I was a Tenther before it was cool!

Since Teabagger, Nazi, and right-wing terrorist are pejoratives that have been so overused to defend the hapless Obama administration that they have lost all meaning, Washington Times notes that the new keyword to show your hate for the red states is "Tenther". This is a reference to those radical right-wing populists that believe in the 10th amendment, I guess. From Washington Times:

Liberal activists have a new name to disparage conservatives: "tenthers."

The nickname refers to those who cite the 10th Amendment to argue that federal intervention in areas not authorized by the Constitution, like health care for example, is unconstitutional.

This follows other names such as "birthers," "deathers" and "tea baggers."

Health care reform supporters at the Center for American Progress, the American Prospect, MSNBC and other outlets have deployed the term against Republicans who cite the 10th Amendment as reason not to create new programs. Some of the leading Republican proponents of the allegedly "dangerous" and "conspiratorial" theory include Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

Apparently, the term stems from this American Prospect last month and Digby, Yglesias, and Crooks and Liars have both incorporated it into their musings. If taking a strict interpretation of the constitution makes you a square, I'd sure like to know where these progressives think the power of the federal government to intervene stops.

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I understand that many folks onboard the Team Obama train would like nothing more than to see the "bitters" locked up with the Unabomber and Bernie Madoff, or at the very least silenced. And, predictably, many bottom-feeders chose to use the latest act of domestic terrorism for their own political purposes of slandering conservatives, like they have in the past. Now, they're out to justify the horrendously written and poorly researched DHS report, which sought to profile right-wing veterans as a bunch of Ramboes running around the woods with white supremacy literature. From Krugman at NYT:

Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists.

But with the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion fanatic, closely followed by a shooting by a white supremacist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the analysis looks prescient.

There is, however, one important thing that the D.H.S. report didn’t say: Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.

Yes, domestic terrorism is a problem, as America has always had its share of crazies. But, the DHS report barely provided any specifics and was about as useless to law enforcement as an ACLU lawyer looking to make name for themselves. The Greyhawks point out that the criticism a few months back was because of the veteran issue, not that extremism didn't exist. So, I wish these weenies at the NY Times would quit beating around the bush and just come out and fucking say that, yes, they would like veterans with conservative-oriented political views on firearms ownership and abortion or whatever to be investigated by the police. If not, kindly piss off and go back to writing about neo-Keynesian economic theory.

At least dictators are honest about who they want rounded up for "re-education", not hiding behind their halo of progressive self-righteousness.

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Politics never ceases to amaze me with it's sleaziness. That's probably why I feel so at home blabbering about it from time to time! The swine flu outbreak is, indeed, not good, and the CDC (annual budget $8.8B) is addressing this public health problem. But, never letting a good crisis go to waste, the left is using recent public paranoia about all things pork to take a few whacks at the GOP. Politico has the scoop on a new push by the SEIU:

The union accuses Senate Republicans of delaying the confirmation of nominee Kathleen Sebelius to “curry favor with extremist outside groups” and depriving the department of leadership as the nation confronts a potential flu pandemic.

“This is simply unacceptable,” the union says on its website. “This disease is spreading as we speak, but right now, a Bush-appointed accountant is running the department. We need an HHS secretary NOW. Sign the petition telling the Senate to vote immediately to confirm Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. If we don't act, the swine flu might just turn into another Hurricane Katrina.”

Some other blogs (e.g. Kos, C&L, The Nation) are piling on by saying that flu preparedness was killed in the stimulus bill. If memory serves correct, Obama's first HHS nominee, Daschle, had a bit of a tax problem, and Sebelius is having similar issues with back taxes. So the Dems can blame themselves for that one. As for adequate funding to deal with the swine flu, is there any indication that the CDC is not manned up to manage this threat? So they don't have a bunch of self-promoting, political appointees to answer questions from the media, do photo-ops, and take responsibility for other people's work. Big fucking deal. Personally, I'd much rather see the bureaucracies and organizations of the federal government being managed by experienced professionals rather than a rag-tag bunch of politicians who performed enough sexual favors to get where they're at. I honestly believe that is why law enforcement and the military have a better public image and function more properly than some of the other agencies.

Of course, then we wouldn't be able to inject the right vs. left mouth-frothing into every single news event.

