Podcast Versus The Stupid!

Episode 2: Robot/Zombie '12, where we discuss Romney's horrible choice made from other horrible choices, and Bonnie calls Moose Lady a "Waffle House hooker".

Listen to internet radio with Zandar Versus The Stupid on Blog Talk Radio

Enjoy.  (Yes, we're sorry about the noise in the background, we're still getting the kinks worked out.  Bite my shiny metal ass.)

Happy Birthday! ZVTS Turns 4

We're four years old this week!





Another year and we're still here, thanks to you guys. We'll have this week's PVTS up for you later on. Here's to making it to five...

StupidiMom

Angela Carrillo is held on two felony counts for allegedly assaulting a minor. Court documents say late Thursday night, two women told Carrillo they were going to take the child for a walk - but instead brought her to the emergency department to report the abuse.

One of the women told police she had to revive the child Monday after Carrillo beat her. Documents also say Carrillo allegedly yelled at the child and told her she was "tired of raising" her and that she "looks like her dad."

When asked about the child's injuries, Carrillo told police the child fell down the stairs.

Yeah, and if I ever catch up to this woman I'll be telling police she walked into a door.

How awful it must be to be beaten because you look like someone else.  Someone your mother decided to have a baby with, only to punish her for living.  At least this child had a couple of angels who stood up for her and helped end the abuse.

If only they could all be so lucky.

Gripping Stupidity

Why was a teenager groped by a stranger?  Well, because he just couldn't resist.  Thank goodness he's temporarily out of population while he learns a little impulse control.

Jackass.

Specifically, Morris is accused of groping a woman’s buttocks outside a dressing room at a Walmart in North Lauderdale. The teenager, pictured in the adjacent mug shot, was arrested shortly after the incident Thursday evening.

During questioning by law enforcement, Morris copped to grabbing the victim’s rear end and provided an explanation, of sorts, for his behavior, according to a sheriff’s report.

“Her booty looked so good,” he noted, “I just couldn’t resist touching it.”

Keep up that trend, and they'll be saying that about you in prison, princess.

We Are Not Amused, Sir

Mitt Romney has decided that the mean, mean old black President should stop picking on him and that everything he doesn't want to talk about anymore is now off-limits, and if that President Obama doesn't accept his offer, then it proves he's the anti-Christ and that we should all hate him forever.

Romney said he would prefer the campaigns “only talk about issues,” and claimed that “our ads haven’t gone after the president personally. … We haven’t dredged up the old stuff that people talked about last time around. We haven’t gone after the personal things.”

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul offered up a broader take on whether Romney was really suggesting that his career at Bain Capital — the crux of his argument that he is better equipped to handle the economy — should be considered off-limits.

“The governor was expressing his view that he hopes we can have a campaign focused on the issues rather than one of desperation and lies as we’ve seen from the Obama campaign,” Saul said in an e-mail.

On its face, this is Romney admitting his completely screwed and that his campaign is falling apart.  But that's actually the point: the fact that Mitt Romney is whinging to Chuck Toddler that Obama is crushing him is dead proof that he's now expecting the Village to bail him out.  He's working the refs, because the last thing the Village right now wants is the notion that "Romney is toast" to take hold 3 months before the elections, and everyone tunes out the pundits and the press.

Guess that's why he picked Paul Ryan as his running mate.  He's going all in on the White Guy Austerity ticket.

Game's afoot, Watson.

The Bold, Bold Flavor Of Nevada

Considering the fact that Romney picked Paul Ryan this morning, it's useful to go back and look at Nate Silver playing a maddeningly good Devil's advocate by suggesting Mitt Romney should have made a REAL "bold" pick:  moderate GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada, if he wanted to you know, win.

If Mr. Romney were to pick a more moderate Republican, one potential choice stands out: Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada. Nevada, like Ohio, is a swing state. It contains fewer electoral votes than Ohio, but Mr. Sandoval is considerably more popular back at home than the relatively anonymous Mr. Portman — so the pick could have about the same electoral impact.

Mr. Sandoval, also, is Hispanic, at a time when Mr. Romney has struggled to pick up any support among that group of voters.

But Mr. Sandoval favors abortion rights. “I am pro-choice; I oppose partial-birth abortion, late term abortion and federal funding for abortion,” he writes on his Web site. Mr. Sandoval also favors domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, but not same-sex marriage.

Although Mr. Sandoval is fairly conservative on many other issues, his abortion position alone would make him a huge risk with Republican activists — especially if they have their hearts set on Mr. Ryan. There could be fireworks at the convention. It might actually be worth covering as a news event, for a change.

And Mr. Sandoval is risky in some other ways. With less than two full years in office, and hailing from a low-population state, he would be making a huge jump to the national stage.

