There's a Horse's Patoot for Every Light on Broadway

No question Sarah Palin is an American. She's Anglo & she was born in Idaho, a state just about as fringily extremist as Gov. Palin's current home, Alaska. (So unlike Barack Obama's alleged birthplace, Hawai'i, w/ all the race-mixing & "multi-culti" going on there.) 

Idahoans did, however, elect a Democrat to one of their two House seats this go-round. 

A Series of Tubes? No, It's More Like A Truck.

This is what we like to read:

There are many ways to measure how screwed Republicans are after the last election. You can look at the avalanche of swing states that broke big for Barack. You can look at the demographic shifts that left McCain-Palin with decisive wins only among voters over age 60 and towns with populations under 50,000. Or you can look at my emergency telegram from John McCain.

Over 60 & under 50,000. Nice. Even nicer is the realization that we may see an actual evolutionary change in the politics of This Great Nation of Ours; it's not every day a major party disappears from the landscape, & the two current parties have been at this crap for 148 yrs.

But nostalgia is apparently alive and well at the RNC. They’ve been sending these same fundraising letters since at least the 1970s, when a portion of the population could still equate “telegram” with “urgent.” How quickly the Republicans recognize their need to modernize will depend on how much they like losing. It’s not an impossible task to catch the Democrats, but it will require a cultural revolution inside the GOP. Because, like generals fighting the last war (or campaigns re-running culture war scripts that riff on late-1960s divides), the right-wing direct mail “gurus” who profit from every GOP campaign didn’t feel it necessary to update their templates for the third presidential campaign of the 21st century. Or, arguably worse, they were actually aiming for the very, very old among us. 

Either way, it illustrates a comment made to me by a top GOP strategist during the campaign: “Our voters don’t use the Internet.” No doubt this was a well-researched fact. But accepting it is also the kiss of death, because it becomes justification for inaction. It’s an acceptance that the GOP has become that party that pridefully plays to the low tech, an inevitably declining slice of the demographic pie. They have become the “Party of Memory” that Emerson wrote about in the early days of our democracy, versus “the Party of Hope” as re-branded by Obama.

No further doubt possible: they're actually, actively proud of their bestial ignorance. We'll miss them when they're gone.

Gail Collins Is Right: Get Out Now!!

There must be a children's book in this: George, The Very Lamest Duck Ever, or something along those lines. May not be any way to get a happy ending out of the whole sordid, ugly mess though.

"Bulgaria 1992"

Best line of the "election cycle." (Now that it's all over but the shouting, recriminations, revenge & whatnot.)

Bill McInturff, speaking at a National Journal breakfast on Thursday, said the political environment for the GOP in 2008 was worse than anything he has seen in his time polling since former Soviet empires were breaking the shackles of communism. "Reporters would call me up and say, 'have you ever seen this?'" McInturff said of George W. Bush's approval ratings. "And I say, 'yeah, Bulgaria 1992.'"

Man. That is harsh. Even better? This:

Unrestrained by the formalities of the election, McInturff levied some sharps words at fellow GOPers who -- generally speaking -- never really were bullish on the idea of a McCain presidency. The most biting jabs were saved for communications guru Frank Luntz."I saw Frank Luntz," said McInturff, "who is a moron -- I want to make sure this is clearly on the record -- he was talking to Republican governors, making fun of John for not being able to use a BlackBerry. The man can't do it because he is much more disabled than people can imagine... I would like to take a hammer and start breaking bones in Frank's arms."

Testify, brother!

Ripped Off Again, Damnit!!!

As usual, we suggested such a thing several days ago, in the wake of Mukasey's fainting w/ the Federalists ("Should Obama's team take over Justice now?"): then some paid hoor for the liberal elite media took the idea & ran therewith.

Bush — who is currently on a trip to Peru to meet with Asian leaders who no longer care what he thinks — hasn’t got the clout, or possibly even the energy, to do anything useful. His most recent contribution to resolving the fiscal crisis was lecturing representatives of the world’s most important economies on the glories of free-market capitalism.

