Fresh off a disgraceful display regarding Obama’s Israel speech, Reid ratchets up the scare tactics to coerce Rand Paul into relenting on his opposition to the Patriot Act:
“If the senator from Kentucky refuses to relent,” Reid said earlier Wednesday, “that would increase the risk of a retaliatory terrorist strike against the homeland and hamper our ability to deal a truly fatal blow to al-Qaida.”
Paul objected to the “scurrilous accusation. I’ve been accused of wanting to allow terrorists to have weapons to attack America. … Can we not have a debate … over whether or not there should be some constitutional protections?”
Paul had support from several Democrats who want to see more congressional oversight of how the Patriot Act operations are carried out. Sen. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in a proposed amendment co-sponsored by Paul, would have required audits on the use of surveillance authorities and required the government to provide more proof of a link to a foreign group or power to obtain sensitive library circulation records and bookseller records.
But with the expiration date approaching and little likelihood of a compromise with the House, the Democrats acceded to letting the bill move forward. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said he was not happy they weren’t able to deal with the bill differently, but allowing the provisions to lapse was “unacceptable.”
Disgraceful. Why such a hurry? Maybe this:
Across the aisle, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Udall (D-CO) have offered their own amendment to the PATRIOT Act, in an effort to make the law less opaque. That’s because Wyden says the PATRIOT Act that Americans know about and the one that the government actually has in place are two very different beasts. There is a secret PATRIOT Act that American citizens don’t know about, Wyden claims, and it’s only getting worse.
“We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says,” Wyden told Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. “When you’ve got that kind of a gap, you’re going to have a problem on your hands.”
Wyden and Udall want to close that gap. Their chances of actually doing so are depressingly slim.
You can’t handle the truth.
Villago Delenda Est
Good for Wyden and Udall.
The Patriot Act DOES need to be a lot more transparent. Reid should be ashamed of himself, but he is unfamiliar with shame, given that he rolled over and played dead the last congress in the face of ONLY having 60 votes at his disposal.
KG
My first thought that things were going to go seriously wrong in this country was back when the Patriot Act was first proposed and passed. I was a bit shocked that a few thousand page bill was produced in almost no time, had no debate, and was passed overwhelmingly in both Houses of Congress in a manner of days. I had hoped at the time that we’d eventually get around to dealing with the, um, excesses(?) of the law once the initial shock/grief/horror of September 11th passed. And yet, here we are, nearly ten years later, living as if it’s still September 12, 2001.
ETA: I’m going to have to say that this is one of those areas where there really isn’t a dime’s worth of difference…
4jkb4ia
Hey John, you did good. Now I am going to run to Paris.
ETA: You are not going to bully Rand Paul on this matter. Paul is acting like the best Feingold equivalent that he was hoped to be. Paul is also giving these issues some much-needed bipartisan street cred.
Daulnay
The bipartisanship is overwhelming. This stuff is why, after decades of being a Democrat, I re-registered as an independent a month ago.
Can anyone honestly say that either party would reverse this slide into a non-democratic security state? Yes, each party has its Pauls, Udalls and Ryans, but they are far too few to counteract the Reids and Cheneys.
fasteddie9318
There’s a good case to be made for a limited political movement around the idea of doing nothing. Deficit problems? Do nothing, let the tax cuts expire. Civil liberties violations? Do nothing, let the PATRIOT Act expire. Don’t do anything to screw with Medicare. Don’t do anything to screw with Social Security. Stop doing what we’re doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. It falls apart after that, but if those things all became policy we’d be in much better shape than we are now.
Han's Solo
Slightly off topic, but “Patriot Act” and “Homeland Security Department” sound like something George Orwell might have come up with.
Suffern ACE
@KG: Yep. My guess with this will be with us until the whole group of people who passed the first one is dead. I’d like to think that they’re acting this way because they’re afraid that if they don’t and there’s a terrorist attack, the voters will blame anyone who voted against it and throw them out of office. I’m less charitable, though. They vote this way because they want to, just like they voted for the Iraq War because they liked the idea.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
“after Obama’s speech”? the mid-east speech? anybody got a link to what Reid said?
Daulnay
The term “Homeland Security” has always made me wince. It really feels Orwellian, and was one of the first signs, to me, that things were really going wrong. It spooked me.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Couldn’t we at least agree to rename it the “I have a magic rock in my pocket that keeps away tigers Act”?
