Approaching Great Strong Leader?

Remember when Republicans constantly argued Bush's gutter approval ratings meant he was a strong leader that didn't follow polling? Accordingly, applying the same logic, that would also mean President Obama's low approval numbers means he's equally as strong, right?  Well not equally as strong since his numbers are still double Bush's final 3.5 years.  But he's moving in the right direction for Great Strong Leader category.  Alas, Republican logic only applies to Republicans it seems.  Thank God.

Modern GOP Welcomes 15th Century

If this was the 1400s the Republican Party would be riding high. What's sad, is it's 2010 and Republicans really think their 15th century thinking proves they are America's Saviors.

Today's installment of the Republican Walk With God brings us U.S. senate hopeful Sir Rand "the Trinity" Paul from Kentucky and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.   Sir Rand gets all tied up with his super libertarian wisdom when he can't quite bring himself to answer a question from a right wing Christian about how old he thinks the earth is.



Just like telling black people they can only enter certain public establishments, it's also a hard part of freedom to not admit you think the earth is older than 6,000 years. If you do admit the earth is millions of years old, you run the risk of alienating about half your electorate. Difficult days for the GOP when a 15th century norm stumps you.

Then yesterday in the grand halls of Congress, Sen. Grassley pondered with the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States if she thought Almighty God ordained Americans with the right to bear arms. Not that the Founders wrote it in as the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, or that they were being directed by God while writing it in, but that ominous right surpasses even the creation of the Land of Milk Honey by being delivered on High from God Himself.



Just so everyone is straight here, leading Republicanism means the earth is 6,000 years old and God surpasses the Constitutional right to bear arms. You see, if it's God's Will that we have an SKS at our side, then anyone who says we have no need for certain kinds of weapons is going against God and His perfect creation for mankind. And whoever that person is, obviously isn't fit for office because in the 15th century only those who abide by God's understanding are fit to lead us. Wheee!!!

Day Off, Vacation, Traveling

I didn't get a chance to do any blogging yesterday. I was helping a friend do a couple things and by the time I got home I crashed.  Today is probably going to be another busy non-blogging day for me as well.  Though I might be able to get some posts up this morning.  This looks like the standard for the rest of the week too.  I'm going to be traveling a bunch starting Thursday and will probably be totally tanked over the weekend celebrating Independence Day just like the Founders intended.  

Supreme Watch

Kudos to the U.S. Supreme Court for striking down the Chicago handgun ban. It's my understanding the longtime Chicago ban prohibited people from owning and keeping handguns in their homes. Clearly unconstitutional in my book. And now the Supreme Court verifies my opinion.  The court ruled 5-4 the 2nd Amendment does apply to the state and local governments.  Where I might disagree is in the majority's opinion is where Justice Alito writes the Second Amendment is "among the most fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty."  I don't know if I would go that far, but it is an important one no doubt.

The conservative court also ruled in favor of the University of California's Hastings College of the Law that on-campus Christian groups cannot bar gays and still get funding from the school.  This ruling was also 5-4.

Two very different cases from opposite ends of the political spectrum and I think the Court nailed them both.

Tea Baggers: America Needs Big Government

Another poll, another Freedom Fighting Tea Bagger snow balls Big Government.

Seventy-four percent of self-described Tea Party Supporters would support a "national manufacturing strategy to make sure that economic, tax, labor, and trade policies in this country work together to help support manufacturing in the United States," according to the poll, put out by the Mellman Group and the Alliance for American Manufacturing. Likewise, 56 percent of self-described Tea Party Supporters "favor a tariff on products imported from other countries that are cheaper because they came from a country that does not have to comply with any climate change regulations in the country where the products were made." 

I'll say it again. Tea Baggers aren't against Big Government. They aren't against deficit spending. They aren't against social programs. They are merely Republicans who are mad they lost the election.

My iPad Is Awesome

With a little less than two weeks of using my iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, I have decided it was a good investment. A little on the expensive side for my tastes but I have a feeling that it's going to drop prices on other items like laptops, desktops and eReaders. I think it's great for the market and I'm sure next summer the iPad 2 will be even better.

In all seriousness, the mobility is terrific.  It's great for quick internet searches/references, email, and the iBooks is superb.  I'm currently reading "Over the Cliff" where I jumped through 3 chapters the first day of purchase.  I was able to sync my Microsoft Outlook with ease; complete with contacts and calendar.  My gmail was just as easy.  I can have my day's schedule along with notes, all my email, access to files on my home desktop, work desktop or my laptop and my iPod all on something the size of a piece of paper.  If I have five minutes to read, I can.  If I'm getting restless and need a song real quick, I can jam.  If I'm in a meeting and need to bring up a file, I have total access.

Dislikes

The keyboard is still a pain but getting better.  I'm not sure there is any way it can be improved.  I haven't tried the wireless keyboard accessory yet, however.  Smudges on the display appear quickly and vastly.  Seems like I'm always wiping it off.  AT&T is ticking me off.  They still haven't given me the unlimited 3G yet.  This could be a sticky issue for Apple.  It's also one that will greatly affect if I purchase anything else from Apple again.  I WANT MY UNLIMITED PLAN!!  The accessories are outrageously priced.  A case was $40.  Adapters for this and that are anywhere from $40-$90.  A stupid digital camera connector is $30.  It's outrageous I'm telling ya.  Also, some of the apps aren't all that great.  I thought, wrongly I suppose, most apps were free.  They aren't.

Overwhelmingly I do like it.  I think it's great and this week while traveling I hope to really get a lot use out of it.

*Update:

My iPad just got awesomer!  Got my unlimited 3G data plan!!  Here's the kicker...you can never cancel it.  If you do, the next time you sign up you will no longer be eligible for the unlimited plan.  That sucks in a number of different ways.  Honestly the number one selling point to me was the 3G access that had no long-term contract.  Not being able to cancel because you'll never get the same contract that you originally purchased your iPad for, is no different than long-term contracts.  I digress...

Sen. Byrd Passes Away

The longest serving member of Congress in American history passed away last night. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) had health issues for the last two years. He was 92.

His senate floor speeches were my favorite.  They were always a history lesson.  Very few people have spoken on the senate floor with such historical accurateness and knowledge.

*Update:

Before I mention Byrd's membership in the KKK and his filibuster of the Civil Rights Act (two unforgivable episodes if you ask me) I do want to touch upon his opposition to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  Byrd said on the floor just hours before the invasion:

..this Administration has directed all of the anger, fear, and grief which emerged from the ashes of the twin towers and the twisted metal of the Pentagon towards a tangible villain, one we can see and hate and attack. And villain he is. But, he is the wrong villain. And this is the wrong war. If we attack Saddam Hussein, we will probably drive him from power. But, the zeal of our friends to assist our global war on terrorism may have already taken flight.

