Music Break! John Pizzarelli

Avalon

Indistinguishable From Aristocracy

posted by Armadillo Joe

Mrs. Joe and I are fans of the show House Hunters on HGTV, including its offspring House Hunters International. Last night, we watched an episode called Londoners Seek a More Leisurely Life in France. A synopsis:

Stephanie and Charlie May have lived in the fast lane in London for four years. Now, they yearn to slow down and spend more time with their two-year-old son Finn. They've begun a search for a home in the Jarnac region of France, which has everything they are looking for: good schools, beautiful landscapes, great food and a relaxed pace of life.

And as much as we were both ready to hate them, we actually had quite the opposite reaction. She works as a defense barrister and he works as a carpenter/joiner/cabinet-maker. The rather modest home they showed the two owning in South London was nothing spectacular and overall, my impression was of a more or less straight-up middle class couple who married for love, she from the bourgois-merchant class on down and he from the working class on up. We liked both of them and they seemed like the sort of people who we would count among our friends if we knew them.

They were moving to a rural part of western France to open a bed-and-breakfast, their plan being to find and spruce-up an old French farmhouse, retro-fitting the unused portions of the house and the out-buildings into gîtes for Brits on extended holiday in the late spring through early fall. The price range of the homes they were looking at in France were actually rather comparable to what me and Mrs. Joe would be seeking were we ever in a similar position and, if you've ever seen the show or plan to watch this specific episode (spoiler alert!) they choose House #2. That made us happy because it needed the most work but also had the most potential.

It's funny, though. Note that I said "were we ever in a similar position." It occurred to me as I watched the show last night that we could never, ever be in a similar position. Ever. Not just because in the epilogue we found out that the two of them after the fact wound up splitting time between London and rural France in order to continue to draw income while they made the transition -- much easier across the Channel than from across The Pond, though my actual point isn't about distance -- but because even if Mrs. Joe and I decided to flee this crazy New York City lifestyle and raise goats to make artisanal cheeses in Vermont, we couldn't because we'd have no health-care.

Read more...

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Matt Taibbi: Yes, Sarah, There is a Media Conspiracy

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DaveJ, Open Left: Concentration of Wealth = An Influence Lock On Our Politics

President Obama's Weekly Address - November 28, 2009

On This Thanksgiving: Family, Turkey ... and a Weekly Address
(Released November 26)

Security Breach

NY Times: WASHINGTON — President Obama and his wife, Michelle, had a face-to-face encounter with the couple who sneaked into a state dinner at the White House this week, White House officials acknowledged on Friday. The revelation underscored the seriousness of the security breach and prompted an abject apology from the Secret Service.

...That disclosure coincided with a statement from the director of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, saying that his agency was “deeply concerned and embarrassed” by the events. Secret Service officials said the agency wanted to interview everyone connected with the episode, including the Salahis, and had not ruled out criminal charges.

This is completely unacceptable. Luckily nothing adverse took place, but I'm dumbstruck that something like this could happen with all the precautions of modern day presidential protection. Death threats to the President have increased 400% since he took office, and although investigations into this incident are taking place, there has to be accountability for such shoddy security. Something of this magnitude shouldn't be brushed off as a minor because of who these people are.

I'm also thinking it's time to tone down these awful reality shows. You'd think that Bravo would have double checked that these people were invited to the state dinner instead of taking their word for it. Had it not been for the lure of the cameras, I don't know if they would have been this ballsy.

Dithering? McChrystal Doesn't Think So

In what I would categorize as an ultimate 'fuck you' to Dick "Five Deferments" Cheney and the bang up job the Bush administration did in Afghanistan while playing that new board game Build A Democacy™ in Iraq, McChrystal had a different take on the time President Obama is taking to make his decision.

Via GottaLaff:

Gen. Stanley McChrystal told lawmakers that President Obama had engaged in a "thoughtful process" on Afghanistan and refused to criticize the president for delaying his decision to send more troops.

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.):

Some of the lawmakers pressed McChrystal on Obama's lengthy decision-making, but the general described it as a "thoughtful process and wouldn't go any further," Price said. "I was a little surprised he didn't voice frustration with the delay."

