R.I.P. Steve Jobs

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” - Steve Jobs

100 Things You Can Say To Irritate A Republican

Conservatives are so easy to anger these days. Even the most insignificant statement can set off their tempers. If you want to enrage a conservative, I suggest saying the following: 1. A Socialist wrote the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor, for free. 3. Joseph McCarthy was an un-American, witch hunting sissy. 4. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were traitors. 5. The South lost the Civil War, get over it. 6. The Founding Fathers were liberals. 7. Fascism is a right-wing trait. 8. Sarah Palin is an ugly cow (said to conservative males). 9. The Earth is round. 10. Reagan raised taxes eleven times as President. 11. Reagan legalized abortion as Governor of California. 12. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. 13. Ronald Reagan supported gun control. 14. Global warming is real. 15. Republicans hate illegal immigrants, unless they need their lawns mowed or their houses cleaned. 16. The military is a government-run institution, so why do Republicans approve the defense budget? 17. The Cold War is over and the Soviet Union no longer exists. 18. Paying taxes is patriotic. 19. Republicans: Peddling the same failed economic policies since 1880. 20. The Republican Party began as a liberal party. 21. The Presidents’ full name is Barack Hussein Obama and he was born in the United States of America. 22. George W. Bush held hands with the King of Saudi Arabia. 23. President Obama saved the American auto industry, while Republicans wanted to destroy it. 24. Hate is not a Christian virtue. 25. Jesus was a liberal. 26. Republicans spend MORE money than Democrats. 27. Tea parties are for little girls. 28. Public schools educate all children; private schools are for indoctrinating children. 29. The Constitution is the law, NOT the Bible. 30. Sharia law doesn’t exist in America. 31. The President is NOT a Muslim. 32. Corporations are NOT people. People are people. 33. Fox News isn’t real news, it’s just a racist, sexist, hateful, right-wing propaganda machine. 34. The Federal Reserve was a Republican idea. 35. Women are equal citizens who deserve equal rights. 36. Women control their own bodies. 37. Abortion is a relevant medical procedure, just ask Rick Santorum. 38. Please use spell check. 39. It’s “pundit”, not “pundint”. 40. Social Security is solvent through 2038. 41. Health care is a right, not a product. 42. Roe v. Wade was a bipartisan ruling made by a conservative leaning Supreme Court. 43. G.O.P also stands for Gross Old Perverts. 44. The donkey shouldn’t be the Democratic mascot because Republicans are the real jackasses. 45. Barack Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It took him two and half years to do what Bush couldn’t do in eight. 46. Waterboarding IS torture. 47. 9/11 happened on George W. Bush’s watch, therefore he did NOT keep America safe. 48. Republicans invaded Iraq for oil, so Iraq should be allowed to invade Texas to get it back. 49. Separation of church and state is in the Constitution, it’s called the First Amendment. 50. Muslims are protected by the Constitution, just as much as Christians. 51. Barack Obama is the first African-American President, get over it. 52. The Oval Office is NOT a “whites only” office. 53. America is a nation of immigrants, therefore we are all anchor babies. 54. The white race isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving. 55. God is a particle. 56. Evolution is real. 57. The Earth is 4.54 billion years old, not 6,000. 58. The Founding Fathers did not free the slaves. 59. The Revolution was NOT fought over slavery. 60. Paul Revere warned the Americans, NOT the British. 61. Federal law trumps state law. 62. The Civil War was about slavery, NOT state’s rights. 63. Corporations care more about profits than they do about people. 64. Getting out of a recession requires government spending. 65. Glenn Beck is a nut-job. 66. Republicans: Paranoid since 1932. 67. Republicans don’t want to pay for your birth control, but they want you to pay for their Viagra. 68. Republicans actually NEED Viagra. 69. Fox News is owned by an Australian and has a Saudi prince as an investor. 70. Republicans complain about immigrants taking American jobs, then freely give American jobs to foreigners overseas. 71. Republicans hate communism, so why do they refer to themselves as red states? 72. Labor unions built this country. 73. Republicans hold America hostage as a political strategy; the temper tantrum throwing kind of political strategy. 74. Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian. 75. When Republicans see black, they attack. 76. Inside every Republican is a Klansman or a Nazi waiting to bloom. 77. Republicans only care about children BEFORE they are born. 78. Republicans are hypocrites, they’re just too stupid to know it. 79. The Christian-Right boycotts movies that have violence, and then promotes guns and insurrection. 80. I think therefore I am NOT a Republican. 81. Republicans that oppose gay marriage are most likely in the closet themselves. 82. Churches should stay out of politics, or be taxed. 83. People are too poor to vote Republican. 84. Democrats think for themselves, Republicans form think tanks to do it for them. 85. Republicans hate education because they couldn’t hack it in school. 86. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and Republicans wallow in it. 87. A little socialism on the Left is better than a little fascism on the Right. 88. The current corporate tax rate is the lowest in 60 years, so stop whining about it being too high. 89. Republicans: Anti-Gay Marriage, Pro-Lesbian sex. 90. Republicans: Terrorizing the American people since 1981. 91. Republicans have their own terrorists, just look up Timothy McVeigh. 92. Republicans love outsourcing, just ask the Chinese Communists. 93. The Republican answer to the oil spill was to apologize to BP, a foreign oil company. 94. Democrats will be working hard to bring jobs to Americans, while the Republicans tea bag each other in the middle of the aisles. 95. Voter disenfranchisement is immoral and un-American, that’s why Republicans do it. 96. Republicans would let your house burn down unless you pay them to put it out. 97. Democrats want to take care of the sick. Republicans take their credit cards and then deny them medical attention. 98. Republicans say teachers are union thugs, then proceed to rape and mug the entire middle class on behalf of corporations. 99. Republicans think rape isn’t a crime, but miscarriages are. 100. Republicans are idiots and arguing with them is a waste of time! Stephan D. Foster Jr.

