Friday, October 31, 2008

In case there was any question that racism is live and well....

... we need just look at the desperate Rethuglicans seeking (for lack of any alternative) to exploit it in order to win their election campaign:
As Tapped notes, earlier this week, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) proclaimed that the the “rush” of African-Americans to the polls has “got our side energized“:

“There has always been a rush to the polls by African-Americans early,” he said at the square in Covington, a quick stop on a bus tour as the campaign entered its final week. He predicted the crowds of early voters would motivate Republicans to turn out. “It has also got o
ur side energized, they see what is happening,” he said.

Similarly, Chambliss has been warning his “predominantly white base” in North Georgia, “The
other folks are voting.”

"[O]ur side", eh?  Guess it's "blacks versus Rethuglicans" down there (and they wonder why no self-respecting blacks vote for them....)

Whether it will work or not, we shall see.  The racists were going to vote Rethuglican anyway. But maybe he will "energize" the foamer RW, and they'll got vote rather than put on robes and lynch someone.

Friday, October 24, 2008

The wheels are coming off the wingnuts' grocery carts....

The S.F. Chronicle has this wonderful LTTE missive from one McInsaniac:
Not world news

Editor - With all that is going on in the world, such as choosing a new president, a financial crisis and Iraq coming to a critical conclusion, The Chronicle chooses to put on its front page a story about Gov. Sarah Palin's wardrobe ("Her pricey duds aren't helping Palin in polls," Oct. 24). Are there any adults running your newspaper?

Yes, it is unfortunate that Sarah Palin doesn't come from a family with a lot of money, plus her husband is just a working-class stiff. And with five children, not a lot of time or money to go shopping for clothes.

She's not a Kennedy, so no trust fund. She didn't marry someone very wealthy, as Sen. John Kerry did. But I must admit, he always looks very chic.

PETER LOMBARDO
San Francisco
Ummm, Peter: News-flash for you. Kerry's not running for president. In fact ... oh, wait, I know who you were thinking about!!! That McCain guy running for president ... the one that married someone very wealthy. You know, the guy on the top slot of the ticket with Palin.

Do these morons ever put their brain in gear before starting to type? Or maybe this moron is just looking ahead to the Palin/Exxon 2012 campaign....

Thursday, October 23, 2008

UFO* sightings from Cloud-Cuckoo Land

* -- "UFO": "You furriner, Obama!"

From the foaming RW pages, we have this gem:
3 hours ago
Obama 'admits' Kenyan birth?
WORLDNETDAILY — Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J. Berg, who filed a lawsuit demanding Sen. Barack Obama present proof of his American citizenship, now says that by failing to respond Obama has legally "admitted" to the lawsuit's accusations, including the charge that the Democratic candidate was born in Mombosa, Kenya... (more)
Here's the permalink to the source over on WhirledNutzDaily.

Newsflash for the wingnuts here: This has already been debunked (as if it needed to be).

One can only hope for Rule 11 sanctions (and much sniggering from the bench) against Philip Berg. But over in Wingnuttia, looks like they need all the moral support (not matter how ridiculous) they can get. I think they'd be better off buying PowerBall tickets ... or investing in that Nigerian fund transfer....


Update

Further descent into insanity documented here:
Conservative radio hosts Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh and Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi -- who appeared as a guest on G. Gordon Liddy's radio show -- suggested or asserted that the true purpose of Sen. Barack Obama's current trip to Hawaii is not to visit his ailing grandmother, as Obama claims, but rather to address rumors -- widely debunked -- that Obama has failed to produce a valid U.S. birth certificate. However, as Media Matters for America has documented, the Obama campaign posted a copy of Obama's birth certificate on its "Fight the Smears" website and reportedly provided the original document to FactCheck.org, whose staff concluded in an August 21 post that it "meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship." A Hawaiian Health Department official also reportedly confirmed to PolitiFact.com that Obama's birth certificate is valid, and even Corsi's employer, the right-wing website WorldNetDaily, reported in an August 23 article that a "WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic."
Any port in a storm, I guess, and they're just reaching for that last dangling thread of hope.... It's sad -- in a way -- that people could be so delusional. But sadder yet that we let such numbnutz vote; this unfortunate (but necessary) feature of democracy has been responsible for the loss of so many lives and so many billions of dollars lately.