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The bodies of the fallen police officers in Pittsburgh were still warm when some of the net denizens on the left were already licking their chops that the murderer had some hang-up about Obama's gun control policies. Here's the shit flying around:

• David "Everyone Who Doesn't Agree With Me is a White Supremacist" Neiwert tries to attributeconservative ideology.
• Kos fears that Glenn Beck is going to come kill his 2-year old daughter.
• Bob Cesca says you can sure as hell blame right-wing rhetoric, but nothing else (video games, movies, etc.) because it's convenient for the progressive cause to portray your opposition as loony.
• Tbogg has a lazy post about "bitters", and then some doggieblogging.

Just like when they reveled in the death of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, these people will exploit any tragedy for their own political benefits. It's an absurd argument. Should we blame the progressive idea of egalitarianism as resulting in events like JonesTown and the Manson Family? No, some people are just goddamn batshit. Whether it be a talking neighbor's dog or a bizarre obsession with their own mother, crazies have all sorts of psychological problems that can drive them to murder. But, on the plus side, JammieWearingFool notes that the netroots finally give a fuck about law enforcement.

Update: Hot Air has evidence on Kos calling all conservatives "cop-killers". What a classy dude.

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Entrepreneurial Hippies Do Not a Cabal Make

The excellent site Politico has a not-so-excellent investigation into the so-called "left-wing conspiracy". Apparently, the Skull N' Bones-type shenanigans going on behind the scenes of a bunch of prominent lefty bloggers/journalists is...a secret message board known as JournoList! Oh noes, good thing I have a bunch of ammo stockpiled in my bunker. From Politico:

For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.

Proof of a vast liberal media conspiracy?

While the "conspiracy" moniker is a tad overblown, this sort of thing will have negative ramifications for blogland in general. It's pretty obvious that many liberal blogs follow the same tune in an effort to rev up a "unified message". However, being publicly chastised to criticize things which some well-funded think tank has blessed off is a form of censorship that goes against the internet ethos of saying whatever. Too many of the big liberal blogs are so limited in what they can say due to this collective mentality, that all you get is the same schnoozer posts about "Faux News is racist!" and what dumb thing Bush did today (he's out of office guys, who gives a fuck).

In a way, it resembles conservatism's problem in 2002-2006 of never acknowledging the Bush Administration's boneheaded moves and just re-packaging whatever was coming out of the White House or the Heritage Foundation on teh internet. But, hey, at least they weren't knocking on your door to talk about the awesomeness of Obama.

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Eugene Robinsons Thinks Blago's Sole Crime is His Goofy Hair

Nothing has been as bizarre as the Gov. Blagojevich media campaign to profess his innocence. Appealing to suburban housewives by appearing on The Biew, comparing himself to Gandhi, and talking with Geraldo for a solid 10 minutes during an ambush interview. But let's not lose perspective. He abused the authority of office to benefit himself and shake down others for campaign contributions. Governors have been run out of town for less (see Gov. Spitzer). It is an embarrassment to America that Blagojevich was not suitcase-tossed out of office the day these FBI tapes surfaced. This is not a conservative vs. liberal issue, but rather a rule of law vs. corrupt oligarchy issue.

But, Blago's schmoozing with the media and hiring Drew Peterson's PR people seems to be achieving it's desired effect. A regular WaPo Op-Ed contributor proclaims the man's innocence (yes really). From Eugene Robinson:

But it is unclear to me what else Blagojevich has done that a duly constituted jury would find illegal. Even in the matter of his menacing mop, at worst he's a co-conspirator in a dastardly act committed by his barber.

The liberal Crooks and Liars echoes sentiment that Blago is guilty by suggesting that this is Republican hit job on a guy who has the misfortune of being goofy. Political opinion has become so ideologically polarized that pundits and analysts rush to defend politicians "on their team", no matter how damning the evidence. A sad state of affairs.

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Provocative Liberal Photoshopping Maybe Be Out of Vogue

The reason I gave up any other semblance of a hobby to blog the weekday nights away is because it's enjoyable to see regular people gripe about everything from politics to the decline of American porn industry. Indeed, we live in some interesting times, and lurking in RSS feeds and writing a few posts now and then forces someone to at least be somewhat aware of what the fuck is going on. I attempt to not just read sites I'm probably going to agree with (Hot Air, Mudville, etc.), but venture into liberal land to get some perspective.