More like disappointed, right Tom?

Strange Story of the Day

Definitely a WTF moment:

Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei's corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again and will soon be put on display, an Italian museum director said Friday.

But here's my favorite part:

Galileo, who died in 1642, was condemned by the Vatican for saying the Earth revolved around the Sun. Church teaching at the time held that the Earth was the center of the universe. In the early 1990s, Pope John Paul II rehabilitated him, saying the church had erred.

It took til the 19-fucking-90s for the Vatican to say, "Oops. Our bad."?!?!

Palin Runs In Turkey Trot, Doesn't Finish

Oh Sarah, is there nothing you won't quit?

TriCityHerald.com: ...Palin had announced on Twitter that she would be running the 5k race organized by the Benton-Franklin Chapter of the Red Cross.

She didn't finish the race, opting to leave the course early to avoid more crowds at the end. About 40 minutes into the run, word started trickling out to people gathered at the finish line that she was gone...

Something To Be Thankful For

While we've been losing out collective shit over health care refrom these last few weeks, something interesting happened that I have yet to hear from the "liberal" mainstream media.

Washington Post:  Lobbyists pushed off advisory panels

...Under the policy, which is being phased in over the coming months, none of the more than 13,000 lobbyists in Washington would be able to hold seats on the committees, which advise agencies on trade rules, troop levels, environmental regulations, consumer protections and thousands of other government policies.

"Some folks have developed a comfortable Beltway perch sitting on these boards while at the same time working as lobbyists to influence the government," said White House ethics counsel Norm Eisen, who disclosed the policy in a September blog posting on the White House Web site. "That is just the kind of special interest access that the president objects to."

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day, Novermber 27, 1959

President Obama Pardons Turkey

BRILLIANT!

The Muppets do Bohemian Rhapsody.

Dana? Get. Out.

Dana Perino: "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term..."



Well, in Perino's defense, she wasn't the Press Secretary on 9/11. I can only assume she didn't know about it considering she didn't even know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was either.

What was that Fox zero tolerance policy for on-screen errors again? Yeah... nevermind. Something tells me Perino isn't going to last long in her new position.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Music Break! Ben Folds

Landed



(Notice the cameo by "sound mixer" William Shatner?)

Palin: Leave Canadien Healthcare To Private Sector

“Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit.”

-Sarah Palin at a book signing event

(H/T GottaLaff)

Quick Question

Tonight is President Obama's first official State Dinner. Who will be the first Republican or wingnut talking head to make a racist comment about what they'll be serving?

Ronald Reagan Fails Ronald Reagan Test

Oh, the dangers of revisionist history.

The RNC has proposed a resolution, a limtus test, a "purity" test to deny any funding to GOP candidates didn't agree with 80% of their 10 point list of Republican principles. Why 80%? Because their icon, Ronald Reagan said that anyone who agreed with him 80% of the time was his "friend." The problem? Ronald Reagan would have failed in 6 of their 10 points.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Oh what fools these Republicans be.

A Fox Zero Tolerance Policy for Errors

Hannity mixes 9-12 protesters video with the less impressive footage of Michele Bachmann's loon parade? Oops, we made a mistake. Robo-anchors claiming "pictures coming in just now" of huge crowds at Sarah Palin book signings when those "pictures" were 2008 Republican campaign rallies? Yeah, our bad. But the final straw was when a mistake wasn't in their favor.

During the umpteenth debate about whether Sarah Palin is a savior or a stooge, the producers flashed up the book cover not of Palin's "Going Rogue", but of Richard Kim and Betsy Reed's "Going Rouge", the counter argument brought to us by the editors of The Nation magazine, and had to air yet another apology.

So, in an effort to reduce or even eliminate careless mistakes maligning one of their own instead of their intended Democratic or liberal victim, mistakes that an eight year old wouldn't make, the powers that be at Fox have issued a "Zero Tolerance for On-Screen Errors" memo, describing immediate consequences, including possible termination, for gaffes like these in the future.

