The Teabaggers and what their scorched earth approach to politics portends for this country.

Courtesy of Aljazeera:

After its humble beginnings as an astroturf, Koch-Brothers-funded revival aimed at mobilising ill-informed, reactionary, mostly older white Americans against health care reform and other psychologically-constructed monsters under the bed, the Tea Party has become an malignant force that now holds the Republican Congressional Caucus - and with it the country - hostage. 

While the Stockholm Syndrome may not have quite set in yet among all Republicans, the tri-corner-hat crowd seems to behave much like the giant Brain Bug in the movie Starship Troopers, jamming a claw into the heads of their fellow GOPers and slowly sucking out cerebral tissue until only the brainless body remains. 

Most problematic, most of the Tea Partiers, private citizens and elected officials alike, seem to possess just slightly less understanding of the Federal budget or tax code of than say, Mater from Cars. Yet, these are the people in the driver's seat as the country heads for what might be Act II of the Great Recession, unless progressives, centrists, and others edified with high school civics adopt a new strategy to counter them.

And counter them we must, for they and their ilk are nothing new, but representative of a recurring and quite dangerous political strain that has always been with us since the dawn of civilization. Their undermining of the traditions, culture, and give-and-take necessary for any democracy to function has had destructive results on free societies in the past, and taken down a Republic or two.

From its inception, the Tea Party is the very definition of the type of revolutionary movement. Until Democrats, and their leader in the White House, realise they need to stop calling people like Paul Ryan "courageous" and "serious", and start fighting fire with fire, Michelle Bachmann and her creepy pinwheel eyes are going to continue to get their way at the expense of American values and the middle-class that once made this country great.

 The late, great historian Richard Hofstadter added further insight into just the type of "movement" we're dealing with, in his 1964 award-winning tome, "The Paranoid Style of American Politics". In it, he outlines the psychological origins of the type of crazed, Tea-bagger style of all-or-nothing dedication to an absolute end, when he wrote of their forebears: 

 "He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated - if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention." 

 In other words, any compromise, no matter how small, is seen as an act tantamount to treason, which is precisely why we need to stop engaging these tottering tea lovers, because they simply do not believe in the workings of democracy. 

Not really too much to add here except to say that between the Teabaggers and the Domininists trying to fuck up our country this may be one of the most divisive and important Presidential elections in America's history.  Yes I realize I said that same thing in 2008, and I said it because it was true, but I am convinced that what was true then remains true in 2012.

 Personally I long for an election that is simply an election, and NOT the potential harbinger to the end of the United States of America as we know it.

By the way in case you have convinced yourself that this is mere hyperbole on my part, let me remind you of a certain Presidential election in 2000, and how the repercussions from that are still resulting in death, financial collapses, and disharmony all over the world.

Occasionally Alaska reminds you of why it is called the "Last Frontier." And it uses bears to do so.

Courtesy of the Newsminer:

The teenage outdoor education students, having progressed to the point of being on their own in the vast Alaska wilderness, were lined up single file for a river crossing when the grizzly burst with fury into the front of the line, badly mauling two in the group and injuring two more.

Those in the front screamed of the bear's presence. The bear was with her cub when she attacked, according to Alaska State Troopers.

The teens were in a group of seven participating in a 30-day backcountry course conducted by the National Outdoor Leadership School when the attack occurred Saturday night in the Talkeetna Mountains north of Anchorage. They were rescued early Sunday after activating their emergency locator beacon and tending to their most seriously wounded.

Those in the back of the line heard the warning, with the two at the front of the line taking the brunt of the attack, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Another group of seven students and three instructors was waiting about six miles away for a helicopter hired by the Lander, Wyo.-based NOLS, said Bruce Palmer, a spokesman for the organization, which leads many such excursions in Alaska and elsewhere.

Palmer said the worst injured with bear bite wounds are 17-year-old Joshua Berg of New City, N.Y., and 17-year-old Samuel Gottsegen of Denver. They were being treated at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. Hospital spokeswoman Crystal Bailey said both are listed in serious condition after troopers earlier said the injuries were life-threatening.

When the bear broke off the attack, the teens activated a personal locator beacon they carried to be used only for an emergency, Peters said.

The Rescue Coordination Center operated by the Alaska Air National Guard called troopers around 9:30 p.m. to report the activated signal. A trooper and pilot in a helicopter located the students in a tent shortly before 3 a.m., but decided the two most seriously injured would need a medical transport aircraft with a medically trained crew.

