Headlines - Wednesday February 29

Borowitz: Santorum Proposes Replacing Church, State with New Entity Called 'Sturch'

 

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What's this conflict of interest thing y'all are bitchin' about?"

The chairman of the Alabama Senate Health Committee said he doesn't see a conflict of interest between his support for a bill that would require physicians to perform ultrasounds on women seeking abortions and his company, which sells the type of equipment the bill would require.

Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper, voted to move Senate Bill 12 out of committee last week because he said it's a good bill that would help "a mother to understand that a live baby is inside her body."

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"I do not sell ultrasound equipment in my business to clinics that are abortion clinics," he said recently. According to campaign information, Preferred Medical Systems sells diagnostic medical equipment in five states.

Too. Mad. To. Snark...

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Funny or Die: Women's health experts speak out

 

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Jesus' General: Ten Alternatives To Apologizing For Koran Burnings

 

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"In proving that every verse of the Biblical story of creation is in exact sync with the teachings of modern science, Huriash provides the details that explain the dinosaurs place in the scheme of creation."

 

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Bob Cesca: This is one of the ugliest things I've ever read. Ever.

 

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Yet another transvaginal probe law. But it's been the law for a year now.

North Carolina's ultrasound law, passed last year over the governor's veto, didn't provoke the same level of controversy. It doesn't include the words "trans-vaginal probe," either. But it effectively requires the procedure for many, if not most, abortions.

The new law requires an ultrasound before any abortion procedure. The woman has to be shown the image of the fetus, have the image described to her, and be offered the opportunity to hear the fetal heartbeat.

I've said it before but it bears repeating: white men have a universe of bad karma coming our way — and it hasn't even started yet.

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Republicans are obsessed with inserting state-mandated medical probes into women's vaginas. Now in Pennsylvania:

In addition to mandating the much-maligned transvaginal ultrasound requirements since rejected by the state of Virginia, Pennsylvania legislators proposed strongly encouraging women to view and listen to the ultrasounds, forcing technicians to give the women personalized copies of the results and mandating how long before any abortion the ultrasound much be preformed — and that's just for starters.

According to conservatives, taxing rich people an additional one percent every year and making sure you can afford health insurance are each examples of Big Government intruding on American freedom. So then what do you call it when the Republicans pass a law forcing doctors to vaginally violate women using an ultrasound transducer?

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Last year the Mormons secretly baptized Jewish Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was decapitated by Islamist terrorists shortly after 9/11. Pearl's parents were shocked to find out the news about their son.  Here's the Boston Globe:

Pearl's parents, Judea and Ruth, said it was "disturbing news" to learn that Mormons had baptized their son, in a rite that they understand was meant to offer him salvation.

"To them we say: We appreciate your good intentions but rest assured that Danny's soul was redeemed through the life that he lived and the values that he upheld," Judea and Ruth Pearl said in an email. "He lived as a proud Jew, died as a proud Jew and is currently facing his creator as a Jew, blessed, accepted and redeemed. For the record, let it be clear: Danny did not choose to be baptized, nor did his family consent to this un-called-for ritual.###

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Oh my, this is not looking very good for Rupert Murdoch's team. Each day reveals something deeper and larger than the day before. When there is such an extensive culture of corruption among a team, you have to start looking at the leadership. The Guardian:

Six journalists at the News of the World were involved in instructing private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to hack phones of celebrities and others, it has been alleged in documents released by the high court to the Guardian. Paperwork submitted on behalf of phone-hacking victims by lawyers shed new light on the alleged extent of knowledge within the newspaper about the activities of Mulcaire, the £2,000-a-week investigator at the centre of the scandal. It has been alleged in these court documents that there was "a conspiracy" between Mulcaire and "senior executives" including "Clive Goodman" and five other journalists, known as A, B, C, D, and E, whereby he would obtain information on their behalf using "electronic intelligence and eavesdropping"

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Mitt Romney denounces Operation Hilarity one month after endorsing it

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Religious Freedom

Classy:

Deep in grief, Barbara Johnson stood first in the line for Communion at her mother's funeral Saturday morning. But the priest in front of her immediately made it clear that she would not receive the sacramental bread and wine.

Johnson, an art-studio owner from the District, had come to St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg with her lesbian partner. The Rev. Marcel Guarnizo had learned of their relationship just before the service.

"He put his hand over the body of Christ and looked at me and said, 'I can't give you Communion because you live with a woman, and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin,' " she recalled Tuesday.

