The Curmudgeon

The regime loyalist contingent in the blogosphere got a special call to action this week from the White House. Yup, the criminal Republican regime is calling out its irregulars -the Drooling Crayonists- for some frantic scribbling and drool-soaked invective in support of the rolling atrocity exhibition. So, your Curmudgeon expects that the march of the lemmings will pick up the pace for a while with the apologist talking points.

Just remember- with each regurgitation, these folks are showing everyone where their loyalties lie. It isn't with the country. It isn't to the Constitution. It is to the regime. Their alleged patriotism got checked at the door, and they climbed on board to a cult of personality.

The ever-feinting, twisting shuffle of Norm "The Windsock" Coleman is trying a new step, or rather an old step in a new light. In today's Strib Letters section, the Windsock's communication director tries some, um, communicating, as regards the Senator's newly nuanced position on filibusters.

In the 109th Congress, we recall that the Windsock flew firmly with the majority Republican disdain for the filibuster. Back then, the GOP made rather loud noises about ending the process of the filibuster entirely, in what was called with bellicose fanfare 'the nuclear option'. However, the procedure remained intact in the Senate rules when the Democratic minority party promised that they wouldn't dare use it. In those days, Coleman didn't like filibusters, and he did like cloture votes to end filibusters.

Now that the Democratic party ostensibly enjoys majorities in both houses of Congress, the GOP has changed its tune about the filibuster. Radically so, in fact. Just seven months into the 110th Congress, the Senate Republicans have thrown up so many filibusters that the old record for filibusters in a Congressional term will not only be broken but shattered. Despite his 'oh-crap-I-gotta-be-seen-as-some-kinda-independent-thinker' re-election dance, the Windsock has continued his harmony with the Republicans. Now, when a cloture vote is called to end a filibuster, Coleman seems to find his vote goes to continue the filibuster.

Today's letter, though, argues that this is no flip-flop. His position hasn't changed, but it is the issue which has changed, the letter contends. Those filibusters, they aren't really filibusters, you see- it's just that the calls for cloture votes make them seem that way. The cloture calls, handed out by the Democratic leaders, those are the problem now.

One could walk away with the impression that by appearing to join in lockstep with the obstructionist Republicans in the Senate, Windsock Coleman is really trying to preserve the bipartisan nature of ongoing discussion. At least, that is the hope for the heavily spun trial balloon.

However, this Curmudgeon has seen the Star Wars films, and is well aware of the old Jedi mindtrick. It will take more than this to really fool the people in the state. Folks in Minnesota tend to pretty much know which droids we are looking for, and which ones we aren't, especially when it comes to the U.S. Senate.

The talking points have gone out from the criminal Republican regime, and all the bloviating regime loyalists have picked up their marching orders. Facing another round of subpoenas, moves for contempt charges stemming from the last round of subpoenas, and calls for investigating perjury charges for the Attorney General, the regime's responses have congealed from various forms of disregard and imperially dismissive snippets to a duplicitous and cynical contention that Congress is not doing "peoples' work". That work, the talking point goes on to explain, involves "healing the nation".

Prima facie, the talking point seems to offer a resonance, but any consideration beyond the most superficial reveals the truth behind the lie, the reality behind the faith. The underlying idea is to shift the focus from the criminal actions of the Republican regime to the legitimate actions of the Democratic-majority Congress. It attempts to capitalize on the abysmal approval rating for Congress, to paint the legislative branch as the responsible party for the nation's miasma.

I'll leave the bit about Congress 'doing the peoples' business' aside for a moment (check tomorrow's Fat Man Ranting podcast), save the brief comment that obstructionist Senate Republicans are well on the way to shattering the previous record for filibusters in a congressional term.

So, then, what of this talk of 'healing the nation'? Again, the metaphor of a nation in need of healing is not much of a stretch for anyone. The ambiguity of the idea, though, invites a dizzying array of equivocations; is this a wound which needs healing, or an illness, or a process of resolution from trauma? To address the 'healing' talking point by isolating on any one facet gives the regime's spin machine the response of redirection to a different facet. "No, no, no," we can hear Foxy the Snowman chiding reprovingly, "You've missed the point entirely. The real message is that the nation must resolve these issues (or heal this wound, or beat this illness)."

Of course, it is the criminal Republican regime's way which leads to this cure. The spin is then complete.

And it is complete bullshit, too.

You see, no matter how the healing metaphor gets constructed, following it through honestly arrives invariably to the conclusion that no matter how 'healing' is construed, it is a state of recovery from a Republican 'cure'. The wound of a divisive partisanship began with the Gingrich-poisoned spear thrust in the body politic in 1994, and in the time since has grown infected. The noxious malignancy of failed Republican policies which neglect, disrupt, and dismantle the very notion of governance in favour of a highly marketed bill of goods roughly the equivalent of a modern-age vassalage began with the dulcet-toned snake oil salesmanship of Ronald Reagan, and has metastasized under the current cabal of Republican miscreants. The process of resolution from the trauma of 9-11, exploited shamelessly by the Republican regime and their royal court of loyalists continues to haunt the nation to this day.