General Stuck
the lax and fundamentally un American and dubious legality of the legal bar to allow the government to search your shit, is still the biggest problem with the Patriot Act for me, and obviously, any secret secrecy would fall into that category as well. If you are not going to follow the standards in the constitution for search and seizure, it is not hard to believe that Wyden is giving us a serious clue about shit we don’t know about, that we should.
It is only a mild comfort that the current Patriot Act, even with it’s serious flaws, is way better than the fascist state, totalitarian like original versions. But not good enough.
I support the Wyden/Udall amendment.
cbear
@Daulnay: It sounds better in the original German.
KG
@Suffern ACE: the problem is, once all of them are dead, the Patriot Act will be “just the way it is” and there will be no push to repeal it. And you’re right, they vote this way because they want to and for no other reason.
Omnes Omnibus
@KG: I think the majority of congresscritters didn’t really care what was in the bill when it was passed; they just wanted to pass something. Today, they don’t want to let it expire because, if it does and there is a terrorist attack, they will be open to accusations that they let it happen. There are a few real fascists who wanted what is in the bill and pushed for it.
Hunter Gathers
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Fixed.
Mouse Tolliver
Every now and then Harry Reid does something to remind us all that the weasel politician Robert De Niro told off in Casino was based on him.
Villago Delenda Est
@Han’s Solo:
“Homeland Security Department” sounds much better in the original German:
Heimatsicherheitshauptamt
Villago Delenda Est
@Han’s Solo:
“Homeland Security Department” sounds much better in the original German:
Heimatsicherheitshauptamt
Although a friend of mine once mangled this into Heimatsicherheitshauptangst, which is even more appropriate.
I also like to point out that the term “enhanced interrogation techniques” was originally coined by the Gestapo in the late 30’s.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
Fuck Rand Paul – he is a terrorist. He and his caucus would gleefully assist in committing a terrorist act just to ensure the continuance of white power dominance via fear.
Sadly, Rand Paul and Bitch McConnell are my senators. As an aside, the only fun thing I’ve ever done in politics was to call closet-case McConnell a “Howdy Doody looking motherfucker” to his face about 30 years ago, when he was just a local official.
Just Some Fuckhead
This is just more of that leftward trackback to Clinton I’ve been told about.
Daulnay
Feel free to take a couple minutes to encourage your senators to filibuster the bill in its current form and support Wyden and Udall in their amendments: Thomas
Frankensteinbeck (The ex-Uloborus)
What the Hell, Reid? Just when I was giving you credit for all the great legislation you’ve bludgeoned through despite Republican obstructionism, you pull this?
I’m at least modestly happy with the Democratic party’s on practically everything, but both sides in congress are completely bug-eyed insane over terrorism. I do not understand it.
arguingwithsignposts
The real impetus behind the PA and the new security apparatus is the same as it always has been. $$$. Lots of it. Follow the Benjamins, indeed.
Han's Solo
I’m no expert on the Patriot Act, but it seems to me that the “Roving Wiretaps” idea may be at least partially valid.
The technology these days might make it necessary.
But I’m no expert.
PurpleGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Cole had a link in the first sentence of the post to Reid’s reaction.
Failure, Inc.
@Yevgraf (fka Michael): Truth. This does need to be kept in mind. I find Paul’s bleating about Constitutional protections hypocritical at best given his stance of state ownership of a woman’s organs of reproduction.
That being said, fuck Harry Reid too. There’s so much to hit Paul with, and it was not necessary to use and reinforce Orwell/Bush memes to do so.
I like the Udall/Wyden legislation a LOT. It has zero chance of being passed, but it is the direction that the whole debate needs to be moved in.
Also time to start discussing the abolition of the TSA. That’s something I think both Democrats and Republicans – ones who aren’t getting payoffs from backscatter scanner manufacturers, anyway – could really agree on.
Fred
I see John Galt Cole is showing is true anti-Democrat stripes this morning.
With links to Forbes no less.
Omnes Omnibus
@Fred: Good god, you are a dipshit.
gex
It’s appalling to me that I am threatened with violating the Patriot Act if I purchase cold medicine more frequently than they think I should. I mean, WTF? I’m in MN. It’s almost always cold and flu season.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
@Failure, Inc.:
I know – it is just that every!single!time! Ron’s boy Rand opens his mouth about anything, I find myself wishing he was standing in front of me just so I could punch him in the mouth repeatedly. He’s such a spoiled little bitch – his worthless wingnut racist anti-semite daddy had nothing but soft duty in the Air Force and got scads o’ gubmint bucks in his medical practice, then went on to collect gubmint pay as a Congressman. Literally everything about Rand’s education sprang from a government check, and his medical practice is in a part of the state which has heavy government involvement due to the number of Medicaid recipients.