My guess is that these sorry producers got this memo and realized that they have to unlearn everything they've learned at FNC, because really, this isn't just a recent problem. This kind of stuff have been happening for years. How many times have we seen screwed up chyrons of disgraced Republican politicians with a "D" next to their name? And now that the White House has called them anything except a news organization, they're under the gun to avoid stupid mistakes, which have been ingrained in their psyche as just a little conservative tweaking to drive the point home. Now they must make a half-hearted effort at being "fair and balanced."

And this is just the producers' faux pas on the "news" sections of their programming. This doesn't even address the blatant Sean Hannity lies, or Bill O'Reilly misinformation, or the Glenn Beck lunacy that will continue unabated on Fox "News" Channel. That's still fine with them.

I wonder if this came about after the great Sean Hannity blew a gasket for having to apologize to a peon like Jon Stewart on his show, something I doubt he's had to ever do before with anyone or anything. There sat Hannity in his dressing room rehearsing an apology, probably like watching Happy Days' Fonzie admit he was wrong, before he was able to get through the whole thing without dry heaving.

So this now begs the question, if a FNC producer can get fired from their "news" division for a mistake, how soon before the entire Fox News Channel shuts down? Two or three days tops?

(H/T GottaLaff)

Wide Receiver or Tight End?

Cartoon of the Day

Lou Dobbs: Public Office?

Political Wire: Now that he's left CNN, Lou Dobbs said he is considering career options including possible runs for the White House or U.S. Senate, Reuters reports.

Said Dobbs: "I am ruling nothing out... I have come to no conclusions and no decisions. Do I seek to have some influence on public policy? Absolutely. Do I seek to represent and champion the middle class in this country and those who aspire to it? Absolutely. And I will."

Maybe he's bucking for head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Which is very possible judging by President Obama's latest choice. He's taking this "team of rivals" thing way too seriously.

Quote of the Day

Frank Rich: "The fact-checking siege of 'Going Rogue' — by the media, Democrats and aggrieved McCain campaign operatives alike — is another fruitless sideshow. Palin’s political appeal has never had anything to do with facts — or coherent policy positions. The more she is attacked for not being in possession of pointy-headed erudition, the more powerful she becomes as an avatar of the anti-elite cause."

Lyin' Joe Lieberman

This dirty motherfucker has to be exposed as the lying scumbag he is on the Senate floor for all to see and stripped of any senior positions and chairmanships in the Democratic Caucus. Preferably as soon as this health care reform vote is over, not that he's going to vote for it anyway. ENOUGH ALREADY!

Via Jed Lewison, Daily Kos:

Joe Lieberman is accusing President Obama of executing a bait and switch when it comes to the public option:

"It’s classic politics of our time that if you look at the campaign last year, presidential, you can’t find a mention of public option," Lieberman said. "It was added after the election as a part of what we normally consider health insurance reform — insurance market reforms, cover people, cover people who are not covered.

Nice line, Joe, except it's based on a flat-out lie. President Obama backed the public option during the campaign. For example, the Obama-Biden health care plan proposed a new public plan...

I guess you "can't find a mention of a public option" if you don't bother to listen, don't bother to look for it in the public record and are too busy explaining the difference between Sunni and Shia to the candidate you backed for President. Great foreign policy expertise, that one.

Must Reads

Adam Blickstein: Conservatives Terrified of Bringing Terrorists to Justice

Robert Reich: Harry Reid, and What Happened to the Public Option

The Rude Pundit: Photos That Make Some Kind of Awful Sense (Palin Version) and Fact-Checking Sarah Palin Is a Waste of Everyone's Time, But Fuck It

Bob Cesca: Famous for Being Famous: The Sarah Palin Show Is On the Air

David Vines: If It Were Me, I'd Be Embarrassed

Bob Saget: Why I Love Thanksgiving

Armadillo Joe recommends...

Andrew Sullivan: Deconstructing Sarah, Ctd

Kevin Drum: Quote of the Day

Booman: Questions for Nate Silver

TRex: “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things!” She Shrieked, then Went Back to Cleaning Her Guns.

Matthew Cole & Brian Ross: EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

Matt Taibbi: Sarah Palin, WWE Star

driftglass: Going Vague

DistributorCap: The Ownership Society

President Obama's Weekly Address - November 21, 2009

Traveling Abroad for Our Economy at Home

Tweet of the Day

OTOOLEFAN: In Indiana, Sarah Palin says thanks but no thanks to signing the book she didn't write.

