Quote of the Day

"It is sometimes difficult to know what some Republican candidates stand for, as they pander to the far right without alienating the center. It is not difficult to know what Newt Gingrich stands for, and to find it repellent." -- editorial in today's New York Times. The blistering editorial covers some of the slurs Poot has leveled at Dems, minorities, etc. His syrupy, reasonable-sounding announcement as a candidate for President is in direct contrast to his nasty, divisive, and demogogic record.

Why Japan Will Succeed

If one is looking for proof that the Japanese people will overcome the devastating effects of the earthquake/ tsunami and nuclear meltdown, look no further than this piece in today's Kaplan Daily. Read about one official in the obliterated town of Minamisanriku by the name of Jinichi Sasaki. Read about what he's endured and about his determination to see his job through to the end. Remember that this is just one man among thousands -- millions -- who are giving of themselves to make certain Japan heals and prospers in the face of one of the most terrible tragedies any nation has ever faced. What a fortunate country to have such people.

(Photo: Jinichi Sasaki)

Obama Gaining Public Support

The latest Associated Press poll may give the President more comfort about 2012. Fifty-three percent of the public believe President Obama deserves re-election, and 60% approve of the job he's doing. The question about whether the country is on the right track / wrong track is also trending in Obama's favor: 45% now say the country's headed in the right direction, compared to 35% saying that five weeks ago. Those are the best numbers in two years.

Mid-Week Song

The Minneapolis rock band Soul Asylum had a Grammy-winning hit in 1994 that focused attention on missing and runaway children. The trenchant, emotional video for "Runaway Train" featured the faces of actual missing children, and was made in 3 versions with 36 children shown in total. In addition to the song's message, it's a great tune, with nice acoustic guitar work. Trivia: Soul Asylum's lead singer, wild-haired Dave Pirner, once dated actress Winona Ryder.

It's Why We Call Them "Rethugs," Cont.

Earlier this week, Weeper of the House John "Orange Boner" Boehner spoke to the true Rethuglican base: Wall Street. His speech was meant to reassure the assembled money men that they were still masters of the universe and would remain so as long as Rethugs could do anything about it. Needless to say, facts never got in the way of Orange Boner's presentation. Here's a slam dunk rebuttal of Orange Boner's outright lies (and another reason why we call them "Rethugs").

(Photo: Look, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings... jeez, man up!)

Wanker of the Week

Remember "Mission Accomplished"? Remember this picture?



Now, let's hear from our Wanker of the Week, former Bush Chief of Staff and presidential codpiece-stuffer, Andrew "What A" Card, on President Obama in the aftermath of the killing of Osama Bin Laden:

"I think he [Obama] has pounded his chest a little too much."

You, "sir", are not only Wanker of the Week, you are Rethuglican Hypocrite of the Month, and something of a joke to boot.

(photo: Captain Codpiece beat the Iraqis single handedly, we're told)

Rump In A Slump

How the vulgarian has fallen (if that's possible). Carnival barker and would-be Rethug Presidential candidate Donald "Rump" Trump's fallen dramatically in the polls just 10 days after his public humiliation at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where he sat stonefaced as he was ridiculed and laughed at by the entire crowd. With birtherism consigned to the same graveyard as "the Clintons killed Vince Foster," Rump's numbers have imploded: he's now the favorite of only 8% of Rethuglican voters, down from 26% just 2 weeks ago. In other words, all but the craziest Rethugs are telling Rump, "yuh fired!"

Give Me Homophobia, Or Give Me Debt!

In the past, the Beltway media has tended to portray teabaggers as fiscal conservatives, separate from the American Taliban, i.e., religious right-wingers. In remarks today at a press conference, teatard leader "Rev." William "Unholy" Temple proved otherwise. Dressed in his colonial get-up, Unholy Temple proclaimed that his Tea Party Founding Fathers organization would accept an increase to the debt ceiling in exchange for bringing back Don't Ask Don't Tell. So much for libertarian, fiscal conservative small gummint that stays out of your personal life. But then, we knew these dressed-up morons were always the far right fringe on every issue.

