Grumpy Forester

• And Yet Another Example Of Wingnut Craziness

  ...it probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but the suggestion offered by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver to have November 25 - the day before Thanksgiving - commemorated by Congressional Resolution as "Complaint Free Wednesday" demonstrated that A) it is a fool's errand to underestimate the fervor [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 7:20pm EST
  

• Playing The Rubes

  ...there has been a lot of commentary today about the revelation that the Republican National Committee has, for the better part of the last two decades, offered its employees a health care plan that included coverage for elective abortions, even though the RNC has opposed this particular concept since [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 9:27pm EST
  

• DARN That Librul Media!

  ...any whining you may have heard in the past from Moose Hunt Barbie about the vicious partisan attacks launched against her by that left wing harpy Katie Couric or the supercilious dismissiveness of the well-known Commie fellow traveler Charlie "In What Way" Gibson is about to be joined by [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 6:08pm EST
  

• Taking Bets On How This Ends

  ...it isn't really much of a surprise that Reuters is reporting that Lou Dobbs is set to announce that he's leaving CNN. He has become almost a caricature of his own self with his passionate ranting about all those evil brown people streaming across our southern border and - [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 4:20pm EST
  

• A Fond Look Back At The Bush Administration

  ...there are very few reasons to reminisce about the late and generally unlamented disaster that was called the administration of George W. Bush. History will probably show those eight long years to be a grim joke played on American citizens by a feral band of yes-men, fixers, and hustlers who [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 7:36pm EST
  

• As We Consider Why MSM Themes Matter More Than Reality

  ...all you need to know, as far as the MSM is concerned, is that Obama has suffered a stinging defeat for his hoped-for agenda, all because a really lousy candidate for Governor of Virginia got the stuffing beat out of him and a sitting Governor of New Jersey [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:17pm EST
  

• Tonight We Are All Ducks

  ...I'm not even an Oregon native, but I chose to endure the slings and arrows hurled at me by both Mrs. Jack K and others because of my decision to stay home - rather than attending a long-scheduled church function - to watch one of my adopted Orygun teams play' [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 9:29pm EDT
  

• Partial Scores: Teabagger Wingnuts 1, Republican Sanity O

  ...this afternoon saw a huge victory for those rock-ribbed forces of ideological purity in the Republican party, as the Republican nominee in the special election for the Congressional seat in New York's 23rd district abruptly withdrew from the contest after virtually every big name from the party's right wing [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 7:52pm EDT
  

• Reform And My Half A Loaf

  ...it's all too easy to be disappointed and angry -even bitterly so - at what appears to be just another massive el foldo job by Congressional progressives in the sausage-making exercise that is the effort to craft health care reform. It is becoming clear that there won't be [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 7:19pm EDT
  

• Fly Me WHERE?!?

  ...there has been a certain amount of talk over the last day or so about the circumstances of Northwest flight 188, which on Wednesday night went on an unscheduled tour of northern Wisconsin at 37,000 feet before finally finally wandering back to the southwest to land at its intended [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 7:36pm EDT
  

• Tell Me Again Why Chicago Violence Argued Against Getting The Olympics?

  ...one of the almost celebratory notes that a whole host of wingnuts - and, to be honest, a few lefties, too - touted in regard to Chicago's ( and, by direct inference, President Obama's) unsuccessful bid to win the 2016 Summer Olympics was the idea that Chicago is a [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 8:53pm EDT
  

• Breaking: Obama Doesn't Travel to Crawford

  ...swear to God, I read this AP story and I have no idea where to start. Apparently I am supposed to feel some sort of concern or perhaps outrage or - I don't know - that sort of burbling uncomfortable bloated feeling that eating too many cucumbers can lead' [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 8:20pm EDT
  

• Why Huckabee Should Never Be In The White House Without A Visitor's Pass

  ...there has been WAY too much discussion about Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize over the last couple of days, most of it by people who couldn't at gunpoint name the last five Nobel Peace Prize winners in any case. The bottom line of this whole episode is simply that a [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 7:19pm EDT
  

• Sometimes I Sits and Thinks...

