Ayn Rand Barbie Speaks

"Of course, predictions are hard, especially about the future."

No doubt McArdle will claim she's making a funny, but her whole column is chock full o'  such boneheaded drivel.

At this point, it's just a matter of time. In some sense, the sexual revolution is over . . . and the forces of bourgeois repression have won.

That's right, I said it: this is a landmark victory for the forces of staid, bourgeois sexual morality. Once gays can marry, they'll be expected to marry. And to buy sensible, boring cars that are good for car seats. I believe we're witnessing the high water mark for "People should be able to do whatever they want, and it's none of my business." You thought the fifties were conformist? Wait until all those fabulous "confirmed bachelors" and maiden schoolteachers are expected to ditch their cute little one-bedrooms and join the rest of America in whining about crab grass, HOA restrictions, and the outrageous fees that schools want to charge for overnight soccer trips.

Either McArdle thinks the "sexual revolution" was a gays-only phenomenon or she thinks that the availability of marriage cannot coexist with the choices not to marry and to fuck without a wedding ring.  And she's apparently never considered that equality of rights is a good thing independent of any desire to exercise such rights.  

What McArdle actually thinks is that marriage is all about the accumulation of wealth and saying "screw you" to losers who are unlike her. 

That's why McArdle has never supported marriage equality, and still does not.  (She concedes the inevitability of marriage equality, but never the immorality of inequality.)  And why she's hopeful that unmarried sluts and their bastards will once again suffer public prejudice and shame.  Because the more people she can say "screw you" to, the happier she is.

(via alicublog)

The Tuckerho Chronicles

The sordid tale of Tucker Carlson and his relations with prostitutes gets even more interesting:

[Dominican district attorney Jose Antonio] Polanco said that [Melanio] Figueroa gave police an account describing his involvement in the taping, starting in October. He said he was approached by Carlos about the idea in the fall, and they met in a small bar in a Santo Domingo shopping center to discuss the details, according to Polanco. Figueroa said the foreign man gave him a $2,000 “advance” to make the arrangements for the interview, Polanco said.

In comments reported by Univision, Polanco said that Figueroa stated he has been contacted by four media outlets — Telemundo, Univision, CNN en Español and the Daily Caller — that were interested in interviewing the women. But Figueroa told police it was only “Carlos,” who identified himself as working for the Daily Caller, who came to the Dominican Republic and paid him to arrange the recorded interviews, according to an interview with Polanco.

Tucker Carlson and The Daily Choler deny that any money changed hands between "the Daily Caller and any sources or individuals connected with this investigation, nor did anyone named Carlos travel to the Dominican Republic on behalf of The Daily Caller." 

The most obvious explanation is that "Carlos" is Robert "Mickey" Kaus, whose name is not Carlos, and that Carlson told Kaus he'd pay him back the $2,000, but never did.

Penii For The Fjords

The lineup for the August 2013 National Review Cruise in Norway has just been announced, and it's even more of a sausage fest than usual.  Every one of the "guest speakers" on the cruise, from Jonah Goldberg to Dick Morris to John Podhoretz, is a genetic male.  Not a single lady, or Maggie Gallagher, among them.  I suppose this makes sense if your target customers are elderly widows and confirmed bachelors of a certain age.  

Though National Review has already reduced the price at least once, "convservative cruisers" will still enjoy all of the following:

Scintillating seminars with NR editors and guest speakers, along with plenty of passenger Q&A.

Plenty of chances to meet, schmooze and enjoy personal interaction with our special guest speakers.

Exclusive Parties and Dining with our special guest speakers. You will dine with your fellow National Review attendees, so that you have the chance to meet many of your fellow conservative cruisers.

Intimate dining on two evenings with a guest speaker or editor.

Three revelrous cocktail receptions.

One late-night "smoker" featuring world-class H. Upmann cigars.

And should the thinkable, but nevertheless tragic, happen, cruisers will get to see Paul Johnson or John O'Sullivan sent to his eternal reward atop an authentic Norse funeral pyre.

The Paul Movement

Our boy Brian Do'herty is off his meds:

"This was a very big deal. In 36 hours, the Republican Party has completely changed," said Brian Doherty, a senior editor at Reason [sic] magazine who has been covering the Paul movement for two decades.

