Headlines - Friday

 

The Family Research Council's Super Duper Prayer Team suggests that you pray against the gays and health care reform this week.

  

###

 

And now, the logical conclusion of the Balloon Boy story

 

Colorado Balloon Boy named head of the GOP - By Don Davis

"When you think about it, it's really the perfect choice - an immature person, surrounded by hot air, but who still never gets off the ground." 

### 

Former Right-Wing Leader Warns Of Religious Right Violence: 'Anyone Can Be Killed' 

 

Frank Schaeffer is an outspoken critic of the politicized Christian evangelical right. He sees the "End Times" movement as anti-Semitic. He fears that a right-wing terrorist might assassinate the President of the United States.

None of these talking points would be novel on the left, but Schaeffer is hardly a bleeding heart liberal. His father, Dr. Francis Schaeffer, is considered to be the godfather of the modern religious right movement. Schaeffer himself took up the family mission and became a prominent speaker and writer, promoting many of the sentiments that have given rise to the politically active, extremely well organized and zealous movement of today. He left the religious right in the 1980s, and was a Republican until 2000.

In an interview with Raw Story, Schaeffer -- who has a new book coming out this month called Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism) -- discussed his concerns about the radicalization of the Christian right and the increasingly violent rhetoric he foresees turning into actual violence:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/47040

###

Tonight… We Are All Rush Limbaugh

(Fair Warning – the link goes to RedState, ground zero of GOP Frigtards everwhere)

###

At a town hall event in New Orleans yesterday, 9-year old Tyren Scott asked President Obama, "Why do people hate you? They supposed to love you. God is love." Obama responded, "If you were watching TV lately, it seems like everybody's just getting mad all the time. And you know, I think that you've got to take it with a grain of salt. Some of it is just what's called politics." Watch the video here.

###

Global warming thought to assure survival of the earth's rarest species, the desert goose.

### 

The McCarthyist Party

It couldn't happen now - cell phone cameras are ubiquitous - but the event that brought a man whose name is synonymous with fearmongering and false accusations to the public attention wasn't recorded. No audio or film exists and the text of the speech was not saved. The best I can do is quote Wikipedia:

[Sen. Joseph] McCarthy experienced a meteoric rise in national profile on February 9, 1950, when he gave a Lincoln Day speech to the Republican Women's Club of Wheeling, West Virginia. His words in the speech are a matter of some debate, as no audio recording was saved. However, it is generally agreed that he produced a piece of paper that he claimed contained a list of known Communists working for the State Department. McCarthy is usually quoted to have said: "The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205 -- a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department."

Keep reading: http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2009/10/mccarthyist-party.html

###

This "miscegenation" bullshit was supposed to have been settled 42 years ago

Loving v. Virginia settled the question as to whether it was legal to deny marriage licenses to interracial couples with a strong and firm "No".

But the law cuts no ice in Louisiana, where that Good Ole Southern Racism just keeps ticking along, as a judge there refused to marry an interracial couple "for the sake of the children".

 

I'm sure the Justice Department won't get involved - they're all too busy covering up Bushie crimes. 

 

###

Defending the honor of neanderthals

If Neanderthals were still around, they would be taking considerable offense at being compared to Republicans. This blog post explains why.

Meanwhile, some of the true knuckle-draggers are planning to engage in their favorite pastime: book burning and, believe it or not, Texas has Dental Cops.

###

###

How cool is the solar-powered Sun Jar?

###

American Corporatism: The More Incomes Need to Rise, the More the Company Cuts

The Obama Admin sent the message loud and clear and Corporate America got it: workers don't matter. Only the corporations get to be saved. They are the focus.

The result is pretty much what we'd expect: even though economists agree that putting money into the hands of people who will spend it is the only way to get out of the morass Bush and the Chicago School created, the corpo's are laying off more workers and cutting the paychecks of those who remain while loading them up with even more work and calling it "a rise in productivity".

Keep reading: http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/2009/10/american-corporatism-the-more-incomes-need-to-rise-the-more-the-company-cuts.html#more 

###

Check out this Malay eagle owl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r577ytYTZM&feature=player_embedded 

###

 

Yesterday was JP Morgan. Today it's back to Goldman. Who could have guessed such an outcome from a company so deeply embedded in the US government? How's everyone in the real world doing these days? How much has your retirement savings recovered? How's your fat bonus at work doing? How many are working in a company where the average pay is $526,814 a year after a bailout? Heck, let AIG fail and see how long Goldman rakes in these numbers. We know that would never happen which is why Goldman is on track to match their biggest bonus year ever.

It's probably cold comfort, but Goldman Sachs couldn't have done it without your help.

The New York-based investment firm turned another eye-popping profit Thursday, earning $3.2 billion in the third quarter, as revenue from trading rose fourfold from a year ago.