She reacted with stunned silence. Her anger and outrage have now led her and members of her family to demand that Guarnizo be removed from his ministry.

Are the priests who rape little boys denied communion?

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I believe [the invasive, transvaginal probe] is something that respects the dignity of women by making sure they have necessary information.

–Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA)

For the record, McDonnell was opposed to the TSA pat-downs, but you know, those could happen to him.

The revised ultrasound bill passed the Senate earlier this afternoon and now heads to McDonnell for his signature…

(Think Progress)

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Seems only fair: Drug Tests and Anal Probes for Rich to Get Tax Cuts

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Keeping one soldier in Afghanistan for a year costs between $850,000 and $1.4 million, depending on differing estimates offered in a Senate hearing yesterday. The official Pentagon estimate is $850,000 and rising. "That kind of takes my breath away," Senate Budget Chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) said at the hearing.

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TP: Alabama Denies DNA Test To Potentially Innocent Man On Death Row

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TP: McDonnell: TSA Pat Downs Are 'Invasive,' But Ultrasound Bill 'Respects The Dignity Of Women'

 

Headlines - Tuesday February 28

 

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You could say Santorum is Old Fashioned. But it might be more precise to say he's Old Testament. Women don't have rights, they're baby tunnels for Christ. Birth control is immoral, prenatal testing is depraved and gay marriage is an abomination. And anybody who campaigns in a sweater vest obviously knows a thing or two about abominations. The Ayatollah of Pennsylvania is on a mission to drag this country kicking and screaming back into the 50s. The 1850s. – Will Durst

 

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The Telegraph: According to one of the e-mails, the firm was shown the information papers collected from bin Laden's Abbotabad compound after the US special forces attack last May that resulted in his death. The e-mail, from a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 officials in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency knew of the al-Qaeda leader's safe house. The internal email did not name the Pakistani officials involved but said the US could use the information as a bargaining chip in post raid negotiations with Islamabad.

 

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Paul Babeu allegedly slept with student at reeducation camp he ran

Every inhabitant in the entire solar system and possibly as far away as the alternate universe where Rick Santorum becomes the American president has now heard the story about wingnut Arizona sheriff Paul Babeu trying to deport his secret illegal Mexican gay lover, but did you know that this was only one of two insane stories about Babeu's serially creepy, unethical behavior that reporters were learning about at the time? ABC15 in Arizona was also about to out Babeu after they spent five months digging up dirt from court documents in Massachusetts alleging that Paul Babeu's 1999-2001 tenure as the evil headmaster of an unlicensed private reeducation camp gulag for troubled teens included the use of punishments that amounted to physical abuse and that oh yeah, his sister says he was shacked up with one of his male students. Paul Babeu sure does seem to enjoy the secretive sexytime with members of vulnerable groups that he treats like shit in his official capacities! Where else has Paul Babeu worked? Nevermind, we don't actually want to know. READ MORE »

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"I like those fancy raincoats you bought" [...] "Really sprung for the big bucks." -Mitt Romney mocking ponchos

Because mocking NASCAR fans for being unable to afford Armani raincoats is exactly what you want to do in the middle of the Republican primary.

Fun fact: A pizza would have to cost U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney $3,339.04 for him to understand how average people live.

 

..... $662.62 for a dozen eggs and $1,187.05 for a gallon of gas to know what that feels like.

 

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Jobs, jobs, jobs - Speaking of Willard who brags he has created more middle class jobs that President Carebear, some journalist (do we still have these people?) looked into the claim. Guess what? Staples and the Sports Authority are not paying a salary that a family can live on. Staples, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, and Sports Authority (TSA) of Englewood, Colorado, pay sales associates almost $3 an hour below the retail industry average of $11.92, excluding benefits.(Bloomberg)

 

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Santorum needs a lesson on understanding carbon emissions

 

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Bill would let Utah cities, counties claim federal land

 

I say my town should snag the national park right next door.

 

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Turley: Utah Legislator Proposes Drinkers-Only State Positions

 

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Cardinal George: We'll Close Every Catholic Hospital Rather Than Provide Birth Control

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"What will happen if the HHS regulations are not rescinded? A Catholic institution, so far as I can see right now, will have one of four choices: 1) secularize itself, breaking its connection to the church, her moral and social teachings and the oversight of its ministry by the local bishop. This is a form of theft. It means the church will not be permitted to have an institutional voice in public life. 2) Pay exorbitant annual fines to avoid paying for insurance policies that cover abortifacient drugs, artificial contraception and sterilization. This is not economically sustainable. 3) Sell the institution to a non-Catholic group or to a local government. 4) Close down." - Cardinal Francis George, in a lengthy diatribe posted on the Archdiocese of Chicago website.

