Headlines - Wednesday March 31

Bumper sticker of the day: If you're not part of the solution, you're a Republican.

 

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"I want to just take a moment to thank the Teabaggers. Thank you so much for helping us pass health care, for resurrecting the Obama presidency. I know they're saying, 'Why are you thanking me? I was so against it, I marched on Washington with tea bags hanging off my Founding Fathers costume, with a gun on my hip and a picture of Obama dressed as Hitler, screaming about his birth certificate.' And America saw that and said, 'I think I'll go with the calm black man.'" –Bill Maher 

 

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WaPo: Sinéad O'Connor on the Catholic church's ongoing rape scandals.

 

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It's douchebag day!

 

Fancy book-author Karl Rove went to Beverly Hills last night to take questions about his very very gay dad. But then Code Pink showed up to make a citizen's arrest, and Karl had no security! Was he able to beat up these ladies good? Also, someone brings up the Downing Street Memo, which Rove calls a fabrication — just like in 2005! Who goes to these things? YouTube

And speaking of douchebags....

L'il Miss Inflammatory Rhetoric is advocating for road rage now?

Her remarks focused mainly on Sen. Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and President Obama, the latter of whom was the opponent of the McCain-Palin ticket in the 2008 presidential campaign. Palin beckoned to two familiar phrases from the Obama-Biden campaign.

"That bumper sticker that maybe you'll see on the next Subaru driving by -- an Obama bumper sticker -- you should stop the driver and say, 'So how is that hopey, changey thing working out for ya?'" Palin said, poking at two words closely tied to Mr. Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, "hope" and "change."

Because what the country needs is more of these assholes.

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The Catholic Archdiocese of Miami is being sued. And you know why.

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Wow. President Obama's accomplishments: http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/03/president-obamas-accomplishments.html

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Alaskan blogs are claiming that Sarah Palin's 15 year-old daughter Willow has been identified as part of a gang of teenagers that broke into and vandalized a home in Wasilla.

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WTF? The father of the dead Marine whose funeral was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church has been ordered to pay Fred Phelps' court costs for defending the church from the father's lawsuit.

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This is nice. Andrew Sullivan has a suggestion to exempt those wanna-be terrorists, the Hutarees, from the fold of the faithful.

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NAMBLA: "At least we aren't the Catholic Church": http://www.williamkwolfrum.com/2010/03/18/nambla-at-least-we-arent-the-catholic-church/

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Steve Benen: So, Michele Bachmann would have us believe that John Lewis is a liar. John Lewis, who has demonstrated more integrity, honesty, and courage in his career than Bachmann's limited intellect can even fathom, is deserving of mistrust, because he heard racial slurs and talked about it.

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When is Barack Obama going to learn that they are going to call him a Muslim terrorist socialist antichrist even if he does things like this: Obama to expand offshore drilling for gas and oil.

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

The proposal is intended to reduce dependence on oil imports, generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.

Yup, that's vintage Obama -- try to cut the baby in half in the hope of getting bipartisan support for something Republicans will never, ever go for. If he still thinks Republicans will go for any effort to combat climate change (when they don't believe we have any part to play in it) after the health care near-debacle, I don't know what's going to convince him that these people will not work with him under ANY circumstances.

Then there's the delusion this will create that we don't have to worry about oil because we can pump our way to the return of cheap gas and Hummers. Meanwhile, here in New Jersey, we have had three major storms in six weeks -- one blizzard that left us with up to 20 inches of snow, a late-winter near-hurricane that brought us 70mph winds and up to 6" of rain in two days (and toppled my giant blue spruce tree in the front yard), and another one this week that brought up to another 5" of rain. But no, climate change has nothing to do with that either.

The only comfort that I take in this is that it's the states who chanted "Drill baby drill" during the 2008 election campaign who will find oil globs washing up on their beaches.

Oh yeah, and this too.

The other day Sarah Palin was using her patented "How's that hopey-changey thing workin' for ya" line again. Until I read this, I was inclined to say "Pretty damn good." Now I'd say "I don't know why you think we need to elect Sarah Palin; Obama is doing everything the oil industry wants."

