and not computers deciding cases is so that they can show some judgement and not prosecute stupid, unjust or trivial cases. Read the letter and tell me that there is not a menacing overtone to it. This is a DA using the power of his office to bully and harass people into refusing to comply with a law he doesn’t like. That’s not what the office is DA is intended for.
Posted by Hal_10000 on 04/09/10 at 06:48 AM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Friday, January 15, 2010Pat Robertson getting a run for his money..
by AlexinCT
The usual suspects in the MSM have been all over Pat Robertson for his comment about how the earthquake happened because the Hatians made a pact with the devil to get rid of the French - a myth I had actaully heard in some caribean enclaves, decades ago, and which even Hatians sometimes say is so, I should add - and are being punished, and thaqts good because this stuff is idiotic, but I wonder how much coverage Danny Glover will get for saying that it was caused because Gaia is pissed that Copenhagen was botched?
This will likely not be news. The left is replete with people that agree with Danny. The same people that tell us hurricanes and such happen because of AGW when we all can see that’s bunk. They may not mention Gaia, but that’s were this crap comes from..
Posted by AlexinCT on 01/15/10 at 08:21 AM in Left Wing Idiocy Religion and Sky Pixies Right Wing Assholes The Press Machine •
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Monday, November 16, 2009Saved or created jobs: a big, fat honking lie
by JimK
Is anyone - and I do mean anyone, right, left, center, under, over, I don’t give a rat’s hairy ass what side or surface of the aisle you claim - surprised by this little revelation?
I am going so far out on a limb here...I mean, this is really one out-there prediction, but here I go: MORE THAN 70% OF THESE SAVED OR CREATED JOBS WILL BE NONEXISTENT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE. I know, crazy, right? Can you imagine such a thing? Especially from Captain Hopeyful Changitude? The One? Jesus Barack Kennedy Obama is lying to us? Perish the thought. Unpossible! Now: as far as I am concerned, any Republican or Independent that helped make this happen - and I mean any - deserves to lose their job. Cast a vote in favor of Porkulous? Goodbye. Didn’t show up to vote against it? Just as effing guilty. I’m sick of compromising and playing realpolitik. This is what we get when we go along to get along. So, each and every election you need to make a choice: Are you going to keep taking it, or are you finally going to find your political balls and throw the bums out? Because ultimately, that is where we are at. Either stop complaining and accept the inevitable or vote new people with the right ideas and ideals into office. It’s up to you as individuals to decide what those ideas and ideals may be. I know mine, and every vote I cast from this day forward will be in faith to my ideals, not a realpolitik act of gamesmanship designed simply to regain - or retain - power for establishment Republicans. Hat tip: Ace at Ace of Spades HQ
Posted by JimK on 11/16/09 at 02:25 PM in Left Wing Idiocy Politics Right Wing Assholes •
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Saturday, November 07, 2009The Woman Problem
by Hal_10000
I have little patience with the Democratic Women’s Caucus or any other supposedly “feminist” liberal organizations. To my mind, their primary purpose is to inject gender into every possible issue, regardless of whether it belongs there. And given that I believe liberal policies to be destructive to American liberty and prosperity—including that of American women—I think, on balance, they are destructive to the interests of women. My experience is that their ideal is that women should be weak, helpless and completely dependent upon the beneficence of government. Anything that might truly empower women—free enterprise, protection against eminent domain, gun ownership—is opposed. This morning, they decided to have an hour-long session explaining why healthcare reform would be good for women. Among other things, they’re pissed that women pay higher insurance premiums just because they use more healthcare. The Republicans objected, Dingel said they could object to the individual speeches and damn if they didn’t jump right into that briar patch.
That mash-up is from Thinkprogress and isn’t exactly fair to the GOP. But regardless, the GOP comes across as bullies How would I have responded? Let them speak their piece and then get a response that has conservative women detailing why the bill is, on balance, very very bad for American women. We could explain that it will slash physician salaries just as women are infiltrating the ranks. We would wave around cost-benefit analyses from socialized countries that argue against routine mammography (which is efficient if you want to save lives, but not if you want to save money). We would talk about the death of innovation and the needless condemning of future generations of women to drug-resistant infections, cancers and Alzheimer’s that might be cured by an innovative market. We would talk about how the current healthcare bill will pay for woo like therapeutic touch and prayer therapy—such woo being heavily targeted at women. But that would require a GOP that isn’t taking the wrong lessons from the tea parties. The idea, guys, is to focus that anger into constructive policy, not mimic it on C-SPAN.
