Watching U.S. politics nowadays must be what Alice in Wonderland experienced when she first crawled through the rabbit hole. She entered a world of crazy where up is down and down is up and not much made sense unless you were flying high on crystal meth. Nothing wrong with a little crazy now and then until you reach the point where crazy becomes the norm. Crazy has now become the norm in American politics.
A blogger at TakeMyCountryBack makes the point by quoting a passage from the Adam Sandler flic Billy Madison.
"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
Tune in to Fox News on any given evening or listen to what Boehner, O'Donnell or Palin has to say and you would be completely justified in saying the same. Our blogger sums it up nicely.
America, we are currently facing dangerous times. A time where republicans are voting for folks who are so unbelievably unqualified for political office that we might as well elect Billy Madison. [...] Knowing that FOX has the largest viewership of any cable news channel is downright horrifying. They know what they are doing and they know that their audience does not. It is classic bait and switch and true snake oil salesman tactics on a massive scale. And lest you be fooled, it is working very well. Christine O'Donnell was a nobody last week, like Sarah Palin was once. An opportunist empty vessel who would jump onto any bandwagon for their own personal gain. And they are gaining. They are winning in the popular vote and in today's breakneck media pace that is all that counts.
And his advice to you all.
In November, when Dems get to vote as well, it is my prayer that we show up and show up strong. We cannot allow people like O'Donnell or anyone that FOX promotes to become powerful. To do so vindicates the Billy Madison's of the world and makes those who criticize them the stupid ones. It turns the world upside down and to right it will take a herculean effort. We have to stop it from happening and say this November as loudly as we can: Billy we've "had to listen to your jawing for too long…Blah, blah, blah! Just shut up!"
Lewis Carroll would understand only too well.
"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with, and then the different branches of arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision." – The Mock Turtle, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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Looks like there's trouble brewing for the would-be next Speaker of the House:
All natural tangerine dreamboat House Minority Leader John Boehner was asked by a liberal blogger Thursday to answer questions about an affair with a lobbyist, an allegation that will reportedly be the focus of an upcoming New York Times expose. Boehner ignored the question outright.
The affair is evidently with a lobbyist -- Lisbeth Lyons of the American Printing Association (insert orange toner joke here). Affairs with corporate lobbyists are always the best kind. Really underscores the Boehner-as-Lobbyist-Whore motif.
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I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this:
SAN DIEGO — Attorneys for the Obama administration objected Thursday to a proposed worldwide injunction being considered by a California federal judge that would halt the military's ban on openly gay troops.
I just have no idea what that explanation might be.
Ugh.
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General and Saint - David Petraeus
I agree with all of this. Andrew Sullivan.
The canonization of Petraeus has got to stop. He follows in the footsteps of Colin Powell who mastered the art of Beltway schmoozing and press management. But at least Powell won a war where Petraeus has so far lost two (can anyone now believe, as Iraq descends into political chaos and increasing violence, that the surge was simply a face-saver to get most, but not all, of the US troops out, after failing to achieve the original war goals?).
And the Palin meme – that somehow members of the military have some kind of special status in a civilian republic and their political views demand more respect than those of others – is just as repugnant.
We owe servicemembers immense respect and gratitude for their courage and service – but we also owe them – to honor the civilian democracy they serve – no more influence or status in the political arena than anyone else. The idea that the military is given an effective veto over a Congressional and presidential decision is a dangerous precedent.
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This is a country run by civilians, whose elected offices are as valid regardless of their military experience, and the military's job is to take orders, to offer private and confidential military – not political – advice to their commander-in-chief. Their role after that in public is quite simple: to shut the fuck up.
The way in which Petraeus is leveraging his Iraq experience – an experience which, as every day reveals, ended in total failure except as a temporary face-saver for partial withdrawal – and his media clout to force an elected president into an open-ended commitment in Afghanistan is deeply disturbing. It's long since time we put these commanders and their enablers in their place.
And that's all I have to say about that.
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It gives hope that even Teabaggers can evolve into thinking people. BBC:
Neanderthals were keen on innovation and technology and developed tools all on their own, scientists say.
A new study challenges the view that our close relatives could advance only through contact with Homo sapiens.
The team says climate change was partly responsible for forcing Neanderthals to innovate in order to survive
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Bailed out banks piling on new fees: CNNMoney
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narcissism for the rest of us?
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Oh, so the Republicans do like the stimulus.WSJ
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Jill: Does this include the Republican fratboys in the C Street House?
Another one from Jill: Killing Commies for Christ.
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Teabaggers Forced To Cancel Convention Nobody Will Go To
