Dissent Is Patriotic Un-American

My my, after eight years of Nazi calling, Code Pinking, Cindy Sheehan-whining, Chimpy-burning…suddenly objecting to your elected officials’ behavior is “un-american”

…In the meantime, as members of Congress spend time at home during August, they are talking with their constituents about reform. The dialogue between elected representatives and constituents is at the heart of our democracy and plays an integral role in assuring that the legislation we write reflects the genuine needs and concerns of the people we represent.

However, it is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue. These tactics have included hanging in effigy one Democratic member of Congress in Maryland and protesters holding a sign displaying a tombstone with the name of another congressman in Texas, where protesters also shouted “Just say no!” drowning out those who wanted to hold a substantive discussion.

Let the facts be heard

These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.

How dare you Little People actually read the legislation (something that Members of Congress don’t do, for example) and object to what is being planned for you! Learn your place!

Now, it is true that “the dialogue between elected representatives and constituents is at the heart of our democracy” so in the interest of better serving their constituents Democratic Leaders are going to cancel dialogue

A day after a Russ Carnahan event led to the arrests of five participants and a reporter, University City High School — where U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill was set to hold a similar event on Tuesday– announced that the forum has been canceled.

Now she can truthfully say that “no one I spoke to objected to the Democrats’ plan.”

Vote them all out, folks. Every one of them.

Friday Strips

Sounds really good, doesn’t it? What better way to end a long, hard work week than with a nice meaty strip…

Oh yeah!

Since I haven’t yet built a cover for my smoker I decided to move it on to the front porch of the house. Great location for my convenience and dryness but a bad location for smoke. Oh well.

Since I wanted to cook these babies over charcoal I took out the middle section and made my own little Smokey Joe

It ain’t elegant but it does the trick

Indeed.

Along with my Bride’s All-World Creamed Spinach and some gorgonzola mashed potatoes, life was pretty darn good last night.

To wash it down we went with an old stand-by

The Fetzer “Valley Oaks” is a lovely and dependable cab that gives you nice currant and fruit flavors with a hint of tobacco at the end…all for about $8. Yum.

Your Tax Dollars At Work, Part MCMVII

To study Global Warming we must warm the globe

WASHINGTON — When 10 members of Congress wanted to study climate change, they did more than just dip their toes into the subject: They went diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. They also rode a cable car through the Australian rain forest, visited a penguin rookery and flew to the South Pole.

The 11-day trip — with six spouses traveling along as well — took place over New Year’s 2008. Details are only now coming to light as part of a Wall Street Journal analysis piecing together the specifics of the excursion.

Read the whole thing for your Daily Dose of Disgust™.

Remember, “conservation” is Latin for “stuff the little people are required to do by Congress.”

I Just Had to Tell the Mostest Bestest Husband IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD

…”Happy Burfday!”

I you.

Math Are Hard

I’m confuzzled. Looking at the data provided

Manufacturing employment fell by 52,000 — the first time since September losses were less than 100,000 — after shrinking by 131,000 in June. This was probably due to the reopening of General Motors and Chrysler assembly plants after bankruptcy closures.

Payrolls in construction industries slipped 76,000 after falling 86,000, likely reflecting spending on infrastructure projects from the government’s $787 billion stimulus package and a modest pickup in ground breaking for new homes.

In the service-providing sector, 119,000 workers were laid off, and the goods-producing industries purged 128,000 positions.

Education and health services continued to add jobs, with payrolls increasing 17,000 in July after rising 37,000 in June. Government employment increased 7,000 after slipping 48,000 in June.

How do they then state this:

With fewer workers being laid off, the unemployment rate eased to 9.4 percent in July from 9.5 percent the prior month, the Labor Department said, the first time the jobless rate had fallen since April 2008.

More people were unemployed in July than June. So how does the rate go down to 9.4 from 9.5?

The Next Time Someone Calls You “Bird Brained”…

Perhaps you should take it as a compliment

One of Aesop’s fables may have been based on fact, scientists report.

In the tale, written more than 2,000 years ago, a crow uses stones to raise the water level in a pitcher so it can reach the liquid to quench its thirst.

Now a study published in Current Biology reveals that rooks, a relative of crows, do just the same when presented with a similar situation.

