Dispatches from the Rebellion - Virginia when Abolitionized

Looking 150 years at this point in the run up to the Civil War, the 7 lower south states from the Cotton Belt had issued declarations of secession and had formed a government between the confederated states. The States of the Upper South had not, including Virginia which rebels desperately wanted to join the Confederacy. That the states outside of the cotton belt had not joined the lower south states in rebellion at this point is not surprising. The vast wealth produced from slave labor in the cotton belt was driving secession.

The confederacy, so its leaders thought, would be greatly strengthened if it could convince the remaining slave states - Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas would eventually join while Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware would not - to join.

How does one convince the people that secession into a Slaveholding Republic was in their interest and remaining in the Union outnumbered by Free States was not.

How about an appeal to raw economics? Slavery was very profitable.

Virginia when abolitionized.

Richmond Dispatch. Saturday Morning March 30, 1861.

….By submission, [staying in the Union] Virginia not only covers herself with ruin, but fixes upon herself a poverty beyond retrieve. For, no country that has ever existed upon the globe, employing voluntary labor, has grown wealthy in capital, or great in power, by means of that labor. The free laborer will not toil with his own hands, except for a subsistance. He taxes his ingenuity to the utmost after profit which is the product of the labor of others; but for surplus products beyond his wants, he will not manually toil himself. The only countries that have ever produced surplus products for commerce, except those that have invested large capital in machinery, are the countries that have employed enforced involuntary labor. The case of England is a signal instance of the fact. England is but a counting-room for India and the West Indies. When she conquered Hindustan, where two hundred millions of slaves had toiled during countless ages for local despots, she seized and brought home two thousand millions of dollars, the accumulation of those ages. Behold the source from which she obtained one-third of that money-capital with which she now rules the commerce of the globe. Her profits from her possessions in the West Indies before emancipation, and from the 1,728,000 Africans imported into America under her auspices up to 1800, are estimated jointly at thirty-six hundred millions of dollars; so that, of the wealth of England, five thousand six hundred millions of dollars are the direct product of slavery. But for this now repudiated institution that proud island would now be as poor and feeble as Spain has long been, Mexico is, and Virginia will be, when abolitionized.

Strike from the tables of Virginia commerce the tobacco, wheat, and corn which her slaves produce, and you virtually obliterate those tables outright; for all else are but as offshoots and parasites upon those main trunks of her trade. With these staples gone, her cash income ceases, her money disappears, and a miserable system of barter takes place in all the dealings of her citizens. It is only the individuals who sell surplus produce that have money at command. How many of the farmers of Virginia sell five hundred dollars' worth of such produce in the year, not the product of slave labor? As with the community individually, so it is with the community as a whole, except with aggravation.--Virginia, having no produce, to send out for sale, would have no money returns coming in; without exports, she would be without income. Down, then, would tumble her whole banking system, the breath of whose existence is the cash proceeds of her export sales. With the winding up of the banks would come an immense indebtedness for collection against the customers of these institutions, amounting to twenty millions of dollars; and along with the debts would come the lawyer, the sheriff and the auctioneer's hammer. Indebtedness, bank indebtedness especially, can only be paid with money, and there would be no money after the loss of trade and the fall of banks. The only crop which Virginia, abolitionized and submitting, would produce in unprecedented and universal redundance, would be the crop of bankruptcy. This would strike its roots deep into the community would wave its luxuriant foliage far and wide over the land would spread its rich and heavy harvest around every homestead and hovel.

If Virginia remained in the Union, Majority Will would eventually lead to the abolition of slavery so the argument went. What was the best deal for Virginia – join the confederacy and keep slavery or stay in the Union and see it eventually abolished and suffer the economic consequences. At this point this was an unanswered question.

Mega Rim Shots for Rand Paul

Quote(s) of the Day:

Number One:

"I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three. I don't know. I think he has more war positions than he's had wives."

Rand Paul

Gingrich practically has a kick me sign on his back for advocating a no-fly zone in Libya and that Bashing the President has he and NATO allies imposed one in Libyan air Space.

Number Two:

There’s a big debate over there. Fox News can’t decide, what do they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president? It’s like I was over there and there was an anchor going, they were pleading, can’t we do both? Can’t we bomb the Middle East and bash the president at the same time? How are we going to make this work?

Also from Aqua Buddha

Yep. Foxnews has taken up the old “Some people Say” argument as in Some People say the President’s policies are weak and effete and overly aggressive and dangerous and whatever but we aren’t………..yet.

They are having a real hard time with the Middle East unrest. Is it good when a dictator falls from power or bad. You know that they want to rout for the people protesting against the dictator but can't do it if President Obama has taken the same position. Tough man.

Bachmentum Begins to Roll….who knows where, though

The highway to hell, perhaps?

Why should GOPsters vote for Michele Bachmann during the primary season?

Michele has an answer:

“If I tell people I am going to do something, or fight for them, I do it,” Bachmann told The DC [daily caller].

“Even if means the mainstream media comes after me, I’m willing to stand and fight for them. That’s one thing, I think, that really sets me apart. People know that I’m authentic, I’m sincere, they can count on me.

I’m not going to lie to people or tell them something that they want to hear. I don’t put my finger in the wind to test the political winds to see which way we should go. I’m strong and I’m principled."

And she’s certifiably Crazy, too. She forgot to mention that unlike some of her opponents, she does have to fake the crazy. It just comes naturally.

