Collective Soulless

Back in the middle part of the last decade, during the pitch black years of the Bush era, the GOP became infamous in certain circles for its ruthlessness when it came to pushing through legislation. The default Republican posture, given that their party controlled essentially every arm of the U.S. government, seemed to be an unimaginably audacious middle finger to anyone and everyone who dared to challenge them. This kind of thinking was best exemplified by the now-legendary brush-off that Hutt-like Wisconsin congressman Jim Sensenbrenner gave to the Democrats when they attempted to hold a hearing on the legality of the Patriot Act in 2005. Upon realizing that his political adversaries weren't going to shut the hell up and just cede the decision-making to the people ostensibly in charge, Sensenbrenner got up, took his gavel and left the room, turning the lights off on the way out the door. As Jon Stewart perfectly put it, "He literally took his gavel and went home. We're officially being governed by children."

It's because of how often we've witnessed this kind of power-for-power's-sake ethos over the last several years that it should surprise no one that the Wisconsin Republicans are now thumbing their nose at a court order aimed at stopping the implementation of their controversial union busting law in that state. First Scott Walker pulls an end run on parliamentary procedure, one which proved beyond a doubt that his desire to end collective bargaining for Wisconsin public employees had nothing at all to do with bringing his state's budget even; then the Republicans ignore a judge's order barring them from putting their ill-gotten law into place; now, after a second court ruling is issued, they're once again behaving as if the law doesn't apply to them because, well -- and stop me if you've heard this one before -- they make the laws, dammit.

But once again, as Jon Stewart said pretty well the other night, if the "law" they just passed is being held up by the courts, and they enact it anyway -- because that's how desperately they want to see their union-free Utopia come to fruition -- isn't that ironically against the law?

The Wisconsin Journal: State Will Continue Implementing Collective Bargaining Law Despite Second Judge's Order/3.30.11

Sacrificial Scam

I rarely think that anything I post on this silly site qualifies as important -- the kind of thing everyone needs to see and pay close attention to -- but this is one of those times. Do yourself and the rest of us a favor and send this to that obnoxious asshole in your extended family who continues to bombard you with chain e-mails overflowing with Foxisms about those lazy state workers and how they're gangbanging the economy.

My issue has never been that we as a country don't need to tighten our belts in places -- it's always been where we selectively choose to do it. It's astonishing where our priorities are when it comes to forcing sacrifices on the American public -- what we're willing to do without versus what's sacrosanct.

The Born Stupidity

Huckabee goes full-on birther, and in doing so willfully botches the facts about where the President of the United States grew up -- this as at least ten states are now pushing measures that question whether Barack Obama was born in the U.S.

Meanwhile, one of this country's two major political parties is going to war on teachers -- calling them, essentially, lazy and overpaid welfare queens.

If this isn't the Idiocracization of America, I have no idea what is.

AP via The Huffington Post: Birther Bills Pop Up Ahead of 2012/3.1.11

Working Stiffed

I've mentioned this here a couple of times before, but I don't read right-wing pieces, listen to Rush Limbaugh's show, or watch Fox News just looking for something to piss me off. I have a life to lead and enough daily irritations that I can't imagine being lunatic enough to want to willfully pile more on my plate.

That said, a bitter and silly flame war is raging on Twitter right now between the usual suspects on each extreme of the political spectrum and somebody on the conservative side linked to an article in the Daily Caller that "tells it like it is."

The piece is such a staggering display of shameless Randian dickishness that it almost reads like a parody.

The Daily Caller: The Truth About the Wisconsin Protesters/2.28.11

This goes really well with that earlier clip from last night's Daily Show; the ability these guys have to blame the victim and keep a straight face while doing it just boggles the mind. When the political climate has made it okay to beat up on teachers, you know we're way down the rabbit hole.

This Is Not America

Stewart hits it out of the park almost nightly, but this one goes clear to the next town over.

Behold, these unbelievable assholes.

(Adding: Below is something almost as brilliant -- a well-earned shot at the increasing feckless absurdity of CNN's daytime lineup.)

Quote of the Day

"Could you explain Wisconsin? It's all political, isn't it? This is just 100% politics... There is no budget crisis in Wisconsin... Have you looked at the list of the top ten donors to political campaigns in America -- the top ten highest? Seven of those ten donate to Republicans; the other three that remain of those top ten, they all donate to Democrats and they're all unions. Bust the unions -- it's over. I'm not taking a side on this -- I'm telling you what's going on... These are the facts but people don't want to hear the facts. Facts are troublesome creatures from time to time... To pretend this is about a fiscal crisis in the state of Wisconsin is malarkey."

-- Shepard Smith

As usual, Shep is the lone voice of reason at Fox News. He and Juan Williams, during this exchange on Studio B, hit it on the head. Regardless of your thoughts on unions -- whether you love them or loathe them -- everything he's saying about what's really driving the battle in Wisconsin from the Republican side is absolutely true.

Koch Fiend

In the immortal words of Flounder: Oh boy is this great.

The Huffington Post: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Gets Punk'd by Journalist Pretending to be David Koch/2.23.11

The salient quote from Walker to "David Koch", involving a potential trick that might act as an end-game:

"An interesting idea that was brought up to me by my chief of staff, we won't do it until tomorrow, is putting out an appeal to the Democratic leader. I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, the assembly Democrat leader, plus the other two Republican leaders--talk, not negotiate and listen to what they have to say if they will in turn--but I'll only do it if all 14 of them will come back and sit down in the state assembly. They can recess it... the reason for that, we're verifying it this afternoon, legally, we believe, once they've gone into session, they don't physically have to be there. If they're actually in session for that day, and they take a recess, the 19 Senate Republicans could then go into action and they'd have quorum because it's turned out that way."

That plus "David Koch" calling Mika Brzezinski a "real piece of ass" -- and Walker agreeing -- make this all kinds of entertaining. Not necessarily any sort of bombshell, but damn entertaining.

(Adding: Important to remember that the Beast was founded by Matt Taibbi, hence the level of misanthropic gonzo journalism on display in this little stunt.)