  ...and sometimes, as Satchel Page so famously said, sometimes I just sits. There's a framed poster-sized version of this quote displayed over a luridly-drawn poster of a red bar stool that has hung in the master bathroom of every place I've lived over the last 27 years courtesy of [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 8:17pm EDT
  

• What Really Makes Beck Cry

  ...it's only another snap shot, reflecting one racing leg of a marathon that has most of its miles left to be run, but this is the sort of thing that should probably make Glenn Beck cry real tears:
  AP Poll: Obama's job approval rises amid concerns
  More than [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 9:00pm EDT
  

• Snow On Oct. 4; The Panic Sets In

  ...imagine my surprise...no, check that; imagine my horror at watching snow pour down from the skies yesterday and today. Realized Winter Storm Warnings producing heavy, wet, sloppy stuff, occasionally as light showers and sometimes as full-on blizzards, until there were four inches on the ground. Now, don't get me wrong;' [...]
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  Posted: October 04, 2009, 7:11pm EDT
  

• So THAT'S What Happened To Biosphere II

  ...sometimes it seems as though the entire population of The Village - and not just its right-wing component - serves as an answer to the trivia question "So what did they finally end up doing with that Biosphere II thing, anyway?" Moving the entire D.C. pundracray into that formerly [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 6:40pm EDT
  

• Oh, The Joys Of The Northwest Lifestyle!

  ...now this doesn't matter to me specifically, since I live a few hours drive or, to put it in geographic terms, two mountain ranges and a broad valley away from the Orygun Coast, but I have to admit that I have never, ever seen this sort of map from the' [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 9:20pm EDT
  

• Well, Actually, Why Not Try This?

  ...whatever gland it is that makes me more or less a progressive usually begins, I have to admit, to start pumping all sorts of icky secretions into my bloodstream when I read a story like this one. But every once in a while - and this is one of [...]
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  Posted: September 27, 2009, 8:08pm EDT
  

• Is MSNBC Late To The Bullet=Buying Party?

  ...the short answer to that question would appear to be "well, Yeah!". It is just a little bit disturbing to see this story being offered up this late in the day; the lack of virtually all common calibers of ammunition has been long-running issue that has resulted in my [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 8:42pm EDT
  

• Quick Thoughts On The Fundamental Failure Of The Emmy's

  ...OK, so Neil Patrick Harris has been doing a wonderful job tonight as host of the Prime Time Emmy's and it has been a somewhat interesting show to watch after the completion of the Giants' win over the Cowboys. That former part is probably a given, and probably not a [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 9:16pm EDT
  

• A Startling Peak Behind The Beltway Curtain

  ...it's not so much the team roster of the seven former CIA Directors who wrote today's letter asking President Obama to tell Attorney General Eric Holder to stop the investigation of potential criminal actions by CIA interrogators that should be of a large general concern. That's not the problem;' [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 7:54pm EDT
  

• Dog Fights Out Back In The Winger Alley

  ...we will leave it to Politico and the website once known as Time Magazine to talk on our behalf about just exactly who is The Big Dog on The Winger Porch, because Lord knows that to have to deal with that subject directly is about as attractive [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 8:08pm EDT
  

• Where The Increasing Shortage Of Clawfoot Bathtubs Can Lead

  ...I blame all those "when the time is right" commercials for a nearly tragic story like this one. There simply aren't enough clawfoot bathtubs in the whole wide world to fulfill all the middle-aged male fantasies fired up by all those inescapable dueling bathtub commercials, and this is' [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 8:54pm EDT
  

• The Most Trusted Name In Yellow Journalism

  ...I was bustling around in a motel room this morning in Ashland, Oregon, with CNN as background noise as the family and I packed up to head back home after a couple of days catching performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival when this suddenly became Breaking News. [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 7:53pm EDT
  

• Wherein I Ask Myself "Why Bother?"...And Struggle For An Answer

  ...most of the reason that I have blogging so infrequently over the last few weeks can be found in the reality-based aspects of real life. Won't bore you with the details; wouldn't be right. But beyond all that real life going on in the background, I have to confess that [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 8:09pm EDT
  

• The Strange Parallel Universe Of The Associated Press

  ...so the A.P., which generally failed miserably to do actual journalism in the run-up to the Iraq war and which failed miserably to do actual journalism while the Bush administration ran roughshod over the Constitution of the United States and which has failed miserably to do any actual journalism in [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2009, 7:22pm EDT
  

