Kerfuffle

Apparently Republicans still need to trash gays to get the their fundie base to vote.

Apparently, the owner of this car likes the Green Bay Packers. Really likes them. A lot.

I came upon this sweet ride last evening on a side street just off West Wisconsin Avenue in beautiful downtown Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.  My guess is that it's owner was enjoying the Friday fish fry across the street at Spinnakers.  (Be sure to try the fried walleye!)

Nice, huh?  Check out the custom wheels and trim.  With that paint job, at a distance, I thought this thing was a taxi.  But taxis don't usually fly flags from their rear windows.

I really like the hood ornament...

I was a bit disappointed that it didn't sport an Aaron Rodgers bobblehead on the dash.  It did, however, have a nice line of helmets in the rear window...

 

I'm not a Packers fan at all, even though I live in Wisconsin.  Can't do it.  I grew up in Chicago and remain a (frustrated) Bears fan.  So I had no clue as to who "Old 66" is.  Make that was.  I'm guessing that's close to blasphemy in some Wisconsin sports circles.  Oh, right!  It's Ray Nitschke!  Of course!  Back in the days of Lombardi and Bart Starr.  Sure.  When football was more about grit and determination and less about freakishly overdeveloped guys doing stupid things like the Lambeau Leap.

I'm all for showing your team spirit and wearing the colors (green and yellow... yeah... umm, no.)  A fan's got to represent.  I get it, although many would say this is pushing it.  But, hey, why not?  This person clearly loves their team, and I bet they really love this car. 

In closing, I'd like to offer the owner a bit of advice:  If you really do love this car, best that you keep it in Wisconsin.  That paint job won't last five minutes up I-94 Minnesota or down I-94 in Chicago. 

Apparently FOX News producers don't go back into their own video archives to continuity-check their bullshit. Jon Stewart does, and does it well.

These nincompoops on FOX News, especially the clowns on the FOX & Friends morning program, are so often unintentionally hilarious that it's hard to keep count anymore.  But the Daily Show does what it can...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Blame
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

It's not even worth pointing out their hypocrisy anymore, nor pointing out how they are so not credible in any journalistic sense whatsoever.  Just point and laugh.

Apparently, Arizona failed coloring in kindergarten.

I wonder if the state's tourism people are going to use this in their advertising.  Might as well, since their political bigots leaders seem to be telling the world that if you're not white, you're not welcome here.  Klassy.

[h/t Fran and about a hundred others]

Apparently, there is a side effect of the Arizona ethnic cleansing law that I failed to consider...

Uh huh.

[cartoon by Brian Farrington]

Apparently, my blog is among "some of the most extreme and vile writings on the Internet." A new low. I'm so ashamed.

Really?  This thing?

From something called Freedom Eden...

The blogroll on Russ Feingold's website, (Authorized and paid for by the Feingold Senate Committee Daniel D. Hannula, Superior, WI, Treasurer), is very revealing.

It includes liberal sites containing some of the most extreme and vile writings on the Internet.

I guess the woman named Mary who writes the rather Beckian blog dubbed Freedom Eden -- and whose only element in her profile is that Goodnight Moon is her favorite book -- thinks I am extreme or vile or something.  True, I used the word "asshole" in describing Republicans in a headline recently... the same one where I called Democrats pussies.  Vile!  Extreme!  So I guess that means you read them all then, right Mary?

Obviously, I'm not familiar with all the content on all these sites, but I'm familiar with enough of the content on some of them to know they do not represent the mainstream.

Wait, what?  Mary!  You slammed all of us as a group, but you're saying you really aren't familiar with us other than "enough" of "some."  My, how thorough of you... well, thorough enough to claim we don't fit your particular definition of "mainstream."  Kind of like the people who want to ban a book that they haven't read, or rail against a movie that hasn't yet been made, eh?  Hmmm. 

Please, Mary, continue...

Under both the categories, "Wisconsin Blogs" and "Political Blogs," you'll find some of the ugliest of the ugly when it comes to attacks and lies and smears.

The fact that Feingold is willing to cozy up to these bloggers should concern Wisconsinites.

Did I miss something?  Did some cozying up get passed around while I was out of the room?  Damn it.  I always miss the good stuff.  C'mon, be fair, Mary.  If I'm going to get lumped in with all the other Wisconsin bloggers that are to be found on the blogroll of Russ Feingold's campaign blog as "among some the extreme and vile writings on the Internet," then I should have gotten some of this coziness you speak of.  A handshake, even.

Feingold might want to reconsider that blogroll, especially if he wants to pass himself off as being on the same page politically as most of the people in the state.

I'm not sure what to think about Mary's accusation.  Links to liberal blogs on a liberal senator's campaign blog?  No!  Really?  Shocking! 

I would probably take Mary more seriously if she, well, you know, offered examples instead of just being a concern troll.  And, for what it's worth, it's generally considered more credible when a blog's author is willing to actually attach her actual identity to her blog. 

