Perry, Dodge, Spin, Thrust

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Wow, a hyper-conservative Republican governor from Texas who thinks we need to put this country firmly into God's hands. Where the hell have I heard that before?

Call me naïve but I have to believe that the American public isn't this willfully stupid.

Picture of the Day

Are You Not Entertained?

Matt Taibbi nails the bigger implications of not simply the News Corp scandal but of the company's rise to power in the first place:

"Once the media business made the collective decision to always put money above editorial judgment, I think scandals like the News of the World affair became inevitable. Because once media companies abandoned the notion that their business was somehow different from other money-making businesses, that there were no longer places they wouldn’t go to generate product, it became inevitable that the corporate media game would become nothing more than an all-out, relentless quest for sensational, titillating material... When information equals money, and everybody in the business is all about money, pretty soon lines are going to be crossed to get information."

It's nothing short of staggering how often this connection can be brought up in any discussion of the modern media, but the 1976 film Network was so frighteningly dead-on that it can legitimately be wondered whether Paddy Chayefsky was some kind of honest-to-God prophet. Network imagined a world in which news and entertainment were one and the same and where the engine that powered each was the relentless pursuit of cash for the conglomerates that owned the media outlets and controlled the product they disseminated. As Taibbi says, what we're witnessing now is the corporate media-for-money stranglehold taken to its logical, and sickening, conclusion.

Quote of the Day

"One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o'clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they're looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an asshole. This was the latter case."

-- Former Harvard President Lawrence Summers on his encounter with the very indignant Winklevoss twins, made famous in The Social Network

Man, when Larry Summers calls you an asshole...

Listening Post

I posted this as an advance audio file a couple of months ago, but now behold the kick-ass 11 minute video extravaganza that the Beastie Boys put together with Santigold for Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win.

Capitol Shrill

Allen West is a fucking psychopath.

No, really, he's terrifying -- an unapologetic misogynist with serious anger issues, a history of violent behavior and an affinity for irresponsible and incendiary rhetoric that's surpassed only by his unnervingly icy demeanor. West can go from zero-to-Bateman in two seconds flat, which is why his beaver-shit crazy reaction to a perceived slight by fellow Florida representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the House floor today shouldn't surprise anyone.

It shouldn't surprise anyone. It should, however, frighten the hell out of everyone.

See for yourself:

"From: Z112 West, Allen
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 04:48 PM
To: Wasserman Schultz, Debbie
Cc: McCarthy, Kevin; Blyth, Jonathan; Pelosi, Nancy; Cantor, Eric
Subject: Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman-Schultz

Look, Debbie, I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional ,and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up. Focus on your own congressional district!

I am bringing your actions today to our Majority Leader and Majority Whip and from this time forward, understand that I shall defend myself forthright against your heinous characterless behavior……which dates back to the disgusting protest you ordered at my campaign hqs, October 2010 in Deerfield Beach.

You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!

Steadfast and Loyal

Congressman Allen B West (R-FL)"

Yeah. Totally sane and well-adjusted, that one.

West's complete losing of his shit came after Wasserman Schultz made a reference to his support for the ridiculous dog and pony show that is the "Cut, Cap and Balance" legislation after he had already left the floor, saying that West was essentially selling out Medicare recipients. Was it a slightly low blow? You could argue that, although I personally don't see it as a huge deal and wouldn't even if the roles were reversed. Was West's reaction not simply out of line but completely unacceptable from a United States Congressman; was it a gargantuan breach of congressional decorum; did it violate the implied and explicit code of civilized conduct among House members and should it leave people questioning whether West's apparently uncontrollable temper makes him even fit for office? Yes, yes and yes. He's not a child on a fucking playground; he's an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives. If he can't act like a respectable adult he should be forced to pack his shit into a suitcase and go home to Florida.

There are certain arguments that I try to avoid making, even when the evidence for them is somewhat obvious, if only because they tend to take the fight to an entirely new level and can occasionally be discounted as being unnecessarily inflammatory. Case in point: I'd like to overlook the nagging feeling that a large part of West's problem with what happened on the floor is that he felt like he was being shown disrespect by a woman, and that he needed to put her back in her rightful place. I really don't want to come right out and say that because of course I can't prove it beyond a doubt. But something about West's tone and language with Wasserman Schultz just leaves me thinking that the argument is unavoidable. West has a pretty nice little history of casually asserting his God-given, masculine dominance over women -- and I have to imagine it boiled his blood that Debbie Wasserman Schultz had the nerve to think she had the power to insult him on the House floor when he wasn't there.

Again, do I know for sure that misogyny played a role in West's embarrassingly unhinged e-mail to half the House? No, I don't.

Do I know that Allen West is one scary asshole? Absolutely.

Sexual Juxtaposition

Remember, it's not gay -- and if it is, Marcus Bachmann can cure it.