McCain, Reagan, and bankers, oh my!

Just an assemblage of fuckery from right-wingers...that is to say, another day.

• And you think George W. Bush's Vietnam evasion was shameful. Well, Joe Conason highlights the insanity that was Saint Ronald of Reagan's belief that he was actually present at the liberation of Auschwitz when in fact he had been in Hollywood FOR THE DURATION of the Second World War. And yet this man is venerated by prominent Repubs. This is so completely delusional, as was his belief that he didn't trade arms for hostages and his belief not only in astrology but also in the occult.



• There's good ol' John McCain always wrong about everything. Here he says that we should crack down on the flow of illegal immigrants into the US-as he did in his goofy ad-but apparently once they've breached the border, well, I guess ol' Johnny thinks it's OK for employers to milk immigrants illegally for every penny they can get out of them. So to re-cap: illegal immigration=bad, illegal exploitation of Mexicans=meh. And now, ol' Johnny is soliciting comments from anti-gay groups condemning and fear-mongering the possible repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Really, he's just wrong about everything.



• Dean Baker on how there's one standard for most employees, but a totally different onefor the banksters. Dean Baker has been right about everything economically for the last 10 or so years-and perhaps longer, that's just as long as I've been reading his work, so if you're more interested in what he does, check out his Center for Economic Policy and Research.



• And just to cheer things up a bit, before you go off on BP too hard, just remember that there have been many seconds during the company's existence when oil has not been gushing into the ocean from one of their oil wells.

Meet the new boss...

same as the old boss.

At least Rand Paul is honest

Rand Paul is saying some crazy shit at the moment and I certainly don't agree with his opinions. I think that should be nearly self-evident-but what I do appreciate is his honesty. His ideology is SO insane that I think it might make for a teachable moment about the completely unsustainable model of the supposed conservative world view. It's not really conservative. These guys are enamored of too much power invested in a president-as they themselves have said, they are fans of a strong executive branch (the strong Unitary Executive theory) and I'd argue that some of them veer toward Fascist, but we are seeing what happens when there is no regulation. We have the BP oil spill, we have an SEC in which the watchdogs are watching porn instead of the financial industry, we have astronomically expensive wars. And yet even Rand Paul, this supposed laissez-faire Tea Bagger, isn't so loyal to his ideology when it comes to ensuring the money stream keeps flowing into his medical practice. He's a doctor and although he's fervently anti-government, when it comes to ensuring that he doesn't lose any of his precious income, he's a bleeding heart liberal. So again, can so-called conservatives ever be intellectually honest? If they would, well, perhaps we could evolve....but no, I guess there are too many political points to be made.

Perhaps a few people will think about the insanity of his beliefs and realize that government is not all that bad. Yeah, sometimes government makes poor decisions, but who would you rather have leading you? The esteemed Senator from BP? Yeah, they're geniuses. The honorable gentleman from Halliburton? I'm sure they'd NEVER lie to you. The distinguished representative from Goldman Sachs? Just don't let your wallet out of your sight. When I ask my supposedly-conservative friends this, they have no answer. They hem and haw and it's obvious they don't want to have that discussion. This is why the world is in trouble.

Some might say Rand Paul might have exposed himself as a lunatic, but to me, it's really not that surprising. He's just a more honest Teabagger. Rand Paul is not the exception to the rule, he is just a more candid expression of it.

No one could have predicted the breaking of the levees

And imagine that, President Obama authorizes off-shore drilling but yet then rants at oil industry execs. What did he expect they would do? President Obama has got to stop playing nice with his political opponents. These people are not his friends and they are not going to behave in any sort of ethical way. Really? You're surprised by bad behavior on the part of oil companies? Really? If he nominated Jesus to the Supreme Court, they'd ask what judicial experience he had. The Republicans-while their policies are nightmarish, approach the realization of those policies with a single-mindedness that Democrats need. If Dems had Republican zeal and determination, this world would be very different.

Well since you put it that way...

BP's chief puts it all in perspective for us. Yeah, there's so much more water in the Gulf than there is oil that all those little animals really need to just swim hard and try and get away from the oil. They'll find there's lots of water if they just swim far enough. Hey, if they just buy little animal cars, there's all that gas available for free-that's a pretty good deal for them!