Eric Cantor: pathetic "Douchebag"

Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, who apparently falsely claimed he was one of the finalists to be John McCain's running mate last summer, added to his embarrassment this week by being publicly rebuked by the leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh.

Following the inaugural convention of the National Council for a New America -- which consisted of Cantor, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, and fifteen other good GOP folks at a pizza pub in suburban D.C. -- Cantor commented that the Republicans would embark on a series of town halls across the nation in order to begin "listening to the American people". But Limbaugh said on his radio show shortly after that "a listening tour wasn't needed", so Cantor then promptly said it "wasn't a listening tour." Watch it:



By virtue of these two sad attempts to show himsef as a GOP leader -- only to be shown that he isn't -- Cantor emerges as a "Douchbag of the Week" finalist.

The Weekly Wrangle

It's Monday -- time for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly blog roundup.

How would Republicans handle a pandemic? CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme knows. They'd hunker down. Get out their guns and shoot anybody with a runny nose.

After a record 3 weeks without a post in his six years of blogging, Easter Lemming has a very brief round-up of the Pasadena elections.

Off the Kuff writes about the resolution to impeach Judge Sharon Keller as submitted by Rep. Lon Burnam, which received a committee hearing last week.

Vince at Capitol Annex tells the sad story of how a fundamentalist "historian" and evangelist who believes that hurricanes are God's punishment on society for tolerating gay citizens will guide the writing of Texas' new social studies standards. If you thought Darwin versus Don McLeroy was a train wreck, wait until it is the treatment of American Indians, what labor unions have done for America, Islam, women's suffrage, 9/11, the free enterprise system, and the civil rights movement versus David Barton. First one who catches one of the new "experts" complaining about too much information about minorities in textbooks wins a prize!

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posted this week on the latest transportation funding scheme the Lege came up with ... a "transportation bank": Texas Transportation Revolving Fund?.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote a helluva post about the inability of the Republican Party to return to its pre-1929 stock crash numbers in the U.S. Senate. He also wrote about the albino buffalo in Kenya. Texas Liberal passed 600,000 total page views this week and is averaging 1570 a day for 2009. Thanks blog reading public!

Why on Earth is the Texas Senate, working with TXDOT, trying to turn the public pensions trusts into another AIG? McBlogger would really like an answer.

Arlen Specter's political deathbed conversion didn't strike PDiddie at Brains and Eggs as something wonderful. And Burka's conflating Kay Bailey into the conversation was greeted with even more derision.

BossKitty at TruthHugger wonders about those poor souls on death row who depend on the passion of protesters and technology for hope. Whether they know they are guilty or innocent, at least they know they'll get the needle instead of the chair or the noose. Those death row inmates now have the best chance ever, and with revelations about bias and legal system misconduct front and center, death penalty question marks are getting bolder. Take a look at Killer Texas Laws and Lawmakers Continue To Amaze with many historic reference links to click.

Over at TexasKaos, Boadicea says no to Fake Reform. See what she has to say in her posting: "Transparency"-I Don't Think That Word Means What You Think It Means...

After much talk about secession, Gov. Perry has found yet another reason to keep the federal government around. The Texas Blue notes that the guy who wanted American troops to defend the border and asked for money -- and then more money -- to help the Hurricane Ike cleanup shortly before talking about leaving the Union now wants the Centers for Disease Control to give us 37,000 doses of Tamiflu to help with the swine flu virus.

WhosPlayin is neck-deep in the local (Lewisville) mayor's race, and examined candidate Winston Edmondson's wacky ideas to increase police morale by giving them more patches, and finding corporate sponsors.

Foxx over Bachmann for "Douchebag of the Week"

Pure ignorance defeats contrived ignorance in this week's "Douchebag" face-off.

Rep Virginia Foxx (left) of North Carolina and her claim that the death of Matthew Shepherd was a 'hoax' overpowered Rep. Michele Bachmann's (right) outlandish and false observation that swine flu only occurs under Democratic administrations.

Unlike the stupidity demonstrated by Reps. Culberson and Barton last week, this one wasn't even close.

Congratulations, Virginia. There is no Santa Claus.

Extra Sunday Funnies

Jack Kemp 1935 - 2009

In this July 3, 1967 picture, California Gov. Ronald Reagan and his special assistant Jack Kemp discuss football in his office in Sacramento, CA. Kemp, who had been working as member of the governor's staff since February, will leave California the following week to begin training for his 11th year in pro football.

