Sunday Funnies

Stephen King's Maine radio station will "burn some feet"

Outstanding news:

BANGOR, Maine — Horror novelist and Bangor radio station owner Stephen King announced on Tuesday a new talk radio show featuring a former vice presidential candidate and a former Maine secretary of state’s communications director.

“We wanted to shake things up a little bit in the market,” King said.

King, the owner of Zone Radio Corp, said WZON 103.1 FM and 620 AM will launch “The Pulse Morning Show” on Sept. 12. The show will air 6-10 a.m. on weekdays and online at www.zoneradio.com. The station also is expanding its news department.

King said he was thrilled his station could grow at a time when others have had to cut staff and decrease the amount of programming and production.

Former journalist, Bangor Daily News columnist, and gubernatorial candidate Pat LaMarche will be joined on the show by Don Cookson, a former reporter and communications director under Secretary of State Matt Dunlap.

LaMarche was also the Green Party's vice-presidential candidate, with Ralph Nader at the top, in 2004.

LaMarche ... said the show would target politicians and public officials in Augusta and Washington, D.C., who push around Maine residents, especially those struggling with the welfare system.

“Nothing is more fun than standing up to a bully,” LaMarche said. “There’s an awful lot of bullying going on out there right now.”

What's great about this news -- besides King being a "job creator", that is -- is that the progressive media infrastructure continues to flourish, even at the local level.

Keith Olbermann and the new head of Current TV will be fleshing out the news division and filling the network with additional programming over the next year. Cenk Uygur left MSNBC and went back to his one-million-views-a-day online TV show "The Young Turks", and was replaced by the provocative Al Sharpton there permanently this week. Chris Hayes of The Nation has also picked up a weekend gig at MSNBC. The progressive blogosphere, which has always had the upper hand nationally and in Texas -- and even here in Houston -- is blossoming.

“We’d like to burn some feet once in a while — make some people a little bit angry,” King said. “There are some people who deserve to be taken to the woodshed from time to time.”

Yes, liberals who fight back simply enrage the Right even more. Judging solely from the responses I get here -- most of which, sadly, are so obnoxious that they never get published -- the pushback we perform has the same result.

Heh.

Dick's Signs

This Dick is going to get what he wants; a lot of free publicity. First, Greg:

Houston City Council candidate Eric Dick gets busted for his illegally-placed signs. Gotta love the “overzealous volunteer” excuse. If you ever see an overzealous volunteer of his, let me know. And if you see any more of his 20-foot high yard signs, feel free to submit them to the Empty Lot Primary. Here’s the collection of 30 Eric Dick signs posted around town posted there already, some illegally placed on utility poles and some merely posted on empty lots reflecting not one bit of human endorsement (save for the gaggle of six signs placed on a relative’s property). 

And Doug Miller, one of the best in the business:



Not cool, indeed. After I saw several of these in my neighborhood, I called Centerpoint Energy to ask about their policy. Here that is.

Let's review: an attorney who claims full knowledge of the city ordinance regarding campaign signs refuses to take responsibility for "overzealous volunteers" who have placed hundreds of his campaign signs so high off the ground that it will require a bucket truck to remove them.

Let's send a message: don't vote for this guy. Don't we have enough dicks on city council as it is?

Funeral held for Good Jobs outside Culberson's Houston office

Via Marie Diamond at Think Progress:

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Staffers at the Houston office of GOP Rep. John Culberson (R) must have gotten quite a surprise on Thursday when they looked outside to see more than 100 constituents gathered for a funeral. But this wasn’t a typical funeral — these Texans were gathered to mourn the loss of good, high-wage jobs in their state.

Mourners circled around a mock casket for “Good Jobs,” and Taps played in the background while Rev. Louis Dorsey eulogized. “I used to be middle class!” One woman cried out during the ceremony. Constituents also chanted “Hey, hey, what do you say? How many jobs have you killed today?”

DORSEY: My brothers and my sisters, we are assembled here today to mourn the passing of Good Jobs in Texas. Jobs died because of a steady influx of minimum wage jobs, tax breaks for corporations and the super-rich, and the policies of politicians like Rep. John Culberson.

Watch it:



Dorsey continued: “Good Jobs were much loved and appreciated by all here today. This loss is tragic because it is the result of reckless greed on Wall Street and in Congress. While the grief we endure for the loss of Good Jobs is great, we must not let this tragedy continue to happen.” A longer version of the video is available here.

