Russia has a problem, and they know it. It's Putin.

Putin, playing bad ass dress up

No need to get one's knickers in a twist. 

No need to invest in a cold-war era bomb shelter, or if you have one, to try to drag everything out of it that is stored there so you can use the space for the original intention.

Yes. Putin is in the Ukraine. For now. So? He has likely put his foot in it, badly.

Putin has bigger problems at home.  This is at best a distraction, at worst, flaming stupid on his part.  His own people do not support him.  And as his economy crumbles, no amount of propaganda is likely to save him if the Russian economy continues to tank and dissatisfaction with Putin grows.

Russians Ambivalent As Putin Threatens Ukraine Invasion

Competing rallies in Russia's two biggest cities have laid bare divisions among Russians over a possible military intervention in Ukraine.

The rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg each drew hundreds of participants on March 2, one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his country had the right to invade neighboring Ukraine.

Lawmakers unanimously authorized him to use force.

Ordinary Russians, however, appear divided over the prospect of a war with Ukraine.

Independent opinions polls conducted before the crisis show that an overwhelming majority of Russians opposed Russian meddling in Ukrainian politics as well as a possible military intervention in the country.

Raise your hand if you know why the former Soviet Union failed and collapsed.  

Lower your hand if you think it was because of Ronald Ray-gun.  It wasn't. 

It was a mix of disenchantment with Soviet militarism -- just like this latest Ukraine militarism -- combined with problems with corruption -- just as Russia has now, and most obviously demonstrated in hosting the Olympics (a 30 mile stretch of railroad costing $8.7 billion as just one example of many).  And lastly, under Putin, Russia has a similar oppression of civil rights and internal schisms and factions to those that brought about the demise of the USSR.

Putin, it appears, may have had to follow up the scandal ridden Olympics with some new move to make him look strong, and perhaps to grab the Crimean peninsula to appease those who think the Ukraine loans were a burden on Russia. 

It remains highly questionable if, having taken the land and military bases, Putin can then hold them. Trying to do so would certainly be an attempt to unify the country under renewed pseudo-nationalism and conservative hyper-patriotism.  Trying to back down the west would bolster his crumbling image.  His actions only make sense from the perspective of domestic perception, a perception Putin largely controls.

But the west doesn't have to do anything much other than financial sanctions to cut Putin off at the knees, and to wait.  In the long run, it is more likely that little or no fighting takes place, and that in the long run, Russia actually might LOSE their naval base in Sevastopol.

Rasputin - see the similarities in appearance and expression to Putin?
Ok - so Rasputin had more hair.......but with bad ass sunglasses and a shave?
It's almost the same guy!

Even if Putin has more lives, political and otherwise in the early days of the 21st century, than Rasputin did in the early days of the 20th century, his country does not, and Russia is more vulnerable now not less.  Putin presumably knows it.  The NATO countries most certainly do, and I'm confident so do Obama, Kerry and Hagel. 

It's a toss up, and a relatively insignificant one in our own politics, how much of this the radical right knows and understands.  I think it is a safe bet that another success for Obama does not bode well for the radical right in either the 2014 election cycle, OR the 2016 cycle.

From Sky News Australia:

Russian ruble at new low against euro

Updated: 22:24, Wednesday February 26, 2014

The Russian ruble fell to a new record low against the euro on Wednesday amid fears of a Ukrainian default and a slowdown in the Russian economy.
The euro surged to 49.42 rubles at around 0940 GMT, with the ruble dropping below the record set last week of 49.35 rubles.
The US dollar has risen to 35.94 rubles, its highest rate since 2009.
The ruble has lost more than eight per cent against the euro since the start of the year, as investors are reluctant to put money into emerging economies and Russia's economic activity has slowed.
Analysts at VTB Capital said that 'tensions over Ukraine once again started weighing on the ruble.'
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak had said on Tuesday that Russia had 'no legal obligations' to pay out the full $US15 billion ($A16.68 billion) loan secured last year by Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych.
Fears are growing that Ukraine will default on its obligations and Russian banks are greatly exposed to the crisis-hit ex-Soviet country.
Fitch ratings agency warned on Tuesday that Russian state-owned banks are holding the bulk of Russian banks' total exposure to Ukraine of an estimated $US28 billion.
Growth of the Russian economy slowed down sharply to 1.3 per cent in 2013 from 3.4 per cent in 2012 and 4.3 per cent in 2011. Figures published this year show this slowdown growing more marked.

