HorsesAss.Org

Open Thread 11/12

by — ,

– Happy Veterans Day.

– You have decades upon decades to contemplate what you did. But after today. After this moment. Here and now. Gabby and I are done thinking about you.

– In total, all the profiles, stage-managed and controlled by the Pentagon’s multimillion dollar public relations apparatus, built up an unrealistic and superhuman myth around the general that, in the end, did not do Petraeus or the public any favors.

– It’s pretty sweet how horribly Karly Rove and the NRA performed.

– And I think it’s a nice counter-narrative that Romney did worse with Mormons than George W. Bush.

– It’s strange to read Lindy West review a film positively, but I agree with everything she says about Lincoln.

Comments

  1. 1

    Maureen Dowd’s latest column’s worth a read and has a few good zingers in it.

    As W.’s former aide Karen Hughes put it in Politico on Friday, “If another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue.”

    Bill O’Reilly said Obama’s voters wanted “stuff.” He was right. They want Barry to stop bogarting the change.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11......html?_r=0

  2. 2

    This comment is dedicated to the troll calling himself Gimmee, gimmee, gimmee:

    “When Romney says his job isn’t to care about those who depend on government for healthcare, food, and housing, he’s talking about his base. Across America, Obama’s supporters actually subsidize Romney’s supporters. Studies show that states that elect Democrats contribute the most in federal taxes relative to what they consume in government services. Conversely, many states that elect Republicans contribute the least in taxes relative to the services they consume. This is true even though many Democratic states contain large, poor, urban populations of color.”

    http://www.usnews.com/opinion/.....eir-taxes-

  4. 4

    RR @2,
    And as we have discovered, this also applies at the county level where we in King County contribute the most in state taxes that are consumed by the Rethug counties.

    No wonder Rethugs scream “Free Stuff”.

  5. 5

    Let ‘Em Secede Dep’t

    Some folks are taking the election hard. For example in Texas, Peter Morrison, treasurer of the Hardin County Republicans, wrote in the party’s newsletter that Obama was re-elected by “maggots” voting on an “ethnic basis.”

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-25.....rom-union/

    According to a Texas, the state board of education has appointed Morrison to screen the state’s public-school textbooks.

    http://www.salon.com/2012/11/0.....singleton/

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: This time, let’s not fight a civil war to keep them in the Union, let’s just stop sending them our money (see @2) after they leave.

  6. 6

    The National Organization for Marriage goes down with the ship!

    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb.....11-12.html

    Thomas Peters, wherever this battle ends up, and it may take a long time, was Election Day a turning point?

    THOMAS PETERS, National Organization for Marriage: No, not at all.

    I think these were tactical wins. Going into these four state fights, we had no illusions. These were deep blue states. We were vastly outraised by our opponents.

    And even despite all those political forces against us, we still managed to have very close margins in the final tally.

  7. 7

    Here’s some of those “union thug” teachers in action.

    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb.....11-12.html

    Schools officially reopened today in one community along the JerseyShore. But, for the past week, teachers have been already hard at work helping students deal with the aftermath of the storms.

    Special correspondent John Tulenko of “Learning Matters” filed this story from the town of Belmar.

    JOHN TULENKO: Hurricane Sandy tore into Belmar, N.J.

    LISA HANNAH, Belmar Elementary School: Belmar was one of the towns you would continually hear about on the radio. Families reported seeing a four-, five-, six-foot wall of water.

    JOHN TULENKO: Lisa Hannah is assistant principal at Belmar’s one elementary school. Many of her students are recent immigrants. And most of their families had nowhere else to go.

    LISA HANNAH: I don’t think anyone was really prepared for what happened.

    JOHN TULENKO: Inside this house, three children and their parents were counting on luck.

    LISA HANNAH: They stayed through the storm. And very quickly, the water came up into the room. They started to climb up on furniture. It was dark. There was no power. And water is rapidly rising.

    JOHN TULENKO: It wasn’t until a week later that principal Hannah and a group of teachers were allowed into the hardest-hit neighborhood

  9. 9

    And I think it’s a nice counter-narrative that Romney did worse with Mormons than George W. Bush.

    Maybe only 78% of Mormons are stupid. Speaking of stupid, what possessed the Republicans to run a vulture capitalist for president as their answer to the financial crisis?