Yet, on the other hand, any link is a good link in terms of traffic, I suppose.  So far, her post on the mighty Freedom Eden has given me one additional page view according to my traffic statistics.  Looks like I've gotten three whole hits from Russ in the past 90 days. 

With this tidal wave of incoming traffic from Mary and Russ, TypePad may need to get me more server space.

Awesome.

 

Apparently, some basic fact checking is all that's needed to demonstrate (again) what lying sack of poop Dick Cheney really is

The so-called "Underwear Bomber" story has been pumped and pumped hard by the GOP this week.  Their talking points have been repeated by habitual liars like Karl Rove, Pete Hoekstra and others on the cable news channels.  But the Republican's Darth Vader himself finally emerged from the ether to offer his memory-and-facts-be-damned take of the story.  As is to be expected, he found several points to criticize about the current administration, while completely forgetting or ignoring that the administration in which he served as co-president did exactly the same things and then some.

And what are Democrats doing about it?  Not much, it seems.  They're just letting these asshats bullshit their way through hypocritical and baseless talking points unchallenged.  I have to give Republicans props for sticking to the script, and knowing they can get away with saying almost anything since Democrats do have a penchant for spinelessness, and the media can't be bothered to fact-check all that much.

While FOX News,  with their fact-challenged straight face, is now promoting themselves as "Hard News, Real Reporting," MSNBC actually did some real reporting on this subject last night.  And all they needed to do was some Google searching to demonstrate what an evil asshole of a liar Richard B. Cheney is...

Well played, Rachel Maddow.

Apparently, the people of Arlington TN elected their village idiot, Russell Wiseman, mayor

From the "You can't make this shit up" department of the Memphis Commercial Appeal...

In the opinion of Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block [wait for it...] the Christian message of the "Peanuts" television Christmas special.

Wiseman made the statements on his Facebook page, where he declared Obama to be a Muslim. Only people on Wiseman's "friend's list" had access to the post. He has more than 1,600 friends on Facebook.

"Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim (sic) president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it....w...hen the answer should simply be 'yes'...."

[notation and implied eye-rolling mine]

Wow.  Wowity wow wow.  What an asshat!  And this guy is the mayor.  Granted, he's only the mayor of Arlington, Tennessee, which boasts most prominently on its website that... "With a population of approximately 9,700, Arlington is the eastern-most municipality in Shelby County [so they have that going for them]... and offers excellent schools, community activities, and commercial amenities all with a strong sense of small-town charm."  Presumably Mayor Russell Wiseman is the walking embodiment of that lovely charm of which they speak so glowingly.  He's a townie, and is happy to say he is the third generation of Wisemans to go to his high school, according to his biography. 

Please, Mayor Bigot, continue making an ass of yourself...

In Wiseman's extensive thread that attacked the president, his supporters and Muslims, he stated "...you obama people need to move to a muslim country...oh wait, that's America....pitiful."

At another point he said, "you know, our forefathers had it written in the original Constitution that ONLY property owners could vote, if that has stayed in there, things would be different........"

Wiseman declined comment, of course, except to say that the press was making "a mountain out a molehill" and that it was ridiculous for "someone to send my Facebook* post." 

As ridiculous as thinking, even for a second, that the President of the United States would actually choose a time to tell the nation that he has the unfortunate duty to send more troops into harm's way specifically so he could pre-empt the 44th airing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas?  Really?  And thinking this because you still think he's a Muslim even though it's widely known he is a Christian... as if his religion even matters?  Oh, right.  I forgot.  You're a bigot.  My bad.

Equally appalling but also fascinating (in that way we are fascinated with truly bizarre behavior) are the hundreds of comments left on the Commercial Appeal's website.  Racism, xenophobia and religious bigotry are very much alive and well, and it's pretty clear Tennessee hosts a lot of it (supported by this online poll).  Unfortunately, Tennessee doesn't come close to cornering the market on that kind of ignorant thinking.  But for the moment, when I picture ignorant thinking, I picture Mayor Russell Wiseman of Arlington, Tennessee.

I am a firm believer in freedom of speech, and everyone holds that right, whether the mayor of Hooterville or Houston, common working man or titan of industry.  But you can't post on the Internets via something as public as Facebook and feel like it is private communication.  Indeed, we are all free to speak our mind, but words have consequences, especially when said in the public sphere.  (The Internet and Facebook are the public sphere, Russell.  May I call you Rusty?.  Welcome to the 21st century.)  You said these things, Mayor Wiseman.  Time to man up and stand behind your comments, Rusty.  But you won't.  You'll hide until someone else says or does something really ignorant.  And that's probably happened already.  But as mayor, you represent the almost 10,000 people of your little town of Arlington.  See if you can try not to embarrass them or the bank where you make loans (thinking Old Man Potter) any more than you already have.  And good luck with that.  Given your level of religious bigotry and simple stupidity, I know it will be hard.

* Wiseman's Facebook page seems to have gone away, but he now has a (sort of) Russell Wiseman Facebook Fan Page.  Consider joining, won't you?