With or without Putin's sun glasses, I don't think our side is going to blink.  Our side knows real (not revisionist) history, and can do math.  Well, at least the Democrats can; the tea baggers, not so well. But who really cares what they think anyway? The radical right in the U.S. has put themselves beyond the bounds of reason, and therefore outside serious consideration.

As for Putin, the questions we should be asking, how will he go, and - like Rasputin - how many attempts will it take before he's gone.

Well, just for giggles, we could ask one more question: if Putin is overthrown while Obama is President, will the radical right give him credit for it the way they did Reagan?

The Republican Vagina Parody - Women Push Back Against the Male Republican Culture Wars

Ya gotta love it; ya gotta laugh. Except that the reality is that Republicans are scary, not funny; by scary, I mean controlling, corrupt, and coercive.

Republicans, Get In My Vagina! from Kate Beckinsale

There is nothing quite as creepy as the religious righty, patriarchal, fanatical women-dominating, women oppressing, sex fearing , mysoginistic Republicans (and other conservatives).

Here's a little 'bumper sticker' for the GOP and their Tea Party extremist bretheren - ->:




And here's another one for all the vaginal probe, anti-abortion, anti-contraception, ignorance only sex ed mandating, pro-bullying anti-gay, medical misinformation requiring, doctor misinforming, right wingers as well:
<-------------

And lets not forget how unhappy women are with the right for defunding planned parenthood, one of the major providers of health care for women OTHER than abortion.  Or the repeal of legislation that helps us get closer to equal pay for equal work - the right is big on helping bad employers discriminate, including against women!  OR the failure of the right to vote in support of renewing the violence against women act.  That's the right, all right - pro violence against women (and other groups).  These are the same people who wanted to redefine rape so there would be no coverage if a woman wasn't beaten up badly enough -- to exclude statutory rape, rape where a woman is drugged or otherwise incapacitated, or merely threatened and  intimidated so aggressively that she capitulates --- yup, that's the kind of rape /Republicans want to define out of existence so as to damage women.  Damned misogynists!!!!

(I'm assuming the little dots are bullet holes, because while the right doesn't trust women, the trust and love anyone with a gun, especially old, white, flabby and crabby men who belong to the NRA.

Musing on Amusing Images for the 2012 Presidential 'game'

When Mitt Romney was compared to an etch-a-sketch, it seemed to me that the Nut Gingrich was like a smooth round white yo yo.
Sure enough, I cam across just such an image.  I had imagined a red outline on a white yo yo, but a white outline on a blue yo yo is almost as good:

In that same line of musings, Michele Bachmann is just like the old Chatty Cathy dolls; they are of the same approximate vintage, and neither has left the 1950's.  Both have the same plastic hair, fixed plastic smile, unexpressive face, the same oddly staring eyes, the same fashion sense.  Apparently Marcus Bachmann dresses her just like a doll too, picking out her little outfits.   Every time someone give Bachmann money and a microphone, they get to pull the string and the same old same old pre-recorded factually inaccurate sentences come out.

Whereas I think Rick Santorum would have made either a great Mister Potato Head, or possibly a political version of the game twister.  Or maybe the GOP is saving that for selecting the Vice Presidential candidate?

Apparently I was not the only one to think so about the Potato Head toy:

Aide: Santorum Will Turn into Mr. Potato Head after Convention

Posted on March 24, 2012by Your Intrepid Blogger

NEW ORLEANS – When asked today if presidential hopeful Rick Santorum’s fierce right-wing rhetoric will hurt him among independent voters in the general election in November, one of the candidate’s campaign advisers responded, “No, Mr. Santorum can just turn into Mr. Potato Head,” referring to the popular children’s toy which features stylized body parts inserted at random into various orifices in a plastic potato.

