Here's the truth about Republicans and the mandate (which they, of course, were the first to propose as a solution).
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The Romney 'Bot (or "R-money", as some call him) has been programmed now with a retro campaign style. "Romney's trademark small-talk exclamation, "Oh my goodness!" seems completely genuine. But I am trying to think of the last time I heard a 21st-century person use that phrase -- as opposed to all the other possibilities, which when you think about it range from coarse to profane. (Jeez louise, WTF, Holy shit, and on through a long list you can fill in yourself.) When combined with his Don-Draper-in-the-'50s very dapper personal style, it adds to a retro atmosphere that some people will find reassuring and appealing and others will find odd."
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The Supreme Court may "hand down" (we're down here, they're up there -- or so they think) their Obamacare ruling on Thursday. Or maybe the following Monday. Or possibly the Thursday after that. And so on.
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Justice Scalia's missed shot at intellectual integrity -- maybe because he used to go duck-hunting with Dick Cheney -- will land him in history's black book. All we know is that he was for the used of federal power allowed by the Commerce Clause during the Bush administration and he's against it now.
Steve Benen writes: "In his book, he now claims "wisdom has come late."I see. So, Antonin Scalia waited until he was 76 years old, and had been a justice on the high court for more than a quarter of a century, and then he decided his perspective, rulings, and understanding of the Commerce Clause were all wrong -- just in time to rule against a Democratic health care law that features a Republican idea that was assumed by everyone to be entirely constitutional."
I agree with Benen and also "feel inclined to insult both Scalia's intellect and his integrity." Intellect and integrity have nothing whatever to do with monkey-see-monkey-do politicking on the Supreme Court. After all, Dick Cheney just shot a friend in the face. Antonin Scalia is turning his shotgun on the poor, the middle class, the elderly -- and the Constitution.
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It's not like the old days. In the old days you could watch "Dallas" if you liked to see nasty people wearing outrageous clothes say and do nasty things, all paid for by oil money. Those were days before Congress made even "Dallas" look PG-13. Now we have to put up with Neo Sleaze or, one might say, the tea party generation's supercrud. Now, it is said, "Dallas" sets out to "transcend the old paradigm" -- which translates into "more bigger crap."
Did the fracking debate dredge up “Dallas” – the redux – or was this soap opera’s resurgence just another convenient mirror in which to reflect how central the nation’s debate over energy has now become in our culture? ...
...In the new plot, John Ross schemes to develop the oil on Southfork without the consent of Bobby (still played by Patrick Duffy). Meanwhile, Bobby’s son Christopher, played by Jesse Metcalfe, has founded Ewing Alternative Energy and espouses a seemingly anti-oil perspective. Like any good soap opera, everything is incestuous and intertwined. The two men battle over the affections of Elena, a buxom entrepreneurial wildcatter who is also the daughter of the Ewings’ in-house cook, even while Christopher marries another woman. J.R. – the senior villain still played by Larry Hagman, watches on in bemusement.
The cheese is thick enough to spread on crackers.
“So, I hear you’ve come home with some kind of alternative energy scheme to save the world,” John Ross asks Christopher, in their first major argument around the dinner table.
“Oil is the past,” Christopher replies. “Alternatives are the future.” ...Salon
See what I mean? They're going to end up making even windmills disreputable.