Kemp was secretary of housing and urban development under the first President George Bush and the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996. But his greatest legacy may stem from his years as a congressman from Buffalo, especially 1978, when his argument for sharp tax cuts to promote economic growth became party policy, one that has endured to this day.

Mr. Kemp, having embraced a supply-side economic theory, told the House that year that the nation suffered under a “tax code that rewards consumption, leisure, debt and borrowing, and punishes savings, investment, work and production.”

Ronald Reagan adopted the issue as a central one in his 1980 presidential campaign, and in 1981 he won passage of a 23 percent cut over three years. The legislation was known as Kemp-Roth, named for Mr. Kemp and William V. Roth Jr., the Delaware Republican and his Senate co-sponsor.

Mr. Kemp’s other great cause, in his 18 years in the House and for three decades thereafter, was to get his party to seek more support from blacks and other minorities.

“The party of Lincoln,” he wrote after the 2008 election, “needs to rethink and revisit its historic roots as a party of emancipation, liberation, civil rights and equality of opportunity for all.”

Mr. Kemp won his House seat in 1970 because of his celebrity as an all-star quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, twice champions of the American Football League. He connected his concern for minorities with his respect for his black teammates, especially the linemen who had protected him from pass rushers.

Vin Weber, a former congressman from Minnesota and a close friend, said Mr. Kemp would often say, “I can’t help but care about the rights of the people I used to shower with.”

Kemp was a good and decent man; certainly as decent a Republican as they came during his time in politics. However misguided his tax policy has turned out to be, he was a fine HUD secretary -- better than some Democrats.

In a letter to his grandchildren following the 2008 election, he wrote:

(A) little over 40 years ago, blacks in America had trouble even voting in our country, much less thinking about running for the highest office in the land.

A little over 40 years ago, in some parts of America, blacks couldn’t eat, sleep or even get a drink of water using facilities available to everyone else in the public sphere.

We are celebrating, this year, the 40th anniversary of our Fair Housing Laws, which helped put an end to the blatant racism and prejudice against blacks in rental housing and homeownership opportunities.

As an old professional football quarterback, in my days there were no black coaches, no black quarterbacks, and certainly no blacks in the front offices of football and other professional sports. For the record, there were great black quarterbacks and coaches — they just weren’t given the opportunity to showcase their talent. And pro-football (and America) was the worse off for it.

I remember quarterbacking the old San Diego Chargers and playing for the AFL championship in Houston. My father sat on the 50-yard line, while my co-captain’s father, who happened to be black, had to sit in a small, roped-off section of the end zone. Today, we can’t imagine the NFL without the amazing contributions of blacks at every level of this great enterprise. ...

When President-elect Obama quoted Abraham Lincoln on the night of his election, he was acknowledging the transcendent qualities of vision and leadership that are always present, but often overlooked and neglected by pettiness, partisanship and petulance. As president, I believe Barack Obama can help lift us out of a narrow view of America into the ultimate vision of an America where, if you’re born to be a mezzo-soprano or a master carpenter, nothing stands in your way of realizing your God-given potential.

Both Obama in his Chicago speech, and McCain in his marvelous concession speech, rose to this historic occasion by celebrating the things that unite us irrespective of our political party, our race or our socio-economic background.

My advice for you all is to understand that unity for our nation doesn’t require uniformity or unanimity; it does require putting the good of our people ahead of what’s good for mere political or personal advantage.

The party of Lincoln, (i.e., the GOP), needs to rethink and revisit its historic roots as a party of emancipation, liberation, civil rights and equality of opportunity for all. ...

Let me end with an equally great historical irony of this election. Next year, as Obama is sworn in as our 44th president, we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. I’m serving, along with former Rep. Bill Gray of Pennsylvania, on the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Board to help raise funds for this historic occasion. President-elect Obama’s honoring of Lincoln in many of his speeches reminds us of how vital it is to elevate these ideas and ideals to our nation’s consciousness and inculcate his principles at a time of such great challenges and even greater opportunities.

President-elect Obama talks of Abraham Lincoln’s view of our nation as an “unfinished work.” Well, isn’t that equally true of all of us? Therefore let all of us strive to help him be a successful president, so as to help make America an even greater nation.