 

Actually, I quite like option #3. Sell it to a non-Catholic group, and use the proceeds to pay back the thousands upon thousands of the Church's sexual abuse victims around the world.

 

RELATED: Cardinal George was last in the news when he compared gay activists to Nazis. He later offered a limp apology.

 

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It is beyond batshittery that this is even up for discussion. 

 

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Mitt Romney loves tall trees, among other things. Apparently he also loves tall tales about his childhood that didn't actually happen.

DETROIT—When Mitt Romney regaled a Michigan audience this week with childhood memories of a landmark moment in Detroit history, it was a rare instance of emotional candour.

And, perhaps, an even rarer example of time travel.

Romney recalled he was "probably 4 or something like that" the day of the Golden Jubilee, when three-quarters of a million people gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the American automobile. [...]

The Golden Jubilee described so vividly by Romney was indeed an epic moment in automotive lore. The parade included one of the last public appearances by an elderly Henry Ford.

And it took place June 1, 1946 — fully nine months before Romney was born.

Very serious question – can Mitt Romney publicly speak without lying? Is it even possible? From what I have witnessed, his speeches contain more lies than facts.

Perhaps the better question would be — do his speeches contain any facts?

He lies about his taxes, his legislative record, his business record, the president's record, and apparently his personal experiences.

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According to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, the roughly $9 million being spent on his recall election is going to cost the state dearly and will lead to children and seniors going without help. A claim which would be more credible if Walker had not done more damage to children and seniors than most governors would dare.

"Well, we're focused," Walker responded, "but it's a huge distraction, not just for me, for the legislature. I mean, it's $9 million of taxpayers' money just to run this. Think about the number of kids we could help, think of the number of seniors we could help in our state with $9 million that we didn't have to waste on this — this frivolous recall election.

"But really, I mean, in the end, I think it's amazing, after a year of being attacked by out of state special interests, the tens of millions of dollars that were poured in, the fact that we're ahead of any of the Democrats in the race I think bodes well for the election.

Yeah! Will someone please think of the children!?

Was Scott Walker thinking about the children when he decided to cut $834 million in education funding from the state's budget? Nearly a billion dollars over two years. A reduction of $635 per student.

Think about the number of kids we could help with $834 million that we didn't have to waste on passing new tax cuts for corporations. Those frivolous tax cuts. Tax cuts which have not lead to job creation.

And will someone think of the seniors!?

Was Scott Walker thinking of the seniors when he cut $554 million in Medicaid spending? Cuts that would result in the loss of over 500 million in federal matching funds for a grand total of over $1 billion less for Medicaid?

Perhaps the governor and his henchmen in the state legislature would be less "distracted" had they not chosen to sell their souls to the Koch Brothers. And maybe Scott Walker would be less distracted if he weren't within a hair of being indicted for illegal campaign activity during his time as Milwaukee County Executive.

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TP: Analysis: Stock Returns Are Significantly Higher When A Democrat Is President

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Science Proves Rich People Are Generally Evil

Extremely wealthy people discard their own spouses and children as easily as they discard thousands of factory workers. They feel absolutely no guilt as they scheme and connive, and they will rip off other rich people in massive Ponzi schemes with as little feeling as they'll rape their housekeepers. The rich strap their supposedly beloved family pets to the top of their expensive cars for days at a time, and find the animal's resulting terror and diarrhea funny. The rich are different, that's for sure — they lack morals. This is the not-so-surprising result of a study by scientific academic people at a university somewhere.

ABC News reports:

Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley analyzed a person's rank in society (measured by wealth, occupational prestige and education) and found that those who were richer were more likely to cheat, lie and break the law than those who were poorer.

"We found that it is much more prevalent for people in the higher ranks of society to see greed and self-interest … as good pursuits," said Paul Piff, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate at Berkeley. "This resonates with a lot of current events these days."

Oh, Berkeley. Whatever, hippies. Rich people get everything because American Jesus-God only loves the 1%. The rest of you can rot in Hell (America 2012). [ABC News]

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"Our corporate tax rate last year, effectively, in terms of taxes paid for the United States, was around 12 percent, which is well below those existing in most of the industrialized countries around the world. So it is a myth that American corporations are paying 35 percent or anything like it…Corporate taxes are not strangling American competitiveness" —Warren Buffet

 

 

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VIDEO: Mitt Romney's Top 10 Out Of Touch Moments

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Why won't Afghanistan just listen to Newt Gingrich about everything?