If she says she’s afraid of paper money or of America turning into a secular atheistic state based upon radical islam, you know she means it. When the other guys say it, they may just be flirting with you - leading you on.

That's a real strength. She out to play it up more.

Operation Purity Set to Take Down Another

With Senator Dick Luger squarely targeted by Tea Bag Groups in the GOP, Democrats sense an opportunity:

Indiana Rep. Joe Donnelly is sending smoke signals that look and smell like a Senate bid is on the horizon.

At a Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Hamilton County, the third-term Democrat indicated that he's better suited for the Senate than the governorship.

"Although I can help the state in either role, I feel my experience is best served in the Senate," Donnelly told the Indianapolis Star. "I want to continue focusing on helping the economy and bringing jobs to Indiana."

Donnelly would not be doing this if Lugar was the certain GOP nominee. Thanks to Baggers, he’s not.

The Baggers have done this before in Nevada, Colorado and Delaware. Each time they elected an extremist in the primary that could win a seat in the general election that an ordinary candidate could have. They almost came through for the democrats again in Alaska with the Sovereign Citizen, Joe Miller, as their nominee. But a write-in campaign kept Miller from getting whupped by the Democrat on election day.

Why not try the same thing in Indiana? Luger is not “pure.” Purity is all that matters.

Vicious and MEAN things are posted on the Internets

Jonathan Chait is Mean:

Do you get the feeling that "Marco Rubio" is not an actual human being at all but some kind of computer program designed by the Republican Party? Imagine they had the technical know-how to create a candidate like this. What would they come up with? They'd come up with Marco Rubio, a cinematically handsome Latino from Florida who hews to the Tea Party line while spitting out patriotic cliches that sound as if they were programmed like a computer.

I'm not saying I'm sure Rubio is a robot. I'm just saying that I want to watch him walk through a metal detector.

Rubio is a walking series of sound bites waiting to happen. When you first hear the guy go into "sound bite mode," he comes off as shallow and vapid. However he was smart to roll into office on the goodwill of Teabaggers and other wingers who hyped his campaign and then stick it to them afterwards by not to joining the Senate Tea Bag Caucus. Smooth - cash their checks and stick it to them. So maybe he is smarter than he looks.

I guess it is theoretically possible that Rubio is a robot due to his speech patterns, but he could also be some sort of Manchurian candidate as well for the same reasons. Is Marco Rubio as Vapid as he sounds? Has he been “programmed?”

Who knows, really.

Now that I think about it, has anyone seen his birth certificate?

It was the Best of Times, It was the End of Times

Looks like Glenn Beck has some Competition.

From this Guy: A preacher broadcasting (allegedly) in (up to) 48 languages is predicting the end of the world on May 21, 2011.

Harold Camping, a preacher from Oakland, California, is confidently predicting the Second Coming of the Lord. At about 6pm, he reckons 2 per cent of the world's population will be immediately "raptured" to Heaven; the rest of us will get sent straight to the Other Place.

[…]

After 70 years of studying the Bible, he claims to have developed a system that uses mathematics to interpret prophesies hidden in it. He says the world will end on 21 May, because that will be 722,500 days from 1 April AD33, which he believes was the day of the Crucifixion. The figure of 722,500 is important because you get it by multiplying three holy numbers (five, 10 and 17) together twice. "When I found this out, I tell you, it blew my mind," he said.

Recent events, such as earthquakes in Japan, New Zealand and Haiti, are harbingers of impending doom, he says, as are changing social values. "All the stealing, and the lying, and the wickedness and the sexual perversion that is going on in society is telling us something," he says. "So too is the gay pride movement. It was sent by God as a sign of the end."

On second thought, all Beck really has to do is wait this guy out. By May 22, Beck will be King of Crazy once again.

Believing in this kinda stuff must be hardwired into our DNA. People have been falling for it forever. My favorite has got to be the tale of William Miller who also had a mathematical formula based on the Bible for predicting the shelf-life of the world. His followers became known as Millerites. As a Baptist Preacher, Miller lectured widely predicting that the world would end with the second coming of Jesus sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844 (it didn’t). When the obvious did not happen, doomsday was recalculated for April 18, 1844 (again, it didn’t happen) and then ultimately (due to math error) for October 22, 1844. However Jesus did not show up on this day either.

This was the third strike for Miller for most Millerites, who labeled October 22, 1884 as The Great Disappointment. Afterwards, fortunate, though distraught, Millerites returned to their homes and belongings to the ridicule of neighbors. While less fortunate Millerites, having given away their possessions and livelihoods, didn’t have that option. There were reports of vandalized Millerite churches and riots. While most Millerites abandoned Millerism and returned to their previous churches, the most hardcore stuck it out eventually forming the 7^th Day Adventist Church - which continues to this day.

What made Miller such an interesting case is that he developed a large following, not just in America but also with some followers in Canada and Europe. They may have numbered 50,000. How many Glenn Beck viewers would quit their jobs and hole up in a Bunker and wait for the end of the world on his say so? While he may have more viewers, I doubt 50,000 of them would put down the remote control and put their money where their conspiracy theory is and do it.

We are all Doomed

Start watching Glenn Beck and stock up on supplies for your bunkers.

