Sanctimonious much?

How convenient!

In malpractice case, Catholic hospital argues fetuses aren’t people

I do wonder sometimes

If "podcasting" had become popular about a decade earlier if we'd be spared the majority of the wingnut "journalists" because they'd be on iTunes talking about what their 9th level Paladin was up to?

Oh that AWESOME austerity!

The cure that ills:

Unemployment in Spain for people under the age of 25 has now reached 60%, according to officially released figures.

Overall, Spain's unemployment rate has risen to its highest level since measurements began in the 1970s, as a prolonged recession and deep spending cuts have left almost 6 million people out of work at the end of last year.

The nationwide jobless total rose to 26% in the fourth quarter of 2012, or 5.97 million people, according to the National Statistics Institute.

That is up from 25% in the previous quarter, and more than double the European Union average.

The Arc of History...

It says something about our times that a policy shift like this is announced and it is treated as a big story, but not an earth-shaking pronouncement.

The U.S. military is ending its policy of excluding women from combat and will open combat jobs and direct combat units to female troops, CNN has learned. Multiple officials confirm to CNN that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will make the announcement tomorrow and notify Congress of the planned change in policy.

It may be, in part, in that the policy of not allowing direct combat positions to female troops has proved impossible to enforce. Not that there doesn't remain a hell of a lot to do:

The Air Force recorded an "appalling" number of reports of sexual assault last year even as it worked to curb misconduct in the wake of a sex scandal at its training headquarters in Texas, the service's top officer told lawmakers on Wednesday. Gen. Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, said there were 796 reports of cases ranging from inappropriate touching to rape.

The 2012 figure is a nearly 30 percent increase from 2011 when 614 cases were reported. The number could be much greater, Welsh said, because many cases are never reported at all. "Calling these numbers unacceptable does not do the victims justice," Welsh said. "The truth is, these numbers are appalling!

Bringing to mind whether this is a coincidence or a correlation.

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Oh what a surprise

That Brian Kilmeade does not believe in climate science.

I remind you that there's a reason when surrounded by two idiots on television every day Brian Kilmeade is still thought of as "the dumb one".

A Christmas (Horror) Story

Just exactly how is Christmas practiced in the LaPierre household?

Forcing parents to fill out forms to leave a family heirloom to a loved one — standing in line and filling out a bunch of bureaucratic paperwork, just so a grandfather can give a grandson a Christmas gift.

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" is apparently the LaPierre family mantra.

Looks like the American Right

Once again fails to understand Israeli politics (though to be fair...no one understands Israeli politics, including Israeli politicians)

Israel's parliamentary election ended Wednesday in a stunning deadlock between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line bloc and center-left rivals, forcing the badly weakened Israeli leader to scramble to cobble together a coalition of parties from both camps, despite dramatically different views on Mideast peacemaking and other polarizing issues.

Israeli media said that with 99.8 percent of votes counted on Wednesday morning, each bloc had 60 of parliament's 120 seats. Commentators said Netanyahu, who called early elections expecting easy victory, would be tapped to form the next government because the rival camp drew 12 of its 60 seats from Arab parties who've never joined a coalition.

A startlingly strong showing by a political newcomer, the centrist Yesh Atid party, turned pre-election forecasts on their heads and dealt Netanyahu his surprise setback.

Yesh Atid, or There is a Future, a party headed by political newcomer Yair Lapid, is now Netanyahu's most likely partner. Lapid has said he would only join a government committed to sweeping economic changes and a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

Oh, this is "productive"

A never  ending herpes eruption on the global politic -- India vs. Pakistan.

Indian officials are advising residents of strife-torn Kashmir to prepare for a possible nuclear war by building bombproof basements and stockpiling food and water, adding to tensions between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, after deadly cross-border skirmishes in recent weeks.

Two Reasons

People know where to go to get real news coverage...they'll take lame over fictional when the event is real.

And -- let's face it the FoxNews Audience (a) doesn't want reality and (b) doesn't want THIS reality in particular.

CNN was the top-rated cable news network during President Obama's inauguration on Monday.

The network came in first place during the oath and inaugural address (11:45am -12:15pm) among total viewers, drawing 3.136 million viewers in all. MSNBC came in second with 2.273 million total viewers, while Fox News had 1.316 million total viewers.

Barely able to think enough to breathe

Good job Breitbart "writer" -- linking to Stormfront on Martin Luther King Day...kkklassy.

Take that John Galt

It appears that the Supreme Court is still of the opinion that the government has some necessary regulatory powers.