…The crow and the pitcher fable was used by Aesop to illustrate that necessity is the mother of invention. But until now, the morality tale was not thought to have a grounding in fact.

To investigate further, a team from the University of Cambridge and Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) presented four captive rooks with a set-up analogous to the fable.

The birds were shown a clear tube containing a small amount of water. Floating upon it was an out-of-reach worm. And a pile of stones were positioned nearby.

Dr Nathan Emery, co-author of the paper, from QMUL, said: “The rooks have to put multiple stones in the tube until the worm floats to the top.”

And the four birds did just that. Two, called Cook and Fry, raised the water-level enough to grab the floating feast the very first time that they were presented with the test, while Connelly and Monroe were successful on their second attempt.

That’s pretty damned cool, it seems to me.

But tool users or not I still want to shoot the feathered little bastards when they wipe out my blueberries and grapes.

Our Hero scoping out the next place to drop some rocks…

I Feel Our Standing In The World Improving Already

Gosh, I just know everything will work out fine now, and that, as Insta says, “We’re in the very best of hands

It’s official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a “war on terrorism.” Neither is it fighting “jihadists” or in a “global war.”

President Obama’s top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

“The President does not describe this as a ‘war on terrorism,'” said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a “new way of seeing” the fight against terrorism.

Now, to help out those of you who are just, shall we say, a little bit slow (as detailed below) I’ve gotten the following graphic of this “new way of seeing” from a Very Highly Placed Source in the current Administration that will hopefully illustrate this “new way” for you:

This bold new initiative that the President is proposing contains these exciting and visionary proposals

The president’s adviser talked about increasing aid (his landmark “Peeps For Peace” program will be key in this) to foreign governments for building up their militaries and social and democratic institutions, but provided few details about how the White House will do that, although he hinted that unicorns would continue to play a major role.

I’m frankly blown away by the scope and breadth of this new style of thought, this new vision of building bridges to the world at large; I’m at a loss to describe it…Damn! What is that word I’m looking for…

But Mr. Brennan lamented “inflammatory rhetoric, hyperbole, and intellectual narrowness” surrounding the national security debate and said Mr. Obama has views that are “nuanced, not simplistic; practical, not ideological.”

Ah, that’s it!

The New Presidential Medal

Shamelessly stolen from Paco

The inspiration for tomorrow’s youth!

Bingley in ’10!!!

Considering all the current unrest, gubernatorial graft, rapacious rabbis and fish-like mobs going around, we felt it incumbent upon us to reignite our hopeless aspirations for higher office. And as I’ve said before ~ confirmed during previous exploratory feints ~ since I’m busy, potty mouthed and a Florida resident, it appears Bingley remains the Swilling’s viable candidate for New Jersey governor. Let me be perfectly clear: Harumph!

(HEY! I didn’t get a “harumph” outta that guy!)

So that we can get this in un-Palin-like motion with a minimum of ugliness and sliming (but, as I said at the time, “with full and complete transparency”), we are providing (through the hard work and great expense of rabid Bingley supporter Real JeffSoros): his for reals birth certificate.

Chew on that while we get a fundraising scam grassroots button going.

Darkness At Noon

I know there are many folks out there who have some doubts about the agenda of President Obama and Nancy Pelosi. There are many of you out there who have doubts about Global Warming (or Climate Change or whatever they’re calling it this week). Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are even some of you who somehow doubt that Alec Baldwin is the world’s greatest living actor. And I know these thoughts trouble you, even as you curl up nestled all snug in your Gunclingyland cocoon. But have no fear, friends, for I have the answer. You see, your problem isn’t that you’re engaged in an epic struggle against an over-reaching Government that wants to control every facet of your life. No. Your problem, Gentle Readers, is that you’re whacked in the head

Psychological barriers like uncertainty, mistrust and denial keep most Americans from acting to fight climate change, a task force of the American Psychological Association said on Wednesday. Skip related content

Policymakers, scientists and marketers should look at these factors to figure out what might prod people take action, the task force reported at the association’s annual convention in Toronto.

While most Americans — 75 percent to 80 percent in a Pew Research Center poll — said climate change is an important issue, it still ranked last in a list of 20 compelling issues such as the economy or terrorism, the task force said.

