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John Murtha died today from post-surgery complications. (read the operation got him all infected and the docs couldn't stop the strep in time).

I'm gonna miss him. Sure, he had ethical problems, and was the King of all Pork, but the man knew how to stand up and advocate for Democratic principles. In his prime, DeLay feared him. Gingrich feared him. Even Dick Cheney did not dare to tread on John Murtha. He was the muscle, sinews and spine of the party for a long time.

We need a lot more like him right now.

Those darn telephoto lenses!

Gosh Darn! Doodies! Also!

She's all yours. Well, yours and the teabaggers.

Lets try and weave this into something political. Imagine the truck is Otter, and the pedestrian ramp is the legislature, and the highway is the State of Idaho. That's the way Marty Trillhause sees it.  read more »

From Wednesday's Post-Register:

" Sorry, Sesame Street" by Wayne Hoffman
The state government of the 21st century should not include government-funded television, writes Wayne Hoffman.

Nostalgic sentiment for government television is no reason to continue funding it. Imagine, if you will, a brand new state called Idaho, born in the year 2010. What government services should this new state offer? Would this new 21st-century government really include a taxpayer-funded television network? Probably not, and the reason is simple: It's not needed. It's government waste.  read more »

Using labels in the course of political discussion typically heralds the demise of substantive discussion into the inevitability of Godwin's Law. Here's a thoughtful and persuasive analysis of the use of labels in modern discourse by an academic conservative (I've discovered that's not an oxymoron):

From the start, Republicans had been labeling Clinton a radical leftist, when he was on the whole the most “centrist” Democrat in the White House since Grover Cleveland. The 1994 result itself was the product of a number of factors, including a huge number of retirements in the House, but these included the demoralization of union members and party activists in the wake of NAFTA and the failure of health care legislation. I very much doubt that the midterm elections are going to be anything like ‘94, but one similarity that exists is the disillusionment and loss of enthusiasm among party activists and rank-and-file voters. On the whole, aside from a few badly-handled, largely symbolic culture war controversies, Clinton governed as a “centrist” more or less from the beginning, and he moved even farther away from liberals after 1994, which did not stop the charges that he was a huge leftist.  read more »

The vicious partisan divide on health care reform arrived in Idaho with the sponsorship of the Idaho Health Freedom Act by Representative Jim Clark and co-sponsored by Reps. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, and Raul Labrador, R-Eagle. The bill would prohibit a state official or employee from enforcing any penalty for violations of the policy. From the Statement of Purpose:

This bill known as the "Idaho Health Freedom Act" codifies as state policy that every person in the state of Idaho is and shall continue to be free from government compulsion in the selection of health insurance options, and that such liberty is protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Idaho. The bill removes the authority of any state official or employee from enforcing any penalty which violates the policy. It also tasks the office of the Attorney General with seeking injunctive or other appropriate relief , or defending the state of Idaho and its officials and employees against laws, enacted by any government, which violate the policy.  read more »

Daaaaamn... I really wish I'd written this. (h/t The Daily Dish)

WHY you keep getting screwed-- MR. (Tea Party Patriot)

Hey you. You there in the Glenn Beck T-shirt headed off to the Tea Party Patriot rally.

Stop shouting for a moment, please, I want to explain to you why you're so very angry.

You should be angry. You're getting screwed.

I think you know that. But you don't seem to know that it doesn't have to be that way. You can stop it. You can stop it easily because the system that's screwing you over can only keep screwing you over if you keep demanding that it do so.

So stop demanding that. Stop helping the system screw you over.

Look, you can go back to yelling at me in a minute, but just read this first.  read more »

Assclown Bryan Fischer, recently of Idaho, is using his new soapbox as a radio hatemonger for the "American Family Association" to call for homosexuals to suffer the same "legal sanctions" that are currently imposed on IV drug abusers. Since using illegal drugs is punishable by prison, Fischer is, by implication (although he's too much of a chickenshit to come out and say it) calling for the incarceration of homosexuals. (He also put homosexuals in the same category as slavers.)  read more »

Apparently the Westboro Babblist Church went to San Francisco to protest Twitter, and was pwned. Counterprotestors showed up with Lady Gaga on the boombox and a dada-licious variety of signs that:

• blended Twitter and Westboro themes ('God hates #Tags', 'These Rails don't Scale'),

• protested the absurd ("God Hates Ponies"),
• went tautological ("I have a sign"),
• preached love ("God Loves the delicious taste of Kraft macaroni and cheese"),
• asked 'How could got hate this cute little face'
• or just mumbled to the side ("I was promised donuts").

The donut sign was confiscated by police -- well, actually it just handed over upon request so an officer could prank her Sargeant with it. The imagination and variety is remarkable; someone even showed up with a campaign sign from Patrick McGoohan's Prisoner -- "Vote for No 6". (Side bonus: one Kossack linked to AMC's Prisoner site, where you can watch all the original episodes.)

A planned second protest (at a theater performing Fiddler On the Roof) was cancelled by WBC, but the counterprotesters stuck around, paraded their signs and Rick-Rolled confused theater-goers. Bravo! Encore!

(more links):
Asylum (one of the best, most-detailed writeups),
DailyKos,
Photobucket,
a rick-rolling set.  read more »

UPDATE 1/29: Damn I can't believe this. Check out this quote. "Of course, duping people is the point. ... That's one of the reasons why it works so well," said one Republican operative familiar with the program, who said it’s among the RNC’s most lucrative fundraising initiatives. “They will likely mail millions this year [with] incredible targeting.” Its from Politico no less. The Attorney General MUST take notice of this comment. If the state wants to assert itself, it should defend the citizens against this. They have "incredible targeting" fergodsake. The case is made.

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Last night, I first heard about this four page "census document" circulating the state but since Dan Popkey already wrote it up, I'll let him tell it.

Joan Lang is a 78-year-old Idaho native who says she has "never voted for a Republican in my life." Nevertheless, Lang received a fund-raising letter from the Republican National Committee that's being criticized for confusing citizens as the decennial census is conducted this year.

The mailing from RNC Chairman Michael Steele is billed as an "official 2010 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT CENSUS" and came with "Census Tracking Code #A10PD25." In much smaller type, the survey says, "Commissioned by the Republican Party," and notes that the mailing was paid for by the RNC. It came in an envelope stamped "DO NOT DESTROY OFFICIAL DOCUMENT" and asking Lang to return it by Feb. 5.  read more »

Since no one seems to have video of Pimp Jimmy O'Keefe and his Fool-Hardy Boyz trying to get to Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu's office phones (for whatever nefarious purpose their little pinheads were entertaining), this clip will have to do.

Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union. For two hundred and twenty years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They have done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility. And they have done so in the midst of war and depression; at moments of great strife and great struggle.

It’s tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable – that America was always destined to succeed. But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were times that tested the courage of our convictions, and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements; our hesitations and our fears; America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, and one people.

Again, we are tested. And again, we must answer history’s call.  read more »

There's been some frustration upon the Masasachssetts election with some in the blogosphere, like John Cole, endeavoring to find enough unity in the Party to get an accomplishment, any accomplishment, with this super majority before it succumbs to a demise of its own making in November. In so doing Cole lashes out at liberals who insist on getting their way. Kos responds that Democrats in Washington have failed to fulfill the destiny we gave them and therefore have created a larger than usual base problem noted in this recent polling data:  read more »

I wish I could supply him with the courage.  read more »

Here's an apt little story summarizing the futility of engaging people who lack solutions and refuse to participate in any event in favor of obstruction.  read more »

This state makes me crazy.

I'm not gone; I'm detoxing. It ain't helping, FWIW.