The Week Ahead in GOP Thuggery

It’s gotta suck to be a Republiklan. All that tortuous mental yoga to delegitimize a legitimate president — after eight years of trying to legitimize an illegitimate president and an illegal war conducted on lawless terms.

It’s gotta suck that, with a hurricane crawling up the East Coast, and the hottest summer on record, with three Phoenix haboobs, these boobs are still hyping phony anti-global warming hoaxes, like the “climategate” incident, that ended up proving no such thing, and was seemingly deep-sixed the moment it was discredited. 

It’s gotta suck that Republiklan legislation bankrupted this country to benefit billionaires, and in the name of “national security” sold a potentially fatal amount of debt to the Chinese to finance the “war” against Al Qaeda. And it’s gotta suck that this week, they will be forced, yet again, to “defend” Dumbya the Usurper’s phony-baloney excuse that, astonishingly and unbelievably,  with America under attack on September 11, 2001, he didn’t want to “upset” the children he was allegedly reading My Pet Goat to in a Florida classroom. Which he consistently uses to explain his paralysis for long minutes before actually DOING anything about it — in his case, flying around the country like a 747-chicken with it’s heasd cut off, first flying to New Orleans, Louisiana and then to Omaha, Nebraska while New York burned.

That Bush! What a character!

That’ll twist your alleged brains up real fast.

Today’s snarkfest begins with lunatic conspiracy theorist and rationalizer-in-chief Jim “Magic Eyes” Hoft of the Gateway Pundit going batshit crazy on Memeorandum, somehow managing to komment darkkkly on just about EVERYTHING nutso that the GOPpers have been been popping:

• Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:   Liberal Media Blames Ferocity of Hurricane Irene on Global Warming…  (Irene Was Just Downgraded to Category 1)
• Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:   ESPN Warns Golfer-Analyst Azinger to Quit Mocking Obama on Twitter
• Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:   Leftist Goons Vandalize School Before Governor Walker’s Visit
• Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:   Gibson Guitar CEO: “Obama Justice Department Wants Us to Just Shut Our Doors & Go Away”

But he isn’t the only one. But he IS sort of the Arne Saknussemm of teh karrazeeeey. Wherever you find his distinct mark is where the crazy have passed on their way on the hazardous, perilous, unmarked Journey to the Center of the Navel.

The gripes, groans and complaints of the Bullying Class never seem to end (when do these people ever find the time to sleep?)

And, of course, they’re STILL angry that Al Gore won the 2000 election. (Oh, wait.)

Ben Geman / The Hill: Al Gore to Rick Perry: Climate scientists aren’t motivated by money  —  Al Gore on Friday bashed the notion that climate scientists are manipulating data for financial gain, a charge levied by global warming skeptics, including GOP White House hopeful Rick Perry.

Don Surber:  Al Gore versus Al Gore
Robin Bravender* / The Politico:Gore: Eat less meat to fight warming
Weasel Zippers /Goracle: Eat Less Meat — Turn to Organic Farming
The Lonely Conservative:  Al Gore Wants You to Stop Eating Meat
Sister Toldjah: ALERT: Al Gore hypocrisy watch

[*Actually this is kind of creepy. Bravander watched an interview (about an hour) with Gore on a podcast:

This Friday, August 26, at 12pm MT (2pm ET) Alex Bogusky will chat with former Vice President Al Gore about his latest initiative, The Climate Reality Project. http://climaterealityproject.org

boiled it down to seven short paragraphs and extracted whatever she considered the most "controversial" comments. With a link. And, at the bottom of this lazy-journalist bilge, this:  "This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 4:49 p.m. on August 26, 2011." Or, in the parlance, if you PAID Politico for the extra "insider" stuff that make you even BETTER INFORMED than everybody else, this is the kind of swill you pay for.]

How DARE Al Gore comment on Global Warming!!!??! Uh, yeah.

Here’s what it’s devolved into, with a fundamentally idiotic proposition (that Hurricane Irene was “caused” by climate change, which, as we all know, is a long-term series of trends and consequences taken over years and has no direct causual link to ANY specific weather event) :

[coded RIGHT, LEFT and "NEUTRAL" and "Who Knows?"]

