Changeling

For those of you who have not seen Changeling, you should remedy that.

 

[caption id="attachment_71" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="This movie totally impressed me when I wasn't expecting it at all. Jolie's performance was Oscar worthy."][/caption]

And while you're on a Clint Eastwood kick. Find a copy of Unforgiven.

Earthly Uncooling

More startling climate change news that nobody is reporting.

The TG Daily reports:

Antarctica’s glaciers may be retreating at a much faster pace than previously believed, a new study released by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) indicates. One major ice shelf has completely disappeared and another shelf three times the size of Rhode Island has broken off since 1986, the maps reveal.

If I know wing nuts, I'm sure they'd attack the credibility of the U.S. Geological Survey, a research-based arm of the Department of Interior, a.k.a. puppets controlled by the Penguin Agenda.

Then they'll gas about the weather. "It was 30 degrees in Nashville today and it's April. I'm cold. Where's the global warming?!? Wah wah wah."

Weather patterns and climate change are  not the same.

I'm not an alarmist, but this news is disturbing. I think reporters really picked up on global warming back when Al won his Oscar. But now. Eh.

We've got Wall Street's melt down to cover. No interest.

Besides, there's no real villain with global warming and no real chance for a coordinated and meaningful response in the foreseeable future, so it's easier this way.

As a side note, it was also easier for the good people of Germany to go along with the Nazi movement or do nothing to stop it.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Map shows their research."][/caption]

Krugman and the liberal media?

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="328" caption="Timother Geithner could use a liberal media right now."][/caption]

I have a hypothesis about political hacks and talking heads (mostly the big dogs, small town bloggers like myself don't count): Liberal pundits are more likely to attack the actions and plans of Democrats than wingnuts are with regards to Republicans.

 

Or maybe more to the point, when a liberal attacks a liberal, apparently, it's news. 

I have no evidence. Just one, single observation. 

On March 23, 2009, Paul Krugman slammed the Geithner plan to buy up toxic assets off the banks books. (And I don't even have an opinion about the plan, so that's not relevant.)

A Google News search at Midnight showed Krugman's name was mention in about 4,000 articles in the last hour. And a vast majority of them, gauging from a precursory skimming of a few pages, are about how he's blasting Obama's toxic asset plan.

Why is this newsworthy?

Question One: Is he the only damn economist available? Reporters, haven't you ever heard of HARO? 

Answer One: No. But didn't you hear about all the staff cut backs. It's easier just to rehash the wire story, or worse, Drudge.

Question Two: When in the world does the media ever give a crap about Paul Krugman. 

Answer Two: They don't. He gases everyday about something within the confines of his blog The Conscience of a Liberal on NYTimes.com and it hardly ever makes a blip.

Sure the media covered the story about Paul winning the Nobel Prize, but it's all about placement. I guarantee his Nobel Prize win didn't lead the newscast.

So where is the so-called liberal media when Tim Giethner could use it? 

It's a farce. It's a red herring. It's literally a phrase Republicans made up in the '70s to have a scapegoat for why their dirty, secretive president couldn't get any love.

And even though I believe a slim majority of the media probably are more liberal in slant, I think news coverage is slanted to the conservative. It has to be so they can say their actions are beyond reproach.

And this ties into the overall theory here: Liberals are much more likely to be critical of liberals than is true for conservatives judging the actions of conservatives.

JFK. LBJ. FDR. BHO.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="160" caption="If you don't know, President Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein, which means "good-looking.""][/caption]

A few days ago, the communications chief for the Tennessee GOP commented on my blog post which called the actions of the state's Republican leadership childish and self-defeating with regards to the speaker of the house fiasco.

I accused the Tennessee GOP of referring to President Barack Obama as Barack — Hussein — Obama as many times as possible for political gain, playing on the obvious name association with the deposed Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein.

To clear the record of our honorable, mostly laughable state GOP,  Mr. Bill Hobbs said in a comment that I was mistaken about how many times Hussein had been used:

"False. Completely false.

The TRP used Obama’s middle name the exact same number of times that Obama himself used it in taking the oath of office.

ONE TIME."

Now it's at least two. Today in the City Paper, I read this:

While Sen. John McCain “repudiates” using Sen. Barack Obama’s middle name of Hussein, the Tennessee Republican Party is embracing it.

The Tennessee GOP sent out an anti-Obama press release Monday in which the Illinois Democrat was referred to as “Barack Hussein Obama.” ...

When asked if Obama’s middle name though – the same name as former Iraqi president and tyrant Saddam Hussein – gave off a different connotation than others, Smith suggested that Obama’s parents needed to be contacted.

“You can call his momma and daddy on that one,” Smith said."

Stay classy, Robin Smith, chairwoman of aforementioned state party. Good grief with this. Where to start?

First, Smith and the Tennessee Republican Party are naive to think this crap works (ahem, election?).

Maybe they are just sore losers and are reverting to (what they are denying is) bush-league name calling. No matter what they say, it's name calling. Point: Calling someone "Hitler" would also be a negative moniker.

Maybe, just maybe, the TRP is actually noble in their Husseining around. Perhaps they are trying to take the sting out of the president's middle name by repeating it until the hurt of hundreds of thousands slain Iraqis is gone. They are taking back "Hussein" for the good guys.

Let's explore the third — and most likely — reason the state GOP keeps on the Hussein train:

• In Arabic, Hussein means "good-looking." Barack: guilty as charged.


• Hussein is a popular name in Sweden. It ranked highest in 1999, when it was the 168th most popular name for baby boys in Sweden. In 2006, it ranked at number 206. I don't see why they are trying to get it good with the Swedes, but I'm monitoring the situation.


• GOPers are trying to give some props to fashion designer, Hussein Chalayan. Tennessee GOPers could use some style. OH SNAP!

With the venom gone and Hussein claimed for everyone, I'm going to start using the president's middle name in my everyday vernacular.

"Hey, bro. That shirt is real spiffy. The gals are going to think your incredibly Hussein."

"OMG. P Diddy and Miley Cyrus are here. This party's Hussein."

"The Tennessee GOP is having a bake sale, but those cookies aren't Hussein enough for me."

Heck, the popularity of the Tennessee GOP's "Hussein" movement might prompt Obama to pull a Coolidge. His given name was John Calvin Coolidge, but he started going by just his middle name. I like this option, but it's not plausible because the name "Barack" is perhaps too awesome.

But there is one thing this "Hussien" deal lays out perfectly. It gives historians the option of referring to Obama by three letters, a designation reserved for great presidents. JFK. FDR. LBJ. And now, BHO. (To be fair, Abe Lincoln and George Washington didn't have middle names.)

A conversation coming to a water cooler near you:

"Lunch today? KFC?"

"You're SOL. I brought a BLT. So what do you make of W's legacy?"

"From my POV, W was a WMD who gave the USA a figurative STD, leaving the economy DOA for BHO."

"LOL. Agreed. He only watched out for VIPs, leaving my IRA TKO'd and me with IOUs."

"We'd be better off if W was MIA."

"ROTFL. What are your acronymical thoughts on BHO?"

"BHO's TCB. He's fixing W's eight years of WTF with a BFB that will finally give taxpayers some TLC and ROI."

"On second thought, I will go to KFC. With BHO's tax breaks I have an extra $8 bucks this week."

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Extra reading:

Juan Cole blogs he's proud of his president's name in "Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes."