Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) told colleagues on the House floor on Tuesday that young boys and girls should take classes on traditional gender roles in a marriage because there are some things fathers do “maybe a little bit better” than mothers. > more ... (1 comments)
From the monthly archives: January 2009
I read a story about this the other day and am still marveling at what a deliciously clever idea this is. Seth Graeme-Smith, a writer of little repute, wrote a version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that now includes deadly zombie action:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen’s classic novel to new legions of fans.I am sure the book will be wonderfully clever and ironic — I don’t think I’ll buy it but you have to give props to a guy that combines Jane Austen and the undead!
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Governor Hairdo is out on his ass, by a vote of 59-0:
The Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) “on an article of impeachment Thursday that charged him with a pattern of abusing power, prompting the governor’s immediate ouster.” Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn assumed power after the vote.
Obama had this to say:
Today ends a painful episode for Illinois. For months, the state had been crippled by a crisis of leadership. Now that cloud has lifted. I wish Governor Quinn the best and pledge my full cooperation as he undertakes his new responsibilities.
Color me surprised (snark) but the members of the Grand Obstructionist Party in the House of Representatives unanimously voted against Obama’s stimulus plan yesterday.
Yep, exactly ZERO Republicans voted in favor of the plan, even though Obama and House Democrats made a number of concessions to their demands.
I suspect the politics on this for the Republicans are going to be brutal:
I’m glad [the bill] passed. I’m also glad that Obama tried as hard as he did to get bipartisan support, and I don’t think that the fact that he didn’t get it shows that the attempt was misguided. There are good reasons to try for bipartisan support regardless of how likely you think you are to succeed.If you do succeed, then both parties have some ownership of the stimulus bill, neither will be as eager to politicize it, and it will be harder for either to use it to beat up the other. This is good. If you try hard, and publicly, to attract Republican support, but fail, then Republicans look like intransigent ideologues who would rather try to score political points than actually deal with the serious problems the country faces. You, by contrast, look reasonable: you tried to reach out, but your efforts were rejected.
Obviously, this only works if your efforts look serious. If Obama had gone to the Republicans and said: I propose a bill entirely made up of things Democrats really want and you really hate, but please, do join us in supporting it!, that wouldn’t work at all. But he didn’t do that. He went the extra mile. When Republicans protested about particular things, he dropped some of them (though not all: he was not, for instance, willing to compromise on refundable tax credits, and he was right not to compromise on that one.) There’s a fine line between being willing to compromise and being willing to surrender, and I think Obama generally stayed on the right side of it, while being open enough to compromise that he will get real credit for trying.
This is definitely my quote of the week:
I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party.You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnellh/t Andrew SullivanRep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), head of the Republican Study Committee.
It looks as if the public is ready to have Obama force through some really serious changes in order to get us back on track:
I was just reading an article that discussed how X percentage of Americans identified themselves as "pro-choice" and Y percentage identified themselves as "pro-life". It made me think about how much I hate politically crafted euphemisms.
Think about what each term implies. To be "pro-life" must mean that the other side is somehow not in favor of life. The "pro-choice" label is more accurate, as the main issue for most supporters of Roe v. Wade is a woman's right to choose, not a cheering support of killing fetuses.
I think the most appropriate labels for the camps would be "pro-choice" vs. either "anti-abortion" or "anti-choice". But of course the anti-abortion camp wouldn't like that because it comes off as being too negative even though a negative position is the crux of their argument – opposition to abortion and opposition to a woman's right to choose.
Hors D’oeuvres
Small Government GOP Proposal To Teach Kids That Bitches Belong In The Kitchen
Get those damn jack-booted government thugs out of our schools — sex education should be done by parents.Seriously, Just Shoot Me In The Head And Get It Over With
I really don’t understand why I even bother anymore:NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly: “I think the American public can accept the fact if you tell them that every time you pick up the phone it’s going to be recorded and it goes to the government. I think the public can understand that.”
> more ... (2 comments)Lawd! Ah Thunk Up A Gud Thawt!
Bear witness to the bright young minds at Liberty University who are trying to make conservatism hep and happnin’ for the YouTube generation. They got real good idears, they do:Travis Korson… suggested framing marriage as an economic issue. “Gay marriage undermines that basic family unit,” he said, and that, in turn, hurts the economy.
Um, what? (4 comments)And Just How Do We Feel About Cory Booker?