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Nation of bullies.

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A buncha morans got their cars towed en masse when they parked at some frathouse somewhere in Florida while attending a goofy Glenn Beck revival meeting.

According to WFTV channel 9 in Orlando, 53 cars were towed out of a fraternity parking lot at the University of Central Florida on Saturday night, and all of them belonged to people who were attending Beck's American Revival Tour appearance at the nearby UCF Arena… The frat house wouldn't talk to the media, but Ronald Hulbert, the owner of the towing company that hauled off the cars, said he earned around $6,600 for the massive tow operation, which he said was the largest he ever carried out in a single day.

The wingnuts are of course saying it was a conspiracy.

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I've heard of shotgun weddings ...

…but not automatic weapon weddings. You better not dance with the bride's maid at this affair, groom dude, or you will go from cock o' the walk to capon, real fast!

Yes, this is a wedding picture from the lovely Hutaree Xristian Xrazy Militia, who are shooting their way into heaven, except now they are locked up for planning to start a civil war by attacking the police department somewhere in Jebusland.

 

Even the ring bearer is packing heat.

(via TPM)

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Levi Johnston's reality show

The anti-Mooselini is going head-to-head with the Wasilla Chillbillies.

While I think I now know more than I ever wanted to know about all the grifters in Alaskastan, I gotta admit that I am on team Levi. He's doing us all a public service just shadowing them and getting under their skin. Yeah, it might be self-serving, too, but I'm giving him props for keeping up a good fight.

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Organicized!

Hmm. So Michelle Obama's organic garden doesn't actually translate into policy:

WASHINGTON – Sidestepping a stalled Senate confirmation vote, yesterday President Obama recess-appointed Islam Siddiqui to be chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the U.S. trade representative. Dr. Siddiqui's nomination was held up in the Senate and was opposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 80 other environmental, small-farm, and consumer groups. More than 90,000 concerned citizens contacted the White House and Senate to oppose the nomination. Siddiqui is a former pesticide lobbyist and is currently vice president of science and regulatory affairs at CropLife America, a biotech and pesticide trade group that lobbies to weaken environmental laws.

"Dr. Siddiqui's confirmation is a step backward," said Tierra Curry, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "His appointment ensures the perpetuation of pesticide- and fossil-fuel-intensive policies, which undermine global food security and imperil public health and wildlife."

As undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Siddiqui oversaw the development of the first national organic labeling standards, which allowed sewage sludge-fertilized, genetically modified, and irradiated food to be labeled as organic before public outcry forced more stringent standards. Siddiqui has derided the European Union's ban on hormone-treated beef and has vowed to pressure the European Union to accept more genetically modified crops.

Appointments like this tell us the continuing mixed messages of the Obama administration. Stay tuned!

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I am so very, very shocked!

Dr. Aubrey Levin, a Canadian psychiatrist who gained notoriety for claiming to "cure" homosexuality through shock treatments, has been charged with sexually abusing a male patient, and many other allegations are being investigated. Levin's right wing views and membership in South Africa's ruling National Party during apartheid are widely known, as well as his extreme homophobia.

South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard that Levin was guilty of "gross human rights abuses" including chemical castration of gay men. But after arriving in Canada in 1995 he managed to suppress public discussion of his past by threatening lawsuits against news organisations that attempted to explore it.

"Doctor Shock," as he is known in South Africa, was secretly filmed by a patient and arrested after the recording was presented to authorities. He has been suspended from practicing medicine and is free on $50,000 bail on charges of repeatedly sexually assaulting his 36 year old patient. Police are investing at least 30 similar claims.

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Pat Sajak Is Doing What Now?

 

Headlines - Tuesday March 30

 

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There really isn't a Tea Party. The so called "Tea Party" is just an attempt to rebrand the Republican Party as if changing the name will make people forget the Bush years. These people were all Bush/Cheney supporters who couldn't care less about fiscal responsibility when they were in power. Now they are Republicans who are too ashamed to admit it.