In the course of coming across the Nut Gingrich yo yo, I came across a few other lighthearted takes on the political right in 2012.



I find the intensity of the last image at least slightly less creepy and a whole lot more justified than the odd and surreal and just plaing weird ads being run by Herman Cain for no apparent purpose other than to torture goldfish and simulate cruelty to rabbits.

As uncomfortable as Nut might be with the humor at his expense, it must ... pardon the pun, PALE... compared to having bounced a check for $500 to file for the Utah primary. Or to file bankruptcy, stiffing all those creditors. In that context it was not so long ago that Nut and Calista abandoned their staff and the campaign to take a luxury cruise to the Greek Islands, on top of their expensive visit to Tiffany's for all that expensive jewelry - an estimated half a million $, far more than the $500 for the primary, and well over the amount owed to an assortment, if not all, of the campaign creditors. One has to wonder if pale and chubby faced Nut will have the yo yos to still claim he is a fiscal conservative as he soldiers delusionally forward in the race, as a running joke more than as a running candidate. I couldn't get past all of the statements Nut made about people not liking Mitt Romney, when they clearly liked him far far less than Mitt, and not as much as Saint-orum either.

Ed Stein Hits the Bullseye.......with humor instead of bullets

Seriously Republicans; Wyoming DOESN'T NEED IT'S OWN Aircraft Carrier

As I read this, it occurred to me that the Republican Crazies are running the Asylum in Wyoming, and the nut house is their state capital building.  Which is bad enough - but it's worse when you put the lunatics in charge of it.

What led me to think that the good legislators of Wyoming had cracked their nuts, gone mental, lost their grip on reality, or were perhaps suffering from some form of delusion, possibly dementia or schizophrenia was THIS news article.

Wyoming lawmaker introduces doomsday bill
By msnbc.com staff

CHEYENNE – Fearing an economic and political collapse nationwide, Wyoming lawmakers are moving ahead with legislation to deal with a doomsday scenario -- complete with plans to create a state currency.

“Things happen quickly sometimes — look at Libya, look at Egypt, look at those situations,” the bill’s GOP sponsor State Rep. David Miller told the Star-Tribune in Casper. “We wouldn’t have time to meet as a Legislature or even in special session to do anything to respond.”

According to the Star-Tribune, House Bill 85 would create a state-run “government continuity task force,” to prepare Wyoming for potential disruptions in food and energy to a complete breakdown of the federal government.

Miller is also asking for the task force to look into creating its own state currency in the event the dollar loses value entirely.


The Wyoming House of Representatives advanced the legislation on Monday, but eliminated language calling for plans to implement its own military draft, army and acquire an aircraft carrier.

The bill now must pass two more House votes before it would head to the Senate for consideration.


“I don’t represent people in Illinois or New Jersey. I represent people in Wyoming,” Miller said. “And I want them to be protected from any catastrophic events that may beset the rest of the country.”

Now, it just makes sense that the good legislators, especially the more bizarre and stupid Republicans and Tea Partiers among them, and the good citizens of Wyoming could be better spending their time on things like jobs bills and real-life real-world real-time practical matters, and less time on either culture war legislation requiring state religion and pseudo-scientific fantasy.

State Representative Miller, do you get your ideas on the same Internet sites as the right wing idiot in the Indiana state legislature, the one who believes the Girl Scouts are sexy Communist Lesbian Abortionists? Are you afraid, Representative Miller, because we have a black President? Are you marking on your calendar in red crayon the End Time Dayz, and maybe drooling just a little bit as you do so? Do you have this sign in a prominent place in your office -

or is this an image from your family Christmas card?

Sir, what did you think you were going to do, IF you could get an Aircraft Carrier - put it up on blocks in front of the capital building?   Maybe surround it with Buffalo grazing on the rolling grasslands of the prairie?

Just to refresh my memory of the state of Wyoming, from prior visits as a child - my parents thought I should be educated in the regional differences of the United States - I took a quick look at both topographical maps of Wyoming like this one, and a satellite photo of Wyoming.  Those confirm what I remember - no major bodies of water.  That water, behind the Buffalo Bill dam?  The reservoir from damming up the Shoshone river - it's NOT BIG ENOUGH for an aircraft carrier, sir.  But  more than that, there is no way to get an aircraft carrier there.  It is not practical to take one apart and reassemble it; they don't make them out of Legos.

