What sounds like the latest title of a Nancy Drew mystery novel and eerily resembles every Scooby Doo episode you ever saw?   It's Josh Marshall's ruminating on the 'mystery' of the overwhelming Republican defeat in the last two election cycles.  It would appear he's particularly interested in why, at least some of them, didn't break camp with Team Bush after witnessing the results of 2006 with their own lying eyes.

I vote for serious self delusion as an answer to the mystery.  There's nothing really creepy about the 'spooky' mansions on Scooby if you already know it's gonna end with some pissed off janitor who gets his revenge by scaring local teenagers.  You and I still enjoy watching Scooby Doo, even though we are in on the joke and know it's just TV.

What's TV got to do with it?  Well, those loser Republicans Josh wonders about are watching Jack Bauer on 24,  examining each week's episode and discussing it's implications on foreign policy decisions, and those aren't even the ones considered seriously crazy.

Enjoy.

The only 'bright' spot on election night for the Republicans was their win on Prop 8 in California.  The fact that this happened in California is not lost on those of us from places where we're constantly inundated with the idea that California is mostly a vast and useless wasteland of aging hippies and homosexuals (as well as every other imaginable type of sinner and reprobate).

<RANT>
It's almost as hard to imagine the homosexuals losing a vote in California as it is imagine Obama losing in Mississippi, though, to be precise, I doubt that even California has a population that is 36 percent homosexual.  Mississippi has a Black population in excess of 36% (pdf) yet somehow the Republicans managed to steal Mississippi's electoral votes from Obama!  I don't know how, but I'm not some hick who just fell off the back of a watermellon truck.  It defies explanation in my mind moreso than the missing votes in Alaska, which may ultimately now be 'found'  (with the help of all the media scrutiny sorely lacking here!).  We're mostly helpless, as our best Democratic lawyers are in jail under a Seigelman-like Rovian Justice Department move, but it's crickets in the mainstream (and blog) media compared to TPM headlines like this.  I'll get deeper into that subject later....
</RANT> 

But I digress.  The minority crowd around here is still jubilant compared to the morosity of the homosexuals over prop8, (even though the locals have gone berserk in trying to stifle enthusiasm).  Black folks are breathing a sigh of relief because of their perceived boost in political fortunes.  The religious right, in control of the Republican party, has been forced to shift their zealous nonsense away from Cain (mark of Cain is being Black - Baptist 101) and onto the homosexual boogey man. 

Though not yet confident enough to call for the mass relocation and sanitization of the homosexual ghettos, the Dominionist Republicans (i.e. Republicans) are giddy with delight over the uncomfortable position they've managed to inflict on the homosexual community.  Though I fail to see how the infliction of suffering and emotional distress on an insignificant percentage of overly gifted Americans is going to help them, they must believe that if the "gay menace" is defeated, their hetero marriages will suddenly stop looking like a cross between a Jerry Springer and Desperate Housewives episode.  In any event, the message machine of the Christian Reconstructionists, and all their knowing and unknowing accomplices in the so called MSM are going WHOLE HOG against the homosexuals.

It's a win-win situation for the haters.  They can ridicule and gay bait at will with no worry of a repercussions of the 'nappy headed hoes' variety! (hence the title of this post). The worst of them can get away with all forms of overt and openly hostile statements and behaviors while the more 'moderate' can play concern trolls, constantly reminding us of the 'overreach' of Clinton when he tried to openly allow homosexuals in the military (ultimately folding like a cheap lawn chair).  I keep seeing a whole lot of  references to that 'military misstep' from the press lately.  Maybe it's just me, but it pisses me off, and I'm not even homosexual!

When I see reports of individuals being targeted for giving to the Prop8 cause, it gives me cheer and warms my heart.  For once, the haters are being called out and subjected to the ridicule they so aggressively foist upon others.  The only things that make me happier are the thoughts of our troops coming home soon and war crimes trials for self admitted torture enthusiasts.

Enjoy. 

Over at Balloon Juice is a discussion on the subject of marijuana and employment that I bumped into, spurred by an original post from The Agitator , which pointed to this ad being pushed by our government blog on drug abuse, Pushing Back.  The Agitator article highlights this comment from Bruce Mirkin over at the Marijuana Policy Project:

On Nov. 4, voters spectacularly rejected eight years of the most intense government war on marijuana since the days of "Reefer Madness," led by outgoing White House drug czar John Walters -- voting overwhelmingly for a variety of reform proposals, including marijuana decriminalization in Massachusetts and medical marijuana in Michigan.

and

By the way, jobs held by people who've acknowledged smoking marijuana include governor of California (Arnold Schwarzenegger), astronomer (Carl Sagan), mayor of New York (Michael Bloomberg), billionaire rock star/songwriter (Paul McCartney), and -- well, you get the point.