I don't blame them. If I were a Republican I would be too ashamed to admit it too. But Republicans can't seek  obsolution from past sins by changing their name. We won the 2006 and 2008 elections and with a record of accomplishment we are poised for another big win this year. We already took back America. This year might end up being the end of the line for the Republican Party.

Marc Perkel 

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The (Anti-)Intellectual Elites at the GOP are busy stuffing unemployed Teabaggers' dollars into the leather harnesses of lesbian S&M strippers -- and using what's left to stay at extravagantly elitist Blue State hotels.

 

Family values! 

http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/29/high-flyer-rnc-chairman-steele-suggested-buying-private-jet-with-gop-funds/

 

 

 

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Miss Ladyfingers USA is being sued by the Christian publicity firm that guided her to wingnut stardom. Carrie not only hates the gays, she hates paying her bills.

The group -- A. Larry Ross Communications -- claims Prejean contacted them back in April, 2009 and logged "hundreds of hours" helping Prejean spread her "biblically correct" message. But according to the lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Texas, Prejean's actions were the opposite of Christian -- because she never paid the $64,857 bill.

According to the PR firm's website, they assist "Christian-focused organizations, associations, ministries and churches in telling their stories through the Christian and secular media in the context of traditional news values." They also claim to specialize in "crisis communications." We all know what THAT means.

 

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Study: Just 13% of Voters Are Tea Baggers – And Their Anti- Establishment Rage Fails to Connect with 72% of Americans

News coverage of tea baggers' protest rallies has given them the appearance of a groundswell movement sweeping the nation. Pundits regularly cite them as dominant players in the coming elections. Recently, the Republican establishment has started courting them. Last week, addressing a crowd of John McCain supporters in Arizona, Sarah Palin said, "Everyone here today supporting John McCain, we are all part of that Tea Party movement." Former Vice Pres. Dan Quayle recently described them as Pres. Richard Nixon's "Silent Majority" who were "silent no more." Not surprisingly, all the attention has given tea baggers an inflated sense of their importance which they project by routinely exaggerating the crowd sizes at their rallies. 

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2010/03/29/study-just-13-of-voters-are-tea-baggers/

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"These people could be anybody. I wouldn't put it past the Democrats to plant somebody there. They're trying to label the tea party, but I've never seen any racial slurs." - Dale Robertson, self-proclaimed founder of the Tea Party, quoted by the Washington Times.

The only problem? The Washington Independent caught Robertson at a Tea Party rally last month holding a sign with a racial slur.

 

 

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Day of the Grasshopper Looms - Western Farmers, Ranchers Worry an Expected Infestation Could Ravage Crops, Cattle

 

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Backstage VIP pass at the club

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               The RNC is burning through money faster than Heath Ledger's Joker.  

 

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Shorter Ross Douthat on the Vatican's latest sex scandal

…And uppity bitches deserve to be hit.

In reality, the scandal implicates left and right alike. The permissive sexual culture that prevailed everywhere, seminaries included, during the silly season of the '70s deserves a share of the blame, as does that era's overemphasis on therapy.

Is anyone else seeing parallels with his argument and the way the GOPers are saying that the Dims are to blame for the violence and death threats that they have been getting since the HCR bill passed? 

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Chomsky: Obama is 'delivering, but for financial institutions'

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Health insurance CEO's conspire to blame Democrats for increasing premiums

Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies have begun laying the groundwork to blame Democrats for the increased health care costs that they plan to impose on consumers. Last Tuesday, CIGNA CEO David Cordani told Neil Cavuto that health care premiums will continue to increase despite the new health care law. And in an interview with Charlie Rose, Aetna CEO Ron Williams said that his company also plans to jack up rates:

ROSE: Will insurance premiums go up?

WILLIAMS: The answer is yes, and some of the things that will drive those premiums are significant additional taxes the industry will ultimately have to pay in the first year.

Williams is lying. In fact, the health care law does not tax insurance issuers until 2014. Moreover, as Igor Volsky writes, insurers are disingenuously trying to point the fingers at hospitals and doctors to avoid a conversation about their own failed efforts to control costs while raking in profits.

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Gee thanks. What about the rest of us?

Pentagon pushes for a strong consumer agency to protect troops from abusive financial practices.

