We’ve seen it in the extreme and nearly perfect party discipline that allowed the GOP to stage more filibusters over the past year and a half than any political party in American history. We’ve seen it in David Frum’s firing from the American Enterprise Institute for expressing ideas that were critical, not of the party’s ideology, but rather, of its methods. We’ve seen it in the savaging that Red State’s editor Erick Erickson received when (falling out of character for a brief moment) he dared criticize Teabagger darling and money minting machine Sarah Palin. Read more »

A used car salesman can’t get away with selling you a car that he secretly knows will fail just a few miles down the road, so why should your investment adviser be able to peddle stocks that he’s secretly betting will fail?

And yet this, according the New York Times is exactly what investment firm Goldman Sachs was doing to its clients at the height of the mortgage bubble. And it wasn’t just a case of an investment firm selling different types of securities that might, in some cases, have been at cross purposes. According to Federal investigators, Goldman set up many of its investors to fail precisely so the firm could profit: Read more »

As evidence continues to surface and charges continue to fly that high officials of the Catholic Church, including Pope Benedict shielded pedophile priests while threatening their victims with excommunication, the church itself wants you to know that everything is hunky dory:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A senior cardinal staunchly defended Pope Benedict XVI from “petty gossip” on Sunday as the pontiff maintained his silence on mounting sex abuse cover-up accusations during his Easter message.

Petty gossip, you see. That’s all it is. One wonders what malicious gossip might look like?

“With this spirit today we rally close around you, successor to (St.) Peter, bishop of Rome, the unfailing rock of the holy church,” Sodano said. “Holy Father, on your side are the people of God, who do not allow themselves to be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials which sometimes buffet the community of believers.”

Of course such trials can be avoided, can’t they? All we need do is hide the evidence, silence the victims, and shuffle the offenders off to a different diocese.

In early evening, the pope, who turns 83 later this month, was to fly by helicopter to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside retreat in the Alban Hills southeast of Rome, where he will greet pilgrims from the palace courtyard balcony on Monday.

Shortly after the blessing, an electromagnetic bottle of anti-matter will be discovered nearby, whereupon the Pope will snatch it from authorities, climb aboard the helicopter and safely dispose of it at 10,000 feet altitude before parachuting to the ground.

All this nonsense about pedophilia will be quickly forgotten.

Happy Easter, Stinquers!

Greetings, fellow travelers. Once again, it is time to update those of who you on the progress we have made in bringing about the age of the Anti-Christ. As you know, due to the extreme sensitivity of our project, these posts are all closed to public viewing (Since this is my first post of this nature, I got instructions on how to limit viewership to dues paying members from NOJO. I believe I have done it right, though the precise HTML code to use it is a little confusing). Please do not share this post with anyone from outside the INNER CIRCLE.

At any rate, welcome Manchucandidate and all members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Welcome Homofascist and all members of the gay conspiracy. Welcome JNOV and your fellow Masons. Blogenfreude and the Secret Society for World Socialism. Welcome Promnight and the members of the Abortion Maximization Committee. And welcome everyone else whose names and affiliations I simply do not have tie to list in this column. Our numbers are growing rapidly as the age of the Anti-Christ approacheth. Read more »

When it comes to charges of covering up for child sexual predators in the Catholic church, that there are some who will defend the indefensible, with any argument they can muster, probably surprises few. And when charges are leveled against the current Pope, the sophistry of his defenders can stretch the bounds of absurdity to the breaking point. Consider the following quote from a piece by Ratzinger apologist George Weigel:

The New York Times made available on its own website the supporting documentation for the story. In those documents, Cardinal Ratzinger himself does not take any of the decisions that allegedly frustrated the trial. Letters are addressed to him; responses come from his deputy.

Oh, the evil happenings that were taking place right under the future Pontiff’s nose without his blessed knowledge or holy acquiescence! If only somebody of moral rectitude and the wisdom of foresight had been there at the time to warn the good Cardinal of the wicked actions of his deputy, this whole unfortunate mess could surely have been avoided.

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

So the what do you do when you’re a political party, so bereft of ideas, competence and shame that the only people who still come out to support your efforts at reclaiming political power are a pack of gun crazy, racist John Birch conspiracy crazies? What do you do when you’re trying to gain the support of ordinary, middle-of-the-road, citizens even as your most fervent supporters are mobbing the streets of our nation’s capital hurling racist insults at African American politicians and spitting on congressmen as they head to the capital?

Well, based on what’s beginning to emerge from today’s political shows, it would seem that the GOP and its mouthpieces have settled on a simple strategy: deny, deny, deny. If the incident in question was not captured on tape, then simply deny it ever happened. Read more »

Remember that bullet that was fired at one of Eric Cantor’s offices in a despicable attempt to intimidate the Virginia Representative?

Well, it looks like Cantor’s office may not have been the intended target… indeed, based upon the trajectory of the bullet, it looks probable that there was no intended target to begin with… just some redneck in gun-happy Virginia squeezing off a few rounds into the sky to celebrate… well, whatever the fuck rednecks celebrate in Virginia this time of year:

Police said a first floor window was struck by a bullet at around 1 a.m. on Tuesday. The building was not occupied, police said. A preliminary investigation determined that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window at a downward direction, landing about a foot from the window. The bullet had enough force to break the windowpane but not penetrate the window blinds, according to a news release.

There are no suspects, Gene Lepley, a spokesman for the department, said.

So sorry, GOP me-too victims, you’ll need to try a little harder next time if you want to show that Democrats are just as awful as you.