Archive for February 17, 2010
Oliver Willis — Like Stupid to Kryptonite
Oliver Willis — the tagline to his blog is “Like Kryptonite to Stupid” — claims he’s a progressive blogger. He had the huge privilege of being invited to the White House today for a “little economic roundtable” as did other bloggers: “John Aravosis, Atrios, Matt Yglesias, Chris Hayes, Thom Hartmann, and a few others (Aravosis has a great picture of the meeting here, check me out, pensive as HELL 
. We met with Jared Bernstein, who is Vice President Biden’s Chief Economist.”
Willis’ job was to think, to ask questions, and to tell us what happened at that “little economic roundtable.” Instead, sadly, almost instantaneously, he forgot who he was: My Trip to the White House Today.
Fox Says “Competitive Journalism is Back”
Liz Claman of the “Fox Business Network” sent this tweet out today:
“Competitive journalism?” What exactly is that Liz and where is it back from?
Fox Schedules an Evening of Right-Wing Propaganda
Watch Faux tonight and you’ll see Dick Morris on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Michelle Malkin on “Hannity,” and Karl Rove on “On the Record w/Greta.”
Wow. Fox isn’t even pretending to be “fair and balanced” anymore.
Black President Puts Feet on Oval Office Desk, Wingers Go Insane
The wingers are going ballistic over a picture showing Barack Obama with his feet on his desk in the Oval Office. Things is, Bush put his feet on his desk in the Oval Office too so the problem here isn’t about feet on a desk, it’s about an “uppity” ni**er black man not knowing his place, isn’t it wingers?
Break Time — Food
Oh God, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a collection of such disgusting-looking dishes. Check out this, “Dishes so Awful We Had to Make Them” post. Food blogger Robin Wheeler dug through some old cookbooks from the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s and compiled her “twenty most stomach-turning concoctions.” Truly, food from hell.
Virginia Governor Pushes Gays Back Into the Closet
So let’s see: Republican Supreme Court justices grant corporations rights such that they are now “persons,” but Republican governors shrink the rights of real human beings?
Gay and lesbian state workers in Virginia are no longer specifically protected against discrimination, thanks to a little-noticed change made by the new Gov. Bob McDonnell.
McDonnell (R) on Feb. 5 signed an executive order that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities,” as well as veterans.
Geez. He rescinded protection not only for gay people but for people on the basis of “race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against ohterwise qualified persons with disabilities,” including veterans? Seems to me that under those circumstances, one could find a reason to discriminate against just about anybody.
Good luck Virginians.
CPAC to Feature Pelosi Pinata and Reid Punching Bag
The Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) is holding its annual conference beginning tomorrow in Washington, D.C. At a party in Georgetown on Friday,”three famous D.C. residents will be taking turns as guest ‘whackers’ at the pinata… Mary Christopher, outreach coordinator for CivicForumPAC, said the Pelosi piñata will be filled with favorite Pelosi sayings, bills and candy. The party hopes to invite the well-known D.C. residents to smash the piñata first, before others in attendance will be invited to try to take the Speaker down. ‘We’re hoping to have the females whack the piñata and males try their hand at a Harry Reid punching bag,’ Christopher said.”
If I were a conservative I’d be embarrassed as hell.
Every Single Democrat in Washington Should Read This
Yesterday Vice President Joe Biden appeared on the CBS Early Show and said, “Washington, right now, is broken…I don’t ever recall a time in my career where to get anything done, you needed a supermajority, 60 out of 100 senators…. I’ve never seen it this dysfunctional.”
Yeah, but as Steve Brenen at the Washington Monthly notes,
Biden, in other words, needs to name names — Republicans broke the American legislative process. They did so deliberately, during a time of crises, because they’re desperate to undercut the Democratic majority, regardless of the consequences. The GOP’s tactics have no precedent in American history, and violate every democratic norm that keeps our system moving.
It’s not enough to share Americans’ disgust; Dems need to help the public understand this mess. They can do so by avoiding jargon and legislative terminology, and calling Republicans’ obstructionist tactics what they are: a dangerous political scandal.
Don’t talk about “filibusters” or “supermajorities”; talk about the Republican “scandal” that has brought the system to a halt. Talk about Republicans “shutting down” the American policymaking process, and ignoring the will of the voters.
I remember tearing my hair out during the summer and fall of 2004 when I was blogging over at the News Hounds and watching John Kerry slink around while the Swift Boaters and Fox News pounded him. Is it a genetic thing that Democrats don’t get that words and framing matter? Apparently not, and that’s one of their biggest problems.
Kid Rock as Expert on Government Policy?
Just watched Fox’s Megyn Kelly host a segment with Kid Rock captioned: “Polls Show Americans Favor Small Government over Big Government.” Kid Rock as an authority on government policy? Not exactly: Rock admitted: “At the end of the day I’m not that educated in political science.”
That’s okay Kid. Fox isn’t interested in expertise.
Don’t Let the “History Channel” Rewrite History
Join Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films in their campaign to boycott The History Channel until it stops running politically motivated fiction as historical “fact,” in particular the upcoming mini-series, “The Kennedys.”
Below is a video about it and here’s the petition.
Glenn Beck Loses All Paid Advertising in Britain
Some good news for a change:
“With the latest group of defections from Beck’s overseas broadcast, Fox News Channel was forced to fill commercial breaks with news headlines and local weather updates from its U.K.-based sister network, Sky News, instead of paid advertisements,” the website StopBeck.com announced. The site is a project of ColorOfChange.org.
Everyone Hates the Citizens United Ruling
Everyone hates the Citizens United ruling — Democrats, Republicans, Independents:
Eighty-five percent of the Democrats polled were opposed to the ruling, while 76% percent of Republicans and 81% of independents also said they were opposed. The nearly unanimous opposition crosses more than just party lines.