As Wall Street firms typically do, Goldman set almost half that sum aside to compensate its workers. Through the first nine months of 2009, the firm socked away $16.7 billion, enough to pay the average Goldmanite $526,814.

###

 

Thanks to Al Franken:

 

US defence firms are to be barred from lucrative government contracts if they refuse to allow employees access to the courts, after a woman working for a Halliburton subsidiary in Iraq was prevented from taking legal action over an alleged gang rape by fellow workers.

Al Franken, the Senate's newest member, has won an amendment to the defence appropriations bill prompted by the case of Jamie Leigh Jones. She alleges that she was drugged and raped by seven American contractors in Baghdad in 2005.

 

###

 

USA Today: Keeping the Fox out of the White House. 

 

###

 

David Horsey 

 

###

 

As usual ...

 

The American taxpayers are supporting the "red" states. It really chaps my ass that those who can't wrap their heads around having a black President benefit most from his largess.

WASHINGTON – Businesses reported creating or saving more than 30,000 jobs in the first months of President Barack Obama's stimulus program, according to initial data released Thursday by a government oversight board. Military construction led the way, and states in the South and Southwest saw the biggest boost. 

Weren't these the states whose governors "rejected" the stimulus money? Just askin' because the governor of New York is about to cut everything to prevent us going belly up. We could use any extra the "big government" might have.

I'm sorry, at the risk of offending many great progressives down there, but f**k these people. They're the ones who yell the most about the "lack of values in New York or San Francisco", yet are the ones with the highest teen pregnancy rate and highest percentage of divorces. They are the ones who dismiss any federal program as "big government intruding into their lives" or "wasting their tax dollars" yet are perfectly willing to accept every dime they get from it.

F**k them.

The next time one of their elected leaders makes a stink about federal money going to "welfare queens" or "those that don't deserve it", let's cut back on the amount of federal money they get. Let's face it, they should just say they don't want federal programs designed to help those who aren't Christian and Caucasian, not necessarily in that order, for heaven forbid they turn away any coming to them.

They're worried about the deficit should the health care bill pass with a "public option"? I'm worried about the deficit because we're spending so much on defense vis-a-vis the actual risk (psst ... the Cold War is over). How about we cut back on bombs and bullets and take care of Americans here? That wouldn't happen down there, would it? Not with all the defense contractors putting red staters to work. There's a government program is I ever saw one.

My message to those folks: How about shutting the f**k up and saying "thank you" to the rest of us?

###

 

Jim Cramer just told Chris Matthews that we are going to have a great retail season this Christmas. Given Cramer's track record, I'd start preparing for a complete economic collapse somewhere around Thanksgiving, complete with people jumping from buildings, mass layoffs, hyper-inflation and bread lines.

###

 

North Carolina is poised to become only the second state to impose a fat fee on its state employees by placing them in a more expensive health insurance plan if they're obese.

 

###

 

Bernie Sanders is either very polite 

 

or very, very stupid. An article about the debate on health care insurance among Senate Democrats had this nugget:

Senator Sanders said the debate Thursday "went up a few decibels higher than it usually does in caucus meetings." He said he had told [Senator] Baucus that more than 60 percent of the public and more than 80 percent of Democrats supported creation of a public insurance plan. "It's difficult to understand why we can't give the American people what they want," Mr. Sanders said.

It's not difficult to understand at all. Sen. Baucus has taken millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the health insurance industry. That's why Stephen Colbert suggested sending your medical bills to Baucus. Industries do not give millions of dollars to any one politician because they are boosters of the democratic process. They give that kind of cash because they are getting something for their money and Baucus has been giving them very good value for their money.

Bernie Sanders was probably being polite. He has to know what is going on.

And it will probably get worse once the fascist wing of the Supreme Court removes all restrictions on corporations financing politicians.

 

###

 

 

###

 

Obama is facing criticism from his liberal allies for moving too slowly to fill positions on the federal court. "During his first nine months in office, Obama has won confirmation in the Democratic-controlled Senate for just three of his 23 nominations for federal judgeships, largely because Republicans have used anonymous holds and filibuster threats to slow the proceedings to a crawl."

 

###

 

Say whaaaaaaaaaaat????

"What was once the Bush recession is now the Bush recovery," asks Cavuto, "or is that a stretch?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

###

 

 

###

 

Naming the names - the list! http://maruthecrankpot.blogspot.com/2009/10/naming-names-list.html

###

Allies

So, Italian forces in Afghanistan were bragging about how peaceful their area was. Turned out, they were paying bribes to the Taliban to prevent attacks. And it worked, by the way, for not really a lot of money: the Taliban can be bought. Anyway, then they left and handed off to the French, without telling them about the bribes. So they thought they were taking over a nice pacific region, and the ambush that killed ten of their soldiers (oh, and the mutilations) came as a bit of a surprise.

The Americans found out about the bribes through intercepted telephone conversations and formally protested to Italy. Two months before the ambush. So the US didn't warn the French either.