Posted by Hal_10000 on 11/07/09 at 02:02 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009The End Grow Ever Deeper
by Hal_10000
Good Lord. This weekend saw the “Take Back America” conference. A number of prominent Republicans were in attendance, aiding and abetting what looks like a big steaming pile of crazy:
Read the whole thing. It’s an indulgence of every repulsive faction of the GOP. Birthers, hysterical anti-gay rhetoric, branding of Obama as both fascist and communist, a far right Christian agenda—all cheered by Republican politicans. Here is Mike Huckabee riling the crowd with mindless anti-UN rhetoric—the same week the UN served to expose Gaddafi as a deranged lunatic and Ahmadinejad as a pathological liar. Here are the religious nuts claiming that people who refuse the H1N1 will be put in internment camps and suing schools over Harry Potter books. Here they are saying that we need to be more explicit about what homosexuality entails to fight the “gay agenda”. You can contrast that against the tea parties, which barely mentioned cultural issues at all and focused heavily on the economy. What is most amazing is that the GOP clearly believes that this lunatic fringe is going to propel them back into power. Even the most generous assessment would be that they feel the need to cater to this rabble. Bachmann may be the YouTube Darling of Right Wing Lunacy, but Huckabee isn’t; he finished second in the 2008 primaries. McClintock is the governor California should have instead of Arnold. It’s going to be a long eight years, guys.
Posted by Hal_10000 on 09/29/09 at 06:38 AM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009Feeding The Frenzy
by Hal_10000
It’s frustrating to read the amateur armchair pop-psychology posts at various left-wing blogs trying desperately to link any criticism of Obama to his skin color. It’s really gotten bizarre. Now it’s not even the rejection of Obama’s ideas that prove racial malice in the opposition. That meme is becoming untenable since it’s not like the opposition would be embracing national healthcare and big deficits under other circumstances. No, now it’s the level of rancor that proves a racist motive. Because we all remember the incredible dignity with which the public treated Bill Clinton (and George Bush for that matter). But it’s even more frustrating when certain elements of the conservative movement are determined to hand Obama’s defenders a few truckloads ammunition. Such as Rush Limbaugh.
(Race was not a factor in the bus incident; it was simple bullying, which is bad enough.) The most generous possible interpretation of those remarks is that Rush is saying that since criticism of Obama is seen through the lens of racial agitation, we should see the bus incident through the lens of racial agitation. He’s basically parroting Al Sharpton with the colors inverted. But the point of Al Sharpton is that he is race-mongering moron. The response to that is not imitation. Appealing to fears of anti-black racism may be misguided or wrong or foolish. But appealing to fears of anti-white racism is an entirely different level of ugly. It’s a deliberate and calculated baiting of mindless fear. It plays into an ugly past when blacks were portrayed as predating on helpless white people and real-life racists like George Wallace had real-life power and could rally votes by defending segregation in most vile supremacist terms. Let’s stick to the point, people. Obama’s policies are bad. Let’s leave the race-baiting to the liberals. Update: The White House is disagreeing with Carter that race is a motivating factor for the protests and downplaying the race card. It’s a smart move by Team Obama. Of course, when the Bush White House did this, Sullivan called it the “slime and pivot”: right wing organizations would be nasty to Democrats and the White House would denounce it (see Truth, Swift Boat Vetarans for). It’s easy to not play the race card when you have six million lefty blogs that will do it for you. The real test will come when their facing re-election.