Despite warnings from scientists that humans need to make changes now if they want to avoid the worst effects of climate change, “people don’t feel a sense of urgency,” the association said in a statement.

Numerous psychological barriers are to blame, the task force found, including: uncertainty over climate change, mistrust of the messages about risk from scientists or government officials, denial that climate change is occurring or that it is related to human activity, consumption of green M&Ms, and daily usage of Twitter.

I’m so glad these Scientists and Doctors-of-the-PhD-variety have told me what is wrong. It is very comforting to know that if perchance I happen to disagree with them on an issue the source of the disagreement is not based on something as mutable as an opinion or as inherently fascistic as say a fact (and certainly can not be traced in any way shape or form to any semblance of “error” on their part; I mean, that’s just such an obvious “given” that I’m frankly more than a tad embarrassed to even mention it) but rather can be easily traced to a mental problem/defect lying between my ears. You know, it’s amazing really, and in fact quite a sign of the continued munificence and tender mercies of our Dear Leaders, that they even allow so obviously mentally challenged folks, such as, say, myself, to continue to distract them from their Very Important Duties. We are truly blessed to have them.

As for me, well, I’m not despairing because I believe there is hope

But habits can be changed, especially if changing saves money and people are quickly made aware of it. People are more likely to use energy-efficient appliances if they get immediate energy-use feedback, the task force said.

“Immediate energy-use feedback” such as electric-shock therapy; I’m sure there’s a provision for that buried somewhere in those 1000+ pages.

Friends, never underestimate the power of the properly trained and focused Scientific Mind.

It identified other areas where psychology can help limit the effects of climate change, such as developing environmental regulations, economic incentives, better energy-efficient technology and communication methods.

If psychology alone can change the physical world, just imagine what could happen if a group of properly psychologically motivated people got together.

Rejoice, and be glad.

“So I Pulled Into a Shell Station and They Said I’d Blown a Seal!”

I said, “Fix the damn thing
And leave my private life out of it
Okay pal?”

A fishy song for fishy times.

Citizens of America: A Public Service Announcement

In the spirit of full transparency, accountability, racial harmony and general irritability, the Coalition of the Swilling is now giving the Public Option to flag and report ANY FISHY POSTS and/or DAMN LIES the Public may find here. Being responsible journalists requires that we submit our earnest ramblings to the Truth Police for vetting and have chosen a suitable fishy finder icon: the GAG grouper. Your instructions are as follows:

1. Do NOT ~ under ANY circumstances ~ READ A POST FLAGGED WITH OUR WARNING GAG GROUPER SIGN ATTACHED*

*Upon pain of cake, death or being forced to sit through an Obama prime-time presser.

2. Should you ~ in your Republican, teapartying ignorance ~ awkwardly stumble across anything remotely “fishy” at the Swilling that we haven’t already VOLUNTARILY flagged, STOP READING IMMEDIATELY. Report the problematic piscine posting to Linda Douglas, Lloyd Doggett and the proper authorities per instruction from the White House itself:

…If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to
fishcanblowme@whitehouse.gov

Thank you for your cooperation.

Hmm, Math May Not Be My Strong Suit

But it seems even to my feeble brain that, given the following data

Private Sector Jobs Lost/Gained in June: -463,000
Private Sector Jobs Lost/Gained in July: -371,000

the economy has lost some 834,000 private sector jobs since May. Lost. Not “created or saved” as we’ve been promised but out and out lost. I can’t see any other way to interpret the data.

So how in the name of hell does this guy manage to say this:

“It is of course worse than expected, but the number is well off its highs, indicating modest improvement in the labor market,” said Dan Greenhaus, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York.

It seems to me that “improvement in the labor market” would require fewer people out of work, when in fact there are 371,000 more people unemployed.

Pretty damned “modest” indeed.

I Was Going to Wait for “Talk Like a Pirate” Day

But I’m weak.

And He Hasn’t Changed a Lick

Still kind to the little animals and always grinnin’.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Crusader!!!!

“…And Some of That Criticism Appears to Be Orchestrated”

“…causing the White House to push back.”