Without the benefit of hindsight, Byrd was absolutely right.   Saddam was a terrible, rotten man.  A villain just like the senator said.  But he had nothing to do with 9/11.  He was the wrong man.  America had the whole world behind us in eradicating bin Laden and his terrorist network.  For the first time in its history, NATO invoked article 5, the collective defense clause that says an attack on one member is an attack on all.  We had every right to wage war against the people responsible for attacking us.  And we failed because we were being led by an administration more concerned with vengeance than America.  We thus turned our attention to Iraq and Saddam Hussein.  Thousands of lives later and over a trillion dollars later, we are still fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan, with the latter just now receiving the attention it deserved 9 years ago.

Lost

Well this isn't good. I can't find my image of George Bush eating a cat!! When I switched templates I lost it. I thought I had it backed up somewhere. As of right now I can't find it. This sucks.

Life Will Go On

I pretty much did nothing yesterday. In doing so I missed David Weigel's apparent firing from the WaPo blog page.

I first started reading Weigel when he was at the Washington Independent.  I linked to him there.  And when he moved to WaPo I switched my link over to his new blog.  Wherever he ends up after this, I'll again switch my sidebar link to it.

The short of it is Weigel has been branded by the lunatic right wing as being a fake Republican or conservative.  They've never liked the fact he gets to cover "conservative" figures.  So they got a hold of some of his "off the record" emails and printed them.  In some of them he tells Matt Drudge to set himself on fire.  And for this the right wing is furious.  You have to praise Drudge, Bush, Fox News and Fat Limbaugh or you're a liberal, terrorists supporting, fascist, commie.  That's just the way it is and will always be.  Disagreement is tantamount to anti-Americanism.

It's always been my understanding that Dave Weigel is a Libertarian and not a conservative.  At least not a conservative in the Bush-Reagan sense.  I've never thought of him as a Democrat.  But who cares.  I liked what he wrote and I would have linked to him even if he considered himself a Republican or a Green.  Right now I currently link to four Republican blogs.  Big deal.  I like what they write and I read them.  Just because I disagree with them 99% of the time doesn't make them an enemy or someone who hates this country.  They are just people that have different opinions and beliefs than me.  There's no reason to question their sincerity for this country.

So for now I'll just wait for Dave to get a new job and read him again.  But really, everybody kind of needs to lighten up a bit.  Just think, instead of sitting in our wonderful air-conditioned offices we could be in Iraq or Afghanistan sweating our balls off where the last thing on our minds would be Matt Drudge or the voices page of the Washington Post.  Ain't a one of us got anything to complain about.

GOP Is Conspiracy Central

There isn't anything they won't say or do to prove the whole world is a conspiracy to keep them out of power.




It might easier to outline what isn't a Republican conspiracy.

Remember Yesterday, Walking Hand in Hand

What if Democrats had said that states did not have to abide by No Child Left Behind? Or did not have to abide by the Patriot Act? Or Medicare Part D? What if Democrats during Bush's reign had proposed amending state constitutions to include language that would try to nullify federal laws they didn't like simply because they were passed by Republicans?

It would not have been pretty if from Jan. 2001-Jan. 2009 had Democrats done any such thing.  It didn't even have to be elected Democrats back then.  Anyone that merely spoke out against Republican laws were immediately questioned for their patriotism and labeled an enemy of the state.  Treason was their favorite term back then.  But now all that is ancient history.  Forgotten times of a different era.  Today we are supposed to openly celebrate elected members of the minority party that call the president  a socialist and say his laws are tyrannical and should be nullified.

Enter Petraeus

I'm not sure I still understand what Gen. McChrystal's motivation was when talking to an investigative journalist from Rolling Stone-- a magazine that has a lengthy history of printing everything.  Maybe he wasn't thinking and that was ultimately the problem.  Or maybe he just wanted to appear cool and hip in a rock n roll sort of way.  None of it really matters at this point since he's long gone.

Reading some background on the hours until the general met his fate is quite a fascinating read for a boring political guy like me.

The press secretary, Robert Gibbs, walked a copy of it  [the article] to the president in the private quarters. After scanning the first few paragraphs — a sarcastic, profanity-laced description of General McChrystal’s disgust at having to dine with a French minister to brief him about the war — Mr. Obama had read enough, a senior administration official said. He ordered his political and national security aides to convene immediately in the Oval Office.

It was already clear then, this official said, that General McChrystal might not survive. Mr. Obama was leaning toward dismissing him, another administration official said, though he said the president was willing to wait until the general explained his actions, and those of his aides.

The Times goes on to say the president consulted with retired general Colin Powell, amongst many others, before ultimately making his decision to remove McChrystal.  It seems though the president's mind was made up but he wanted to hear other input before making his final decision.  It also seems the general did not make any attempt to lobby for his job.  He apologized and then offered his resignation.  The president accepted.

And then, finally, the president ended General McChrystal’s command in a meeting that lasted only 20 minutes. According to one aide, the general apologized, offered his resignation and did not lobby for his job.

 And that's the way it had to be.

Congrats Team USA

I've been told this is a historic moment for American soccer.  I would have no clue.  I know nothing about soccer but it is nice to see us making some gains in what is the most popular sport in the world.

I'll take my summers filled with baseball any day.  Heck, I like watching Wimbledon way more than soccer.  Never mind any of that today, however.  Congrats and keep it up!!

Deep Thought

When the heat index is 112, only a Sam Adams will do.

Obama Relieves McChrystal of Duty

Can't say that I'm all that surprised  His replacement being Gen. Petraeus is a shock, however.

All of this is unfortunate.

*Update:

CNN is reporting sources close to the Obama administration describe the meeting as being brief and that the president had no intention of keeping McChrystal.  Wow.

My guess is the meeting was tense.  I've seen Obama get mad.  And it can be a flurry of cursing and some slight elevation of the voice.  I'm not suggesting the president did any of this today at the meeting.  I'm just saying, he does get mad and he does swear and I bet he was none to happy for the situation his general put him in.

Election Scorecard

My friend Jed Lewison makes a good point that is totally unintelligible to mainstream media. 

Also worth noting: of the five incumbents to lose, three were Republicans and one was Arlen Specter, who had just quit the GOP -- and the one Democrat to lose, Alan Mollohan, lost primarily because of corruption, not because the Democratic base had rebelled.

Michael Steele Can't Even Get Fantasy World History Correct

Things have to be very sad and pathetic when Michael Steele can't even jive out the right Fantasy World talking points.