You may also give Rusty a shout out via email:  [email protected]

The Illinois Tollway provides yet another example in support of why people think government agencies are incompetent and not to be trusted

Apparently, to deal with the Illinois Tollway folks is to deal with incompetent nincompoops.

In July of 2008, I wrote this post about how we tried to pay a fine with the Illinois Tollway based on some I-Pass issues.  I assumed we were at fault, and I sent the tollway authority a check.  They sent it back, saying I didn't provide enough documentation, even though I sent them the violation notices.  This post still draws a few hits a week almost 18 months later, telling me a lot of people are frustrated with the tollway's incompetent attempts to collect money.

Eventually, the issue above supposedly was resolved over the phone.  We still got calls for a while but they finally stopped.

Today, we begin a new chapter in Illinois Tollway stupidity with our receipt of a letter from a certain Arnold Harris, Attorneys at Law.  Arnold's computer-generated form letter tells us we owe $213 in tolls, fines and late fees for three unpaid fines at the Beloit toll plaza.  My partner Tom passes through that plaza two times each weekday en route to and from his job.  Mind you, no letters or anything else ever showed up to suggest we blew through without paying.  One must assume that the tollway's technology is working, and one also must assume the transaction goes through since I-Pass transactions are conducted automatically at 55 miles per hour using equipment owned and operated by the Tollway Authority.

What's so ridiculous about this is that there was never any attempt, I am guessing, to cross reference this with the data in our I-Pass account.  Within two minutes, I was able to go online, access the account, and see that all three tolls were logged as paid. I know they are the same tolls because they are listed at the exact minute as the alleged non-paid tolls.

In other words, even though we have three I-Pass transponders registered to our account under the exact same names and address our cars are registered under, and the exact same names and address the collection notice was mailed to, neither the Tollway Authority nor Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law made any apparent attempt to cross-check this. 

Given that Illinois is in a world of financial hurt right now, as are many states, I'm sure they would much rather collect $213 than the actual $1.50 in actual tolls involved.  And no doubt Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law gets a nice percentage if they collect.  I'm not necessarily saying that the Tollway Authority or Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law are being deceitful, hoping that these kind of notices will just get paid.  Nor an I necessarily saying that the Tollway Authority and Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law are lazy and just simply didn't do their homework before trying to collect money they are not owed.  I am saying, however, that this kind of incompetency is why so many people little faith or confidence in government agencies.  I'm also saying that if you are a law firm that makes a living by threatening people with legal action, you may want to check to see if you have a freakin' case before anything else.  Little wonder why the average person has a low opinion of lawyers.

On Monday we'll fire off a leter with copies of the notice from Arnold and the documentation -- provided by the Tollway Authority's own web site -- to the Tollway Authority.  With a little luck, we'll have this all clear up by Christmas.  Christmas 2010.  Maybe.

Apparently, FOX News and its TeaBagging pals were able to engineer the spectacular loss of a House seat held by the GOP since before the Civil War. Oops!

Too funny.  De Facto Republican leadership at FOX News and the Tea Party folks have done what the Democrats have not been able to do in 70 elections.  They essentially lost the seat by forcing out the locally chosen Republican candidate in favor of a third-party conservative.

The list of supporters of Doug Hoffman includes Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Neal Cavuto, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, the Dick Armey, Rick Santorum, Geroge Pataki, Newt Gingrich and many more all lined up to trash regular Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava.  They called her all kinds of things beyond just being a RINO, and backed the otherwise unknown Doug Hoffman.

Democrat Bill Owens won.  Doug Hoffman lost.  He lost.  He fucking LOST.

Now, you know, this was a victory for real Republicans.  Real Republican Michelle Malkin says so...

Hoffman may have lost narrowly, but NY-23 is a much broader victory for conservatives who believe the Republican Party should stand for core limited government principles ....This is a victory of principle.

Better a donkey in office that acts like a donkey than a donkey in elephant’s clothing making a complete ass of the GOP.

Moreover, NY-23 is a victory for conservatives who refuse to be marginalized in the public square by either the unhinged left or the establishment right. A humble accountant from upstate New York exposed the hypocrisy of GOP leaders trying to solicit funds from conservatives by lambasting Pelosi and the Dems’ support for high taxes, Big Labor, and bigger government — while using conservatives’ money to subsidize a high-taxing, Big Labor-pandering, bigger government radical. The repercussions will be felt well beyond NY-23’s borders. Conservatives’ disgust with the status quo has been heard and felt. They have been silent too long. They will be silent no more.

OK, Michelle.  And you guys don't care about this stupid seat anyway.  Forget about how the de facto leaders at FOX News harped on how important this election as, and how it would be proof that the Tea Baggers were now calling the shots and that's how the Republican party is going to reclaim the throne they so rightly deserve.  That was before.  Before Hoffman lost.

Jed Lewison posted a montage over at DK, under the headline Engineering Defeat, that is about eight minutes worth of the several hours FOX News gave over to promoting this race and their special candidate...

The last time NY23 was not held by a Republican, it was held by a Whig.  Priceless.