• Other Heroes

  ...as I begin to write this, I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what the actual title of this post will be. All I know is that two brave men tried to do the best they could to protect the people in their charge, and it [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 7:56pm EDT
  

• The Politics Of A Giant's Passing

  ...aside from the fact that this particular Politico story fails at the fundamental analysis level on the subject of why Norm Coleman ended up being the Junior Senator of Minnesota for one term, there are interesting nuggets to chew on with regard to the never-right wings response to the [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 8:25pm EDT
  

• Gibberish And Lies

  ...why it has taken so long for any outlet of the SCLM to finally getting around to mentioning what this AP report reveals tonight is anybody's guess, but this highlights one of the core elements of the argument for both health care reform and the inclusion of a "public" [...]
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  Posted: August 22, 2009, 8:23pm EDT
  

• LIghting Political Backfires

  ...so, when I read this, I have to ask "Why Am I Not Surprised?" At the same time, when I dig into the article (and You Can, TOO!) and read professional Bush 'War on Terra' apologist Frances Townsend stepping up to refute, without either proof or any hope [...]
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  Posted: August 20, 2009, 8:25pm EDT
  

• 59 Shots, One Kill

  ...I believe that police officers have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. They face, day after day, the sort of dirty underbelly of American life that many people would be hard to convince even exists to the degree that it does, even though it maybe sometimes be [...]
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  Posted: August 19, 2009, 8:22pm EDT
  

• Wherein We Discuss The Wormy Vermin Opposed To Health Care Reform

  ...I have to confess that I haven't had much of anything to say, either here or in comments on other blogs or to family or friends or neighbors or anybody else, about the raging health care/insurance/system/program debate that has pretty much chewed up all the oxygen in the room over' [...]
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  Posted: August 16, 2009, 8:13pm EDT
  

• On How Journalism Dies

  ...if this report at Politico is true - a concept that all by itself triggers all sorts of wild riptides of cognitive dissonance - the New York Times has demonstrated, once and for all, why wingnut bullies are so effortlessly effective at stealing all the other kids' lunch money' [...]
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  Posted: August 14, 2009, 7:35pm EDT
  

• Note To Self

  ...as the following clip demonstrates, if you don't actually know much about a subject that you worked hard to muscle to the front of the town hall meeting line to prattle on about in front of all those cameras, don't agree - under any circumstances whatsoever - to go on [...]
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  Posted: August 13, 2009, 10:08pm EDT
  

• Speaking Truth To Deather Power

  ...every so often (as in "once a week or so") my local wingnut fishwrap slips in a column on the weekday editorial page from somebody other than the normal desperate fare of a Kristol or a Krauthammer or a Brooks, presumably in order to support its own argument that [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 8:28pm EDT
  

• A Country Music Post....Because I Can

  ...I can point to almost the exact point on the road map of my life where I began to listen to country/western music for enjoyment. It was during the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school, when I first started working at my small home-town radio station. [...]
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  Posted: August 10, 2009, 7:18pm EDT
  

• The Confessions Of A Bank Failure Statistic

  ...I suppose I should have expected that my bank would fail. I mean, it's not like I have any particular experience dealing with my bank going under in the past, but I am one of those people who used to be a customer of First Interstate Bank. I [...]
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  Posted: August 09, 2009, 6:43pm EDT
  

• Wherein We Explore The Benefits Of A "Former Diplomats In Space" Program

  ...maybe this should be done formally:
  
  Whereas the government of the United States is exploring the revitalization of the manned exploration of space, featuring in the near term a return to the moon and later missions to asteroids and the neighborhood of Mars, and;
  
  Whereas the [...]
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  Posted: August 04, 2009, 8:15pm EDT
  

• Things You Don't See Every Day

  ...it's not all that terribly uncommon around these parts to have the random severe thunderstorm. Usually they are detected by National Weather Service Doppler radar in Pendleton (way off in northeastern Orygun) or Medford (down yonder in the southwestern part of the state). Because we have extremely poor radar coverage [...]
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  Posted: August 02, 2009, 4:22pm EDT
  

