Headlines - Thursday

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Rape is now a pre-existing condition. Seriously.

 

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Limbaugh tells a NYT reporter to kill himself.

 

And yet somehow the NFL found him controversial. 

It's no wonder the Secret Service is overwhelmed by death threats against the President. Just look at the hate that's been coming out of conservatives over the past year:

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/limbaugh-tells-nyt-reporter-to-kill.html

 

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Gordon Hageman couldn't believe the credit card offer he got in the mail. A wine distributor called the number on the offer, gave them the offer code and verified his information and it was right:  the pre-approved credit card came with a 79.9 percent APR.

Yes, 79.9 percent!

The offer is for a Premier credit card from First Premier Bank. Based in South Dakota, First Premier claims to be the country's 10th largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard credit cards. The site says it "focuses on individuals who have less than perfect credit but are actually still creditworthy."

Hageman acknowleged that his credit isn't perfect, but he said it's about average. He said the pre-approved offer didn't mention the actual interest rate on the card — for that, he had to read the enclosed fine-print disclosure.

"I think they're trying to take advantage of me," said Hageman.

A spokesman with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said interest rate limits on bank cards are set by the individual state and not on a Federal level. According to information on the South Dakota Legislative Web site, there is "no maximum or usury restriction." In other words, the individual bank can set its own interest rate limits.

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Whatayahoo seems to be morphing into George W. Bush. Faced with findings of a respected former war crimes prosecutor that Israel may have committed war crimes in its Gaza offensive, the prime minister instructed his government to seek changes to the international laws of war to retroactively justify any actions taken in Gaza.

http://jonathanturley.org/2009/10/21/israel-to-seek-change-in-laws-of-war-to-block-war-crimes-investigation/#more-16337

 

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Former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey now appears to be blaming our legal system for the 9-11 attacks as opposed to documented failures by the FBI and the failure of the Bush Administration to heed direct warnings of an imminent attack. In an op-ed piece this week, Mukasey puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of our rights-infested legal system. http://jonathanturley.org/2009/10/21/mukasey-our-laws-brought-about-9-11-attacks/#more-16340

 

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Morford: Ten million bloody plastic eyeballs.

 

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Now that President Obama has fixed the unemployment rate, health care, the wars, and everything else, Orrin Hatch thinks that he should focus on college football BCS problems. 

 

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Bush Headlining 'Motivational Mega Show' With 'Inspirational Firepower': http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/bush-headlining-motivational-mega-show-with-inspirational-firepower.php?ref=fpblg

 

One of the other speakers is Colin Powell. What I like about the idea of Bush and Powell crossing paths is that, sure, it'll be incredibly awkward, but Bush will never know why.

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Senator Franken schools right-wing analyst on medical bankruptcies in countries with universal care: "It's zero."

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/21/al-franken-grills-hudson/

 

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Via Crooks and Liars, it's pretty obvious we already have death panels:

CORPUS CHRISTI — The mother of a man who died of a swine flu-related illness said her son was asked to leave a Texas hospital a day before his death because he was lying on the floor, too ill to sit in a chair.

Irving Neil Range, 58, of Corpus Christi died in the emergency room of Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial on Friday of a swine-flu related illness, confirmed Annette Rodriguez, interim director of Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District.

Opal Range told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that her son went to the emergency room Oct. 1, but laid on the floor because he felt too sick to sit a chair while waiting to see a doctor. She said a security guard asked him to leave so he went home. Her son returned to the emergency room the next day and died.

Sherry Carr-Deer, a spokeswoman for Christus Spohn Health System, told The Associated Press that she did not know the specifics of Range's case, but that their security guards generally try to work with people and give them a couple of chances.

But of course, we're not rationing health care now, right Rushpublicans?

 

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Christianist outfit Save California has issued a call for parents to "boycott" California's public schools over last week's approval of Harvey Milk Day by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Via the American Family Association's "news site" OneNewsNow. 

 

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In case you missed "The Warning" on PBS Frontline, hit the link.

 

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So let me get this straight. Some naked dude, in his own home, comes downstairs at 5:00 in the morning to make coffee, and some tresspasser and her 7-year old kid are offended by the angle of the dude's dangle when they peep on him? And naked dude is the one to get arrested? 

 

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Goldman Sachs analyst: Income inequality will lead to prosperity and opportunity for all:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/21/goldman-pay/

 

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Top ten conservative idiots - No. 375:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/top10/375