Saturday, November 21, 2009

Headlines - Saturday

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h/t Laura: Michele Bachmann - Crazy Like A Fox
 
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Matt Yglesias claims "Tea Party: The Documentary Film" isn't a parody.
 
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h/t Biggi - Please go here and click on the purple box 'fund food for animals for free'. This  doesn't cost you a thing, takes seconds, and provides abandoned/neglected animals with food: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3
 
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Rage Grows In America
Racism, Conspiracy Theories Fuel Anti-Government Fervor Link

Excerpt:
Rumors about gun confiscations.  Angry protests about the government's tax policies, replete with Nazi comparisons. A resurgent militia movement.  Rage at the election of a president deemed to be illegitimate and threatening. Distrust and anger toward the government fueled by paranoia and conspiracy theories.

They are among the crosscurrents of anger and hostility that have swept certain sectors of the country since Obama took office nearly a year ago.  And they are contributing to "a toxic atmosphere of rage in America," according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which today issued a report looking at the various sources that have given rise to a climate of anti-government fervor in the United States.

Since Obama became president we have seen a tremendous amount of anger and hostility," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "There is a toxic atmosphere of rage in America being witnessed at many levels, and it raises fundamental questions for our society." 

The Secret Service says threats to Obama are up 400% over Der Monkey Fuhrer.

I wish the White House would throw some water on this fire.
What's to be gained by letting it grow bigger and hotter? 

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KBR Loses $3M in Rape case

Link

Excerpt:
A woman who claimed she was raped in 2005 while working in Iraq for Cheney's Halliburton has been awarded
nearly $3 million by an arbitrator to settle her case.

Tracy Barker sued Halliburton in May 2007, claiming she was sexually attacked by a State Department employee
while working as a civilian contractor in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

A federal judge in Bush-friendly Houston had dismissed Barker's lawsuit in January 2008, ruling she had to abide by
an employment agreement she signed that made drugged-rape legal as a form of entertainment for Halliburton employees.

Court records filed this week show Barker was awarded a judgment of $2.93 million to settle her arbitration claim against KBR. 

But this is hardly a deterrent for Halliburton to stop their rapes.
Remember, they got secret, off-the-books, no-bid, wartime government contracts for eight years.

This is like fining Charlie Sheen $2 for drunk driving.

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Terrifying Homeless Camp Filled With Palin Drones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5sqvmsKd_M&feature=player_embedded

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Sarah Palin quits signing books?

And her fans are angry? Why, I'm SHOCKED!

Angry crowd shouts at Sarah Palin at her book signing in Noblesville, Indiana on November 19, 2009 after Palin quits and refuses to sign books for around 300 families that spent about 3+ hours getting wristband and another 3+ hours waiting in line to get the Palin book signed. At Borders bookstore it was announced that 1,000 individuals would be given wristbands and could get two books signed each. By the time Sarah Palin quit, there were still about 300 individuals and there families who did not get even one book signed.

The economy must really be in the crapper if 1,000 people waited 6 hours to have an Alaskan grifter sign a $9 book.

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A Roadblock to Reform Gets Torn Down: http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2009/11/roadblock-to-reform-gets-torn-down.html

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Nathalie Blanchard seems to have had one "friend" too many on her Facebook page. The Quebec woman is on long-term sick leave but posted pictures of herself on the beach and enjoying a show with the Chippendales. One of the viewers was the insurance company paying for her total disability due to depression from her job at IBM.

Story here.

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Donald Giles would appear to have the trifecta of mental incompetence arguments against execution. He is a paranoid schizophrenic with an IQ of 61 and a history of suicide attempts and depression. However, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Martin McDonald has ruled that Giles, 41, may be put to death if the jury so rules in his trial for the 2003 murder and robbery of Charles Goodlett.

Story here.

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Andrew Sprung sums up the findings of a new poll:

An Oxfam poll of 704 randomly selected Afghans reveals untold suffering-- 1 in 5 say they've been tortured, three quarters have been forced to leave their homes at some point in the endless civil war, 43% have had property destroyed. The survey also has what would seem to be some moderately encouraging findings regarding the counterinsurgency: 70% see unemployment and poverty as a key driver of civil war; 48% blame the government's weakness and corruption; 36% point to the Taliban; 25% to interference by neighboring countries; just 18% to the presence of international forces; another 18% to d al Qaeda-- and another 17% to the lack of support from the international community. After 30 years of civil war, only 3% named the current conflict as the most harmful period (though the report cautions that areas where the current fighting is worst are underrepresented).

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Mental health break: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-1e56eyHNI&feature=player_embedded

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Clearly the answer is more free market health care

CIGNA denies hearing implant to child who will never be able to hear if she doesn't get it within the next few months.

Isn't it wonderful that in the right wing's wonderful free market world this child doesn't have to worry about the evil government getting between her doctors and her health care? And the magical Free Market Fairy smiles because that's $20,000 higher bonus that CIGNA's CEO can get next year. Why do you want to make the Free Market Fairy frown by, well, saying that this girl should be receiving the health care that her parents paid insurance money for? Heresy!

So why are we bothering with protecting these bastards, again?

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Paid in Full

Mary Landrieu, on the big advantages of bribery "leverage":

In recent days, Landrieu has sounded more and more open to voting for Reid's measure. She told reporters earlier in the week that she was leaning against the vote, but shifted to neutral on Thursday and earlier Friday. By Friday night, with a stack of health care briefing papers under her arm, Landrieu said was leaning in favor of supporting the procedural motion.

She acknowledged that she had fought for changes to the bill to help people in her state. Reid included an extra $100 million in Medicaid funding for states hit by Hurricane Katrina, which includes Louisiana.

"I'm using as much leverage as I have for the issues that I think are important not just to Louisiana but to broad constituencies throughout this country… In some ways, you can't fix anything unless you keep the debate moving forward but in the other ways, you've got to use the leverage when you've got it to get some things that are important," Landrieu said.

At what point does this shit become indictable under RICO statutes? 

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There's a new birther billboard in Wheat Ridge, Co., off I-70. It's got a picture of President Obama wearing a turban, asking, "President or Jihad?" and exhorting, "Wake up America! Remember Fort Hood":

Obama Billboard

Not to be outdone, the Lafayette County Republican Central Committee in Missouri has one too: 

Missouri GOP Billboard

This billboard replaces one that warned that the socialist "Obama-Nation" is "coming for you." 

 

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