In each case, the 'healing' can only begin when that which necessitated it has been adequately addressed. The nation ought not and indeed, cannot, just learn to live with a spear of Republican partisanship impaling it. The nation cannot afford to endure the snake oil ministrations of Republican cures any longer; their leeches have for too long sapped the wealth of our nation. To truly resolve the trauma of 9-11, the nation must move beyond towards mature and responsible decisions which actually address the issue, and not cling in infantile paranoia to Republican fear- and war-mongering.

In other words, if Congress is to authentically heed a call to foster national healing, then it is absolutely vital that the criminal Republican elements infesting the nation must be brought under control. That's why the process of subpoenas, of investigations, of accountability, must continue.

The House is staying in the game of Constitutional chicken the criminal republican regime is forcing. The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold the President's cleaning lady Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton in contempt for ignoring subpoenas. The issue now goes to the House floor for a vote.

If approved by the entire House, the contempt charges will be handed over to the Department of Justice, which will then pursue action. Of course, if the DoJ doesn't pursue action, despite Fredo Gonzalez's desire to 'repair what has been broken', Congress still has the remedy of inherent contempt.

Of course, that's just borrowing trouble, really. I mean, this regime has been so dedicated to transparency and rule of law that such criminal cronyism would never happen, right?

Well, the good folks over at the PiPress let its readers learn today that when it comes to beer, Wisconsin supports it in an article with the headline of "When it comes to beer, Wisconsin supports it". And while the article expounded upon this theme, your Curmudgeon thinks the headline pretty much says it all for anyone who didn't already have that knowledge.

However, the comments section for the article devolved rather quickly into an odd Minnesota-Wisconsin playing of the dozens. I am not really sure why this rivalry chooses to express itself so frequently and so clumsily, but there it is, at every opportunity.

One comment especially stands out:

Dahmer and Gein? What about Liberace and Joseph McCarthy? God Bless Wisconsin.

*
Posted by: Jane

The irony or ironies of the above, intentional, unintentional or otherwise, will be left to the readers willing to parse it.

As for me, I think I'll have some beers (Grain Belt Premium) this afternoon.

It's another Monday, and the convicted criminal Republican Mark Olson has still not resigned, nor has he been removed from office.

Each week that this continues, Minnesota Republicans increase their enabling complicity in the matter. Each week, Minnesota Republicans continue to show everyone exactly who they are, and it ain't exactly what one would call family value-laden.

Unless, of course, domestic violence is a Republican 'family value'.

The blurb of news about the couple of hours when the Snarling Dick will be President tomorrow is making the rounds. While the Smirking Puppet gets a colonoscopy, power will be temporarily transfered.

But really, this is just an example of an unnecessary medical procedure for which we will foot the bill. I mean- honestly- hell- who can't discern that this would-be tyrant is a 100% world-class ASSHOLE? Can't he just open wide, say "Aaaah" and accomplish the same result?

The Republican obstructionists in the Senate have marched out onto the "wait til September" plank as regards the regime's failure in Iraq. The interim report shows that none of the benchmarks have been met, though the regime's spin gives the more generous estimation that progress is shown in 8 of 18 benchmarks (still a failing grade).

But that doesn't matter, we are told. September is what matters, we are told. Come September, the national discussion about Iraq can really begin, we are told.

All this prompts the question of what exactly can be accomplished by September that isn't mostly accomplished by now. After all, The Iraqi Parliament has hardly been a beehive of activity, let alone accomplishment, and will be on vacation the entire month of August.

So, again, what the hell is so magical about September? What could possibly happen in the meantime to improve the situation so radically?

The answer is a flat-out obvious nothing.

The question then becomes what will we the people hear come September about all this? Well, that answer came limping out today: wait 'til November. Yup, one of Gen Petraeus' deputies has gone on record stating that it will take at least until November to really assess the situation in Iraq.

Your Curmudgeon can hardly wait to hear the spin of the regime loyalists insisting that the regime is not simply trying to run out the clock to preserve their hubris.

It has been an interesting summer for Keith Ellison.

The Congressman for Minnesota's 5th district has been a favored and continual target of the right-wing drool and crayon crowd, and in the last week or so, the spittle has been flying hard and the scribbling has been furious. Their fevered frenzy achieved a measure of vindication; the latest fabricated outrage got a nod, wink, and tickle from the lame stream media as it got picked up and run through a cycle.

And if one wasn't careful in perusing the news, that might be all that gets noticed: the drummed-up noise, the smear job, and the underlying chance to recycle the hysterical "he's black, he's Muslim, he's a BLACK MUSLIM" meme. Your Curmudgeon cannot help but think the noise is intentional, and even necessary. Without all the noise, a progressive, populist signal would be there, in the news. It wouldn't be nearly as loud- but it would be there.

