Quote of the Day

"For Obama, it is not good enough to cast himself as the school principal scolding competing congressional gangs. He needs the courage to defend the government he leads. He needs to declare that he will no longer bargain with those who use threats to shut down the government or force it to default on its debt as tools of intimidation. We’re all a bit weary of Obama telling everyone to be grown-ups, but this would be the grown-up thing to do." -- E.J. Dionne, who lambastes the reckless teatard calls for shutting down the Federal Government, wondering when President Obama will step to the plate and take them on.

Bonus reads: Progressives everywhere seem to be singing from the same hymnal today: see NY Times and Paul Krugman.

A Modest Proposal

In today's Kaplan Daily, there's an interesting article about the antipathy of many in the fine State of Oklahoma toward federal spending. The feeling is summed up by lawyer John Hager, who says "I'm not sure what they [the feds] do has a big impact on my life." The article goes on to present a few facts about the relationship between the federal government and Oklahoma:

-- Oklahoma gets back $1.35 for every $1 its residents and businesses pay in Federal taxes;

-- 7% of the Oklahoma City region's workers are federal employees (more than double the national average), and Federal spending on highways, an FAA center and Tinker Air Force Base employs 20,000 civilians, pumping millions into the prosperous Oklahoma economy;

-- Oklahoma is the most Republican state in the Union (Obama didn't carry a single county), with Rethugs holding 70% of the State's legislative seats.

With all this in mind, and the fervent desire of teabaggers and small gummint ideologues everywhere to defund the federal government, Hackwhackers proposes that we start with Oklahoma: the rugged individuals who go about their lives in blissful ignorance of the benefits they take advantage of while simultaneously railing against federal spending should be the first to step forward as the patriots they (think they) are and take an immediate cut in federal spending, to bring their 1:1.35 tax/spend ratio into perfect balance. How about it Oklahomans?

(Image: Two of the many boobs residing in Oklahoma)

Let's Make A (Bad) Deal

The FY 2011 budget deal that Congress reached to keep the Government open illustrates the relative strength of the teahadist core of the Rethuglican Party, and the relative weakness of the Dems. The $38 billion in cuts is the largest in history, and was taken almost exclusively out of domestic discretionary spending. Since we are past the mid-point in FY 2011, the $38 billion for the remainder of the year annualizes to $76 billion, not far from the original teahadist demand of $100 billion. No special interest tax loopholes were plugged, no sacrifices made by the top income bracket in this whole process.

One bright note: the Rethuglicans failed in their drive to defund Planned Parenthood and thousands of other clinics providing health services for women. Contrary to the misinformation spread by the Rethugs -- and repeated by lazy dopes in the media -- no Federal funds would have gone to abortion services. What the Rethuglican Taliban apparently objects to is that birth control is provided to poor and working women through these clinics (along with breast exams, cancer screenings, and treatment for STDs). Birth control flies in the face of their "abstinence" nonsense, and they dug in their heels. If they had prevailed, some 2 million women could have been faced with unwanted pregnancies, and past trends indicate that as many as 800,000 could have chosen abortion. So we ask, "Why do the teahadist Rethugs want to promote abortion?"

Weekend Song

The film looks like it was done by D.W. Griffith, but the song is classic Everly Brothers. Enjoy your weekend.

Department of Big Surprises

Why is anyone really shocked at the recent poll by PPP that revealed that 46% of Rethuglicans in Mississippi believe that interracial marriage should be illegal? After all, this is the demographic that fled the old Democratic Party in the early '60s over civil rights, and found a happy home in the New Confederate/Rethuglican Party. It's the demographic that believes that B. Hussein Osamabama is an alien Muslim Kenyan, who stole the Presidency from Angry White People, and that joins right-wing militias and gets their jollies from hate radio.

Big surprise.

(note to inJustice Clarence Thomas and wife Ninny Ginny -- you might want to avoid over-nighting in Mississippi; same goes for Sen. Missy McConnell and wife Elaine Chao, Rupert "Moloch" Murdoch and wife Wendy Deng, etc.)

Strange Business in Wisconsin

In a very strange turn of events in Wisconsin, some 14,000 votes from a suburban Milwaukee county were not properly counted initially in the State Supreme Court election. On Wednesday, Rethug jurist David "Prossertute" Prosser -- a supporter of Rethug Gov. Scott "Too Much Johnnie" Walker and a Koch-sniffing corporate tool -- appeared to have lost to Assistant State Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, which would have meant trouble for Scottie's union-busting initiatives.

Now, thanks to Rethuglican Waukesha County Clerk Kathy "Nick O' Time" Nickolaus, Prossertute holds a 7,500 vote lead over Klopperburg. This isn't the first time Nick O' Time has been in hot water over an election:

"An audit of Nickolaus' handling of the 2010 election found she needed to take steps to improve security and backup procedures, including by not sharing passwords. The audit was requested after the county's director of administration said Nickolaus had been uncooperative with attempts to have county experts review her systems and confirm backups were in place."

Nick O' Time also previously worked for a Rethug caucus when Prossertute was Wisconsin Assembly Speaker from 1995 - 1996. She received immunity from prosecution in 2002 during a criminal investigation into activities of the caucus. Good to know that such an upstanding citizen oversees elections.

(photo: "Going once, going twice. . .sold to my corporate contributors.")

Rethug Crime Blotter, Cont'd.

