Not The Best Timing In The World

And speaking of a series of tubes, I hope he remembers to pack some KY for his trip….

I guess Sarah Palin can now appoint Todd to the seat.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

As the bewigged judges used to say on Rumpole of the Old Bailey: “Take him down!”

@SanFranLefty: He would only serve until January, when he and Sarah will be back fucking Bullwinkle.

I disagree. Perfect timing. Hopefully next week liberal forces can hook ropes to the bumpers of their Priuses (Priusi?) and start pulling down statutes of Ronald Fucking Reagan across the land.

@ lefty – Here in NM two or three generations ago, Gov. Gov Ed Mechem a governor resigned and had the new governor appoint him to a vacant senate seat during which he voted against the Civil Rights Act, where he served out the term. He later became a US district court judge, where he served over 30 years after Nixon appointed him. He was known for assigning himself all the environmental cases filed here. His grandson was a total punk rock burnout.

Two words, people: Senator Palin.

@SanFranLefty: If she has dynastic ambitions she should appoint Bristol, or hell, Levi. They’re gonna be just like the Kennedys Bushes of The Bush!

@redmanlaw: I’m going with Prii (pree-eye).

Mistress Cynica: The only thing worse than Senator Palin? Senator Blagojevich. We could get both if we are not careful.

@Mistress Cynica:

And I am all for that, actually. Look, this woman should stay on the National Scene as long as she can, because if it goes down right, her ambition and lack of electability could be the seeds of a schism in what is now know as the Rebublican Party. Think about it…should Obama win, the Jeebus First and Crypto-Racist crowd would back Senator Palin in 2012 with some similar mouth-breather (Jindal, anyone?), freaking out the Intellectual and Big Money Right, further diluting an already watered-down Repug brand and all but insuring another term for the black eagle.

Bottom line: any plans to put Rezko into heavy rotation in the last week are dead. If they go there, dirty libs will counter with Keating and a nice heaping pile of Tubes. Simple, really.

@SanFranLefty: She’ll appoint herself to the seat and spend 24/7 condemning the Obama administration and rallying the Adkisson Brigades.

@FlyingChainSaw: Speaking of Adkisson Brigades…

@FlyingChainSaw: She’ll probably hire the loons they arrested in the assassination plot as the elite squadron.

FlyingChainSaw: A branch of which, of course, were thwarted today by the grace of God. (NB: neo-Nazi skinheads were Adkisson Brigades before Adkisson Brigades were the hip, happening branch of the militant division of the radical front of the wingnut wing of the Republican Party.)

I’m too lazy busy to check this out, but does the governor fill Senate vacancies in Alaska, or does that go straight to a special election?

chicago bureau / Pedonator / rptrcub — Yep, that’s a blogjam. Match Game definitive answer: “Tennessee Nazis? I hate Tennessee Nazis.”

nojo: Governor appoints, special election in the next cycle for the remainder of the term. So, in this case: appointee serves until 2010 election, at which the elected senator would serve until 2014, proceeding as normal from there.

@chicago bureau: Well, that’s interesting. Hope that doesn’t chill the buzz on all the redistribution talk.

@chicago bureau: That’s a wee bit convoluted. Guess they really want to preserve those Senate classes.

@FlyingChainSaw: I’m sure Senator Palin will swear off earmarks as much as Governor Palin and Mayor Palin have.

@chicago bureau: AAAH! Fuck! Blago as senator???

I just read on Americablog that Teddy told everyone a big Fuck You! He was staying in the race and he wasn’t resigning. According to the article there is no requirement in the Senate that convicted felons resign or be removed. So he is there unless AKans kick his ass out next Tuesday at the polls.

@AARPrick: Who else is there in Illinoisiastan? Daley? Jesse Jackson Jr.?

@AARPrick: He is up for re-election, right? If he loses the election, there won’t be a seat to fill.

@rptrcub: Jesse Jackson Jr.?

There’s a candidate I can get behind on top of.

Jeezus Christ, today is getting too fucking weird. Warning: This is not a fun link. And neither is this one. Nor this one.

@Dodgerblue: I believe that is correct. I recall reading not long ago that Stevens won his primary. So basically that seat is going Dem now.

TJ: Tony Hillerman died.

