Headlines - Saturday

Can anybody say suppressed homosexuality?

 

 

Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, has been removed from a judicial committee that he chaired after comparing gay activists to radical Muslims and saying that gay activists are "probably the greatest threat to America going down."

Buttars who appears a perfect nut case in the interview added: "It's the beginning of the end. Oh, it's worse than that. Sure. Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide." I need to repeat: he was the chair of the Senate judicial committee.

His colleagues, however, want to emphasize that this is not punishment for the hateful comments. Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups said he will remain on the Senate Rules Committee and that it is merely an effort to remove a distraction.

"I want the citizens of Utah to know that the Utah Senate stands behind Senator Buttars right to speak, we stand behind him as one of our colleagues and his right to serve this state," said Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville. "He is a senator who represents the point of view of many of his constituents and many of ours. We agree with many of the things he said. . . . We stand four square behind his right to say what he wants."

What is perfectly ironic is that in his campaign promises Buttars called for "Stop Legislation that Allows Government to increase Control of Our Personal Lives." Of course, he was speaking of legislation dealing with home schooling. When it comes to people with private lives that he does not agree with, he is ready to use Big Brother to stop "the greatest threat to America going down." His literature promises

Despite the recent venom directed at him for defending traditional values, Senator Buttars will never abandon the framework of spiritual and moral values upon which our government was founded. Senator Buttars will continue to stand against the very aggressive special interest groups whose mission is to eliminate all traditional and moral values from government.

For the video, click here.
For the full story, click here and here.

Of course Buttars is proud of what he said and refuses to apologize. Here's his statement: http://senatesite.com/blog/2009/02/statement.html - you may comment on the page.

And please sign this message from the Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/buttars - and forward the link.

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Fishermen and a teenage boy from an eastern Canadian town rescued three exhausted dolphins that had been trapped behind drifting pack ice for nearly a week, the wife of the town's mayor said Friday. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CANADA_TRAPPED_DOLPHINS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-02-20-16-08-26

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Bill Donahue is a good christian

The possibility that Kathleen Sebelius might become HHS Secretary has a predictable response from the antichrist Bill Donohue:

Sebelius' support for abortion is so far off-the-charts that she has been publicly criticized by the last three archbishops of Kansas City. . . .Just yesterday, the pope admonished House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on this issue. Now we have the specter of another pro-abortion Catholic stiffing the Catholic Church. This is setting up a confrontation that pro-life Catholics will not walk away from.

Unfortunately for Bill Donohue, the number of "pro-life Catholics," as Donohue would define the term, isn't very large:

• 80% of Roman Catholics believe that one can be a "good Catholic without obeying the church hierarchy's teaching on birth control."
• Only 11% think that the RCC hierarchy, all the way up to the pope, represent "the final moral authority" on birth control.

What makes Bill Donohue truly pathetic, aside of course from his grandiose delusions about the nature of his church and his role in it, is how neither he nor the theologically bankrupt archbishops he quotes condemn those many Roman Catholic politicians who are in favor of the death penalty, who enthusiastically supported the Iraq War - against the protestations of then-pope John Paul II - who subserviently prostitute themselves to corporate polluters and those that exploit the poor.

I couldn't find someone less Christian, less dedicated to following Jesus in the deepest, hottest pits of Hell itself, than Bill Donohue.  Kathleen Sebelius, who supports not abortion, but simply the right for individual women to choose what's best for them and their families, is a much better Roman Catholic than Donohue or any of the similarly attention-whoring archbishops who find it easy to criticize her while ignoring the many other politicians in their flock which completely disregard a host of church teachings.

Something tells me that when Sam Brownback is governor of Kansas - God help us all - he'll continue to escape any criticism from his pro-death stances on war and the death penalty.  Bill Donohue can go to hell.

Oh wait, according to his twisted, anti-christian theology, that's where people like him will spend eternity.  Ok then.

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This is a real letter from Muskegon, Michigan.

On the Feb. 8 "60 Minutes" program, we were captivated while viewing the Katie Couric interview of the crew and passengers of Flight 1549.

However, we were struck there was not one mention of God, who directs pilots of planes and secures the safety of passengers.

We have written CBS and asked them for more realistic programming. Help protect our freedoms. Write CBS about this.

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There is no indication that Bernie Madoff even purchased any stock for his clients:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/20/madoff-ponzi-scheme-stock_n_168568.html

 

Why is he still in his penthouse?

