Sometimes, my dear readers, you run across examples of stupidity so blatant, so unutterably and ineffably Out There that you just can't really comment about it - you can only stand in awe.
Like this, courtesy of Salon and Gawker (partial transcript follows):
BRIAN KILMEADE: We keep marrying other species and other ethnics--
GRETCHEN CARLSON: Are you sure you are not suffering from some of the causes of dementia right now?
BRIAN KILMEADE: The problem is the Swedes have pure genes. They marry other Swedes, that's the rule. Finns marry other Finns; they have a pure society. In America we marry everybody. We will marry Italians and Irish.
DAVE BRIGGS: This study does not apply?
BRIAN KILMEADE: Does not apply to us.
[pause]
DAVE BRIGGS: Huh.
See what I mean, people? But that ain't all. Stand in awestruck silence at the stylings of Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina (I specify what state this jackass belongs to, because it'd be an insult to any other state). DeMint was at the National Press Club hawking his new book when he spewed this bit of abject nonsense:
"Part of what we're trying to do in Saving Freedom is just show that where we are, we're about where Germany was before World War II where they became a social democracy. You still had votes but the votes were just power grabs like you see in Iran, and other places in South America, like Chavez is running down in Venezuela. People become more dependent on the government so that they're easy to manipulate. And they keep voting for more government because that's where their security is. When our immigrants get here, they're worried, because they see it happening here."
So, open elections that don't result in Republican victories are "power grabs," Senator? Gee, what an illuminating outburst coming from a conservative Senator such as yourself.
Channels That Aren't Showing Michael Jackson's Tribute
And why they should.
Here we go:
National Geographic Channel - because Michael visited Africa once or twice. Sci-Fi Channel - because Michael was a bit of a scary guy. Food Network - because Michael did eat (at least I think he did). Animal Planet - because he loved animals (just ask Bubbles the Chimp). Cartoon Network - for those people who recall that wretched Jacksons cartoon back in the 70s. ESPN - because watching Michael's various vicissitudes could be seen as a sporting event (at least you could bet on the trial). Home Shopping Network - because they can make a mint today by selling Michael Jackson kitsch. Turner Classic Movies - because I'm certain that Michael's fans just won't get enough of The Wiz, Captain Eo, and Moonwalker.
And finally ...
The History Channel - because like it or not he's history now.
Sarah Palin says that she's answering a "higher calling" in announcing her resignation, adding that she can go national now and seek to unify the conservatives.
Pardon me for saying this, but this Bull Goose Loony has been pranging about the Lower 48 for far too long since the end of the 2008 election, to the detriment of the state she governs.* Her "higher calling" may be to raise as much money as possible to defend herself against any legal challenges (it is rumored that an indictment is in the offing).
Now, to any one in the Republican Party who has the merest moiety of their marbles,** Palin has managed to destroy whatever credibility she had left as a serious leadership voice in the Party. The Establishment has almost written her off and the GOPAQ (GOP al Qaeda, the rancid Base of the Party) is beyond help anyway, so the only "calling" she's possibly answering is the siren song of her bank account - or she's just delusional.
* She is still Governor until July 26th. ** My political and social leanings put me beyond the pale of the Party, so I consider myself smarter than most of the Party membership. So there.
Governor Sarah Palin (R-Crazyville North) has done what would be considered unthinkable for any sitting Governor with Presidential aspirations.
She's resigning, effective July 26:
I strongly suggest you listen to the entire rambling and almost-incoherent screed by the Wasilla Wonder. It's instructive, as well as amusing.
Now, why is she doing this?
Here my best guess:
Palin's trying to clear the lines to her rear - shake herself loose from her sagging popularity figures and the spate of ethics complaints that have been dogging her heels since 2008.
Reason?
She's planning on a run in 2012, although, as Jed Lewison over at Daily Kos points out, taking cheap shots at "lame duck" Governors going on overseas trade missions is rather odd. If she was so convinced that Alaskans liked her, she wouldn't have been a lame duck, but gotten re-elected.
