There will be blood

I've heard the mutterings for awhile now about how the Dems want to come after 401(k)s. I'll admit, I've chalked it up to some paranoia because, sure, the Dems might be stupid and might view what's mine as theirs, but they're not suicidal.

It's not looking so paranoid right now.  If the Obama Administration is stupid enough to try to take people's 401(k) funds, there will be blood in the streets.  I don't mean that in a figurative sense.  There will be actual blood in the streets.  Note, that I am not encouraging that, I am stating that I believe that will be the result (see re twitter bitching about descriptive v prescriptive statements).  Hey, if someone wants to put money into a government run annuity program voluntarily, go right ahead.  It's that whole voluntary thing that's key.  It is not paranoid to note that a government program that starts as "voluntary" may very well not end up that way.

I don't remember the exact figures, but there are trillions of dollars in various types of retirement accounts that the government cannot get their hands on right now.  If that changes?  Yeah.  I see an end to the protests being peaceful. 

Posted by: alexthechick at 11:47 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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PSA

Since we Evil Heartless Reich Wingers actually do give a shit about all the flooding down in TN, I thought I'd throw up some links if you want to help.

Middle Tennessee Red Cross

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee

If you are so inclined, I'm sure they could use the help.

Posted by: alexthechick at 11:47 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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You want to go, motherfucker?

Okay, let's go...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lashed out at Republicans as the “anti-immigrant party” in an interview aired Sunday on Univision.

Here's the thing. The people who live on either side of me are from China. Across the street? From India and South Korea. I was born here. And we all get along just fine.

Stick with me here.

On the day when I turned eighteen, my dad took me out to register to vote. For most of my teenage years, I was pretty ignorant of politics. But, then, I happened to read a copy of P.J. O'Rourke's brilliant Parliament of Whores that my uncle had lying around, and I instantly became a conservative. So, I registered as a Republican.

Meanwhile, I grew up in a Southern California of changing demographics. Very few of my friends' parents were born here. Before we could drive on our own, for instance, a Bengali woman took us to school every day. My best friend's dad built up a successful air conditioning business after coming here with next to nothing. Hell, I can't even tell you how often one of my friends' mothers insisted that I eat something wonderful (or, occasionally, not so much) from their home country before I left their homes.

Why am I going on about all of this? Because I'm a Republican and I fucking love immigrants. Immigrants are the people who come here because they fucking love this country so much that they're fine with leaving their own countries, which can't be an easy decision. They build businesses here, add their arts and traditions and cuisines to our life, and produce ME. I'm living in SoCal instead of squatting in a bog in Ireland, after all.

And, here's where we come full-circle:

Republicans like me aren't "anti-immigrant," you fucking Senatorial douchebag.  We're against the people who stick their thumbs in the eyes of our friends and neighbors, the people who took the time to do it the right way and come here to open a dry cleaning shop or a restaurant or invent something new or whatever it takes to survive in America.

You know what you are, Harry? You're the "pro-lawlessness party." And you're gonna lose. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

We actually love immigrants. And we love the Constitution that they swear allegiance to when they become citizens.

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:17 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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In DC, we like to tax everything...

...even gym memberships. Hey, Jim Graham, how about we set up an Ugly-Ass Grandma Glasses Tax and see how you like it?

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 02:20 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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DCCC looking to abandon Hawaii House race

Over the nasty, nasty fight between the two Democrat candidates and is splitting the vote, while Republican Charles Djou is gaining.

Sorry, House race, durrrrrr.  Me ams smrt todae.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:13 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Dow plummeting

Not good, panic over Greece and the status of Europe's banks and economy...

A fucking typo?

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:07 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Here's something I would like to see the Oh So Tolerant And Caring Say

Instead of "We do not support any acts of hatred or bigotry to Muslims":

How about "We do not support any ideology that will chop off the heads of those who are queer"

How about "We do not support any ideology that will stone to death a woman for being raped"

How about "We do not support any ideology that demands that women be placed in clothing that covers them from head to toe"

How about "We do not support any ideology that believes that women should not be educated"

I'm sure you can come up with others, I'm too blindly furious to do so.

