Billmon: 04/12
Music for F-you boys and virile females: High Fidelity
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Breaking the Senate filibuster on judicial nominees not only would make it easier to obtain lifetime appointments for fellow wing nuts, it would also be the opening wedge for getting rid of the filibuster entirely -- making it easier for a slender GOP majority to pass all kinds of fun stuff, maybe even the Constitution Restoration Act. Or perhaps some sort of Emergency Enabling Act. . .
Posted by b on April 12, 2005 at 16:55 UTC | Permalink
I'd go with the scary option on this one I'm afraid.
And I'm afraid that the Enabling Act thought isn't really that paranoid: they seem to have worked through most of the handbook already, it must be about time to appoint a .. leader.
stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster
Posted by: b real | Apr 12 2005 17:27 utc | 3
I'd link to Bernhard's comment in the last open thread.
What has been planned in Crawford?
Posted by: Friendly Fire | Apr 12 2005 17:27 utc | 4
the thing with the "slender ... majority" to pass all kind of "fun things" is what we have here in austria, where the right only has a small majority and is desintegrating as we speak, but they still do pass all kind of destructive laws, amendments "reforms" and generally behave as if they had 99% of the votes and the seats.
Posted by: name | Apr 12 2005 18:45 utc | 5
As Gary Cass, the director of Rev. D. James Kennedy's lobbying front, the Center for Reclaiming America, explained, they are arousing the anger of their base in order to harness it politically.
I propose a new meme. A new compound word that sums up the self-indulgent, self-stoking, pep-rally-for-zealots atmosphere of these wingnut fests -- that sums up the entire panting, sweaty, overexcited, ultimately rather embarrassing-to-do-that-in-public quality of the rhetoric and the cheering throngs dreaming of shooting a judge or two.
I christen 'em HateWankers, and the activity itself 'hatewanking', or 'hatewankery'. The object being to stroke and massage one's hate, admire it and talk dirty to it, until it reaches some kind of -- more destructive and negative than the more literally onanistic kind -- climax.
And they do it in groups, too. Tsk tsk.
Guest speakers who are not actually caught up in the spirit of the thing, but merely arousing the troops in a professional, calculated way, we might call "Fascist Fluffers"? just a thought...
Who is in control?
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued a terse warning to Iraq’s new leaders today urging them to avoid political purges or favouritism that could lead to charges of corruption in the new government.
On his ninth visit to Iraq since the 2003 invasion, Rumsfeld also warned against delays in the political process, particularly the drafting of a new constitution. “It’s important that the new government be attentive to the competence of the people in the ministries and that they avoid unnecessary turbulence,” he said on his plane before arriving at dawn for the unannounced visit. Rumsfeld expressed particular concern about possible purges of Iraq’s defence and interior ministries, which are at the heart of efforts to gradually put Iraqi security forces in charge of battling the country’s Sunni-led insurgency.
Posted by: Friendly Fire | Apr 12 2005 21:29 utc | 7
I agree with Billmons take. I have big time christians in my office and even they believe the wingnuts are going to far. Another thing is Grover Norquest was with the wingnuts last week at a news conference pushing for an end to the filibuster. And we know what his agenda is. He is the biggest user out there.
On another note, google the article "The Texas broadband follies" by John Borland. It seems that USDA broadband funds are going to a posh suberban area in Tom Delay's district by Houston. How nice. I suppose you could call a golf course agriculture.
Posted by: jdp | Apr 12 2005 21:35 utc | 8
My advice: fire up RickRoss.com and use their search engine and start firing up your Google advanced search to tie this anti-court movement to the master of Godism: Sun Myung Moon. He's sprinkled millions of dollars throughout the religious right, has funded the Bush adminstration from the beginning, and claims, as usual to have set this agenda. Do a few searches on Bo Hi Pak, his second in command (and far more invisible) evil henchman. And then try to find where this massive amount of money is coming from: not all is Moon's. Some come from ultrarightest Japanese and South Korean business types. Not all the religious right has bought into Moon, but the largest and the most vocal, and politically active part has: Falwell, LaHaye, Crouch, Kennedy. Through Moon's 1,000+ religious and political front organizations (mostly registered in the Cayman Islands), money changes hands fast. Even DeLay met with a Moonie front organizion (the American Family Federation) Saturday to try to come up with a strategy to smear his most dangerous opponents. The more you look, the more it stinks. I admit, Moon watching has become a little hobby of mine. But if we don't look, who will?
Posted by: diogenes | Apr 12 2005 21:36 utc | 9
Does anyone else detect an ever-so-slight diminution of prose power on the part of Billmon?
Posted by: plunkitt | Apr 13 2005 0:43 utc | 11
@plunkit - not really...
