It should be pretty clear to just about everybody that Scott Brown has absolutely nothing to run on in the fight to keep his Senate seat in Massachusetts, because the only thing he and his team seem to have been able to come up with is that Elizabeth Warren once checked a box somewhere that said she had some Native American DNA in her. It’s become the central point (the only point, really) of his campaign. This was evidenced in their debate the other night, when Warren said she wanted to fight for the rights of ordinary citizens, and Snotty Scotty said, “she don’t look like no injun to me.”

Then, at a Warren campaign event the other day, senior Brown staffers attended and taunted Warren with “tomahawk chops” and “war whoop chants.” Setting aside whether or not Warren’s grandmother had some Cherokee blood (which seems completely plausible what with her being from Oklahoma and all), as you might imagine, “actual” Native Americans didn’t think the antics of Brown and his staff were terribly amusing.

The principal chief of the Cherokee Nation had asked the senator to apologize for what he called the “downright racist” gestures of Brown supporters at a campaign event Saturday in Dorchester, Mass.
[…]
“The conduct of these individuals goes far beyond what is appropriate and proper in political discourse,” the chief, Bill John Baker, said in a statement. “The use of stereotypical ‘war whoop chants’ and ‘tomahawk chops’ are offensive and downright racist. It is those types of actions that perpetuate negative stereotypes and continue to minimize and degrade all native peoples.”

The Brown campaign responded in a statement, saying “Bill John Baker don’t look like no injun, neither.”

So, by now, I’m sure everybody’s seen the YouTube video of a cheerful though slightly less than Mensa quality young woman registering voters in Colorado. She’s working for the County Clerk (she “thinks”), but is “to be honest” only really interested in registering Romney voters. Now, whether this is some diabolical scheme from the County Republicans, or just some twit who got her marching orders a little mixed up, I don’t know. But given the voter suppression efforts around the country by the Republicans, it’s pretty hard to give them the benefit of the doubt on much of anything.

What I’m really waiting for, though, is the shift in the campaign that will make things close. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a lifelong SU fan, but I’ve seen defeat snatched from the jaws of victory way too many times. 2004 comes to mind (and 2008, too). So we’ll have to see what dirty tricks the Republicans pull out (and how well their voter suppression campaign works out).

Oh well, I guess I better get back to work.

Oh, and happy belated birthday to Okat.

September 24th is National Punctuation Day. Who thinks this shit up? I’m not sure if you’re supposed to honor punctuation on this day, or just try and keep your comma splices to a minimum. Any way, enjoy the day, because without punctuation, there would be nothing but anarchy.

that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is

Great… summer’s gone.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcEAI5p-wUg&w=480&h=360]

So, on the way home last night, I was listening to NPR, and they were doing a story about how Romney came out and said half the country is a bunch of lazy moochers who suck. And, in typical NPR fashion, they said that the reaction in Florida (where said comments were secretly recorded) was “mixed.” As evidence of this, they went to a senior community and interviewed two people – one on each side (so as to remain “fair” I suppose). The pro-Romney guy sounded nice enough. Some kind of retired minister who was over 65, and got Social Security and Medicare, and of course pays no federal income tax. His comments? “Oh, he’s not talking about us.” Yeah, he is, dude. Wake the fuck up. How can people be so goddamned stupid? When people accidentally get caught telling the truth for once, you really need to pay attention to them.

Evidence of the stupidity of Americans was displayed by a Gallup poll released yesterday.

Thirty-four percent of voters in households making less than $24,000 a year prefer Romney over President Barack Obama….

Seriously, what is wrong with “you people?”

My only question is, since I’m part of the 53% of people who paid federal income tax last year (and more than 13%, Mitt), does that mean I have to vote for Romney? Or does the fact that no-way, no-how will I ever vote for that asshole mean I feel like a victim who needs handouts from the government?

Of course, Romney didn’t just bash half of Americans. He also said Palestinians don’t want peace (probably a “cultural” thing), there would never be peace in the Middle East, and all he’d do would be to kick the issue down the road so he wouldn’t have to deal with it. Some unnamed former Secretary of State told him there in fact was a way to bring peace to the region, but he didn’t really care to hear any details.

While bashing working people who are too poor to pay federal income tax (but of course pay state tax, sales tax, social security and medicare taxes, property tax, etc.), Romney continues to refuse to release his own taxes (beyond the one year where he apparently cleaned up his act and paid about half the rate that most of us pay), and he and his little buddy Paul Ryan refuse to tell us just how they’re going to cut taxes and balance the budget (and what “loopholes” they intend to close). Hey, you people don’t need to know the details.

Romney and Ryan aren’t the only boobs in the news lately, of course. There’s this whole Princess Kate (or whatever the hell her official title is) kerfuffle that seems to have so many people freaked out. Now, I think it’s despicable that she had her privacy invaded like that, don’t get me wrong. But, holy christ, it’s not that big a deal (or maybe I should say, they’re not that big a deal) in the scheme of things, is it?

Oh well, time to get on with the day, I guess.