Palin Implosion

Well, it looks like it only took three days for the wheels on the bus of the Sarah Palin Book Tour 2009 to come off. Sarah is soooo popular with her teabaggy followers (and there are just so many) that she can't possibly sign everyone's book.  I mean, come on, people!  Sarah is just way too important to stay behind in a podunk town like Noblesville, Indiana and screw up the publicity schedule just so you can have a memento from your favorite hockey mom.



AHHAHAHAHAHAHAA!! AHAHAAHAHAAHAAAA!!!


AHAHAHAAHAAHAAHHAHAAHH!

UPDATE (8:50pm): A Facebook apology from Sarah -

"I've been told that yesterday there were supporters in Noblesville who stood in long lines for hours in the cold and rain, and the book signing event ended without a chance to say hello to everyone who showed up. I am so sorry. We are working on a solution for those who were left behind. I apologize."

...Uh... Palin had to be told about the angry mob chanting "SIGN OUR BOOKS!", booing and calling her a quitter? Didn't she notice them when she boarded the bus?  This only gets better and better.

Say whuh?

posted by Armadillo Joe

More hopey, changey-ness --

Obama Appoints Loyal Bushie Dana Perino To Broadcasting Board Of Governors

...and so it goes...

More Health Care Bogeymen

I have a question: if this health care reform bill is really so horrible that practically every GOP member is against it, then why not debate what you're against and make it better, instead of making shit up to freak out your lunatic base?

Why doesn't House Minority Leader John Boehner judge the bill on the merits of what's actually in the bill instead of using the old, reliable abortion wedge issue and feel the need to make shit up about a "monthly abortion premium" being charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan?

Unless he's seriously that stupid and doesn't understand what he's reading, if he's actually reading anything in the bill other than page numbers so he can complain about how long it is, how is it that scumbags like Boehner and his ilk feel it is completely legitimate to mislead the people that voted them into office with lies and smears?

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

The only way Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) will be able to stop saying idiotic things is just to keep her mouth shut.



What. A. Moron.

Gay Marriage Fear FAIL

Via TPC's Gotta Laff:

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Whoops. They accidentally misworded their state constitution to, in effect, nullify all marriages taking place in Texas. Sometimes Karma is a real bitch.  Keep it up, Republicans. You're doing great!

Quote of the Day

"It feels like all the people that want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans." - Jon Stewart during his interview of Lou Dobbs

Jon Stewart Interviews Lou Dobbs

Great interview.

Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 1


Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 2


Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 3


Adding... The only person on television who'll give you a rational, reasoned debate is Jon Stewart (save Rachel Maddow, who doesn't often have the luxury of a 20 minute interview).

Sarah Palin Supporters

The very end nails it. "You get a sense of some of Sarah Palin's supporters here. They feel a connection with Sarah Palin. They can't be specific in some cases about the issues..." but that's okay. Neither can Sarah Palin.

Norah: But she was for the bailout.
Rube #2: No, she wasn't.
Norah: Yes, she was.
Rube #2: Well I don't believe it.
Norah: But I have quotes.
Rube #1: Oh! But that was different. It was some guy who changed the rules after it passed. I don't know his name. Also, the Constitution.

Infuriatingly stupid.

Time For a Senate Steel Cage Match

This is what I want to see: an elected representative so passionate about his convictions that he or she will don tights and wrestle in a steel cage match to the death with another Senator who disagrees with him.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure (and by "pleasure" I mean the same type of joy you get by cutting) of listening to an NPR interview with Joe "You Know What? I'm Happy..." Lieberman who was appalled at the ad hominem attacks of those calling him the Senator from Aetna because of his filibuster threat that would derail health care if the public option were included in the bill. Joe has no clue why people are so upset and assume he's in the pocket of the insurance industry because, after all, he voted for the Patients Bill of Rights and he supports the anti-trust legislation.

So I want Lieberman to get into Ben Nelson's face, who for some reason is protecting the insurance companies' rights to fix prices and fuck their customers in the ass.

