Thursday, November 29, 2012

November 29

 
 
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In case you missed this, 'Chasing Ice', Changing Lives
 
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Rand Paul is doing his part to quash the Grand Bargain:

While some Republicans have indicated they may break their no-tax-hike pledge, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is not among them:
"I made a pledge to the people of Kentucky that I'm not raising taxes. I took a pledge. I signed a statement, an oath that I wouldn't raise taxes, and I'm going to adhere to it," Sen. Paul told Fox New's Greta Van Susteren Monday night.

In fact, if Paul had his way, he says he'd lower taxes:

"I think you should balance budgets, not spend more than comes in, and I think you should lower taxes, not raise taxes. In fact, if you want to stimulate the economy, I'm for cutting tax revenues. All these Republicans who want to give up their taxpayer pledge and raise taxes, I'm the opposite. I want to lower taxes because that's how we'd get actually more economic growth and maybe more revenue, if you cut tax rates.
One mark of a moron is not to know a good deal when they see one. So thank goodness for morons like Rand Paul, the kind of people who still think tax cuts for the rich pay for themselves and don't realize that this is their one big chance to cut Medicaid and Medicare in exchange for easily replaceable tip money for the rich, and blame it on the Democrats to boot.

The Grand Bargain would be much more likely without such useful idiots, and that would be awful. So bravo to you, Rand Paul. Keep that venal stupidity coming all the way through the end of the lame duck session, and best of luck with the 2016 GOP nomination.
 
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Stephanie Miller: "I apologize" re: Salvation Army being anti-gay
 
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In today's installment of 'Math Republicans Do to Feel Better About Themselves', ThinkProgress reports:

Virginia Attorney General Suggests Obama Stole The Election
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli ( R )
told a radio host he completely agreed with her assertion that investigations are needed to determine why President Obama lost "every one" of the states with photo identification requirements for voting, yet won re-election. Cuccinelli, who has lost most of the major legal cases he has brought since taking office in 2010, told the host she was "preaching to the choir."

On WMAL radio, hosts Brian Wilson and Cheri Jacobus pressed Cuccinelli about why he has not opened a major investigation into what they suggested was wide-spread voter fraud in Virginia — an assessment they made based on receiving unproven allegations by email from listeners. Studies have shown Americans are more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit voter fraud. Cuccinelli endorsed the idea of such investigations, but noted that he lacks the statutory authority to do launch an investigation…

Surely this mathematical mystery has nothing to do with the fact that 'voter ID' laws are universally aimed at preventing 'the wrong kind of people' (i.e., Democrats) from voting at all. Only a vulgar member of the RBC (reality-based community) would suggest that voter-suppression laws might be most successful in states where the levers of power are entirely in Republican hands!

Of course, as DougJ pointed out earlier, Cuccinelli will be running for governor in 2013, so we all have another year of listening to "one of the most divisive conservatives in the nation". If only because so many of the Very Serious People, National Bloviators Division, own property in Virginia or go to dinner parties with the people who do…

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GOP Senator's Crazy Reasoning: Raising Taxes On The Rich Would Hit The Poor 'The Hardest'

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For His Next Trick, Glenn Beck Will Put Mapplethorpe's Bullwhip Right There In His Butt

mr. potatohead and his blackboard of doom make art

Back in 1987, before many of you young Wonkettarians were born (but not yr Wonkette, because we are ageless, like the sea) there was a kerfluffle over the National Endowment for the Arts and how it funded things that gave Lynne Cheney and some other old-school wingnuts a sad. Your grandpa was probably most upset by Andres Serrano's Piss Christ, which is…well, exactly what it sounds like. A crucifix submurged in Mr. Serrano's urine. (We have always taken Mr. Serrano at his word that it was indeed his urine). Yr Wonkette, and most sane people, had entirely forgotten about this whole debacle, but Fox News is still SO MAD and wants the White House to yell at Serrano, or a museum for displaying the piece again, or all of New York, or something. Glenn Beck isn't just getting mad, however. Glenn Beck is using his sad internet teevee show to get even:

The media giant is reacting to controversy over a painting of President Obama resembling Jesus Christ on a crucifix by putting a bobblehead doll of President Obama into a container of what appeared to be urine.

"I like to call this 'Flobama,'" Beck said with a false French accent, as he played the role of a freedom-loving artist expressing himself on his television program Tuesday evening.

He titled his artwork, "Obama in Pee Pee" and put a price tag of $25,000 on it. Ebay has since pulled the item, despite the proceeds slated for charity.

"I have been working on a masterpiece. I have been working on something for quite a while," Beck clowned. "When I say quite a while, I mean all day, small little doses all day. I drank a lot of water when I did this."

Man, eBay is always trying to keep Glenn Beck down!

Damn, but that Glenn Beck is CLEVER. He sure showed us! In fact, we are in a rage! All of us! Every librul on the planet is mad mad mad. And, by "every librul" we mean "a few random anonymous people on twitter." Listen, we don't get it either. There's no good reason that Fox or Beck or anyone should still be yelling at clouds over some nominally shocking art from 25 years ago. And Beck didn't even have the decency to be for-real shocking and go all GG Allin and use his own urine or Mr. Serrano's urine or anyone else's urine. Beck appears to have used Dos Equis Beer. Yr Wonkette would seriously consider drinking a mason jar of bobblehead-filled urine or going on a date with GG Allin before downing 32 ounces of Dos Equis.

This fixation is just weird. To be fair, it isn't, say, Andrew Shirvell stalker level of weird. Not even "I Will Always Love You" or "Every Breath You Take" level of creepy. Just more like that sad guy you went out with once in college and you heard a Gin Blossoms song on the radio and then he made you like ten mixtapes with "Hey Jealousy" on it until you graduated. Expect to have to care about this issue again in 2027 or so, kids. [WND/The Blaze]

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The Worst Show on MSNBC

Well, yeah, the Martin Bashir show is unwatchable. For the first year of the show, it was somnambulant nothingness. Since then, it's become somnambulant and totally hackish. There's no insight, no scathingly salient points to be made, no news broken.

And this Charles Pierce post is exactly right on.

If MSNBC wants to do progressive chat shows, they need to find more hosts in the Maddow/Harris-Perry/O'Donnell/Klein style. Not hacks who recite prompter material that's written at roughly the level of high school newspaper op/ed pages — with apologies to high school newspapers. Simply put: there are lots of people who can talk, but very few of them have extensive broadcast and writing experience. Too many pundits are too damn lazy to dig — to do the hard reporting and research that ought to be a prerequisite for political shows.

By the way, if you listen to the podcast at all, you probably know what the other sucky MSNBC show is.

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Another bit of alarming climate news that most Americans will totally ignore.

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FYI: Gun sales reached an all-time record high on Black Friday.

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"Last week, The Onion said I was going to become a male stripper. The Onion is probably more accurate than Tom Friedman." -Education Secretary Arne Duncan

Here's Friedman's baffling column wherein he asserts that Arne Duncan should be Secretary of State.

The crux of Friedman's rationale is that Arne Duncan could masterfully preside over a redesigned foreign aide program that forces other nations to "race to the top" in a competition for our foreign aide dollars.

Because that's not condescending at all.

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Congratulations! Mitt Romney narrowly defeated you for the top slot on GQ's list of the 25 'Least Influential People of 2012'.

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