Quote of the Day

"This is my 10th presidential campaign, Lord help me. I have never before seen such a bunch of vile, desperate-to-please, shameless, embarrassing losers coagulated under a single party's banner. They are the most compelling argument I've seen against American exceptionalism... There are those who say, cynically, if this is the dim-witted freak show the Republicans want to present in 2012, so be it. I disagree. One of them could get elected. You never know."

~ Joe Klein

Ya, sad but true.

A few days ago, Donald Trump released a fake birth certificate to gain street cred with the birthers.

Two days ago Newt was warning of a take over of America by secular atheistic radical islam while Santorum blamed possible long term Social Security funding shortfalls on legalized abortion.

Yesterday, Tim Pawlenty warned folks of the dangers of worthless paper money.

And today, Sarah Palin probably either wrote something on facebook or said something on Foxnews that was really stupid.

It is going to be a freak show.

Quote of the Day:

"a third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion.”

GOP Presidential Candidate Rick (in)Santorum

Somehow Rick is one of the lucky two-thirds that made it. Good thing, too, because I'm not writing off his candidacy yet. Hopefully he'll be able to avoid the Death Panels in the meantime.

It is time to shut down the GOP Part II

Just shut it down already.

Case in Point Newt Gingrich, campaigning for the Presidency in a church in Iowa :

"I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9," Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. "I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."

How does one become a secular atheist radical islamist? Perhaps there is a user’s manual or something, but I reckon it wouldn't be easy to do it even if one wanted to become one.

If folks are talking about secession from the union due to the tyranny of affordable health care for the working poor and the self employed, as many have in the last year, what do you think they'll do when they are told they have to convert to a form of secular atheistic radical islam? Color me skeptical, but I don't see this happening.

Just shut down the GOP. Do it now. Get it over with.

This is probably what Hitler would have done

Back during the emergency response to Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico many wingers were carping about just how mean the United States government was in assessing blame on owners of the oil rig. Poor BP; they were the real victims of the environment disaster, despite having caused it. But astonishingly to various wingers, according to the Mean US Government, BP and the other owners of the Oil Platform would have to pay for mess that they created. Clearly these are the outrageous actions of a gangster government run a muck.

After President Obama addressed a BP established compensation fund for the real victims of the environmental disaster, an apoplectic Smokey Joe Barton (R-Tex) issued an apology to……….. BP for such an atrocity. How could the government be so mean the giant multinational corporation, Smokey Joe wailed during a congressional hearing? Left unsaid at the time was the fact that Smokey Joe’s largest campaign contributor, Anadarko Engery, owned a 25% stake in the Platform and a corresponding 25% of the cleanup liability. Undoubtedly, Smokey Joe was merely speaking from the heart when he condemned the Meanness of making those responsible for an environmental disaster pay for the damage they caused.

Also enraged at the level of Meanness by the Government was hardcore wingnut welfare recipient Thomas Sowell. Writing from an elite perch within right wing counter culture, he used an analogy to Hitler to condemn President Obama’s deal with BP establishing the compensation fund. You know the score. First they came for the Commies and Trade Unionists, but I didn’t say anything because I was not a Commie or in a Union. Then they came for the Jews and I said nothing because I was not Jewish and then they asked BP to clean up its mess and well you know the rest of the drill.

Well, word on the internets is now reporting what is sure to become a new outrage.

Read more »

It is Time to Shut down the GOP

It is past time actually.

I propose that President Barack Obama use his Gestapo-like secret security force which he created to impose a fascist and / or Marxist dictatorship and shut it down for good (h/t Paul Broun (R-GA)).

Sure the GOP has been productive in the past, like during the civil war and at the beginning of the reconstruction period and at sporadic times in the past. But today it no longer serves its constituents.

Case in point. Folks in the Tea Party wing are not connected to reality (see Paul Broun, above). A recent study illustrates this fact quite well. Dividing Conservatives into two groups Tea Party Conservatives and Non-Tea Party conservatives the survey found a stark difference in the two groups’ belief in various conspiracy theories.

To capture the difference between the two camps, we asked whether or not people thought the following proposition true: “Barack Obama is destroying the country.” If Tea Party conservatives were as extreme as some suggest, we thought asking a question of this type, i.e., fairly extreme, would tease out differences between the two camps. The data suggest the two conservative factions are divided on this question. Under these circumstances, 6% of non-Tea Party conservatives believe the president is destroying the country versus the 71% of Tea Party conservatives who believe this to be true.

[…]

More than twice as many Tea Party conservatives desire to see the president’s policies fail (76%) than non-Tea Party conservatives (32%). (As a corollary, 53% of non-Tea Party conservatives wish to see the president’s policies succeed versus 18% of Tea Party conservatives.) Why might this be the case? Why do so many Tea Party conservatives wish to see the president’s policies fail, relative to non-Tea Party conservatives? Perhaps it’s because three quarters (75 %) of Tea Party conservatives believe that President Obama’s policies are socialist compared to 40% of non-Tea Party conservative, a disparity of 35 % points.

The craziness didn’t stop here. Not only do these people believe that the President is actually trying to destroy the country, the survey also found that Tea Party Conservatives outperformed Non-TP Conservatives in falling for the Birth Certificate Conspiracy as well as believing that the President is a practicing Muslim.

I blame the GOP for this disconnect from reality. A large percentage of its members believe in fairy tales and it is complicit in the disconnect. By misinforming its constituents, members, etc., the GOP is not serving the interests of the Party as a whole, its members in particular and the nation in general. By preaching bullshit to the vulnerable, they are creating a class of people who appear to be routing for the Nation to fail. This level of irresponsibility is dangerous for the Nation’s future.