But if Mr. Romney wants to take a risk, Mr. Sandoval would also present considerable upside. One drag on Mr. Romney is that the Republican Party is unpopular. Presenting someone who is a fresh face to voters in all senses of the term — demographically, ideologically and otherwise — could mitigate that.

Veeps are like proctologists:  first do no harm when your job is dealing with assholes.  In that respect, I think that while Nate makes an eminently logical point here, the reality is that a pro-life Republican on the national stage of the GOP has the political lifespan in 2012 of a fruit fly made out of snowflakes dropped into a volcano from atmospheric reentry. They wouldn't burn Romney in effigy, they'd burn him in person.

Second, Paul Ryan was the choice because Romney's going to want an attack dog, and Romney's idea of an attack dog is Paul Ryan, sort of a mildly insulting, cold-blooded accountant type.  That's who went around delivering the bad news in Romney's world for 25 years at Bain, bureaucratic hatchet men.  Nobody's going to be better at telling America that anyone under 50 today will never see a dime of Social Security or Medicare once the GOP gets through than Paul Ryan, folks.

Still, on paper Sandoval is a pro-choice Latino Republican.  He's exactly who Mitt Romney would need in order to win in a world where the Republican Party wasn't so completely bugnuts insane, so I respect the pick.

I just think this is Nate being a bit too Ivory Tower here again.  Reality proved who's running Romney and the GOP, and it's not the sane people.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• It's Romney/Ryan on the ticket:  Mitt Romney will announce his selection of Wisconsin GOP Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate this morning from the deck of the USS Wisconsin.
• The US Army is testing a giant spy blimp for urban reconnaissance missions currently over the state of New Jersey.
• The US women's 4x100 relay team not only won gold, but set a new world record in the race with a blistering time of 40.82 seconds.
• The Pentagon is looking into replacing the aging Air Force One in time for the inauguration in January, 2021.
• A project for the first LGBT gamers convention is getting underway with crowdsourced support.

Last Call

Greg Sargent details the interesting bits of a new book about the stimulus, including a passage attributed to VP Joe Biden about the GOP deciding even before the President took office that they had to destroy him.

Biden says that during the transition, he was warned not to expect any cooperation on many votes. “I spoke to seven different Republican Senators, who said, `Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything,’ he recalls. His informants said McConnell had demanded unified resistance. “The way it was characterized to me was: `For the next two years, we can’t let you succeed in anything. That’s our ticket to coming back,’” Biden says.

The vice president says he hasn’t even told Obama who his sources were, but Bob Bennett of Utah and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania both confirmed they had conversations with Biden along these lines.

Later in the book, former Ohio GOP Sen. George Voinovich confirms these orders from Mitch McConnell as well.  And the plan worked:  Republicans gained 63 House seats and 7 Senate seats by blaming the Democrats.  Even Republicans admit that the GOP Plan was in full effect from November 2008 onward:

“People were pretty demoralized, and there were two totally opposite thoughts on how to approach the situation,” a McConnell aide recalls. “One was, `we don't like the president, we ought to pop him early.’ The other was, `he’s really popular, we should work with him, because that’s what people want us to do.’ The boss’s take was: Neither." McConnell realized that it would be much easier to fight Obama if Republicans first made a public show of wanting to work with him.

And so they lied from election day and were fabulously rewarded for it, because our corporate "liberal" media was 100% compliant in selling it, especially after the ACA passed.  Now of course long-time readers will remind us that McConnell's open statement saying the number one goal of the GOP was to make Obama a one-term President isn't news, but the fix was in to sabotage the economy through inaction from the moment Obama won.  They were never, ever going to work with him.  They were only going to try to destroy him...and us along with him.

Vote accordingly come November.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Mistermix over at the Juice absolutely nails it:

My only concern—and this is probably just because I’ve been reading too many conspiracy sites—is the nagging feeling that Romney’s campaign is some kind of deception operation designed to hold our attention while Republicans clean up in the House and Senate races.

A thousand, thousand times this across all possible dimensions.  I'm much more worried about Rep. Todd Akin, Tea Party Douchebag, becoming Senator Todd Akin of Missouri, for example than I am President Romney.  If we lose control of the Senate, we are royally and completely screwed.