• It's Hard Out Here For A...erm..uh...Blue Dog

  ...Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) is incensed. He is outraged! He is, in fact, acrimonious!! Like Father Mulcahy, he may well be persuaded to violence. Why, you may ask, would Congressman Taylor be be in such a dire emotional state? It is quite simple, dear reader; Grover Norquist’s anti-tax group [...]
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  Posted: July 31, 2009, 6:56pm EDT
  

• Too Much (And Too Little) Of A Good Thing

  ...so you're sitting there looking out the window at the old '93 Bronco out in the driveway, with all its physical wear and tear from 195,000 miles of faithful service, and you're thinking "this 'cash for clunkers' thingie might be just the ticket to getting me into a new ride'" [...]
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  Posted: July 30, 2009, 6:52pm EDT
  

• "Too Little, Too Late" Coming Home To Roost

  ...this AP story is truly grim, describing the ways in which American soldiers coming home from Iraq with deeply buried psychic wounds that were insufficiently addressed by the command structure at Fort Carson went on to murder people once they got back home to Colorado. The piece contains all [...]
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  Posted: July 26, 2009, 8:34pm EDT
  

• I'll Take No For A Hundred, Alex

  ...the question offered by the headline of this AP article is, in itself, fascinating in a perverse way:
  Lobbyists the silver lining in health care storm?
  Given all the forces in play and stakes at play in this whole "health care reform" debate (and that in itself is a [...]
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  Posted: July 25, 2009, 7:38pm EDT
  

• Kicking The Raptor Out Of The Nest

  ...the fascinating thing about today's Senate vote to kill funding for further production of F-22 Raptors isn't so much the final tally (58-40 against), but the frankly weird distribution of the votes along the political spectrum. You can almost map the states in which parts and pieces of the' [...]
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  Posted: July 21, 2009, 8:22pm EDT
  

• And That's The Way It Was

  ...there are moments that you mark in life, markers in your own personal history that that are planted in your brain like some sort of organic waypoint on the GPS map of your life. The end-of-file marker for the trace of my upbringing was cast tonight with the news that [...]
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  Posted: July 17, 2009, 6:58pm EDT
  

• All That Needs To Be Said

  ...lots of chatter today at the Sotomayor confirmation hearing about Ricci v. DeStafano. Bits of talk about the newest political confirmation battle that could be characterized as Frank Ricci V. People for the American Way. It's all gripping stuff, guaranteed to stir the juices of Beltway insiders and [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2009, 8:52pm EDT
  

• When "Newsmakers" Aren't

  ...today, apparently, you couldn't swing a road-kill possum on the set of any national TV political gabfest without hitting a Republican Congressional leader insisting that the Obama stimulus program, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was a big ol' floppy failure and swearing that [...]
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  Posted: July 12, 2009, 6:30pm EDT
  

• A Friendly Piece Of Advice

  ...for those, such as Politico writer Josh Gerstein and anyone who wants to take his concerns that he outlines in his insidious little story about the impact that Sonya Sotomayor's Type 1 diabetes may have on her ability to serve as an Associate Justice on the SCOTUS, I have [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2009, 6:55pm EDT
  

• Oh, To Be A United States Senator For A Day...Or Two

  ...I confess that there aren't very many days when the thought "how GREAT would it be to be a US Senator" crosses my mind. Generally it seems like a job that, by and large, sucks if you have any interest in maintaining those moral scruples that your parents and teachers' [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2009, 8:08pm EDT
  

• Can I Come Work At Your Place?

  ...it is almost impossible to describe how unhappy this sort of news makes your average public servant feel. That sad, sinking feeling that civil servants feel at the revelation of this bit of information has nothing whatsoever to do with possible failures to properly fight the evil Islamofascist forces [...]
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  Posted: July 08, 2009, 8:50pm EDT
  

• How To Get Written Out Of Teh Will, NOT Michael Jackson Edition

  ...if you really...no, really want to make sure that you don't have to deal with all those guilt issues resulting from missing Thanksgiving Day dinner at Grandma's house, this is probably the way to go...
  
  If, on the other hand, you had a covetous eye on Grandma's antique' [...]
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  Posted: July 07, 2009, 9:13pm EDT
  

• OK, So I'm Probably Missing Something Here...