In case America was wondering, and it wasn't, the root problem behind Afghanistan's myriad sociopolitical and economic challenges in achieving a better standard of living for its citizens is that it fucking cold refuses to hear Newt Gingrich out on how to fix those problems. Those riots in Afghanistan over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a U.S. military base that have killed 28 people and wounded hundreds more are an important reminder of this fact, that Newt Gingrich is the smartest human who has ever lived by a factor of one billion. Newt, in an exciting move from merely hyperbolic language to incredibly boring invented words, told an audience in Tennessee (where, incidentally, Ron Paul is beating him in the polls) that Newt Gingrich could successfully make Afghanistan "unmiserable" if only he were the wicked king of Afghanistan. But instead, Afghanistan insists on sucking and not making him their ruler and "hating foreigners," unlike everyone belonging to the party whose presidential nomination Newt Gingrich would still like to receive. READ MORE »

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Corporate Front Group Buys Attack On Humane Society During Oscar Broadcast

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I mean, I'm all for party loyalty, but if Santorum wants the public to think "orgy" when voting for any Democrat currently holding office, he needs mental help.

 

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I don't drink beer, but some of my friends own breweries

 

Mitt Romney has to be winning the title of "King of Unforced Errors." Between that one and his "my wife has two Cadillacs" comment, ol' Rmoney is demonstrating that the nameless programmers in Mumbai who wrote Cylon Mitt's operating system forgot to include a self-censorship subroutine.

None of his recent gaffes, to my mind, come close to the "I've been unemployed since 2006 (although I'm worth $250 million and I get paid $20 million a year in investment income[and pay less than 15% in taxes])" whopper. But between the gaffes and the outright lies, almost to the point that his epitaph will read "here lies Mitt Romney, as usual", there has to be hundreds of hours of anti-Romney attack video that he himself has provided.

Meanwhile, the GOP party elites are close to shitting their pants at the idea of Santorum winning the nomination. I fear it, as well. Not because I give a shit what happens to the GOP, for on the contrary, the sooner that collection of cranks is consigned to the trash and a genuine center-right party arises cannot happen too soon for my taste.

No, I fear it because there is always a possibility that Frothy might win. And then we'd have a president who will make every effort to drag this country back to the 15th Century. Santorum has made it clear as glass that his presidency would be guided by the tenets of his religion, not by the Constitution or the laws of the land.

And that, I submit, is ultimately very bad for anyone who does not adhere to Ayatollah Rick's exact views. We went down that road in some of the American colonies in the 17th Century; the Founding Fathers were well aware of the dangers inherent in a faith-based government. The "no established religion" clause of the First Amendment wasn't put in there for giggles.

Finally, could someone enlighten me as to why the Southern Evangelicals like Santorum? I didn't grow up in the South, but I have friends who did, and they told me that the Southern Evangelicals regarded Catholics as idolators and not true Christians. Catholics there were regarded by the Evangelicals as almost being as outside of Christianity as Jews and Mormons. Catholic and Jewish kids stuck together for mutual protection (and there was a lot of intermarriage as a result).

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Headlines - Monday February 27

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Polifact has meditated, debated, cogitated and estimated (and, no doubt, masturbated), and after serious consideration of the kind that mere mortal non-journalists are clearly incapable of undertaking, they've reconsidered their judgment about whether 40% is a majority. Let it be known to all comers that Marco Rubio's statement that a majority of Americans are conservative is no longer "mostly true", even though no poll shows a majority believing that. The masters of truth have spoken once more, and forevermore, or at least until they speak on this matter again, Rubio's statement is "half true".

I don't know what's more pathetic, the half-assedness of this correction, or the fact that it took almost two weeks for them to come up with it. (Via Jay Rosen, who should be harder on them for this.)

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Richie Rich over here just cannot stop reminding everyone that he's a special and obscenely wealthy snowflake. Mitt won't be watching the Daytona 500, if it ever happens, 'cause he's not a huge racing fan but HAHAHA some of his best friends do own racing teams, he quickly jostles to add for some damn reason. Could these team owners maybe get M.I.T.T. a new pit crew, to do a little much needed maintenance, oh, and maybe also to 'accidentally' disable the vocal apparatus? That would be really friendly of them! READ MORE »

You gotta give it to him. He a consistent One Percenter asshole

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Mormon Numbers Not Adding Up: Mormonism is no longer one of America's fastest-growing faiths. What happened?

