File this one under “you’re kidding me, right?‘

Riding upon a chariot of Hummers driven by bald eagles, Mississippi Rep. Steve Holland filed a guns blazing cowboy steak of a bill, proudly waving our nation’s red, white and God-fearing blue to protect our American coastal waters. This week, Holland introduced H.B. 150 to Mississippi’s House of Representatives Marine Resources Committee — a bill that, in summary, would “for all official purposes” rename the Gulf of Mexico (or “body of water south of Mississippi”) the “Gulf of America.”

It’s arrogance and nonsense of this sort which makes the rest of the world shake their head in disbelief at the U.S. and opens up the door to well-deserved mockery. And no, Mr. Holland is not a Republican. He’s a Democratic state Rep. which implies that,

a)  Republicans don’t have a complete monopoly on the wingnut brand (pretty damn close, though)

or

b)  This is the sort of ‘Freedom Fries’ mentality required to get elected as a Democrat in Mississippi.

UPDATE

Dems can breath easier. It turns out that Republicans do fully own that wingnut brand.

State Rep. Steve Holland wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America for “official purposes within the state of Mississippi,” but not for reasons you may expect.

Holland, D-Plantersville, says the measure aims to mock anti-immigrant legislation that he finds mean-spirited and insignificant. Newly elected Gov. Phil Bryant supports legislation to allow the state to crack down on immigration. Republicans won control of the Mississippi House last November.

I’m not changing my map. Sadly, it still reflects the thinking of too many Americans.

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Anyone who has ever tried to teach a cow anything knows how damn frustrating it can be.  These animals love to play stupid and simply refuse to focus on anything for longer than a millisecond…or at least that’s been my experience growing up on a farm with my beloved Betsy.

I lie.  I’m a city boy…but I’m sure it would have been my experience had I been raised on a farm.  In any case, our prayers have been answered.  If you want a cow to do your bidding simply bring along a jazz band.  Watch.

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Doesn’t the Constitution have something to say about separation of church and cars?

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Out of the tragic flooding episode in Queensland, Australia comes this story. Let it serve as a warning to all.

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What is wrong with people?

Two of the scientists involved in “Climategate” – the e-mail hacking incident at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, UK – have been emailed death threats since the contents of their private e-mails were leaked to the world. No further information can be revealed about these particular threats at present because they are currently under investigation with the FBI in the United States.

Many other CRU scientists and their colleagues have received torrents of abusive and threatening e-mails since the leaks first began in mid-November 2009. Tom Wigley, previous Director of CRU and now at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, US, has been horrified by the e-mails he and other colleagues have received. “They are truly stomach-turning and show what sort of venomous monsters we are up against,” he told environmentalresearchweb.

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This one came out of nowhere.  With all the crazy talk out there, former President George H. W. Bush has entered the fray and decided to throw in his two cents.

Former President George H.W. Bush feels that the tone of the national discourse lacks civility. “I don’t like it,” Bush told CBS. “The cables (TV) have a lot to do with it.” Bush said he believes Obama was “entitled to civil treatment” when it comes to his critics. But it was not just those on the right, who presumably make up a majority of Obama’s critics, that Bush felt were responsible for the angry tone. The left was guilty as well. Singling out MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, Bush said, “the way they treat my son and anyone who’s opposed to their point of view is just horrible.” Maddow and Olbermann, he added, are “sick puppies.”

Sick puppies?

C’mon.

Here we go again with the saner conservatives quite aware that the radical right is completely out of control but feeling a need to make their criticism more palatable by claiming that there is equal lunacy on the other side. There isn’t. While there are extremists in every group, there is no one among liberals who can match the insanity and nonsense of a Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Michele Malkin, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and the entire Fox News network. And even if there was, the sheer volume of noise being heard from the right which is based on lies, misinformation and pure hate is unmatched. To then make the claim that Maddow and Olbermann are “sick puppies” is ludicrous.

Yes, Olbermann can be loud, opinionated and at times obnoxious, and while one might disagree with his conclusions, he operates on a solid basis of facts.  He doesn’t make stuff up like a Beck whose ‘facts’ are for the most part delusional and whose logic can be ripped to shreds with the slightest of ease.

And then there’s Rachel Maddow who is by any measure the smartest thing to have happened to cable news in a long time. Openly gay (but never in your face), brilliant, articulate, charming and a recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship, she conducts herself in a gentle, reasoned manner. Never rude and always insightful, she provides analysis of news stories which cannot be found anywhere else. She is everything an Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly or a Michele Malkin is not. She is smart, rational and down to earth. To refer to her as a “sick puppy” is so laughable, it makes anything else Bush Senior had to say  irrelevant.

Here is Rachel’s reasoned response.
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We’re finding out more of what went on in George W. Bush’s White House. Matthew Latimer’s new book SPEECH-LESS: Tales of a White House Survivor, tells this little tidbit.

[President Bush's chief speechwriter] Marc [Thiessen] liked to encourage a broad range of opinions from others, so long as theirs agreed with his. When Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I suggested that the president might at least consider awarding Kennedy the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Marc objected with the genteel diplomacy he was known for. ‘That’s crazy!’ he thundered.

This was the same sort of narrow thinking that led people in the White House to actually object to giving the author J.K. Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft.

Why does this not surprise me?  You might remember when the religious right and a number of conservatives freaked out when J.K. Rowling revealed that Hogwart’s headmaster Dumbledore was gay.  Must keep the children of America away from witches and homosexuals, fictional or otherwise!

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EID Stamp 2008

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What is it with people in Tennessee?  Some strange behavior coming out of that state as I pointed out here, here and here.  Anyway this is how stupid rumors start and stick with the wingnut crowd.

Johnny Piper, the mayor of Clarksville, TN, recently forwarded an anti-Muslim email urging all “patriotic Americans” to protest a U.S. Postal Service stamp that commemorates an Islamic holiday. Piper’s email falsely claims that the creation of the Eid stamp was ordered by President Obama. In fact, the stamp was first issued in 2001, during the Bush administration. It was reissued in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

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Yep.

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When you think of the words Middle East envoy and peace, what’s the first name that comes to mind?  If you said, George W. Bush, you’re not alone. From Newsweek comes this brainstorm of an idea.

On Sunday, George Mitchell, President Obama’s Middle East envoy, arrived in Israel to confer with its leaders. Also visiting this week are Defense Secretary Robert Gates, national-security adviser James Jones, and Gulf States envoy Dennis Ross. It’s a full-court press on the Israelis, and the American wish list is long. They want Israel to stop expanding settlements; to stop building Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem; and for hawks in the government to chill out while the U.S. is negotiating with Iran. And yet, odds are, they’ll come back to Washington empty-handed, for reasons having to do as much with atmospherics as policy: Team Obama just doesn’t have Israel’s full trust.

But there is someone who does—someone who could use a job, someone who argued straightforwardly for a Palestinian state, and yet someone who has the implicit admiration and regard of Israel. President Obama needs a new envoy to the region who can get results—and George W. Bush is his man.

Brilliant.  About as ingenious as appointing Sarah Palin head of PETA.

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