Far East Cynic

I must admit, I am taking enormous pleasure at the conservative freak out over both Seth McFarland's hosting of the Oscars-and the appearance of Michelle Obama therein.

It is indeed laughable-because it shows what prudish jerks, a certain segment of American society is.

For starters-Family Guy is great. Its funny, edgy and a great satiric criticism of the trends in American society. Anyone who doesn't think so must be a conservative hack. Or a conservative whore-like Michelle Malkin. 

Or Jennifer Rubin.

 Rubin wrote a scathing review of the first lady’s appearance, complaining about nearly every word she said, and claiming she must have felt “entitled” to “intrude” on the big Hollywood night. In her eyes, an appearance like last night’s “makes both the president and the first lady seem small and grasping. In this case, it was just downright weird.”

Yea………right.

There is a word for Jennifer Rubin. Its the same one the Onion used for Quvenzhané Wallis. ( if you can pronounce that name, you are a better man than I).

And the list of whiners goes on. 

The National Review put together their round-up of the various responses “mocking” the first lady. The Drudge Report called her a party crasher in his banner headline. The Breitbart team complained she hijacked the Oscars. Charles Johnson has a great round up of how truly demented most of the folks on the right wing side of the aisle are.

Hardly a group of "respectable" critics if you ask me. And clearly they have no sense of tradition whatsoever. ( But hey, what else did you expect from Andrew Breibart's useless children?)

Look, morons. If you had no idea Seth McFarland was going to be "edgy" then you are really stupid. You should probably go talk to your children who understand his work quite well. 

Now I will admit-what with the 9 hour time difference-I was not going to be able to stay awake for the Oscars. But I watched the re-runs this morning-and I thought Seth McFarland was funny.

And talented. Especially this bit:

Only a moron would think that was not cleverly done. And , by the way, correct. We did see their boobs ( Thanks be to God!)

So please, Ms. Malkin-since we already know what a whore you are-spare us the the criticisms of people who can pull off the role a lot better than you do!.

Dear Phibian,

  You believe that in picking Ryan, Mitt Romney "nailed it". Oh he nailed something all right-but he didn't nail his choice of VP pick. Actually, from a purely Democratic Party standpoint-this is the best news Obama has had in weeks. 

For one thing it allows people to take Ryan's fraudulent budget and expose it to the kind of public execution it richly deserves. It did not get the kind of public scrutiny it deserved in 2011-and that's the fault of the Democratic Party for not publicly crucifying the man as the heartless bastard he really is. Oh they tried-it is just that they should have tried harder.

You claim that,  "Romney's public and private sector record of success speaks for itself. Ryan is one of the only people in Congress who is willing to not only explain the unsustainable path we are on – but proposes a path forward. It isn't a path of unicorns poop'n Skittles, but it is a path founded on fact and math – grounded on reality. It is a path that treats us like adults." 

Only if you are an adult who like being lied to. A lot. Romney's record of "success" is founded on a foundation of lies and a lot of bodies he victimized. His Bain Capital record speaks for itself. And Ryan, well this all you really need to know about Paul Ryan:

Look, Ryan hasn’t “crunched the numbers”; he has just scribbled some stuff down, without checking at all to see if it makes sense. He asserts that he can cut taxes without net loss of revenue by closing unspecified loopholes; he asserts that he can cut discretionary spending to levels not seen since Calvin Coolidge, without saying how; he asserts that he can convert Medicare to a voucher system, with much lower spending than now projected, without even a hint of how this is supposed to work. This is just a fantasy, not a serious policy proposal.

So why does Saletan believe otherwise? Has he crunched the numbers himself? Of course not. What he’s doing – and what the whole Beltway media crowd has done – is to slot Ryan into a role someone is supposed to be playing in their political play, that of the thoughtful, serious conservative wonk. In reality, Ryan is nothing like that; he’s a hard-core conservative, with a voting record as far right as Michelle Bachman’s, who has shown no competence at all on the numbers thing.

What Ryan is good at is exploiting the willful gullibility of the Beltway media, using a soft-focus style to play into their desire to have a conservative wonk they can say nice things about. And apparently the trick still works.

When in reality the man plays golf with Satan. He really is twisted individual deserving of much worse than I am allowed to say here. But know this-the man is personally and professionally a fraud.

Over at Balloon-Juice, they have no such misconceptions about the man. The see him as the truly heartless bastard that he is. And how did he get that way? The company he keeps:

The Romney/Ryan line is, basically, “It isn’t all your fault you’re lazy, but you are lazy, and we’re gonna get you off your lazy, fat asses whether you like it or not.” Hmmm. Winner?

And how did Ryan come to this sophisticated worldview? Well, it isn’t just reading Ayn Rand. It also involves lots of cozy dinners with fellow right-wing cranks drinking $350 bottles of wine.

That’s the image of Ryan we need to keep front and center. Him, sitting there, whining about how liberals are mean to millionaires while plotting ways to fuck the poor, drinking bottles of wine that each cost more than many Americans take home in a week. Heartless. Out-of-touch. Self-righteous. And cruel.

This is a really a ticket of paired sociopaths. Completely devoid of any empathy for the rest of us. It isn’t that they can’t feel other people’s pain. Rather, they think pain is good for us, and they are going to provide it whether we like it or not.

The man is truly the "zombie eyed granny starver" that Charles Pierce calls him. If he is the future of America-then America is well and truly fucked.  And there is an extra added bonus to having this right wing dream team, the election will avoid asking the foreign policy questions that are still going to be with us-no matter who is elected. Especially if Israel bombs Iran.

But hey, enjoy the moment while it lasts. Because Paul Ryan was, is, and will remain a diabolically evil man.

The Devil  being the evil man known as Paul Ryan.

Shylock:
"I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you."

The Merchant of Venice (I, iii, 35-39)

Shakespeare had Ryan's number, long before the evil spawn of the devil was born.

Long time readers of this blog should remember-that I am not just some Johnny come lately when it comes to hating Paul Ryan. I have despised him and prayed for the early demise of the "zombie eyed granny starver" -long before it was fashionable to do so. Of course previously, wishing for the bad man's early, painful, and untimely demise was simply a statement that might have been in questionable taste.

Now,  it could earn me a visit from the Secret Service.