That progressive, populist signal -what Ellison is actually doing, and trying to do- tells a vastly different story than the drool and crayon noise contingent's distortion. Ellison signed onto a growing list of legislators who want to pursue impeachment of Snarling Dick Cheney this summer. That is a symbolic move, at least for now. Still, as the criminal Republican regime's utter contempt for rule of law becomes more transparently obvious, that symbolic move might get real traction.

Ellison is also championing legislative reforms which would prove to be a boon to the finances of the middle- and working- class people. He's pushing legislation which would reform bankruptcy law to help people avoid losing their homes, and legislation which would reform the mortgage lending industry to end predatory lending practices. That's American Dream stuff, there, and Ellison is at the vanguard.

Hmmm, you don't suppose that the actual agenda Ellison is following -one of accountability to rule of law, of reforming industry practices that prey on the vulnerable- you don't suppose that agenda is what is driving the need for the noise, do you? Those reform-minded initiatives would get the notice of the corporate interests who exploit those practices. It's a sure bet that those interests don't want their scam to get busted, and if they can smear one of the reformers to discredit the initiatives, they'd leap at the chance.

Creating that distracting noise is no problem. There will always be the haters agitating, sometimes even being financed to agitate. That stream can get tapped at any time, perhaps by a local think-tank plant columnist, perhaps by Drudge, and find luft in the corporate controlled lame stream media. Voila! The noise is created, and the signal is drowned out.

Who cares about those legislative initiatives? Hell, who has heard about them- when the far more salacious noise is so prevalent?

If anyone was wondering whether Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was regretting his decision to hitch his political dream wagon to the McCain presidential campaign, they got their answer yesterday. Pawlenty is standing by his man.

Consequently, as with most things Pawlenty, this Curmudgeon expects that the Gov will be sawing through his chains to the doomed candidate soon.

It is, after all, Pawlenty's record to feign one stance while pursuing another. In some instances, this manifests as the Gov bowing to popular opinion before returning to the same old Pawlenty. Recall that all his overtures towards bipartisanship and comity after re-election dissipated like so much happy smoke as the legislative season wore on. The move to provide health insurance coverage to all children in Minnesota gave Pawlenty a definite bump with the liberals in the state, and the ultimate result of that initiative -a nuanced, spinnable victory, but in all practicality, a defeat- mollified the churlish conservative base.

With his support and ties to McCain, it is more seemly for the Gov (and campaign co-chair) to make a resolute stand. For now. It would be a mistake, however, to think that Pawlenty is actually lashing himself to the mast of the sinking ship. His escape boat is probably being readied even now.

In this installment in the occasional series by your faithful Curmudgeon, the Republican characteristic of playing the victim card will be explored. Despite their hyperbloviations about 'victimhood', the reality is that Republicans often frame themselves as being victims. In fact, it is not uncommon for a Republican to lead with the 'victim card'.

There's been more than a few examples of this Republican trait in the news recently. Faced with a FEC investigation, the Minnesota GOP claims victimhood. The issue then becomes not whether the state GOP has some financial irregularities, or whether the Republicans fired somebody drawing attention to evidence of those irregularities (rather than, mmm, take responsibility and address the problems), but rather the Republicans are being victimized. Further, the state GOP spokeswhiner got a smear in on their preference for DFL Senate candidate Al 'The Entitled' Franken, blaming the complaint sparking the FEC investigation on a "Franken Flunky".

Oh, so the story in the eyes of the Minnesota GOP is that they're being victimized, and victimized by the shadowy tentacles of Al Franken, no less. Being investigated for financial irregularities, not so much. And actually reforming the grounds from which the complaint sprang? Hell no. It's all about being a victim, a Republican victim.

Staying in the state of Minnesota, convicted criminal Republican Mark Olson also played a couple of different victim cards recently. First, Olson offered a transcendentally cynical defense of victimhood as he faced charges of domestic violence. Olson claimed that the actions -his actions- which landed his Republican ass in court were the result of years of abuse he suffered. Cutting to the chase, Olson was the victim here. At least, according to him.

That contention didn't pan out so well for the Republican, and he was found guilty. It didn't stop Olson, however, from playing another victim card in the post-trial news conference. The court itself got in the way of his 'family values' and victimized him by holding him accountable for his own actions. Republican Mark Olson just wanted to keep his domestic violence within the confines of his family, but law enforcement and the legal system chose to make him the victim. I guess that the notion of responsibility itself made him a victim, too. Because, you know, if a Republican is a victim, then nothing can be their fault...

The whoremongering Republican Senator David Vitter went into seclusion as the news broke about his phone number appearing on the DC Madam's phone records. Vitter stayed in seclusion as more reports about his whoremongering broke. When the disgraced Republican finally emerged, his defense was that he was being victimized. By the press. By reality. You name it, and Vitter was being victimized by it.

Yeah, the Republicans will spew long and hard about the evils of continually playing the victim card. But when push comes to shove, and often times even before that, it is the Republican thing to do to claim victimhood.

