FRIST.

I am constantly in awe (not) of the tea-bagger cult’s compleat and proud ignorance of how the world actually works, and how this* is all the fault of that uppity strapping young buck in the (occupied) white house.

*everything that they disapprove of in the entire world.

You know, what I absolutely LOVE about the specious idea that “If we give this power (&budget) to teh States, nirvana!” – not recognizing that in the very best possible case, the money involved will still have to be spent, but now will need more local infrastructure and personnel (& increased costs), plus will need to be replicated 50 times (The Office of Redundancy Bureau of Redundancy Office).

Efficiency!

Jezeus, don’t tell me I aborted killed the thread before it began…

If you can’t stand the heat, you probably shouldn’t have set fire to the kitchen.

I went to census.gov today, and got the “not being paid for, so nothing*” page. Once Big Business realizes that all the data they’ve been depending on, collected by the feds because no one else can, is no longer available, I think new marching orders will go out. And if they have, and are being ignored, idn’t there something somewhere about reaping the whirlwind?

Of course, I’ve been hoping BB would wake up and smell the coffee for a while now – some of the data collection has been curtailed by the Sequester. Of course, they mostly get it repackaged by intermediate companies (because the feds seem to just generally suck at developing workable retrieval and manipulation software), so they may not yet realize the source has dried up.

*I paraphrase..

Once Big Business realizes that all the data they’ve been depending on, collected by the feds because no one else can, is no longer available,,,

NASA and NOAA operate and manage what are easily the two best meteorological reanalysis databases in the world. Well, at the very least, them most widely accepted ones – sort of critical when you’re asking a bank to loan you several hundred million for a wind farm. Up here in Canookistaniland, we noticed those datasets missing over a week ago.

Well, I always knew about procrastination being a thief etc etc but I didn’t realize one could lose an entire season to it.
No strawberries at the market, all the gorgeous blossom gone from the apple & peach trees – if you miss September, you miss Spring.
Dammit.

if you miss September, you miss Spring

Having spent the vast majority of my life in the Northern Hemisphere, spring in September would take some getting used to.

The only time I’ve spent south of the equator was Diego Garcia, and that was tropical so it just had a dry season and a (very) rainy season.

They have to be even worse Newt and company back in the 90s. Newt at least show some semblance of a strategy, albeit a stupid, self-destructive one. These clowns don’t even seem to know what they want. It’s just break shit and then demand that everyone else fix it. Or else they imagine they are at the Alamasada and Santa Antonius Caesar Obama is about seize the fortress, so go down swinging. Fucking melodrama addicts.
Never in my life have I want some expedient around an elected body more than now.

Like anyone outside the lonesome 27% believes this shit anymore and isn’t rapidly losing patience with the whole shebang.

Problem is, people are losing patience, but this is feeding into the rhetoric from useless scrotes like Bryan Fischer who’s demanding The Kenyan Usurper leave the White House.

There is a strategy. Wreck everything and be faster than everyone else when it comes to grabbing all you can. It is the shock doctrine applied directly to the US economy. I want the SEC to take a serious look at who is selling short this week, and investigate their ties to the reps driving the US towards the rocks.

This is all feeling more and more like 1994-95.

I’m afraid something is afoot from the Teabaggers.

I hope I’m wrong.

Nice round up of the many faces of stupid. I almost feel sorry for any CongressCritter’s who have been flirting with these sociopaths. It’s all fun and games until they break into your house and boil your house pets.

The comments left here remind me of something obligatory.

Why do the proles insist on blaming the government shutdown on the party that openly states that its sole purpose is to destroy the Federal government?

I blame Obamaphones.

I blame Obamaphones.

Francophones speak French, anglophones speak English, what language do Obamaphones speak?

NASA and NOAA operate and manage what are easily the two best meteorological reanalysis databases in the world. 

I remember when Little Ricky Santorum tried to sell NOAA (or a part of it) to one of his wingnut buddies (I think he owned weather.com) for a buck. Weather dot com, btw, gets their info straight from NOAA.

Here’s a Kos reminder of what Santorum was trying to accomplish. He just wanted to abolish the NWS, not NOAA.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/03/1051273/-Remember-Rick-Santorum-Tried-To-Abolish-the-National-Weather-Service

I want the SEC to take a serious look at who is selling short this week, and investigate their ties to the reps driving the US towards the rocks.

From your fingers to FSM’s … whatever. And some serious consequences for them, too.

Here’s a Kos reminder of what Santorum was trying to accomplish. He just wanted to abolish the NWS, not NOAA.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/03/1051273/-Remember-Rick-Santorum-Tried-To-Abolish-the-National-Weather-Service

Thanks. That’s it. He wanted to enrich a buddy of his at the cost of the lives, homes, and livelihoods of just about everyone else.

And I don’t remember that bulletin about Katrina at all. Not being anywhere near the Gulf Coast at the time, I wasn’t looking at details. That was very specific, very strongly worded, and pretty accurate.

PENIS just outside Joe’s Hole.

Francophones speak French, anglophones speak English, what language do Obamaphones speak?

PorchUSER HAS BEEN BANNED FOREVER FOR THIS POST

Court documents indicate that City Council Member James “Jimmy” Brown allegedly had a physical confrontation with Spirit Lake resident Eric Vangemert, and also exposed himself to Vangemert’s wife and said “this is what a real man looks like.”

Mrs Vangemart then said, “my husband is twice the man you are. At least.”

Typical wingnut argument: “this article from Michelle Malkin’s website shows a LIBERAL criticizing Obama! Ha ha, you will agree with everything he says because he’s a LIBERAL! Wait a minute,why aren’t you freaking out?”