More details on Limbaugh's insanity from the MediaMatters link above:
On the October 23 broadcast of his radio show, Limbaugh said:
Who announces days in advance they're rushing to the side of a loved one who is deathly ill, but keeps campaigning in a race that's said to be over, only to go to the loved one's side days later? See, I think this is about something else. You know what's really percolating out there? And I've been laying low on this because it just -- it hasn't met the threshold to pass the smell test on this program. But this birth certificate business, this lawsuit that a guy named Phillip Berg filed in Philadelphia in August for Obama to produce his genuine birth certificate, and he still hasn't replied, he hasn't done so.
Limbaugh later added:
When you first announced this, you're gonna rush, you're gonna hurry, you're gonna make tracks, you're gonna get over there because you don't want your grandmother to die before you got there like your mother did, but somehow you keep campaigning, you take three days to get over there, if he's left yet. And this birth certificate business -- I'm just wondering if something's up. I have no clue, and I -- folks, I'm telling you, this has not reached the threshold until now, and it's now popping up all over the place.

* * * * *

As for Mr. Berg the shyster: Maybe time to file a cross-claim seeking dismissal of his suit on the grounds that he is a space alien from the planet Uranus, and thus has no standing to challenge the eligibility of Obama. If he's not such a space alien, let's see him try to prove it....


Update 2

The Berg suit was dismissed for lack of standing.  RW talk radio foamer Roger Hedgecock was all over this case on his radio show today (Sat., Oct. 25) on KSFO, including an interview with the loony Berg.  Berg says he's going to appeal to the Supreme Court (which ought to garner either immediate dismissal or possible benign disregard, seeing as you need court permission to jump from district court [E.D.Pa] straight to the Supreme Court).  Berg, according to filings, is acting as "attorney pro se".   There's tons of motions for intervention in the suit by other loonies too.  One has to wonder if this is the same as the "Philip Jay Berg" in this case....


Update 3

The Memorandum and Opinion is available here (.pdf).  The lawsuit was dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, primarily for lack of standing.  There's no other way to characterise this 34 page opinion than a big "Get the hell out of my courtroom, you lunatic!" spanking.  Full court docket filings, briefs, and such are here.


"Sentence first -- verdict afterwards"

Rethuglican "justice", Chapter 6:
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) on Wednesday urged President Bush to block all federal funds to ACORN until federal investigations are completed. “It is evident that ACORN is incapable of using federal funds in a manner that is consistent with the law,” Boehner wrote.
The Reverend C.L. Dodgson had these people beat by a century:
'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first - verdict afterwards.'
And in the reality-based world:
'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the sentence first!'

'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.

'I won't!' said Alice.
Nor will I.

BTW, here's ACORN's response to this silliness and demagoguery.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Where have we heard this before?

“I would say it again, I would say it again, because again, according to the information that we have, the association that he’s had with Bill Ayers wasn’t just one or two time sitting on a board together,” Ms. Palin said. “No, there’s been quite a few associations and events and meetings and discussion and emails and calls and to not disavow that too, I think is troubling.”
"... I have a list..."


Update

More from the article:
In the interview she also discussed her personal religious beliefs and said that “faith and God in general has been mocked through this campaign.” She also spoke about the things she prays for and suggested how that faith has helped her through the grueling campaign.

“I don’t know how anybody would want to do this if they didn’t have real strong faith in God that he’s got it all under control,” she said.
What's she going to say on November 5th, I wonder?  Oh, yeah, I know:  "Witchcraft."  ;-)

A silver lining

The nice thing about the Obama campaign and an Obama presidency is that it will drive the racists crazy and flush them out from under their rocks into the open.  They just can't help themselves.  We'll be able to identify them, show people who they are, confront and counter their vile screeds, and make sure that no one of any integrity is ever seen in public next to any of them.


Update