Then the swirly headed douchebag has the fucking nerve to pretend that he is some sort of small-government advocating bootstrapped Galtian superhero.
When I read his words, hear his voice or see his image, I see red.
Jewish Steel
@Fred: Fred! Let those exclamation marks free! I know you’re restraining yourself! You will end up with an impacted exclamator! No laughing matter! Then who will shine a bright light on the truth? I ask you!
Poopyman
Heh! Reid is acting pretty much as I’d like to see a Dem leader acting. Except, you know, I want him to be on exactly the opposite side of this particular issue.
Funny that he can play lizard-brain politics when it requires him to go anti-progressive and at no other times.
cbear
@Omnes Omnibus: Ah, he’s not that bad. Just think of him as the guy at the party who drops a turd in the punchbowl—then pours himself a double.
Failure, Inc.
I see Fred is showing his true ratfucking Firebagger tool belt this morning.
With links to no supporting evidence, no less.
Anoniminous
For what it is worth:
A friend who studies the stuff claims the people who wrote the Nuremberg Racial Laws were inspired by the US Jim Crow Laws.
Zifnab
@Yevgraf (fka Michael):
I’m not seeing this at all. Not unless you think Udall and Wyden and Leahy are all terrorists, too.
The PATRIOT Act is overly broad and *way* too powerful. What should have been legislation to coordinate local and national police mutated into a travesty of security overreach.
If the legislation dies, and Congress is sent back to the drawing board, that’s nothing but a good thing.
Joshua
I always knew Reid was a wimpy piece of shit but he keeps delivering.
So once we strike the “fatal” blow, will we cancel the Patriot Act? Will we dismantle the TSA, the DHS, and the private national security state? LOL. Get fucked Harry.
I am shocked, shocked that OBL’s death is being used to further entrench the security state, after hearing for years that his alive-ness was why we needed to further entrench the security state.
Emma
Frankensteinbeck: Think about it. If there’s another terrorist attack, whichever party is seen as “soft on terrorism” is dead. The majority of Americans have before and can be again spooked in the name of “safety”. Reid knows it.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
@Zifnab:
Even a blinking digital clock is right a couple of times a day.
It is still never the time to give any praise to a half-wit beneficiary of legacy wingnut goodies and white privilege like Rand Paul. Sure, you can compliment him for making doody in the toilet instead of his drawers, but that is about as far as I go with this guy.
Martin
We should demand Obama sign another executive order. That’ll solve it.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Poopyman:
Yeah, weird how that works, huh? Otherwise, nothing is possible, can’t be done, the votes aren’t there, you can’t fucking count and you know this is a center right country, libtard!
Fred
@Failure, Inc.: Still waiting for links to what Reid said. It’s not the way pretend progressive John Galt Cole, 2 time G Dubya voter is characterizing it.
Sorry, links to Forbes isn’t going to cut it. May as well provide links to WND or Faux.
Martin
@Emma: That’s not a game you can win, though. Democrats were soft on terrorism because they thought it was wrong to crush a child’s testicles. Campaign rhetoric will never match policy, and thinking that you can reconcile the two is a fools errand.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Poopyman: @Just Some Fuckhead: When do “lizard-brain politics” work in favor of progressive positions?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Failure, Inc.:
I didn’t know Fred was a firebagger. I just assumed he was one of you since he’s always complaining about Greenwald.
Omnes Omnibus
@cbear: I am not really a fan of punch; I would prefer a scotch. OTOH watching that thing bob in the punchbowl doesn’t encourage me to try the canapes. Just saying.
Failure, Inc.
@Just Some Fuckhead: Gives himself away with the line about “pretend progessive” up above. One True Scotsman and all that.
WereBear
I’m on an old computer and have to use Safari; but Fred is one troll that makes me wish I had a pie filter.
One problem with the public is that most of them have already decided terrorism is too complicated for them to understand; so they will stand for anything, up to and including underwear groping.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Failure, Inc.:
No, that’s a reference to Fred finding out yesterday that John voted for Bush twice.
Fred belongs to your team, Failure.
arguingwithsignposts
CNN talking heads already breathless that the congress only has 11 hours to pass a bill or …
Really wish people understood that “24” was fiction.
Just Some Fuckhead
@cbear:
Right? It’s like no one wants to eat shit around here anymore. This place has gone to crap.