Mighty weaksauce arguement there, considering the “governing by crisis after crisis” is entirely due to GOP obstruction.

this president’s lack of leadership in a time of crisis

When if he were indeed to display “leadership” (presumably in the fine way his predecessor did *snerk*) he would be roundly lambasted by colosotmes like you as a dictator and tyrant.

Oh, if only Obama gave the Republicans everything they wanted! Then he would show true leadership! What a failure on his part, to not give in to extortion.

I could go for a little socialist tyranny right about now. The splodeyhead response would be delicious.

Oh, if only Obama gave the Republicans everything they wanted! Then he would show true leadership! What a failure on his part, to not give in to extortion.

Elections mean something only if Repugs win them.

Less Pennis, MOAR PENIS, please.

A growing consensus of IT experts, now numbering in the teens, …

A website crashes after a lot of people try to use it? BLACK MAGIC! THE WEBSITE MUST BE EEEEEVIL!

Elections mean something only if Repugs win them.

They seem to truly believe this, too.

A growing consensus of unnamed experts both in and outside Teh gubblemint think Obama is a poopyhaid.

Some experts say …

It has been reported that …

Spare us the screeching of the gullible idiots, oh FSM.

Our IT experts are surprised that such a complex system worked at all at when subjected to 500% of designed load capacity.

Ivy league POOP.

18-foot oarfish found.

Our IT experts are surprised that such a complex system worked at all at when subjected to 500% of designed load capacity.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some denial of service attacks adding to the load, just to make it look worse. Do I think it’s happening? no, not really. But I would not put it past conservatives at this point to actively sabotage as much of Obamacare as they could.

I could go for a little socialist tyranny right about now. The splodeyhead response would be delicious.

If Obama were a tenth of the tyrant that conservatives pretend he is, there would be no crisis. There would have been back room deal making, arm twisting, mysterious resignations and a disappearance or five and the Republicans would be asking “How High?” every time Obama said “jump”. The white house press pool would be filled with reliable Jeff Gannon style plants, and a stenographic press would obligingly parrot administration talking points. The fact that none of the president’s harshest critics in the media have had even so much as a slap on the wrist disproves any comparison with dictators past and present.

Which of course doesn’t mean Obama is a plaster saint, after all he seems in no hurry to rein in the national security state, and he enthusiastically supports all manner of privacy invasions and potentially ruinous trade agreements. It’s fair to say, I am no longer an Obama supporter, I voted for him twice, as he was both times better than the shit sandwich the republican party was offering as an alternative. I was hoping to be voting for the next FDR (bold progressive), instead I got another LBJ (progressive – when he has to be, and an enthusiastic supporter of ill advised foreign wars)

Admit it. You would SOOOOOOOO skritch this chin and chest.

http://jprestonian.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-dog-its-full-of-birds.html
.

Nearly humorous, ain’t it? The “burn baby burn” crowd never seems to think the flames are going to reach their sacred cows. It’s only supposed to hurt “those people” (wink!), not the good Americans like them. And when the fire scorches something they care about along with all the other stuff being consumed, for some reason they think it’s personal, as if the fire could distinguish between the “bad” programs and the righteous ones.

Nincompoops, all.

HHS didn’t want users to see Obamacare’s true costs

It doesn’t want folks to see the stuff they can see once they’ve created an account?

It’s only supposed to hurt “those people” (wink!), not the good Americans like them.

This goes down to the level of programs like food stamps and SCHIP. I think they’ve reached the point where they think such programs are segregated and they’ll still get their funds while “those people” starve.

a disappearance or five

Voiceover: “We have secretly replaced your congressman with new Tea-gers Crystal meth.”

Interviewer: “So, now that you know you are drinking Tea-gers, what do you think?”

Interviewee (shopping cart full of confederate flag pattern depends): “The ni-clang is a Muslim! Elizabeth Hasslebeck is an intellecamathingy like Sarah!! George W. Bush was a seekrit demonrat! I’ve bitten through my cheeks! Doctor’s brainwash people into Obamacare!”

Interviewer (to camera): “So, what do you think?”

paleo: Needs dandelion break.

The evar-so-sekrit True Cost of Obamacare is so impenetrable without the servers that no one could have figured them out before launch.

What, still?

Okay, lemme link Forbes instead.

Here in the Peoples Republic of Minnesota the MNSure website is running just fine with the best prices in the country. Amazing what can happen when your state government accepts the federal law instead of being a bunch of dicks who want to hurt their own citizens.

Wow! This a a great post, Cerb: A veritable smorgasbrod of craziness to sample. Now, I’m going to hold my nose and sample every item in the toxic buffet.

Oh and go check out the unemployment rates of MN under Dayton vs. WI under Walker. Teabag economics FAIL.

New drawing! NSFW because PENIS.

I haven’t been feeling great due to what is probably Depression, so I really had to force myself to work on this one this past week. It’s part of my series on alien conspiracy theories and alleged contactee and abductee reports.

These are the deros, a race of degenerate monsters “discovered” by Richard S. Shaver in the 40s (Shaver most likely had Paranoid Schizophrenia).

Never in my life have I want some expedient around an elected body more than now.

Gee, a parliamentary system would be nice right about now. I’d also like some unicorns and sparkleponies. The Constitution totally SUX(*)!

((There. I said it. Hear that you fucking NSA data-miners? May your canaries die and all your rotten timbers collapse on your fuckin’ heads! And to think I once worked for you creepazoid assholes…))

(*) Well, the Bill O Rights stuff is okay, except for the crappy ambiguous wording in #2. Also the independent judiciary thing seems okay. But the rest is rubbish.