It is time to shut down the GOP. It no longer serves its members and appears to be wholly disinterested in governance.

Dispatches From the Rebellion

No not the Teabaggers, the actual Civil War.

A week ago today 150 years ago, the Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the so-called Confederacy gave his infamous “Cornerstone” speech declaring that the Confederacy was the first government built upon slavery (thus expressly repudiating Jefferson’s Declaration that all men are created equal):

Those ideas [from the Declaration of Independence], however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a Government built upon it, when the 'storm came and the wind blew, it fell.'

Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man. That Slavery, -- subordination to the superior race, is his natural and moral condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

The New York Times responds:

Mr. STEPHENS is quite right in saying that this is the first Government, in the history of the world, based upon Slavery. This present year is the first time in the history of the world when a great community has over-thrown a free Constitution, not because of its oppressions, but in order to perpetuate the abject slavery of four millions of its people.

Mr. STEPHENS apparently sees nothing in this fact of evil omen to the success of his experiment. Indeed, he makes it the chief glory of the new nation that its corner-stone is Slavery. He may rest assured the civilized world will take a very different view of this matter. He will find in that declaration a barrier mountain high against the sympathies of every nation on earth. There is no power so utterly dead to all the impulses of humanity, and to all the influences of Christian civilization, as to look with anything but horror and detestation upon a nation commencing its career for such a motive and with such an aim.

It took until 2011, but the current Governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, has publicly repudiated Alexander Stephens goals of forming a Great Slave Holding Republic:

"Slavery was the primary, central, cause of secession," Barbour told me Friday. "The Civil War was necessary to bring about the abolition of slavery," he continued. "Abolishing slavery was morally imperative and necessary, and it's regrettable that it took the Civil War to do it. But it did."

Many of his constituents may not have come to grips with Barbour’s statement, however. Its only been 150 years.

Jesus would definitely approve of this Tax Cut

Err, isn’t this a Tax Increase, too?

Word has hit the internets that Republicans in Arizona have voted in committee to change the state income tax from a progressive tax to a flat tax.

This would make Steve Forbes, an apostle of the Flat Tax, happy. Who else will be happy with the change? How about everyone earning over $100,000. These folks get a tax cut under the new reform.

For folks earning less than $100,000, the news is not so good. Republicans have voted to raise their taxes. You see, if the Reform is becomes law, the people earning less than $100K get to pay for the tax cuts for the people earning more than $100K. That’s how it works folks. You raise taxes on the poor and the middle class to pay for the tax cuts that you’re giving mostly to rich folks.

I’m sure this is in the Bible some place. In the fine print perhaps.

Pee in the Pool

"The water's pretty warm. My hope is that within a month that we'll be in swimming very rapidly."

Newt Gingrich on Foxnews indicating that he’ll announce his intention to run for president in one month.

Beware. Stay out of the water everyone.

Glass House Alert – Prepare to ask this question over and over and over……

From Chris Wallace asking the ever odious Newt how he could have led the impeachment campaign against President Clinton for lying about an extramarital affair when he himself was having an affair at the time.

Question of the day:

“I’m going to ask you man to man: Did you ever think to yourself, ‘I’m living in a really glass house. Maybe I shouldn’t be throwing stones?’ ”

Newt’s Answer:

“No. I thought to myself if I cannot do what I have to do as a public leader, I would have resigned”….. “Now, look, I think you have to look at whether or not people have to be perfect in order to be leaders. I don’t think I’m perfect. I admitted I had problems. I admitted that I sought forgiveness.”

At least he didn’t repeat his patriotism drove him to adultery line again.

During the course of his ego-driven quest for the presidency, how many more times is Newt going to be asked this question? Hundreds, perhaps. And I don’t think he can come up with a better response than this lame attempt to wish away his hypocrisy.

Oh well with his presence in the GOP primary, at least he’ll make Mitt Romney seem more likable.

Another Conservative Government Teeters on the Brink

Around the globe, a series of uprisings are rocking conservative run governments. Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak has been run from power. Tunisia has fallen to popular revolt. Libya is in rebellion as is Bahrain with possibly Syria to follow.

But this phenomenon is not limited to the Middle East, with tensions rising in China, uprisings in Wisconsin and the fall of the Conservative Prime Minister in Canada.

What’s the next Country to fall?

Read more »

Quote of the Day

“We’ve been told that we need a truce on social issues. I highly disagree with that. Social conservatism is fiscal conservatism.”

Michele Bachmann, chair of the House Tea Party Caucus

As everyone knows, Jesus was all about acquiring vast sums of private wealth and cutting taxes for rich folks. Jesus was down with all of that.

About helping poor folks and workers, on the other hand, that is a different story. It is communism.

Jim DeMint: Our guys all Suck

To paraphrase the Tea Party Caucus leader from South Carolina, that was his message during his keynote speech Saturday evening at the Conservative Principles Conference:

Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina is not interested in running for the Republican presidential nomination, but he said Saturday that the presumed field might not be sufficient to inspire voters and he would welcome a last-minute entry by another candidate.

“If no one is an immediate front-runner,” Mr. DeMint said, “I think you might see a whole new cast of Republican candidates out within the next couple of months.”

I guess he’s see the obvious. Good luck with it.