WereBear
I don’t know where my comment went…
It’s just that people know nothing about terrorism, are convinced it’s too complicated for them to understand, and will put up with all kinds of crap so they don’t have to think about it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: Nah, he is just an asshole.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well he’s in good company then.
Tonal Crow
@Daulnay: Yes. Everyone who disagrees with the renewal should get on the horn and let the senators know. I did.
Poopyman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
A very good question, and I’m sure it’s not nearly as often as for right-wing rhetoric.
But look at this particular instance. If instead of giving Paul the scary–terrists–coming–to–gitcha spiel he’d given pro-PA senators the scary–govt–in–yer–bedrooms spiel. Or better yet, gone to their constituents with that line. Might help to stop the bill’s passage, if he really wanted to stop it.
As I type this I realize I really don’t like this approach, but what else counters the right-wing scaremongering? That is, what works?
4jkb4ia
John opposed the Patriot Act when it was passed in 2001,
assholeuncreative insulter. /evenhopelessinsanityissometimesneverwastedHere is Spencer absolutely excoriating Reid for hypocrisy and mentioning that Reid and Paul may have a deal on a gun amendment.
eemom
OT — but there is a rather unfortunate Supreme Court decision out today about one of the Arizona anti-immigrant laws. Dunno why the blogosphere hasn’t ‘sploded yet. Lemme go see if Perfesser ‘Zilla is on the mofo…..
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: Yeah, but sometimes you are funny.
4jkb4ia
Fucking link, the result of said hopeless insanity. You won’t recognize that guy. He seems like a really nice fellow, though.
MattR
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep. But JSF needs him to be part of some “team” so that he can use him as an example when he wants to bash some other perceived member of that “team” instead of having to respond substantively to that indiviudal’s comments
El Tiburon
Fuck Harry Reid.
That’s all I got on that one.
Never liked him. Think he is worthless and weak.
Just Some Fuckhead
@MattR:
It wasn’t me that put him on the firebagger team in an effort to bash some other perceived member of that team instead of having to respond substantively to firebaggers. Is today upside down day?
Martin
@eemom: I think SCOTUS is right, though. I think it’s a shitty law, but shitty laws can be constitutional.
different church-lady
@Just Some Fuckhead:
On internet political sites, every day is upside down day.
MattR
@Just Some Fuckhead: Huh? First off, what member of the firebagger team was Failure Inc trying to bash by calling Fred a firebagger? Secondly, how does Failure Inc’s desire to call Fred a firebagger change the fact that you made sure to let Failure Inc know that Fred was actually part of his team? Stating that Fred was not a firebagger did not require you to pigeonhole him onto a different team.
@Martin: That is just proof that you are willing to make shit up and that you have no clue what you are talking about
/eemom
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: So are squirrels and developmentally challenged children.
eemom
@Martin:
but this is a federal preeemption case, not really a constitutional one — and from what I can see so far Roberts et al took a pretty brazen approach to preemption analysis.
Pococurante
Both sides … ah well never mind.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i pretty much hate everything “patriot”.
Bill Murray
@Emma: The Dems will be blamed regardless of who is stronger against terror, or re-upping the Patriot Act.
Emma
Martin: I know. But the problem is, IMO, that if the Democrats go down on a charge of “soft on terrorism” we will be left with Plain Crazy and Clinically Insane as our political parties. Right now, with Democrats, we have Forty Percent Sane. In this day and age, that’s not such a bad thing.
Bill Murray (and others): So we’re ok with a Phyrric victory? Just checking. Because the moment a bomb goes off — hell, the moment a misdirected firecracker goes off — it’s going to be all Crazy all the time.
Just Some Fuckhead
@MattR:
I have no idea who Failure was trying to bash. It’s really a coinflip on whether he was shooting at Fred or Firebaggers. I’m gonna have to say both.
Do I have to be required or can I do it just because Fred is an Obot and god bless him for it?
Keep digging.
Martin
@eemom: Is it? States don’t have the authority to set hiring laws based on the federal immigration database? Universities use that same database all the time, and they aren’t preempting federal law.
MattR
@Just Some Fuckhead:
You can absolutely do this, but it just proves my point.
4jkb4ia
@eemom:
I think because of what it’s about. Punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants is not racism, and hiring illegal immigrants can be a sign that the employers want to exploit them.
