Saturday Song

Peter Townshend, of The Who, had this catchy, solo hit in 1980. Enjoy.

People's Republic of Madison

Balloon Juice's John Cole has some amusing observations in his visit to our old stomping grounds, Madison, Wisconsin. Good stuff here, here, here, and here.

(And, lastly, here. Hee hee. Be sure to file your report, John!)

A Lie Rectified

In a bit of unfinished business left over from the Nixon years, an Air Force General, John Lavelle, who was demoted for allegedly ordering bombing runs over North Vietnam, is being posthumously restored to his previous rank, after it was determined that President Richard "The Crook" Nixon actually ordered the bombings. The Crook not only failed to step forward and admit that Lavelle was following his orders, he lied in public when he called for Gen. Lavelle's resignation for disobeying orders. We're shocked, SHOCKED! at The Crook's behavior. So unlike him.

It seems that the Rethuglican / New Confederate Party embarked on a darker road beginning with The Crook and his crew. The Southern Strategy, campaigning with smears and personal attacks, the unholy alliance with the American Taliban / Moral Majority all happened from The Crook onward. This is just another reminder of the time when the Rethugs started to lose their way.

The "Right-Wing Gay's Judy Garland?"

Suspected (by me) transgendered wingnut harridan (M)Ann Coulter will be the headliner at "Homocon 2010," a conference of gay right-wingers being held in September. The conference will be held in the men's room at the Minneapolis airport (just kidding - but they likely could accommodate all the self-loathing gay wingnuts in there). More laughable is her being touted as the "homocon's Judy Garland!" One wonders how finely the acerbic Ms. Garland would have sliced and diced the homophobic Coulter had they ever met!

Now, I could have understood if they dubbed her the "homocon's Ru Paul."

Kagan Confirmed

By a vote of 63 to 37, Elena Kagan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate today. She becomes the fourth female Supreme Court justice, and the second appointed by President Obama, following last year's appointment of Justice Sonya Sotomayor. Five Rethugs voted for confirmation (Lugar, Gregg, Collins, Graham, and Snowe), with one "Democrat," Nebraska's Ben "Dover" Nelson opposing her confirmation. Wish we could send Ben Dover packing.

Congrats to the new Justice, and to the White House for chalking up another victory.

Have You Noticed. . . .

. . .that there hasn't been much talk from the likes of hate radio's Pills Limpballs and Fux about global warming these hot, record-setting summer days? Hmmmm. Doesn't fit their science-free, mindless propaganda-based message to their ditto heads. We recall their wall-to-wall flapping about all of the snowfall this past winter demonstrating that global warming was a "hoax" (any Northerner will tell you that the coldest air is dry).

This should be a perfect storm of a year for getting climate change legislation enacted: the Gulf oil spill, record-setting temperatures (e.g., hottest June on record), el Nino revving up stronger than ever, etc. It's a shame that Congressional Dems, and to some extent the White House, are fearful of responding to Rethug lies about climate change, despite mounting evidence and a majority in both Houses. Again, the good guys are playing "defense" while the opposition is working the news cycle.

(photo: No Christmas in July for the Piggish Pillpopper)

Those Constitution Lovin' Rethugs

We've all heard Rethugs and their tea bagger component (i.e., their far right base) constantly yelling about the subversion of the U.S. Constitution by the "socialist" Obama Administration. Whether it's health insurance reform or the stimulus, the wingers would have us believe that they are the last line of defense for a Constitution that's under attack. Well, they have met the enemy, and they is them.

There are calls within the Rethuglican ranks for a repeal of parts of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law and establishes standards for citizenship. The glaring irony is that it was enacted following the Civil War by Republicans as part of post-Civil War amendments designed to reverse the effects of slavery. E. J. Dionne has the complete story, and it's well worth reading. It demonstrates just how radically right-wing the modern Rethug party has become.

Mid-Week Song

"I Saw Her Again Last Night" wasn't the biggest seller of theirs, but it has a nice upbeat, jangly/folky quality that represents the best of their tunes. Sadly, only Michelle Phillips survives from the original 4.

President Shizzle

We thought Rethuglican National Committee chairclown Michael "The Shizzle" Steele had met his gaffe-a-week limit on Monday, when he was punked into making disparaging comments about former Rethug Sen. Norm Coleman, who's rumored to be interested in The Shizzle's job. We were wrong.