A campaign worker for the Pawlenty Exploratory Committee was arrested by police in Iowa and charged with being drunk in public and trespassing after he attempted to enter a home through the back door. Benjamin "Australian For Beer" Foster was discovered banging on the door of the Steward residence by their 15 year old daughter at 3 a.m. Tim Paw's campaign has put boozing Ben on a two-week suspension.

Maybe that will chill Iowa's far-right social conservatives a bit toward Tim Paw. We'll toast to that!

Bonus #1: "Pawlenty Exploratory Committee" -- henceforth it's members will be referred to as "Pec-kers."

Bonus #2: From the "You can't make this stuff up department:" boozing Ben's middle name is "Limbaugh."

Time for Moderates to Speak Up

With the clock ticking on the fate of the 2011 budget (the White House says Obama will veto any further stopgap measure, calling it a "distraction"), E.J. Dionne says it's time for budget moderates to get off the fence and call out the radicalism of the Rethug/ Lyin' Ryan budget proposal. Let's dispense with the notion being flogged by the "mainstream" media and Villagers that Ryan's proposal is a "courageous" step toward addressing the deficit. Our favorite line:

"There is nothing courageous about [the Rethugs] asking for give-backs from the least advantaged and least powerful in our society."

Update: John Cole has a marvelous rendering of Lyin' Ryan's budget philosophy and the reaction of the credulous dimbulbs in the media.

Kloppenburg Declares Victory in Wisconsin

It was tight as a tick, and a recount is a virtual certainty, but JoAnn Kloppenburg declared victory this afternoon in her race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court against Koch-sucking, Scottie-Walker-complementing incumbent Rethug David Prosser. How tight was it? Out of nearly 1,480,000 votes cast, Kloppenburg's margin is 204 votes. (Sad to know that sane people in Wisconsin only outnumber crazies by 204.)

Based on past performance, we won't be surprised if Rethug sleazies (Walker and his rubber-stampers in the legislature) maneuver to nullify the results.

Mid-Week Song

British-born musician Taio Cruz had a top 10 hit last summer with his dance club pop hit "Dynamite." With Nigerian and Brazilian parentage, he's a walking United Nations, who sounds a lot like Usher. Sorry for the obnoxious "subscription" notes.

Bye Bye Boo Hoo

Raving paleo-right-wing numbnut Glenn "Boo Hoo the Hoot" Beck is leaving Fox "News" Channel at the end of the year, it was announced today. As good as that news is, it must be tempered by a few considerations:

1) Boo Hoo will continue creating "projects" for Fux ("creating" out of the fetid nutscapes of his lizard brain, we might add);

2) What manner of crackpot will Fux want to put in Boo Hoo's time slot? Pastor Terry Jones? Bryan Fischer? A Mama Fizzly/Coulter/ Cheney harpie? Awesome.

Quote of the Day

"Obviously, Republicans want to take back the White House, but so far the field looks like a turn out for a Craigslist ad for a free couch." -- Stephen Colbert, "The Colbert Report," April 5.

The Rethug's Plan for a Diminished America

Harold Meyerson has a column worth reading in today's Kaplan Daily. In his column, Meyerson shows that the plan offered by Rethug budget whiz kid Paul "Lyin'" Ryan is not a budget plan, but a right-wing ideological attack on middle class Dem programs of the last century. As Meyerson says,

"The cover under which Ryan and other Republicans operate is their concern for the deficit and national debt. But Ryan blows that cover by proposing to reduce the top income tax rate to just 25 percent. He imposes the burden for reducing our debt not on the bankers who forced our government to spend trillions averting a collapse but on seniors and the poor. The reductions in aid to the poor, says the budget blueprint that Ryan released, will be made 'to ensure that America’s safety net does not become a hammock that lulls able-bodied citizens into lives of complacency and dependency.' That’s a pretty good description of America’s top bankers, but Ryan’s budget showers them with tax cuts."

Did you catch Lyin's petty dig at those lazy middle class people looking for a hammock? Why next thing you know, those Negro bucks will be jumping in their Cadillacs, getting t-bone steaks with food stamps.

It's worth noting -- even if the Beltway media avoids it -- that Lyin' Ryan's budget plan doesn't hold water in terms of the claims it makes. It's the same Rethug formula: cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, slash regulations for environmental protection and health care, and ditch sustainable energy initiatives. What taxes that are collected come disproportionately from over-burdened middle and lower income citizens.

If America buys this repugnant con job, we're in a world of hurt.

Wingnuts in the News - Police Blotter Edition

Today we have the stories of two right-wing crackpots who characteristically believe they have supreme moral authority and the right to mete out punishment accordingly:

This fool killed his neighbor because the neighbor's dog wandered into his yard a little too often. Gun and property rights forever!

This homophobic crank tried to attack a Gauguin painting at the National Gallery of Art because she thought it was about lesbianism. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness for me, not for you!

Kaine To Run For Senate

Dems got some good news today as former Democratic National Committee Chairman and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by retiring Dem Sen. Jim Webb. Kaine was a popular Governor, as was his mentor, Sen. Mark Warner, and should give the Dems as good a chance as any to retain the seat. A likely opponent will be former Gov. George "Macaca" Allen, whom Webb defeated in 2006, and who was his own worst enemy with repeated slurs and gaffes that revealed a bigoted side.