Re: war memorials and all the GOP approved government spending that got shut down.

It is such a huge shame that there is no process by which Real Americans™ could specifically allocate funding to things. I mean, if only the GOP had control of the goverment’s purse strings and could pass some sort of resolution to continue funding stuff. Or even designate war memorials as essential services exempted from the shutdown.

I mean it is totally Obama’s fault for wanting to fund National Parks but not having the authority to do so and totally not Congressional Tea Party People’s fault for having the authority to fund but not wanting to for political reasons.

Well drawn, Spearhafoc!

Helmut’s comment is worth re-reading, even though you’ve already read it. Someting smoke, something fire, something, something….

There is a strategy. Wreck everything and be faster than everyone else when it comes to grabbing all you can. It is the shock doctrine applied directly to the US economy. I want the SEC to take a serious look at who is selling short this week, and investigate their ties to the reps driving the US towards the rocks.

Although, truth be told, I blame Obama. Is it the actions of a tiny smear of fucking assholes and idiots that is putting the world economy in jeopardy for no reason whatsoever? Yes. But Obama is the fucking President of the United fucking States of fucking America. He had no Plan B for the “no one could have predicted” debt ceiling showdown going pear-shaped scenario? What. The. Fuck.

And in response to the Obot “well what could he have done?” question – I don’t fucking know. But then again, I am not the fucking President. I fucking expect him to be better at politics than I am. Fuck.

Fun fact: The Silver Age Atoms’ alter ego was named for the editor who published the Shaver Mysteries.

I am, however, the President of fucking your mom.

And in response to the Obot “well what could he have done?” question – I don’t fucking know. But then again, I am not the fucking President.

You’re also not an American. Your’e a Canadianite, just like Rafael Edward Cruz.

YET ANOTHER GAWDAWFUL THING CANADIA HAS INFLICTED UPON US!

YET ANOTHER GAWDAWFUL THING CANADIA HAS INFLICTED UPON US!

Wait. Me or Cruz?

Also, despite having a card identifying me as an Officially Approved Hoser, I am in fact, like all good leftsists, an immigrant.

Ok, even the NYT has abandoned the he-said-she-said routine and is now covering the fact that this is a manufactured crisis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/a-federal-budget-crisis-months-in-the-planning.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp&

fuck you, wingnut sockpuppets, and the billionaires who have their hand up your ass.

And in response to the Obot “well what could he have done?” question – I don’t fucking know. But then again, I am not the fucking President. I fucking expect him to be better at politics than I am.

Maybe he is. Maybe standing his ground and waiting for Boehner and McConnell to talk some sense into the Tea[hadis] is the best political strategy available to him. If you “don’t fucking know” what else he could do, then maybe you don’t know whether he’s actually doing the right thing now.

If you “don’t fucking know” what else he could do, then maybe you don’t know whether he’s actually doing the right thing now.

No, I’m pretty sure he’s fucked this up. Even I could have told you months ago that expecting Boehner to save the day is not a good position to be in. I admit that I don’t know what Barry’s Grand Plan is, but clearly letting it get to this point is pretty definitively a fail.

YET ANOTHER GAWDAWFUL THING CANADIA HAS INFLICTED UPON US!

Wait. Me or Cruz?

Cruz. Provided you stay up there in the frozen northern wastelands. Pull a Shatner and WE WILL NOT BE PLEASED.

The fuckup, such as it is, was in underestimating Boehner’s willingness to throw a lit match on the country after the teabillies doused it in gas. Perhaps he should have expected Boehner’s cravenness to overcome the little bit of sanity that says going over the cliff will be a disaster for the country and the world.

Here’s an example. The GOP rank and file are being forced by fear of Tea Party primary challenges. That’s obv bullshit. As if the Tea Party People aren’t going to primary when they have the resources. They are going to primary as much as their “high wealth individuals” will pay for. Clearly the biggest threat to your average GOP Congressman is being caught in a sex scandal, but next most risky is losing the General, gerrymander notwithstanding. They handily lost the Congressional popular vote in 2012. Going more towards the base is going to hurt a lot of GOPpers. And Pelosi needed a grand total of 10% defections to avoid all of this.

Where was that plan? Where was the work in finding two dozen Republican rats with enough self-preservation instincts to recognize a sinking ship? Where was the equivalent of the gazillion iterations of the Gang of some number of Bipartisan Third Way Heroes?

Maybe that’s what I would have worked on. Then again, I would also have went for Single Payer and fired most of the Intelligence Community, if not put them up for war crimes. Also, something about your mom.

And gun control. Fucking shit tons of it. Also advocated for impeaching Nino and Clarence. Plus Teh War on Drugs is now harm reduction and social assistance. New top marginal tax bracket at 50% over a million. Executive order allowing people to say “fuck” on teevees.

“[a] coup consists of the infiltration of a small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder.” – Edward Luttwak, Coup d’état: A practical handbook, Harvard University Press 1980

The Rob Scheider political ad. It is boring.

Who knew? Rob Schneider doesn’t just play a smarmy fuck on TV. It’s the biggest revelation since we learned that Victoria Jackson’s moron act isn’t just an act.

Maybe he is. Maybe FINALLY standing his ground on fuckin’ SOMETHING and waiting for Boehner and McConnell to talk some sense into the Tea[hadis] is the best political strategy available to him.

Fixorated. Also, anybody here remember who came up with the nifty ‘sequestration’ gizmo? How’s that workin’ out for the country?

Maybe the Kos diarist should actually look at how to get finacial assistance before declaring it’s too hard.

