Cool, Cool Considerate Men.... or, "Why I'm Glad to Live in Costa Rica, Part 3,235"

Because the following are all candidates for election who have already passed the primary hurdle:



Via Dr. Monkey


Post title from this:

In Which I Am In Agreement With Abraham Lincoln*

(via Lockwood DeWitt)


*Me being in agreement with Abraham Lincoln, as I know him to have been, is not especially noteworthy, but I needed a title for this post.

Revisionist Much?

You may remember the Texas Board of (mis)Education, controlled by people with -- at best -- a tenuous grasp of reality ... and a huge rightwingnutty bent? We've seen before that they removed Thomas Jefferson from the Enlightenment influences, the term "capitalism", and inflating the importance of Conservative Causes over the last 30 years.

Well, I just came across this tidbit:

The education board has dropped references to the slave trade in favour of calling it the more innocuous "Atlantic triangular trade", and recasts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as driven by Islamic fundamentalism.

As disgusting as this is, it does give me the opportunity to post a clip from Teh Bestest Movie EVAR, aka 1776:

USA: Home of the Proudly Stupid

Oy. Via LGF, comes this:

Today’s right wing jawdropper: in Alabama, the “True Republican PAC” is running an advertisement mocking Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne for supporting the teaching of evolution in schools.

Yes, you read that right — these “True Republicans” are so proudly, invincibly ignorant that they’re making fun of a fellow Republican for not being a moron.

Except — Byrne actually is a moron too, just like the “True Republicans.” And he’s outraged that his moron credentials were questioned.

Byrne responds to this “despicable attack” with a statement: “I have never wavered in my belief that this world and everything in it is a masterpiece created by the hands of God… I fought to ensure the teaching of creationism in our school text books.”

[...]

The group that’s funding the “True Republican PAC?”

The Alabama Education Association.

Chanelling Copying Roger Ebert

From a couple days ago comes Roger Ebert's masterful takedown of Glenn Beck. Here's my favorite bit:

Beck even went so far as to cite Jesus Christ, saying, and I quote: "Nowhere does Jesus say, Hey, if somebody asks for your shirt, give your coat to the government and have the government give them a pair of slacks." Well, Beck has me there. It is quite true that nowhere does Jesus say that. Nor, for that matter, does he ever say, A wop bop a lu bop, a wop bam boom!

Tutti Frutti, thy name is Glenn Beck.

(h/t to PZ Myers, who needs me linking to him like I need to gain a few pounds, but there it is)

Today In Hilarity

This right here.

Wonderful! As the son of a teacher, I can attest to the fact that some parents will bitch about anything rather than take responsibility for the failure of their child (or children). Interestingly (and I use that term quite ironically), the ones who complain about "teacher didn't do" this or that to coddle, cajole, etc. their precious kid -- up to and including giving them an undeserved passing grade (because it would make the dear child feel bad to be left behind a year, or other equally ridiculous reasons... my favorite was the "Do you know who I am?" to which my mom replied, "Do you know who I am? I'm the teacher."... My mom kicks ass, I tells ya) -- are the ones who scream the loudest about the evils of the "Nanny State", and, not coincidentally, are the ones who think President Barack Hussein Obama is a Islamo-Communo-Fascist racist. Strange, innit?

(h/t to Angelos, via Facebook)

Good News and Bad News

First, the bad (and it's not all terrible or anything, but... well, you'll see)

Devotees of the Cold War will remember the Domino Theory.

I had a shining example of that this morning that resulted in my computer desk overturning and my monitor going bang on the floor.

And my coffee press.

On a tile floor (like most all floors in Costa Rica).


The press is smashed.

The monitor, which is LCD, still "works", but approximately 1/3 of it is ... no more. A nice diagonal from the top right of the screen to the bottom center -- and everything to the right of that diagonal is blank.

Which makes it tough to do ... a lot of computer things.

Like edit and post a photo of the smashed coffee press. Which is why there isn't an accompanying photo for this post.

