Saturday, December 31

A David Brooks Photoshop for Driftglass

Because as much as I love Charlie Pierce (they are not the same person thanks for asking)  "The Husband" gets first dibs.  Apparently David Effin Brooks wrote something 800 words long about how neighbors taking care of neighbors is

is part of a communitarian conservative tradition that goes back to thinkers like Russell Kirk and Robert Nisbet. Forty years ago, Kirk led one of the two great poles of conservatism. It existed in creative tension with the other great pole, Milton Friedman’s free-market philosophy.

So tight communities are a form of the good conservatism we (we?) lost sight of in our pursuit of Milton Friedman profit margins.  Oooh kay.   Still not sure if DG is going to write this one up, but still.... Has Brooks taken a really CLOSE look at the co-stars of his drama?

CLICK FOR LARGER

Friday, December 30

Hillary for Vice President?



I call bullshit. This is to remind everyone, particularly middle-aged "independent" women, that Hillary is in Obama's cabinet. Vice-President would be a huge demotion for her. She's seriously changing the world on a daily basis in her current job. Plus, she really likes to travel.


It's not likely she wants to preside over the Senate.  I mean, would you?


"Naah."
  

Ep 108 The Professional Left Podcast

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Links for this episode:

Batocchio honors Jon Swift with the Blog Posts of the Year.

Andrew Sullivan searches for "the real bigot" in the GOP.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and  Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Friday, December 23

Professional Left Podcast Ep 107

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The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and  Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Tuesday, December 20

A Question I Haven't Heard Asked of Newt Gingrich

His affair with Callista lasted six years; and he also cheated on Wife Number One with Wife Number Two.  He was in Congress from 1979 to 1999.  Divorced Wife Number One in 1981.   You can say the past is past, but Newt Gingrich lied to his own constituents during re-election campaigns regularly.

How many "family values" campaigns did Newt Gingrich run in the Sixth District in Georgia while bopping a mistress?

By my rough count, he lied to his own constituents in that manner during at least four campaigns, possibly as many as six.

If Republicans want to forgive his affairs because he's too old to have one now, oh well.  But people who vote for Newt Gingrich are proving they don't mind voting for proven liars one little bit.  

I don't think Gingrich supporters want to beat Obama, nor do they have any interest in governing.  They want to beat up Obama, with a stick, and Newt is the meanest stick on the stage, the end.

Monday, December 19

More photos of the global warming snowman cookies




Directions here.   I used something called "Duncan Hines Amazing Glazes", vanilla, instead of royal icing, and the cookies are break-n-bake, two cookies per snowman smooshed together on the cookie sheet.

Friday, December 16

Response to the queries about Callista's hair....

responded on Twitter last night, but here it is in living color:


Christopher Hitchens is greeted by Saint Peter

click for larger to see the look on 'is face, mate.

...who's been waiting for him for a looong time.

Professional Left Podcast Episode 106

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The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and  Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Tuesday, December 13

I can't watch "Meet The Press" anymore. Ever.


"Reporting Newt's Controversies" is not the same as reporting the truth.  I'm too appalled for words.


Oh, here. Thanks Jon Stewart. After the stoopid ad, fast forward to about 3:20.

Friday, December 9

Ep 105 The Professional Left Podcast

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Link for this episode:


Mika Brezinski asks T. Boone Pickens to be honest about his tax burden. 


The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and  Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Friday, December 2

Ep 104 The Professional Left Podcast

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The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Links for this episode:  Driftglass's Twelve Days of Zappadan.


And our audiobook review at the end of the show is this book:






Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and  Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Thursday, December 1

End Welfare for the Rich Except When It Is NOT Welfare.

A listener to the podcast writes:

Just found you guys two episodes ago. Love it! 


I need someone to drive trucks through this. 


End welfare for the wealthy by Tom Coburn 


 I hate this guy, but this seems to make some sense: I agree that we should end these ridiculous tax breaks for the wealthy, but if Coburn says it, I immediately become suspicious. 


Short-time listener, 


A.B. 

Dear A.B.:

Sounds good to slam the rich in every event, right? The razor in the apple of that article is needs-testing unemployment INSURANCE and PENSIONS. Those are items that even millionaires paid for and deserve.

 If you're a millionaire and lose your job, you are still entitled to collect on your unemployment insurance, because you paid into it and you have LOST that income due to job loss. That is INSURANCE that you paid for, not welfare.

 Newt Gingrich needs to be slapped with that two-by-four as well.  Sorry, Newt, it's not welfare to be on unemployment.  You are collecting on insurance, just as if you got rear-ended by another car.  You pay into unemployment insurance just in case the economy rear-ends your job.  You don't have to go work for it, jump through massive hoops (except prove you're looking for work) or feel as if you are a welfare case in order to get it.  You paid for insurance.   If you make it needs tested, no wealthy individual is going to agree to pay for insurance they are forbidden from collecting if they lose their job.

Also, I like the idea of hitting Newt with a figurative two-by-four, just on principle.  But I digress....

Retirement benefits are the same and moreso. It's BS to say that JUST because someone is rich, they shouldn't get the pension they worked for and are entitled to.

 This is also Coburn's slippery slope to needs-testing Social Security. Betcha betcha betcha.

Once those basic social safety-nets, (paid for by the recipients!),  are taken away from the upper classes, they CEASE to have a constituency that is worth one rat's ass in the Congress. Poor people do not have a lobbyist. And the big reason the New Deal included the upper classes was to make that program an absolute third rail in American Politics, and it has worked.

Thanks for writing!   -- BG