It seems this guy’s problem is he can’t find shit insurance with a high deductible and lifetime limits any more*. That sucks for him if that’s what he really wants, but in the big picture, it’s a little like a guy bitching that he has to pay for the seat belts in his car.

*Like the kind I have right now, because I just got a new job and my company health insurance doesn’t kick in until the first of the month.

You know, I really don’t get the persistent “Daddy Worship” that goes on amongst the Tea[hadis].

[ed: srsly, people!]

Everyone has their own ways of responding to things. It’s definitely preferred that one takes into account the potential impacts of what one is saying before one says anything, but it’s not a perfect world and folks slip up every now and then. Also, often when you are talking about a specific person or a specific group of persons, the implications of word choice on third parties can be far from the top of your mind.

Personally, I place a high value on self-identification[1], and I try to extend this to people regardless of their own personal attitudes. I call them the Tea Party People and have for years. But I totally understand how others might not have such a high regard for self-identification or the forbearance to offer that degree of respect to the Tea Party. Oh wait – I forgot that lie-beralism is a monolith and everyone has to believe exactly the same thing and we also ruthlessly police other people’s language all the time.

[1] This is a rambling tangential at best footnote so, you have been warned.

It’s actually a bit more complicated than “if someone tell me to fuck off because they are a Dragon” not realizing that I am Dragon-King, then wev-ski. But I’m not up to giving carte blanche entry into accepted identifiable groups by declaration. i.e. if the identity you are claiming already has recognized owners/members then it is the people who already own/are members of that identity (group) that decide.

Shorter Tangential Aside:
As a soshulasmismist I also extend self-identification rights to social constructs.

Get a job, loser.

Yes, Dennis, because we all here SO care what your opinion is on anything.

Snerk.

Have now read the Great Orange Satan blasphemer. To him I say tough luck buddy. 400% FPL for a fambly of three is $72K and his total bill increase is $3,216 over the year. If he’s enough above $72K that he’s sure he won’t qualify for subsidies than he can just suck up the extra costs. Or he can actually use the Exchanges and try to find better rates. FFS, I’m in Canoodlistan and just using Gizoogle and I found reference to a CA Bronze plan that’s better than what he was quoted.

Also and more importantly – dude, go see the fucking doctor. You’ve got a baby and you’re over forty. FFS, preventative care visits to your doctor are not a waste of time. Maybe the Kossacks were acting like jerks to you because they are Obots or because of “reasons” but to be perfectly honest – you fucking deserve to be condescended towards. Go get your annual checkup for fucks sake. You’re the parent now – not the child. Gambling on your personal invincibility when you’re only going to shatter the lives of your wife and parents is one thing – but they are adults. Fuck.

Also too, it’s been over two weeks. How’s about an update-a-roodle.

“President Obama needs to call out his supporters at the DNC and OFA for condoning this insensitive and hurtful message during their protest,” added Larry Farnsworth, a Terry spokesman.

Yes, once again one sign at a rally is proof of a tendency through the entire Democratic party, while the opposite is NEVER EVER EVER true for Teabaggers because shut up that’s why.

Covered California is the exchange website for California,(https://www.coveredca.com/) (apparently it’s on Hwy 1), so if he decided to check outside of Kaiser, he could find something that would be reasonable and meets his needs.

That said, I still think HCR was a stinky pile of shit sandwich. Bright line income level for subsidy cut-off? Who’s fucking idea was that? Sweet IPU that’s fucking dumb. Especially when you’re basing it on next year’s income so you can get the “surprise please pay back your health care subsidy” letter in the mail. I’m sure that halps the self-employed a whole shit-ton because they can always be certain of their next year’s income levels.

I mean okay – it’s still an improvement. This is really only kicking some of the upper half of the middle class in the teeth in exchange for granting the working poor any non-ER health service access at all. But for fuck’s sake – what the hell is wrong with you people? Why the hell are you not soaking the rich for this?

Well I guess it’s nice that part of pretend make-believe story time is over. Is there still time enough left to avoid default?

“Great Orange Satan” refers to the color scheme of the Kos website.

“We are in a war. A war to save our nation.”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/um-holy-crap

Wait. I sorted assumed that he was a spray-tan abuser, but you’re telling me that Boehner’s colouring is due to his racial background?!?!

zomg. I did not understand that anyone could be born that way, but dude says so hisself.

Mind. Blown.

I guess, that’s another piece of my ignorance chipped off. While my reference to “Great Orange Satan” was, as tigris pointed out, using the self-selected moniker for Kos and the Kos diarists – I have repeatedly referred to Boehner as “orange”. That was done in ignorance and from my perch of privilege – completely unaware of the possibility of human beings naturally achieving that hue. I realize now that it is hurtful and wrong to highlight Boehner’s skin colour when it is a thing that he was born with and is unable to control. I sincerely apologize to Speaker Boehner. I was wrong and will never refer to Boehner’s skin colour again. While I know that my transgressions are in the past and I can’t change them now, I will try to do better in the future. Again, not joking here, am actually sorry for picking on Boehner due to the colour of his skin.

D-KW proves he’s Canadian.

I must note that the word has been deprecated at this site before. D-KW possibly missed the several times it was discussed.

Orange!

Orange!

But do we still get to pick on him for crying all the time?

No, I’m pretty sure he’s fucked this up. Even I could have told you months ago that expecting Boehner to save the day is not a good position to be in. I admit that I don’t know what Barry’s Grand Plan is, but clearly letting it get to this point is pretty definitively a fail.