Posted by: alexthechick at 01:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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That's not stupid, it's el stupido.

I guess I'm the only blogger here who thinks this is funny.
The Phoenix Suns are going to wear jerseys tonight that say, "Los Suns" in solidarity with illegal aliens.

Considering that "Sun" in Spanish is "Sol", all that does is make me think of W.C. Fields asking where he can get an "El Drink-o".

Related: First, I own the world suggests that, in solidarity with illegal aliens, we all sneak into sports venues.
Then they linked to Exurban Jon's tweets to the Suns, there are a bunch of them that are great.
Including this gem
@PhoenixSuns Here's how you avoid being called hypocrites: Don't man the arena gates & whoever sneaks in w/out a ticket gets to stay!

And my personal favorite
@PhoenixSuns You're right that Arizona is just like Nazi Germany. They never won an NBA championship either!

What I can't figure out is how blatant stupidity ever became so accepted in America and when it happened that the truly stupid could act so smug after acting like idiots and not just get a Nelson "Ha-ha".

I mean, everybody used to understand Meathead was just as much an idiot as Archie Bunker.
Now? His intellectual equals are running our country.

Posted by: Veeshir at 01:44 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Welcome to the future

As Mark Steyn has noted, you can't get people to give back entitlements, no matter how desperate the financial situation. Greece is the perfect example. There's no money. The situation is dire. The budget cuts must be made. There is no magic answer.

The response? Massive riots, including possibly 20 people trapped in a burning bank.

This goes with Sean's post below.  If you read that article, the family involved are not only completely shameless about living on the dole but also believe that they are owed more. 

There has been talk about a "cultural war" here in the States for quite some time.  Well, it's looking like it's approaching a boiling point both here and worldwide.  The European version of social welfare is dependent on a work ethic that is undermined by the welfare state itself.  Why should anyone work?  Why should those who do work be expected to pay for those who don't?

This is going to get far uglier before it gets better.

Posted by: alexthechick at 08:59 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Thoughts on teabagging

There. That got your attention. It appears that our Esteemed Leader is perfectly happy with calling his opponents a sexual slur.

Stay classy, Obama. 

Here are the promised thoughts on teabagging.  When I think of teabagging, I immediately think of Halo and how much I suck at it.  Why are those two things linked? Because when playing Xbox Live, it is traditional to teabag your opponent after beating him/her.  Considering my Epic Suck at Halo, I am somewhat familiar with witnessing my avatar being teabagged.  The entire point of it is to display dominance and to humiliate your opponent.

This is why I find it utterly hilarious that the Left is using teabagging as a pejorative.  Generally, it is far far better to be the teabagger than the teabaggee.   I've had some hilarious and very profane discussions about this exact subject.  Attempting to insult me by referring to me as the dominant person constitutes Fail. 

Now, I get why people are insulted by the use of the term.  It's crude, vulgar and I could have gone my entire life without having to explain what it meant to my mother who gets mad when people say damn on television.  There is an undertone of sexual violence to it that is quite nasty.  But still.  If you want to recognize that I just capped your ass and I get to celebrate, by all means, feel free to do so.

I do wish that our country was being lead by a President who does not use terms in the Urban Dictionary to describe his opponents.  It displays Obama's utter lack of dignity and respect for the office.

(You'll note the absence of the Pres. before Obama.  That is purposeful.  I will show the amount of respect to him that he deserves)

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:20 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Further practical considerations

Next in an on-going series of my evaluation of the real world implications of  various political actions.

There has been much discussion about the on-going and intensifying departure of physicians from the family medicine/general practice fields.  The reasons for this are manifold and are not the point of this post.  One of the more frequent suggestions is to permit, if not require, physicians assistants and/or nurse practitioners to take over many of the functions currently performed by physicians.  This includes initial evaluations, taking of histories, physical examinations and other such actions.

