Saturday, April 30, 2011

Headlines - Saturday April 30

This is a must-see video explaining how the global food market starves the poor.
 
###
 
The Royal Treatment:
 
###
 
It's a pity Congress and the White House are so afraid of taking this destructive industry on. Someone needs to step in and end this blamestorming BS.
 
###
 
Sounds like he got the call and knew where his bread was buttered. Only the GOP could defend the indefensible like this. What a spineless coward.
 
###
 
Donald Trump, Draft Dodger You knew this was coming. You knew he was lying when he said he avoided service solely from consistently having a high number in the lottery every year he was eligible. That's a flat out lie. He asked for and got student deferments every year while he was in college, then when he couldn't hide at school any longer, he got a "medical" deferment.
 
 
 

Friday, April 29, 2011

Headlines - Friday April 29

Funny Somewhat Topical Ecard: If it weren't for the Royal Wedding, I wouldn't have anything to not care about right now.
 
###
 
It's a motley crew all around with this pathetic spectacle. The Guardian.
 
###
 
This could be a big deal, the start of a trend. Notice that, in effect, the Union is calling out federal Dems as not being worth sending money to.
 
###
 
Funny Take Kids To Work Ecard: I'm glad I don't work in a Catholic church on Take Your Children to Work Day.
 
###
 
"Hey Trump, what's the "biggest scam ever" NOW? I'd say its a guy with 3 bankruptcies telling America how to get its financial house in order." 
----- Bill Maher in a Tweet
 
###
 
 
###
 
Mario: Trump – Liar, Hypocrite and Rodeo Clown
 
###
 
From The Political Carnival:

Radio host Nicole Sandler Arrested at Rep. Allen West's Town Hall Meeting

The QotD:

Odd how during the health care reform town hall meetings of 2009, the tea baggers could scream, overshout, carry guns, make demands, cause a ruckus, and it was considered "freedom of speech". But if a liberal asks a question or two, she gets arrested.

Batcrap wingnuts like West hate us because we ask questions they don't dare answer truthfully because it would sink them. Lying to cops was a handy way to get her outta there.

Links and videos at site.
 
###
 
 
###

Its a wonderful day in the neighborhood for Big Oil.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp's quarterly profit rose a better-than-expected 69 percent as the world's largest publicly traded oil company benefited from higher crude prices and better margins for its refineries. The Irving, Texas, company reported a first-quarter profit of $10.65 billion, or $2.14 per share, up from $6.3 billion, or $1.33 per share, a year earlier. [...]

Revenue rose 26 percent to $114 billion.

Oil and gas output rose 10 percent to 4.82 million barrels oil equivalent per day.

A 69% increase in profit.

Politically, there will never be a better time than right now to end the subsidy of Big Oil.

Even Republicans should be seriously contemplating ending the subsidies at this point, because public opinion will only further tilt in favor of doing so as each oil corporation reports their quarterly profits one-by-one. And lets face it, it's not as if Big Oil will divorce the Republican Party even if they do vote to end the subsidies. Who else could they turn to in the effort to legislatively-deny climate change and carry on the fight to defund the EPA?

Shell also posted a 22% increase in profits, and BP posted a 17% increase in profits.

And in a related story: House Speaker John Boner (R-OH) will not hold a vote on legislation ending oil subsidies, despite expressing openness earlier this week to ending the tax breaks oil companies receive. His spokesman walked back his earlier comments, saying "raising taxes" was off the table. Oil companies receive roughly $4 billion in subsidies each year.
 
###
 
 
###
 
Massachusetts suffers through Romneycare - JM Ashby

Massachusetts, the home of "Romneycare," which as Paul Krugman explains is basically the same thing as "Obamacare," has posted a quarterly-growth rate which is double that of the rest of the country.

Because, ya' know, responsible healthcare reform kills jobs and destroys the economy.

(Reuters) - Massachusetts' economic growth surged ahead of the overall United States in the first quarter of 2011, buoyed by the state's technology-intensive industries, a report said on Thursday.

The real gross state product grew at an annual estimated rate of 4.2 percent, more than double the national economy's expansion of 1.8 percent, said the study by MassBenchmarks, a quarterly journal published by the University of Massachusetts.

Even though Massachusetts' economy is doing quite well despite the crushing girth of what most Republicans would describe as "socialized medicine," Mitt Romney will be forced to run away from his own healthcare law if he wants to win the Republican nomination for president because making healthcare more affordable, and providing healthcare for people who cannot provide for themselves, is for socialists and commies.

Anything I could say to sum up just how stupid it is to be unable to campaign based on genuine, functioning, policy achievements feels inadequate. And as long as Republicans, as a party, insist that they only champion policies which have chronically proven to be complete failures, it's hard to see them ever regaining the Whitehouse.

###
 
 
###

155 tornadoes touched down yesterday. Y'know, as compared to the 163 average for the entire month of April. But, hey, climate change is less believable than Sarah Palin's command of the English language.

###

Wisco: An anti-offshore drilling argument from .....wait, Exxon?

