Month: July 2009

MJ Might Be Gone But the Moonwalk, Apparently, Is Eternal

Buck Banks

OK, I know, we’re all up to here with the whole Michael Jackson thing, but this is only a little bit about him and alot about his trademark move. And it’s also about how, in a world torn apart by war, famine, inequality and political upheaval, it’s good to remind ourselves that there is an incredible number of nerds out there who are willing and able to demonstrate their nerdiness on camera.

Some outfit called Studio Brussel (yes, without the S) has created Eternal Moonwalk, where anyone with a video camera and no superego to step in and prevent the nonsense can record a 10-second video of themselves doing their own take on Jackson’s famous dance step. Each clip blends into the next, from a warehouse in Belgium to an office in Van Nuys to a living room in Sao Paolo, featuring hot chicks, formerly inanimate objects, small children, guys in boxer shorts, animals and some pretty cool animations.

One is reminded of Jackson’s greatness —he actually could moonwalk like a mofo — while it’s clear that 95 percent of the rest of humanity is totally clueless on how to execute the step. Still, finish whatever you’re doing (because you won’t be able to stop watching once you start) and enjoy the Eternal Moonwalk.

Sometimes It Takes Awhile to Put Things Right

Trish

“I would rather he had been here and it was still his seat, you know? That’s what I really wish.”

— Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), in answer to a supporter who asked him what Sen. Paul Wellstone would have said after listening to one of Franken’s first speeches as a senator. Wellstone was killed in a plane crash in 2002 during his campaign against Norm Coleman, whom Franken defeated in 2008.

Rep. King, R-Iowa, Casts Lone Nay Vote on Thanking Slaves for Building U.S Capitol

Jon Ponder

U.S. Capitol Building under construction in 1858

The House of Representatives voted 399 to 1 yesterday for a resolution expressing gratitude to the slaves who built the United States Capitol Building, which said, in part:

Whereas enslaved African-Americans provided labor essential to the construction of the United States Capitol;

…Whereas enslaved African-Americans performed the backbreaking work of quarrying the stone which comprised many of the floors, walls, and columns of the Capitol;

Whereas enslaved African-Americans also participated in other facets of construction of the Capitol, including carpentry, masonry, carting, rafting, roofing, plastering, glazing, painting, and sawing…

And:

Whereas the Statue of Freedom now atop the Capitol dome could not have been cast without the pivotal intervention of Philip Reid, an enslaved African-American foundry worker who deciphered the puzzle of how to separate the 5-piece plaster model for casting when all others failed…

In addition to the expression of gratitude to slaves who have been dead for a century or more, the resolution also instructed the Architect of the Capitol to place a marker in Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center acknowledging the role of slave labor in the Capitol’s construction.

So who was the lone wolf who felt the slaves’ force labor in the construction of the capitol of freedom did not warrant gratitude and a bronze plaque?

Rep. Steve King, a Republican, of course, who has represented western Iowa since 2002 — and who vies with Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., for the title of nuttiest wingnut in the House. Since even Rep. Bachman voted for this resolution, Rep. King is officially the title-holder, at least for now.

A few hours after the resolution passed, King’s office released a statement explaining his vote:

“Last night I opposed yet another bill to erect another monument to slavery because it was used as a bargaining chip to allow for the actual depiction of ‘In God We Trust’ in the [Capitol Visitors Center]…

“Our Judeo-Christian heritage is an essential foundation stone of our great nation and should not be held hostage to yet another effort to place guilt on future Americans for the sins of some of their ancestors.”

In his statement, King also rewrote the history of the Civil War era, falsely claiming that white “Christian abolitionists gave their lives by the hundreds of thousands to end slavery.”

It’s true that hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers died in the Civil War, but the percentage of them who self-identified as abolitionists was very small. It’s also historical fact that the primary objective of the United States in waging war against the Confederacy was to preserve the Union, not free the slaves.

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Poll: 71% of GOP Would Vote for a Quitter to Be President in 2012

Jon Ponder

In the Bush era, Republicans demonstrated their collective poor judgment by twice electing as president a bellicose, proudly incurious, anti-intellectual ideologue. A poll out yesterday suggests that they learned nothing from that disaster, and are ready to do it again.

Less than a week after Sarah Palin — who has all of George Bush’s intellectual deficiencies and then some — announced she is walking away from her job as governor of Alaska midway through her first term, USA Today found that 71 percent of Republicans would vote for her for president in 2012:

When it comes to a potential presidential run, the USA TODAY Poll displays Palin’s strength in the Republican base and weakness among swing voters, who traditionally decide national elections. Republicans by 71 percent-27 percent say they’d be likely to vote for her if she ran for president in 2012, while independents by 51 percent-44 percent would not.