 

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According to ABC News yesterday, one of the main lobbyists for R. Allen Stanford and his Stanford Financial Group is none other than BEN BARNES.

 

If that name sounds familiar, it's because he's the guy that, as the then Lieutenant Governor of Texas, mysteriously brought one George W. Bush in 1968 into the Texas Air National Guard. Of course this ultimately saved Bush from serious active military service during the Vietnam War and paved the way for his own highly questionable 'business and political' career.
 

And just look where the country is today!
 

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Legalized Thievery

 

For hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs during the recession, there's a new twist to their financial pain: Even as they're collecting unemployment benefits, they're paying bank fees just to get access to their money.

 

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Some of Allen Stanford's employees tried as early as 2003 to pass on to regulators his concerns about the bank, nothing came of it until Stanford's operations were raided and shut down Tuesday.

The Texas billionaire with a reputation for jet-setting and lavish spending faces civil charges for allegedly lying about his investment strategy. But in 2003, when his offshore banking empire was exploding in size, even asking managers one question too many could get you fired, Miami broker Charles Hazlett said.

 

How many times do we have to hear that regulators were notified of concerns and did nothing about them before we lock the bleepers up?

 

My, my, my...lookie here Stanford's whereabouts: again a mystery

 

Someone might want to check at Ken Lay's plastic surgeon.

 

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The worst of the worst were never at Guantanamo Bay. They were in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and in the White House: http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2009/02/the_worst_of_th.html

 

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Have you seen this gem of a video? http://mediamatters.org/items/200902200016?f=h_top

Here's part of Santelli's little sermon:

The government is promoting bad behavior... I'll tell you what, I have an idea. The new Administration's big on computers and technology. How about this, President and new Administration, why don't you put up a Web site to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the loser's mortgages, or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people who might have a chance to actually prosper down the road and reward people who actually carry the water instead of drink the water...
 

I'll tell you what, Santelli.  Howz about you and I meet in some public place and I beat your head with a large stick?  I'll get pledges from the people in this country "who actually carry the water instead" of getting massive government bailouts because they screwed up not only their own industry, but the entire economy - intentionally, because they knew that they'd make a bunch of money doing it and that they could leave the taxpayers on the hook for their criminal excesses.

People could pledge for all sorts of things, in our fun exchange of ideas.  I could probably raise enough for a whole new stimulus bill.

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The Norm Coleman self-parody continues, and Clayface Coleman's latest contortions are particularly impressive. The former Senator would now have you believe that the courts should eliminate a pool of ballots which Coleman previously claimed were legal.

So he was originally against counting them, then for it, then against it, then for it, and now against it, in that order.

Another way of putting it is this: Coleman thinks any result which has him trailing is illegal and should be overturned.

Which makes it awfully unfortunate for him that he, you know, lost the election.

It's total BS that this is still going on.

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Evidence suggests a payoff to Italy for supplying the forged documents Bush famously used to justify launching the Iraq war.

"Obama confronts a choice on copters" read this week's New York Times. The President soon "will have to decide whether to proceed with some of the priciest aircraft in the world -- a new fleet of 28 Marine One helicopters that will each cost more than the last Air Force One....The choice confronting Mr. Obama encapsulates the tension between two imperatives of his nascent presidency, the need to meet the continuing threats of an age of terrorism and the demand for austerity in a period of economic hardship."

This is a gross misrepresentation of the choice Obama faces. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) and others have alleged that the contract for 28 Marine One helicopters was awarded to the Italian firm Finmeccanica as a thank you for Italy's participation in the Iraq War. The evidence, however, indicates that the contract was more specifically a payoff to the Italian government for supplying the forged documents showing Saddam had obtained weapons grade uranium from Niger. President Bush famously used this fraudulent "yellowcake" intelligence to justify launching the war.

http://www.alternet.org/audits/127832/is_the_u.s._paying_off_the_italian_government_for_forging_the_niger_documents

I sure hope we continue the tradition of not holding anyone accountable.

And why is Pelosi in Italy right now?

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Falsified documents prequalified Danil Kasimov and his wife Diana Shakhnazaryan for a $1.5 million condo on his $20,000-a-year income. Kasimov put down $75K in earnest money (which would have made the payments $7,000 per month). Then the real estate agent told them to go to a JP Morgan Chase senior mortgage banker/broker because they would get a better deal. In the fine print, they found out that the lender could increase the required earnest money to 25 percent even after accepting the 5 percent, and since they couldn't come up with the cash, they lost the $75,000. 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008764830_belletowers20m.html?2009

There aren't enough prisons in this country to lock up all of the criminals and stupid people. Or enough money to bail them all out. I don't care how long this guy has been in the country, he should have known you can't make a $7,000 per month mortgage payment on a $20,000 salary.