  10. 10

    Random Thought:

    The Cascade ski resorts can make more money by including the legalization of marijuana in their out of state ads.

  11. 11

    @ 10

    It wouldn’t matter. Anyone who skis regularly and smokes, knows full well there has never been anyone on the slopes busting people for sharing a doob on the ski lifts or along the slopes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cop up there except maybe in the parking lot. It’s a moot point.

  14. 14

    @12 Enumclaw needs something besides the “horse ranch” to attract people, because there’s only so many people who want to fuck horses.

  16. 16

    All that’s left is Puddydope and Technical Sergeant Garp (maxee)…

    The slimiest scrapings from the absolute bottom of the barrel..

    Conservative Kookee won’t last.. birfer (yd)iot makes an appearance when a GREECE! boil erupts on his butt.

    Wow… Right wing idiocy from their favorite blogs, websites and other propaganda outlets count for almost nothing when even the “community organizer” is able to serve two terms in office…

    No repeat of the “Jimmy Carter” moment for right wing loons. Heh. That’s too sweet.

  18. 18

    Geez, I tell the loons over at (un)SP that “Doctor Steve” is a real Bob-certified Doc and the response is, “No! You can’t be!”

    A Bob-certified Doc! Good God, they’re fucking stupid over there.

  19. 19

    Win guts – solving their demographic problem bit by bit

    GILBERT, Ariz. Police say a woman who was upset over the outcome of the presidential election ran over her husband because he didn’t participate in his civic duty.
    Police allege Holly Solomon ran over her husband after they had an argument over the 2012 presidential election.
    / Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
    Holly Solomon, 28, chased her 36-year-old husband Daniel Solomon with the family Jeep SUV on Saturday night over a political argument stemming from the fact he didn’t vote, CBS station KPHO in Phoenix, Ariz. reported. She pinned him between the underside of the SUV and the curb when he tried to run for help.

    The husband told investigators that Solomon believed her family was going to face hardship from President Barack Obama’s re-election.

    http://m.cbsnews.com/fullstory.....ofeed=null

  20. 20

    Apparently there are still 5 house races that haven’t been called and Democrats are ahead in every one.

    Republicans spent record amounts of money and all they got for it was fewer seats in the house, fewer seats in the senate, and flipping two traditionally republican state back to republican in the race for the white house.

  21. 21

    The Petraeus Affair just got weirder. The FBI agent investigating Paula Broadwell’s e-mails to Jill Kelley was removed from the case for e-mailing lewd photos of himself to Jill Kelley.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....id=prn_aol

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: What the hell is going on with these people? Is the FBI afraid of being upstaged by the Secret Service?
    I’ll bet they’re ALL Republicans!

  22. 22

    @20 A little known fact about the House elections is that although Republicans retained their majority they lost the nationwide popular vote.

    Democratic House candidates received 54.3 million votes (49.0%).
    Republican House candidates received 53.8 million votes (48.2%).

    This is the first time since 1952 the House’s majority party failed to win a nationwide popular vote plurality.

    (Source: Wikipedia)

  23. 23

    Petraeus Scandal Ropes In Another General

    “In a new twist to the Gen. David Petraeus sex scandal, the Pentagon said Tuesday that the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged ‘inappropriate communications’ with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom Petraeus had an extramarital affair. …

    “[A] senior official … would not explain the nature of Allen’s problematic communications. The official said 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from Allen’s communications with Kelley between 2010 and 2012 are under review. He would not say whether they involved sexual matters or whether they are thought to include unauthorized disclosures of classified information.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....d%3D233770

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Now we know why kids on military bases all look like each other.

  24. 24

    Rabbit @ 22

    Actually, in 1996, the GOP won the House by 228 to 206, in spite of Democrats winning the total popular vote for House by 48.1% to 47.8%.

  26. 26

    @25…..you worthless piece of shit loser. You can’t even get online early enough to post under #25. A real troll would go for #1 so as to piss off the regulars, even #2 or 3 would be acceptable. Have some pride, man. Take lessons from Serial C. or even, god forbid, puddy. Oh, I don’t want to hear any Rove-type excuses for your sorry slacker ass either.

