This gets funnier by the minute

"It has been brought to the school's attention that a picture of the front of our school, Walter Reed Middle School, was used as a backdrop at the Republican National Convention. Permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school's picture an endorsement of any political party or view."

- Donna Tobin, Principal, WR Middle School

Update:

By late afternoon, McCain's campaign was characterizing the use of the picture as a way of illustrating the candidate's call "for public education reforms that empower parents and students before bureaucrats and labor unions," as spokesman Tucker Bounds put it.

Yeah. That's what it was.

But Tamar Galatzan, who represents the North Hollywood area on the Los Angeles Board of Education, was having none of that. She said she was "flattered that Sen. McCain chose to use a school from my district as backdrop to his remarks" but that more federal resources for education seems "not a priority for the McCain/Palin ticket."

Why does God hate Republicans?

Here they are, trying to protect marriage and man's right to plunder, and yet: on the heel's of the anniversary of Katrina, Gustave is headed for land.

WaPo:

Republican officials said yesterday that they are considering delaying the start of the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is on track to hit the Gulf Coast, and possibly New Orleans, as a full-force hurricane early next week.
The threat is serious enough that White House officials are also debating whether President Bush should cancel his scheduled convention appearance on Monday, the first day of the convention, according to administration officials and others familiar with the discussion.

via TPM:

"The Republicans can't seem to get a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather," said Rove, a FOX News analyst. "I know this is being thought a lot about in Washington and at the White House and discussed and I suspect they will monitor it carefully and figure out what to do."

And Greg says,

Yeah, Katrina (which hit in August 2005) was really rough on those Republicans, no question about it.

I was in Crawford, Texas, when Katrina hit. And I watched him fly overhead on his way to Arizona, where he presented McCain with a cake that both of them discarded after the photo op.

And unlike Bush and McCain, the people on the ground in Crawford that day were sorting batteries and blankets and non-perishable foods, loading buses and vans for immediate delivery to New Orleans.

I love New Orleans, really great memories of that city. So Katrina felt personal to me- self involved white woman that I am.

And if- and I say if- if the convention next week is in any way adversely affected by a storm like Gustav, I will take it as a sign that karma or the gods and goddesses have some scores to settle.

You could take it as a random act of weather, sure. But as a feminist ACLU member, I've been taking blame for years, and I would love th chance to spread it around.

The coveted D&D bloc

I had to send my teens a recap on the campaign D&D war. Most of them are too young to vote. All of them are deeply thoughtful. Some of them enjoy a regular D&D date, while others roll their eyes and beg for a different activity.

Pretty much all of them will think this is hysterical, and the GOP better hope they don't harbor deep resentments over petty, stupid things when they are old enough to register. Might not be good for the future of the party.

But in their new role as bloggers, the paper’s editors seem to have all the intelligence and reason of the average Daily Kos diarist sitting at home in his mother’s basement and ranting into the ether between games of dungeons and dragons.

- McCain campaign in-house blogger Michael Goldfarb on 8/1, responding to criticism of a campaign commercial by the NYT editorial blog.

If my comments caused any harm or hurt to the hard working Americans who play Dungeons & Dragons, I apologize. This campaign is committed to increasing the strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores of every American.

- Goldfarb responding to criticism on the internet, which may or may not have been raised by actual D&D players

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

- Goldfarb on 8/18, responding to questions about the candidate's veracity

It’s official. Thanks to some initiative-taking readers (or perhaps someone totally unrelated to this blog… I’m still not sure), the “Pro-Obama Dungeons and Dragons Crowd” group has been created at MyBarackObama.com. [snip] We even have not one, but two completely awesome logos, made by McE and Beth, respectively… w00t!

- candleboy.com

An open letter from The World

Via Berube

EARTH, July 25, 2008 -- The entire world drafted an open letter to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) today, asking him to drop out of the U.S. presidential race and concede the presidency to Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois).
"Ordinarily we do not interfere in America's internal affairs," said a spokesman for the rest of the planet, "even when it has become clear, as in recent years, that American voters are about to elect ignorant, incoherent buffoons who will add immeasurably to our immiseration. But this time is different. We didn't think it was worth our while to step up for your Carter or Mondale or Dukakis or Gore or Kerry -- besides, we'd only be bombed or invaded for our trouble. But this time, I mean, come on -- you've got to be kidding me, right? Please tell me you're kidding."

Read the rest.

So funny...

... it almost hurts.

Some far-right sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed, for example, will use auto-correct to change "Democratic Party" to "Democrat Party." This, of course, is because they have the temperament of children.

But the American Family Association's OneNewsNow website takes the phenomenon one step further with its AP articles. The far-right group replaces the word "gay" in the articles with the word "homosexual." I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems to make the AFA happy.

The problem, of course, is that "gay" does not always mean what the AFA wants it to mean. [...]

"Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and seemed to save something for the final later Sunday.

His wind-aided 9.85 seconds was a fairly cut-and-dry performance compared to what happened a day earlier. On Saturday, Homosexual misjudged the finish in his opening heat and had to scramble to finish fourth, then in his quarterfinal a couple of hours later, ran 9.77 to break the American record that had stood since 1999. [...]

Homosexual didn't get off to a particularly strong start in the first semifinal, but by the halfway mark he had established a comfortable lead.... Asked how he felt, Homosexual said: "A little fatigued."

from the War Room

Stuff happens

Nick Revell's blogging for Huffington Post. My life just got a little funnier.

Be honest, if there were any justice, if the world really did conform to a plan, then how come most of us know deep down, that despite everything, it is entirely possible Donald Rumsfeld might end up dying peacefully and painlessly in his sleep? Instead of in a friendly fire incident, followed by an inquiry where the pilot responsible for accidentally dropping the cluster bomb on that Rumsfeld-Bush family wedding would petulantly throw up his hands, shrug his shoulders and say, "Freedom's messy. Stuff happens."

Love him big time.

Little Green Benchwarmers

Hey, Jon?

I noticed you have friends at LGF, and that you would like them to come over and point out my "severe BDS".

And I'm just extending an invite: you're welcome to comment here, too, you know.

Love,

Ratios

Roy Edroso of Village voice has given us this helpful guide to the right-wing blogosphere. If nothing else, it'll make Sadly, No! a much funnier daily read if you're new to the depradations of wingnuttia.

Edroso also gives us a helpful tool for rating the shit we read every day: the Stupid-to-Evil ratio. For instance, when discussing Tony Strickland's campaign designation, we would show
Stupid: 10/ Evil: 90
"Stupid" representing the part of his lying soul that probably remains convinced he's telling the truth, "Evil" representing his lying soul and his manipulations of meaning.

Tim prefers a Static-to-Signal ratio. In Tony's case, we would see
Static: 90/ Signal: 10
with "signal" representing the facts one can actually pull from his biography, illustrating the true nature of his intentions, and his lying soul.

I like these tools very much. I must remember to use them.

Which reminds me

Of this endlessly amusing (in a very sad way) map that a repub friend sent me.