Here's another one .....

Octamom is interested in a perfect home for 14 kids: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a pool and no safety gates - for $1.24 million. http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/19/octomom-house-million-dollar/

If she somehow manages to get someone to buy this house for her, she damn well better give up all the welfare she's receiving.

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Professor Smartass wonders about our war in Afghanistan for oil pipelines and poppy fields.

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"I could only see Bush and feel the blood of the innocents flow under his feet, as he was smiling that smile - as if he had come to bid farewell to Iraq and with the last support and  more than 1 million martyrs. At that moment, I felt this is the man who killed our nation…  the main murderer and the main person responsible for killing our nation." Muntadher al-Zaidi, saying he was provoked to throw his shoes by Dubya's "bloodless and soulless smile" and his joking banter, in an appearance on Thursday at the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, Link

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Helen Thomas: Obama follows some of Bush's footsteps: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/400555_thomasonline19.html

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The Israeli elections conundrum: http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/2/20/125241/642

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Production of York Peppermint Patties and other candy brands are coming to an end at The Hershey Co. plant in Reading, Pa. After 23 years in Reading, the chocolate maker is closing the plant Friday and moving production to a new factory it has built in Monterey, Mexico.

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"Obama is a radical communist and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it is coming true. He is going to destroy this country and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist," said [Alan] Keyes.

This is nothing less than a call for a political assassination. Recent history has shown that there is no shortage of unstable individuals who listen to that sort of bilgewash, believe it and act on it.

There was the one asswipe in Tennessee who walked into a church and started killing people because he believed liberals should be killed. A similar reason may have been behind the murder last year of Bill Gwatney, chairman of the Arkansas Democratic party.

Alan Keyes knows exactly what he his trying to do: He is trying to incite a murder because the American people, in general, may have finally seen through the lies of the Right. His side cannot win with allots, so he is seeking to achieve his deranged objectives by encouraging some lunatic to commit an assassination.

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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn.

The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.

Which means that the government, federal, state, whatever, would have access to where you have driven and at what time.

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Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal just announced he's turning down nearly $100 million federal aid that would have helped 25,000 Louisiana residents: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/20/jindal-unemployed/

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In an interview set to air over the weekend on CNN's D. L. Hughley Breaks the News, Ari Fleischer admits that the Bush administration was wrong to claim that Saddam Hussein had WMD in the lead up to the Iraq war, but still insists that Saddam was at fault for the war. "Saddam was the big liar here," Fleischer concludes:

FLEISCHER: We were wrong about weapons of mass destruction being in Iraq. […]

HUGHLEY: When you found out that you were wrong, how did that make you feel?

FLEISCHER: You just scratch your head and say, "How could we be wrong?" It wasn't just us that thought he had weapons of mass destruction. The Egyptians thought it, the French thought it, the Germans thought it the United Nations thought it, Bill Clinton's CIA though it. We all thought it. Saddam was the big liar here.

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"Stop by for a beer! Not."

Dubya's unique brand of freedom comes to Daria Drive

The Star-Telegram has a report on the tight security surrounding George W. and Laura Bush's move into their Dallas home. Police officers have been turning away vehicles trying to enter the Preston Hollow neighborhood, "explaining that it is closed to the general public." While there will soon be a private security gate going up (paid for by the Bush family, not the federal government as previously reported), the city is racking up close to $1 million annually in security expenses for the former president. They have also "barricaded the entrance to Daria Drive, allowing only neighbors and people on a special list to enter." One resident a few doors down said he has yet to even be allowed to "walk down by the Bush home."  

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Barack Obama is now officially bigger than Jesus, according to a new Harris poll — that's right, a new study proves it! The survey, conducted last month in the United States, asked Americans to name their heroes. President Obama was the clear leader, easily beating the long-dead Jesus of christian mythology. Yes we can! 

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Utah senator Bennett, who proudly voted against the stimulus because it was full of pork, gets $50 million for a water project - and to build a fish hatchery for the Ute Indian Tribe, and fight mosquitoes and weeds. http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11749983 

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Federal water managers said Friday that they plan to cut off water, at least temporarily, to thousands of California farms as a result of the deepening drought gripping the state: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/20/drought-to-cut-off-federa_n_168759.html

I wonder if climate change has anything to do with drought.