These Tennesee Nazis are genuinely fucktarded.

@nojo: Maybe Palin is right about the Endtimes…

Re: the Tennessee fucktards – can someone explain what the numbers 88 and 14 signify to white supremacists?

@Jamie Sommers: RML has a nice personal tribute to Hillerman a couple threads back…

@AARPrick:
that’s exactly right. you can keep your senate seat after convicted of multiple felonies. it happened a few times and this will be another one. too depressed to look them up. doesn’t that make you want to vomit?

@rptrcub: Uhh, Emil Jones? He “retiring” in January. But Blago wouldn’t appoint him to be sewer commissioner. A refreshing change would be to look south of I-80 for a politician. That how we got Dick Durbin, & Paul Simon.

@Dodgerblue: I agree. The article implied that if he won re-election there was a distinct probability that the Senate wouldn’t have the votes to remove him.

@homofascist: Heck, have an N-word video from a Palin rally. This keeps up, I may have to revisit my objections to Prommie’s worries.

Update: Replaced it with an earlier version that doesn’t include the GIANT LETTERS, so you can listen without being unduly influenced.

SanFranLefty: 88 = eighth letters in alphabet = HH = Heil Hitler. Commonly found in tattoos on morons such as these. 14? Haven’t a clue.

BTW: somebody somewhere (I forget who) is debunking the shout of “n—-r” as being a cut-and-paste job. If so: Mr. Cutandpaste is an assclown. Why fake it when the real thing is almost as bad?

@SanFranLefty: From the Urban Dictionary:

14 representing 14 words written by David Lane, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

“88” refers to 88 words from Mein Kampf (author Adolph Hitler) about the supremacy of the white race.

Not related to IRS Form 8814, “Parents’ Election To Report Child’s Interest and Dividends.”

@chicago bureau: Agreed on assclown, if that’s the case. The video doesn’t help things by flashing GIANT LETTERS in case we miss the the audio.

AARPrick: Whoever is picked will have the favor of Blagojevich. Which will destroy electability. (Blagojevich has not sworn off running in 2010. Almost as delusional as Tubes. Better hair though.)

Mark this. If Hopey takes it down next week, 2010 Illinois Republican Senate Nominee = WIN.

nojo: “We must secure the existance of our people and a future for white children.”

But first? Sudafed run! Get in the truck — and get my fake IDs from the coffee can!

(God — neo-Nazis are pathetic. Sad, lonely and just awful people. Fuck ’em.)

@SanFranLefty, nojo: ADL definition consistent with nojo’s research.

http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/numbers_14-88.asp

That white tie, top hat and tails bullshit sounds (a) kind of minstrel-y, and (b) like they saw Batman way too many times this summer.

@ nojo – would “future for white children” include adoption by Chinese couples after the US American economy and empire go into the shitter?

Meh… felonies are so passé. Uncle Ted’s colleagues moved on to crimes against humanity years ago.

@chicago bureau: I swapped the link above for an earlier version of the video without the typographical “helpers”.

Something was shouted, but all I can make out without really close study is “-er”. And since the earlier poster wanted to show Palin doing a Red Scare for the mob, I don’t think the audio’s faked.

@chicago bureau: Not just pathetic, or jokes. Oklahoma City bombing, anyone?

Wonder if Senator Ted will wear his Hulk tie to his sentencing …

I’m thinking the Southern Poverty Law Center is pretty much going to be an indispensible resource in the next few years.

And a good thing too — these guys are all-American badasses. Taking it to racist and xenophobic thugs, and getting paid for it. Outstanding crew.

@chicago bureau: Sully revises his N-word post…

“Update: I haven’t independently verified this video. As a reader reminds me, these things can be doctored. Watch with skepticism.”

Guess which reader?

@redmanlaw: Thx. Since you’re a journalism junkie, I thought that you’d enjoy this cool map of the newspaper endorsements.

@SanFranLefty: The map is a little oputdated in that the paper serving the conservative (and racist) Northwest corner of New Mexico just endorsed Obama. The Santa Fe paper endorsed almost a month ago. The Albuquerque paper, a right wing usually anti-Indian rag suitable only for lining the cat box, has not endorsed yey, probably because the owner can’t bring himself to go down with the S.S. Crazydoubletalk Express, and can’t go for That One until it looks like a sure thing. Mrs RML will appreciate the map as well.

