Last Call

Hey wingers?

When Confederate Yankee is your lone voice of reason that actually bothers to fact check something as crazy as the claim that Mexican drug cartels have invaded Texas, you have lost the game.

A Film You Have To See

I caught Inception today and I have to say, it's a rather amazing piece of cinema as well as being a wonderful story.  I agree with Roger Ebert's 4-star rating.  It's the best film I've seen in quite a long time and the one movie you'll be talking about with your friends for weeks.



No spoilers here, but I will say this is a movie you want to see in the theater.  The sad part is like last year's District 9, Inception is that rarity in Hollywood these days:  an original work, not a sequel, not a remake of a film from decades past, not a retread of a Boomer pop culture icon or SNL skit, not an 80's TV show or a live action cartoon, not a reboot of a franchise and not the American version of a foreign smash either.

Most of all it accomplishes what a truly great summer flick should do: it's a hell of a ride AND it makes you think.  See it with people whose opinions you respect, which is as far as I'm concerned, the highest accolade you can give a movie.

[UPDATE]  If you have seen the film, check out GigaOm's "7 Reasons Why Techies Love Inception".

Iran The Long Game

One of Daniel Larison's readers flags down how we've taken yet another step towards open war with Iran.

One of my commenters alerted me to House Res. 1553, which states:

Expressing support for the State of Israel’s right to defend Israeli sovereignty, to protect the lives and safety of the Israeli people, and to use all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the use of military force if no other peaceful solution can be found within reasonable time to protect against such an immediate and existential threat to the State of Israel.

Naturally, Rep. Jason Chaffetz is among the resolution’s 46 co-sponsors. The National Iranian American Council has called on Minority Leader Boehner to reject the measure, but why would he bother? Two of his leadership colleagues, Mike Pence and Thaddeus McCotter, co-sponsored the resolution, and it has the support of other high-profile Republican members, including Paul Ryan and Dan Burton. That tells me that this is not just a product of hard-liners such as Michelle Bachmann and Peter King, but that it expresses the views of a fairly broad-cross section of the Republican members in the House. I guess I can’t stop “nitpicking,” but this seems like an awfully strange resolution for an “antiwar” Republican to co-sponsor. It is also thoroughly depressing that Paul Ryan, one of the few credible figures in the conference when it comes to fiscal responsibility, is among the supporters of such a ludicrous measure.

I respect Larison's logic, but I'm shaking my head that he's actually slightly surprised that an attack on Iran is something that a "fairly broad cross section" of Republicans want.  No offense Dan, but have you been paying attention to the GOP over the last 50 years?  They're not Eisenhower conservatives anymore.  Not to say that the Democrats have been much better on the subject of blowing things up, but the Republicans have certainly perfected the practice here in the last decade or so.

Yes, a large percentage of the United States Congress is willing to go to war for Israel.  There's something disturbingly, if not deadly wrong with that.

It's not just Congress, either.  But hey, the worse the economy gets, the more and more smacking around Iran looks like a better reflationary option, eh?

When You're Surrounded On Eight Sides, Where Do You Go?

GOP Rep. Zach Wamp is running for Governor of Tennessee, and if you don't like his stance on Tenth Amendment rights trumping that there federal law, well, if elected there Zach might have to do something about it.

"I hope that the American people will go to the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 so that states are not forced to consider separation from this government," said Wamp during an interview with Hotline OnCall.

He lauded Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), who first floated the idea of secession in April '09, for leading the push-back against health care reform, adding that he hopes the American people "will send people to Washington that will, in 2010 and 2012, strictly adhere" to the constitution's defined role for the federal government.

"Patriots like Rick Perry have talked about these issues because the federal government is putting us in an untenable position at the state level," said Wamp, who is competing with Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam (R) and LG Ron Ramsey (R) for the GOP nod in the race to replace TN Gov. Phil Bredesen (D).

Really?  Separation from the government?  Didn't the last time that happened A) not work out real well for the country and B) specifically not work out for states like Tennessee?

Also, last time I checked the Volunteer State got $1.27 for every dollar in federal taxes paid.  Texas at least comes out slightly behind at 96 cents for a dollar.  Blue states like California and New York have been losing money on federal taxes for years, while red states like Tennessee have been coming out ahead.

You know what?  On second thought, maybe Wamp should take his parasite state with him when he separates from the government.  I'm sure New York and California would appreciate it.  Hell, I'm sure his fellow GOP governor Chris Christie of New Jersey would appreciate it...out of all 50 states, it's New Jersey that gets shafted the most on federal taxes.  They get a measly 61 cents back for every federal tax dollar they pay in.

I'm sure Christie would be thrilled to up that ratio some to give his state more revenue.

Orange Julius Cuts The Mustard

Even John "Orange Julius" Boehner admits that there is a dangerous, violent element in the Tea Party.

"I’ve been to my share of tea party events. … Let me tell you about these events. Yeah, there’s some disaffected Republicans there. There are always some Democrats there.  Always a couple of anarchists who want to kill all of us in public office.  But I'll tell you this. 75 percent of these people who show up at these events are the most average everyday Americans you have ever met. None of whom have ever been involved in the political process. And I would guess, half of whom have probably have never voted."

In the end, Boehner concludes:

"We should listen to them. We should work with them. We should walk amongst them."

Despite the dangerous element, the GOP of course wants to embrace these guys, some of which Boehner admits are people who want to do violence...kill, even....politicians like himself.  Last time I checked the threat of violence used in order to affect political policy was the textbook Bush-era definition of terrorism.

Now all this brings us to William "Colonel Mustard" Jacobson of Legal Insurrection.  Now that the wingers have discovered the concept of "context" it seems ol' Mustard here wants the left to apologize for what he sees as breaches of context, including folks like yours truly.  He has taken umbrage with the fact that eleven months ago I made the argument that there's a violent fringe of the Tea Party that admits to wanting to use violence in order to affect political policy.

Now, where have we heard that argument before?  Oh yes, Orange Julius just admitted to that this week in the above exchange.

Maybe you should try getting an apology out of Orange Julius there first, Bill.  Me?  I stand by my analysis.  There is a part of the Tea Party that is dangerous, violent, and yes, even racist.  Boehner wants the GOP to embrace them anyway.

Anything for political power, I suppose...even anarchy and terror.  Time for a new tag:  Orange Julius.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Tropical Depression Bonnie has moved back into the waters of the Gulf and is heading towards the oil spill site this weekend.
• North Korea is threatening a nuclear response to joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
• Researchers in Florida have now proven that the underwater oil plumes in the Gulf are a product of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
• Disney looks to be the latest company looking to get into the Facebook game market.
• The Pentagon is taking the lead in testing and using mobile speech translation devices for US troops in Afghanistan.