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Yes it is, Kathryn:

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We have a weiner! "The Republican National Committee gave nearly $2,000 to a Southern California GOP contributor for meal expenses at Voyeur West Hollywood, a lesbian-themed California nightclub that features topless dancers wearing horse-bits and other bondage gear, according to newly filed disclosure records." This guy, Erik Brown, CEO of DYNAMIC MARKETING INC. has a great Facebook page, though. More here.

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4,386 soldiers killed in Iraq; 1,030 in Afghanistan.

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Video: Al Franken to Jason Mattera: "You have to shut up right now." 

Headlines - Monday March 29

My favorite YouTube atheist tackles the latest Catholic scandal: Pat Condell: Is Satan A Catholic?

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Sign the "Boycott Discovery networks" petition to remove Sarah Palin as host of "Sarah Palin's Alaska."

 

 

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Here's a shocking journalistic discovery by famous webzine the New York Times: Turns out all those Tea Party people are out of work or, at best, retired and homeless. Surprise! Bet you thought they all had seven-figure executive salaries and traveled to these dirt-lot Sarah Palin swap meets on Lear Jets. MORE »
 

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Pope's Palm Sunday service: Poor me, I'm the victim.

 

And then New York's Archbishop compared the criticism of Benedict to the suffering of Jesus Christ:

The charges being hurled at Pope Benedict XVI are the "the same unjust accusations, shouts of the mob and scourging at the pillar" suffered by Christ, Dolan said in his first Palm Sunday Mass as New York archbishop.

I don't remember hearing anything about Jesus Christ covering up for criminals who raped children.

 

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Terrorist fist jab II 

They've infiltrated our military. Uh, oh.

 

 

President Obama returned from Afghanistan this morning after an unannounced visit and "personally delivered pointed criticism to President Hamid Karzai in a face-to-face meeting," a reflection of "growing vexation" with Karzai. Anti-war Obama also met with U.S. troops. "You are part of the finest military in the history of the world," he said. "And we are proud of you."

 

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I was wondering when it would become our fault. It seems it's been our fault for years.

 

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Frank Rich: The rage is not about health care

 

The Republicans haven't had a single African-American in the Senate or the House since 2003 and have had only three in total since 1935. Their anxieties about a rapidly changing America are well-grounded.

 

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Details are sketchy, but it seems that a Xristian Xrazy Militia group in the midwest was raided by the FBI today, and several people were arrested. The charges are not available at this time, but some Fox News are saying that they were making and selling pipe bombs.

UPDATE: From the AP

Michael Lackomar, a spokesman for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, said one of his team leaders got a frantic phone call Saturday evening from members of Hutaree, a Christian militia group, who said their property in southwest Michigan was being raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"They said they were under attack by the ATF and wanted a place to hide," Lackomar said. "My team leader said, 'no thanks.' "

The team leader was cooperating with the FBI on Sunday, Lackomar said. He said SMVM wasn't affiliated with Hutaree, which states on its Web site to be "prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren't."

"We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ," the group's Web site said. "Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment.

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The repug lie that the violence they themselves incited is really the fault of the targets - Democratic politicians and their supporters - is getting traction in the MSM.

Help keep the truth alive with this post from Rachel Slajda at Talking Points Memo.

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Irony? Dead? Surely you jest! Why, it hasn't even been sick! You know how the teabagger freeloader/nitwits are always going on and on about the Constitution, and how people who don't think highly enough of it ought to be summarily executed without a trial? Sister Sarah repeated her smirky "now more than ever is when we need a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor lecturing us from a lectern" to the teabagging nincompoops gathered in Searchlight, Nevada yesterday. The crowd, morons and constitutional illiterates every fucking one, with nary a trace of irony or shame, went nuts cheering for this bit of red meat and cognitive dissonance.

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Breaking news: GOP fires bin Laden.

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Insurance companies may still not have to cover little children with terrible health problems, because … it would just be so ruinous to their image if they demonstrated any fucking humanity whatsoever? New York Times

 

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Screeching dingbat delights group of teabaggers.

 

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When you're really in love, send her a bacon bouquet.

