bustardblog

The Lying Atlas Shrugs

It's standard operating procedure for some right wing bloggers, and helps explain the existence of thatl 25% that is so loyal to the Republican party.

You just make crap up.  Facts have no place on many wing-nut sites, and thus their readers are deceived.

Today's example:
Atlas Shrugs begins a post "The left sides with militant Islam because they are animals too, only with (marginally) better clothes." A sentence like that might make you wonder what makes her accuse the left of siding with "militant Islam." What justifies her conclusion her calling me an animal?

She continues with her post with a quote about a blogger named Eliot Stein's really nasty treatment of the recently deceased blogger Cathy Seipp. Assuming that the story is accurate and complete, his behavior was despicable, and it would be fair to call the guy an animal.

But what does that have to do with the left?  Absolutely nothing.

From the Desert and the Sea posted about the incident, initially writing:

"I guess there is some right vs.left angle to this."

But the writer had the decency to correct himself, clearly and quickly. The corrected post reads:

I guess there’s some right vs. left angle to this, (There isn’t:  See the first comment below.)

An actual, close friend of Siepp's named Kate Coe had commented: "Oh it's not that at all... Politics not even involved."

But the horrid harlot at Atlas Shrugs has no decency - she just makes things up; while using a tragic death to shamelessly manipulate and  deceive.

(h/t memeorandum)

A Suicidal Bush is not Sufficient

The results of the recent Pew poll can only be described as great news. But a recent piece in Salon, linked to by memeorandum, that says

"Democrats should give two cheers for George W. Bush.  He and his political mastermind, Karl Rove, dreamed of achieving a permanent Republican majority.  Instead, his disastrous presidency has dealt a devastating blow to the GOP, one from which it may not recover for many years."

is remarkably stupid. It's not alone.

The hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis are not going to be cheering anytime soon. Nor will those American soldiers being mis-treated in Walter Reed. The people suffering from the disaspora created by the bungling of Katrina, won't be rising up to join in the cheer either.
The last six years have been devastating to the GOP, but at what cost? They've also been devastating to the world.

And it's not all Bush's fault. We must not forget that he is the leader of the Republican Party, and he represents them well. Since Reagan, that party has argued that  government  itself is the problem and their abject failure at governing is the only possible outcome of that conviction.

In fact the problem is not in the person of George W. Bush; it is in the very principles for which the Republican Party stands.

Jack and Cole

There is some hope for this country, as long as there are some honorable Republicans like John Cole left. Read his post if you want to delay hitting the Jack Daniels for a few hours.

What Happened?

The bustards are not particularly summertime birds. It's not about fahrenheit; we can adjust.  But being told which seasons are supposed to be fun is hard for us. We don't listen.

Thespis Bustard has posted some new comments on the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Thespis appreciates your response; now go buy tickets,

I am still trying to make sense of the Liebermann and  Lamont business in CT. Nat Hentoff is basically calling Atrios and Kos anti-semites. Somehow a Selectman from Greenwich CT whose first name is "Ned", yes, "Ned," is a terrifying radical.  Hentoff received payment for his behavior from the  Reverend Son of God, and Ex-Convict, Moon.  Republicans who want to challenge Republican Senators who have strayed off the reservation, are just fine.(see Laffey v Chafee in RI) Democrats who challenge Democrats on issues like the war are radical nut jobs.

Did I miss anything?

Greed

I understand that in today's Republican controlled Washington, you have to pay to play. I just can't understand how they determine the rates.

• If you wanted to have a picnic lunch today with Senators John McCain and Linc Chaffee - it would have cost you $40.00. This fundraiser is being held in Rhode Island today from 12-2:00. 2 Senators, 2 hours, $40.00: So you're paying $10.00 per hour per Senator. (Plus you get Lunch)
• For access to Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Bill Thomas, the conservative American Enterprise Institute paid $873.81 per waking hour. In June of 2005 they spent $27,962.00 for him to spend  2 days in Beaver Creek, CO. (I am assuming that they had access to him 16 hours a day.) Appropriately enough, it was for a conference on entitlements.

Greed is not just good to these people; it is GOD

Death of The Republican Party

We Must Support the Republican effort for a Permanent Repeal of the Estate Tax.

There is no moral alternative.

It would be an act of cruelty to owners and employees of funeral homes in cities like Palm Springs or Palm Beach.

As the current law stands, the estate tax will be zero in 2010, but will revert to 55% in 2011. And 2010 is also an election year. Rich, old Republicans will have a problem. They can’t die before November 2.  They can’t die after December 31. There are only 59 days during which they will be able to die without paying an estate tax, and still vote as well.

Let’s look at the facts about Palm Beach for an example.  Between November and December the population jumps in the town, as the “season’ begins.  The average number of residents in those two months is about 20,000. A former investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post found that 87% of the population were millionaires. The fact that the median home value was $1,000,000 in 2000 adds credibility to his numbers The percentage of the population over 65 is 52.6%. After analyzing hundreds of donations in the 2004 Presidential cycle, I found that that there are more than double the number of Republican donors as there were donors to either Kerry  or the DNC. 

