Wankers Of The Week - George Will And The Competitive Enterprise Institute

This week, as we celebrated Earth Day, the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle has chosen to cede valuable space on its op/ ed page to the likes of Sam Kazman and Kent Lassman (Kaz and Lass, man!), of the Competitive Enterprise Institute who are claiming Oppression! at the hands of environmentalist gummint.  It appears Attorneys General in 16 States have subpoenaed the Institute's funding records to show the extent to which they were/ are paid shills of the fossil fuel industry and associated right- wing plutocrats;  more specifically, the Institute's role in disseminating cooked disinformation about global climate change over the past decade or more in order to delay action. (What is the Competitive Enterprise Institute?  It's a libertarian rats nest that's been funded by the Koch brothers, other right- wing crank wankers like the Scaifes and, of course, completely uninterested parties like Exxon/Mobil and Texaco.)  OK, so we know where those grifters are coming from.

Well, in what appears to be a coordinated attack, Fox "News'" and once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle columnist- for- sale George "Effing" Will just happens to have pooped out a column that joins the shills in decrying the gummint's attempt to smoke out the weasels "shut down debate" on climate change.  Never one to miss an opportunity to take a shot at his bete noire, the sneering Will (who seems to have been in full backpedal mode on climate change recently, along with the rest of his reactionary party, btw) blames it all on "authoritarian" progressives:

Authoritarianism, always latent in progressivism, is becoming explicit. Progressivism’s determination to regulate thought by regulating speech is apparent in the campaign by 16 states’ attorneys general and those of the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, none Republican, to criminalize skepticism about the supposedly “settled” conclusions of climate science. 

Supposedly settled.  Hmmm.  Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know, yeah, it's settled -- but go ahead and ask rocket scientists.  Remember, Will's not a climate scientist!  He's a skeptic because Progressivism!  Also, Al Gore!  Also, delay, delay, delay!

Finally ("Is it irresponsible to speculate?  It would be irresponsible not to!"-- P. Noonan), we wonder if opening the books of the Institute would cause some discomfort among certain shall we say bow- tie- wearing columnists who may have received remuneration for disseminating the Institute's non- fact- based "skepticism" on climate change over the years?

(h/t P.E.C.)

The Pope And His Detractors

(click on image to enlarge)

(Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle)

With the impending visit of Pope Francis to the United States this week, there's a new poll out showing the Pope is wildly popular with both Catholics and non-Catholics;  his church, not so much:

Pope Francis is adored by American Catholics and non-Catholics, who have embraced his optimism, humility and more inclusive tone. But as the 78-year-old pontiff arrives in the United States for his first visit, the public’s view of the Catholic Church is not nearly as favorable, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. [snip]

The pope’s activism on social, economic and environmental issues is supported by a wide swath of Catholics and non-Catholics, with just 14 percent of Americans wishing he would be less active on those issues. Thirty percent of Catholics wish he would be more active on those issues, while more than half think Francis should continue as he has been. Just over half of non-Catholics are comfortable with his current level of outspokenness.

The poll also found limited discomfort about Francis’s speech Thursday before a joint meeting of Congress, the first for any pope. Two-thirds of Catholics said it was appropriate for him to address social, economic and environmental issues before lawmakers, as did nearly 6 in 10 among the public overall.  (our emphasis)

 Immune to the Pope's charms are paleo-reactionaries like Republican cafeteria Catholic Rep. Paul Gosar (Fossil-AZ), who will boycott the Pope's address to Congress, and plutocrats' best friend columnist George "Quill" Will, whose tiny Tory fists are clenched in unholy rage against the Pontiff's messages of social and economic justice, and saving the planet:

Pope Francis embodies sanctity but comes trailing clouds of sanctimony. With a convert’s indiscriminate zeal, he embraces ideas impeccably fashionable, demonstrably false and deeply reactionary. They would devastate the poor on whose behalf he purports to speak — if his policy prescriptions were not as implausible as his social diagnoses are shrill. 

