WWJD?

What Would Jesus Do? According to Mike Huckabee, Republican politician and religious huckster, Jesus might very well support dictatorship:

"[T]he events of the past few days in Egypt have created a very tenuous situation, not just for Egypt, not just for the Middle East, but for the entire world, and the destabilization of that nation has the potential of cascading across the globe." [emphasis mine]

Can't have unruly people "destabilizing" their country in an effort to get rid of a dictator! Even worse, those irresponsible bastards might very well cause other countries, around the globe, to become "destabilized" and run out tyrants.

Without any irony, he went on to explain that "The essence of freedom, the very heart of it, is self-determination and self-direction." Uh, hey, Mikey - ever hear of a little thing called "principle"? Jesus might like that.

Freedom of speech

This is an interesting view of what "freedom of speech" entails - one, I believe, that is shared by many these days:

Free speech, not free from consequences speech.  (And remember, it’s only government suppression of speech that is illegal.)

 Right - so, by this definition, there has never been a lack of "free speech" anywhere in the world. Not even Stalin's Soviet Union could prevent people from physically saying "bad" things... even if there were some definite "consequences" for this speech.

Support of democracy

Comical:

7.30pm GMT: Time magazine talks to "a minister in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," and reports that Israel appears to be backing the Mubarak regime:

With a deep investment in the status quo, Israel is watching what a senior official calls "an earthquake in the Middle East" with growing concern. The official says the Jewish state has faith in the security apparatus of its most formidable Arab neighbor, Egypt, to suppress the street demonstrations that threaten the dictatorial rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The harder question is what comes next.

But this was the most eye-catching quote from the unidentified minister:

"I'm not sure the time is right for the Arab region to go through the democratic process."

Combine this with the so-called "Palestine papers", and what kind of picture do you get?

A good question

What if the Tuscon shooter had been Muslim?

That'll show 'em

Maine has apparently thrown its hat into the competition for Which State Can Elect the Most Ridiculous Official?, a contest that had until now been led by Minnesota with its reelection of Crazy Michele Bachmann. The statement by their entry is not so much crazy as just fucking stupid:

Maine's governor is telling critics to "kiss my butt" over his decision not to attend the state NAACP's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations this weekend.

...

The NAACP's state director said the group felt it was being neglected by the new governor, a Republican elected in November with tea party support.
When asked by a reporter Friday to respond, LePage said: "Tell them to kiss my butt."

Yep - nothing like being disrespectful to a rights organization on the matter of commemorating a historical figure to burnish your leadership credentials!

Heavy-duty crazy

There is some heavy-duty crazy going on these days, if you haven't noticed.

A fanatic right-wing commentator at CNN - yes, CNN - tells us, in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Giffords, to remember to maintain a "saving faith in Jesus Christ". The guy may have a problem with his filthy mouth and thoughts of cartoonish violence against people he disagrees with - but remember, he has a "saving faith" in Jesus, so that makes it okay.

It's not crazy that crazy people with uncontrollable tempers and nothing to offer the public discourse except stupid religious homilies exist. What is crazy is that major social institutions protect them and offer them an open platform to reach out to other crazies, as well as people who are leaning crazy but just need that little extra push to fall over the edge.

Then there's this: important right-wing people are accusing the Conservative Political Action Conference of having been infiltrated by both radical homosexuals and the Muslim Brotherhood, in an assault apparently led by Grover Norquist. It sounds so over the top that it could be a comical parody of conservative paranoia and ignorance, were conservatives not so likely to take this stuff seriously.

Yes, there really are "death panels"

And Republicans sit at the head of them.

(H/T)

In defense of prosecutorial malfeasance

Kevin Drum - apparently separated at birth from his sniveling git twin Ezra Klein - wonders in this article how the Supreme Court can simply choose not to consider clear exculpatory evidence that has been withheld by evil, unscrupulous prosecutors.

It's a good question. Or, it would be, had it not been asked by someone who began their article like this:

Generally speaking, prosecutors are protected from lawsuits even if they break the rules. And generally speaking, this is probably a good thing. The level of prosecutorial abuse that judges routinely tolerate is outrageous, but still, a wave of lawsuits against prosecutors from everyone ever jailed wrongly probably isn't something we need.

Right: so you question the culture of courts siding with blatant malfeasance - and then you proceed to explicitly support such malfeasance by arguing that the single way malefactors might be held accountable (i.e., lawsuits) is not "something we need"?

Kevin: can I get a little of the shit you're smoking, please?

(H/T)

Things left unsaid

The Wall Street Journal trots out hack Michael Barone to argue the merits of Texas and something he calls the "Texas model". According to Barone, all of America's problems can be summed up in two words: taxes and unions. Texas, not being burdened by either of these, is what the rest of America should look like:

Back in the 1930-70 period, liberal political scientists hoped and expected that America would become less like Texas and more like New York, with bigger government, higher taxes and more unions. In one important respect—the abolition of legally enforced racial segregation—that has happened. But otherwise Americans have been voting with their feet for the Texas model, with its low tax rates, light regulation and openness to new businesses and enterprises.

It is somewhat odd - or it would be if right-wingers were not congenital liars - that Texas' wee budget problem goes unmentioned by Barone:

The Texas budget is expected to run a $27 billion two-year budget shortfall according to just-released state estimates.

That's worse than the $25 billion that Paul Krugman cited last week when he gleefully noted that a GOP bastion was facing deficit problems.

(Conservative pundit Kevin Williamson responded by saying that "insiders" were estimating a mere $11-$15 billion shortfall. Obviously those insiders were optimistic.)

Yep - add in batshit-insane politicians to this financial mess that is a direct result of batshit-insane fiscal policies, and Texas indeed offers some kind of model to the rest of the US!

Time for a conspiracy theory

A former aide to former President George W. Bush has died.

Has anyone suggested that Bush has him killed - similar to how the Clintons had Vince Foster whacked?