There Is No Right-Wing "Fringe" Anymore

Rachel Maddow asks, what's the difference between the foaming-at-the mouth teabaggers you see on TV and the Republican leaders of Congress?

(The volume is a little low on this clip. Sorry about that. Worth turning up for, though.)

(alt. video link)

(h/t: TwinSwords)

Blogroll Update

I am reminded by a recent comment of something I meant to note long ago: Righteous Bubba is now Substance McGravitas. You should adjust your bookmarks, feed-readers, blogrolls, etc., so that they now point to The House of Substance. Looks like he brought along all the goodness of the RB archives.

Unknown why he changed his name and his digs. I'm guessing it's because "Righteous Bubba" has been banned from too many wingnut blogs because he's so good at exposing their nonsense.

Anyway, now you know. Visit early and often. His blog, too, I mean.

If there was ever someone who made me wish I'd never used the phrase "unsung hero" before, ...

... it'd have to be Norman Borlaug. He has died, at 95. Meanwhile, millions, if not hundreds of millions, are alive because of him.

Obama's Health Care Speech to Congress

Yeah, yeah, day late, dollar short. Tell me something I don't know.

Like James Wolcott, whose screed I noted earlier (and thereby inadvertently ruined Doghouse Riley's holiday), Frank Rich takes up the end of summer theme when considering President Obama.

He's right in a lot of what he says, but still, if you haven't watched the speech, I urge you to do so. I just finished watching it, and it is truly inspiring, even when measured against the supremely high bar Obama has already established. If you don't get chills when he speaks, in such a soft voice, especially during the last few minutes, then you don't have a soul or you are a member of Rush Limbaugh's target demographic. But I repeat myself.

A nice option is to head over to the NYT's site, where they have a cool interactive thing where the transcript tracks the video and allows for clicking to jump either to various points of the speech or to related articles. You could spend three-quarters of an hour in lots of worse ways.

MoDo Sees The Light

Not every last drop of opposition to President Obama is driven by racism. Not even every last drop of crazy opposition is. But it is a mistake to acknowledge these truths and to ignore a third: a lot of it truly is.

Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t.

But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!

Read the whole thing. Probably your awareness is well ahead of hers on this score, but she lays out what she's finally come to realize (will finally allow herself to admit?) pretty well.

Doubtless, much of the right-wing reaction to her column will look a lot like the picture in the previous post.

"... a pretty cool prop ..."

Any day you can read a story about Newt Gingrich being embarrassed is a good day, even if it was 9/11 when the story ran and you were hiding from all "news" everywhere. Go read this quick bit. You will never think of Newt's gavel the same way again.

Gingrich/Vivas 2012!

(h/t: 5things | pic. source)

Even if you don't care about "American Idol," Paul Abdul, Ellen DeGeneres, ...

... TV in general, celebrity doings, or Nancy Pelosi's homosexual "San Francisco" Agenda, you should still read Heather Havrilesky's new piece, "Fear of a gay planet."

(Also, you should care about Ellen DeGeneres, at least a little bit.)

Firefox Security Update to v3.5.3

Mozilla has released a patch that closes several security holes rated "critical." This brings the latest version number to 3.5.3. Details, if you want them, are in the release notes.

If you don't have automatic updates or notifications enabled, do Help → Check for Updates. I have automatic updates enabled at the moment, and having left the machine for a while with Firefox open, I came back to find a message saying the update had been downloaded, and I just need to restart Firefox for it to be installed. Did so, and everything appears fine.

By the way, starting with this version, Firefox will also periodically check to see if the Flash Player plugin installed in your browser is up to date. I can't speak to how well this works at the moment, since I already have the latest version of Flash installed (as do you, if you've been following along), but it sounds like a smart step. Details are available on the Mozilla Security blog.

P. S.  If you're curious, you can always check what version of Flash you have installed in the usual way.

Yeah, I'm Still Pretty Pissed About Van Jones

And this says why, pretty damned well:

It’s both typical and relevant that there were never any specific accusations leveled at Jones. As usual, the complaints weren’t about any definable offense against the law or public morals that he might have committed in the past, or that he might be liable to commit in the position of Green Jobs Czar. His three offenses of signing lawful and even conscionable 9/11 petitions, of being at one time a self-made communist (or really, of admitting it without regret), and of calling Republicans “assholes” were — to misapply a very specific term only slightly — ‘thoughtcrimes,’ or abstract breaches of an ideal conformity of belief and speech that’s defined not by what real people find genuinely offensive, but by the things that people imagine would offend others, especially others whose opinions are weighted by authority or power. More simply, it’s a conformity defined by the things for which a passive-aggressor can successfully claim offense.

