Seahawks beat the 49ers edition.

* The wingnut welfare squad sure are upset that their publishers cheated them to the New York Times best seller list.

* The scene in The Godfather II where Michael beats up Kate after she tells him she had an abortion is apparently inspirational to crazy people.

* Hillary Clinton is a terrible debater who simultaneously shows too much and not enough emotion. And who was a good debater in real time.

* Those of us who say torture doesn’t work? Alan Dershowitz has the answer for us.

* You need 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate, except when you only need 50.

* I for one don’t miss the old old days of blogs.

* Bush is still our president. Sigh.

Locally:

* Lets not run back to reinstate the I-747 limits quite yet.

* Is there anything about Doc Hastings that isn’t bullshit?

* I think it’s been discussed on this blog once or twice before, but the political class sure knows the meaning of the Prop. 1 failure.

This is an open thread.

Maybe you want to talk about something that isn’t Roads and Transit? Anyway, I miss Do-Nothing-Doc. Sure, he wasn’t investigating Tom DeLay or any other Republican corruption. But at least he wasn’t riding herd on the opposition to basic gay rights:

Representative Doc Hastings of Washington, who led the Republican effort to get a vote on the amendment, said he opposed the overall bill in part because many states already had similar laws and because he viewed it as intrusive. “I do not think it is the place of the federal government to legislate how each and every place of business operates,” Mr. Hastings said.

No: the states, counties, and cities where gay rights aren’t protected are the very places where basic gay civil rights are needed the most.

From the New York Times on Democrats’ attempts to get a sane budget past Bush’s veto pen, our righteous senator hits the nail on the head:

“The president is appealing to a very small conservative base of people, his last few friends in the country, to say, ‘I am conservative,’ ” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat involved in mapping the party’s spending strategy. “But the problem is, he is playing with American lives while he sends his message to his friends.”

I guess someone should mention them as of 10:45. A better round-up to come tomorrow, I think:

* Well Roads and Transit failed, so maybe we can address public transit in 2009 if we’re very lucky. In the mean time, busses. Yippie.

* In Seattle city council, it’s everybody you expected, and Burgess in the only really contested race. 159 write-ins. Could they all be Heidi Wills?

* Tim Eyman is a horses’ ass who just passed an unconstitutional ballot measure, presumably to tie up the Democratic legislature next year before being tossed.

* In suburbia, having married Goldy seems not to help your political career, but it’s too close to call, I think. Being my buddy is better luck for Maren Norton for Shoreline Schools.

* Being a blogger (and a write in candidate) didn’t help Jimmy at all for Richland City Council. Still 10% for a write-in ain’t bad.

* In Oregon, Measure 49 to do something to Measure 37 that I don’t really care about because I’m not from a state that passed that stupid initiative in the first damn place looks like it’s failing (.pdf) but I am having a hell of a time navigating their elections web page.

* Finally, we’re winning the war in Iraq. I swear to God this month.

* It’s bullshit how little we spend on rail in this country.

* John Fund stepped away from beating his girlfriend long enough to pretend 8 of the 9/11 hijackers would have voted for Democrats.

* Before Hillary Clinton, nobody ever tried to get people to vote for them based on their gender. Just ask the NASCAR dads.

* General Petraeus’ spokesman is a liar.

* Vote on your favorite wingnut post of all time! Sadly, my favorite crazy post, that will be burned in my skull for ever, My Sharia is losing.

Locally:

* The Seattle Times’ Ed Board is shall we say, wrong-o on Prop-1.

* And speaking of the Times’ Ed Board. Yikes.

* Representative Curtis‘ story made the national blogs.

This is an open thread.

Now with the morning news on this site every day, This Week in Bullshit is less relevant than ever:

* Rush Limbaugh knows where your children go to school.

* Mickey Kaus is an idiot. But on the other hand someone who may or may not exist accuses Hillary Clinton of doing something, so you decide.