Because Romney proved yet again-who really runs the GOP, and its not the rational minded people. It  is the Greedy Selfish pigs who make up the party of those who pretend to like tea.

Its good news for the Obama campaign-because the personage of Ryan allows the other side to unmask the evil that lurks at the heart of all GOP policy prescriptions. And the more the people get to see about the selfish purposes at the heart of the Ryan budget, I believe the less they will like it. Plus it allows the campaign to accurately quote the dedication with which the zombie eyed granny starver has set out to screw the average American.

Charles Pierce of Esquire sums it up well:

Leave it to Willard Romney, international man of principle, to get himself bullied into being bold and independent. 

Make no mistake. In his decision to make Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin, his running mate, Romney finally surrendered the tattered remnants of his soul not only to the extreme base of his party, but also to extremist economic policies, and to an extremist view of the country he seeks to lead. This is unimaginable to those of us who lived here under Romney's barely perceptible stewardship of the Commonwealth (God save it!). If he'd even hinted that he agreed with a fraction of a smidgen of a portion of the policies on which Ryan has built his career, Romney would have been hanging from the Sacred Cod by the middle of 2005. And it's hard not to notice that the way the decision got leaked — in the dead of a Friday night, with the Olympics still going on, after two weeks in which Romney and his campaign had demonstrated all the political skills of a handball — fairly dripped with flopsweat.

(And how'd you like to be poor Tim Pawlenty, being told by Tagg Romney that he'll be riding in the roof carrier to Iowa again, with nothing in his future except, maybe, a couple of bucks at Christmas.)

Which is not to say this isn't a shrewd move. In one great swoop, Willard has recaptured a good portion of the elite political media, which has been crushing on Ryan's "courage" to take on the "tough choices" — none of which, it should be pointed out, likely will affect Ryan, who's already got himself an education out of the social safety net he now intends to shred, and certainly will never affect the haircut at the top of the ticket, or his great-grandchildren, for all that — and the coverage of the pick in the middle of the night showed that many of our finer chattering heads are already practicing tying the stem of the cherry with their tongues in preparation for covering the new Republican ticket. On CNN, at about 1:35 this morning, Wolf Blitzer was already warning Democrats not to get too cocky in the face of Paul Ryan's mighty intellect. "In 1980," Wolf told us, "Democrats were high-fiving when the Republicans nominated Ronald Reagan." 

(And can we have an end to that myth, please? At this point in the nominating process in 1980, the Democratic party was ripping out its own guts in the worst intraparty squabble since the blood ran in Grant Park in 1968. I can assure you that the Reagan people knew this to be true, and a lot of the Democrats, especially the ones lined up behind Ted Kennedy, knew full well what a wounded incumbent Carter was, because many of them had gone out of their way since 1977 to wound him. The regulars hated him as much as they'd hated George McGovern in 1972. The difference was that Carter had won. Liberty Under Siege, by the late Walter Karp, is the ur-text on this subject. We continue.)

Paul Ryan should be a Godsend to the Democratic party. Of course,  that presumes they have the smarts to intelligently carve him apart simply using his own words. Unfortunately, that's not a safe assumption. The Democrats are masters at self destruction even when the opposition opens themselves to totally justified attack-as is the case with this VP pick.

But do not kid yourself, this is repeat of Sarah Palin. Except Ryan is smarter than she is-and a lot, lot, more evil.

What I will enjoy is brutally attacking him over the next three months. Everyone needs a mission-I now have mine.

Is that group of increasingly reprehensible bloggers who make up the "professional right wing blogosphere". (Membership names listed below).  Besides the fact that they generally have their facts wrong-they are just about universally a group of douchbags loathsome group of people to be around. Their blogs are essentially interchangeable, fact free-and in general-poorly written and edited.

So imagine my surprise when , this guy paid them a visit last week:

NEW YORK — In an effort to reach out to conservative media, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney and wife Ann met for two hours Wednesday with several dozen conservative bloggers, reporters and columnists in an off-the-record gathering at a private Washington, D.C. club, according to attendees.

Romney, who struggled with some members of the conservative media during the Republican primary, is banking on their support in his campaign against President Barack Obama, regardless of whether they were previously in his corner or not.

The attendees came from numerous conservative sites and right-of-center publications, including National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator,Washington Examiner, Human Events, RedState, Right Wing News, Powerline, Townhall, Ace of Spades, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier and PJ Media. RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.

Details of the Romney meeting did not previously leak out because of the off-the-record ground rules…

As to why he was not invited, Andrew Breitbart could not be reached for comment.

But rest assurred, his snot nosed, idiotic, children where there.

The meeting, which included writers from RedState and Breitbart.com as well as a list of conservative publications reported by Huffington Post — National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Powerline*, Townhall,, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier, and PJ Media (though not, as an early report had suggested, the conspiracist site WorldNetDaily). RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.

Notably, the meeting also included some grassroots bloggers with no real institutional ties to the Washington Republican Establishment, including the Twitter virtuoso Ace of Spades and John Hawkins of Right Wing News.

John Hinderaker and his blog Powerline, are especially vile-especially given the fact that in this election, as in the last, he is something of a special pleader:

[* Powerline Proprietor John Hinderaker is the newest Koch installation on the Cato Institute Board of Directors, his firm does work for Koch and the blog was prominent in the takedown of Dan Rather via blogswarm. This memory will be important below.]

 

I despise John Hinderaker-and everything he and the rest of that crowd represents. If you want a great example of why I am down on American politics-look no further than this: The GOP nominee having to grovel before this group of lunatics.

PS-If you want a pretty good accounting of what a loons Hinderaker and his supporters are-look no further than here.

I'm tired of seeing your vile trash everytime I open up Memeorandum.

So often is the virgin sheet of paper more real than what one has to say, and so often one regrets having marred it. ~Harold Acton.

Back in August of last year-I reminded Phib and others what a real douchebag Andrew Breitbart is and was. His “Big” blogs are nothing but written excrement-and now my Canadian Counterpart seems to have also discovered that fact:

The above is a pretty funny video and I recommend it to you all. But I didn’t just post it because it’s hilarious. There is a larger point here. Specifically, if you read an Andrew Brietbart blog expecting anything even remotely approaching the truth in history or politics, you may as well be straddling the hood a fucking Datsun on Sepulveda Boulevard yourself. All of the “Big” blogs are like dating sites for people who shouldn’t be allowed out of their homes without electronic monitoring. If, however, you enjoy having your stupidity force-fed to you, I can’t recommend the House of Brietbart more highly. You’ll feel at home there.

