Capitualtion Syndrome: Dems got it

The Democrats have no idea what "overwhelming majority" means. They seriously can't operate from a position of power. They've got Capitualtion Syndrome.

It's been a contagious affliction, spreading to the establishment press, and the Democratic Party, almost a whole. It goes like this:

Anything that might cause the Republicans to flip their shit must be abandoned.

In this case, the president shouldn't accept the Nobel Prize because Republicans are outraged.

Turn down the award because the Republicans are pitching a fit. Defund ACORN because the Republicans are pitching a fit. Don't finance the president's effort to close Gitmo because the Republicans are pitching a fit. Drop end-of-life consultations because the Republicans are pitching a fit.

CBS' Chip Reid continues this line of douchebaggery, and Robert Gibbs, to his credit, blows him out of the water.

WHY should ANY American President apologize for receiving an award that increases our stature in the civilized world?

Are these guys totally nuts, idiots, or assholes? Pick two.

Nobel praise for America's new direction; GOP condemns, Rush stands with the Taliban

"Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum -- when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes."
Assistant Secretary PJ Crowley, a spokesman for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

We do know that we were facing a spiral of conflict that, unchecked, could have taken the world to the abyss. I see this prize as an endorsement of his extraordinary reorientation of world politics, and as an encouragement to see it through. In the midst of our domestic battles, and their ill-temper (from which I have not been immune lately), this is an attempt to tell us: look up for a moment, see how far we've come in pivoting away from global conflict, and give this man a break for his efforts and the massive burden he now bears.

And, in the darkness that still threatens, know hope.
Andrew Sullivan

If only the establishment press and cable news doofs were as critical about the pretext for the invasion of Iraq as they are about the current president winning THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE! there would be 40,000 American soldiers and countless Iraqi civilians who'd be living their lives in relative peace right now.

I'm seriously wondering if any level of success this president achieves will actually be described as such. The President of the United States just won the Nobel Peace Prize -- only the third sitting president to ever achieve this -- and it's being treated like a freaking gaffe. Seriously, based on what I've read and overheard, you could easily replace the words "Nobel Peace Prize" with "clinging to their guns and religion."

Simply put: This is only a good thing for America. Nothing less.
Bob Cesca

Meanwhile Limbaugh proclaims he stands with the Taliban, Beck suggests the award should go to Teabaggers and Michael Steele turns into Kanye.

I think that everybody is laughing. Our president is a worldwide joke. Folks, do you realize something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn't deserve the award. Now that's hilarious, that I'm on the same side of something with the Taliban, and that we all are on the same side as the Taliban.
Rush Limbaugh

These progressives are extraordinarily powerful. And this campaign of Barack Obama, this global campaign for Barack Obama, is done by global interests that have extraordinary power. They're very well connected.

The Nobel Peace Prize should be turned down by Barack Obama and given -- you ready for this? Oh, this one's gonna make headlines -- should be given to the Tea Party goers and the 9-12 Project.
Glenn Beck

And, as always, eloquently summed up by Rachel:

Fire up the smear machines; Obama wins Peace Prize

Rush might just pop a coronary artery over this one on his afternoon show.

Glenn Beck is trying to figure out an acronym "favoritism".

Sean Hannity is trying to tie this into his continuing efforts to prove his continued relevance by getting someone.... anyone... fired.

(MSNBC)
President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage. The plaudit appeared to be a slap at President George W. Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for resorting to largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."

The Prez got game

(Huff Post)
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs enlivened his daily press conference by showing reporters a blown up photo of President Obama blocking a shot by his bodyman Reggie Love during a basketball game.

The game happened in New York. Gibbs told the press corp that Obama related to him that:

"He had blocked several of Reggie's shots, including one that was photographed by Pete Souza [the official White House photographer]. There is now a very large print of that downstairs in the West Wing that the President asked Reggie to sign. And it is prominently displayed for both Reggie and, I think more importantly, the President's enjoyment as he walks to and from meetings."

As Gibbs held up the photo he read Love's message: "Mr. President, nice block. -Reggie Love"

One reporter yelled out that it looked like a foul. Later a slightly chagrined Love interrupted the press conference, to much laughter from reporters, to take back the photo.

File under WTF?!?!?: gun show loopholes

This is patently ridiculous. Undercover ACORN videos are all the rage on teh cables, but this will NEVER see the light of day. Why? Because it would seem "unfair", or "biased", and by all means, we have to keep up the impression that there are actually two reasonable sides to every story.

Combat television on MSNBC

In the past week, there have been several interesting sparring matches on MSNBC as it seems that liberals are trying to grow a set of balls.

First was Joe Scarborough and Max Bluementhal. Blumenthal's book Republican Gomorrah argues that the Republican party has been hijacked by right-wing evangelical Christians. Scarborough began pressing Blumenthal on why he feels that evangelical Christians have no right to participate in politics, but the conversation quickly shifted to a discussion on extremism.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Then there's the Dylan Ratigan/Betsy McCaughey feud. Betsy McCaughey is a liar (famously exposed by Jon Stewart over the summer) whom the media keep inviting on their programs to continue to lie about health care. And so, today she ended up on Dylan Ratigan's Morning Meeting with Representative Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). There was a brief, mad moment where I thought that this might end well, but it didn't.

