For Fun

Check out this new internet meme on Secretary of State Clinton, "Texts From Hillary." It's a humorous and complimentary send-up showing Secretary Clinton receiving and responding to imaginary texts from various people.

Clinton's popularity is at an all-time high (66 percent overall, 40 percent among Rethuglicans), and she's mostly shed the earlier false image of her, created by the wingnutosphere and the Rethug political apparatus. We still think she'd make an extremely strong VP choice for Obama in 2012, although that won't happen with Vice President Joe "Big F-ing Deal" Biden holding his ground.

Credit Where It's Due

Before too much time passes, credit should be given to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, last week for calling out her party's growing attacks on women -- from equal pay for equal work, to invasive procedures meant only to humiliate and intimidate women. She joined retiring Sens. Hutchinson and Snowe in her criticism.

Murkowski is part of a vanishing breed of traditional Republicans (and we're using the correct term, rather than the "Rethuglican" term) who successfully fought off a right wing, teabagger coup in 2010 by winning a write-in campaign to retain her Senate seat. Another point in her favor is that she's a political foe of snowbilly grifter Mama Fizzly Palin.

So, credit where it's due, and good job.

Krugman on the "Gullible Center"

Paul Krugman skewers "centrists'" (think Mustache of Understanding Tom Friedman and the WaPo editorial board, for example) Paul "Lyin'" Ryan cult:

"So, can we talk about the Paul Ryan phenomenon?

"And yes, I mean the phenomenon, not the man. Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee and the principal author of the last two Congressional Republican budget proposals, isn’t especially interesting. He’s a garden-variety modern G.O.P. extremist, an Ayn Rand devotee who believes that the answer to all problems is to cut taxes on the rich and slash benefits for the poor and middle class.

"No, what’s interesting is the cult that has grown up around Mr. Ryan — and in particular the way self-proclaimed centrists elevated him into an icon of fiscal responsibility, and even now can’t seem to let go of their fantasy."

Read the whole column.

Happy Easter - Happy Passover

John Derbyshire: Prominent Conservative Racist

Barely scratch a right-winger like the National Review's resident nutsack John Derbyshire and you get some noxious racist shite. While this latest racist screed by the Derb is in "Taki's Magazine," Brad DeLong has helpfully documented that the racism of the Derb's employer, the right-wing National Review, goes back a long, long way. May we have a comment from Etch-a-Sketch and/or Frothy Mix?

UPDATE: He gone.

P.S. We don't serve as a forum for right-wing, pseudo-scientific, cherry-picked "data", thank you very much!

(Photo: Derbyshire takes a dim view of "the blacks." And, by the way, get off his lawn!)

Weekend Etch-a-Sketch Mitt Cartoon

(click to enlarge)


(Ed Stein, via gocomics.com)

With Friends Like These....

Just days after the U.S. announced a $10 million reward for his arrest and conviction, Pakistani terrorist leader Hafiz Saeed held a press conference in Rawalpindi, Pakistan to mock the reward, saying the U.S. knew where to find him and that he was willing to face any court in Pakistan or internationally. It should be noted that Rawalpindi is a "garrison city," one which is controlled by the Pakistani military, so nothing goes on there without their consent, especially a press conference attended by dozens of international reporters.

That leads to the oft-repeated question of whose side the Pakistani military is on. Clearly, they see India as their mortal enemy, not terrorists like Saeed, who is alleged to be the mastermind of the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai which killed 164 and wounded more than 300. That press conference, and the fact that bin Laden's compound was located in Abbottabad -- Pakistan's equivalent of West Point -- leads to the troubling suspicion that the Pakistani military has decided to throw in its lot with terrorist organizations.

Plutocratic Picture of the Week

Seen in the window of FAO Schwartz in New York, a jeweled Etch-A-Sketch, a perfect gift for that shape-changing plutocrat on your Christmas list.

(via Maddowblog)

Colbert Echoes Rethuglican Message on Economic Recovery: Never Give Obama Credit

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
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www.colbertnation.com
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Weekend Songs

British artists weekend! The Beatles "Penny Lane" was getting radio airplay in the spring of 1967, which is probably why I associate it with this beautiful season. Some of the lyrics are evocative in a lovely, unadorned way, I think: "...There beneath the blue suburban sky..." "...selling poppies from a tray..." I'm pairing it with Dusty Springfield's first solo hit from 1963, "I Only Want To Be With You," which to me has this bouncy, positive drive to it, from the first note to the last. Spring has sprung! Enjoy yourselves!

Cartoon of the Day

(click to enlarge)
As soon as the President fired back at radical Rethuglican budget proposals this week, the Rethugs played the victim card and accused him of being "divisive." It's hard not to laugh.

Mittens' Bain In The Ass

Just as serial fibber and one percenter Willard "Etch-A-Sketch" Romney was getting into a groove accusing President Obama of playing "hide and seek" with the public on arms negotiations with Russia, fate intervenes. It's been revealed that Millionaire Mittens is refusing to disclose his holdings with Bain Capital. He's using an ethics loophole to avoid disclosing details of investments made through Bain due to previous "confidentiality agreements." That means we don't know what businesses Mittens has a financial stake in. Talk about "hide and seek."

A related issue also is when Millionaire Mittens will release his tax returns prior to 2010. The Romney campaign has indicated that we've seen everything we're going to see as far as tax returns, but the pressure needs to be kept up and the question should be asked, "What is he hiding?"

Rethug Family Values, Cont'd.

There's nothing more shameful than our moral "betters" not practicing what they preach. We saw this item concerning the daughter of Wasilla wingnut and half-term Gov. Sarah "Quitter" Palin's daughter Bristol announcing that she's shacking up with her new boyfriend, who happens to have some rather racist ideas, not surprisingly. Calling it a "trial marriage" doesn't pass the ho-ho test, and the fact that the Quitter from Wasilla can't seem to raise her kids according to the "moral" code of her worshiping followers should tell you all you need to know about their utter hypocrisy.

Jobless Claims Lowest Since 2008

(chart by Steve Benen - click to enlarge))

March unemployment insurance claims were the lowest since April 2008, providing more proof of a rebounding job market and economy, and of the efficacy of the much-maligned stimulus. Tomorrow's jobs report should also show a gain of about 203,000 jobs in the economy, the fourth straight month of solid jobs growth.

Is this what Millionaire Mitt and the other Rethuglican plutocrats are always talking about saving America from?

Cartoon of the Day - Paul Ryan's Bad Deed

(click to enlarge)


(Clay Bennett, via gocomics.com)