SuperMegaMonkey: Liberal Outrage: October 2006 Archives

Liberal Outrage

I'm too disgusted to even rant about this. Read it yourself. Goddamn Democrats.

In their push to win back control of the House, Democrats have turned to conservative and moderate candidates who fit the profiles of their districts more closely than the profile of the national party.
One such candidate, Heath Shuler, was courted by Republicans to run for office in 2001. Mr. Shuler, 34, is a retired National Football League quarterback who is running in the 11th Congressional District in North Carolina. He is an evangelical Christian and holds fast to many conservative social views, like opposition to abortion rights. [--emphasis mine]

Not only that, they keep pulling the center to the right when they talk about people like this as "moderates" in the media. Wankers.

By min | October 30, 2006, 4:04 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (1)| Link

U.S. Growth Decline Unexpected?

Ok, i don't follow the economy and all it's ups and downs and ridiculous predictions or anything so far be it for me to pretend to know anything about it. All i'm saying is "Really? Unexpected?".

Growth in the US economy unexpectedly plummeted in the third quarter to the slowest rate for over three years, driven by a weakening housing market, official data showed today.
The Commerce Department said the economy expanded at an annualised rate of only 1.6% during the third quarter, down from 2.6% three months before. This was the weakest rate since the first quarter of 2003, when growth was 1.2%.
Wall Street economists had forecast growth of 2.2%, however a sharp tumble in housing activity contributed to a marked slowdown.

I mean, the housing market contributed to the slowdown and everyone's known for months that the housing market was on the decline. And you could see it coming for years before this. So, why exactly was it such a big surprise?

By min | October 27, 2006, 2:28 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (2)| Link

Meatloaf is Patriotic

"Bush 'not satisfied' with situation in Iraq" - unattributed headline

"i'm 'not satisfied' with the situation in the white house" - Glenn

By min | October 26, 2006, 10:30 AM | Liberal Outrage | Link

Flippity Flop

I know we hate linking to someone else's post as a post, but he says it so well. Just the right amount of important info and snark. Ladies and gentlemen, i bring you Joshua Micah Marshall:

Say Ruttenberg and Cloud: "The White House said Monday that President Bush was no longer using the phrase "stay the course" when speaking about the Iraq war, in a new effort to emphasize flexibility in the face of some of the bloodiest violence there since the 2003 invasion."
Flexibility? I thought it was 'stay the course' versus 'cut and run'. One or the other. Who heard of 'flexibility'? That sounds so friggin' John Kerry.
...
Here you see the White House which has banged away at 'stay the course' and 'don't question the policy' for like two years now and suddenly at the crunch point they're bailing out. Or trying to bail out -- but now they really can't. The White House political czars look like nothing so much as those panicked embassy workers and refugees on the compound rooftop clamoring to get one of the last seats on those final helicopters out of Saigon. Same amount of planning, about as much dignity.

By min | October 24, 2006, 8:31 AM | Liberal Outrage | Link

He's Sure Got Spunk

That's what i like about Chavez. He's definitely inflammatory and i sometimes would prefer if he didn't say all the crazy things he did say. But i kinda like that he's not afraid to say them. He cracks me up and i appreciate his moves to de-privatize everything in Venezuela. Also, how can you not love someone who essentially gives a big raspberry to Bush?

All the more reason that it's too bad Venezuela's likely to lose this fight for a seat on the UN Security Council. For the most part, the Security Council has been in the pocket of the U.S., inevitably voting in whatever direction U.S. Foreign Policy is going. So, for Venezuela to get in there, duking it out even if they don't win the vote, would have been interesting to see. Alas, it seems it isn't meant to be. Not yet, anyway.

