Headlines - Tuesday January 31

Bwahahahaha! To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

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John Boehner must resign from Congress because of his conflicting interests regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline. In 2010 he invested between $15,001-50,000 in Canadian Natural Resources, Ltd, a tar sands oil company. He is poised to reap financial gain if the pipeline gets built. Sign this petition to pressure Congress for his resignation!

 

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The Animal Victims of Fukushima. Maybe if Japan hadn't spent $28 million of donated tsunami relief funds on illegal whaling, these animals could have been / could be helped.

 

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Not breaking news: Whether it's claims about her father's death at the hands of the Nazis, the landscape being littered with headless bodies, or accounts of her encounters with President Obama, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer "often has trouble with the truth."

 

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Speaking to a gathering of Florida Republicans, Rep. Allen West added a layer of cement to his already solid reputation for right-wing lunacy:

 

"We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, (audience boos) and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table," West said. "Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."

 

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Impeachment redfux, just for the hell of it

 

The crazy will be strong when Obama gets reelected.

[Grover] Norquist: If the Republicans have the House, Senate, and the presidency, I'm told that they could do an early budget vote—a reconciliation vote where you extend the Bush tax cuts out for a decade or five years. You take all of those issues off the table, and then say, "What do you want to do for tax reform?"

Then, the question is: "OK, what do we do about repatriation and all of the interesting stuff?" And, if you have a Republican president to go with a Republican House and Senate, then they pass the [Paul] Ryan plan [on Medicare].

NJ: What if the Democrats still have control? What's your scenario then?

NORQUIST: Obama can sit there and let all the tax [cuts] lapse, and then the Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach. The last year, he's gone into this huddle where he does everything by executive order. He's made no effort to work with Congress.

Ignore the nonsense about Obama not trying to work with Congress. I doubt even Norquist, the GOP's top anti-tax crusader, believes that idiocy.

Instead, note that Norquist doesn't pretend that there's any "high crimes or misdemeanors" in question. It's simply—if Obama doesn't extend tax cuts for the one percent, then he'll be impeached.

For some bizarre reason, the reporter interviewing Norquist didn't follow up on that point. But lest we forget, this is Norquist's GOP. He says "jump!" and Republicans across the land shout back, in unison, "HOW HIGH?"

If you don't care for Obama, then whatever. Do something constructive and focus on getting Nancy Pelosi her gavel back. And if you do care for Obama, then also work to get Pelosi her gavel back.

Because if Republicans remain in charge of the House, impeachment of Obama—despite running what is clearly the most scandal-free administration in decades—is virtually guaranteed.

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Digby: If we can just get those taxes down to nothing and eliminate all impediments to inheritance, we should be able to successfully recreate the British aristocracy in a generation. The founders would be proud.

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In case you need reminding.

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The Europeans just cannot get enough of our First Lady Michelle Obama. She is all they have right now, with their money spinning down the toilet and Heidi Klum experiencing a divorce tragedy, etc. Last week, the French shared their opinions about Michelle Obama and her brave decision to not dress like MC Hammer. Now, of course, the British have decided that they do not like competing with France for the title of "Country With Best Insane Published Writing About FLOTUS." But their take on Michelle Obama is a little more "saucy," as they would say, because it involves (tee hee!) underpants! READ MORE »

Now that Michelle Obama's underwear is up for discussion at all the usual wingnut sites, can we start talking about Mitt Romney's? After all, for a Mormon, it's "the most sacred of all things in the world, next to their own virtue, next to their own purity of life", so I'd think that it's something that Romney should discuss. Or are there two sets of standards, one for Mrs. Obama, and one for Mitt Romney?

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The entry fee for playing politics should be having their tax exempt status taken away: "In a surprising move over the weekend, thousands of Catholic parishioners were read letters that condemn the Obama administration and its recent decision to make birth control available to women through virtually all private health insurance plans. ... The letters were written by Catholic Bishops in the U.S. and read aloud at hundreds of Catholic churches on Sunday. In one of the letters (PDF), written by a Catholic Bishop in Phoenix, Ariz., the church attacks the Obama administration for having "cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty." ... But far from taking away their religious liberty or any of their "God given rights," the Obama administration's decision to make private insurers cover birth control will ensure that the church cannot deny these services to their employees if they choose to utilize them."

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Despite a promise of "zero-tolerance" for unethical behavior, House Republicans are facing increasing number of ethics probes. As the 2012 session begins, almost a dozen GOP lawmakers face questions about their financial dealings, and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) "has not publicly admonished them."

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Congress has finally decided to do something about its dismal approval ratings. A 93–2 procedural vote on Monday cleared the way for the Senate to pass a ban on congressional insider trading later in the week. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act requires disclosure of stock transactions within 30 days and prevents members of Congress from initiating trades based on nonpublic information. The bill is technically symbolic, because lawmakers are already subject to the same laws as other investors who use nonpublic information to make money, but no one in Congress has been charged with insider trading in recent memory. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explained that the bill "will clear up any perception that it's acceptable for members of Congress to profit from insider trading." Read it at The Associated Press

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Note to Republicans:

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The Bistro at the Bijou in Knoxville refused service to one Sen. Stacey Campfield. They posted a FB message that said, "I hope that Stacy Campfield now knows what if feels like to be unfairly discriminated against." From all that I can ascertain, that was a response to not serving him for his well documented views of ignorance and bigotry towards the GLBT community.

