Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

There's so much stupidity on health care reform out there that it can be difficult to remember how much other stupidity there is. So, once again, let us dedicate Happy Hour to spanking those whose dumbfuckery doesn't stop at death panels.

Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to investigate a handful of people who decided the torture authorized by the Bush regime wasn't enough torture for them. It's a pathetic effort aimed at a few particularly bad apples, the absolute least he could do and still appear to care about the rule of law. You know what this means, don't you? Cue Cons screaming that Holder hates America in 3...2... - that was fast:

Any hopes that conservatives might be pleased by the limited scope of the probe appear to be dashed.

Take, for example, Rep. Peter King (R) of New York, who appears to be in the midst of a wild-eyed, hair-on-fire temper tantrum.

"It's bulls***. It's disgraceful. You wonder which side they're on," he said of the Attorney General's move, which he described as a "declaration of war against the CIA, and against common sense."

"It's a total breach of faith, and either the president is intentionally caving to the left wing of his party or he's lost control of his administration," said King, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security and a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence. [...]

"You will have thousands of lives that will be lost and the blood will be on Eric Holder's hands," he said.

Asked about officials who allegedly broke the law, King said it doesn't matter because he doesn't think the Geneva Convention "applies to terrorists," and that the line between permissible and impermissible interrogation tactics was "a distinction without a difference" in the Bush era.

The Con world view never fails to fascinate me. To ol' Pete, the fact that he, personally, doesn't think the Geneva Conventions apply to terrorists means that magically, they don't. This works no better than proclaiming that we, personally, don't think the laws against robbing banks apply to us. And what the fuck is this bullshit about "a distinction without a difference" he's on about? It's rather like saying that in that era, the line between assault and murder was "a distinction without a difference." Seems to me that's not a reason to excuse, but condemn that lawless behavior all the more strongly.

But Cons, of course, believe that lawless fuckery is fine as long as they're the ones enjoying it. And Joe "I Don't Know What a Liberal Is but I Play One on Teevee" Lieberman's right there to excuse them. As Steve Benen said, "Any sentence that starts, 'Officials must of course live within the law but...' isn't going to end well."

The complaints went well beyond Lieberman. If the Justice Department pursues evidence of criminal wrongdoing, leading Republican senators and representatives said, "CIA terror fighters" may not be able to do their jobs effectively. Oh, and 9/11, 9/11, 9/11.

And don't forget the 9/11. But you can't remember it with a National Day of Service, because that will "drain 9/11 of all meaning" - even though the victims' families think otherwise. Oh, and so did that dirty fucking liberal, George W. Bush.

Speaking of Bush, I'm sure we'll all be shocked to learn his cronies fucked over New Orleans again:

This USAToday piece leaves out an important piece of the puzzle here. The company who sold the pumps was closely tied to the Bush family, at one time even employing Jeb Bush:

WASHINGTON — Huge flood-control pumps installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina don't protect the city adequately and the Army Corps of Engineers could have saved $430 million in replacement costs by buying proven equipment, a federal investigation finds.

The investigation by the federal Office of Special Counsel finds there was "little logical justification" for the corps' decision to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the "untested" hydraulic pumps, which are meant to empty millions of gallons of water from the below-sea-level city during storm-related floods.

Nope, no "logical" justification. Just political! From March 2007:

Meanwhile, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., asked the Government Accountability Office on Thursday to investigate the Corps and the contract it entered into with Moving Water Industries Corp.

MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps.

The next time New Orleans drowns, we'll know just who to send the repair bill to, won't we?

Speaking of incompetence, it turns out Sarah Palin's PAC is as inept as she is:

Sarah Palin's leadership committee, SarahPAC, is now getting some annoying questions from people other than the media -- namely, the Federal Election Commission.

In an August 19 letter to SarahPAC, the FEC asked for more information on several irregularities in the PAC's mid-year report -- mostly consisting of failures to itemize on expenditures of certain sizes. In addition, it appears that SarahPAC neglected to properly file as a multi-candidate PAC, and thus made potentially illegal donations to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), with the checks weighing in beyond the limit for a non-multicandidate PAC.

It appears that this is probably not a matter of corruption. Rather, it may simply involve a level of negligence and ineptitude beyond the norm. For example, the FEC notes that the two checks to Murkowski and McCain were filed as being for the 2009 primary election, which does not exist.

She's like a gift that keeps on giving because it keeps getting regifted to you, no matter how hard you try to get rid of it. And to think John McCain thought this woman was qualified to help him run the government.

Speaking of McCain, he's spent the last few days being a fucktard in a myriad of ways - and the one time he does something right, his fucktarded fans boo him down for it:

Today in a town hall forum in Arizona, an elderly woman asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) whether President Obama knows “that we still live under a Constitution.” To his credit, McCain distanced himself from the questioner’s claim, saying “I’m sure that he does.” He then added that Obama “respects the Constitution of the United States,” at which point the crowd broke out in loud boos. But McCain stood firm, explaining that there’s just a “fundamental difference in philosophy and about the role of government.” “I am convinced the president is absolutely sincere in his beliefs,” he said, again eliciting boos and jeers from the crowd.

Reap what ye sow, John. You run around playing the dumbshit, don't be surprised when people play the dumbshit right back in inappropriate ways.

This is something your friend in the House may learn someday as well:

WorldNetDaily (via Dave Weigel) reports that Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) has signed onto H.R. 1503, the so-called “birther bill” that would require presidential candidates to submit copies of their birth certificates. Franks is now the 10th co-sponsor to Rep. Bill Posey’s (R-FL) legislation.

Every day in oh, so many ways, I'm reminded why I'm glad I don't live in Arizona anymore.

Of course, we have to remember that Cons are pandering to a base that listens to Limbaugh, and thus is a little - shall we say - special. And I can't wait to see them answering questions dealing with Obama's Plans for Penises:

LIMBAUGH: Is this - Snerdly, mark a new development in my career, to be singled out in a rap song by the famous rapper Jay-Z? I guess it is, I guess it's - as far as I know, I've never been mentioned in a rap song by anybody. I guess it means I made it, I'm now in a rap tune by the famous rapper Jay-Z. "Tell Rush Limbaugh to get off my balls, tell Bill O'Reilly to fall back." I would remind the rapper Jay-Z, Mr. Z, it is President Obama that wants to mandate circumcision. We had that yesterday, and that means if anybody - if we need to save our penises from anybody, it's Obama.

WTF? What the hell is wrong with these people? I don't recall Obama running on a platform of mandatory circumcision. What is this obsession the rabid right has with penises, Presidential and their own? It's a sickness.

And, finally, Faux News has its needle stuck in one groove again. They're picking up the pallin' around with terrorist theme and taking it to absurd new lengths:

Last night on his Fox program, Beck attacked Color of Change co-founder Van Jones, who is currently a White House adviser on the environment. Beck aired an entire segment wondering, “Who is Obama’s green jobs czar, Van Jones?” In the piece, Beck called Jones a “self-proclaimed communist” and a “full-fledged radical,” citing Jones’ involvement in a group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), which Beck says “held study groups in the Marxist and Lenin teachings.”

Fox & Friends continued the attack on Jones this morning. Teasing an upcoming segment with Beck, host Gretchen Carlson said Jones has “ties to a terrorist” (a claim that was never revisited). Later, a seemingly ultra-paranoid Beck claimed Jones is part of a secret communist cabal inside the Obama White House to transform the American government...

Wow. It sounds like the Faux News team really needs to wean themselves off the acid. They've taken one bad trip too many.

And so, my darlings, that is the state of our public discourse today. Enough to make you weep, innit?