They let these people have firearms...

The take over of the Republican Party by the teabaggers seems to be nearing completion. Here are two separate examples.

Ever heard of Sharron Angle? No? Here, let Greg Sargent at the Washington Post tell you about her. She's the newly anointed Republican candidate running for senator from the state of Nevada.... against Democrat Harry Reid.

... the Reid operation is gearing up to paint Angle as, well, a nutjob, as a cross between Rand Paul and Orly Taitz. There doesn't appear to be a shortage of material.

And the thing is, they really only have to sit and let Angle do all the talking.

Yes... she is for real.

What's also real is the new Texas Republican party platform. You have to read Bud Kennedy's entire piece to gain a full appreciation of how loony the Republicans have become. And, they're all armed.

I know. It reads like a comedy piece, but it too, is for real.

As an added bonus, readers might want to gather in that the family-values, church-going, morality crowd that supports the tea bag revolution is also in this and still trying to sort out why their divorce rate has gone off the Beaufort Scale.

I am reminded of this quote from Peter Coyote:

... what would you call people that believe that fully automatic weapons and cop-killer bullets should be freely available; who bomb abortion clinics and advocate the murder of doctors who perform abortions; who believe that anyone who is not a Christian is doomed to Hell, and people who would elevate Creationism to the status of science? Give me a polite name and I'll use it.

Tip of the bonnet to Skippy, proof of intelligent life.

I've seen smarter cacti

Republicans - because we needed a name for people who are dumber than houseplants. I just hope someone remembers to water Betty Brown occasionally, it must get dry in Texas.

Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

Yes, Betty, because Asian names like Ko, Sato, Hu and Singh are much much more difficult than say Tatigliano, Satterthwaite, Papadopolis, Rogazinski, Medvedev or Gonzales. I'll admit that some Asian names are a mouthful - Indonesian, Thai and Sri Lankan names in particular tend to be longer and more complex compared to short, blunt Anglo-Saxon monikers like Brown and Wood - but that isn't really the point here. Brown isn't suggesting that all names should be anglicized, just Asian names.

But it isn't about race.

Sure it's not. Nothing is ever about race with the Republicans and the conservatives, except when they get shoved back from the trough, then its all about discrimination against poor, persecuted middle-aged, wealthy, white men.

crossposted from the woodshed

Texas Two Step . . . .

To keep you up to speed, here's what's been going on:

I left Vancouver on Tuesday - yes, the day of the US election - for some time in our Florida residence. (Would anyone like to take it off our hands?!?!) The weather here has been glorious, as I expected it to be. Autumn in this part of the world is typically spectacular - barring any tropical storms.

So, I got to see the election results while actually being in the country involved. No big surprise, but at least the outcome was a positive one in light of the alternative. Now, let's hope Mr. Obama can deliver on his promise of "change." The proof will be in the results.

The following two video compilations have crossed my radar screen since arriving here, and I wanted to share them with you. They are indicative of some of the reasons "drf," The Four Footed Child, and myself felt compelled to leave this place for a better place. Coincidentally - or perhaps not - both take place in Texas, home of an infamous current - and soon to be former (we hope) - President.






And then this.

So. As I stated in a "queerie" posed by our friend MSEH in her upcoming ex-pat analysis:

As for actually moving back because of Obama's election, the answer is an emphatic "No." Granted, given the alternative, his election is an improvement and a BIG improvement over the past eight years. However, the US corporate power structure has taken decades to become entrenched, and a 4-year or 8-year Obama administration will not and can not substantially change that situation. That said, what would be the benefit to returning to the States? Nothing will be fundamentally different than it has been during my lifetime. There will still be a focus on military might, a lack of caring for it's citizen's welfare, gross inequities in income levels and a tendency to inject religion into politics and government.

We didn't make the decision to apply for Permanent Resident status and eventual Canadian citizenship on a whim. The two-plus year process gave us plenty of time to reconsider should we have had doubts.

Canada is by no means perfect, but in comparison to the US it's no contest for me.

I'm staying right here, thank you very much.

Is it any wonder we left?

I think not . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Granny get your gun

This silly little story on CNN the other night can be spun this way- America is gun crazy - and that-This brave pistol-packing old woman was defending her property, as is her right. I don't know that I would call it a "gun incident" if I were writing it up or claim the journalist was "almost shot" but many of the comments are hilarious and a perfect crystalization of what is wrong with a certain subgroup of Americans.

Joe Adams

March 2nd, 2008 6:40 pm ET
Foreigners need to bone up on Texas law before they go wandering across the terrain. They need to remember that bullets don't care who you are. Bravo, lady!!!
If he got shot, she'd be on solid legal ground for the hole in his body.

David

March 2nd, 2008 6:43 pm ET
This story seems a bit biased. I see nothing wrong or unusual in a home owner being legally armed on her own property, it would be stupid to do anything less in this situation. I say good for her. A strange man person standing in my front yard would receive a similar welcome.

Ben

March 2nd, 2008 6:46 pm ET
Sounds like someone needed to pay better attention to their surroundings. That being said, I doubt the old lady would of really done anything unless the reporter seemed threatening somehow. That being said, the old lady certainly had the right to
point that gun at him for being on his property.

