you were expecting something intelligent out of tancredo's mouth?

oh, and i think the republicans are making excellent progress in their bid to revive the no-nothing party.

With the hottest decade on Record just past, glaciers dissapearing all over the globe, rising acidity in oceans, deserts getting larger in the northern hemisphere, sea levels rising and drought all over the world, there apparently is no evidence that global climate change is anything more than a powerpoint presentation.

I need a lobotomy to keep up with the dumb.

Does Tancredo think the teabaggers can pass a civics test? bwahahahaha

Next joke, please.

"With Republicans no longer willing to compromise"

Were they ever willing?

I'll take Tancredo's grand bargain. Put together a sane, factual test and we'll throw out all the Teabaggers.

"economic officials in North Korea"

wait, what?

How about a civics/literary test for all people running for public office?

"On tap in the House next week: "The House of Representatives plans next week to vote on -- and probably approve -- a measure to strip health insurers' antitrust protections, which will be Congress' first step this year to try to overhaul the nation's health care system.""

Wait... you mean congress can pass narrow popular bills that will make incremental improvements to the health care situation in the US? God if only we had thought of this sooner maybe the last year wouldn't have been wasted trying to give insurance companies a huge windfall.

You know how dems have pointed out that the GOP has been wrong over and over again and maybe the right should listen to those were correct (i.e. the left) on matters from taxes to foreign policy?

Yeah well progressives need to make that exact same point to the idiot moderate dems who run the dem party leadership. And hint- if you have at any time said "pass. the. damn. bill." you're one of those who needs to learn to listen rather than speak.

Look for Kim Jong Il to try and spark another bogus nuclear confrontation with the U.S. in the near future. That's what he always does when things start getting hairy.

I like what Nancy Pelosi said.
It starts with the House and she hasn't given up.
Probably, the health care debate has gone low profile. Obama said, in effect, that it might not make it through congress. Good way to take the focus off of it.
Dodd is worried about Dodd.
The financial regulation is going to be a huge battle. eople need to contact their Reps and Senators and make it clear that the crooks need to be brought under control.

Message to Maude. Learn to spell.

“And at the Tea Party ‘convention’ today, former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) told unhinged activists that President Obama was only elected because ‘we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country’.”

Only 600 teabaggers showed up ?

Heh.

So much for the great national grass roots political force.

Food shortages in the NK army really could lead to regime change.

Hungry people with guns will go find food, and they know who's stopping them from eating. They'll make the changes needed to fill their bellies and their families.

Extraordinary obstruction demands extraordinary leadership

What Zasloff said over at Kleiman's blog:

The Senate is scheduled to go into recess over President’s Day weekend. Obama should — no, he must — give recess appointments to all those on hold. Every. Single. One.

This is a test. Obama has so far not made a single recess appointment in the face of the most repeated abuse of Senate rules in Congressional history. When Jim DeMint put a hold on the nomination of the TSA chief even after the underpants bomber, Obama threw his own nominee under the bus.

If he lets the GOP get away with this one, he should resign and look for a job he is interested in.

Regarding holds, if one senator can place a blanket hold on all nominees at once, maybe the senate can hold a blanket vote to approve all 70 nominees at once. Then instead of taking 1 week times 70 nominees to overcome that hold, it only takes one week total. That would be time worth spending.

The sad thing is that many in the military see the criminal Ollie North as some sort of hero.

Hooray, some balls from Dems fro health care with the antitrust move! But then what ...

Tancredo's pining for literacy tests is very ironic, considering that over 80% of scientists are Democrats, and Republicans are likely to believe in young earth etc. We like to despise voter tests as a Jim Crow relic, but ironically: a scientific and logical test for voting would screen out many more Republicans than Democrats. Not such a bad idea?

For kooky Righter stuff, see this:
http://citizensfortruthingovernment.org/
Nutty seditious stuff like:

An association of United States of America Citizen Patriots
Dedicated to educating other Citizen Patriots in Constitutional Laws Application and misapplication by agencies of the corrupt "United States" Government
*** EMERGENCY ALERT *** 25 October 2009
On 24 Oct 2009 the criminal usurper Obama issued a Presidential Declaration of National Emergency based on the supposed swine flu epidemic crisis.

I see that "usurper" a lot. Aren't these the same, running the slick prime-time ad twistingly (did I coin a word?) equating the finance reform bill with helping not controlling Wall Street sharks? Not good, where do they get their money?

This is relevant to the issue of corporations making political donations, I forget exact source of quote:

Upon the other hand, the corporation is a creature of the State. It is presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public. It receives certain special privileges and franchises, and holds them subject to the laws of the State and the limitations of its charter. Its powers are limited by law. It can make no contract not authorized by its charter. Its rights to act as a corporation are only preserved to it so long as it obeys the laws of its creation.
- Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43 at 74 (1906)

Note, no contract not authorized by charter etc. Someone needs to levy some ultra vires suits against some companies.

The sad thing is that many in the military see the criminal Ollie North as some sort of hero.

Not so many as you might think. Most of those morons are gone now. Those shitbags were the bane of my existence.

Tom "Straitjacket" Tancredo should thank his lucky stars there's no literacy or civics test for running for public office. I know his point was that it's the "dumb nigs" who got Obama elected, but I've seen exhibitions by quite a few politicians - many of them Southerners - that suggest they are considerably below their constituents on the idiot curve.

Speaking of idjits, I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard or read some tool with only about two firing neurons remaining say, "Haw, haw!!! Cold enuf here ta freeze the nutsoffa a brass bunny, an' three foot a snow! Global warmin', hee, hee! Them sinetists sure is crazy!!" Hey, dimbulb, if your understanding of global warming is that it will turn everything on earth into a blistering desert, and as long as you're still getting snow you've got some kind of immunity, I wish you'd do the gene pool a favour and die in your sleep. Global weather patterns will be significantly altered, but it doesn't necessarily mean every place will be like the Bahamas. How'd you like it if you got 8 feet of snow, is that "Global Warming" enough for you?