Ms. Collins is right. Get him out now!! One caveat however.

The person who would like this plan least probably would be Barack Obama. Who would want to be saddled with the auto industry’s problems ahead of schedule? The heads of America’s great carmaking corporations are so dim that they couldn’t even survive hearings run by members of Congress who actually wanted to help them. Really, when somebody asks you exactly how much money you need, the answer should not be something along the line of “a whole bunch.”

So that rule of the stupid, by the stupid & for the stupid shall not perish from the earth.

See, There's Water There. Now Can We Fucking Go?

This NASA computer graphic shows three craters in the eastern Hellas region of Mars containing concealed glaciers detected by radar. The left image shows how the surface looks today with the ice covered by a layer of Martian soil. The right image depicts the hidden glaciers.

It is still unclear, however, whether the water is accessible from the surface. Holt said the radar measurements indicated that it could be covered by as much as 30 feet of debris.

"If you could get a backhoe in there, you could get at it," said Jeffrey Plaut, a geologist at JPL. "You'd have to figure out how to get a backhoe to Mars."

From the L. A. Times.

Half-Hearted X-Mess Shopping Begins

For the woman who has pretty much everything already, the HK-47.

Out of Context Comics

Beginning Of The End

The Reverend Moon (Why are we calling him that? We don't revere him one bit.) like many would-be messiahs/world leaders, has a big interest in promoting fear. So when his UPI types the pertinent parts of the newest Nat'l. Intel Council report into a more convenient form for easy digestion by the hurried masses, you better believe they make it look bad for the good ol' U. S. A. 

And as fans of entropy, we're all for it as well.

Issue of the Day

U.S. intel panel warns of coming national decline

 WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Now it's official -- sort of. The United States is in decline.

[...]

"The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," it said.

The report is also an indirect but very explicit repudiation of the grand strategy of outgoing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the neo-conservative intellectuals who served them.

It clearly rejects their assumption that a new century of U.S. global supremacy, leadership and even control more total than any the United States enjoyed in the past is likely or even achievable.

Instead, the NIC report warns of an increasingly uncontrollable, fragmented world with strategic, military and economic power increasingly diffused -- and with the danger of local and wider wars, especially over scarce resources, greater than ever before.

"The international system will be almost unrecognizable by 2025, owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalizing economy, a transfer of wealth from West to East, and the growing influence of non-state actors. Although the United States is likely to remain the single most powerful actor, the United States' relative strength -- even in the military realm -- will decline and U.S. leverage will become more strained," it said.

No. Wow. What a shock. Now there's really no reason at all to get out of bed tomorrow, is there?

You Don't Say? Forty-Five Years...

Wallow in the nostalgia or something of "Camelot" at a collection of photos from the Reverend Moon's UPI. Above, the late President "lies in state" in the East Room of the White House, 23 November 1963. Below: Only Caroline survives. Photo taken at Hyannis Port, Mass., 4 August 1962.The especially morbid may want to see the autopsy photo.

A Good Idea?

Just a minute here. Do we really want someone named "Jim Jones" to be President B. O.'s Nat'l. Security Adviser? Especially since the guy's a former general. They're supposed to fade away, not double dip at the gummint trough.

You're Telling Me

Another Wake-Up Call for America

The nation of Pakistan may have grown a proverbial pair, as they are making a big deal of recent target practice against Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Anti-aircraft guns and short-range surface-to-air missiles were used during the exercise conducted at a desert range near the city of Muzaffargarh in the central Pubjab province.

"The elements of Army Air Defence demonstrated their shooting skills by targeting the drones flying at different altitudes," the military said in a statement.

Air defence commander Lieutenant-General Ashraf Saleem praised the "precision and agility" of the gunners.

Bloomberg w/ greater detail:

Pakistani Army Tests Missile Capable of Shooting Down Drones

By Farhan Sharif

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan successfully tested a short-range, surface-to-air missile capable of destroying drones, the country's military said, two days after protesting to the U.S. over attacks on its territory by the unmanned aircraft.