Martin
@Emma: If Democrats go down on a charge of soft on terrorism, it’s because of their own inept campaigning, not because of anything the law says. How many times did Republicans vote to blow up the deficit between 2000 and 2008? And they still came off as the fiscal grown-ups. Bush was tough on terrorism while simultaneously trying to sell off control of our ports to Dubai. Dems just need to suck less at this and pass the laws that need to be passed.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: Universities aren’t writing laws. I tend to see preemption on Immigration issues as a pretty broad thing. States have about zero power to touch immigration related topics. Claiming licensing makes it different seem like an end run to me. I haven’t read the opinion in depth yet, just skimmed it, but that is my first impression.
Fred
@Omnes Omnibus: Always happy to hear from my fans. Hugs and kisses!
Fred
@Just Some Fuckhead: Yawn, just some people going all dick cheney with their point, shoot, aim responses.
Fred
@Just Some Fuckhead: I see someone is actually paying attention. Kudos for that!
There are 3 things I do not trust. Things that bleed for 5-7days and do not die. People who voted for G Dubya…and ESPECIALLY people who voted for G Dubya twice!
And the cherry on top is that they are Greenwald fans who are Libertarian curious. I cannot imagine what sort of major malfunction would cause a person to have that sort of a belief system. I’m sure they keep psychologists busy.
Just Some Fuckhead
@MattR:
No, what it proves is Fred is not in fact a firebagger but just the O-pposite. I know how frustrating it must be to have the whole firebagger schtick blow up in yer faces but you’re just gonna have to man up and accept the fact that not everyone you dislike is on the same team.
Tonal Crow
Jesus H. Kee-rist on a crutch made of the True Cross can we stop the “firebagger v. Obot” bullshit and call some Senators? Where’s Tim F. and his whip?
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: But nobody here is usurping the Feds power to classify an individuals citizenship status. States have always had laws on the books that define what public services can be delivered to people based on their immigration status – public universities are an example. The states aren’t defining their own immigration status, or countermanding the Feds determination, they’re merely using the Fed status to make local decisions. I don’t see a problem with that, and it’s been going on for a long time.
How is saying that the state can’t punish businesses for hiring illegals able to be reconciled with the fact that most states don’t provide in-state tuition to illegals, even if they can prove resident status in the state? Those laws have been on the books for decades, with no objection. I believe the same holds for other services.
MattR
@Just Some Fuckhead:
And that is exactly my point. Most of them are not on any team, despite your need to put them on one.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Fred:
I know Fred. They see an old man’s turkey neck and automatically think it’s a quail.
Just Some Fuckhead
@MattR:
Then you need to start back at Failure and the Firebagger nonsense and not go off shooting wildly at the person that called him on it.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Fred:
Fred, one of my weaknesses is I care too much. You and everyone else can be assured that when you write something, there’s a very high chance I both read and noted it.
eemom
@MattR:
let me let you in on a little secret. When I tell people they’re just making shit up and don’t know what they’re talking about, it’s because they are.
I don’t say that to people who have evidenced any degree of actual insight and reasoning.
Not all of us here are equal-opportunity assholes.
MattR
@Just Some Fuckhead: If you think that you called him on it you are delusional. You called out Failure on which team Fred belonged to, not the idea of pigeonholing Fred onto a team.
@eemom: Bullshit. When you said it to me it was an ugly personal attack that I was lying about having an illness (and IMO the attack was made because it raised an argument that you were not willing to counter). Or do you still think I am full of shit and making up the fact that I may one day need to take advantage of my Canadian citizenship if my medical condition worsens and I cannot get coverage here?
eemom
@Fred:
John Cole: I don’t usually do this, but I want this asshole out of here for that “bleed and do not die” filth. This isn’t the first time.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: Like I said, I have only had a chance to quickly skim the case. Based on my view of broad preemption on immigration issues, I tend to view any state law that touches on immigration with skepticism. I will read the decision more carefully before I actually say whether I agree or disagree with the ruling.
Just Some Fuckhead
@MattR:
Matt, what are you missing here. Let’s step through the sequence of events.
Failure is an Obot
Fred is an Obot
Fred said something Failure disliked
Failure called Fred a Firebagger as an insult
I pointed out Fred is in fact an Obot
You went apeshit saying I was trying to assign him to a team to disparage someone at a future date by association.
I like Fred.
You keep digging.
Just Some Fuckhead
@eemom:
Awesome, good to see yer back on the feminist bandwagon after calling shortstop a twat. This is what makes you so darn special.
eemom
@Omnes Omnibus:
You’re right. Martin, you’re mistaken about what the issue is here.
