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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Hatchet Piece on PalinI swear, you'd think she was the President the way the media can't resist kicking her at every opportunity. Todd Purdum slants his article from the word go: Despite her disastrous performance in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin is still the sexiest brand in Republican politics, with a lucrative book contract for her story. If there was a disastrous performance, it was by the mainstream media in 2008, which is part of the reason they're in so much trouble these days financially. The article is tendentious. The most unintentionally hilarious bit comes here: More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly. Yes, of course, lots of people have the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders lying around for convenient reference, and mention it commonly to traveling reporters. And how about a little pop psychology about the person who's actually the Vice President of the United States, and who's also a bully and an obnoxious jerk? And then there's this: What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded? What does her prominence say about the importance of having (or lacking) a record of achievement in public life? I dunno, what record of achievement in public life does President Obama have? Purdum's a hack writer and a liberal hired by Graydon Carter; for chrissakes his wife is Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary for Bill Clinton. In fact, since Bill came up, I'll let him have the last word on Purdum: "He's a really dishonest reporter," Clinton said during the tirade that followed, according to Fowler's report. "And I haven't read (the article). There's just five or six blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy."
Reminded that Purdum is married to his former press secretary Dee Dee Myers, Clinton responded in part: "That's all right - he's still a scumbag." The former president added: "He's just a dishonest guy - can't help it." Labels: Sarah Palin, Todd Purdum, Vanity Fair
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sotomayor Overruled on Firefighters CaseOoops. New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.
The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide and make it harder to prove discrimination when there is no evidence it was intentional. Labels: Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
Friday, June 19, 2009
Liberal Bloggers Condemn Supreme Court Decision in DNA CaseAnd get in some good old-fashioned Alito and Roberts-bashing. Take it away, Matt Yglesias: The two cases handed down yesterday are just two new additions to the trend observed by Jeffrey Toobin, “in every major case since he became the nation’s seventeenth Chief Justice, Roberts has sided with the prosecution over the defendant, the state over the condemned, the executive branch over the legislative, and the corporate defendant over the individual plaintiff.” That’s conservative jurisprudence in a nutshell. Over at the "Moderate Voice" there is a sigh of relief that Obama won the election and so terrible judges like this won't be nominated: George W. Bush was perfectly within his rights to select Roberts, and the Chief’s credentials remain everything they must be to hold his position. But the man has been nothing short of a disaster for the direction I want to see our highest court going, and if Obama does nothing else right, I hope he at least gets to beat back the tide there. Failing that, he needs to at least preserve the status quo. There's just one, teeny, tiny little problem. You see, the Obama Administration agrees with Judge Roberts on this one, as even the NY Times admits in a editorial thundering at the decision: We are also puzzled and disturbed by the Obama administration’s decision to side with Alaska in this case — continuing the Bush administration’s opposition to recognizing a right to access physical evidence for post-conviction DNA testing. This hints at the real problem in the case at hand. Alaska, where the case took place originally, does not allow a defendant access to DNA evidence (unlike 46 other states). In this particular instance, a convicted rapist has offered to use his own funds to pay for the DNA testing that could exonerate him. Although it is far from certain this would be the case; this particular defendant was convicted on a partial DNA profile anyway: The state used an old method, known as DQ-alpha testing, that could not identify, with great specificity, the person to whom the DNA belonged. The high court sided with Alaska in its refusal to grant Mr. Osborne access to the physical evidence, the semen. His intent was to obtain a more advanced DNA test that was not available at the time of his trial and that prosecutors agreed could almost definitively prove his guilt or innocence. I think the state of Alaska is wrong in this instance, and that they should change the laws. But at the same time, I applaud the Supreme Court for not finding another "right" in the constitution buried amid the emanences and penumbras.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Joan Walsh: CluelessI had to chuckle at this chuckleheaded column at Salon: If there's a through-line between any of these acts of terrorism and the right-wing rhetoric that abets it, of course, it's the one linking Bill O'Reilly to Scott Roeder, the man who murdered Tiller. O'Reilly more than demonized Tiller; night after night he called him a baby killer, compared him to the Nazis, and suggested that he must be stopped. Roeder stopped him, all right. If I were O'Reilly I'd feel terrible for putting a private figure in my public sights night after night, simply for doing his lawful job. But O'Reilly has no conscience, so he's proud of it. Well, it is nice to see a liberal standing up to oppose calling people "baby-killers" and comparing people to Nazis.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Lib Blogger OutedBy Ed Whelan at Bench Memos, "Publius" of Obsidian Wings. Some forthright condemnation from the right side of the blogs: The point is, there are a lot of good reasons for bloggers to remain anonymous and Ed Whalen has no right to decide differently just because he got steamed about someone’s response to his analysis. Did Publius commit a crime? Was he slandering Whalen? If not, Whalen’s fit of personal pique looks low, tawdry, childish, and vengeful. The closest Publius got to getting personal with Whelan was in calling him a “know-nothing demagogue.” And this was after making the point that Whelan knew better and was simply pandering to conservative sensibilities. And James Joyner: Jeopardizing a man’s career and family relationships over something so petty is simply shameful. I admit to being a bit torn here. On the one hand, a blog should stand or fall on the merits of the writing and the arguments made, not on the reputation of the writer. On the other hand, I am uncomfortable that the shield of internet anonymity not allow somebody to make poor arguments and lies just because he knows that they will not redound against him personally. I see no evidence however that was the case in this instance; about the worst that can be said for Publius is that he used ad hominems at times. Still, I don't have the benefit of anonymity, and I'm just a bit jealous at times of those who do. Labels: Ed Whelan, Publius