All We are saying is "Give War a Chance"

Bill Kristol, a Neocon, admonishing Conservatives not attack the President but to give War a chance:

Don’t revel in every administration misstep. Don’t chortle at every misstatement. Don’t exacerbate the administration’s failure to build domestic support for the mission. Put the mission, and the country, first.

Which means, to some extent, that we might consider biting our collective tongues, wishing the president well because he is our president, and helping him get it right rather than pointing with glee to everything he’s doing wrong. Which in turn means that we might want to cool it with the 24/7 criticism.

Of course to convince Conservative that he's on their side, he has to end with a shot at the President:

You go to war with the president you have. This isn’t the one we conservatives preferred. We have a good chance to remove him in 2012. We should work to do so.

It is a balancing act keeping that coalition together.

Are there 2 Newts?

These Lamestream Media Elites think so. One good – like the one that believes (maybe used to believe by now) in Science and Global Warming and one Bad who is in charge the other 99% of the time:

So far, however, it seems to be Bad Newt who’s hogging the limelight. Mr Gingrich signaled his heightened political ambitions last year with a series of intemperate statements: likening those who want to build a mosque near Ground Zero to Nazis, describing Barack Obama’s worldview as Kenyan and anti-colonial and so on. He recently snapped at someone who had the temerity to ask him about his louche personal life at a public event. A few weeks ago his advisers let it be known that he was about to announce the first step towards a formal candidacy and then took it all back, making his expected bid for the presidency look disorganised and faltering before it even began.

Now Mr Gingrich has added to this string of embarrassments with an acrobatic flip-flop on America’s involvement in Libya. Barely three weeks ago he told Fox News that Mr Obama should suppress the Libyan air force and establish a no-fly zone over the country right away. Yesterday he announced that a military intervention was a terrible idea to which he would never have resorted as president. Then he issued a convoluted explanation claiming these two stances were consistent, before criticising the president for his confusion and lack of resolve.

He really is a creep. Besides is low behavior in public life, his private life is equally appalling. Not only did Newt abandon one sick wife for a younger women, he did it twice – saying that his patriotism drove him to it. “I’m sorry dear, but my love of Country has driven me to abandon you on your sick bed,” one can imagine Newt saying.

What a piece of work.

The Anti-Tea Bag Candidate Speaks

This dude is seriously hardcore.

The Current GOP Presidential Contenders are not Competent. That is what anti-tea bag Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley thinks.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) doesn't think most of the potential 2012 Republican contenders are "qualified to be president."

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Grassley said “only two or three of them” are qualified.

He didn’t say which ones, but the Iowa Democratic Party on Friday called on him to specify.

My guess is that Senator Grassley is referring to two of the following characters: Willard Romney, what’s his name from Minnesota former Utah Governor Huntsman or Mitch Daniels.

Clearly Newt is ethically, morally - you name it - unfit to hold office in the future.

Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman and Judge Roy Moore are too far into rightwing counter culture to be considered qualified. Plus one or all of them may be insane. They are all misfits to be sure.

Huck is a Baptist Preacher. Haley Barbour is a former lobbyist who thinks the days of segregation in the south weren’t so bad. Ron Paul is Ron Paul.

Hopefully Senator Grassley will clarify and expand upon his remarks. Now that I think about it, I don’t think Grassley is referring to what’s his name from Minnesota. So scratch him from the list. Of course Romney is a real weasel and could be easily excluded as well.

NYT Schools Wingnut and he is Furious …..

…..that his book titled Revolt: How to Defeat Obama and Repeal His Socialist Programs has been listed by the NY Times in its “Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous” list alongside self help books, cooks books, diet, and other HOW TO do it type books instead including it in the NYT’s influential best seller list. Well he did include “How to” in the title.

I would think that this was funny if it wasn’t so elitist, sexist, Mean or politically incorrect. However it surely is one of this things, so I won't endorse such conduct on the part of the NYT.

Link

Sarah Palin – Always a Victim

Poor Sarah. Why is the Lamestream media so mean to her? Who knows why, but Sarah has had enough.

She’s fighting back:

Read more »

Similarities between Mubarak Regime and Walker Government mount

With Protests engulfing the Middle East and Midwest (US), government responses have been varied. Ahamdinejad and Gaddaffi resorted to force to put the protesters in place while leaders others in places such as Egypt and Wisconsin have been less successful.

Wisconsin Governor Walker has proven about as feckless as Egyptian Autocrat Hosni Mubarak who lost the support of the Egyptian Military. When Walker told the Wisconsin National Guard to be ready to crush dissent, they yawned and are no where to be found. He urged Law Enforcement to take action against protestors, but its leaders informed him that they are not his “Palace Guard.” The Capital Police refuse to use the fire hoses or their billy clubs and instead actually show sympathy to protesters.

Without the support of the military or the Police, what measures has the Walker Government resorted to bring dissenting Democrats into line?

Wisconsin Republicans also ultimately voted to fine missing members $100 per day, take away their parking spots and their discretionary accounts.

Can you imagine Ahmadinejad threatening an opponent with loss of parking privileges? I think not. But what other measures did the Walker Government consider?

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Quote of the Day

"Not since the dark days of the Bush administration have we seen a Republican-controlled Congress that is so intent on pushing their agenda in Washington — protecting tax breaks for oil companies making record profits, attempting to roll back environmental regulations, and not only refusing to pass climate change legislation in any form but refusing to acknowledge that climate change even exists"

Fmr VP Al Gore

Come on Gore safe drinking water and clean air are over rated and everyone knows it.