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All these "polarizing" polls show is just how radical Republicans are.

Obama could cut taxes, expand the War on Terror, preside over a 50% stock market surge and kill bin Laden -- and the Republicans would still hate him.

Oh wait.

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Jurassicpork: Top 10 Reasons Why the 99% Should Take Turns Kicking CEOs and Lawmakers in the Nut Sack  

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Kafka never wrote anything more terrifying. "A New Mexico man, who expects to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for the rest of his life, was awarded $22 million last week after he was tossed in solitary confinement for two years and never given a trial, but he remembers very little of the ordeal, Raw Story has learned. ... In August of 2005, Stephen Slevin was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI). He spent most of the next two years in the Dona Ana County Detention Center without his case ever going before a judge. ... Slevin was rarely allowed to go outside, fungus grew underneath his skin and his toenails curled around his foot because they were so long. At one point, he even had to pull his own tooth. ... Attorney Matt Coyte explained to MSNBC.com that police had mistakenly believed that Slevin had stolen the car he was driving when police pulled him over and arrested him for a DWI. Slevin informed authorities that he had been depressed, but instead of getting mental help, he found himself on suicide watch in a padded cell. Three days later, he was transferred to solitary confinement. ... "Their policy is to then just put [detainees with mental health issues] in solitary," Coyte said. "He disappeared into delirium, and his mental illness was made worse by being isolated from human contact and a lack of medical care." ... "Your insanity builds. Some people holler or throw feces out their cell doors," he continued. "Others rock back and forth under a blanket for a year or more, which is what my client did.""

 

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With all due respect, Sir, answer the god-damned question. "President Barack Obama ignored a question about marijuana legalization during his "Your Interview With the President" event Monday, despite the fact that it was the most popular video question. ... As part of the White House's ongoing social media engagement initiatives, Americans were given the chance to submit questions to the president, which others could vote on. Obama answered some of the most popular questions during a virtual interview from the West Wing of the White House, but declined to respond to the most popular video. ... That video was submitted by Stephen Downing, a board member for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)."

 

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Continuing to avoid their pledge to focus on jobs, Congressional Republicans are moving toward a vote on making English the official language of the United States. Their aim is to "put the Obama administration on the defensive."

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WSJ Publishes Op-Ed From 16 Climate Deniers, Refused Letter From 255 Top Scientists

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Boy oh boy is Arizona governor Jan Brewer ever so lucky that Barack Obama came to visit her state — his visit has already started to generate new revenue! No no, not for Arizona or anything, no, ha ha. It's revenue for Jan Brewer, America's neediest governor, which she is collecting via some tragic website that asserts her right to a monetary reward in exchange for performing the valuable service of yelling at the President like a deranged twit in view of a few news photographers. Who says it's getting hard to make a buck in America these days? READ MORE »

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This is what tar sands development looks like in Canada. Similar projects are slated for School Trust Lands in the Bookcliffs and potentially near Canyonlands, Grand Staircase and Capitol Reef National Parks.

http://www.suwa.org/category/blog/

Headlines - Monday January 30

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Our allies: Pakistan is trying the doctor who helped catch Osama bin Laden for treason.

 

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Callista must need a new Tiffany diamond-studded pressure gauge.

 

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Sarah Palin continues to be the dumbest person in national politics. Here's why Republicans should support Newt Gingrich (warning — link points to Brietbart's site):

"So, if for no other reason to rage against the machine vote for Newt, annoy a liberal."

No, see, Newt Gingrich has absolutely no chance of winning the general election. This delights and comforts liberals. We want Gingrich to win the nomination because he will crash and burn far worse than Goldwater, McCain or anyone else the modern Republican Party has elevated to prominence.

Also, supporting someone just because they annoy someone else? It's this kind of childish nonsense that's dooming the Republican Party to second-rate status.

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Oddly named head of the RNC Reince Priebus has compared President Carebear to the Italian cruise ship captain who took off in a lifeboat after his ship ran aground at Isola del Giglio killing 17 people:

"In a few months, this is all going to be ancient history, and we are going to talk about our own little Captain Schettino, which is President Obama who is abandoning the ship here in the United States and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president."

