Gettin' It Done

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While Bloomie and Christie were whining from their elitist perches during the blizzard, Cory Booker was getting it done for his constituents in Newark.

I'm saving this commentary on Hypocrisy he's written for HuffPost, because—given the speed with which the bullpucky spin's already rising in DeeCee—I've a hunch I'm going to need to go back to it for clear-eyed vision from time to time this year.

Booker's writing about health and hypocrisy, but his message transcends carbs of sugar. Take heed.
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My Amendment's Better'n Yourn

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NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg probably thought that if the loophole couldn't be closed now... Well, he probably never imagined, given The Incident in Times Square, that the loophole would not only not be closed, but would be protected by the likes of Lindsay Graham and Susan Collins.

Who would expect U.S. Senators to actually protect the rights of terrorists to buy arms? To selectively support one Amendment while trying to tear down the other? To be so, yes, anti-Constitutional. Anti-law enforcement.

Who's the fool who ever said the Republican party supports law enforcement? Pah!

Or, as commenter Zimzone over at ThinkProgress put it:

Shorter Graham:

We’ll take away your Constitutional rights on Miranda but not your Constitutional right to bear arms.

WTF?

WTF, indeed.
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Good Ol' Boys

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If you missed Thursday night on Comedy Central, Jon Stewart's tour de force about the crazy that is Glenn Beck and Stephen Colbert's scintillating skewering of all things Republican hypocrisy are must see. Must think about, too.

If you've been working and not noticed the misogynistic mindset that drives the likes of Rep. Bart Stupak in his dismissive attitude toward women's healthcare issues and the on-record support by Catholic nuns of healthcare reform.

If you think it's just all talk and smoke and mirrors and something you don't need to think about, then take a look at what a Republican state legislator in little ol' North Dakota thinks about one woman.

And ask yourself, isn't it time to elect more Democrats, not less? To support progress and change, even if it's not moving as fast as you'd like, rather than allowing the status quo to drag us down ever lower?
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crossposted at firedoglake's The Seminal

The Press Played Dumb....

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Four words succinctly indict the media hypocrisy covering left and right as latest shown in tea party coverage.
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John Amato at Crooks & Liars sums up the situation of media hypocrisy in covering the tea party convention perfectly:

He cites Eric Boehlert at Media Matters for the deconstruction that distills to:

The press played dumb

It's how they roll.... all of 'em.

Expect more of same when fearmonger in chief "Dick" Chee-knee has his newest closeup moment on This Week Sunday morning.
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crossposted at firedoglake's Seminal

The Grass Is Greener

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Setting aside the jokes that a Senator named Grassley [get it? graaaaaassss--with a heavy emphasis on the a and the s's..... and, oh, wait, got a little sidetracked there....] is the designated opponent for the new attitude articulated by Attorney General Holder about ceasing and desisting of hounding and prosecuting medical marijuana providers in states where medical marijuana has been legalized, there is this to contemplate:

Isn't it interesting that Farmer Grassley [and don't get me started on the effort to restore growing hemp--which has nothing at all to do with gettin' high, but a whole lot to do with a history of the timber industry getting rid of the paper resource aka c-o-m-p-e-t-i-t-i-o-n that was used for centuries] has taken it on himself to made medical decisions on behalf of families like ours.

Medical marijuana has been established as valuable for mitigating the effects of chemotherapy, and other medical uses like glaucoma treatment. Maybe that's it...a little medical marijuana might clear up Grassley's inability to see the evidence before him.

Or to see as far as his own mirror.

Because there's more than a whiff of hypocrisy in a Senator attacking a proven medical treatment like medical marijuana, and then

Basking Shark

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THE SETUP:
Basking in the glow of his own self-delusions and hypocrisy, Joe Lieberman told Imus this morning that Harry Reid has assured him he won't lose his seniority...essentially.

As for reports that he'll speak at the Republican convention, Lieberman says: "doubt I'd be a keynote speaker" but "if John McCain asks me to speak I'll go speak...I'm doing what I think is right and not worrying about the politics... I think it's going to be all right..."

