Morning Seditionists

So, while we were sleeping last night (well, I was sleeping, anyway), the brave Israeli Navy attacked a flotilla of ships in International waters carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza, killing at least 10 people. Among the 600 or so people on board the aid ships were a Nobel Peace Prize winner (a real one, not like Obama) and an 85 year old Holocaust survivor. A dangerous crew, indeed. According to the Israelis, when they attempted to illegally board the ships, those aboard actually had the temerity to defend themselves. (more…)

On Press the Meat today, it’s White House Energy Adviser Carol Browner & BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, and chowderhead J.D. Hayworth. Then a roundtable with the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne & dickhead David Brooks.

Carol Browner heads over to Faze the Nation along with Ed Markey, BP Managing Director Bob Dudley, and Edward Overton, Environmental Scientist from LSU. (more…)

So, I was looking at the Huffington Post last night, and there was a headline that read “Starr’s Ex-Stripper Wife Allegedly Profited From Ponzi Scheme“, and I thought, “Barbara Bach used to be a stripper?” But no, wrong Starr. Turns out it’s Kenneth Starr. And I thought, “holy shit! Ken Starr’s wife used to be a stripper, and now she’s involved in a Ponzi scheme? And then I saw another story that said Ken Starr was arrested for fraud and hid in the closet when they went to arrest him. Wow. I mean, I always kinda figured he was in the closet, but I had no idea about the fraud stuff. But, no, turns out it’s a different Ken Starr. Who knew? Here I thought one Ken Starr in the world was one too many, and now there are two. (more…)

Sue Lowden got all pissed-off and refused to say on-air whether she was cool with the Civil Rights Act (though she sent a follow-up saying she did support it; I guess she just didn’t want to alienate any teevee watchin’ racists out there). I guess when it comes to civil rights, Republicans prefer “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (more…)

There’s a “social media” conference in town this week called Biz Buzz. I wonder if they know that’s a drinking game we used to play? For Buzz, you get in a circle and go around clockwise counting. But when you get to a number that’s got a 7 in it or is a multiple of 7, you say ‘buzz’ and then you reverse direction. If you screw up, you have to chug a beer (or do a shot, whatever). When you add Biz, you do the same thing on the sixes. So Biz Buzz could get pretty tricky. Especially when you threw in the other rules, like no swearing, no pointing, and no false accusations. Ah, those were the days. (more…)

Is it just me, or are you creeped out when you go to a website and it tells you your facebook “friends” have joined the Huffington Post, or CNN updates you on your friends activities? Do I show up on other people’s pages too? I think I changed all those settings, but who the hell knows? I mean, I think some of the people I see are the same people who passed along those helpful “change your facebook privacy settings” tips. I really should just pull the plug on the facebook thing. I never quite got it in the first place, and I really don’t look at it all that often. I guess I just don’t care whether Billy Bob fertilized Betty Sue’s crops in Farmville (I mean, go for it you two, but, geez, is nobody discrete these days?). (more…)

The President has requested a $37.5 billion “emergency” war supplemental – $32 billion of which is earmarked for Obama’s Folly in Afghanistan (which will bring the Afghanistan War spending for this fiscal year up to $99 billion). Two reports – from the Congressional Research Service and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction – make you kind of wonder just why we’re throwing all this money down the Afghan rabbit hole instead of, oh, I dunno, plugging the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico or maybe rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina (I mean, it’s only been 5 years now), or, hey, how about single payer healthcare, building high speed rail, or fixing every crappy bridge and highway in the country?

According to the reports, there’s no exit strategy, we’re not making our timeframes for withdrawing troops, and the “surge” has been quite as wonderful as Saint Stanley McChrystal led us (or some of us, anyway) to believe it would be. (more…)

Interesting events here last night, as an apparently pretty big underground transformer blew up, sending manhole covers flying and flames shooting up into the night sky. Good thing this isn’t New York City, or you know everybody would be flipped out over a terrorist attack. We’re not very high on the target list, though, so they just cut the power and put out the fire. Not a job I’d want – climbing down a manhole and hoping that the people from the power company were really, really sure they’d gotten the electricity shut down. Pretty fortunate that it happened on a Sunday night when nothing was going on (not that there’s a whole lot going on ever around here, but it’d kinda suck to be driving over a manhole when it exploded. (more…)

On Press the Meat today, it’s Rand Paul and Joe Sestak. OK, mostly it’s Joe Sestak, since, as we all know, Rand Paul is too much of a coward to defend his bullshit, “first amendment” objection to the Civil Rights Act. Also up, Tex-ass Senator John Cornyn and Bob Menendez, plus a roundtable with flat head Tom Friedman, Paul “I’m nothing without Shields” Gigot, Andrea Mitchell, and the mummified remains of Bob Woodward. (more…)

We are a divided nation. Half the country thinks Obama is a Nigerian commie mooslam who wants to take your guns, money, and women, and give them to Mexicans. The other half of the country thinks Obama is an ineffectual, naive corporatist, selling out to the insurance industry, big pharma, big oil, big banks, and big nukes (by the way, Mr. President, if companies are too corrupt and inept to safely dig a hole in the fucking ground, do you really want them playing with fissionable materials?). The third half of the country, of course, believes Obama can do no wrong, has a secret liberal agenda that he’ll unleash in his second term (yeah, like he’s gonna get a second term), and really, what can he actually accomplish with the Democrats in charge of the House and Senate (can’t wait to see what he does with Republicans running at least one house of Congress – though, I must say, the Democrats might owe the teabaggers a steak dinner at a fancy whites-only restaurant for all their help in keeping Republicans in the minority)? (more…)