  ...but I really - no, seriously, REALLY - don't think that the idea of assessing fines of "more than $1,000" to people who don't choose to have medical insurance is a very good idea. Don't misunderstand; I think everybody should have medical insurance, but that thought leads me to' [...]
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  Posted: July 02, 2009, 7:50pm EDT
  

• The Happiest Man In The World

  ...I have to confess that I'm not all that excited tonight about the final victory of Al Franken in the Minnesota US Senatorial race, mostly because I don't have any particular faith that a "filibuster-proof Democratic majority" will ever manifest itself in any meaningful legislation. There are too many [...]
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  Posted: June 30, 2009, 8:11pm EDT
  

• The Shamwow Guy Moves In

  ...poor Billy Mays isn't even in the ground yet and here comes the Shamwow guy (apparently "Vince" is his name) pushing some chopping device on my late-night version of Hardball...
  
  It's bad enough that Mays has been snatched away from us at the very moment that' [...]
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  Posted: June 30, 2009, 9:25pm EDT
  

• So Maybe This Is What Happens In The Winger BlogWorld

  ...some stories simply do not have enough meat on their bones. This is one of them. I personally can't help but indulging in fanciful imagining of some tragic incident where the guy wants to write a blog post blaming Obama for Mark Sanford's Argentinian tryst and his wife tells' [...]
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  Posted: June 26, 2009, 7:48pm EDT
  

• ZOMG!! Can You Feel The OUTRAGE!?! (Dana Milbank Edition)

  ...the basic story line as to what will now apparently go down in the annals of White House Correspondent Outrage as the "Blogger Stab In The Heart Of Journalistic Integrity" is pretty well understood, so there's no need to replow that ground. What is interesting, however, is the absolute [...]
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  Posted: June 24, 2009, 7:05pm EDT
  

• On Congress Members Health Insurance...One More Time...From The

  ...for the last several days, I've seen posters and commenters at various lefty blogs raging at the refusal of so-called "moderate" Democratic Senators threatening to bring down any efforts at health insurance reform by saying in one way or another "Let's take away their FREE health care and see how" [...]
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  Posted: June 23, 2009, 8:07pm EDT
  

• When To Spill The Beans

  ...I gotta confess, when I first heard over the weekend that New York Times reporter David Rohde and Afghan reporter Tahir Ludin had managed to escape from their Taliban captors in Pakistan's North Waziristan region on Friday, my first thought was "Hot Damn!! Excellent!!" My second thought was "Wait!" [...]
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  Posted: June 22, 2009, 8:30pm EDT
  

• Today's "Why Am I Not Surprised" Moment

  ...shrouded back there somewhere in the mists of history, there was a time (in fact, up through 2004) when a person who finished second in the race for the presidency of the United States would take some time off from the public stage. It was almost a form of tradition [...]
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  Posted: June 21, 2009, 6:05pm EDT
  

• That's SENATOR To You, General!!

  ...offered without comment, except to say that a longer clip would have afforded the opportunity to actually hear the General's anal orifice trying to crawl all the way back up into his upper GI tract for protection:
  
  [...]
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  Posted: June 19, 2009, 9:17pm EDT
  

• Oh, And One More Thing....

  ...I don't really have anything more to add to the sordid John Ensign story. I just thought this shot was way too awesome to pass up in light of the paradox that is his current circumstances vs. his history of moral pronouncements...
  
  Actually, so I' [...]
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  Posted: June 18, 2009, 8:09pm EDT
  

• W\hen All You Have Is A Bomber, Every Problem Is A Target

  ...why John McCain is getting so much face time with his criticism of Obama's response to the Iranian strife while Senator Richard Lugar's views are not is something of a mystery.......OK, it isn't really, given the history of the MSM over the last 15 - 20 years....but, still,' [...]
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  Posted: June 17, 2009, 8:38pm EDT
  

• On A Contrarian View Of "Analysis"...The Ensign Files

  ...it is an article of faith in the world of conventional wisdom that Nevada Sen. John Ensign's confession to an extramarital affair is another headache that the Incredible Shrinking Republic-Fascist party could do without. In fact, this A.P. analysis illustrates that point perfectly...
  
  I have a contrarian view [...]
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  Posted: June 17, 2009, 7:08pm EDT
  

• On Why The MSM Doesn't Like Bloggers

  ...on Saturday last (June 13), Bryan at Why Now wrote this post about the obvious evidence of fraud represented by the reported Iranian election results...
  
