Saturday, November 11

Time For A Big Ol' Cup Of 'Shut The F*** Up'

Time For A Big Ol' Cup Of 'Shut The F*** Up'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/time-for-a-big-ol-cup-of_b_33857.html
By Bob Cesca

Last week, I described a nightmare scenario in which the Republicans won the midterm prompting the president, high on mandate juice, to form the Department of Shut The F*** Up, headed by a sock puppet named Secretary Fiddlesticks.
Now that the Democrats have taken back the Congress and 51+ percent of America finally has a voice in government again, I think it's time to seriously let fly. So at the risk of sounding contentious in this all-too-genuine era (several days) of bipartisanship, here now is a roll call of people who must officially shut the f*** up.
1) Republican trolls who wrap up their anonymous and incomprehensible criticisms of progressives with the phrase, "and that's why your party never wins," need to shut the f*** up.
2) The cowards who so easily disregard our liberties by shrugging off the president's illegal wiretapping; the cowards who shrug off the Military Commissions Act and the death of habeas corpus; and the cowards who shrug off torture with the phrases, "I'm not doing anything wrong, so I have nothing to worry about," or, "You can't [blank] if you're dead," ought to shut the f*** up.
3) Anyone who still believes that global warming is a myth? Shut the f*** up.
4) Rush Limbaugh must shut the f*** up. On second thought, strike that. The more we see Violet Beauregard flapping his arms and mocking Parkinson's patients, the better off the rest of the nation will be.
5) In Ann Coulter's latest column, he wondered when the Democrats would be fitting Senator-Elect Jon Tester with a "leotard." Speaking of tards, Mr. Coulter needs to shut the f*** up. And this order stands for anyone who claims Senator-Elect Tester is a "conservative Democrat." He could very well be the face of the New Progressive Democrat and one of the most genuine lawmakers elected Tuesday. Prediction: if he isn't already, Tester will quickly become a rock star in this party.
6) I think it was Bill Maher who mentioned this but it stands repeating here: neocons who have made multiple rosy predictions about Iraq need to shut the f*** up and are forthwith banned from making any more predictions.
7) Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and other homophobes who use the "San Francisco Liberal" label for Speaker-Elect Pelosi must... you know. We all understand that it's right-wing code language meaning "homo-values." If that's what you mean, just say it. That is, unless you're not man enough.
8) If you still believe that Karl Rove is a genius, wizard, architect or anything short of overrated, you must shut the f*** up. One popular vote loss, one win, one near loss to a disorganized opponent and one outright loss means one thing and one thing only: mediocrity. Racking up this kind of record by means of dirty tricks, race-baiting and questioning the patriotism of decorated war veterans makes Rove a mediocre hack at best.
9) Ed Gillespie, the man who's just a neck with a mouth, is officially ordered for the last time to shut the f*** up.
10) The devilish wordsmiths who think it's strategic and clever to refer to the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Party" need to stop it. Shut the f*** up. The official name of the party is the Democratic Party, with the "ic" at the end. Yeah, I know. Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz invented the idea of saying "Democrat Party" or "the Democrat leadership" or "the Democrat voters" in order to emphasize the "rat" syllable, leaving a rat-like subliminal hint in the minds of listeners. President Bush, in his so-called "conciliatory" press conference Wednesday, used this incorrect pronunciation several times.
"And while the ballots are still being counted in the Senate, it is clear the Democrat Party had a good night last night, and I congratulate them on their victories."
"This morning I spoke with Republican and Democrat leadership in the House and Senate."
"...we'll begin consultations with the Democrat leadership starting Thursday and Friday."
"...and now work with Democrat leaders in the Congress because they control the committees and they control the flow of bills."
"We got some tax cuts passed with Democrat votes."

