Saturday, May 18, 2013

May 18

Bill Maher Schooled By His Own Guest For His Ignorant Statements on Muslim Violence & Islam (VIDEO)


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K-Drum on the IRS:

But understandable or not, they bungled it horribly, leaving themselves open to equally understandable charges of politicizing the IRS. Conservative groups are as outraged as liberals would be if the Bush-era IRS were flagging groups with "environment" or "progressive" in their names. So even if, as seems likely, this whole thing turns out to have been mostly a misguided scheme cooked up by some too-clever IRS drones, it doesn't matter. Conservatives are right to be outraged and right to demand a full investigation. They suspect there might be more to it, and so would I if the shoe were on the other foot. We need to find out for sure whether this episode was just moronic, or if it had some kind of partisan motivation.

Hey Kevin?  As I pointed out yesterday, that shoe was not only on the other foot multiple times during the Bush administration, but that shoe was then used to kick liberal and Democrat asses up and down the block because it really was partisan motivation.  And a grand total of Not A Damn Thing happened as a result.

Now granted,  I understand at the time the outrage-o-meter was currently being pegged to the red line by all the other much worse things the Bushies were doing at the time.  But please, spare me your outrage on this IRS thing.  It was used as a partisan weapon several times by the last guys, and we're all pretending it didn't happen.  How about we hear more about that, eh?

Oh, and I disagree with this, too:

What's really unfortunate about all this is that it will probably put an end to any scrutiny of 501(c)4 groups, and that's a shame. The IRS should be scrutinizing them, and it should be doing it on an ongoing basis. More than likely, though, Congress will step in to neuter them completely on this score, and the current Wild West character of 501(c)4 fundraising will continue unabated.

On the contrary, the Republicans have shown on several occasions they're willing to burn down the house as long as some Democrats get caught in the conflagration.  There's a fair chance that House Republicans especially will demand these groups get dismantled.  They'll just pass legislation that will make it easier for Republican-leaning groups to reform under some new rules.

[UPDATE] Oh, and for the folks on both sides screaming that the IRS Commissioner responsible for this step down?  He did.  In November. Douglas Shulman was a Dubya appointee whose five-year term ended and he stepped down after the election.  Congress has yet to confirm his replacement, Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller.  Little chance of that now, so expect the IRS to not have a commissioner for pretty much the rest of the President's term.

Marco Rubio Humiliates Himself By Demanding That the Non-Existent IRS Commissioner Resign

Republicans Altered Benghazi Emails

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"70,000 gun nuts are meeting in Houston, Texas for the NRA's big convention. Which is actually good economic news for the city's hotels and restaurants, and also the hookers who generally prefer men with smaller penises." Bill Maher

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The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer

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About the Constitution
....It's just a piece of paper, amirite?

The U.S. Department of Justice notified The Associated Press on Friday, May 10, that it had secretly obtained telephone records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP journalists and offices, including cell and home phone lines.

AP is asking the DOJ for an immediate explanation of the extraordinary action and for the records to be returned to AP and all copies destroyed.  

Hey, if you've got nothing to hide, then what's the problem? Isn't that the usual rationale?

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The U.S. National Strategy for the Arctic, announced by the White House on May 10, includes this: "The Arctic region's energy resources factor into a core component of our national security strategy: energy security. The region holds sizable proved and potential oil and natural gas resources that will likely continue to provide valuable supplies to meet U.S. energy needs." What does this say about White House accountability on climate change? More here.

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5 Major Scandals The Media Isn't Obsessing About

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Dangerous conspiracy theorist Pete Santilli wants to personally execute Hillary Clinton by shooting her in the vagina. (Fair warning: Santilli uses very graphic extermination language and snuff-porn style imagery Right Wing Watch)

Retractions - After Crazy Unkka Pat does it again (forgives adultery from men, because boys will be boys), the Christian Broadcasting Network issued the following clarification:

"As a first step in the process, Dr. Robertson stated that she should stop dwelling on the cheating. Next, he recommended that she remind herself of all the reasons she fell in love with him in the first place so that she might try to fall back in love with him all over again."

"Lastly, his point was that everyone is human and there is much temptation outside of the home, so she should do whatever she can to strengthen their home and relationship. His intent was not to condone infidelity or to cast blame. We regret any misunderstanding."

We regret any misunderstanding. Gotta remember that one. (ABC News)

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