###

 
Carl Seel Arizona Legislator and Author of Birther Bill Under Official Recall
 
###
 
The Birthers have switched over to President Carebear's academic records, and of course, it is just another racist dog-whistle for How did the black guy get into Columbia and Harvard? (Political Ticker)
 
###
 
But...But...But...Tyranny! Freedom! Liberty!  And "don't tread on me" too. Also. "FBI figures show 247 people suspected of ties to terrorism bought guns in the U.S. last year legally. ... These people on the terror watch list were allowed to buy weapons after going through required background checks as required by federal law."
 
###
 
Michelle Obama has three hands
WHAT DOES DONALD TRUMP THINK?
 
Haha, oh Barack. How can you expect us to believe that your .pdf birth certificate is genuine? Your wife has three hands. [The Hartford Courant via Reddit]
 
###
 
The church where the Obama's attended Easter Sunday services becomes the target of threats and right-wing hatred.  "Shiloh Baptist Church in the District said it has received threatening phone calls and e-mails after an Easter visit from President Obama and a conservative television commentator's subsequent playing of a videotape in which the pastor said that those espousing racial prejudice do so "under the protective cover of talk radio." ... The Rev. Wallace Charles Smith said the church has received more than 100 threats since Fox News channel's Sean Hannity aired a tape Monday of a speech Smith gave in January 2010 at Eastern University in Saint Davids, Pa. ... "We received a fax that had the image of a monkey with a target across is face," Smith said. "My secretary has received telephone calls that have been so vulgar until she has had to hang up.""
 
###

Storms kill over 250 in states represented by climate pollution deniers.
 
###
 
Tennessee Legislature Making It Illegal To Mention To Kids Gay People Exist
Yes, this 'Stacey' legislator is a guy. And yet he can't empathize with trans people.
 
On Monday, Tennessee's state House passed a bill to ban local laws that protect gay citizens from discrimination after the cesspool that is Nashville decided it would start considering gay people human beings of all things. (GAYS ARE A TYPE OF PLANT LIFE, NASHVILLE.) This is a fairly proactive approach to quelling equality before it becomes an epidemic in the South, but the Tennessee state Senate may have done one better: It passed a law that would make it illegal for teachers below the high school level to acknowledge that anybody in the world is anything but 100% hetero. Did you hear that, gay Tennessee children? The government of your state says you don't exist and wants to make sure that if you think you are gay, you also think you are the only gay person in the world! That should be good for your emotional health.

The bill supporters, including sponsor Sen. Stacey Campfield, a Republican from Knoxville who unsuccessfully pushed the same bill in the House for six years before being elected to the Senate, say the bill is "neutral" and simply leaves it up to families to decide when it is an appropriate time to talk to their kids about sexuality.

It's very neutral! Schoolteachers will teach children that every adult in the world has a spouse of the opposite sex or will eventually get one, imply that every important dude in history and culture loved sticking their dicks into ladies, and then if children just happen to start to think what is being presented to them by their teacher isn't entirely factual, they can ask their parents and hope they know/will tell them the truth.

And then nobody will ever be gay in Tennessee again, the end.

Our schools already lie to children about Santa Claus and other things, so why let in the Enlightenment and start trying to build trust with students now? As they always taught us in school, "Lying is the best policy."

We think those dogs would do a better job running this state. VIVA LA REVOLUCION DE PERRO! [Memphis Flyer/TIME]

###

Facing group backlash, Groupon announces it will stop sponsoring The Apprentice.
 
###
 
Keep voting Republican
Wal-mart shoppers now completely out of money
Welcome to Walmart. I love you.
 
Crap merchant Wal-Mart has watched shoppers flee its grim aisles in increasing numbers for the past two years — seven straight quarters of declining sales. So what happened to this glorious monument of American Exceptionalism in the late 20th Century found on the honky-tonk mini-mall edge of every Nowhere Town, USA? Why did working/lower/starving class people stop cashing their paychecks in exchange for $24.99 Chinese DVD players and frozen slabs of factory-murdered meat? Oh right, the global financial collapse/Great Recession/End of the American Economic System of attacks on labor/redistribution of wealth to the richest 0.01%. That's what happened. There are no paychecks anymore.

CNN-Money has this report from their foreign bureau in some poor slob part of America:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Wal-Mart's core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.

Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in. Lately, they're "running out of money" at a faster clip, he said.

Wal-Mart (WMT) is responding by aggressively building much smaller stores to accommodate the much smaller population of poor and elderly and disabled expected to survive the GOP's satanic human cull later this year. [CNN-Money via Cryptogon]

 

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Headlines - Thursday April 28

 
A newly released study details a number of cases in which government doctors at Guantanamo Bay ignored strong evidence of torture and other signs of detainee abuse. The study cited nine cases in particular where the "enhanced interrogation" was in line with torture, all of which doctors explained away as "personality disorders."
 
###
 
 
###
 
Andy Worthington: The Hidden Horrors of WikiLeaks' Guantánamo Files
 
###

###

Book Fail

For weeks World Net Daily has been flogging nutjob Jerome Corsi's coming birther book, encouraging readers to pre-order it on Amazon so that it debuts at the top of bestsellers lists. Even though it doesn't come out for weeks, today Corsi's now-doomed title ranks at #29 on the overall chart and is #1 on several of Amazon's niche categories.

###

It looks like Harry Reid is also looking to get into the game of calling on Republicans to officially back their policy proposals with actual votes.