  27. 27

    The FBI agent who who was in charge of the original case (harrassing e-mails) was removed from the case after e-mailing shirtless photos of himself to the victim. Then this same FBI agent went out-of-channels to Dave Reichert, claiming to be a “whistleblower” concerned that this was going to be swept under the rug by officials.

    Do you think that perhaps the FBI agent wanted a good smoke screen to protect himself from discipline?

    And is anybody else concerned that an FBI agent, after the decision was made that no crime had occured, could turn over the contents of private e-mails to a politician?

  28. 28

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....-Execs-MIA

    Sun Nov 11, 2012 at 10:50 AM PST
    Hostess Strike, Day 3: Execs MIA

    Quote:

    So with twenty odd mega bakeries in questionable condition, millions of dollars in wages, storage charges, demurrage charges, switching charges, utility costs, and just plain old overhead due every day, you’d think Hostess Brands execs would be on the job, settling the strike, or at least blowing out near hourly PR flack in hopes of lowering worker morale. Last we heard from Hostess MIA top management was a press release two days ago after the first bakery was struck, and the strike has spread to 20 bakeries now. One would think that Hostess execs would have been on duty in their Texas executive offices, safely removed a couple hundred miles from their nearest bakery, in firm command of the situation from their “war room”. But Nooo… Hostess Brands top management is Missing In Action. Will they leave suppliers and shippers with a millions of pounds of ingredients and dollars of unpaid bills? Will Hostess MIA execs leave their bakeries abandoned to be the scene of massive “science experiments” gone bad? Will utilities be stiffed and governments be stuck with the cost of cleanup? Will grocers be stuck with the cost of disposing of stale bread and display racks left abandoned in their stores? Hostess Brands is hemorrhaging millions of dollars a day, ain’t worth that many millions, and has anybody seen where top management went?

    The lying living wage job killing rat-bastard scab emperor max mini-dick (aka kaiser bun the first)is ALLLLLL UP IN ARMS about those greedy Union Thug Workers destroying the livelihood of the fine fine people who own and run Hostess Brands. After I combed through all the BULLSHIT about greedy workers from fucking FOX NEWS and the “oh so unbiased” WALL (fucking) STREET JOURNAL…I finally got to what was really going on.

    CORPORATE GREED AND MISMANAGEMENT (surprise, surprise)

    So they’re stealing the pension funds to pay executive bonuses for a company that’s going “bankrupt”…

    …and to make payments to the (wait guys, here it comes…(fucking) HEDGE FUND THAT OWNS THE COMPANY!!!

    Now where the fuck have I heard that before? It sounds soooooo familiar…(rhymes with money??? Uhhhh…oh yeah…fucking ROMNEY!!! THAT’S IT!)…

    http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Org.....rike-Baker

    BCTGM says the company has ceased making contractually obligated payments to the Hostess workers’ pensions since July 2011 and has pocketed approximately $160 million—money earned by and owed to its dedicated workforce.

    Hostess Brands is in bankruptcy for the second time in eight years. Since the first bankruptcy in 2004, BCTGM members across the country have taken dramatic wage and benefit concessions and watched as 21 Hostess plants were shut down and thousands of jobs were lost. At the time of the first bankruptcy, Hostess workers were assured by management that money saved via concessions and plant closings would help make the company stronger, more vibrant and more competitive.

    Instead, according to the union, the money has gone towards executive bonuses and payments to the hedge fund that owns Hostess brands. Hurt says:

  29. 29

    The fucking asshole corporate shill emperor max (fucking) mini-dick is all bent about:

    25. Gimme Gimme Gimme spews:

    FREE STUFF!!!

    11/13/2012 at 5:56 am

    It’s not about “free stuff” you stupid prick. The hedge fund klepto crats and the bankers and the executives who run their companies into the ground and THEN got big bonuses:

    http://thinkprogress.org/econo.....ear-bonus/

    Wall Street CEO Gets $6.7 Million Payout After Crashing His Company

    By Pat Garofalo on Nov 11, 2012 at 11:10 am

    Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit
    Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit was pushed out the door of his company in October after overseeing a precipitous decline in his bank’s value. Overall, Citigroup lost nearly 90 percent of its stock price during Pandit’s tenure. But that won’t stop Pandit from walking off with $6.7 million for his last year on the job:


    THAT’S what “free stuff” looks like, moron.