Stripped of emotional ballast and pleadings, the accusations against Jones were simply that certain things he said and did looked suspicious, not of anything in particular, but of secret plotting in league with Obama, that superlatively suspicion-provoking man whose plots are continually being revealed, yet somehow never diminish in variety. The charge was that Jones seemed like the kind of person who would plot secretly against America somehow — or rather, “How can we be sure that Jones is not the kind of person who would somehow plot secretly against America?”

That, believe it or not, is just part of Note 2, following a Shorter Byron York. Gavin M. is the man.

There are lots of laughs above and below that (do not miss the Pringles cans), but I like when the funny people at Sadly, No! get righteous, too.

[Added] When you click Publish on Blogger these days, you often see ads. I guess "thoughtcrimes" made the Google think I would be interested in …

Sadly, …

Line of the Day: 2009-09-10

Words actually mean things, and despite persistent attempts by many on the right to make it so, “socialism” does not mean either “any government activity that is not a tax cut or an attempt to kill swarthy people with weapons” or “whatever it is Obama happens to be doing at the moment.”
    -- John Scalzi

Yes, you must read the whole thing, a couple of days late in passing it along though I am. And don't miss the link to an old post where he dumps on Doughy for forgetting that words actually mean things, but in case you do, here it is. ("Now, I know it’s not the fashion to prefer the original sources to current, revisionist views of history …")

(h/t: Jinnet, via email)

Just When You Thought The Country Was Being Overrun By Wingnuts ...

... here's one sign of hope that maybe we're not quite outnumbered yet.

You probably heard about Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) screaming out "YOU LIE!!!1!" during President Obama's address to Congress last night. This, naturally, caused trousers to tent all over Greater Wingnuttia. The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of the RedState Trike Force saw a worrisome sign, however: as of mid-morning, over $11,000 had already been donated to Rob Miller, Wilson's opponent in the next election.

By an hour and a half later, Think Progress reported the amount was over $60,000. As of this moment, donations to Rob Miller are over $166,000.

Check that -- I just refreshed that page, and now we're over $169,000.

Gee, Mr. Wilson ...

(h/t: Riley Waggaman)

---

[Update] The above numbers are just through that one donation page. Combining sources, says the AP (via Jim Newell), Miller "has received more than $450,000 in contributions since Wednesday night."

All from George Soros, I expect you'll hear.

[Update2] And now the $169K is over $213K on that one ActBlue page alone. They had a goal, previously, of $200K, and the goal is now $225K. TAX AND SPEND LIBERALS.

Okay, Just One More Mike Duvall Joke

(cf.)

(h/t: KK, via email)

Collateral Damage

If you try to visit cawrecycles.org, you'll see a message saying "This account is suspended." Probably exceeded bandwidth limits. Wonder why?

Because the Internet is filled with creepy voyeurs, that's why!

Yeah, that's her. One of them, anyway.

Mike Duvall Is No Mark Sanford, That's For Sure

Update from last: he has resigned! Already! No tearful press conferences with Jesus and his wife, no apology tours, nothing! Gone!

Jim Newell has a sad, because he was expecting to mine this one for weeks.

[Added] See also.

Another Day, Another ...

... "family values" Republican politician caught with his pants down. Or at least, caught bragging about having his pants down. Michael D. Duvall has sexytime with lobbyists! None of whom is his wife!

(This is excellent news for John McCain.)

[Added] Big update next post.

Patch Tuesday Was Yesterday

Reminder for Windows users: yesterday was Patch Tuesday. If you don't have Windows Updates set to run automatically, you know what to do.

Brian Krebs has details, if you want them.

One Hundred Years Ago This Month ...

... Richard Peary was the first person to reach the North Pole. Or not. Maybe it was Frederick Cook. Or not.

There's a fascinating article and related post in the Science Times section of the NYT about competing claims of visits to the North Pole that I never knew about before. Who knew Peary's claims of "FIRST!" were so flawed that the Times would run a formal correction in 1988?

Here's how the article starts:

In September 1909, Dr. Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary each returned from the Arctic with a tale of having reached the North Pole. Neither provided any solid proof or corroborating testimony; both told vague stories with large gaps. They couldn’t even convincingly explain how they had plotted their routes across the polar ice.

Yet each explorer’s claim immediately attracted its supporters, and no amount of contradictory evidence in the ensuing years would be enough to dissuade the faithful.