Wow.  We might maybe give half a s**t about what "Quill" Will had to say about "sanctimony" had he, say, addressed the previous two conservative Pontiffs turning a largely blind eye to the pedophile crisis in the Church.  Or if "Quill" Will himself didn't absolutely reek of the sanctimony he falsely pins on Pope Francis (Will is, of course, a climate-change denier with ties to the fossil fuel industry; and an "independent journalist" who secretly helped St. Ronnie of Hollywood prepare for debates;  his second wife now works for Gov. Scott "Koch Head" Walker -- nice fellah).

Will, of course, is not alone in his Pope-rage.  Right-wing squealers from "Oxycontin" Rush Limbaugh to dullard pols like Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum have criticized the Pope's refreshing new emphasis on issues that matter to people and the Earth.  Watching the tiny heads of these awful people explode is part of the pleasure in having Pope Francis speak out, knowing the vast majority of the public embraces him.

BONUS:  Charles P. Pierce rips Will a new one.

George Will Must Think Most Americans Are Extremists, Too

In the latest addition to the bulging "George F. Will is an asshole" file, guess who Will thinks are "extremists"?  ISIS?  "Sovereign citizens"?  Occupy Wall Streeters?

In his column today, "The Man With No Mirrors" names 48 of them, all Democratic Senators.  Why (other than the fact that he's deranged) does Will think they're extremists?  Because they're sponsoring legislation to amend the Constitution's Bill of Rights to prohibit corporations and plutocrats from making limitless political contributions, an obscenity ushered in by the Republican Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United.  Will would like us to believe corporations are "people, my friend," so corporate/ plutocrat campaign contributions to continue to flow freely into Republican coffers, while at the same time suppressing Democratic voting and the ability of unions to organize and prosper.

Oh, by the way, there are a whole lot more than 48 Democratic Senators who think, unlike Will, that Citizens United was a very bad decision:  like 80 percent of the American people (that's "people", Will, not "corporations").

(Photo:  "The Man With No Mirrors" is keeping an eye on those/ us "extremists.")

Sunday Reading: The Sublime And The Asinine

Carol Anderson, associate professor of African American studies and history at Emory University, has a must-read piece in this morning's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, "Ferguson Isn't About Black Rage."  Anderson tells us that, rather than black rage being the culprit in incidents such as the killing of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, MO, it is white rage at the progress being made by blacks in this country that's fueling the latest "wave of fear and anger:"

It’s more subtle — less overtly racist — than in 1865 or even 1954. It’s a remake of the Southern Strategy, crafted in the wake of the civil rights movement to exploit white resentment against African Americans, and deployed with precision by Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. As Reagan’s key political strategist, Lee Atwater, explained in a 1981 interview: “You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘N-----, n-----, n-----.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘n-----’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like ‘forced busing,’ ‘states’ rights’ and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that.” (The interview was originally published anonymously, and only years later did it emerge that Atwater was the subject.) 

Now, under the guise of protecting the sanctity of the ballot box, conservatives have devised measures — such as photo ID requirements — to block African Americans’ access to the polls. A joint report by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the NAACP emphasized that the ID requirements would adversely affect more than 6 million African American voters. (Twenty-five percent of black Americans lack a government-issued photo ID, the report noted, compared with only 8 percent of white Americans.) The Supreme Court sanctioned this discrimination in Shelby County v. Holder , which gutted the Voting Rights Act and opened the door to 21st-century versions of 19th-century literacy tests and poll taxes.

The disproportionate effects of the recession and the right-wing's efforts to weaken social safety net programs and the public sector in general are also part of this pattern, as Anderson points out.  (And to be sure, the right is also fighting advancement and enfranchisement of Hispanics, women, LGBTs, and anyone who might be considered a potential Democratic voter).  The election (and re-election) of Barack Obama was simply the most recent cause for the unleashing of the white right's rage.

