Lazy, Hazy, And Definitely Crazy

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Terrorist threats skyrocket in election years; Ken Lay was just like JFK, MLK, and Jesus; Pat Robertson's mega-Christian conglomerate is worth almost $200 million; the right-wing wants to ice five Supreme Court justices; and that's just the tip of this week's crazy wingnut iceberg. There's also a haze on the meadow, but it isn't bright, nor is it golden. It's the methane stench of Republican lies, disguised as conflicting opinions and fuzzy facts. Case in point: a Republican candidate claims donations are tax deductible but omits the fine print catch. And who could possibly be lazier than George W. Bush? I'm waiting... Still waiting...

Crazy: Not Just A Song Title

In August 2003, I ran into Senator Joseph Lieberman on Massachusetts Ave. I told him I had voted for him in the 2000 presidential election. He shook my hand warmly and said he hoped I was still supporting him. I didn't tell him that I had just left Kerry HQ, where I had signed onto the Kerry campaign. Maybe I should have. My point is that Lieberman's current re-election woes didn't just begin when Ned Lamont entered the race. Now, LiberalOasis has uncovered a truly unseemly truth about how low Lieberman's campaign has sunk:

A TV ad, with a message approved by Sen. Joe Lieberman, uses a phony Ned Lamont bumper sticker to falsely claim that all Lamont has to say is "No More Joe."

The ad ran today on Hartford's Fox affiliate WTIC-61, during "Fox News Sunday." (It was also shown during C-Span's airing of the Lieberman-Lamont debate.)

The narrator begins the ad with: "In the battle of the bumper stickers, this one has a simple message: 'No More Joe.' But what else does Lamont really have to say?"

A graphic of a "NO MORE JOE" sticker is shown. The second line of the sticker reads: "Ned Lamont * Democrat for U.S. Senate". In the bottom right corner of the sticker is a URL, www.nomorejoe.com.

Problem is: there is no www.nomorejoe.com.

Wait until you read exactly who owns the domain. This Rovian campaign tactic is, indeed, a new low. Meanwhile, Cenk Uygur, blogging at The Huffington Post, explains why Lieberman has even ticked off political centrists:

Unfortunately, if Lieberman regains his seat, he just might get a chance to do it again, with Iran. It's not just a matter of punishing people for their past mistakes, it's about making sure they don't make new ones that are even worse.

And we haven't even gotten to how Lieberman gives the administration political cover. How his support allows for this extremist administration to pretend they are centrist and bi-partisan. I never want to hear George Bush' say this sentence again, "Senator Lieberman is right."

Remember Rove's talking points memo on the 2006 campaign? Terror! Terror! Terror! The Progressive Daily Beacon aptly notes that 2005 was virtually terror plot free, unlike 2004 and now in 2006:

Let's see: Election years 2004 and 2006, full of terror threats but non-election-year 2005, few terror threats. Hmmm...wonder if there is any correlation? Election years: lots of terror threats. Non-election-years: few terror threats. What to make of that?

It is rather strange too, that in election year 2006 the American people have so far, two new terrorism-related sound-bite/catch phrases to add to their vocabulary. While 2005 was free of "homegrown terrorists" and terror plots that were "more aspirational than operational" 2006, or better said election-season 2006, has all ready had two such "incidents". A bit odd, too, that these "homegrown terrorists" and "more aspirational than operational" terror plots just happened to coincide so neatly with the Republican Congressional campaigns that were launched into full-swing in the merry month of June. Hmmm...wonder if there is any correlation?

Read the rest. It's spot on.

Ready for more signs of crazy days ahead? Did you know that Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network is worth at least $186,482,060? AlterNet's Rob Boston has posted The Top Power Brokers Of The Religious Right, complete with overviews, revenue data, and links to the multi-Million dollar (cough) foundations and (cough) ministry-based organizations. Also, Air America Radio's State Of Belief blogger/announcer Isaac-Davy Aronson asks, "What's 72 feet tall and misrepresenting our country's heritage?" Hint: It's taller than (and a lot more threatening to the US Constitution than) any Sci Fi 50' woman who might've invaded your childhood dreams.