WASHINGTON – Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will hold a Senate vote on Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) controversial budget plan, Raw Story has confirmed.

The plan, recently approved by the House, has virtually no chance of passing the Democratic-led Senate. The vote would serve to put Senate Republicans on the record in favor of slashing taxes on the rich while replacing Medicare with a voucher program.

"There will be an opportunity in the Senate to vote on the Ryan budget to see if Republican senators like the Ryan budget as much as the House did," Reid told reporters on a conference call. "Without going into the Ryan budget we will see how much the Republicans like it here in the Senate."

Between Harry Reid bringing the Paul Ryan Path to Poverty to a vote on the floor of the Senate, and Nancy Pelosi urging John Boehner to bring oil subsidies to a vote on the floor of the House, the Democrats game-plan to gain the upper-hand seems to be one of forcing the Republicans to clearly show what they do and do not support.

Talk is cheap, but votes become part of the official record. Will the Senate Republicans vote yay or nay on the Medicare-killing, Path to Poverty? The policies found within The Path are wildly unpopular, even among self-identified Republicans, so either way they're going to end up looking bad.

###

As previously noted, Speaker of the House John Boehner hinted at the possibility of ending the subsidy of Big Oil yesterday, but following those remarks he immediately walked things back and pointed his finger at President Obama for "doing nothing."

House Minority Leader, and previous Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, is now calling on Mister Boehner to put his money where his mouth is and bring a vote to the floor to end the subsidy of Big Oil.

WASHINGTON – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pressed Speaker John Boehner to call for a vote on stripping tax breaks for oil companies, after the Ohio Republican signaled openness to the idea.

"House Democrats have long advocated eliminating outdated and costly taxpayer subsidies that provide billions of dollars to highly profitable oil companies," Pelosi wrote in a letter to the Speaker sent Tuesday night. "I am writing to request that you schedule a vote on ending these tax breaks on the House floor upon our return to Washington next week."

Now Mister Boehner can either bring a vote to the floor and look like a fool to his own party, or refuse to bring a vote to the floor and look like a fool to the rest of the country. The ball is in his court.

###

Dick QOTD

"Come on! It's time to grow up and get serious about the problems that face our country." Speaker of the House John Boehner referring to the President of the United States

Boehner is on a Quote of the Day hot streak.

Seriously, I remember when the Republicans questioned the patriotism of anyone who criticized the commander-in-chief while troops were in harm's way. But yesterday, the Speaker of the House told the commander-in-chief to "grow up," as if he was speaking to a child. Boehner, who routinely cries in public like a little poopy diaper baby, told the president to grow up.

###

In other news, Oklahoma lawmakers are tackling the important issues, such as dishing out life-sentences for cooking Hashish.

###

Mario

OK. So the President releases his long form birth certificate and birtherism is dealt a fatal blow as the 67% of Republicans who were unsure of Obama's place of birth let out a collective sigh of relief and finally come to accept this man as their President. Right? Wrong. It's not over and it'll never be over for as long as this president's skin color continues to cast a non-white hue.

The bigots will never admit it but birtherism has its roots in racism and no document will take away the true birther's view that this president is illegitimate.  Here's Joseph Farah of WorldNutDaily on the issue:

"The certificate of live birth is an absolutely vital foundation for determining constitutional eligibility of any president. We look forward to reviewing it like so many other Americans do at this late date. But it is important to remember there are still dozens of other questions concerning this question of eligibility that need to be resolved to assure what has become a very skeptical public concerning Barack Obama's parentage, his adoption, his citizenship status throughout his life and why he continues to cultivate a culture of secrecy around his life."

As I said, nothing has changed. For racists, the President is a ni**er and doubly so when his middle name is Hussein. And as anyone who has ever attempted to debate a bigot can confirm, there is nothing that can possibly change a dull little mind and minds don't come any duller than those of birthers.

###

Funny Sympathy Ecard: Sorry you have as much to show for your last three years as the birthers.

###

Trump Unable To Produce Certificate Proving He's Not A Festering Pile Of Shit

###

Supreme Court rules against consumers. Again.

###

Obama Reveals Unsuccessful Run for President of Kenya.

###

Bloomberg: Radiation readings at Japan's Fukushima Dai-Ichi station rose to the highest since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems, impeding efforts to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

###

And people wonder why the financial reform was so watered down. It also helps explain how the people who caused the recession are doing better than ever. The CEO's of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are both due to be there. CNBC.

###

New Jersey suburbanites are upset about solar panels appearing on utility poles:

"I hate them," Mr. Olsen, 40, said of the row of panels attached to electrical poles across the street. "It's just an eyesore."

Around the corner lives Tom Trobiano, 61, a liquor salesman, now adapting to the lone solar panel hanging over his driveway. "When it's up close," he said, "the panel takes on a life of its own."

[...]Some residents consider the overhanging panels "ugly" and "hideous" and worry aloud about the effect on property values.

You know what else are hideous and ugly eyesores? Utility poles and power lines. I realize that the kind of stupidity that would let birtherism become mainstream is killing us, but its handmaiden is the inability of the average white burboclave-dwelling Christian to accept even the smallest change or sacrifice to their culturally venerated 100% American way of life.