"The real question Americans are asking is, “What has President Obama actually accomplished?” It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. One thing is certain — President Obama won’t be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action." - - Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele

Honestly, I would have been pleasantly shocked if the Republicans had shown even the slightest degree of graciousness. I wonder how many of the dwindling remainder of Americans registered as Republicans will finally follow the light out of the dark side.

"I'd love to one day find out what it's like to be a multimillionaire who pays higher taxes than most people. Just so I'd be able to empathize with the kind of anguish they go through day after day." Bill in Portland Maine

"As a friend of mine pointed out last night, the divide in America these days isn't between liberal and conservative, its between reasonably intelligent people and fucking morons." - - - Dorn76

"Israeli settlement policy is the Amy Winehouse of foreign affairs." - - - Juan Cole

From David Waldman:

The new Republican "theory" of democracy: GOP wins: "Mandate! Elections have consequences!" GOP loses: "Tyranny! Fascism! Revolution! Secession!"

Mysteries of Logical Reasoning

(1) Anyone who favors marijuana legalization just wants to get high without being hassled, and anyone who favors drug decriminalization generally is or wants to be a drug user. (2) Anyone who opposes a return to alcohol prohibition is almost certainly an out-of-control drunk. (3) Anyone who cares about gay marriage or advocates for equal rights for gay couples is a closet homosexual who just wants to have sex with people of the same gender. The only reason anyone would care about that issue is if one wants to have gay sex. (4) Anyone who believes in free speech rights for Communists obviously opposes private property ownership and craves Stalinism. Anyone who believes in free assembly rights for neo-Nazis secretly admires Hitler. (5) Anyone who believes abortion should be legal just wants to have reckless sex without consequences. (6) Anyone who advocates habeas corpus rights for accused terrorists or who opposes torture harbors sympathy for Islamic extremism and approves of indiscriminate violence against civilians. (7) Anyone who opposes unrestrained government surveillance must be doing bad things in private that they want to hide. (8) Anyone who believes in the freedom to practice a certain religion is probably an adherent of that religion and is motivated by a desire to practice it without interference. Why is most everyone capable of understanding the egregious, illogical stupidity of propositions (2)-(8) -- based on the bleedingly obvious premise that one can advocate the freedom to do X for reasons other than a desire to do X -- while so many people embrace the equally illogical and stupid reasoning of proposition (1) as though it so self-evidently true that it requires no discussion? -- Glenn Greenwald

"An Iraqi citizen throws his shoes at an American President who -- all based on false pretenses -- invaded, occupied and obliterated his country; set up prisons where his fellow citizens were encaged without trials and subjected to brutal treatment; slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and displaced millions more. And the outrage is predominantly directed at the disrespect, irreverence and the "ingratitude" displayed by the shoe-thrower, not the murderous and inhumane acts of the dignified American leader." - - Glenn Greenwald

"It's getting so bad that even Senator McCain's running mate denounced his tactics last night. As you know, you really have to work hard to violate Governor Palin's standards on negative campaigning." - - - Barack Obama

Good For Campbell Brown & MSM

My highlights:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- You may find it hard to believe that this remains an issue in this campaign, but it does. The candidates, both candidates, are still getting questions about Barack Obama's ethnicity and religion. If you are even semi-informed, then by now you already know that of course, Barack Obama is an American. Of course, Barack Obama is a Christian. Yet just a few days ago, there was a woman at a rally for John McCain incorrectly calling Obama an Arab: Woman at rally: I don't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's an Arab. Sen. John McCain: No ma'am, no ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That's what this campaign is all about. He's not, thank you. Now, I commend Sen. McCain for correcting that woman, for setting the record straight. But I do have one question -- so what if he was? So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter? When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical? Whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim. And the media is complicit here, too. We've all been too quick to accept the idea that calling someone Muslim is a slur. I feel like I am stating the obvious here, but apparently it needs to be said: There is a difference between radical Muslims who support jihad against America and Muslims who want to practice their religion freely and have normal lives like anyone else. There are more than 1.2 million Arab-Americans and about 7 million Muslim-Americans, former Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, successful business people, normal average Americans from all walks of life. These are the people being maligned here, and we can only imagine how this conversation plays in the Muslim world. We can't tolerate this ignorance -- not in the media, not on the campaign trail. Of course, he's not an Arab. Of course, he's not a Muslim. But honestly, it shouldn't matter.

