But .... but ... it's not about race!!

At least, so they keep saying.

And in the real world a Tea Party web site has this:

Patriot Freedom Alliance, a tea party group in Hutchinson, Kansas, made a statement on its website recently, depicting Obama as a skunk. “It is half black, half white, and almost everything it does, stinks,” the site reads, according to a screen grab posted by The Hutchinson News.

To the Patriot Freedom Alliance, this is simply political satire and no worse than what Palin was subjected to.

well, then that certainly makes it ok.

NASCAR and Southern Hospitality

Now that Michelle Obama has been booed during an event honoring our troops some folks are wondering whatever happened to southern hospitality.

Any 62 year old southern white who is honest knows the answer.

It was for whites only.

And even then, only for a certain class.

And, I have to point out, it was at Homestead-Miami in that unnamed state to our south. Making the homefolks proud.

maybe I could move back to Minnesota.

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Those wonderful folks who helped break our economy

This time let's focus on one of the "foreclosure mills" that selflessly works to kick people out of their homes, the Steven J. Baum law firm.

Yes. I know. Attacking lawyers is too easy and I should be ashamed of myself.

And I would be if I hadn't read this little column by Joe Nocera about the firm's Halloween costume party. The one where they made fun of the folks they were foreclosing on.

I don't know who Steven J. Baum is, but I'm sure he is very proud to have his name attached to it. Or he would be, if a spokesman for the firm hadn't denied that it ever happened.


Now about those pictures....

UPDATE: After I posted this TPM ran a story, or rather reposted Nocera's story. You should look at it for the reader's comments. Here's a few for your entertainment.

I'm not shocked easily anymore but this took my breath away. The most uncivilized behavior I've seen by supposedly educated and successful people. I pity them for having to live with that kind of darkness in their hearts.

***

I am (nearly) speechless. In my time as a labor organizer, I have seen too many detestable companies, some familiar household brands, do too many despicable things, up to and including murder. This is the first time I have heard of such crass and amoral celebration of misery. Not only are the decision makers/profit takers making light of our national shame, but the workers/wage earners, who you can bet are one or two paychecks from being in the same predicament are reveling in it as well.

****

I just sold my house at a loss. I lost all my assets. The bank, my realtor and my lawyer all made a nice little packet off me, though. Maybe they'll throw a party with the proceeds.

Somehow, I doubt I'll be invited.

Some people have no sense of humor.

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Warrants?! We don' need no stinkin' warrants!

At least not if you are ICE. And are dealing with Mexican looking folk.

So here is a question for you. Where are the folks who prate that they just want to go back to the Constitution?

This one, I mean.

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Now here, 'people' clearly means American citizens, and certainly, white, non-Mexican looking American citizens.

I mean really, that was understood back in Pat Buchanan's day.

Bonkers over (White) America

I think that Pat Buchanan is working to become a caricature of himself. And after his Hitler-friendly last book had taken it about as far as it would go. I admit it. I was wrong.

Read a few snippets from his latest volume in which, among other thing, he laments the fall from power of the great white race which in his mind is synonymous with 'Americans."

For those few of you in our family, he is lamenting the appearance of, among others, our beloved sister-in-law, our niece and nephew, my little friend Miggs, our cousin in Colorado's family and ... well, just keep filling in the blanks.

Remember the good old days when this paleo-clown was considered too extreme and distasteful for the Republican party? Oh c'mon. It was not that long ago.

although I admit, I've often thought certain family characteristics spelled the doom of Western Civilization as we have known it.

Question of the week

How many New York police officers does it take to prevent one young woman from leaving the bank where she is a customer?

Talk it over among yourselves, then write down your answer.

The correct answer is here. Though I don't think that with sidearms and billy clubs they were well enough armed. It's a bit like the vacuum cleaner and the kittens - or clowns in a car. Can you actually count all of them?

We'll file this one under 'malicious twits'

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Update on Pinellas Co. Stupidity

It was even worse than I first thought.

Read it and weep.

The decision came as a surprise because the county just started fluoridating water eight years ago, so it was considered a debated and settled issue.

It was also unexpected because the 4-3 vote came at a workshop on what was billed as an update on fluoridation.

Why listen to dentists.

"Hillsborough County has been fluoridating water since 1994. The City of Tampa also fluoridates its water."

No evidence it has lowered the intelligence of the population.

but then, how could they tell?

It's Working

From that big state to our south:

Pinellas County, Fla., will stop adding fluoride to its drinking water after complaints by anti-government activists. Dentists protested the decision, arguing that fluoridation has dramatically lowered tooth-decay rates across the U.S., but Tea Party activists said it was part of a plot by the "world government to keep people stupid."

Tea Party activists may have complained, but it took elected officials to listen to them. They sure can elect 'em down in that benighted swamp hole to our south.

from The Week

don't get me started on the governor.

In case you were wondering who is in charge here

It's the oil companies. Want proof?

(AP) PASADENA, Texas -- Three commissioners appointed by Gov. Rick Perry may grant some of the nation's largest refineries a tax refund of more than $135 million - money Texas' cash-strapped schools and other local governments have been counting on to help pay teachers and provide other public services.

Just in case you had any doubts. But don't let this stop you from supporting the Governor! No indeedy.

after all, unlike G.W. Bush, he is the real thing when it comes to being Texan.