* FEMA learned their lesson from Katrina: No more press at the press conferences.

* We may lose another member of the coalition in Iraq. The contractors. But only if they’re ever held accountable for their actions.

* How did you spend your Islamofascism awareness week? I opened presents under the meaningless word that’s a pretext to bomb Iran tree.

* And is there anything that isn’t OK to the far right if it ends up harming a Clinton in some way? Bill Clinton’s distant cousin was raped? Well shit parole the rapist, you’ll be praised by columnists for the liberal New York Times later on, even if they go on to kill one or two women.

Locally:

* Dino Rossi has been a quantum candidate. Both a candidate for governor and not at any given time. But now he’s in. I hope he’ll take his idea man’s advise and try to ban boxing.

* Mars Hill is going to unleash their bunnies and blatant homophobia on another Seattle neighborhood.

This is an open thread

Attacking kids edition.

*It’s sad whenever anybody dies. But holy shit, what kind of a lie was Jerry Falwell’s compatriot living? I can’t decide if on top of being tragic, it’s funny or creepy.

* But I do know that smearing a 12 year old boy’s family, is definitely on the creepy side. So knock it off, crazies. And while I wouldn’t call Michelle Malkin a terrorist, it is certainly true that her tactics are probably more about putting the fear of speaking out to other people than it is about having a sane reasonable debate. The next time someone who was helped by a program thinks they might want to speak out, they’ll be a bit more reluctant because she might send her flying monkeys after them.

* But at least conservatives are still compassionate toward injured Iraq war vets. Oh.

* The media do like to de-bunk some people.

* And John Gibson can tell the color of your skin by how your murderous rampage ends.

Locally:

* Jane Hague has a funny way of taking responsibility. I think maybe she feels responsible for getting caught?

* Jesus will ungay Washington and America if only conservative crazies let Him.

Because you can never have enough bullshit.

*It’s pretty much bullshit that Democratic candidates have to come out in favor of science. Can you imagine that being an issue in 2000? I’m sure that every Democrat will be able to boast something similar, but the fact that it’s even an issue should tell you how far we’ve gone into crazyville these last 8 years.

* It would be bullshit to bomb these people.

* President Bush’s 4th veto of his term pretty much is for the same reason as his last three: he’s for more dead people.

* Not that your mainstream media would dare put it in those terms. Maybe they’re frightened?

* Maybe we should be frightened of Blackwater setting up shop in the States.

* And how about we let military spouses stay, you know, in the states.

Locally,

* I-960 is a bad idea.

* Activists who take time out of their weekend to doorbell in the B’ham area are not a conspiracy. And when that’s the best you’ve got, it’s sad sad sad.

This is an open thread. Enjoy.

I haven’t got a chance to read it yet, but I just picked up Who Hates Whom. Looks great. Yay for blogger books. On that random note, here’s your bullshit:

* So, last week there was a march in Washington. Peace is neato. Anyway, the take away from that is that peace groups support murder. Obviously it couldn’t be that conservatives don’t understand that pictures can be manipulated. But remember, the conservatives were there, so they saw banners with their own eyes. And then they beat up a Gold Star father and go to the White House. But don’t worry, because Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is coming up, and that will present right wingers with a whole new appreciation of make believe pictures.

* Tim Russert thinks that John Edwards’ hair, asking Hillary Clinton about things that will never happen, things that happened in Cleveland in 1978, and all of the candidates’ favorite Bible quotes are more important than the environment. But at least we aren’t racists like the Republican frontrunners.

* David Brooks is actually making me miss Safire. How is that possible?

* Who could have guessed that Fox News were a bunch of hypocrites?

* Lee Bollinger treats dictators differently based on their relationship with the United States. Quite the man of courage.

* The Boner finds it despicable to hide behind children.

Locally:

* Michael Medved doesn’t think slavery is such a big deal. He has 6 reasons and they’re all crazy.

* Littering in the bus tunnel is bullshit, although, I used it on Friday rush hour and didn’t notice anything.