Well, the very most middle of middlesome middlers that ever middled, Josh@TPM, says this:

Many Republicans knew this was going to be a disaster going in. But just as many totally misread Obama. Just days before the shutdown numerous high profile Republicans insisted there was no way Obama wouldn’t negotiate. But probably the key driver of this drama has been President Obama’s refusal to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling.

Yes, there’s been some back and forth here at the end, but as begging like this suggests, it’s mainly been to sort of out terms of surrender. But that refusal has defined the entire standoff.

That forced first Republicans and then House Republicans and finally the rump caucus of 50 to 80 House fire-breathers to stand alone with outrageous demands. By not engaging they destroyed themselves.

The 2011 crisis was, I believe, a turning point for Obama, not only because he realized he had been complicit in damaging the country but that his willingness to enter the discussion as a good faith, actual negotiation had the effect of legitimating what were actually rule-breaking, extra-constitutional demands.

So there’s that. FWIW.

But do we still get to pick on him for crying all the time?

Yes.

Orange!

zomg. I did not understand that anyone could be born that way, but dude says so hisself.

Yeah. And Ronnie was “prematurely orange.”

zomg. I did not understand that anyone could be born that way, but dude says so hisself.

He’s the first Oompa Loompa to be elected to congress, and all he gets from so-called liberals is grief for the color of his skin. When are you liberals going to start fighting Oompa Loompa discrimination?

I must note that the word has been deprecated at this site before. D-KW possibly missed the several times it was discussed.

Yeppers.

I just realized it wasn’t dKW that used the ‘t’ word. It was a non-regular who didn’t know that we had previously agreed, after some discussion, to eschew it.

Oops.

what language do Obamaphones speak?

i believe either kenyan or muslim…

The 2011 crisis was, I believe, a turning point for Obama, not only because he realized he had been complicit in damaging the country but that his willingness to enter the discussion as a good faith, actual negotiation had the effect of legitimating what were actually rule-breaking, extra-constitutional demands.

Okay, so here’s the question – two years ago he decided “never again”. Last year we had all those holiday hijinks with The Fiscal Cliff. Less than a month ago, shutdown.

What’s he been doing? Is this state that we’re in something that was intended? Is Obama just playing a huge game of chicken with the GOP? I mean – yes it looks like we’re in the clear here and the Tea Party looks like fucking idiots yet again. Even the Tea Party’s token Canuck is going to allow the measure through. Yes it looks like Crying John will bring the measure before the House despite going to extraordinary lengths to avoid it and a solid umpteen newscycles of bitching and complaining.

But this required total capitulation on the part of the GOP – something I’m not sure was guaranteed. And certainly not something I would have staked the full faith and credit of the US on.

What if Aqua Buddha had decided to drone on for a dozen hours or so?

What if Aqua Buddha had decided to drone on for a dozen hours or so?

Drone strike.

But this required total capitulation on the part of the GOP – something I’m not sure was guaranteed. And certainly not something I would have staked the full faith and credit of the US on.

Even worse – this is yet another DLC “win” that only pushes everything rightwards. Unless I’m mistaken, the budget the Ds are “fighting” for is essentially Paul “ZEGS” Ryan’s (R-Koch).

Creditworthiness is like virginity. It can be preserved but not restored very easily. – Warren Buffett

Whistling past they graveyeard?

The Senate bill is a deal to lift the debt ceiling and reopen the government, without a ransom payment. That agreement is set to be announced, but the contours, which were described to me by an aide, will satisfy the Democratic demand not to make concessions for raising the debt ceiling or reopening the government. The House leadership, as everybody on Capitol Hill now expects, will quickly take up the Senate bill and put this debacle behind them. Rounding up the votes should not be a problem. The entire Democratic caucus will support it if needed, leaving Republicans to find just a handful of votes, well within the number that never wanted to shut down the government to begin with.

Another poll is out ….
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/19853-poll-americans-divided-over-what-wild-animal-they-would-like-to-see-congress-mauled-by

Pup: I’m sort of amazed that the Luttwak book is on another Sadly bookshelf. It’s too bad that US doesn’t fit his parameters for a potential coup…

DKW: For a hoser, you have a very perceptive take on US politics! Also, you mentioned you were an immigrant to Canuckistan. From where? Sounds like an interesting story.

Spear: I agree with OBS. Nicely drawn! I also enjoyed the text read. I’ve dropped by to see the entire series you’ve been working on.

I’m sorry to hear about the depression! Hang in there, buddy. Also you mentioned OCS, a while back. If you are willing, how did those symptoms emerge; what were they? At what time in your life where you diagnosed? I’m curious about OCS because a brilliant niece has it. (Now controlled by med, in her case.)

Major: For the halibut, I’m re-reading Catch-22. I haven’t read it since my Army days. It’s fun to see what passages I marked 30 years ago. I assume you’ve read it. What did you think? (Particularly curious about a bomber pilot’s take on the air combat scenes—even though it WWII and no missiles are involved.)

——

Yet another barrage of Fenwick curiosity questions for Sadlyburgians…..

Fifteen per cent of those surveyed “strongly agreed” with the statement, “Being torn limb from limb by a grizzly bear or devoured by a pack of rabid hyenas is too good for these people. They should be eaten, very slowly, by a colony of hungry fire ants. Yes, that’s it-fire ants. That would be amazing.”

*SNERK*

Lots of Obamaphones speak the Chicago Way, and not to order pizzas, if you know what I mean……………

Fifteen per cent of those surveyed “strongly agreed” with the statement, “Being torn limb from limb by a grizzly bear or devoured by a pack of rabid hyenas is too good for these people. They should be eaten, very slowly, by a colony of hungry fire ants. Yes, that’s it-fire ants. That would be amazing.”