Here's a problem that I have not seen discussed elsewhere, possibly because it isn't that obvious of a problem.  What happens in workers' comp and liability cases when the evaluations and care are almost exclusively performed by a PA/NP.  This is not an idle question on my part.  For those who do not know, I work in the personal injury field, plaintiff side.  Many of our clients are receiving their primary care from a PA/NP for a work injury or after being in an accident.  It is routine for opposing counsel to attack the treating physician's opinion on the grounds that the treating physician didn't actually do the examinations and didn't actually take the history and is relying on someone who isn't a doctor to make medical determinations.  This line of attack has varying success but it is always, always done.  The theory behind this is that a PA/NP does not posses the requisite skill, training and experience to make medical determinations.  That is to be left to a physician.

So what's going to happen in the future?  The public is being told that a PA/NA is qualified to make those determinations and provide that treatment.  If that is the case, then what will happen on the legal side of it?  Will state workers' comp law be altered to require acceptance of a PA/NP's determination as to the cause of an injury?  What about expert witness qualifications?  Will a PA/NP now be deemed qualified to provide expert testimony in a medical malpractice case? 

The ramifications of the Health Care Reform bill go far beyond the obvious.

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:53 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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"...to provide all students the opportunity to achieve the knowledge and skills necessary to become contributing citizens in our society."

The title is part of the mission statement for Denver Public Schools.

I didn't get too riled up when there was Obama campaign material in the Department of Technical Services building of Denver Public Schools, right outside the CTO's office.  And I've ignored the fact that the district is a hostile work environment for just about anyone holding conservative beliefs.  It is, after all, an urban school district, and many of the people holding administrative and teaching positions are to the left of Bill Ayers.  It's just the nature of the beast.

But really, DPS?  You're really going to refuse to train your employees because you disagree with a law a state has passed?  Denver has a mayor whose restaurant employed an illegal alien cop-killer who had been stopped multiple times prior to the murder for traffic violations, and Denver is widely known as a sanctuary city thanks to its refusal to enforce immigration laws.  Do you really want conservatives boycotting Denver based on its refusal to deal with its illegal immigration issue?  Are illegal immigrants paying so much more in tax dollars, are illegal immigrants so much more culturally valuable than citizens, that it's worth it to the city of Denver to alienate middle America?  And WTFingF makes Denver Public Schools think it has the right to make a political statement of any sort? 

The best part of the stupidity is this:

A written statement released by the district this morning said DPS is forming a Citizens Advisory Committee to study the issue further.

  Pretty please, Denver Public Schools, could you form a Citizens Advisory Committee to puzzle out how to make your graduation rate go up from its current 76.9%?  Could you form a Citizens Advisory Committee to puzzle out how to make it less than a thousand dollars a month to insure a family, so that your employees don't have children dying of asthma because they're forced on to public assistance for their insurance?  Could you form a Citizens Advisory Committee to puzzle out how to teach your administrators and teachers to deal with children in ways that don't involve duct tape?  Seriously, Denver Public Schools, could you form a Citizens Advisory Committee to educate the district about what does and does not help the district achieve its mission of educating children? 

Posted by: Alice H at 05:31 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Andrew Sullivan Fought The Stupid, And The Stupid Won Again

But at least it made Chris Matthews look marginally sane.

But at this point, shouldn't he drop the "Power Glutes" nickname and go for the "Flabby Glutes"? I mean, he hasn't been missing many meals recently.

Posted by: eddiebear at 11:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Once in a while...

...rules are meant to be broken. And this is, I'm pretty sure, only the second time that I've broken the rule about linking anything written by Andrew Sullivan.

I hate to drive any traffic his way, but Fair Use is the law, and I would have to quote his entire post in order to demonstrate just how hilariously stupid it is.

Okay, here's a sample:

And that means the uncomfortable task for real conservatives of stoutly defending this president as the best option we now have. The epistemic closure on the right is how other conservatives still manage to blind themselves to the pragmatic virtues of this president's remarkable 15 month record at home and abroad.

To paraphrase Glenn Reynolds (who is mentioned in Sullivan's clusterfuck about "real conservatives"), read the whole heh fucking incomprehensible mess indeed.

Posted by: Sean M. at 05:29 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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What, no Holocaust references?

Hey, if it was my shady, arguably criminal organization under scrutiny ox that was being gored, I might think the whole situation was kind of dire, too:

McCarthyism? Jim Crow? Segregation? Japanese internment?