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The things that make little Ricky vomit:

Former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) on Sunday defended a statement he made last October in which he said that he "almost threw up" when he read John F. Kennedy's 1960 Houston address on the role of religion in public life.

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He went on to note that the First Amendment "says the free exercise of religion — that means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square."

"Kennedy for the first time articulated the vision saying, 'No, faith is not allowed in the public square. I will keep it separate.' Go on and read the speech. 'I will have nothing to do with faith. I won't consult with people of faith.' It was an absolutist doctrine that was abhorrent at the time of 1960."

Later in the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Santorum, "You think you wanted to throw up?"

"Well, yes, absolutely," Santorum replied. "To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes you throw up. What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case? That makes me throw up."

Of course, that isn't what Kennedy said at all. What Kennedy was stating was that his decision-making would not be held hostage to the demands of the Vatican (or any other church leadership):

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew— or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you — until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

Nowhere in the speech did he dictate that people of faith could have no role in public life. Nowhere. Santorum is lying or stupid or both, and I'm going to go with both and throw in a dash of evil.

What Santorum wants is not religious freedom. What he wants is the freedom to force you to live by his religious beliefs.

(I suppose he's okay then with government interfering with religion, too, because if you break down the separation, government can meddle in religion just as easily as religion meddling with government. That's the side of this debate they don't mention. The door swings both ways)

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Santorum said on This Week:

I don't believe in an America where the separation between church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and visions of our country.

This is stupid on so many levels.

Obviously the church is just one of many special interest groups that really does have some say over matters of state. That's simply a reality of representative government, whether we like it or not. But more importantly I really don't think that Rick Santorum understands what he's saying here, and the implications for freedom of religion.

It's almost as though social conservatives think that religion and government were kept separate because effete liberal elitists wanted a hedonistic society unfettered by the moral constraints provided by religious institutions. But nothing could be further from the truth. It was the Baptists and Thomas Jefferson who really lobbied hard for the initial cleaving. They saw the political power of the Anglican Church as a real threat to religious freedom and decided that the best way to preserve that freedom was to keep government out of church business, and vice versa.

Fast-forward a few hundred years and you have guys like Santorum who apparently don't understand the first thing about the point of keeping the two institutions a healthy distance apart from one another. This is either straight-up opportunism dressed in religious drag or it's one of the dumbest things to have fled a politician's mouth in, well, days.

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If, as he claims, colleges are just hotbeds of liberal indoctrination, how did Rick Santorum's conservatism survive being ridiculed at Pennsylvania State University (where

he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree), at the University of Pittsburgh (where he earned a Master of Business Administration degree), and at the Dickinson School of Law (where  he earned a Doctor of Law degree)?  And if, as he also claims, going to college is a sign of snobbery, wouldn't his three college degrees make Rick Santorum a super-snob?

 

Flashback: In 2006, Rick Santorum Wanted To Send All Pennsylvanians To College

 

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Taibbi: Arizona Debate: Conservative Chickens Come Home to Roost

 

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If God wants you to have a baby, he'll give you one from regular fucking. Any other way to get a baby? That's from Satan.

Speaking at the end of three-day convention on diagnosing and treating infertility at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI slammed artificial procreation and fertility treatments. Marriage was the only place to create a human being, he said. The comments reaffirm the decision Catholic leadership has held on artifical reproduction since 2008. "The human and Christian dignity of procreation, in fact, doesn't consist in a 'product,'" he said, " but in its link to the conjugal act, an expression of the love of the spouses of their union, not only biological but also spiritual." The pope is pressing for a ban on artificial procreation and called on science and fertility experts to resist "easy income, or even worse the arrogance of taking the place of the Creator."

Another agreement between the Vatican and the AFA.

 

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The death toll from Quran-burning protests now stands at 30.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Demonstrators hurled grenades at a U.S. base in northern Afghanistan, and a gun battle left two Afghans dead and seven NATO troops injured Sunday in the escalating crisis over the burning of Muslim holy books at an American airfield.

More than 30 people have been killed, including four U.S. troops, in six days of unrest.

Meanwhile, Santorum is egging them on.

What would Jesus do?

