WWJGD? *

* title is not-so-clever reference to every tea-baggers favorite fictional character created by the uber-elitist atheist and conservative firebrand Ayn Rand.

You ever notice that the world is actually a little better, a little brighter, now that the tea-baggers are actually embracing the "Going Galt" meme? Alaska is better off now that Palin is gone, Carrie Prejean just makes a fool out of herself when she tries to do it, and now CNN is free from the bitter, twitchy, teeth-gnashing of Lou Dobbs. I'm not sure why conservatives insist on claiming that they are taking a stand for what they believe in, because all they are doing is just quitting.

Politico

Veteran CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, whose populist views on the perils of immigration and his repeated questioning of President Barack Obama’s birthplace made him a controversial figure on a network that has traditionally eschewed opinion, announced Wednesday night that he is resigning.


While Dobbs will continue his radio show, he gave no indication of whether he will stay in television—it’s been rumored that he could end up on Fox. Dobbs said on his show “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” that he’s now “considering a number of options and directions,” and that CNN president Jon Klein has released him from his contract, which is not up until 2011. He has been with CNN for 30 years.

Whatever happened to conservatives that had a plan? I mean, even if those plans were even laughably paper-thin - like Karl Rove claiming he was going to spend more time with his family when in reality he just took up new residence inside Roger Ailes' bulbous ass - they at least tried to make it seem like they knew what they were going to do.

And it should be repeated that Ayn Rand's "hero" of Atlas Shrugged left society because he knew that his absence would ultimately lead to the downfall of the economy and various pockets of American society. He "knew" this because of his contribution to the economy and to society. So what precisely do Palin, Prejean, and Dobbs actually contribute that the remainder of America will miss when they leave?

Doctored Audio?

Fox"News" is known to selectively edit footage in order to favor their prefered message of the moment. But take a listen to the audio in this and tell me this this doesn't seem a little suspicious.



To me, this is an obvious overdub of audio in order to make it look like Pelosi is agreeing that people should be jailed if they don't purchase health insurance. And Fox"Nation" is peddling this as a lead headline.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but the audio levels just don't synch-up and that - to me - is just very suspect.

Pallin' Around With Oprah And Sarah

According to the almight Oprah, her interview with Sarah Palin really touched all the bases and should be a fantastic program - airing next Monday.

And while there will likely be dish on things like Trig, David Letterman, Levi, and what it was like to be a Rougey-Mavericky on the campaign trail last year, I wouldn't expect there to be any great discussion on policy - it's not really Palin's strong suit.

But this is standard fare for Oprah's interviewing techniques. She's ridiculously famous and snags all the "top names", but isn't exactly known to have truly hard-hitting interviews. In that regard, Palin is likely to get the treatment she believes she so richly deserves - a softball format only rivaled by the ego sucking droogies at Fox"News". But Oprah had a chance to do this right, as the interview was pretaped this week. I wonder if Palin required that she be able to sign-off on audience members?

So what's in the book anyway?

Kieth Olbermann tackled this on last night's Countdown.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

No index, eh? Are their footnotes?

Considering the auspices under what this furture tome that conservatives will be quoting for at least the next 5 years, I'm doubting the later.

I'm going to be watching the interview, but my expectations are set rather low, as yours should be as well.

Some Thoughts For Your Day

- Conservatives favorite Prima Donna, Carrie "Full Frontal Fingerbang Opposite Marriage" Prejean decided that she would try to get a little saucy with Larry King and refused to answer a very simple, very honest question that is relevant to her story. The show took a bizarre turn when Prejean was speaking with someone off camera and promptly removed her mic and refused to continue when faced with the possibility of having to take a question from a caller. What a strong role-model for conservative women everywhere.

- Michelle Malkin, along with virtually every member of the fringe-conservative movement enyoy invoking the "out of context" phrase whenever they are called out for their rank hypocrisy, ignorance, and plan idiotic blathering. But now Malkin, grande dame of twisting the relevant data of a story in order to push her particular brand of ideological drooling insists that a suggestion by one writer at The Huffington Post is a sign that all liberals and progressives have it out for conservative authors. The party of context strikes again.

- Retired Col. Ralph Peters, a favorite "war-hawk that never saw day one of combat" of Fox"News" found Obama's speech at Fort Hood deeply offensive. This is all to be expected, as this man would likely find the words of Christ offensive should they not include anything about killing all the people that don't worship the way he does. But moreover, Peters seems all to willing to rush to judgement - like the remainder of the conservative media at large - about what truly motivated Hasan to kill. It doesn't help to blame Obama and assume that PC culture lead to these deaths that day.

Some Thoughts For Your Day

- On this Veterns Day, it's important to not only look at what the brave men and women of the Armed Forces have done for this country, but what we should do for them once their time in the service is completed. It's relevant to note that last year over 2200 veterans died because of lack of healthcare coverage.

