Good Bloggin': Obama's First 100 Days; Specter's Change of Allegiance; Bachmann Doesn't Exactly Say Obama Caused Swine Flu; Hate Crimes; the GOP Legacy; & One Stupendous Act of Sheer Self-Servingness

  "Golden laurel wreath" by Andreas Praefcke, published pursuant to this license 

by Teh Nutroots |  Dolphins of Hope & Change. The polls show that Obama gets "high marks" (with qualifications) for his first 100 days.  Agitprop sums it up thus:  "Just ridin' the waves. Upon dolphins."  Photographic evidence here.

Changing Lanes.  At Fables of the Reconstruction, Mithras in South Philly muses on the sudden acquisition of Sen. Specter as a Pennsylvania Dem:

At the risk of sounding callous: Maybe I'd be less sanguine about short-circuiting a contested Pennsylvania Democratic primary for U.S. Senate if Specter were, say, 50 years old and in great health.

But he's, you know, not.  (FoR)

Annnnnnnnd:

Pat Toomey accidentally wandered into the Drinking Liberally venue to have dinner. He's wondering why everyone is laughing. (FoR)

Ah ha ha. Ha ha ha ha.  Pat Toomey.  I hope they at least bought him a nonalcoholic beer or an orange juice or something.  Man, that sort of thing never happens at my local branch of DL.

Shrinkage. Shaun Mullen comments on Arlen's transfer of allegiance:  " [I]s the GOP small enough to drown in a bathtub yet?"

Michele Bachmann is not -- repeat, NOT -- Blaming Swine Flu on Obama.   And I want to make this perfectly clear.  She said:

“I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

Kevin K. at Rumproast laconically responds:

One problem, though...the year was 1976 and the president was Republic [sic] Gerald Ford.

Give her this, though:  she got the decade right. 

In Which Teh Nutroots Commits a Thought Crime Against Glenn Beck.  At Orcinus, Dave Neiwert posts on the progress of the federal hate crimes bill:

On Thursday, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act passed out of the House Judiciary Committee.

Sure enough, as Kyle at RightWingWatch predicted, the right-wing freakout has begun. Unsurprisingly, Glenn Beck is already leading the way.

He invited on wingnut talk-show host Sandi Rios, who promptly declared hate crimes "thought crimes" (uh-huh, right).

Neiwert's got a list of links for those interested in the background of hate-crimes legislation (and in why they are not in fact the same as "thought crimes.")  Personally, I think they need to change the title of the legislation so it doesn't sound like its purpose is to protect hate crimes. 

The GOP Legacy, Continuing?  At Fact-esque, Mick Arran writes:

There is a lot of collateral damage when you force society into a posture of unlimited selfishness as conservatives have done for the past 30 or so years. Add that to a posture of worship when it comes to $$$ and you've got the makings of a Molochian culture in which there is no room for humanity when teh bucks are at stake.

We've been looking at the top of the totem pole because that's where it comes from, but if you doubt this abominable doctrine has oozed its way down the ladder, you'd better have a look at this: a landlord is dunning the mother of a murdered teacher because he died before his lease was up.

The GOP Legacy, Continuing.  But how about the Powers that Be deciding that it would be kewl to get a photo of Air Force One in proximity to the Statue of Liberty, and without bothering much about advance notice to the populace, thereby scaring the bejesus out of the humble worker bees in two American cities?

From The Talking Dog:

Let's just say I'm glad that I missed "the live performance" of this one: low flying jetliners that buzzed within window rattling distance of skyscrapers in lower Manhattan this morning, that were nothing more than a freaking photo op to have Air Force One's picture taken over the Statue of Liberty; the President was not on board, and purported to be not amused. By deciding to err on the side of secrecy, untold numbers of office workers in both lower Manhattan and Jersey City rushed out of their offices into the streets, fearing a reprise of September 11th. Apparently, the geniuses in Washington decided to keep this a secret from, oh, the public, and only told a rather obscure New York City official, who evidently, failed to notify the Mayor, or the police.

Yes, I don't think solipsistic displays of rank self-servingness are confined to the GOP, though I agree they probably should be.  

RECENT BUCK NAKED POLITICS POSTINGS

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter Crosses the Aisle to Muted Jeers and a Few Tepid Cheers from the Left

If Govt. Can Reduce Auto Execs' s Pay, Why not Bank Execs' Pay?