While there are many posts and articles at Breitbart’s blogs that are worthy of disdain-I have to agree with the Canadian-Kevin Mooney’s defense of Oliver North is right down there with really stupid articles.

I continue to marvel at the pettiness of the critics of Occupy Wall Street and their inability to understand underlying reasons why these demonstrations are happening at all.

Most of the criticism of the Occupy Wall Street crowd stays away from that key point. Instead it fixates on their hygiene ( which I suspect are isolated instances blown out of proportion). If anything, it is completely arrogant of the people who fixate on: sex and drugs (at least somebody is getting laid), the fact that people are sleeping the streets(unlike your average fat teabagger, a lot of these  folks cannot afford an RV) the fact that they don’t respect teabag conservative values, the idea that everyone who supports OWS is not paying taxes and is a freeloader, the idea that they are all dirty hippies-and finally the idea that Wall Street is totally blameless and without their greed,  we would not have nice things. Other than the fact that just about all of those statements are a lie-it ignores some basic fundamental realities of life here in the Whining States of America.

The folks who started Occupy Wall Street started a website called I am the 99 percent. It has taken off and become viral. Professional conservative douchebag activist and general all around twit, Erik Erikson, started an opposition web site called I am the 53%. It gets its name from the self serving lie that tebaggers in particular and the GOP in general seemed obsessed with-that “47% of Americans don’t pay taxes”. This, apparently, annoys them to no end. Even though it was their tax cutting policies that created this situation. The irony, or course, is lost on them. Part of the reason that over 40 percent of Americans don’t pay federal taxes is because of the continual push to lower them — a cause that conservatives have championed. And 86% pay taxes of some sort-a detail I am sure that most of the people making their pompous and arrogant statements on the web site are too lazy to actually do some research.

Its kind of sad really-but altogether too typical of the way our Galtian overlords think these days. The 53% folks  believe that they and they alone are supposed to represent the opinions of the 53 percent of Americans who pay federal income taxes, and its ( very flawed)  assumption that the Wall Street protesters are part of the 46 percent of the country who don’t. Besides the fact that the numbers are incorrect, there are all kinds of problems with the douchebaggers their approach here, including the fact that they seem to want to increase working-class taxes and also seem entirely unaware of the fact that it was Republican tax cuts that pushed so many out of income-tax eligibility in the first place. There’s also the small matter of some of those claiming to be in “the 53 percent” aren’t actually shouldering a federal income tax burden at all, but are apparently unaware of that fact.

But this is Eric Erikson-a man for whom facts are optional, so lets play everybody’s favorite game, “Rip Erik’s Strawmen to bits!”:

 Take a look at Erick Erickson’s argument, presented in a hand-written message posted to the 53% blog: “I work three jobs. I have a house I can’t sell. My family insurance costs are outrageous. But I don’t blame Wall Street. Suck it up you whiners. I am the 53% subsidizing you so you can hang out on Wall Street and complain.”

Just for heck of it, let’s take this one at a time.

The very idea that Erickson works “three jobs” is rather foolish.

Blaming financial industry corruption and mismanagement for Erickson’s troubles selling his house is actually quite reasonable.

If Erickson’s reference to “family insurance costs” is in reference to health care premiums, he’ll be glad to know the Affordable Care Act passed, and includes all kinds of breaks for small businesses like his.

And the notion that victims of a global economic collapse, who are seeking some relief from a system stacked in favor of the wealthy, are “whiners” is so blisteringly stupid, it amazes me someone would present the argument in public.

If there are any actual “whiners” in this scenario, shouldn’t the label go to millionaires who shudder at the idea of paying Clinton-era tax rates?

A good rejoinder if there ever one was one, but I’ll go you one better why you should support the OWS crowd and not the selfish pig crowd over at 53% land. My own recent experience.

For starters, I too am part of the 53%. I pay federal income taxes, I pay state taxes, I pay gas taxes, I pay sales taxes, I pay property taxes, I pay utility taxes. When I travel I pay rental car “concession fees” and vendor taxes. I also pay hotel taxes. If hookers in Wanchai could charge taxes-I’d probably be on the record as paying those too. Do you hear me whining about it? (Just a little) I paid 19% of my income in federal taxes last year-on top of having my “wealth” redistributed in a form of outright theft of my military retirement to the tune of 37.7%- to be given to a fat, non-fucking, worthless whore who does not deserve dime one of it. Yet you don’t see one single solitary teabagger, or Eric Cantor type Congressmen lobbying for repeal of that “unconstitutional law”. ( Which it is-check out McCarty vs McCarty in 1981 if you don’ t believe me).

The reason is simple-paying taxes in those numbers means I brought in some comfortable money-certainly more than I ever saw during any of my time on active duty in the Navy. Rather than complain about it-I rejoice in the fact, that I was granted that opportunity. And that I was able to turn a great percentage of what remained after taxes into equity in a house, savings and retirement investments. Hell, if you think about it-the “safe way” would have been to continue to struggle away as a wage slave making good money and living the suburban Alabama life.

Except of course-it was stifling my soul and driving my spirit into the dirt. Especially in the last year-where you literally have to navigate your way through fat and stupid people every single day. A change was required-and while it was not the “safe” way-it was the necessary way, if I hope to keep my sanity.

Yet, not one bit of that money stopped me from losing my job,  thanks to some incredibly short sighted thinking by the worst agency in the Federal government. Nor it did prevent, me from being forced to re-examine a whole bunch of different options and fall back strategies to avoid falling back into the trap of near bankruptcy. It did not keep me from having to take a decent sized pay cut in order to keep working-all so I can still have 37.7% of that “wealth” redistributed.