Preemption is purely a matter of Congressional intent. The federal statute at issue contains an express and broad statement of preemption. As Breyer points out in his dissent, no fucking way did the Congress that enacted that law intend to carve out licensing. It makes no sense.
This is some seriously fucked up, result-oriented shit.
R-Jud
@Fred:
Charming. This makes all your arguments much more compelling.
Signed,
One of those “Things”
eemom
@Just Some Fuckhead:
get a
joblife, asshole.On second thought get both.
Calling your new girlfriend a twat doesn’t disqualify me from calling out rank, ugly misogyny, any more than calling you a dick does.
By the way. You’re a dick.
MattR
@Just Some Fuckhead: Fine, in this particular case you were not pigeonholing Fred in order to disparage someone else at a future date. However, I still believe that it is a valid criticism in general for yourself and many others here. And I stand by the criticism that it seems that you (and many, many others) have to pigeonhole people onto teams rather than dealing with them as individuals. (EDIT: And I yes, I see the irony in grouping so many commenters together in a comment about pigeonholing people)
eemom
@Just Some Fuckhead:
yeah, figures you like Fred. Ignorant redneck trailer trash usually does love it some of its own.
Jewish Steel
@Just Some Fuckhead:
sniff
ETA: My theory that Fred is an obot spoof troll is subverted by his casual misogyny and general tone deafness w/r/t, uh, everything?
Just Some Fuckhead
@MattR:
So you feel you were technically nonsensical but collectively true?
Just Some Fuckhead
@eemom: Oops, scratch a concerned citizen, find a tyrant every time.
NobodySpecial
@MattR:
Christ, are you dumb or what? All of them.
NobodySpecial
@Just Some Fuckhead: Remember the days of the P.O.? She misses her time as Stuck’s deputy.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Jewish Steel:
Maybe he’s just some earnest, well-intentioned internet denizen with a deep and troubling fear of menstruation.
eemom
hmm….”Nobody Special”.
“Just Some Fuckhead”.
Who’s whose “deputy,” again?
Jewish Steel
@Just Some Fuckhead: Ha! I verily lol’d.
WaterGirl
Wow, that sounds like something an arrogant ass with a sense of entitlement might say.
In the time it took you to type those 8 words, you could have googled “harry reid israel”, as I just did. I found a video in the third link on the page. See, you learned something today. Glad to help.
4jkb4ia
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I thought more of horror movies than women. You can start counting the 7 clean days 4 days after your period starts. (I do this every month)
Yes, he seems ominous at first but if you hit him over the nose with a rolled-up newspaper, he folds like a cheap suit. :-D (JSF did not call me a troll, unless it was really subtle. That was very good.)
ericblair
Oh goody, thread derailers derail thread.
I’m wondering why Democratic interests are served with a Senate leader from a red state who has to watch his own ass all the time. Apparently the Dem senators like him a lot and he can get himself elected when he needs to, but you really need someone from a deep blue commie state who can take one for the team and deflect incoming fire instead of needing protection. Nancy SMASH! doesn’t have to keep watching her right flank for attacks.
MattR
eemom – I am just shocked that you have not bothered to respond and let me know if you think I am lying about having a potentially deadly medical condition or if you still think I am just making shit up.
Omnes Omnibus
@ericblair: Durbin or Schumer then?
Jewish Steel
@WaterGirl: Hey! Your description of last night’s tornado/bathroom/pets scene? Exactly what my gf went thru last night. Except 3 bemused dogs instead of cats.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Jewish Steel: Or ya know, whatever. Some people think calling a woman a “twat” is out of bounds. Some people think making a joke about menstruation is out of bounds. Some people think calling a woman a slut is out of bounds, even though the word has transcended gender for anyone under, say, 50.
That’s the thing, yer always gonna be able to find something that upsets somebody. I’m certainly not trying to minimize the personal pain and anguish that eemom experienced when she encountered Fred making the same 50 year old joke for the second time in a month but at the end of the day, no one standard fits all and you can only take offense.
Let’s hug it all out!
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I am not touching you; I don’t know where you’ve been.
R-Jud
@ericblair:
Like John Kerry, possibly? Although, with Scott Brown as his junior senator, I don’t know if Massachusetts counts as “deep blue commie” anymore.
4jkb4ia
@Fred:
More calmly. “Libertarian curious” does not describe John. John has had some libertarian views since the day this place opened. And those libertarian views, among other things, have walked him right out of the Republican Party so that he is enough on your side that Krugman can quote him defending Medicare and breaking with Sullivan, who was his friend for almost all of that time. Much better that than if he was defending the drug war and torture.
bryanD
Disinterested observer here.