    What really fries me is that this fucking son-of-a-bitch probably has some good Union guys among his uncles and cousins, if not his own father. This jerk went to public schools got his education at a State University (probably) use the roads, bridges Police and Fire Departments for the safety of himself and his family, used the protection of the Courts and the legal system to start and stay in business…watched grandfathers and uncles and great-uncles retire in security and comfort on company and union pensions…and Social Security.

    What a lousy ungrateful little asshole. This clown ought to be ashamed of himself.

    Un-American greedy fucking jerk.

  30. 30

    rhp6033 @ 27

    Yep, and there was a whistleblower that exposed a lot of the Watergate scandal, because he was afraid that things would be swept under the rug. Do you have a problem with whistleblowers?

    Here, it seems that the Attorney General, Eric Holder, at least, was personally aware of what was going on, since some of the search warrants had to be personally approved by the AG under existing policy. And also other information seems to indicate personal knowledge by Holder.

    And Holder supposedly knew about this in late June. And allegedly Obama did not find out until five days ago.

    The conduct of Generals Petraeus and Allen were evidently serious enough to remove them from their very serious positions of responsibility — Director of the CIA, and running the Afghanistan War, respectively.

    By the way, lying to federal investigators is a felony crime. 18 USC 1001. Whether or not you might think this law is overreaching, people are often prosecuted for lying to federal investigators, even when there was no underlying crime. Remember Henry Cisneros being forced out of Clinton’s cabinet for lying about having a mistress, and then plea bargaining a felony indictment to a misdemeanor lesser version of this offense?

    And why were FBI agents searching Paula Broadwell’s house last night in the middle of the night? Do you think they had consent from the Broadwells (I am sure their lawyer told them to consent to this — right!), or do you think that a federal prosecutor got a search warrant from a federal judge? Do you think this was a Republican conspiracy to maliciously prosecute Obama officials for sexual immorality?

  31. 31

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11.....er.html?hp

    Motives Questioned in F.B.I. Inquiry of Petraeus E-Mails
    By SCOTT SHANE and CHARLIE SAVAGE
    Published: November 12, 2012

    WASHINGTON — Is a string of angry e-mails really enough, in an age of boisterous online exchanges, to persuade the F.B.I. to open a cyberstalking investigation?

    THIS is the “good part”:

    But the agent, who was not identified, continued to “nose around” about the case, and eventually his superiors “told him to stay the hell away from it, and he was not invited to briefings,” the official said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Monday night that the agent had been barred from the case.

    Later, the agent became convinced — incorrectly, the official said — that the case had stalled. Because of his “worldview,” as the official put it, he suspected a politically motivated cover-up to protect President Obama. The agent alerted Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, who called the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, on Oct. 31 to tell him of the agent’s concern.

    Just lovely.

  33. 33

    Oh…and Sheriff Hairspray is mixed up in this too.

    At some point during the summer, the Tampa FBI agent whom Kelley had first approached for help was taken off the investigation. Frustrated and concerned that an inquiry into what he thought may be a possible national security breach had not progressed, he got in touch with the office of Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.). Reichert passed the information on to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....n-Patraeus

  34. 34

    32. kim jong chillin spews:

    @26
    Freeeeeeeee
    Stuuuuuuuffff
    !!!!
    11/13/2012 at 8:43 am

    The coward has to have fifty fucking handles.

  40. 40

    http://crooksandliars.com/karo.....er-respons

    November 13, 2012 07:00 AM
    Shirtless FBI Tea Party Sympathizer Responsible For Petraeus’ Downfall

    By karoli

    No novelist, not even Tom Clancy, could come up with a story like this. A four-star general and Director of the CIA taken down by an FBI agent with an agenda and an obsession of his own.

    Yet, that is the story, my friends, as silly as it can be. After updating our timeline and thinking maybe Karl Rove was playing some games with the Benghazi story and Fox News, it’s really much simpler, pathetic and silly.

    Sheesh.

  43. 43

    http://news.firedoglake.com/20.....ttee-seat/

    Warren Looks Set for Senate Banking Committee Seat

    By: David Dayen Monday November 12, 2012 3:06 pm

    The prospects for Elizabeth Warren nabbing a spot on the Senate Banking Committee brightened in recent days.