Were you unaware Representative Miller, that Wyoming is not only a very landlocked state, having no ocean or Gulf/Sea access, but also a state which lacks a sufficiently large body of water for an aircraft carrier.  It's not like you're a Great Lakes state either, which could maybe, kinda, sorta, with a shoe-horn manage an aircraft carrier, if we could get one into the lakes in the first place - a big IF.  They are quite large, you know, those aircraft carriers.

You do realize that is a crazy idea, don't you Representative Miller?  Do you understand that ALL of your proposals under this legislation, like creating your own "apocalypse buffalo bucks" currency are equally stupid? 

I was a Girl Scout as a child; I do respect their motto 'Be Prepared'.  But Representative Miller, and all your right wing tin foil hat wearing colleagues in the legislature, that pertained to real solutions to real potential problems.  Despite the silly idea that the other right wing nut, the one in Indiana, has about the girl scouts, you could do far worse than to follow their motto, the very pragmatic and reality based way they do so.

Thank goodness the health care reform that you and your other crazy conservative buddies like to demonize as 'Obamacare' provides good mental health coverage; because you and anyone who supports this crack pot idea are more batshit crazy than Orly Taitz -----and that is pretty darn crazy.

Seriously, there was a time and place where conservatives were not so closely associated with off-the-wall out-to-lunch fringe lunatic ideas and legislation, where conservatives were reality-based intelligent people, who were moderate and savvy, thoughtful and well educated.

Then people like you came along Representative Miller, and changed all of that - and not for the better.

I am waiting and wishing that moderates, that less ideological fringe lunatics, will emerge from wherever they have gone into hiding, and will take back the GOP.  I'm waiting for that sunny, wonderful day when sanity will prevail on the right again, when the right will not be synonymous with stupid any longer, or with religious extremism, and some sort of demented Christian theocracy contrary to the Constitution.

Resign from the state legislature, Representative Miller; check yourself out of government and into a mental health facility with padded rooms.  It will bring that right wing swing back from the fringe lunacy to reality a little sooner.

A Feminine Perspective on the Culture War on Women

Apparently we have returned to those glorious days of yesteryear, as old-timey radio used to say.

And we have George Carlin's riff on the War on Women, that right wing attempt to keep us barefoot, and pregnant, and in our place, the one that wants to weaken the description of rape, the one that wants to repeal equal pay for equal work laws, the one that wants to make it more difficult and costly to control our reproductive rights.

There is a great deal to be said for the push-back against right wing reactionary politics using humor.

We have the Virginia state senator, Janet Howell who tried to amend legislation that would force costly, non-medical procedures on a woman by linking a similar measure that would force men who wanted erectile dysfunction medication to get a rectal exam.  Actually, that makes sense, because of the typical age of men who actually need, rather than simply want for recreational purposes, that kind of medication and prostate cancer and other diseases.  Lets call out the hypocrisy of the pro-freedom from government intrusion crowd for what they are, liars and hypocrites for interfering with medical care and legal procedures to force their religious beliefs on the rest of us.

Now we have another female state senator who has beautifully used humor again in a similar way.  Constance Johnson, a state senator in the Oklahoma legislature, addressed the insanity of trying to give equal personhood to zygotes at the instant of conception.  As a point against the legislative attempt by the right to wrongly redefine personhood, I would point out that we don't and cannot ever determine the moment of conception.  I could write here at some length about the process known as spermatozoon activation or the acrosomal reaction, because I actually read about things like this extensively in pursuing my interest in theriogenology.  But this blog is about politics and current events (and anything else we feel like writing about) so I will save my other hobbies for a different niche.  The point is -we don't know, and with the exception of some very specific kinds of artificial insemination, NEVER know in the natural course of things, when the moment of conception occurs.  It takes us a while to be able to tell THAT it occurs, and that requires separate processes, including uterine implantation.  So on the face of it, the very premise of this legislation is poor.  But Howell does tie in to the obvious attempt to force on the rest of us, in a violation of church and state, one of the premises of the catholic church, that masturbation is a mortal sin.

