I'm still here...

...but likely scarce for a bit due to some computer-fu at Upper Left World Headquarters. How long a return to normalcy will take is, as most things are, at least partly economically driven. Cheaper, of course, is faster.

Meanwhile, there are over 8000 posts to play with around here, so have fun. I'll check in as I'm able.

A little of the old in and out?

Or would that be out and in? Something like that. Anyway, I suspect Gordon's right about Ah-nold.

Damn, damn, damn…

…a thousand times damn.

AFP - The number of US soldiers who have died in the Afghan war has reached 1,000, according to website icasualties.org, a grim milestone in the conflict launched more than eight years ago.

Worth repeating…

…over and over, everywhere and anywhere. Robert Reich...

The 60-vote requirement for healthcare is made up. 51 is a majority, and it's all we need.

Sure, you knew that, but does everyone you know know that?

Who's gonna tell 'em if you don't?

Chart of the day.

Via Thers...



Tom Coburn is typical…

"I love gridlock. I think we’re better off when we’re gridlocked because we’re not passing things."

Not passing things that the majority of Americans have asked for, voted for and, in too many cases, are dieing without.

That's why...

Why choose?

Streak ponders the problem with Darthette…

Either Liz Cheney is not smart or she is not honest

Put your mind at rest, pal. Liz Cheney is not smart and she is not honest.

Could be genetic.

Bewildered? Don't worry...

Thanks to all who chimed in with ideas for our new Democratic icon. Eleanor Roosevelt was the one named by the most folks, and the appearance of a woman is long overdue in this series. I might tweak the presentation a bit over the next few weeks, but it'll be Eleanor for 52.

Here's one...

...featuring a few things you don't see around here every weekend. And a few that you do, I suppose. A random ten, then...

Lucy Kaplansky - The Angels Rejoiced Last Night
Roger Miller - England Swings
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Me & My Friends
Gas Money - Comin' Around
Gillian Welch - Pancho & Lefty
Skip Heller - Until You're Mine
Steel Pulse - You Can't Always Get What You Want
The Weirdos - We Got The Neutron Bomb
Prince - The Cross
Mojo Nixon - Atomic Power

Cathy McMorris Rodgers may be…

"...simply the next lawmaker hypocritically trying to 'trash and cash'" the stimulus bill to Think Progress, but she's also my mom's own personal congresscritter, so when she's lying to her constituents, well, it gets personal...

Yesterday, GOP.gov, the official website for the House Republican caucus, continued the anti-stimulus drumbeat, blaring press releases calling the stimulus a failure. Ironically, posted just above two releases attacking the stimulus, the website features a release from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) taking credit for $35 million dollars in stimulus highway money...

...The $35 million in TIGER highway funds were provided by the stimulus McMorris Rodgers tried to kill. McMorris Rodger’s press release, however, claims she was a “champion” in gaining the funding.

The real champions of the folks in WA-5, of course, were the Democratic leadership and our Democratic delegation in DC who saw to it that the needs of the folks across the Cascade Curtain were tended to while McMorris Rodgers was busy representing the ideological interests of the Republican leadership instead of the real needs of the people of eastern Washington.

There's a part of me that thinks it's high time that every constituent of every Republican member of Congress was cut off from federal disbursements their Rep voted against until they get fed up or starved out and send us a better Congress.

Then I remember I'm talking about Mom, and Sis, and my nieces and great-neices, and I'm more inclined to applaud the generous hearts of our Democratic Congress. Enjoy the jobs and new roads, folks, but don't let McMorris Rodgers take even a bit of credit.

Heh™.

driftglass on the CPAC shindig...

Burning Man For Birchers Begins Today

Would it be funnier if it weren't literally true?

Graph of the day.

Via Howie...


I may not agree with everything they're doing in DC, but at least some of it seems to be working. Let's do more of that.

On the evolution of Republican discourse…

...regarding Patty Murray.

"Dang me, dang me, they ought to take a rope and hang me, hang me from the highest treeeeeeee, woman would you weep for me."

Former US Rep Rod Chandler, debating then State Senator Murray in 1992.

"How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd. He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray."

An anonymous voice from the podium of a "tea party" event in Asotin County.

I remember Patty's supporters sporting mini-nooses on their lapels after Chandler's Roger Miller impression. Might be time to break 'em out again. It could be an effective way to point out the underlying extremism of the Tea wing of the Republican Party.

Map of the day.

Via Matt Yglesias...



Seems to explain a lot. Too much, maybe...