Al 'The Entitled' Franken has a problem. He wants to take Windsock Norm Coleman's Senate seat. While he has proven that fundraising isn't a significant challenge for his campaign, Franken doesn't have any sort of record of public service. That lack of public-service accomplishments would be a vulnerability for any Senatorial candidate, but when that candidate is trying desperately to recast his image as an heir to Paul Wellstone, 'vulnerability' doesn't quite encompass the ginormity of the weakness.

That is a problem for Franken. He's trying to run a campaign that taps a progressive, populist vein, but he's not been much of a populist (and he isn't much of a progressive, either, but that's another thing altogether). He's a celebrity returning to Minnesota hoping to bank on the 'hometown boy made good' sentiment. That's hardly a 'man of the people' story.

How will Al The Entitled get the 'grass roots' base here in Minnesota? He'll buy it, of course. By taking the long green the Franken campaign nets from out-of-staters and spending it on another out-of-state firm to create a small-dollar donor fund-raising infrastructure in-state, the Franken campaign hopes to fabricate a progressive facade. It isn't quite the Republican method of astro-turfing. Al The Entitled is not just creating fronts of phony support, he's paying to create a grassroots structure. Call it 'landscaping', or, perhaps better, 'sodding'.

No matter how it gets sliced, though, this Franken campaign tactic is about raising the serious money from folks who won't be represented by a Senator Franken. The out-of-state money gets used to create in-state money, but that is NOT the same thing as just getting the money from in-state.

Once or twice a year, Harry Reid will break into whichever Republican purse houses his balls, liberate them, and actually do something that gives people the impression he isn't the gelding he so clearly is the rest of the damn time. I guess the occasion of trying to get an up-or-down vote on an Iraq withdrawal measure is enough for Majority Leader Milquetoast to do his One Big Move routine again.

Yes, the Senate Majority Leader has threatened to make the obstructionist Republicans actually filibuster right there on the Senate floor all night tomorrow if that vote isn't forthcoming. The escort services in DC will be probably a lot slower as a result, especially since there was a big "Welcome Back Vitter" party in the works.

Be forewarned, gentle reader: this will likely make for some craptastic CSPAN2 teevee. It won't be Night Flight.

It won't even be the gawd-awful howler monkey Gilbert Gottfried's "Up All Night".

It will be old, old Republicans fighting off the urge to crawl into their crypts as the night-time hours pass. The excitement, if indeed such a word applies, will be in seeing what crazy shit they'll say in the wee hours, when they wear down and the subconscious starts speaking...

Just a couple of quick observations for now:

Former IotM Par Ridder seems to have the "W" touch. He seems to create neither fawning friends nor leave shining successes in his wake. While he was at the Pioneer Press, the paper was a long stretch of bad road. The signal was an occasionally appearing blip amid an ocean of grey noise. Ridder leaves to go to the Strib, and the PiPress starts to show signs of life, while the Strib starts to circle the drain.

While Par is still amid a trial about taking sensitive confidential information from the PiPress, he's also facing a rather united voice of discontent from the rank-and file of the Stib. Strib members of the Newspaper Guild will be voting tomorrow on whether to call for Ridder's resignation. While this is likely to be every bit as non-effective as a vote of no-confidence in Congress, it still shows that Ridder tends to foul up whatever sandbox in which he finds himself.

Reigning IotM Mark Olson, convicted criminal Republican state legislator, still hasn't resigned. The ignoranus does not intend to resign, either, as he made clear in his post-trial comments (here is a link to KARE-11's video coverage).

Olson goes further, well beyond the bounds of credulity already broken with his 'battered husband' defense from the trial. His position insists that the defense didn't amount to blaming the victim, which indicates that the Big Lake Republican is in pretty heavy denial. Olson's further statements about how he never wanted this to become public, and how this whole trial thingy really put a damper on his family, cement him up to his ass at the ugly far of of the denial swamp.

Apparently, the convicted criminal Republican feels that it was more wrong for the public to hold him accountable for his actions than it was for him to act criminally in the first place.

Republican Mark Olson (and reigning Ignoranus of the Moment) is now a convicted criminal. His "battered husband" defense proved not to be fully up to the task, as he was acquitted of one of the two charges.

Olson was convicted on the charge of causing or intending to cause fear of bodily harm. Sounds a bit like terrorism, no? Ah, smell those Republican family values.

Last year around this time, those of us in and around the Twin Cities metro area were entreated almost daily to stories speculative and pandering about landing a national political convention. We'd get stories about what a great thing it would be for the cities and the state; it was to be a financial windfall, and a prolonged PR campaign for the wonders of Urban Life, Minnesota-style. The sunshine and smoke competed for space in the media jet stream blown right up our collective butts.

As it unfolded, the GOP swooped in and chose St Paul, while the Democratic party was still hemming and hawing trying to make a decision. The initial news gave your Curmudgeon pause to grumble a bit. The subsequent news- that the convention will overlap with the State Fair, that the traffic congestion will be hellish, that an open-air detention center is coming to house protesters, that the funding outlay to host the convention is not exactly streaming in- all intensified the grumbling.