I agree with my high school biology teacher, who gave us the most comprehensive sex ed classes imaginable; 95% of men admit to masturbation, and the other 5% are liars.  I would posit that the numbers for women are similar.

Good for Senators Howell and Johnson, we need more humor, we need more reason, and we certainly seem to need more women in our legislative government at all levels.

Tea Party Witch Fight?

Because tea partiers and other religious right wingers DO worry about that supernatural threatening stuff...
Tea Party organizer 'had to cancel' Christine O'Donnell to get Palin to attend
By NBC's Alex Moe


DES MOINES -- Tea Party of America President Ken Crow told NBC News, "I had to cancel Ms. O'Donnell" after a conversation with Sarah Palin aides -- and is now hopeful Palin will attend the Saturday rally in Indianola.
He was told by Palin's team that he'd have a final answer shortly.
This comes after failed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell was in, then out, then back in, and now indefinitely out. And Palin was in, then "on hold."
The group has spent about $100,000 on the event for Palin and are thus waiting "with baited breath" for an answer. An official press release will come out after Palin people give Crow final word.
NBC News has not received comment from Palin's team so far.

.

Republicans, On Women

Literally. ON women, as in trampling ON women.
Compliments to cartoonist Bill Day for his vivid picture of the GOP Circus under their antiquated tent.

Over the Side! You're Expendable IF You're Not a Republican!

By way of Yahoo comics, proving yet again that a picture is worth a thousand words (notice - no dangerous ice berg in sight, more like ice cubes by the relative proportion to the people).  This provides a brilliant focus on the right wing attack on women and children, unions, the middle class, and anyone else who is not on the wealthy side of the widening gap between those upper $$$$ 2% and the rest of us.  There is a great deal of truth in the observation that the budget cuts proposed by Republicans and Tea Partiers disproportionately target Democratic causes and Democratic demographic constituencies.

Could that little elephant throwing someone off the bow be Governor Scott Brown giving the heave-ho to a Union teacher?  Have yourself some fun assigning names of GOP politicians to the cartoon figures if you have a few moments to spare to amuse yourself.

Full attribution and appreciation to Tony Auth, and the Philadelphia Inquirer; and a special thank you to my friend Sara who gives me so many of the ideas for posts - and calls to my attention  many of the cartoons we post here.

Fact checking......Trudeau and.Doonsebury? and Guns!

Politifact.com is expanding it's repertoire.

Using the CDC data base, the site used by Trudeau for this February 13th cartoon (that's  longtime character Mark Slackmeyer):
"What are we like as a people?" Slackmeyer muses to himself in his studio. "Nine years, ago we were attacked -- 3,000 people died. In response, we started two long, bloody wars and built a vast homeland-security apparatus -- all at a cost of trillions! Now consider this. During those same nine years, 270,000 Americans were killed by gunfire at home. Our response? We weakened our gun laws."

Here is what politifact.com found about this Doonesbury comic  found:

We began by contacting Garry Trudeau, the cartoonist who has drawn Doonesbury for more than four decades. He got back immediately with a summary of his methodology.

Non Sequitur, February 9, 2011

For my friend and colleague Pen, who I suspect sometimes feels like this (I know I do sometimes too).

By way of Yahoo!comics:

The Non Sequitur Cartoon from February 4th, 2011

There is humor in taking "bear arming" too literally, even if the word play is a little trite.  Because sometimes, we just need a little humor for perspective on serious issues. Because, if we're not going to participate in the NCIS data base to keep convicted felons, drug users, illegal immigrants, and dangerously crazy people - why should we prohibit bears either?

"Too Many Laws"

Thanks to the wonderful strip 'Shoe' for having such an 'eagle eye' for appreciation of current events; Shoe was created by the late cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, and continued by Susie MacNelly, Gary Brookins, and Chris Cassatt. 

In an era of disappearing print media to present our cartoons, please take a moment to appreciate the comic format for all the things it does so much better than dry words could ever hope to do.  Murphy's Law perfectly sums up my feelings about the 2010 election (and not in a good way).