I think the catalyzing event was the Vanity Fair article, as well as the ridicule surrounding her interview in Runner's World.
The major drawback to this is she's only been Governor for 30 months and about 8 months ago she thought she had a good shot as VPOTUS because she had more "executive experience" than Obama. Her contention in her video statement that she loves her job and is doing what is best for Alaska reveals a level of cognitive dissonance. If she wants to do the best for her state as the Governor, she needs to lead, pure and simple.
Not cut and run.
Good conservatives don't cut and run, Sarah. Unless, of course, you're Reagan in Lebanon - oops, shouldn't have brought that up.
So here is Sarah Palin, leaving office about midway through her first term, and MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell states that "sources" have told her that Palin's through with politics.
Don't believe it for a New York second, folks. This woman's got a taste of the Big Politics, and I doubt - for all her rambling basketball metaphors and the resurrection of Douglas MacArthur - that she's given up on making some kind of splash on the national scene.
Of course, though, she has made a splash nationally.
But that was more like an offering made on the Porcelain Altar.
Right-wing extremist heads are exploding as we speak, the "Establishment" pundit Charles Krauthammer is pontificating that she was never a serious candidate to start with (watch for this to be the New Truth in the coming days) and I'm sure the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party would love to have her as their candidate for President.
President of Alaska, of course.
So lay back and enjoy it this Fourth of July, folks - bask in the reflected glow of The Crazy as Governor Barracuda flames out.
Yesterday marked a milestone in our relationship with Iraq.
No, we haven't left yet - we're not that lucky.
Apart from small training cadres, we have pulled our troops out of the cities (a day early too), an occasion marked by fireworks and jubilant Iraqis dancing in the streets. It was also marked by a number of car bombs and suicides that have killed scores and reminded people that peace and order are still very fragile things in Iraq.
But it's no longer our primary task; that task is now shouldered by the 650,000 troops of the new Iraqi Defense Forces. I wish them well, so we can get the hell out of there.
As for the violence, don't listen to idiots like Feith, Cheney and Fox News - the violence was expected no matter when we left Iraq. We kept a lid on things, first by overwhelming force, then by paying Danegeld to the Sunnis so that they'd stop shooting at us and start shooting at the salafi jihadi groups that we lumped together in our simplistic way as "al-Qaeda in Iraq."
General Ray Odierno was on the news and refused to say how many troops are still based in the cities, but took the time to dip into the Two-Minute Hate on Iran (now that the protests are suppressed and we can go back to hatred and fear of the mullahs in Teheran).
Meanwhile, in a shadowy conference room, dark forces have gathered ...
To bid on Iraq's oil fields! Yes, indeedy! Just because the SOFA demands we leave Iraq doesn't mean that the oil companies can't start capitalizing on the secondary real reason we invaded Iraq.
What was the primary real reason, you ask?
Simple.
We invaded Iraq in order to make George W Bush feel like a man, of course.
Asahi Shimbun reports on its website that, for 49 years, the Government of Japan has had a naughty little secret.
Never mind the fact that the United States let the cat out of the bag in 2000. Successive governments in Tokyo have vigorously denied the secret's very existence.
The secret?
Way back in 1960, Japan and the United States agreed that the US could bring nuclear weapons into Japanese territory without prior consultation based on conditions.
Okay, war is a good condition - you can't stop when time's a-wasting.
But it's no longer a secret, so why continue to deny it? There's only so much that bureaucratic inertia can do, you know.
I posted a brief YouTube clip on my blog Monday, and yesterday I get a notice from Blogger saying that the blog's been locked pending review. It would appear (and quite erroneously, may I add) that My Two Cents was flagged as a spam blog.
I have requested a review, of course, rather than wait 20 days and have the blog deleted. I have quite a bit of stuff there that I don't want to lose.
A man of medium height and medium build, with medium brown hair cut medium length, and trying to hide the lurking madness visible behind his medium-blue eyes.
