truly the only response to this video – is this:

The question is, if Newt doesn’t take his own candidacy seriously, why should we?

From The Mask of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley, comes this, the first recorded call to nonviolent resistance.

“Stand ye calm and resolute,
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms and looks which are
Weapons of unvanquished war.

And if then the tyrants dare,
Let them ride among you there,
Slash, and stab, and maim and hew,
What they like, that let them do.

With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear, and less surprise
Look upon them as they slay
Till their rage has died away

Then they will return with shame
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hot blushes on their cheek.

Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many — they are few”

From this

To this

Special tip-o-the-hat to Jenna Pope for pointing me to the poem!

“I am not arrogant enough to believe that after one year as governor . . . that I am ready to be president of the United States,” he told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

No it looks as if Chris Christie is being given the gift of arrogance from two of the most arrogant players on the political scene in the past 50 years, Henry Kissenger and George W. Bush.  From the New York Post:

After months of hedging, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is giving serious thought to jumping into the ring for a GOP presidential run — and could make his decision next week, The Post has learned.

The announcement may come as soon as Monday, said sources familiar with Christie’s thinking.

The renewed consideration about a White House run came after prodding this week from some Republicans he idolizes, including former First Lady Nancy Reagan, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and former President George W. Bush, sources said.

Let’s forget for a moment that Henry Kissinger and George W. Bush have both been mentioned as war criminals at various times in their careers and focus on the notion that these supposedly old-guard Republicans are trying to wrest the GOP nomination for one of their own.  How in the world could they possibly think that Chris Christie was one of their own given his huge support from Tea Partiers?  Sure, Christie himself may seem less of a whackjob than Perry or Bachman or Cain, but his followers are full of whackjobbery.  I suppose the thinking here is that independent voters won’t be able to see the whackjobbery all around Mr. Christie.  I’m betting that ain’t the case, and that Mr. Christie’s followers will taint him among most Americans, that he will have to carry the negatives of the Tea Party movement on his very broad back all the way to the November 2012 election, if he manages to win the GOP primaries.  Hey, Chris Christie has enough baggage of his own to carry without Tea Party baggage, too. 

One thing we know for sure. . . a Chris Christie candidacy will mean a heightening of the war on the middle class the Republicans have set out on, and that’s a danger to all Americans.

There is so much to remember about Dick Cheney’s time in office. There was the Office of Special Plans, which he created to formulate the most effective lies possible about Iraq, WMD, and connections to September 11. There was the torture in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, which he referred to as “the dark side” and which he championed with great vigor. There was his dismissal of lawfully-issued congressional subpoenas, and his dedication to the idea of a “Unitary Executive” which is beholden to nothing and no one. There was his broad plan to spy on millions of Americans without a warrant, which he wanted to continue even after the whole thing was declared to be illegal. There was (and remains) the program of indefinite detention without due process of law, which was his baby, and there was the coddling of known criminal and double-agent Ahmed Chalabi, who was his pal.

There was all this, and so much more besides, but one incident stands out in my mind above all else. It was only an accent in the symphony of wrongdoing Cheney directed from his office, and was barely noticed at the time, but I will never forget it.

It was a simple thing, really: the National Archives, by dint of two different federal laws, annually collects the official papers of the Executive Branch for the edification of future historians, researchers and government officials. It is a by-rote requirement, one small cog in the wheelworks of government, but not this time.

Dick Cheney said no. No, you cannot have any papers from the office of the Vice President, and for one reason: the office of the Vice President, because I say so, is not part of the Executive Branch.

By the way, Lawrence Wilkerson wants Dick tried for his crimes, Colin Powell and Condi Rice can not stand him either.

Two House Republicans have cast votes as members of the 112th Congress, but were not sworn in on Wednesday, a violation of the Constitution on the same day that the GOP had the document read from the podium.

The Republicans, incumbent Pete Sessions of Texas and freshman Mike Fitzpatrick, missed the swearing in because they were at a fundraiser in the Capitol Visitors Center. The pair watched the swearing-in on television from the Capitol Visitors Center with their hands raised.

As if all of this was not enough, A true \"tea party\" spokeswoman named Theresa, gave us the icing on the cake.

As one House member read the text from Article Two, section one – “No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President” – a woman in the Gallery who called herself Theresa began shrieking, “Except Obama, except Obama, help us, Jesus!” Yes, friends and neighbors, she was a “Birther,” one of those who refuse to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States, and is therefore ineligible to be President. In other words, Theresa is a pillar of the base that supports the “Tea Party” faction of our newly-minted House majority.

It is going to be a LONG two years!