U.S. (Kenya) Supreme Court refuses Orly Taitz's appeal
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Try using this analogy the next time you're faced with someone opposed to the NY mosque project.
Imagine a suburban street where three kids in a single family were molested by a Catholic priest, who was subsequently transferred by the archbishop to a faraway parish, and never prosecuted. Nine years later, a devout Catholic woman who lives five or six doors down decides that she's going to start a prayer group for orthodox Catholics — they'll meet once a week in her living room, and occasionally a local priest, recently graduated from a far away seminary, will attend.
Even if we believe that it is irrational for the mother of the molested kids to be upset by this prayer group on her street, it's easy enough to understand her reaction. Had she joined an activist group critical of the Catholic Church in the aftermath of the molestation, it's easy to imagine that group backing the mother. As evident is the fact that the devout Catholic woman isn't culpable for molestations in the Catholic church — in fact, even though we understand why her prayer group upsets the neighbor, it is perfectly plausible that the prayer group organizers never imagined that their plan would be upsetting or controversial. In their minds (and in fact), they're as opposed to child molestation as anyone, and it's easy to see why they'd be offended by any implication to the contrary.
Presented with that situation, how should the other people on the street react? Should they try to get city officials to prevent the prayer meetings from happening because they perhaps violate some technicality in the neighborhood zoning laws? Should they hold press conferences denouncing the devout woman? Should they investigate the priest who plans to attend? What if he once said, "Child molestation is a terrible sin, it is always wrong, and I am working to prevent it from ever happening again. I feel compelled to add that America's over-sexualized culture is an accessory to this crime." Does that change anything?
If you're dealing with bigots, nothing will help, including the above analogy. But with a rational thinking individual, hey, it's worth a shot.
Today's NY Daily News points out that the "hallowed ground" surrounding the planned WTC memorial ain't really all that hallowed, what with all the titty bars, dirty bookstores, betting parlors and liquor stores also within two or three blocks. Opponents of a proposed lower Manhattan mosque and community center speak in hushed tones about the sanctity of the "shadow of Ground Zero." Tell that to the patrons of the Pussycat Lounge, a strip club where a photo of a nearly naked woman marks its location just two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood. Or the Thunder Lingerie and peep show next door, where the marquee sports an American flag above a window display of sex toys and something called a "power pump." Many come to the scene of the worst terrorist attack on American soil to pay tribute to pain and unspeakable tragedy. They're welcomed by solemn memorials and a visitors center amid the noise of reconstruction. If they're so inclined, they can also buy porn, play the ponies and take care of all manner of personal business within steps of the former World Trade Center.The area around the WTC also boasts ten churches, three synagogues, a Buddhist community center, and a place for whatever it is that Hare Krishnas do.
Gothamist reports today that patrons attending this weekend's premier of Scott Pilgrim at Times Square's AMC Empire 25 emerged covered with bedbug bites. The Empire 25 is the city's largest movie complex.
Or a shop that sells cigarettes? Because I can read, and thus I know that more Americans die of arterial damage and lung disease every year than are killed by Muslims praying to Allah.
The amount of time, ink and digital storage space being spent discussing the mosque at Ground Zero is absurd beyond all ken. One could make a compelling argument that at least half the reason America exists is to be able to express religious freedom. Should we also tear down every church below Houston Street because the KKK bases it's ideology on something it likens to Christianity?
Allow me to be blunt: if you care about the mosque at Ground Zero, you are wasting your time. Here's what you can talk about instead: 
There are over 20 million people (that's 6,666.66 (yeah, those are Omen numbers) times the number of people murdered on 9/11) currently displaced, starving and on the road to greater devastation and death in Pakistan. And here's the thing:
this is just the beginning. UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon:
"For two years we've got to give them crops, fertilisers; we've got to give them seed; we've got to look after them, feed them, for two years, to bring them back to where they were. And they will still not be where they were."
The UN is asking world governments for an initial $460 million to provide relief, but only 20 percent has been given. The Chayesfkian irony is miles deep. We've happily flooded Pakistan and Afghanistan with millions upon millions of Benjamins -- but only to kill people (sorry, I meant make the world safe for arms merchants to sell guns that kill people).
I have a great idea: Pakistan should leak information that the Taliban has built a big undersea headquarters (kind of like a James Bond villain) and is using the flood to cover it up. Hell, we'd pour billions into diverting flood waters and relocating displaced starving people as long as it would get us closer to someone we need at the end of our gun barrels. To really seal the deal, though, Pakistan needs to say that the Taliban has built a tiny replica of Ground Zero in their underwater lair, and has constructed a mosque right beside it. Kaboom!
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Sure, let's repeal the 14th Amendment
No automatic citizenship for the uneducated
I actually think the Tea Baggers may be on to something with their calls to repeal the 14th Amendment. Just because somebody is born here doesn't mean they'd make a valuable addition to the US, right? Here is what I'd do – when the person turns 18, I'd have them hand-letter a sign. If the sign is misspelled or ungrammatical, the candidate is denied citizenship and deported to some random 3rd-world country.
