Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Blackwater looks to be in very hot water indeed:

Blackwater USA, the State Department's largest personal security contractor in Iraq, is set to be hit with a multi-million dollar fine for shipping automatic weapons to that country without the necessary permits, reports McClatchy. Some of the weapons are believed to have ended up on Iraq's black market.

The State Department has been looking into whether Blackwater employees shipped weapons hidden in shrink-wrapped pallets from the companies headquarters in North Carolina to Iraq. No criminal charges have been filed in the case.

But according to one official, the department found that Blackwater shipped 900 weapons to Iraq without the paperwork required by arms export control regulations.

That's really the problem with hiring mercenaries, innit? They often act like mercenaries. They're in it for profit, not patriotism, which means you get pesky things going on like, oh, you know, murdering a lot of civillians, acting like lawless ratfuckers, and selling things to people who don't have America's best interests at heart. Not that these things can't happen within our own military, but at least the military forces under our direct command get the crap kicked out of them when it happens.

Speaking of backstabbing sons of bitches, check out what the Cons are doing to their old buddy McCain:

At least Republicans waited until after the presidential election to challenge the signature legislation of their presidential nominee.

Less than two weeks after John McCain failed to keep the
White House in Republican hands, the Republican National Committee filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.

Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., angered conservatives six years ago when he fought for the BCRA -- and ironically some of the very restrictions McCain helped put in place limited what the RNC was able to do on McCain's behalf during his White House run.

The move by Republicans, which comes just nine days after the election, indicates a concern among the GOP about party fundraising and its ability to influence state and local politics. One lawsuit, which the party says it filed today in the District of Columbia, seeks to overturn the ban on unregulated contributions or "soft money". The other lawsuit, filed today in Louisiana, seeks to eliminate restrictions on coordinated spending between candidates and the political parties'
committees.

Marc Ambinder described this as the RNC throwing "a pie in John McCain's face," adding, "Nine days after the election, the Republican National Committee is no longer interested in being friends with their nominee."

Not so much, no. Cons have always shown a rather interesting tendency to eat their own when the chips are down, though, so I'm sure McCain was expecting the knife in the back.

And it looks like Sarah Palin may not be winning friends and influencing people among Republicon governors:

The media haven’t been able to get enough Palin 2012 speculation in the run-up to her speech today at the Republican Governors Association (RGA) convention. In almost every interview with GOP governors over the past couple days, hosts have been asking them their thoughts
on a future presidential run by Palin. These governors, however, have been less than enthusiastic to embrace Palin as their future candidate:

CNN: So let me ask you point blank, governor. Is she the future of the party?

MARK SANFORD (SC): I don’t think I’d define it that way. [11/13/08]

Probably best if they don't. Although I, for one, would be thrilled if the Cons staked their future on a half-wit.

Things are looking bleak indeed for the Cons, in fact:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) described the Republican Party's troubles while speaking to the RGA yesterday.

"We cannot be a majority governing party when we essentially cannot compete in the Northeast, we are losing our ability to compete in Great Lakes states, we cannot compete on the West Coast, we are increasingly in danger of competing in the mid-Atlantic states, and the Democrats are now winning some of the Western states," Pawlenty said. "That is not a formula for being a majority governing party in this nation."

As if that weren't enough, he ticked off a few more challenges.

"Similarly we cannot compete, and prevail, as a majority governing party if we have a significant deficit, as we do, with women, where we have a large deficit with Hispanics,
where we have a large deficit with African American voters, where we have a large deficit with people of modest incomes and modest financial circumstances. Those are not factors that make up a formula for success going forward."

Hmm. Republicans can't compete in the Northeast, the Midwest, the Sunbelt, or the Pacific Coast. They also can't win support from
women voters, Hispanic voters, African-American voters, or working class families. (He forgot to mention young voters.)

Things aren't looking too sporty for the poor dears, are they? It's pretty pathetic when you can count your supporters on one hand. The Cons will come back from this, eventually, but they're going to be a loooong time in the wilderness if they can't wake up and smell the electorate.

This should give them a taste of what's to come:

In a landmark action, the Environmental Protection Agency’s final decision-making board has ruled that all new and proposed coal-fired power plants must have their carbon dioxide emissions regulated. The
Environmental Appeals Board ruled today that the EPA has no valid reason for refusing to place limits on the global warming emissions from Desert Power’s proposed 110-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Vernal, Utah.

Deseret Power’s Bonanza Generating Station would have emitted 3.37 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. In July 2007, the EPA issued a permit for the plant, ignoring the Clean Air Act’s stipulation that all such permits must include a “best-available control technology” emissions limit for each pollutant “subject to regulation under the Act.”

That's right. No more free and open rape of our environment. They used to be able to get away with this shit, but the government no longer belongs to corporate raiders and neocons, and a few things are gonna change.

Expect the tantrums from the right to get really loud.