George Carlin -God bless America and other observations

George Carlin's social commentary was genius and fearless. I miss him very much.


Note: This post was updated to replace the original video which was removed from Youtube.

Dust up in Phoenix

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer had a dust up with President Obama in Phoenix today. Gov Brewer was telling everyone who would listen that 'No Drama' Obama was upset with her for her characterization of him in her book.

No one who might have heard what was said is talking, but in this photo it seems pretty clear that it's Gov Brewer who is upset. I suspect Governor Brewer lives in a world where no one disagrees with her to her face.

Photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari / Associated Press.

The next Bloomberg Businessweek cover?

According to BuzzFeed, Bloomberg isn't saying.

Gingrich Family Values

From Ron Dreher at The American Conservative.

Andrew surveys the current state of the GOP

I've long said that the current GOP is the result of it's leaders spending years radicalizing their base, to the point that they can no longer control them, and now those chickens are coming home to roost.

In a long-winded rant, Andrew Sullivan reaches the same conclusion.  Here's the crux,

This is the current GOP. It purges dissidents, it vaunts total loyalty, it polices discourse for any deviation. If you really have a cogent argument, you find yourself fired - like Bruce Bartlett of David Frum - or subject to blacklists, like me and Fox. You can find Steve Schmidt lamenting Gingrich for very good reasons, and then you realize that it was Schmidt - a moderate, sane, level-headed professional - who helped pick Sarah Palin for the vice-presidential nomination. Because he correctly realized that she would actually add base votes and prevent a total Obama tsunami. In the end, he knew what he had to do. In the end, the "establishment" knows the party they have created.

Romney's new FL stump speech goes after Newt

NPR has the audio from Romney's new stump speech being rolled out in Florida.  Romney is now directly attacking Newt Gingrich for his many flaws and failures.

The list of scandals to choose from in attacking Newt is endless, but what's interesting here is how truly awful Romney is at attacking his opponent.  This is a good example of why those Republicans desperate for someone to bloody Obama are turning away from Romney.

Romney's new FL ad hitting Newt

Anyone know if this is running on TV in Florida?

Romney's Cayman Island accounts and the 'job creator' narrative

It's now been widely reported that the Romneys hold millions of dollars (maybe as much as $32M) in Bain Capital Cayman Island accounts.  These 'off shore' accounts allow the Romneys to pay only the 15% capital gains tax on the income derived from these funds as opposed to having the income taxed as ordinary income.

And while there appears to be nothing illegal about these Cayman Island funds, it blows the whole Republican 'job creators' narrative right out of the water.

The GOP has been insisting for years now that millionaires should only be paying the lowest possible tax rate on their income (15% being a favorite) because they are the engines driving American job creation.

So who will be the first to ask Mitt how many jobs his $32,000,000 in the Cayman Islands has created here in the United States? 

Will Newt's second ex-wife end his campaign

I was talking about this today with co-workers and I think it is likely that it will. Many evangelicals know of Gingrich's affairs and mistresses but none of the details. Today, they are willing to hold there nose and vote for him but will they be tomorrow?

From The Economist,

there is a difference between reading an article about Mrs Gingrich and watching her tell her story, in her own words, on network television, two days before a primary election. The conventional wisdom is that Mr Gingrich is already inoculated against the effects of damaging revelations about his personal life. He had better hope that wisdom holds.

Exactly. I think this will peel off enough supporters to wreck his campaign.

But think about how much fun it will be in Gingrich wins SC and slugs it out with Romney all the way to Tampa.

Colbert's Herman Cain Ad

Again, is this running anywhere in South Carolina?

Colbert Super PAC Ad against Romney

Is Colbert's PAC really running this ad in South Carolina?

When Mitt Romney Came To Town

Here is the full 28 minute short film purchased by Gingrich's Superpac taking on Romney's time at Bain. It has surprisingly high production values and is going to be devastating to Romney.

Newt's latest anti-Romney ad

Contrary to the ad's assertion, isn't the real question 'who can beat Obama in the election'?

Take a load off Annie

Wilco with the incomparable Mavis Staples and Nick Lowe rehearsing 'The Weight' in the Chicago dressing room before a December show.



Mavis steals the show but then this isn't the first time she's sang this song. She did the same when performing the song with The Band as part of the concert filmed by Martin Scorsese for the best of his music documentaries, The Last Waltz.

UPDATE:  I decided to go ahead and post the original.  Here is The Band in The Last Waltz performing 'The Weight' featuring Mavis and Pops Staples. Play in 480P for best audio.

Bungee Jumping is Never a Good Idea

22 year old Australian tourist Erin Langworthy fell 364 feet into the crocodile infested Zambesi River when the bungee cord snapped as she jumped off the Victoria Falls while on holiday in Zimbabwe.

She hit the water hard with her legs still bound. She entered the downstream rapids periodically getting sucked under water and then pushed to the surface disorienting her such that she didn't know what was up and what was down. As if there weren't bad enough, She told Channel 9 news,

It was quite scary because a couple of times the rope actually got caught on some rocks or debris. I actually had to swim down and yank the bungee cord out of whatever it was caught on to make it to the surface.

Remember this next time you're traveling and someone says, "hey that bungee jumping looks like fun!"

Erin was lucky enough to be over water. Others have not been so fortunate.