June 2010

In a post on the wingnut Andrew Breitbart’s cesspool, some asshat calling himself Todd Thurman makes the following complaint against the Obama administration:

They failed to get rid of the horribly outdated Jones Act that forbids foreign vessels from helping us clean up the gulf.

As usual, Breitbart’s site is the place to go to get the latest noise from the right-wing liar’s club. The facts show clearly that the Jones Act has not impeded the cleanup efforts in the Gulf at all:

In reality, the Jones Act has yet to be an issue in the response efforts. The Deepwater Horizon response team reported in a June 15 press release that there are 15 foreign flagged ships currently participating in the oil spill cleanup. None of them needed a waiver because the Jones Act does not apply. The Jones Act is a trade and commerce law that was enacted in 1920 as part of a larger Marine Merchant Act. It requires all trade delivered between U.S. ports to be carried in U.S. flagged vessels constructed in the United States and owned by American citizens.

…

[I]nternational assistance has been accepted. To date, 25 countries and four international organizations have offered support in the form of skimming vessels, containment and fire boom, technical assistance and response solutions, among others. A chart provided by the State Department shows that as of June 23 five offers had been accepted and 50 were under consideration — including multiple offers from a single country or entity.

The lies and disinformation spewed daily by the far right in the United States is poisoning our national discourse and making real progress towards a better future in this country utterly impossible. Such so-called “Americans” should be exposed and ridiculed whenever and wherever possible.

Allan Rock, President of the University of Ottawa:

Ann Coulter is a mean-spirited, small-minded, foul-mouthed poltroon. She is ‘the loud mouth that bespeaks the vacant mind.’

She is an ill-informed and deeply offensive shill for a profoundly shallow and ignorant view of the world. She is a malignancy on the body politic. She is a disgrace to the broadcasting industry and a leading example of the dramatic decline in the quality of public discourse in recent times.

DarkSyde at Daily Kos:

Let me see if I have this straight: in the last few days members of the GOP have savagely screwed the unemployed, protected the bankstas, trashed Thurgood Marshall, implied rape and incest is part of God’s plan, defended BP, threatened to either end social security or screw over 20 million plus people who have paid into the system for at least 20 years by making them wait until age 70 to see their benefits, and screwed homeless veterans with children. That about it, or is there more?

Quoted in its entirety, because it is a gem of absolute perfection.

White supremacist Robert Stacy McCain demonstrates his moral superiority by exulting in the death of a man who was — unlike McCain — a decent human being:

[Recently deceased Senator Robert Byrd] just became the best kind of Democrat…

Note that jumping for joy every time someone he hates has died seems to be one of McCain’s hobbies. McCain and his kind are a stain upon the face of America.

(hat tip: INSTAPUTZ)

Shorter Vox Day:

• Women are mean, nasty, brutish, amoral bitches who are waging unceasing war on us kind, gentle, entirely honorable men. Now can someone explain to me why the hell I can’t get a date?

‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard, and shamelessly pilfered from Sadly, No.

Here’s how the lying denialists like Porter Good do their thing:

• Every mention of snow is used as absolute disproof of global warming.
• However, contrary facts, such as the record global heat wave this year, are simply ignored. If it doesn’t support their pre-conceived, ideologically motivated lies, it’s not worth discussing.

Denialists and liars like Porter Good simply decide to invent their own reality, plugging their ears and chanting LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA in a loud voice when they don’t like the facts.

Sticker Robot is giving away free stickers urging the prosecution of BP. I’m sending away for mine tomorrow.

(hat tip: BoingBoing)

Justin Higgins, chickenhawk extraordinaire, claims that health care reform will “destroy the health care system”. Of course, he doesn’t say exactly how this destruction will take place.

That’s because Justin, like all babbling wingnuts, simply is not capable of creating and articulating reasoned arguments. They rely on the endless repetition of fact-free sound bites.

Stay stupid, Justin. We both know you don’t have any choice.