There Must Be A Pony In that Room Full Of Teabags, Somewhere!

George W Bush
Glenn Greenwald
Howard Fineman

"The name 'WikiLeaks' doesn't sounds like espionage. It sounds like Barbara Walters interviewing Ricky Martin." – Craig Ferguson

"According to the TSA, most of the people protesting the new body search procedures are men. At last they're getting to see what it's like to be groped by someone who won't take no for an answer." – Jay Leno

"In a recent interview, Sarah Palin said we must stand with our North Korean allies. When she was corrected she said, 'Listen, geometry was never my strong suit.'" – Jay Leno

On a recent radio show, Rush Limbaugh told Barack Obama to keep his hands off his teabag. Next thing we know, Obama is rushed to the hospital and got 12 stitches on his lower lip. Coincidence? I don't think so... I never thought that I'd provide a link to anything that was ghostwritten for George W Bush, but his opinion piece for AIDS is worth reading. I give him points for continuing to support the fight against AIDS after he is out of office, especially in Africa. Few presidents or first ladies continue to support charitable causes once they finish their terms in office; I'm thinking of Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan here. Jimmy Carter is probably better known for his charity work after he left office than for what he accomplished while he was in office, few American politicians live up to the Christian ideals they so loudly espoused while they hypocritically served, so Jimmy earns bonus points for practicing what he preaches. Clinton looks like the perfect elder statesman, yet Alzheimer's is keeping George HW Bush from doing much in the public spotlight, to give him a pass...

"Rush, don't tea bag me, bro..."

Interpol has issued an arrest warrant on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, based on bogus sex charges filed in the Netherlands. Ecuador has offered him a place to live and promises never to extradite him, nice to find a safe haven. The grandstanding hasn't died down over the latest batch of wikileaks, it's like each country is being made to stand up one after another and introduce themselves to the 12 step crowd: "Hello, I am Turkey, and I have been wikileaked..." Putting things in a more sensible perspective, the NY Times quotes Defense Secretary Robert Gates: “Let me just offer some perspective as somebody who’s been at this a long time. Every other government in the world knows the United States government leaks like a sieve, and it has for a long time. And I dragged this up the other day when I was looking at some of these prospective releases. And this is a quote from John Adams: ‘How can a government go on, publishing all of their negotiations with foreign nations, I know not. To me, it appears as dangerous and pernicious as it is novel.’


“Now, I’ve heard the impact of these releases on our foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer, and so on. I think those descriptions are fairly significantly overwrought. The fact is, governments deal with the United States because it’s in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us, and not because they believe we can keep secrets. Many governments — some governments — deal with us because they fear us, some because they respect us, most because they need us. We are still essentially, as has been said before, the indispensable nation.


“So other nations will continue to deal with us. They will continue to work with us. We will continue to share sensitive information with one another. Is this embarrassing? Yes. Is it awkward? Yes. Consequences for U.S. foreign policy? I think fairly modest.’’




Despite all of the bluff and bluster that conservatives have let off over how Obamacare is unconstitutional, among other things, and every Republican state attorney general were itching to file a lawsuit against it, so far their results have produced zero. Nothing, zilch, big fat goose-egg... As the NY Times reports: "For the second time in two months, a federal judge has upheld the constitutionality of the new health care law, ruling on Tuesday that the requirement that most Americans obtain medical coverage falls within Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce... The measure is designed to cover the majority of the country’s uninsured by requiring that most people have insurance and providing subsidies to make it affordable.


Judge Moon rejected the argument by plaintiffs around the country that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution does not empower Congress to require Americans to buy a commercial product like health insurance. To do so, they argue, would amount to the regulation of inactivity.


In disagreeing, Judge Moon embraced arguments made by the Justice Department. “Far from ‘inactivity,’ ” he wrote, “by choosing to forgo insurance, plaintiffs are making an economic decision to try to pay for health care services later, out of pocket, rather than now, through the purchase of insurance.” So, it looks like our homegrown constitutional scholars are again misinterpreting the intentions of our founding fathers. I can only wonder what else they have gotten wrong...

Actually, I know what our tea baggers have gotten wrong. Instead of listening to Rush and Glenn everyday, and I would rather shoot myself in the head, I go to the library and check out at least one or two socially conservative books, to try and keep up with their arguments. I don't know if there is really such a large audience out there for political conservatism, but there certainly is a lot money going into publishing a lot of these books. I know that many of the old money that supported George W Bush were riled when a lot of books were published over his incompetence and cronyism, and that their current goal is to totally discredit Obama in every direction he turns; but the sheer volume of vitriol and lies and total bullshit is astounding. We could solve our energy problems if we put all of that hot air to use turning turbines instead of launching slings and arrows of ninja misfortune. With negative brainwashed slanders relentlessly invading our consciousness, it's no wonder that I wake up in the morning doubting all faith I had in Barack Obama.

I still am naive enough to believe in bi-partisanship solutions, though it's obvious that John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and Eric Cantor don't plan on playing along. They won't be happy until Obama bends to their will and bows to them in subservience, a black man that knows his proper place... In fact, Obama's appointing his most recent bi-partisan commission reminds me of the old joke that describes the definition of an optimist:

A young boy was very happy all of the time, much to the dismay of his older relatives. They decided to teach him a lesson. On his next birthday they gave him as a present a room-full of shit. When the boy opened the door and saw what was in the room, he gave an exclamation and dived right in, laughing and digging away.

When the older relatives asked him why he was so happy, digging in a room full of shit, he replied: "But, there must be a pony in here somewhere!" I guess if we substitute the Senate floor for that room, the analogy would be perfect...

In the meantime, if anything gets passed during this short session of Congress, it will happen at the very last minute, as Congressman and women are darting out their doors to finish their Christmas shopping. It's very rare for both of Russia's leaders, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimeer Putin to tell Congress to pass the nuclear non-proliferation treaty or else... Will that make  idiots like John Kyl look up from the trough enough to paw twice for yes? Or will he and others like him keep their sheepish heads down... My own House Representative Doug Lamborn, recently wrote how he is more concerned with more important issues, like ending any more funding for National Public Radio, which is liberal and therefore, biased and needs to go... Let's see, ending the possibility of a nuclear war on one hand, or never again listening to "All Things Considered..." what a tough choice to make for our lockstepping mindless marching morons (points if you know the 1950's sci fi author who used that phrase as a title of his collection of short stories...)