We have to keep the Senate and start taking back the House in this election, or 2014 will be too much of a long shot for us to get anything done during President Obama's final years.  And if you want to know why this happened, Chuck Pierce keeps it real:

These are some things the president of the United States cannot say but that I can say about him. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation to be grateful to the white people who voted him into office. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation not to use the full powers of his office in such a way as to alienate any of the white people who so graciously voted him into office. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation not to use the full advantages of his office in his effort to get those white people to reelect him as their president for another four years. Because those white people voted him into office, his primary job as president is to make sure his entire presidency is a demonstration of how far we've come as a nation on race, and that means he is not allowed to do anything or say anything that the white people who elected him can perceive to be divisive, because his primary function is to make them feel good about themselves. In theory, at least, all presidents are servants of the people who elected them. In the case of Barack Obama, it has seemed from the start that the idea as applied to him was more than mere metaphor. He is the first president in my lifetime whom the country felt obligated to remind that he know his place.

The notion that "this Obama boy needs to know his place" was the primary political motivation of the GOP starting from the moment he won the election.  the effort to belittle him, to portray him as an ignorant dupe, an intellectual lightweight, and as someone who constantly needs to take advice from smarter people started (while we're being honest) with the Hillary Clinton camp.

This President has been fighting "Know your role and shut your mouth" from the left and the right.  The assumption of privilege here is breathtaking, but it won't raise an eyebrow from those of us who are sadly used to this kind of behavior and have seen it all our lives.

Anyway, time to vote like your country depends on it, because it does.

The Republican War On Women Continues Unabated

Republicans continue to refuse Democrats to do anything to alleviate the unemployment crisis in the country, rather their plan is to systematically target those groups that support the Dems, and I can't think of any group that would suffer under the yoke of Republican control like America's women would.  The outrage of the moment:  GOP Rep. Todd Akin, currently in the House and recent winner of Missouri's Senate primary contest to take on Sen. Claire McCaskill, wants to do the"moderate" thing and completely outlaw the so-called "morning after" pill.

“As far as I’m concerned, the morning-after pill is a form of abortion,” he told KCMO’s Greg Knapp, “and I think we shouldn’t have abortion in this country.”

Akin suggested there should be no exceptions for rape or incest. When it came the mother’s health, doctors should try to “optimize life.”

“The life of the mother, the situation there is one where I think what you want to do is optimize life,” Akin said. “You try to save the mother’s life, you try to save the child. There are certain things like, you know, you get a tubal pregnancy where the child has absolutely no chance of surviving, then you do the best you can to save the mother’s life.”

This is the guy Republicans are sending from the "purple" state of Missouri, a man who will eliminate a woman's right to choose in any and every circumstance without exceptions for rape or the life of the mother.  And keep in mind Akin's twisted logic on emergency contraception is just a step away from declaring birth control to be "abortion" as well, that needs to be outlawed by his legislation.

He'll certainly block any efforts to improve the economy as well.  Todd Akin only cares about his crazy, misogynist religious agenda...and getting elected, of course.

Mosque Fire Was Surely Intentional

(CNN) -- A mosque in Joplin, Missouri, was burned to the ground early Monday, just over a month after an attempted arson at the Islamic center, officials said.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the latest fire. The mosque's security cameras were destroyed in the blaze, according to Sharon Rhine of the Jasper County Sheriff's Office.

Kimberly Kester, another member, said the blaze was so intense that the building's bricks were still sizzling hours after the fire.

Carl Junction Fire Chief Bill Dunn called it a "complete loss."

Though investigators haven't determined the cause, Kester suspects it to be another incident of arson.

The FBI is already investigating a fire that scorched the roof of the building on July 4 and has offered a $15,000 reward in conjunction with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The bureau has released surveillance video and a photograph of a man caught on surveillance cameras throwing some sort of incendiary device onto the building in that incident.

The message is pretty clear.  In an area known for its small-minded attitude towards "other" religions, this attack on the mosque threatens members and their freedom to worship.

It is rare that I'm this ashamed of my fellow Missourians.  Right now, I am so embarrassed by these actions that I don't even have words to capture my feelings.  The locals are split between my reaction and the polar opposite.  Trust me, I've heard dozens of times how "they" deserved what happened, and the only tragedy was that there wasn't anyone inside.

Religious tolerance at its best.  

Cat Survives 20 Days As A Jarhead

GREENSBURG, Pa. -

A kitten is lucky to be alive after struggling for 20 days before being saved from the brink of death by a Greensburg woman.

Janine Quinn said she noticed the kitten a couple weeks ago but was unable to get to it before the kitten ran off.

She said she'd see it every now and then with the jar still stuck on its head but she was unable to save it until recently.

"I never wanted to give up on her even though it got really, really bad and I just walked around and cried the whole entire time thinking that she was gone," Quinn said.

Quinn searched for the feral cat for 20 days thinking it had died before corralling the severely malnourished cat on Friday.

"The jar was so tight around her neck I couldn't even get my fingers up there around her but it fit her head completely," Quinn said. "When I got the jar off it smelled like infection. It smelled like death. I thought she was dying. She's an amazingly lucky cat."