Someone needs to hook up eemom with the Ghost of Christmas Past to find out what the hell happened.
Jewish Steel
@ericblair: In the way that Republican interests are served by the the Ryan plan? Ryan can spew as much ideologically driven tripe as he likes and safely get elected in the next cycle. Even as he tanks his entire party. (with a big assist from the usual suspects, of course)
Just Some Fuckhead
Pro-tip for you, eemom: If yer gonna make everyone hate ya, you prolly oughta make ’em fear ya too. Otherwise they get nasty.
NobodySpecial
@eemom: How about you email Cole and have him check IP addresses, if you’re that sure I’m JSF’s sockpuppet and get me banned?
Go for it.
Just Some Fuckhead
@eemom: How about you email Cole and have him check IP addresses, if you’re that sure I’m JSF’s sockpuppet and get me banned?
Go for it.
Jewish Steel
@Just Some Fuckhead: That’s why it qualifies, IMO, as “casual” misogyny. Kind of like the casual racists I grew up around. Nobody was putting on a hood and burning a cross, just repeating, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, some “received wisdom.”
4jkb4ia
@ericblair:
But
a) Nevada is getting less and less red. Their new Congressional seat will almost certainly go to a Democrat
and b) as Spencer wrote, Reid had no problem criticizing this sort of thing when a Republican was in the WH
NobodySpecial
@Just Some Fuckhead: LOL, you’re an asshole.
Failure, Inc.
Dance, puppets. Dance for my amusement.
Just Some Fuckhead
@NobodySpecial:
Haha.. right?
NobodySpecial
@Failure, Inc.:
Translation is online.
Failure, Inc.
@NobodySpecial: Not glue. Liquid Paper is the shit.
eemom
@Just Some Fuckhead:
pro-tip from YOU about “making everybody hate ya”?
Guess I can’t argue with that.
btw, I was going with NS’s “deputy” meme there. Not sockpuppet. Two different concepts.
You are dumb as a brick. On top of all your other charms.
Paul in KY
@Han’s Solo: That was from the party that read ‘1984’ as a how-to manual.
Emma
Martin: I don’t think it’s a question of democrats getting out the message. The Republicans have spent two decades building up a message machine. The media is owned by the corporations. It’s hard to get the message out through a constant drumbeat of fear and hatred.
I remember once sitting through an Al Gore speech on C-SPAN or somewhere, and next day reading the paper, and… I didn’t recognize the speech. NOTHING Al Gore had said that made it on to the page unless it had been massaged and spun out of all recognition. The Al Gore Journalistic Mugging was one of the great political disgraces of our time. I mean, I wasn’t exactly in love with the man, but I was honestly horrified by it.
ALL of that will be turned against the Democrats.
Just Some Fuckhead
@eemom:
Oh, you know you can. You just choose not to.
I know, my kids tell me that all the time.
4jkb4ia
This thread is dead
Tim, Interrupted
@eemom:
What is it that you think he meant by that?
Just Some Fuckhead
Oh Christ Jesus, Tim. I just got everyone settled down again.
Paul in KY
@Yevgraf (fka Michael): The former Ulobrous & me & others are from KY too. Wonder how many are from/reside in the Commonwealth?
ericblair
@Jewish Steel:
The goopers have the mirror version of the Dem problem: Dems figure that if they tack too much to the left they will get taken to the cleaners in the general elections by the right. The goopers figure that if they tack too much to the “center”, they’ll get taken to the cleaners by the teabaggers in the primaries. Different dynamic, and the goopers would theoretically be better served by a leader from a bluer state who didn’t have to worry so much about a primary challenge. I say theoretically, because the GOP may be terminally painting itself into a corner at this point.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Paul in KY:
Oh, Kentucky. That makes more sense now.
Tim, Interrupted
@Just Some Fuckhead:
OOOH OOH OOH! It called me a twat a couple of times also! I always wondered how that fit in with Feminism and female-positive thinking, but whatever…it also claimed to know the size of my schlong and to find it more than wanting.
At least it is consistent: Peeny of Vag, Eemom is crotch-fixated.
Tonal Crow
@Just Some Fuckhead:
And you thought “in KY” meant??? Oh, nevermind. Don’t answer that.
Tim, Interrupted
@eemom:
I’ve always wondered: How is that NOT a racist term?
Paul in KY
@eemom: Oh, I just got that one. I thought he was talking about vampires or zombies.