A century later, the “discovery” of the North Pole may qualify as the most successful fraud in modern science, as well as the longest-running case study of a psychological phenomenon called “motivated reasoning.”

The believers who have kept writing books and mounting expeditions to vindicate Cook or Peary resemble the political partisans recently studied by psychologists and sociologists. When the facts get in the way of our beliefs, our brains are marvelously adept at dispensing with the facts.

Oh yeah, it goes there. No matter who you are, you're likely going to feel a little self-conscious at some point, while reading. This is an excellent reminder about the need to be skeptical.

(h/t: KK)

Knows a bit about geography

Minnesota Public Radio, via HuffPo, says this is real -- a party trick that Senator Al Franken has done before -- and that you'd hear oohs and aahs from the crowd were it not for the musical soundtrack. Seems to me there are just enough small errors to make that plausible. If you believe it's real, the details and proportions are pretty amazing.

(alt. video link)

[Added] More reason to believe: via KK and the "related" feature on YouTube, you can see Franken do this (not quite as well) on David Letterman, way back in 1987. (Jump to about 6:35 if you don't want to watch the whole clip, but it is worth watching.)

[Update 2015-10-16 14:14] New embed code for video.

Welp, this is "moving forward" just about the way we expected

Just in case you're as naive as the nice people in the White House and thought Van Jones was an isolated case and his resignation would be the end of it, following is something Glenn Beck posted on Twitter a few days ago:

Dear Mr. President and Democratic members of Congress: A reminder: You never win with bullies by giving into their demands. Stand up to them and watch how many of us will get your back. That is all.

(Details here, via at-Largely, via repsac3.)

On Van Jones ....

... I think TBogg's got it about right.

I'll add that I can't help but wonder when, if ever, the Democrats will finally realize what they're up against, grow some spine, and learn to stick together. That Glenn Beck and his chorus of howler monkeys were able to drive their jihad into the MSM and that President Obama did not see fit to stand up to the right-wing noise machine and their lackeys among the Villagers is thoroughly discouraging.

The American people resoundingly rejected the Republican way of running the country in the past two elections. The Democrats must realize, starting now, what that actually means, and they must start governing as though they're aware that they're in the majority. The idea of reaching out to the minority party and trying to build consensus is great, as a general principle, and I first started supporting Obama when he pitched this message so beautifully in 2004. However, when that other side is dominated by lunatics who won't even grant the legitimacy of the past two elections, it's stupid. It hasn't worked, it won't work going forward, and every time Obama and the Democrats give into these crazy Republican demands, this country slides a little farther downhill.

[Added] TBogg has a follow-up along these lines.

"Who is Van Jones?"

Excellent post by Alex Pareene on "the biggest, scariest villain of the right wing (this week, anyway)." Especially if you're not familiar with how the right-wing noise machine manufactures and spreads smears and FUD, this is a must-read.

[Added] For another aspect of the RWNM, see DougJ: "How temper tantrums work." Lede:

One of the upshots of the right-wing’s crazed reaction to Obama’s speech before school children is that it creates another opportunity for the Joe Kleins and Tobin Harshaws of the world to yak about how reasonable and serious some wingnuts are. You see, when one wingnut says something batshit crazy and the another wingnut disagrees, that second wingnut becomes a serious person.

The penultimate sentence of Doug's post is worth the trip, all by itself.

Line of the Day: 2009-09-05

Damn. And to think only eight months ago, it was Clinton's Depression.
      -- Thers

Small Sign of Hope

The lede from a story in today's NYT:

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft may face personal liability for the decisions that led to the detention of an American citizen as a material witness after the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday.

In the decision, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, was sharply critical of the Bush administration’s practice of holding people it suspected of terrorism without charges, as material witnesses.

“We find this to be repugnant to the Constitution, and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history,” said the opinion, written by Judge Milan D. Smith Jr.

A New Asshole For The Democrats

As in freshly ripped, by James Wolcott, with an assist by Tristero: "I'll Be So Glad When This Summer of Love Is Over."

He's right, and this is not something where all blame can be pinned on Obama. It's a never-ending source of wonder to me how timid the Congressional Dems are when it comes to fighting back, or even more to the point, taking the initiative, especially given the daily lunacy and sheer stupidity that is put forth by the highest ranking Republicans and most prominent conservatives. Man, if we didn't have Barney Frank, we'd have nobody.

Can we please get some of that Chicago thuggery going? I mean, I keep hearing about it, but I've yet to see it, and if we're going to be accused of it, we might as well get the benefits, too.

Texas Edumacation Watch (cont.)