If you're a fan of phlogs (photo blogs), you'll love Dependable Renegade's daily dose of snark-related captions and commentary. Here's an example:


Be warned! Dependable Renegade could be habit forming.

The Dilbert Blog does Ken Lay. As does The Huffington Post, and I even snarked the private (family and friends only) Lay memorial ("Wasn't he a wonderful man?") crapfest quotes on my blog, Delilah Boyd. I mean, come on! Equating Ken Lay to JFK, MLK, and Jesus absolutely demands a snarky response.

File this campaign ad under "Crazy... Like A Fox." Wes Wagner, Independent candidate in Oregon's House District #39, has approved his first ad. Watch it at Standing Up For Freedom, but not while eating or drinking anything. Yes, it's that funny! Go, Wes!

Time Out For Notable DU Quotes

Always searching for blogging tips & tricks? Here's a handy dandy tip from DUer benburch on how not to steal bandwidth when you capture an image and want to post it online:

(Bookmark this one, you'll want it later!)

This works for most pictures.

Say you have a picture you want to use in a posting:

foobar.com/JulieNewmar.jpg

Now, if you just link it to your DU posting, you immediately start stealing bandwidth from foobar.com.

This is simply not a nice thing to do as some websites pay for every byte they transfer.

If you change that URL a little...

foobar.com.nyud.net:8090/JulieNewmar.jpg

...It then uses a free public caching service from www.coralcdn.org.

Cool! Thanks, benburch!

According to Vyan, America is screaming. This post is not only worth the time; it's worth following the links provided!

Last, but not least, proud2Blib posts this chart, which explains BushCo's Terror Alert policy quite nicely:


Hazy: More Than An Election Year Forecast

Leave it to Republicans to turn facts into opinion issues, thereby creating a national haze, much like the film on your teeth when you wake up after last night's meal of pressed garlic or gobs of guacamole. Sane people brush their teeth the moment they wake, and sane people also see through the Republican haze and fight to expose the political machine behind it. A good example this week is The GOP Auctionhouse, an interactive graphic from the DCCC Blog. Click on an issue and see who's involved (DeLay), who's guilty as sin (DeLay), and who's trying to look righteous (DeLay). Don't delay! Click on over.

Fact: Republicans have no qualms about pushing the legal envelope, skirting campaign finance law, and just plain lying about their campaign finances. This week, Josh Marshall has caught a (gasp) Republican Greg Walden (Oregon) (gasp) telling his supporters that their donations are tax deductible:


The hazy part: Oregon's state tax schedule allows you a tax credit for donating up to $50 to campaigns. Walden, however, doesn't bother to clarify this haziness. Typical.

Lazy: More Than Meets The Eye

Who's lazier than George W. Bush? I'll wait for your answer. Still waiting. Never mind. Anyway, Bush was apparently too lazy to correct Larry King, when the Atom Ant look-alike said of the late Ken Lay, "I know he was your friend. How do you feel? Were you shocked?" JABBS has the transcript and the definitive blog post on the Bush/Lay "Friend or Acquaintance" debate.

Speaking of lazy, The Core Of Four (the Republican motto, wherein you find three other lazy Republican idiots to echo your right-wing spittle accusations, declarations, and/or outright lies - such as "Cut and Run Democrats") must've prompted The Huffington Post's Robert Elisberg to compile a list of 50 Easy Questions To Ask Any Republican. My favorites:

Is it fiscally responsible to cut taxes, increase spending and create a $9 trillion federal debt?

Are you glad liberals passed such programs as Social Security, Medicare, The Civil Rights Act, women's suffrage, federal deposit insurance, unemployment compensation, rural electrification, child labor laws, minimum wages and the 40-hour work week?

What are the Top Ten best things that conservatives have given to America?

If you were on life support, would you want a doctor you'd never met making a diagnosis about you via remote television?

