Tidbits and Cat Treats — Total Screw-Up Edition

By Sniffles

Here are some major snafus that are commanding our attention on this gorgeous Friday afternoon in the National Capital area.

Perhaps deciding that its state had had enough of bad publicity lately, Arizona's legislature has canned its silly birth certificate bill. "Hawaii officials have repeatedly confirmed [President] Obama's citizenship, and his Hawaiian birth certificate has been made public," The New York Times reports. 'Nuff said.

Charlie Crist will run for the Senate as an independent, declaring, "Our political system is broken." (No, Charlie, you idiot. The system isn't broken — the Republican Party is. We cats are disappointed to see that you have no balls after all.) Meanwhile, we're waiting for someone to observe that the conveniently married Mr. Crist erred by appointing his political Rasputin, George LeMieux, to Mel Martinez's Senate seat — thereby severing the head of his political "machine" and leaving himself incapable of responding to even the slightest changes in Florida's political landscape. And now LeMieux is saying he won't support Crist in the Senate race. Tsk!

Bob McDonnell, the Confederate history guy, has once again shown his true colors by deciding to allow Virginia state troopers to refer to Jesus in public prayers. First, we cats want to know why state troopers need to be praying in public. Second, what can you expect from a governor who graduated from Regent University?

Do we all know that "BP" stands for "British Petroleum"? Just checking. Gordon Brown can comfort himself that some other of his countrymen have messed up worse than he has this week. But although we appreciate the Obama Administration's announced hold on new offshore drilling, we sure wish the President would stop "standing by" this energy source that the Republicans seem to so desperately want.

Did we mention that the Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs? Wheee!

X is for Xenophobia

By Baxter

The Republican Party sure has hopped on the let's-be-ugly bandwagon lately. First, Arizona's GOP governor signed that awful anti-immigration bill into law. Now, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Alabama is stoking fires against non-anglophone residents of his state.

We cats will pass on the issue of whether, as Tim James claims, English is actually spoken in Alabama. We just think it's interesting that he so publicly joined the GOP immigrant-bashing mob right after the approval of a law that was drafted by a hate-group attorney.

Yep, that's right. Arizona's wonderful new law was written by Kris Kobach (pictured). He's a lawyer from the "Federation of American Immigration Reform," an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center identified as a hate group back in 2007. (Gee — can Mr. Kobach find himself a middle name that starts with "K," too? It would be appropriate.)

You know, if we cats were on the other side of the aisle, we'd be concerned about this stuff. One is known by the company one keeps, and Mssrs. James and Kobach would not be our beer buddies of choice. No wonder Charlie Crist is leaving the Republican Party.

The Red is Rocked

By Zamboni

We cats were briefly worried that to recognize tonight's astounding achievement by the Montreal Canadiens, we'd have to go off-topic. After all, this is not a sports blog. But then we realized we were okay.

Because as surely as the Washington Capitals choked in three periods of hockey at the Verizon Center just now, Senate Republicans finally crumbled on the Hill — after three votes defending the Wall Street thieves and vandals who almost wrecked the country.

The GOP hasn't been distinguishing itself much lately. Like the Caps, they make a lot of noise and occasionally even win a battle or two. But in the end, as we saw with financial reform, they can't keep it together. They knew that with repeated Senate votes held far into the night — a scenario promised earlier today by Harry Reid — their farcical talking point about guaranteed future bailouts just wouldn't hold up.

"Rock the red" sure sounds a little hollow — whether we're talking about guys in red jerseys or folks from red states. We cats PURR.

It Would Be SO Great If This Guy Got Pulled Over in Arizona

Hey, GOP: How's That "Drill, Baby, Drill" Thingie Workin' For Ya Now?

(PHOTO: Gerald Herbert, Associated Press)

Still Bending

By Sniffles

As the Republicans have managed to stall financial reform, we cats are reflecting on how long it can take to get stuff done in our country.

And not just because the GOP is bucking the very reforms that two-thirds of Americans want. Today is also the 10th anniversary of same-sex civil unions in Vermont. Governor Howard Dean signed H.B. 847 into law on April 26, 2000.

And he received a lot of death threats for his trouble. "He wore a bullet-proof vest," says Elizabeth Birch of the Human Rights Campaign. "At public events, he was called 'faggot' and every other epithet gay people have endured." (We suspect that these days, Governor Dean has probably given a lot of helpful advice to members of Congress whose lives have been threatened over healthcare reform.)

But our point is how slowly change can come. Today, 10 years after Governor Dean signed his name to that bill, the national conversation has moved more firmly toward same-sex marriage — but still, it's legal only in five states and the District of Columbia. (California — well, California is still thinking about it.)

On the one hand, that's pretty sad. We remember how shocked a Canadian friend was when we told her that marriage equality still doesn't exist in 45 U.S. states. But on the other hand, it's fairly speedy. American women didn't get the vote until 133 years after the Constitution was written. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came nearly a full century after the end of the Civil War. So let's all remember the elegant words of Dr. King: "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice."