(Think Progress)

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If Boehner was a Democrat, he would be run out of office on a rail over this. "It is an ethics violation for elected officials to use their political office to perform official acts on behalf of special interests, and particularly when special interests are campaign donors. There is also a serious problem when a sitting congressional representative performs official acts for personal financial profit by promoting a project the representative has a financial stake in. The problem becomes egregious when the elected official lies about a project to profit himself and campaign donors and our current Speaker of the House has taken those issues a step farther. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received a complaint from an environmental group with accusations that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline's owners (TransCanada) are in violation of SEC Rule 10b(5) - Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Practices to bolster stock prices. ... The complaint sent to the SEC said TransCanada is using "false or misleading statements about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline" and that they "consistently used public statements and information it knows are false in a concerted effort to secure permitting approval of Keystone XL from the U.S. government." The complaint continues that the fallacious information misleads investors, U.S. and Canadian officials, the media, and the public "in order to bolster its balance sheets and share price," and who is the point-man pushing the Keystone XL pipeline with lies and misinformation? Speaker of the House John Boehner."

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Today, the National Park Service will crack down on "sleeping activity" at the two Occupy DC camps at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, which some say is an effective eviction. Park Service officials told protesters on Friday that they "may be subject to arrest and their property subject to seizure as evidence" if there are evident "camping violations" by noon today.

 

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We've been asking about this since David Petraeus was the Mayor of Mosul -- The money went missing on his watch. "The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, according to two new government audits. ... The reports come from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. ... The Iraqi government in 2004 gave the Department of Defense access to about $3 billion to pay bills for certain contracts, and the department can only show what happened to about a third of that, the inspector general says in an audit published Friday. ... Although the Department of Defense (DoD) had "internal processes and controls" to track payments, the "bulk of the records are missing," the report says, adding that the department is searching for them. ... Other documents are missing as well, including monthly reports documenting expenses, the audit says. ... "From July 2004 through December 2007, DoD should have provided 42 monthly reports. However, it can locate only the first four reports.""

 

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Keeping a campaign promise, the Obama campaign is refunding money donated by federal lobbyists. "When we catch [a contribution] from a federal lobbyist that slips through the cracks, we immediately return the contribution," said a campaign spokesman. "Unlike our opponents, our campaign does not accept contributions from Washington lobbyists."

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Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White (R) will face seven felony voting fraud charges at a trial beginning this morning. White, who maintains his innocence, allegedly registered to vote at a home that was not his residence and served as a councilman in a district where he did not live.

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NEW YORK—We left you on Friday with some rather unsettling developments in the coming War Against the Machines, and we're afraid to report there's more bad news on that front today: the US military apparently left behind some drones during its "withdrawal" from Iraq last December—and the Iraqi people are not happy about this! (something something nobody could have predicted.) The State Department has contracted a "small fleet" of drones to serve as part of a security detail for the various American diplomats still remaining in Iraq. "The State Department drones," reports the Times, "carry no weapons and… are much smaller than armed drones, with wingspans as short as 18 inches, compared with 55 feet for the Predators." Catch that? "Much much smaller than armed drones"—as if this is supposed to comfort us! No, sorry, this is even more terrifying. Because, seriously, think about it: if those 55-foot Predators are basically like the Decepticons of the War Against the Machines, then these little foot-and-a-half long guys are like that one miniature Transformer jobber that turned himself into a boombox and hacked Air Force One. Well! Happy Monday, everyone: we all live in a Michael Bay movie now. READ MORE »

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SOUTH DAKOTA: House Votes To Include Bible Study In Public Schools

Tax payer money should not have to pay for this. That's what tax free churches are for.

Headlines - Sunday January 29

Slow news day....

 

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The Arizona Brewers

 

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Earlier today, Scotland Yard arrested five more individuals, including a police officer, in the ever-growing News Corporation phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom. While previous arrests focused on phone hacking at the now-closed News of the World tabloid, today's arrests are related to allegations of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's flagship tabloid, the Sun. According to the BBC, those arrested today include: "Graham Dudman, a former managing editor; Fergus Shanahan, a former deputy editor; Mike Sullivan, the paper's crime editor; and Chris Pharo, the paper's head of news."  With today's arrests, 13 total people have been arrested in the course of the investigation into News Corporation's alleged bribery of police officers.  If News Corporation is found to have bribed police officers or other public officials, the company could also face serious legal consequences in the United States under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

 

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Herman Cain has endorsed Newt Gingrich. That seems about right.

 

The former pizza executive, who left the race before the first nominating contests after facing accusations of unwanted sexual advances, suggested the two have both undergone intense scrutiny. "I know that Speaker Gingrich is running for president and going through this sausage grinder," Cain said. "I know what this sausage grinder is all about." Cain is set to campaign with Gingrich on Monday in an 11th hour push for support. Gingrich is in a fierce fight for Tuesday's Florida's GOP primary with Mitt Romney.

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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is pissed off about PA declaring the "year of the bible":

 

Our constitution grants sovereignty not to a deity or a 'holy book,' but to 'We, the People.' There is no reference to God, the bible, the Ten Commandments or Jesus in the U.S. Constitution, just as there are no references to 'consent of the governed,' 'civil liberties' or 'democracy' in the bible. Those who have truly studied the bible realize that it is a moral quagmire, a behavioral grab bag, which has been used to justify automatic rule, tyranny, slavery, the degradation of women and gays, child abuse, war, atrocity and mayhem.

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According to the Department of Justice, the primary schedule recently proposed by the Texas Republican Party would violate the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act because it would not provide enough time for military voters to participate.