There are basic rules that Alaskans learn to follow when going into areas that have bears:

• Make lots of noise to give plenty of warning of your approach. I don't see how seven teenagers stomping through the woods could NOT have made a tremendous amount of noise,
• Avoid deep brush so as not to surprise or crowd the bear. These young men were crossing a river, which you would imagine would provide a plenty of visibility to allow both the bear and the teens to see each other and take evasive measures.
• There is safety in numbers.  Seven is a fairly substantial group, but in this case not substantial enough.
•  Bears are unpredictable, especially mothers with their cubs. I believe that THIS last guideline made the others superfluous.

These unfortunate young men came upon perhaps the single most dangerous situation one could encounter in the wilds of Alaska, and that is a bear with cubs to protect.

From the description of the incident one would assume the bear had plenty of time to take her cub and flee the scene, but for some reason chose to attack instead. Even though it sounds like the teens were doing everything right.


Calling out to alert bears of human presence and give nearby animals a chance to flee is among the skills learned in the course.

"The students say they were" doing that, Palmer said.

I sometimes get a little attitude from the friends and family that I take out on hikes in the wooded areas round the city, for being overly cautious about wearing layers, bringing liquids, making lots of noise, and keeping to the paths while hiking in areas with limited visibility. But I always remind them that even only minutes away from our homes we are STILL deep in Alaska, and that Alaska is not aware that it has been civilized.


We have had quite a number of attacks in and around Anchorage, but you always tell yourself that if you follow the bear safety rules you should be okay. I think this incident with these young men is a reminder that even doing everything right, ultimately offers only minimal protection in a place as wild and unpredictable as Alaska.

Sarah Palin's "One Nation" bus tour is not only potentially damaging the intellect of the American people, it is also putting their very lives in jeopardy.



Sarah Palin hands out autographed copies of the Constitution. Hoping that somebody will explain it to her.

 Courtesy of Politico:

Sarah Palin’s bus is plastered with a mockup of the U.S. Constitution. But her entourage — both the three-vehicle motorcade that includes the bus and the smaller, two-SUV version she uses for smaller events — hasn’t been very respectful of the traffic laws.

They speed. They run red lights and stop signs. They make last-second lane changes to get off the highway, sometimes without signaling.

So do the reporters following them.

Journalists in the caravan trailing her One Nation tour bus describe the experience as harrowing, a rolling menace careening up the East Coast in hot pursuit of the former Alaska governor who declined to provide any advance itinerary of her tour over six days on the road.

As they left the clambake she attended Thursday in New Hampshire, Palin’s two-SUV caravan did 52 miles per hour in a 35 zone as it peeled away from the hosts’ neighborhood. Both cars blew through a stop sign about a mile later. They did 70 mph in a 55 mph zone on I-95 — and then, after they got off, without signaling, flew right past a flashing sign informing them they were going 45 mph in a 35 mph zone.

And that was after they’d already stormed the major cities — and just missed driving through a tornado on the road into Boston.

On Tuesday, the bus nearly hit a biker turning off of Pine Street in Philadelphia

You know I am not sure ANY other coverage of this bus tour does a better job of illustrating what a Palin Presidency would look like.

We have already seen that it would be dangerously anti-intellectual, but as this story demonstrates it would also undoubtedly ignore the existing laws that are in place to contain its power and do whatever the hell it wanted, just like Palin did as Mayor of Wasilla. Or have everybody forgotten this quote: 'I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'"

I know that Palin likes to argue that all of those ethics complaints filed against her while she was Governor were frivolous, and perhaps one or two fit that category, but the majority of them were in response to some rather serious ethical lapses, and they became the ONLY way to hold our Governor accountable for her actions since she never responded to good advice nor common sense.

This is why I NEVER take the teabaggers seriously.  They say they want their leaders to adhere to the Constitution and follow the rule of law, and yet they support candidates who have demonstrated nothing but disdain for the rules, and who do not even appear to have a rudimentary understanding of what the Founding Fathers envisioned for this country.

The next time that Sarah Palin tries to hand a copy of the Constitution to an American citizen I hope they ask her if she could explain to them ANYTHING specific about what it says, and watch her stumble to provide an answer that is not just some version of the word salad that she dishes up every time anybody puts her on the spot.

The woman is virtually unteachable, and simply has NO respect for any rules or laws that do not let her do what she wants to do.  And that is NOT somebody that you allow to gain power, that is somebody you walk to the park in a child safety harness so that they do not run out into traffic.

Of course for Palin it might need to come with a gag, since in her case the mouth is her most dangerous orifice.