- In a moment of weakness, Britt Hume let loose with a flash of honesty on Bill O'Reilly's Fox"News" program recently by correcting Bill and stating that a plurality of Americans ( at least 55% ) prefer healthcare reform with a public option. One can only speculate what people like Hannity, Beck, and Fox"News" figure-head Roger Ailes thought of Hume's off-script ad-lib.

- Is it a suprise to anyone that Fox"News" would edit in footage to make a gathering of slobbering conservatives look larger than it really is?

- One would think that people wouldn't assumption that anyone that isn't from this country is a terrorist. Unfortunately, this isn't the case.

- The Prejean book tour and masturbation seminar continued recently with the former Miss California touting that she is going through the same thing as Sarah Palin. It's likely that Carrie is attempting to capitalize on Palin's own rock-star status and hope that by some form of creepy osmosis that she will be seen in the same light. Has anyone noticed the creepy "Stepford Wife" way in which Prejean presents herself in whenever she does interviews?

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Sunny Days

Sesame Street has come a long way since I was a child first watching it. Coming up with what is arguably the worlds penultimate childrens learning program in it's first decade ( even though I don't remember those early days ) I do have fond memories of the show and it's cast. It's been a long and wonderful journey revisiting the place where it was always sunny and the air was clean.



The aliens would have loved late 80s techno.



It wasn't until I was in high school and discovered Monty Python that I first postulated that it was highly possible that Frank Oz and Jim Henson may have borrowed some from this classic Python skit for the "fly in my soup" scene.



And Bert and Ernie were the lovely blend of the Odd Couple and Jay and Silent Bob



There are far to many great moments from Sesame Street from not only my memory but the entire timeline of the Jim Henson classic series. But as times change, the better the guests get.







And now we have the First Lady taking part in the show.

Shock ----- could this be indoctrination? What would Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachman say?!?!?!?!?!





It's hard to believe that it's been 40 years since we first ventured down the street to meet up with Oscar, Big Bird, and learn about reading and what makes our own neighborhood special.

But there was always something about Sesame Street that no other children's program has ever done. They taught us about life lessons, about how the world around us effects us and shapes us. It they taught us about the end, even when the reality of the show and it's cast met with the message that they gave to the children every day.



Happy Birthday old friend. I'm glad you're still around.

The Obama/Hassan Connection b/w Your Patriotism Is Smaller Than Theirs

This was to be expected....



And while it is predictable that someone like Fox"News" and Hannity would draw a direct line from what Hassan did and what Obama has done since entering office, this is about as relevant a line of question as asking what the actions of drunk sorority girls say about the performance of the physics class at your local high school.

But this is one of the not-so-subtle nuances within the broader conservative meme that their love for their country, their patriotism, is so much larger and powerful than your that they are excused from thinking and acting irrationally, as it is in the continued struggle for the soul of the nation.

This is a rather popular line of reasoning with conservatives on Twitter. I can't count the number of times that I have encountered a profile on Twitter that espouses a person's patriotism, how they are the ultimate patriot, or even using the word patriot for their name.

Patriotism isn't really something that you laud upon yourself, and certainly not to the extent that these people are doing it. Coupled with their willful ignorance towards most of the history of this country, they come off as arrogant amateurs of socio-political thought.

But the Obama/Hassan connection is relevant only in their minds, remember that. They feed of the very notion that Obama has actually done something that made this man think he needed to kill these people. They need to feel this way toward not just Obama, but to anyone who does not toe the line of Hannity, Beck, and Bachman. And, as we all know, that's the wingnut holy trinity.

Validation Of The Dunces

Why is Obama Administration caving to Fox”News” / Tea-Bagger demands?

I can understand the logic behind “keep your friends close but your enemies closer”, but the Obama administration really needs to stop validating the inane ramblings of Glenn Beck and his drooling band of tea-bagging sychopants.

The White House on Tuesday shook-up its communications team, with Anita Dunn stepping down and an aide taking over President Barack Obama's vaunted messaging machine.
Dan Pfeiffer will become White House communications director and Dunn will became an outside adviser to Obama's White House, officials said. They expect the full transition to take place before the end of the year.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions that had not yet been announced.

What precisely is their rationale behind this? After all, it does nothing but create the illusion that Fox and their nation of fringe-conspiracy theorists are credible sources of information. Their incessant gloating will only be amplified because of this decision. But who’s decision was it?

Is this Anita Dunn taking one for the team so that this issue will go away? Because it’s not going away. The Obama administration could ressurect Christ, Ronald Reagan, and General Patton and conservative prattle-heads would concoct some sophomoric rumor. They would insist that Jesus was getting the White House press pool drunk on wine before press-conferences, that Reagan was being silenced, and that Patton was too far to the left now and wanted to tone down our presence in Afganistan.

What is the logic in this? I could kind of understand why Van Jones left, but the rank hypocrisy with which the conservative media has gone after Dunn simply boggles the mind