Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Let's start with the outrageous stupidity before we move on to the general, shall we?  Sen. Inouye needs a lesson on just who his constituents are:

This is infuriating. If there was any doubt in your mind as to whose side the political establishment is on, this should settle it:

An amendment that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their case to court is in danger of being watered down or stripped entirely from a larger defense appropriations bill.

Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.

Inouye's office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up. The Senate is considering taking out a provision known as the Title VII claim, which (if removed) would allow victims of assault or rape to bring suit against the individual perpetrator but not the contractor who employed him or her.

As a rape survivor, I've left him a rather strongly-worded message, and I'll be writing him a harsh letter and faxing it on.  Feel free to pile on.  Here's some contact info:

The telephone number for Inouye’s Washington office is (202) 224-3934. I wonder if a few calls might bring him around to honoring the intent of the huge majority of Senators who voted for the Franken amendment.

A few calls might.  If you're a fellow rape survivor, let him have it with as many of the details as you're able to share.  Let him know what it's like to not just have your body violated, but end up without the possibility of justice on top of it.

Right, then.  On with the rest of the stupid.

I think we all need something that makes us feel better after that bit of outrage.  How about Rep. Grayson calling Dick Cheney a vampire?

Chris Matthews asked Grayson what he thinks of Cheney's attacks on President Obama for "dithering" on Afghanistan.

"Well, my response is -- and by the way, I have trouble listening to what he says sometimes, because of the blood that drips from his teeth while he's talking," said Grayson. "But my response is this: He's just angry because the president doesn't shoot old men in the face. But by the way, when he was done speaking, did he just then turn into a bat and fly away?"

Even Matthews, no Cheney fan himself, was shocked: "Oh God -- we gotta keep a level here. Let me ask you this: Don't you have any Republican friends?"

Grayson laughed, and said that some of his best friends are Republicans.

I love this man.  Love love love.

Speaking of Cons, it seems their approval numbers are dropping like a stone:

CNN, releasing the results of its new poll this afternoon, reports, "The Republican Party's favorable rating among Americans is at lowest level in at least a decade, according to a new national poll."

If this doesn't make the GOP nervous, it should. According to the poll, just 36% have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, while 54% have a negative opinion. When was the last time a CNN poll showed Republicans with a worse rating? According to the internals (pdf), it was December 1998 -- 11 years ago -- the same week House Republicans impeached then-President Bill Clinton and the GOP's favorability rating dropped to 31%.

On the other hand, a 53% majority have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party. Here's another homemade chart showing the difference between the two.

I don't know about you, but to me, that chart is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

And you know the situation's dire when even Jeb Bush is screaming at Cons that they need to wake up and smell the electoral defeat.  Awesome.

Speaking of Bush, Monkey Boy George regrets standing in front of the ol' Mission Impossible banner. 

Yup.  Still stoopid as evah.

The American public, alas, is getting dumber.  Looks like my fellow Americans need a little climate change edimicashun.

Rep. John Carter (R, of course), who's after the head of Democratic colleague Charlie Rangel, has some ethics problems of his own.  If you're planning to cast the first stone, John, it's a good thing to first determine if the walls of your house are made of glass.

What Tim Pawlenty has done to a poor, innocent Rolling Stones song is a crime against humanity.

And, finally, the stupid cherry on top: Faux News is a little unclear on the concept of what does and does not constitute stifling freedom of speech.  Luckily, Lawyers, Guns and Money is there with the snark:

The attacks on the administration and its allies for deciding to shun Fox News are so cute. This is my favorite:

In [Obama's] America there is no Constitution, there is no First Amendment, there are no principles of free speech or free press.

As all good children know, the silent treatment renders the person to whom it's administered incapable of saying anything. They can't run around shouting, "Why are you ignoring me?" or "What did I do? Please tell me!" because their tongue has been silenced by the mystical power of the treatment. It makes a person wonder what Fox will air now that their hosts have lost their words. An hour of Glenn Beck sobbing uncontrollably while pointing at a chalkboard on which the links between ACORN and his muted mouth-hole have been arranged into a misspelled anagram? Granted, they were ready to go with the sobbing and pointing before the Plague of Silence zipped his mouth and pocketed the key . . .

Damn the mystical powers of the silent treatment!  Damn them!  

If Cons and their fake news channel get any more ridiculous, I'm afraid they'll implode in a little black hole of stupidity.  We've got to be critically close to violating some physical laws here...