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Headlines - Sunday February 26

Raw Story: Santorum: Obama is 'a snob' who 'wants everybody to go to college'

 

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Why Teaching People to Think for Themselves Is Repugnant to Religious Zealots and Rick Santorum

 

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A LONG List of President Obama's Accomplishments! 

 

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Why doesn't RICO apply to this crime syndicate?

 

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Andy Borowitz: Didn't we settle contraception & affirmative action? If the GOP keep going backwards they'll soon be debating slavery

 

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CHEYENNE — State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States.

House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government.

The task force would look at the feasibility of Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier.

Yes, gotta defend the Wyoming coast from invasion. Someone might try to cross the Snake River or something.

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NATO pulled all its staff out of Afghan government ministries after two US military advisors were shot dead in the interior ministry, as anti-US protests raged for a fifth day. Read More

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H/t Dick:

Before Vote, Republicans Make Moves to the Right 

Headlines - Saturday February 25

 

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Why Is Obama Suing a CIA Officer for Providing Info About Torture? This is Disturbing.

Below is an exchange between White House Press Aide and Jake Tapper, a reporter.

TAPPER: The White House keeps praising these journalists who are, who've been killed–

CARNEY: I don't know about "keep." I think–

TAPPER: You've done it, Vice President Biden did it in a statement. How does that square with the fact that this administration has been so aggressively trying to stop aggressive journalism in the United States by using the Espionage Act to take whistleblowers to court? You're–currently I think that you've invoked it the sixth time, and before the Obama administration, it had only been used three times in history. You're–this is the sixth time you're suing a CIA officer for allegedly providing information in 2009 about CIA torture. Certainly that's something that's in the public interest of the United States. The administration is taking this person to court. There just seems to be disconnect here. You want aggressive journalism abroad; you just don't want it in the United States.

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One of the nation's biggest oil lobbyists in January warned the President that he could make life very uncomfortable for his re-election chances if he didn't approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

The oil industry's top lobbyist warned the Obama administration Wednesday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline or face "huge political consequences" in an election year.

Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said it would be a "huge mistake" for President Barack Obama to reject the 1,700-mile, Canada-to-Texas pipeline. Obama faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion pipeline is in the national interest.

"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard said at the trade association's annual "State of American Energy" event. "A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences."

Jump to six weeks later:

Soaring gasoline prices are threatening to undercut President Barack Obama's re-election prospects and offering Republicans an easy target. With prices pushing $4 a gallon and threatening to go even higher, Obama sought Thursday to confront rising public anxiety and strike back at his GOP critics.

Obama said dismissively that all the Republicans can talk about is more drilling — "a bumper sticker … a strategy to get politicians through an election" — when the nation's energy challenges demand much more. In a speech in Miami, he promoted the expansion of domestic oil and gas exploration but also the development of new forms of energy.

For all the political claims, economists say there's not much a president of either party can do about gasoline prices. Certainly not in the short term. But it's clear that people are concerned — a new Associated Press-GfK poll says seven in 10 find the issue deeply important — so it's sure to be a political issue through the summer.

You do the math.  I'm thinking Big Oil already has, and they're liking the numbers they see.  The Republicans and the Village certainly aren't above concern trolling President Obama, either.  Remember, he's "bad for business" when he doesn't give corporations the "certainty" of a negative tax rate and all the steak fajita grandes they can eat on Tuesdays.

Presidents may not be able to do much about gasoline prices, but oil companies sure as hell can.

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Irony alert! Jeb Bush accuses Republican presidential candidates of fear mongering

Jeb is very concerned that the four stooges' "Who Can Be The Craziest?" contest is turning off non-wingnut America.

"I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I'm wondering, I don't think I've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that's kind of where we are," said the former Florida Governor. "I think it changes when we get to the general election. I hope."

This from a guy whose brother yelled "terra terra terra" for eight years and whose father gave us the Willie Horton ad.

Remember this?

Hilarious.

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Let me ask you this, Mrs. Santorum: Was your abortion God's will, too?

Rick Santorum's wife said Thursday that although she was initially opposed to her husband's presidential campaign, she came around to the idea after realizing that "God had big plans for Rick."

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Santorum believes her husband's recent rise in the polls is "God's will."

Beck politely did not bring up the abortionist that used to fuck the shit out of Karen while they were shacked up. You know, the doctor that was 41 years old than Karen. That one that delivered her as a baby. That shit was SO not God's will.