By the same token, we should fast-track the citizenship process for immigrants with Masters and Doctorates to replace the vast swath of stupid conservatives we'd be deporting. It's a win-win proposition!
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575. That Number Means Afghanistan Is Definitely Obama's War
Robert Naiman writes at HuffPo:
575. That's how many U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in the Afghanistan war since Barack Obama became President at noon on January 20, 2009, according to the icasualties.org website, which tracks U.S. soldiers' deaths using reports received from the Department of Defense -- and which is widely cited in the media as a source of information on U.S. deaths.
According to the same website, 575 is also the number of U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in the Afghanistan war during the Presidency of George W. Bush.
Therefore, total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan have doubled in Afghanistan under President Obama, and when the next U.S. soldier is reported dead, the majority of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan will have occurred under President Obama.
Of course, Obama managed to equal Bush's death toll in less than half a term in office as opposed to two.
Deaths in Afghanistan always escalate as troop numbers do, and we're in a place where it's awfully difficult for Petraeus et. al. to say that escalation's doing a lot of good.. Thus the general's "PR blitz".
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States struggle to curb pollution by cruise ships
In a single day, the EPA estimates passengers aboard a typical cruise ship will generate:
• 21,000 gallons of sewage
• One ton of garbage
• 170,000 gallons of wastewater from sinks, showers and laundry
• More than 25 pounds of batteries, fluorescent lights, medical wastes and expired chemicals
• Up to 6,400 gallons of oily bilge water from engines
• Four plastic bottles per passenger – about 8,500 bottles per day for the Carnival Spirit
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Heat Records Broken in 17 Countries So Far This Year.
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Tweet of the Day - from Jeremy Scahill: Dear Newt Gingrich, bin Laden is waging war against infidels, not infidelity. You're safe.
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'Presidential candidate Sarah Palin' - how sweet it is
It's early still but for what it's worth, here is how 399 Iowa Republican view the top Republican presidential candidates.
The poll shows that the 2012 contest is going to begin right where the 2008 Iowa Caucuses left off, with Mike Huckabee leading Mitt Romney. Huckabee comes out on top of the poll garnering 22 percent, Romney finishes second with 18 percent, and Newt Gingrich finishes surprisingly well with 14 percent in third place. Sarah Palin finishes a disappointing fourth with 11 percent. Texas Congressman Ron Paul garnered 5 percent, while Pawlenty, and South Dakota Senator John Thune each received 1 percent.
Worry not about Palin. As soon as she commits to running for the nomination, she'll no doubt razzle dazzle her way to the top.
Liberals are counting on you Sarah, don't let them down.
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Alan Grayson calls Bullshit
"The House could be back in session for every day from now until the end of time," Grayson said Friday evening on MSNBC's "The Ed Show."
"It doesn`t make a difference if the Republicans in the Senate are blocking everything that they can."
"At this point, if you put a cure for cancer up in the Senate, it would get filibusters," he said.
Silly guy, the cure for cancer was found in 1974, but it wasn't filiblustered, it was destroyed by the DEA.
God bless America and the superior capitalist system for which it stands.
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Reagan insider: 'GOP destroyed U.S. economy'
Commentary: How: Gold. Tax cuts. Debts. Wars. Fat Cats. Class gap. No fiscal discipline
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Break out the champagne, spending on healthcare is down:
The economic crisis in the United States has reduced the use of routine medical care, and the cutbacks here are much deeper than in countries with universal health care systems, researchers say in a new report.
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As usual, the guilty walk.
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Reid: Tower of Jell-O
The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else. If the Republicans are being sincere, they would help us pass this long overdue bill to help the first responders whose health and livelihoods have been devastated because of their bravery on 911, rather than continuing to block this much-needed legislation.
There's a simple reason why Republicans keep the Wurlitzer running: it works.
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A good question for the confederate party
The answer, of course, is patently obvious: Increased Social Security spending benefits few rich people. On the other hand, there are legions of defense contractors who have made a boatload of money on Bush's War on Terrah. Those rich defense contractors pump millions of dollars back into the Confederate party's politicians' campaign coffers.
Ike was right.
Hypocrite Joe Barton
Last year, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) — the same Joe Barton who felt the need to apologize to BP after the oil giant caused an environmental catastrophe — requested stimulus funds for NASA despite having voted against the stimulus. Last week, Barton was at it again, attending a groundbreaking "for an expansion of an Ellis County clinic" that received $250,000 in stimulus money:
"As I told the crowd at the groundbreaking, I was opposed to the stimulus bill and voted against it. It has been largely wasteful and failed to produce the jobs that were promised," Barton, R-Arlington, said in a written statement. "However, expansion of the Hope Clinic is a worthy project that deserves our support."
The construction grant "comes in addition to more than $1.4 million the clinic has received in stimulus funds, which clinic staff said was secured with the help of Barton's office." Barton has previously called the stimulus a "boondoggle," "a lesson in how to waste a lot of money in a hurry," and the "most anti-competitive, anti-consumer, anti-free market piece of legislation I've ever seen on the House floor." As The Wonk Room noted, Barton is actually doubling down on the hypocrisy, as the clinic will also receive money from the Affordable Care Act, which Barton also voted against.
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Mission accomplished
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