If he was in fact talking about women in general, that’s a nasty thing to say.
Paul in KY
@Just Some Fuckhead: Ha, ha, you’re about 3 years late with that joke!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tim, Interrupted:
I think it’s more of a class thing than a race thing. But it don’t bother me none no ways. We keep the trailer spruced up pretty good and I always clean up the glass when I’m done shooting bottles.
Failure, Inc.
@Tim, Interrupted: More classist than racist. You have an awful lot of Hispanics living in trailer parks these days, although the author may be unaware of that fact.
Tim, Interrupted
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Should I feel stupid? I have never heard that phrase before as a misogynist slam, or as anything else. And I am not that young. I googled it and was kind of thinking it might be an anti semitic slur based on a Shylock speech in “Merchant of Venice.”
There is so much yet to learn. Who knew?
P.S. Thing that bleed but don’t die seem kind of awesome and indestructible to me. Maybe the phrase was a compliment? Am I helping?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Paul in KY: Yeah, I know. Years ago, playing online poker, people would start talking about where they were from and whenever I’d get a Kentuckyite, I’d just casually mention a relative had sent me some Kentucky Jelly and it was spoilt or something because it tasted terrible and ask ’em how long was it good for..
Then we’d all laugh after we worked through the confusion.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Paul in KY: Yeah, I know. Years ago, playing onlne pokr, people would start talking about where they were from and whenever I’d get a Kentuckyite, I’d just casually mention a relative had sent me some Kentucky Jelly and it was spoilt or something because it tasted terrible and ask ‘em how long was it good for..
Then we’d all laugh after we worked through the confusion.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tim, Interrupted:
You just stay close to me ‘n Fred. We’ll learn ya proper.
Tim, Interrupted
@Failure, Inc.:
But isn’t “redneck” the giveaway here? I spent most of my life in Southern Kansas, ergo I know of Rednecks and trailer parks. You have to be Caucasion to get the kind of farmer sunburn denoted by the term “Redneck,” and most rural Caucasians are going to be bitching about the durn Mexkuns, not hanging out with em.
I just find Eemom amusing in that she so quickly resorts to sexist, misandrist, misogynicistic, racist, and classist language here, you know, given that she is a dad gummed Loryer and all, and a femnist to boot.
les
@Martin:
Without having read the whole thing, I think the difference is there is a Fed law on employment of illegals in place, but none on the tuition issue. Where a Fed statute on topic exists, preemption comes up. Currently, the Supremes decide based on which law is most lobbyist friendly.
Paul in KY
@Just Some Fuckhead: Heh, heh!
I’m out for a long weekend. Hope everyone has a fun & safe one.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tim, Interrupted:
Going by occam’s razor, she’s just a vile human being but I got in trouble last time I said it so I’m going to strike all this out.Tim, Interrupted
@Just Some Fuckhead:
But Fred scares me.
And he touches me in the bad place in the dark.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tim, Interrupted:
Prolly trying to make sure you ain’t bleeding.
Bill Murray
@Emma: Well many Dem office holders hosed either way if there’s another large scale terrorist attack, so I guess they should determine what seems to have actually worked, what is theater and evaluate some new ideas, not just rubber stamp whatever is being done now. If doing what’s right rather than what’s expedient is a Pyrrhic victory, they are still better off.
Irony Abounds
I apologize if this duplicates earlier posts, but what is it about Ron Wyden? He comes up with a very good bipartisan health plan, and it is ignored by both sides. He comes up with a very good bipartisan tax reform plan and it is ignored by both sides. He comes up with a very good reform and Democratic leadership takes a dump on it. The guy consistently seems to have good ideas and yet nothing ever comes of them. It really strikes me that, although Democratic control is vastly preferable to Republican control, the way Washington currently operates effectively neuters competent, responsible adult leadership and results in the clusterfuck that we have today.
WaterGirl
@Jewish Steel: Wow! I can only imagine how much more crowded the bathroom would have been with 3 dogs instead of my dog/cat mix. Next time I will comfort myself with thoughts of your girlfriend and other people who are also huddled in their small bathrooms.
maus
@Emma:
Even if the Dems push us further into a police state, the media’s not going to give the advantage to us, Dems will forever be portrayed as “soft on terrorists”.
AAA Bonds
@Villago Delenda Est:
“The 2011 Democrat”
AAA Bonds
There’s a story here. It’s either:
1) Libertarian holds up Congress, or
2) Democrats vote to renew PATRIOT Act
Which do you choose?