    First, let’s take a look at the Banking Committee membership. With a 55-45 partisan split in the Senate rather than 53-47, I wouldn’t expect the partisan makeup on the committee to change all that much. Right now there are 22 members, 12 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Two members who currently serve on the Democratic side, Herb Kohl and Daniel Akaka, are moving on. So that opens up two spots for either freshman members or other members of the caucus who have seniority and longed for a Banking Committee spot.

    You would think that Kirsten Gillibrand, representing New York, would be in the latter category, representing Wall Street and all. However, she officially declined the position, seemingly in favor of Warren, today.

    THIS is gonna be FUN!!!!!!

  45. 45

    http://americablog.com/2012/11.....-them.html

    Brokaw blasts banksters angry about Obama win: “Yeah, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them.”

    11/7/2012 5:30pm by John Aravosis

    A great come-back by NBC’s Tom Brokaw when a quite-sorrowful Andrea Mitchell asked him about Wall Street types who are vewy vewy angwy about President Obama winning re-election:

    ANDREA MITCHELL: The business community, you speak to people here in New York, today again, they are very suspicious and very angry.

    BROKAW: Yeah, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them. The fact is, they’ve done pretty well in the last four years, all things considered. The big banks did get bailed out, and then didn’t spend the money anywhere else in the country. I think New York does distort your view about this a little bit. Given the amount of money that’s available around here, and what their expectations are about what they’re “owed.”

    Jail Time.

  46. 46

    Rujax! @ 40

    I don’t know what in the hell to make of all this. But it is obvious that Obama didn’t approve at all of having our generals cheat on their wives, especially with nutty and unstable “other” women. Obama likely told General Petraeus that it would be a good idea to resign, and has removed General Allen from consideration to be promoted as NATO commander. And it looks likely (or at least possible) that Obama didn’t even know about any of this until five days ago.

    As far as Jill Kelley’s kinky FBI agent friend, who knows what his motivations are? And who should care? At the very minimum, the FBI leadership kept this story from the President, and further action was necessary.

    Looks like Reichert and Cantor handled the whistleblowing appropriately, by contacting the head of the FBI, and emphasizing that the FBI do the right thing. Cantor knew about this two weeks before the election, and could have leaked it to the media, in the hopes of embarassing Obama before a close election. But he didn’t.

  47. 47

    It’s a fine mess for sure…worthy of a nighttime soap opera.

    The takeaway I got is that the Teabagger FBI guy got in the way of an ongoing investigation and brought Sheriff Hairspray and the “Man Who Would Be King” Cantor into it.

    I don’t think the President had to coerce Petraeus in any way to step down, this is a profound embarrassment and an ignominious end to an otherwise distinguished career.

    The Times (the real one) has a scoop:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11.....al.html?hp

    Most of the stuff is there, or in adjoining articles.

  52. 52

    @10 I haven’t gone skiing in years, but I remember there was short upper lift at Stevens Pass that was officially named “Ti-Bowl” that everyone referred to as “Thai Stick”. Maybe now they can make the popular name the official one.

  54. 54

    It seems there’s a new “reality” series on TV, that seems to be carried by a great many channels, including those with “News” in their names. It’s called “The Real Housewives of the War On Terror”…

  55. 55

    @53

    Gobs and gobs of……free stuff!

    Fuck your mom? Ewwwwwwww!

    Yo mommas so fat, she broke her arm and gravy came out!

  58. 58

    @27 “Do you think that perhaps the FBI agent wanted a good smoke screen to protect himself from discipline?”

    He probably wanted to stay on the case so he could write a book and make millions.

    “And is anybody else concerned that an FBI agent, after the decision was made that no crime had occured, could turn over the contents of private e-mails to a politician?”

    This is okay when Reichert does it. It’s only not-okay when McDermott does it.

  59. 59

    With the Petraeus scandal is spreading like weeds, it’s just a matter of time before we find out the Petraeus family dog sent lascivious e-mails to the neighbor’s cat.