Mike
in Indy

March 2nd, 2008 7:17 pm ET
She had every right to protect her property and herself he could have been a nut job. She is elderly living in the country and if it were my mother I would want her to be able to do the same.
This probably happens all to often living close to the President's ranch. I'm sure all these people are just sick of the populous showing up and sneaking on their property either to protest or to photograph the President. I for one am sick of the prying eyes of the media in everyone's lives. Bravo to this young lady! If Denmark and other Europeans don't like it than stay in Europe.

son of liberty

March 2nd, 2008 7:17 pm ET
Idiot Europeans and other socialists/communists (xiaoli, chinese?). This sums up everything that's wrong with YOUR countries. Trust your government fools, in America power is in the hands of the people.

Life, Liberty and Property.

Dr.Richard Gaines(Cicero)

March 2nd, 2008 7:18 pm
Good for the lady. Media people do not own our world;especially foreign media people. Watch the hell where you wander,Old Boy !!!

Terry

March 2nd, 2008 7:19 pm ET
He should have been more aware of his surroundings. When in foreign countries I pay extra special attention to my surroundings.
She was well within her rights, and as long as we keep the likes of Hillary or Obama out of the White House citizens can count on being having the right to defend their property


Samuel Mullen-Perron

March 2nd, 2008 9:55 pm ET
You know, She did not know who he was or what he was doing there. As far as she knew, he may have been there to hurt her or burglarize her home. the way I see it she did what any normal red blooded American would do. I am from Oregon and they do the same thing there as in Texas. Oregon Legislature though is trying to get rid of the rights of Gun Owners. Alot of that is because of the Homosexuals who want their rights to do what they want and they figure that their lives are endanger because of the Gun owners. Good, let them think that. As for this incident, Great! I am pleased that people are taking a stand for their rights for a change and not backing down from a Facist Government who wiretaps our phone calls, monitor our emails, you name it! Maybe the Secret Service and that idiot that they are protecting will take note now and realize just who runs this country.

David

March 2nd, 2008 9:55 pm ET
Maybe she thought it was an immigrant crossing the border…..to avoid things like this in the future we should re-deploy our army in Iraq and put them on the border with orders to kill anthing that crosses the border….problem solved YAY!

And those are not the most extreme examples of the mind set I'm talking about. Admittedly about half the commenters expressed embarrassment on behalf of the United States or dislike for gun-toting Texicans or suggested the reporter was lucky it hadn't been Dick Cheney who came out packing heat. One simply said that Cheney's mom needs to relax.
Seriously though, while I agree that old people everywhere have the irrefutable right to tell young whippersnappers to get the hell off their lawns, bringing a piece along to show you're serious is not done in the civilized world. The cowboy noise about how this "pore ole woman lives out in th' cuntry an needs to protect herself" is such bullshit. She lives down the street from the president. If the guy on the cell phone in her front yard had been Secret Service, she'd be pushing up daisies now. It's not like she shouldn't have had some idea he was a reporter, there were a crowd of the them across the street.

As PJ O'Rourke once said (about Somalia and Ethiopia if I recall correctly) they might be past helping, the only solution might be to fence the place off, pat people down when they leave and drop ammunition inside for the rest until they finally kill each other off.

crossposted from the New, Improved Woodshed, now with extra bloggy goodness at the same low, low price!

The Devil made me do it!

A male comedian dressed up like a woman saying "the devil made me do it" in a comedy routine is funny.


A fundamentalist Christian teenage mother using it to defend her teenage would-be preacher's attempt to roast their toddler alive-- ehhh, not so much.


More progressive parenting in Jebusland:




Woman blames devil, not husband for burning daughter in microwave


May 20, 2007, 12:45PM
© 2007 The Associated Press


GALVESTON, Texas — A woman blames the devil and not her husband for severely burning their infant daughter after the 2-month-old was put in a microwave, a Houston television station reported.
Eva Marie Mauldin said Satan compelled her 19-year-old husband, Joshua Royce Mauldin, to microwave their daughter May 10 because the devil disapproved of Joshua's efforts to become a preacher.
"Satan saw my husband as a threat. Satan attacked him because he saw (Joshua) as a threat," Eva Mauldin told Houston television station KHOU-TV.
A Galveston County grand jury indicted Joshua Mauldin last week on child injury charges after hearing evidence that he placed his daughter in a motel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds. The infant, Ana Marie, remains hospitalized. She suffered burns on the left side of her face and to her left hand, police said.
Eva Marie Mauldin, the girl's 20-year-old mother, told the television station that her husband is "not the monster people are making him out to be."


(cross posted from the Woodshed)

Mapping out a bad idea

Via PZ Meyers comes an interesting map which matches the economies of US states with the equivalent GNP for various countries.

I say "interesting" because PZ already called it "strange".

PZ asks this question:

Texas and Canada, though…hey, do you think if we tell them that it will double their GNP, that they'll take Texas off our hands?

How to answer that in a polite Canadian manner?

We like some Texans (wasn't that once, Texicans?). And, there's some culture in Texas we appreciate. However, I do believe we, along with the rest of the world, are owed an apology for this.

So, not to put too fine a point on it.... NO!

But hey! The next time Steve Harper drops in to visit his good buddy George, feel free to keep him.