Maybe its because I have already stared into the pit of bankruptcy once-that I understand , perhaps better than most, how easy it is to slide right back to that precipice. The ingratitude and sheer shelfishness of retired Air Force weather forcasters ( who have a guaranteed government pension, guaranteed health care, guaranteed educational benefits, and probably a preference in hiring) just appalls me. Especially when you consider that him and many others like him are just one serious illness, just one stupid decision by an arrogant three star that hasn’t been in the line since he was a Cpt, one natural disaster that wrecks his home, or just one downturn in the ( stock market, housing market, or any other source of growing savings income), from going from the 53% over to the 46%. Or to state it more accurately, that 35% of Americans who make 30,000 dollars or less and are just a stone’s throw from the poverty line. As I have pointed out before-the reason these folks are not more grateful and wanting to help others is they earnestly believe it cannot or will not happen to them. Well I’m here to tell the other “52%”-that it can and it will if you are not careful. Even if you are careful-it can still happen to you, you arrogant swine, you.

As E.D. Kain points out, ” More than a few of these people would benefit from the government stepping in against the people who are the cause of their economic distress. ‘Making your own way’ when the deck is stacked against you instead of calling on the government to get rid of the game-rigging seems illogical to me.”

But of course,  they won’t dare think it through. These supposedly hard working people would actually benefit if the bankers were kicked in the teeth. Its they and a lot of others who are being charged to use their own money-so that banks can pay 11 million dollars to employees who fail.

Get back to the facts my tri-corner hat wearing ignorant “ friends”, no matter what your thoughts are on Obama, the facts are still the facts:for the majority of Americans wages and real earning power have declined in the last twelve years. During the same time period the earning power of the top 1% skyrocketed. In the long run that kind of income inequality hurts overall growth and prevents a recovery of any meaningful sort. That is something to be angry about. If your friendly neighborhood teabagger had even a lick of smarts or sense-they would be supporting the crowds in New York, and thankful that the youth are actually informed enough to take the time to get angry. These folks know more about the realities of our current predicament than most of the flag waving fatties knew about health care in 2009. They are being screwed too-they just don’t realize it yet.

I AM PART OF THE 53%!  HOWEVER I SUPPORT THE 99%.  ITS ABOUT TIME SOME FEAR WAS PUT INTO THE 1%.

The more the selfish crowd whines-the longer this is going to go on. Didn’t you guys learn anything from the 60′s?

P.S. Erik Erikson can go fuck himself!

I love the fact that conservative supporters of the selfish, fat, ignorant, pigs teabaggers are up in arms because literally thousands of their fellow citizens exercised the same right claimed by the selfish, fat, ignorant, pigs teabaggers to assemble peaceably to express their displeasure with the government’s obsession with rewarding the top 1% of this country while ignoring the other 99%. Protests based on a flawed interpretation of the Constitution, historically inaccurate readings of a narrow group of historical documents-while ignoring equally valid other commentaries-with people wearing stupid hats and costumes and carrying stupid signs with lies posted on them comparing the duly elected President of the United States to Hitler; those are OK. But people who are outraged at getting fucked over repeatedly, having to struggle to get things that they should be able to obtain by right, people who have been kicked out of their homes, have lost their jobs, have been unable to get another one-those things they are not allowed to be angry about. Got it.

Or as Jon Stewart expressed it:

On Wednesday evening, Jon Stewart gazed at the Occupy Wall Street movement through the lens of Fox News sound bites–especially the condescending and incoherent ones. The negative sentiment was the exact opposite of how the News Corp. property felt when it was fanning the flames of the Tea Party opposition only a year and a half ago. And The Daily Show host makes sure to point out that nonsensical logic (especially jabs at Sean Hannity and Steve Doocey), while singling out one of the budding stars of the protest movement, Jesse LaGreca, along the way. The takeaway line though, was Stewart just leveling: “Look, if this thing devolves into throwing trash cans into Starbucks windows, nobody’s going to be down with that … but these protesters, how are they not like the Tea Party?”

The differences of course are several. One is demographics-the tea party was primarily white, middle aged, overweight, and more than a tad bit selfish and stupid.  Occupy Wall Street protesters are younger, much better informed than their tea party counterparts, and are not being astroturfed by rich bastards like Dick Armey for one thing. They also have a big difference in the use of money and busses:

There is one not so obvious or immediately noticeable difference between the Occupy Wall Street protests and your average Tea Party protest. Sure, the crowds seem to be younger, signs featuring Obama as Hitler are entirely absent, and there aren’t many people who are dressed like Uncle Sam sneezed stars and stripes all over them. There are no guns or demands to see the president’s birth certificate. But the less obvious difference is in buses. While the Tea Party protests always feature big buses covered with flags and eagles, buses at the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are used to haul the protesters to jail.

I bring this up because teapartiers like to pretend they’re running their own show. That their protests are grassroots and their organizations are of their own construction. But those buses carting them around from protest to protest didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Someone paid for them, someone gave them their ultra-patriotic paint jobs, someone’s buying all the gas. All that takes funding and, as much as the ‘baggers like to pretend they’re an independent movement, they’re all bought and paid for— and then moved from square to square like pawns on a chessboard.

It has also been very well pointed out by those who are not watching Fox News, that unlike the teabaggers-the Occupy Wall Street movement does not have herds of Democratic politicians running over to suck their dicks jump on board their band wagon. If anything they have been avoiding them. Greg Sargent points out why:

If there’s one thing that’s growing clearer by the hour, it’s that this is an entirely organic effort, one that’s about nobody but the protestors themselves. In this sense, we’re seeing a replay of the Wisconsin protests. Those ended up falling just short of what activists had hoped to achieve, but their months-long showing was still important — it demonstrated that left wing populism is still alive and well and sent an important message about the mood of the country. The key was that it grew organically with little to no involvement from Beltway Dems and the White House.

If anything, Occupy Wall Street’s lack of outside encouragement from bigfoot Dems has been a strength, rather than a weakness. As major progressive groups debate how they can contribute to strengthening the movement — and how to give it specific direction and a specific agenda — the need to preserve its grassroots nature will remain paramount. Who knows where this will end up, but for now, this is another reminder that the Tea Party isn’t the only voice of popular discontentment over the economy. We don’t necessarily live in Tea Party Nation, after all.

And finally, as Jon Stewart points out very ably, the Occupy Wall Street folks, “don’t feel the need to constantly reassure themselves and each other how ‘patriotic‘ they are. They just are.”