Gov. Scott Walker involved in Fake Assassination Attempt?

No proof yet, but it would be irresponsible not to speculate. What we do know is that he may have been involved in a dark conspiracy to stage a fake attack and Blame Union Goons for it:

Word on the internets has it that the Wisconsin (not so) Strongman, was contacted by an Indiana Republican with the bizarre plot in order to gain some public sympathy.

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JUDGE ROY MOORE 2012 – Bachmentum in Jeopardy?

The Internets are reporting that the 10 Commandments Judge, Former Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore is considering a run at the presidency.

Remember Judge Roy Moore? He was the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice removed from office over the Ten Commandments monument he erected outside the state courthouse. Now, he’s about to jump into the presidential election in Iowa, GOP officials say.

Eight years after a state panel removed him from the bench over the commandments spat, and five years after he lost in the Republican primary in the Alabama governor’s race, the 64-year-old judge is preparing to launch a presidential exploratory committee and enter the Iowa fray, according to multiple Iowa GOP officials.

Judge Moore’s entry in Iowa will only intensify the feverish competition among GOP hopefuls for the state’s large bloc of evangelical voters.

Hey Why Not! But the real loser could be Michele Bachmann. And sure she thought she had the crazy vote locked down as much as one can. It is bad enough competing with Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and Hermann Cain for the fundamentalist vote, but now there's more competition for the batshit crazy vote as well.

Not good news.

The Middle East Peace Process a Zoning Issue?

That’s how Sarah Palin referred to it.

The last Zoning Issue I remember Sarah Palin butting into concerned the Park 51 Community Center in Manhattan, aka the super scary Burlington Coat Factory Mosque at ground zero. For those unfamiliar with Zoning Ordinances, they are rule sets that apply to use of land in a particular community. The local folks get together and write down clear rules for the type of land uses that can be permitted in certain parts of the city. Don’t want a Bar to open right next to a school? Land use laws can be written to prohibit businesses that serve alcohol from locating within so many feet of the school. And so forth.

As long as the zoning ordinance is clear, applies to all and its purpose can be reasonable justified, they’ll hold up. Your zoning ordinance for Churches may require that a proposed church build in certain part of town like a commercial district, have so many parking places, etc. Those rules would apply to all proposed churches. Anyone who wants to build a church for any religion, could do so if that person played by the rules. The zoning ordinance could not however adopt a rule that says mosques have to follow the same rules as all other houses of worship and also have to get Sarah Palin’s blessing before building. The constitution doesn’t work that way (Sorry Sarah).

Yesterday Sarah went on a Foxnews Infotainment program and this exchange followed:

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It is Newt’s Duty to Run for President

Quote of the Day:

The obligation as a citizen to seriously consider it (the presidency) gets higher when you look at the current damage being done, but this administration on so many different fronts.”

Newton Leroy Gingrich

This coming from a person who has said patriotism drove him to cheat on his wives and leave them for younger models.

Random Winguttery of the Day:

RedState Blog Honcho Erick Erickson:

The President of the United States is a one man wrecking crew of economic devastation who, along with a team of job abortionists, killing and wounding American jobs at an alarming rate.

But we’ll always have Libya. And windmills!

Those windmills are pretty scary. I don’t know if they are as scary as high speed trains – I suspect not. But they are still pretty scary. I hear they cause global warming, that is if you build enough of ‘em. The way I heard it was that the “wind is God's way of balancing heat. Wind is the way you shift heat from areas where it's hotter to areas where it's cooler. That's what wind is.” If you slow the wind down (i.e., too many damn windmills), you could cause the temperature to go up. Scary times my friends.

[h/t] Smokey Joe Barton for the “wind” hypothesis.

Romney’s Super Secret Get Out of Jail Card?

With even former supporters now bashing ObamaCare and its father, RomneyCare, as forms of Tyranny, Oppression if not outright Slavery, what’s Willard “Mitt” Romney (the father of Romneycare) to do?

He can refudiate it and call it a “colossal mistake” as former supporter and Romneycare advocate Jim DeMint urges or he can Stand Strong and Make No Apologies for the health law. What to do?

Perhaps there could be a third option:

I think Romney needs to try another tact. He should say that he destroyed the freedom of the people of Massachusetts because the people of Massachusetts do not deserve to live in freedom. This would be in keeping with the long-standing Republican position that Massachusetts is not part of America. Indeed, he destroyed freedom in Massachusetts as a warning to the rest of America that it should cherish its freedom to show up the emergency room without health insurance and pay for their life-saving treatment by handing over their entire net worth, as the Founders intended.

Yes! It looks like Romney may have a way out of his bind with GOP primary voters. Just blame the people of Massachusetts. Eureka. If anyone can make this argument with a straight face it is Romney.

They are just the GOP Base - that is all

Question of the Day:

Why Does the Tea Party largely support military intervention in Libya?

Answer:

If the Tea Party can support military action where there isn't even a smidgen of national interest involved, they are neocons in libertarian clothing. Just as one suspects they are Christianists in fiscal clothing. They are the hard right of the GOP.

Probably a little bit of both mixed in there. But yes Baggers as on the hard right fringe.

GOP Abandons Fiscal Conservatism

It is official. If you didn’t realize this yet, you should now.

