bark, bugs, leaves, & lizards

Rage This

Here’s the lead story at Politico right now:

My question:  Why is Shirley Sherrod’s picture so large and centered amidst such an array of esteemed rage artists?  Certainly she would be justified if she felt rage these days, but she’s not hardly a rager like Joe Wilson and Andrew Breitbart.  I’m not sure I’d even characterize Alan Grayson as a rager, but I get why he’s included–he says mean or exceedingly uncharitable things about Republicans and Politico had to include at least one Democrat.  Likewise, Tucker Carlson is more a dick than a rager.  The article’s authors present Politico as an unwitting witness to right/left wing rage:

as a nonpartisan news site, we face relentless attacks from the right and left, all looking for signs of bias.

I’m not accusing Politico of bias. I just think Politico is frequently lame and superficial. Who benefits from such lame superficiality? Politico, mostly. But I also think bamboozlers benefit because Politico is a leader in creating false equivalences (as well as draining policy questions of their content through an obsession on process), which helps bamboozlers like Breitbart have so much currency. Why does Politico do it?  At heart, Politico writers are party planners.

Note To Students

When  you’re taking an exam and you find a question difficult, whine to the teacher, “You’re not supposed to put any gotcha questions on this test!”

If I Pledge, Will They Stop? [Updated]

NPR this morning did its annual reading of the Declaration of Independence.  Excruciating stuff.  It was like a lame celebrity radio performance of A Christmas Carol–or worse, like the SNL NPR parody bit, but without the occasional laughs.  All those smug, self satisfied voices, one shtick after another … I’m not saying it was torture, but damn, drop the cute and do some freaking reporting.

Update: A little while ago on WWOZ I heard, I think, Johnny Cash reading Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.  Much better.

For & Against

It’s nice to see Republicans have adopted the wishy-washiness Democrats used to be noted for.  Via TPM:

The Associated Press reports: “Kirk was asked repeatedly Tuesday whether he wants the legislation repealed. He would only say that he opposes the new taxes and Medicare cuts to pay for it.”

…

Back in January, when he was still competing in the Republican primary, Kirk signed the Club For Growth pledge to repeal the bill if it were to pass. Two weeks ago, before the bill was about to pass, Kirk declared strongly: “And so, as your senator, I would lead the effort, if it passes, to repeal this bill.”

Fluoridate Your Paranoia

I know John McCain is trying to improve his wingnut credibility but this seems like a weak attempt at it:

“There will be no cooperation for the rest of this year,” Senator John McCain, Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential election, told a radio program, criticizing the way Democrats steered the bill through Congress.

“They have poisoned the well in what they have done and how they have done it,” he said.

It would have been more effective if McCain had charged the Democrats with fluoridating the well.

Tea Bag Nation

Maybe we also need a national memorial and a national holiday to commemorate the 9/12 Tea Party march in D.C.

Latin Quiz

Rich Santorum (as his former collegue Bob Kerrey famously quipped, ‘Santorum’ is Latin for ‘asshole’) thinks Sarah Palin has a gift for …

A. folksy charm

B. reducing the complexities of a world gone mad into a wicked eye wink (remember: winks good, blinks bad!)

C. thermodynamics

D. prose

Yes, Senator Asshole has apparently mistaken prose for poetry.

Hack Attack

Times-Pic today, p. 1, above the fold:

President Barack Obama is planning to address the nation’s schoolchildren Tuesday, with a message that the White House says will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

But some parents in the New Orleans area and elsewhere across the country worried that their children will be subjected instead to a lesson in partisan politics.

Think globally, but always localize.  That’s the local newspaper credo.  Hack editor makes a hack out of a reporter.  Or perhaps the reporter has already internalized the global-localize shtick.

And, of course, what we also have here is yet another example of the right just making shit up.  Let’s hear from one of these concerned parents grandparents, shall we?

St. Tammany public schools spokeswoman Meredith Mendez said parents have expressed concern about the content of the speech. In response, the district has posted information about the speech on the school system Web site, along with a link to the U.S. Department of Education.

“We feel that President Obama’s message is a good message to kids, ” Mendez said, “It’s something we welcome. From what we’ve been told he’s going to talk to them about completing their homework, going to school every day, working hard.”

But Madisonville resident Pat Brister, a Causeway commissioner with grandchildren in St. Tammany schools, said some parents are concerned that Obama’s speech may be about more than schoolwork.

“From what I hear and what it sounded like it’s going to be a political speech more than an educational speech, ” said Brister, a former chairwoman of the Republican Party in Louisiana. “If that’s what’s going to happen, which is what I’m hearing, then it really just is inappropriate.”

Synchronized hackery.

The Sadness Of The Sportswriter

Say a guy can’t decide if he should retire or not. It’s not hard to see why one would be conflicted about it, especially if the potential retiree really, really liked his job, or he got paid a lot to do it.   He gets paid a lot, and it’s fun?  Such is the case with the modern professional athlete, i.e. Brett Favre*. Yet people ascribe Farve’s retirement uneasiness to supreme selfishness and tag him a football diva (I thought they pretty much all were divas, but that’s a whole other matter).  Oh, the histrionics.  You’d think Favre had been caught shooting babies up with steroids.  My favorite of the genre is Ross Tucker in his “Inside the NFL” column. Far be it for me, a naive NFL outsider, to criticize Tucker’s wisdom, but at least allow me to list the “bad messages” Favre’s un-retirement sends to his new teammates, who sound like a bunch of 3 year olds, according to Mr. Insider:

• “Training Camp is not important.”
• “Preferential treatment runs rampant in Minny.”  “Minny” is NFL-insider speak for “Minneapolis.”
• “Favre is selfish at worst, disingenuous at best.”
• “Built-in excuses are OK.”
• “There’s no loyalty or trust.”

Reading Tucker’s column made me want to drive straight to Minneapolis Minny and gather up all the little Vikings and tell them everything is okay, Mommy and Daddy still love you … And poor Mr. Tucker.  It sounds like his whole world has been turned upside-down by Favre. What was up is down.  His teeter won’t totter.**  Sounds like he could use a retirement party.

* I admit to having always been a passive fan of Favre’s, mostly because the year I went to grad school at USM was Favre’s senior year.  I went to his first game back from a broken leg, and sure enough, he unloaded a few bombs and dominated the game. I was something of a Bears fan then and I recall being disappointed when first Atlanta drafted him in the 2nd round after Chicago drafted an offensive tackle who would play only 4 years in the NFL, and again when Green Bay and not Chicago got him in a trade with Atlanta a year later (for a 1st round draft pick that later turned out to be another USM player, Tony Smith, a running back  who lasted only 3 years in the NFL).

** I stole that line from a children’s picture book, My Friend Chicken, by Adam McCauley

One Reason Why I Frequently Resent Living In Louisiana [Updated]

Mary Landrieu is my “good” senator.

Update: Even worse.