June 2009

Don’t Count On Pawlenty’s Signature

Now that the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Al Franken there is a lot of expectation that Governor Tim Pawlenty will sign the certification and Al will be on his way to the Senate. One problem though:

Pawlenty, a Republican, has said he would sign the certificate if ordered to do so by the court. The court's ruling stopped short of explicitly ordering the governor to sign the document, saying only that Franken was "entitled" to it.

I could see this being the very kind of bullshit technicality a Republican would use to try and keep Franken out of the Senate. We are in an era of seeing Republican presidential front runners doing very stupid things, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Pawlenty isn’t next. Not signing the certificate would be the very kind of stupid thing I am talking about.

I guess most of this will depend on what Coleman says in about 5 minutes.

UPDATE:

Coleman has just congratulated “Senator Al Franken” and said he will live by the decision. Sounds like he is giving in – FINALLY!

Impersonating God

I’m not a religious person, but I got a funny feeling this is a pretty major sin:

When Trig was born, Palin wrote an e-mail letter to friends and relatives, describing the belated news of her pregnancy and detailing Trig’s condition; she wrote the e-mail not in her own name but in God’s, and signed it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.”

Even if it isn’t a sin, its at least chalked up to “creepy as hell”. This is the star of the GOP for 2012 and what little we really do know about her is something that could work its way into an M. Night Shyamalan flick.

The Shocking Support Behind Obama’s Iraq Plan

This is rather amazing:

A new national poll suggests that nearly three-quarters of all Americans support the plan to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns, even though most believe that the troop movements will lead to an increase in violence in that country.

But nowhere near as amazing as this:

"This plan has widespread bipartisan support," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Seventy two percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Republicans favor this move."

Republicans support the drawdown in Iraq more than Democrats do. The difference is within the MOE, but it does put a big crimp in Cheney’s claims that Obama is making us less safe.

Oh and Iraq is really going down hill. I mean look at this violence:

The only ones that want us there is Dick Cheney and the rest of his war-mongering, draft-dodging friends.

Soul Shake?

Limbaugh just loves showing his racist beliefs:

In Venezuela, we had a soul shake, or whatever -- that black handshake he has that he had with Chavez. We had a soul shake.

And the GOP wonders why they are losing the black and Hispanic vote? What do you expect when you got a racist being you mouth piece?

But I don’t blame Limbaugh alone in this. He has done this kind of crap for years. Last year he was referring to then candidate Obama as a “spade” and Hillary Clinton as a “ho”, and there was no outrage over it. Where was NOW, the NAACP, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? They constantly give this fat wind-bag a pass. That’s why I didn’t care that much about Don Imus. They went after him, but totally ignore Limbaugh. I guess these groups are just scared of the fat man.

(h/t Cesca)

The Crazies Latch On To Honduras

Larisa has uncovered some very disturbing posts by the right wing crazies:

I was going to add this as an update to my earlier post, but thought it deserved its own post. Apparently, some glue-sniffing types are hoping that our own military will be inspired by the Honduras coup to overthrow our own president in order to save democracy. I kid you not. I have been reading the comments at several blogs and they are mind-blowing.

This is the exact kind of stuff you would expect to hear in some government report. I don’t know what we would call that report. Maybe something about right wing extremists?

Exit question. What would happen if we had our own military try to overthrow a President as popular as Obama? I think we can pretty much imagine it. We would end up with a civil war in this nation. So basically these wingers are advocating for the destruction of the United States of America. Maybe we should keep Gitmo open, just for them.

Transformers 2

As my long time readers know I am big into CG effects. I have even done some work in 3D computer graphics and modeling, so it should come as no shock that I had to go see Transformers 2 when it came out. I really liked the first one, so anxiously awaited the sequel. Heading into the theater I was preparing myself for disappointment. The reviews on the big dollar sequel were horrible.

Despite the bad reviews I hit the theater at opening and saw the movie and must say that I was highly impressed. Critics be dammed, but this movie had not only great effects, but also tons of action and awesome comedy. It appears that I am not the only one disagreeing with the critics:

After just five days, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is halfway to $400 million domestically, a box-office milestone only eight other movies have reached. If it climbs that high, the "Transformers" sequel will be by far the worst-reviewed movie ever to make the $400 million club.

Critics and mainstream crowds often disagree, but "Revenge of the Fallen" sets a new standard for the gulf between what reviewers and mass audiences like.