GOP leaders pledge to block deficit package that increases taxes

Republican leaders in the Senate and House will not agree to tax increases in the guise of reform measures, according to a prominent conservative advocate for lower taxes.

Conservatives have grown increasingly worried that Republicans in Congress may accept a tax hike as part of a broader deal to reduce discretionary and entitlement spending.

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have pledged to Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) president Grover Norquist they will not support any deficit reduction package that increases taxes.

To balance the budget without defense, medicare and social security cuts and without any tax increases one would have to eliminate virtually all discretionary spending. That means no money for Tsunami monitoring, preventing outbreaks infectious diseases, no border enforcement, clean air, safe drinking water, nuclear safety - you name it. It would all have to go.

These guys simply are not serious about governing. The Bush years made that clear. And yet here is another example.

For Hard News, viewers Prefer CNN

This makes Sense:

CNN has been the big ratings gainer among the cable news networks during the extensive coverage of events in Japan and Libya in the last two weeks, and that success has come mostly at the expense of MSNBC, which has fallen into third place almost across the board because of CNN’s surge.

The disparity has been most noticeable during the last two weekends, when CNN has attracted huge audiences with continuing coverage of the international crises, beating even Fox News, the perennial leader among the news channels. Meanwhile MSNBC, sticking to a weekend lineup of recorded programs largely about problems in prisons, attracted only about a third as many viewers as CNN.

I have not watched the Fox Business Channel yet. If it were run like its namesake, Foxnews, one can imagine an array of infotainers advising viewers to invest in Gold, and companies that make weapons, water purification equipment and other survival equipment and the like. Viewers would be warned against investing in the Health Care sector with the coming government takeover and of course would be warned about the coming wave of hyper-inflation which is (always) right around the corner.

Viewers that followed this advice and ordered their finances accordingly would eventually become bankrupt for obvious reasons. And as a result the Fox Business channel would whither away as its viewers spent their latter years in debt peonage. Rationally, I suspect the Fox Business Channel is modeled more after CNN than its namesake Foxnews. Just a hunch.

Awesome Conspiracy Theory of the Day

From RedState Blog Honcho Erick Erickson:

Obama can look Presidential again — all through manufacturing the need for American involvement where there was no need. Barack Obama wants to be re-elected. The best playbook for his re-election is that of Bill Clinton. But Clinton had a government shutdown and Kosovo. In the absence of either, Barack Obama must manufacture them.

And he has.

I guess the trick is up now that Erickson has uncovered an elaborate conspiracy starting with a catastrophic economic collapse that occurred during Obama’s predecessor’s watch and furthered by street uprisings all around the Middle East and to culminate in the re-election of Barack Obama to a second term. Quick someone tell the LameStream Media. It is all a conspiracy, man.

There must be something strange in the water in Georgia. Maybe it ain’t water that doin’ it. Sounds like this fella’, Erickson may have drunk a bit too much moonshine. That’ll do it.

And he has. Hilarious.

Wife of Supreme Court’s Expert on Pornography to join Right Wing Blog

That would be Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Ginni Thomas, if one recalls, also helped start up a Teabagging outfit called “Liberty Central.” The internets report that Thomas will join the zany right wing blog “The Daily Caller” as a “reporter.”

“As The Daily Caller’s special correspondent, Thomas will interview key political and community leaders — from high-profile politicians to grassroots activists — with a focus on listening to those outside the Beltway.”

Thomas is no stranger to the spotlight. She worked in 2010 to defeat Democrats, and her role as a de facto tea party, anti-health care reform lobbyist have led critics to demand that her husband recuse himself when the health care law appears before the Supreme Court.

She’s no stranger to the Caller either — it’s where she took refuge when her most recent scandal aired out in the press. In 2010, it was revealed that she’d telephoned Anita Hill — the woman who accused her husband of sexual harassment during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing back in 1991 — to ask for an apology. Shortly after that episode was publicized, she stepped down from her job as head of the organization Liberty Central, which boasts of assisting grassroots clients with governmental affairs, but isn’t a registered lobbying firm.

I guess there isn’t anything surprising about this. However, it looks like Judge Thomas may have to recuse himself from hearing a variety of cases now that his wife is no longer just a Tea Party Activist but also a right wing blogger.

What’s Romney have Against France now, anyway?

Apparently military action against Libya is good. However military action against Libya if Obama is president is not so good.

Willard criticizes President Obama.

“America has been feared sometimes, has been respected, but today, that America is seen as being weak.

We’re following the French into Libya.

I appreciate the fact that others are participating in this effort, but I think we look to America to be the leader of the world. You know, the cause of liberty can endure the mistakes that are inevitable consequences of human fallibility. But liberty’s standard can’t prevail if it’s not proudly, decisively and consistently held aloft."

I’ll tell you one thing, France sure was good enough for Mitt Romney during the Vietnam War. As a matter of fact he like it so much, he spend a good portion of the war there.

Romney shouldn’t bad mouth France now.

UPDATED: Elitism Watch – They are after Sarah again, those Bastards

Aren't they always?

Foreign lamestream media elites are suggesting that Sarah Palin is Ignorant yet again with a mean spirited accusation that Sarah was unaware that Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is not Israeli territory.

Of course she knows this.

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Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage who is …. well, Outraged again

Hey NPR leave my Family Alone

If the obscure and has-been comedians who appear on National Public Radio want to mock conservatives and spread left-wing propaganda, they should do it on their own damned dime.

