From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
ME-Gov: Just Call It the Paul LePaste Administration
Good morning! It's the start of a new week and Maine's tea party Republican governor, Paul LePage, is still a lazy jerk. A few of his soon-to-be greatest hits:
- The Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources resigned last week, bringing to four the number of cabinet-level officials who have resigned since April. Norman Olsen, an eminently experienced and credible man for the job, was assured by Gov. LePage that he wouldn’t be hamstrung in the position. But hamstrung he was, and Olsen did not resign quietly. This is from the open letter he wrote:
Instead of backing me in our joint aims of managing Maine's marine resources for the benefit of the entire state, the Governor and his senior team cut me off. […] So, I am leaving, not for health reasons, and not to spend more time with my family, and not to pursue other interests, which are all the commonly used themes for such resignations, but because this administration is more interested in pacifying special interest groups than in responsibly managing Maine's marine resources for the benefit of the entire state. I cannot be part of that. The legacy of my fishermen father, grandfather and great grandfather will not allow it.
- Gov. LePage has also signed on to Rick Perry's crazy fundy hoedown on August 6th:
Gov. Paul LePage has taken up a call by fellow Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas to proclaim Aug. 6 a "Day of Prayer and Fasting for Our Nation." … mirroring the language of Perry's. […]
The event---called The Response---is labeled non-denominational and apolitical but is sponsored by the American Family Association, a Mississippi-based conservative evangelical group. According to its website, the event has adopted the American Family Association's statement of faith. The association was listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group in 2010 because it promoted "known falsehoods" and "demonizing propaganda," according to news reports.
Right Wing Watch has a summary of the speakers whom Perry---and, by extension, Governor LePage---embraces. What a lovely bunch of coconuts. Do I think LePage is that extreme? No. (He's a closet supporter of gay marriage, for cryin' out loud, which oughtta be enough to make the AFA kick him out of their out-of-their-tree house.) But he's at best a sloppy, detail-averse robo-signer-on'er. And now, like it or not, he's in bed with the crazies. Swell.
- And speaking of robo-governing, LePage has apparently honed that skill in record time:
Confidential administration dossiers show Governor Paul LePage crafted significant portions of his regulatory reform agenda by literally copying and pasting passages from the memos his staff received from corporate lobbyists and their clients, turning swaths of it into little more than a set of giveaways to favored companies. […]
Simply put, LePage makes policy by letting corporate interests do it for him, and he often endorses their formulations over even his own. […] "Directly photocopying from lobbyists' wish lists is problematic in the message it sends on how seriously he takes his job and how much he is weighing different interests," says Ron Schmidt, head of the political science department at the University of Southern Maine. "I would think that would make a lot of citizens uncomfortable."
Shocking, I know. But, hey, it's only Monday. I like to start off with low-level skullduggery and work my way up.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, July 25, 2011
Note: Yeah, it's hot. But at least it's an oppressive, unbearable, sultry, sweat gland-draining, brain-melting heat.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Labor Day: 42
Days `til the 64th annual Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland: 9
Combined mileage of all five Space Shuttles: 542 million miles
Number of trips around the globe that equals: 25,583
(Source: NASA)
Amount Taser International must pay to the family of a Charlotte, NC teen who died after being shocked by a police officer: $10 million
(Source: McClatchy News)
Percent of Americans who doubt there will ever be a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine: 60%
(Source: Gallup poll)
Number of days George W. Bush spent on vacation in August, 2006: 17
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Timely reminder
And a bonus one, which we'll file under: Unfortunate pairing of headline and photo
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CHEERS to a whole lotta knot-tyin' goin' on. Gay couples in New York started getting married yesterday (Joe My God has the proverbial mishmash of coverage here) and even the Fox News anchor clones were permitted by Roger Ailes to break an occasional smile over it. Kudos to CNN for live coverage of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg officiating at the ceremony for two of his City Hall staff members---that was nice. In the wake of yesterday's coverage, one right-wing myth was busted all to hell: that gay couples can't stay together very long. All day long there were clips of couples who had been together 10, 20, 30, 40 years or more. And how nice to see that the fuddy-duddy Catholic Church even knows when to back away slowly:
“There may not be much more to say at this point,” Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said.
Except, maybe, congrats and enjoy those Bed, Bath & Beyond gift cards.
JEERS to the continuing distraction from job creation. This is Day 4 of our daily---and oh-so-useful---updates on the debt crisis. Here's the latest, courtesy of special guest blogger, Atrios:
Just a reminder that there is no debt ceiling crisis. There's a fake crisis started by Republicans and then embraced by the White House so that everyone gets to use the fake crisis to try to do unpopular things in such a way that nobody, in theory, actually gets the blame.
