Brew City Brawler

Perhaps the Journal-Sentinel's McIlheran should avoid writing about the whole rock genre

Patrick McIlheran embarrasses himself by approvingly linking and quoting a rightwing hack who suggests many of the 75,000 people at Obama's Portland,Ore. rally were there to see local indie rock heroes The Decemberists, who opened up for Obama.

Patrick would have been well advised to have read Sadly No's (exponentially more reliable than the New York Sun or the National Review put together!) take on the hopeless argument that even a fraction of the people gathered would have been there primarily to see the Decemberists. As one commenter there notes, when the Decemberists played in NYC for two nights they played at a 3,000-capacity venue.

Does McIlheran think that the Decemberists are "spawn" of Bob Dylan?

And which is worse:Getting people to come to a rally by having the Decemberists open up or walk through a Potemkinized street of Baghdad and say things are going great?

(The Brawler wishes to note that while he is not a huge fan of the Decemberists, Colin Meloy's book for 33 1/3 about the Replacements' Let It Be is very, very, very good.)

This silliness gets exhausting. Back to hiatus!

Journal Sentinel gushes over the dreamy Paul Ryan

Most newspapers give little attention to bills that are nothing more than grandstanding or empty gestures. That's especially true for bills introduced by House members of an ideologically bankrupt minority party.

But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel positively gushes about the "excitement" generated in conservative circles for a fiscally irresponsible bill that he claims would reform Social Security, Medicare, the health care system and the tax code. It notes that it's an ambitious plan that even Ryan admits won't go anywhere -- arguably because it's nothing more than a rightwing wish list cranked out to fire up the base in what is sure to be a November massacre for the GOP.

"I call it a road map for America's future," said Ryan, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, because the name "Steaming pile of GOP BS" already was taken and mention of roads drive up contributions from his buddies at the Operating Engineers. "If we don't start tackling these problems, they're going to tackle us."

Sadly the article doesn't tackle the actual specifics of the bill -- it contents itself to quote some Republicans who say Paul Ryan is a man of enormous intellectual magnitude and includes an obligatory quote from a liberal type who whines about how the bill benefits the rich. Wah wah wah.

It doesn't note that most people hate health savings accounts -- a point noted in a National Review of doe-eyed Paul -- or that HSAs are in no way a miracle cure for the health insurance crisis the country faces. HSAs are at the core of Ryan's plan to "tackle" the problem of health insurance.

And while it mentions Paul Ryan's plan to fix Social Security (a program that serious people know doesn't face any imminent threat despite some scary, context-free numbers the reporter throws out) -- "Allow workers younger than 55 to invest a third of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts." -- the story doesn't raise the question of how Social Security will meet current obligations if workers are putting money into retirement accounts. Kind of a serious issue. Also, Ryan's plan guarantees people who invest money in retirement accounts would receive the standard payment if their investments don't work out. Can you say "moral hazard?" And where does that money come from?

And that's just for starters.

It's evident from the story that the reporter has no idea what she's writing about -- or doesn't care -- and that she's just running the traps -- wacky contrast lead, quote the congressman, add a patina of policy talk, throw in some quotes favoring/opposing the man behind the plan without addressing the actual plan and "whallah!" you have a news story. And shame on the editors for running this ... piece. The only people served by this story are Paul Ryan and his people who have another clip portraying him as an oasis of ideas.

A more pertinent question the reporter could have put to the ostensibly fiscally conservative Paul Ryan is why he continues to support an occupation that is draining will drain our coffers for decades to come for no good effect.

Which is worse: A paper that sucks or no paper at all?

Awesome bible verses: James 5: 1-8

From theNew Testament's Letter of James, the theological justification for modern Republicanism:

1] Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
[2] Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
[3] Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
[4] Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
[5] Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
[6] Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
[7] Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
[8] Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Written by Rev. Wright?

John McFearmonger

The Brawler, deeply enjoying his hiatus, has had a good  chuckle over John McCain's tut-tutting over Obama's foreign policy naivete and McCain's fearmongering -- i.e. elect Obama and we all die.

(McCain, as we know, would solve that Iraq thing by telling the Sunnis and the Shiite (assuming he could figure out who was who) to "stop the bullshit." Experience! Judgment!)

Why is the Brawler so amused? Because it shows yet again how Mr. McMaverick is willing to say the most shameless things.