While the fire ant scenario has the advantage of slow, I favor the polar bear, as they are starving to death as a result of Congress’ refusal to do their job. It would be only right that Congress should provide them with sustenance.

I won’t even mention Boehnerphones. oops.

I favor have congress ripped apart by rabid weasels. Poetic justice and all….

Weasels ripped my congress!
Rizzzzzzzz!

Another possibility is to have mauling dependent on party indentification. Example: Republicans get worked over by vultures … Democrats get stung repeatedly by invertebrate flotillas of Portugeuese Man-O-War jellyfish.

(Independents get chewed on by adorable teething puppies.)

Or, as Pere Ubu suggests, we could have Congress zappad by electrical instruments that fry their tiny minds.

Another possibility is to have mauling dependent on party indentification. Example: Republicans get worked over by vultures … Democrats get stung repeatedly by invertebrate flotillas of Portugeuese Man-O-War jellyfish.

Since I believe vultures prefer dead tissue, are you implying the Rs are really zombies? ‘Cause I could go for that.

are you implying the Rs are really zombies?

They’re dead from the neck up, at the very least.

For a hoser, you have a very perceptive take on US politics! Also, you mentioned you were an immigrant to Canuckistan. From where? Sounds like an interesting story.

I was actually born in Hong Kong. It’s not that interesting a story although the movie version is chopsocky kickass. Basically it goes like this – the lease ended in ’97 so a lotta folks left for other Commonwealth nations while the getting was good.

Being Canookian actually qualifies me very well for US political observation. Inside your borders the exceptionalism Kool Aid is exceptional. Plus if you guys end up going down the shitter, we hosers are pretty much fucked. So yeah, we take an interest.

So yeah, we take an interest.

Yeah, ‘specially in our moms.

OT: Bruce Walker–and other conservaturds with their panties in a bunch over park closures–glosses over the fact that leases of federal lands are NOT the same as private-sector leases, and are governed by different legal rules. (Why let reality get in the way of simplistic and specious comparison?)

Walker also missed two other reasons to transfer National Parks to States:

(1) No more complicated environmental impact rules! The Arizona Legislature–a perfectly fine oversight authority–could authorize generous mining leases in the Grand Canyon: There are lotsa valuable deposits in those canyon walls, pal. Just dyanmite them out and retrieve the rubble from the riverbed with giant excavation cranes, dump it into giant excavation trucks, and off they go down the mining road in the bottom of the Canyon. (Hey, Arizona could build the road to foster economic development!) Also, there might be oil or shale deposits. Drill, baby, drill! The free market roolz, bitches!

(2) Corporate naming rights and concession contracts to bring in Big Bucks…and thereby lower state taxes! Auction off Yellowstone to Bank of Amurrica, Goldman Sacks, Disney. Welcome to Viacom State Park! And auction off concessions to McDonald’s, Sonic, Burger King. (Hey! I’ll betcha Hallmark would love to have an exclusive contract for postcards and souvenirs.) And what about auctioning in-park accomodations to Motel Six, Marriot, and Hilton? Something for every visitor’s budget!

Conservaturds miss even the OBVIOUS!

American moms are generally warmer.

Inside your borders the exceptionalism Kool Aid is exceptional.

A couple of threads ago, several posts (some by me) referenced It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. This passage from that book is perhaps of interest:

Most Americans had learned in school that God had supplanted the Jews as chosen people by the Americans, and this time done the job much better, so that we were the richest, kindest, and cleverest nation living…

Note that Lewis was describing education before the fictional fascist takeover. So yes, the exceptionalism is exceptional, because it’s long-lasting.

Also you mentioned OCS, a while back. If you are willing, how did those symptoms emerge; what were they? At what time in your life where you diagnosed? I’m curious about OCS because a brilliant niece has it. (Now controlled by med, in her case.)

Looking back, I’ve always had a few symptoms of OCD, but my “unwanted thought syndrome” emerged suddenly in 2009 due to feelings of solitude when my father left for vacation and I was alone for a long period for the first time in my life. A single horrible thought jumped into my head, and I suddenly had the irrational fear that, left to my own devices, I would be capable of doing terrible things. I don’t feel like getting more specific than that.

Comedian Maria Bamford has the same form of OCD I do, and explains it quite well in that video. As does Mara Wilson in this Cracked article.

I’m on a ton of meds, and it’s stopped the panic attacks I get and a few but not all of the “checking rituals” (repetitive tasks to “cleanse” yourself of the unwanted thoughts), but I still have unwanted thoughts at the worst times. It’s hard.

American moms are generally warmer

especially these moms

you’re all in your bunks now, aren’t you…

Inside your borders the exceptionalism Kool Aid is exceptional.

We call it Brawndo down here. It’s got electrolytes!

I’ll have my Way — or America will Suffer!
By Rev Michael Bresciani

No, this is not a direct quote from Barack Obama, but it is an interpretation derived from every statement he has made of late

That is so totally the sane take-away from the government shutdown.

American moms are generally warmer

Not to mention the exchange rate.

Spear: Whuups. ‘OCS’ for OCD. My bad. (Musta been because the Army wanted me to apply to Officer Candidate School after my advanced training…!)

Thanx for sharing your experience, Spear. The OCD dimension of your disorder sounds much more complex than my neice’s; she only had hand-washing and some object re-positioning. Like yours (apparently), her symptoms were a surface strata of depression. Indeed, the spectrum of your disorder systems seems pretty wide; no wonder you have a wide spectrum of medications.