Following up from last month, we are pleased to report that the wingnut-dominated Texas Board of Education continues its efforts to rewrite history textbooks that will likely be used by high-schoolers nationwide.

Short version: Stop talking about civil rights so much! Newt Gingrich is much more important! And Joe McCarthy? Totally not guilty of anything!

However, as TPM and Steve Benen both note, when the current President of the United States wants to address the nation's schoolchildren for a few minutes to remind them of the importance of getting a good education, this is "socialist indoctrination." No, really. Just ask the people of … you guessed it: Texas.

DougJ says:

I went through a phase of being deeply bothered by the fact that the United States doesn’t function as a post-Enlightenment first world country. But I’ve gotten used to it.

Not I.

[Added] Good post from Steve Benen (via) on the "indoctrination" hysteria.

In other news ...

... Michele Bachmann has broken new ground: she is donning the victim cloak as a prophylactic. Or maybe this is just another preemptive strike?

Bachman 2012!

I take it back. There really is a perpetual motion machine.

It's called the wingnut welfare gravy train, and it just keeps rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Which phrase strikes you as more comical, "action-oriented think tank" or "Dow 36,000?"

Trick question! The answer is "both."

Trick answer! The actual answer is "Bush Legacy."

Mastering the Art

If there's one person on the planet you'd think wouldn't need defending, it would have to be Julia Child. But, you know, those crazy contrarians at Slate, they can take the nonsensical view of anything.

Fortunately, Doghouse Riley is on the case.

Small Confession

Two posts ago, I was going to use the word thusly, got a little nervous, Google-define:d it, and came across this:

thus +‎ -ly, dating from the 19th century, seemingly coined by educated writers to make fun of uneducated persons trying to sound genteel,^[1] with a false inference that thus is not an adverb.

Say what you want about wikis -- that just sounds too right not to be true.

Given how much I rail at people for saying things like "he took Joe and I to the movies," I had to say to myself … buuuuuurn sauce … I guess would be the way to put it.

Anyway, you can rest easy now: I won't be correcting anybody's grammar or usage for … oh, at least an hour or two.

Blog Post Title of the Week

John Holbo, Crooked Timber:

Rationing again: For all ponies, there is some pony, such that you won’t get that pony

If you're at all interested in this "issue" as it pertains to health care reform, have a look -- it's a good article, both sarcastic …

Let’s look at this article from “First Things” that has impressed McArdle with its bold willingness to speak truth (in contrast to the shameful reticence of reformers, re: rationing): “Come, let us speak of unpleasant things. How is health care to be rationed? Who gets the short end of the stick?”

The idea, basically, is that the invisible hand of the market is better than the visible hand of government. Because you can always see what the invisible hand is doing, because it’s visible. And you can’t see what the visible hand of government is doing, because it’s invisible.

No, seriously.

… and serious. (And it will make clear why I used scare quotes around "issue.")

Also, as you may have observed, the piece takes some swipes at Megan McArdle, which is always worth clicking a link for in my book.

And speaking of which, here is Thomas Levenson on an even worse assemblage of McMeganry -- her "thoughts" on wingnuts bringing guns to protests at town-hall meetings:

Another Reason Why My Doctor Tells Me The Nation Shouldn’t Read Megan McArdle…

…the necessary blood pressure medication on its own would bankrupt our soon-to-be-reformed health care system.

Though perhaps, pieces like this actually evoke more of a sense of wonder than anything else — not merely at the banality and evil so neatly conjoined in its content, but at the astonishing reality that anyone who routinely writes such…how to put this…bonecrushingly stupid; water-her-twice-a day dumb;* the wheel is spinning but the hamster’s dead** material, still has a job, much less an apparently appreciative audience.***

Actually, I think I have to credit McArdle with some cleverness here. Her post is so full of different instances of nonsense, bad faith argument, sheer failure to understand what she seems to think she is talking about that she achieves a certain effect: by seeding her post with so much to be debunked, she increases the odds that one whack-a-mole notion or another will slip past the defenses of rationality and real-world experience.

Life is, of course, too short to club every mechanical rodent that pops its head above the blissfully sunlit interior of McArdle’s mind, so what follows is an attempt at bullet-point fisking, a move towards a kind of blog-brevity that I have never executed successfully. So let’s see, why don’t we:****

I'd've copied over the footnotes, too, because that is what a nice guy I (usually) am, but you really should go read the whole thing.

P.S. I think "water-her-twice-a day dumb" is as fine a thing as I've read since someone posed online as Lemuel Pitkin.