"You literally saw the shift happen over the course of the day," Doherty said. "It started with Rand Paul, and then it was just [Sens.] Mike Lee and Ted Cruz. And then you had people like Marco Rubio and Saxby Chambliss joining in. And by the end of it, [Republican Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell was on the floor saying he was going to block [CIA Director John] Brennan's confirmation, and [RNC Chairman] Reince Priebus was tweeting that Senators should go join Rand Paul."

And then, by the end of that, Brennan was confirmed. 

Yes, before Rand Paul blathered, Republican politicians never sought to take advantage of free publicity or to obstruct a Democratic president's agenda.  It's Year One ... in spades!

One paragraph later, and Brian is already hedging his bets:

"Who knows, maybe in two years, the filibuster won't seem like a big deal," he added. "But today, it feels like everything has changed. Today, it feels like the Republican Party is different." 

Feelings, whoa, whoa, whoa.... feelings.

Brian, you should know better.  When you see a Paul movement, you don't cover it.  You just flush.

How Can You Tell When Tucker Carlson Is Lying?

His website is publishing.

2013 - 2008 ≠ 8

The 20th century has arrived in California:

By a nearly two-to-one margin (61% to 32%), California voters approve of allowing same-sex couples to marry. This represents a complete reversal in views about the issue from 1977, when The Field Poll conducted its first survey on this topic, and is the highest level of support ever measured by the poll.

Approval of allowing marriage between two people of the same gender includes majorities of men and women, voters in all racial and ethnic groups, and Californians living in each of the major regions of the state. The only subgroups where majorities remain opposed are registered Republicans and voters who classify themselves as conservative in politics.

The icing on the cake would be if Prop. 8 backfired so horribly that it is declared to be in violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of bigots.

Geller Skelter

You know when you accuse someone of sucking donkey dicks and that person inexplicably disinvites you from his or her wedding?  Seems our Pam Geller Oshry has had a a similar experience with the Conservative Political Action Comic-Con.

And after all she's done for CPAC:

Pamela Geller, the most vocal of the activists opposed to the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” to be built two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center, said Friday that the Conservative Political Action Conference she was speaking at had itself been “corrupted” and “compromised by Muslim Brotherhood activists.”

Speaking at a non-official CPAC event on Friday afternoon [in February 2011], Geller said that many members of the board of the American Conservative Union had to go because they were allowing the event to be infiltrated by Muslim Brotherhood activists.

“If you look at the agenda of CPAC, look at all of the panels and then look at your daily news headlines, they’re either clueless or complicit,” Geller said. “And I’m telling you that before you throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are 12,000 people that come to this event that don’t know they’ve been completely sold out by CPAC leadership. We have to take CPAC back, you can’t create this again.”

Seems CPAC is still wary of a Tea Hall Putzch, and has once again not invited Geller to participate as a speaker, lest she lead the unwashed masses in a revolution to take back that which they didn't build.

The Joan Rivers of anti-Islamists is claiming that "for the first time in five years, I won't be at CPAC."  (No direct link to the loon.)  However, the TPM article makes its sound like she hasn't been invited to speak at an official conference event since at least 2011, so apparently this time she isn't content with showing up and paying for a ticket like all the other schmucks.

I'm just glad Andrew Breitbart isn't alive to see this.

Kathleen Parker, the O'Doul's version of Peggy Noonan, chimes in on the Gene Sperling vs. Bob Woodward Battle Royale with Cheese.  

Again, Woodward’s kneecaps are probably safe, but the challenge to his facts, and therefore to his character, was unusual, given Woodward’s stature. And, how, by the way, might Woodward come to regret it? Sperling’s words, though measured, could be read as: “You’ll never set foot in this White House again.”

When reporters lose access to the White House, it isn’t about being invited to the annual holiday party. It’s about having access to the most powerful people on the planet as they execute the nation’s business.

But Woodward made himself a household name without access to the White House.  He was a metro reporter when he was assigned to the Watergate break-in.  He wasn't a White House reporter, or a political reporter, nor did he have access to the most powerful people in the Nixon White House as they executed the nation's business.