BTW, Obama had 35,000 at Saturday night’s rally in Albuquerque with another 10,000 wanting to get on the field, while McCain could only pull in about 1,500 despite handing out 3,000 tickets. Most of them probably went to people like the dudes looking for Change (of the pocket variety) at the corner Walgreen’s. I’m sure a personal appearance by a pair of adult film actresses down the street probably outpulled the Geez.

@SanFranLefty: That’s nifty. What I find mind-boggling, however, is that rags like the Austin American-Statesman and the Houstin Chronicle could find it in themselves to support Bush in 04 and Obama now.

The central PA Bitterz Picayune endorsed Hopey over the weekend, but that doesn’t surprise me. Nor does the Philly Inq. I’m waiting to see about the P’burgh Post Gazette.

How quickly the GOP throw him under the bus (from WaPo):
National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) offered a strong condemnation of Stevens and seemed to hint that this conviction would lead to his defeat.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, released a statement of her own late Monday night — casting the Stevens’ verdict as evidence of the “corrupting influence of the big oil service company that was allowed to control too much of our state.” Palin did not call for Stevens’ resignation in her statement, saying only: “I’m confident Senator Stevens will do what’s right for the people of Alaska.”

@blogenfreude:

I’m confident Uncle Ted will go down in shootout with the DC police after screaming a hail of obscenities. Dare one dream?

This is lovely. TS won’t be sentenced until after the election. The GOP can not replace him and this will very likely firm up the slim lead that Mark Begich currently holds (who, apropos of nothing, was just endorsed by Red State…I really hate it when monkeys fly out of my ass, but it is worth it, every now and then…). This conviction could not have happened to a more worthy scumbag.

As to the AFT – I wager this was less of a “plot to kill Obama” than it was “two drunk teenage skins actin’ all hard ‘n shit”. Arrest them all…no great loss. The problem, however, is that they tend to get *deeper* into their mindfuck in prison *and* they learn “better” skills. I’ve known too many skins in my life (old punk) and not a one who went “in” didn’t come “out” worse for those around him. Maybe the solution would be, rather than prison, have ’em join the Peace Corp and send them Africa to build water purification centers or something useful…

TJ from Cali/

Knights of Columbus not only are pouring millions into the “Yes on 8” campaign to take away the rights of teh gheyz to marry, but now are pumping hundreds of thousands into the “Yes on 4” campaign to require parental consent before teen girls can get abortions. (California voters have rejected the parental consent proposition two prior times). If you want to fight back, donate here:
https://secure.grassroots.com/noonprop4/

Meanwhile, how do the Mormon and Catholic churches keep their tax exempt status when they’re so actively campaigning in my state? Any tax attorneys here to explain it beyond my simplistic “Because there’s a Jeebus-freak President”

@SanFranLefty:

I’m no tax lawyer, but it would seem to me that they keep their tax exemptions because while the Knights of Columbus and their Mormon counterparts are filled with members of their respective churches, the organizations themselves are separate entities from the main church organization. This would keep the churches out of the way of the IRS, wouldn’t it?

Just a guess….

@SanFranLefty: I think, think they are allowed to lobby, but they aren’t allowed to endorse candidates. Pfft! Like that never happens.

@mellbell:

Wow, hadn’t googled him until just now.

I could back that. Repeatedly.

@JNOV: Oh, JNOV, they are all so emboldened by 7 years of Bush turning the DOJ over to their homeschooled true believers. The KoC is very nearly a Bircher subgroup, they had their heyday during the Red scare and its all they are about, and now abortion. Thats the whacky catholic fringe, though, believe me, as far as the people in the pews, the Catholics are nothing like the southern baptists and evangelicals. Before the abortion issue confused things, most catholics were pro labor and were very very comfortable ignoring anything the church said that they disagreed with.

@SanFranLefty: I has Hope (TM) but I also has Angst (R). If Prop 8 passes, it will be the first time that, after the right to marry was granted/legalized/whatever you want to call it, it was taken away by a population. That’s hateful and is even more depressing when the large raft of the anti-gay amendments were passed in 2004 in the Rovian tactic to get the fundies out to vote. And yes, I’ve read the studies from SFSU that show it has a mental health affect on the tribe.