Bob King / The Politico:
Was Hurricane Irene caused by global warming?
–Discussion:
Joe Romm / ThinkProgress: How Does Global Warming Make Hurricanes Like Irene More Destructive?
Taylor Marsh: Hurricane IRENE… The Rain has Arrived
Kyle Drennen / NewsBusters.org blogs: Seriously? MSNBC Brings On Ray Nagin to Discuss Hurricane Preparedness
Allahpundit / Hot Air: Hellstorm 2011: MSNBC turns for hurricane preparedness tips to … Ray Nagin
Ann Althouse / Althouse: There’s a mysterious drop in malaria-carrying mosquitoes in some parts of Africa, and some say …
Ron Beasley / The Moderate Voice: The Irene Mistake — I am a climate change believer …
Brendan Loy / Pajamas Media: Hurricane Irene likely to hit Carolina as Cat. 2, Northeast as Cat. 1; storm surge, inland flooding still big threats
Juan / Informed Comment: Hurricanes and Global Warming
Andrew C. Revkin / Dot Earth: On Warming and U.S. Hurricane Strikes
Doug Brady / Conservatives4Palin: Lefties Blame Hurricane Irene on…Global Warming
Alec Jacobs / The Daily Caller: Bill McKibben: Global warming to blame for Hurricane Irene
Ryan Maue / Watts Up With That?: Climate activist McKibben bizarrely blames Hurricane Irene on global warming
The Daily Beast: Global Warming’s Heavy Cost
Keith Kloor / Collide-a-scape: Climate Link Makes Landfall Ahead of Irene*

* Keith Kloor is a freelance writer, and covers the ecological waterfront. He seems to have balanced and informed point of view, which is more than I can say for many of the aforementioned. He seems a good writer and well worth a read.  (And since you almost never see me hyping other writers, you might want to take this praise for what it is. I do not know him, except through his very interesting blog that I stumbled on this morning.)

Brad Johnson / ThinkProgress:
How Global Warming Is Making Hurricane Irene Worse

AJStrata / The Strata-Sphere: Pathetic Fear Mongering Over Irene
Rick Rice / Wizbang: “I think some politics are involved” (UPDATED)
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit: Liberal Media Blames Ferocity of Hurricane Irene on Global Warming… (Irene Was Just Downgraded to Category 1)
Allahpundit / Hot Air: Hellstorm 2011: The threat from Irene is overhyped, says forecaster
Shyamantha Asokan / Washington Post: Hurricane Irene: Outer Banks residents evacuate — or hunker down*

* Weirdly, however, this is a straight news story but is posted on the Washington Post’s Politics blog (??!?):

I do not know what’s ‘POLITICS‘ in this story

Bloomberg: NYC Mayor Orders Mandatory Evacuation From Low-Lying Areas
Dan Shapley / The Daily Green: Hurricane Irene, Global Warming and the Rising Cost of Storm Surge Damage
Jeff Masters / Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog: Irene’s eyewall collapses; further intensification unlikely*

* Dr. Jeff Masters is an actual meteorologist on Weather Underground. There is nothing, again, political about the blog link.

But, worse, while the speculation goes on WHILE people are dying of the storm, the BLUE blogs seem to be using actual facts and figures. The RED blogs seem to rely entirely on schoolyard epithets. Neener neener. Pooh-pooh. Blather, rinse, repeat.

Morlock, meet Eloi. Eloi, meet Morlock. I’m sure you both have a lot in common.

Eloi (L) and Morlock (R) about to dine

Makes you wonder what would happen if all this intellectual “firepower” was turned on the mincing, puling Casper Milquetoast whining of David Brooks or the various Forumites of Frum. But no. We have grown so accustomed to the ravings of the objectively-challenged idio(t)logues over their ill-defined and even-less-thought-out idio(t)logy that we merely shine them on, even as their brain-dead, convulsing “readers” go into conniption fits as much from habit as choice.

You can’t live your whole life throwing tantrums. First of all you don’t know that much. And second, sooner or later something will blow: your eyes will shoot out, your aorta will explode, your neck will expand to the height of a regulation basketball rim and contract to the size of a pencil, your ears will shoot steam and it will end.

