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Weekend Music Thread – Happiness

Thanks, KT. Just showed my daughter Modern Times which this song is from so it was fresh in my mind. BTW, she really enjoyed it which was very cool.

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 2:10 pm

I’ve been noticing that because it’s often vice-versa! My first picks were in your post! Great picks as always, KT!

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 2:07 pm

Smile – Charlie Chaplin

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 1:28 pm

Happy Jack – The Who

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 1:25 pm

I’m So Glad – Cream

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 1:23 pm

Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 1:17 pm

Tea Party Republicans Fit The Mayo Clinic’s Description of Sociopaths

Hi Ivan and welcome to The Planet!

True, the Tea Party appears actually to be an amalgam of the new-Confederates and Fundamentalist Christian extremists, the remnants of the Moral Majority. So you have a lot in common between the two, bigotry and a drive to force their extreme religious beliefs on the majority.

It’s an ebb and flow, for years these throwbacks to previous decades get pandered to and whipped up by a cynical GOP that exploits their fear and hatred to milk them for votes and winning elections, Eventually, all that fear and hatred in them consumes them and they become so aggressive the GOP can’t control them anymore and they eventually take over the party,

Happened in the 1960’s with Goldwater, with the Moral Majority in the 1980’s/1990’s and now it’s happening again.

As always, once the radicalized Frankenstein minority in the GOP takes over, they abuse their power and alienate a strong majority of Americans over to the Democratic Party for a while to come.

Then, the Tea Party will follow the pattern, be consumed and cowed by their failure and retreat from power for a while…until they are re-agitated again by the GOP to rise up as the party is further threatened to fall into the role of a permanent minority party…which is only a matter of time for a Straight, Fundamentalist, Whites Only party.

» Posted By AdLib On October 1, 2015 @ 11:15 am

jjgravitas, it is very enlightening to see how a small group of radical zealots can worm their way into power and scare others into being to fearful to stand up to them.

People often say they don’t understand how fascists and tyrants can gain enough support to rise out of democracies, as with Hitler’s rise in Germany but seeing how the majority of Repubs have ceded power to the extremists out of political fears, it really is much more understandable now.

Thank goodness that has no chance now of happening here but it could have!

» Posted By AdLib On October 21, 2013 @ 6:30 pm

Hey jjgravitas!

I don’t know that it’s so odd that the Tea Partiers are in politics because though it represents public service and serving the nation to us, to them it represents power.

And such delusional sociopaths crave the power to inflict their egocentric world upon the majority.

That’s not going to happen now, they’ve showed their true insanity to the public and voters don’t like what they’ve seen. I am growing more confident each week that we can take The House away from them next year. They lack any rational argument to stay in power.

» Posted By AdLib On October 21, 2013 @ 6:25 pm

Haruko, I agree, they sure fit that definition and I too have referred to them as such.

But I wonder if that’s giving them too much of a compliment. After all, when you compare their disregard for others’ lives, their hatred of America, their single minded zealotry, their willingness to destroy their own lives in the pursuit of their exacting vengeance, doesn’t the term “terrorist” define them more fully?

As destructive as they can be, nihlists do have a philosophy. Do Baggers even think that much? Do they have any philosophy or just a mindless hatred that could drive them in any direction?

They are mentally deranged, they don’t exhibit the traits of well adjusted people. They need to be seen for who they really are, no political correctness or false equivilencies any more in the media.

No dealing with terrorists and no rationalizing them away.

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 2:02 pm

So is Lex Luthor.

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 9:42 am

KT, they are identical to religious extremists in conformity and blind allegiance to whatever their leaders tell them to believe…because many of them are also religious extremists.

As a minority of the population, the wealthy and powerful always need to prey on the poor and ignorant to recruit them as their mindless army, using their fears to manipulate them into their service.

As we’ve seen throughout history, including on 9/11, such fanatics are the perfect disposable pawns for the agendas of others.

I don’t know that they can be convinced out of their mindsets so they need to be firewalled off from having any power or impact over the lives of others.