Now we'll be wondering all night long. Were they just testing the anti-drone missile? Did they actually shoot anything down? Had the missile they were testing ever been used/tested before? Why didn't the IHT type anything about it being a test?

Wake-Up Call for America #3,589,274 (This Month)

Overheard today on the Michael Medved show: The author of the literary epic Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs, babbling that somehow the refusal by a few Somali immigrant taxi drivers in Minneapolis-St.Paul to transport passengers w/ alcohol or guide dogs is step one in the imposition of Sharia Law in the United Snakes. How this will happen is less than clear, but the usual suspects are responsible:

Not with guns and bombs, but via covert sources: Islamic charities, the ACLU--even presidential candidates. They are all pawns in a stealth holy war. Unwittingly advancing the jihadist agenda not by violence, but through endeavors designed to acclimate and subject us to Islamic law--just the way Osama bin Laden wants it. [...] America, Spencer demonstrates, is all but oblivious to a new kind of threat presented by a loosely organized movement whose activists are well funded, highly motivated, and relentless in pursuit of their agenda. This book is a wake-up call for a country so focused on foreign threats that it has left itself vulnerable to a growing danger much closer to home.

Hokey Fuckin' Smokes! Get our broker on the horn & tell her to put all our liquid funds in whoever the hell makes diapers for grown-ups. Once this book is out, Depends will be flying off the shelves! Conspicuously absent from any discussion or mention during the broadcast (the part we heard, at least) were such manifestations of American Xianity as pharmacists refusing birth-control & "morning after" birth control. Also conspicuous by its absence was any mention of the various propositions, initiatives, etc. designed to impose a religious definition of "traditional marriage" on our legal system, & take rights from groups of American citizens. We can add Roman Catholic bishops advising their flocks not to come to communion or any of the other mystical ceremonies of Catholicism if any of their sheep dared vote for now Prez-elect Obama. Now let's compare. Taxi drivers voluntarily pass on fares, for silly reasons, costing themselves money & costing the fares as much as three or four minutes getting a more welcoming hack. This is dangerous & will have all "our" hot-pantsed women in burqas w/in X wks. of B. O.'s inauguration. Versus a pharmacist possibly placing a life in danger due to superstitious beliefs. Or a bishop essentially damning congregants to hell for their votes. What kind of psychological damage might that do to someone already unhinged enough to be heavily invested in religious superstition? Not worth a mention from Messrs. Medved & Spencer.

Panic in The Year Zero

We love to say "We told you so, you stupid ignorant fuck!!" And if any one had to be told that the fucking "stock market" was going to fall through the floor & then through the concrete slab under the dripping, moldy, smelly basement of the dripping, moldy, smelly American economy, they're double-plus stupid & ignorant. That means you, optimists, believers & other saps & marks.

Markets 'in panic mode'

The latest teeth-gnashing plunge Thursday virtually wiped out the remaining gains from the five-year bull market that began in 2002. With the news dominated by grim economic data, including a 16-year high in weekly unemployment claims and the failure of Congress to reach a deal to help U.S. automakers, the Dow Jones industrial average sank almost 450 points -- its eighth triple-digit drop in 12 trading days.

Ha ha ha! We can't wait until deflation makes the money that you saps slave to earn, that must be pried from the skeletal fingers of your parasitical employers, worth even less, as your wages & salaries shrink, while here at Just Another Blog, between the incredible advertising revenues & our "too lazy to work" Gov't. handout our money will be worth even more. "Bring it on!"

Palin Gobbles, Turkeys Die

She won't go away. Granted , most of the public stuff she does now would never have trickled down to the lower 48 prior to her run at the vice-presidency. Still, we're going to be seeing her vapid face & hearing that grating, shrill, strident voice for some time to come. Note that all the family is healthy & happy, even Twig. Yet no word on how Bristol's unwed pregnancy is coming along. When's that wedding again? Gotta preserve the family & traditional marriage.

Broken News

Attorney General Mukasey collapses

Was giving a speech to Federalist Society when he began shaking

Latest. Even later. Hope he's alright, but who cares otherwise? Should Obama's team take over Justice now?