I thought the Republicans love the military?

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Quotes don't get much better than this one by Bob Dole.

"Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?" asked a perplexed Gingrich, to whom Dole bluntly explained: "Because it saves them time."

That one's a keeper.

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Mario: Republicans preach a "keep 'em stupid" policy

President Obama at the SOTU.

"Higher education can't be a luxury — it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford," Obama said in his speech.

An obvious enough statement, right? Well, not for the buffoons performing in the Republican clown show.

"It's no wonder President Obama wants every kid to go college," Santorum said Wednesday in Florida, according to CBS News. "The indoctrination that occurs in American universities is one of the keys to the left holding and maintaining power in America. And it is indoctrination. If it was the other way around, the ACLU would be out there making sure there wasn't one penny of government dollars going to colleges and universities, right?"

It's getting too stupid for words. It doesn't matter what this President says, the wingnuts will find fault with it and turn it into an us-against-them issue. Only a paranoid group of psychopaths obsessed with turning their country into a land of God-fearing, Christian Luddites hoping to go back to a make-believe time when milk and honey flowed from the ground would find fault with a president seeking higher education for all.

But there is a method to their madness. Keeping 'em stupid is just about the only way the right can cling on to a base who has been spoon fed lies and propaganda for the last four decades. If they could find a way to keep these people away from universities of supposed liberal propaganda and instead keep them focused on fair and balanced news sources like Fox, they might just be able to get a bigoted, delusional prick like Rick Santorum elected President some day.

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NBC/WSJ poll: Majority would vote out every member of Congress

 

Headlines - Saturday January 28

Andy Borowitz: For those who missed the Republican debate, there's a great piece about it in the Book of Revelation.

 

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I Hope They Don't Remove the Bleeding Crucifixes from Their Restrooms

Sarah Palin spoke out on Thursday against Alaska Airlines' decision to stop including prayer cards with its meal trays. The airline announced the move a day earlier, ending the tradition that lasted for 30 years.

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Apple has created 700,000 jobs - in Asia.

 

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Second Mayor calls @GovBrewer Otis the Drunk a prevaricator. "Out of the three officials who met President Obama on an airport tarmac near Phoenix earlier this week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) is now the only one who has characterized the president as anything other than cordial. ... In numerous TV and radio interviews since the meeting, Brewer has said the president was "tense to say the least" and took issue with a book she wrote last year. She said Obama walked away from her while she was in mid-sentence and even told one Phoenix television station she felt "a little bit threatened" by the encounter. ... But Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, who was standing just feet away from the president and the governor on Wednesday during their now-infamous encounter, told TPM that Obama seemed calm the whole time. ... "He wasn't tense at all," Stanton said on Friday. "The guy's a pro." ... Though Stanton declined to discuss exactly what the governor and president said to each other, he said Obama's classic coolness was evident. ... "He doesn't get animated, but he looks you in the eye and tells you what he thinks," Stanton said. "And I think that's honestly what he did is he looked the governor in the eye and spoke and told her what he was really feeling." ... Stanton, a Democrat, is now the second elected Arizona official whose account of the incident contradicts the way Brewer has described it."

 

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Republican Representative Larry Pittman of Cabarrus County, NC thinks, sort of like Newt Gingrich did back in the '90s, that capital punishment is the only way to scare people like "abortionists, rapists and kidnappers" (what, no murderers?) into being better citizens (and more conservative). But Pittman goes a step further than Newt: he thinks we should bring back public hanging. It's the only way, etc. Well, about every 36 seconds a Republican calls for the return of some barbaric practice or another, so big deal. But Pittman had a funny way of expressing his views: not boldly or proudly, in front of his fellow lawmakers or at the very least, atop a milk crate in some park, but in an e-mail that he accidentally sent to every member of the General Assembly of North Carolina. Ah, well.

Pittman, like Taco Man before him, is using the excuse that he was just in a bad mood. Apparently Pittman's lightbulb of an idea was generated by the pompous e-mail that murderer inmate Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. recently sent to North Carolina's Gaston Gazette bragging about how wonderful life in prison is and how he'll never be executed thanks to endless appeals.

Pittman apparently thinks that if we could just hang Hembree, everything would be fine. So presumably just get rid of the court system as well. Have angry mobs vote over whether someone committed a crime and then have them gather in the town courtyard to watch the suckers die. Pittman's e-mail:

We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner," Pittman wrote in the email. "If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.

And then, somewhat swiftly, the apology:

I was filled with anger, disgust, and frustration, as well as a profound sense of grief for the family of the young woman he killed. I felt a need to 'vent' some of these feelings and intended to do so to him alone. In the process, I got a bit carried away and overstated my case. I am sure I am not the only one who has ever done that.