Of course-to a dedicated tea sniffing fanatic, the irony and hypocrisy of their criticism is just lost on them:

Over the last couple of days I have been witness to one of those continuing conversations that can only occur in the one dimensional space that is the internet. You know the kind-that actually go back and forth reasonably well-until the zealot shows up. The zealot of course being that young guy, who hasn’t experienced much of life yet-but is sure he can tell someone 40 years older than him, how the world works and how fucked up he is. ( This is a true story-as Foggy is my witness!).

Now the proper thing to do, would have been to hit the delete key and go have a sandwich. But like a moth to the flame-because its about my favorite subject to attack- the tea party loons, I jumped in.

And now after two days, I can now definitely can confirm that-if these men are any example-our university system is in decline big time.

I’ve learned that:

The Interstate Highway system is unconstitutional. Really? ( How fucked in the head is that?)

Secession for Texas would be just fine because it would cut Texan’s taxes. Now mind you-how they are going to make good the hole left by the departure of the state’s biggest employer ( The US government) was blithely ignored. Same too with how Texas would pay for all the things that go with being an independent country-like an Army or an Air Force.

Madison and the Federalist Papers are Holy Writ. Any other historical commentaries are not worth the paper they are printed on. Oh, and those other 54 guys who signed the Constitution? Just strap hangers for James Madison. Never knew that before.

Judicial review and the power of the Supreme Court to strike down laws as unconstitutional is heresy. Same thing seems to be true with the idea of Judicial Precedent. Wow! Think of the money we could save not having to send lawyers to law school or electing or appointing judges! ( Unless it is striking down a law they didn’t like).

Re: Judicial review: Justice Marshall was a power hungry ego-maniac. ( I must have been sick the day they taught that in Constitutional Law class).

If you believe in a progressive income tax-you are automatically a socialist. Ergo, that great defender of imperialism and American Exceptionalism,Theodore Roosevelt, was nothing but Karl Marx in disguise. Wow. Who knew?

We’ve not crossed the barrier of Godwin’s law yet. But we have established a corollary hypothesis. If you defend raising tax revenue, or stick up for poor people who need health care-you will immediately and rather strongly be labeled a socialist. ( Even if you a practicing physician of 45 years experience and have forgotten more about insurance law than most of these pikers will ever know).

Any taxation is theft-there is no such thing as common contribution for the greater good.

Income inequality does not exist in this country. If a guy is rich, and if the top 1% have 40% of the nation’s net worth-it is because they deserve it more. Trying to regulate complex transactions for the purposes of protecting investors is an abomination against man and God.

There is nothing wrong with throwing 1 million people out of work-if it means the unions will get fucked in the process. (REALLY? How can anyone be that heartless and stupid?)

China is a better country than America because……..wait for it…………..” they have a better environment for business because there is no minimum wage, no labor laws, no EPA. no endangered toads, no Social Security and Medicare employer ‘contributions’ and no SEC. It’s the wild west over there, not unlike the US during the nineteenth century. We’re in decline because of a fat and lazy workforce, shrinking producing population, unchecked illegal immigration, and government strangulation by regulation.” ( That’s a keeper. I suspect the author of that statement has never set foot in China, nor has he seen the headlines that occur almost weekly regarding dead Chinese miners, flooded Chinese towns, poor villagers, Chinese killed in train wrecks, or killed by food poisoning, and corrupt Chinese officials-but other than that, Mrs Kennedy, the place is a true paradise.)

Liberals don’t honestly believe anything in their hearts, they are always after something.

Greed is good, its natural, and its the grease that keeps the wheels of commerce turning. Unrestrained greed that causes people to lose 20-50% of the value of their 401K’s? That’s even better.

And of course, the usual Randian “truths” are thrown in their for good measure:Fannie and Freddie caused the housing crisis, the Community Reinvestment act was never a well intentioned to get more people into housing, Clinton was the source of deregulation-not Bush. And his actions were in no way responsible for the lax enforcement of US banking laws. The wars had nothing to do with the problems with the economy or the deficit. ( All factual evidence to the contrary).

Oh, and here is another keeper: ” If Bush and Congress had done nothing about the financial crises when it hit-the recession would be over now and it would be growth city.” ( paraphrase of a much longer-but equally stupid sentiment.)

And of course the overriding truth-the holy of holies-IT IS ALL OBAMA’S FAULT. A Congress filled with unreasonable men and women, elected by an increasingly stupid or apathetic electorate ( where 50% can’t even be bothered to vote) had not a damn thing to do with the problems we now face.

I write about this for one particular reason: if what you read above does not frighten you to your very core-that so many people could be so insane at the same time-then you are just utterly fucking blind.

This is sad. These people really believe these things. They believe it, like they believe the sun will come up tomorrow. They have no doubts whatsoever-even when presented with facts that prove them wrong. To borrow a line from John Cole’s place: “How do you have a sensible policy debate with people who reject basic facts? It’s like trying to debate members of a cargo cult- the modern GOP carry the crosses but have no idea what it means to be Christian. They talk about free markets, but have no understanding of economics. Just say deregulate and tax cuts a lot, and MAGIC WILL HAPPEN. The cargo cult analogy is closer than many of us are comfortable admitting, and our media has decided to just cover their eyes and pretend that it’s just two sides of the same coin. It’s crazy.”

Second, for me at least, it exposes a really ugly truth about out tea swilling, so called “friends”; what I think is most disturbing about the tea party, is that, under the guise of patriotism-they have been enabled to take truly morally reprehensible ideas, things that 10 years ago no one would have had the gall to utter-and main streamed them. Fuck over Grandma? Sure-she was asking for it, that’s what she gets for being a moocher and collecting her Social Security. Ask the rich to pay their fair share? Goddamn Socialist. Thief! Class warfare! Robbing from the rich to give to welfare mommas in Cadillacs. ( Never mind that today’s welfare queens wear 3000 dollar Brooks Brothers suits and run investment banks).

It also proves why Fox Noise is so effective. Spout the same lies over and over again, and ensure you have a blond with big tits and a nice ass on the screen-and people will think its true. ( Candy Crowley need not apply to Fox News).

And yet, these same people will go to church on Sunday, pat them selves on the back and congratulate themselves on what good followers of Christ they are. And they wonder why I have my doubts about the fairness of the Gospel. Where does it say in the Sermon on the Mount, “Fuck the poor”? I must have missed that verse.

And people wonder, why I am pining to go back overseas. If this doesn’t answer your question-you lost the ball after kickoff.