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 9:39 am

agrippa, I’d have to assume that the ultimate responsibility for this are the parents who raised them. These are core behavioral traits, the ability to reason, use critical thinking, be self-critical, being able to communicate constructively and have a respect for truth and what is just.

The cycle needs to be broken. This ignorance and belligerence seems inherited by upbringing (not biological, many of these people could have been insightful and thoughtful if not raised into this stagnated mindset).

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 9:23 am

Kes, never heard the term before but it perfectly applies, “zero insight”.

These Tea Party types have no ability to reason, instead they use the same unquestionable, absolutist, faith-based mentality they have in following their religion.

Going down the same road as that excellent article you posted from Frank Schaffer, is this a result of the more aggressive, fundamentalist churches hammering into their followers nowadays that being a good Christian is inseparable from being a Republican? After all, if they are intertwined in the eyes of their church and one has to believe in both to be “good”, is it so unlikely that belief in Repubs and their agendas is just as much an issue of faith as their religion?

We know that many of these Tea Partiers were followers of the Moral Majority in the 1990’s. There seems to be little difference between the blind convictions and willingness to believe in even the most preposterous delusions by the religious extremists as it is with the Tea Party crowd.

Considering all of that, wouldn’t it make it just as difficult to convince any of them out of their wacko conspiracy theories and beliefs about Obama and his policies as it would to convince them not to believe in their religion.

I think many if not most of these people are too far gone to be deprogrammed. As I mentioned before, it would be a great strategy to really try to help their kids to steer them away from following that self-destructive path, by improving education and opportunities for them.

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 9:15 am

CL – I wrote a related post a while back and when I went back to look at the clinical symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder and as I read each one, I too was amazed to see how nearly every one hit the nail on the head with Baggers/Republicans.

It’s so inconceivable that it’s hard to accept but how can such evidence be fully refuted? Many of these people in positions of power in our government are suffering from mental illnesses that lead them to endanger the nation and the world.

Ted Cruz and Ted Bundy, twins separated at birth?

Excellent point that the Baggers get most of their support from those who share their mental illnesses. The entitled, self-centered, unempathetic, angry and scared people. And the level of delusion is shared as well, they genuinely seem to believe 100% in their righteousness no matter how awful their words or actions are.

For Baggers, when it comes to getting what would gratify themselves, the ends always justify the means and being dishonest about all of it to others is nothing to ever feel guilty about.

Hmm…I should do a search of quotes from famous psychopaths and shuffle in quotes from Baggers and see if anyone can tell the difference!

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 3:41 pm

Nirek, there is nothing so dangerous as a fanatic with power. I think all of America has gotten a good schooling on that this week. We can only hope it is a lesson learned because the final exam will be in November 2014.

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 3:28 pm

Breaking the Back of the Baggers

Assumed, I’m not really concerned about people forgetting about the Republicans being political terrorists. After all, Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann and all the other Tea Party loons will be continuing all their lunacy through 2014. The state GOP primaries will whip up even more Tea Party madness.

Voters won’t be able to escape all the reminders about the GOP shutting down government and threading the nation with their radical agenda.

Still, we will need to work hard on voter registration and GOTV and Dems should all campaign against all Repubs as soldiers of the Tea Party, whether they openly support them or not, voting for them is voting for Tea Party control of the House.

» Posted By AdLib On October 22, 2013 @ 3:11 pm

Hey Haruko!

Especially if you carry a Confederate Flag in front of the WH. Hmm, wonder what exactly that message is? Not to mention the guy wearing sheets and carrying a noose.

The thing about zealots is that they have what Kes described as Zero Insight, they have no awareness of how they’re perceived and in their delusions, they think a majority will come out of the woodwork to praise and follow them.

The only thing that actually comes out of the woodwork is termites and they are remarkably similar to Baggers in many ways.

» Posted By AdLib On October 19, 2013 @ 1:36 pm

CL, this is Exhibit 1 in displaying how crazed Dominionists and/or Fundamentalists infest many parts of our society.

They must be flushed out and kept away from government and any positions of power.