No, sir, you are not even the only person (Republican) to have done it this week. Get in line! [WRAL]

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Let the under-oath finger-pointing begin! "A former aide to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) will testify against her former colleagues after officials filed charges of illegal campaign activity while working on taxpayer time, local media has learned. ... Darlene Wink, a 61-year-old former public employee charged on Thursday with two misdemeanor counts of political solicitation by a public employee, could be the weak link that spills yet another major scandal over the embattled governor, even as he appears likely to face a recall election later this year. ... Prosecutors on Thursday announced four felony charges for another Walker insider, 43-year-old Kelly Rindfleisch, who worked with Wink as one of Walker's aides. ... That brings the total number of Walker insiders facing criminal charges to six, according to The Wisconsin State Journal, which concluded the ongoing investigation had turned up a "pattern of illegal fundraising" and confirmed that Wink was working on a plea bargain that would include testimony."

 

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A recent history of the GOP's dehumanizing and divisive language that threatens to plague the primary process for weeks to come. 

 

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Arizona cop not sure what big deal is over his bullet-riddled Obama photo

What had we gone, a whole week or so without a news story about a public official cracking jokes online about murdering Barack Obama? That's kind of a long time! Don't "worry," however, Mexico still does not want Arizona back, so we will never go too long without one of these kinds of things while a black guy is president: the Secret Service is investigating Sgt. Pat Shearer, a Peoria, Arizona police officer, after he posted a Facebook picture of a group of assault rifle-wielding teenagers holding up a bullet-riddled t-shirt with Barack Obama's face on it during one of their Future Gas Station Attendants of America meetings. Shearer has taken the photo down, but come on, he just wants to know, what is everyone's problem? Since when did everyone start taking assassination so seriously? READ MORE »

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Pennsylvania House votes to declare bible most awesomest book of 2012

Oh thank goodness, IT WAS ABOUT TIME: Pennsylvania lawmakers unanimously approved a resolution declaring 2012 the "Year of the Bible" in their state, to publicly recognize some of the important famous people in American history who have owned Bibles and talked about Bibles — George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and of course possibly most famously and importantly of all, Ronald Reagan. OH and, also, to recognize "our national need to study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures," AHEM AHEM. No mention of which teachings, though. Maybe some of the fun ones about the rules for public stonings in Deutoronomy or something? READ MORE »

 

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Internet mean girl Sarah Palin is forgoing her usual illiterate tweeting in order to defend, on teevee, Newt Gingrich, a multimedia huckster who may or may not have illegally promised Palin a cabinet position in his fantasy moon presidency. The former governor must have really pissed someone off at Fox because she's been relegated to commentating on some closed-circuit feed called Fox Business News, where she told John Stossel that the establishment (BOO!) is "trying to crucify this man and rewrite history and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years." Never change, Sarah. Never change! READ MORE »

 

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Oh look, Romney attacked Kennedy's blind trust during 1994 Senate race.

 

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The newly-released GDP numbers fell a little short of expectations, but given the larger trajectory, it was at least encouraging to see the domestic economy moving in the right direction in the final three months of 2011.

 

The American economy picked up a little steam last quarter, with output growing at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

 

The pace of growth was faster than in the third quarter, when gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 1.8 percent.

 

The fourth quarter was easily the best three-month period of 2011, and the strongest the U.S. economy has seen since the spring and early summer of 2010.

 

It's important to realize, though, that 2.8% growth is hardly a breakthrough or evidence of a robust recovery. Under normal conditions, a figure like this would suggest the economy was fairly healthy and growing at a steady pace, but therein lies the point: these are not normal conditions. Given the severity of the Great Recession, and how much ground there is to make up, we'd much prefer to see a significantly higher number.

 

This should be of particular interest to policymakers, who may be tempted to see stronger growth as an excuse for inaction -- or worse, austerity measures intended to slow the economy down on purpose. The fact remains that we're slowly crawling out of a ditch -- taking money out of the economy and ignoring high unemployment may very well push us backwards. This is especially true in light of the ongoing risks posed by outside economic forces beyond the nation's control.

 

With that, here's a chart showing GDP numbers by quarter since the Great Recession began. The red columns show the economy under the Bush administration; the blue columns show the economy under the Obama administration. 

 

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The least shocking news of the day is that Ron Paul was both fully aware of the contents of the Ron Paul Survival Report, his racist newsletter, and that he personally reviewed each issue.

Oh, but, he's against drones!

These latest revelations do not conclusively demonstrate that Paul is a racist scumbag, who just happens to apologize for the South while speaking in front of Confederate flags, but they do show he knew full-well what was contained in the newsletters.

It's unfortunate some fellow liberals wasted their time pretending Ron Paul was a secret-progressive hero.

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Headlines - Friday January 27

 

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It's a real shocker, but Newt Gingrich's campaign has conceded to ABC News that witnesses supposedly ready to testify he was not unfaithful to his second wife were, in fact, imaginary.

 

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Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

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Mother Jones: Mitt Romney's Kids Pay an Even Lower Tax Rate Than He Does

 

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Longstanding tension between Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic President Barack Obama flared into the public spotlight Wednesday just after Air Force One touched down in Phoenix.