11) And finally... Mr. President. Saying that you're going to work with Congress and compromise for the sake of the nation doesn't mean shoving your unconstitutional Terrorist Surveillance Act and your bellicose anti-U.N. U.N. ambassador through a lame duck session. So if you don't really intend to be bipartisan, then shut the f*** up. You pride yourself on letting people know exactly where you stand and, despite the fact that you routinely stand on dangerous principles, there's at least some cold comfort in knowing what you're up to. But it's clear that that President Bush is long gone -- replaced by a man who can't even be honest with his own base about things like the Iraq War, subsequently leaving his allies alone, confused and scrambling to assuage the anger of an increasingly hostile constituency. This last part? Keep it up, thank you.
And that's the roll call. I've spent the last several days not only breathing in the sweet aroma of real-life governmental checks and balances, but I've also been evaluating where we go from here. Clearly Speaker-Elect Pelosi and the Democratic leadership have the daunting task of working with the White House to not only push through vital pieces of legislation, but they also must do so in a way that doesn't raze their chances for further pickups in 2008. It goes without saying that any misstep in the face of this Republican Party (and its media lapdogs) could spell disaster. So they have to play nice in some ways, but you and I are best served by remaining on the attack and never hesitating to tell those who deserve it to shut the f*** up.
------_UPDATE: I've been told that Joe McCarthy was the first to use the "Democrat [sic] Party" misnomer. However, its use became much more pervasive when Gingrich and Luntz practically made it mandatory in the ranks of the GOP.

Tuesday, May 23

Lies The Wingnuts Have Told Us.

==============================

The List

===============================

Helen Thomas is old and batty.

Mexicans are taking our jobs.

Iraq sent its WMDs to Syria.

Democrats don't want to wiretap terrorists.

Joe Wilson admitted that Valerie Plame wasn't covert.

Karl Rove has a faulty memory.

Scooter Libby has a faulty memory.

Tom DeLay is like Jesus Christ.

No one could have anticipated that the levees would be breached.

We do not torture.

There is no global warming.

There is global warming, but humans didn't cause it.

Howard Dean can't raise money.

John F. Kerry is a flip-flopper.

George W. Bush is a decider.

John McCain is a straight-shooter.

Dick Cheney is a sober shooter.

Nobody at the White House knows Jack Abramoff.

Democrats do.

The economy is great.

Evolution isn't supported by the facts.

Diebold voting machines are secure.

Fox News is fair and balanced.

Mission accomplished.

Bill Clinton did it too.

No one could have anticipated the Iraqi insurgency.

The budget deficit will be cut in half in four years.

Anyone who thinks Dubai shouldn't control our ports is racist.

No one who thinks we should build a wall along the Mexican border is racist.

George Allen isn't a racist... anymore.

Terry Schiavo wants to live.

Andrea Clark wants to die.

We've turned a corner in Iraq.

There's a war on Christmas.

There's a war on Easter.

There's no civil war in Iraq.

The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from
Africa.

This administration will hold itself accountable.

No one could have anticipated Katrina would hit New Orleans.

No one could have foreseen the failure of FEMA.

Kathleen Blanco never asked for federal help.

Gay couples seek to destroy Marriage.

Moral values voters.

It's a working vacation. I'm working.

George Bush is a war hero.

...and John Kerry isn't.

John Kerry shot himself in the leg to earn his medals.

Hillary Clinton will be the Dem nominee in 2008.

Bill Clinton was once offered Bin Laden "on a silver platter" and turned it down.

Saddam Hussein attacked us on 9/11.

No one could have anticipated airplanes flying into buildings.

We have removed the Taliban from Afghanistan.

The Iraqis will welcome us with open arms and flowers...

It could take six days, six weeks, I doubt six months.

Pat Tillman was killed by enemy fire.

The insurgency is in its last throes.

The only way to get Zarqawi is to invade Iraq.

We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here.

When they stand up, we'll stand down.

Iraqi oil will pay for the war and the reconstruction.

Gas prices are high because of librul environmental regulations.

Drilling the ANWR will lower the price of oil.

Gas prices are high because of taxes.

The 'magic of the marketplace' will solve all problems.

Unemployment numbers have never been so low.

Republicans restored the economy after the shambles left by Clinton.

Clinton/Gore recession.

The economy is booming!

As President, Governor Bush will...pay the debt down to a historically low level.

By far the vast majority of my tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum.

Tax breaks for Hummers is good for the economy.

Tax cuts are super for the middle class.

Tax cuts increase revenue.

The estate tax hurts family farms.

Private Accounts will save Social Security.

Bush will make health insurance affordable for hard-working, low-income families.

Healthy Forests Initiative will help forests.

No Child Left Behind will help all children.

Healthy Skies Initiative will reduce air pollution.

The government is tapping your phone to protect you.

Dissent is unpatriotic.

Valerie Plame is covert and a traitor.

Karl Rove couldn't have done it because he knew he'd get caught.

Patrick Fitzgerald is going to indict Joe Wilson.