(((My mood disorder is ‘simply’ depression. Fortunately, medication(s) are great aid in controlling it…though it took years to find the right ones, right mix, and right dosages. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a cookie-cutter that worked universally on all cases? Also, I’ve worked hard to develop resistance techniques. I find that regular counseling helps me , too. I feel fortunate that I do not have a bipolar disorder; that is SO much more difficult for people and families.)))

I hope you have a support system in place, Spear. I’m glad you have a creative outlet to see you through! (In my own experience, creative expression–in my case, a strange decades-long fiction project–has helped me break the ugliness, or escape it, or channel it whenever things get bad.

Hang in there, bro.

PS: Redheads roolYet another barrage of Curious Fenwick questions….!

2d para: Yet another barrage of Curious Fenwick questions….’symptoms’ instead of ‘disorder systems’. Disorder systems are usually governmental!

Bob dammit! Another ‘fragment’ got stuck in my correction! That’s a sign I should go do sumpfin else for awhile….

American moms are generally warmer.

Even the zombies?

Just heard on the BBC (World Service?) one of the teahadis STILL going on about how it was Obama’s refusal to negotiate that was the cause of all the trouble. The newsreader sounded like he was gobsmacked by her mendacity.

Awesome:

Florida senator Marco Rubio has indicated that he will vote against the announced Senate deal to reopen the federal government and raise the debt ceiling. He predicted that this deal would lead to similar crises in the future.

How could Rubio know that such a crisis will happen in the future? Thinking…

Indeed, the best strategy for avoiding similar crises in the future is to burn the country down, scatter the ashes, and salt the site.

Spear: Thanks for the Mara Wilson link! Very helpful in explaining what’s really going on in OCD. I was projecting from my own experience; didn’t understand that depression in OCD cases is sorta like a ‘side effect’ from an underlying anxiety disorder.

Oh, I said 2009. Thinking back, it was the summer of 2008.

Thanks, Obama.

Dear me, the latest pantsing of the Publicans is the best birthday present evar.

Paying our bills now will only lead to people expecting to be paid what they are owed later. Does America want to foster this dangerous notion that she takes her financial obligations seriously?

OT. Waiting for the 501 @ Yonge and Queen. The convoy is currently 3 cars long and the crowd waiting to board is fairly substantial. I am boarding the lead car>/b>.

I blame the crowded streetcar for the tag fail.

Remember the Sarah Palin porno? They should do an Obama one called “Spanks Obama”.

Dear me, the latest pantsing of the Publicans is the best birthday present evar.

Happy birthday! Although being able to view John Boehner’s flaccidity doesn’t seem like a good present to me.

Lead car (4224) is going through. Car number 2 is short turning. Can’t see what’s going on with number 3 but I can guess.

Okay, mitigating factor. Wev it is that’s boning Queen Street traffic this time, it is bad enough that there’s shuttle buses supplementing service. The wait wouldn’t have been that brutal this time.

Huh, I didn’t know I needed this, but zippers will soon be getting better. Neat.

Fucking zippers, how do they work?

Fucking zippers

OW.

No, I’m pretty sure he’s fucked this up. Even I could have told you months ago that expecting Boehner to save the day is not a good position to be in. I admit that I don’t know what Barry’s Grand Plan is, but clearly letting it get to this point is pretty definitively a fail.

He didn’t fuck anything up. Telling those loud mouthed fucking morons to suck his dick is exactly what he should have done. I would have done it. I would have done it and used the F word on TV about it.

How could Rubio know that such a crisis will happen in the future? Thinking…

See, now THAT’S the kind of president we need. Be a part of the problem instead of the solution.

“Our numbers have gone down, Obamacare’s somehow mysteriously have gone up. And other than that, this has been great,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., with a heavy dose of gallows humor. “The way we’re behaving and the path we’ve taken in the last couple of weeks leads to a marginalized party in the eyes of the American people.”

Heh. It’s getting to where Lindsey Graham looks like the moderate centrist. Teabagger primary challenge coming his way!!

He didn’t fuck anything up. Telling those loud mouthed fucking morons to suck his dick is exactly what he should have done. I would have done it. I would have done it and used the F word on TV about it.

Really? We’re hours from default, and have they voted yet? Oh right, They aren’t voting tonight.

S&P has pegged the damage to the economy from the shutdown at twenty four billion dollars.

We still looking to John Boehner to protect the full faith and credit of the US. That was the intended situation? Really?

Another possibility is to have mauling dependent on party indentification.

Asian giant hornets for the Republicans, a minute in the slap-o-tron for each Democrat.

Because we all care very much what Cal Thomas thinks about all this.

Wait. Derp de doo, that “not voting” link was from yesterday. ooops

Cal Thomas is still writing?

Oh look at the cuddly bipartisan civility!

Cal: George Bush tried to reform Social Security, but liberals demagogued it!

Bob: I agree, Cal.

Oh why can’t we all get along like these two wise men?

My fuckwitted Canadian friend would do well to tell us what Obama SHOULD have done differently before he embarrasses himself yet again. Be precise please. If not precise then be encompassing as you were before when you said you had no idea.

Cal Thomas is still writing?

Yeah, didn’t he have some kind of hissy fit years ago and proclaim that we were not worthy of his greatness and he would write no more? That sure didn’t last long, did it?

Damn, Cerb — and I’d thought that my quitting smoking had finally stuck many years ago.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- Closet)

“We won’t be the last political party to overplay our hand. It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better.”

~40% of precincts reported, Booker 55% Lonegan – it’s LONEGAN, DOYLE LONEGAN – 44%

Great night for the GØP!