I don’t expect gay marriage to ever be legal in my home state. Ever, unless Atlanta somehow secedes and becomes its own city-state. Or at least before 2048. (I can’t leave until at least 2010, when I’ve completed a Master’s degree that the state of Georgia is paying for.) But I do expect it to be legal in places like California.

@rptrcub: rptrcub, its a fucking damn shame that this issue that no sane person should give a shit about (as in, whats the problem, let gays get married, sheese) has become the political toy of the right, but whats even sadder is that the demagoguery has made it an article of faith for the fundamentalists. And Fundamentalism is a greater threat to our society, to civilization itself, than the republican party. Fundamentalism destroys, debases, ruins, any society in which it becomes dominant. They go after the gays now, but give them any more power, they’ll go after everyone and everything that does not conform to their priimitive, hateful beliefs. I know that if after they come for you, they will come for me, thats not the only reason, but its a big reason I stand with you and regard every instance of gay-bashing and homophobia and hate crime and discrimination as an attack on me, too. The goddamn evil genocidal theocratic bastards, that is what they are, they want a theocracy and biblical law made law of the land, and inquisitions and the rack and all of it. They’ll drag us down to a new dark ages if something big, much bigger than this political cycle, does not happen. Teh gays are the canary in our coal mine, if we as a society cannot accept and give equal rights regardless of which fucking parts people like to rub against which people, it means we are running out of the oxygen of freedom and someone else is next, and someone else, and someone else.

@Promnight: It’s nice to know that you have my back… er… support, me. And I think those fundies would be singing totally different tunes and actually knew any gay people who were close to them. Or anyone different, period. Or at least I hope they would.

@Promnight: Also: FBI: While hate crimes are down, anti-gay crimes have surged

I’m getting revolutionary-style angry these days, I know I expected all stops to be pulled and for the right to engage in a spastic, hate-filled, desperate last stand, lurching about wildly and throwing bombs every which way. They fail to see that they are encouraging a big, widespread shitstorm of ugliness after this election. A real, hateful divide in our country like nothing since just before the civil war. They are encouraging their rabid base to abandon the one precept necessary for the stability of a democracy, the fundamental principle that the losing party accept the process and accept the legitimacy of the winner of the democratic process. Its so so so dangerous to fuck with that, its a fragile thing, so few, so very few, societies have developed a framework under which the system demands acceptance of the result of elections without question. Its been our greatest stroke of luck that with the exception of the election of 1860, the people of the US have abided with the results of our elections. The republicans today, and they started with the sham impeachment of Clinton, do not believe in democracy, they fundamentally do not accept it. They are fucking evil. They are tearing and scratching at the basis of what has made this the most stable and peaceful democracy in the history of civilization.

I am very afraid that they will not accept the results of this election. They as much as say so.

And you know what? They would beat us in a direct armed conflict. And like the fucking barbarians sacking Rome, destroy something that they don’t even understand.

@rptrcub:

The whole “Homo Hate” platform would be a lot more convincing if every third Republican hadn’t already been caught sucking and fucking like a superstar.

@rptrcub: Setting aside the sheer profanity of putting civil rights to a vote — citizenship doesn’t have shades of gray — I wouldn’t necessarily take a Prop 8 win too hard. It depends on the numbers, it depends on whether most or all of the financial support comes from out of state, as is being reported.

Whatever happens, it remains, to use the old term, a struggle. It took a century after the Civil War for the Civil Rights Act to pass, and even that didn’t put prejudice to rest. What happened instead was that a generation or two had to die off, and the generations that replaced them grew up in a different world.

We’re not that far from Stonewall. We’re not that far from Harvey Milk. For that matter, we’re not that far from established psychiatry calling homosexuality an illness. I’m not counseling patience, but I am saying that the story doesn’t end in California either way.

Young fundies aren’t as socially conservative as their parents. For whatever reason, the national Republicans haven’t used it as a wedge issue this year. Despite what looks like a string of losses, the tide is moving towards acceptance. It may take another generation of idiots to die off, but it’ll happen.