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 3:44 pm

Kalima, I am enjoying with a bit of amazement, the desperate spin of the Repubs over this devastating political loss. Ted Cruz greeting people at the national monuments he masterminded shutting down and Marco Rubio promising that they will yet succeed in repealing the ACA in the Spring after it’s operating and people see what a disaster it is (“Then after we repeal it, we’ll figure out how we can replace it.” So in the meantime, millions of Americans are left without insurance, denied due to pre-existing conditions and generally left to twist in the wind? That’s a Republican plan for health care?).

The MSNBC and other news hacks claiming Boehner is a stronger leader now…after leading his “troops” into a real Waterloo (Sorry Jim DeMint, the ACA turned out to be your party’s Waterloo).

Meanwhile, a huge majority of Americans disapprove of the Repubs and all of this face-saving will only cement that in.

It’s all good right now, we’ve got the lunatics in retreat and warring amongst themselves. The 2016 GOP primary will be the most entertaining and satisfying tv in years!

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 11:26 am

KT, I see it as strength to be able to be diplomatic with those who you crushed and defeated in a major conflict that they initiated. Who looks powerful in such a picture and who looks small?

The contrast is a great thing to remind the public about, here is a tolerant, principled President who rises above personal feelings to do what’s best for the nation and no matter how horrible the Repubs are, he won’t allow them to corrupt him. And beside him are the small, petty men who tried to blackmail him and all of the American people, forced to give up their insane crusade by this President.

Rub it in their faces, smile at them Mr. President, they know what you and the nation are really thinking about them.

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 11:18 am

KT, this is how the unethical act. They are willing to threaten the lives of everyone else to get what they want but at heart are cowards who live by the sword but aren’t willing to die by the sword. So, they wait till the last minute to take the gun away from the nation’s head to make sure they get all they can out of instilling fear.

This was a very important loss for them, Obama was right, this had to be done and now that it has been, it has stripped the Baggers of a meaningful amount of power.

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 11:14 am

CL – Nothing fails like failure! I do think there is a chastened House/Boehner now but I don’t think it will last, with an election year coming up.

Which is fine since it will polarize a majority against Repubs.

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 11:09 am

Q, I wonder if we might find some secret campaign funds from Ted Cruz having gone for plastic surgery to make him look like Joe McCarthy and buying brain implants from the George Wallace Foundation?

» Posted By AdLib On October 17, 2013 @ 11:07 am

Really appreciate the wonderful props, Kes. You really nailed them so incisively as well!

They are indeed locked into that mentality you describe. “You either agree with me or shut the hell up!” They have paved over the reasoning center of their brain and built a shrine to Rush Limbaugh on top of it.

As you say, they try to spin a massive defeat as a victory and look to each other’s nods for confirmation that they can all embrace this new lie and denial of reality.

All the polls in 2012 that told them Obama would beat Romney were skewed because they didn’t tell them what they needed to hear so they actually set up an Unskewed Polls site to literally skew polling out of all reality to show the results they needed to believe.

These are paranoid delusional people and given even a little power, look what they do, they’ve used it to try and blow up the US and world economy!

We absolutely don’t want them in a position to declare wars or fire nuclear missiles (and to imagine how close we came in 2008 to Sarah Palin being one heartbeat away from being President!).

Since you can’t reason with them and since they pose an ongoing danger to most Americans, they need to be removed from power ASAP and this latest terrorism by them should be all the ammo we need in the 2014 election to replace at least 17 Repubs with Dems.

I’m sure going to dedicate myself to that!

» Posted By AdLib On October 16, 2013 @ 10:21 pm

So funny, I checked out Red State and these deluded Baggers are trying to spin a massive loss for their party as a win!

Under a title of, “Advancing. Ever Advancing.”, RW Bubble Boy Erick Erickson says:

“…those of us who were in this fight against Obamacare, have been quite open that we knew there were side benefits. This fight would expose conservative activists to the frauds they have funded.”

“…we always knew the fight would force the charlatans of the GOP out of the shadows into disinfecting sunlight. It has happened as I wrote it would almost a month ago.

