I can't believe it's not a democracy!

Mark Morford on life after Bush:

What's a liberal critic to do without his most beloved target? Click the link to read yet another excellent piece from Morford, who, like Matt Taibbi, is one of the few people writing at (relatively) traditional media outlets who are worth reading. Not sure you should click? Well, have a taste of his latest romp: So then. The Bush Years, you can say, were a wonderfully mixed blessing. On the one hand, I shall forever be perversely grateful to Dubya and his cronies for the electric boost their abundant abuses gave my career, for helping me discover new and creatively humorous ways to write about the ugliest issues of the day, for showing us all what utter failure and misprision look like at the highest levels of government. History deemed Nixon to be perfectly awful. History is still sitting in stupefied shock over Dubya.

On the other hand, I can't help but exhale a big sigh of unfettered joy at finally being able to put down that armor, lower that particular sword, take off that heavy coat of topical obligation and breathe a bit more freely, both personally and professionally.

Blago booted:

Illinois governor unanimously convicted, tossed from office.

Update: And it looks like the fine folks in Illinois caught a lucky break. Namely, their new governor sounds like a good guy: New Illinois governor made career as a grass-roots crusader. Yes, Illinois' new governor apparently has built his career "on grass-roots organizing to cut government and protect the little guy." And he's a former tax attorney. What's not to love?

This makes more sense then you may, at first, think:

Kurt Vonnegut Motivational Posters. I'm particularly drawn to Vonnegut on Sacrifice.

Thanks to Maud for sending me the link.

As usual, Krugman nails it:

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman writes: The House has passed the stimulus bill with not a single Republican vote.

Aren’t you glad that Obama watered it down and added ineffective tax cuts, so as to win bipartisan support?

He right, of course. That said, my friend John thinks Obama is playing a deeper game. That is, he thinks that Obama is going through the motions--"reaching out" to the republicans to foster bipartisanship--just to allow them to play their usual game, vote en masse against the stimulus bill and reveal themselves as shameless douchebags who want Obama--thus the US economy--to fail. I agree. But, a big but, since Obama had to know that this was going to happen, why not hang tough and speak directly to the people and explain why spending on infrastructure is a better way to spend the stimulus money than tax cuts? His team has the reports to back them up, and certainly there would be plenty of surrogates--including Krugman--who could do some of the heavy lifting. Long and short, this bill will be passed but my understanding is that 1/3 of the spending is relegated to tax cuts. That's money that might not get spent (I'll probably save most of whatever I get) at a time that we need money to be spent. Wisely spent.

I'm not surprised at all:

Starbucks plans to close 300 more shops as profit drops. I feel sorry for the employees who will be losing their jobs, but this was inevitable. Let's face facts, Starbucks sucks. They over roast (i.e., burn) their beans, and they are really selling milkshakes, not coffee. To be frank, I'm surprised they did as well as they did for so long. I hope that local coffee shops that care about coffee pick up the slack.

Link via Calculated Risk.

Well, there is one potentially good outcome coming out of Iceland's financial meltdown (emphasis on coming out):

Icelandic Minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, Would Be World's First Gay PM. Icelandic journalist Iris Erlingsdottir, reporting for the Huffington Post, writes: Icelandic Social Affairs Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir would be the world's first openly gay leader if she becomes Prime Minister of Iceland, as is widely expected. Although Per-Kristian Foss served as acting Prime Minister in Norway very briefly in 2002, this represents the first time that a gay leader would assume the reins of a modern state.

As has been extensively reported, Iceland is in the midst of an economic and political crisis [ed: brought on by the financial crisis brought to us all by Wall Street and the unrelenting greed of the world's super rich] that has brought down the ruling coalition of Geir Haarde. Although elections have been called for in May, Mr. Haarde has announced that he will step down because of the discovery of a malignant tumor on his esophagus earlier this week.

So, will the people of Iceland rise up against this obvious attempt by the gays to push their agenda? Apparently not. Erlingsdottir writes: Huh? Why, who cares? Even after living in America all these years, where hounding politicians into surrealistic hell about their private lives is the norm, it didn't really ring bells for me. "I don't see what her sexual orientation has to do with anything," my mother told me yesterday. "It's no one's business but her own."