There are reports that The Shizzle has sent a form e-mail out to the diplomatic community in Washington, seeking meetings with them. Rethuglican leaders and operatives are scratching their heads. We believe that the fundamental problem is that The Shizzle thinks he plays a role parallel to the President's, sort of a government-in-exile. He virtually said as much when he began his ill-fated term as chairclown. So The Shizzle thinks that he should be in touch with foreign governments, like the President is, because he thinks that's his role as the "out of office" President. Someone needs to stage an intervention, but please, for the Dems' sake, not before the elections.

(photo: Maybe The Shizzle will dazzle the diplomatic corps with his tap dancing)

Guess Who's 49 Today?

Our 44th President, that's who. Born August 4, 1961 in HONOLULU, HAWAII, USA. (Just watch, there will be a birther somewhere who will pop up today and play the fool).

As the Wasilla World Turns, Cont.

As we suspected a while ago, the engagement of Bristol Palin and Levi "Big Johnson" Johnston is toast. Saying "he played me," a tearful Bristol says she cut off Big Johnson (hee hee) on the same day they announced their engagement in a US Weekly cover story. Talk about a cover jinx!

Mama Grizzly/ Winky You Betcha issued a statement saying, "Without fear of refudiation, I have to say that girl is dumber than me!" No, actually, she said hopefully in the future Bristol will "know to trust but verify." Leave it to Mama Grizzly to drag St. Ronald Magnus Reaganus into the star-crossed couple's sordid little drama.

Put A Confederate Flag to Good Use

One of our favorite bloggers, "Gen. J.C. Christian" of the "Jesus' General" blog, tells Talking Points Memo that he's planning to burn a Confederate flag at an upcoming tea bagger rally on September 12. Teatards, and their philosopher/king Boo Hoo the Hoot Beck, have used the day after the anniversary of 9/11 to try to paint opposition to right wing fanaticism as "unpatriotic." Confederate flags have proliferated at tea bagger rallies ("but we're not racist!").

We hope this idea spreads like, er, wildfire. Outfits like the NAACP, MoveOn.org and other progressive organizations should get behind it. Who can object to burning a flag that stands for treason against the U.S. and for a system of slavery? We mean besides tea baggers. . .

Quote of the Day

"When you get in your car, when you go forward, what do you do? You put it in 'D.' When you want to go back, what do you do? You put it in 'R.' You don't want to go back in reverse back in the ditch. We want to go forward. We got to put it in 'D.'" -- President Obama, speaking yesterday at a fundraiser in Atlanta. This is a simple, yet very effective reminder of what the Rethugs would offer: more of the past policies that screwed up our economy and beyond. A sign that this message will draw blood was Joe Doucheborough's offended reaction on his show this morning. Good, it's long past time to remind voters of how we got into the messes that the Rethugs caused and refuse to clean up.

The Shizzle Is Punked

It's Monday, so it must be time for another political blooper from Rethuglican National Committee chairclown Michael "The Shizzle" Steele. This time the gaffe machine was interviewed by someone that he thought was a big donor, and proceeded to brag that he could beat former Sen. Norm Coleman for the RNC chairmanship if Coleman runs against him. The caller turned out to be a freelance reporter from New York.

Frankly, no one is betting that The Shizzle will last much beyond the 2010 mid-term elections, given his multiple monumental screw ups this past year, from the RNC's bondage-themed night out to the "get outa Afghanistan" debacle. Fundraising by the RNC has been a joke. But don't tell The Shizzle he's on the skids, he has more bloopers to produce before his time is up.

(illustration: The Shizzle's new business card)

Our Broken Media, Cont.

When veteran reporter Helen Thomas lost her job and coveted front-row seat at daily White House press briefings, the jostling was on as to which news organization would get the vacated seat. Would it be Bloomberg News? NPR? Well, it turns out no news organization ended up with the seat. Rather, GOP-TV -- a.k.a. Fox "News" -- was awarded the seat by vote of the White House Correspondents Association, a collection of useful idiots that somehow have concluded that Fox is a "news organization" rather than a 24/7 right-wing propaganda machine owned by a right-wing mogul and run by a right-wing political hack. Even Fox's complicity in the recent Sherrod affair wasn't enough proof for these numbnuts that whatever Fox is peddling, it ain't "news."