This news exactly fits Billmons thoughts:
Republicans May Hasten Showdown on Judicial-Nomination Filibusters
As the fight over the federal judiciary spread across Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans said Tuesday that they might quicken their push to prevent Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees.Senior lawmakers and party officials said that while Republican leaders had been expected to put off any confrontation over Senate rules until next month at the earliest, they might now force a confrontation within the next two weeks.
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Mr. Frist is under increasing pressure from some conservative Republicans to move ahead with a floor fight to change the rules so that filibusters, which require 60 votes to be cut off, could not be mounted against judicial nominations. It is unclear whether he has the votes to adopt the change, however, even by a bare majority.Among those pushing for the change is Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, No. 3 in the Republican leadership.
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Well i don't know about "virile" females, unless Billmon is talkin about those chicks who think of themselves as chicks, still, (after some 25 years??) think Farrah Fawcett hair still rules and have no compunction with dazed back seat sex if it means implicit Darwinian gene pool advancement in status. Absolutly, if all the squalid details can be washed away by the blood of Jesus come Sunday morning, while also preserving the newfound rank. And this is where Billmon is both right and wrong, albeit the subtle choice of a play list. I would agree the release (of the playlist) is both intentional, and geared to a distancing from the the more overtly pious elements of the new fundamentalists, which after all, are a little to close to home in small town America. I would disagree however, in that they are not so oppositional, but are in fact part of the same cultural dynamic. Givin the weird internal dislexia amongst Christianity in general, it's not suprising that they themselves might not have been givin some pause by recent developments -- and shit, becoming de-facto Amish is not only way un-cool, but decidedly un-competitive as well. No, its all part of the same fabric that celebrates both militant indivudalism in all it's haywire explorations and conquests, while at the same time seeks refuge in the halo of religious exceptionalism -- not so much sodium and water, but oil and water.
Posted by: anna missed | Apr 13 2005 8:59 utc | 14
not so much a fireworks display, more like a greasy mess.
Posted by: anna missed | Apr 13 2005 9:04 utc | 15
Diogenes got it right. Moon!
Did you know that Lincoln’s bedroom has been redecorated care of Laura and now sports a gold crown and purple (purple is Moon’s color, watch for it) cloth trailing about, right above the bed?
The pièce de résistance, both decoratively and symbolically, will be a carved bed canopy in the shape of a crown. It too has been sent for gilding. When affixed to the ceiling, the crown will support yards of regal purple satin over white lace, both trailing to the floor.
Buried in:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48972-2004Sep24.html>WaPo
:) ;)
Posted by: Blackie | Apr 13 2005 20:20 utc | 16
Once in a while, I have to indulge in the silly. My work is too serious and the political landscape is treacherous for any thinking member of the world community. So, some silliness. This is a repost from an AOL message board.
Hey Christians: Now under you Xmas tree you can have the hottest new role model couple to hit home school circuit since George and Laura the fluffer Bush!! The Eric Rudolph and Ann Coulter action doll sets! And they talk! The Ann doll just says one thing:"Traitor!" But Eric, for a guy, is a real conversationalist!. Pull his little string and he'll say all kinds of loving Christian words like: "Die Baby Killer!" "Hasta La Vista, Doctor!" "DeLay is Innocent!" "Support the Constitution Restoration Act" and "They were all guilty of abortion at the Olympics." And you get real minature bombs! Everytime Rudy plants one he'll say, "This is for the Culture of Life!" And they are anatomically correct (both come with male organs). Run (don't walk) to your Xian bookstore gift shop now! Free plastic baby fetus with every purchase and a whole quarter (25 cents) goes to Operation Rescue so you can Fetus hug while you play! What could be better? And every time you buy a set a dolls, we'll enroll your child in the Free Teens USA Abstinence program! You get a free copy of Sun Myung Moon's Divine Principles and you child will get a week at one of Moon;'s re-education camps FREE! (You just won't recognize them when and if they come home!) All for making this purchase and being a loyal member of the religious right! These have the RNC seal of approval and you can have them for three easy payments of $99.99 and your Republican vote in the 2006 elections!
Posted by: diogenes | Apr 14 2005 11:51 utc | 17
A better cut from Blackie & the Rodeo Kings would have been "Stoned." He could have enjoyed the flashbacks. Also, where was Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Screw You, We're from Texas"? Should be this crowd's sing along anthem.
Posted by: lonesomeG | Apr 15 2005 1:51 utc | 18
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Seems the rhetorical value of 9/11 is slipping away. Who doubts a fresh attack by an "external threat" would revitalize the conservative right's prolix mission?
Posted by: slothrop | Apr 12 2005 17:01 utc | 1