The Torture Report proves, yet again, that Teapublicans are a load of cowards.

Here it is, if you can stand to read it: the report showed how the Bushistas, PNAC types, and “Republicans” in general shat themselves in terror after 9/11, resulting in idiot wars of choice and manifold panic-driven decisions, including the ones that involved torture.

Cowards they are, as has frequently been written on this very blog. But the Torture Report gives a horrifying view into the consequences of that cowardice, that fear, that wimpiness-concealed-by-bravado that characterizes modern Repubs. In their panic-stricken, fear-blinded, gutless, craven states of “mind”, the Bush/Cheney regime lashed out in a manner that was far beyond normal evil:
* People were tortured.
* People were tortured to death.
* The torture was completely f***ing useless, and in fact caused a lot of damage.
* Innocent people were dragooned and tortured.
* “Republicans” proposed, created and implemented these programs.
* “Republicans” STILL think we should be torturing people.

Since then, the GOP has continued to show its yellow bellies on repeated occasion: by making the Prexy keep Gitmo open (said Gitmo being full of tortured people); by not allowing the tortured people to have fair trials; and by trying to cover the whole sickening mess up, even after the world already knows what we did. Cowards, poltroons, pusillanimous dastards, faint-hearted, lily-livered scaredy-cats: that, friends, is what the GOP is composed of.

And the fact that the majority of American voters recently opted to bring in even more GOP “representatives” means that those voters are, what, themselves, exactly? Ponder that one, peeps.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

A Quick Brick Upside the Head to an Election Conspiracy Theory.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky hates hates HATES Conspiracy Theories. So when he heard the new one about those yahoo glory-hound hackers at Anonymous having saved the election by counter-hacking Karl Rove’s election-night hacking, he got ticked off. And later, he laughed. A lot.

Firstly: yes, it is possible to hack a vote tabulation device. And yes, it has happened. But the only way to do it in the timeframe required is to work for the company that owns the hardware and software that is being used. Exhibit A: the new software that was illegally installed on Ohio’s tabulation devices several days before the election, by the vendor, with the blessing of our SOS John Husted. That could well have been an attempt at a hack. But since it’s a black  box system, we’ll never know.

But there isn’t any way for an outside hacker group to get in there and deliver a counter-hack after the vendor put in his patch, for a variety of reasons. The only outside group that can beat a hack is the voting public. If the turnout exceeds the forecast amount by a sufficient margin, the hack either fails or is so obvious that the would-be-election-thieves don’t dare do it.

You want to thank somebody for the way the election came out? Thank your fellow voters. They deserve it.

Mr B & C

Lying Sack of S*** of The Week: Karl Rove

Karl Rove (AKA “Turdblossom”) is the ever-so-fitting recipient of this week’s Crown O’ Polished Turds. And how did this plucky Doughboy earn the honor? Why, by promising millionaires and billionaires that he could buy elections for them. And he totally, wretchedly, spectacularly, failed to deliver. Four hundred million dollars (that we know about) flushed down the commode, swirled away like so many, well, turds. http://news.yahoo.com/republican-strategist-karl-roves-very-bad-night-002109469.html

 

The bloom is off the blossom and his “clients” are some kinda pissed off that lil’ Karl failed to deliver . Even for people like Adelson, Koch One and Koch Two, twenty million bucks or so is some serious coin to have wasted. And they are not happy with him. Not even a little bit.

Like many liars, Karly Boy has tried to weasel his way out by telling more lies: but his audience is not stupid, and they are seeing right through him. He has tried to blame others: that isn’t working either. All of his horses and all of his men aren’t putting Rovey Dumpty’s reputation back together again.

Rove has lied for years and gotten away with it. This time, he made the mistake of lying to people that can really, truly, seriously f*** his s*** up.  Give the Blossom Boy his trophy and pass the popcorn: this is gonna be fun to watch.

Mr. B & C

The High Cost of Hearing Only What You Want to Hear

According to CBS News, the Romneybots were “shellshocked” by their election loss. Karl Rove melted down in front of Fox News’s cameras and refused to believe it. All across the country, true believers totally lost it. None of them could handle the outcome: Obama won.

