Why Do You Think They Call It HotAir?

There reall must be something inherently wrong with Ed Morrissey.

No one man can be this unflinchingly ignorant.

..why are [ these ] American legislators more interested in protecting Mexican workers from union abuse than workers in their own country? The easy answer: Mexican unions don’t contribute millions of dollars to the Democrats and to these politicians. Therefore, they oppose the Union Boss Bills of Mexico while working to enable them here in the US.

How often as the talking-point about the abolishment of the "secret ballot" under the EFCO been debunked?

Multiple times.

Of course, you can't tell that to people like Ed.

Maybe we should just let him keep going. He does provide good comic relief.

Comedy Gold, Joe Style

I don't know what's more laughable, Joe doing his"COME LOOK WHAT I'M DOING!!!!!" schtick or trying to tell camera operators and reporters what to do.

If you'd like to watch the who video, you'll have to register.

Predictability : Michelle Malkin Whines About NBC And The Olympics

I had thought about prefacing this blog with the phrase "if someone at NBC had come up with the cure for cancer, Michelle Malkin would find a way to bitch about it".

But seeing as how it is the conservatives that tend to live in the "what if" world rather than the one that most people inhabit, I'll skip that and get right to the point.

Michelle Malkin - as well as those that follower her as if she has some hypnotic musk or perhaps a tractor-beam emanating from her evry orafice - seems to think that NBC is "supporting" or "glossing over" the fact that China is a "communist" nation.

True, China is censoring the internet, certain members of the press have been detained, people were removed, dust-masks were seen as insults, and some are even claiming that Bejing is becoming a massive police-state for this years events.

If Bejing were a dangerous place to hold the games, the IOC would most likely have not chosen it, don't you think?

But, the Olympics are about a coming-together of nations where a sort-of common ground can be shared and the spirit of competitiveness and sportsmanship is shared and learned from.

I'm opting not to watch the Olympics this year simply because I've lost interest in them.

True, as a former competitive swimmer, I'm hoping that Micheal Phelps gets all 8 golds that he is striving for, but I'm not going to watch - no other reason than I just don't feel like it.

Enter "The Pursed-Lipped-One", Michelle Malkin.

Malkin needs - no DEMANDS - that you have a reason that you are watching the Olympics, demands that you rationalize your reasoning of "supporting" NBC. She demands that NBC fall into lock-step with her and her followers. She ( and a few others ) seem to think that NBC is somehow "glossing over" the fact that the games are being held in China.

So, what do Malkin and her fellow compatriots do? They do what they always do - complain without offering a reasonable solution and ( their favorite tactic ) using Photoshop.

Seriously, if your ability to proficiently execute all the options available through Photoshop somehow made you a respectable and praise-worthy blogger, then Malkin and her reactionary-minions might be something to marvel at.

The truth is, it doesn't and she's not.

You're not going to hear about other protests, other activists' voices quoted, other's statements of disapproval echoed by Malkin unless she has "approval" of them alread. Why would the woman want to talk about anything that she didn't think of to begin with.

This whole "China-Bad-NBC-Bad-Malkin-Smash" schtick brings up an interesting point.

Why is it that so many people wait for a "world-event" to talk about things like nations censoring their citizens, governments removing any form of civil liberties, segregation, genocide, et al?

The reason is, to me at least, it gives them ( Malkin in particular ) the false-glow of "awareness".

You see, we like to admire people who pretend to know what they are talking about.

I'll be up front and tell you that I am ignorant about many things that I should know plenty about. But I learn. I read. I listen. I rationalize. I process and make informed, reasonable, logical decisions.

If there's one thing that I know of, one thing that I can say unequivocally, it is that Malkin has never supplied a "solution" to anything.

Johnny Come Lately {or} Making Up A Story So We Can Look Like We Know What We're Talking About

For anyone familiar with "Johnny Dollar", you'll no doubt find this title is a bit predictable:

Milbank: I Was Banned from Countdown for Defending McCain Advisor!

The problem is, that isn't the truth.

Dana Milbank had been working out a deal to move to CNN since at least July 7th - and probably since before then:

Not so, says Milbank. “I started contract talks with CNN on July 7,” Milbank told Big Head DC this afternoon. “It has nothing to do with last week’s column. I like Keith, and I’m sorry he’s angry about my departure.”

The piece that appeared in POLITICO that OlbyWatch si referencing reads in part:

An MSNBC spokesperson confirmed there was a conversation where Black came, but the producer was only joking. The spokesperson said there was no connection between anything Dana said about Black and his not being booked on “Countdown.”

And, if this next segment - also in the POLITICO article - is to be true, it was executive producer Katy Karp that allegedly mentioned that there was an "issue" surround something that Milbank said about Charlie Black.

The "OlbyWatch" piece is nothing more than speculaction from a rampantly-sychophantic right-wing hack. Johnny Dollar and his band of blisfully ignorant compatriots are citing sources ( that they appear to find less-then-valuable ) as viable proof that Olbermann had Milbank removed.

The situation can be easily explained as an amalgam of two things.

Milbank has wanted to work for CNN for a long time and was looking for an "out". That "out" is being exploited and rearranged to look like a feud between Olbermann and Milbank.

The other, is that Olbermann is trying to make Dana's departure for another network look like something that it isn't. Truth-be-told, COUNTDOWN is loosing a great guest, and Keith may have realized a little too late that he should have tried to hold on to Dana. All that Keith is doing now is trying rationalize this anyway he can.

It's nothing sinister, nothing that shows that COUNTDOWN is anything other than what it actually is.

Of course, it would be foolish to think someone like Johnny Dollar would do anything but try and make "something" out of "nothing".