Pope Panzerfaust I Retires

Well that was interesting.

No telling why he's hanging it up.  Being Pope must've been a pretty swell job once upon a time.  But given the recent child rape scandals and the financial shenanigans involved, it suddenly became a very different gig.

Given that Pope Panzerfaust was at the heart of covering up these scandals, I guess I don't have too much sympathy for him.

Still, he was widely seen as a place holder pontiff anyway.  Someone to bridge the gap after JP II.

The question is, the Church has been given an opportunity to re-invent itself for the 21st century.  Hell, for the 20th century.

Whom they pick as their next pope will go a long way towards telling us whether the Catholic hierarchy intends to confront their past sins and make amends or continue to walk blithely down the path of denial and ultimate irrelevancy.

Walking Dead

And here we go...

So is the Governor warped or just planting Merle in with Rick's group?

Plant.  Merle gave it away.
***
Leave Merle!

Tyrese is going to be my new favorite, I bet.

OK, option C.  Merle and Daryl on their own.  Didn't see that coming.
***
Hey.  Glenn.  I think you get him.

The funny thing is that the Ricktatorship is not really all THAT different from the Governor, except Rick retains some small sense of decency.  But the reason they are leaders is that they have become tough, tough SOBs.
***
Hey, Governor.  Don't piss off Andrea.  You won't like her when she's angry.

Ahhhh, sexual tension between Rick and the teenager.  Figured that would happen.  Also, too, Carl has a crush on her.

Lori's eyes.  And Lori's vengeful nature.
***
"You're like me own son, Glenn."  Got something in my eye...

This probably means they'll kill of Herschel soon.
***
Rick's starting to lose it again.  Always a fun moment.

So Little To Talk About

I guess... drones?  That's the beat at Daily Kos today.

Global warming?  Nothing to see hear.

Walking Dead is on tonight.  Downton Abbey, too.  Quite a pairing...

Blinding Nemo

Well, we have power.  And two plus feet of snow.  My guess is there must be drifts deep enough to lose Thing Two in.

And did I mention my snowblower is broken?  I guess it doesn't matter too much as there's too much snow for it to work...

UPDATE: Got the snowblower working.  Thanks be to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Most Offensive Super Bowl Ad

I hated the Paul Harvey ad.  This sums up why:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e1abab3c2b/god-made-a-factory-farmer?rel=player

Sequester THIS!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/08/1185526/-Nobody-likes-the-sequester-Nobody-agrees-on-how-to-replace-it-So-let-s-repeal-it

Anything Congress does, Congress can undo.  For instance, say, the Assault Weapons Ban.

The Sequester is a made up crisis (like the fiscal cliff curb) that can be unmade by Congress.  We are starting to reduce the deficit anyway.  If we can get the economy going again, even more will go away.  If people are back at work they won't be claiming unemployment and food assistance.

Simply repeal the damned sequester and then fight over the budget they way James Madison intended.

We're DOOOOOOOMED

Seriously, it's almost like the weather is getting more extreme for no reason that scientist can explain ever.

In case you were wondering where Nemo came from...

Winter Storm Nemo

As we await the coming Snowpocalypse 2013, I am struck by how everyone goes out to buy milk. Why do we buy milk?  Is milk some sort of anti-blizzard totem?

My snowblower doesn't work because that's just the way this winter is working out.

The wrestling tournament has been moved to Sunday which means I just lost my only free day. Or rather free half-day.

Life sucks, but it beats the alternative.

Bedwetters

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/02/fear_and_conservatism.php?ref=fpblg

"It's not that conservative people are more fearful it's that fearful people are more conservative."

Hence all the angry white men in tri-corner hats wanting to "take back our country".

It's not really all that complicated.

Wake Me When It's Over

Never had so long a winter, except for all the ones before it, I guess.

The Wonderful Wife always wanted to move south.  For the first time I agree.

And I still didn't win the lottery this week.

Missing The Point

Steven D at Booman's place misses an essential point of the drone program.  And I bet most of the commentators miss this essential point, too.

They are focusing on when someone may be determined to be planning attacks on the US.  What if they renounced - but quietly - their intents to attack the US and we go ahead and kill them anyway?   What - asks Steven D - about Timothy McVeigh or the Unibomber.

Allow me to interject:

Look... There is ex parte Milligan and posse comitatus.  The military may not be used when courts are open and functioning.

Full stop.

The use of drones is intended only for those situations where using police (US or otherwise) or special forces is not feasible.  Since most of these guys are out in the Hindu Kush or the wilds of Yemen, that seems pretty reasonable.

Now, I get the idea that having a non-adversarial panel or even a "well-informed senior governmental official" make a lethal decision is troubling.  And I agree that in a perfect world that is not something we would want.

But in no way shape or form does this apply to US citizens in the US.  Or Germany.  Or England.  Or India.

It applies to US citizens who are actively engaged in hostilities with the United States.  Determining the difference between some guy ranting on the Internet and someone actively plotting an attack is tricky.  And this memo isn't reassuring on that point.

But the people who think that this means drones are going to be used by future presidents against people in the US are only slightly different from the people who keep Bushmasters in their closets for when the gubmint comes.

The Wilderness

When the Democrats were wandering in the presidential wilderness from roughly LBJ to Clinton, they had a lot of voices in their party that pretty much only seemed to be out for themselves or for their narrow interest group.  The New Left, Jesse Jackson, Scoop Jackson, the DLC... There was a group for everyone and too many voices.

It looks like the GOP is falling into that dynamic.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/04/1184517/-Don-t-worry-GOP-establishment-Karl-Rove-has-got-this?detail=hide

As "the Establishment" fights with "the Base" you can be sure that they won't be coming up with new ideas.  Rather they will be fighting about the old ideas.  Bill Clinton gave the Democrats a new direction: fiscal responsibility and social moderation that has largely defined the mainstream of the party since 1992.  This has lead to gnashing of teeth among the Manic Progressives, but there is a reason Democrats have only lost the popular vote once since 1992.

Meanwhile, if there is a perfect symbol of what is wrong with the GOP, it's that the "Establishment" has turned to Turdblossom himself to lead their efforts.

Once again, Rove has found a way to suckle at the teat of millionaires and billionaires without actually having to succeed.  Because this time will be different.

Karl Rove helped a mildly charismatic son of a former president win a contested election that, frankly, he probably lost.  Then incumbency and wartime patriotism got that man re-elected by the slimmest of margins.

Why in the world does that make Karl Rove worth the millions of dollars that the GOP mandarins will spend on him?

Put another way, why is being "Bush's Brain" anything but an employment liability?

Wasted

Why beat the Falcons if the Niners are just going to crap the bed like this?

The Puppy Bowl was more intense

UPDATE: Annnnnnd, it's worse.

NRA's Enemies List

I wanted to cut and paste the whole list, but I don't have enough bandwidth...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/02/good_lord_is_this_awesome.php?ref=fpblg

#howhasObamafailedyou

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/us-carbon-emissions-in-2012-lowest-since-1994?ref=fpblg

I've been critical of Obama's approach to global warming as being too sly and not pronounced enough.

But that's a nice trend.  Congratulations on winning that "war on coal" Mr. President.