###

"Honoring Those Who Said No":

###

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Lambastes Orly Taitz, Ends Interview

###

We hope somebody is keeping a list of "Foreign Troops Killed After It Was Obvious the Afghan Clusterfuck Was Hopeless." "Eight foreign soldiers and a contractor have been killed in Afghanistan after an Afghan army officer opened fire at the air force headquarters at Kabul airport. The Pentagon later confirmed that all those killed in Wednesday's incident were Americans. The Afghan defence ministry said violence broke out between an Afghan air force pilot and US troops following an argument inside a facility used by the Afghan air force. General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a ministry spokesman, said the assailant was killed in the shooting. "For the past 20 years, he has been a military pilot. An argument happened between him and the foreigners and we have to investigate that," he said."

###

Manifesto Joe: Birther embiciles don't have everyone fooled

###

LA GOP state Rep who proposed $1K reward to sterilize poor women now proposes criminalizing all abortions.

###

As the Gulf Coast suffers, BP profits increase to $7.1 billion.

BP to resume drilling in Gulf within months BP has predicted it will be back drilling in the Gulf of Mexico within a matter of months despite continuing legal threats and rows over pollution from last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster.

###

A children's treasure trove of brand-new birther theories to explain everything.

###

The Real Delta Force: Chuck Norris' 'Pastor' Writes All of His Plagiarized Columns

###

Honored. He is honored. A weary nation looked for a hero to finally get Barack Obama to release his birth certificate, and it found Donald Trump. He is the only person in the world who could do this. And he heard the call of duty because HE IS A PATRIOT and HE WANTED TO DRAW ATTENTION TO HIS CARTOON LIFE. Today Americans flooded into the streets, embraced one another at long last, and wept in gratitude knowing they could never repay Donald Trump for all he has done. READ MORE »

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Headlines - Wednesday April 27

 
 
###
 
Joe Conason: "Patriotic millionaires" call for their tax cuts to expire
 
###

Twenty-six troubling stats about the United States.

###

 
###
 
Wisco: There's a reason why "compromise" and "reasonable" are two different words.
 
###
 
 
###
 
Jesus' General: Of Sarah, Glory Rings, Worship Hammers, and tongues
 
###Eight horses were burned alive in their barn this weekend in an arson attack on a property owned by a gay man. The words "Fags are freaks" were found spray-painted on the side of the barn.
Seven adult horses and one foal died as a result of an arson fire at 874 West Richards Road in McConnelsville just after 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. Owner Brent Whitehouse said he woke to discover the barn engulfed in flames and immediately called 911, but it was too late. "I couldn't get the door open I could still hear the horses kicking and I tried as hard as I could to get them out and I just couldn't get them out in time," he said. Those who know Brent believe this was a hate crime, explicit words relating to his sexuality were spray painted in large white letters on the side of the barn before the fire was started. "They obviously don't know him very well, because he's a sweet-hearted person and how he lives his lifestyle is nobody's business but his own," said friend Bobbie Nelson.
Unbelievable.
 
###
 
We assume that the republicans are having serious regrets about that light-duty schedule that puts them back home in the district and accessible to the people so many days this year.  "During a town hall in Orlando earlier today, Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) faced a barrage of questions from outraged constituents about the Republican budget. The Orlando Sentinel accurately described the scene as "bedlam." ... For nearly an hour, Webster was peppered with one question after another about his support for ending Medicare, his desire to see tax breaks for the wealthy extended, and his vote to repeal health care reform, including its protections for people with preexisting conditions. For his part, Webster didn't just avoid the questions by resorting to talking points, as most politicians commonly do. On numerous occasions, Webster simply declined to give an answer to contentious questions altogether, moving on to take a new question instead. ... Questions critical of the Ryan budget were met by applause from nearly the entire audience."
 
###
 
A serious debate for unserious candidates

Very few people may be aware of the fact that the first presidential debate of the primary season is actually scheduled to take place in just one week on May 5th.

The reason very few people are aware of this is because even the host of the debate, Fox News, isn't entirely sure who among the current candidates, or those who are pretending to be candidates, will be in attendance.

Though Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party are touting next week's Republican presidential debate as the kickoff to election season, it's unclear if any of the GOP's major candidates will actually be in attendance — or any candidates at all.

The problem isn't a snub of the channel, it's the rules for participation in the debate. The cast of characters rumored to be mulling a run for the Republican nomination is long, but only a few have formed an official exploratory committee, which is one of the requirements Fox News set for the event. So far, only Rep. Ron Paul, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Senator Rick Santorum have formed exploratory committees. [...]

The requirements for participation, according to a joint press release from Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party, include formation of an exploratory committee, filing paperwork and paying fees to the South Carolina Republican Party and garnering at least 1 percent support in five national polls, among other bulletpoints.

In addition to the sparse number of candidates with exploratory committees, The Spartanburg Herald Journal pointed out, as of late last week no candidates had paid filing fees in South Carolina.

Apparently President Obama doesn't pose such a grave danger to the nation after all. If he did, wouldn't the slate of officially declared candidates be longer than four names? Shouldn't one bold and courageous candidate after another be lining up down the street, and around the block, to meet the threat of our secret-Muslim, socialist president?

###
 
Maddow wins. Flawless victory.