Here's Steele this morning on CNBC:

STEELE: George Bush created a lot of jobs.
HAINES: Beg your pardon?
STEELE: I think there were jobs created in the eight years that George Bush was in office.
HAINES: No I’m sorry, you’re mistaken. [...]
STEELE: I think jobs were created. I’m almost confident about that. And I think the markets reflect that. [...]
HAINES: So, did the Lehman blow up and all, that didn’t happen on Bush’s watch? … You were talking about the markets. The markets tanked. [...]

Not quite big guy. As we all know, George Bush didn't create "a lot of jobs." He in fact created 10 Million New Jobs!!!  Remember Sean Hannity has told us numerous times.

Sadly, and I mean that honestly because I would love to live in a country where 10 million new jobs had been created.  But sadly, in reality, Bush did not create 10 million new jobs or even "a lot of jobs."  He created NONE.  The worst in history.  That's right.  Net job creation under George Bush's Republican economic policies was 0.28%.  That's less than one for people who aren't good with math.

Now if you watch the video clip, Republican Chairman Steele says America should go back to those policies.  His false admission that Bush created "a lot of jobs" was to back up his claim that we need to return to Republican economic policies.  In their World, things were terrific 18 months ago.  It makes you wonder who let these people out of their rubber rooms to join society.

The Corner: Military Dissent In Private Only

Shockingly, one of the best opines on the McChrystal story comes from right wing, George Bush-loving National Review's The Corner.  Military historian, and last time I checked, Democrat, Victor Davis Hanson writes McChrystal goofed up big time and that if the General can't handle a liberal rag like Rolling Stone then he shouldn't be trusted to handle the Taliban.  True Dr. Hanson stops short from calling for McChrystal to be fired.  Only by a couple inches, however.

Then of course Hanson has to follow up his well written rebuke with a total fluff job update that makes no sense at all.

And when we factor in the mistake of setting deadlines for withdrawal, the failure to inspire our European allies to stay (they see us planning to leave), the growing mutual incrimination with the Karzai government, and popular rumbling about the restrictive rules of engagement, the Afghanistan theater is in real trouble. And this is the so-called good war that Bush ignored to fight the “bad” one in Iraq, where things are relatively quiet and a constitutional government, for all its problems, is now is in its seventh year of governance.

I understand Professor Hanson is a Bush-enabler and thinks the war in Iraq was and is admirable.  All wars where you get to sit in your comfy armchair and soak up the AC and write about Great Patriotic War is inspiringly admirable.  I understand that totally.  Inferring Iraq is a model for U.S. interventionism and calling it "relatively quiet" is ludicrous.

In the last week alone, over 100 innocent people have been blown up in the streets of Iraq.  Two people were blown to smithereens just this morning in Baghdad and 27 YESTERDAY!  When Hanson says Iraq is "relatively quiet" he means American deaths are down.  Despite Hanson's inhumane view of war and cracked view of quietness, Iraq is a ruined country still very much at war.  Keeping a full day of electricity supplied to its most populous areas is impossible for this "constitutional government."  If hundreds of people being blown up every week is quiet, then I would really hate to see Iraq when it's stirred up.

The mindless point Dr. Hanson is trying to make with his update to what might have been a thoughtful post is that everything Bush was in charge of is now doing great.  While everything Obama is now doing has turned to crap.  If we ignore the daily bombings, the no electricity, no running water, the poverty rate, the fact that we are still spending billions of dollars a month in Iraq rebuilding it, that its parliament has not met since March and focus squarely on the one factor that American deaths are way down, then yes Iraq is a constitutional government that is quiet.

The Unraveling

Independents are dropping like flies.

Dance With the One That Brought Ya

The top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has been called back to Washington today to meet with his superior, President Obama.

McChrystal is quoted in a Rolling Stone article saying some not so very nice things about the president and his staff.  That's a big no no when you work for the guy.

*Update:

Reading through excerpts of the Rolling Stone article, it strikes me as a bunch of anonymous quotes that really aren't all that out of the ordinary.  I'll agree Gen. McChrystal created an atmosphere that openly allowed insubordinate language; however, that happens every day.  To think for one second that in 2004 or whenever, Gen. Sanchez didn't call the Bushies everything in the book would be foolish.

What I get from the article is a general that wants to win.  He wants to fight his war.  Apparently the White House is letting him do that.  To the extent he wants?  Maybe not.  The endless continuation of this war is what we all should be focused on.  Instead we will be bombarded by immature "bite me" lines.  How about we stop for two seconds and ask ourselves what in the world do we intend to accomplish with a slog that is as unproductive as it is unnecessary.

Just like everybody else, the military hates being told what to do by Washington.  In the end, they moan, gripe, complain and whine but do what they are told.  General Patton would have laughed this meager Stone article all the way to Berlin.  The bad part with Afghanistan is there is no enemy capitol to race toward.  We are just driving in circles killing people and spending money.

Rand Paul's Hard Work Earns Him the Right to Socialized Paychecks

Trying to keep track of the many hypocrisies in Sir Rand Paul's actions versus his rhetoric is a full time job.  Lucky for all of us, Barefoot and Progressive pretty much has nothing else to do.

Last week Sir Rand, again, tried to persuade people of his "conservative"/"Libertarian" bona fides by stating on a radio interview with a station out of Bowling Green that he wants to see huge cuts in federal spending...and then he added, just not cuts to Medicare/Medicaid in particular to his own pocket.  Sir Rand justified the payments he receives from the socialized, single payer Medicare by stating he works hard.

“I work hard and I don’t see any other person in this country who’s gonna work hard and not be paid for it,” Paul said.

Carpenters work hard too.  Does that mean they should also get paid by the feds. Mechanics work extremely hard.  Why can't their work be subsidized by the government?  Oh that's right.  Unlike other professions, health care is a basic and fundamental necessity for life.  Access to health care is one of the few things government can actually provide and do so very well.  Sir Rand is all for this kind of socialism because it benefits him.  It's only the forms of government that don't benefit him that he's against.

As John Cheves mentions, Sir Rand refuses to publicly acknowledge how much socialized Medicare money he receives from the government.  But if you read between the lines, it's somewhere around $1.3 million over the last five years.  Not too shabby for someone who doesn't think government as any rights in providing accessible health care to anyone but him.  Like I said, access to health care is one of the few things government can provide and do so well.  Very well if you're Rand Paul.

Huge Differences

Rahmie yesterday on This Week:

"Do you think that BP is the aggrieved party here? Do you think that Wall Street should be left alone and not have any reforms? Elections are about choices. Those are what is fundamental. There is a difference in our philosophies. And not only in our philosophies, how we make sure that American strengthens its economy. Joe Barton and the Republican -- major voices in the Republican Party just told you their view. And in case you forgot what Republican governance was like, Joe Barton reminded you."

