Reminder

Reminder: the Teabaggers aren't racist, they're just strict conservatives that really hate big government and socialism.

Related

While the whole "meme" thing is beyond me, I must admit this struck a chord with me for some unknown reason.

Forgotten

With all the fake uproar over the deficit and birthers and all that, it's easy to forget that there are a few wars on.

As everybody (except our feckless press) knew would happen, our latest adventure in killing brown peopleliberation is ramping up toward the seemingly inevitable long-term ground war.

Iraq continues to be a complete cluster fuck that nobody wants to talk about.

And the original forgotten war, rages on.

You'll note all those links go to The Guardian in the UK. That's obviously because the US press is moronic, inane, and vacuous.

Thankfully, there are exceptions. Believe it or not, McSweeney's has been running a great series on Afghanistan written by a US service member serving there. It paints a mostly bleak picture, but is an amazing read. Check it out: In These Deserts.

Objectively Terrible

Since Randian supermen are everywhere these days, "producing" all sorts of great things, like this piece of shit, and this bag of vomit, I figured it'd be a good time to put up some of my favorite Ayn Rand take downs.

They start way back in 1957. Note: that's the National Fucking Review, where the current front page features this idiot and this doughy pantload. Today's conservatives sure have come a long way.

Then there's this delightfully uncivil one.

And two of my favorites, an older one and a great fresh new one, both reminding us just what total and utter hucksters Alan Greenspan and his favorite fascist were.

So, if you have any glibertarian douchebags in your families, like I do, be sure to pass these links along. They're sure to liven up your next family gathering!

Where's the birth certificate?

The birthers are back! While I'm not a real fan of our "compromise at any cost" weak-ass president, he's marginally better than the other options, and the birther thing is just fucking stupid!

So, as an answer to all those birther fuckwits (yes, I'm talking about you, Trump) especially those with the "Where's the birth certificate" bumper stickers, I created some convenient business cards you can print and do with as you see fit.

There are civil and uncivil versions, and also letter-sized sheets of each for convenient printing.

Will it do any good? Of course not, but WTF.

I Love Oregon, take 2

While I don't think a perfectly-evenly-divided legislature is overall a good thing, it is undeniably better than a Republican-led one, and this is pretty goddamn funny.

Retro

For no discernible reason, I really want one of these (the top one). Ah, memories.

I love Oregon

Just got this e-mail from one of our Senators (Jeff Merkley):

For months now, the House Republicans - led by Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) - have been promising a bold, new plan to cut the deficit.

After much anticipation, Rep. Ryan released his plan today. But it's hardly a bold, new plan. Instead, Ryan's plan is a rehash of the same old failed ideas they've been touting for years.

What's the Republican solution to our budget crisis? More tax cuts for the wealthy and big multinational corporations; attacks on our teachers, firefighters, and other public servants; and announced today, a plan to end Medicare and give our seniors coupons for private health insurance.

Unbelievable.

Make no mistake: No one is going to kill Medicare on my watch. We're not going to go back to the days when many of America's seniors were living in destitute poverty without access to health care. We've made a solemn commitment to our seniors, and we're not going to break that promise.

So, how do we bring down the deficit?

* End the exclusive tax breaks available only to millionaires and billionaires.

* End the subsidies for the highly-profitable oil and gas industries.

* Bring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a responsible end.

* Get our economy back on track - by investing in education and clean energy technology, boosting manufacturing, and keeping families in their homes by fixing the broken housing market.

Of course, I'd prefer he was a bit more harsh and direct in his language (e.g. "Fuck You Paul Ryan, why don't you leave us alone and get back to fucking Ayn Rand's corpse."), but in the meek Senate, this is pretty good. Keep it up Jeff.

The Mustache of Misunderstanding

The cab driver in Thomas Friedman's gut is talking again. From an interview with Matt Lauer on this morning's Today show:

"my gut tells me any kind of decent outcome there [Libya] will be requiring boots on the ground, either as military help for the rebels to oust Gadhafi as we want or as post Gadhafi peacekeepers and referees between tribes. Those boots cannot be ours. We cannot afford it whether in terms of money, manpower, energy or attention. I am dubious that our allies can or will handle it without us."

And

"The thing to keep in mind is there are two different states in the world -- real countries with long histories and big majorities, Egypt, Tunisia. They went smoothly because it was everybody against dad. Now the revolutions are moving out to tribes with flags. States with big sectarian tribal communities. When you take the lid off those states, you can unleash a civil war. What we saw in Iraq is if you don't have somebody in place on the ground to referee that, you could end up with a Somalia."

Then they tie that in to Iran, for no apparent reason, and then continue to spend the last 45 seconds talking about Afghanistan:

(Lauer): We are seeing violence there that seems to be related to the pastor in Florida and his small congregation and their burning of the Koran. I want to leave that part out of it, but it shows us Afghanistan is still an unsettled country, isn't it?

(Mustache of Misunderstanding): What the whole incident shows us, Matt, is basically what kind of deep anti-foreign influences still exist in Afghanistan. They were triggered in this case by the Koran burning. Next week they could be triggered by a traffic accident. What's troubling is after all the time and money we spent there you still have huge anti-foreign and to some degree anti-American sentiment that doesn't bode well for the morning after the morning after.

So, to try to digest this great insight:

1) Libya won't be settled without "boots on the ground" but those boots can't be ours but our allies can't or won't handle it without us. Nothing offered as to what should be done in this conundrum. Evidently it's just enough to talk about it, perhaps he should go for another cab ride and see if he comes up with a brilliant solution.

2) I'm really glad that Egypt and Tunisia are now perfectly functioning secular democracies, I hadn't heard of that development. I am a bit surprised though that just telling people to "Suck. On. This." doesn't lead to magic sparkleponies for everyone. I seem to remember that's how it used to work. I wonder what changed? Anyway, now that Iraq is Somalia(WTF?) what next? Also, which of the two kinds of states is Florida? I'm leaning toward "big sectarian tribal communities" that like to burn Korans, but I don't get paid to write crap for the NYT.

3) Those crazy Afghanis, taking little things like Koran burning by a bunch of frothing-at-the-mouth racist Floridians as serious as a traffic accident. They should really be more appreciative of our freedom bombs.

It's a good thing we have these folks to shape the discourse of our foreign policy. We're in good hands.