This time Michele Malkin is Outraged at the ever Outrageous NPR and its program “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me.”

The Outrageous “Wait Wait” had the audacity include an outrageous fake news story about Sweet Michele during its “Bluff the Listener” contest. This week a listener was told three stories about people uncovering a secret about their identity, but only one story was correct. If the listener picked the right story s/he wins a prize.

Normally this type of contest would not cause an outrage in the wing-net. That is it wouldn’t cause outrage unless one of the fake stories was about Michele Malkin and her 90-year old closeted Muslim Grandfather. A story like that would clearly be an outrageous outrage against Malkin and her family.

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Dispatches from the wingnut-O-sphere – Mayflower Mark Speaks!

"Our commander-in-chief is an effete vacillator who is pushed around by his female subordinates... Before you send me any burning bras, the problem is not with women leaders -- the enemies of the Virgin Queen and the Iron Lady can attest to that. The problem is not even with the president having strong female subordinates. Rather, Obama's pusillanimity has been hugely magnified by the contrast with the women directing his foreign policy and the fact that they nagged him to attack Libya until he gave in. Maybe it's unfair and there shouldn't be any difference from having a male secretary of state do the same thing, but there is,"

Anti-Immigrant Activist Mayflower Mark Kikorian

And I thought Mayflower Mark was busy spending all his time to keep his anti-immigration activist group from being listed as a hate group. But I was wrong, he does have time to do other things, like the screed above.

Now that I think about it, has anyone ever seen Mayflower Mark’s Birth certificate? Noting the high occurrence of hardcore anti-gay preachers turning out to be gay themselves we see these days, what’s the chance that hardcore immigration foe Mayflower Mark may be trying to hide something?

It’s possible. I suppose there may, in fact, be a higher than suspected chance that Krikorkian is in America Illegally. I guess we really don’t know for certain. Someone ought to keep an eye on Mayflower Mark to make sure he ain’t up to no good…... like the folks responsible for listing Hate Groups.

I think this is a great idea - Its a Matter of Life or Death afterall

Pizza Mogul Targeted for Conversion?

Herman Cain Thinks Muslims are out to convert him to Islam:

I push back and reject them trying to convert the rest of us. And based upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them. Now, I know that there are some peaceful Muslims who don't go around preaching or practicing that. Well, unfortunately, we can't sit back and tolerate the radical ones simply because we know that there are some of them who don't believe in that aspect of the Muslim religion. So their role is to be allowed to practice their religion freely, just like we should be allowed to practice our religion freely, and not try to convert the rest of us.

I am not Muslim and generally not a fan of religious fundamentalism of any flavor, but I think that all good and decent folks, Muslims and non-Muslims alike should try to convert Hermann Cain. Admittedly it will be hard for me to help someone convert to Islam, not knowing anything about it, and especially hard to convert Hermann Cain (who has accused Liberals of Killing Jesus, literally, btw). But I think it is worth a shot.

I call on everyone to try to convert Cain to Islam. Let's make his fantasy world a reality. This really should be a priority. And who knows it may be a matter of life or death for Mr. Cain.

Via TPM

Joe Biden is MEAN, but fair and balanced, too – so it’s OK

Are the GOP’s budget cuts aimed at the Victims of past Republican Malfeasance? Or is the GOP using the current budgetary Deficits as an excuse to blame Unions and Working Folks for the mess they created.

Joe Biden thinks so:

“There was this attitude in our society of blaming the victim. When a woman got raped, blame her because she was wearing a skirt too short, she looked the wrong way or she wasn’t home in time to make the dinner. We’ve gotten by that. But it’s amazing how these Republicans, the right wing of this party – whose philosophy threw us into this God-awful hole we’re in, gave us the tremendous deficit we’ve inherited – that they’re now using, now attempting to use, the very economic condition they have created to blame the victim – whether it’s organized labor or ordinary middle-class working men and women. It’s bizarre. It’s bizarre.”

An interesting observation.

Union folks didn't cause the great Bush Bust of 2008, others are far more to blame. But now the Union folks are the ones blamed for the red ink and asked to pay to clean up the mess.

Quote of the Day:

"In an interview with ABC. Donald Trump said it's strange nobody remembers President Obama from childhood. Of course, everyone remembers little Trump, because he was the little kid going, 'Welcome, everyone, to the Trump Sand Box and Play Area. It's the number one sand box in the world.'"

Jimmy Fallon

Making fun of The Donald’s flirtation with Birtherism.

Paul Krugman is Shrill and MEAN, too

Kicking Around Poor Alan Greenspan while he’s down – way down:

“Greenspan writes in characteristic form: other people may have their models, but he’s the wise oracle who knows the deep mysteries of human behavior, who can discern patterns based on his ineffable knowledge of economic psychology and history. Sorry, but he doesn’t get to do that any more. 2011 is not 2006. Greenspan is an ex-Maestro; his reputation is pushing up the daisies, it’s gone to meet its maker, it’s joined the choir invisible. He’s no longer the Man Who Knows; he’s the man who presided over an economy careening to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression — and who saw no evil, heard no evil, refused to do anything about subprime, insisted that derivatives made the financial system more stable, denied not only that there was a national housing bubble but that such a bubble was even possible.”

Now that is mean, but ……he was in charge during the bubble telling us that Markets are rational and self correcting and virtuous and kind. And then the bubble burst.