The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to consider reducing the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to set air quality standards, leaving intact a tough new limit on sulfur dioxide emissions in a victory for the Obama administration. Without comment, the court decided not to hear an appeal by Grupo Mexico SAB's Asarco LLC unit of a lower court ruling that upholds a 2010 EPA rule limiting sulfur dioxide in the air to 75 parts per billion over one hour.

Obviously, this is a major reaffirmation that the EPA still has the ability to regulate carbon pollution as well - much to the consternation of tea partiers and FoxNews punditry.

[Cross-Posted at Firedoglake]

Abortions no -- drunk driving yes

Well at the very least Ireland is giving the teabaggers a future trend here.

KERRY COUNTY COUNCILLORS have voted in favour of a motion which would allow people in rural Ireland to have ‘two or three’ drinks and still drive.

He's a real Lady Edith

FoxNews -- the best punditry delusion can buy:

'Downton Abbey' Poses A Threat To Liberals, Says Stuart Varney On 'Fox And Friends'

Yeah, because as history shows us...the economic system of Downton Abbey lasted forever.

If you can't fight fair, the future of the GOP

Unable to face a future where they may have to change with the electorate, the GOP continues the policy of trying to game the system to stay in the past.

Virginia Democrats are raising hell after Republicans unexpectedly rammed a controversial redistricting bill through the state Senate on Monday, capitalizing on the absence of a Democratic lawmaker and civil rights leader who was in Washington for President Barack Obama's second inauguration.

What? Americans aren't persuaded by the likes of Li'l Ricky Santorum?

Who'd of thought it?

Seven in 10 Americans believe Roe v. Wade should stand, according to new data from a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, as the landmark Supreme Court abortion-rights ruling turns 40 on Tuesday. That is the highest level of support for the decision, which established a woman's right to an abortion, since polls began tracking it in 1989.

I'm sure the nutjobs will find this evidence of something

Other than what it is...awesome!

Priorities

Who by this time could not have anticipated this?

Fifteen years before the clergy sex abuse scandal came to light, Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and a top advisor discussed ways to conceal the molestation of children from law enforcement, according to internal Catholic church records released Monday. The archdiocese's failure to purge pedophile clergy and reluctance to cooperate with law enforcement has previously been known.

But the memos written in 1986 and 1987 by Mahony and Msgr. Thomas J. Curry, then the archdiocese's chief advisor on sex abuse cases, offer the strongest evidence yet of a concerted effort by officials in the nation's largest Catholic diocese to shield abusers from police.

Of course, the now Cardinal Mahony didn't let a little obstruction of justice in regard to pedophilia get in the way or his making important moral pronouncements about stuff he feels more outrageous than child abuse -- providing birth control to consenting adults.

Roger Mahony, has taken a hard line against Obama: “I cannot imagine a more a direct, head-on attack against the freedom of conscience. Personally I do not believe there is any fundamental principle that is more important than this, just as the Presidential and Congress election campaigns begin.”

"Freedom of Conscience" is quite a card to play for a guy who protected sexual predators.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Why Michelle Obama is awesome, part infinity

She has an accurate take on John Boehner.

"Selma" "Seneca Falls" and "Stonewall"

A great progressive speech that was the most moving Inaugural Speech I can recall.

There's a Roller-Coaster you do not want to get on

Because I prefer my rides with you know -- an abidance of safety regulations.

Glenn Beck Wants to Create "Independence, USA": An Amusement Park of Ayn Randian Libertarianism

Cry me a effing river

It figures that a guy raised with a country club membership in hand thinks the way to handle slightly higher taxes is to go Galt. 

Phil Mickelson says changes are coming because of taxes and how they affect his family. Is Lefty considering retiring? He won't turn 43 until June. 

Scott Michaux first reported that Mickelson said he was considering retirement after his final round Sunday at the Humana Challenge.

I dunno, but I find it hard to really sympathize with a multimillionaire who is thinking of retiring because he will only be a slightly less unfucking believably rich multimillionaire after taxes.

The "Patriotism" is really moving.

This totally explains

Charlemagne's ability to eat cows whole...and his spidey-sense.

Gamma-ray burst 'hit Earth in 8th Century'

Something you all obviously know

Racist and sexist assholes are everywhere...especially on the radio and across all formats.

Race to the bottom, or at least six feet under

Early on in the Obama Administration one of the first of many retrenchments occurred when the Department of Homeland Security backed off research on the violence of right-wing groups as terrorism. Eventually only one person in DHS even monitored domestic terror groups.