Jeff Gannon is a serious journalist.

The media is liberal.

Everything is hunky-dory.

A vote for John Kerry, is a vote for Al Qaeda.

Everyone had the same intelligence.

Iraq is the central front on the war on terrorism.

Those trucks we found in Iraq were mobile biological weapons labs.

We know where they (the WMD) are.

Terri Schiavo is responsive. (Bill Frist on the Senate floor).

I never said she was responsive (Bill Frist, about a week later).

Anyone who leaks information will no longer be part of this administration.

Sex Education causes STDs and increases pregnancy rates.

Terrorists didn't know we could use wiretaps until they read about it in the paper.

I will restore honor and integrity to the White House.

Nothing is more important in a time of war than cutting taxes.

Democrats hate America.

Thousands of tactical errors were surely made in the war against Iraq.

And when I said "thousands" of tactical errors, I was speaking figuratively.

I'm a uniter, not a divider.

Whenever we say 'wiretaps' that means we're going to get a court order.

George Bush was successful businessman.


Posted by: Peace Cat at May 24, 2006 12:01 AM

Tuesday, May 16

So.....Who's Getting the Abortions?

Statistics gathered from agi-usa.org. Developed by Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health and The Alan Guttmacher Institute. Copyright Jan 2003

or click HERE.

Incidences of Abortion and Religious Identification. (Women who have had abortions identify themselves this way)

42.8% Protestant

27.4% Catholic

22.2% None

7.6% Other

So, in other words, 70.2% of those having abortions are women who identify themselves as having Protestant or Catholic "faith'.

Huh. I thought the Religious say it's us, the Godless Libbies, who make use of abortion?

Monday, May 15

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Real President of the United States of America

The Way It Should Have Been.

Turn up your speakers.

Send it out to your friends.

Sunday, May 14

SHHHH! Keep it Down!!

The NSA is Trying to Listen!

May 14, 2006
Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping

By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, May 13 — In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials.

But N.S.A. lawyers, trained in the agency's strict rules against domestic spying and reluctant to approve any eavesdropping without warrants, insisted that it should be limited to communications into and out of the country, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the debate inside the Bush administration late in 2001.

The N.S.A.'s position ultimately prevailed. But just how Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the agency at the time, designed the program, persuaded wary N.S.A. officers to accept it and sold the White House on its limits is not yet clear.

As the program's overseer and chief salesman, General Hayden is certain to face questions about his role when he appears at a Senate hearing next week on his nomination as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Criticism of the surveillance program, which some lawmakers say is illegal, flared again this week with the disclosure that the N.S.A. had collected the phone records of millions of Americans in an effort to track terrorism suspects.

more

Saturday, May 13

The Trolls of the Majority Report Blog

This is the Blogger Known As War Dog..

His real name is Robert. He has a wife, Katie. They have been sweethearts since 1982 when they were both intheir Senior years at Princeton; He in International Studies, she in Romance Languages.

They have three lovely children: Jennifer, 17, she'll be attending Yale in the Fall and hopes to follow her Dad in Government Service; Bradley - named after Robert's late Dad - he is 15 and looking forward to getting his drivers license so he and his dad can go for drives in his Dad's restored red 1969 Camero SS; and another daughter, Abigail - Abbie for short, she's 3 1/2 now and the apple of her Daddy's eye. Abbie's greatest wish at age 3 1/2 is to get a kitten.

Robert prefers the fellow agents call him "Rob" .. often grasping new agents by the shoulder with one hand as they are introduced - "Please - Call me Rob," he says with a disarming smilem that hides the shame and loathing he feels with every Neo Con response he posts here .. telling himself repeatedly, "I can't let them know I agree totally with what they say and think.. well.. except for that chemtrail bullshit!"

Posted by: Willow at May 13, 2006 04:22 AM



This is the Blogger Known As Celticman. His name is Jamie, it was his Father's dying wish that he have a career in Civil Service and Jamie decided then and there that he would work to make this country safe and maintain it's greatest .. the greatest that makes him think of his dear old Dad.