Meanwhile, Arlen Specter works on new stand-up material:

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter said he would not support his former colleague Rick Santorum in his bid for the presidency, claiming that Santorum's view on gay people and women are too extreme to "represent America."

"Two fists work for me, d'Arlen."

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Krugman was right (again), A leaked memo (Hi Peter Orzag!) from 2008 shows that the stimulus was truly under-funded, as Krugman always claimed. According to the 2008 memo it would have taken "combination of spending, taxes, and transfers to state and localities…costing about $1.8 trillion over two years." However, Clinton leftover economic advisor dim bulb Larry Summers never presented the estimated amount to President-elect Obama, saying that it was "nonplanetary." (ABC News)

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Dave Albo is a Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates whose wife decided against sexing him — in flagrante delicto, apparently! — once she heard, on the teevee news accompanying their intercourse, about the creepy transvaginal ultrasound bill Dave's party was pushing last week. Thanks to Wonkette commenter "UnholyMoses," we can all enjoy Albo's first-person account of the unexpected interruptus of his coitus. READ MORE »

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Unbelievably pathetic.

Shorter GOP: gas prices shoot up while president sings that Negro jungle music!!!

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Obama = Communist Propaganda - A Bumper Sticker Designed by Victoria Jackson

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Not only did the "anti-Catholic" owners of the Empire State Building rebuff demands to turn blue and white in honor of Mother Teresa, they've now refused a similar request to light the landmark red in honor of the elevation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Bill Donohue will be ever so pissed.

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"Mulattos" Can't Be President

A lawsuit has been filed to keep Barack Obama off the Alaska 2012 ballot. Because the Constitution clearly forbids mixed race persons from being president.

As stated above, for an Individual to be a candidate for the office of president of the United States, the candidate must meet the qualifications set forth in the United States Constitution and one of those qualifications is that the Candidate shall be a "natural born citizen" of the United States. As Barack Hussein Obama II is of the "mulatto" race, his status of citizenship is founded upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Before the [purported] ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the race of "Negro" or "mulatto" had no standing to be citizens of the United States under the United States Constitution.

They aren't even pretending to hide their racism any more.

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CSM: The economy is improving whether conservatives like it or not

 

Bill Maher wins the day.

During a performance of his comedy special "CrazyStupidPolitics" Thursday night, Maher announced a gift of $1 million to Priorities USA Action, an Obama-supporting super PAC. While he mocked the group's clunky name, saying it was "named by Borat," his publicist said that Maher was deadly serious about the donation and believed a second term for Obama was "worth a million dollars."

I hope he's prepared for the onslaught of cranky absolutist progressives who will insist he just paid $1 million so President Obama could punch hippies and kill babies for another four years.

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How out of touch is Mitt Romney?

This much.

"I actually love this state. This feels good being back in Michigan … I like the fact that most of the cars I see are Detroit-made automobiles. I drove a Mustang and a Chevy pickup truck. Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs, actually."

Anything wrong with anyone owning two Cadillacs? Nope. If you have the money, why not?

The problem, of course, is in Romney actually speaking those words out loud at a time when unemployment is at 8 percent, middle class America has been devastated by an economic recession and millions are suffering…and at at time when Romney desperately needs to lose his well-deserved image as poster boy for the 1 percent.

Mitt Romney might be a successful businessman but he's still an idiot. Love the picture below of Romney speaking to a crowd of 1200 at Ford Field Stadium in Michigan. Beautiful because nothing inspires confidence like a man speaking to 65,000 empty seats. Did I mention he's an idiot? Contrast this with how Obama packs a stadium:

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Worst person in the world

Dr. Zaius (Brent Bozell) for this:

Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center, is providing a sneak preview to the kind of discrimination employees will experience if the amendment becomes law.

Upon hearing news of President Obama's regulation requiring all employers to offer contraception coverage without additional cost sharing, Bozell examined his own organization's insurance policy and was "horrified" to learn that MRC's plan has long provided contraception (and abortion) coverage. Bozell asked his employees to stop using "contraception/abortifacient/abortion services" and promised to eliminate the benefits at once.

This is the height of GOP opposite-day petulance. Damning his own workers to make an archaic political point.

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Headlines - Friday February 24

 

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(Reuters) - A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Washington state cannot require pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives if to do so violates their religious beliefs.

Wow. Religious Pharmacists Have More Birth Control Rights Than Women

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A Wisconsin state representative who supported the state's voter ID law is now be accused of voter fraud himself.

