February 24, 2005
February 23, 2005
They come not to praise Social Security
...but to bury it.
When Republicans chant "Social Security has got to go!" (link via just about everyone), I think it's pretty safe to say they're not all that interested in saving it.
I believe a while ago I was involved in a dispute in the comments as to whether or not president Bush wanted to kill Social Security. Well, his proposal for private accounts - according to him - does exactly dick to "save" Social Security and the members of his party are gleefully (and stupidly, I might add - more power to 'em!) chanting that it's "got to go."
So, um, yeah, I don't believe I was engaged in demagoguery.
February 22, 2005
February 20, 2005
The state of conservative discourse
Conservative blogger responds to an email about Gannon (link via Daily Kos):
You dumb shit... you stupid asshole... Go crawl back into your hole, you stupid left-wing shithead. And don't bother us anymore. You have to have an IQ over 50 to correspond with us. You don't qualify, you stupid shit.
Ah. Touché! Was that one of Oscar Wilde's?
Methinks he doth protest too much
Kos makes a good point about Howard Kurtz's concern about delving into Gannon/Guckert's so-called "private" life that was, you know, on the Internet:
Apparently, he doesn't know that prostition is the world's oldest profession. People are digging into Guckert's professional life, not his private life.
Follow that up with Atrios' flashback to Kurtz's treatment of Dick Morris and it spells just one thing: hack.
February 19, 2005
Cool!
Some acquaintances of mine - Wil Shipley, Mike Matas and Drew Hamlin - who put out the totally bitching Delicious Library made the local news.
Looking good, gentlemen!
The difference between certain nuts
TBogg points out the difference between Ward Churchill and Ann Coulter: Coulter's gainfully employed.
Must be nice to be a crazy demagogue and still get invited to the party.
February 18, 2005
The Howler
Somerby, incomperably, makes a good point.
The transition cost of Bush's privatization plan is not $1 trillion, it's not $2 trillion, it's not even $4.5 trillion.
It's $15 trillion.
Also, don't miss Charles Krauthammer telling Ross Perot that his U.S. treasury bonds are worthless pieces of paper down at the bottom.
It's like these guys came out of a survivalist cabin in Idaho and proclaimed that the gubbiment has no ability to issue bonds.
What else is worthless? All those cool state quarters they've been minting? The new nickels? Presumably everything but the dime, as soon as they can get Reagan's face on it.
Shorter Krauthammer (to be said in voice of Kang from the Simpsons): YOUR RETIREMENT IS DOOMED! DOOOOOOOMED! END COMMUNICATION.
February 15, 2005
Shorter Bush Administration to POWs
"No amount of money can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of this very brutal regime and at the hands of Saddam Hussein," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters when asked about the case in November 2003.Government lawyers have insisted, literally, on "no amount of money" going to the Gulf War POWs. "These resources are required for the urgent national security needs of rebuilding Iraq," McClellan said.
February 14, 2005
Playing the game you know.
See, this makes sense to me.
Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice... all of these goofballs came to office having focused their careers on the Soviet block during the cold war. So, what do you do when the rules change? Try to change 'em back.
They're just trying to create an Islamic block.
February 11, 2005
GAH!
There seems to be a lot of concern about what the Republicans "have" on Howard Dean and how much they're going to turn up the noise machine to attack his chairmanship.
Jesus fucking Christ, haven't we seen this movie?
I'm the first to say that there's no way to tell whether Dean would have had a better chance against Bush than Kerry had he won the nomination instead. But you'd think that after the Swift Boat Veterans Against Veterans attack the lesson might have sunk in that no one is bulletproof.
Yes, they'll play the scream over and over and, yes, they'll hurl whatever dirty they can fabricate at him.
They will do that to anyone.
You don't win the game by playing nothing but defense. We picked the guy with the best offense to be the chairman of our party.
Good times. Good times.
Remember the quaint old days before 9/11 when lying under oath could get you impeached?
Ha-ha! Ahhhh...
We were all so young!
You, particularly! I mean, look at you! All that hair! Ha-ha! All dressed up in that grunge wear! That plaid shirt was like three sizes too big for you!
Oh, for fun!
Well, in this post-9/11 world of things that have happened since 9/11, it's good to see that we don't let little things like lying to Congress under oath prevent someone who's done such a bang-up job prosecuting the war on things loosely tied to terror from getting promoted.
I mean, we didn't let her incompetence bother us, why should we let a little thing like lying?
February 09, 2005
Flush
That sound you just heard was the president of the United States flushing the last of our national integrity down the drain by saying U.S. bonds are worthless.
And, as Marshall points out, that almost certainly violates his oath of office.
But, message received: Bush would rather the U.S. default on its loans than raise taxes on his rich friends.
Actually, even that's not true. He'd rather the U.S. default on its loans so he can dismantle a highly popular and succesful social program that keeps the elderly from dying in a cardboard box under an overpass.
Nice.
February 07, 2005
Smackdown
Cole continues to kick Jonah's ass up and down the street. (Link via Atrios.)
Intellectually speaking, of course.
Well, and then there's this:
I don't think there is anything at all unpatriotic about a young man opposing a war and declining to enlist. But a young man (and this applies to W. and Cheney too) who mouths off strongly about the desirability of a war is a coward and a hypocrite if he does not go to fight it.
Indeed.
And Cole notes essentially what I mentioned previously:
The thing that really annoyed me about Goldberg's sniping was it reminded me of how our country got into this mess in Iraq. It was because a lot of ignorant but very powerful and visible people told the American people things that were not true.
And, by the way, it'd be nice if we had more people who actually know something about anything call out these ass-clowns who know nothing about everything.
Shorter Jonah Goldberg
"The Iraq War was well worth the cost I paid for it. Which is nothing."
And, really, he's too busy to spend any more time on having his ass handed to him so if you'd just not pay attention anymore that'd be great.
February 06, 2005
Killing Social Security
If you're having trouble figuring out the whole Social Security debate, Josh Marshall has lengthy, but worth while post that helps explain why, yes Virginia, George Bush is trying to kill the program.
Short story: Social Security was designed as a defined benefit plan - where you could count on what you'd get out of it later in life. Bush wants to replace that with a defined contribution plan - where you determine how much you put in, but what you get out later depends on market performance.
That, kids, is killing Social Security.
February 05, 2005
Inexperts
It struck me after reading Juan Cole's complete takedown of Johah Goldberg (link via Daily Kos) that it was largely endemic of the last four years. People who know absolutely nothing about a given subject matter and stand to gain personally by defending the indefensible side have been treated as equals to subject matter experts. That is perhaps the greatest single thing that keeps the conservative house of cards from collapsing.
"Global warming is a farce!" says group of scientists (many of whom turn out to be Republican dentists).
"Social security is doomed!" say retirement experts (who turn out to be stock brokers).
"Iraq has nuclear weapons!" says pundit (i.e. nitwit son of conservative media mogul).
Like Goldberg, I don't know squat about the Middle East. Unlike Goldberg, I don't get paid handsomely to pontificate about it.
February 03, 2005
Flim-flam artist
You know, I'm fairly certain that there are rules in the mutual fund industry against making claims about future returns from the stock market.
It's a shame the same rules don't apply to the president.
February 02, 2005
Whew
OK - looks like things are back to normal. I'm approving comments for the time being just to try it, so your comment won't appear immediately after you post it. I doubt I'll keep doing it that way though as it seems a pain.
February 01, 2005
Fucked
Well, I can post but the whole thing is screwed. The MT style sheet is hosed for some reason - everything is just aligned down the left side - and many of the buttons don't work.
Gah.