Posted by Hal_10000 on 09/16/09 at 04:31 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Wednesday, September 09, 2009The WTF Moment Of the Night
by Hal_10000
I’ll have more on the President’s speech in the morning, when I’ve had time to think about it. There was some stuff I liked and stuff I didn’t and some stuff that made me giggle. But ... what the hell was up with Joe Wilson heckling the President? I’m all in favor of calling the President out. But there’s a time and a place, guys. Could the GOP at least try not to look like a bunch of dipshits? Please? Update: I’m certain that this is not the first time a President has been heckled by a Member of Congress. People’s political memories tend to be shorter than Leonard Shelby‘s. I mean, for fuck’s sake, Senator Brooks once beat the shit out of Senator Sumner on the floor of the Congress (literally). It was crass, no question. But the “heavens to betsy” hanky-dropping, brow-clutching fainting routine is a bit much, guys. Update: Wilson has apologized.
Posted by Hal_10000 on 09/09/09 at 05:42 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009Apparently, he realizes that outsourcing can be a good thing.
So, only a month after Mark Sanford separated himself from the thoroughly hopeless Lindsey Graham, his potential Presidential campaign is, essentially, already over. He and his wife can figure this out between themselves, and it’s to his credit that upon his return, rather than trying to weave an elaborate fiction and drag this process out, he came clean right away. Hiowever, this incident does really piss me off, simply because I’ve worked on campaigns in positions of sufficient responsibility to lead me to sympathize with how awful this must be for the people who depend on him for their livelihoods. Reporter: “So, where is the Governor?” Spokesman: “Hold on a moment, we’re still trying to come up with something plausible and unverifiable.” Reporter: “What?” Spokesman: “What I meant to say is, he’s hiking the Appalachian Trail.” Reporter: “Where on the Appalachian Trail is he?” Spokesman: “If I told you that, that would give you something to try to check out, and that would just raise further questions.” Reporter: “Isn’t it Naked Hiking Day on the Appalachian Trail today?” Spokesman: ”Whoa. Well, one thing I can say with absolute certainty is the Governor was completely unaware of that when we last saw him, completely unaware of that situation where the Governor is today, uh, on the Appalachian Trail. When he gets back, he’ll be just as surprised as we are, or, I mean, would’ve been surprised, when he learned of it, while he was there. Is there. Hiking. Now.” Reporter: “We’ve just learned that the Governor was seen stepping off a plane from Argentina.” Spokesman: ”Really?” Reporter: “Yes.” Spokesman: “Holy crap. I’m going to go update my resume and swing by Kinko’s. If any of your fine media outlets are interested in hiring a political analyst, you can get my email address at the door.” The entire gubernatorial staff gets to go home and explain to their families why, instead of looking forward to a future in Washington, that there’s now a very good chance that they’ll be looking for new jobs at some point in the foreseeable future because the boss felt compelled to do, well, whatever it was, exactly, that he felt he needed to do with “Maria” without even bothering to try to figure out something workable with his staff before he left town. Meanwhile, the libertarian-leaning candidate that many of us were just starting to get used to is pretty much off the table. I hope she was worth it.
Posted by Aaron - Free Will on 06/24/09 at 01:21 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Thursday, June 18, 2009RNC: Really Not Cognizant
by JimK
Thought you folks would appreciate this. Despite the fact that I am no longer registered as a member of their party, the RNC sent us this silly, poorly written letter asking us to participate in a survey about Barack Obama’s agenda. First of all. FIRSTLY. The entire introduction letter - THE WHOLE THING - Can you believe it? The whole thing was WRITTEN like this! WITH DRAMATIC LINE BREAKS. DRAMATIC ones. AFTER EACH SENTENCE and random things bolded and or italicized for emphasis. Also. Sentence fragments. What should have taken a single side piece of paper and some of the back? IT NOW TOOK...get ready for the shock of your life...did I mention the massive, ginormous amount of overblown hyperbole…
Okay enough of that. The questions were as stupid and leading as you would expect. “Do you support illegal immigrants raping children while receiving free tax money to pay the rent in their McMansions while taking free courses at the local community center designed to teach them to be better rapists?” Well of course not you jackasses. Next time you want to lead me that hard you better put a god-damned bit in my mouth and a reach-around wouldn’t go unnoticed either. Anyway. We answered the questions and mailed the stupid thing back:
![]() Note the lack of a stamp. Hey, if the RNC were representing my interests maybe I’d feel more charitable toward them. As it stands I de-registered as a Republican in part because of the jackassery at the top of the leadership. So no stamp. But we did include a personal message:
![]() Like they care, right? Oh, and yes, they did ask for donations. And each survey has a tracking code, so I’m guessing my name is coming off that mailing list soon because A. I made them pay for the postage, B. I didn’t donate and C. I think Michael Steele is half a retard. My apologies for using the “R” word there, but come on. That guy needs a frigging helmet.