Suck it, Hannity:

Last Friday, Fox News broadcast a special episode of the Sean Hannity program that promised to get "Behind the Bias," of what he called the liberal, Obama-mania media. What was truly special about the show is that it came in second place to Rachel Maddow's show on MSNBC. Maddow beat Hannity in the key advertising demographic of 25-54 year olds. How fitting for Hannity to lose to a liberal on the night he thought he would be exposing them.
To continue the Mortal Kombat vibe: LIBERALITY!

###
 
Doof quote of the day
"Barack Obama is facing a financial emergency on a grander scale. Yet his approach has been to engage in one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history." Mitt Romney
Peacetime? And, by the way, President Obama spent $122 billion less in 2010 than George W. Bush spent in 2009 (the fiscal year of Bush's final budget).

###
 
Morford: Bored-ass Jesus will see you now
 
####
 
They never know when to say when, do they? What part of "you arrogant jerks are responsible for this economic crisis" are they missing? Of course there's a government financial problem today. The government had a spending problem before from overseas military adventures as well as obscene tax cuts for the bankers but there's no question the problem became considerably worse due to the financial crisis caused by the banks. As in the same banks who are now berating Obama about the debt problem.

Unfortunately it's hard to sympathize much with Obama being roughed up (again) by the bankers. He raked in campaign money from them and then failed to do much about changing the dynamics of that dysfunctional industry. He hoped to split the baby in half by talking tough from time to time to win over voters but then going easy on the bankers. In the end, he upset everyone. What genius inside the White House team thought up that strategy?
Financial Times
 
###
 
Obama admin. defends anti-gay DOMA lawyers, implicitly criticizes HRC for defending gay community.
 
###

There's a good story in today's New York Times about the cozy relationship between nuclear regulators and utility companies in Japan, with details about the way that a whistleblower who revealed issues at Fukushima Daiichi unit 1 was punished for what turned out to be true revelations. 

Meanwhile, back at Fukushima, TEPCO is still revising (upward) the amount of fuel damage to its reactors, and it is undertaking the risky operation of filling unit 1's containment with water. Japan's health ministry released results of new radiation studies showing that some areas as far away as 24 km will expose residents to almost five times the allowed yearly dose for a nuclear plant worker.

###

If you follow wingnut logic, then human beings shouldn't issue rulings on human rights. Right? "The sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban insist they are not trying to disqualify the federal judge who struck down Proposition 8 because he is gay. ... Instead, they argue the judge's decade-long relationship with another man poses a potential conflict because they might want to get hitched themselves. ... Experts in judicial ethics said Tuesday that carefully parsed line of reasoning is unlikely to prevail. ... They pointed out that while courts have not yet had to wrestle with sexual orientation as grounds for judicial recusal, judges typically have rejected efforts to remove jurists based on personal characteristics such as race, gender, religion or even the contents of their investment portfolios. ... "I don't think this judge had any more duty to disclose his sexual orientation than a Christian or Jewish or Muslim judge has a duty to discuss their religion or a heterosexual judge has his duty to discuss their sexual orientation," retired Illinois state Judge Raymond McKoski said."

###

Ouch: This should leave a very large mark.

###

Jill: When they can't win the argument of ideas....

###

It's tornado season in the Midwest, but we've been here for decades and we're telling you, it's getting worse every year. "Severe storms across the US Midwest have left at least eight people dead in the state of Arkansas, four of them as a result of flooding, officials said. The weather service also issued flash flood warnings in the wake of severe thunderstorms, as more is predicted in the coming days. Late on Monday a devastating tornado killed four people after slamming into the central town of Vilonia. Chad Stover, an Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokesman, said the four people swept away by flooding were in the state's northwest. "The entire state is at very severe risk for storm... we are urging all of our local citizens to be prepared, to have a plan for their families and where they would go for severe weather," he added. In neighbouring Missouri, authorities evacuated 1,000 people along the swollen Black River following flash flood warnings on Tuesday."

###

###

CIA Director Leon Panetta will replace outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, with Gen. David Petraeus taking over the CIA, the AP reported this morning. A close Petraeus aide, Lt. Gen. John Allen, will take command of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, while Ryan Crocker will become the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

###

Halliburton brings in record $5.3 billion in first quarter, credits increased US oil production under Obama.

I'm sure the price for gas will go down then. Oh wait ....

###

What did Donald Trump use to do for "fun," before he started accusing Barack Obama of being a Kenyan space lizard with lousy SAT scores? Oh, you know, he would drunk dial David Axelrod and beg him for a job, of course. Zounds! Probably best to take a pinch from the snuff box before you proceed. Ready for this?: Donald Trump contacted David Axelrod in June and asked "to be put in charge of the operation in the gulf to seal the oil leak." (Haha, he wanted to "fire" all of the sea creatures, probably, and watch as they burst into flames. Because that's what happens when you mix fire and oil-soaked dead baby dolphins.) Anyway, historians tell us that Donald Trump was not put in charge of butt-plugging the oil leak, because Obama knew that would have been an impeachable offense. In a different embarrassing exchange, Donald told Axelrod, "I will build you, free of charge, one of the great ballrooms of the world." Yes, he wanted to build the White House a ballroom that would "cost maybe $100 million," completely for free. Aww. Donald Trump is a schizophrenic. [WaPo] READ MORE »
 
###
 
Ron Paul's Campaign Logo: Bald Eagle Desperately Trying To Escape Him

Something's missing. Put a bird on it... There we go.