A few people need to show up in Congress in the middle of the night, cast a voice vote, and we can move on to the next fake crisis.
Tomorrow: You ain't seen nothin' yet! (But that's what you're getting, anyway.)
JEERS to innocence recruited. Nothing should surprise me anymore, but, really, this AP headline made me reach for the bottle: Al-Qaida Plans Cartoon Recruiting Film For Kids. It's described as "the latest attempt by the terror organization to use multimedia to draw in potential recruits." In response, Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano announced that, starting immediately, all Play-doh containers in kindergarten classes must be three ounces or less.
JEERS to deflecting attention. Speaking of terrorists, Norway is in the midst of their "What The Hell Just Happened?" phase after a terrorist detonated a bomb in Oslo and then went on a rampage at a Labor Party camp for teens. Watching Fox News over the weekend I learned that, because the assailant was a white, right-wing Christian influenced by right-wing American "Jihad Watch" bloggers, who trying to gin up a revolution against Muslims, we must focus on Islamic terrorists because that's the real issue and they're the real bad guys. I swear, you can set your watch by 'em.
CHEERS to compassionate conservatism. 21 years ago this Sunday, President Bush I signed the Americans with Disabilities Act. He didn't want anything to stand between his son and the White House.
JEERS to echoes of his predecessor. Texas Governor Rick Perry had a sit-down with James Dobson and essentially admitted: I have no clue what to do about our problems:
"If there is good and strong and direct direction for people, when we’ve turned away from God and our country is being attacked by seemingly all these different things at the same time. What a time in our country’s history, just to recognize we don’t have all the answers. This is beyond us, go to God in prayer."
Let's see: mangled sentences, shameless fearmongering, willful ignorance and co-mingling church and state. Sorry, Rick. That was the previous smirker's schtick. Didn’t work out so well. So I'm still holdin' out for Trump.
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Five years ago in C&J: July 25, 2006
CHEERS to dropping in. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal "Call me al" Maliki visits Washington, D.C. today to make a few demands:
The requests will include asking President Bush to allow American-led troops in Iraq to be tried under Iraqi law, and to call for a halt to Israeli attacks on Lebanon... more autonomy for Iraqi forces ... to maintain strong ties to Iran... financial aid... [and] amnesty for Iraqi insurgents.
And after that: Shopping! Shopping! Shopping!
CHEERS to fitting into your college-era jeans again. Saddam Hussein is on a hunger strike, and apparently is in the "supermodel" stage of emaciation. Doctors say he's now dependent on a feeding tube supplying him with liquefied Doritos. After viewing a video of the deposed Iraqi dictator, Dr. Bill Frist pronounced him brain-dead. For once we agree.
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CHEERS to Then vs. Now (via Blackwaterdog). Ahh, the Twitter---enabler of Arab revolutions, ticker of breaking news, and bastion political snark. One of the latest hashtag getting some notoriety is #BeforeBlackPresidents. And when you think about it, yeah, before black presidents…
- The debt ceiling was raised SEVENTY-FOUR times without incident. SEVENTY-FOUR TIMES.
- A POTUS could tax the rich at 91% and be called a Republican---not a socialist!”
- middle names were irrelevant.
- DADT was law & pre-existing condition exclusions were here to stay.
- Deliberately sabotaging economic recovery was not considered a legitimate option 4 the opposition party.
- NO ONE screamed ‘you lie’ at the president during a state of the union address.
- People with 3rd grade educations didn’t constitute a political movement.
- Being a community organizer was noble and honorable.
- if you tried to bring the US to it’s knees you were a terrorist. Now you’re just republican.
- Filibusters were the exception. not the rule.
- GOP wanted to change the Constitution to allow foreign-born citizens to run for POTUS.
- Exercise was good and we got medals for it but now exercise is an evil, socialist plot.
- Presidents did not have to show the their birth certificate to Donald Trump.
But we do take issue with a few of them, like: "Presidents were ugly!!!!" Nah. Thomas Jefferson, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton were considered walking twitterpation magnets in their day. Heck, no less than Queen Victoria considered Fillmore the handomest man she'd ever met. So on the BillyFact meter, whoever said that Obama was the first to set hearts on fire gets a rating of Pants On Fire. And a mild tut-tut.
Stay cool. Just like little Ricky Santorum. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
“Dealing with Bill in Portland Maine has been like dealing with Jell-O. Some days he’s firmer than others. Sometimes it’s like they’ve left him out overnight.”
---John Boehner
7/22/11
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