Lucky indeed.  Acts of kindness make all the difference to the helpless, whether it's an adult, child or animal. This woman is a hero, not only for saving the animal, but for caring so much.

We needed a happy ending, the news this week has been cruel.  Enjoy!

Cashing In Your Chips

Reuters' European econ blogger Anatole Kaletsky has a super idea:  QE3 for people, not corporations.

Last week I discussed in this column the idea that the vast amounts of money created by central banks and distributed for free to banks and bond funds – equivalent to $6,000 per man, woman and child in America and £6,500 in Britain – should instead be given directly to citizens, who could spend or save it as they pleased. I return to this theme so soon because radical ideas about monetary policy suddenly seem to be gaining traction. Some of the world’s most powerful central bankers – Mario Draghi of the European Central Bank last Thursday, Eric Rosengren of the Boston Fed on Monday and Mervyn King of the Bank of England this Wednesday – are starting to admit that the present approach to creating money, known as quantitative easing, is failing to generate economic growth. Previously taboo ideas can suddenly be mentioned.

Bush did this in 2008, remember?  Everybody got a $300 tax refund check?  Republicans thought it was a great idea.  The House passed it 380-34, the Senate, 81-16.  It had massive and overwhelming bi-partisan support.

Until January 20, 2009 that is.  Then saving the economy became "Screw you, poor people."  Ryan Cooper:

Again, I agree that moral hazard should be a consideration, especially for the richest and most powerful people and corporations, but we recognize in a crisis sometimes it’s more important to keep the system from collapsing than make sure every person gets exactly what she deserves. When we had a banking crisis, everyone agreed on this. Elites everywhere panicked, and swooped in with “incredible speed and force to bail out the financial sectors in which creditors are invested, trampling over prior norms and laws as necessary.” We’re now in the fourth year of an unemployment crisis, and it’s high time we found some similar urgency.

Nothing I haven’t said before, and still probably little chance of happening, but here’s hoping. Regular people could use a bailout every bit as much, if not more, than wealthy elites.

Which is why it won't happen.  Republicans are now committed to creation another recession through gridlock and obfuscation.  Every possible solution to our employment crisis has been blocked by Republicans for the last two years, who are basically holding the economy hostage and hoping you'll vote out President Mookie Muhammed X Bazinga and all his ACORN Thugs(tm) as a result.

The plan's not working so well for the Republicans, it turns out.

We'll see what happens.

Well, You're Right About Losing Business

...because I no longer plan to shop at Krause's Deli in Findlay Market here in Cincy after this petulant display by the owner.

The owner of a specialty deli at Findlay Market wants her store’s name removed from an ad President Barack Obama is using to defend his record on small business.

Ten seconds into the ad “Always,” a man is shown from behind, pushing up the security door of Krause’s while Obama’s voice talks about owners sacrificing to make their businesses run.

The owner of the store, Debra Krause-McDonnell, said that she did not give permission for her business to be shown and that some customers have told her they’ll no longer shop there.

“I’ve been put into a position I didn’t ask for,” she said Wednesday after the Hamilton County Republican Party sent out an email about the ad that accused Democrats of not responding to the owner’s concerns. “I’m a little angry.”

She’d be just as angry, she said, if it were an ad for Mitt Romney.

I don't buy that for a second.  Krause's Deli does a killing selling specialty cheeses at Findlay Market, and they're not exactly inexpensive.  Let me assure you that the kind of folks who can afford to shop there are more than happy to have Mitt Romney as President.  She's planning to take legal action, she says.

Good luck with that, lady.

Hamilton County Democratic Party chair Caleb Faux looked into Ms. Krause-McDonnell's complaint:

The footage was among some stock footage bought from a Cincinnati video company, Faux said. He did not know the name of the company, but said he was told by the Obama campaign that company officials said they did explain to Krause’s manager that they were filming stock footage that could be purchased and used for any reason.

Fire your manager.  Oh, and good luck selling your overpriced cheese.

StupidiNews!

• Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has made Olympic history, becoming the first man to win back to back golds in both the 100m and 200m as the island nation swept the medals in the 200m.
• A Texas judge has handed down a sentence of 45 years for a previously convicted purse snatcher who injured the arm of a woman he stole from.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham is warning that the mandated defense cuts that will happen if Congress can't come up with a deal by year's end will be a "death blow" to the Pentagon.
• Britain's housing market is on the mend as London's growing housing market has pushed real estate prices back up to 2008 levels.
• Google has been hit with a $22.5 million fine for circumventing Safari browser settings to place advertising tracking cookies, something the company calls an "accident".