@Promnight:

I wouldn’t stress about it too much. Polls and previous election results have shown that most people are nearly as appalled and pissed off as we are. Virginia, for example, has gone moonbat communist real fast. Besides, the banks are still open, the power’s still on, and the cops still arrest people.

http://pollingreport.com/

That said, if foreigners stop buying US debt, or oil-producing countries start pricing their commodity in euros, then there’ll be a social collapse so loud you won’t even hear it.

@Promnight: I am very afraid that they will not accept the results of this election. They as much as say so.

Bullshit from the leaders, whatever the followers may think. If the leaders really believed the crap they’ve been spewing the past month, they’d be calling for an armed insurrection now, screw the election. Instead we’re already hearing about jockeying for 2012.

As to the followers, I’m sticking with Isolated Incidents, although we’ll see what tomorrow brings. Shrub screwed them over so bad, even they recognize it. And you have to balance those isolated incidents with the sheer joy, the sheer relief, that will be expressed elsewhere.

Besides, the idiots will all be moving to Idaho and rural Texas. Now’s the time to open local packaged-goods stores.

@Original Andrew: And from your link:

Direction of country: 11% right direction, 85% wrong track

That’s before the election, when the black commie muslim terrorist wins.

But you’re right: the moment China pulls the plug, we’re toast.

@Promnight & @nojo:

If you guys really enjoy liberal horror porn, then you should read this Op-Ed that (seriously!) suggests Bush II run for Congress(!1!!!1).

Holy. Fuck.

If that’s not an airtight argument for nuking Crawford, then what is?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20081027/cm_csm/ycoronella;_ylt=AgZQQ7VFjSPEO8E.phYPuC.s0NUE

@Original Andrew: Are you sure that’s serious? “The collegial atmosphere of the House” has to be a tip-off.

@nojo:

I can’t be 100% certain (like maybe it’s some kind of humor from a dispassionate future?), but I def did a spit-take. When someone compares Caligutard to John Adams, you know you’ve got a hair-pulling, wild-eyed Kool-Aid drinker on your hands.

@Original Andrew: OA, in the next 3 months, we are going to see severe economic pain like nothing anyone alive has ever seen. The market is bullshit, never has been the thing to look to to see how the real people are doing. I’ve been banging this drum, I am really serious, businesses are closing and laying off workers like I have never seen. I am drafting severence agreements. I called an outside employment law expert Friday to get a consult on how we do our layoffs, told the paralegal what I need, and he said, “oh, yeah, thats all we are getting now.” Layoffs.

Teh economy has fallen, and it can’t get up, and what I am seeing is the real impact on main street. People are scared. Its a shitstorm already in motion, and srsly, its gonna be worse than anything anyone alive has ever seen.

If there is anything good about it, its that it will anger everyone, not just those with an ideological agenda, and like the great depression, which birthed Roosevelt liberalism, a dose of real fucking pain might just turn the tide more than anything else could.

Gays marrying is likely to fall way low on the radar when the issue for a lot of people becomes “why am I living in my car and where am I gonna find a job.”

@Original Andrew: I dunno. Dude’s my age, but more to the point, he grew up in Massachusetts and moved to Ireland ten years ago.

For comparison: I moved to Cali from Oregon ten years ago. Family’s still there, I still have friends there, most of my business is still there, I still recognize most of the names in the news — but when it comes down to it, I have no fucking clue what’s going on.

1998? Monica. Our expatriate columnist has missed all the fun.

Unlike RomeGirl, of course. She pays attention.

@chicago bureau: Sully calls the N-video as “Redistributor!” Which has to be the oddest shout at a rally.

@rptrcub: Believe me, after I get back from spreading the Hope (TM) in Nevada, I’m going to spend a few days working on the No on 8 effort. I agree with Prommie that it is a canary in the coal mine issue, and I agree with Nojo that this is what happens when you have direct democracy — it took me 1-1/2 hours to complete my absentee ballot thanks to 15 or so State propositions, plus SF ballot initiatives numbered A-V (that equals 22 of them).
given all the anti-ghey/yes on 8 shit revolves around “it ain’t natural cuz they can’t breed” I want the progressives to go balls out like the ones in Washington state did and say okay, mother fuckers, let’s have a ballot initiative that outlaws marriage for any heteros who can’t prove their fertility and ability to breed. Either that or ask the Jeebus freaks when they’re going to sponsor the ballot initiative to overturn Perez v. Sharp, the 1948 Calif. Supreme Court decision that predated Loving v. Virginia by 20 years.

