Andrew Sullivan's Palin obsession: This is getting creepy

I mean, why not start following her around until she gets a restraining order? Dude, enough.

Excellent Diary at Daily Kos

This is excellent analysis:

I'll start with this matter of "corporatism." Glenn Greenwald was essentially correct in identifying corporate power as the primary obstacle for progressives, as the main opposing force we face. Unfortunately a lot of the discussion about his article has focused on the issue of "left-right alliances," obscuring the truth of the matter.

If you want to defeat the right, we must defeat corporatism. This is a truth I thought we'd all learned during the decade now ending, but apparently we did not.

The right-wing in the United States is still a fringe movement when you look at its overall numbers. {Tea-partiers] are a noisy but tiny group not worth the concern. Even after 30+ years of right-wing dominance of our politics, their ideas remain fundamentally unpopular.

Not Breaking: System Is Rigged

I would like to be able to say that this surprises the hell out of me, but sadly, it does not.

“The simultaneous selling of securities to customers and shorting them because they believed they were going to default is the most cynical use of credit information that I have ever seen,” said Sylvain R. Raynes, an expert in structured finance at R & R Consulting in New York. “When you buy protection against an event that you have a hand in causing, you are buying fire insurance on someone else’s house and then committing arson.”

My one and only post about Brittany Murphy

I didn't personally know Brittany Murphy. No one I know knew Brittany Murphy. It is probably a safe assumption that no one commenting here on my blog knew Brittany Murphy.

How about the media do a straight news story (amounting to maybe a couple paragraphs)? The people reading the news story might offer a quick prayer for Brittany and those who loved her. And then (and here's the thing) move on.

Or, to put a slightly finer point on it: why should I expend any energy whatsoever caring and discussing and speculating about this whole "situation" beyond the above point? I mean, whether drugs or anorexia or, I don't know, cocaine-fueled bestiality orgies caused her death is really none of my fucking business, you know?

Whose interests are served by mass hysteria surrounding celebrities? "Cui Bono?" - Who benefits?

There is hope.

Hookay then. The Democratic leadership in the Senate hands the Narcissist from Connecticut the payback he's sought since his defeat in the 2006 primary. Is this surprising? Sadly, no.

But I'll be damned if I'm going to let that Droopy-Dog, weasel-voiced, reprobate piece of crap "Senator" take away my hope.


Lieberman is a compromised, covered-in-fatcat-pocket-lint, sold-out son of a bitch. We knew this. I knew he'd find a way to screw the left back for screwing him in '06.

Now, here's the thing: Does his petty, childish payback sting? You betcha. Will he get the final laugh? Not on your life. Ultimately, we progressives are going to make the Joe Liebermans of the world irrelevant. That will hurt him far more than anything we can do now.

The way forward for progressives is becoming crystal clear: we need to recognize that we are NOT in power; we need to oppose, in public terms:

1. First and always, the Republican Party and the money powers they represent;

2. Secondly, Democrats who won't stand up to them.

This means agitating from the left, targeting both the Republicans and the weak-kneed, beholden-to-the-money-powers Democratic Leadership.

If we can learn anything from the ridiculous fiasco this is becoming, it is that Our Job Is Not Done.

I had hopes for the possibilities presented by a charismatic young president and big majorities in congress; I envisioned Obama using his personal popularity and charisma to drag the Democratic Congress kicking and screaming to a rebirth of progressive politics in the United States. It is now apparent that those hopes have been shown to be premature, at least for now.

2008 was a false dawn: the real dawn will come, but we need to keep working for it.

We have a movement, but we need to strengthen it. We need to keep building a progressive movement from the bottom up. It is clear that Obama and the current congressional Democratic leadership are NOT (at least so far) the "change we seek," as Obama put it during the campaign: WE, the activist base, are the change we seek. We need to build our movement to the point that we can no longer be ignored by the Democratic leadership. We have made incredible progress, but we're not there yet. We will get there, believe me. The leadership of our party obviously (at this point) are not willing to lead the country in a truly progressive direction - so, once again it is up to US to force the issue.

That does not mean I have no hope, however.

Look, folks; The progressive grassroots/netroots movement has always been about Building a Movement. Crashing the Gates.

Yes, we're looking at defeat now; but let this be a reminder that we have work to do ourselves, continuing to build a movement that, eventually, will not be ignorable or dismissible by the powers that be. The old order is doomed, because they have, ultimately, only money and the superficial power it brings; we have us. 80% of the country (everyone other than the top 20% of the income scale) is getting screwed by the Powers That Be. Our long-term victory will be won ultimately by pointing that out every chance we get. The Truth Will Out.

If we do not give in to despair, if we keep moving, keep building, not letting the corruption of the Democratic Leadership make us give up hope on OUR movement, then we will eventually have our our victory.

Despair? That's letting the Powers That Be win. We are already stronger than they are. They just need to see it, and we need to get strong enough to show them. We have now seen the enemy, and They Will Be Ours.

Best Snarky Comment On Sarah Palin Ever. EVER.

This is hilarious:

President Palin decides to send 200,000 more troops into Afghanistan. But unable to find it on a map, she mistakenly sends them to Argentina. When the liberal elite media run the story of her blunder, she responds, "You know, Joe Sixpack doesn’t know where Afghanistan is. You east coast media types need to stop obsessing over geometry. Smaller government is what we need to get government off our backs. Tax cuts for small businesses so they can put more money on the table. We’re a strong nation and we will win the war on drugs that started in Afghanistan. And when the fish swim, the turkey is done." With that she flies back to Alaska to give birth to her grandson, Algebra.

Little Green Footballs' Founder Comes To His Senses

Charles Johnson, the founder of Little Green Footballs, has decided to leave the right wing behind, due to the mounting evidence that the American Right has wandered off into an absurdist crazyland:

1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)

6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)

7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)

8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)

10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)

And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.