As Todd Purdum put it in his profile of Palin in the August issue of Vanity Fair, “What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded?”

The question ought to be, what does it say that two such proud underachievers are applauded so roundly by the same party in the same decade.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

You know, this is part of American culture. Michael Jackson, like Elvis, like Sinatra, when somebody who’s captivated the imagination of the country for that long passes away, people pay attention. And I assume at some point people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons.

— President Obama, in an interview with ABC News, trying not to sound too irritated with the media attention given to the Michael Jackson funeral.

A C-SPAN Reality Drama? Schwarzenegger Suggests Filming Negotiations on $26 Bil Deficit

Jon Ponder

Gov. Schwarzenegger, left, and Speaker Bass

Things are bad here in California. Yes, we have the world’s fifth largest economy — we’d be a member of the G-8, if we were a sovereign nation. But the sky is falling for real this time. The state is $26 billion in the hole.

“He broke it. He should fix it.”
– Speaker Karen Bass

Reporting from Sacramento suggests that in his negotiations with the Dem-controlled Legislature, GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is stuck in his usual, Bush-esque “my way or the highway” mode.

After all, he has little skin in this game — he sits on a personal fortune worth tens of millions (and can easily replenish the ol’ coffers playing superannuated robots when he leaves office), so he’ll be fine even if the economy collapses. And his political legacy is shot. No matter what happens over the next 16 months, nothing can prevent Arnold Schwarzenegger from going down as one of the worst — if not the worst — governor in California’s 159-year history.

As the stalemate continues, the hole gets deeper — the deficit was “only” $24 billion a couple of weeks ago. Another $2 billion accrued while Sacramento dithered.

And this brief but vivid moment, which was reported last Wednesday, does not bode well:

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), was visibly upset coming out of the governor’s office Wednesday afternoon.

“He broke it. He should fix it,” she said, apparently referring to Schwarzenegger.

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Once Every Thousand Years Comes Today

Trish

Here’s a little something for trivia fans, and all those who like momentous occasions. Today is the 8th of July in 2009 right? So it’s 7/8/09. Shortly after noon today, it will be 12:34. Moments later, it will be 12:34 and 56 seconds. So that means it will be…12:34:56 7/8/9. Get it? 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9. It only happens once every thousand years, so be sure to stop and take a breath and feel it.

This will be our last chance to experience one of these thrills for awhile, at least until 11:11:11 on 11/11/11.

h/t to Anu Garg at Wordsmith

Was GOP Leader Boehner Clueless Or Lying about Stimulus Spending on Fox News Sunday?

Jon Ponder

See Boehner’s false statement at about 2:30

On Fox News Sunday, GOP House Leader John Boehner of Ohio made an assertion about the status of stimulus spending in Ohio that he had to have known was false:

BOEHNER: “In Ohio, the infrastructure dollars that were sent there months ago, there hasn‘t been a contract let, to my knowledge. And the fact is I don‘t believe it will create jobs.”

This erroneous statement won him the bronze in the daily “Worst Person in the World” competition on MSNBC’s “Countdown,” with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: “You need to upgrade your knowledge, brother. The last update was from June 15th, by which time the Ohio Department of Transportation had already awarded $83.9 million in stimulus money in contracts for work on Ohio‘s highways, local roads and bridges. Work on a ramp-widening project in Cleveland began on June 9th.”

Olbermann also pointed out that Boehner had to have been aware of this, since the minority leader commented on it on June 15, on his official House website:

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Report: Two-Thirds of Cost of Palin Ethics Probes Was Spent on a Charge She Filed against Herself

Jon Ponder

In Sarah Palin’s bizarre, rambling statement on Friday announcing that she was quitting her job as governor of Alaska, she claimed that a series of investigations into ethics charges filed against her and her staff had been too costly to state taxpayers and to herself personally:

The Juneau Empire reported that the most expensive investigation by far of Gov. Palin was a probe into the “Troopergate” scandal that she launched against herself.

PALIN: The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I’ve been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations — such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters’ questions.

Every one — all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We’ve won! But it hasn’t been cheap — the State has wasted thousands of hours of your time and shelled out some two million of your dollars to respond to “opposition research” — that’s money not going to fund teachers or troopers — or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the “politics of personal destruction” — Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn’t cost them a dime so they’re not going to stop draining public resources — spending other peoples’ money in their game.

However, last Wednesday, two days before the governor’s announcement, the Juneau Empire reported that records released by the state government under a public information request revealed that there had been 13 investigations — not 15, as Palin claimed — and that the total cost of all the investigations had been $296,042, not “some two million dollars,” as she also claimed.

The Juneau Empire also found that the most expensive investigation of Gov. Palin was a probe into the “Troopergate” scandal that the governor filed against herself.

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