Seriously.

Here’s some more of  the”What’s Important To The Insane”  agenda for today, fresh from the blogosmear:

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs: State Department Protects Privacy of Imam on CIA Kill List (Imam to 911 Jihadis, Times Square Bomber …
Weasel Zippers: State Department: Anwar al-Awlaki may be on the kill or capture list but he still has a right to privacy
Rick Moran / americanthinker.com: Our State Department’s small problem with enemy identification
Robert / Jihad Watch: State Department refuses to release documents about jihadist on CIA’s kill or capture list, citing his right to privacy
William Teach / Right Wing News: Good News: State Department Protects Terrorist’s Privacy

And this:

TWC / Obama Fail Blog: Update on Obama’s Raid on Gibson Guitar (With Video Transcription)

–Discussion:
Marooned In Marin: Outrageous! Obama’s InJustice Department Goes After Gibson Guitars, Raids Four Factories …
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit: Gibson Guitar CEO: “Obama Justice Department Wants Us to Just Shut Our Doors & Go Away”
The Lonely Conservative: Obama Admin Goes After Gibson Guitar Co, Enforcing Non-Existent Madagascar Law
John / Verum Serum: Heavy Meddle: Gibson’s CEO on the Bureacratic Raid of His Business
Eric Felten / Wall Street Journal: Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear
theblogprof: Good Grief: Feds Raid Gibson Guitars looking for Illegal Wood

Remember, these guys are the same ones who wailed and screeched about Joe Biden’s men “kidnapping” and “imprisoning” a journalist in Florida that the journalist himself wrote a “good grief, this is ridiculous” story about, and nary so much as an Emily Litella “never mind.”

Litella (L)

OK. This isn’t actually for YOU, dear reader. You KNOW what I’m talking about. This is for when somebody asks you (while you share a roasted rat on a stick at a bonfire down by the toxic waste dump) what the heck were they thinking? My last bit of evidence for the Time Capsule:

Greg Wilson / NBC Washington:
Indiana College Bans “Too Violent” National Anthem
–Discussion:
Susan Duclos / Wake up America: Goshen College In Indiana Bans Star Spangled Banner As Being Too Violent- Contact Info Provided
theblogprof: GoodGrief: Indiana College Bans “Too Violent” National Anthem
Maha / The Mahablog: This Is What Freedom Looks Like — Goshen College in Indiana …
Aleister / American Glob: I Hope Goshen College Has A Sizeable Endowment, They’ll Need It
Tina Korbe / Hot Air: Star Spangled Banner ban: Even the wordless music is “too violent”
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain: Tiny Indiana College Likely to Get a Whole Lot Tinier in the Near Future

Onward Christian Soldiers

Here’s from the original (sensationalized) story by NBC:

“I am committed to retaining the best of what it means to be a Mennonite college, while opening the doors wider to all who share our core values,” [Goshen College President] Brenneman said. “And I invite others to join us at Goshen College as we make peace in all of its forms, even with the national anthem.”

Oh damn! They’s CHRISTIANS who is agin’ war? How could this have HAPPENED!??!

I put it down to Sharia Law.

Seriously. And the response is to THREATEN them? Good call.

Christians who are against nonviolence? Git ‘em! Jesus would surely love you for it*  (* had not similarly-inclined persons engineered the nailing of said religious person to a wooden scaffold). Here’s Maha’s take, for the time capsule, and which needs no elaboration:

That is genuine patriotism. Knee-jerk “my country right or wrong” sentiment is not patriotism but jingoism. [quoting from original NBC story]

NBC Sports’ Rick Chandler weighed in, saying: “I suppose we could have followed the example of the Mennonites and simply fled, giving the nation back to the British. But then we’d all be playing cricket.”

I realize it is paradoxical to say that brave men died so that Mennonites have the freedom to oppose brave men dying, but that is in fact what they did. To try to ridicule or bully the Mennonites into compliance with social norms on the grounds of “patriotism” — or even more Orwellian, “liberty” — is a betrayal of the sacrifice so many brave men made….

The hurricane may last the weekend, but the crapstorm never ends.

Courage.