Imagine, if you will, the furrow on my brow deepening while reading news about another political convention possibly coming to town next summer- this time Minneapolis. Yeah, the Green Party is considering having their convention here. Minneapolis is in competition with Chicago and Detroit for hosting the Greens, with a decision expected by Aug 15.

To be frank- that furrow really isn't so deep. The major bugaboos with the GOP convention are not looking to surface with this convention. The Greens won't be the tens of thousands crush that the GOP convention will be. It is doubtful that the security for the Greens convention will require coordination with the National Guard. More importantly- no financial outlay will be needed to host the damn thing.

Would that there be more political parties like the Greens- or, for that matter, the Libertarians! Instead of the big two monoliths trying to encompass massive swaths of the political spectrum, with factions within each party struggling for dominance, why not several parties along the spectrum representing each faction? The progressives along the left could shake themselves free of the DLC, and the theocratic factions could get the representation they want without having to mitigate their platform with the corporatists. Old school Republicans could reclaim their own ground, rather than having to drag the albatross of the current criminal regime too much. The 'middle grounders' could found a Fence Sitting Party, and muddle about as they are wont.

With more, and smaller political parties, it seems to me that the national conversation would be no doubt more complex, but inherently more honest. Each party could establish actual, authentic platforms, rather than the nearly-irrelevant monstrosities that appease many but represent in the end very few. A greater number of parties would also mean that no one party could dominate the entire political process- and to make progress politically, authentic cooperation and compromise would need to be engaged.

The conventions of these parties, too, would stop being boondoggles like the GOP and Democratic conventions will be. Smaller parties would mean smaller conventions, and smaller conventions would be much easier for locations to absorb. Such a thing could also mean that the nation could be spared a three hour prime-time broadcast commercial for nights on end. No matter where one stands in the political spectrum, that would be a point of nearly universal approval.

So, let me get this straight. The interim report on this criminal Republican regime's troop escalation policy shows that none of the benchmarks are met, but the Smirking Puppet nonetheless marks 8 of the 18 benchmarks as making 'satisfactory progress', with 2 more "too close to call". One would hope that the Iraqi Parliament- which isn't expected to hold session this week, and plans on taking all of August off- has some secret plan to cram all-nighters to make the grade by September.

Despite a CIA report from last November that the Iraq government was irreversibly damaged, this benighted boob playing President contends that progress is being made. In fact, he actually insinuated that CIA Michael Hayden was on board with his 'stay the course, keep the surge going' gameplan.

Enough progress, he insists, for Congress to release funds which were contingent upon Iraq successfully meeting these benchmarks. I am guessing that Iraq may need that money, because $282 MILLION (in American dollars, btw) was stolen from the Dar Es Salaam bank in Baghdad just yesterday. (A quarter of a billion dollars? Criminy, that's Neil Bush-type theft!)

Pardon me for saying so here, but it really seems like the bloviations of this criminal Republican regime are painting one picture, while reality indicates an entirely different, and decidedly more grim, situation. When a person cannot abide a reality, when the actual situation is so loathsome that the person cannot bear nor function within it, that person can have a psychotic break, where a more pleasing, tolerable, but thoroughly fictional 'reality' is created. Your Curmudgeon humbly submits that this criminal Republican regime is exhibiting signs of such a psychotic break.

Just this week alone, the American people have been treated to the head of Homeland Security hyping fears of more terrorist attacks based on his gut feelings one day. Two days later he finds himself insisting that al qaeda is substantially weakened entity, despite a new National Intelligence Estimate which says that it has regrouped and rebuilt itself.

We, the people, are thus left to trust a gut feeling rather than the NIE. Now, I am sure that the drool and crayon contingent will eat this crap up and ask for seconds. As for the rest of us? I don't know... how willing are you to continue to be led around in a psychotic's reality?

It was one thing when the drool and crayon set decided to spew the hate at Rep Keith Ellison; they gotta hate something, always. One supposes that if there was nothing else serving as an object of their duplicitous, self-serving scorn, the blogs of the right would heap scorn upon a single blade of grass for being green. It is somewhat easier to let these sad, mad cretins pass without comment, because theirs is a grand circle jerk of the cocktail weenies, an angry sermon to the choir, fraught with compensation, denial, myopia, and a rabid need to be led.

It is another thing altogether when "Turkey Flaps" Katherine Kersten dons her Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS outfit and takes her revisionist history texts to smear Ellison. Like a raw carcass left out on the picnic table since Independence Day, the foul stench emanating from Turkey Flaps column is a sickening, noxious miasma. Her continued presence in the turd that is the Strib swirling around the toilet hastens its death swirl under the inept guidance of Par Ridder.

Turkey Flaps took umbrage at comparing this criminal Republican regime to totalitarian, authoritarian regimes. The difference, she asserts is that the totalitarians torture... could someone please direct her to review Abu Ghraib, or any of the news items indicating that this regime is actively engaging in torture?