So recently this happened.

West Point released a study which was written in November by the U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center titled, “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right” and the far right is upset. It’s important to note that underneath the title it says, “The views expressed in this report are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy, Department of Defense or U.S. government.” Included in the list of violent offenders are racists, anti-federalists and the anti-abortion movement (which really pisses off the far right).

Cue predictable conservative freak out at places like World News Daily who just cannot understand how people like this guy can be viewed as in any way violent.

Meanwhile in the field of conservative non-violence.

5 People Shot At 3 Different Gun Shows On Gun Appreciation Day

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I'm sensing a sad theme

For today's posts...New Mexico:

A 15-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of two adults and three children, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said.

Last night, police found five people dead at a South Valley home in the 2800 block of Long Lane SW.

A man, a woman, two girls and a boy were found in the home with several gunshot wounds.

Multiple weapons, including an assault type rifle, were found nearby, police said. The investigation is ongoing.

Appreciate this

In addition to the last story, this headline from Think Progress says it all:

UPDATED: 5 People Shot At 3 Different Gun Shows On Gun Appreciation Day

Wayne LaPierre's kind of guy

Oh we don't need any gun control laws at all...nosirreeebob...

They knew the Delano house far too well. It was where Christian Philip Oberender, then 14 years old, had murdered his mother in a shotgun ambush in the family rec room in 1995.

Now, 18 years later, Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson was sending his deputies back to the home where Oberender still lives. Just two days earlier, Olson had scanned the day's shift reports and froze when he tripped over Oberender's name. A scan of a Facebook page then showed firearms spread out like a child's trophies on a bed inside the home, along with notes about the Newtown, Conn., gunman who shot 20 children to death.

What Olson's deputies found in the home was chilling: 13 guns, including semi-automatic rifles, an AK-47, a Tommy gun, assorted shotguns and handguns, including a .50-caliber Desert Eagle.

Even more disturbing was the letter Oberender had written recently to his late mother, Mary: "I am so homicide,'' it said in broken sentences. "I think about killing all the time. The monster want out. He only been out one time and someone die.''

Today, Oberender sits in a Carver County jail cell on a charge of being a felon in possession of firearms. And Olson, who investigated the 1995 murder as a young detective, finds his investigators at the center of a case that exposes the dangerous loopholes in the nation's gun laws and Minnesota's system of criminal background checks.

Even though Oberender killed his mother with a firearm, even though he was committed to the state hospital in St. Peter as mentally ill and dangerous more than a decade ago, he was able to obtain a permit to purchase firearms last May. That piece of paper gave Oberender, now 32, the ability to walk into any licensed Minnesota retailer and buy any assault weapon or pistol on the rack.

Dozens of other Minnesotans judged by a court to be mentally ill have also found that designation no barrier to obtaining deadly weapons.

Perverse.

Naturally

How could this not happen?

(Reuters) - Three people including a retired sheriff's deputy were wounded on Saturday at a gun show in North Carolina when a 12-gauge shotgun accidentally discharged as its owner was taking it out of its case, state officials said. ... Saturday's shooting occurred when Gary Lynn Wilson, 36, of Wilmington, North Carolina, approached the entrance of the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh to have his personal firearm inspected. The shotgun fired as he removed it from its case, according to a statement by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, a host of the gun show.

Nothing like CEO that hates his company's customers

Not that your average Whole Foods is teaming with patchouli and incense, but I'd bet the clientele is far to the left of Wal-Mart.

So sounding like the lost Walton brother is probably not the wisest idea.

Real and Imaginary

I see that ESPN did the "brave" thing and allowed Manti Te'o (well, his agent) to manipulate them and their interviewing to his benefit. However, there still does seem to me to be a difference between imaginary girlfriends and what some folks are alleged to have done to, y'know real women. And yeah, Notre Dame could ask that question too. You'd think the latter might be more worthy of twitter meltdowns and media coverage.

Problems within problems

At least some Republicans (not those with the power to do anything about it mind you) recognize there's a fundamental problem.

location, location, location.

Amen

This is the REAL Notre Dame scandal.

Lizzy Seeberg, 19, was a freshman at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., when she said she was sexually assaulted Aug. 31, 2010, by a Notre Dame player in his room, according to the National Catholic Reporter. The day after the attack, Seeberg reported the assault in a handwritten statement to campus police. In the days that followed, a friend of the player sent her text messages, including one that warned, "Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea," according to National Catholic Reporter. Seeberg killed herself Sept. 10 of that year. 