Precisely.  The philosophies have never been any more different than they are now.  One party was very pro-stimulus.  The other staunchly opposed, except for when they take credit for stimulus money being spent in their districts.  One was very pro-HCR.   The other was heavily opposed, but loves their very own socialized health care program.  One party is against state-sanctioned torture.  The other treats it like a video game or an episode of 24.  One is against a segregated society.  The other calls it the hard part about freedom.  One is for a 21st century America that will lead the world.  The other is for reverting America back to its 19th century way of life.

When you remind America of the differences it's easy.  We can never go back America.

Tea Baggers Like It Small

As if the fringe Republican Tea Bagger group really needed anything else to make fun of them with, they now have a comic strip starring a Freedom Loving Hero named Microman. Microman is a Regular Joe that doesn't "like the notion of paying taxes on his hard-earned money and watching his country turn socialist. That's great news for the socialist-loving Tea Baggers.

If I had to guess, I would say the diner is protected by Republican's favorite "hard part about freedom."

Blago Trial Highlights The Worst of Illinois Political Financing

Ali Ata, a Rezko associate and the former head of the Illinois Finance Authority, has testified again that he was named to his post after giving campaign contributions to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

This isn't anything new in Illinois. What this trial isn't doing is demonstrating this has been going on for a long, long time. It didn't begin with George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.  And considering the current state of campaign finance reform in Illinois, it's not going to stop any time soon.

So we face a $13 billion deficit in a state where pay to play is the name of the game.  Could it be possible for Illinois to the this country's first failed state?

*Update:

Looking through some state data, Illinois has the second highest budget deficit in the nation.  California has the highest.  Seeing how Illinois has the fifth largest population in the country it's worth comparing notable states and their budget woes.  Florida and Pennsylvania, the fourth and sixth largest respectively, both have a $6 billion deficit, less than half of Illinois.  Actually you could combine the two together and still wouldn't equal Illinois' deficit.  The biggest difference?  Florida and Pennsylvania's last two governors haven't went to prison have they?

When Wrong Just Gets Wronger

If you've paid the slightest bit of attention today to Republican Rep. Joe Barton's apparent case of foot-in-mouth disease, you also might have caught the Republican House Leadership's statement trying to distance itself from Barton's apology to BP.

Here's the first two sentences from that statement:

The oil spill in the Gulf is this nation's largest natural disaster and stopping the leak and cleaning up the region is our top priority. Congressman Barton's statements this morning were wrong.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.  IT IS NOT A NATURAL DISASTER.  IT IS A MAN-MADE DISASTER THAT IS COMPLETELY AVOIDABLE.  A NATURAL DISASTER IS SOMETHING THAT CANNOT BE CONTROLLED BY MANKIND.  EVERY INSTANCE OF THIS CATASTROPHE IS COMPLETELY CONTROLLED BY HUMANS.

There is something genetically wrong with anyone that calls this a "natural disaster."  Judging from GOP leadership, Joe Barton is the least of the GOP's problems.

Johnny Come Lately

After supporting 8 years of endless war that has cost this country the lives of over 5,500 military men and women, and well over a trillion dollars of tax payer money, Sen. John Thune (R-ND) says his party is beginning to want the war's supplemental spending bills paid for.

“I think that the problem, again, is all the other things that get added on to these war supplementals, and the fact that it's not paid for. There are -- Republicans are increasingly, I think, dug in on the issue of making sure that new spending is offset,”

Offset? Why now? Oh yeah, it's because Republicans are no longer in power and want to pretend that they are fiscal conservatives. Could you imagine if any American had wanted Bush's spending bills to be paid for what Republicans would have called them?  No I can't either.

Unmoved and Then...

I was as unmoved as I've ever been watching President Obama give his first Oval Office address to the nation. Why? Because it's all stuff we've heard before. Reducing the gulf oil spill to a war is inane.  This isn't a battle or an attack on our shores.  It's a man-made catastrophe that was totally avoidable.

How many times have we heard presidents claim to be battling great enemies?  Our splendid war in Vietnam was a terrific way to introduce the country to prime time machismo of a vital threat that never really existed.  The war on drugs, the war on terrorism and now the war on oil?  It's all the same.  Mere rhetoric.  What we have is an addiction to fossil fuels.  It's not a war.  Waging war against it doesn't do much of anything to curb the addiction.   It just wastes tons of money.

But then the president actually got BP to setup a $20 billion escrow to pay for damages.  Given the lackluster speech, I'd have to say the escrow fund was actually proof of some bold action from a much over-dramatized speech.  I hope it continues.  I'll take tough guy war speeches that bore me to tears if it means we are actually going to hold BP responsible and see to it that it never happens again.  Of course the escrow fund doesn't ensure any of that but it is a monumental beginning to what I hope gives us an energy bill and a future without our crack addiction.

Maybe a Final Blog Update

I hope to get some other posts up today other than ones about the site. As you can see, we changed the layout once more. This one loads twice as fast as the one we had up yesterday. We also added the tabs at the top and updated all the links. And as you can see, old comments are no where to be found. We're still working with Disqus to get those back.  On top of that, my golf game was rained out today.

iPad Has Arrived

Gots me my iPad by FedEx today. I had no clue it took 3 days to go 220 miles but apparently FedEx takes their sweet time from Memphis to Southern Illinois.

Now that I have my hands on it I gotta admit that I am impressed. The sleekness of it is unbelievable.  It almost feels like I could break it if I set it down too hard.

The wi-fi is awesome.  So far I've had no trouble getting a signal.  I haven't tried the 3G yet and hopefully won't have to for a couple weeks.  I'm not entirely sold on the Safari browser just yet but I assume that's cosmetics more than anything else.

One thing I've noticed right off the bat is I hate the lack of a webcam.  I do not understand the motive behind that one.  Another thing that is pesky is the keyboard.  Very touchy.  Impossible to write anything of substance with it.  Good for quick emails and great for just surfing.  I can guarantee you I won't be doing any blog posting with it.

Not that I've had much time to adjust to it yet, the best part and the reason I purchased it was for the iBooks. Coolest thing ever.  When you're reading a page from a book it literally feels like you are holding the book in your hand.  I almost need a book marker, or a highlighter to mark it up (pesky habit I picked up in grad school).  So for the most part I'm impressed.  I've yet to check out any other apps besides iBooks so if anybody knows of any good ones let me know.

Blog Updates

After some adjustments, I think I finally have the comments back up and working.

*Update:

As I type this old comments are still no where to be found. That's not good. I'm going to work with Disqus for a few more days and see what they can come up with to republish the comments. The good news is new posts do appear ready to handle comments. I suspect I'm going to have a few more days of kinks to work out. In the end it should be worth it. If worse comes to worse I'll reload the old template and pretend none of this ever happened      : )

iPad Chronicles

Just received word that my iPad has arrived. FINALLY!!!