"Harry Reid has said you're a member of the caucus, you've been a friend to me...he basically said 'No' they're not going to take Lieberman's seniority away."

THE TALKING POINTS:
On the media-McCain-Clinton conspiracy to drive the "elitist" argument on Obama: "let's hope it's inartful...The comment he made was, I thought, offensive, and will raise a lot of questions."

(Hmmmm. I find a man who refuses to hold hearings in the committee he chairs on the debacle of Katrina offensive...but that's just me. And I find offensive a man whose mixed "loyalties" are on daily display as he attacks Democrats on the days he says he's I-Conn, and then attacks liberals on the days he says he's ID-Conn. But that's me, too.)

Lieberman continues his ongoing McCainiacism by painting Obama as too liberal, anti-Israel, too naive/inexperienced....

THE OOZE:
Lieberman sucks up to Imus by bringing up BPA in order to mention Imus' wife's greening work—her latest book, Growing Up Green now out and available at bookstores everywhere. Will that mention make me an I-Fave?

THE HYPOCRISY:
Hyper-selective-religionist Lieberman apologizes to Imus and listeners before uttering the word "urine." Apologies for failing the NOLA-ites left to piss on the floor in the Superdome?...hmmm, I ain't hearin' it. Apologies for sending men and women into a war based on lies to get their bits blown off so they can never take a normal piss again? I ain't hearin' it. Apologies for turning ordinary American men and women into torturers on the knowledge and approval and micromanagement of the Current Occupant's team of Principals?

I ain't hearin' it from Joe put the lie-in-Lieberman.

THE TELL:
Midway thru the conversation, Imus asks: Lieberman the most bitter man in the Senate? "Well, yeah..."

Pimps, Hoes, and Presstitutes

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Lotsa dust flyin' in the skies East of Prairie Country these days. Sturm und drang in New Yuck City and DeeCee.

Everybody tumblin' all over themselves to try to get a piece of the story. Powerful man, hubris, hypocrisy, narcissistic, risk-taker. Puttin' it all out there for a high-priced bunch of pros.

Yep, it's springtime, the snow's melting, and the dirty underbelly of the lives of the rich and famous is on full parade for we peasants out here in the hinterlands.

I prefer to think about gardens.

There's something about a basic garden tool like the hoe. It's got a sharp edge to it, a sturdy wood handle, cuts through the topsoil, sends the weeds a-flyin'.

We could use a few good hoes in Washington right now.

Of course in Washington, they dress it up and give it fancy names, and maybe put a motor on it, and of course it burns oil, and might even have a five-star rating. Certainly that kind of hoe gets branded.

Bet you think I'm talkin' about Eliot's Mess [dibs: Colbert], now don't you. Well, that, too, but these days you need a scorecard to keep up with the scoundrels on both sides of the aisle—and their surrounds—who wear their hypocrisy on their sleeves and their campaign buttons under their lapels.

Don't have much love for hypocrisy around here.

So that's why what really perked up my ears this week was that Gridiron dinner the other night. You know the one. Brown, brown grass of home, anyone?

Chris Matthews got it right in his smackdown of the attendees and the standing O's of the night. Better late than never, Mr. Matthews. [digby's Hullabaloo has the serenade video and text of Matthews' commentary here; if you haven't yet visited digby, do stop by those good folks. For some strange reason I can't seem to find it over at MS/NBC.]

Must be some really interesting behind-the-scenes conversations over at MS/NBC these days, what with reports that Russet was at the Gridiron Dinner. Bet ABC's Stephanopoulos is glad he sat that one out. Would be interesting to know who else was in attendance.

If you don't tend the garden, pretty soon you can't separate the weeds from the veggies. And you kinda forget you're supposed to be one of the veggies. Not as glamorous, I know, as rubbin' elbows with the rich'n'famous...or tellin' yourself you is one.

But no matter who you are, dirt still clings to your shoes when you walk in it.

And it's not that hard to pick out the hoes.