Investigators first interviewed the football player five days after Seeberg's suicide, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
... 

In Te'o's case, Notre Dame administrators said they hired private investigators to look into the player's fake Internet girlfriend after T'eo reported discovering the hoax. At a Notre Dame press conference on Wednesday, athletic director Jack Swarbrick wept while publicly supporting Te'o, a few hours after the website Deadspin exposed the fakery.

Criticism of Notre Dame mounted Thursday, comparing the school's reaction to the deaths of T'eo's fake girlfriend and to Seeberg. New York magazine summed it up in a headline: "Notre Dame Finds Fake Dead Woman Easier to Talk About Than Real Dead Woman."

Nothing better for the GOP than to keep going down this road

And invoking the spirit of the lovable and ever cuddly John C. Calhoun.

Rand Paul: I will ‘nullify’ ‘King’ Obama’s executive orders on guns

Try to blame "gay marriage" for this

Another month, another beacon of the establishment tied to child abuse.

Scotland Yard tonight launched a full investigation into allegations that Conservative politicians were members of a paedophile ring which abused children in care the 1980s.

Operation Fernbridge will centre on the alleged historic sexual abuse of children at Elm Guest House, in Rocks Lane, a suburban street in Barnes, south-west London.

Residents of a nearby care home run by Richmond Council claim they were sexually assaulted at the property by a network of prominent individuals, including Tory MPs, who used their connections to escape justice.

We have too much in common with the UK sometimes. And the modern Tories are sticking to an only slightly less repellant but similar theme. But yet another instance of how conservatives saying liberals are undermining values is just a sad and tragic case of projection. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Bwahahahaha!!

Good to see FoxNews is as rational as ever

Lower right, that's right, that is the new talking point.

Trying just a bit too hard nowadays.

Words and phrases I'd rather not know

Uh, "Catfishing".

Let's "shoot" this sucker down

One would think there would be some sort of information on a subject like the risks or benefits of having a gun in the home. But such information is scarce. Funny that.

Kellermann found people turned those guns on themselves and others in the house far more often than on intruders. "In other words, a gun kept in the home was 43 times more likely to be involved in the death of a member of the household than to be used in self-defense," he says.

That's a research finding conducted through funding from the CDC. And it is shocking, and demonstrates that the long-pushed notion of keeping a gun at home to be a very, very poor decision in many cases. Well we cannot let that kind of knowledge out.

Lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — held back some money from the CDC and made clear that no federal funds should be used to promote gun control.

Not good enough...

In 2003, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Republican from Kansas, added language to the Justice Department's annual spending bill. It says the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can't release information used to trace guns involved in crime to researchers and members of the public. It also requires the FBI to destroy records on people approved to buy guns within 24 hours.

No data, no research. America, ignorant by law -- and heavily armed.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

This doesn't seem like the best evidence...

From my observation:

Michele Bachmann's high-profile debate coach, Brett O'Donnell, developed an "unnatural" and "Rasputin-like" relationship with his candidate during her failed 2012 presidential campaign, another former aide told BuzzFeed, a charge O'Donnell denies.

Peter Waldron, an evangelical organizer who served as Iowa field coordinator for Bachmann and helped her win the Ames straw poll said O'Donnell exercised an "unusual power over Mrs. Bachmann." Waldron and other former Bachmann staff also currently say the Congresswoman has yet to pay them for debts owned from her short-lived campaign. 

"He prohibited her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann, from sleeping in the same room with wife while on the campaign trail," Waldron said in an email to BuzzFeed.

 Yeah, I'm sure "that" last part was a real rare event.

Well, he is a cartoon supervillain so naturally...

I cannot be surprised this happens:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott may have earned himself a new constituency, but the devil is in the details.

Local news site WPBF.com reported that a group of Satanists plans to hold a rally outside Scott's office on Jan. 25 to support the governor’s signing of a bill that allows students to pray at school events.

Hypocrisy starts at home

This sort of behavior has been made illegal for you -- but in the spirit of hounding Aaron Swartz to death -- not for them.

Over the last four months, employees of the House of Representatives have illegally downloaded dozens of films and TV shows, according to a report shared with Whispers by ScanEye, a website that tracks what IP addresses have downloaded on BitTorrent. BitTorrent is a protocol for sharing large files over the Internet. Unauthorized downloads of copyrighted material is illegal in the U.S.

Good to know there is such respect for the law in Boehner Land.