The tactics McCaughey deploys in situations like this are a heavy-duty pretense that she supports health care reform, the Palin-esque answer-a-question-with-an-answer-to-a-question-of-her-liking technique, the ability to quickly provide information and opinion that's completely beside the point, et cetera. Unfortunately, Ratigan wanted to have a discussion on health care competition and cost containment, and that didn't dovetail too well with what McCaughey prefers to do in such a debate: set aside all substantive issues so that she can fearmonger about seniors being killed by the government.

And so, McCaughey unleashed her SENIOR CITIZEN HEALTH CARE APOCALYPSE nonsense, accusing Weiner of being ignorant and telling Ratigan that he wasn't a "fair moderator," to which Ratigan replied, "Well, you're not a fair answerer." Ratigan gamely attempted to get McCaughey to reconcile how she'd continue to provide the current level of unsustainable funding to Medicare without updating the system to address its inefficiencies, to no avail.

McCAUGHEY: This will go down in history as one of the most browbeating interviews in television history.

RATIGAN: I hope that it does, and maybe you'll learn to go on television to answer questions as opposed to casting accusations.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Gun-toting soccer mom dead in murder-suicide

Draw what conclusions you will. There are many to work with. Starting with 'live by the sword...'.

MSNBC
A soccer mom who gained national attention when she openly carried a loaded gun to her 5-year-old daughter's game was shot dead Wednesday along with her husband in what appeared to be a murder-suicide, police said.

Meleanie Hain and Scott Hain were pronounced dead Wednesday night at their home in Lebanon, a small city about 80 miles west of Philadelphia.

The couple's three children were home at the time but weren't hurt, police said. They were taken to stay with friends and relatives.

Meleanie Hain made headlines after she attended a children's soccer game in a park on Sept. 11, 2008, with a handgun in plain view holstered on her hip, upsetting other parents.

The county sheriff, Michael DeLeo, revoked her gun-carrying permit nine days later.

Hain successfully appealed the permit revocation, although the judge who restored the permit questioned her judgment and said she had "scared the devil" out of other people at the game.

Temple of the Dog reunite 10/6/09

Lots of music this week.

Chris Cornell joined Pearl Jam Tuesday night in L.A.. PJ features original Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron to complete the original lineup that cut the Temple Of The Dog album. Here they are performing Hunger Strike (link to vids from the whole show here).



During the final encore, Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell walked on stage, took Mike McCready's guitar and played the outro solo from Alive note-for-note.

Them Crooked Vultures

Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). RAWK!

Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I


Daffodils

Scarborough decries Rush cheering U.S. Olympics loss

Referencing voters who see Limbaugh cheering Olympic bid defeat

Middle Americans that swing elections see that and say 'My God, the Republicans have gone off the deep-end'.

Joe Scarborough

Recovery Bill #2?

(Bob Cesca)
This chart might be the best pitch for more jobs-oriented spending:


Here's the decision the president will have to make regarding unemployment. Does he continue to let the recovery happen steadily on its present course and risk losing everything because of continued long-term (but slowing) unemployment? Or does he push for a second recovery bill that would surely create more jobs, while also begging a negative reaction from the wingnuts (Tyranny!) and deficit hawks (Generational theft!)?

Reich and Krugman are naturally pushing for number two as well.

Sarah Palin thinks this is a documentary

Finally, an explanation of how the devil interferes with creationism: the "Satan being a dick" theory.

Krugman: GOP has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old

(NYT) Paul Krugman
There was what President Obama likes to call a teachable moment last week, when the International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago’s bid to be host of the 2016 Summer Games.

Leave your questions about the economy for the columnist on his blog. He will be answering a selection of them in the coming days.

“Cheers erupted” at the headquarters of the conservative Weekly Standard, according to a blog post by a member of the magazine’s staff, with the headline “Obama loses! Obama loses!” Rush Limbaugh declared himself “gleeful.” “World Rejects Obama,” gloated the Drudge Report. And so on.

So what did we learn from this moment? For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old.

But more important, the episode illustrated an essential truth about the state of American politics: at this point, the guiding principle of one of our nation’s two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America.

To be sure, while celebrating America’s rebuff by the Olympic Committee was puerile, it didn’t do any real harm. But the same principle of spite has determined Republican positions on more serious matters, with potentially serious consequences — in particular, in the debate over health care reform.

Now, it’s understandable that many Republicans oppose Democratic plans to extend insurance coverage — just as most Democrats opposed President Bush’s attempt to convert Social Security into a sort of giant 401(k). The two parties do, after all, have different philosophies about the appropriate role of government.