Part of Charlie Gibson’s lead-in tonight on the welcome some members of Congress are getting back home. As soon as enough Silent Majority types finally get pushed far enough to express their dissatisfaction vocally en masse, it becomes “orchestrated”. Remember Texass congressman Lloyd Doggett? The same guy who had his tookus handed to him by a vocal crowd of constituents?

Amazing what a friendly camera and a chance to get freshened up clear of the maddening crowd can do for somebody. According to ol’ Lloyd [at 6:20 in], the sense of dissatisfaction and mob-like crankiness had NOTHING to do with his performance and the Obama boondoggles he’s helped bring to fruition. Safe, rested, feathers resmoothed and his fear-shriveled gonads (the technical term) reinflated, he boldly claims that’s there’s “nothing authentic about these protests” [Jake Tapper].

“This notion of a grassroots campaign is totally and completely phony. The Republican Party has coordinated this apparent outrage and stirred it up.”

Really, Lloyd? Folks couldn’t come to this conclusion on their own? The Republican Party is so powerful and relevant in people’s lives ~ even the most non-descript, non-entity Bocephus, Texas/Missouri/Illinois/Pennsylvania/ad nauseum life ~ that they can organize the ENTIRE COUNTRY to make you and your fellow thieves miserable at a moment’s notice in townhalls the length and breadth of this country? Really?!?! They can summon the masses and raise the dead at will? The Republican Party is that THAT powerful?

Riddle me this then, Lloyd: Where was all this supposed power when you all got your One for president? How’d THAT happen?!?! I’d sure as shit rather have McCain than a teaparty, but we got the Joker.

Nah. Can’t blame Republicans, because if they were that good, we wouldn’t have Obama to kick around. You all pissed all those normal, everyday types off all on your own and I’ll even bet half of them voted for your side.

It’s a wicked case of buyer’s remorse, Lloyd. Hope and change turned into…well…you know.
“Shovel ready.”

Buried in This Article Is a Very Interesting Line

This is the headline:

Obama administration withholds data on program

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is refusing to release government records on its “cash-for-clunkers” rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program’s success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.

Imagine that! No transparency from the Obama administration. Word is they’re just too dang busy to pass along the stats.

…will have to wait for details because federal officials running the program don’t have time to turn over data delivered by car dealers…

Stats which will, apparently, show that 6 of the 10 best selling vehicles are…?…wait for it….FOREIGN. Hyundais, Toyotas and Hondas.

Imagine that.

SO what was it I found so interesting? This quote, from Monsieur Ray La Hood, Secretary of Transportation for the Obama administration.

…LaHood also said this week that even if buyers aren’t choosing cars made by U.S. automobile manufacturers, many of the Honda, Toyota and Hyundai cars sold were made in those companies’ American plants.

Well, wait a cotton pickin’ minute!!!

Didn’t we just buy GM because those plants weren’t American enough?

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

“GOTCHA!” of the Day

Take a memo:

Clunker rebates count as taxable gross income, IRS bulletin says

(Automotive News) July 31, 2009 It turns out dealers will have to pay taxes on the thousands of dollars in rebates they receive under the federal cash-for-clunkers program, according to an IRS advisory bulletin issued today.

…Asked why dealers might have been confused about their tax obligations, Heider said they may have thought that because consumers didn’t have to pay taxes on the rebate, they also would be exempt.

What was Bingley just saying about tax receipts…?

Yes, I’d Say Things Are Just Going Swimmingly

Right? Spending’s way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up, and tax revenues way waaaaaaaaaaay down

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 3, 8:51 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation’s plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.

The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion.

Sounds like the classic liberal set-up, doesn’t it? (Oh, and by “liberal” I do mean in the late 20th Century sense, not in the ‘classical liberalism’ sense.) Here we have a big-government policy that has failed, and the obvious solution in the Government’s eyes is to pump more money into it. In their eyes, of course, Government is not capable of failure, so if policies are, shall we say, somewhat less effective than planned it is solely due to insufficient resources being allocated (“insufficient resources” being a Latin term that roughly translates as “our goddamned hard earned tax money”); the idea that possibly, scandalously, the policy might be, oh, how to phrase this delicately, completely asinine is never really allowed to even be uttered, let alone seriously debated, because this would undercut and call into question the ever-burgeoning expansion of Government into ever single facet of our lives. And that, Dear Readers, would simply not do.