Or perhaps it is better to make this bi-partisan and declare it the kind of legal respect you should expect in the "Age of the Roaming Drone"?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Don't know much about tennis

But has any American beside the Williams Sisters won anything in Tennis in the last decade?

In the 70s and 80s Americans and Swedes dominated both genders, looks like they (the Americans at least) lost everyone to other sports.

Understanding how "Comedy" works

Look, maybe Krugthulu is right and the President can order a $1 Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin.  He probably is, he's got a Nobel Prize in Economics and I recently failed to be named "Blogger of the Year" or even one of many runners-up by my own self-funded internet publication (damn you, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo! and blog about collecting bottlecaps!).

But how can anybody think that the idea of a single, trillion dollar coin is somehow not a subject that lends itself to humor?

It may be tragically funny, but it is still funny.

Puppy Bowl International Edition

First of all...how'd somebody manage to bring their two young labradors into the stadium?

Second of all...can they play midfield?


Third of all, Turkey's soccer field animal acts beat Englands.

"Let the bombing commence in the name of Jesus"

In an article about the fastest growing segment of American religion...the non-religious -- there is still this part:

"Even with these recent changes the American religious commitments are incredibly stronger than in most other advanced countries in the world," Putnam says. "The average American is slightly more religious than the average Iranian, so we are a very religious country even today."

Compare and Contrast

Colin Powell makes the obvious statement that there is a vein of intolerance in the modern GOP and we get tweets like this:

Go ahead and look at twitter with the hash tag #ColinPowell and you'll find a shitload of similar in about five seconds. Which is remarkably similar to this, after Tina Fey mildly made fun of Taylor Swift:

13 years old, or just as well be.

Whoops

The International Monetary Fund apologizes for any inconvenience:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released research today suggesting that it had significantly underestimated the damage European austerity would do to EU growth rates.

So things have gotten worse because of those austerity policies. But as you know by now, the only viable solution for the damage that has been caused by austerity is...more austerity.

(Reuters) - The worst of the euro zone debt crisis may be over, but governments must not let up on reforms or budget cuts if they want to put the turmoil firmly behind them, the EU's top economic official said on Friday.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Coincidence, I think not

I see what you are up to HuffPo:

Look just sodomize each other with your AK-15

Because it is clear the fellatio isn't working.

An organized "armed-community" in Idaho (naturally).

Wow.

Co-de-dunce-ency.

The Official Joe Scarborough, "I'm sorry that you made me hurt you baby, but it's only because I love you so much" apology.

As off-putting as it sounds.

Unleash *Rim Shot*

Lacks two wet suits but more horrifying just the same:

Lisa Biron, 43, formerly a lawyer for the vehemently anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom, has been found guilty in a court of law of for a variety of child pornography offenses. She is facing a minimum of 25 years in prison.

It took a jury of Lisa Biron's peers less than one hour to convict of her of all charges. The evidence, according to Salon.com, against Biron was damning. It included video she took herself of her 14-year-old daughter having sex with adult men, and a video of Biron forcing herself sexually onto her daughter.

For more and more of these anti-gay bigots it is projection as much as prejudice.

To the surprise of no one, not a straight shooter

Who could have anticipated Wayne LaPierre would unleash a right-wing trope that turns out to be a lie? Oh, yeah, everyone.

The 1938 law signed by Hitler that LaPierre mentions in his book basically does the opposite of what he says it did. “The 1938 revisions completely deregulated the acquisition and transfer of rifles and shotguns, as well as ammunition,” Harcourt wrote. Meanwhile, many more categories of people, including Nazi party members, were exempted from gun ownership regulations altogether, while the legal age of purchase was lowered from 20 to 18, and permit lengths were extended from one year to three years.

I'm sure this will cause Wayne to stop lying and take up something healthier, like actual masturbation. Or not.

In his book, America Disarmed: Inside the U.N. & Obama's Scheme to Destroy the Second Amendment, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre likened the United Nations Small Arms and Light Weapons Destruction Day, held on July 9, 2001, to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels' order that books authored by Jews be publicly burned. LaPierre then suggested that the burning of guns could "help set the stage for mass executions of gun owners" just as Goebbels' order precipitated the mass killing of Jews.

Thanks for keeping it crazy, Wayne. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

They have deprived us of our favorite jokes!!!

The truly disturbing part of all the litany of disturbing garbage that emanates from the pieholes of Trump and Hannity is the clear implication that "political correctness" has deprived them of all the jokes they want to make about a black guy being an ape.

Dear Packers

As I am sure you can see now, facing Joe Webb last week was actually NOT good preparation for facing a quarterback who can both run...and pass.