New Duds

The Fold Blog is in the process of updating its appearance. There are still some issues to work out like comments have disappeared. But overall this should be a much better template for readers to navigate. The previous template worked great. It was probably the best for low budget blogs money can buy. However, it was difficult to maintain. The slider at the top was time consuming and totally in html.  Also it was not an optimized SEO template.  This new one is.

Since we utilize the Blogger platform, I thought it would be better to also stay with a Blogger template.  This will make it easier to hack, update and tweak.  This is my first time using a Blogger template and so far it is much simpler than the others.

This June also marks the 2nd year for The Fold Blog's existence.  And since our hits are on the rise, it's important to use a platform that is search engine optimized and has the functionality to maintain the sites growth.

Here is some new data to mark year #2.

Avg. daily visitors: 2,200
Avg. time on site: 5:15
Bounce rate: 50%
Referring url: TPM, Google search
Most visited posts: Everything They Do is a Revolution, Absolutely Everything; GOP Purity Test None of Them Can Pass

We are going to work with Disqus to get our comments back up today.  If it's not possible I might move to using Blogger comments as well.  Bear with us.  And thanks for reading.

Stupid Big 12

Looks like the Big 12 is going to survive. Now I hate them even more.

Rand Paul Loves TARP and Big Government Intervention, but let's pretend he doesn't

Watching the Rand Paul saga unfold is really a spectacle. Like I've stated before, I live very close to Kentucky so sometimes I get a lot of spillover from the happenings in that state Commonwealth. If I watch local news, I always much prefer to watch WPSD-TV6 out of Paducah, KY than anything else.  I also like to read Barefoot and Progressive, a Lexington blog that does a great job of tracking Sir Rand "The Trinity" Paul.

A few days ago the blog reported that Paul, the big anti-government crusader that he is, was raising money from the evil senators that voted for TARP.  This new source of revenue for Paul came after he had bashed his general election opponent for accepting money from senators that voted in favor of passing TARP.  Here's what Paul had to say about his opponent and his Big Government friends:

“There is nothing in the Constitution that allows the government to pick winners and losers in the private sector and the Republican party platform specifically condemns bailouts,” Paul said. “I’m running for the U.S. Senate to stand up for true Republican principles and the Republicans I’ve talked to agree that is what we need.”

It's perfectly fine for a Republican to accept money from the evil socialist Big Government tyrants, but not a Democrat. But it gets better. Paul has now removed from his campaign website his pledge to not accept TARP related money.  Again from BFP:

With Rand Paul set to take part in a fancy big money DC fundraiser in his honor held by Republican Senators who voted for the bank bailouts, let's all take a moment to remember this pledge from his campaign website on August 30th, 2009:

"U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul on Monday pledged not to accept campaign contributions from any U.S. Senator who voted for the bank bailout and challenged his opponents to follow suit.


Dr. Paul issued this challenge after learning that Trey Grayson has scheduled a Washington D.C. fundraiser co-sponsored by several U.S. Senators, seventeen of whom voted for the so-called TARP bailout in 2008, which was then used to fund an auto industry bailout Congress rejected.
But wait a second, click on that link above."

That's right, this post has been scrubbed from Rand Paul's campaign website.

Wow!

To top it all off, Sir Rand is such a small government conservative Republican and so against the government bailing out private industry that his campaign fund is setup through J.P. Morgan, a bank that received a-- get this without laughing-- TARP bailout!

So not only is Paul raising money from TARP supporters, his campaign bank where he keeps all of his funds is a TARP recipient of $95 million of tax payer money.  In reality the summation of this would mean Rand Paul is not against the federal government issuing bailouts to private business.  He's not against any of it.  He just likes to say he is so he can continue to enjoy the label of Washington Outsider that is rolling up his sleeves to go Freedom Fight against Big Government.  All the while Rand Paul is vastly enjoying the comforts of government bailouts.  Normally a person that did this would be called delusional.  Nowadays they're called Republican.

Speaking of Crazy

He almost looks drunk.

Alvin Greene Needs a Made Coach

I think one of the weirder elements to come out of the Alvin Greene story in South Carolina is not the fact he won. I'm not really all that amazed by his victory. Here in Illinois we had two very unknown candidates win the Republican Lt. Governor's nomination and the Democratic, Jason Plummer and Scott Cohen respectively. Cohen later removed himself as the Dem nominee but his victory coincides with what has been happening all over the country-- anti-incumbent sentiment eager for a fresh face.  We also had Tea Bagging Cougar Teri Newman win the Republican Primary in IL-12 and she doesn't even live in the district.  Those are just my local stories but there are many more nationwide.

So Greene wins.  Strange things happen, especially in South Carolina.  What interests The Fold Blog about the story is Greene's supposed felony charge he's also facing.  According to "the victim," Camille McCoy, a University of South Carolina student, Greene showed her an image of "woman-on-man porn, pretty much sex I guess," in a university computer lab.  Greene then made the comment that they should go to her room, apparently to reenact the image on the screen.  That's a felony?????

A bad, horrible pick up line yes, but a felony?  The guy obviously has no game and could use one of those MTV Made Coaches to help him land a woman.  But showing an adult a picture of two other adults having sex is a common occurrence this day and age.  It also goes without saying, if you can't get laid in South Carolina, you probably haven't met Nikki Haley yet.  Yeah I couldn't help myself on that one.

iPad Chronicles

It's still not in yet. I just checked the tracking information and it said it was in Memphis, TN. I hope it arrives tomorrow seeing how Memphis is about 2.5 hours away. If not maybe by Tuesday. Something I thought was interesting was the iPad was built in China. I thought Apples were built in Cali??

The only reason I ordered it online was because it said it ships within 7-10 days.  It's already been 14 I think.  Geeeez I'm just ready to try it out.

Don't Knock It Until You Try It

If there is anything we like here at The Fold it's tea bagging. Wait, I mean tea baggers. Dang it, I meant a good story about tea baggers.  The only thing better than one good story about tea baggers is a second story about gay Republicans hosting a tea bagging fundraiser where attendees try to toss their sacks into the mouths of Jerry Brown, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin.  Technically I'm not sure they can call themselves gay if they are trying to hoist their sacks into female mouths.  But hey, whatever floats your boat.  Who are we to judge?

Boehner: We've Learned Our Lesson, Now It's Time to Return Back to Bush Policies

Minority Leader John Boehner wants everyone to know that Republicans learned their lesson when it comes to governing. They are now ready to re-assume power and lead once again with the same Bush-era policies that got us into this mess.

"I've admitted that Republicans made their fair share of mistakes when they had the majority in this institution...But I think our members have learned their lessons.

"We've seen over the last 30 years that lower marginal tax rates have led to a growing economy, more employment, and more people paying taxes. And if you look at the revenue growth over those 30 years, you've got a prime example of what we've been talking about."

