The Bubble Boy and "Democracy"

The Carpetbagger has the latest on Bubble Boy's inability to interact with those of opposing viewpoints.

Speaking for myself and my family, I can relate to the UA student who was denied access. We (my parents and I) separately tried to get tickets to see Dear Leader when he came to Colorado earlier this week. We learned via a forwarded e-mail that tickets could be obtained from the office of Rep. Bob Beauprez. Two separate calls to the congressman's office yielded the same result: No tickets but the nagging feeling that tickets were available for the "right" kind of people.

The almost direct quote from the staffer on the phone: "I'm sorry but we're out of tickets. But if you could give me your name and address I can check to see if we've got any extra tickets available." Seriously, that's what she said.

So much for democracy and dialog. You are not allowed to see the President of the United States unless you're on an approved list.

The transcript of his Colorado bamboozlepalooza event shows that George honestly thinks he's talking to "the people."

THE PRESIDENT: ...We're going to have a serious dialogue on Social Security. It's an issue that requires a lot of dialogue and a lot of discussion. And so I want to thank our panelists for joining us. I want to thank you all for your interest in this subject.

Later, when bantering with an invited stage guest, a junior from CU, he reinforced his belief that he's winning converts:

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Yes, well, this is a little political science exercise right now. This is called, taking the message to the people. (Laughter.) Because I believe the people will influence the outcome of this debate.

While I'm glad to see that Georgie remains safe in his bubble, oblivious to reality, I can't help but be sad for our country. Dissent is now, not only mocked, but actively avoided by replacing it with false replicas of "town hall" meetings. A meeting of the minds is precluded because only those with the approved point of view are allowed to participate.

Richard Cohen is an Idiot

Where are the Democrats?

They're standing on the sidelines watching the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot.

Is this a good long-term strategy? Of course not. But as Republicans sail their "mandate" into the twin rocks of Social Security Reform and "The Terri Schiavo Health Care Initiative" there's absolutely no reason for Democrats to throw them a lifeline.

I think Democrats are playing the political angle -- and face it, that's all there is to the Schiavo circus: a political angle -- exactly right.

Cohen laments that it is a Republican who is left to voice this oh-so-true sentiment: "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy." But is Cohen so deluded to think that if any Democrat had said this, rather than Christopher Shay, anyone would have listened? Any common idiot can see how the Limbaughs, Coulters, Hannitys, and Humes would have played a similar quote had it come from even the most conservative Democrat.

Grow the Flock - Hammer the Lenders

Excellent suggestions for improving the country by building a competitive progressive party. Obviously we need to "grow the flock" of progressive voters in the country. The suggestion to focus on the massive debt levels of ordinary Americans strikes me as an excellent idea. I could evangelize for this on both a policy and personal basis.

Red State Hero

Not a bad little appreciation for Julius Hodge.

Heh

Calling the Republicans "brain-dead" is an insult to Terry Schiavo. Then again, this might explain why they're making such heroic hypocritic efforts in her case.

Bush Administration Lies to Allies (yawn)

In their unstinting efforts to destroy US credibility, the Bush administration, we now learn, has been deceiving our Asian allies in our ongoing dispute with North Korea. Pyongyang, it seems, did NOT export nuclear material to Libya. North Korea provided uranium hexafluoride to Pakistan and Pakistan turned around and supplied it to Libya, apparently without the knowledge of the North Koreans. Despite knowing about this chain of events all along the United States told our regional allies that North Korea was a direct provider of the fissile material to Libya.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, right? Except that the Pakistanis are our best buddies in the "War on Terror." Oh, and our Asian allies might not have wanted to join the ineffectual six party talks without the extra incentive of North Korea being Kaddafi's nuclear arms supplier.

Another one of those pesky "former Bush administration officials" gets it right:

"The administration is giving Pakistan a free ride when they don't deserve it and hurting U.S. interests at the same time," said Charles L. Pritchard, who was the Bush administration's special envoy for the North Korea talks until August 2003. "As our allies get the full picture, it doesn't help our credibility with them," he said.

I swear I've got to find a Bush flunky to explain it to me again. Is it: It's OK to lie as long as it hurts America? Or does it go: Lying is OK, it's the blowjobs that are impermissible? Or is the easy-to-remember: Some people are more equal than others, ergo Republican lies good, Democratic lies bad.

I'm sure one of these days I'll get the rules straight.

Jonah's Modest (And Idiotic) Proposal

Via Atrios we have more nonsense from Jonah Goldberg. His aim, apparently, is to appear cute while simultaneously trying to demonstrate that he cares deeply about the environment.

Just a few random thoughts.

If Goldberg really believes that DDT is non-carcinogenic in humans I would like to invite him to inject about 10cc into his carotid artery. Ohh, but perhaps he's afraid of needles? Instead maybe he could just kick back a few DDT shooters the next time he's out boozing it up with friends.

"The inconvenient truth," he writes, "is that cats kill more American birds, particularly songbirds, than DDT and pesticides ever did." This, along with the "double standard" that allows the hunting of dogs for harassing livestock, leads Goldberg to demand "justice." The solution, of course, is to allow the hunting of cats.

Hey, Jonah, as long as we're throwing out stupid ideas to save the environment, how about this one: Tear down all the cities.

Hey, I like cities just like the next guy. Nevertheless, city demolitions makes more sense than you might think. Let's start with the big picture. If you know anything about American demographics, you know that most liberals live in cities. So razing the habitat of the American Democrat (Americus democratus) has huge political benefits!

But the important thing, of course, is saving the birds, right? Well, the inconvenient truth is that buildings and other man-made structures kill more American birds than cats and Republican hunters ever did. Some estimates put the number at 1 billion birds a year.

There's one final benefit to eliminating America's cities. By addressing the most acute threat to the bird population we can feel much better about returning DDT to its rightful place in the foodchain.

Now, whether or not he intends the rest of his post to be humorous, Goldberg does leave the impression that he does -- seriously -- prefer that DDT be a part of his daily dietary regime. To which I have but one question: Jonah, did you mother consume large quantities of fish while she was pregnant with you?