The movie pulled in $201.2 million since opening Wednesday, the second-best result for a movie in its first five days, just behind "The Dark Knight" with $203.8 million. Even after its whopping $60.6 million opening day, "Revenge of the Fallen" was packing theaters, a sign that unlike critics, who mostly hated the movie, audiences felt they were getting their money's worth and were giving the flick good word of mouth.

Critics be damn, the money and people have spoken. This movie is raking in the big bucks and the people love it. I know leaving my little local theater, people were in aww. One guy even said he was going to see it again. That’s movie magic and a magic the critics seem to be left out in the cold on.

Wrong But Not Unjust

I don’t condone the attacks on children of politicians. I really think it isn’t right, but that’s just me. I can see other people getting into it and even having some Photoshop fun.

But just as attacking the children is wrong, so is using them for political cover. How often did we see the Obama kids on the campaign trail with their daddy? Not much at all, yet Sarah Palin marched her kids out on every single stop.

Yes its wrong to attack the children, but its even worse to throw them into the viral political spotlight the help your own political future. As matter of fact it borders on child abuse. Just consider Palin’s speeches and how she would always drag Trig out on stage afterwards to try and say “hey look – I’m a mommy!” It didn’t matter what time of day or night it was. That kid has to have the most screwed up sleep schedule ever, and that was done to help his mommy’s political future.

So to the Palin supporters. If you want to bitch about the nastiness that does happen on the internet, then also focus your complaints to the enabler. In this case that enabler is Sarah Palin. She has used her children as a political shield, and that shield isn’t strong enough for the online world.

(And as a side thought, can you imagine a President Palin? “You can’t attack my country, I’m a mommy!”)

State Department Worked To Prevent Honduras Coup

I’m still catching up on all the news of Honduras, but I found this article to not be that newsworthy:

The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Manuel Zelaya's ouster, said a senior U.S. official. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Barack Obama wouldn't support any nondemocratic transfer of power in the Central American country.

"We had some indication that a move against Mr. Zelaya was afoot," said a U.S. official briefed on the diplomacy. "We made it clear it was something we didn't support."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Obama Sunday in criticizing the Honduran coup and calling for the restoration of the democratic process.

Sounds logical. Any sort of coup leads to political instability in a nation, and we don’t need anymore instability in the world right now. Like I said, not really news. Well not really until you start reading how the right is taking it:

Figures... Barack Obama meddled and worked to prevent the ouster of this leftist tinpot dictator.
...When a Leftist dictator's career is on the line, Obama finds reason to meddle.
When Iranian democracy protesters are slaughtered on the street, Obama refuses to insert himself into the "debate."

A New Republican Leader?

Chris Cillizza thinks we could be seeing the emergence of a new Republican Leader in Lindsey Graham:

Graham, who spent the 2008 election cycle as Sen. John McCain's loyal sidekick, appeared alongside former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the GOP frontrunner in advance of 2012, and managed to stand out.

Why? Because unlike other Republicans who seem to be so fixated on scoring political points on President Obama, Graham was willing to point out where his own party had strayed while also making a reasonable argument for GOP ideals.

Asked about Gov. Mark Sanford's extramarital affair, Graham, who is close to the governor, said that he was "disappointed" in his friend's behavior and praised Obama as "one of the better role models in the entire country for the idea of being a good parent, a good father."

Graham is playing the good guy right now, but that isn’t what the higher-ups in the GOP want. Instead they want attack dogs; people who will viciously attack anything President Obama does. That will prevent someone like Graham from becoming a de facto leader, and will help keep the GOP in the minority for some time to come.

Linking A Copyright Infringement?

Judge Richard Posner thinks that should be the case:

Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent . . .

What Posner is arguing is insane. Basically he is saying that if I want to link to an article on the New York Times site (just a link, no quoting), I would need express written permission from them.

This would not only hurt the blogosphere, but also help destroy much of the internet. What would Google do? This would destroy search engines. Basically they are nothing but a link repository that is searchable, so they would be violating the copyrights of everyone, unless they receive express permission before hand.

Even more disturbing is that Posner is considered one of the most brilliant judges in our nation. He has been mentioned countless times for the Supreme Court and has really made a name for himself. For such a legal mind to even suggest such a thing is very scary.

Don’t Count On Pawlenty’s Signature

Impersonating God

The Shocking Support Behind Obama’s Iraq Plan

Soul Shake?

The Crazies Latch On To Honduras

Transformers 2

Wrong But Not Unjust

State Department Worked To Prevent Honduras Coup

A New Republican Leader?

Linking A Copyright Infringement?

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