My usually taciturn father agreed strongly. "She is the most trusted and respected politician in the country," he said, "and she is simply the best person available for the job. Ja, that is just twisted thinking," he replied when I told him that her sexual orientation would probably be more newsworthy in America than anything else surrounding her appointment.

Wow. Imagine living in a country where the people (and the press?) don't give a shit about a politician's orientation; rather, they want someone who is, gulp, capable and trusted. And she is. Erlingsdottir notes that Sigurdardottir "is one of the most popular politicians in the country," and she is also "the only minister whose popularity had increased compared to a similar poll undertaken in December 2007." The reason for her high numbers? I guess it could be this: She is often described by many of her countrymen as the only politician who really cares about the "little guy." She has devoted her career to fighting for the welfare and equality of minority groups - women, the elderly, the poor, disabled, and immigrants. She holds no fancy foreign diplomas - she has a Commercial degree from the Commercial College of Iceland - nor extensive family or wealth connections like many Icelandic politicians but has diligently worked her way up the political ladder through hard work and determination.

One small step for man...

Thanks to John for the link.

Get out your handkerchiefs, part VI:

Bankers' Girlfriends Form Support Group to Share Their Pain. Gothammist reports on "Dating a Banker Anonymous [DABA], a support group intended to help [what Gothamist appropriately calls "[a] small but growing collective of shallow, gold-digging sybarites] cope with the recession's effects on their relationships." The post cites a NY Times article that highlighted this group of, well, shallow, gold-digging sybarites as they negotiate their way through relationships that have obviously changed.

How have the relationships changed? Glad you asked. Gothamist posts a lament one of the members left on the DABA blog: This whole messy ordeal has advanced my Botox start date by at least two years. Like every other DABA girl, the economy was wreaking havoc on my relationship and youthful good looks...Until - the horror of all horrors - my FBF lost his job, which I guess technically downgrades him to just my BF. Overnight, he went from unavailable to downright clingy. He wants to have dinner every night. By dinner I mean staying in and cooking as Megu is no longer in the budget. AND, FYI DABA girls - chopping vegetables along side your man in a hot New York sized kitchen is NOTHING like the sexy kitchen scene between Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger in Nine and a Half Weeks. Seriously. It sucks.

Yeah, I have the same reaction. What makes this worse? According to Gothamist, this group of half-lives just got a book deal. It's true: life is not fair.

This should be interesting:

Conyers Subpoenas Karl Rove. "Time to Talk.". The link brings you to a Daily Kos diary by Setrak, who writes: For the second time, John Conyers Jr. has issued a subpoena for Karl Rove to testify before Congress. Before, Karl Rove claimed immunity due to his status as a former presidential adviser. However, U.S. District Judge John Bates has rejected that claim. Now without George W. Bush and Mukasey to protect him, Karl Rove is looking mightily vulnerable. Mr. Conyers wants answers involving the politicization of the Justice Department, especially in regards to the firing of U.S. Attorneys for their refusal to prosecute Democrats and for the issues swirling around once-imprisoned former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.

Karl had better be concerned about the Siegelman investigation, because what those assholes in the Alabama to that man could very well result in a separate wing at the local federal prison just for Rove and his U.S. AG buddies. What I hope is that Rove says fuck you to Conyers who smiles, exercises congress' inherent contempt authority to enforce the subpoena and sends out the Sergeant-at-Arms to drag Rove's flabby to the House floor. That would be excellent.

About fucking time:

Say goodbye to McMansions, Americans are buying 'right-sized' homes. I know that few people could stand to live in my tiny apartment (allegedly 350 square feet, but more likely 250-ish), and I would like to have more space, but 6,000 square feet for a family of four is insane. And the energy bills? Can't be cheap. If McMansions are going away because of the subprime mess, etc., then at least one good thing will come from this avoidable mess. Let's hope sensibility is coming back in vogue (assuming it ever was).

You knew this was going to come out some time:

Disgraced pastor Haggard faces more gay sex accusations. And yes, it did involve a "young male church volunteer," why do you ask? Apparently the pastor who succeeded Haggard was told about Haggard's sexual relationship with this young man by the young man himself...shortly after the hooker-meth story came out. Remember all that bullshit about Haggard going through some fundie religious ritual to get the queer out? No doubt parishioners at New Life Church are, once again, stunned by the revelation. If I had no scruples, I could make a fortune.