.
.
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Oh, and the good news is, I can still use the monitor enough to write this post.


So, anyone know where the best place in Costa Rica is to find both a coffee press and LCD monitor cheap?

Endangered Species

The TV journalist who tells the truth:



Wow. Shame there's not more of that kind of reportage.

(h/t to Bob Cesca)

Photo of the Morning

(h/t to Foiled Goil at Big Brass Blog)

Wow.

I just did something I've never done before. I followed a link from a blog post to Free Republic. And... wow. There's a long (" * * R O U G H * * D R A F T * * " -- yeah, ya think) post about overthrowing the government and fixing things. If you want to see full-blown winger lunacy, then follow this link.

I think the best part is this:

...Therefore, We the People of America choose to exercise our right to throw off and alter the abusive government by peacefully recalling and removing from office the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States and all U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives effective immediately. An interim provisional Chief Executive and congressional representatives will be established as follows: The Secretary of State shall immediately assume the office of interim Chief Executive....

Hey Freeper Dude, you do realize that Hillary Clinton is SecState, don't you?

I think this shows just how unhinged these people have become in their desire to get Obama out of office. They're willing to install ... a woman, and not just any woman, but the pantsuit-wearing, all-emasculating wife of the Clenis!!1! (and, yes, I'm being over-the-top sarcastic)

As I said in the post title, wow.

(h/t to Wonkette)

Holy Crap, That Was A Big Ass 'Splosion

Fireworks explosion kills 3 in N.C., 1 in Pa.

It's a sad (and unfortunately not unusual) post-4th article, but whoever wrote that headline needs... help.

It's Steele-eriffic

(h/t to Lee Stranahan at Bob Cesca's place)

Moar Tea Party Fail

(h/t C&L, who got it from The Seminal)

You Can't Have A Revolution Without Breaking A Law Or Two, You Know

"We have a million tea bags here, and we don't have a place to put them because it's not on our permit," said Rebecca Wales, lead organizer of D.C. Tea Party.

h/t to Bob Cesca, who adds: "The same thing happened to the Sons of Liberty. Except for the fact that it didn't."

If these teabagging idiots weren't also semi- to abso-fucking-lutely nuts (not to mention owners of assault rifles), then this would be the most hilarious thing ever.

Quote of the Day, Part Deux

"this is america, it was fromed on GOD, and our lanunage is ENGLISH" -- "gail" from Alex Jones' website (h/t to C&L commenter sienna)

I wonder who really fromed her lanunage?

LOL!

Speaking Of A Crisis Of Competnce

With a hat tip to Jesus' General, here's a compilation of quotes from Fundy Forums:

Posted Without Comment

(h/t to Bob Cesca)

Rass'n Frass'n Consarn Idjit....

That would be me.

I was doing some computer maintenance last night and somehow deleted a key bit of Windows.

Yeah. Brilliant, eh?

So I don't quite have the BSOD*, but it's close, as the computer didn't come with a system restore disk and the Windows Product Key sticker was conveniently placed on the top of the tower, where Puff used to like to snuggle 'cause it's warm. So the sticker is mostly worn down to nothing. The code that must be entered to "Activate" Windows is long since gone, and I never -- to the best of my recollection -- copied it down anywhere.

Again. Brilliant, eh?

I'm sneaking online right now, to try and find some way out of this predicament, but I just couldn't wait to let y'all know what a doofus I am.

Hmmm. Perhaps now is the perfect time to further explore Linux....

Well I'll Be

Chet Scoville writes:

Know how lots of bloggers, including me, kept saying that Harry Reid ought to make the Republicans filibuster? Well, turns out I was wrong, because I was misinformed about how filibusters actually work these days. Mea maxima culpa. Turns out it's not Harry Reid's lack of spine that's the problem. No, the problem is that the U.S. Senate is the Dumbest Legislative Body on Earth.

Read the rest for the awful truth.

It's a wonder anything gets done at all, I tell you what.