Given what is riding on the [health care] vote, party leaders have been busy talking to holdouts, negotiating deals in an effort to get them on board as wavering lawmakers exert their leverage at a critical moment. In response to demands from Nelson, for instance, the leadership appears willing to drop plans to use the legislation to strip health insurance companies of their antitrust exemption.

Who is Ben Nelson representing? Is he worried about the nearly 30% of his Nebraskan constituents who don't have health insurance or the $2 million and counting he's received from insurance and health care interests in his three campaigns for federal office?

First up in the steel cage, "Holy Joe" Lieberman, who wants to filibuster health care reform if there's a public option inclusion, and Ben "The Helmet Head" Nelson, who is against health insurance anti-trust legislation.  What a couple of gems, huh?  Maybe during the match Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin will sneak into the cage and pound these assholes over the head with folding chairs.

Common Sense

Attorney General Eric Holder sat before a Senate hearing today to explain the US justice system to some cowardly Republican Senators in a constant state of pants soiling these last few days at the thought of trying a self-confessed, alleged terrorist in Federal court as opposed to the military tribunals at Gitmo.

Finally a reasoned, concise explanation.

Prosecuting the 9/11 defendants in federal court does not represent some larger judgment about whether or not we are at war. We are at war, and we will use every instrument of national power – civilian, military, law enforcement, intelligence, diplomatic, and others – to win. We need not cower in the face of this enemy. Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is sturdy, our resolve is firm, and our people are ready.

We will also use every instrument of our national power to bring to justice those responsible for terrorist attacks against our people. For eight years, justice has been delayed for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. It has been delayed even further for the victims of the attack on the USS Cole. No longer. No more delays. It is time, it is past time, to act. By bringing prosecutions in both our courts and military commissions, by seeking the death penalty, by holding these terrorists responsible for their actions, we are finally taking ultimate steps toward justice. That is why I made this decision.

This is nothing but common sense. There is no political agenda, save for a higher and more successful conviction rate for terrorists than the previous administration's abysmal record. If we really do toss aside our federal court system because we are "cowering" in fear of arrested terrorists on our soil to face justice, then haven't they already won?

PS - The 2pm hour on MSNBC was hosted by Andrea Mitchell via remote from Grand Rapids, Michigan because apparently the "real news" was covering Sarah Palin on the first leg of her book tour. Pathetic.

Stay Classy, Glenn Beck

Via Media Matters:

Beck on health care: "We're the young girl saying 'no, no, help me,' and the government is Roman Polanski"



I wonder how the victim of Roman Polanski feels about that analogy? What a classless sonofabitch.

Douchebag of the Week: Colorado State Sen. Dave Schultheis

So, how ridiculously stupid do you have to be to think that you can back your way out of comparing the President of the United States to a 9/11 terrorist suicide hijacker after you've made it public on your Twitter account?

I suppose we should ask State Sen. Dave Schultheis (R-CO) who tweeted the following.



You know what? I'm not even going to request to follow him. Why on earth would I want to follow his asinine tweets? But here's what he wrote:

Don't for a second think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the US Plane right into the ground at full speed. Let's Roll

Seriously. How can this be taken any other way? "Let's roll"? The final words of Todd Beamer before overtaking the hijackers on United Airlines Flight 93 that would crash in a field in Shanksville, PA. That in combination with the wingnut conspiracy that President Obama is a secret Muslim and the picture is complete, isn't it? Obama is going to crash this country into the ground. Because he's a secret Muslim terrorist. Get it? No? Okay, I'll use the "flying a plane" metaphor. Get it now? For fuck's sake, how stupid are you wingnuts?! Okay LET'S ROLL! GET IT?!

But that doesn't stop Schultheis from trying to defend his tweet.

"'Let's roll.' It's a comment people use all the time any more. 'Let's get going. Let's move on. Let's make major changes,'" Schultheis said. "I can see it now. But, you're busy doing jillions of things during the day. You sometimes don't analyze every single word."

Yeah, you don't analyze every single word. Or phrase. Or metaphor. Especially when the meaning is exactly what you intended. You got it right the first time so why analyze it?

Colorado State Senator Dave Schultheis: Douchebag of the Week.