Because 8 years ago John McCain was a callow 64 year old who made these remarks in Florida, apropos of the USS  Cole bombing,  leading up to the Bush-Gore contest:

"We just saw in the tragedy that befell those brave young Americans on board the USS Cole that we still live in a very dangerous world," McCain said as he introduced Bush at the Daytona Beach rally. "We need a steady hand on the tiller. We need the kind of leadership that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will provide this country so we can not have those kinds of tragedies." (Newsday, 10/26/00)

That didn't work out so well. (And one wonders how  McCain or Republicans would react if, days before the election, a large number of Americans were killed in Iraq and a senior Obama proxy -- a senator, say -- were to say the deaths of those brave young Americans demand you vote against war supporter John McCain.)

From that same Newsday story, another instance of McCain's stellar judgment:

"He is fully prepared to assume the duties of president of the United States of America," McCain said at a rally here. "I am fully convinced that this man can be one of the finest, and will be one of the finest, presidents of the United States that we have ever had."

Man, you got to give McCain credit. Despite all the nasty stuff Bush & Rove did to him in South Carolina, he could ass kiss with the best of them when a potential future run for the presidency was on the line.

So you'll have to pardon the Brawler if he has trouble taking John McCain's claims for foreign policy gravitas seriously. McCain has been making fatuous politicized statements about the world we live in for the better part of a decade (and lord only knows John "100 years in Iraq/Bomb Iran" McCain would only make the world a more dangerous place). And his schtick hasn't gotten any better with age.

A Washington Times story from the same time quoted McCain thusly:

Mr. McCain, who also made military issues a central part of his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, accused the Clinton administration of conducting a "feckless photo-op foreign policy for which we may pay a very heavy price in American blood and treasure."

John McCain certainly knows from feckless photo ops. From his famed stroll through the safe streets of Baghdad under heavy helicopter escort:

Nazi bloggers f*** off

Ah, brothers and sisters, racist idiots troll through the cheddarsphere.

The bulk of Brawler's visitors over the past few weeks have been souls in search of Gary Gygax pictures. But the Brawler noticed a few visitors coming  from a site id'd as wi-compact.com.

And what is wi-compact.com? That'd be the virtual home of the Wisconsin Nationalist Compact, a neo-Nazi outfit (despite looking around, wasn't able to find the link to the Brawler).

What are the membership requirements?

1.    A White person exclusively of European descent (i.e. from Europe).

2.    A citizen of the United States and resident of the State of Wisconsin.

3.    A heterosexual of good moral character who does not miscegenate.

4.    A person ready to commit to the Compact and frequent its activities.

Sounds like a great bunch.

Now some of em will tell you they're not racists...they're just racialists, folks who think the "races" should stick to their own selves! That's why you get brilliant repartee like this re: Barack Obama (Or as they call him Barack "Bootlip" Obama):

We can not afford to have this halfbreed mutt elected into office. We all need to stand up and put this raghead nigger in his place or we are going to bee fucked. VOTE RON PAUL. Redneck F.L.W.L.W.F. (Yes, they loves them some Ron Paul (scroll down) -- Brawler)

***

That will be PRESIDENT Bootlip, thanks to the white race traitor sheep who will vote for him.

***

If he gets in office i have a feeling RaHoWa (that'd be the racial holy war -- Brawler)isn't far behind.

Totally not racist! Here's a thoughtful review of Iron Man:

It was the typical hollywood movie. They had to throw some jungle bunnies in there so the NAACP doesn't cry. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to be black in the future movies, instead of white like he was in the comics. But other than that it followed the comics well.

Or this instance of people you meet in the neighborhood:

Something interesting happened to me last week. I was walking downtown middle of last week, & i walked past the bar i normally goto. Some guy was out front we talked for a sec and then he shows me a huge swazi (that'd be a swastika kids -- Brawler) on his chest and rendered a roman salute. I was hoping see him around again, but unfortunately i haven't been downtown walkin around lately.

You get the point. Call the Brawler a race traitor, but these guys are the lowest of the low. And, word up, cheddarsphere, they're trolling through your sites. Indeed, Stephen Chadwick, the leader of this band of pathetic losers, has commented on Boots & Sabers at least twice (once uttering racist tripe). The Brawler knows that the proprietors of Boots & Sabers finds the positions of the WNC to be repugnant. The Brawler assumes they will ban Herr Chadwick from their site. Civility and whatnot.

The symbol of racist dumbassery:

Mr. Jello Biafra...take it away!