Sing Along: "Zombie Banks -- They're Dead but They Just Don't Know It'

Businessman Sentenced for Turning Women into Virtual Slaves

At the risk of sounding callous: Maybe I'd be less sanguine about short-circuiting a contested Pennsylvania Democratic primary for U.S. Senate if Specter were, say, 50 years old and in great health.

But he's, you know, not.  (FoR)

Annnnnnnnd:

Pat Toomey accidentally wandered into the Drinking Liberally venue to have dinner. He's wondering why everyone is laughing. (FoR)

Ah ha ha. Ha ha ha ha.  Pat Toomey.  I hope they at least bought him a nonalcoholic beer or an orange juice or something.  Man, that sort of thing never happens at my local branch of DL.

Shrinkage. Shaun Mullen comments on Arlen's transfer of allegiance:  " [I]s the GOP small enough to drown in a bathtub yet?"

Michele Bachmann is not -- repeat, NOT -- Blaming Swine Flu on Obama.   And I want to make this perfectly clear.  She said:

“I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

Kevin K. at Rumproast laconically responds:

One problem, though...the year was 1976 and the president was Republic [sic] Gerald Ford.

Give her this, though:  she got the decade right. 

In Which Teh Nutroots Commits a Thought Crime Against Glenn Beck.  At Orcinus, Dave Neiwert posts on the progress of the federal hate crimes bill:

On Thursday, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act passed out of the House Judiciary Committee.

Sure enough, as Kyle at RightWingWatch predicted, the right-wing freakout has begun. Unsurprisingly, Glenn Beck is already leading the way.

He invited on wingnut talk-show host Sandi Rios, who promptly declared hate crimes "thought crimes" (uh-huh, right).

Neiwert's got a list of links for those interested in the background of hate-crimes legislation (and in why they are not in fact the same as "thought crimes.")  Personally, I think they need to change the title of the legislation so it doesn't sound like its purpose is to protect hate crimes. 

The GOP Legacy, Continuing?  At Fact-esque, Mick Arran writes:

There is a lot of collateral damage when you force society into a posture of unlimited selfishness as conservatives have done for the past 30 or so years. Add that to a posture of worship when it comes to $$$ and you've got the makings of a Molochian culture in which there is no room for humanity when teh bucks are at stake.

We've been looking at the top of the totem pole because that's where it comes from, but if you doubt this abominable doctrine has oozed its way down the ladder, you'd better have a look at this: a landlord is dunning the mother of a murdered teacher because he died before his lease was up.

The GOP Legacy, Continuing.  But how about the Powers that Be deciding that it would be kewl to get a photo of Air Force One in proximity to the Statue of Liberty, and without bothering much about advance notice to the populace, thereby scaring the bejesus out of the humble worker bees in two American cities?

From The Talking Dog:

Let's just say I'm glad that I missed "the live performance" of this one: low flying jetliners that buzzed within window rattling distance of skyscrapers in lower Manhattan this morning, that were nothing more than a freaking photo op to have Air Force One's picture taken over the Statue of Liberty; the President was not on board, and purported to be not amused. By deciding to err on the side of secrecy, untold numbers of office workers in both lower Manhattan and Jersey City rushed out of their offices into the streets, fearing a reprise of September 11th. Apparently, the geniuses in Washington decided to keep this a secret from, oh, the public, and only told a rather obscure New York City official, who evidently, failed to notify the Mayor, or the police.

Yes, I don't think solipsistic displays of rank self-servingness are confined to the GOP, though I agree they probably should be.  

RECENT BUCK NAKED POLITICS POSTINGS

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter Crosses the Aisle to Muted Jeers and a Few Tepid Cheers from the Left

If Govt. Can Reduce Auto Execs' s Pay, Why not Bank Execs' Pay?

Sing Along: "Zombie Banks -- They're Dead but They Just Don't Know It'

Businessman Sentenced for Turning Women into Virtual Slaves

Comments

[rawdawgbuffalo]

dont forget about (Cuomo v. The Clearing House Association, 08-453)

[Ron Russell]

Specter leaving the Republican party reminds me of the old days when one would go to the barbershop, not for a headache, but for blood letting by leeches. This is good for the GOP---the party needs such changes in order to give the American people a clearer choice in the next elections. So-called moderates stand for nothing--they simply sit on the fence and wait to see which way the wind is blowing. Give me a radical lefty or extreme right winger any day. Then I know where they are coming from. Cannot stand double-talk from either side.