 

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"I believe it's your turn to change him."

 

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I see your true colors shining through

 

The threats and violence against Democrats aren't really surprising, even if they are disturbing. American culture and American politics have been infused with violence since before America was even an independent nation, and it has continued to be an important strand in the American tapestry throughout our history. Of course, those who employ violence never perceive themselves as doing anything wrong: they are only doing what is necessary to achieve political goals which they cannot advance through the normal democratic process. More here. 

 

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This Week In Holy Crimes

Over the last seven days...

Texas: Pastor Dean Richard Tarkington found guilty of possession of child porn.
Kentucky: Pastor Alonzo Bradley arrested for torturing his wife by "beating and burning her with implements."
West Virginia: Pastor Johnny Ray Dempsey pleads guilty to incest and sexual abuse by a parent.
Florida: Rev. John C. Spinks charged with possession and distribution of child porn.
Maryland: Father Thomas Bevan to face September trial for multiple counts of child molestation.
Connecticut: Youth Pastor David Esarey convicted of sexual assault on a minor and possession of child porn.
Ireland: Father Francis Markey charged with rape of 15 year-old boy forty years ago. Markey had been suspended at least three times for sexual misconduct but was always allowed to go back to "work."
Vienna: An unnamed priest has resigned after confessing to sex with a boy. Two other priests in the same diocese have been suspended.
Arizona: Rabbi Bryan Bramley charged with rape of 7 year-old girl.
California: Pastor Matthew Davis charged with multiple felony counts of lewd and lascivious behavor and indecent exposure to children.
New Zealand: Pastor Donald Tarnaki charged with sexual assault of 13 year-old girl.
Florida: Music worship teacher David Lanham charged with 16 felony counts of sexual abuse of four children ages 5-11.
Ontario: Pastor James Sinclair charged with three counts of sexual assault.

This Week's Winner-
New York: At his Palm Sunday Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, today Archbishop Timothy Dolan defended the Pope against charges of complicity in the ever-widening child molestation scandal, comparing the Pope to Christ and saying that Ill Papa is "being daily crowned with thorns by groundless innuendo." Dolan claims that the Catholic Church if being "unfairly singled-out" for their kiddie-fuckers because child molestation happens in other religions too. Dolan, of course, made no mention of the inconvenient fact that other religions don't have an ongoing (and until recently, very successful) global system of shielding their child molesters from prosecution. 

 

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Bipartisanship (GOP style) explained

Mark Rubio, the tea party pick to be Florida's next Republican Senator, explains bipartisanship as his party understands it.

"Partisan gridlock is not something I'm in favor of. Okay? But the problem is it depends on what you're standing for. What are you fighting for?"

"I've been more than happy to work across the aisle to do things like lower the capital gains tax, lower the corporate tax, flatten the tax rate, lower all these other taxes that make America increasingly unfriendly place to do business. And if the Obama administration tomorrow announces that is their agenda or the leadership in Congress does, I'll be more than happy — I'll be thrilled to work with them."

"But what they're attempting to do fundamentally is redefine the role of government in America. And we can't cooperate with that. We have to stop that from happening."

Rubio is essentially saying, "I'm all for bipartisan politics as long as Dems do exactly what we'd do if we were the majority."  As ridiculous as his position is, even that is a lie.  As we've seen from Republican's position on health care, even when Democrats proposed a weak bill which was a far cry from what progressives would have hoped for…and which contained a bunch of stuff Republicans were in favor of in the past, they still voted against it.

Teabaggers and conservatives are a lost cause but one can only hope that independents will wise up and realize that a Republican majority would essentially mean a repeat of the Bush years.  And they all know how well that went..

 

Headlines - Sunday March 28

Youtube: Bush calls out Grayson.

 

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Blame the Dems

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Newt Gingrich on death threats and vandalism against Democrats.

I think the Democratic leadership has to take some moral responsibility for having behaved with such arrogance, in such a hostile way, that the American people are deeply upset. So let's be honest with this. This is a game that they're playing. People should not engage in personal threats. I'm happy to condemn any effort to engage in personal threats.