The way I look at it…

…what screwed up NotJoe the NotPlumber's life was jumping in front of network cameras to lie about his name, occupation and intentions in order to play gotcha with a visiting candidate. McCain just cashed in on the lie, and Sam cashed in on McCain.

A matter of perspective, I suppose...

From the "Don't Panic" file.

Chris Bowers is worried…

Washington: If two-time Gubernatorial loser Dino Rossi were to enter the campaign against Patty Murray, he would start the campaign 2% ahead, according to Rasmussen polling.

Take a deep breath, Chris. I doubt that you'll find anyone close to the ground here in the upper left who believes that this bit of "Rasmussen recruitment" has a meaningful relationship with reality. Not that we don't have to get the work done to get Patty re-elected, but if the work gets done, she will be re-elected. I think she'll be a potent top of the ticket, too, helping in some competetive down ballot races.

Don't panic.



But don't rest, either. There's work to do.

I can't help but wonder...

...how many of the folks who rallied against taxes in Olympia today had the time to be there because they're on a government payroll.

The folks who hate budget cuts more than tax increases outnumbered 'em two to one and probably included a fair number of public employees too, but still...

Mean Mr. Mustard...

...made me laugh.

You know you are a teabagger when

Your dog rides in your truck, but your wife stays home and mixes ammonium nitrate.

You can remember the fertilizer, pellets and ammonium nitrate mixture ratios, but cannot recall your wife’s birthday.

You have stolen gravel from the county road to cover your AK -47 ground stash.

You shout down someone who is talking, because you believe they are trying to limit your freedom of speech.

You’ve used the same knife to whittle a shiv, and threaten your Congressman.

You have been asked to leave a yard sale.

You put the beatdown on your tattoo artist for spelling "MOM" backwards.

You hate government health care, and don’t want them to touch your Medicare.

The Rush Limbaugh show ended and you cried like John Boehner.

One last time, it's time for...

It's been 22 years...

...since the day I married far above myself. Every day since then I've been grateful every time I've arrived home and the locks haven't been changed. I'm starting to think it's gonna work out.

Happy anniversary sweetie. Love you more every day.

And then...

...ten.

Allison Moorer - Broken Girl
Gas Money - Diggin' A Hole To Bury My Heart
Greg Trooper - This I'd Do
The Clash - Cheat
Gene Vincent - Race With The Devil
The Gourds - 1st In Line
Woody Guthrie - Ida Red
The Gibson Brothers - Ophelia
Joni Mitchell - In France They Kiss On Main Street
Steve Earle & The V-Roys - In The Jailhouse Now

Good question...

...for the Baraquitter from Ron Chusid...

Hey Sarah Palin, how is that winkey, stupidy thing working out for you?

Survey says not so good.

Chart of the day.

Via Maggie Jochild...

Acronym Of The Day.

Courtesy of J.P. Green...

G.O.P. = Gridlock, Obstruction & Paralysis

Yep.

Not that it's a good thing...

...but WIIIAI is right.

Employing a prostitute, and charging the US for her, isn’t among the 10 or even the 100 worst things Blackwater has ever done.

Or 1000. Seems to offend some folks more than murder and mayhem, though, so whatever helps bring down the mercs works for me.

"Pathetic..."

...sez the White House.



Couldn't agree more. Bond and the whole Republican crew.

Sic 'em, Barry. There's more calling out needing doing, more truth needing telling.

Separated at birth?

Sarah Palin, former sportscaster...


“Do you love your freedom? If you love your freedom, think of that.”


Biff Barf, imaginary sportscaster...


"Remember kids, if you play a sport, go ahead."

PZ Meyers for Vice President!

He's rested, he's ready, he has notes.

Almost…

…what Digby said. I ran across this while trying to find my own words to remember John Murtha...

He was a complicated political figure, but he will be remembered for something very brave: it's impossible to overestimate how important it was to have this conservative, ex-marine, super patriot Democrat step up on Iraq at a time when the country needed him. He led the way for the Democrats to finally find the courage to oppose Bush and I'm not sure it would have happened without him.

RIP

A fair and respectful comment on a man who could sometimes move past complicated to confounding.

Just one quibble. I was raised by and around Marines, and they'd all remind you that there are no ex-Marines. Otherwise, as usual, what Digby said.

Jay Inslee's right.

It's time to finish the kitchen.

Big game today.

Saints 35, Colts 31.

Given my track record, of course, posting that prediction probably makes the game a lock for the Colts.

I'll be watching (and cooking) at the perfect tavern. C'mon down if you're nearby.

It's time for...