A YouTube video titled "Proof Of Voter Fraud In The Wisconsin State Assembly" shows Republican state Rep. Joel Kleefisch getting out of his chair to electronically cast a vote for a member who was away from the Assembly floor.

Wisconsin state Assembly rule 76 clearly says that "[o]nly the members present in the assembly chamber may vote."

On Wednesday, WTMJ's Rob Koebel asked Kleefisch if he broke that rule.

"It depends on how you interpret the rule," Kleefisch replied. "The rule says you have to be present in the chamber. The bathroom counts as the chamber. And the parlor counts as a chamber if you are going to eat."

It wasn't immediately clear which member Kleefisch had been voting for or if that member had been in the bathroom or parlor at the time.

Democratic state Rep. Jason Fields told Koebel that the practice is common among both Republicans and Democrats.

"Yeah, it's done when you have a conversation with your seat mate to know where they are at," Fields explained.

For his part, Kleefisch dismissed the video as an attempt at character assassination of him and his wife, Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch (R), who is facing a recall election.

"We are targets. My wife is under recall. We are targets," the Oconomowoc Republican said. "He shoots specific video of me when he could have shot 24 to 50 people at that time."

Recall elections for Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four state senators appear likely to go forward after a judge recently denied Walker's petition for more time to review recall petitions. Earlier this month, the Government Accountability Board posted online more than 850,000 signed petitions calling for the lieutenant governor's recall.

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NYT: Mutated Trout Raise New Concerns Near Mine Sites

 

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CNN Gives Franklin Graham a Second Bite at The Obama-is-a-Muslim Apple

 

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Marc Rubio is sort of Mormon

 

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Smirking Chimp: Mr. Rick goes to the doctor

 

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The transition to Stepford Wife is complete.

Callista is giving up her opinion for Lent. No, I'm not making that up.

Newt may slim down for Super Tuesday. When MSNBC asked him what he is giving up for Lent, the GOP hopeful replied, "I am going to give up desserts... all desserts."

His wife, Callista, who recently made her first solo campaign appearance, is making a sacrifice that may raise eyebrows in the midst of a male-dominated firestorm over women's health issues.

"I am giving up my opinion," she said. She added that she won't be cutting back on McDonald's.

Yup. Kill me now.

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Allen West, everybody.

Here is the bottom line, last night it took 70 dollars to fill the tank of my 2008 H3 Hummer, what is it costing you? What does it cost the president to fill his gas tank? -Allen West on President Obama's energy policy

My gas-guzzling Hummer only gets 15 more miles per gallon than an M1 Abrams main battle-tank, and it cost me 70 dollars to fill the tank! Obama's fault!

Can Allen West be redistricted out of his seat a little sooner, please?

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Utah House panel advances no-sex education bill .

 

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Good on President Obama for apologizing for this.

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Charles Pierce: Sea of Troubles

 

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Personhood doesn't begin at all - Well, after the fracas caused by the ultrasonic dildo of slut-shaming, Virginia has decided to put off its Personhood Bill… for now. (WaPo)

 

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It comes to our attention that we give Ron Paul the short-end of the short stick around here, and so, my fellow incorrigible spitballers, to make up for that oversight, here he is, the good doctor, last night defending The Pill:

But sort of along the line of the pills creating immorality, I don't see it that way. I think the immorality creates the problem of wanting to use the pills. So you don't blame the pills. I think it's sort of like the argument — conservatives use the argument all the time about guns. Guns don't kill, criminals kill. So, in a way, it's the morality of society that we have to deal with. The pill is there and, you know, it contributes, maybe, but the pills can't be blamed for the immorality of our society.

–Ron Paul

So there you have it. Guns don't kill babies, sluts kill babies. Don't blame the gun/Pill, blame the criminal/slut.

So, for those of you progressives who think that Goldbug's sensible position on wars (and it is very sensible) makes him a viable alternative to President Carebear, think again.

Libertarian my pretty pink ass.

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Ted Frier: Are Conservatives hypocrites by nature?

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Bradley Manning, the 24-year-old US Army private who was accused of providing WikiLeaks with field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of pages of diplomatic cables, has been formally charged with aiding the enemy, a crime punishable by life imprisonment. Manning has been jailed since May 2010.

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Sen. Bill Nelson Uses Six Cows To Avoid Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars In Property Taxes

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Wonkette: Wingnuts Protest in D.C. For Right To Feed Healthy Food To Kids, What?

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Wonkette: Congressman Realizes He Can Just Shoot People Who Get In His Way

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