The Holidays Are Here (Like It Or Not) & So We Turn to Entertaining at Home

From the Yahoo! FOOD Entertaining section, how to run your parties, if not your very existence.

I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred This song's humor wore out long ago, and now it's just vulgar, cheesy, and so annoying. It's kind of become a really bad, hairy, cheap-cologne-wearing gigolo anthem. All By Myself by Eric Carmen Music to make even the happiest person on earth sick with despair. There's no amount of nostalgia in the world that can make us yearn for this song -- even if our dog died... even if we lost our job... and especially if we're trying to party! When I Grow Up by The Pussycat Dolls These girls are H-O-T. We get it. And if your party playlist was voted on looks alone, they'd be near the top. But this repetitive, hi-pitched, electro-pop track lacks the sexy vibe of "Don't Cha" and just leaves us wishing the Dolls would grow up and sing a little something else. Endless Love by Lionel Richie & Diana Ross Just thinking about this gushy ballad makes us so happy the ‘80s are over! Even the divine Miss Ross can't save this duet from being maudlin. Macarena by Los Del Rio This flash-in-the-pan phenom is our pick for the most annoying song of all time. Even if half your guests agree with us (and we think the will), cross this dance ditty permanently off your list. Fergalicious by Fergie The funky Fergie stutters her way through this irritating tune, parts of which sound like a broken record, literally. She may have the best abs in the music 'biz, but do you and your friends really want to listen to her sing about herself for nearly five minutes? I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry Too loud. Too obvious. Just trying too darn hard. With its in-your-face content and dumbed-down lyrics, it comes off as a one-hit-wonder curiosity for the under-twenty set. The kind of tune you'd expect to hear playing at a teen-store at the mall, not a hip soiree. We like the taste of cherry chapstick too but... My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion Your gathering will sink and crash like the legendary Titanic. Need we say more? Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin Childish, perky pop -- upbeat to the point of being really really annoying. This is a song that makes you be happy that you're near the door. The End by The Doors Weighing in at over 11 minutes long, this song will stop even the most raucous party in its tracks. The lyrics - "Father...I want to kill you" - are not quite the feelgood hit of the century.

Sez you! Then:

On the other hand, if you are looking for your guests to leave, look here!

Yes, you too can be just this fucking stupid. We suspect that most of our largest demographic doesn't have a one of those tunes, w/ the possible exception of "The End" on a CD purchased when you were suckered into re-purchasing your record collection on CDs.Or maybe on the Apocalypse Now soundtrack. But any of the others?

Stop Pretending

Many other equally fine shots of Sec. Paulson at the Reagan Library. Photo: Lucy Nicholson/REUTERSTo paraphrase whichever of Hitler's goons made the original statement, "When I hear the word 'economics,' I reach for my revolver." (Does comparing oneself to a Nazi invoke "Godwin's law?") Why our trigger finger itches:

"If we do not correctly diagnose the causes, and instead act in haste to implement more rather than better regulations, we can do long-term harm," Paulson said in a speech in Simi Valley, Calif.

[...]

Paulson on Thursday again defended his management, including his decision last week to officially abandon the original rescue strategy: buying rotten mortgages and other bad debts from banks to free up their balance sheets and get them to lend more freely.

"By proactively addressing the problems we saw coming and being pragmatic enough to change strategy in the face of changed facts and despite the inevitable criticism — we prevented a far worse financial crisis," Paulson insisted.

[...]

"There was no playbook for responding to a once or twice in a hundred year event," Paulson argued, saying he needed to shift strategy to respond to worsening financial and economic conditions.

Our suggestion on this: give it up already. Stop pretending that economics is even a soft science. You're dealing w/ human greed, envy & a thousand other animal instincts. You can't make a system like that work smoothly.

And we have a question. Why so many "once (or twice) in a 100 yrs." events recently? Is the Bush Administration itself such an event? Or is this period just randomly so?

New Tapes, Old Crap

And a slightly different take.