While we're on the subject of white rage, look no further than the same once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle for the latest rage-gasm from George "The Man With No Mirrors"  Will.  Will's op/ed (here's the link, but you're just going to waste several minutes of your life that you can't get back if you read the whole thing) is yet another stab at perpetuating the image of Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan (Galt-WI) as a giant intellect of conservatism (well, considering the comparative brainpower on the right, maybe he has a point).  In the process, though, Will shows that he's still (white) enraged at the way President Obama dealt with Ryan's 25-watt intellect in an incident from over 3 years ago. Then, he took a personal swipe at the President:

[Obama] demonstrated the self-­destructive nature of his now-evaporating presidency by his contemptuous, and contemptible, treatment of Ryan on April 13, 2011. After he loftily aspired to teach Washington civility, the White House invited Ryan to sit in the front row at a speech in which Obama gave an implacably hostile and mendacious depiction of Ryan’s suggestions for entitlement reforms [ed. note: bullshit]. Obama thereby repeated his tawdry performance in his 2010 State of the Union address, when, with Supreme Court justices in the front row of the House chamber, he castigated them for the Citizens United decision, which he misrepresented [ed. note: bullshit again]. 

Both times, Obama’s behavior bespoke the insecurity of someone who, surrounded by sycophants, shuns disputations with people who can reply. Ryan, however, has replied with a book that demonstrates Obama’s wisdom in not arguing with a man who has a better mind and better manners.  (our emphasis)

A "better mind and better manners?"  Asinine on many levels.  We seem to recall Joe Biden already did a beautiful job of popping Ryan's deep thought balloons.  But that was one white guy schooling another white guy, so no multi-year umbrage from Will.  So are we the only ones who detect more than a whiff of condescending plantation racism in Will's wording?  To us, that wasn't even dog whistling, that was a siren.  Should the twice-elected President of the United States not presume to challenge his white betters?

If the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle had a soul, this would be Will's last column for them.  Unfortunately, they don't and it won't.  But, we'll add this to the bulging "George Will is an ass" file anyway.

BONUS:  If you're still not convinced there's a problem in the Ferguson, MO, police force, check this out.

BONUS II:  Still not convinced there's a discrepancy between police treatment of whites and blacks? Remember this?  And we won't even get into Cliven "Hoof" Bundy and his band of armed thugs.

Letters We Wish We'd Written - George Will Is An Ass Dept.

In today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, one of three letters taking to task a recent progressives-bashing screed by Tory plutocrat BFF George "Let Them Eat Quiche" Will:

Regarding George F. Will’s Dec. 29 column, “Bad year for progressives”:

Skipping over the flights of self-indulgence that so endear Mr. Will’s writing to me — liberals are guilty of “bottomless condescension toward the public and limitless faith in their own cleverness”? What is that saying about pots and kettles?

I’d like to examine one little point Mr. Will mentioned without really unpacking: He cited, as examples of liberal overreach at its worst, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s progressivism and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program.

First, Mr. Will claimed that voters rebuked this utter tyranny, but I seem to recall these being the eras that created Social Security and Medicare, two of the most popular government programs in history. If universal support is a rebuke, well, let us liberals be rebuked again.

Second, the Great Society left us with museums, public broadcasting and expanded transportation networks. Perhaps the thing many voters find most offensive about conservatism is how little it produces in exchange for its overwhelming kindness to the rich. I have yet to see an exhibit at the “Museum Funded by a Government You Can Drown in a Bathtub” or to drive to New York on the “Interstate You Stand Astride Yelling Stop.” Conservatism is the movement of poverty — of people, of ideas, of legacy.

Josh Raisher, Washington

Thank you, Mr. Raisher.

There's also this succinct piece on Will's laughable lack of self- awareness (not to mention his historical revisionism) by the wonderful Charles P. Pierce.  Both pieces will now and forever appear in the bulging "George Will is an ass" file.