Perhaps you are simply too dumb

To handle tasks beyond respiration and chewing?

James Yeager, the CEO of Tactical Response, has a new video up. The new line: Hey, I’m really sorry about threatening to kill people. I didn’t mean it. Can I please have my gun carry permit back? 

He acts like he had NO IDEA making a web video in which he threatens to start killing people is beyond a simple misunderstanding.

Waaa-waaah

Oh dear, dear, dear -- and yet awesome:

The head of firearms training company who took to YouTube and Facebook this week to threaten a murderous response to any attempt on the Obama administration's part to "ban assault rifles and impose stricter gun control" has had his handgun carry permit suspended by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security for presenting "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public."

And they'll "hug" those "guns" even harder now

Progress:

Americans who believe being gay is a sin are no longer the majority — not even half — a shift a Southern Baptist-affiliated research group pins on President Barack Obama’s changed opinion of gay marriage.

A November survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, found 37 percent of Americans polled said “yes” when asked if homosexual behavior is a sin.

Forty-five percent said no. Seventeen percent didn’t know.

That’s a major change from LifeWay’s September 2011 survey, when 44 percent said homosexuality was a sin, 43 percent said no and 13 percent didn’t know.

Time for Republicans to throw more money away.

Some wonders never cease, also not wonders

Fresh off portraying Obama as Hitler and Stalin combined, the gun fetishists thought it would classy with a series of "K"s to do this just before the inauguration.

A new coalition of gun rights and conservative groups has proclaimed January 19, 2013, “Gun Appreciation Day” — the group, calling themselves GAD, has begun urging Americans nationwide to show their support for gun ownership by turning out en masse at gun stores, ranges, and shows from coast to coast.

Sick.

Even sicker, the thing that really causes gun sales to surge is a mass shooting...these nuts should just cut out the misdirection and openly endorse those.

The Price of Fame

And who paid it.

(Reuters) - The late British TV presenter Jimmy Savile physically abused hundreds of people over six decades, according to a police-led report on Friday which said he carried out attacks at the BBC and at hospitals where he did voluntary work.
Of his victims, 73 percent were under 18 and 82 percent were female. The oldest was 47 and the youngest just 8.
"Savile's offending footprint was vast, predatory and opportunistic," Commander Peter Spindler told reporters.
Savile, one of the BBC's biggest stars of the 1970s and 80s received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth for charity work. He died in 2011, aged 84, a year before allegations about his abusive behaviour emerged in a TV documentary.
Friday's report said he had committed 214 criminal offences including 34 rapes or serious sexual assaults across the country.

And

 "It is now clear that Savile was hiding in plain sight and using his celebrity status and fund-raising activity to gain uncontrolled access to vulnerable people across six decades," the report said.

Hey, I just remembered

I'm a lawyer AND I'm in Iowa these folks have a hell of a case under Iowa Code Chapter 91A.

To "nit"wit:

Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN), former presidential candidate and a leader of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives in Washington, has yet to pay some of her Iowa presidential campaign staff after one year and in spite of the fact that over $2,000,000* sits in bank accounts at her disposal.

...

 Dr. Peter Waldron, Bachmann for President National Field Coordinator, explained it this way, "Recently Mr. Pollack demanded that each unpaid staff member sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann's campaign in Iowa. In fact, Mr. Pollack insists that each staffer not speak to law enforcement and/or lawyers without first speaking with Mrs. Bachmann's attorneys."

 I'm sure "God" told her to screw 'em.

Funny how that works too

Speaking of money, if you take a bit more of it from the rich folks who have been screwing over the rest of the public, it is amazing what you can do with a budget deficit -- oh, and tossing out the Republicans probably helped.

Gov. Jerry Brown took office two years ago promising that he had the know-how and the fiscal prudence to guide the state out of its financial crisis, and on Thursday he delivered a budget without a deficit.

It's the first time since 2007 that leaders at the Capitol haven't had a deficit to contend with and the first time since the late 1990s that the outlook over future years shows surpluses instead of deficits.

"Money works how?"

Who is really surprised that FoxNews has no fucking clue as to how money works?

Golly, which person do you think should listen to?

This person:

James Yeager -- CEO of Tactical Response, a Tennessee-based company that specializes in firearms and tactical training -- said the White House could spark a civil war if it issues an executive order on gun control. And Yeager said he would be "glad to fire the first shot."

"I'm not fucking putting up with this," he said in a video message posted Wednesday. "I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people."

