SPEAKING OF "ALARMIST AND HYSTERICAL"...

That perfectly describes this post by classical hack Victor Davis Hanson:

Are We in Revolutionary Times?
By Victor Davis Hanson
June 15, 2012 6:51 P.M.
THE CORNER
National Review Online

Legally, President Obama has reiterated the principle that he can pick and choose which U.S. laws he wishes to enforce (see his decision to reverse the order of the Chrysler creditors, his decision not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, and his administration’s contempt for national-security confidentiality and Senate and House subpoenas to the attorney general).

There are at least 2 lies in this paragraph. First, the Chrysler bond holders AGREED to the decision; second, the Administration will enforce DOMA but will not defend it in court. The next 2 accusations are merely feigned outrage.

S. E. CUPP SPILLS THE BEANS

Although she whined that this quote was taken out of context, even the context won't help much:

S.E. Cupp Reacts To Misleading Buzzfeed Reporter Tweet: ‘That’s A Bizarre Pullout Quote’
by Noah Rothman | 10:35 am, June 15th, 2012
MEDIAITE

Cupp was speaking at the 2012 Faith & Freedom Conference in Washington D.C. on Friday morning where she discussed her book, Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity. She told the audience “If the subtitle sounds alarmist and hysterical, hey, that’s what we do.”


She went on to say “I’m a pundit, that’s what we do. We feign outrage,” as was relayed in Gray’s tweet.

However, Cupp tells Mediaite, in the next breath she said “In this case the outrage is entirely sincere and deserved.”

ARISTOTLE AND CLASS WARFARE

I happened to come across quotes from Aristotle's POLITICS that indicate to me that in 300 BC he was aware of what Marx would centuries later call "class warfare."

In all states therefore there exist three divisions of the state, the very rich, the very poor, and thirdly those who are between the two. - Arist. Pol. 1295b.1,

Aristotle thought that what we would call the top 1% or MOTU or the Ruling Class was unsuitable for governing or being governed (same passage):

...And in addition to these points, those who have an excess of fortune's goods, strength, wealth, friends and the like, are not willing to be governed and do not know how to be (and they have acquired this quality even in their boyhood from their home life, which was so luxurious that they have not got used to submitting to authority even in school)

If we did have a state with just two classes, rich and poor, it would inevitably deteriorate because those two classes are natural enemies:

The result is a state consisting of slaves and masters, not of free men, and of one class envious and another contemptuous of their fellows. This condition of affairs is very far removed from friendliness, and from political partnership—for friendliness is an element of partnership, since men are not willing to be partners with their enemies even on a journey. - Arist. Pol. 1295b.20

HARD TIMES FOR WINGNUTS

Hannity's FAUX News colleagues Chris Wallace and Shep Smith denounce the heckler at Pres. Obama's press conference.  Even better, GOP Sen. Rubio, AKA the GOP's Only Chance at the Latino vote, approves of the President's announcement.

REAL NEWS VS. HANNITY NEWS

Pres. Obama was rudely interrupted by a conservative reporter today and all Hannity could say is that Obama is losing it.   In Real World, the story was covered differently:

LISTENING TO RANDI RHODES

At this time, I'm usually listening to the local delayed broadcast of the Mark Levin Show but I've been playing hooky for the sake of my mental health and tonight I thought she brought up an interesting point: Sheldon Adelson is a billionaire casino owner who has helped Gingrich and now gave $10 million to a Super-PAC that supports Mittens.

I'm guessing that Fats, Glenda, Foamer or Sean would describe Adelson as a "producer" and the question I have is what does he produce because wealth transfer?

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP ALL OVER

Jeb Bush decries the extremism in GOP politics and along the way tells Grover Norquist to fuck off. Jebbie isn't alone: even Bagger Sen. Tom Coburn thinks the "no tax" pledge is absurd.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP IN ARIZONA

An AZ Republic columnist writes that a woman with long-time connections to the state GOP wants to "de-kookify" the state party and gets told by the state GOP spokesman to "stop bitching." The more they argue, the better off the rest of us will be.

BAGGER JESSE PACKS IT IN

I guess we can no longer accuse the boy of being a slow learner. :-)

Republican Jesse Kelly drops out of Arizona congressional race
By Rachel Rose Hartman | The Ticket – 2 hrs 52 mins ago
YAHOO NEWS

Republican Jesse Kelly announced Thursday his decision to withdraw from the race for the seat formerly held by Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, raising Democratic hopes of holding onto the seat for the next Congress.

"Looking at the results from Tuesday, we have decided to withdraw from the race for Congress in AZ-02 and to seek other opportunities," Kelly, a marine veteran and tea party candidate, said in a statement. "I will forever be thankful to our generous supporters and volunteers."

The comments on the Yahoo thread are pretty interesting.

SEN. BOY GENIUS ASKS A QUESTION...