My fundamental political beliefs come from the fact that I believe politicians (and tyrants) will attempt to subvert the public consciousness with false rhetoric. I also believe that patriotism is important for a cosmopolitan nation like America to prevent internal strife based on factional rivalries and that mankind has "natural rights". From there I take a pragmatic approach and end up in the libertarian-conservative camp somehow, but that doesn't mean I hate liberals or anything. I grew up in a liberal city (Ann Arbor) and have spent most of life in liberal states (California, Hawaii, Washington, etc.), so categorically hating lefties would mean I'd have to board up all my windows and live on a diet of canned goods. Sometimes their ideas really piss me off, particularly when they pull stunts like using dead soldiers to get a political point across, but that hatred is probably necessary in a modern democracy.

So I was pretty bummed out when some of the big liberal blogs read like a press release from the Obama camp today. Whatever happened to eternal vigilance?!? Anyways, many of the big lefties were plugging the new Whitehouse.Gov site about two seconds after it went live in some diabolic, orchestrated plot. Daily Kos, Yglesias, and Sullivan were a few of the culprits. Crooks and Liars actually had this to say:

The entire Whitehouse.gov website has been renovated to reflect our new President, Barack Obama. It is a thing of beauty and nearly brought tears to my eyes - again.

Shit, this ain't North Korea, feel free to criticize once in awhile. And the only thing that should make you cry on the internet is 2 Girls, 1 Cup, only because available women shouldn't do such hideous acts. These sycophantic blegs are really advancing the cult of personality that The Obama somehow transcends criticism. He even tried to squash any muckraking during his inaugural speech [Reason]:

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them—that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply."

Scared yet? But, at least Spencer Ackerman and David Weigel are explaining why they laughed at Wheelchair'd Cheney and booed Bush. And Wonkette had some funny pics of tourists leaving trash all over the place in DC. Maybe cynicism and snark aren't totally crushed yet, but give it a few months...

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From the department of sore losers comes Middle East commentator and UofM prof, Juan Cole. After becoming enraged that the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Middle East blog was "dominated by neocons" and "must have been orchestrated", some bloggers rightfully considered an "Anyone But Cole" campaign for the prestigious award. Juan Cole has since altered his whiny post to make himself appear the victim of bloggin' bullies, but Sandbox has the original post (damn print screen key).

Michael Totten, who does actual independent journalism in combat zones instead of armchair speculation, has taken the lead by over 5,000 votes. Instead of gracefully congratulating Mr. Totten, Juan Cole has a lengthy post accusing him of being nothing more than a Rovian agent. That's probably a little bit of an exaggeration, since "thug neocons" tend to not write "A Defense of Barack Obama" and usually don't hail from Portland, Oregon (as Totten does). Cole explains Totten's agenda:

So that's how you do it. 1) You assassinate the character of your opponent. 2) You make his correct statements into a liability by propagandizing that they are false or unpatriotic. And 3) you mobilize a base of single-issue true believers that you can depend on to dominate the discourse because most people don't care and are not invested.

A bit ironic, as Juan Cole was the one who compared Sarah Palin to terrorists only 4 months ago. I can assure you my hatred of Juan Cole has nothing to do with a cabal-like agenda to denigrate his political views. It's simply my dislike of pompous jackasses.

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We Are the Mediocre Presidents!

Sure, you might tell your 7-year old kid that one day he or she can be president to boost self-esteem. But hopefully that youngun will grow up and realize that it was a bit of white lie. Some people are best suited to lead the country through difficult times and others are best at repairing disc brakes. Both professions are honorable and essential to a properly functioning society. The principles of our country were founded by well-educated masons and colonial nobility, and they were able to lead a revolution that has worked out pretty well for all of mankind. So, it's odd that democracy, which Thomas Jefferson referred to as "mob rule", has been perverted so badly that everyone gets a seat at the White House in the 21st century. That's what Arianna Huffington is promoting in her new campaign. From HuffPo:

To illustrate this we are putting together a video that will symbolize that we are all stakeholders -- all being inaugurated on January 20th -- by having people from across America send us video of themselves taking the presidential oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Being in the military, I understand the need for patriotism and public service that Arianna sorta advocates, but the concept that Obama is here to elevate everyone to his level of leadership is frightening. Maybe it's my time in an institution with a very strict "chain-o'-command" hierarchy, but you don't want a multitude of leaders not educated for the job. Sometimes, when the shit hits the fan, you're pretty glad you aren't the guy in charge, and just hope that the guy (or gal) that is knows what the fuck they are doing based on their experience and competence. A virtual army of would-be Presidents with "great ideas" is not what a constitutional Republic is about, but it certainly does bring up images of an angry mob of power-hungry loons. The scary part is Obama, during his victory speech in November, sounded like he actually believed this crap.

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