Douchebag of the Day

But but but but but they’re WHITE!!!
The Muslins are not. So that’s okay!!!

Aside from the obvious racism, there is also the “Do as I say not as I do” aspect of GOPers that makes them such, er, loveable scamps.

Considering what I know of the history between Ireland and the UK, I don’t blame the Irish for being pissed with the Brits in fact I understand it. On the other hand would I blame some Brits for wanting to napalm the St Patty’s day (only 7 days till) parade in NYC? Not really.

About the only good thing so far is that the yokels haven’t rounded US America Muslims up and put them in camps (but it’s not like they haven’t thought about it… right Michelle Malkin?)

Oh oh. Drop shadow. This will not fly with Catt.

I was in London when the IRA was setting off bombs. Then when we got here I was at the theatre and an usher was wearing a ‘Britain out of Ireland’ pin which caused me to lose it very publicly. Let’s face it, the IRA was entirely funded by Americans. Whatever one thinks of England’s long occupation of Ireland (because really they can’t be left to do things by themselves because, let’s face it, they’re Irish. You wouldn’t give a child a box of matches would you?) bombing the West End was not the solution. In fact it set back finding a solution by many years.

King’s pro IRA activity has apparently been given a green light by Clinton and Blair (remember him?) as having been a positive influence. Who knows what’s true?

The funniest part is comparing King’s response to criticism of his crazy-ass hearing to his fellow travellers’ response to the 2009 DoJ report about the rise of right-wing extremism.

@al2o3cr: True.

@ManchuCandidate: For many years the English didn’t think of the Irish as white but as some kind of monkey hybrid to be used, starved, beaten, and generally kept in their place.

@Right Reverend Benedick:
Replace Irish with Korean and English with Japanese, White with Human… yeah it all sounds kind of familiar.

Although considering the number of invasions that when through Korea, I joking refer to it (to my dad’s disgust) as Poland of Asia.

@Right Reverend Benedick: Yes, that drop shadow should be a capital offense.

So, what do you think, everybody, are moderates going to look at this behavior (and the various shenanigans newly-minted Republian/Teabag governers) and trend left in the next cycle? Or are we utterly fucked and going to face a repeat of the last four Clinton years?

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: A repeat? We’re already there. Gitmo is now open indefinitely.

@nojo: Gitmo was open under Clinton?

I was talking about a rabid, right-wing house bent on the destruction of a Democratic president, but your point is well-taken.

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: Yeah, I was omitting a step. The comparison was to the Dick Morris Clinton.

Appropriate sentiment, for the anniversary of the firebombing of Tokyo.

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: I think we’ve been there since, as they say, day one. I was interested that, while ignoring events in Madison, David Gregory was running a half-hour celebration of the 2nd anniversary of teabagging without, it seems, having any awareness of what that means: that it is not a reaction to anything the Obama administration did or did not do but was planned to derail him from before he even began.

I wish some of you here were union members. I wish that in the US the professional class are not part of the labor movement: janitors are unionized why not lawyers? You’d get tea breaks. And we have no history of class struggle (to borrow a phrase from Vanessa Redgrave and my great uncle) to lend support.

I find the revolt of the unions the most significant thing to have happened since Obama became preznit. And without the teabaggers dropping their balls there would not be the same level of indignation. Like the rest of us, teachers in WI are sick to death of looking at morans bussed in by Dick Armey demanding that govt get its hands off their medicare. The great danger is that the Republicans drive a wedge between the public and private sector unions. So far they haven’t managed. If I can make this be about me for just a moment, in the last round of negotiations between Equity (stage actors) and the League of New York producers, the assoc of types who produce on Broadway and which is responsible for the Tonys telecast (I know) it was only when the other craft unions, musicians and IATSE, stood with us that management folded. It’s the first time that ever happened and only because, in its last round of negotiations, AEA pre-emptively offered to help IATSE whose negotiators then got the clause promising not to strike for other unions removed from its new contract. When unions stand together shit gets done.

And no, I will never ever cross a picket line. The people’s flag is colored red.

Fuck. I just called King’s DC office (I know!) and now I’ve got a headache. But I remember being in a theatre when bombs went off in the alley outside. E Stritch was onstage and behaved with such class and style I was almost glad it had happened.

@Right Reverend Benedick: Offhand, do you know of any Americans who died in IRA attacks? There’s a related King quote I’m considering, but I need to hunt down the background.

@nojo: Wikipedia’s timelines (1970-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999) suggest that there were no American fatalities.

@mellbell: Ah, but Salon does the research…

Here’s the quote:

Of comparisons between the terrorism of the I.R.A. and that of Al Qaeda and its affiliates, Mr. King said: “I understand why people who are misinformed might see a parallel. The fact is, the I.R.A. never attacked the United States. And my loyalty is to the United States.”

And here’s the detail:

In the notorious December 1983 strike on Harrods in London, for example, an IRA car bomb was set outside the department store in the early afternoon during the busy Christmas shopping season.

The bomb killed six people — including an American citizen — and injured another 90.

No point saving this for later. The day’s starting to get cluttered.

@nojo: Fair enough, but Wikipedia is actually on the ball. While a quick and dirty search of the timelines for American, US/U.S., or United States (what I did) turns up nothing, the 1980s timeline links to a separate article about the Harrods bombing, which notes the American death.

@mellbell: No, you did fine. Salon had to dip into Nexis to score.

Oh and plus, the UK is our ally.

The Harrod’s bomb was after we’d left.

@nojo: Ahh, yes, you’re not a murderer unless you murder me. Thats not a narcissistic view of the world, is it?

@Prommie: I love that logic pattern:

“You’re not a plumber unless you plumb me”.
“You’re not a sucker unless you suck me”
“You’re not a pig unless you pig on me”

There’s a zen quality to it.

Speaking of terrorism: OH HEY LOOK ILLINOIS ENDS DEATH PENALTY

(God, the kill ’em all trolls have been lively today on the message boards. I decided to rattle one such board and got a feeble “you’re an idiot” from one in the “charge ’em for the bullet” caucus. That’s it. I got no problem with doing an end-zone dance on this one against folks such as these.)

@chicago bureau: Rad.

Wisconsin offers us a twofer this evening:

WI GOP Senate leader admits the whole tapdance is about improving Republican chances for President in 2012

WI Rethugs split union-busting out and pass it without Dems, constitution be damned

Sorta puts the lie to the whole “WE MUST DO THIS FOR TEH BUDGETZZZZZZ” business, doesn’t it?

@al2o3cr: Full-blown post on this just posted by me, right here. But the balls it took to pull this off — as almost a complete surprise, insofar as the timing and movement of it all — must have been the size of Nantucket.