To the rest of us, it wasn’t much of a surprise, and for many not even a particularly big deal: the pollsters had predicted a toss-up that could go either way. It went Obama’s way. Shrug. OK, whatever. No shock, no awe, no freakouts to be found amongst the majority of Americans. So why, then, were so many Repubs and other right-wingers blindsided by the results?

Answer: they live in a bubble; watch only the news that fits their views; read only the polls that give them results matching their views; associate only with others who share their views; listen only to those radio screechers that reinforce their views; and viciously attack anyone with whom they disagree, driving them away so that contrarian views do not injure their quivering, delicate earlobes. Pretty soon, the bubble dwellers find themselves living in a filtered environment that continuously reinforces and strengthens their existing preconceptions.

When Romney’s team didn’t like the poll numbers they were seeing, they chose to believe “internal” polls that made them feel all warm and fuzzy.

When the Teabaggers were presented with proof that Obama really really really wasborn in the U.S., they refused to believe it. And still do.

When Speaker Boehner lost members of his caucus, including some of the biggest extremist loons of the lot, he chose to ignore the fact that Congressional Democratic candidates, overall, got more total votes than Congressional “Republican” candidates (it was only due to gerrymandered districts that he held onto his majority).  No, by golly, he has a mandate to continue his mission of obstruction, or so he thinks.

Ron Johnson blamed his party’s election losses on “an ignorant electorate”. This is perhaps the most instructive example of all: anyone who does not agree with his view of reality is wrong, plain and simple. The fact that he might not be 100% correct at all times and on all subjects doesn’t seem to enter his head.

And so on. These people don’t live on Planet Reality with the rest of us. They live (or at least  think they do) in a wonderful fantasy world, a parallel universe in which anything  in which they fervently  believe is a priori true and thus real, good, Godly and right. So when inconvenient reality intrudes upon their own private Eden, they have no idea what to do or how to cope.

And we wonder why Obama can’t get them to come to the table? They don’t even see the table, and they don’t want to. Until they get bitch-slapped by some big ugly facts a few more times, they are unlikely to come join us here in the real world; and until they get real, they won’t hear us telling them the truths that they do not want to hear.

And until they can hear what they don’t want to hear, there is no possibility of mutual respect and understanding, cooperation, or indeed of any constructive work getting done.

Mr. B & C

Why be For Obama? Look at Who’s Against Him

The best way of  understanding someone’s priorities is to look at how they spend their money, how they spend their time, who they spend their time with. During this silliest of all silly seasons, Mr. Blunt and Cranky has noticed something: Obama’ money has come mostly from many thousands of average schmoes giving a few bucks here and there; and Romney’s cash has come from a very few uber-rich motherf***ers, some of whom are hiding in the shadows.
But not all of them are completely hidden, and we can learn a lot about those who hates them a black President by how they spend their money, time, and their connections:

The Koch Brothers:  Serious, hardcore robber barons who want  to be rid of regulation and silly rules that protect workers, the public, and honest  business folk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_family

Karl Rove: Easily one of the scummiest political operatives since Caligula bought the Senate in ancient Rome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove

Mitt Romney: an amoral, shallow, monetary sociopath who is fiercely loyal to his wife and kids,  and out the f***everyone else:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney

The financial vultures who are buying Romney’s campaign: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?id=N00000286

And so on, and so on. Nary a one of these people is interested in advancing the safety, security and public welfare of the American people. Rather, they are out for themselves and seek to have a free hand to  loot the lot of us, pollute the lot of us, and screw the lot of us. And Obama is not interested in helping them do so.

The average working schmuck is well-served by a vote for Obama: because he, unlike his opponents, has  no percentage in f***ing us over.

Mr. B & C

Most of Romney’s Campaign Money is Secret. Surprised?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky is not. From the start, Romney’s campaign (indeed, his very life) has been shrouded in secrecy, and when a bit is revealed, that bit is obfuscated or contradicted. So it makes sense that the money being used to buy his attempt at the Presidency would follow form.