From Wonkette:

Ahead of the vote, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said the amendment was not meant to turn a cold shoulder on the country’s poor — rather, it was meant to cut down on abuse of the food stamp program.

“Should you buy junk food on food stamps? Should you get to go to McDonald’s on foodstamps?”

Yes you should be able to go to McDonald's occasionally because it's a cheap place to get all your daily protein. The value double cheeseburger provides 23 grams of protein and here in Tucson, you can get 3 for about $4.00.

BRIAN KILMEADE: VALIANT SOLDIER IN THE WOW

Yes, "WOW" stands for "War On Women" and I just couldn't resist this item.

Gretchen Carlson Walks Off Fox & Friends Set Following Brian Kilmeade’s ‘Sexist’ Joke
by Meenal Vamburkar | 11:27 am, June 14th, 2012
MEDIAITE

On Thursday’s Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy did a segment about the Navy Sea Chanters — ending by informing us that it was an all-male group until 1980, when women were allowed to join. The tidbit led co-host Brian Kilmeade to make a joke about how women are “everywhere” these days. Which, in turn, spurred co-host Gretchen Carlson‘s faux outrage, as she walked off the set.

Following Doocy’s segment, Kilmeade joked, “Women are everywhere. We’re letting them play golf and tennis now. It’s out of control.” Carlson replied, “You know what?” — laughing, as she got up and walked away. “She’s out,” Kilmeade said, with Carlson joking, “You read the headlines. Since men are so great. Go ahead. Take them away.”

Go ahead, she repeated, as Kilmeade observed, “Leaving an all male crew.” Carlson replied, “In all your glory, go for it.”

EVEN APPLE STUMBLED A FEW TIMES

In the early 80s, I test drove Apple's LISA, the machine billed as the one "you already know how to use."  It sucked and at the time I was amazed that Apple would try that marketing slogan.  Apple also had other flubs, a couple of which I never heard of - the hockey puck mouse and PING.

My point is that even someone as talented as Steve Jobs can fail, so why should we expect the Feds to be 100%?

AN EDITOR OF FORTUNE MAGAZINE GETS IT RIGHT

I doubt this guy is a closet commie...

The 5 myths of the great financial meltdown
By Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large June 13, 2012: 5:00 AM ET
FORTUNE
Myth No. 5: It's the government's fault.

Yes, there were plenty of reckless and immoral borrowers taking out mortgages they knew (or should have known) they couldn't afford. And yes, you can make a case that the federal government's zeal to increase homeownership levels was partly responsible for lowering lending standards. But the idea that the government is primarily to blame for this whole mess is delusional. It was the private market -- not government programs -- that made, packaged, and sold most of these wretched loans without regard to their quality. The packaging, combined with credit default swaps and other esoteric derivatives, spread the contagion throughout the world. That's why what initially seemed to be a large but containable U.S. mortgage problem touched off a worldwide financial crisis.

HAH! THE WSJ IS A COMMIE RAG!!!

(h/t Wonkette)

The Wall Street Journal states the obvious but will probably be attacked for Wilsonism by Glenda Beck...   I've noted before that state and local governments have been laying off a lot of workers which has slowed down the economic recovery but it's nice to learn that a major paper is spreading the word.

Unemployment Rate Without Government Cuts: 7.1%
By Justin Lahart
May 8, 2012, 10:15 AM
WALL STREET JOURNAL

One reason the unemployment rate may have remained persistently high:

The sharp cuts in state and local government spending in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and the layoffs those cuts wrought.

The Labor Department’s establishment survey of employers — the jobs count that it bases its payroll figures on — shows that the government has been steadily shedding workers since the crisis struck, with 586,000 fewer jobs than in December 2008. Friday’s employment report showed the cuts continued in April, with 15,000 government jobs lost.

The unemployment rate would be far lower if it hadn’t been for those cuts: If there were as many people working in government as there were in December 2008, the unemployment rate in April would have been 7.1%, not 8.1%.

YOU WON'T HEAR ABOUT THIS FROM FATS OR HANNITY

They only mention Nouriel Roubini when it helps promote their twisted agenda:

Roubini Tells Europe to Stop 'the Savings Madness'
Published: Tuesday, 12 Jun 2012 | 7:44 AM ET
By: Lisa Rowland and Antonia Oprita
CNBC.com

Governments in Europe should lower taxes and increase salaries to boost growth rather than insisting on austerity and continued saving, famous economist Nouriel Roubini told a German newspaper in an interview on Tuesday.

"The savings madness must be stopped. Governments must lower taxes and increase wages. Europe needs growth," Roubini told popular newspaper Bild. 

LOCAL WINGNUT LIES & WHINING

You may know that PPP predicted that Ron Barber would defeat Jesse Kelly in the AZ CD-8 special election, 53% to 41%.  Last night, one of the guests on KQTH's election coverage show stated that PPP was a terrible polling organization.  That's not what I recalled and there's some data to back that up.