What the hell? Why is that bald eagle, our national symbol, fleeing Ron Paul on his campaign website's logo? Is it because Ron Paul wants to take away the federal environmental regulations that protect the eagle from extinction? Or maybe we're looking at this wrong. Is the bird defecating out this logo as he flies on by? Wait a second, did Ron Paul just steal that swoosh thing from Mitt Romney, who, in fact, originally stole it from Aquafresh?

'Oh, hello there, neighbor.'

Yep.

Also, why are Paul and his bird in black and white? Are they running together on a ticket against Kennedy and Johnson? Paul's people were able to find photos of their boss and a bald eagle that were in color, right? [Ron Paul]

###

Wonkette: Chuck Norris Commits Plagiarism In His Column All the Time

Not an English professor in this, we guess?

###

Hey look! The White House seal is now on the Turley blog!

###

It's surreal and weird and faintly ridiculous that it's come to this. But this morning the White House caught the press corps seriously off guard by handing out copies of the anti-Holy Grail of birtherism, the fabled 'long form' birth certificate. And here's the actual birth certificate.

Late Update: Apparently the president is actually going to make a statement shortly affirming his birth in the US, presumably because the release of the long form document might reduce the level of lunatic frivolity in the public square and they feel the need to bring it back up to make things even more ridiculous.

Later Update: Unconfirmed reports from around the country that sane people may actually jump out windows if president actually addresses this birth certificate issue directly in his morning statement rather than national security team shake up.

Inside the Madness Update: TPM is officially announcing the birth of 'long-form birtherism'. Just as it is widely attested in the sociological literature that messianic and apocalyptic cults frequently become more intense in their belief, the same pattern will now create so-called 'Long-form birthers'. Normative religious scholars are objecting that a more proper analogy might be to the various sects of Shi'a Islam which believe in different Imams as the final legitimate Imam in the succession of Ali.

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Headlines - Tuesday April 26

Back to the grind after having been gone 2 1/2 weeks and not missing the news at all ...
 
####
 
 
###
 
 
###
 
###
 
ElBaradei suggests war crimes probe of Bush team
AP

Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the "shame of a needless war" in Iraq.

"I was aghast at what I was witnessing," ElBaradei writes of the official U.S. attitude before the March 2003 invasion, which he calls "aggression where there was no imminent threat," a war in which he accepts estimates that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed.

In such a case, he suggests, the World Court should be asked to rule on whether the war was illegal. And, if so, "should not the International Criminal Court investigate whether this constitutes a `war crime' and determine who is accountable?"

Formidable political and legal barriers would seem to rule out such an investigation. But ElBaradei, citing the war-crimes prosecution of Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic, sees double standards that should end.

"Do we, as a community of nations, have the wisdom and courage to take the corrective measures needed, to ensure that such a tragedy will never happen again?" he asks.
No.
 
###
 



$4.1 billion tax refund?

I don't think "refund" is the right word.

Surely GE's big-time accountants didn't overpay the
government
$4.1 billion in taxes and then got a refund.

I think they got a $4.1 billion tax GIFT!


Meanwhile, Obama's cutting aid to those who are
so poor they can't afford to heat their homes...
 
###

I think we all know what Trump is getting at here:

Donald Trump is upping the ante against President Barack Obama's legitimacy, raising questions on Monday night about how the president was admitted to two Ivy League schools.

Trump openly questioned how Obama, who he said had been a "terrible student," got accepted into Columbia University for undergraduate studies and then Harvard Law School.

"I heard he was a terrible student, terrible," Trump told the Associated Press in an interview, a claim he's made in the past but one he doubled down on by suggesting he's probing that area of the president's life.

"How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard? I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records," he said, without providing backup for his claim.

Trump added, "I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can't get into Harvard."

"We don't know a thing about this guy," Trump said. "There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about our president."

Apparently Trump is mad that Obama didn't do things the right way- inherit his good fortune from daddy.

###

Wonkette: Tea Party Sportsman Tired of Nigras Calling Him Racist

###

Straight outta 1984.

###

Jill: Why do they have such a need for hell?

###

zOMG!!! What if 9/11 was an al Qaeda plot to get government benefits?

###

####

They say that the only two sure things in this world are death and taxes.  I propose we amend that to Death, Taxes and no matter what's going on in the world this wrinkled old wallaby scrotum is going to have some something totally incoherent or outrageously stupid... or both... to say about it.

In his latest foray into dementia territory, he managed to come back with this little gem, courtesy of Eric Dolan at TRS.

Television evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday on ABC Family's The 700 Club that progressives support legal access to abortion because they want to make straight women equal with lesbians.


I'll wait while you read that again to make sure you just read what you think you just read but honest, you did read it right.

While discussing why President Barack Obama supported the funding of Planned Parenthood, Robertson said the far left supported a "culture of death" that was "livid about killing babies."

"If a woman is a lesbian, what advantage does she have over a married woman? Or what deficiency does she have?" he asked his co-host, Terry Meeuwsen.

"Well, she can't have children," Meeuwsen answered.