A survey done by three organizations has provided, among other very revealing information about both parties, this handy little chart (more at the link below, which this writer hopes you will click):

Ad Spending By Outside Groups, April 10-Oct. 10

Party Affiliation	Amount Spent	Donor Status	Percent
Democratic	$20,032,460	Disclosed	86.6%
Democratic	$3,101,280	Undisclosed	13.4%
Total Democratic	$23,133,740
Republican	$69,112,620	Disclosed	44.4%
Republican	$86,600,860	Undisclosed	55.6%
Total Republican	$155,713,480

Source: Kantar Media CMAG

Notice the huge difference in amounts, but even more so the difference in secrecy. Most “Republican” money is hidden in the shadows, like cockroaches and other similar vermin. While the Dems do have their secret-keepers, they are by far the minority.

To sum up: you can choose to trust people who do not trust you, and receive the usual rewards of such foolish behavior. Or you can show them how you feel by not voting for them. At the end of the day, people who keep secrets are usually hiding something revolting, shameful, illegal, immoral, or suchlike.

In this case, they are keeping secrets from you because they are afraid you won’t vote for them if you find out their secrets. And that is reason enough to vote against Romney, Ryan, and anyone else whose elections are being bought by slimy, shadowy crooks like Rove and his ilk.

Mr. B & C

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/10/15/162955073/study-secret-donors-significantly-fueling-pro-romney-tv-ads

The Majority is Supposed to Run America

Ancient Rome occupied quite a bit of real estate at one time, and though they were a minority in most of their Empire, they were able to rule over the majority through various means. Eventually, though, the majorities in each occupied nation got tired of being screwed over, and revolted. Buh-Bye, Roman Empire.

England once occupied even more of the globe than Rome, and though the English were a minority in most of their empire, they were able to rule over the majority through various means.  Eventually, though, the majorities in each occupied nation (like America, India, Scotland, and so on) got tired of being screwed over, and revolted. Buh-Bye, British Empire

We are seeing this happen elsewhere on a smaller scale in Syria today – minority is ruling a majority and screwing them over. The majority has gotten sick of it and is revolting. Pretty soon, it’ll be Buh-Bye, Assad. We saw it in South Africa, too. Majorities eventually get tired of being boinked and rise up, usually causing a lot of death and destruction in the process.

Today, America is increasingly heading towards minority rule – a small group of wealthy individuals are using the tax code to their benefit, buying our “representatives”, using their ownership of the media to give us the mushroom treatment, rigging elections, and so on. Pretty much the same thing as Caesar and Quadaffi did in their times; and Americans are slowly waking up to this reality. When enough of them get ticked off enough, it will not be pretty.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are both members of this minority. They could be poster children for this group, in fact. They do not understand the lives of ordinary Americans, but they wish to rule a nation full of them.  Say what you will about Obama and Biden (and this writer has said plenty), neither of them was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Hell, half the time they didn’t have silver of any sort, but they each worked their own way up and made themselves successes.

Not Romney. He started rich and got richer. Ditto Ryan. They and their little clique will screw us all over to such an extent that people will start getting really pissed off.  And when that happens, it’ll be Buh-Bye to America as we have known it.  And that would really suck.

Mr. B & C

Lying Sack of S*** of The Week: They Are Legion

Mr. Blunt and Cranky has so many worthy recipients for this week’s Crown O’ Polished Turds, he may have to outsource the manufacture thereof. There are multitudes of these worthies, and it would be unfair to leave any of them out. He speaks, yea, verily he does, of the “Social Welfare Organizations” who are calling for the defeat/victory of Obama/Romney even though they are not allowed to do so.

These groups (run by Rove et.al. and funded by who-knows-whom) are running ads that are pretty damned explicit, and doing it tax-free and behind closed doors, thanks to an amazingly stupid Supreme Court ruling: they are advocating for and against the candidates, and are hiding behind laws meant to benefit charities that do, well, actual charitable works.

Your cranky neighborhood blogger is particularly hacked off about this, because he has  a friend who runs an actual non-profit organization under a 501(c) designation – his is dedicated to raising money for cancer research. These people bust a** to do something good for their fellow citizens.

Rove and his fellow loophole-enabled scumbuckets are using laws meant to encourage people to take care of one another, and using them instead to line their already corpulent pockets and steal elections. Because of their most awesome lying scumbucketry, we not only place the COPT upon their noggins, but we shall grace them with a Bucket O’ Pond Scum right before their coronation, so that the populace may better know what sorts of eminent individuals that they are dealing with.

Mr. B & C