The rally was organized by Good Jobs = Great Houston, and was intended to illustrate “how politicians like Culberson are deliberately pursuing policies that are killing jobs across Texas.” The constituents at Culberson’s office included unemployed workers who want the congressman to start prioritizing their needs over corporate balance sheets.

According to the organization, they seek to hold Culberson accountable “for voting for legislation that could kill 1.8 million jobs nationwide and over 200,000 in Texas.” Texas is currently tied with Mississippi for the highest percentage of minimum wage jobs in the nation, while “the median hourly earnings for all Texas workers was $11.20 per hour in 2010, compared to the national median of $12.50 per hour.”

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John Cumbersome is such a malodorous sack of excrement that, should he have noticed this protest at all, probably reacted first with the usual contempt he displays for his constituents and then with surprise that he had any black ones in his district. The one good thing I can say about the man is that at least he's not barnstorming Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina bragging about all the minimum wage jobs he's created.

I met the candidate last night that plans to challenge Culberson next year, and she is a real firecracker. Thank goodness he won't get another free pass.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you that the Texas Democratic Women of Harris County are sponsoring a Blogger's Panel, featuring several Houston members tonight, as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff has one piece of advice for President Obama regarding Rick Perry's presidential ambitions.

The already-existing field of Republican presidential candidates -- along with former Bush administration officials and even the current occupants of the White House -- reacted to Rick Perry's entry into the race, and Letters from Texas reacted to their reaction. The conclusion: they're all screwing this up.

Bay Area Houston says that fact-checking Rick Perry is not for the ignorant.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is amazed that the always-crazy Congressman Peter King wants Rick Perry to tone it down. No doubt that today's republican is looking to nominate the mayor of crazy town.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the horror that often is the Williamson County justice and DA John Bradley. A man has spent 24 years in jail for a crime he did not commit -- truly a tragic story.

From Iowa corn dog porn, to "gaps" in the theory of evolution, to passive-aggressive assaults on Ben Bernanke and from Karl Rove, Rick Perry had a no good, very bad first week on the national stage. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs documents the governor's gaffes, faux pas and self-administered gunshots to both cowboy-booted feet.

This week on Left of College Station Teddy continues the "Rick Perry's Texas" series by looking at innocent executions, college denied, child poverty, and even a chart showing that, despite the governor's belief in the 'free market', Keynes has come to Texas.

Neil at Texas Liberal said this week that while circumstance matters, it is best not to let others construct your reality.

Sunday Evening Funnies - Traitorous Treasonous Anti-American edition

TDW Blogger Panel tomorrow evening

Eight of us talking instead of typing ... but not all at once.

Security will be tight. Bags screened and weapons confiscated at the door. (It's to keep out the angry white Republican males like Matt and Greg and their deranged, mad-dog buddies.)

Sunday Funnies - The Gripes of Wrath edition

Rick Perry's no good, very bad week

It's only been a week and a half since Governor Profit was praised to the heavens -- or at least to the inside of Reliant Stadium's roof -- and already Republicans of all stripes seem to be worn out with his Texas charm. Just look at this list of news stories in the days since last Saturday's Iowa straw poll:

The cultural right was miffed that he didn't want to beat the shit out of brown kids, having signed the Texas version of the DREAM Act into law. The Wall Street right, thinking they had their guy, recoiled in horror as Perry boasted of beating the shit out of Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke if he made his way down to Texas.

Suddenly, that GOP establishment isn't looking too favorably on the Texan. The Bush crowd, still a dominant force in the Republican Party, has led the assault. Even the Wall Street Journal got in on the act, running this headline with apparently no intended irony: "Rick Perry's Crony Capitalism Problem".

The WSJ is just now discovering Rick Perry has a crony capitalist problem?! Maybe Rupert Murdoch's cellphone hackers were too busy with other people.

Just today, these items.

-- The governor's theory on the theory of evolution draws scorn in the Granite State.

-- Ron Paul laughingly declares that Perry "makes me look like a moderate", and then proceeds to dynamite his own premise by saying:

"I have never once said that Bernanke has committed treason. But I have suggested very strongly that the Federal Reserve system and all the members have been counterfeiters for a long time."

To wild applause from the assembled Paulites.