Of course I bet Brown was channeling Digby here but I can't find Digby's article.

"....I have repeatedly said that the crisis facing our nation’s financial systems is one of solvency and not one of liquidity. The core of the problem is that our government, our banking system, and our citizenry are drowning in debt which cannot be repaid. Each (and all) need to focus on paying off, or reducing, the debt(s) they have and not look to more and cheaper debt as any solution. Digging a deeper hole will not make any “light at the end of the tunnel” visible by any stretch of the imagination. "This is an election year and on November 4th the people will elect a new President and Vice President, one/third of the US Senate, and the entire US House of Representatives. All the incumbents can TH*NK about is their re-election. The votes last week were nothing more than to give the lame appearance that “something” was being done by them. They all had hoped (and prayed) that the lid would be kept on these crises and that the bodies would stay swept under the rug until after the election. Such did not occur… and the knee jerk reaction was to burden generations of taxpayers with more debt." - - - Fred Cederholm

"You can argue all you want about the propriety of the bailout, but don't tell me it's OK to pass it because there'll be "vigorous oversight" and then adjourn Congress for three months." - - - Kagro X

"An entire generation of American policy-makers - Clinton, Bush, Rubin, Greenspan, and the Congressional leadership of both parties - has come perilously close to ruining a great nation. The creation of the credit bubble was one of the most disgraceful episodes of economic government in western history. "Nothing can justify it. There is no parallel to the Spain of Phillip II, who ruined his empire to pursue the religious cause of Counter-Reformation, or to the bankruptcy of the British Empire combating fascism. It occurred because America abandoned all restraint and gave licence to consumer hedonism." - - - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

"I remember a time when the nation was at peace, its economy driven by technical innovation and stable markets allowing the accumulation of investment capital. Interest rates and unemployment were near historical lows, wages and productivity rose almost as steeply [as] the stock market. Talk of investment banks going broke or market meltdowns was rare to non existent. And no one had to write columns begging people not to compare the economy to the Great Depression. It sounds like a conservative wet dream, but it was actually called the Clinton Years." Darksyde

"Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear." - - - Alan Corenk

"Every four years, the GOP unleashes unrestrained personality attacks on Democrats and exploits cultural resentments. Every four years, Democrats tell themselves that such attacks don't work and are counter-productive. And every four years, that belief is disproven. These "character" issues end up mattering largely because Democrats, in election after election, allow wars over "character" to be waged in a largely one-sided fashion." -- Glenn Greenwald

"Ready, shoot, aim"

Though many have said it, Billmon says it best: (my highlight)

When I suggested a couple of diaries ago that the best course for the Democrats might be to simply wait and see what shakes out of Palin's Alaskan tree, I had no idea so many things would start falling out of it so quickly. But I'm glad to see Obama come out and warn his troops away from the really personal stuff. It's already clear that Palin offers an embarrassment of riches for the Obama campaign, and a wealth of embarrassments for McCain's. There's no need to get greedy -- or cruel and vindictive, which is the one thing that could cause this whole feeding frenzy to circle back and start munching on the Democrats. McCain's people wanted to toss the pregnancy story into Hurricane Gustav? Good. Let it be buried in the muck.

Boxer on Palin

The Vice President is a heartbeat away from becoming President, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice. If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken. The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart. Senator McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a women on his ticket, such as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison or Senator Olympia Snowe – they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice. In addition, Sarah Palin is under investigation by the Alaska state legislature which makes this more incomprehensible. - Barbara Boxer

"The foreign policy team exerting chief influence over John McCain is truly more extremist -- in a purer and more deranged form -- than the foreign policy team of the Bush administration. They're not only the most extremist faction in American political life, but also the most delusional. These aren't just the people who led the U.S. to war in Iraq -- though they are that -- but they're also the ones who actually believe that the Bush administration has been far too meek in its assertion of U.S. military force and too passive in its interference in the affairs of other countries. They want to accelerate -- massively intensify -- virtually every one of the polices that has brought the U.S. to such disgrace and near ruination over the past eight years. There is nothing "moderate" or "centrist" about any of them. John McCain is the Candidate of Bill Kristol and Joe Lieberman and John Bolton for good and clear reasons (including in Georgia): he's the best and most devoted instrument to advance their militaristic agenda. "Is there any real discussion of any of that? Hardly. Here's the trite soap opera pablum and royal court intrigue which, instead, dominates our media's campaign coverage...." Glenn Greenwald