In 2010, Nate Silver did an analysis of pollster accuracy and found that PPP was in the top 15:

Ratings for firms with at least 10 polls

You should read this post by Mark Blumenthal for a few caveats.

Today, John Justice is attributing Kelly's huge loss to his lousy campaign instead of the fact that Kelly is a mean-spirited haughty prick.

JESSE KELLY IS NOW OH-FOR-2

When he ran against Gabby Giffords in the Year of the Bagger (2010), he lost by about 4,000 votes.   Today, he lost the special election to replace Giffords, this time by a much wider margin.  With 86.36% of the precincts reporting, Ron Barber is leading Bagger Kelly by over 13,000 votes.

Maybe Bagger Kelly should grab some bench.  :-)

MORANS...

You may have noticed that I occasionally have a typo in the post title so I have a little sympathy with the guy who sent out this e-mail:

MORE NONSENSE IN THE WAPO

This crap started a long time before Noxin became President.

Nixon’s worst Watergate legacy: The politics of hatred
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite
Guest Voices

Posted at 06:50 AM ET, 06/11/2012

From the standpoint of theology, however, I believe the worst legacy of Richard Nixon is the soul-destroying hatred that he himself described and that he bequeathed to the nation.

I HAZ ANUTHER SAD

Early Sunday AM, I heard a story on On The Media about how organized science handles retractions of scientific papers almost as if they did not occur.    I presume that scientists who specialize in the specific topic will know that the retracted finding is BS but that still leaves a majority of scientists in the field out of the loop, let alone journalists and the general public.

You can read a lot more about this problem at Retraction Watch.

HARVARD & THE NYT TAKE ANOTHER HIT

This time it's not Niall Ferguson or William Kristol but a pasty faced fat white kid who got a gig at the NY Times: Ross Douhat.  This time he's repeating the wingnut eugenics mythology by accusing Margaret Sanger of calling some people "human weeds":

From Teddy Roosevelt to the Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, fears about “race suicide” and “human weeds” were common among self-conscious progressives, who saw the quest for a better gene pool as of a piece with their broader dream of human advancement.

 I remember looking through her published writings for this term and I was unable to find even one instance which could be taken to imply this view.

ARE THE BAGGERS STARTING TO PANIC?

I read a number of posts on this POLITICO story about the Obama campaigns technological advantage over Mittens and I was struck by the number of jerks who still post crap about Pres. Obama being a Muslim, a Marxist, a Kenyan, a radical, anti-American, etc.  I think this may be related to the fact that Mittens can't seem to get beyond 170 guaranteed Electoral College votes on Real Clear Politics despite the fluctuations in support for Pres. Obama.

YES, JESSE KELLY IS AN EXTREMIST

I got this from RRowleyTucson1 on POLITICO:

Article and Video: Jesse Kelly Says Health Care Is A “Privilege You Earn” http://j.mp/IrWsia
Article: Jesse Kelly Would Privatize Social Security http://j.mp/JPVE4E
Article AND Video: Jesse Kelly trying to hide endorsement by extremist racist group?? http://j.mp/KEEkxX All about ALIPAC http://j.mp/KLBcAj
Article: "Corporate Personhood" Citizens United Endorses Jesse Kelly in Special Election http://j.mp/w4YGg8
Article: Jesse Kelly, Arizona Congressional Candidate, Claimed Not To Know Where Stimulus Funds Went http://j.mp/LISvHf
Article: Jesse Kelly Trying To Walk Back His Call to Eliminate the Minimum Wage http://j.mp/HYa1SG
Article: CD8 candidate Jesse Kelly’s economic platform similar to Communist nations http://j.mp/zBKXth
Article: CD8 Republican Jesse Kelly Calls For New National Sales Tax http://j.mp/xNFoui
Article: Giffords Opponent, Jesse Kelly, Held June Event to “Shoot a Fully Automatic M16 to “Get on Target” and “Remove Gabrielle Giffords” http://j.mp/zsqdwJ and http://j.mp/A5to9a
Article: PAC Behind GOP Candidate For Gabby Giffords Seat Shows Gun In Email Appeal http://j.mp/LopnpN
Article: More Jesse Kelly Lies About Medicare http://j.mp/IUOmPk
Article and Video: Jesse Kelly: "Oil Is A Renewable Resource" http://j.mp/xlm23i
Article: Jesse Kelly Supported by Groups Tied to White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, in 2010 AND 2012 http://j.mp/HR9RfR
Letter: Tucson Tea Party Co-Founder: 13 Questions for Jesse Kelly that must be answered before you vote http://j.mp/zCtsMM
Article: Jesse Kelly's firm benefited from stimulus he criticized http://j.mp/MV8LGK
Video: Jesse Kelly's ENTIRE platform http://j.mp/JjkdXr
Simply put, Jesse Kelly has neither the brains, credibility or honesty for public office, the will for fighting or the compassion to represent the people of southern Arizona either CD8 OR CD2.