But I think the Democratic leadership has to take some real responsibility for having run a machine that used corrupt tactics, that bought votes, that bullied people, and as a result has enraged much of the American people. And I think it'd be nice for President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid to take some responsibility over what their actions have done to this country.

I'm out of words to describe these slimeballs so let me just quote from the comment section.

Johnny, why did you hit Billy ?

He made me do it.

How did he make you do it ?

He got an A on his paper and I got an F.

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h/t Leanne

Friday morning at 7:30am, a man was found dead in a dumpster next to the Dimond Center Mall.  The man had presumably crawled inside to stay warm on a cold night, when he had nowhere else to go.  A mall worker closing up a store, threw some boxes in the dumpster and pushed the button to compact the cardboard.  She did not know that the man was inside.

Here's what mayor Dan Sullivan had to say:

"It's not something that has an instant cure, unfortunately. There's always going to be people that choose a certain lifestyle that results in tragic deaths like this."

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Palestinian Killed as Israeli Tanks Enter Gaza.

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Finally Barry gets what he has to do. Montag:

President Obama has announced 15 recess appointments in an attempt to get a fully functioning government in the face of unrelenting Republican obstructionism. This is 15 out of 74 that have been blocked ...

That's it, homeboy, shove it up their collective ass!

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"Oh dear. I seem to have spit up in my mouth."

Cindy McCain battles flashbacks

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Italian Bishop Francesco Nolè says that "irregular" people like homosexuals don't deserve to be honored with a funeral.

In an interview published last Friday on pontifex.roma.it, a website created to 'prove and defend Christianity', Bishop Francesco Nolè declared that 'irregulars' such as criminals and homosexuals should not be given communions or funerals. This, he said, is not to be seen as discrimination, but rather as 'healthy medicine' for those close to the person: "Our behaviour, which could be perceived as mean or cruel, in the long-run often heals and evangelises." He added: "We must have the courage and tact, perhaps first informing the individual, or the families if he has passed, that it's not possible to administer a communion or funeral. We would perhaps pray for his soul, which must be done."

The above-linked story notes that the bishop's remarks came two days after members of the Vatican were exposed as part of a male prostitution ring.

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Rupert Murdoch: objectively pro-pedophilia

Headline on the Fox Nation title page right now: http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2010/03/rupert-murdoch-objectively-pro.html

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Bachmann: '100% Of Our Economy Was Private' Before September 2008.

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Religion's Dark Side

Christopher Hitchens on the Vatican child abuse scandal.

"The only worry [the Pope] had was 'Would this damage the church?' Would it hurt the church–not the children. Now what I want to know is this: what is the attorney general of the state of Wisconsin now going to do? Are we going to say these people are above our law. I appeal to people. I mean, that's what's being asked for. If you're a clergyman, you're not liable to the laws…. Don't let's call it child abuse. It's the rape and torture of children."

Hitchens is right.  The Church hierarchy has always placed the well-being of their institution above the welfare the children placed under their care.  And it is unfortunate that the clergymen who have served honestly, guided by the true tenets of their religion, are tainted by the sex scandals of the last hundred years.  But the fact remains that the Church is corrupt and has been since its inception. And while it's a start, it is going to take a hell of a lot more than a pope stepping down to set things straight.

The problem, I believe, lies less with the Catholic Church itself and more in the concept of organized religion…or for that matter, organized anything.  As soon as one abdicates their right to think for themselves and arrive at conclusions based on truth and critical thinking as opposed to being told what to believe and how to behave, there will be abuses.  And the victims will be the intellectually weak and those too young or old to fend for themselves.

Power corrupts is as true a statement in regards to religion as it is for politics.

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Why Google should terrify you.

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The news coverage of the child rape stories in Ireland triggered victims to emerge in Germany. Now with the latest coverage of abuse in Germany and Holland, other victims in Europe are emerging including Italy. The Guardian.

It gets worse by the day and, obviously, goes all the way to the top. At least, during the centuries of "Emperor Popes", you knew what their motivations were; it was about gaining wealth for the church and influence over the barbarians. Nowadays, it's nothing more than a pedophiles club that makes NAMBLA look like a bunch of pikers.