If there is such a thing as "God's Punishment", it's stupidity.

A TARGET-RICH ENVIRONMENT....
In other words, the biggest Democratic political problem of the day is ... picking among the several GOP scandals and deciding where to invest party energies.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents into the debate.

Why not hold a press conference....a big press conference... with Obama, Pelosi,and Reid on the Capital steps with all major national and international news outlets... and announce a break through on the Hill. Say, with all seriousness, that they have studied the House GOP budget proposal and have decided, in light of public sentiment about deficits, bailouts, and the need for bipartisanship, to enact it in full. Say that with the proposal to cut Social Security and privatize Medicare, coupled with a projected budget surplus to begin trickling in in 2083, the plan looks "good" on paper. Insist the GOP should get all the praise for its efforts to reach across the aisle and offer a sensible solution that isn't radical or socialist. Insist also that the Senate, in its current form, is very unlikely to pass a truly "bipartisan" budget unless it's very similar to this one and then all three leave the podium.

Now that would shine a light on the ideas of a party whose ranking budget committee member sees fit to cobble together a mess and whose house leader "can't think of any changes he'd make to the plan". After all, Boehner proudly proclaimed that Obama, in his Virginia house retreat message, finally disproved the myth that the GOP doesn't have any ideas.

The world must really be upside down, if the rich US has to depend on Cuban charity to get its doctors educated:
http://www.alternet.org/health/145523/americans_are_learning_medicine_the_cuban_way_

Ezra: If the Democrats have any sense at all, Shelby's hold is about to become as famous as Nelson's deal.

Assumes facts not in evidence. Shelby's gambit is not a whole lot stupider than anything else the self-parody right has been doing for the last year. We all notice how the Dems have been riding all of that, haven't we?

I mean, theoretically Ezra's quite right. Practically? I am not optimistic.

à propos to many of today's posts, I'd like to relate a bumber sticker I saw recently:

It's a shame stupidity isn't painful.

SHELBY SHAKEDOWN

America in a nutshell

Read the following carefully. Then shake your head clear, and start laying up plans to move to the most Democratic City in the most Democratic State within the next 5 years. The social contract of this country is torn beyond repair. Fox News, Limbaugh, and the Internet have accelerated the shredding. Here is the fruit of their poison. Here is the future of America:

COLORADO SPRINGS — This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter...

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

"I guess we're going to find out what the tolerance level is for people," said businessman Chuck Fowler, who is helping lead a private task force brainstorming for city budget fixes. "It's a new day."

It was mentioned on MSNBC tonight that Tancredo's grandparents were immigrants - apparently both sets of grandparents came over from Italy. So does he really mean to step on the memory of these four people, who possible didn't speak English when they arrived... or do his rants only apply to Spanish-speaking brown people?

And count me in with those who would like voters to pass a civics (and science, geography, etc.) test before voting, or before running for elected office. Make it fairly basic, with 70% or more a passing grade.

"...You mean Congress can pass narrow popular bills..." Tlaloc @ 6: 52 PM.

No, the House of Representatives can. Big difference.
Pass. The. Damn. Bill.

A number of commenters seem to think that the Democrats haven’t done a thing in the past year because HCR has yet to be passed and signed into law. Worse yet, some equate Democrats with Republicans, arguing that there is no difference between the parties.

This is a specious argument on the face of it, but a brief look at some the accomplishments to date of the 111th Congress removes all doubt. It’s worth remembering that all of this was accomplished in the face of unprecedented obstruction by GOP lawmakers.

January 29, 2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Extends the statute of limitations for equal pay lawsuits regarding pay discrimination.

February 4, 2009: Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act

Expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program to an additional 4 million children and pregnant women.

February 17, 2009: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

$787 billion economic stimulus package.

March 30, 2009: Omnibus Public Land Management Act

Designates two million acres of additional wilderness in nine states, establishes a National Landscape Conservation System, authorizes studies in the interest of preserving open spaces in Southern Colorado, and designates thousands of miles of new additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System among other things.

April 21, 2009: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

Expands the AmeriCorp program.

May 20, 2009: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act

Expands eligibility for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and allows judges to alter home mortgages, short of cram down.

May 22, 2009: Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act

Reforms how the Pentagon purchases weapons and is expected to save millions if not billions of dollars over the coming decade.

May 22, 2009: Credit CARD Act

Comprehensive credit card reform.

June 22, 2009: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Gives the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products.

June 24, 2009: Car Allowance Rebate System

Cash for Clunkers

October 28, 2009: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Expands federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

November 6, 2009: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act

Give an extra 20 weeks of unemployment benefits in states with unemployment rates over 8.5 percent and gives an extra 14 weeks to states with lower unemployment. Extends the homebuyer's tax credit.

Yep. No difference between the two parties.

I think having a civics/literary test for all voters makes sense. And all candidates. Hey, if you don't know nothing stay home.

In 1998, when Clinton was being impeached and not getting huge support from Democrats, African-Americans rallied behind him with lots of organized chanting of "Leave Our President Alone". It had an effect.

Maybe it is time for African-Americans to get a little Bolshie on the Republican treatment of our President now? Obama is a far finer creation than Clinton.

I keep wondering what these tea bag people want, they have signs saying 'keep the government out of our lives' - well the repubs, when they cancel social security and medicaid will be doing just that. However a lot of the teabaggers look to be retired, so what is the story - are they all independently wealthy or what?