-- Perry can’t defend his claim to a woman in a cafe' that Social Security is unconstitutional because he’s ‘got a big mouthful’ of delicious New Hampshire popover. (Forget those nasty veggie corndogs; popovers are the shiznit.)

-- His spokesperson Ray Sullivan denies ever knowing that Perry, in fact, has said that Social Security was unconstitutional.

This on the heels of Karl Rove's broadsides, and the investment the governor made in a porn film distribution business, a story our very own Burnt Orange Report broke in 1995. (It's nice when the media finds what we've been writing for years, isn't it?)

Nothing about secession or Al Gore, but plenty about his record as a twenty-five-year career politician. Ben Sherman has some additional linkage on the governor's week from hell, and Katherine Haenschen notes that The Response attendees are being targeted for voter registration efforts. Additional proof that the prayer event wasn't a political rally, of course.

That kind of assault might ironically help Perry—one of his biggest liabilities is the perception that he's the establishment choice in a decidedly anti-establishment year—but it doesn't solve the problem of those DC and Wall Street Republicans looking for someone electable in the general election.

Now to be clear, that establishment would be happy enough with Mitt Romney. He's a hedge fund manager's wet dream, and party bosses who actually want to beat President Barack Obama in 2012 can point to polling showing Romney giving Obama the toughest challenge (by a long shot). But they all also know Romney ain't getting past the teabagger crowd. So who is that magic person who can win the nomination and still be electable nationally in the general?

Perry ain't it. They've obviously concluded that. Hence the rampant speculation today that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and anti-Medicare jihadist Rep. Paul Ryan might be exploring the race.

Next?

PerryforPresidentFML.com

Must share this news of Progress Texas' hard work. (If you're the sort that's had trouble understanding what Twitter is all about, this will help you get it: geek fighting for a new generation.)

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When it became clear months ago that Rick Perry was headed for a presidential run, Matt Glazer and Mark Corcoran at Progress Texas — no fans of Texas’ longest-serving governor — reacted to the news the way you might if, say, you found out you needed 10 fillings. Or your boss threw a can of SpaghettiOs at your head. Or your kids pulled your pants down at the circus.

“FML.”

At PerryForPresidentFML.com, the liberal activist group is gathering all the factoids they can find about the troubled state of Texas after a decade under Perry’s watch, and spitting them out on Twitter with the #PerryFML hashtag.

Since the weekend, as Rick Perry’s rising star carried @RickPerryFacts and TwitPics of the governor eating a corn dog along with it, #PerryFML has been swept up too.

The Perry facts in rotation include:

Peter Wagner endorsed Perry’s “Response.” He advocates putting the gov’t under christian rule & burning statues of catholic saints #PerryFML

Rick Perry’s 2011 budget cut funding for the Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program #PerryFML http://ht.ly/5ZaqW

“We just did a shallow hit on what his record is — we wanted to make it something that’s easy to share,” said Glazer, the group’s executive director.

“We sort of expected it to be a very slow build,” Glazer said, but within days of Perry’s announcement that he’d launch a campaign, he said, they saw the hashtag take off. “What we expected to be a couple month-long process and really not be used till 2012, it started in 48 hours.”

Each day this week, Glazer said, they’ve maxed out the 1,500-tweet limit on the free Hashtracking account that let them follow the #PerryFML wave. Just based on those hits, though, Corcoran said they’re getting 1.8 million impressions.

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Head on over and spread the wealth.

TP less popular than atheists, Muslims

Everybody weirded out of the crazy eyed, spinning pictures? Yeah, me too.

Turns out the rest of the country is just as sick of these TeaBagging assholes as you and I are.

Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.

Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.

Well, nobody could have predicted that, now could they?

Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.

Another 'duh' moment.

So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.

More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.

Hellloooo. That's why we have all of these Wars going on -- the War on Women, the War on Poor People. Ah, but here comes the coup de gras ...

On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans. Indeed, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, today’s Tea Party parallels the anti-Vietnam War movement which rallied behind George S. McGovern in 1972. The McGovernite activists brought energy, but also stridency, to the Democratic Party — repelling moderate voters and damaging the Democratic brand for a generation. By embracing the Tea Party, Republicans risk repeating history.

Look at that: the Tea Party is nothing more than a bunch of dirty fucking hippies who found religion -- and ultra-conservatism and bigotry and hate -- in their dotage.

To quote some of their miserable ilk: 'time for this bad experiment in government to come to an end'.

Corn dogs are making me dizzy