The fact of the matter, as Brian Beutler notes, is after the Bush tax cuts, unemployment was higher than it was after Clinton's tax increase. And GDP growths were stronger after Clinton's tax increase than after Bush's tax cuts.

Plus the largest contributor to today's deficit is the Bush tax cuts.

As you can see from the graphic above, the second largest contributor to the deficit is two other Bush legacies, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Without the pointless tax cuts, and the invasion of Iraq, there is no doubt our fiscal situation in this country would be much better off.  Both are items that were designed entirely by choice from the Republican administration.  There was no need to cut taxes and create a budget deficit in the first place.  And there was no sane or human benefaction to ever invade Iraq.  Both are, without a doubt, the greatest contributors to our current fiscal woes.  Unless Republicans are willing to admit this, then they have not learned their lesson.

Media Still Views Tea Baggers as Political Vagrants

So much progress has been made for The Fold Blog's conquest to get the media, as well as the blogosphere, to accurately define Tea Baggers as a movement within the Republican Party and not some semi-popular inter-political front.  Yet so much work still remains.

From CNN, or what they are billing as their Election Center:

Even though Tea Party candidates aren't shutting down their opponents, Phillips said the Tea Party -- which is a conservative movement and not a political party -- is doing well and is healthy for the country because it's getting newcomers involved in politics.

My oh my.  For starters, there is nothing conservative about Tea Baggers-- NOTHING.  Apparently we need to be reminded daily that these people are primarily recipients of government social services such as food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, Disability, unemployment, Farm Subsidies (welfare) and many other very left of center social programs that supposed "conservatives" oppose. They are people who benefit greatly from government services who are protesting people benefiting greatly from government services.  Brilliant!

Since we are on the subject of conservatism, Tea Baggers are people that also voted for George Bush twice.  And as we all know, there is no way anyone can honestly label people who voted for Bush as conservative.

Moreover, polling data (every single poll ever taken actually) suggests Tea Baggers are overwhelmingly registered Republicans, consider themselves Republican, vote Republican or largely identify with the GOP.  In other words, they are just as Republican as the GOP is.

The media, however, refuses to acknowledge, in most cases, it's very own data and reporting on the Tea Bagger crowd.  That leaves us with stories like the one above where we get to pretend Tea Baggers represent some sort of kumbaya of politics.

The Fold Blog's crusade is important for a number of reasons.  Most notably because it's vital Democrats and progressives make Republicans own their crazies.  Essentially what happens when we allow the narrative to describe Tea Baggers as some rambling band of Patriotic Freedom Fighters, we allow the GOP to pick up the seats Tea Bagger candidates win while distancing themselves from Tea Bagger stances like re-instituting Jim Crow literacy tests, or the hanging of Democratic Members of Congress, or the president is a foreign born enemy of the state.  It's just another way for Republicans to accept no responsibility for anything, much like they do with everything else.  Not to mention, there is no way Democrats would ever get away with allowing its supporters to behave the way Tea Baggers have been.

Maybe South Carolina Really Is An Alternative Universe

I've spent the better part of this month and most of last month making fun of South Carolina. Well, come to think about it, I've spent since last summer making fun of South Carolina.

I've accused the political process in that state of living in a Fantasy World.  It's not every day you get so many wackos in one state, and I'm not just talking about the regular people.  I'm solely focused on elected officials.  When you consider the saga of Mark Sanford and his quest for finding love on the Appalachian Trail; the number of times Senator Jim DeMint has called the president a socialist while routinely accusing anyone who questions GOP leadership as anti-American and endlessly insists Republicans are led by God, the fact that Rep. Joe Wilson can angrily call the president a liar during an address to a joint session of Congress and become a folk hero to a Party that would have called for the head of any Democrat doing the same to George Bush;  that Sen. Lindsey "Pretty Eyes" Graham refuses to come out of the closet mainly because he's in South Carolina; that the front runner to replace Lover Boy Sanford is a sex fiend named Nikki; that it's common, routine daily interaction for an elected Republican in SC to call the president a "rag head" and then accuse sex fiend Nikki of being one too-- all the while maintaining his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then honestly I'm well within all reasonable considerations to accuse them of living in a alternative reality.  Honestly I am.

But this one takes the cake.   By now we've all heard of Alvin Greene, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in South Carolina to challenge incumbent Republican Jim DeMint.  Without spending one penny, other than the fee to file for office, and without any name recognition, the unemployed Greene beat a well known judge in the Democratic Primary on Tuesday.  Since then the mystery behind Greene has only deepened.  It is one of the most bizarre, outrageous and controversial stories I can ever remember, and I'm from Illinois-- a state where three of our last six governors have went to prison with our fourth (Blago) on his way.

I really think it's possible South Carolina is in fact part of an alternative universe.  Maybe there is a blip in the Many Worlds branch where SC is existing in both realities, ours and an alternative quantum.  It's possible their belief that God has ordained the GOP and George Bush was a popular president exists in their parallel quantum and it's bleeding over to ours.  There has to be some sort of time-space continuum that is allowing them to coexist in one or more realities.  I'm not sure how else to explain the very strange behavior of that State, which only seems to be getting stranger and stranger.

House Dems Try to Limit Independent Overseer

One of the problems of being in charge of investigating yourself is your in charge of investigating yourself.  It would be like allowing BP to investigate what caused the oil spill.  Nobody in their right mind would believe any report BP released about its own actions leading up to the catastrophe.  Or like the time Sarah Palin launched her own investigation into her Troopergate scandal and proudly cleared herself of any wrongdoing.  Only those that watch Fox News believed any of it.

The reason Democrats promised to setup the Office of Congressional Ethics with the power to investigate possible violations by Members was because of the blatant Culture of Corruption Republicans led with for over a decade.  Democrats inherited in 2007 a Congress that had just seen the largest corruption scandal in history with Republican Duke Cunningham.  That case alone would dwarf anything else this country has witnessed by elected officials but unfortunately there was plenty more.

Consider this... 

At one point in time, not very long ago, this country whether state or federal had three incumbent Republicans in prison, Bob Ney, Duke Cunningham, Vic Kohring.

• One incumbent Republican convicted of bribery but awaiting appeal, Pete Kott. 

• One incumbent member also being arrested for soliciting a police officer for gay sex but pleading to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct, Larry Craig. 

• Four incumbent Republicans were and still are under indictment: Ted Stevens, Jack Cowdery, Tom DeLay, Rick Renzi. 

• Five were/are under investigation for illegal wrongdoing. 

• And the highest ranking White House adviser ever was convicted of two counts of perjury, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of lying to the FBI only to have his prison sentence commuted by his former boss Republican President George Bush. 