The real meat of the Turkey Flaps' spew was in decrying even mentioning the Reichstag fire in 1933 in comparison to the way this regime has conducted itself in the wake of 9-11. It must have really touched a nerve, because she went out of her way to include some revisionism about the Reichstag fire- set by the Nazis to propel them to power. Nope, according to Ilsa, er, Turkey Flaps, it was set by a lone gunman, or something like that. In the toxic, psychotic world of Turkey Flaps, not only is it absolute heresy to question the power grab by this criminal Republican regime in the wake of their failure to prevent 9-11, it is even a 'controversy' to suggest the Nazis conducted the Reichstag fire to further their goals.

So this criminal Republican regime didn't flood the streets with brownshirts. They certainly did put a chokehold on the media, and brought them into lapdog status. They certainly did grab the civil rights of the people with their warrantless domestic spying pogrom. They certainly did paint any dissenters as being essentially unamerican- and they continue to do so. Rule of law, to these obscene bastards, is just another hurdle to ignore as they strive to establish a psychotic cult of personality- subpoenas don't matter, any disagreeable verdicts can and will be amended to be more pleasing to the dear fucking leader.

Rep. Ellison stepped on her jack boots, and scuffed them up a bit. He dared to challenge her radical revisionism, and took the shine off her apple of fascist fervor. Good for him- and us.

Of all the myriad utter falsehoods that the rightwing tells about themselves, the most galling is that they and only they support the troops. Whether it is their unquestioning cheerleading for any republican warmongering to come down the pike, or their misguided belief that a magnetic ribbon is sufficient to establish their 'patriotism', the drool and crayon crowd wrap their splotchy white asses in the flag and bloviate that their lemming act is the only way to be a real American.

The reality (yeah, the 'r' word that sticks uncomfortably in their republican pencil-thin necks) of the situation is that it is precisely this sect which has cheered as the nation's military and National Guard has been treated with complete contempt by this criminal Republican regime. It was this criminal Republican regime who lied the nation into the Iraq war crime. It was this criminal Republican regime which failed to adequately supply the troops with armor and equipment. It was the criminal Republican regime that implemented policies extending the tours of active duty and reducing downtime between deployments. It was the criminal Republican regime that deployed so much of the National Guard that individual state's emergency preparedness suffered.

Nope, the rightwing fucktard contingent not only doesn't support the troops, they're also not too fond of much anything about even the idea of the United States.

Witness the latest evidence- as the Republicans sustained a filibuster to effectively kill Virginia Democrat Jim Webb's S. 2012, which would have placed strict limits on National Guard and reserve deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as mandating more downtime at home before active-duty combat troops are returned to battle. John Boehner can blubber his ass off in the House when it comes to funneling money to no-bid contractors and call it supporting the troops, but when actual legislation which would actually support the troops comes along, Republicans would rather not EVEN vote on it.

It takes a special type of chutzpah, a certain cynicism, to be Mark Olson, your Curmudgeon imagines. Olson, it is recalled, first received the laureled sphincter and Ignoranus of the Moment title in the wake of the 2006 midterm elections when the rabid "family values" Republican was charged with spousal abuse. While hypocrisy and Republican go together like stink and skunk, it was the blatant nature of the news which garnered Olson the first title.

Now, as his case goes to trial, Olson again gets the ignominy of the IotM designation for announcing that his lawyer will use the battered husband defense. It isn't so much that he's claiming to be a battered husband (though his counsel is alleging some 2 and half years of maltreatment), but that THIS is the defense they've settled upon. I guess Olson couldn't afford the Chewbacca Defense.

Something isn't sitting right here. At the time he was charged, Olson was full of expressions of regret, seeking forgiveness, and swearing he wouldn't do it again. Now, well, the Republican is seeking to portray himself as some manner of victim- which another favored tactic of the 'personal responsibility' crowd.

Forgive me for not buying it. For whatever it is worth, neither is his niece.

This isn't a chess game, where one plays a Sveshnikov Sicilian or a Kings Indian game. Or at least, it shouldn't be. To recognize that, though, requires a level of integrity and decency which is clearly far above the level of the likes of the Republican Mark Olson. Nope, to this well-deserving Ignoranus, a trial is a time to do whatever it takes to squirm out of taking responsibility for one's criminal action.

Way way back in March, it seemed the politically expedient to let Alberto "Torture King" Gonzalez out to pasture ala Rumsferatu Rumsfeld, knowing even then that Gonzalez would find his way back into the inner circle of this regime via a backdoor, just like Rumsfeld. But that was simply not to be- Fredo Gonzalez would return again and again to weasel around as much as he could, and give conflicting stories only when cornered by Congressional committee.

And again. Today the Washington Post reported that Gonzalez had received no less than a half dozen reports documenting FBI violations of civil rights before he stood in front of Congress and lied his ass off told them that no such abuses had occurred when seeking to get the USA PATRIOT act re-authorized. The trial balloon getting floated in response is that while Fredo has received the reports, he may not have read them.

Wanna bet that when he is asked about it, Gonzalez's memory might be, uh, fuzzy? Even if he is informed in writing beforehand that he will be asked that question?

At least one Democratic Congressman has had enough. Rep Gerold Nadler (D-NY) is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the labyrinthine misleading statements given to Congress by the Attorney General.