In contrast, what did Woodward do when he got unparalleled access to the most powerful people people on the planet?  He transcribed their justifications for the invasion of Iraq without ever reporting that their claimed cause for war was a lie.  And said nothing as the Bush Adminstration executed women and children and other Iraqi non-combatants based on that lie.

Time For Another Bloggers' Ethics Panel

Josh "SuperHacks" Trevino made nearly 400K (gross) over three years shilling for the Malaysian government, without disclosing his payoffs and his paymasters to the rubes who hired him and his beards.

The payments to conservative American opinion writers — whose work appeared in outlets from the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner to the Washington Times to National Review and RedState — emerged in a filing this week to the Department of Justice. The filing under the Foreign Agent Registration Act outlines a campaign spanning May 2008 to April 2011 and led by Joshua Trevino, a conservative pundit, who received $389,724.70 under the contract and paid smaller sums to a series of conservative writers.

...

Trevino's subcontractors included conservative writer Ben Domenech, who made $36,000 from the arrangement, and Rachel Ehrenfeld, the director of the American Center for Democracy, who made $30,000. Seth Mandel, an editor at Commentary, made $5,500 (his byline is attached to the National Review item linked to above). Brad Jackson, writing at the time for RedState, made $24,700. Overall, 10 writers were part of the arrangement.

"It was actually a fairly standard PR operation," Trevino told BuzzFeed Friday. "To be blunt with you, and I think the filing is clear about this, it was a lot looser than a typical PR operation. I wanted to respect these guys' independence and not have them be placement machines."

That Box Turtle Ben was a recipient of Malayasian largesse should also surprise no one.  The Malaysian government probably wrote his pieces too.

Given that nobody takes Trevino seriously, it seems the Malaysian government overpaid by roughly  $389,724.40. 

Is It Low T?

Rejoice! TBogg is not hanging up his snark.

Hopefully he will not have to resort to "The He Hormone" to keep blogging, like Sully and me.

Rubbin Your Nose In It

Over at the Neocon Post, Jennifer "J-Rubb" Rubbin is blasting Sen. John McCain and Lindsay Graham for ignoring AIPAC's sovreignity over their manhoods.  In the course of that tedious argument, Rubbin posits that the Hagel nomination is the equivalent of the Harriet Miers nomination, and that the abortion of the Harriet Miers nomination is proof of the G.O.P.'s moral superiority.  You seen, the Miers nomination proved that the G.O.P. faithful wouldn't just go along with whatever Bush dictated -- the rank and file demanded competence.

In reality, Miers was torpedoed not because she was an idiot, but because she was unreliable idiot.  The religious right wasn't confident she'd destroy precedent and reinstate theocracy.    They wanted a sure thing ideologically, and would have accepted any ideologically sure thing, regardless of low i.q. or perverted moral character.  (Exhibit A: Clarence Thomas.)  "Souter in a skirt" was not a reference to intellectual ability. Of course, almost all of the right-wing pundits, bloggers and parasites criticizing Miers were even stupider that she is, so the game was up as soon as it started.

Once again, Rubbin is lying.  Not just about Hagel, although she's lying about him too. Rubin is either angling for a judicial nomination by the next Republican president, or for Marshall Wittmann's job.

Why Do You Keep Hitting Yourself?

Over at The Children's Corner, toothsome dolt Hadley Heath waxes moronic:

Second, VAWA’s ideological foundation assumes that violence against women is caused by pure sexism. This presumption is actually sexist toward men, and ignores proven causes of domestic violence, such as substance abuse, psychological disorders, and marital instability.

Marital instability is a proven cause of domestic violence! I had to hit her because her objections to me hitting her were destroying our marriage. Everything was fine before she started complaining. And her complaining made me drink and go nuts, too. Who's the real victim here?

Of course, the Violence Against Women Act isn't limited to domestic violence. And there are countless rapists and wife beaters who rape and/or beat men just as often as they rape and/or beat women, so the assumption that sexism is involved in rape and wife beating is actually reverse sexism!

The Oxford History of Kaus as Goatblower

The definitive treatise on the hairless hack's love life, all in one convenient link.

One of the links even eventually brings you back here.

The hack was last seen at the Daily Choler,  accusing Rupert Murdoch and Sean Hannity of  dolchstossing his salad on immigration.

