A Safe Place For Bigots

...will always exist, since it is perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, to demean poor, white Southerners with ignorant, nasty comments and actions, but the hiding places are getting smaller for other groups. (original publication date 1/15/2014)

Redskins controversy explains everything wrong with the GOP - Salon.com

Update: Look here for the latest example of racist naming by liberal bigots. Imagine the reaction if the show were Hollywood [insert ethnic slur name] instead of Hollywood Hillbillies and featured the fattest, least attractive members of that ethnic group central casting could find.

Is Yglesias A Tool Of Capitalism Or ...

Seattle socialism: Kshama Sawant has some bad ideas.:

...Can Boeing's front-line workers actually retool an airplane factory and turn it to bus production and win contracts to sell buses that raise enough revenue to keep everyone employed? Only time will tell for sure, but in the real world the answer is "no." This is exactly what you need executives for. Retooling plants, establishing relationships with suppliers and customers, understanding the size of the market for buses, and all that other stuff is a nontrivial task...

So an econ professor can't recognize the real world? Maybe she has.

Pay Attention, Stupid Liberals!

The so-called Democrats with CDS have already swarmed several sites, threatening everyone over supportin' another trianglulatin' Clinton-- yes, complete with fake Southernisms and rancid hillbilly, redneck swipes. (Obama is just so cool, dontcha know?). If you want a Democrat in the White House, Clinton is a sure thing. Anyone else is a maybe. So please go crawl up Nader's dress.

The Clinton vs. Warren fantasy: Why progressives shouldn’t get distracted - Salon.com:

Let me be clear: I’m Ready for Hillary – and for Elizabeth Warren, too. I think a 2016 Democratic presidential primary process that featured both women would be epic. I don’t expect to see it, but I don’t think it’s a disastrous prospect, a terrific idea or impossible. It’s November 2013. Almost anything can happen.

What interests me right now is the outsize reaction to Noam Scheiber’s New Republic piece on Warren as “Hillary’s nightmare.” It makes me think about something I realized back when disgruntled progressives were (briefly) making fretful noises about needing to find someone to challenge President Obama in a primary. Progressives are just way too invested in using the primary process every four years to get the country to take big leaps forward that probably could be better pursued in other ways...

Dems Fed-Up With GOP Filibusters?

Patrick Leahy Slams GOP For Blocking Another Nominee, Demands Filibuster Reform:

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Tuesday tore into Republicans for filibustering another one of President Barack Obama's judicial picks, and warned that Democrats are dangerously close to changing Senate rules to strip the minority of the power to block certain nominees.

"If the Republican caucus continues to abuse the filibuster rule and obstruct the president's fine nominees to the D.C. Circuit, then I believe ... a rules change should be in order," Leahy said on the Senate floor, just before Republicans blocked Nina Pillard's confirmation to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals...

Comment Of The Day: Palin As Quayle Edition

Palin Compares Federal Debt To Slavery - Dimwits We Have Heard On High - Esquire
Ed Tracey · Top Commenter · Pace University

And also Charlie: she "went there" in a taped tribute for Billy Graham's 95th birthday salute. She allowed that "My mom was raised Catholic, and she … was yearning for something more .... she became a Christian, led the rest of the family to Christ". I thought that was a thing of the past; with the entente between the evangelical fundies and the Bill Donoghues .... apparently not.

Comment Of The Day: CBS Benghazi Edition

Negative Effects From 60 Minutes' Failed Benghazi Story Continue | Blog | Media Matters for America

Wallace Bray• 3 hours ago

CBS News lost their credibility when they fired Dan Rather for telling the truth about GW Bush's military record. Now they have gone and hired former Security Advisor and former Secretary Of State under the Bush 2 administration Condoleezza Rice as a news correspondent. She looked the other way on intelligence information from more than 50 security sources from around the world months before 911 and was a major cheerleader in the illegal war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid and Douglas Edwards are all rolling over in their graves right now. If its truth telling you want you won't get it from any of the major media outlets. Wait you'll see. In a couple weeks they will still lie to us about a lone gunman in a schoolbook building that killed the 35th President of the United States Of America 50 years ago.

Somebody Needs To Talk To Somebody

My Confederate town - Salon.com

O Ain't Perfect, People

The strange silence | The Confluence:

... It is pointless to tell these “fans” that there is nothing wrong with criticizing the president and his policies. It doesn’t make you the grand master of the local KKK or mean that you’ve failed Martin Luther King Jr. In fact, I might even go out on a limb to suggest that the reason Bill Clinton gets so much negative attention from these “fans”, in spite of the fact that his record is more liberal than Obama’s, is because these “fans” are projecting their pent up frustration on a legitimate white target as a proxy. They simply cannot overcome their fear of ostracism if they criticize the president in the strong terms they would like to use. Just thinking about it makes them feel uncomfortable and oogy.

This is ridiculous but it appears to be useless to point out that if people on the left don’t get over this conditioned Pavlovian response (courtesy of Obama’s campaign strategists) they are condemning their side to complete and utter fecklessness and continued perceptions of ineptitude. But I might suggest that this is exactly what the bad guys want. If you don’t raise a fuss, no effective regulation gets implemented and ideas that benefit most of the people in America never see the light of day and are considered politically impractical by the savvy people...