  60. 60

    http://crooksandliars.com/blue.....ecause-too

    November 13, 2012 10:00 AM

    Paul Ryan: We Lost the Election Because Too Many Blacks Voted

    By Blue Texan

    Here’s Paul Ryan, in a single sentence, explaining why he and Mitt Romney lost to the black guy.

    “I think the surprise was some of the turnout, especially in urban areas, which gave President Obama the big margin to win this race.”

    Yeah, it wasn’t the fact that a majority of Americans rejected Romney/Ryan’s and the GOP’s policies, it wasn’t the fact that most Americans thought Obama/Biden deserved a second term — it’s just that those “urban” people — well, you know how they are.

    No Paul, you lost cause you and your running mate were greedy assholes, and you couldn’t sucker everybody.

  61. 61

    Pope @ 30: The FBI official who was “Deep Throat” was not under any investigation or potential investigation, so he probably had no reason for a smoke screen.

    But I like Roger Rabbit’s succinct reply @ # 58 better than my original question.

  62. 62

    Drill Baby Drill!

    Northern Hemisphere Snowpack Likely to Shrink Faster

    A new study suggests that water supplies in places like the American West and Central Asia will decline thanks to faster than expected change in snowfall…

    All that carbon we are putting in the air is having a measurable effect on the snowpack. Like less water for us in the years to come.

    Let’s see, we use water for irrigation, power, drinking, recreation, salmon… I’d say salmon get the ax first.

  64. 64

    SciAm announces results of 10 years study of right wing trolls. The study finds substandard intelligence is the norm among trolls, that they have a fixation on goats and they keep expressing meaningless phrases like “Free Stuff!”

    Conclusion: trolls should be neutered to keep them from reproducing.

  65. 65

    A Chicago teacher, age 100, passed away Sunday ending an 80-year teaching career.

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: It’s great to have the opportunity to keep doing a job you love. But if Romney had won and let Ryan “reform” Social Security, we’d all work until we’re dead, whether we want to or not.

  66. 66

    @64 they keep expressing meaningless phrases like “Free Stuff!”

    That one’s a bot.

  67. 67

    66. Roger Rabbit spews:

    @64 they keep expressing meaningless phrases like “Free Stuff!”

    That one’s a bot.
    11/13/2012 at 1:12 pm

    A RomneyBot…LOLOL

  68. 68

    66. Roger Rabbit spews:

    @64 they keep expressing meaningless phrases like “Free Stuff!”

    That one’s a bot.

    There’s a difference?

  69. 69

    rhp6033@61

    Evidently the whistleblowing FBI agent was the same “close personal friend” of Jill Kelley that she had complained to about the threatening e-mails in the first place.

    Amazing how many “close personal friends” that Jill Kelley has …

  75. 75

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....sp-wealthy

    Tue Nov 13, 2012 at 01:55 PM PST
    Obama promises liberal groups he’ll end Bush tax cuts for wealthy +*

    by Joan McCarter

    President Obama met with labor and progressive groups on Tuesday, including Mary Kay Henry, president of SEIU, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, and heads of the National Education Association and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Progressive groups like MoveOn and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities also attended.

    He promised attendees that he will fight to end the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of earners, according to a statement issued by MoveOn.

    This is the beginning of the dismantling of the disaster that was the Bush years. This President has the opportunity to remake the country as more fair, more equal with more justice and more equality.

    This is a good first step to a worthy first goal.

    Let’s se if his heart is really in it.

  78. 78

    “Oh, the loneliness of being a Seattle Tea Party Patriot, especially after this last election. …

    “‘It’s getting harder and harder for me. I was at Trader Joe’s, and I was glaring at everyone around me,’ says Keli Carender, 33, co-organizer of the local group. …

    “‘I kept thinking I was surrounded by people who are destroying freedom,’ says Carender. ‘It’s starting to make me angry, not wanting to be around these people.’

    “She says she’s seriously thinking about moving after her husband … is done with school. They’re thinking maybe Texas, … a long ways from where she grew up on Mercer Island.”

    http://seattletimes.com/html/l.....ts13m.html

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Pass me a beer, too.