Yes, you. I’m talking to the 47% of Americans who just want to collect their welfare checks and eat bon-bons on the couch while watching Jerry Springer Oprah Winfrey Katie Couric on the teevee. At least, according to Mitt Romney.

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it,”
[…]
“[M]y job is not to worry about those people.

Fucking losers who think they’re entitled to luxuries like food and health care and a place to live. Lazy bastards.

You know, when a David Brooks column refers to you as “Thurston Howell Romney,” you’re definitely doing something wrong.

[Romney’s] comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?

It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. …America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey.

It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture. Americans haven’t become childlike worshipers of big government. On the contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen.

The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.

In a hastily-called press conference, Howell Romney took three whole questions, muttered something about how he was working for everybody and that his comments were “off the cuff” and “not elegantly stated.” He also said – as they always do – that he was taken “out of context” and he demanded the release of the full video.

To which, Mother Jones reporter Adam Serwer tweeted

“Mitt wants the full video huh? Well don’t worry, there’s more to come.”

Be careful what you wish for, Mitt. And how’s about we see some tax returns from a hard-working American like you, huh?

Oh well, time to head off to pick up my food stamps and welfare check. Then it’s off buy a bottle of Mad Dog and some scratch-off lottery tickets.

Good news out of Wisconsin last night:

A Wisconsin judge has struck down Governor Walker’s law ending most collective bargaining for public workers. A circuit judge ruled the law violates the state and the U.S. Constitutions and is null and void. It isn’t clear if the ruling means the law is immediately suspended. We’ll bring you more information as we get it.

Of course, Governor Douchebag will be appealing the ruling, but it’s a good first start (and it seems pretty obvious to me, but then I’m no lawyer).

As we all know, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are going to balance the budget by reducing the tax rate and eliminating some secret tax loop holes. We know this will work, they say, because there are five studies proving it. Well, five-ish.

A closer examination, however, calls into question the fact that there are even five studies at all. Last week, the Romney campaign passed along the five documents that the candidate had referenced on NBC’s Meet the Press. Three of the five are blog posts or op-eds (as opposed to academic literature), and two of those three are written by the same author: Harvard economist Martin Feldstein.

Of the remaining two studies, one is the tax reform white paper authored by Romney-backing economists and paid for by Romney for President, Inc. (in an email to PolitiFact, the Romney campaign highlighted several Wall Street Journal editorials in place of the campaign white paper as the “fifth” study).

The final study, produced by Princeton University’s Harvey Rosen, backs the Romney campaign’s assertions by arguing that people will work more, accumulate more income, pay more taxes, and seek out fewer loopholes if their tax rates are lowered. But even that report has several nuances that complicate the candidate’s use of it

I dunno about you, but I’m pretty confident.

In other news, I was surprised that Justin Bieber had a BN of 4. So I turned to the definitive authority – the Oracle of Bacon (and, yes, there is an app for that).

According to them, Justin Bieber is a 2:

Justin Bieber was in Men in Black 3 (2012) with Josh Brolin.
Josh Brolin was in Hollow Man (2000) with Kevin Bacon.

Justin Bieber was in Men in Black 3? Yes, apparently so. He and Lady Gaga played aliens (not much of a stretch, there).

Google definitely has a faulty Bacon Calculator.

According to the Oracle:

BN # of People
0 1
1 2573
2 285162
3 955841
4 239029
5 18963
6 1754
7 170
8 27

Total number of linkable actors: 1503520
Weighted total of linkable actors: 4503281
Average Kevin Bacon number: 2.995

So we need to find those 27 folks with an 8. That should kill the whole weekend (and the work week, too).

After another very long week, it’s finally Friday. And now there’s a new way to kill the day at work. In case you haven’t heard, the Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation game has now made its way into Google. Just type in “bacon number” and then an actor’s name, and you get the bacon number, and how they came up with it. This may sound silly but, trust me, it’s addictive. And you’ll be pretty hard-pressed to get a number higher than three. And believe me, I tried.

I mean, Lilian Gish? Two.

Lillian Gish and Vittorio Gassman appeared in A Wedding.
Vittorio Gassman and Kevin Bacon appeared in Sleepers.

Theda Bara? Three.

Theda Bara and Herbert Heyes appeared in The Vixen.
Herbert Heyes and James Hong appeared in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing.
James Hong and Kevin Bacon appeared in R.I.P.D..

Elivs – 2. Tiny Tim – 3. Marc Maron – 3.

Not only will this kill a big part of your day, but it will take your mind off of Mitt Romney and all this nasty business in the Middle East, where everybody’s all riled up (hey, thanks for making that crappy movie, guys. Anybody know the names of the actors in it? I’d like to see what their Bacon Numbers are).

Well, time to go and be productive.

Jack Benny – 2. Dawn Wells – 2. Alan Hale Jr – 2. Alan Hale Sr – 3….

Hey, let me know if you get one higher than three.

Hard to believe it’s been 11 years since, well, you know. I don’t know why it’s so hard, seeing as they made such a big deal about the 10th anniversary last year, but it is. As I recall, that day was a Tuesday as well (primary day in NY, which was more or less cancelled). This year, they have decided that no elected officials (hopefully that includes former elected officials and candidates, too) will be allowed to speak at the 9/11 memorial (or whatever they call it) in NYC. That’s probably the single best idea I’ve heard in years.