One more thing about that state to our south

The one run by an unindicted conspirator to Medicare fraud. Now this.

In kids age 10-14, the number three killer is suidice. The number four is homicide.If you look at kids 15-19, the number two killer is homicide. The number three is suicide. It’s not obesity, it’s not heart disease, it’s not diabetes. Kids are killed by accidents, by homicide, and by suicide. That’s why pediatricians ask about guns. But not in Florida:

The Great Sunshine State where it is now illegal for a physician to ask about gun ownership.

Florida Republicans, guarding the delicate privacy of gun owners.

Why it's about nothing

I know that there are a lot of reasons why people want to be known as Tea Partiers but I still believe that in reality it is about nothing. Their complaints did not exist, at least on media radar, until after Obama was elected. Their complaints and solutions now are either inconsistent or contradictory.

And once their candidates are in office, they wander off to do business with the rich folk just as they have always done like, say, Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia according to Dana Milbank:

In a broader sense, Scott’s bill gets at what has long troubled me about the Tea Party movement: It is fueled by populist anger, but it has been hijacked by plutocrats. Well-intentioned Tea Party foot soldiers demand that power be returned to the people, but then their clout is used to support tax cuts for millionaires. They rally for tougher immigration laws, but then their guy in Washington helps corporations to fire U.S. workers and hire foreign nationals.

The company he defends by wanting to abolish Legal Services is guilty of favoring immigrants over native born, the very nub of anti-immigration complaints.

I wonder if I should tell Budweiser about this? For a conservative he is a damn good Legal Services lawyer.

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Another Republican speaks

About pre-school programs.

Of course, the government wants their hands on your children as fast as they can. That is why I opposed all these early starts and pre-early starts, and early-early starts. They want your children from the womb so they can indoctrinate your children as to what they want them to be. I am against that."

Yes, you too can vote for this man to be president of the USA ... at least in a primary somewhere.

from here, via Andrew Sullivan.

and for you mothers out there desperately trying to find a pre-school program for your kid, shame on you.

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Without comment

David Brooks wakes up and ....

... discovers there is GAMBLING going on in this establishment!


And has the nerve to write about it. Here.

A bit of his observations from the den of inequity:

the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.
. . .
The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency.
. . .
The struggles of the next few weeks are about what sort of party the G.O.P. is — a normal conservative party or an odd protest movement that has separated itself from normal governance, the normal rules of evidence and the ancient habits of our nation.

Well, better late than never.

like him, I am shocked, shocked!

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Watch it buster

News from that state to our south ...

... you know the one.

It has managed to separate itself from the pack of 50 this year in at least one category! And here it is folks, against awesome competition, the Most Unpopular Governor in America ...

... Nosferatu.

No, no. Lex Luthor.


Ok, Ok. It's actually this fellow:

In the poll, 57% of registered voters said they're unhappy with how Scott has handled his job as governor, a record high. At the same time, only 29% of voters said they approved of Scott's job performance, making Scott the most unpopular of 10 governors Quinnipiac has surveyed this year.

You get what you vote for. Or in the case of those too inane to vote, you get who wins.

for personal reason I prefer to think of him as Gov. Luthor.

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More news of the weird

That would be politics in Florida.

Apparently the recently elected criminal in chief, aka The Governor, has managed to destroy the reputation of the Republican Party in a mere 100 days. Here is an brief article about it focusing on the upset victory of a Democrat in Jacksonville:

Reflecting on the upset in the Jacksonville mayor's race, St. Petersburg Political Editor Adam Smith said, "Jacksonville is a Republican stronghold, but even with that relatively conservative electorate polls show Barack Obama more popular than Rick Scott. That election in Florida's largest city was not about Obama or Scott, but there's no question that Scott's talk about draconian cuts to school budgets and other services helped elect a Democrat arguing that cuts need to be targeted and strategic. One of the best days for Democrat Alvin Brown came when Rick Scott came to Jacksonville to campaign for the Republican mayoral nominee at a Tea Party rally."

Do you have any idea what it takes to make a Democrat popular in Jacksonville? Whatever it is, let's see more of it.

after all, it only took Napoleon 100 days to blow it at Waterloo.

Update: I didn't realize this when I wrote it, but Newt "Loose Lips" Gingrich is actually campaigning in Waterloo, Iowa. Coincidence?

Bankers Bane

I mean a bane to us. Here is the latest from those wonderful folks who helped bring on the greatest recession in personal memory.

J.P. Morgan Chase said Friday it will pay $27 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the bank of overcharging members of the military for their mortgages and prompted a federal investigation, a congressional hearing as well as public outrage.

In the suit, Marine Corps Capt. Jonathon Rowles charged that the bank refused to lower the interest rate on his mortgage, as required under a federal law, after he was activated for duty. When Rowles refused to pay the higher rate, the bank called his home up to three times a day and threatened to foreclose, according to the suit, which was filed in July.

All of which is against Federal law. Chase probably thought they were jsut helping the war effort I suppose.

bonuses all around, if not a governorship somewhere

Without Comment

It's Not About Race

Back to the Future, at least among the Repubs of Mississippi.

In a PPP poll released Thursday, a 46% plurality of registered Republican voters said they thought interracial marriage was not just wrong, but that it should be illegal. 40% said interracial marriage should be legal.

"It's like coming home."

depending on what you mean by 'home'