I suppose, in retrospect, it would have been common sense to dismiss Gonzalez back in March. It might have been considered common decency to dismiss him by Memorial Day. But we're past Independence Day now, and it is just as clear that this criminal, corrupt Republican regime is utterly devoid of sense or decency, common or otherwise.

Michele "Breeder" Bachmann got back from her first trip through the war-ravaged Middle East with new bloody pom-poms and the same old "stay the course" cheer for the ongoing atrocity exhibition that is the regime's involvement in Iraq. The surge, she thinks (apparently reading off Tony Snow's script), just needs a little more time to work.

In a nation where other GOP legislators, concerned about their dwindling re-election prospects, are breaking away from the regime, Breeder Bachmann has sunk her claws even deeper into the regime. Like her death-clutch on the Smirking Puppet at the State of the Union address, she just won't let go.

I suppose one could paint Senator Norm Coleman as a tragic figure; a smarmy hollow entity who got where he got by blowing whichever way the wind told him, now caught between storm fronts. Once in the DFL, then twisting to the GOP, and now, as his re-election bid draws nigh, finds himself without sufficiently prevailing currents to guide his next stance. One could take that route. That one is definitely not the Curmudgeon.

Nope, Windsock Coleman is deserving everything he is getting, and will be getting. It is the price to pay for his tactic of bending to every pressure, not so much to represent the will of the people, but to further his own political career. He stands, in so much as such a light and hollow entity as himself can stand, ready to abandon the rabid rightwing drool and crayon set that brought him in favor of a hastily constructed facade of political independence.

The thing is, the drool and crayon crowd ain't having none of that. In their blurred and fevered vision Coleman's their bitch, a simpering little also ran who got the seat only because Wellstone met a tragic end, and by gum, Coleman's gonna stay their bitch if he know what's good for him. If Coleman strays from their accepted canon of failed conservatism, he'll lose their support.

However, the reality is that the bullshit behind the drool and crayon bloviations is showing. The reality is that the nation in general, and Minnesota in particular is guided more by a progressive vision when it comes to the issues. As this reality becomes increasingly obvious, as people begin to really pay attention to political matters, the myth of the 'right wing majority' disappears, vanishes into putrid vapours emanating from a dead elephant's prolapsed rectum.

Here is where Coleman is utterly caught, though. He's pulled the switcheroo from DFL to GOP, and switching back will not find open, welcoming arms. Folks are onto his game now. Norm's carried too much of the regime's water, he's blown unquestioningly along with the GOP gale of destruction. Jumping ship now isn't a crisis of conscience, it is just another rat jumping from a blazing scow.

In a time when people were not paying as much attention to politics and politicians, Coleman's strategy could have worked. At any time when attention was thrust upon him, he would have been in at least marginally favorable light. However, the windsock strategy really falls apart with a conscious and active political population. Getting caught in breach, as Windsock Coleman has, could be seen as tragic, especially by Coleman himself. But in your Curmudgeon's estimation, he may be the only one.

It has been a weird week, a week which points out that when the higher echelons of the ruling elite have a psychotic break from reality, separate 'realities' result. Two items today especially highlight this phenomenon: (or would that be "phenomena"?)

• The dismissal of the warrantless spying case. The grounds for the dismissal is that the plaintiffs couldn't prove they were being wiretapped, and therefore didn't have standing. And they can't find out if they are being wiretapped, because that information is, according to this imperial regime, a state secret. If you're thinking "Catch-22" here, you're not alone...
• Rupert thinks he bought it, the Wall Street Journal thinks he didn't. Perhaps we'll end up with two WSJ's- who knows? "Wall Street Journals- the daily diaries of the psychotic american nightmares"... It wouldn't be any more surreal than anything else.

It was extremely annoying last year, when the state legislature was confined to issues of building sports stadiums. The rounds of squabbles over the cost of the properties upon which this shrine to baseball transcended the realm of the annoying. But now comes news that the taxpayers of Hennepin county will be on the hook to pay the lawyers to hash all this out, and your faithful Curmudgeon has about freaking had it with the lot of 'em. While various millionaires and would-be millionaires square off in milking the cash-cow that is the new Twins Baseball stadium, one thing is becoming more and more clear; the folks who are profiting most from this are not the ones who will be paying for it.

Nope, it is you and I who will be footing the bill, which seems to grow daily. What do we get for this? Do we get affordable ticket prices? Do we get to bring in our own food and beverages to bypass the cash siphon that is the concession business? Do we get to share in the revenues? Hell no. We get to pay, and pay, and pay some more.

And, indeed, we will be paying yet more again as the Vikings' stadium comes looking for a spot at the public trough next year.

All this public financing of venues for private profit without any corresponding proportionate public benefit is utter lunacy. As the metro slouches into the 21st century, the mass transit system and other vital public infrastructure waits to approach the late 20th century. Our public school systems aren't doing so hot, either, and the most vulnerable in our community continue to become more vulnerable. For a fraction of the cost of one of these stadiums, real progress could be made on the more pressing issues.