For the term “Galtian Overlords”-which I was asked to define today. Now I would assume that anyone who has been around the last few years would understand the reference, but considering the state of decay of America’s educational system and our news outlets ( with a few great exceptions) may be not.

So here is a the term well defined for you:

The letter:

Help — what does “Galtian Overlords” mean? I mean, I get who you’re talking about, but what is the reference to?

Thanks,

Rosalind

Our response (before we’d had any coffee, mind you):

Dear Rosalind,

In the children’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, there is a running refrain among the characters that goes like this:

“Who is John Galt?”

John Galt is, it goes without saying, a superhuman business genius extraordinaire. He also lacks any sense of civic duty, being a man-child narcissist of the first order. Anyway, long story short, ever since Barack Obama was elected president, there have been empty threats from various right-wingers and libertarians — people who think rather too highly of themselves — about “Going Galt.” To wit, dropping out of society and keeping the spoils of their hard-earned labor all to themselves. Many of these people don’t seem to realize that the rest of the country doesn’t give a fuck about their empty threats, and yet the threats have continued. “I’m going Galt, and I’m taking away my productivity, and let’s see if society can survive without me, harrumph!” To which America replies with a shrug. “Go ahead,” says America, “see if I give a flying fuck about you selfish assholes.”

So that takes care of the “Galtian” part. “Overlords” are overlords. “Our Galtian overlords” is, then, something of a joke. We make fun of selfish rich people with visions of grandeur, because we know full well that Ayn Rand and her characters are mostly idolized by disaffected high school students, not anybody who matters (because, you know, most people grow up, their acne clears, and they free themselves from their solipsistic bubbles). That said, there are indeed rich man-children who consider Rand to be a good writer and a deep thinker. Some of them have gotten press attention. Last summer, in the wake of the passage of Obamacare and at the height of the silliness, many outraged fellow citizens were warning that they might “Go Galt,” and that America would be doomed were they to do so. (These people did not, apparently, realize that with an unemployment rate of 10%, there would be plenty of qualified candidates to fill their positions once they’d left — again, the trouble with narcissism.)

“Our Gatian overlords,” then, are the acolytes of Ayn Rand, whose lack of self-awareness and inflated sense of self-importance (thinking that if they alone don’t pay taxes, America is screwed, e.g.) are symptoms of a larger cultural decay and a shirking of civic responsibility. They are the kids on the playground who always hogged the kickball — and moreover they are the kids who went running to the teacher if somebody else deigned to hog it, for even just a moment, because “THAT’S NOT FAIR, I’M BETTER THAN YOU!!!”

They are a scourge. They must be defeated.

All the best,

Tom O’Hare, editor

Then you know a movie really sucks. Megan McCardle-the dumbest economics writer BAR NONE-hates Atlas Shurgged:

 I wish I could report that the movie holds out the same kind of promise that the first Lord of the Rings movie did.  Unfortunately, it’s . . . how do I say this . . . an incoherent mess that put me less in mind of Peter Jackson than Tommy Wisseau.  It was a huge mistake to watch it on a laptop; I spent the entire time fighting a nearly overpowering urge to check my email.

This post is loving dedicated to all those (Say Hi Curtis)-who along with others- believes that Tea Partiers are just plain folks who want to take their country back.

Unmitigated selfshiness and stupidity is a form of “thuggery” too.

The Republican party is now in the hands of spoiled children. Children who wouldn’t know what is right and what is good if it bit them on the ass.

And these are the same folks who are appalled at NPR.

Not liking the Tea Party is not elitist-its a public obligation.

“The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.”-

Charles Bukowski

For those who take the time to research it,  several things about the Wisconsin governor’s battles with his public sector unions are clearly evident:

1)      This about more than simply resolving a funding issue.

2)      It is part of an orchestrated strategy-and the conductor directing the music is not located in the Madison State house.

3)      Republican governors, for the most part, appear determined to make an ideological point, even if it costs their state(s) a great deal.

Now that last bullet is probably key, and says more about what has happened to the Republican party than anything else. In today’s intellectually challenged GOP-it is more important to pander to the ill informed and uncaring lower 30% than do anything to benefit the majority of the citizenry. In that regard they are perhaps bringing Bukowski’s quote true-moreso than we realize.

“But the public sector unions are greedy and they will bankrupt us in the long run” , you say, “they are getting a much better deal than the rest of us and its not fair-they should have to sacrifice too.”

Not really. For the most part public sector employees make less-and they know that coming in the door.

The image of public workers as sitting fat and happy while those in the private sector struggle has proved potent. But its accuracy is open to wide debate, and not just among politicians of different stripes. “You ask 10 economists about this, and you’re get 12 different answers,” says Keith Bender, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

So do public union workers, while enjoying better job security, actually receive richer pay and benefit packages than those in the private sector?

Comparable Jobs?

Bender is one of the economists who argue in a recent study that public workers actually receive less compensation in combined wages and benefits than those in comparable jobs in the private sector.

Key words, they say: “Comparable jobs.”

In a study last year for the National Institute for Retirement Security and the Center for State and Local Government Excellence, Bender and co-author John Heywood, also a UWM economics professor, assert that wages for typical state workers are 11 percent less than those in the private sector with comparable education and in comparable jobs. Local workers earn 12 percent less, they say.

When the cost of benefits is factored in, Bender and Heywood say that their calculations show that the so-called total compensation for state workers is 6.8 percent less than for those in the private sector; local workers’ total compensation is 7.4 percent less.

That too says something less than complimentary about our ill informed citizenry-rather than try to improve the lot of the private sector, it’s more important to engage in a race to the bottom to see which corporations can screw their employees the worst. Got it.  It’s against your own best interests, you do understand-but I understand how you feel.

Most of what you “know” about the public sector unions in Wisconsin and Satan’s Scott Walker’s efforts to destroy unions is not correct. Not even wildly close.  Let’s review what the governor is really proposing.

Walker’s proposal can basically be described a three-fold program to revamp the way Wisconsin provides public services and in the process radically reduce, if not destroy, any semblance of a social safety net. His plan involves three big things:

1)      Defund and delegitimize public sector workers. Both in terms of legal standing with the state government and in public perception. Denying them fundamental rights that have been a part of the labor landscape for decades is a part of that plan. As a result-he will have a free hand in reducing their benefits and reducing their health care coverage.