Greatest Liberal Book Title EverCharles Pierce should sell a great many copies of his book, Idiot America, subtitled How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free. Isn't that just a perfect title, encapsulating the real attitude of the left towards America? And why are we "idiots"? Because we don't endorse the liberal program. BTW, note where Pierce gained his fame: Enter Charlie Pierce, whose wickedly funny and incisive observations first wormed their way into my brain when I started listening years ago to NPR's game show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." In his new book, Idiot America, Pierce eviscerates this Epoch of “Dignitude” and bemoans the mainstreaming of the American Crank. Taking on the likes of would-be soapbox stars such as Jonah Goldberg (whose Liberal Fascism Pierce describes as having been "written with a paint roller"), the founders of the Creation Museum with its dressage saddle-wearing dinosaur, and the defendants in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Charlie Pierce pulls away the curtain on the selling techniques that have duped the country into its current state of imbecility. Yep, another America-hating crank who got his big start on NPR. Labels: Charles Pierce
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
To the Contrary, Ms. ErbeAn organization of conservative women bloggers contacted Bonnie Erbe to ask her for a condemnation of Playboy's recent "conservative women we'd love to have sex with while hating at the same time" article. They got it, but of course that twit Erbe couldn't resist making it half-hearted: A couple of caveats are in order. First, I probably disagree politically with much of SmartGirlPolitics.org's agenda--I know I disagree completely with the group's position on abortion rights. But as a nonpartisan, I'm also a firm believer in supporting all members of my gender when attacked due to their gender. I am supporting these women herewith.
I also want to note that at least one woman on the list is so venom-spewing, she unfortunately invites venom to be shot back at her: Michelle Malkin. Her posts and her "routine" are so venomous and predictable, in fact, I stopped paying attention to her years ago. Translation: I support all members of my gender when attacked due to their gender. Except the ones who deserve it. Labels: Bonnie Erbe, Michelle Malkin, Playboy
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
What's Wrong With the D-Backs?Hitting. Their main leftfielder is hitting .214. He's holding down the position because the other guy they've tried there is hitting .182. Their first baseman is hitting .203; his backup is hitting .179. And these are the hitters' positions; any moose can play leftfield. The centerfielder is hitting .174. Things are even worse when you consider that Chase Field is definitely a hitters' park; according to ESPN, it's the top park in the majors, with 43% more runs scored in D-Backs home games than on the road. Which means that those ugly batting averages are uglier than they would be in a normal ballpark.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Liberal Women I'd Like to RapeIf I actually put together a list like that, I don't think anybody would have any problem condemning me. Heck, I'd condemn myself. So let's see if the lefty bloggers punish Playboy for their infantile feature, GOP Women We'd Like to Hate F**k. I'd include some of the text, but it's absolutely unprintable. It's written by some turd named Guy Cimbalo, who apparently worked for sleazebag Madonna at one point. The good news is that the pornography industry is in the toilet, and I doubt Playboy will last. Labels: Guy Cimbalo
It's a Mystery To Me, TooThe Fed is apparently puzzled by the steepening of the yield curve: But the Fed is not really sure what is driving the sharp rise in long-dated bond yields, and especially a widening gap between short and long term yields.
Do rising U.S. Treasury yields and a steepening yield curve suggest an economic recovery is more certain, meaning less need for safe haven government bonds and a healthy demand for credit? If so, there might be less need for the Fed to expand the money supply by buying more U.S. Treasuries.
Or does the steepening yield curve mean investors are worried about the deterioration in the U.S. fiscal outlook, or the potential for a collapse in the U.S. dollar as the Fed floods the world with newly minted currency as part of its quantitative easing program. This might be an argument to augment to step up asset purchases. I don't think there's any doubt what's happening. The market is petrified by the amount of borrowing that Obama's proposing, and so they're demanding higher interest rates to offset the dual risks of default and inflation.
Lib Bloggers Blame Death of Abortion Doctor on Right-Wing Terrorists, But....Will they blame Left-Wing Terrorists if something bad happens to John Yoo? Sauce for the goose and all that.... Update: Cenk Uygur endorses waterboarding for this terrorist: Initial reports are that the suspect is an anti-abortion activist named Scott Roeder. Good enough. Let's torture the son of a bitch. Remember the people in Guantanamo Bay were just detainees, they were not convicted of anything before we started the "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Most of them didn't even have the verifiable criminal and terroristic history of Roeder who was previously arrested with bomb making material and has called murder of doctors "justifiable homicide" before. So, if you can't waterboard Roeder, then who can you waterboard? He is the perfect candidate. You never know, he might be aware of other extremists in the pro-life movement who are preparing to kill another abortionist. Good to see that Cenk has come to understand this point. Labels: Dr George Tiller, John Yoo
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