Headlines - Wednesday April 27

 

 

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

 

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Twenty-six troubling stats about the United States.

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Wisco: There's a reason why "compromise" and "reasonable" are two different words.

 

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Free Ride for Corporations and the Wealthy

 

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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.

 

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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."

 

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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?

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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!

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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).

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Morford: Bored-ass Jesus will see you now

 

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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

 

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Obama admin. defends anti-gay DOMA lawyers, implicitly criticizes HRC for defending gay community.

 

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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.

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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."

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Ouch: This should leave a very large mark.

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

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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."

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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.

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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 ....

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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 »

 

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Ron Paul's Campaign Logo: Bald Eagle Desperately Trying To Escape Him

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?

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]

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

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

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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.