50-1

Trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. hitched Mine That Bird to the back of his pickup and drove to the Kentucky Derby from New Mexico. With an inspired ride on the rail from Calvin Borel, it all added up to one of the greatest upsets in 135 years of America’s most famous horse race.

“Those cowboys,” trainer Bob Baffert said, “they came with a good horse.”

Mine That Bird went off at 50-1 odds Saturday, but that was only one measure of how little attention he garnered before pulling away in the stretch to score a 6 3/4 -length victory at Churchill Downs, the second-biggest stunner in Derby history. The margin was the largest since Assault won by eight lengths in 1946.

“All I asked him was to lay the horse back and be patient, and he did that magically,” Woolley said.

That should have been no surprise since Borel used the same rail-hugging ride to win the Derby two years ago with Street Sense.

“I learned by Street Sense being so patient with these 3-year-olds,” Borel said. “They can only go so fast, so far. When I hollered at him, he just went on.”

Borel couldn't get a decent ride at Churchill Downs even after that magical 2007 win. Bet that never happens again.

Mine That Bird ran 1 mile on a sloppy track in 2:02.66 and paid $103.20, $54 and $25.80. It was the second-largest payout in Derby history behind Donerail ($184.90) in 1913.

The 45-year-old Woolley, a former quarterhorse trainer who spent time on the rodeo circuit as a bareback rider, hobbled on crutches to the winner’s circle. He broke his right leg in a motorcycle accident two months ago.

“I’m feeling like I never have before,” he said. “I was just blown away.”

And the horse couldn't win regularly at Sunland Park (near El Paso), but did earn enough graded stakes money to qualify for the Run for the Roses. Though the owners didn't know that until the Derby called and asked them if they were coming.

Mine That Bird got squeezed coming out of the starting gate, but Borel took a firm hold and wrestled the horse to the rail while they were in last place.

They were 12th and going strong with a quarter mile to go, after working their way around Atomic Rain. Borel quickly angled Mine That Bird back to the inside with three-sixteenths to go and shot the gelding through a tight spot approaching the eighth pole.

“I had enough room,” Borel said. “He’s a small horse.”

Once free, Mine That Bird quickly accelerated toward an improbable victory.

“I salute Calvin for his terrific ride,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, whose Derby losing streak extended to 0-of-24. “It’s an amazing story. It just shows you how special this race is. Anything can happen.”

Borel’s mind was on his parents during the race and he paid them tribute by crossing the finish line with his whip pointing to the overcast sky.

“If they could only be here to see what I accomplish in my life,” he said, his voice choking.

Sunday Somewhat Funnies

Obama's first SCOTUS appointment *update*

NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the court's current term.

The court has completed hearing oral arguments for the year and will be issuing rulings and opinions until the end of June.

Souter is expected to remain on the bench until a successor has been chosen and confirmed, which may or may not be accomplished before the court reconvenes in October.

At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court, but he has made clear to friends for some time now that he wanted to leave Washington, a city he has never liked, and to return to his native New Hampshire.

Now, according to reliable sources he has decided to take the plunge and has informed the White House of his decision.

Souter's retirement would give President Obama his first appointment to the high court, and most observers expect that he will appoint a woman.

Greg had some interesting speculation some time ago using the Salon list. Who do you think the president will tap? I think it could easily be Hillary Clinton (and she may get first right of refusal).

Update: Sam Stein at HuffPo also has five likely picks.

Update II: And more here, including photographs of the several potentials. The buzz I am hearing the most surrounds two names: Sotomayor and Sunstein.

Virginia Foxx challenges for "Douchebag" lead

Not content to let Michele Bachmann walk away with this week's title, Rep Virginia Foxx (R-NC) calls the murder of Matthew Shepherd a "hoax":

"I also would like to point out that there was a bill -- the hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. This -- the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills," said Foxx.

A Foxx spokesman didn't immediately return a call. The Matthew Shepard "hoax" notion is a popular meme on right-wing blogs.

Congratulations on reaching a new and shameful low, Madam Foxx.

Michele Bachmann submits "DotW" entry: "Swine flu happens when Dems are president"

It would be an insult to insane people to continue to call this stupid bitch insane:

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter," said Bachmann. "And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."

As the Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages points out, Bachmann has the 1970s flu outbreak all wrong. It happened in 1976 when Gerald Ford was in office.