Brewer, who was on the tarmac to greet Obama, hand-delivered a letter before engaging the president "intensely" for several minutes, including pointing her finger directly at him, according to Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, acting as a pool reporter for other media…

Fun facts about Jan Brewer: One of her sons died in 2007 from cancer and AIDS - the rumor in Arizona was that she had disowned him for being gay and had not spoken to him in years. Another son was declared criminally insane for the kidnapping and rape of a Phoenix woman - he spent 20 years in a mental institution. Although Brewer may or may not bear any responsibility for her son's serious mental illness, she is totally responsible: for having his criminal record sealed while running for governor, aka Abuse of Power, and for collecting approximately $75,000 in Social Security benefits for him WHILE his care was being provided for by the taxpayers of Arizona."

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Laura Flanders: Not A Peep About President's Praise for War

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Pot calls kettle black - Notable dancing felon and former House Majority Leader Tom Delay says that staff-banging serial adulterer Newt Gingrich was erratic and unprincipled. (Think Progress)

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Nancy Pelosi is holding an anvil over Gingrich's bulbous head:

A little while ago, Pelosi said in an interview that she was familiar with "a thousand pages" of documents related to the ethics probe of Gingrich that got him bounced from Congress. That triggered the first round of right-wing consipracy-mongering; her office quickly cleared up that all those documents are already public. They're online right here.

Undaunted, Romney picked up this line the other day, calling on Gingrich to "release" the probe. Many news outlets pointed it out again: The probe is already public.

Yesterday, Pelosi told CNN in an offhand comment that Gingrich will never be president, because "there's something that I know." Drudge madly flacked this "revelation" with a massive headline claiming: "PELOSI THREAT: NEWT WON'T BE PRESIDENT."

Who knows how something like this could work. The Marianne revelations actually helped Gingrich in South Carolina where "hike the Appalachian Trail" is commonplace by now.

Unless there are photos of Gingrich performing abortions, I can't imagine what could possibly harm Gingrich beyond the litany of other scandals and skeletons. This is guy who survived "right wing social engineering", the Pelosi global warming video, Marianne, Tiffany's, etc, etc.

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Corporations are good people (according to Romney)

 

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Endorsements - Hey guys, remember that time when dancing felon Tom Delay destroyed Newticles' chances of winning the felon vote? Me Neither, but anyway all is not lost! Our favorite (GOP) staff-banging serial adulterer is winning 80% of the felons in Duke Cunningham's cell block! (Voice of San Diego)

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The Republicans in the Colorado state legislature are making another run at expanding gun rights, reintroducing legislation that would allow concealed weapons in schools and expand the "castle doctrine" to businesses. Republicans say they are just defending the Second Amendment while Democrats accuse them of grandstanding  and straying from the job-creation agenda that both parties promised would be their legislative focus this year.

A proposal running simultaneously in the House and Senate would allow concealed weapons on school grounds and college campuses if a person has a permit and another bill would let business owners and employees use deadly force against intruders. Both proposals have previously failed, including last year when Senate Democrats rejected the concealed weapons bill.

Another proposal would prevent state officials from restricting the use of firearms during a declared state of emergency. Another bill would eliminate background checks done by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for firearm purchases. Republican Rep. Mark Waller, the legislation's sponsor, said the state is spending unnecessarily on its background check program because it duplicates checks already done federally.

CBI spokesman Lance Clem said the agency opposes Waller's bill because the federal checks are not as fast or thorough as the state checks.

Republican Rep. Kevin Priola, a sponsor of the concealed weapon legislation, said the goal is to improve public safety by allowing people to protect themselves.

Just what the state that gave us the Columbine massacre needs! Guns on every campus!

The presence of guns in schoos does not make anyone safer. In fact, the presence of guns on campus creates a negative learning environment and increases the level of inherent danger by increasing the odds of a tragic accident occurring, as well as increasing  the odds of a gun falling into the wrong hands via theft, a more common occurrence in communal settings than private residences.

But they aren't stopping there. Oh heavens no! They are also considering legislation that would eliminate background checks for firearms purchases, which would make it even easier for people who shouldn't have guns to get their hands on one -- and that's a problem that is already manifesting itself in tragic ways. It certainly doesn't need to be helped along and made worse, which is exactly the results that would be realized if the GOP legislators in Colorado get their way.

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On the day Gabrielle Giffords resigned from Congress to continue to recover from being shot in the head, it looks like someone in Missouri has decided that the way to get rid of Democratic lawmakers is via a gun barrel.

 

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It's not just about abortion...OR birth control. They just hate women and want a legally-enforced patriarchy. Period.

 

 

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Buddhists have a saying; money is suffering. Mitt Romney is about to live those words. The twitter tells me the Romney camp optimistically predicted earlier that Willard's tax returns would cease making news after tomorrow. I assume that was before Romney's inconsistent financial filings hit the news wires.

Some investments listed in Mitt and Ann Romney's 2010 tax returns – including a now-closed Swiss bank account and other funds located overseas – were not explicitly disclosed in the personal financial statement the GOP presidential hopeful filed in August as part of his White House bid. [...]