(I'm probably the only person looking at this, wondering if Chris Cassatt is any relation to famous American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt....)

Dear Keith Olbermann, What Part of the Recent Juan Williams Incident Did You NOT Understand?

Update - Keith Olbermann has returned to broadcasting on MSNBC.

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.”
Wendell Phillips
American Abolitionist and Orator
1811-1884

“I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as eternal dirt.”
(and)
"All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome."
Eric Arthur Blair, aka George Orwell
English Journalist, and Author of 1984 and Animal Farm (among other works)
1903 -1950

“Burke said that there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate, more important far than they all.”
Thomas Carlyle quotes
Scottish Historian and Essayist,
1795-1881

Keith Olbermann has been suspended, indefinitely, without pay from his broadcasting duties on cable news network MSNBC.  Olbermann made political donations to three democratic candidates in the recent election: Senate contender Jack Conway in Kentucky (who lost to Rand Paul), and Congressional candidates from Arizona Raul Grijalva (who won in a narrow election still contested, by some 6,300 votes) and Gabrielle Gifford (who as of this morning, 11/6, announced she won by a similarly contested election by some 3,000 votes).

Olbermann released this statement to Politico regarding his conduct:

"One week ago, on the night of Thursday October 28 2010, after a discussion with a friend about the state of politics in Arizona, I donated $2,400 each to the re-election campaigns of Democratic Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. I also donated the same amount to the campaign of Democratic Senatorial candidate Jack Conway in Kentucky.  I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level."

MSNBC has a policy for its employees that permit donations to political candidates with prior approval.  Mr. Olbermann did not seek or receive that approval before making those three legal donations.  In contrast, morning news host Joe Scarborough donated to a Republican candidate in the 2006 election WITH prior approval; MSNBC was at the time under different management, but the policy has remained the same.

Christine O'Donnell, Stephen Colbert, and Homer Simpson - what do they have in common?

The first is a very funny cartoon, the second is a very funny comedian, and the third is Senatorial candidate who is a laughingstock - the subject, the source, of many very funny jokes.

Sanity, Not Hannity: The Jon Stewart Rally and the Press

My friend Sara, who frequently gives me some of the best ideas for posts here on Penigma, brought an Upshot story to my attention from the Yahoo News blog Upshot, "News outlets caution staffers about Stewart-Colbert events", by Michael Calderone.

Serious news organizations, like National Public Radio, NBC News, the Washington Post, and the New York Times have policies about neutrality by their staff.  An example is the WaPo memo to their newsroom managers, quoted in the Calderone piece:

"Events, like those organized by Glenn Beck or involving Jon Stewart and Steven [sic] Colbert, are political, and therefore Post newsroom employees may not participate. By participate, we mean that Post newsroom employees cannot in any way put themselves in a position that could be construed as supporting (or opposing) that cause. That means no T-shirts, buttons, marching, chanting, etc. This guideline does not prohibit Post newsroom employees from observing — that is, watching and listening from the sidelines. The important thing is that it should be evident to anyone that you are observing, as journalists do, not participating, whether you are covering the event or not."

The article mentions this obviously applying to recent rallies - Beck's evangelical political rally on the date and site of the Martin Luther King event in August, and the progressive "One Nation" rally featuring MSNBC host Ed Shultz among the roster of other speakers.

Om Mane Padme HohhhhhmMMMy-Gosh

A friend spends some of her lunch break each day perusing the internet for diversion from life in 'Corporate America'.  She kindly shares some of the more amusing cyber-nuggets with me.

Today's bit-o-gold and glitter shared from the internet was about yoga images on parking tickets as a soothing exercise in public art. 

Snow-Snake Karma

With the Kind Permission of the Artist, Ed Stein

Thank you Mr. Stein!

Please Check Out the Latest Addition to Our Blog List

EdSteinInk.com, a brilliant editorial cartoon site.

I think you will enjoy all of Mr. Stein's body of work on his site.

Just click on the link; it works! It's right there, between Democratic Underground, and Find Law, on the left of the page.