That's all within about a 6 year time-frame.  None of that even touches on the multitude of Republican staffers, lobbyists and low ranking officials that were also during this time period convicted, indicted and awaiting trial or still under investigation.  There was a definite need for an independent office to watch over the behavior of elected officials and their cronies.  Democrats were right to follow through with their promise to setup the Office.

Yet, even all that doesn't begin to shed light on the many cases that went unnoticed for these are only the ones law enforcement was able to administer.  One can only conclude an independent group would find many more amongst an elected body notorious for corruption. So why in the world Democrats are now wanting to render the independent office ineffective is unmistakeably obvious.  They too don't want people looking over their shoulders.  It's called power and they want more of it without interruptions.  Democrats would be raising a ruckus if Republicans were trying to dismantle the Office.  The same standard should apply, even more so, when their own members do it.

Not a Bad Day For a Rookie

Quite the show yesterday.

14K's; struck out every batter at least once; threw only 94 pitches- the fewest pitches ever to strike out 14 batters; didn't walk a single batter; and it was his first outing.

Understandably it's only one game, but it was one that only happens once or twice every century.

All's Good, Israel Allowing Snacks

I had a friend send me an email the other day saying that if people took a group of Jews and confined them to one area with walls and fences to keep them in, patrolled the area to control the movement of supplies and people entering and leaving we would call it a ghetto.

Obviously my friend doesn't have a clue what he's talking about because Reuters is reporting the Jews are now allowing the Muslims to have snack foods. I don't recall ever reading anything about Jewish Ghettos being allowed chips and dip.  My friend really needs to learn some history.

The Party of Big Oil

By my count, in the last week or two, at least 6 Republicans have called for more oil drilling both on and offshore.

Yet Another Right Winger Arrested for Threatening Violence

It seems father and son Russell Hesch, 73, and David Hesch, 50, have been watching way too much Fox News and listening to way too many Republicans.

The elder Hesch writes a letter to Congressman Bart Stupak threatening to kill him and his family for his vote in favor of HCR.

Some Freedom Fighting excerpts from the letter:

My disdain for the president is solely based on his beliefs of what our country should look like, his arrogance of knowing better than the common man, his hidden black agenda, his redistribution of wealth, his out of control spending..his liberal socialist vision for America...

Wow..now where would he get such a stupid idea as the president being a socialist with a redistribution of wealth plan?  Oh yeah, from nearly every elected Republican in the country.

I wonder where this lunatic got the idea that the president has a "hidden black agenda?"  Oh yeah, from watching Fox News, the Republican news channel.

I wonder where he got the idea that the president has initiated out of control spending, which can only mean spending that is greater than his predecessors-- which simply isn't true?  Oh yeah from listening to Republicans and watching Fox News, simultaneously.

Clean up your gross idiotic America-hating party.  This is so ridiculous.  I couldn't imagine Democrats being able to get away with this.

Mr. Grayson, Our Longest War is Still a War

If I were a Congressman I would be much like Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL).  I think our personalities are very similar.  I would come up with wild names for bills and crazy slogans just like he does. His latest, The War is Making You Poor Act, HR 5353, is straight from my own playbook.  Except I might title it, The War is Making You Poor and Republicans Rich Act.  Nonetheless, he has to be my closest comparison.

But even I have to make a distinction when it's necessary.  Grayson's June 6th blog post for Huffington Post is absolutely right.  We are doing exactly what bin Laden wants us to do with our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Grayson is dead on when he says Bush was bin Laden's best ally-- that bin Laden is co-creditor of our foreign policy is, I think, how Grayson puts it.  I couldn't agree more.  Bin Laden played George W. Bush right into his hands.  Essentially, not that it's hard to do, the world's number one terrorist outsmarted Bush & Co.  Bin Laden bogged us down in two very costly wars and is bleeding our country and economy penny by penny and troop by troop.  It's exactly what he wanted; exactly what he said he would do and exactly what he did to defeat the last Super Power he fought.

Neither history nor fault stop there and this is where Grayson omits some very important information.  President Obama is doing the same exact thing.  He has ordered a surge in the war in Afghanistan and expanded it with more drone attacks in Pakistan and Syria.  In addition, our withdrawal from Iraq, of which we are still a long way from, is probably not going to happen on schedule.  Both wars are still very much ongoing.

Plus, it's only fair to mention the Iraq withdrawal plan is a carry-over from the Bush administration.  They do deserve some credit for at least realizing the war had to end sometime.  True enough it was the Obama administration that implemented it and made it official; and true enough the Bush administration constantly referred to time-lines as "defeat" and nonetheless did the opposite of their rhetoric.  But oh well.  I personally see very little difference between the Bush approach that bin Laden helped orchestrate and the Obama approach that continues us on a war path for what is only slightly less than infinity.

Republicans Will Again Win Primaries!

 Republicans Celebrate Winning Republican Primaries

Today is primary and runoff day in many parts of the country. You know what this means don't ya???? Republicans will once again win Republican primaries! Revolution! baby.

*Update:

It's official.  With polls closing all across America, Republicans have indeed chalked up numerous victories in their own primaries!  There's nothing better than winning except for maybe proving to the world that Republicans are still more popular than Republicans that run against them.

This is an all night celebration.  I can feel it coming on.  Just imagine all the debauchery happening right now in South Carolina.  Wonder who Nikki Haley is taking home tonight to celebrate her huge conquest?

Angry Black Man Nets Victory for Pundits? Hardly

Jake Tapper tells me President Obama is mad and wants to kick some ass:

After spending several weeks expressing disdain for pundits' calls for President Obama to show more emotion and outrage about the environmental disaster in the Gulf -- White House officials called it "method acting" and "theatrics" -- President Obama showed some anger in an interview to air on NBC tomorrow morning.

"I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf," the president told Matt Lauer in a clip released this evening. "A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be. And I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

But Greg Sargent tells me he wishes the president hadn't done this because it gives political commentators something to point to as "victory" for wanting to see more emotion about the oil leak. 

I've spent some time with Barack Obama.  On a personal level and professional.  This isn't the president caving to the talking heads.  This is the president being Barack.  I'm glad to see some anger from him.  Trust me, it's not to please the talking heads.  He stands up for himself.  He has his whole life.  That's what he's doing here.  This is nothing out of the ordinary and nothing the MSM has spun.

Deep Thought

Does the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico mean New Orleans hasn't overcome God's gay parade punishment?

Boehner: Apologize Or We'll Cry

It seems the House Minority Leader of a Party that routinely calls the President of the United States a socialist enemy of the state wants rock legend Paul McCartney to apologize for cracking a joke about the most disliked and incompetent president ever. Wheee!

Newsflash to Republicans: Your most recent president, George W. Bush, was HATED not only by Americans, but the world over. His final approval rating was 26%!!  He ran the country into the ground.  Telling a joke about him is mild compared to the damage Bush did to this country.