This also shows just how shallow Bachmann's historical understanding is. She could have easily also referred back to the infamous 1918 Spanish flu pandemic -- Woodrow Wilson was president at that time, don't you know!

Fact-check your brain once in a while, you miserable piece of shit.

Swine flu in Houston

At the hopsitals:

Swine flu arrived in Houston Wednesday as a Fort Bend County teenage girl became the first local resident confirmed to have the disease and a 2-year-old Mexico City boy who fell ill in Brownsville and was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital became the disease’s first U.S. death.

At schools:

The Houston Independent School District has two “probable” but unconfirmed cases of swine flu, one involving a 9-year-old girl from Harvard Elementary and the other a 14-year-old girl at Hamilton Middle School, a district official said late Wednesday.

The schools will be closed until further notice from the health department, according to district spokesman Norm Uhl, who said the district will hold a news conference this morning on the situation.

And at the office:

As news was quickly swirling about the growing swine flu epidemic, Andy Bogle assembled his 15 employees Monday morning and gave them a refresher about frequent hand washing, liberal use of hand sanitizers and staying home if they have flu-like symptoms.

“We don’t want any heros,” said Bogle, whose company rents and sells surveying and positioning equipment for offshore oil and gas exploration and production. ...

Similar meetings, memos and e-mail reminders have popped up all over Houston and beyond in the past few days, reminding employees how to avoid the flu and what do if they get sick.

At the same time, companies are reviewing their disaster emergency plans in case a massive number of employees must stay at home.

...

It’s the same provisions put in place during the big spike in gasoline prices last summer, she said. “We want to remind employees that it is available.”

The firm is also suggesting that client-company employees should consider rescheduling their travel if have to go Mexico which seems to be source of the new strain of flu, she said.

Companies need to focus on how to handle wide-spread employee absences, said Christopher Falkenberg, president of Insite Security in New York.

He estimated as many as 40 percent of employees could either call in sick, not be able to come into the office or travel in the event of any quarantines.

Companies should think about how they’ll keep going if a pandemic develops, said Falkenberg, a former special agent for the U.S. Secret Service. One thing they shouldn’t do is install a lot of computer hardware, he said. The key is to identify how the business will operate.

If the company depends on traveling sales associates, perhaps product samples can be shipped instead of hand-carried and demonstrations done through video equipment. Or maybe a company can do three-dimensional, online modeling or hire local sales representatives for face-to-face meetings.

Fulbright & Jaworski had a dry-run three years ago when it made elaborate preparations during the Avian bird flu scare. Those plans were fine-tuned by a succession of natural disasters.

The hurricanes have been useful for planning, said Jane Williams, chief human resources officer, who put together an ad hoc child care center after Hurricane Ike so parents could get back to work. The older teenagers were even pressed into duty: the law firm hired them to help the professional child care workers entertain the younger children.

So the hurricane last summer and even the flooding last week were trial runs for a flu outbreak.

I've been suffering from severe vertigo for over a week and have been in to the office twice in ten days, and now to try and struggle in only to be greeted with a nice case of this ...

Update: Here's some CDC linkage. Get your updates straight from the source.

Specter of defeat

Not exactly a profile in courage:

Veteran Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties Tuesday with a suddenness that seemed to stun the Senate, a moderate's defection that pushed Democrats to within a vote of the 60 needed to overcome filibusters and enact President Barack Obama's top legislative priorities.

Specter, 79 and seeking a sixth term in 2010, conceded bluntly that his chances of winning a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year were bleak in a party grown increasingly conservative. But he cast his decision as one of principle, rather than fueled by political ambition as spurned GOP leaders alleged.

"I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party," he said at a news conference. He added, "I am not prepared to have my 29 year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate."

The GOP tried to put on a brave face, but their own fear was apparent...

Not long after Specter met privately with Republican senators to explain his decision, the party's leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, said the switch posed a "threat to the country." The issue, he said, "really relates to ... whether or not in the United States of America our people want the majority party to have whatever it wants, without restraint, without a check or balance."

I'm just not that into another Joe Lieberman lobbing rotten tomatoes from inside the tent instead of outside, especially one considered a 'friend of labor' who is is still refusing to reconsider his opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.

Let's primary Specter with a real Democrat and see what happens.

And this turd-stirring by Burka is laughable. We don't want any Kay Bailey over here either.