So, there are about 17,400 people in Palm  Beach whose estates would be taxed under today’s law. Out of which are about 9,048 over 65. Of whom there are about 6,000 who are Republicans. They won’t want to pay a “death tax” and thus we have about 6,000 people who must be disposed of in the 59 days between Election Day 2010 and New Years Day 2011. Assuming that an equal number were disposed of each day, you are looking at 101 dead bodies per day.

There are no funeral homes in Palm  Beach itself; but there are three within a few miles, in West Palm Beach.

If the Republicans cannot rewrite the Estate Tax law that they themselves enacted, each of those funeral homes will have to deal with 33 bodies per day: thirty-three hearses, thirty-three groups of grave diggers, and thirty-three motorcades for each of those 59 days. This is only Palm Beach.

No wonder the Republicans are coupling this issue with Gay Marriage and Flag Burning.

So we have it: a nation in crisis: drunken teenagers from Frist's Tennessee burning the flag, overwhelmed funeral parlors, and people wanting to commit to each other.

Iranian Economic Immigration

Today, Condi Rice held a news conference in which she broached the idea of talking with Iran. The President has finally decided to appoint a person with intelligence, competence and backbone to the Cabinet. Recently, his speech on Immigration could be considered reasonable by thinking people.

Is this the beginning of the end for the Cheney and Rumsfeld?

101st Keyboarders

Please double click to enlarge.

Fourth in a four part series.

Why the Republican Meltdown, you ask?  What happened to the political genius of Karl Rove? How has the Republican Party, seemingly so organized and on message, become so dysfunctional?

This bag, with the three previously posted, tells the story of the once omnipotent 10st keyboarders, typing away in their basements. As the Captain recently explained, their only guns are their keyboards, their only rations are Cheetos. It's not the price of gas that has their underwear in a bunch. Nor is it fear of Fitzgerald that is flummoxing the Rover.

It's the price of Cheetos. Wesley Clark loves them. The General "loves Cheetos so much that his aides wonder why he has not turned orange.". When Conan O'Brian saw a film that showing George Bush "munching Cheetos", O'Brian said "I like him better already." Jonah Goldberg lives on them. An empty bag of them, removed from a trash can after Alan Dershowitz threw it there, has been displayed in art museums. US Weekly featured a spread of Britney Spears which they entitled "Trashtastic" that "showed her munching Cheetos."

So what is a Cheeto? It's an extruded snack, and although the name may make you think cheese is an integral component, it is not required.  Frito-Lay doesn't include any cheese in Cheetos sold in Asia; saying that "the ingredients that make a cheeto a cheeto are the crunch, the shape and the fun."  In order to produce a healthier Cheeto, without sacrificing the crunch, researchers are developing technology that create an "invisible fiber" which doesn't "soak up water from the product." In reviewing cheese puffs, the New York Times critic raved that "Crunchy Cheetos" "outranked" all others as it "delivered superior crunch, a good cheese flavor and a creamy, fat unctuosity."

Is there any doubt that a skyrocketing price of these wonders would discombobulate the creamy, unctuous Karl Rove?  In it's June 1, 2003 edition the "Snack Food & Wholesale Baker Report" stated that an 11 ounce bag retailed at $2.29, or about $0.21/Oz.On April 29 I posted a bag priced at $0.25 cents, that  had a "sell by"  date of May of 2004. It had 1-1/8 ounces of Cheetos, which means the price was $0.22 per ounce. My post of April 30 showed a fifty cent bag that expired in August of '04 and held 2-1/8 ounces for a price of about $0.235/oz. Yesterday's post explains the horribly inept response by this administration to Katrina - the virtual 25% increase in the price of the staple of the conservative movement. The $0.99 cent bag (sell By July 27 '05) held 3-1/4 oz, for a cost of $0.305/Oz. A few week ago I bought the bag displayed above. Of course Bush's numbers continue their downward spiral.  Cheetos continues its upward spiral in price. Two ounces of this Manna from Heaven is $0.75, or a price of $0.375 per ounce: An increase of 80 Per Cent in just under three, short, years,

So, please, pity Karl Rove.  Pity especially the 101st chickenhawks, for while real soldiers serving in Iraq are paid by the government, the vast majority of those serving in their basements, dodging military service instead of bullets, pushing keys instead of pulling triggers, receive no recompense for their sacrifice.

Update: Links to previous parts of the series, showing tshocking prices:   I,   II,  III

Ninety-Nine Cents

Please double click to enlarge

I'm Not Saying that they Should be Spelled Cheatos - yet.

Third in a series - fourth and final tomorrow - May 2.

$0.99
3-1/4 Ounce (92.1 g)

The Big Grab: Extruded Snacks

Please Double Click to Enlarge

The True Story of the Diminution of Karl Rove
(Forget Fitzgerald - worrying about him is not enough to unglue Rover)

Second in a Series.
Fifty Cents
2-1/8 Ounces, (60.2g)