* The Washington Policy Center is upset at the existence of S-Chip and the state minimum wage.

This is an open thread

Time to MoveOn edition.

* So, yeah, I’m about as pissed off as Brad. The country has gone nuts. Seriously, 22 Democrats, fuck the heck (and thank goodness our Senators weren’t among that group)? Of course, nobody seemed to be mad when Republicans you know, did much worse. But at least the liberal media will stand up to this nonsense. And just because we’re pissed off at some Democrats doesn’t mean that the righties and their pathetic excuses get a pass. Anyway, the best way for MoveOn to get into the good graces of the far right is probably to needlessly insult Muslims.

* And if you want to know who hates the troops, the real answer is the anti-sex right.

* And speaking of the anti-sex right, did you know they were anti-sex?

* So how did you spend your International Day of Peace?

* Ann Coulter needs a better fact checker. Or to stop lying, I guess.

* Comcastic

* According to those guardians of the free market, crazy assed Republicans, there’s no difference between price fixing and press releases.

Locally:

* Dave Reichert still isn’t independent or bi-partisan.

* The people who named the South Lake Union Trolley should have thought a bit harder.

* Dino Rossi’s idea man can’t figure out why some people might find the name of the Washington Redskins offensive.

This is an open thread.

Some good bullshit while the bullshitin’s good.

* Alan Greenspan wrote a book, and if it had been a few years ago or so, it would be very insightful. But since he forgot to speak out until Bush has been mired in the 30% range for over a year, and he had been out of office for sometime, it’s too late.

* And speaking of the 30% range, Glenn Reynolds is thrilled that Bush is all the way up to 33%, and hopes that the upcoming bombing of Iran will boost him even more.

* Any notion of attacking Iran is bullshit in and of itself, and it’ll be important that we call bullshit on the enablers of that horrible idea, even if they’re Democrats, and even if we agree with them on most other issues.

* Unfortunately, we know the kind of people who have the president’s ear. Sad pathetic people. People who get all hot and bothered to see the President of the United States act like an ass, especially when talking about Iraq.

* And the President certainly won’t acknowledge the maybe 1,000,000 dead in Iraq.

Locally,

* The Columbian comes out against paid family leave in the state. You see, they didn’t need no family planning in the dark ages, so we don’t need any now.

* Seriously, drinking water? What the fuck conservatives?

* And finally, it may have been mentioned on this blog once or twice before, but Jane Hague is a liar.

This is an open thread

So Geov has a weekly thing on HorsesAss.org that’s better than this one. I could step up and write a better Bullshit post. Or I could just stick to the same old, same old. I chose number two, but that’s probably why he has a long running radio show on KEXP (and even before it was KEXP), and I’m just a guy who swears on the Internet. Anyway, here’s your bullshit:

* President Bush said that he might reduce troop levels in Iraq. And when he says something you know it’s true.

* And as long as I’m stepping on Geov’s toes and talking about Iraq, Riverbend has left. It’s senseless and tragic, and I would hope the people who made stupid accusations against her would re-consider what they’ve been doing. But perhaps a tiny bit of human decency would be asking too much.

* Just in case you were wondering who’s to blame for the Larry Craig mess, it’s the state of Minnesota. And Michael Medved thinks the real tragedy in all this is that Michael Medved hasn’t thought enough about burly men in uniform.

* And finally for national bullshit, it may be safe to say that supply side economics are bullshit.

Locally:

* Seriously, what was the Trib thinking?

* Gary Randal sees a clear line between hate crimes legislation and forcing the Church not to mention Jesus.

* Lou Guzzo wants more booing the National Anthem.

* “Doc” Hastings is upset that MoveOn was able to read things that General Peteraeus has written in the past. And that they were willing to make some obvious predictions.

This is an open thread

So, I kinda missed last week’s “this week”. So even though it’s still kinda sparse, it’s totally two weeks’ worth.