Child's play. ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis says the times people are living in now will "dwarf" all those stains on America's history. And she points to the Tea Party movement -- or "bowel movement," in her words -- as a harbinger of the persecution to come.

Oh, but, wait. While that's interesting, here's my favorite part...

"They are coming. And they are coming after you," the embattled head of ACORN said during a talk last month to the Young Democratic Socialists, the youth branch of the Democratic Socialists, the U.S. branch of the Socialist International.

It should be noted, of course, that President Obama has never, ever worked in conjunction with ACORN. Furthermore, any implication that he might harbor socialist sympathies is beyond the pale. Because"socialist" is a racist code word...

"Any group that says, 'I'm young, I'm Democratic, and I'm a socialist,' is all right with me..."

Lewis, is, um, a notorious white supremacist who hates Barack Obama.

Yeah.

Posted by: Sean M. at 12:47 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Philly politician outed -- as straight

In the city of brotherly love, Democratic State Rep Babette Josephs outed her primary opponent Gregg Kravitz as not being bisexual, but straight.

"I outed him as a straight person," Josephs said during a fund-raiser at the Black Sheep Pub & Restaurant, as some in the audience gasped or laughed, "and now he goes around telling people, quote, 'I swing both ways.' That's quite a respectful way to talk about sexuality. This guy's a gem."

Kravitz, 29, said that he is sexually attracted to both men and women and called Josephs' comments offensive.

"That kind of taunting is going to make it more difficult for closeted members of the LGBT community to be comfortable with themselves," Kravitz said. "It's damaging."

In case you didn't pick up on it, this is another red-on-red situation. Score!

Posted by: JoeCollins at 01:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It's. Not. Your. Money.

Per Jake Tapper's Twitter feed, Pres. Obama will say the following in his speech on Wall St. reform today "Some on Wall St forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there is a family looking to buy a house, pay for an education..."

Fair enough as far as that goes.  It's rather like what I do, I'm constantly reminding my co-workers that something that's just a file to us is actually the client's life.  That's a serious obligation.  I do think it's clear that there are some working on the derivatives who forgot the real world impact of default swaps and the like.  I do not believe this was malicious, more a result of being lost in the numbers, but I do think it happened.  People are legitimately angry that their money was treated as simply part of a game. 

Having said that, I would like to remind Pres. Obama, Congress, Federal regulators, state governments, local municipalities and all other forms of government that behind every dollar in taxation or licensing fees or fines or the like there is a family looking to buy a house, pay for education, buy food, pay the light bill and on and on and on.  The same principle applies.

My money is no more the government's than it is Wall Street's.  Actually, no.  Wall Street has more of a claim to my money since my money is given to Wall Street voluntarily and not at the end of a gun.  Be it through direct investment, participation in a retirement fund or other form of investment, my money is being invested because I chose to put it there.  I have no choice but to pay taxes, fees, etc. unless I want it to finally end with a gun in my face.  That is the reality that far far too many politicians ignore.  There is all the difference in the world between voluntarily putting money into a mutual fund and having funds taken from your check so that you don't end up in jail for tax evasion.  These things are not the same. 

So you'll forgive me, Mr. President, if I find your moral posturing on this issue to be as risible as I do your claim about anything else.  You, sir, want to demonize Wall Street while you laugh at American citizens for exercising their rights to protest the forcible taking of their earnings.  Mr. President, I do wish to remind you that you work for us, not the other way around.  So, Mr. President, while you stand there fanning the flames of populist rage against those fat cat bankers, I'm going to sit here and do my best to fuel legitimate anger at the government's desire to take my money.  Fair is fair.

Posted by: alexthechick at 09:04 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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St. Heartache Must Have Dipped Into His "Special" Pouch Of Crazy Weed Tonight

Holy Fucking Fucklickity Split With A Fuckrag On Top! This is some really fucked up shit!

Here's a revealing glimpse into how a delusional, incompetent, pathological liar has managed never to hold a real press conference and yet remains a credible public figure.

But enough about Team Obama.

Oh, wait! Lemme guess. He meant somebody else, right?

Yup.