"That's exactly right," he said. "And so if these married women don't have children, if they abort their babies, then that kind of puts them on a level playing field. And you say, nobody's there to express that? Isn't that shocking? Well, think about it a little bit ladies and gentlemen."

Robertson is a cornerstone figure in America's Christian right movement. He is the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Christian Coalition, International Family Entertainment Inc., Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, and Regent University.

In recent years Robertson has come under fire for calling for the assassinations of foreign leaders, blaming gay people for Hurricane Katrina and claiming a "pact with the devil" caused an earthquake in Haiti, among other things.

Damn, what a hateful old bastard.  I guess when you own the flipping network, you can say anything you want to.  

###

Franklin Graham interview reminds me: maybe it's time for God, Inc. to start paying taxes.

###

Obamas Host Friendly Egg Roll While Illegal Robot Wars Continue Abroad

###

Needy has-beens: Sad Sarah Palin Begging Blogs To Cover Her Squirmish-y Speeches

###

USING THAT CHILD AS A POLITICAL PROP!

Wonkette: "I hope you all had a wonderful Easter," Barack Obama told his adoring crowd of pagan bunny worshipers. Does Obama hope that Bradley Manning had a wonderful Easter? That's what we asked our War Monger President, as he walked past us. HD Blu-Ray Flip Cam footage after the jump! READ MORE »

###

Things aren't getting better over there: U.S. Embassy Gives Potassium Iodide to Citizens

###

###

Gov. asks Texans to pray for rain: Religious insanity is not the cure for drought.

###

Donald Trump

Donald Trump denies poor voting record: US tycoon reacts with fury to revelation by news station in his home town that he has not voted in primaries for 21 years.

###

Obama takes on Big Oil Link

Let me guess - an election year is near?

They steal $3 billion a month, where is Obama for 30 months?

That ninety billion could buy a whole lot of heating oil for the super-poor,
but Obama, apparently, wants to get elected more than the poor need their heating oil.

I don't like saying that, but would a lie make you feel better?

###


Does she look seven months pregnant here? Link

###

Lion cub hugs.

###

They issue license plates to mentally incapacitated drivers?

 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Headlines - Wednesday April 6

I'll be out of town for 2 1/2 weeks ...... 
 
 
###
 
Tax Returns Forensics - Brisket ® Palin was paid $260,000 by the Candies foundation to "to educate America's youth about the devastating consequences of teen pregnancy." And how much did Candies give to actual teen pregnancy prevention? $35,000. (Jezebel)
 
###
 
Timing is everything - "I'm fired up, I don't know about everyone else." - President Carebear. On the same day that Obama starts his 2012 re-election campaign, he caves on civilian trials for 9-11 terrorists, thus negating his first pledge as President. (NYTimes)
 
###
 
 
###

"No means no. No means no if you're drunk or if you're sober," Biden said. "No means no if you're in bed in a dorm or on the street. No means no, even if you said yes at first, and you changed your mind." -- Joe Biden, talking about campus rapes Link

Did you see that creepy footage on CBS yesterday?
They showed a couple of dozen "frats" at Yale chanting, "No means yes."

Apparently Yale has a rape problem and they aren't punishing the guilty. 
 
 

###  

REVEALED: Homophobic Hag Who Attacked Gauguin's Topless Ladies

Oh, no grudge at all!

###

 
###
 
Robert Reich: Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich
 
###
 
Not only did God kill all those birds in Arkansas because of the repeal of DADT, the earthquake in Japan and that tsunami? Totally because of gay soldiers in the U.S.
 
### 

A reader and former health insurance executive examined Paul Ryan's ridiculous Medicare privatization plan (see also this) and came up with the following analysis:

A Medicare supplement such as BC/BS Plan 65 covers the 20% of the allowed charge that Medicare does not cover--and note that the Medicare deductible is $100 yearly.

Now, presumably, BC/BS makes a reasonable profit on this. It would seem reasonable that if BC/BS Plan 65 had to cover 100% of the cost, it would need to price its product at five times the cost of its supplement. That is, 5 X 20% = 100%.

I just got off the phone with BC/BS. At that rate the MONTHLY premium for one aged 73 would be $900; at age 80 or older, the MONTHLY premium would be $1200.

THESE ARE MINIMUM RATES; THE ACTUAL RATE WOULD BE DETERMINED BY THE UNDERWRITERS.

Does anyone think the typical 73 year old retired person can afford $10,800 yearly for health insurance or that a typical eighty year old person can afford $14,400 yearly for health insurance?

Think about that; more than $20,000 yearly for a couple at age 73; almost $30,000 yearly for an elderly couple 80 or older to purchase health insurance.

But Paul Ryan is "bold and brave" for coming up with such awfulness, according to the Washington corporate press. Shame on all of them.

Adding... There's a reason why Medicare cuts and privatization, as well as raising the retirement age or cutting Social Security benefits are so popular with the media elites. It's because they're rich. But removing the payroll tax cap is inconceivable to them. Once again, because they're rich, and they'd have to pony up in order to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent. This is yet another reason why the notion of a "liberal media" is horseshit.

###
 
political pictures - sarah palin - an american story - Stop the Presses
 
###
 
Tokyo Electric has dumped 10,000 gallons of radioactive water into the Pacific.
 