* By now you’ve probably ceased to want to care, but some time long ago, Roger Stone was making the news being a loon. Saying crazy shit about Spitzer. And also, if you want to attack Spitzer, maybe it’s best not to have the quality you ascribe to him in spades.

* Bi-Partisan bullshit: Former Clinton speech writer Michael Cohen is upset about us mean bloggers. But he does acknowledge our right to hate America, so you can see he’s a serious person.

* In case you’re wondering, the fact that Larry Craig tried to have sex in a bathroom proves that it’s the Democrats who are obsessed with sex. Republicans are only obsessed with sex when they can’t see an electoral downside.

* President Bush came to town this week (Did this blog report on that? I just can’t remember.) and he gave a bullshit speech.

Locally, I can only think of two things that are bullshit:

* Phone books.

* and Pudge.

This is another open thread.

A note to the people person sending me bullshit. First, thanks, you rule! Second, I didn’t use it, because I link to the people calling bullshit, not the actual bullshit itself, but I still love ya. Anyway, on with the post:

* You know what proves the war in Iraq is going swimmingly? Glenn Reynolds says it’s the fact that the media hates America and refuses to report all that good news. You would think they would have new shit, but I guess someone told them the old stuff didn’t stink.

* The good Glenn continues to call bullshit on the foreign policy establishment. This time he goes straight to our militarism and the fact that if you don’t think it’s totally awesome, you aren’t allowed to talk about it.

* And the last national bullshit is an extended look at Rich Lowry. Calling bullshit not only on his career and his political leanings, but frankly on his whole life and on his humanity. It’s really quite a read, but don’t start on it unless you’ve got some free time.

Locally:

* Dave Reichert is taking some flack for taking some scratch from crooks. And what I want to know is why he couldn’t find any Eastside crooks. I mean Baltimore, and Alaska aren’t the only places with crooks who would be happy to bribe a Congressman, surely.

* And finally, one of my favorite local loons thinks that because the temperature in the continental U.S. was slightly warmer during the dust bowl than it was in 2005, it totally proves that the planet isn’t getting warmer.

This is an open thread.

President Bush is insisting on more tax cuts in a time of war (and as we’re months away from hitting the debt limit). So expect to hear another round about how taxes are bad for the economy. And all things equal, I guess higher taxes are worse for the economy. But there are some things that are even worse for the economy than corporate taxes:

* Having a bridge fall into the Mississippi river, crippling traffic, and oh yeah, killing a dozen or so people.

* A massive structural debt owed in large part to foreign governments who are threatening to shut off the pipes.

* That power outage that hit the Eastern seaboard a few years ago.

* Sick employees.

* Their sick children.

* New Orleans drowning.

And this idea that tax cuts are the only good things for business is so silly. As if the best thing business could possibly hope for is a crumbling infrastructure, massive government debt, and exorbitant healthcare costs.

Now we can certainly talk about the bad, wasteful spending that goes on: The Iraq war, and our militarism in general. Sending non-violent criminals to prison for too long, and drug offenders there at all. The bridge to nowhere, and other pork.

But at the end of the day, our taxes are so low that bridges are collapsing. Our taxes are so low, that we refuse to help the sick unless they are elderly, very very poor, or children of the poor and working class (or in Washington State thanks to the Democratic legislature last session, children). Our taxes are so low, that an American city drown a few years ago, and we’ll only build the levies back to where they were before. Our taxes are so low that soldiers — American Soldiers, for God’s sake — are scavenging garbage dumps for armor for their vehicles. Our taxes are so low that public transit is pathetic in the Puget Sound region, and worse in the rest of the state.

Now, I don’t particularly like paying taxes, nobody does. But I also don’t like hitting potholes. I don’t like knowing that if the big one hits when I’m on the viaduct that I’ll probably die. I don’t like it when my sick friends and relatives without healthcare don’t see a doctor. I don’t like being in debt to China. I don’t like the fact that the bus system is a joke, especially outside of the city.