National FU Day

Dr. Dawg posts about the latest outrage connected to the SIU "investigation" of the G20 police riot -- commenter Blawg makes a modest proposal:

Ever since G20 (and on top of everything else that came before) I've been thinking we need a national "Fuck You Day." It would be a day put aside each year on the anniversary of the G20 mass arrests to show peaceful disrespect to police as a reminder of who they work for. Flip them a finger as they drive past in their cruiser, yell "fuck you, assholes" as they walk down the street or direct traffic. That kind of thing. We need police who will respect us, the ordinary people, not the narrow interests of the elite. I'm just a guy, not well connected, not very activist, but I would really like to see something like this happen some day.

Small but mighty

Having fun at someone else's expense

As Republicans continue to paint themselves into a corner on the debt ceiling, the world is beginning to realize that the global economy is being held hostage by a gang of idiots who aren't even listening to their own people, much less to the financial powers that be.
In the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Dan Leger writes about the impact on Canada when the Republicans make the US default on its debt :

In a country that worships economic growth, prosperity and optimism, a bullying minority of politicians is showing itself capable of tossing the whole economy into reverse, killing growth and profoundly affecting the well-being of millions of Americans.
In effect, you’ll have the most powerful economic engine in the world blowing gaskets and spewing burnt oil in all directions. The Tea Party thinks that’s fine.
But it’s not just Americans trashing their own country. If mayhem breaks out there, Canada and large chunks of the world economy will be dragged into the mess.
A U.S. government default will likely cause the treasury bond market to collapse, sending interest rates skyward. Mortgages that are barely affordable now will become unaffordable and people will lose their homes. Jobs will disappear right across North America. And in Canada, which is the largest U.S. trading market, the tepid economic recovery will flop.
The infuriating fact is that it’s all political and it’s all avoidable.

The way the Republicans are acting reminds me of this:

‪0-3

Damn it.

New links etc

Some new links to the right. Also, I started a new list called "I love the internets" as a place to post individual articles I really like from various magazines and blogs, including my own. Additional suggestions gratefully received!

Shorter

Shorter Eric Bolling:

I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard was not what I meant.

Gazebo memories

Here's today's Globe and Mail cartoon. Remember the gazebo in the middle of nowhere? Good times...



You know, the horrendous G8-G20 spending debacle was revealed just three months ago.
Why is our Canadian media now acting like all of the scandals which were talked about during the election campaign are ancient news?

Great line of the day

At Balloon Juice, Angry Black Lady takes on Jane Hamsher's Obama-bashing:

Jane, you are a mindless twit. You are wrong about everything, like, ALL THE TIME. Your blog posts are where facts go to die.

Emphasis mine.

Sanity test three

Anyone who takes Michele Bachmann seriously as a candidate for president of the United States is certifiably nuts.
Why do Republicans keep doing this?

Now that's leadership!

Saskatoon city council has boldly gone where politicians always go to cut budgets -- they're grinding a few more dollars out of the poor:

The largest decision made Tuesday was to decrease by $5 a city subsidy for monthly bus passes for those on social assistance. The move will increase the cost of the pass to $25 for an estimated 2,800 transit riders and add an expected $160,000 next year to city coffers.

Outstanding, guys!

When you care enough to give the very best

In Nancy Nall's comments today, apropos of nothing in particular, they got talking about what gifts to give to the kids of relatives you don't like (the kids or the relatives or both). Here's some of the best:

They cranked out two of the most obnoxious kids I’ve ever been forced to buy Christmas presents for, so it was always books. Hearing them hiss “Books. Again.” was probably the only reason I had to look forward to the holidays. What can I say? I ought to get myself some passive-aggressive cards printed up. . . .
My brother in law bought a used tuba for his (now former) friend’s daughter. . . .
I once got one of my brother’s kids an electronic drum kit. He was so pissed at me that his Xmas present to me was membership in the NRA. . . .
I know a guy who bought an obnoxious in-law’s kids toy firefighter helmets equipped with flashing lights and sirens. Every time he had to visit, he took the kids a box of batteries.

Hubris

The end of history was announced in 1992.
The permanent Republican majority was announced in 2001.
Now Harper has announced the end of Canada's ‘long Liberal era’.
Well, we'll see...

Always listen to your mother

This is why your mother always told you to wear a slip under a dress, no matter how warm it is.
And the idea that this photo is lèse majesté is just silly.

Move along, move along

British Prime Minister David Cameron is getting sucked into the phone hacking scandal because he hired Andy Coulson AFTER he had been convicted of fraud
Hey, that reminds me -- didn't our Prime Minister also have to deal with a scandal because he hired someone sleazy? Now, who was that guy anyway? Did we ever get to the bottom of whether he tried to use his PMO connections to get money for his girlfriend? No? Oh well, it was all so long ago -- several weeks at least...oh, look, a royal visit!
I'll bet Cameron is experiencing some Harper-envy right about now...

Stupid

As Obama tries to get the Republicans to act like adults in dealing with the debt ceiling, his blogosphere is onside NOT.
In anticipation that Obama might have to actually make a deal with the devil, the blogosphere is starting another one of its periodic "evil Obama" spasms.
Ian Welsh asks compared to McCain, was Obama actually the lesser evil? Welsh says Bush "failed to slash Social Security. Obama is probably going to do so soon" -- let's not remind anyone that Bush actually WANTED to slash Social Security and actually PROPOSED slashing it, oh no its much more important to criticize Obama's supposed thought crimes.
And Firedoglake thinks we should discuss whether Obama is the Worst President Ever -- they're mad because Obama has supposedly "betrayed his base at every turn".
As No More Mr. Nice Blog says

If I'm following this logic correctly, the results from the Bush presidency were horrible and the results of the Obama presidency are horrible so far, but we ought to give Bush credit because he doled out the horrors deliberately.
By that logic, I guess we ought to ask: who piloted a mass transportation vehicle in the most monstrous way in the past century -- the 9/11 hijackers or the captain of the Titanic?
Really, it's an open question, isn't it? Oh, sure, the 9/11 hijackers killed nearly 3,000 people with malice aforethought, but that's just the point. The malice aforethought is a good thing -- they served their base. The fact that the captain of the Titanic didn't want to kill people very possibly makes him a worse person.
Right?

It is beyond stupid. As John Cole says, these people are fucking clinical.
Ah, yes, the "evil" Obama -- the man who appointed Sotomayor and Kagan to the Supreme Court, who saved the US car industry (and Canada's, too), who promoted equal pay for work of equal value, who ended DADT, who reversed 8 years of Republican tampering with every social and administrative agency of the US government, who forced Mubarak to resign, who did not attack Iran, who passed health care reform, who .... well, look it up.
None of these things would have been done by McCain. Many of them would not have been done by Hilary, either.
Obama hasn't taken down the US financial industry. No president would have, not Hilary, not any Republican, certainly not McCain.
And Obama hasn't reversed the imperial presidency started by Bush and Cheney. It ain't gonna happen, no matter who is elected in the future. McCain certainly would not have reversed this either, and neither would Hilary. Considering the dysfunctional US Congress -- ever since Newt Gingrich was elected Speaker, they have been a collection of clowns and fools -- no president is ever going to let these guys run things the way people of the calibre of Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson used to.
That ship has sailed.