Not getting it

Karl Rove is a busy man. Not only does he have the time to do commentary for Fox News, write a book, cut a bloody swath through the fact-checking community, give Stephen Colbert new ham based material, engage in the black arts that keep his 3,000 year old body alive for one more 24-hour period ,take pride in torture, and poison the area gopher population for free around his local community, but he also has time to make extremely loaded statements that show little to no self awareness of that administration he was in and that President he served.

Take it away, Turd Blossom.

ROVE:...they let a cowboy president try to act in an extra-constitutional way to violate a fundamental principle in the Constitution, all without having done their homework in advance.

What's Karl talking about? Is that a reference to himself letting Bush and Cheney run wild? Is he trying to blame other staffers for the mistakes and crimes of the Bush Administration? Is he trying to place blame on Congressional Democrats and Republicans for failing to utilize their oversight on the White House?

No, he's attacking the Obama Administration for not sitting back and allowing a military coup overthrow the democratically elected President of Honduras. Of course he is. You know maybe we should take him at his word on this. I mean if anyone could deadeye a cowboy President violating the Constitution at 100 paces, it's Karl Rove. Hell he studied at the feet of the master for nearly eight years. He could teach the course.

On the other hand, he clearly doesn't understand what's in our Constitution, so how can we expect him to know what's in Honduras' Constitution or even where Honduras is?

But the man is an expert on homework. I mean how could you accuse your opponent of fathering a black lovechild out of wedlock if you hadn't done the research to learn that they adopted a Bangladeshi child ahead of time?

No, he's an expert. We should listen to him. Obama: let military coups go through! We all saw what wonders it did for Haiti. Remember to send that thank you note to Bush, Cheney, and Rove.

You will never be this happy about anything

Audio from the Honduran broadcast of the US/Costa Rica World Cup qualifier from last night, in which some American guy you never heard of sent a corner kick to some other American guy you never heard of, who tied the game 2-2 in the final seconds of the game.

The tie meant that Honduras grabbed the 3rd automatic qualification spot for the region and will make only their second World Cup appearance ever and first since 1982. I can't tell, does it sound like they're excited? No one in America will be that excited if the US wins the World Cup. I don't think anyone in America has been that excited in years. Well not since someone looked at home prices and screamed "These are gonna go up forever! Let's turn this shit into some derivatives, and credit default swaps and get 'fuck you' rich!"

Hopefully Honduran excitement ends up better for them than it did for us. Though after a military coup, there's nowhere to go but up.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 07.14

Reed aims to rejuvenate Christian conservatives
What happens to you if you're a right wing Republican, Christian conservative leader, who is not only disgraced by lobbying ties to Jack Abramoff, an aborted attempt to defraud an Indian casino of gambling rights, FEC investigations, and IRS problems, but has made a career out of trying to convince people that their highest service to God is voting Republican? Well first off, nothing bad happens to you, and secondly, you are expected to mentor the next crop of Jesus-exploiting, GOP suckling, future Federal indictees. Such is the life of Ralph "Right Hand of God" Reed and his new Christian Coalition 2.0 movement. Sometimes the good ones really do get a second chance.

In Japan, Machines for Work and Play Are Idle
Want to know how bad things are getting in Japan during the recession? They're actually laying off robots. No bullshit. On Kyushu they're now down to just one robot...that builds other robots. The robotics market is expected to shrink by 40% this year. This is why we need to fear Skynet. I mean a robo-holocaust was bad enough, but what if they're all additionally pissed off about being jobless in addition to being humanity's slaves? They might not even enslave us, they'll just rip us in half and pile out corpses in the streets. I think we know what needs to be done: technology destroying worldwide EMP pulse robo-stimulus.

Zelaya Issues Ultimatum: 'Reinstate Me Or Else'
This sounds like a great idea: a powerless man demands that the military that deposed him return him to power....or else. It's unclear what the "or else" entails. Or else his body will be riddled by Honduran military issue bullets? Or else he'll unveil his double secret second Honduran military to fight the first one? Or else he'll live out his days in exile? Maybe if he acts mad enough and slams his hand on a desk forcefully, the military will be too scared to ever ask "Or else what?"

The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think
The Wall Street Journal wants you to feel bad about the economy. I know, there aren't exactly many people jumping into the air and clicking their heels over the economy, but the WSJ wants us all to be clear: everything sucks. Being the Wall Street Journal the list is a tad elitist and right wing. Take for instance #3 "Wait staff feels emboldened enough to make eye contact" and #7 "White day laborers mixed in with the Mexican ones."

Vocal Minority Insists It Was All Smoke and Mirrors
With the 40th anniversary of the moon landing nearly upon us the New York Times is taking it upon themselves to re-live, re interview, and re-cover the story that captivated the world in their series: Our Moon. Astronauts, NASA engineers, average Americans, and let's not forget the most important people: those who think it was all a giant conspiracy. Yes, the forefathers to the 9/11 Truthers: the Moon Truthers. Because what comprehensive retrospective on the moon landing would be complete without a bunch of people in tin foil hats making easily disproved claims getting their chance to yell "Hoax!" one more time? You're making Buzz Aldrin angry NYT, you wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Pictures of the day

Scenes from that other revolution we aren't paying attention to anymore: Honduras. Though to be fair, we weren't distracted by the death of Michael Jackson like we were in Iran, we just never cared about Honduras in the first place. More or less the President tried to get the Constitution changed so he gets closer to his dreams of being President until shortly after the sun explodes, which is not cool. The military and supreme court responded by overthrowing the government and beating on people with batons, also not cool.

Also not cool: disrespecting the Colonel. He gives you the taste of his seven secret herbs and spices and you wreck his store. For shame.

Note to Iranians

With protest crackdowns continuing, Khamenei continuing to blame the British for everything, calls for the west to stop influencing those damned impressionable Iranian kids, and Jon Bon Jovi making everything better, I have to say I'm not behind all the tactics protesters are using. If you want to overthrow the power structure that is oppressing you and gain the help of members of the government to do it, it's best not to announce your plans ahead of time. Seems to me its the sort of thing that would be frowned upon when announced out loud.

The power struggle inside Iran appears to be moving from the streets into the heart of the regime itself this weekend amid reports that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani is plotting to undermine the power of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani's manoeuvres against Khamenei come as tensions between the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also appeared to be coming to a head.
...
In the past few days, Larijani - who was fired by Ahmadinejad as chief negotiator on nuclear issues with the west - has announced his intention of setting up a parliamentary committee to examine the recent post-election violence in an "even-handed way". In response, Ahmadinejad supporters within the parliament have discussed the possibility of impeaching Larijani.

In a move with even greater potential significance, according to several reports Rafsanjani has been lobbying fellow members of the powerful 86-strong Assembly of Experts, which he chairs, to replace Khamenei as the supreme leader with a small committee of senior ayatollahs, of which Khamenei would be a member. If Rafsanjani were successful, the constitutional change would mean a profound shift in the balance of power within Iran's theocratic regime.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe walking the halls shouting "I'm looking to remove the Supreme Leader from power, would anyone want to publicly join my campaign to oust him and the "elected" President of Iran? Meet me in the lobby!" Seems to me while you may think you're speaking about taking the power back, it sounds more like you're saying "Hey Basij, please beat me and imprison me! You get to pick the order of those two choices!"

That said I think you're gonna win out. I mean look how badly Khamenei overreached. Now he's trying to overthrow Honduras. I think you'll be able to gain the upper hand when he has to go toe to toe in a border dispute with Hugo Chavez.