  The Associated Press finally has a story, first published less than two hours ago, mulling over just how it could be [...]
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  Posted: June 15, 2009, 8:21pm EDT
  

• Doesn't Anybody Around Here Watch SciFi?!

  ...the lede says it all:
  After more than 120,000 years trapped beneath a block of ice in Greenland, a tiny microbe has awoken. The long-lasting bacteria may hold clues to what life forms might exist on other planets.
  Seriously, what part of the underlying plot line of at least [...]
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  Posted: June 15, 2009, 7:35pm EDT
  

• Mike And The Mushy Middle

  ...Mike Huckabee sounded the clarion call today for all True Believers to rally behind those core conservative values that are the only hope for bringing the Republic-Fascist Party back to power. Those of us who hope that the Republic-Fascist Party never in our lifetime comes back to power can [...]
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  Posted: June 10, 2009, 6:56pm EDT
  

• A Party In Search Of Its Own Rodney King

  ...these days, the Republic-Fascist party is starting to look remarkably like the Los Angeles Police Department officers who were caught on tape making damned sure that convicted felon Rodney King didn't nurture any more thoughts about trying to evade pursuing officers in a car chase. For those who missed' [...]
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  Posted: June 08, 2009, 8:15pm EDT
  

• Twitter In The Hands Of An Angry (Republican) God

  ...the filibuster rules of the U.S. Senate will probably stand in the way, but I really think that there should probably be a law passed - for a couple of reasons - that bars members of that body from establishing Twitter profiles and sharing their personal thoughts with the rest [...]
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  Posted: June 07, 2009, 8:24pm EDT
  

• A Final Bit Of Justice For Engine 57

  Raymond Lee Oyler stands convicted of intentionally starting a fire in the wee hours of the morning of 26 October, 2006, at the bottom of San Gorgonio Peak near the Southern California town of Cabazon during a Santa Ana wind event. By 0800 hours, Incident Command staff were aware that [...]
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  Posted: June 06, 2009, 7:16pm EDT
  

• Sixty-Five Years Ago Today

  
  ...13,000 aircraft. 5,ooo ships. 160,000 soldiers...
  
  
  The sheer numbers of that singular day 65 years ago are astounding, and the tens of thousands of individual stories are a precious resource that will hopefully never be lost or forgotten, even though we are losing [...]
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  Posted: June 06, 2009, 10:04pm EDT
  

• Another Example Of "All You Need To Know About Republicans"

  ...personally, I think Lindsay Graham sounds more like Huckleberry Hound than does Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, but regardless of all that, Graham's comment today is profoundly instructive about what should from here on out be clearly understood to the "Party of 'No'" nonstrategy of the Republic-Fascist Party":
  "She needs' [...]
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  Posted: June 04, 2009, 9:15pm EDT
  

• What Is A Body To Do?

  ...there are days - in fact there have been a lot of days recently - where the pressures and stresses of personal life have made me question the fundamental premise of whether or not it matters to care about the pressing national issues of the day. There are plenty of [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2009, 9:43pm EDT
  

• And Now For News That Really Matters

  ...in what is considered to be a stunning upset, viral Intertubes sensation Susan Boyle finished second in the finals of "Britian's Got Talent", a Simon Crowell creation that answers the unasked question of what the love child produced by a dalliance between "The Ed Sullivan Show"' [...]
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  Posted: May 30, 2009, 7:28pm EDT
  

• "Kodak Moments" And War Crimes

  ...I have to confess that I don't have any particular desire to see any more detainee torture photographs of the sort that the ACLU is digging for. I've seen enough already...
  
  I get it already, OK?
  
  People in the employ of the United States of America did [...]
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  Posted: May 28, 2009, 7:42pm EDT
  

• On How We Should Finally Have An Honest Talk About Diabetes

  ...I am the parent of a type I diabetic teenager who was originally diagnosed at about the same age as Sonia Sotomayor. I have spent the last eight years fighting two wars: one with the outside world that still - after years of advancements and improvements in the manner in [...]
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  Posted: May 27, 2009, 8:06pm EDT
  

• Stare Decisis? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Stare Decisis!

