Headlines - Wednesday April 18

Cool? Great? Really?

Does Tagg Romney think it was cool and great when Ted Nugent called Barack Obama a "piece of sh*t," and when he called Hillary Clinton a "b*tch", during the 2008 campaign - while waving two machine guns in the air? Here's what Nugent said at the time (video below):

"I was in Chicago last week. I said, hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these, you punk [holds up two machine guns]. Obama, he's a piece of sh*t, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let's hear for it. I said Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless b*tch?

Nugent had more violent rhetoric about President Obama this week, after having endorsed Mitt Romney for President. The Secret Service doesn't appear amused:

Ted Nugent's threatening remarks about President Obama at the annual National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis have earned him a follow-up conversation with the Secret Service. On Sunday, the singer remarked that "if Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year." The Secret Service, which investigates all threats against the President, confirmed to New York Magazine's Daily Intel blog that they have in fact flagged Nugent's comment. "We are aware of it, and we'll conduct an appropriate follow up," the agent told the magazine.

Tagg Romney has been silent.

Tagg Romney should be asked whether he still thinks it's "cool" that Ted Nugent is endorsing his dad. Whether he thinks it's cool and great that Ted Nugent called Barack Obama a "piece of sh*t" and Hillary Clinton a "worthless b*tch." But of course, Tagg won't be asked. Because the media is willing to enable Mitt Romney using his own family members as human shields who can act as campaign spokesmen, and embrace even the most radical haters, with impunity.

If a Democrat embraced a hater like Nugent, they'd never hear the end of it. But when a Romney does it, silence. Even Mitt Romney himself embraced Nugent a few days ago. Not a word from the media.

Here's the video of Tagg Romney's idol, Ted Nugent, going after Obama and Clinton with two machine guns in hand.

 

 

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Ann Romney: "I know what it's like to struggle."

 

Here they were 'struggling' in college:

 

Photo h/t Andy

 

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In the old days, if a "doctor" thought that your skin looked too red, the standard prescription was . . . leeches. Fever? Leeches. Rash? Leeches. Bruise? Leeches. In fact, if you seemed to have an unfortunate tendency to get angry, the treatment for that was - you guessed it - leeches.

 

This was not some passing fad. This went on for 2,700 years, throughout Asia and Europe, and then the New World.

 

The leeches actually were grown on leech farms. Doctors bought the leeches in lots, and kept them in an earthenware jar with little breathing holes in it. Whenever a patient "needed" one, the doctor would apply it to the patient. And then the leech would suck the patient's blood out.

 

Yuk.

 

So, basically, whatever was wrong with you, the doctor would attach a blood-sucking parasite to you, and that was supposed to make it better.

 

And that actually sounds very much like the right-wing's economic policies. Whatever might be wrong with the economy, let's just drain all the blood out of it, and see if that helps.

 

Unemployment? Let's cut teacher jobs. Deficit? Let's cut police and firefighter jobs. Trade imbalance? Let's cut sanitation and public transport jobs. Banking crisis? Let's cut nursing jobs.

 

Just bleed that sucker.

 

Yesterday, in the New York Times, Paul Krugman described right-wing economics in a similar way: "suicide by economic crisis." The greedheads who run Europe are exploiting the economic crisis in weaker countries like Greece and Spain to wipe out pensions, benefits, unions and public healthcare everywhere. They don't just want to tear the social safety net. They want to nuke it.

 

The saddest thing about that is all of the pain that it inflicts on the vulnerable and the needy. But the next saddest thing is this:

It just doesn't work. Bleeding a patient with leeches doesn't make him healthy. Even if you bleed him dry.

 

And now the greed-heads are coming for us, with their Ryan Budget and their Medicare vouchers and their Social Security cuts and their Medicaid block grants and their student vouchers and their privatization. Now, they're coming for us.

 

Well, here is my answer:

 

No.

 

Now get lost, you leeches.

 

Courage, Alan Grayson

 

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In a mass proceeding a Catholic men's march this weekend, Bishop Daniel Jenky delivered a homily that appears better suited to an episode of the Glenn Beck Show than to a celebration of religious faith. As part of a lengthy historical lecture on past attacks on the Catholic church, Jenky claimed that President Obama is following in the footsteps of Adolf Hitler:

 

The Church will survive the entrenched corruption and sheer incompetence of our Illinois state government, and even the calculated disdain of the President of the United States, his appointed bureaucrats in HHS, and of the current majority of the federal Senate. . . .

Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care.

In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.

For the record, Hitler tried to systematically exterminate the members of faiths that he did not approve of. Obama, by contrast, wants all working women to have access to contraception, regardless of whether they work for a religious employer. The very suggestion that Obama or his actions even vaguely resemble those of the Third Reich is deeply offensive and calls into question whether Bishop Jenky possesses the most basic understanding of the history of Nazi Germany.

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As of today — which is Equal Pay Day 2012 — women make 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. Over the course of a woman's career, that disparity adds up to more than $430,000 in lost wages for an individual woman. As Center for American Progress economic analyst Matt Separa noted, the pay gap means that women fall behind economically in a number of ways:

Because of this gap women working full time are able to afford less education, housing, transportation, food, and health care for themselves and their families than their male counterparts. As a result women and female-headed households are more likely to be in poverty and less likely to have health insurance. The pay gap translates into a significant economic disadvantage for women and their families, especially when nearly two-thirds (63.9 percent) of women are now either the primary breadwinner or a co-breadwinner, bringing home at least 25 percent of their family's income.

With the money lost over her lifetime, a woman could feed a family of four for 37 years, pay for seven four-year degrees at a public university, or simply save the money for retirement, boosting her quality of life when she leaves the workforce:

For some women, of course, the pay gap is even worse. According to a report from the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Latina women face a pay gap of 40 percent.

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Religious right crazy Tony Perkins says the repeal of DADT and "open homosexuality" caused the Secret Service hooker scandal. Except the Secret Service isn't military and the scandal's not a gay hooker scandal, so whatever the fuck Perkins is trying to say makes no damned sense at all.

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The Fourth Reich Arrives

You knew this was coming.

Please make plans to attend this exciting event, the first quadrennial convention of the Christian Party of America, at which we will introduce our party to the nation. The list of speakers includes Michael Peroutka (former Presidential candidate), Dr. Patrick L. Wooden, Sr. (Pastor of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ), Tami Fitzgerald (Director of Vote for Marriage NC), Jeff Lewis (Co-Director of the Patriot Coalition), Don Watson (CPA National Vice-Chairman), and Clell M. Drumheller, II (CPA National Chairman). Also, there will be various activities for all in attendance. Besides, you will have the opportunity to tour the beautiful eastern North Carolina area.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained on the floor of the senate that he believes passing the Buffet Rule is a waste of time because it won't solve every problem we have overnight.

Meanwhile, he would love to pass the Romney Rule which would exacerbate every problem we have overnight.

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This is so funny you won't even believe it!

This is 100 percent real:

Newt Gingrich bitten by a penguin

The Republican presidential candidate is sporting a small bandage on his finger after getting nipped by a small penguin during his tour of the zoo on Friday. Gingrich was in St. Louis to speak during the National Rifle Association's annual meeting.

I bet his numerous ex-wives wish it wasn't his finger. If you know what I mean.