The reason I banged on and on about Palin's bizarre story about her fifth campaign prop during the campaign was not because I wanted to invade someone's privacy, or engage in loony conspiracy theories. The reason is simply that this story raised legitimate questions of fact, and that the press decided that it would never ask the relevant questions {like Bristol and Levi? Like "I can see Russia from my house"? Like "what books do you read"? Like hacking into her yahoo mail account?-ed}, and indeed ostracize and ridicule those who did {if by "ostracize and ridicule", you mean a paycheck from a formerly prestigious publication and repeated appearances on cable TV to flog your silliness, then I want to suffer as you did-ed}.

But wait! It gets better!

The problem here is not really Palin. Every delusional, ignorant nutcase should have a chance to get away with running for national office {see: Kucinich, Dennis-ed}. The problem here is the system - a system that allowed someone no-one knew anything about to get very close to being a 72-year-old's heartbeat away from the presidency, a system that deems some questions unaskable {like asking Joe the Plumber about his tax records yet avoiding a vetting of Obama's policy papers?-ed}, a press that is more concerned with maximizing ratings and avoiding offence than in getting answers {yeah, and that is why they are so willing to hammer Obama every night and give the GOP a pass, right"-ed}. This system is dangerous {but that Chinese Politburo or the Chavez System? Fucking Awesome with a capital J!-ed}. If you construct a sealed media cocoon {like the DC Press Corp protecting Obama and MSNBC?-ed}, and false narrative, and a massive money-machine {how much did Obama spend to pimp his agenda in 2009/10? But we can't have that! We must investigate a woman's uterus-ed}, you can get further than most people imagine {see: Obama, Barack 44th President of the United States-ed}, . And remember, presidents have been elected with 43 percent of the vote before {and Abe Lincoln won a 4 way race. Your point?-ed}.

Jeebus Baconfucking On Cereal Christ! That is some fucked up shit right there. I wonder if Sir Sacsucker McSwampass even realizes that he just self parodied the rise of Obama and the media cocoon used to protect him. But I guess that is too much to ask of a man who has lapped Charles Johnson in the mentally fucked up category and is busy burning donuts in the infield with his trophy of craziness.

Oh well. Glad to see him stay at The Atlantic, so that he can continue to amaze and impress all comers with his rank stupidity and dementia. Crazy people need jobs too.

Posted by: eddiebear at 12:40 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Red on Red two-fer

I refuse to call it "blue on blue" because (a) everybody knows red is bad, and (b) red is the color of the (democratic) socialist parties 'round the world... except here for some reason.

Story 1: Anyway, Snarlin' Arlen Specter has a really nasty (and effective) ad up against his primary opponent Congressman Joe Sestak.  Sestak's saying he's being "swiftboated", which I just find all kinds of hilarious.

Story 2: Donny Douchebag Deutsch Douchebag got canned from MSNBC because he criticized Olbermann.  I guess that sheds some light on the not-so-oblique references made on Morning Joe when Joan Walsh just couldn't come up with anybody incendiary on the Left side of the media spectrum.  Of course, when the Olby fill-in gets better ratings than the real Olby, it's pretty obvious that you're running a raw propaganda machine rather than anything even pretending to be a capitalist venture.

--Couldn't happen to nicer people!

Posted by: JoeCollins at 02:53 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Don't You Hate Seeing Rich Greedy Republicans Taking Money From Companies?

Yeah, especially when this happens.

But the mere $151,722.42 (inflation adjusted) in contributions from Enron-affiliated executives, employees, and PACs to Bush hardly add up to Obama's $1,007,370.85 (inflation adjusted) from Goldman-affiliated executives and employees. That's also not taking into account how much Goldman contributed to Obama cabinet member Hillary Clinton ($415,595.63 inflation adjusted), which was itself almost three times as much as Bush received as well. It would be fair to say that the total amount the Obama administration has received from those affiliated with Goldman Sachs is ten times that of what Bush received from Enron.

Goldman is being sued for civil fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for deliberately putting unwitting clients on the wrong side of a mortgage security trade that had been designed to fail {which helped spur the economic collapse that helped Obama win. Funny how that happens-ed}

Posted by: eddiebear at 01:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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