Posted by JimK on 06/18/09 at 11:05 PM in Politics Right Wing Assholes •
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Saturday, May 23, 2009Certificate Of Stupidity
At the risk of sounding like I’m bashing the Republicans once again, allow me to bring you your daily dose of wingnuttery. Over at Balloon Juice, John Cole (boo, hiss, etc) notes that the Birthers are back. As he points out:
I suppose it makes some weird kind of sense since Iowa is an important state in the primaries. But even there, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense unless the would-be Republican nominee wants to throw themselves in with the kooks altogether. On a related post, Tim F. discusses how the fringe became the mainstream in the conservative movement, and how it has played out in conservative circles, especially on the Web:
It is exactly this rise of the wingnuts that drove so many from the party, and from a movement that once embraced them. So what is the solution? Certainly, solid, basic conservatism itself needs no reforming-the message of limited government, personal freedom, and lower taxes still resonates with many. But right now the kooks are driving this train. As a result, those who could bring it back to sanity-like Jon Huntsman, for example-are now either overseas where they don’t have to deal with this BS or otherwise laying low. Or they have become independents. It’s a long, hard, road back to respectability from here on. Please, for the sake of all conservatives who would like to be Republicans again someday, can we find somebody besides the kind of people who are having orgasms over Dick Cheney to lead the movement-and the Party that once inspired us-back from the abyss?
Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 05/23/09 at 04:19 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Friday, May 22, 2009Deep Wingnuttery
As if you needed any more evidence that Cheney’s defenders are basically a bunch of kooks, or at least becoming desperate in their attempts to defend the creepiest guy on the planet, here’s Peter Kirsanow at NRO:
Er, somebody should tell this clown that Hollywood already did that. And it was the black President who saved the world, not the Veep (who was virtually nonexistent in the film). But I guess Cheney would at least start torturing the asteroid if blowing it up didn’t work.
Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 05/22/09 at 12:25 AM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009Life In The Wilderness
And while the Democrats wimp out, the Republicans seem determined to keep the stupidity going:
I really, really hope Steele stands his ground and tells these goofballs what to go do with themselves. At a time when many Democrats are bcoming as unhappy with Obama as they are, you’d think they’d look for common ground somewhere. But instead, they’re retreating into Karl Rove mode. This is what happens when you have no real leadership, and no real ideas. You rapidly descend into self-parody.
Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 05/20/09 at 02:39 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Monday, May 18, 2009Long Known, Now Confirmed
Senator Lindsey Graham is the biggest idiot in the room, thoroughly alienating supporters at a South Carolina state GOP conference: Strom Thurmond? That’s the name he chose to use here (in addition, weirdly, to his own)? This genius, who once told critics of Harriet Miers to “shut up”, who, as a leader of his party has led them to total defeat, wants to bill himself as a “Strom Thurmond Republican”? What the hell does that even mean?
These people need to be cast out. For good.
Posted by Aaron - Free Will on 05/18/09 at 12:52 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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Sunday, May 10, 2009Limbaugh Love
Cheney goes there:
Does Powell deserve some criticism for being against the Iraq war after he was for it? Perhaps. And Cheney is right in that the Republicans could win with solid conservaive values-if they still had any. But this kowtowing to Maha Rushie is starting to get ridiculous, if not downright pathological, although I’m sure it will feed Rush’s ego even more. The Republican Party needs leaders if it wants to survive-not cranky old men declaring Maha Rushie as the spokesman for their party-or deciding who gets to be a member, and who doesn’t.
Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 05/10/09 at 02:24 PM in Right Wing Assholes •
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