A Blog Named Sue

If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name

Well, if we've learned nothing else from l'affaire Dobbs it's that CNN is, at least, still capable of embarrassment, unlike certain other cable news networks. John Stewart pretty much single-handedly killed Crossfire and Robert Novak was (eventually) shown the door for his role in burning Valerie Plame's cover and cursing at James Carville on the air. What does this say about CNN? I have no idea. Novak wound up on Fox, Glenn Beck is another CNN veteran who has found his audience on Fox, and I'll wager that Dobbs ends up there as well. CNN is kind of like Fox's farm system now - they watch for the CNN talent who are clearly too batshit to participate in rational discourse, snatch them up and give them multimillion dollar contracts.

And let's not kid ourselves - Dobbs would be a perfect fit for Fox. All the local papers here in New York have described Dobbs as a "hardliner" on illegal immigration, and speculated as to whether or not that had something to do with his departure from the most trusted name in news. But let's be clear: saying that illegal immigrants are going to cause an epidemic of leprosy in the United States is not a hardline position, it is a batshit position. And whether or not pressure from media watchdog groups, Hispanic advocacy groups, and left-leaning bloggers played any part in Dobbs departure, it's probably in Dobbs best interest to claim that it did: playing the martyr card seems to be working for Carrie Prejean, and Dobbs is at least somewhat more credible than Prejean. Personally, I have things that I'd rather brag about than getting Lou Dobbs fired.

Blips

Too busy, once again, with personal/business/rich fantasy life to blog "for real," but in the meantime, here are a few items that I'd like to share:

Um, Jackson? Some us knew a long time ago that the Iranian protestors weren't necessarily pro-America. See, we actually read their party platform.

Also, this ad for a local pawn shop, which features Uncle Sam with a wad of cash in one hand and a fist full of other people's bling in the other, is really kind of awesome:

Eyes on the Prize

Thorbjorn Jagland, of the Nobel Committee, this morning, on why they selected President Obama to win the Nobel Peace Prize:

He rejected the notion that Obama had been recognized prematurely for his efforts and said the committee wanted to promote the president just it had Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 in his efforts to open up the Soviet Union.

I somewhat understand they're motivation behind this decision - when Gorbachev became the premier of the Soviet Union there was real hope that the Cold War would finally end, and end peacefully. There as a palpable change in attitude among the  -

- hey, wait a second - after Gorbachev, the Soviet Union collapsed! Aieeee!

We're so sorry, Uncle Albert

I've lived in America my whole life and I have never understood our cultural obsession with apologies, and endless wrangling over how "genuine" a given apology is. A good tearful apology seems to rank higher than fixing whatever the hell you just broke (if possible), and certainly seems to matter more than any particular act of atonement made by or punishment meted out to the offender. I've seen the Nancy Graces of this world huff and sputter over whether or not death row inmates seemed "apologetic," because, you know, killing the bastard just isn't enough. We need that apology.

Which brings us to Joe Wilson and Serena Williams. (I didn't watch the Video Music Awards so I don't have an opinion on Kanye. Sorry.) Serena mouthed off to an official, got herself penalized and summarily eliminated from the US Open. It happens. They also fined her ten grand - and I don't care how rich you are, no one wants to get fined ten grand. That's it. End of story. Is she "sorry?" Who cares? She got eliminated from the US Open. What the hell else do you want? Why people keep on insisting she keep on apologizing is a mystery to me. If mouthing off to an official means you have to apologize until the end of time, then Lou Pinella might as well spend the rest of his life going around wearing sackcloth and ashes.

Similarly, I don't care if Joe Wilson apologizes to President Obama, or if he gets censured for that matter. The president is a big boy and I'm sure he's been called worse things in his day. If Wilson formally apologizes or gets censured by the House that makes the whole thing go away, and, frankly, I'd rather he explain precisely why he thought President Obama was lying than apologize.  In that situation, there are no good options for Wilson, because he would have to admit that either he hasn't read any of the House bills up for consideration, has the reading comprehension skills of a tapir, or that he was engaging in a cheap political stunt. Which is it, Congressman? I'm much more interested in hearing your explanation than your apology.

Of course, I realize some of my remarks in this post may have offended some readers. If that's the case, then I offer my heartfelt apologies.

What we want, and what we need, has been confused, has been confused

I never had any illusions about President Obama being a "leftist." I knew going in this guy was going to be a centrist - the problem is that I had forgetten just how badly screwed up the political "center" of this country is!

I'm not sure how much credence I put in reports coming out of sites like Politico about Obama being ready to jettison a robust public option in order to look bi-partisan - at this point, I'm not sure he'd dare. But based on the outstanding blogging the crew at FireDogLake and Glenn Greenwald have been doing, I have no problem believing the White House started this process viewing the public option as a bargaining chip rather than a policy goal.

It isn't a bargaining chip. The root of the health care crisis is not competition between insurers, or even the shocking number of Americans who uninsured or underinsured. The problem, as eloquently stated by Scarecrow at FireDogLake, is:

... that we have a predatory, profit-driven insurance system, conjoined through non-competitive, profit-driven network provider relationships, that have made it extremely lucrative to ration health care and keep raising prices well above affordable levels, let alone levels defined by some unattainable model of efficient competition.