Am I being optimistic in thinking there might be a chance that Obama (an admitted INHALER of same) might decriminalize marijuana so people like my old friend Peter McWilliams won't die choking on their own vomit after being forced by government thugs to abandon the only medication abataing the nausea from his AIDS treatments?  Peter was literally KILLED by our government for speaking his mind on the subject of marijuana,, passionately and intelligently arguing for it's legalization.  His book, Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do is still online for free.

The War on Drugs is the FIRST so called 'war' we need to end.  If we can't end an unjust and ill advised war right here in our own backyards, how in the hell are we gonna do the same for an exacerbated situation in Iraq?

Enjoy.

There are a cadre of folks here in Mississippi that aren't taking the loss to Obama very well.   While it is to be expected that certain of the older rural elements of our state haven't quite gotten up to speed on race relations in the 21st century, the following story about folks in our local PUBLIC school system still shocks me:

But allegations in Mississippi this week have shown tension between the two races is very much alive.

Nsombi Lambright, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, said she is worried students' free speech has been limited since the election.

"We've been hearing that students have been told they couldn't say the name Barack Obama," Lambright said.

An educator in Madison County has contacted the group but did not want to go forward with allegations for fear of retribution, she said. Lambright urged students and parents to come forward as well.

"This is a historic time for our country, and it's really unfortunate that students aren't able to talk about it," Lambright said.

The bus driver and the coach with the Pearl school district have been disciplined for allegedly telling students not to say the president-elect's name.

"It is unfortunate that some employees mishandled this situation, but they have been disciplined, and I have spent the day clarifying our policies," Superintendent Greg Ladner said in a written statement.

He did not say what form of discipline they received.

I guess I should be happy the offending employees were slapped on the wrist instead of given a promotion?    For the record, Pearl and Madison are both considered to be in the greater Jackson area.  Pearl is 10 miles east, and Madison 15 miles north, of Jackson.

The backlash in Madison is probably due to the 'socialist' tax policies that Obama is pushing.  Madison is the upscale urban yuppie haven around here, while Pearl is still predominantly considered redneck, even by folks in Madison!!   While Mississippi is certainly at the lower end of the economic and wage scales in America,  this Obama animosity in Pearl and Madison is coming out of what are basically URBAN areas of above average income (Mississippi standards...LOL)

I've got a GREAT picture of Pearl Mississippi here.   It's a couple years old and was taken at the Interstate 20 exit for Pearl Mississippi.   I think they finally cleared the area, but this was/is NOT a blighted area, even then.  Mississippi zoning is some of the most WHACK stuff you'll ever see in your lives and remember, this was WITHIN city limits.  All bets are off once you hit the county.....   

I can only imagine the internal fortitude necessary to rationalize the cognitive dissonance when God abandons your cause as he clearly did for the rightwing evangelical crowd this cycle.  Suppose you've spent the better part of the last election cycle cashing in all your chips with God in a vainglorious attempt at having him influence the 2008 elections on your behalf.  What must those people be thinking right now?  I put together my first poll, in an attempt to harvest the collective intelligence of a broader audience and see if we could come up with a consensus.  It's title is the same as the title of this post.  The poll is located here.

Enjoy.

It is going to be a long uphill climb for the Republican party if the best post election show they have to offer is a literal bitch-slapping contest over Sarah Palin.  I have seen the term circular firing squad used many times as a metaphor for this post election finger pointing. 

Perhaps out of a distant loyalty to the thought they once represented something reasonably recognizable as "conservative",  I offer them the following tip:  The conservative America I grew up in believed in a strong separation between Church and State.   I almost hate to point out such obvious stuff to a party that is clearly gone criminal, as I don't want to appear to be aiding and abetting fugitives.  It's just that I used to know and respect a few folks who held positions different than mine who could literately debate them without resorting to worn out logical fallacies and ad hominem attacks.

Palin clearly believes in a Christian theocracy, one where she, as President and Pastor -in Chief, would be able to rightly differentiate between the 'witches' that needed burning and the rapist fetuses that needed protecting.    If she desires to be a real politician when she grows up (press conferences anyone ??) she will have to learn out to play nice with the media and the general electorate, and not just the rubes who lost their fortunes long before this latest market crash by investing in Jim and Tammy Faye Baker's PTL themepark.

It doesn't matter to America that Sarah doesn't have a favorite magazine she's willing to share with us, nor even that she might be clueless on The Bush Doctrine or even the continental status of Africa.  Expensive dresses??  Who the hell are they making them for if a hot VP candidate can't at least 'borrow' them for awhile?  LOL.   All that is meant to distract voters that the one thing that makes Sarah certifiably toxic.

Sarah believes in the rights of the rapist's baby over the rights of the girl being raped.  I don't know if it's twisted serendipity or horrible karmic influence that the results of treating the rapists better than the thirteen year old who was raped recently made headlines, but it's starting to appear that letting any religion (even those of the Sons of Abraham) too close to the levers of public power is something the founders of our country took particular interest in preventing.

Enjoy.