That ain't gonna happen. Nope, not at all. It's more important to make the rich richer at our detriment, and even to pay the attorneys who make it more expensive to happen.

The Wall Street Journal (the pre-Murdoch corrupted version, even), of all places, has come to a startling conclusion as regards overentitled kids. Jeff Zaslow has cogitated on this, and has concluded that we can and should blame

...Fred Freaking Rogers.

Somehow, a half-hour PBS TV show that kids quickly outgrew is responsible for another generation of "These Damn Kids Today". Corrupted for life, courtesy of Mr. Rogers.

This, from the "Daily Diary of the American Dream"?

How sad, how typically republican, to divert blame to a scapegoat rather than accept responsibility. I'd just wager that the parents of these overentitled kids had far, far more to do with the state of overentitlement than Fred Rogers.

I bet Fred Rogers didn't call up the kids' teachers and school administrators and browbeat them for better grades for their precious spawn. I bet it was the parents.

I bet Fred Rogers didn't get into fistfights and rack themselves into credit card debt to get their kidlings the latest craze toy for Xmas. I bet it was the parents.

I bet Fred Rogers didn't buy their little princes or princesses a new freaking car as soon as they could be licensed to drive. Nope, I bet it was the parents.

I bet Fred Rogers didn't model behaviour demonstrating it was a gawd-given right to act like a freaking boor at all times. I bet it was the parents.

No, the WSJ can save this parade of bullshit, really. PBS and Fred Rogers hardly have an infinitesimal fraction of the power that parents have in forming the type of adults their kids become. Even acknowledging that this power goes abdicated partially or entirely by some parents, it isn't PBS and Fred Rogers hanging out in the park waiting to swoop into the breach.

But the WSJ wants to pour the hate on anything doing anything remotely socially positive with our taxdollars(especially when there is the chance that those funds can go directly into the pockets of the wealthy elite), so it's time to target Mr. Rogers.

Really, we have got to start doing better.

Here's a bit of wisdom I gleaned in my first night as a bouncer: when a person with well-known history of aggression and hatred of another person seeks closer proximity to the object of their antipathy, you have to watch the situation like a hawk, because trouble is almost certain to follow. It doesn't matter what the encroaching party says at all; it's all about stirring the pot.

Stirring the pot this time is a group of radical activists nestling closer to Planned Parenthood in St. Paul. A building two doors from the Planned Parenthood clinic has finally hit the market, and the Highland LifeCare Center folks are looking to buy it. Of course, they're not looking to start trouble. Uh-uh.

This move certainly fits the national pattern of these sorts of theocratic activists. Since their previous methods of terrorist attacks on women's clinics has fallen out of favor, the new strategy is to get property as close to the clinics as possible and conduct their thuggish 'protests' from there. It's all about the intimidation, about choking off womens' access to privacy in their health care decisions.

It is days like yesterday which illustrate exactly why I am a Curmudgeon. Storm clouds gathered along all fronts, from all sides- and I just didn't know where to begin. There's never a dearth of news, ever. The news- when a person really digs and looks beyond the sunshine and lollypops pollyanna crapfest that is the domestic lamestream media- is an embarassment of shameful riches. If you're not outraged, the bumper sticker goes, you're not paying attention. This leaves out the corollary- when you do pay attention, you may find the outrage to be so overwhelming that you just shut down. Heading into yesterday, we had (in no particular order):

Read more! »

To think- I thought this might be a slow news week. Great Caesar's ghost, where to freaking start? There's a lot to cover this week. Cover it I shall, too.

But after I take the afternoon to go see SiCKO. Then there will be even more to talk about.

The deluge should start later tonight.

Michele "Breeder" Bachmann is making her first trip to the Middle East. It is about time, really, considering how she has been a glassy-eyed cheerleader for the warcrime into which the regime has lied the nation. It wouldn't be prudent to expect, or even hope, that she will have some moment of clarity in which her conscience speaks to her. Nope, expect a sunshiney upbeat report of bizarro-reality upon her return.

It's Canada Day! I have an overt admiration for Canada, and this admiration brims over with nothing short of enthusiasm on Canada Day. This is one of two days (the other is the start of the NHL regular season) that certainly tries my wife's patience, to be sure, as she endures my incessant rants about the benefits of a Parliamentary system, national health care, and a culture that embraces curling and hockey.

While it is indisputably a day of celebration for me, Canada Day also brings more than a few pangs of nostalgia, too. I miss the time when I lived right on the Quebec/Vermont border- the remote nature of the area gave the distinct feeling of being remote from the fray, of being well off the political radar screen. I miss the influence of Canadian culture- relaxed, good humoured, charming, and well-informed.

Anyway, it is Canada Day. You can follow the festivities as covered by CBC here, and take a little Canada Day quiz here (the Curmudgeon got 13 of 14). As for me, well, I'll listen to Lyndon Slewidge's rendition of "O Canada", maybe watch a tivo'ed Hockey Night in Canada, or maybe an old Royal Canadian Air Farce.