Now conservatives can keep advancing. They should not be disheartened.”

“Ted Cruz and Mike Lee may not have been able to strike a death blow to Obamacare today, but they were able to fight a fight that would have been impossible before them. They have now made it less and less possible for Republicans to collaborate with Democrats to fix or stabilize Obamacare.”

Of course, poor Bubble Boy Eric doesn’t have any plan for the future of the GOP if the ACA turns out to be liked by Americans…in fact, his whole strategy means that his fellow Baggers will become the big losers. And if there’s one think he knows, it’s being a loser.

And here’s my favorite part:

“As more Americans watch Obamacare fail them through the Republican primary season, conservatives will be able to put the focus on Republicans who funded Obamacare instead of fighting it. Whether they like it or not, Republicans in Congress will find their names on ballots in 2014. They cannot hide or escape fate.”

So…in 2014, it will be Dems against Repubs and Repubs against Repubs.

Could be worse!

» Posted By AdLib On October 16, 2013 @ 5:01 pm

Thanks Greta42 and great to see you!

Cantor was surely part of the Republican cabal in the House that made this outrageous change to prevent ALL House members from exercising a right to call for a vote on a Senate passed bill that has been in place without ever being blocked before.

The problem is that The Constitution allows both the House and Senate to create their own rules of operation (there is no right to filibuster in the Constitution, The Senate created it themselves) so if an anti-democratic group takes power, if they can pass rule changes with a majority, those become the new rules.

But a rule that takes away rights of the entire House and gives it solely to one member? Repubs should fight to reverse that law along with Dems or when the House changes hands (in 2014 I hope), where will that leave them?

» Posted By AdLib On October 16, 2013 @ 4:28 pm

CL, of course the power hungry, the greedy, the ignorant and narrow-minded champion nullification because as you say, it’s the “philosophy” of changing the way things are into the way they want them to be…without being held back by democracy, facts or what’s fair.

Only those at the edges of American society would grasp for this because the rest of us know we have the opportunity of changing things because we can get a majority agreeing with us.

What the Dominionists and Pat Robertson types imagine about this being a Christian nation has nothing to do with any of Jesus’ teachings. Their core beliefs of wanting to take power and make themselves wealthier while oppressing the poor and those they deem as inferior are the opposite of what Jesus spoke of.

Christians should be coming down hard on all these false prophets who use their religion like a scam, to advance their prejudices and self-interests.

Meanwhile, this massive example of the Tea Party trying to use extortion and nullification to accomplish the goals a majority of Americans don’t support has harmed their ability to get away with it in the future. Their cover of “financial responsibility” has been blown big time, especially after costing the nation over $20 billion through this shutdown…for nothing!

If you ask me, the Dems should insist in the budget negotiations that taxes be raised to cover the billions the GOP has added to the deficit.

» Posted By AdLib On October 16, 2013 @ 4:21 pm

agrippa, from the desperate denialist comments already streaming out of the GOP, I think it’s clear that many Repubs will prove impervious to education (as they have in the past).

They will continue their tantrums and attempts to damage the government and the non-white President that so upsets them but they have lost all pretense with the public of doing so for a good reason.

» Posted By AdLib On October 16, 2013 @ 3:51 pm

Hey Murph, as you accurately describe all these conflicting split personalities of the GOP, none of them sound fit to hold power in this country.

It would be like allowing doctors who don’t believe in the Hippocratic Oath to operate on you. “First do no harm? I got a nest egg to build, if I gotta do harm to get where I want to be, so be it!”

None of the motivations of these groups shows any sense of community or respect for the majority of Americans who don’t see the world as they do.

With so many self-justified, intolerant groups locked in the same party with each other, it does seem that the internal war can only heat up as the party declines in power and support. These people who have no internal regulator to hold back their hatred are increasingly (and thankfully) turning on each other. That doesn’t mean they’ll stop attacking the rest of America or Obama, they’ve got a lot of hate to spread around, it does mean though that they will be damaging themselves as their swords cut both ways.

» Posted By AdLib On October 16, 2013 @ 3:41 pm