  79. 79

    I see that Democrats have built slight leads in two undecided legislative races for GOP-held seats. Rep. Tim Probst is leading Sen. Don Benton by 16 votes, and if he wins, the senate will be unchanged at 27 Dems to 22 GOPs. In the race for Probst’s house seat, the Democrat has overtaken the GOP candidae, and now leads by 81 votes. A Dem victory in that race would pare the GOP’s gains in the first post-redistricting legislative elections to 1 seat.

    http://seattletimes.com/html/l.....st13m.html

  80. 80

    The Army is seeking the death penalty against a soldier accused of committing an atrocity in Afghanistan by alleging murdering noncombatant 16 civilians, many of them women and children shot in their own homes.

    http://blogs.seattletimes.com/.....ales-case/

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: I know many of my liberal friends oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, but this is a way for the Army to demonstrate to people in other countries that America values their lives as much as its own soldiers’ lives. Whether Bales, if convicted, is actually executed is beside the point. What matters is that rogue soldiers who commit atrocities under our flag not be let off with slap-on-the-wrist penalties (as Calley was). As for the rightwingers who defend these scumbags and attack anyone who exposes or decries a wanton atrocity committed by American soldiers, they aren’t patriots, they’re jackasses.

    Bales’ attorneys, in his defense, have raised the issue of whether he was in his right mind when the killings occurred. His guilt or innocence, and if guilty his mental culpability, are for the military courts to determine. Our legal system doesn’t execute people who were insane when they committed their crimes. If this atrocity occurred because the Army subjected one or more soldiers to conditions that drove them nuts, then deal with it appropriately, and implement the necessary changes in the field to reduce the chances of it happening again.

  81. 81

    @80 Ted Bundy no doubt was not in his “right mind”. Nonetheless he was one of the very few people for whom execution was completely justifiable, quite simply because his adeptness at escape and the utter depravity of his crimes meant he was a menace to humanity as long as he lived.

    I don’t know if that quite applies to Bales, but if he’s nuts enough to have done what he did, perhaps if he vaporizes a few more of his own brain cells he’ll start to perceive anyone, perhaps even his own mother, as a menacing terrorist.

  82. 82

    @78 Makes at least a little more sense than the teahadists who’ve been bloviating about “moving to Canada”…yeah, right. Canada, where there are laws against lying to the public and calling it “news”, where there’s universal, single-payer health care (including birth control and abortion), where the major cities are awash in convenient, efficient public transit, and where prostitution is legal.

  83. 83

    @69 The Kelleys, to be sure, seem pretty weird in their own right. Apparently, they’re sort of “military groupies” who’ve gone out of their way to ingratiate themselves with the brass (particularly “four-stars”) by hosting a lot of lavish parties in their fancy mansion–and spent way beyond their means to do so. Several banks are after them to seize their assets for various debts owed.

  84. 84

    # 80: As soon as I heard of these shootings, my first thought was that a decade of work trying to “win the hearts and minds of the villagers” just got thrown out the window.

  85. 85

    # 83: Apparantly they are Lebanese immigrants, of Catholic backgroung. They appear to be socially astute, which suggests an upper-class status in their home country (at least, before the civil war there).

    I’m thinking that they saw an opportunity to do what they know well how to do – make valuable friends and connections, and expand their network. They may think that having high-ranking friends in the military might grease the way to future favors (getting friends and relatives out of Lebanon, launching an import/export business, etc.).

  88. 88

    87. GimmeAGoatDickToSuck spews:

    @63

    My goat is probably more attractive than your “partner”

    Free stufffff for Rethugs!

    To each their own…

  89. 89

    73. GimmeAGoatDick spews:

    @64

    Thankfully I won’t be reproducing…

    Phree blow jobs 4 goats!

    Eh, yeah. See the GoatBoy.

Can’t Bring Yourself to Type the Word “Ass”?

Eager to share our brilliant political commentary and blunt media criticism, but too genteel to link to horsesass.org? Well, good news, ladies: we also answer to HASeattle.com, because, you know, whatever. You're welcome!

Follow Goldy

[iire_social_icons]

HA Commenting Policy

It may be hard to believe from the vile nature of the threads, but yes, we have a commenting policy. Comments containing libel, copyright violations, spam, blatant sock puppetry, and deliberate off-topic trolling are all strictly prohibited, and may be deleted on an entirely arbitrary, sporadic, and selective basis. And repeat offenders may be banned! This is my blog. Life isn’t fair.