I know it sucks to hear it or to contemplate it, but remind yourself that civil rights efforts in this country have proceeded at a speed quicker than that of geological change.

OK, I’m eating my lunch, ignoring my boss (Can’t talk, eating) and opened the local newspaper’s website, and found this article on the Obama-Assassins-Plot.

And I had one question. Is that Nazi Skin-head wearing make-up? Don’t skin heads have rules about males wearing make-up? Or is it just a case of pretty-boy-hiding-his-latent-homo-sexuality?

Them lips sure are purdy… And I’m pretty sure, there’s a manicure in there too.

So Campbell Brown — who did us a solid when she called my homie Tucker Bounds on his shit at the convention — shows up on the Daily Show tonight. Apparently she has a new CNN show where she gets to call everyone on their shit. Which is fine — but she goes to the trouble of positioning her show between “far right” O’Reilly and “far left” Olbermann.

Huh?

Keith is certainly a partisan liberal, but he’s not, to put it politely, a fucking nutcase. Nor do I recall seeing him among the cadres at our Smash the State keggers. I wouldn’t watch a boring “just the facts” show anyway, but Campbell didn’t do herself any favors.

@nojo: Nooooooooo!!! Comedy Central has not loaded the latest Daily Show yet!!!

Which peons do I have to beat?

@CheapBoy: Check back here in a couple of hours. You’re about to be a star.

@SanFranLefty: Direct democracy seems to be an exercise in seeing how far you’re willing to go to let the masses have their way. Unfortunately, collectively, the masses are like 5-year-old children who don’t think but 5 minutes ahead into the future.

@nojo:
She made the same mistake that she claimed she wasn’t going to. O’Reilly’s never said anything good about any “Dem” outside of Zell or Joe while KO has actually shit on Obama.

Despite her hubby’s Repub connection, she’s already labeled a liberal for making Tucker Bounds cry.

The whole left and right divide has evolved/devolved at this moment into Pragmatic vs Fanatic. In this kind of divide there is NO middle ground. Not well thought out there Campbell.

@ManchuCandidate: I have to give mad props to Zell for the lottery-based HOPE scholarships, which let me get a college education from UGA with only about $14,000 in student loan debt instead of eleventy zillion dollars (tuition and fees paid for; $150 measly book allowance per semester — loans went to room & board & booze. Was actually among the few who kept at least a B average — 3.81 — all through out college and kept the scholarship). But otherwise, I have no use for him.

@rptrcub:
Nice to know Zell did something useful.

Speaking of University/College Education. I don’t get why US America schools are so damned expensive in relation to Canada City ones. I once dated (briefly) a girl from Upstate NY who came here to study engineering. She was paying foreign student rates which were pretty hefty (for me) and she said it was still cheaper than SUNYB tuition by $5000.

I know that some Canada City tax money goes to subsidize it, but eggahds.

Not many people I know are still paying off their student loans except those who went to US America for further edumakashun.

@ManchuCandidate: My kid’s fancy day care cost more several years ago than my in-state tuition at law school.

@nojo: She kind of irritated me a little last night as well. CNN annoys me with the ‘we’re the objective ones’ bullshit.

@homofascist: I like her legs. There, I said it.

The missus and I have a deal; we tune into MSNBC for the correctly leaning partisan entertainment that Keith and Rachel bring, but dart over to CNN for their top ‘o the hour summary and the generally calming dose of David Gergen.

Personally, I can’t wait until this election is over and I can go back to catching News Hour a coupla times a week on PBS and using the television for what it was invented for: sports.

@nabisco: TV:
Broadcast Networks: Excrement with a local angle.
Fox News: Excrement.
CNN, MSNBC, PBS, etc: Shit Not Worth Watching.
BBC America, Deutsche Velle, etc: Shit, with an occasional story worth watching.
All Other TV News (broadcast and cable): Shit. Not worth watching.
How can anyone justify wasting their time watching TV when the real, unvarnished reporting from the world is available online? Unless you have the hots for Shane Fankhauser or something?
Just don’t get it.