Louie the Gohmert Shoots Off His Mouth

From THINK PROGRESS:

The tragic shooting in Tucson last weekend has sparked a host of proposed legislative responses, but none is as hare brained as Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) idea to allow members of Congress to pack heat inside the Capitol Building, and even when on the House floor. Appearing on WorldNetDaily’s Radio America [Thursday], Gohmert explained the need for his bill by falsely claiming that Washington, DC has a “gun ban” (the Roberts Supreme Court did away with DC’s handgun ban in 2008). But later on in the interview, apparently oblivious to the irony, Gohmert noted that there was a era when lawmakers solved problems with armed duels and warned, “we’ve come a long way since those days and we just don’t need to be reverting backwards” […]

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A Few of My Favorite Zings

To the tune of My Favorite Things (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein):

Health care and midterms and all kinds of fighting,
Rallies and scandals, it was so exciting,
Tea party darlings were at it again,
All this shit happened in 2010.

Nothing but heartache for millions of Haitians,
While dumb old Pat Robertson hurled accusations,
John Roberts’ activist band of Supremes,
Were simply the court of a lobbyist’s dreams.

Pulp Affliction

From Bill Press at THE HILL:

[…] I do not hate George W. Bush. But I still disagree with most of his policies, I still think he was a mediocre president — and I’m not going to change my mind just because he’s out there trying to sell a self-serving book.

Hey, kids, my hand is still being a pain in the…hand, but our buddy and fellow Raisinette, Tengrain, had a challenge over at Mock, Paper, Scissors that I couldn’t resist.  I didn’t overexert myself.  I just took some old posters and put them in the template of Chimpy’s Decision Points (because he’s the Deciderer).  Make sure to check out all the dust covers at MPS. They’re hilarious!

Morning Schmoes

From RICK UNGAR at TRUE/SLANT:

Oh no he didn’t!

In a piece written for the uber-conservative World News Daily [sic it’s WorldNetDaily], Pat Buchanan, MSNBC’s resident crazy uncle, writes in opposition to the nomination of Elena Kagan to serve on the Supreme Court-

Indeed, of the last seven justices nominated by Democrats JFK, LBJ, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, one was black, [Thurgood] Marshall; one was Puerto Rican, Sonia Sotomayor. The other five were Jews: Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.

If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats.

Is this the Democrats’ idea of diversity?

Via World News[sic] Daily

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The less bein’ said about it, the better

From MEDIA MATTERS (May 12, 2010):

Joe Scarborough and MSNBC’s Morning Joe cast devoted nearly half an hour today to discussing discredited rumors that Elena Kagan is gay — even while noting that the White House says she isn’t gay and repeatedly acknowledging that most Americans probably don’t “care.”

…snip…

The discussion occupied much of the first 15 minutes of the show. Despite the fact that there is absolutely no evidence that Kagan is gay and that the White House and Kagan’s friends have unequivocally said that she isn’t gay, Scarborough portrayed the issue as a “bigger question.” Scarborough and Pat Buchanan repeatedly tied the discredited rumors to false claims that Kagan banned military recruiters from Harvard’s campus.

The purported hook for Scarborough’s discussion was the controversy over whether The Wall Street Journal‘s use of a 17-year-old photo of Kagan playing softball was intended to be a reference to the rumors.

Leading off the show, Scarborough said, “Apparently, I didn’t know this, but softball bat symbolizes a certain lifestyle.”

You know, I don’t remember this much scrutiny about  Senator Susan Collins, Harriet Miers, or Condoleezza Rice.  They’re older than Elena Kagan and unmarried.  How do we know that they’re not in…

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Judicial Restraint? Next Time, Put Him in Restraints!

From Glenn Greenwald at Salon:

As I wrote at the time, I thought the condemnations of Rep. Joe Wilson’s heckling of Barack Obama during his September health care speech were histrionic and excessive.  Wilson and Obama are both political actors, it occurred in the middle of a political speech about a highly political dispute, and while the outburst was indecorous and impolite, Obama is not entitled to be treated as royalty.  That was all much ado about nothing.  By contrast, the behavior of Justice Alito at last night’s State of the Union address — visibly shaking his head and mouthing the words “not true” when Obama warned of the dangers of the Court’s Citizens United ruling — was a serious and substantive breach of protocol that reflects very poorly on Alito and only further undermines the credibility of the Court.  It has nothing to do with etiquette and everything to do with the Court’s ability to adhere to its intended function.

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Free Speech Is Gonna Cost Ya

corpocracy

cor·poc·ra·cy // (kôr-pkr-s)

n. pl. cor·poc·ra·cies

1. A society dominated politically and economically by large corporations.

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