2)      Privatize government assets-this to be done through the use of no-bid contracts to reward those who support the governor and his party.  It gives him a free hand to avoid public interest checks and balances designed into the state laws and the Wisconsin State Constitution.

3)     Cut benefits for Wisconsin citizens- specifically by re-writing Medicaid rules to give the governor, not the legislature the power to write rules.  As a result, Governor Walker will be able to arbitrarily drop thousands of current beneficiaries. He is seeking nothing less than removing legislation from the process-to allow him to govern Medicaid by executive order.  Because this violates both the spirit and intent of the ACA-the second shoe to drop is to use these rules changes as basis to attack health care reform.

Pretty neat trick if he can pull it off. He claims he campaigned on this. There is only one problem with that statement-he didn’t. Scott Walker is essentially trying a form of bait and switch on the Wisconsin electorate. Fortnately , for the short term at least, a sizeable number of voters saw through the ruse and are now exercising the same rights their tri-corner hat wearing counterparts exercised last year. As John Cole noted: “That’s true if you forget that most teabagger protest was based on lies like death panels, while Walker really does want to bust unions, and that Walker never campaigned on ending collective bargaining, while Obama’s campaign made HCR a centerpiece. Also, too: those who are pissed about Democrats leaving the state as a form of filibuster can start complaining in earnest when those lawmakers run away every single time there’s a bill up for vote.”

When you crunch the numbers and look at it in light of existing practice elsewhere-the truth comes out a little different:

Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic principles.
Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to “contribute more” to their pension and health insurance plans.

Accepting Gov. Walker’ s assertions as fact, and failing to check, created the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not.

Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin’ s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.

How can that be? Because the “contributions” consist of money that employees chose to take as deferred wages – as pensions when they retire – rather than take immediately in cash. The same is true with the health care plan. If this were not so a serious crime would be taking place, the gift of public funds rather than payment for services.

Thus, state workers are not being asked to simply “contribute more” to Wisconsin’ s retirement system (or as the argument goes, “pay their fair share” of retirement costs as do employees in Wisconsin’ s private sector who still have pensions and health insurance). They are being asked to accept a cut in their salaries so that the state of Wisconsin can use the money to fill the hole left by tax cuts and reduced audits of corporations in Wisconsin.

The labor agreements show that the pension plan money is part of the total negotiated compensation. The key phrase, in those agreements I read (emphasis added), is: “The Employer shall contribute on behalf of the employee.” This shows that this is just divvying up the total compensation package, so much for cash wages, so much for paid vacations, so much for retirement, etc.

That, BTW is a model of many pension plans-not just Wisconsin’s.

Furthermore-and this seems to be continually forgotten, the union had already agreed to the increased contribution a long time ago.

What most people don’t know is that, until Scott Walker came along, Wisconsin public pensions were among the nation’s healthiest. It was a “national leader” in managing its long term liabilities and retiree health care. So if it was just about money-Gov Walker could have declared victory when the union agreed to his concessions.

Also ignored is the fact that Wisconsin was on track to actually run a surplus-at least it was till Walker rammed through a series of tax cuts to help a favored few-and create a deficit in Wisconsin’s budget.

But this is not about money in the long run-it’s about accomplishing every true believer in Teabagger land’s wet dream: the destruction of unions and the end of Medicaid. Taking to its core-this fight for Scott Walker and his supporters is about showing their enemies ( which is anyone who does not believe in their Darwinian vision of the future-symbolized by the unions) that they mean business and will not compromise. Its about shifting power and wealth into a select few hands.

The most disturbing parts of Walker’s legislation have gotten very little coverage. His bill would strip the legislature of any role in setting guidelines for the program leaving the power exclusively in the Governor’s hands.  Why? Because it gives the governor a free hand to slash Medicaid rolls to record lows. Even some of the Governor’s supporters will be hurt if this happens. Especially since-unless the ACA stays in place -many of them will not be able to obtain private insurance because they will have pre-existing conditions, and /or will not be able to afford the premiums of private insurance.  In the long run that raises everyone else’s premiums because of the added burdens they will impose upon our emergency room system.

And then there is the privatization. Privatizing cuts public supervision out of the process and invites skimming and poor service. For folks like Walker, this is a feature, not a flaw. Poor services leads to increasing distrust of government. Having already created an environment where it has become impossible to raise taxes-no matter what the circumstances-it’s the kind of negative feedback loop that favors Walker’s wealthy friends. After all it’s worked so well elsewhere:

Processing of welfare, food-stamp and Medicaid claims in Indiana was plagued with difficulties when the state outsourced the system to International Business Machines Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. two years ago. Indiana and former outsourcing partner IBM sued each other Thursday, May 13, the latest chapter in an increasingly sour relationship that went bad when the state decided last year to cancel an ambitious social services system. In October 2009, Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug on Indiana’s 10-year, $1.6 billion outsourcing contract with IBM to streamline welfare eligibility in the state. Launched in 2007, the new system let citizens apply for welfare benefits online, in person or via telephone, and it implemented process changes designed to speed up and standardize eligibility determinations. Daniels called the concept—which drew criticism for high error rates and slow processing of eligibility requests—unworkable.

If you’re not willing to consider tax hikes to help balance the budget you’re just not serious about deficits, period. It’s just not possible to cut your way to a balanced budget while simultaneously slashing taxes for businesses and the wealthy. The myth that low taxes will lead to business investment and job creation is just that – a myth. These myths have wormed their way into the conservative psyche, just like the myth that lower taxes will generate higher revenue.

We’ll just skip the debate about the wisdom of draconian cuts during the middle of a severe recession shall we?

Now ask yourself this question-if ending collective bargaining for public sector unions is such a necessary tool for controlling costs, why then did the governor exempt Police and Firefighters?   In theory what should be good for one should be good for all.

To their credit-the police and the firefighters have seen through this smokescreen and have stood in support of the other unions. Perhaps they recognize that this is just round one and downstream , un- satiated elites will come for them too.

