Setting The Bar

Once again, Jon Stewart puts things in perspective.

Hey, Congressional Aide Brian Martin...

... where are your smart ass comments now?


Still defending Rep. Taylor's "rainbows and chocolate milk" bullshit, or have you decided that this is actually a serious disaster? Oh, but I forgot, you "know a lot more about what is going on in the Gulf than" I do.

Asshole.

Fiscal Conservatives...

... my ass.  And yet misinformed yokels fall for it every time.  Because if the perception is that someone other than they is getting a piece of the pie, it's wastefully spent, undeserved entitlements.

Paul Krugman explains.

Doris Eaton Travis Dies at 106

She was a lovely lady and will be missed.

Playbill.com: Doris Eaton Travis, the former Ziegfeld Follies dancer who inspired 21st century audiences with her pluck, good will — and fancy footwork — at 12 of 13 annual Easter Bonnet Competition performances for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, died May 11 at the age of 106, according to Tom Viola, executive director of BC/EFA.

Ms. Eaton was thought to be among "the last of the Ziegfeld Girls" — as were known the bejeweled ensemble of women who graced the stage of the New Amsterdam Theatre (and elsewhere) in producer Flo Ziegfeld's revues in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Suck On This, Teabaggers

USA Today: Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman's presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.

Some conservative political movements such as the "Tea Party" have criticized federal spending as being out of control. While spending is up, taxes have fallen to exceptionally low levels.

What was that whole TEA Party thing about? Taxed Enough Already?

...Uh huh.

Banned From Sarah Palin's Facebook Page

Oh, the horror.... the horror.  Actually, it really didn't take much.

I joined Sarah Palin's Facebook page initially months ago out of curiosity. You know, the same reason you pay a buck to go into the Circus Side Show tent to see freaks and oddities, or the same reason you can't stare away from a horrific car accident.

But yesterday's craptastic Palin entry, and her sheeple's comments, took me to a very dark place... the point of no return... the rebuttal comment.

Sarah's Facebook ghostwriter wrote:

Soldier pay decreases in the midst of overspending elsewhere and government union pay raises. Seriously? What are our priorities?

...going on to cite a Newsmax article. Newsmax!

Oh, the outrage! Comments flying left and right! Or right and righter.

"We should cut his pay to unemployed. IMPEACH HIM."

"How can they decrease it any more...They are living at poverty level now...Grrr!"

"Rid the government reps that are criminals! Including our president that is not a citizen!"

"Can't freaken believe it!! What an a-s hole. Take from the very people that keep us safe and give to the crooks!!! Politicians , unions , special interest etc... I am so mad. Obama has to go !!!"

That damn, Kenyan reverse Robin Hood!  How dare he!!!  Well, I couldn't just sit there dumbfounded at how many stupid people there are in the country. So I thought I'd edumacate them:
"Uh, you do know that the soldiers are getting a pay INCREASE this year, don't you? Maybe you should do some research instead of taking ½ term Sarah's lies as fact." complete with an Army Times link.

I guess that second sentence was enough for the Palin Facebook Gestapo to delete my comment and ban me from posting there ever again. It took about 30 seconds. But I doubt my comment would have survived even without the "½ term Sarah" dig. Pretty amazing to think that her FB page administrators are monitoring comments that closely.

Why does Sarah Palin hate the First Amendment?

Anyway... badge of honor I suppose. Here's fun little game: why don't you head on over to Palin's FB page, join, and politely disagree with whatever you like. See how long it takes you to have your comment deleted. Then join this page and relay what egregious, unthinkable comment got you booted. Keep those Palin police on their toes!

Think Before You Speak

No sooner does President Obama nominate Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, than the RNC makes asses of themselves.

In a tribute to Justice Thurgood Marshall shortly before his death, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan quoted our first black Justice as having said the Constitution as originally conceived and drafted was “defective.”

“Does Kagan Still View Constitution ‘As Originally Drafted And Conceived’ As ‘Defective’?” the RNC now asks. A litmus test for Kagan, it implies.

But of course the answer should be, yes. Might the Three-Fifths Clause have been a wee bit of a defect?

The continuation of slavery, the three-fifths clause, the omission of women's ability to vote until 1920... uh... yeah, the original Constitution is flawed. But go ahead, RNC, keep making your "big tent" smaller and smaller. It's no wonder that Michael Steele blurts out occasional truths. He can't help himself.

Lena Horne Dies at 92

NY Times: Lena Horne, who was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio and who went on to achieve international fame as a singer, died on Sunday night at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She was 92 and lived in Manhattan.

President Obama's SCOTUS Nomination: Elena Kagan

While I don't know much about Elena Kagan besides the fact that she clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall, I will predict three things:

1 - Conservatives won't like her because she's not conservative enough.
2 - Liberals won't like her because she's not liberal enough.
3 - Expect Rush Limbaugh to make some misogynist "ugly lesbian" jokes.

I don't know if Kagan is a lesbian.