  ...in the dawning of this new era where we will be awash in chatter about why or why not Sonia Sotomayor should be confirmed as the newest member of SCOTUS, it is probably instructive to think back to an earlier confirmation discussion in which the concept of stare decisis [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 7:53pm EDT
  

• What?!!?!? His Middle Name Isn't Tiberius?!?

  ...having just finally engineered an opportunity to get the nucular family (all due homeage to G. W. Bush) to a theatrical big screen showing of "Star Trek", I have to admit I'm all fired up about the idea of zinging around in outer space. It is in this particular emotional' [...]
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  Posted: May 23, 2009, 8:37pm EDT
  

• What "Turning A Corner" Looks Like In Wingnut Land

  ...apparently, in the sweaty, twisted world of the Republican party, there is heartening evidence that they have finally Turned A Corner. Or at least this is the mindset in the especially sweaty, twisted, and oh-so-very-threatened world of (for the time being) Republican National Committee chairman Michael "Laugh-A-Minute" Steele, if [...]
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  Posted: May 19, 2009, 8:15pm EDT
  

• Mother And Baby Are Doing Fine

  ...there has been a fascinating - dare I say it - even gripping little drama going on somewhere down in the basement of the Intertubes over the last 36 days, involving a pair of bald eagles, a nest high in an old fir tree overlooking a lake near the crest [...]
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  Posted: May 15, 2009, 6:45pm EDT
  

• On The Danger Of Wearing Bow Ties

  ...on this, the occasion of my one thousandth effort to type words into a post for my own personal blog (as opposed to my posting efforts at a couple other places over the years), it is time that we visit the dangers that can accrue from being a conservative who [...]
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  Posted: May 14, 2009, 7:29pm EDT
  

• Oh, Please, Lord; Let Me Live Long Enough

  ...there is a simple primitive human fascination with watching things crash and burn. Aside from conjuring a sort of strange congratulatory sense of "there, but for the Grace of God, go I...this time", witnessing moments of violent destruction feed some sort of primal understanding about survival, impermanence, and failure. How [...]
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  Posted: May 12, 2009, 7:24pm EDT
  

• Buying Bullets In the Land Of The Wingnut

  ...so I took my second-born out today to purchase what - in the state of Orygun - are essentially lottery tickets for special youth hunt deer and elk tags for this fall's hunting season. (Long story short: Orygun offers youth-only hunts in selected state hunting units for 12-17 Y.O.'s who [...]
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  Posted: May 10, 2009, 6:50pm EDT
  

• When They Say It's Not About The Money

  ...as the oft-quoted saying goes, "when they say it's not about the money, it's about the money". In the fetid hothouse environment of national electoral politics, that very word - 'politics' - can readily replace 'the money', and Senator David Vitter (R-D.C. Madam Phone List/Adult-sized Huggies) demonstrates with a [...]
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  Posted: May 07, 2009, 8:10pm EDT
  

• The Danger Of A Divine Right

  ...it is being reported this evening on the MSM on the mounting pressure for some sort of action - any responsive sort of action - that could be directed against Jay Bybee and John Yoo in response to their efforts to make the path smooth for Bushco's desire to' [...]
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  Posted: May 06, 2009, 7:23pm EDT
  

• I'm Here To Help

  ...enough electrons have died in a collective effort to adequately capture the ridicule that the whole idea of the new Republican sensing effort known as the National Council for a New America deserves that I won't go there. Wouldn't be right; wouldn't be the sort of thing that a' [...]
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  Posted: May 03, 2009, 5:31pm EDT
  

• Wishin' And Hopin' And Thinkin' And Prayin'

  ...OK, so this clearly isn't what Burt Bacharach had in mind when he and Hal David wrote that song back in the early 1960's, but the first line certainly seems to fit the mood that Senate Republicans are in these days as a result of the news that Associated [...]
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  Posted: May 01, 2009, 7:47pm EDT
  

• Doing Things That Are Illegal In The Real World

  ...anybody who spends any time lingering around the evil newspaper-destroying world of the lefty intertubes knows all about the 'rebranding' effort that the Republic-Fascist party has decided to launch. A great deal of much-deserved ridicule has been hurled at the idea that "Maverick" John McCain, Jeb "Bush Lite" Bush, [...]
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  Posted: April 30, 2009, 7:57pm EDT
  

• For When You Think You're Having A Tough Day At The Office

  ...imagine trying to successfully 'hatch' your project in the top of an old-growth fir tree at the crest of the Orygun Cascades...
  