A review by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau found that at least 23 funds and partnerships listed in the couple's 2010 tax returns did not show up or were not listed in the same fashion on Romney's most recent financial disclosure, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.

The Romney campaign described the discrepancies as "trivial." Of course they are. What's a few foreign tax shelters, more or less, among friends?

Paraphrasing a bit, a campaign spokesmouth pointed out Romney released 600 pages of tax returns for Pete's sake so why is anyone surprised that it's hard to keep track of that much money? Also they would like to point out they will have to pay an army of accountants overtime to straighten the filings out, thus Willard's personal contribution to the job creation just doubled.

Also, too, Romney may have paid zero taxes in 2009.

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From the Herald:

A Senate committee approved two bills on Thursday that would place more restrictions on women seeking abortions.

Republican Sen. Jack Westwood of Erlanger, who is chairman of the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee, said he hopes the bills will reduce the number of abortions in Kentucky.

One bill would require women to have ultrasounds prior to abortion. The other would clarify existing law by requiring women to have a face-to-face consultation with a physician, licensed nurse, physician's assistant or physician-delegated social worker prior to having an abortion.

Sen. Perry Clark, a Louisville Democrat, said that similar proposals have been included in a single bill in years past, but the sponsors are politicizing the issue by dividing them into separate measures this year.

Don't be fooled. The "ultrasound" is not an external ultrasound with a goop-covered computer mouse rubbed on the belly. The "ultrasound" this bill requires is internal and beyond merely "invasive:" it's a camera on a probe shoved up the vagina and deep into the uterus. It's painful and horrifically traumatic. It is against her will. It's rape.

(And no, morons, you don't have to use a penis to rape. Anything that forcibly penetrates is an instrument of rape.)

Your tax dollars at work. Forcing doctors to rape their patients. For the sole purpose of shaming women into back-alley, illegal abortions.

Because making abortion illegal - or just expensive, inconvenient, difficult and/or humiliating - doesn't reduce the number of abortions. It only reduces the number of women who survive them.

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According to the latest data from the Commerce Department, the economy expanded by 2.8 percent last quarter, coming in a bit below expectations. Analysts had expected about 3 percent growth.

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Ford Motor Company announced record annual profits of over $20 billion after announcing a net income of $13.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. This marks the third consecutive year of profitability for the American automaker after nearly falling into bankruptcy in 2008.

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After resisting for months, Mitt Romney finally released one year of his tax returns this week. Here's what we learned:

Mitt Romney's father George released 12 years of his taxes when he ran for president in 1968, stating, "One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show."

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Thrice-married Newt Gingrich, who has previously described same-sex marriage as "a temporary aberration that will dissipate," told a right-wing radio show this afternoon that gay and lesbian unions are akin to "pagan" behaviors:

GINGRICH: It's pretty simple: marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a historic doctrine driven deep into the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and it's a perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism. The effort to create alternatives to marriage between a man and a woman are perfectly natural pagan behaviors, but they are a fundamental violation of our civilization.

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Did Romney Secretly Baptize Holocaust Victims To Make Them Mormon?

Here's a wacky fun-time ritual thing the Mormons do that you may or may not have heard about: they love to baptize dead people and thus declare them members of their magic moon faith, mostly so that the Mormons can claim a 7 billion person membership similar to the way that those McDonald's signs claim "50 billion anusburgers served since 1940″ to reassure you that it's, like, really popular. This has, throughout history, not always pleased the relatives of the dead people who were baptized — say for instance, the relatives of Jewish Holocaust victims who found their family members' names among those who had been posthumously converted to Mormonism. And so hey, know where there are lots of Jewish people these days? Florida. What's happening in Florida next week? A Republican presidential primary. Who's leading the polls in that primary right now? A Mormon. Has Mormon Mitt Romney been secretly baptizing Holocaust victims in his spare time?

 

Headlines - Thursday January 26

"Newt Gingrich's ex-wife went on nightline and said that he wanted to have an open marriage. This is the second wife, talking about him when he was fooling around with what became the third wife. Newt wanted apparently to have his wife and his marriage and also women on the side giving him oral sex. This way he could be nice and relaxed when he went to work and accused blacks of feeling entitled." –Bill Maher

 

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Romney gave $100 million to his sons and paid zero gift tax.

 

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Buffett just seems like such a good guy:

Buffett, a Democrat and Obama-supporter, had one question for Mitt Romney: "Do you think the tax system should be perpetuated?"

He doesn't blame the former Massachusetts governor or any of the ultra-rich for paying lower tax rates than most Americans and challenged Congress to make a change.

"I don't pay hardly any payroll taxes," Buffett said. "Gov. Romney hardly pays any payroll taxes, Newt Gingrich hardly pays any payroll taxes. Debbie pays lots of payroll taxes."

He lashed out at assertions from many Republican leaders that the "Buffett rule" is class warfare.

"If this is a war, my side has the nuclear bomb," Buffett said. "We have K Street. … We have Wall Street. Debbie doesn't have anybody. I want a government that is responsive to the people who got the short straw in life."