About The Elites

Americans Are Compassionate

Hullabaloo: "The Dystopian Hellscape Budget isn't popular"

...This result does my heart good to tell you the truth. If you listen to Villagers, the American people are a bunch of selfish pigs who refuse to sacrifice. (These are all millionaire celebrities who won't have to go through other people's garbage to collect cans when their social security fails to buy them enough food to eat, but somehow they feel qualified to scold the rest of us about ourselfishness.) It's very reassuring to hear that most Americans still care about children and the elderly and other vulnerable citizens.
This genuinely surprised me, I must say:

Even conservatives were swayed, shifting a net 13 points toward Obama. 

Ayn Rand hasn't won this thing yet. If someone, anyone, makes the case for decency, compassion, empathy and the common good, apparently there are enough decent people left in this country who are ready and willing to hear it. The question is whether the Democrats are so far gone they've lost the vocabulary to talk about it....

Happy Birthday, America

A member of my family has fought in every war the U.S. has endured since The French and Indian War (with the sole exception of Desert Storm). I have a few high-placed relatives who fought in the Revolution and I had relatives on both sides during the Civil War. My son is in the Middle East now.

All of which somewhat explains why I get so infuriated when Republicans accuse liberals and Democrats of not loving their country, of not being patriotic. My family is by far majority Democrats and liberals-- all the way back as far as I can tell, so excuse my liberal cheers for my country-- and no, you are not going to take it back from me.

Bambism Alive And Well In Hollywood

Charlotte Front and Center: Ashley Judd's Attacks on Sarah Palin and Wolf Hunts.

Oh, and if you don't like rodeos either, ask yourself where those bulls and broncs would be if not otherwise employed for 8 seconds a week?

About Those Career Liberals

...and other noxious sorts (my bold).

Daily Howler: The career liberal world refused to fight back. Does Steve Clemons' post show us why?: "...END OF AN ERA: An era came to an end this week—although its noxious constituent parts may well come back at some point.

But yes, an era came to an end. The mainstream press corps won’t be trashing Obama in the way they trashed so many Big Dems during the 16-year, Clinton/Gore/Bush/Kerry/Clinton era. (Good!) In that era’s most consequential episode, their conduct sent George Bush to the White House. But that story remains in the “sphere of deviance” for the mainstream press corps—and for the “liberal press” too. Good “career liberals” just don’t discuss it. One more time, as an era ends, we incomparably will..."

Flashback Predictions

Cannonfire--"Tomorrow Rewrites Yesterday: "...In the year 2000, Tom Tomorrow -- addled by Clinton Derangement Syndrome and addicted to the lies then being told about Al Gore -- supported Ralph Nader for president. At the time, Tom did a disingenuous riff in which he argued that a mere cartoon strip could not possibly affect the outcome.

And what was that outcome? It all came down to Florida, where these were the numbers:

Number of people who voted for Ralph Nader in Florida in 2000: 97,421

Official difference between the Bush vote and the Gore vote in 2000: 537.

537 is roughly one-two hundredth of 97,421. I believe that at least 1/200th of the Florida Nader vote was swayable. If leading progressives such as Bill Maher, Michael Moore and Tom Tomorrow had not spread lies about Al Gore, Bush and Cheney would never have had the chance to destroy the United States.

Yes, I really do believe that Sparky could have made a difference. I think that Maher, Moore, Tom and all the other 'progressive' Gore/Clinton haters are personally responsible for everything that has happened over the past eight years. They are every bit as responsible as Bush and Cheney are.

(And perhaps we should consult the shade of Boss Tweed on the question of whether cartoons can affect the way people vote.)

So much for Sparky the Penguin's record as a political consultant.."

Canada Chooses Harper (Not So Much)

And from the Counting Chickens and Eggs Department--

Update:

"OTTAWA: Prime Minister Stephen Harper's gamble that forcing the country into its third election in four years would give him firm control over Parliament failed. While his Conservative Party improved its results over the last election, it still fell short of a majority in the House of Commons, according to unofficial tallies..."

Original post follows:

Canada votes, poised to reelect Conservatives | Markets | Bonds News | Reuters: "OTTAWA, Oct 14 - Canadians voted on Tuesday in an election that was likely to produce the third minority government in four years and give Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper a renewed mandate.

The 37-day campaign focus on who would be the best manager in troubled economic times intensified with the global turmoil, and polls showed voters sticking with Harper though his support came off the highs it reached a few weeks ago..."

Liberals Escaping!

At the risk of turning this blog into a daily email sampler, I offer the following (I thought it was funny no matter which side of the fence you are on-- truly a good trick):

'From the MANITOBA HERALD, Canada

A flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.

The possibility of a McCain/Palin election is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O'Reilly.

Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists, and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota.

The producer was cold, exhausted, and hungry. "He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken.

When I said I didn't have any, he left. Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. "Not real effective," he said. "The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk."

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border, and leave them to fend for themselves. "A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. "They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though."

When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about the McCain administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to shoot wolves from airplanes, deny evolution, and act out drills preparing them for the Rapture.

In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers on Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the '50s.

"If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age," an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies.

"I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "How many art-history and English majors does one country need?" '