We Have A Media Problem

Convenient Myths

 From "creationism" to "lower taxes for the rich" the GOP is full of them, hell, built upon them:

In fact, if you ranked each year since 1950 by overall job growth, the top five years would all boast marginal tax rates at 70 percent or higher. The top 10 years would share marginal tax rates at 50 percent or higher. The two worst years, on the other hand, were 2008 and 2009, when the top marginal tax rate was 35 percent. In the 13 years that the top marginal tax rate has been at its current level or lower, only one year even cracks the top 20 in overall job creation.

Of course, when you are Diane Sawyer, David Gregory, or any of the network or cable news stars making seven figures what possible personal bias would you have about your own tax rate? That Nantucket or Hampton's kitchen needs another new model of stove and a chance to pay Mario Batali to cook with it.

So screw ever reporting this inconvenient fact, just keep on letting me get that new sailboat.

 Lifted entirely from Rising Hegemon 

Home Front

The plants love the long days (previous post).

I miss the boys, but I do recall how easily I'd be pulled from a deep sleep by the "nom, nom, crunch, crunch" sound of Walter destroying one of the plants.

Truman wasn't interested in plant killing, but seemed to enjoy the early morning drama that Walter regularly created.

The debts of the poor ARE the wealth of the rich.*

"The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Cliché, sure, but it's also more true than at any time since the Gilded Age.

The poor are getting poorer, wages are falling behind inflation, and social mobility is at an all-time low.

If you're in that top 1%, life is grand."

*From here.

For the middle class, the system is gamed to make it impossible to live without debt. It isn't an organic phenomenon—for American style capitalism—it's the plan.

John Fucking Wayne?

Michelle Bachmann

Why on earth would a 21st century politician cite John Wayne—even the actor—as a guide to American life?
Has she grown tired of Ronald Reagan?

John Wayne Gacy (in case you forgot)

Updated:
Matt Taibbi cautions us not to laugh at her candidacy—Kos is there too.

20 Billion

Christ on a cracker...kill. me.

Friday Soundtrack

Whitey (updated)

The Massachusetts news media is throbbing today.

I'm rather certain his life on the lamb was fairly banal, but for the next several days we'll be subjected to countless interviews with bodega clerks and diner waitresses who actually sold him cigars and served him coffee. Riveting!

Update:
How could I not predict the sterling news value of multiple interviews with Boston natives who currently live in Santa Monica.

"Yeah, what a pissah, Whitey Bulger only lived 10 minutes away from me, that's wicked close!"

Trademarkin’®

Dumbshit®

Turd Polisher®

Sarah Palin®

Word Salad Shooter®

Mooselini®

Spiteful Gasbag®

If first you don't succeed...

Why Isn't This Hyperbole?

Tom Tomorrow

Our Soulless Punditocracy

A wealthy ratbastard like Chris Matthews could care less about you and me. As long as he can put his dick in the Republican star chamber, anything Bachmann says is brilliant.

But, once upon a time...



If she believes her own horseshit—she's a winner.

Sunday Talk Show Soundtrack

If it's Sunday, it's the Republican's House of Mirrors (and not just on Fox).

If He Runs, Pray To Your God For Mercy

I'm not crazy about Maher's delivery, but he makes some good points about Texas' latest evangelical disaster.

He strenuously opposed Obama's stimulus plan, but the skewed economic statistics Perry regularly flogs wouldn't exist without it.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Friday Soundtrack

Somewhat related.

Nothing To See Here

USA!USA!USA!

American workers are winning the race to the bottom.

American Corporations are running out of places to store their cash.

h/t Talking Points Memo

An Awesome Three Legged Stool!

Katherine Harris calls in to The Majority Report to support Michele Bachmann's presidential bid.



Janeane Garofalo is hilarious...and the right wing loves her.

American Healthcare Is The Most Awesome Thing In The World!

So ignore this.

"Ask a Briton to describe "American-style" healthcare, and you'll hear a catalog of horrors that include grossly expensive and unnecessary medical procedures and a privatized system that favors the rich. For a people accustomed to free healthcare for all, regardless of income, the fact that millions of their cousins across the Atlantic have no insurance and can't afford decent treatment is a farce as well as a tragedy."

From here.

What Will Be The Next Big Distraction?

Tom Tomorrow

Maybe a shark with a man's penis terrorizing young bathers? How about a shark with a man's penis and it's also scamming Medicare? Maybe a shark...never mind.

Unelected Asshole

Captain of Industry

After David Koch Leaves NIH Board, NIH Hands Down Long-Delayed Classification Of Top Koch Pollutant As A Carcinogen

"Last year, the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported that billionaire David Koch, whose company Georgia Pacfic (a subsidiary of Koch Industries) is one of the country’s top producers of formaldehyde, was appointed to the NIH cancer board at a time when the NIH delayed action on the chemical."

"Faced with mounting pressure from Greenpeace and the scientific community, Koch left offered an early resignation from the board in October."

Two Elected Pricks

"An investigation by ProPublica found that Sens. David Vitter (R-LA) and James Inhofe (R-OK) had used their power to add years of delay to the report. The piece linked Vitter to lobbying from Koch’s Georgia Pacific company, which has plywood plants in Louisiana."

You realize we're losing this game, right?

Work-life Soundtrack