Remember that infamous Presidential Daily Briefing of August 6, 2001 that said “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” (and which the Bushies scoffed at as just being “historical”)? Turns out, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

On April 10, 2004, the Bush White House declassified that daily brief — and only that daily brief — in response to pressure from the 9/11 Commission, which was investigating the events leading to the attack. Administration officials dismissed the document’s significance, saying that, despite the jaw-dropping headline, it was only an assessment of Al Qaeda’s history, not a warning of the impending attack. While some critics considered that claim absurd, a close reading of the brief showed that the argument had some validity.

That is, unless it was read in conjunction with the daily briefs preceding Aug. 6, the ones the Bush administration would not release. …I have read excerpts from many of them, along with other recently declassified records, and come to an inescapable conclusion: the administration’s reaction to what Mr. Bush was told in the weeks before that infamous briefing reflected significantly more negligence than has been disclosed. In other words, the Aug. 6 document, for all of the controversy it provoked, is not nearly as shocking as the briefs that came before it.

The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be “imminent,” although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible.
[…]
…the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real.
[…]
And the C.I.A. repeated the warnings in the briefs that followed. Operatives connected to Bin Laden, one reported on June 29, expected the planned near-term attacks to have “dramatic consequences,” including major casualties. On July 1, the brief stated that the operation had been delayed, but “will occur soon.” Some of the briefs again reminded Mr. Bush that the attack timing was flexible, and that, despite any perceived delay, the planned assault was on track.

Yet, the White House failed to take significant action
[…]
On July 24, Mr. Bush was notified that the attack was still being readied, but that it had been postponed, perhaps by a few months. But the president did not feel the briefings on potential attacks were sufficient, one intelligence official told me, and instead asked for a broader analysis on Al Qaeda, its aspirations and its history. In response, the C.I.A. set to work on the Aug. 6 brief.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Bush officials attempted to deflect criticism that they had ignored C.I.A. warnings by saying they had not been told when and where the attack would occur. That is true, as far as it goes, but it misses the point. Throughout that summer, there were events that might have exposed the plans, had the government been on high alert. Indeed, even as the Aug. 6 brief was being prepared, Mohamed al-Kahtani, a Saudi believed to have been assigned a role in the 9/11 attacks, was stopped at an airport in Orlando, Fla., by a suspicious customs agent and sent back overseas on Aug. 4. Two weeks later, another co-conspirator, Zacarias Moussaoui, was arrested on immigration charges in Minnesota after arousing suspicions at a flight school. But the dots were not connected, and Washington did not react.

Could the 9/11 attack have been stopped, had the Bush team reacted with urgency to the warnings contained in all of those daily briefs? We can’t ever know. And that may be the most agonizing reality of all.

At least Mitt Romney finally killed Osama. I’m not sure exactly how he did it, but I think it involved forcing him to get Massachusetts-style health care, and he faced a death panel or something.

Well, I hope everyone survived the weekend and the wild and whacky weather we had in the Northeast on Saturday. They predicted all kinds of nasty stuff for us, but at my house we didn’t get much more than some wind and rain. Not that I’m complaining. There were even a couple of tornadoes down in Queens and Brooklyn, so I hope everybody down that way didn’t suffer any major damage. The SU-USC football game (which, sadly, we lost after making a game of it into the fourth quarter, and did more to beat ourselves than SC did) had a 70 minute delay between halves due to a threat of severe weather.

I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished. It was too wet on Saturday to do much, which was OK because I’m still suffering from the poison ivy/oak/sumac/whatever the hell it was I got on me, and didn’t feel like doing much. Yesterday, I managed to do some more deck staining, but I had to wait until things warmed up a bit, so I didn’t get much done. And I didn’t watch much football. Just a minute or two of the Jets killing the Bills (which is always good). I guess this is the year that God is on the Jets side (assuming Obama doesn’t remove God from our society and – more importantly – our currency).

Mitt Romney said he wants to keep the part of Obamacare where people with preexisting conditions cant’ be denied coverage. Whoops, wait, not so fast. Only people who actually already have coverage can’t be denied the coverage (that they already have).

Wouldn’t you think that the RomRyan Express would be willing to tell us just how they’re gonna lower the tax rates and balance the budget? There you go thinking again. No, silly peasants, you’ll only find out what loopholes they’re planning on doing away with after they get elected and it’s too late to stop them. Seems somewhat telling, no?

Speculation, of course, would be to eliminate the home mortgage interest and property tax deductions, count employer contributions to health insurance plans as “compensation,” and who knows what else. If Romney would at least release his taxes, I could tell which loopholes he won’t be closing.

For the first time in 25 years, the Chicago Teacher’s Union is on strike. Best of luck to them. A strike is always hard on everybody – especially public employees, who are typically vilified in the media, and by assholes like “Democrat” Rahm Emanuel. :fist:

Oh well, time to get ready for my nine o’clock meeting (not the biweekly stupid one, but one that will suck anyway, no doubt).