Simply put, it comes to this

“Our tax system is already inadequate to support the promises our government has made,” said Eugene Steuerle, a former Treasury Department official in the Reagan administration who is now vice president of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Yet the promises keep on coming, how Government can and will solve everything, in spite of that pesky reality of fewer dollars coming in:

Individual income tax receipts are down 22 percent from a year ago. Corporate income taxes are down 57 percent. Social Security tax receipts could drop for only the second time since 1940, and Medicare taxes are on pace to drop for only the third time ever.

The last time the government’s revenues were this bleak, the year was 1932 in the midst of the Depression.

…While much of Washington is focused on how to pay for new programs such as overhauling health care — at a cost of $1 trillion over the next decade — existing programs are feeling the pinch, too.

Social Security is in danger of running out of money earlier than the government projected just a few month ago. Highway, mass transit and airport projects are at risk because fuel and industry taxes are declining.

The national debt already exceeds $11 trillion. And bills just completed by the House would boost domestic agencies’ spending by 11 percent in 2010 and military spending by 4 percent.

And the promise, the under-girding philosophy we get from Crown Prince Biden?

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

And we called our nuclear policy during the Cold War “MAD”?

Good God.

We must cut government spending, cut taxes so that people have more money to spend as they see fit. Radical, crazy, I know. Now if only i could come up with some catchy phrase for this.

Hey, I got it: how about “Power to the People”

The Best Idea I’ve Heard All Day

Cash for Clogs

…Turn in your old Croc for destruction and receive the $10 gift certificate for the purchase of the new pair of beautiful shoes.

To state in graphic terms…turn in this monstrosity…

Get this…

As always, he is the genius.

A Reagan Clip For Val

I Never Grow Tired Of This

and it grows more and more true with every One™ press conference

It would be nice to hear that very same question asked of The One™.

Bride Out Of Town?

Check

Daughter out of town?

Check

Limes on sale (10 for $1.99!) at the Shop-Rong?

Check

New bottle of cachaça?

All the ingredients are in place for a caipirinha night

I know I’ve gone over this before, but for safety’s sake let’s review: slice the ends off of the lime

then carefully skin the lime (yeah, you’ll send some juice flying but the skin has nasty bitters that you’ll be very glad you removed)

Beauty is only skin deep but bitterness goes to the…pulp

now draw and quart, er, slice the lime into quarters (then eighths) I mean

then dump in your glass with 3 heaping teaspoons of sugar (adjust for your own taste, obviously)

now muddle, cowgirl! Muddle!

and then fill the glass to within a finger-and-a-half of the top with the cachaça and ice, gently stirring well

aw, c’mere you sweet thang

Hmmmmm, not bad this Aguá Luca…but that may be its problem. It’s distilled/filtered something like 12 times according to its website, which makes for a very clean and neutral spirit. And that’s sadly very un-cachaça like.

Good cachaças have an edgy character to them: some have a sweetness, some have a smokiness, some have that eau-de-lead pipe cloying quality. Whatever. What makes cachaça unique is the variety of unique flavors you find in the varying brands, all of which this one lacks. It’s too clean and pure…it’s almost like Barack Obama trying to claim street cred and hang in the ‘hood.

Damn! How’d that happen?

Well, Dear Readers, you know I hate to form hasty opinions; best give our Evening’s Spirit another chance, courtesy of Shop-Rong

Ahhhhhh…..

“…In a Fashion That is Civil, Respectful…and Let Me Say One Other Thing.”

“In a fashion that is informed“

-Rep. TIM BISHOP [D-NY] So besides being a Democrat demanding of his constituents ~ civility and respect ~ that which Democrats have never demanded of themselves, he has also just implied those same constituents…

…are too stupid to speak.

I think that’s worthy of a sign at his next appearence, n’est pas?

To All Those Do-Gooder, Feel Mo Better Types Who Voted for Obama

…just so they could bask in the glow of voting for a black man (vice, like, a qualified individual of any color), I send this fervent, heartfelt thought:

Thanks, assholes.

I wanted to get that out now, while some of you still admit to it.

By October, there won’t be one of you to be found and I’d waste all that anger. Or have exploded from holding it in.