Next week we'll wrap up 52 weeks of advice from the legendary Democrat, Adlai Stevenson. Who's next? I've got some ideas, but once again, I'd like to hear who you'd like to hear from. It has to be someone who is or was identifiably a Democrat who wrote or spoke memorably enough for a pretty high volume of preserved quotations. Wit counts, as does thematic timelessness. Who ya' got in mind?

Heh™.

Gail Collins…

Washington was immobilized by snow on Friday. This is highly unusual. Normally, Washington is immobilized by senators.

Heh™ with a sigh, perhaps, but heh™ just the same.

It is, by the way, downright balmy by February standards in the upper left.

The best random…

…is eclectic random. Like this...

The Beach Boys - Little Deuce Coop
Betty Davis - If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up
Paul Revere & The Raiders - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Bing Crosby - I'm An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande)
Fela Kuti - Black Man's Cry
Linda Ronstadt - We Need A Whole Lot More Of Jesus
The Beatles - Getting Better
The Kinks - Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
The Byrds - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Jimmy Bryant & Speedy West - Pickin' Peppers

The scary part is that most all the segues make some kind of sense to me.

Chart of the day.

You'll have to click it bigger to read it, but Larry Gross explains...

There’s an interesting chart on the web that compares the religiosity of the various states—based on a Gallup poll—with other factors. Based on these stats it would seem that the five least religious states are six percent more intelligent than the five most religious states. The most religious states also have 70% more poverty, 133% more murders, 57% more thefts and 33% more divorces.

How'd we do in the upper left? Pretty smart, not so religious, fairly safe. Kinda stingy, though.

Worth repeating...

...far and wide, over and over. Jed Lewison sets the bottom line...

...Richard Shelby -- a top Senate Republican -- is preparing to shut down the United States Senate to award a key military contract to a foreign company.

"Buy American" can be hard advice to follow when you're shopping for inexpensive clothing or consumer electronics. It should easy and obvious, though, when our national security is at stake.

A question…

…for the 'question time' crowd. What about the Constitution?

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for Congressional caucuses, partisan and otherwise, inviting the President, any President, to join them in any event or deliberation they deem appropriate, and I'm all for Presidents accepting those invitations when they think they'll be a productive investment of time. I just don't see any way to formalize, or particularly to require the kind of question time we see in parliamentary systems given the constitutional separation of powers that we have here in the US.

Even the State of the Union address is delivered in response to a Congressional invitation. While a report to the Congress is the President's constitutional obligation, he's not compelled to deliver it as a speech to a joint session, nor is the Congress compelled to invite him. The whole business could be, and has been, handled with a written report.

President Obama's recent Q & A with the House Republicans was good theater for those of us who enjoy seeing Republican vacuity and obstruction widely displayed, but that's not sufficient ground, I'm afraid, for a permanent policy that strikes at the heart of the balance between the three branches of our government.

Those interested in fixing what's wrong with the other Washington would be better served investing their time and attention in filibuster reform and ending the ludicrous practice of allowing individual Senators to bring the appointment process to a standstill with nonsense like blanket holds when their appetite for pork isn't sufficiently sated.

From the "Since you asked…" file.

Niki Reading at The Capitol Record wonders...

Should Supreme Court races be publicly funded?

Since you asked, absolutely, if Justices have to be elected at all. The funding question's easy. The election question I'm not so sure about.

Hard to imagine the voters voting to take away their right to vote, though, so we're probably stuck with the elections.

So, sure, public funding. Absolutely.

John Cole's right...

...about John McCain.

Exactly right.

Quote of the day.

Hands down.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs Of Staff, before the Senate Armed Services Committee...

It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.

Aye, aye, Sir. Mine too.

It's nice to know…

…that the government's doing something well. It's even better when you know the news is gonna drive Dick Cheney crazy crazier. John Brennan, President Obama's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, via Jake Tapper...

"Intelligence Community assesses that 20 percent of detainees transferred from Guantanamo are confirmed or suspected of recidivist activity…

...I want to underscore the fact that all of these cases relate to detainees released during the previous administration and under the prior detainee review process. The report indicates no confirmed or suspected recidivists among detainees transferred during this Administration, although we recognize the ongoing risk that detainees could engage in such activity."

Leaves you wondering, of course, what percentage of detainees never had any terrorist history to recede to in the first place.

Darryl's right...

...about Blackwater.

Bunch of other stuff, too, of course, but he's got those cowboys nailed.

On the off chance…

…that some of y'all don't see driftglass or Blue Gal.

Which you should, both of 'em, every day, or you'll miss stuff like this...


Click to enhance awsomeness.

Map of the day.

Hat tip to Kos.