Or this person:

A high school teacher and a campus supervisor talked a student into surrendering after he opened fire in a classroom, wounding a classmate at a school in California's southern San Joaquin Valley on Thursday morning, police said.

But they weren't good guys ... with guns?

Personally, I'll pass on the guy another sheet to the wind of insanity from Alex Jones, thank you very much.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Unleash the "Nobody could have anticipated" macro

Who could have foreseen that a group calling itself "Fix the Debt" is actually a front group dedicated to the idea that poor and middle class people should suffer because the groups only purpose is to keep rich people's taxes low?

As usual "nobody" only means those involved in television "journalism"?

Oh everything is fine

No health care reform (or gun control) necessary at all...

Americans ranked last (or first, depending on how you look at it) in infant mortality, injury and homicide rates, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, drug abuse, obesity and diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, and disabilities. But don't worry, we managed all this while spending $8,600 a year per person on healthcare, which is more than twice as much Britain, France and Sweden, "even with their universal healthcare systems."

It is always amazing to me that the health care debate came from such ignorance, I suppose it shouldn't.   But all those folks under 65 complaining about their taxes, don't seem to have any desire to notice that their health insurance premiums are disgusting.  Maybe, just maybe, in return for paying say $3,000 a year more in taxes, you pay $5,000 less a year in health insurance premiums AND get better care.

But noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Stewardship...google it

Ladies and Gentlemen, a sterling representative of the Democratic Party:

State Sen. Dick Saslaw does not mince words about his support for uranium mining. A Northern Virginia Democrat who is also the Senate minority leader, Saslaw says burying the radioactive byproduct known as tailings underground should be a solution to environmental concerns. And he says he can’t be concerned about what might happen 100 [years] from now.

Yes, after all Mr. Saslaw will not be here, so why worry about it.

He then ended the interview and went home and filled his lamps with whale oil.

 It's folks like Mr. Saslaw, of course, that undoubtedly don't notice the environment around him collapsing because in the past the same logic applied...except, unlike many of them, he has a chance to be fully informed yet refuses to care.

Awesome.

How about we bury those radioactive tailings in your backyard then, Saslaw?
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Transition

When does the transition for conservatives come from denying global warming to saying regulation isn't needed because it will impede the free market's opportunities to maximize profit from mass starvation?

Just want to know, because we won't see them held accountable for being wrong.

"And THAT'S what the Dominican Republic is for!"

Traveling Viagra for Brains:

Rush Limbaugh: Marriage Equality Is Helping To ‘Normalize Pedophilia’

That sort of stuff is for sex tourism only.

Just another isolated instance (of a horrifying trend)

Time for another round of ... hey the artic is opening up for oil exploration articles in the Wall Street Journal.

The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.2 degrees above normal and a full degree higher than the previous warmest year recorded -- 1998 -- NOAA said in its report Tuesday. All 48 states in the contiguous U.S. had above-average annual temperatures last year, including 19 that broke annual records, from Connecticut through Utah.

Another record year here and around the globe.

Each year since 2001 has been among the warmest on record worldwide

Damn you Al Gore.

The temperature forecast for next Monday by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology is so unprecedented - over 52C - that it has had to add a new colour to the top of its scale, a suitably incandescent purple.

Yeah, but where are the real world effects?

A record-breaking heatwave and high winds across south-eastern Australia have produced some of the worst fire conditions seen in the country, with blazes destroying thousands of hectares of land (video) and threatening properties, but – so far – sparing lives.

' I guess it's a nightmarish balance to last year's biblical flooding. But on to serious issues... [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Steps to fix the economy

1.   Make Giant Trillion Dollar Plaintinum Coin.

2.   Make it hollow.

3.   Tell Koch Brothers, Obama's Kenyan Birth Certificate inside.

4.   Tell Walton family and Papa John same thing.

5.     Accept bids starting at $1 trillion and one dollars, no reserve AND no backsies.

6.     Treat whole country to one Nacho Cheese Dorito Taco each with profit.

7.     Compare shell of Taco to Boehner fleshtone.

8.     Laugh


9.     Spend rest of money on fixing plumbing infrastructure in wake of everyone eating one of those shit awful tacos.

America's Concern Troll

Richard Cohen, who if you dislike those who leer or ogle should be known to you as "ACTION BRENT MUSBURGER!" manages to start off his defense of Chuck Hegel (who I think deserves some defense) with the worst possible way for Richard Cohen to start anything short of "Hey, who's that sexy young intern we just hired?":

Before they were girls, they were women. Before that, they were girls. I am not talking here of the chronology of females but of acceptable usage. Back in the 1970s, for instance, the use of “girl” could trigger a stinging rebuke and the damning charge of male-chauvinist piggism — or why else would a man call a woman a girl? This was the Golden Age of political correctness, which now, it seems, has its last redoubt on, of all places, the opinion pages of the robustly anti-PC Wall Street Journal.