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It's nice to know that Republicons managed to slip $250 million into the health care legislation for the ineffective Abstinence Only programs - and then voted against the bill anyway. 

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With a little help from my friends:

It was just a single contract for a single job on a single base in Iraq. The Department of Defense agreed to pay the megacontractor KBR $5 million a year to repair tactical vehicles, from Humvees to big rigs, at Joint Base Balad, a large airfield and supply center north of Baghdad. Yet according to a new Pentagon report [PDF], what the military got was as many as 144 civilian mechanics, each doing as little as 43 minutes of work a month, with virtually no oversight. The report, issued March 3 by the DOD's inspector general, found that between late 2008 and mid-2009, KBR performed less than 7 percent of the work it was expected to do, but still got paid in full.

The $4.6 million blown on this particular contract is a relatively small loss considering that in 2009 alone, the government had a blanket deal worth $5 billion with KBR (formerly known as the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root). Just days before the Pentagon released the Balad report, KBR announced it had won a new $2.3 billion-plus, five-year Iraq contract. But the inspector general's modest investigation offers new insight into just how little KBR delivers and how toothless the Pentagon is to prevent contractor waste. Moreover, the government's own auditors predict that as the military draws down its forces in Iraq, KBR will keep most of its workforce intact, enabling it to collect $190 million or more in unnecessary expenses. Much of any "peace dividend" from the war's gradual end—potentially hundreds of billions of dollars—could wind up in the hands of contractors.

Personally, I'm sick and tired of this country still contributing to the Cheney Family Retirement Plan. The big shots at Halliburton should be doing jail time, not getting more contracts.

 

And why aren't the teabaggers protesting this? Oh that's right....when military contrators with ties to the Bush Administration get money they don't deserve, that's OK. It's only when there's a chance low-income children, especially dark-of-skin children, might get health care that they get worked up into a lather.

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Matt Taibbi: The Catholic Church is a Criminal Enterprise

 

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Remember how all the Usual Suspects freaked out when in April 2009 the Department of Homeland security issued a report on the threat of right-wing extremism?

Of course now that has changed, with calls for vandalism of Democratic offices, death threats against Democratic legislators, open calls for killing those who disagree...

Perhaps the right wing freakout at the time was because those who were even then fanning the flames of violence knew it was spot-on accurate. It just took time for what the DHS reported a year ago to reach critical mass.

 

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Bill Maher: New Rules.

 

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And a little child shall subvert them

Give me an act of kindness motivated by humanistic impulse over one forced by superstitious extortion any day.

From PZ Myers:

This is such a sweet story: a little boy willingly hands out cheerful notes and cookies to his neighbors, simply to make them feel good. It's such a feel-good story that a Christian inspirational site picks up on it and shares Logan Davis's good news.

"I wanted to do something to brighten our neighbors' day," the motivated youngster told the news source. "My parents have always taught me it's good to be nice to others."

What none of the stories seem to mention, though, is that it's a godless family.

Bwahahaahahaa! Our plans are working: we shall conquer the world with our niceness and our habit of raising happy, well-adjusted children! And cookies and flowers!

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If Allawi can wrest cooperation out of that nest of vipers, Obama should sic him on the repugs. "The leader of the secular alliance that narrowly won Iraq's parliamentary election has offered to work with all parties to form a coalition government. Iyad Allawi said his Iraqiya bloc would start by talking with the rival State of Law alliance of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, which it beat by two seats. Mr Maliki has refused to accept the result and said he would challenge the count through the courts. Both the UN and US envoys to Iraq have said the 7 March poll was credible. There is concern that a challenge to the result could be lengthy and divisive, endangering progress towards greater stability. Sectarian violence erupted in Iraq as politicians took months to form a government after the last parliamentary election in 2005. Police on Saturday raised the death toll to at least 52 from twin bombings a day earlier near a restaurant in the town of Khalis, 80km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. More than 70 people were injured in the blasts."

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Willard Romney, who once strapped the family dog to the roof of the car and went on vacation, struggles to distance RomneyCare from ObamaCare: Ours was 'bipartisan'