The Guardian has a brutal, though not really all that unfair, take on the soon-to-be-senator. I must admit that Booker inspires a lot of ambivalence in me. He’s an impressive person in many ways, and obviously we know all about the minuses. I doubt he’d be a Lieberman-esque embarrassment, and his voting record would most likely not > more ... (2 comments)Republicans now making with the man-brains, for crying out loud. From Lawmaker Says Man’s Brain More Concerned About Costs on PoliticalWire:Maine State Rep. Ken Fredette (R) declared that he and most of his Republican colleagues oppose accepting federal funds to expand health care coverage because the genders think differently. > more ... (1 comments)
Certain quarters keep spoutin’ the same ol’ song. From GOP congressman: Rate of pregnancies from rape is ‘very low’:“Before, when my friends on the left side of the aisle here tried to make rape and incest the subject — because, you know, the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low,” [Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.)] said. > more ... (0 comments)
Quote of the Day: All We Have To Do Is Convince Our Customers They're Wrong
Here’s an Xbox rep addressing the controversy over Microsoft’s decision to require an internet connection for its new Xbox One console and hobble used game sales:“This is a big change, consumers don’t always love change, and there’s a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand.” > more ... (5 comments)
I Know You Are, But What Am I?
From ‘Proud wacko bird’ Ted Cruz calls Obama biggest obstacle to immigration reform on Yahoo News:
As the immigration debate begins before the full Senate for the first time, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has become one of the most vocal opponents to the current bill. But Cruz says the true obstacle to immigration reform is not him, but President Obama. > more ... (2 comments)
From I Am So Fucking Over This Already by John Cole onna BJ, in re: the citizenry of these United States acting all surprised at getting what they voted for, state-surveillance-regime-wise:And for the record, Obama is not the villain here, he’s just dealing with the laws as they were passed, and it looks like they did everything correctly and followed the letter of the law. > more ... (0 comments)
“Republicans care just as deeply about the environment as Democrats but we also care about jobs,” he added. “We want common sense regulations to be balanced with economic growth and jobs.” — Rand Paul
Um, yeah, how’s that working out? I guess not so well. 5 out of the 10 most polluted states are deep-red > more ... (1 comments)Quote of the Week: Darkies Ain't Gonna Vote Right Anyways
“I’m going to be real honest with you, the Republican Party doesn’t want black people to vote if they’re going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats.” – Texas Tea Party Jackwad
Also too, remember the past:At the close of the Civil War … some three-quarters of a million of Negroes, the mass of them densely ignorant > more ... (4 comments)
Lost Bottles From The Post Cellar
I was rooting around in the dusty Post Cellar and wanted to offer up some delicious vintages of years past.
From 2-Year-Old Boy In Texas Dead After Shooting Himself In The Face on TPM:Correction: This post originally gave the wrong caliber for the the weapon involved. It was a 9 mm handgun.
But everything else in the story was accurate, I guess. > more ... (0 comments)If I Had Some Ham, I'd Make a Ham and Cheese Sandwich...
…if I had some cheese. Via AB, the Slog quotes WA State Representative (R-Kalama) and apparently Zen Master Ed Orcutt‘s latest email-koan:The bridge would indeed be standing today had the truck’s load NOT rammed the super structure of the [I-5/Skagit River] bridge. In fact, 11 of the 12 sections of the bridge are still standing.
> more ... (0 comments)I'm Thinking There's Something Symbolic About That Volcano What Is Erupting There
So the Michelle Bachmann lustbuch has already been making the rounds — Jezebel, Wonkette, Balloon-Juice — but I couldn’t resist quoting the blurb on the e-book’s own cover graphic:He touched the void inside her, pollinating her pink flower like a master bee.
> more ... (3 comments)Saw this headline in the RSS reader, with no additional information:
And my immediate thought was Louie Gohmert, then I second-guessed myself and said it was Steve Stockman. Shoulda trusted my instincts! Also acceptable guesses: Steve “Esteban” King, Michele Bachmann, Rand Paul. (2 comments)Lawmaker Says Woman Should Carry Brain Dead Fetus to Term
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), makin’ with the insightful diagnosis of current events y’all, via TPM:“The President’s speech today will be viewed by terrorists as a victory,” said Chambliss, who recently golfed with the president, in a statement. > more ... (1 comments)
THE GRAPEVINE
