Apocalypse Now?

Rachel Maddow talks to Left Behind authors Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye who dismiss the conviction held by some whackaloons that Obama is the anti-Christ on the grounds that he’s “not popular enough”… concluding instead, that he’s merely preparing the ground for the End Times by ushering in an era of global Communism. Yep, no insanity there.

Leader of the (C)PAC

Here’s corpulent comedian Rush Limbaugh, the interim leader of the Republicanistic Party, telling dittoheads and other “conservatives” at the CPAC in Washington that “conservatives love people.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Sure, Rush. Whatever.

Right-Wing Nuthouse

I can’t post a Tweet, so I’ll just tell you that right now I’m watching the interim leader of the GOP, Rush Limbaugh, delivering a tub-thumping stem-winder to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). I’m sure we’ll have hilarious videos in fairly short order.

In the meantime, from a commenter at Think Progress: “You could not pay actors, nor find actors capable enough, to begin to imitate the level of insanity these people so boldly embrace. How did this mass escape from the Arkahm Insane Asylum miss the mainstream media? No way back to reality for this crew! Stay tuned for their next amusing escapade!” Heh.

Kill the “Zombie Banks”

This segment from Friday’s Bill Moyers Journal is definitely worth watching. Robert Johnson, former managing director of Soros Fund Management and an expert in emerging markets, believes the government’s approach — which he calls “drip intravenous capital injection” — wastes taxpayer money and won’t solve the financial crisis. The Obama administration’s approach, Johnson argues, is too cautious.

Indeed. Nationalize the banks and get it over with. Sack their top management, strip them of their toxic assets and send them back into the market. Call it “restructuring” if that helps get the American people past the irrational fear of nationalization (largely whipped up by vested interests to protect the demonstrably failed status quo).

Where’s the Outrage?

You might think that, being as passionately concerned about accountability and transparency as they are (not to mention inherently suspicious of “big government” schemes), the Bloggin’ Tories would be somewhat perturbed regarding Stephen Harper’s amazing new $3 billion stimulus “slush fund” (or as I’m going to call it henceforth, the “mini-Stim”)…

After all, one can only imagine the shrill chorus of furious outrage that would be emanating from that same group of kooky misfits and unhinged wingnuts had it been proposed by a Liberal government. Doubtless, it would have been blasted for being “undemocratic” or some such thing; and of course, prone to the sort of corrupt cronyism and political patronage as was the case with the ill-fated Sponsorship Program. This would naturally have been followed by indignant charges of “arrogance,” dire talk of potential boondoggles, allegations that the money would simply be going to feather the nests of Liberal MPs or to curry favour with certain voting blocs, and so on.

Yes, to paraphrase a certain fictional character, you might very well think that; but unfortunately, they couldn’t possibly comment.

Real Time: New Rules

Are Americans in danger of becoming “a little people… a silly people”?

“Folks this is not a drill. This is the real thing. Our booze cruise has hit the iceberg… and I don’t want it to sink. We all need to get involved and learn how to do things and make things again. This is the moment when we must steel our resolve, reach through our blanket sleeves, grab our farting phone, and send off a mighty Twitter saying: ‘Yes we can!’” Heh.

Conservatives Biggest Porn Consumers

Here’s something that will totally not surprise you. According to a recent study by the Journal of Economic Perspectives, “conservative” or so-called “red” states spend most on pornography.

Eight of the top ten porn-consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year’s presidential election – Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest ten favoured Barack Obama. Furthermore, residents of 27 states that passed laws banning gay marriages boasted 11% more porn subscribers than states that don’t explicitly restrict gay marriage.

Church-goers bought less online porn on Sundays – a 1% increase in a postal code’s religious attendance was associated with a 0.1% drop in subscriptions that day. However, expenditures on other days of the week brought them in line with the rest of the country, the study found.

Twitter Shmitter

Gawd, here’s another wretched invention that’s destroying civilization. I suspect that clinical psychologist Oliver James is probably correct when he suggests that “Twittering stems from a lack of identity” and guesses that the typical “follower” is likely to be “someone who is young and who feels marginalised, empty and pointless.”

p.s. Hey you kids, get off my lawn!

Future Shock

I’m not sure whether to be impressed or disturbed by a 13 year-old channeling Barry Goldwater.

Update: Here he is addressing the CPAC today. Urgh. The kid is a scary freak.

Kenneth (the Page) Jindal

Wickedly funny YouTubers can do anything!

Fun Fact: According to Jindal family lore, Piyush (his real name) chose to re-brand himself “Bobby” inspired by the sitcom character Bobby Brady after watching The Brady Bunch television series at the age of four.