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

I'm outta here tomorrow evening.

Just doing a family visit.  My first cousin's kids are a) having a birthday and b) having a first communion.  I'll be attending the reception that follows.  Naturally.  Hope you all have a relaxing, disease-free weekend.  

Heard on the internet radio:

Apparently Justice Souter is going to retire at the end of this term (late spring).  Obama gets his first chance to either send someone unabashedly liberal or try, still, to appease the assholes to the right.  Not.  Holding.  My.  Breath.  Sadly. 

Update: Here's a story by MSNBC: NBC: Souter to retire from Supreme Court. Given the ages of Ginsburg (who has had serious health problems) and Stevens--89 years old!--it won't be Obama's first nomination.

The Rude Pundit, fly on the wall:

Arlen Specter, Tuesday Morning, First Light. Oh, you must click and read the Rude Pundit's explanation for Arlen Specter's switch from republican whore to blue dog democratic whore. Here's a taste: Arlen Specter woke up Tuesday morning early with his right cheek stuck to the rug in his Senate office. After he got his bearings and saw where he was, he remembered that the glue was actually Mitch McConnell's jizz. He still had the taste of the Minority Leader's bourbon-infused cock in his mouth. Peeling his face off the rug, Specter saw that his pants were around his ankles. Goddamnit, he can't believe he allowed Jim DeMint to fuck him again.

And it gets nastier. Right up my alley. Kudos, Rude Pundit. That said, my friend Jim had one complaint. Namely, Mr. Pundit works in a redemption angle when we know that Specter is irredeemable.

Thanks to Jim for the head's up.

Miserable old man strikes out in desperation to save birthright:

Specter Switches Parties. Is he switching because he is disgusted by the republican plan to stymie any decent legislation by threatening filibusters in the senate? Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Um, no. Seems that Mr. Magic Bullet Theory was concerned that righwing nutjob Pat Toomey might hand him his ass in the republican primary. Does this sound familiar? Yeah, I'm looking at you, Joe Lieberman (Independent asshole, CT).

Meanwhile, many people are high fiving each other over Specter's switch, but put me in the "what the fuck?" camp. Why? Read this: PA Gov. Rendell Promised Specter He’d Be “Unopposed” In Dem Primary. According to Greg Sargent, writing at The Plum Line: In a way, labor may be left kind of high and dry in this deal: If Specter had stayed a Republican and lost a GOP primary, the victor, right-wing Pat Toomey, would likely have been defeated by the eventual Dem candidate — who likely would have been a real Democrat, friend of labor, and EFCA backer. So labor could end up getting shafted here.

Remember that Rendell, with Chuck Schumer, squelched any attempt by real progressives to run for the PA senate seat eventually lost by Rick Santorum by throwing money and support behind that asshole Bob Casey, Jr. This just cements for me that the democratic leadership no more wants true progressives in office than the fucking republicans.

Swine flu forces republican senators' hands:

U.S. Senate approves health chief amid flu fears. Wow, this flu must really be scaring the republicans when they are willing to pass up the opportunity to "filibuster" Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to appease their anti-choice asshole base. And yes, filibuster is in quotes because Harry Reid (waste of flesh, NV) doesn't require them to actually, you know, filibuster. When will the democrats replace Reid with a senator who actually has balls/ovaries/principles?

Another reason to love the people of Iceland:

Olivier Morin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 

The caption reads: Photographs of bankers who left Iceland after the financial crisis have a new use in the restroom of a bar in Reykjavik, the capital.

Thanks to John for the link. 

Maybe the baby jesus had bad aim?

Iceland chooses Johanna Sigurdardottir as world's first gay leader. Congratulations, Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir.

Did Mexico just allow the gays to marry?

Mexico hit by 6.0 magnitude quake. Because you know the Pat Robertson et al. are trying to figure out why the baby jesus is smacking Mexico around. And dealing with swine flu and an earthquake? The problem has to be the gays.

Tim Geithner, Wall Street's whore:

Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club. The New York Times tells us what we already knew....Geithner isn't going to threaten the status quo. And that means the bankers and Wall Street get to continue getting rich by stealing the pennies out of our pockets. Here's a taste: Today, Mr. Geithner is Treasury secretary, and as he seeks to rebuild the nation’s fractured financial system with more taxpayer assistance and a regulatory overhaul, he finds himself a locus of discontent.

Even as banks complain that the government has attached too many intrusive strings to its financial assistance, a range of critics — lawmakers, economists and even former Federal Reserve colleagues — say that the bailout Mr. Geithner has played such a central role in fashioning is overly generous to the financial industry at taxpayer expense.

An examination of Mr. Geithner’s five years as president of the New York Fed, an era of unbridled and ultimately disastrous risk-taking by the financial industry, shows that he forged unusually close relationships with executives of Wall Street’s giant financial institutions.

His actions, as a regulator and later a bailout king, often aligned with the industry’s interests and desires, according to interviews with financiers, regulators and analysts and a review of Federal Reserve records.

* * *

In fashioning the bailout, his drive to use taxpayer money to backstop faltering firms overrode concerns that such a strategy would encourage more risk-taking in the future. In one bailout instance, Mr. Geithner fought a proposal to levy fees on banks that would help protect taxpayers against losses.

Click, read, get depressed. As soon as I heard that Obama was going to appoint Geithner as Treasury Secretary and have that hopeless piece of shit, Larry Summers, as an economic advisor, I felt that we we were going to get screwed. Why no, it doesn't feel good to be right...again.

Is this how it starts?

NY awaits confirmation of probable swine flu cases. The break out in Mexico is scary, with the flu affecting--and killing--group considered not as vulnerable (which also happened with the 1918 influenza epidemic). But the spread of the disease via modern transportation makes it even more frightening. Especially after my friend Jim sent me the following article: New Zealand students in swine flue scare.

So I'm thinking that I don't need to run out today and ride the subway to 57th street to grab a new pair of sneakers. It can wait. Because everyone is out and about since we have beautiful weather and some of them don't know enough to cover their mouths when they sneeze, that's why.