The Black Widow … [female]

This spider, one of only a few poisonous spiders in the USA, can be found all over the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Washington D.C. and Tennessee in closets, wood piles, garages trees and even mansions.

The spider releases a neurotoxin into the victim that, if not treated, can cause near-instant death!

The Black widow hooks-up with the male then sucks the very life out of him after mating.

She’s very easy to spot…

… I’m just sayin’…

In a personal editorial that contains enough changes of direction to give a reader whiplash, Paul Akers, opinion editor of the Free Lance-Star (or, as I prefer to call it, the far more appropriate Free Lance-Black Hole) embarrasses himself and his newspaper.

He starts well, with a fairly decent critique of the domestic policy of President Bush . . .

. . . whose fealty to megabusiness is creating before our unbelieving eyes what FDR never dared: the rapid socialization of U.S. finance and industry . . .

It doesn’t take long for Akers to start losing the script.  Things get really bad when he switches to state government:

The last notable achievement of the GOP-run House of Delegates occurred in 2004 when 17 Republicans broke ranks to support a tax increase to boost education, health, and other neglected state obligations.

“Neglected state obligations”?  If Akers had actually taken the time to look at the numbers before deciding the big-government nonsense he hated in Washington was just peachy for Richmond, he might have noted that health-care spending shot through the roof in the Warner-Kaine era, enough to be more than three times the tax hike.  The only area “neglected” was transportation, but that was a deliberate action by Mark Warner in an attempt to force Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to raise their own taxes.

Things really get bad when Akers looks to next year:

When the General Assembly convenes in January, I expect no significant departure among House R’s from No New Taxes doctrine, whatever the public need.

Perhaps Akers wasn’t paying attention, but the Republican Party of Virginia is already on record as havng supported or acquiesced in four tax increase proposals in six years: the tax-hike “referendum” of 2002 (inflicted on voters by a Republican General Assembly), the tax-hike of 2004, a near-miss gas-tax hike in 2006 (rejected only by House Republicans), and the now-infamous HB3202 (which even Akers had to admit was a “Rube Goldberg funding mechanism”).  Has it even occurred to him that the GOP’s problems in Virginia have at least something to do with that recent history?

But this is Akers’ ridiculous coup de grace:

Whether the House GOP’s–warning: abrupt metaphor switch–parachute never opens (2009) or whether House R’s plummet a bit more slowly under a “Mae West” canopy (2011), the impact will be equally fatal. I say vote Democratic and get it over with, the better to hasten GOP reconstruction. I am quite fond of Howell and Mark Cole, may princes spring from their loins, but sometimes, to modify a bogus quote from the Vietnam War, you have to destroy the hamlet to save the village.

When total debacle shocks Republicans into intellectual reformation, I offer for party adoption a simple motto: Be competent.

How raising taxes in this economy would be even remotely ”competent” was left unexplained - and for good reason.

Also left out of the column was the fact that the House Republicans actually came up with a plan that tied road funding to economic activity, something no Democrat was willing to do.  Moreover, the House Republicans’ plan actually meant more money for NoVa and Hampton Roads transportation than the Dems’ tax-hike.

Sadly, Akers’ column merely reveals that the madness and ignorance that seized the FLBH during last summer’s special session went deep into the editorial leadership, and afflicts it to this day.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

From the NY Times:

It’s Tim Robbins vs. the city’s Board of Elections - Round 2.

The actor caused a ruckus on Election Day, when he went to vote at the YMCA on West 14th Street and found his name wasn’t in the poll book.

He refused to cast a paper ballot, and got a court order to allow him to pull the lever.

“This is just one example of how difficult it is to vote in the US,” he sniffed.

In a letter to Robbins yesterday, the board said he went to the wrong polling place because he’d moved from West 15th Street to West 19th on Feb. 19, 2004, so his voting location changed to West 20th.

It wasn’t noticed earlier because he hadn’t voted in recent elections, the board said. But Robbins told The Post’s David Seifman that his West 19th Street address is only an office and he still lives on West 15th.

He says he even voted in 2006 without a problem: “I have never voted at this place they claim I’m registered at. I think they are trying to cover their tracks.”

Yeah Tim; it’s all part of our right-wing conspiracy to keep dumb elitists from voting.  But we sure need you to guide our dumb selves through the process through your endorsements and PSA’s. Thank heaven we have liberal Hollywood millionaires who represent the ‘working man’ to guide us.

Rather than DRIVE FOUR BLOCKS to vote in the RIGHT PLACE –OR– just fill out a paper ballot; this pompus ass calls his liberal judge friend and gets a court order???

Robbins is married to Susan Sarandon, the Hanoi Jane of our time.

Folks, this is your weekend read. Please take the time to read it. It will help you understand who has just been elected as president.

So what next? Determination to reverse this defeat will achieve little on its own. The era has changed, and so determination must be joined by a total rethink and restatement of conservative principles, and an unshakable pledge to adhere to them when in office in future. Reform of the electoral process, specially ending vote fraud, and placing sensible restrictions on media bias in the weeks before an election will also help ensure that this debacle is not repeated.

One of the best results of this election has been Sarah Palin. Here’s my suggestion for her: when Ted Stevens, newly reelected as Alaska’s Senator, is forced to step down in a couple of months, she should appoint herself as the new Senator and let her Lieutenant-Governor, Sean Parnell, take over as Governor.

Washington needs Sarah Palin, and Sarah Palin needs Washington experience. She would then be far better placed to run again in 2012 or 2016, and meanwhile, could help to enact her reform agenda from the Senate. She would also have John McCain’s continued assistance and mentorship.

Congratulations Obama.

I owe someone a dinner at Applebees.  Send me an email with your address and I’ll pay up. 

Now I have 4 years of really great content ahead to write about at least.