I think it is an interesting commentary on how low we have sunk as a society-that we have come to the point where teachers are viewed as evil and as the source of all of our problems. I, personally, have a hard time with that. I had some great teachers who had an effect on my life-without Miss Kaigler and Mrs. Holman I would never have gained any writing skills with the English language, or gained an appreciation for some of the great books of our century. They were part of a union-but they also cared about their students. Then again-I was lucky to live in a township with some pretty high property taxes that were plowed back into the schools. Of course this was before, Grover Norquist started whining about his property taxes. I’m a product of a public school system-and I turned out pretty well.

If this were solely about saving money-Walker would be playing his hand a lot differently. And he might have more support-even from union members (its a forgotten fact that the union vote is not monolithic, studies repeatedly confirm about 35-40% of union members vote Republican). If you simply believe Walkers talking points, one gets the idea that its about saving money. However-as the facts come out and people see his real agenda, they really don’t like it. Because I think, deep down they know that Walker and his buddies won’t stop there. “Pretty soon we will shoot someone you really care about-now give me those god damn detonators” (Obligatory Die Hard reference).

The polls back this up-especially when you break it down by income:

*Among those who make less than $24,000 annually, 74 percent oppose the proposal, versus only 14 percent who favor it.

* Among those who make $24,000 to $59,000, 63 percent oppose the proposal, versus only 33 percent who favor it.

* Among those who make $60,000 to $89,000, 53 percent oppose the proposal, versus only 41 percent who favor it.

* Among those who make $90,000 and up, 50 percent favor the proposal, versus 47 percent who oppose it.

Now unfortunately, I don’t think time is on the union’s side-Walker can wait them out; he can start laying them off. It will prove worthwhile though, if it can expose the real war on the middle class, that true blue conservative policies creates-and Scott Walker unwittingly laid that blueprint out for all to see. If that gets the Democratic party away from the two “F”‘s (Fags and Feminism) and back to economic issues-he may actually have done them a favor. Time will tell.

Yipee kay yay, motherf*ckers!

UPDATE:My Canadian Counterpart has his take up here.

You can tell a Tea Partier-but you can’t tell him (or her)  much.

I have a friend on Facebook who loves to post trite quotes from the Founding Fathers-most often taken out of context-in an effort to show his derision for those of us who do not share the ugly vision for this country, that they pretend to love. Like the impetous soul that I am and when fueled by a beer or four, I often rise and take the bait. Especially when it comes to hackneyed District Court judges from Pensacola.

Well, as Facebook works,  this leads, to his friends coming back, and talking about how all liberals are “hateful”-simply because I had the effontery to use a mild, but quite accurate term of:  ”teabagger”.

Jesus H. Christ.

When you can’t show make fun of people who absolutely deserve it-what is the world coming to?

There was one quote of one of his female friends that got my attention:

So you think Japan is the only country out there who has “fixed costs” they cannot lightly dismiss? Do ya maybe think that the US has fixed costs? Do ya think that maybe the US has saddled itself with entitlement costs that it has NO hope… of ever repaying? THAT is precisely the entire point. ALL of the “entitlement states” are going BANKRUPT, starting with JAPAN. They have debt of 200% of their GDP, second only to Zimbabwe. Public entitlements are crushing economies of ALL sizes, ALL over the world. From cities, to states like California, to countries like Spain, Ireland, Greece, and yes, Japan. Creating a new TRILLION dollar entitlement, that uses the worst possible fiscal gimmicks (like double counting Medicare savings, counting 200 Billion dollars in cuts to payments to doctors-then passing a SEPERATE bill to “refund” the “doctor fix”, using 10 years of taxes to “pay” for six years of benefits, etc.) is a disaster. The bill has now been declared unconstitutional in its ENTIRETY because Democrats were too stupid to include a “severability clause”, a mistake that a first year law student wouldn’t have made.
This was a bad bill, rammed onto the American taxpayer literally in the middle of the night. Written in secret (“We have to pass the bill to see what’s in it”-Nancy Pelosi), unread by ANYONE who voted for it, supported by the most rediculous of fiscal gimmicks, and now found Unconstitutional by TWO Federal Judges.

Now most of this is just the standard Fox News line-presented also as fact without context, but the “Social Network” does not allow you enough space to drive such drivel back into the cave.

So yes its true-and it is also irrelevant.

And it does not mean a damn thing about the United States debt situation-its apple and oranges. Not that my Facebook acquaintance would know that-because that would require doing more than a little research.  As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, ” If Japanese government bonds were widely held by non-Japanese investors, the S&P action could have caused severe damage to the economy. But because the assets are held largely by domestic players, analysts say it has had no negative effect.”

Now twenty years down stream-yea there are probably some problems in store if Japanese women don’t get on their backs, knees, or stomachs and start conceiving some babies-so as to increase the Japanese revenue base.

A mega Tsunami wiping out Shanghai wouldn’t hurt either.

But I digress from the real point of this post.  Adults have ruined Facebook (even me).

The authors at the link are right-Facebook started as a young peoples medium, designed to share information that might get you drunk, high or laid-or some combination thereof. Blogs were made to talk about politics. When you are younger , you don’t care about politics so much. However when you become older, politics becomes more personal, especially when there is a herd of people who are literally out screw you over keep you from getting the things you need to make your life better. Which is one reason for me why the health care debate is so personal and I have little patience for those who can’t understand the obvious.

Plus, like blogs-Facebook has all the worst parts of the internet with not so many of the good things. People become one dimensional. Its a lot easier to dislike them-especially if they are only the friend of someone you knew 20 years ago and have absolutely nothing in common with now.  And the availability of the Facebook apps on all types of computing devices makes it just to easy to lash out and correct people when they spout stupidity.

Now that is something I knew already-but its good to get a reminder from time to time. And I’ll still post on Facebook-but I’ll try to avoid it when drunk or pissed off.

But it won’t be as much fun.  Wish all I had to do was worry about getting drunk, high, and or laid. But those days are long gone.

Which brings me back to one other things my Facebook acquaintance probably didn’t know about Japan and why they have it over us-they, don’t particularly like Facebook.

In at 7,  out at 8-what is wrong with this picture?

And before someone asks, " How does this square with your statement, 'You like your company'?

I do like my company-but like a girl from the Nana Plaza-sometimes you have to bend over to earn your bar fine.

So now its off to bed-another similar day awaits tomorrow. For the next week or so.

But I could not resist the opportunity to welcome our new Galtian overlords as they come into Congress: