Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who fancies himself something of a futurist, recently prophesied: "If the Republicans can't break out of being the right-wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third-party movement in 2012."
Conservative ideology, see, cannot fail, it can only be failed. In Gingrich's fevered imagination, principled conservatives vigorously objected to George W. Bush's profligate ways; they deserted the administration in droves after Dick Cheney reportedly said that Ronald Reagan "proved that deficits don't matter."
Of course, that rebellion never actually happened. Most Republicans rediscovered the evils of deficit spending only after President Obama's election. Notwithstanding the fact that 90 percent of the existing national debt was created under Reagan and the two Bushes, many are running around with their hair on fire about a proposed tax increase of 3.6 percent on income over $250,000-a tax increase Obama needn't cause to be enacted, but merely wait for George W. Bush's tax cuts to expire on schedule in 2010.
Keep reading: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/256882
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Even though he won the poll to name the international space station's new module, NASA is naming their zero-gravity treadmill after Stephen Colbert instead. The module will be named "Tranquility".
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Here's a handy little pie chart if you want to know where your tax dollars go.
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The Hitler Hypocrisy: http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2009/04/hitler-hypocrisy.html
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Thanks, President Obama!
"The United States is a nation of laws. My Administration will always act
in accordance with those laws, and with an unshakeable commitment to our
ideals......"
Obama orders release of secret memos but strongly signals that he will block any war crimes investigation, making the above quote meaningless: http://jonathanturley.org/2009/04/16/obama-orders-release-of-secret-memos-but-strongly-signals-that-he-will-block-any-war-crimes-investigation/
He says that CIA officers that were acting on the Justice Department's legal advice would not be prosecuted - definitely not in line with Nuremberg Principle IV:
The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.
Glenn Greenwald reprints some of the memos. Read 'em and weep.
Olbermann Special Comment: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/olbermann-future-of-the-u_n_188016.html
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An anonymous Bush official blasted President Obama for releasing the torture memos yesterday. "It's damaging because these are techniques that work, and by Obama's action today, we are telling the terrorists what they are," the official told Politico's Mike Allen. "We have laid it all out for our enemies. This is totally unnecessary."
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Uh oh. Obama opted not to endorse Jesus while giving a speech on economics by having a Christian symbol on the lectern covered up while he spoke.
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According to 538, appx. 250,000 people turned out to the tea bagging parties all across the nation yesterday. Considering the US has a population of a little over 300 mill, this represents a little over .086 of one percent of the entire population. That's a wee bit under a thousandth of one percent. Meaning that if you put a thousand Americans in a large stadium, one of them would be a teabagger.
Why are we giving all this attention to that one guy?
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Is anyone surprised at this? http://theygaveusarepublic.com/diary/2625/is-anyone-surprised-at-this
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Go Alaska!
The Alaska Legislature rejected Gov. Sarah Palin's (R-AK) pick for state attorney general, Wayne Anthony Ross, by a vote of 35-23 today. Ross's nomination caused a firestorm because of his radical right-wing views. He had called gay people "degenerates" and allegedly defended men who rape their wives. He also praised a student for creating a large statue of a Ku Klux Klan member, saying the "project gets 'A' for courage." Introducing Ross last month, Palin said he "brings years of good service, in more ways than one." "He will make an excellent attorney general," she said.
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Remember back in 2006 when six Muslim religious leaders were taken off a US Airways flight in Minneapolis and detained for several hours after some passengers and crew members complained of behavior they deemed suspicious? Well Michele Bachmann says they were on their way to attend Congressman Keith Ellison's victory celebration:
BACHMANN: [Minnesota was] also were the site of the six flying imams. … The imams, the imams were actually attending, ah, Congressman Keith Ellison's victory celebration, when he won as a member of Congress. […]
[T]hey were shouting phrases anti-Bush, anti-America…and were making these statements and when they got aboard the airplane, they switched seats, they didn't go to their proper seats, and they went in the pattern of the nine-one-one terrorists.
As the New York Times reported after the incident, that's a lie.
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A rant from Dick - it's been awhile!
Yglesias explains:
Conservatives can cry and moan all they want about the DHS warning of violence on the part of right-wing extremists, but the fact of the matter is that sooner or later someone is going to take this kind of talk seriously and do something that's really regrettable. If this were just a matter of ugly signs from a handful of people at protests, there'd be nothing to really worry about. But the rank and file is being egged on by some very irresponsible politicians and media figures.The Trib says Kirk sticks by his assassination talk.
Conservatives are so incensed by warnings about the threat of right wing radicalism that they're considering overthrowing the federal government!
High-speed rail won't solve all of our transportation problems or free us from our dependence on oil, foreign or domestic, but it's an important element in a broader revitalization of America's infrastructure.
Here's a map of the corridors that are in the running for the new federal funds the Obama administration announced today it is making available for high-speed rail:
There's more on this particular initiative posted here.
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