Venezuela and Guatemala have fought to a standoff in a second day of voting at the United Nations for an open seat on the Security Council. After 22 rounds of balloting, neither country is close to the two-thirds majority needed for election. ... Two days of voting, 22 ballots in the General Assembly, left Venezuela 25 votes behind rival Guatemala in the race for the Latin American Council seat being vacated by Argentina. More importantly, Venezuela is more than 40 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed for election.
Guatemala is also short of the roughly 125 votes needed to win. Its highest total in Tuesday's balloting was 112.
The result is a stalemate, with each country having enough support to block the other from winning, but not enough to win itself. After Tuesday's voting, the meeting was adjourned until Thursday to allow negotiations on a possible compromise.

Venezuela's ambassador Francisco Javier Arias Cardenas accused the U.S. of arm-twisting the rest of the countries and said if Bolton would come up to the mike and declare the U.S. would no longer pressure any one country on how to vote, Venezuela would accept a consensus. Bolton denied any such arm-twisting, but didn't actually get up to the podium to declare it. Not even to humor the Venezuelans so that everyone could move on.

By min | October 18, 2006, 8:38 AM | Liberal Outrage | Link

Flat Mommy and Flat Daddy

Er......eh.......

It is one of the hardest things about being a military family. How to cope when a husband and father, or wife and mother, is posted abroad, especially to combat zones such as Iraq or Afghanistan.
Now the United States army has come up with a bizarre solution: Flat Daddy and Flat Mommy.
Many military units can provide families with a life-size cardboard cutout of their overseas warrior. The family can then take that figure to parties, put it in the passenger seat of their car, take it to bed or do whatever it is that families want to with a replica of their loved one.
...
From there the idea took off and has been adopted by units across America. They can be found going on dates with their wives in Alaska and having dinner with their families in Colorado.
Experts believe the cutouts are a useful psychological device, especially for children, that helps cope with the stress of long absences. It allows the family to genuinely feel the missing person is still involved in day-to-day life. [emphasis mine]

That's just weird. And kinda sad.

Link

i wonder how much money it's costing them to do this and how many suits of body armor it might translate into.

By min | October 12, 2006, 12:06 PM | Liberal Outrage | Link

That's not a headline you want to see if you're the President

Despite jobs report, Bush pleased with U.S. economy

By fnord12 | October 6, 2006, 12:39 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (1)| Link

Guns = Safety

Oh, here's another genius with a brilliant idea.

In the wake of school shootings in Wisconsin, Colorado and Pennsylvania during the last two weeks, a state legislator says he plans to introduce legislation that would allow teachers, principals, administrators and other school personnel to carry concealed weapons.
Rep. Frank Lasee, a Republican, said Wednesday that, while his idea may not be politically correct, it has worked effectively in other countries.
"To make our schools safe for our students to learn, all options should be on the table," he said. "Israel and Thailand have well-trained teachers carrying weapons and keeping their children safe from harm. It can work in Wisconsin."

Now, if the idea that having teachers and principals walking around the schools armed doesn't sound like a bacon-brained idea to you, let's just pause and reflect on the fact that his examples of "safe" schools are in Israel and Thailand.

How come you can be cracked in the head but still get elected to a position that allows you to make decisions that affect millions of people's lives? If that isn't proof that God is drunk, an asshole, or non-existent, i don't know what is.

By min | October 5, 2006, 3:56 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (2)| Link

First Amendment Zone

Ah well. It's lazy blogging. But King of Zembla's got it all set up already, so how can i resist?

From our distinguished colleague Dependable Renegade comes news that the First Amendment Zone, already depressingly puny, continues to shrivel...

On the one hand, you've got a U.S. citizen who was arrested on assault charges when he told our esteemed VP that he thought Cheney's policies were reprehensible.

On the other hand, in Iraq you've got a set of laws taken straight from Hussein's penal code that says public insults of the government or officials can get you up to 7 years in prison.

I guess if you look at both of these incidences together, they really do think they're spreading democracy. The only problem is that nobody actually checked to make sure they understood what that word meant.

By min | October 4, 2006, 2:23 PM | Liberal Outrage | Link

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