For the sake of argument, let's go a little deeper.  Just last week, an elected Republican from South Carolina called the President of the United States a "rag head."  Two weeks ago, former Republican Speaker of the House, Fruity Newty Gingrich, compared the Obama administration to Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.  Last weekend, Republican Senator John McCain, the president's opponent in 2008, numerous times referred to the Obama administration as having a socialist redistribution plan. 

The examples are enormously easy to find.  No party has done more to "demean" the White House, this country or the American people more than the modern GOP has.  Their daily language is filled with demeaning insults thrown at the Commander in Chief.  Actions 18 months ago they would have called anti-American.  Grow up.


You can kiss my white ass John Boehner.

So How Bad Was/Is It?

I was having some slightly good conversations with a few friends this weekend about America's current state of affairs. The friends were a mixed group of political ideologies. None exactly confined to one strain of thought and I wouldn't dare try to classify them being as one way or the other.  They did, however, seem to think the situation Barack Obama inherited was no different than what Reagan did in '81...and dare I even mention the poor sap who claimed George W. Bush inherited a much worser economic situation in '01.

Then this morning I was reading TPM and saw this nice chart Calculated Risk put together.  If only my iPad would come in, it would make my weekend conversations much more beneficial.

As you can clearly see, the situation currently is way worse than either Reagan or Bush inherited-- at least in terms on job losses.  As a former political staffer, campaigner and policymaker, I can't think of anything more important (or more troubling) than job losses.  So as the first realm of issues go, Obama inherited a mess. And it's a mess that isn't getting any better any time soon.

If the argument were President Obama isn't doing enough to make things better, or that Obama's policies are having slow positives on a very bad situation then I would be inclined to agree.  But if we are talking about how Obama's situation was routine for incoming presidents then I'd have to strongly disagree.

Even if you look at GDP loss, the incoming Obama administration saw the worst of the worst.  Numbers not seen since The Great Depression.  All around, it was just bad. And that's not even bringing up the fact that Obama also inherited two ongoing endless wars.  No elected president in history has ever inherited such a mess.  An economy in total free fall tripled by two massive wars with no ends in sight does make it a little difficult to get a running start.

This is not to make excuses about slow progress.  It's just to show that assuming past presidents have had to deal with the same severity of problems as our current one is factual inaccurate.

Technical Difficulties

The hosting platform has been down all day. Stay tuned!

Blog Updates

I'm going to be out of town for a couple days and might not do any blogging. It's what happens when summer comes around.

A special note of acknowledgment to Coach Wooden and his long life.  He changed basketball forever.

Beer notes:  I'll be drinking Miller Lite, good union beer, maybe nonstop.  And here's a local story about what used to be the last American-owned brewer and what happens when they get gobbled up by large foreign-owned corporations.

Baseball notes: My Cardinals are still in first place.

Nikki Haley Is Like a Rock Star!

Breaking News Out of South Carolina...Nikki Haley's dick gets hard too!!!

*Update:

The problem I'm having with all of this is Nikki obviously has a revulsion toward Democratic men. Why is she only boning Republicans?

Ump Costs Pitcher Perfect Game

We at The Fold Blog are big baseball fans. Even more so we are fans of good pitching. So far this season, for the first time in over a hundred years, two big league pitchers have tossed perfect games. Definite history for any fan. Last night was the third perfect game of the season. Except the first base umpire blew the call on the final out of the game costing Armando Galarraga the most coveted achievement for any pitcher if not the game itself.  Chalk this up as one for the history books.  Just not one the pitcher or the ump want to be part of.

Sometimes It Has To Be Said

Cooper has always had a way of succinctly capturing the whole world in a sentence.

"Get a grip. The Gulf is fuc­ked, the whole country should be on a collec­tive march to the Gulf of Mexico, with a detour into Ari­zona, not swea­ting the Gore’s marriage."

Okay that's two sentences but still.  She is-- if anything-- brilliant in the morning.

Jesus' Disciple Ted Haggard

See if this makes sense. Former gay male prostitute lover says he will start a new church that will be open to gays...just not gay sex.

Palin: More Drilling Because It's Safe and Friendly (2 Updates)

How in the world anyone could advocate more oil drilling at this current point in time is beyond me. It would take someone on the far side of crazy to even think of pushing for more drilling considering the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.  Yet that is exactly what half-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is doing.

Using her twatter page, she queeved to the whole world:

"Extreme Greenies: see now why we push 'drill,baby,drill' of known reserves; promising finds in safe onshore places like ANWR? Now do you get it?"

No I don't get it.  First off, I'm no "Extreme Greenie."  Opposing more drilling doesn't make me extreme in the least bit.  In fact I supported it wholeheartedly, like an idiot, up until this very preventable disaster in the Gulf.  Nor do I even consider myself "Green" in any way, shape or form.  In my state the Green Party is an official and legal political party.  It appears on the ballot every time.  Never once have I voted for it.  If I were so "Green," I would do it every time.  Furthermore, I drive an SUV; participate in not one single recycling program and buy bottled water by the truck load.  I'm pretty much a walking cloud of CO2.  But whatever.  Anyone that may oppose something a Republican supports is always an extremist.  With us or against us.  Vote Bush or you're anti-American.  No in-between.  Either more drilling or you're an "Extreme Greenie."

Additionally and predictably, Palin is trying to cover up the fact that not only did she support more drilling onshore, she wanted more of it OFFSHORE too!  In 2008 while campaigning as the Republican VP candidate, she called offshore drilling "safe, environmentally-friendly." Even going as far as to state that with new technologies offshore drilling created "tiny footprints."  While the whole country is saddened and genuinely angry by the growing catastrophe in the Gulf that is directly related to our oil addiction, Sarah Palin is demanding we do more of it because it is "safe" and "friendly."  Incredible.

*Update:

Brian Beutler digs up much more recent pro offshore drilling statements from Palin from a blog post that she wrote in March for the right wing The Corner.  In it she decries the Obama administration is not doing enough to promote offshore drilling.  That his policies are too little too late.  Today, though, she claims the BP Gulf disaster proves she's right because she meant onshore drilling.

**Update:

Disgusting enough to think that Sarah Palin believes the BP oil spill proves she's right about more drilling when she's clearly wrong.   Though what may be worse is the Republican effort to portray the disaster as an Act of God.

Last month Texas Governor Rick Perry referred to the leak as an Act of God that couldn't be predicted.  On Monday, Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma also called the disaster an Act of God that no one could have stopped.

What idiots.  Clearly idiotic in every sense.  An explosion on a man-made oil rig is not an Act of God.  Such things are predictable, like not drilling in the first place.  Everything about it is man-made, very predictable and has nothing to do with unforeseen events.