Once out of Boston College with his degree in Linguistics, he did everything he could to get to the NSA .. and get he did. At the tender age of 24, he had his dream assignment - monitoring a liberal blog for terrorist activities and subversive elements. But a cruel joke was in store for Jamie .. the character he was to play would belie his superior wit and intellect by making stupid errors in posting - using "there" instead of "their" .. spelling out l*o*o*s*e*r for loser when attempting to belittle the plucky liberal posters. Every day at the NSA playing this Celticman character is like a stab to the heart - a cruel joke ruining his desire to make his dad happy to honor is last wish. It is slowly taking it's toll .. Jamie can't last for much longer without snapping... even his girlfriend Melissa has started to notice the frightening change....

Posted by: Willow at May 13, 2006 04:37 AM



This is the Anonymous Blogger Known For His Misogynistic Tendancies. His real name is Matthew and this is a picture he hopes the NSA never sees. It was taken by his lover, Giancarlo, on the day they were to be secretly wed in San Francisco.

This was Matthews last day of happiness, for tragically Giancarlo was killed that day, his lack of English dooming him. The other pedestrians stopped when they saw the bus coming ... one even shouted at the blissfully unaware Giancarlo "Stop!! Bus!!!" But it was too late, for just then the bus (tragically driven by a Greek Woman) struck the doomed lover.

Quickly Matthew ran to Giancarlo's crumbled body in matching chartruese tux, "Damn you!!! Damn You Greek Bus Driving Lady!!!" Matthew screamed til he was hoarse. Since that day, women - especially Greek Women - have been in Matthew's sights during his surveillance work.

Posted by: Willow at May 13, 2006 04:53 AM


This is the Blogger Known As GAP Hater. His real name is Tommy. Every night before going to bed, his aged Mother, Gertrude, straps Tommy into his special red suit with hopes he won't be able to get to the computer, much less turn it on.

Some nights Gertrude is successful, but tonight, tired after chasing her mildly retarded and relatively harmless son around during his bi-weekly "ant hunts," it was just too much to be certain that the straps were tight enough to hold him.

She could hear him giggle softly with glee as the velcro slowly made that ripping sound. Shortly afterwards, Gertrude could hear him padding towards the computer room. Her last thought as she drifted into unconsciousness, "They're Liberal .. they'll deal."

Posted by: Willow at May 13, 2006 05:07 AM

Tuesday, May 9

Pharyngula

From Pharyngula:

"Need something to talk about while I'm on the road? I think Atrios's post on positive things for progressive bloggers to advocate (which is also echoed by Drum) is an excellent starting point. These are good things that set us apart from them; these are the kinds of ideas we should be talking about. Any right wing trolls want to oppose any of these proposals?

"Undo the bankruptcy bill enacted by this administration
Repeal the estate tax repeal
Increase the minimum wage and index it to the CPI
Universal health care (obviously the devil is in the details on this one)
Increase CAFE standards. Some other environment-related regulation
Pro-reproductive rights, getting rid of abstinence-only education, improving education about and access to contraception including the morning after pill, and supporting choice. On the last one there's probably some disagreement around the edges (parental notification, for example), but otherwise.
Simplify and increase the progressivity of the tax code
Kill faith-based funding. Certainly kill federal funding of anything that engages in religious discrimination.
Reduce corporate giveaways
Have Medicare run the Medicare drug plan
Force companies to stop underfunding their pensions. Change corporate bankruptcy law to put workers and retirees at the head of the line with respect to their pensions.
Leave the states alone on issues like medical marijuana. Generally move towards "more decriminalization" of drugs, though the details complicated there too.
Paper ballots
Improve access to daycare and other pro-family policies. Obiously details matter.
Raise the cap on wages covered by FICA taxes.
Marriage rights for all, which includes "gay marriage" and quicker transition to citizenship for the foreign spouses of citizens.

"These are also good general values sorts of proposals.

"Torture is bad
Imprisoning citizens without charges is bad
Playing Calvinball with the Geneva Conventions and treaties generally is bad
Imprisoning anyone indefinitely without charges is bad
Stating that the president can break any law he wants any time "just because" is bad

"I left out Atrios' joking suggestion that we jail Goldstein. Who would take care of his kid?"

Posted by PZ Myers at 12:00 PM • 60 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday, May 5

Snape

William Shatner sings "Taxi"

William....Shatner....pwnd!.

Don't think he didn't....try....to....have all...copies.....of this......destroyed.

The pink lapels.......a stroke......of.......genius.

Napolean Skywalker

The natural melding of cinema's two whiniest teenagers Napoleon Dynamite and Luke Skywalker. This faux trailer is a glimpse into what it might be like if those two worlds collided.

Napolean Skywalker