Lindsay “Light In His Loafers” Graham demonstrates the “special pleading” style of political passive aggressiveness.

I did tell my boss that while optimistic, I would not be setting my clock for the usual wake up for work time. Seriously, it would have been bad for me it things go on much longer.

FYWP. Or maybe phone. I dunno.

Not that it matters much. My response is basically this – I have no clue how this could have been avoided, but then again I am not the President of the United States.

I’ll try and shorter this time in case it gets eated again.

What the hell are we supposed to gauge Obama’s performance on? We are in a shitty situation – and there is one person who has the most ability and resources to deal with it, also the one person most directly tasked with preventing it from happening. Or maybe they threw out Truman’s sign about where the buck stops.

What’s this obsession with pictures of individuals sitting on a toilet? Freud would have a heyday with this.

“We won’t be the last political party to overplay our hand. It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better.”

So it’s the GOP’s fault, but it’s still the Dem’s fault.

O-KAY, then.

What the hell are we supposed to gauge Obama’s performance on?

How about this: He bought some time and made the Republicans look like fools. I don’t call that a bad performance at all.

FY AT&T, goddamn wireless connection ate my post.

Anyway, fuck Graham, essentially. They’ll pull this shit again come January, no doubt. “Good of the country” my fucking ass.

Welp, 81-18 in the Senate, 285-144 in the Nuthouse…we have a government again. Obama pantsed the teabaggers again, but I’m sure that’s not how the right-wing media will spin it.

My Republican congressman, who is usually a Tea Party fellator, broke with them to vote for the budget. I’m almost happy I was gerrymandered into his district (from a district with a straight Teatard rep).

I sent him a polite but firmly worded e-mail on this issue, which I’m sure helped in some small way.

(Cue Monty Python: “NO! NOT THE FIRMLY WORDED E-MAIL!!!!”)

BEAKER

I don’t wanna make too big a thing out of this, but I think this is a big thing. Pretty much.

Hopefully, people are gonna look back on today and say this was when the tide finally started to turn against this particular era of nutjob dominance of our national discourse.

I’mma go open a bottle of something. I hope y’all will join me.

You should google the Ryan Plan social security and Medicare/Medicaid. It is HUGE tax cuts for corporations and the mega rich (middle class pays more natch.)and huge cuts in Medicare (turned into block grants to the states) and Medicaid (turned into a voucher system) and at leas a 39% cutting social security by the time todays kids retire. That’s assuming they don’t just privatize it and force everyone to “invest” in the crooked casino that the stock market has become. Trust me this is where the next fight is and you know the “grand screwing” where “entitlements” go on the chopping block. Too bad that the ACA missed the opportunity to address the actual issue of exponential increase in the cost of actual health care that does in fact make Medicaid unaffordable rather quickly. How come no matter what the problem the answer is ALWAYS more tax cuts for the obscenely rich?

Whoa. A House Stenographer flipped the fuck out after the vote.

Whoa. A House Stenographer flipped the fuck out after the vote.

It says something that my first thought was that the person who flipped out was a Villager and not an actual stenographer.

She was screaming about the Freemasons writing the US constitution…well, the Republican party was formed by a merger of the rump Whig party, the Know-Nothings and the Anti-Masonic party—they may be disintegrating into their constituent elements right before our eyes. Bring back the Whigs—your Rockefellers and (George) Romneys—we can deal with them!

Flipping the fuck out never goes out of style?

This one gets me right in the Zeitgeist every time.

Orange!

they may be disintegrating into their constituent elements right before our eyes

Except their old abolitionist wing was traded to the Democrats a generation ago in exchange for the plantation owner class.

Except their old abolitionist wing was traded to the Democrats a generation ago in exchange for the plantation owner class.

Which the Democrats peeled away from the Whigs a century before that, leaving the Whig rump searching for allies…. Ain’t politics grand? </sarcasm>

Marechal Foche was a wise man: March to Berlin, he said. The Germans need to understand they lost the war.

But the Allied Powers didn’t, not in 1918, and the Mother of All Hurt descended on Europe a generation later. The point? The GOP doesn’t believe it lost anything–they were betrayed, that’s all, and momentarily overwhelmed by a malicious world that’s out to destroy it.

We needed to go over that fiscal cliff, we needed to experience that economic free-fall. We needed our noses rubbed in the disaster, we needed, as a nation, to be force-marched through the rubble and the bodies, made to look at the smoking ruins of our folly.

We needed to march to Berlin.

Actually, all of that sounds like the right-wingers bawling about the Democrats being the real segregationists; yeah, we’re all Alec Stephens Democrats, sho’ nuff.

I freely admit, if this were 1856 or 1860 or 1864, I would be voting Republican. I’m not up on the precise details of how they became the shitbags we know and love between 1865 and the turn of the century—is it just a case of absolute power corrupting absolutely?

The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire—talk amongst yourselves….

New post?!?

What fresh spore of madness is this?!?

We needed to march to Berlin.

Glad there’s a New Post™ since I am about to talk about “The Causes of World War 2”.

Granted, I loath History and am thus likely to have lots of it wrnog. Especially this whole Modern Western Civilization thing (read WWII). But wasn’t one of the major contributing factors for WWII the fact that the Allies let ther Germans know, in no uncertain terms, that they lost? That the Treaty of Versailles had a “neener neener neener” clause which included reparations payments enough to constantly remind Germans that they got their asses kicked. The sort of thing that rabble rousing populist psychopaths could use to rally nationalist sentiment in support of militaristic world domination fantasies?

That said, wev. The whole “fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” is a crock. It’s not History that repeats itself, it’s just historians. And The History Channel.