So many easy questions, so many stupid, lazy Republicans. And what's lazier than a Bush supporter who sees no need to sacrifice anything during a never-ending war, except the civil liberties of others? OpEdNews addresses these kooks in How To Lose the War on Terror; Bush's 10 Rules:

1. Tell Americans that the war on terror will be "a lengthy campaign" and then don't involve them in it. Don't ask them to make any sacrifice, such as reducing their fossil-fuel consumption. Don't give them an activity to do that will foster community and allay their fears. Instead, tell them to go shopping. Implore them to trust the President because "he's a Christian."

2. Resist formation of an independent commission to investigate what happened on 9/11. When public outcry forces the creation of this commission, feign cooperation with it, and resist all requests for information. Classify massive amounts of material as "top secret" and deny access to independent investigators. When the 9/11 Commission publishes its recommendations, thank them vociferously, pledge your cooperation, and then don't implement any of their suggestions. Don't do anything that suggests you made a mistake prior to the terrorist attacks.

3. Make the conduct of the war on terror the exclusive responsibility of the Department of Defense. Dismiss the advice of national-security experts that effective anti-terror efforts involve diplomacy, covert operations, economic sanctions, and law enforcement, as well as military action. Surround yourself with advisers who have either never been in the military, or, if they have, avoided active duty. Make your Administration's motto, "We know best because we have no experience in war."

And while you're at it, let Karl Rove tell five or sixpeople that the last American diplomat to defy Saddam Hussein in a face-to-face shouting match is a traitor. Oh, and commit another treasonous act by disclosing that the man's wife is an undercover CIA operative who works on exposing governments trying to jump on the WMD proliferation bandwagon. Whew! AMERICAblog has the story and 183 comments on the conflicting Novak, Rove, and CIA testimony. My favorite AMERICAblog comment:

OT, but has anyone noticed the latest tactic of the Retardlicans? The "oh gee, I thought liberals were so tolerant and open-minded" defense whenever a fellow asshole says something just heinous?

It's like they're all doing it suddenly. And these assholes need to be called on it.

Well said, anonymous commenter!

Laziest, Haziest, and Craziest

Rarely does one wingnut blogger fit neatly into the "One Size Fits All Batshit Loony" category, but Glen Greenwald (Unclaimed Territory) has found one, and his name is Misha. Glen writes:

The blogger Misha of the blog Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler is one of the most linked-to and popular bloggers in the right-wing blogosphere. He's the 42nd most linked-to blogger on the Internet, and he is in the blogroll of scores of right-wing bloggers, such as Michelle Malkin and Captain's Quarters Blog. He wrote a post today discussing the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan and here is what he said:

Of course, this is the same Supreme Court that earlier decided in Kelo that private property rights only matter as long as a private company doesn't offer a better deal, above or below the table, to local authorities, so one shouldn't really be surprised. The unelected, black-robed tyrants have a long history of not giving a fig about the Constitution if they don't like what it says, not to mention a long tradition of usurping the powers of the legislative and executive branch by ruling by judicial fiat. . . .

Try doing anything to those mutilating darlings of the Supremes in order to extract life-saving intel from them, and then wait for the Supreme Whores to decide that you were "humiliating" them in doing so.

Five ropes, five robes, five trees.

Some assembly required.

Lazy: Blame the Supremes, most of whom were appointed by Repukes. Hazy: Call for the deaths of Supremes and duck behind the First Amendment when patriots call you out. Crazy: Ignore the rantings of the death and sex-obsessed prude-façaded. Ah, democracy. It's not easy, is it?

It's summer, y'all. We should be hanging out with friends and families, confident that democracy is safe from predators, confident that America wears a white hat around the globe, and confident that the upcoming election will be fair. Instead, we find ourselves, once again, in a life and death struggle against fascist Constitution-hating warmongers, intent on destabilizing every social and judicial safety mechanism we hold dear, and the 33% whose holier-than-thou attitude and pure greed motivate them to undermine everything this country stands for.

No one ever said democracy was easy. But it's damned well worth the fight. We ignore lazy, hazy, and crazy at our peril, and defending the Constitution is job one. Question everyone and everything this summer. It might just save us all.

-- Delilah Boyd