But the tactics of the two parties have been different. In 2005, when Democrats campaigned against Social Security privatization, their arguments were consistent with their underlying ideology: they argued that replacing guaranteed benefits with private accounts would expose retirees to too much risk.

The Republican campaign against health care reform, by contrast, has shown no such consistency. For the main G.O.P. line of attack is the claim — based mainly on lies about death panels and so on — that reform will undermine Medicare. And this line of attack is utterly at odds both with the party’s traditions and with what conservatives claim to believe.

Think about just how bizarre it is for Republicans to position themselves as the defenders of unrestricted Medicare spending. First of all, the modern G.O.P. considers itself the party of Ronald Reagan — and Reagan was a fierce opponent of Medicare’s creation, warning that it would destroy American freedom. (Honest.) In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich tried to force drastic cuts in Medicare financing. And in recent years, Republicans have repeatedly decried the growth in entitlement spending — growth that is largely driven by rising health care costs.

But the Obama administration’s plan to expand coverage relies in part on savings from Medicare. And since the G.O.P. opposes anything that might be good for Mr. Obama, it has become the passionate defender of ineffective medical procedures and overpayments to insurance companies.

How did one of our great political parties become so ruthless, so willing to embrace scorched-earth tactics even if so doing undermines the ability of any future administration to govern?

The key point is that ever since the Reagan years, the Republican Party has been dominated by radicals — ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern.

Anyone surprised by the venomous, over-the-top opposition to Mr. Obama must have forgotten the Clinton years. Remember when Rush Limbaugh suggested that Hillary Clinton was a party to murder? When Newt Gingrich shut down the federal government in an attempt to bully Bill Clinton into accepting those Medicare cuts? And let’s not even talk about the impeachment saga.

The only difference now is that the G.O.P. is in a weaker position, having lost control not just of Congress but, to a large extent, of the terms of debate. The public no longer buys conservative ideology the way it used to; the old attacks on Big Government and paeans to the magic of the marketplace have lost their resonance. Yet conservatives retain their belief that they, and only they, should govern.

The result has been a cynical, ends-justify-the-means approach. Hastening the day when the rightful governing party returns to power is all that matters, so the G.O.P. will seize any club at hand with which to beat the current administration.

It’s an ugly picture. But it’s the truth. And it’s a truth anyone trying to find solutions to America’s real problems has to understand.

Oh irony, you magnificent bastard!

By BCAB Chief Ironies Delighter-Inner Elvis Hussein Dingeldein.

I’m no kind of religious person. I think The Bible® is HIGH-larious family fun, if you live in the Third Century and list “punching women in the uterus” and “the stonings” as favorite hobbies. And I loathe nothing more than Teabagging Christian Wingnuts trying to force their bullshit Hobbit stories on us Nones, the ones who like our Democracy Jesus™-free the way The Founders explicitly set us up by Oh-So-Purposefully nixing the words “God” and “Jesus” from the Constitution.

Having said that, I’ll get down on my knees and start praying to any Angry Magical Cloud-Lord who will listen if this actually pans out when McDonald v City of Chicago hits a Supreme Court near you:

A finding that the Second Amendment protects individuals’ right to own a gun could therefore have the unexpected outcome of also providing more solid ground for recognition of the right to abortion, to sexual privacy, to gay marriage, and to a wide variety of other rights that conservative justices on the court and “originalist” constitutional scholars have long opposed.

Oh, please Flying Spaghetti Monster! Oh, I beseech thee, Freakishly Disneyesque Indian Elephant God! Let me rub thy fat, fat belly with oils, Buddha You Fat Bastard! I shall tithe what little I have left after paying for healthcare and two bullshit wars, O Mangar-kunjer-kunja, whatever the fuck you were! Just let this be so!

Honestly, I will have an ironygasm and take a month off from work to do nothing but drive around Republican neighborhoods pointing and laughing and possibly waving my genitals at AARP members if this happens. Finally a SCOTUS case we can all believe in, as long as it swings our way. With our Activist Judges and whatnot.

Update: Redmond and I are discussing the social consequences of this conundrum, and he points out that while we get our Gay Marryings and Abortitudes, the Right gets more unfettered gun-totage. So we should expect more gay couples being shot at during their wedding festivities and abortion doctors might want to invest in Kevlar underpants.

Update II: The Sequel : Abortion doctors may just want to go ahead and invest in that Kevlar underpants now, really.

Jeebus v. Capitalism

(BCGDAB)
Michael Moore has written an open letter to churchgoers on this holiest of days, and it's refreshing to see someone square in the public eye finally address the almost impossible task of reconciling the current state of capitalism and Christianity:

It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.

It's a poignant commentary on the intellectual bankruptcy of Christianity that churches (Edit: With exceptions. - R.) aren't getting behind healthcare reform. I'm pretty sure Jesus spent most of his fictional time tending to the sick and absolutely none of it proselytizing about the awesomeness of naked short selling or decrying corporate taxes. I believe his exact words were "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" which simply translates to "Pay your taxes, bitches."