  ...during what is laughingly referred to around these parts as "Spring"...
  
  (courtesy the Odell Lake Eagle Cam) [...]
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  Posted: April 29, 2009, 9:49pm EDT
  

• The Strange Colors Of Irony

  ...personally, I think that Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic party is, on balance, a plus, although not for all of that "60 Votes" filibuster-busting stuff that has dominated news reporting and commentary. I don't have any illusions that Specter is going to transmorgrify into some sort of rock-solid progressive [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2009, 7:18pm EDT
  

• Wherein We Discuss Why Appointed Positions Aren't "UnFilled"

  ...one of the interesting side stories that is percolating to the surface in this situation where we are faced with trying to figure out whether or not to freak out about this new swine flu outbreak is the factoid that Obama's Department of Health and Human Services has a number' [...]
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  Posted: April 26, 2009, 6:33pm EDT
  

• Just Another WTF! Moment in Wonderland By The Potomac

  ...the quotes themselves let you know how stupid the movers and shakers of the Republik-Fascist party think you are:
  Dawn Johnsen, an Indiana University law professor nominated to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), faces a potential filibuster from Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican' [...]
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  Posted: April 24, 2009, 7:18pm EDT
  

• Jane Harmon's Strange Conversation

  ...while I was making dinner tonight and listening to NPR's "All Things Considered" (a personal tradition that extends back almost as long as that program has been on the air), I heard the strangest conversation between Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and NPR's Robert Siegel...
  
  What I found most [...]
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  Posted: April 22, 2009, 9:32pm EDT
  

• Showing Texas The Door

  ...Texas Governor Rick Perry launched his campaign for his reelection (and, perhaps, later national office) last week by coyly tea-bagging the idea of seceding from the United States. In one brilliant stroke, he demonstrated not only why he should never be allowed in the White House except as part [...]
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  Posted: April 21, 2009, 9:15pm EDT
  

• Why It's Important To Remember Things

  ...last week, the Dept. of Homeland Security released a report on threats of domestic terrorism. For reasons that probably are founded in everything from attempts to gain political advantage to the well-understood concern by various winger pundits about just how shaky the moral ground on which they are standing [...]
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  Posted: April 19, 2009, 5:42pm EDT
  

• The Coming Teabagger Revolution Vs. Your Lying Eyes

  ...the numbers are rolling in from around the country and the message is clear, as is displayed by the AP headline:
  Tens of thousands rally at tax day 'tea parties'
  
  Well, that just says it all, doesn't it.
  
  Clearly, there is a swelling tsunami wave of 'nonpartisan'' [...]
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  Posted: April 15, 2009, 8:52pm EDT
  

• Where Will YOU Be On Tuesday Nights?

  ...with all the crap, garbage, and nonsense on television these days (I'm looking at YOU, cable news talking heads), there are still a few shows in this reality-based world that have the power to wrap themselves around the deeper primitive recesses of the Cerebellum and truly drag you into a' [...]
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  Posted: April 15, 2009, 9:21pm EDT
  

• The Case Of The Curious Backstory

  ...so in the course if watching the breathless cable news coverage of Capt. Richard Phillips' rescue from Somalian pirates, I came across a curious backstory. Not the observation by the FAUX news anchor carrying on about the "long" 25-meter shots taken by the Navy snipers; highly trained' [...]
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  Posted: April 12, 2009, 2:53pm EDT
  

• Liquidating Pac-NW History

  ...the news, when it came yesterday, was a bit shocking:
  A Delaware bankruptcy court on Thursday approved the liquidation sale of all remaining merchandise of 57-year-old G.I. Joe’s Holdings Co.
  ...back in the day, which in this case is defined as over three decades ago when I first [...]
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  Posted: April 10, 2009, 7:29pm EDT
  

• Bring Back The Jeep Carriers

  ...a few months ago when the coverage of Somalian pirates was the Subject Of The Month, I got to thinking about the problems that are said to plague efforts to combat the predation on civilian sea traffic of the coast of Somalia. The solution, it seemed at the time, was [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2009, 7:22pm EDT