Happy anniversary, Vermont. And thanks, Governor Dean.

Tidbits and Cat Treats — Head-Scratching Edition

By Baxter

We cats are very fond of head scratches, particularly behind the ears. But just at the moment, we're scratching thanks to these various mind-boggling samplings from the news. Anybody with explanations should please speak up.

So the Dow not only closed strongly today but has just finished an eight-week "up" streak that's the longest in six years. But the teabaggers say President Obama's a socialist? Hm. Seems to us that the folks on Wall Street are doing quite well under the Debs Administration. (P.S. Do the teabaggers know who Eugene V. Debs was? We doubt it.)

Also, new-home sales skyrocketed last month. But the teabaggers — who are financially better-off than your average American — say the economy's in the toilet. Hm, again.

The bigwigs in the Republican Party of Florida are meeting behind closed doors — in a luxury hotel in Tallahassee, mind you — to try to contain the damage from their recent spending-spree scandals. Their former party chair, Jim Greer, charged $500,000 to his RPOF credit card. Right-wing darling Marco Rubio racked up a mere $100,000. There's just one thing we cats don't understand: Why don't the allegedly fiscally prudent teabaggers get all up in arms about stories like this?

And finally, while we're on the subject of the Sunshine State GOP, can they really enforce a "loyalty oath" if Charlie Crist goes independent? Brrrrr. And they call President Obama a Nazi! We cats agree with Will Rogers — maybe it's better for a political party not to be too organized.

Charlie's Balls

By Zamboni

Okay, this is our last post on Charlie Crist for awhile... at least, until he does something that makes us post again.

We cats were just speculating on whether the last several weeks have humiliated Charlie enough to make him grow a set of — how do you say it? — cojones.

Because if so, and if he chooses to run for the Senate as an Independent come April 30, we know what the newly Ballsy Charlie should say:

"I'm being run out of the Republican Party because I accepted badly needed stimulus money for my state. I did it for Florida's future and for all my constituents. Our economy was suffering. And now that it's improving, I'm pleased to say that I did the right thing.

"Sadly, this is no longer good enough for the extremists who have hijacked the GOP. For them, and for the national party leaders who are afraid to repudiate them, it is not a question of doing the 'right thing,' but the 'right-wing thing.' If you refuse to toe their line — if you take stimulus money or, say, veto a bill that would harm Florida's teachers — well, then you're just not pure enough to be a Republican any more.

"I can remember a time when we could count on the two parties, working together, to govern effectively. But thanks to the intransigence of the Republicans, those days are gone. I run for Senate now as an Independent because we need to send reasonable, rational people to Washington again. Only then can we face our serious issues together and get something done."

Charlie's Dance

By Sniffles

Ever heard of Bill McCollum? Your answer may be yes — if you recall that sorry-ass group of GOP lamebrains who decided that Bill Clinton's sex life was a high crime and misdemeanor. McCollum was "an impeachment manager" when he was a member of Congress, and since then, has run for just about every office in Florida.

Right now, he's the state's attorney general. In fact, you may know that he's suing the federal government to stop health care reform. At the same time, he's in the race to succeed Charlie Crist as Governor on the Republican side.

Since McCollum is charisma-challenged — to us, he kind of looks like an even goofier Pa Walton — and, as his suit against the government is pretty fringe-y and dumb, we cats wonder if Charlie Crist is doing some behind-the-scenes tap dancing to get his party to force McCollum to drop his gubernatorial bid. This dawned on us when we read today's New York Times article on the hard choices facing Gay Charlie come April 30.

See, if the GOP bailed on McCollum, they'd give Crist a face-saving way to get back in that race and cede the Senate contest to the teabaggers' darling, Marco Rubio. Charlie could argue that this would keep both the Governor's mansion and Mel Martinez's Senate seat in the Republican column.

Our theory doesn't account for the gubernatorial candidate and right-wing nut Paula Dockery (whose website shows that she doesn't know the difference between "principle" and "principal"). And it doesn't account for the fact that Charlie's beard, oops, we mean wife, is alleged to dislike Tallahassee and want outta there. But we like it nevertheless.

Dear Charlie Crist: We Told You So

By Baxter

Oh, goodness. We cats have been watching with great interest the latest political developments in Florida. Having just left that crazy state to live in another one — remember, our Governor now is Bob "Confederate History Month" McDonnell — it's fascinating to watch the Florida Republican Party tie itself up in knots.

It appears that Charlie Crist, who once was considered by everyone in the known universe as the next Senator from the Sunshine State, now "cannot win" and is pulling his ads off T.V. Will he run as an Independent instead? Although we cats remember warning Charlie that he surely topped the teabaggers' hit list, we never really thought we'd see the day. But if he's going to do it, he's got to decide by April 30.

The fact that this Crist conundrum is even a topic of conversation shows how captive of the nutbags the GOP has become.

Think of it: A man who was known as "Chain Gang Charlie" is too far to the left for his party. Incredible.