(photo: "One if by land and two if by sea, ever seen anyone as idiotic as me?")

Poot To Twitter His Candidacy

Disgraced former House Speaker and Internet tubes hipster Newt "Poot" Gingrich will be announcing he's a candidate for the Rethuglican nomination for President via Facebook and Twitter (=crickets chirping=). Poot, whose third wife Callista is also his former aide, consistently registers in the single digits in Rethug voter preference polls and, significantly, has had problems raising funds for his putative ("poot-ative"?) campaign. He is bound to get some buzz, however, from the Very Serious People we've been talking about recently, since his rep is as a Rethuglican Deep Thinker (an oxymoron if we ever heard one).

Good luck, Poot! Spend as much money in a doomed cause as you possibly can! And let's have some of those Deep Tweets in 140 characters or less!

(Photo: Poot measures the size of his following in the Rethuglican ranks.)

Pakistani Media Try To Out CIA Chief

Amid calls for an investigation of who in Pakistan's government might have abetted Osama Bin Laden's long stay within their borders, Pakistani media are now trying to out the CIA station chief in Islamabad. (There is some dispute over whether they have the correct name, however.) Coming on the heels of Pakistani government officials' denunciation of the raid that killed Bin Laden rather than the fact that he had to have had protectors at the highest levels of the Pakistani military and intelligence services for years, this latest sign that those protectors are still determined to do harm to Americans should strengthen our resolve to reassess our relationship with Pakistan.

(Photo: The Pakistani "street" protests the killing of Bin Laden - via Euronews)

Krugman Educates the Kaplan Daily

In his blog, New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman mocks the editorial position of the Kaplan Daily / WaPo, which seems to say we need more action to reduce unemployment, but then rejects the action that will get us that result:

"Policy wisdom, as the WaPo describes it, is entirely dictated by fear of things that aren’t happening: fiscal expansion will invite an attack by the invisible bond vigilantes, if you try monetary expansion the inflation monster hiding under your bed will come out and eat you. The problem we actually have — the problem the Post says we dare not let happen — doesn’t seem to matter at all."

The "Very Serious Person" cult at the Kaplan Daily -- publishing writers like Charles Kraphammer and Marc Thiessen, who have been wrong almost every time about almost everything-- is a plague on the institution of journalism. No one is ever sanctioned in Very Serious Person-land for screwing up things like Iraq and the economy, they just get a writing gig at the Kaplan Daily.

UPDATE: But some pupils remain dumb as a rock. Calling Lyin' Ryan's Medicare plan "honest" bears the unmistakable hands of Very Serious Persons and Kaplan Daily editorial boarders Fred Hiatt and Ruth Marcus. FAIL.

Happy Mother's Day

In The Months To Come

The New York Times' Charles Blow has a good column on President Obama's temporary bump in the polls after the killing of Osama bin Laden, America's short attention span, and the coming flood of right wing corporate money to diminish and deny Obama's accomplishments. A key quote:

"According to a report issued last week by the Center for Responsive Politics, the Republican Governors Association received more than $60 million — nearly half of all the money it raised — from businesses, lawyers and lobbyists. That was nearly twice as much as the Democratic association received from those sources. And the biggest corporate contributor to the Republicans was, you guessed it: News America, a subsidiary of the News Corporation, which owns Fox News."

Nothing President Obama does will ever win over the right wing tycoons, much less the befuddled teatard sheeple that they've manipulated with a mixture of "socialist/Marxist/Kenyan/Muslim" lies about Obama, and a strong seasoning of racism thrown in.

Cartoon of the Day

Clay Jones, Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star

The Rethug right will never give President Obama credit for his achievements, nor will they accept responsibility for their mismanagement of foreign and economic policy.

Charles Barkley Swings a Mean Golf Club

One of our favorite homespun wits, former basketball star "Sir" Charles Barkley has a notoriously unique... er, bad golf swing, but this may be the first time his club head went further than the ball. The back- and- forth with his tv buddies is hilarious, too.