If the left's insistence on a robust public option is causing the White House political headaches, well, all I can do is remind Obama of the late lamented Molly Ivins' political maxim: You've got to dance with them what brung you. We're inflexible and unwilling to negotiate because we have nothing left to give away. If this were a situation where we had to settle for a public option in lieu of a single payer plan then maybe Obama could have sold it, but that's not the case. Single payer was never even on the table to take off the table. We're supposed to negotiate away the public option for ... what, exactly?

Sun Tzu calls territory on which you have no choice but to fight "dying ground," and sadly, we're on dying ground before the fight has even begun. There is no wiggle room, because there is no decent alternative to a public option being presented. (Co-ops? Yeah, that's like saying CSAs are going to bring down Archer Daniels Midland.) But Chinese generals of the time also said of their soldiers: "Put them on dying ground, and then they will live."

Well, since we're here we might as well live a little. President Obama's address to Congress is next Wednesday - that gives us plenty of time to make some noise:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

What you need is in the limo

I have to say I haven't been able to work up any righteous indignation over The Today Show hiring former First Daughter Jenna Bush (now Hager) as a correspondent. This is, after all, the same (alleged) news program that gave us J. Fred Muggs and we all know how broadcast journalism's standards have degraded since the '50s.

But what I can't figure out is what the hell The Today Show's producers were thinking. By the end of his term, George W. Bush was one of the least popular presidents in recorded history. While Jenna had nothing to do with formulating and implementing his disastrous policies (I hope), why would you want to have a daily reminder of a remarkably unpopular president right there in the middle of your morning news program? Strange. Maybe hardcore Republicans watch more TV than the rest of us?

NA NA NA NA HEY HEY HEY

I'm a bit busy right now, so I don't have time to give Sarah Palin's abrupt exit from the political stage the attention it deserves ... eh, who am I kidding? You can say all you need to say about that clown show in five minutes and still have time to talk about how bad Transformers 2 is.

But I'm not even going to bother with that. What I will do is direct you to the text of her resignation speech, which, believe me, reads even better than it sounded. Here are some highlights from the official text, released by the Governor's office:

Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly TO you, the people I serve, as your Governor.

...

Alaska's mission - to contribute to America. We're strategic IN the world as the air crossroads OF the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this - Alaska would be part of America's great destiny.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, AND oil and gas. It's energy! God gave us energy.

...

It's pretty insane - my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more "politics as usual," but THIS isn't what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.

If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!

And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!

...

         *((Gotta put First Things First))*

Again, that's the official text, so all that random capitalization and bizarre punctuation has been vetted and approved. Fantastic!

PS - when I heard a lot of people speculate that Palin's next step was going to be "suing that blogger from Alaska," I thought it was a joke. Nope! Apparently, she really is preparing to sue a blogger. The 2008 GOP nominee for Vice President of the United States of America wants to sue a blogger. Holy crap. Even Paris Hilton doesn't sue bloggers.

Who?

Fox is telling me that Rudy Giuliani is outraged over the situation in Iran.

They're not telling me why anyone should care what Giuliani thinks. Does he even have a job these days?

We're smoking that Danger Girl, we're smoking that Gen 13

These seem to be heady days for marijuana legalization advocates, with public support for their cause reaching all time highs. My advice: be careful what you wish for.

Oh, sure, it would be great if you didn't have to worry about doing hard time for possession of eight ounces - and even better to know you weren't supporting assholes like these. (Who shoots at park rangers? I mean, really.) But don't think for one second that getting baked is going to remain a casual weekend activity once it becomes a legal and lucrative cash crop. There will be all sorts of regulations on strength, cannabis content, etc. - and that will be before ADM and Monsanto roll out their genetically modified super-pot. The GM super-pot will probably suck, but it will have a massive marketing budget behind it and eventually we'll be treated to commercials like this, but with people waving bongs instead of beer bottles:

Of course, there will be a "localvore" pot movement, but for the bulk of consumers it will likely be the super-pot. I guess giving money to ADM and Monsanto is marginally better than giving it Mexican drug cartels, but only marginally. On the other hand, it will give them a reason to revive Bud Man:

What have you done for me lately?

Via Dependable Renegade, we find another heartwarming story of Rush Limbaugh basically spanking the elected leadership of the Republican party - and the leadership of the Republican party saying, "Thank you sir! May I have another?"

I'm feeling generous today, so I'm going to offer the GOP some unsolicited advice - although, frankly, I'm totally cool with them remaining out of power for the next ten or eleven generations. Here goes: Rush Limbaugh has never won an election. Ever. EVER! He knows how to get people to listen to his radio show and that's it. His experience in national politics? Hang on, let me google that ... oh, yeah, it's ZERO. What the hell is he even doing on stage with you people? Liberal celebrities are at the very least good for some juicy campaign donations. Rush just seems to like cockpunching you every now and again. If you're afraid he'll say mean things about you on the radio, merely bring up my earlier point: this guy has never won an election.

There's no shortage of people on your side of the aisle who are every bit as evil and actually have a decent track record when it comes to winning elections. Why not listen to them?