Of course he is 100% accurate.

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It's hard to believe (no, actually it isn't), but Willard and his number 1 wife own or owned millions of dollars worth of a Goldman Sachs investment fund invested heavily in mortgage-backed obligations. And the current owners of those mortgage debts began foreclosure proceedings against thousands of Floridians. Whoopsie! 

 

Bob Cesca:

I'm not going to shame Mitt Romney for doing business with Goldman since the bank is so large, however not everyone can say they are invested in an "elite division" — gasp! Elite! — only open to those who have $10 million in their pocket to invest. And given that $10 million is only half of Romney's yearly income, it's another sign that he has absolutely nothing in common with average Americans. It's also why he struggles to appear as though he does.

Aside from being invested in an "elite" division of Goldman Sachs, a new report from ThinkProgress also indicates his investments in Goldman may have benefited from the foreclosure crisis and bailout funds.

Along with his investments in Bain Capital funds linked to offshore tax havens, the Romneys have large investments in the Goldman Sachs Strategic Income Fund (institutional class). The firm's March 2011 annual report for the fund notes that about 8 percent of the fund is invested in banks and 24.5 percent is invested in mortgage-backed obligations. Romney's form says he has invested between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 in the fund and his wife Ann has invested an additional $1 million-plus. Since the 2008 economic meltdown and the enactment of the Troubled Asset Relief Fund, this fund has done quite well, growing 7.88 percent between April 2010 and March 2011.

Woops! It just so happens that Florida was hit particularly hard by the recession, however this could also be very damaging to Romney heading into Nevada where the wrath of the foreclosure crisis was greatest.

Question: Why should we Let Detroit Go Bankrupt while investments made by Mitt Romney are rescued? Does Mitt Romney secretly love bail outs?

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Newt Gingrich, pandering in Florida: "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American," Gingrich said to applause. He said the development would include commercial and private efforts, and will make apparent, "we clearly have the capacity that Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to us." Gingrich also said he would push to develop propulsion technology that would get man to Mars. He emphasized that it doesn't have to be expensive, exploration in partnership with private companies can lower the cost.

 

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Today former Cuban president Fidel Castro weighed in on the GOP field of candidates.

 

Castro said he always assumed the candidates would try to outdo each other on the issue of Cuba, but that he was nonetheless appalled by the level of debate. "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been," said the retired Cuban leader, who has dueled with 11 U.S. administrations since his 1959 revolution.

 

What could you possibly add to that?

 

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Westboro Endorses Obama

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timothy Phelps tells HuffPo:

"He's a liar, thief, and adulterer... that's Newt Gingrich, the so-called "champion" of the conservative party. These people claim to be Christian, New Gingrich and Mitt Romney and some of them others. They aren't pure followers of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't trust [any] of them with a handful of change to go get me some bubble gum. There's nothing of any value in [any] of those human beings. I would rather have Obama."

Wow. And they think THEY are followers of christ?

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"You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and making $20 million for no work, to have some fantasy this far from reality." -Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney's immigration policy

Keep going GOP candidates! You're doing great!

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Krugman: Finding the truth

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So what do you say to a news reporter when asked how you'll improve relations with the Latino community after four of your police officers were just busted by the FBI for racial profiling? Well, you probably wouldn't say this.

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Former Bushie, Mitch Daniels Attacks Obama for Not Fixing the Mess He Helped Make

And here's Charles Pierce on his "fuzzy-wuzzy math"

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"Lemon tree very pretty and

the lemon flower is sweet

But the fruit of the poor lemon

is impossible to eat."

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Niger, El Salvador Beat United States in Press Freedom Last Year

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Wonkette:

Were you, like us, very ultra super secretly sighing to yourself — under your breath when you were absolutely sure no one could hear you — hasn't this campaign season gotten sorta boring since Michele Bachmann dropped out? WELL SIGH NO MORE: her surrealist sideshow is coming BACK following Michele's announcement today that she will run for re-election to Congress! Will the voters of Minnesota's 6th District once again choose to be represented by a whacked out, pill-snarfing lunatic screamer over any other available adult human? True, it's not like America will be in any DANGER if she wins again — she never actually does anything in Congress, ever. She is more like very expensive, taxpayer-funded entertainment. But hey, maybe Minnesota's 6th District is feeling flush again this year? UPDATE: HAHA oh god we love it, Michele Bachmann has no idea what words mean in English and went on Fox News to qualify her initial statement of "yes" with more of a "maybe definitely yes" declaration of non-candidacy candidacy. Who knows!

The AP reports:

"I'm looking forward to coming back and bringing a strong, powerful voice to Washington, D.C.," Bachmann said.

Bachmann will be a formidable candidate in Minnesota's 6th District, where other Republican hopefuls had stood aside until she made a decision on running for re-election. Some experts had speculated that Bachmann might instead turn to a career in talk media.

TALK MEDIA!!!! No, that is only for second-tier entertainers that the public doesn't want to pay for with taxpayer money, like Sarah Palin. [AP]