Republican Family Values: I Lost My License, Now I Don't Drive

Life's been good:

After insisting he wasn’t a “deadbeat dad” throughout his failed campaign for re-election, ex-U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh is still dogged by questions about child support.

Walsh, a flame-throwing Tea Party Republican who was trying to land a radio deal and last week announced he was forming a new conservative SuperPAC, filed court papers seeking to end his obligation to pay $2,134 per month in child support.

But once again, Walsh insists he’s no deadbeat.

Both he and his attorney say that since he is no longer employed as a congressman, they want to “modify” the previous agreement so that he pays 20 percent of his current salary.

Walsh is not currently employed and has no salary. But that could change, he said.
“I’m working on it,” he said.

Is anyone surprised that no one will employ this scumbag?

Sympathie für den Kriegsverbrecher

Advertising used to be much simpler, and cheaper.

We built the tanks
With slave labor ranks
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Link via.

Reliable Bitches

On today's Reliable Dumbasses, Howie "the Putz" Kurtz chatted with Dana Milbank regarding "the Media's Lovefest With Hillary Clinton."

Yes, the Dana Milbank who called Secretary of State Clinton a "Mad Bitch."

You won't be surprised to learn that the Putz didn't bring up that reference when questioning Milbank about media treatment of Secretary Clinton.  Like Howie's own undisclosed conflicts, Dana's don't merit a mention.

The Assrocket's Red Glare

A little over a month ago, Assrocket Hinderaker told us, "No one tries to shoot up a biker bar."

Assrocket has once again been proven wrong:

A former Navy SEAL known for claiming a record number of sniper killings in Iraq was killed Saturday at a gun range. And the man charged in his death was a fellow veteran, a military official says.

Chris Kyle, 38, was author of the best-selling "American Sniper: The autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history." He and 35-year-old Chad Littlefield, also a veteran, were gunned down Saturday afternoon in Glen Rose, Texas, southwest of Fort Worth, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Police arrested suspect Eddie Ray Routh, 25, and served him with two felony warrants for capital murder.

         ...

At the range, investigators found 25 to 30 weapons, including handguns, long guns and AK-47s, Bryant said. Authorities do not yet know which weapon or weapons were used to kill.

Kyle leaves a wife and children.

(No link to the Ass.)

All the Single Ladies

Kathryn Jean Lopez, on 1/27/13 C-SPAN airing of a National Review Institute panel of ladies:

"So how can we get single women to realize that the government is not their husband....?"

If K-Lo didn't exist, Jane Austen would have to be reanimated just to invent her.

(No link up yet.)

Fraction of a Half-Wit

Howie "The Putz" Kurtz deployed one of my pet peeves in this recent post:

Fox News offered Sarah Palin a new contract before she decided to part ways with the network where she has held forth as a commentator for the last three years.

However, it would be hard to describe it as a generous contract....

The new contract offered by Fox, say people familiar with the situation, would have provided only a fraction of the million-dollar-a-year salary. It was then, they say, that Palin turned it down and both sides agreed to call it quits.

He did this again on his CNN show today.

The Putz uses "a fraction" as a synonym for "a small fraction."   $999,999/1,000,000 is a fraction of one million dollars.  It is, in the context of Sharia Plain, an insanely generous contract offer.  

I suspect that the Putz uses the term "a fraction" because no one will tell him what the actual offer was, or because he promised O'Reilly he wouldn't mention a specific dollar amount or percentage.  Most likely, the Putz is just assuming what everyone else is -- that FOX has wrung the last useful dollar out of Palin and would be insane to keep paying her at the expired rate.  As a media reporter, Kurtz is a joke.

Comic Strips Welcome the 20th Century

Dick Tracy greets a gay couple:



http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2013/01/22

The possibly Asian character (George Tawara) is based on George Takei.  Regrettably, the strip doesn't identify Brad as George's husband.   

And while this represents progress of a sort, The Mole has been reduced to working as maître d’hôtel at a Lawry's Steakhouse knockoff, at least until Dick Tracy brains him with a garden hoe.

Meanwhile, Gil Thorp is exploring interracial dating, in black and white.  Still no romance between Gil and Marty Moon.



We all need to meet the peacock sometimes.

http://www.gocomics.com/gilthorp/2013/01/19