 
 "The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday that it had found radioactive iodine at 7.5 million times the legal limit in a seawater sample taken near the facility, and government officials imposed a new health limit for radioactivity in fish."  In other words, if your Asian-Style Tilapia Fillet glows in the dark, it would be inadvisable to eat it.
 
###
 
Jill: Here's why "I'll sneak in just under the wire" should comfort no one.
 
###
 
The Devil's network
Mike Huckabee Destroyed All Evidence He Ever Used a Computer
They're hiding hundreds of hard drives under those shirts!
 
Mother Jones is apparently looking through the public records of the lame Republican presidential candidates these days (maybe THEY can figure out which of those Trump birth certificates/strands of hair are real), and they hit a snag when they requested Mike Huckabee's from his time as governor of Arkansas. Apparently Mike Huckabee never was governor of Arkansas, as there is no evidence of it; it was all destroyed, according to the office of the current governor. "Moreover, at that time, all of the computers used by former Governor Huckabee and his staff had already been removed from the office and, as we understand it, the hard-drives in those computers had already been 'cleaned' and physically destroyed," they wrote. Thanks to Huck sitting on all his hard drives to crush them, the world may never know what kind of porn he likes.

But there was a backup!

Parsons requested the backups and eventually filed a lawsuit against Huckabee and Beebe, alleging that the new governor had siphoned taxpayer money from an emergency fund to pay to replace the destroyed hard drives. Altogether, the new equipment cost over $335,000. Huckabee countered that the information on the hard drives included private details, such as social security numbers, that shouldn't be released to the public. In the end, Parsons' suit was dismissed—largely because he didn't name Turner, who apparently possessed the records, as a plaintiff.

$335,000? Exactly how many computers was Huckabee using that he needed to destroy? Keep it in your office, Huck!

Huckabee's aversion to public disclosure extends beyond his gubernatorial papers. He and his handlers have also taken steps to block access to videotapes of his sermons, spanning his 12 years as a Southern Baptist minister before he entered politics. During the 2008 campaign, Mother Jones reported that Huckabee's campaign had refused to make the sermons public—and that, according to an official at one of the churches he'd led, much of the archival material relating to Huckabee's tenure had been destroyed.

So not only was Huckabee watching weird man-on-dead-squirrel porn on hundreds of government computers, he was also illegally taking lobbyist money directly from God. This is what we must assume, as Huckabee destroyed all the evidence he was ever anything but a former presidential candidate with a terrible talk show. [Mother Jones]

###

President Obama's top 5 broken campaign promises.
 
###
 
Excellent idea! Mandate it and call it the "Truth in Bill Naming Act of 2011" "Rep. Gerry Connollly (D-Va.) wants to change the title of a bill that would permanently block Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations to the "Koch Brothers Appreciation Act," a reference to the billionaire brothers who are active in Republican politics. ... Connolly has submitted to the House Rules Committee a series of amendments that would change the title of the bill to everything from the "Middle Eastern Economic Development and Assistance Act" to the "Head in the Sand Act.""
 
###
 
Where are the jobs in this nonsense? In the run-up to November, John Boehner took to Twitter on a daily basis and demanded to know "Where are the jobs?" Now that the republicans are in power, they have done nothing to actually create jobs -- indeed, they push agenda items that would destroy even more jobs -- but have instead concerned themselves with social issues like abortion and gay marriage and even repealing the repeal of don't ask don't tell. Watching republicans try to govern is like watching a dog try to figure out what to do with a car once he catches it.
 
###
 
Right-wing radio nut / ex-cop accused of murdering neighbor

Uhh

A former Baltimore cop, carpet installer and wingnut host of some web-only thing called "Liberty Works Radio Network" has been arrested for the shooting murder of his next-door neighbor, because the neighbor's dog allegedly wouldn't stay in its own yard. Charles "Pete" Richter (?), a 66-year-old ex-cop and failed candidate for Queen Anne's County sheriff known for painting swastikas on the cars of his political opponents, is accused of killing his neighbor on Maryland's Kent Island. Because of the dog. READ MORE »

###
 
Get a job, you parasite
 
What a loser.

Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe, who asked supporters for donations a few weeks back to help him and his friends pay off the major credit card debt they racked up when they targeted National Public Radio, is hitting up his email list one again.

O'Keefe wrote in an email to supporters on Monday that he hopes to "assemble and train an army of new truth-seekers and investigators who will expose more corruption in government and shine a bright spotlight on just how corrupt power can be in America -- including many at the highest levels of government."

"But to keep up our efforts, we must grow an army of truth-seekers and investigators, purchase equipment, hire staff, etc. All of this is very expensive," O'Keefe writes. "Remember, every dollar The Project Veritas receives comes from generous supporters, like you."

He also asks supporters for suggestions on who he should go after next, writing: "What institution, organization, or public figure would you like The Project Veritas to investigate next?"


How about an investigative piece on conservative parasites who want to destroy the working class but who have never worked a day in their lives - mostly because they wouldn't last five minutes doing real work.

 
###
 
The book that can justify anything!
Bryan Fischer: Jesus Had Disciples So They Would Become GOP Politicians
 
'The lowly should shut up. These rich people really need a tax cut.'
 
###
 
Inhofe, Beck and Pat Robertson defend brutal Ivory Coast dictator.