For Richard Cohen to ever start out a column this way is a bit like having Clarence Thomas do the forward for a history of interracial porn called "Chocolate Thunder Down Under" --

But there is it anyway.

Six figures in salary annually for that.

Republicans, bringing people together

The other kind of Citizens' United:

President Barack Obama won a majority of support for his handling of the crisis, as 52 percent of Americans approved of his approach, while 37 percent disapproved. John Boehner, by contrast, saw a 20-point net negative rating, with 31 percent approving and 51 percent disapproving of his handling of the deal.

To be fair with Congressional approval in the single digits this may the the highest rating Boehner gets apart from the Florida Citrus Growers Association.

I have to say

This crazy conspiracy asshole Piers Morgan toyed with last night certainly has a logical hatred for this:

"The number one cause of death in America is suicide, because the they give people suicide mass murder pills!" (He's talking about Prozac.)

Somebody clearly has an aversion to stuff he should get a prescription for.

Hard to believe

That a movement full of crazy people paid to be crazy could be really unpopular once they have a  chance to be crazy on you.

Tell it who's number one!

Oh dear.

Samsung unveils gesture-control TVs at gadget show

The extended middle-finger will take you to FoxNews.

This austerity thing has worked out so well...

It can only be solved by calling for more austerity:

Concerns the UK is “triple-dipping” back into recession rose on Friday, as a closely-watched gauge of the services sector showed output fell for the first time in two years. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) threw up a reading of 48.9 for December, where anything below 50 signals activity in the sector contracted. Nick Beecroft, an analyst at Saxo Capital Markets, called it a “pretty disastrous” result.

And what of the architect of "Fleeced in our time", George Osborne?

Well he's be busy belittling people needing assistance...by trying to reduce the same.

My own research has found benefit claimants desperate to work, whose persistent efforts to find employment clashes with Osborne’s characterisation of those on welfare “sleeping off a life on benefits”.

He's like a pasty non-tearful John Boehner.

By all means let's do that here, triple dip recessions are clearly awesome.


[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Reasons to cheer for a giant meteor, continued

For those who thought Penn State was "worst football story ever"

Meet the program at Steubenville, Ohio.

In a league of their own

When the right-wing's worst ideas spread to their closest friends. When you are borrowing from the intellectual residue of Steve King it is a problem.

Israel is to build a huge steel fence along the boundary between the Golan Heights and Syria amid fears that the civil war could spill over or create an influx of refugees. The pledge from the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, came a few days after the defence ministry announced the near-completion of a 150-mile fence along the southern border with Egypt, aimed mainly at keeping out illegal migrants.

Yeah, that'll work. When are they eliminating their socialist health care system?

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Iowa's Shame

Funny for about four months before November Steve King did his best appearance to appear non-insane and he bamboozled enough central Iowans to keep his seat in Crazytown. Too bad.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution expressly provides that nearly anyone born in the United States is a citizen, regardless of the immigration status of their parents. Yet, despite the Constitution’s clear command, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) wants to ignore our founding document and prevent the children of undocumented immigrants from becoming citizens

Yes, wasting time on unconstitutional laws to attack "anchor babies".

No word on what Michelle Malkin thinks of that.

I thought in the States this is simply known as

Getting to Brunch early:

The first comedian-founded atheist church in England is set to hold its first monthly service tomorrow. Pippa Evans (a "musical improv comedian") and Sanderson Jones (just a regular talking comedian) came up with the idea together.

Another "triumph" for only reading half an Amendment

Wayne LaPierre just got another erection of blood being spilled for the only Amendment he gives a shit about.

Four people including a gunman were killed inside an Aurora, Colo., townhouse Saturday morning following what police say was a hostage situation, 9News reports.

Meanwhile, it's been a while since we've heard of people being taken hostage by a guy wielding a club with nails on it, or a bow and arrow.

Another "free enterprise" darling

About to be exposed as more than a bit of a fraud?

Student standardized-test scores at an award-winning D.C. school dropped dramatically in 2011 after the principal tightened security out of concern about possible cheating, according to a new “Frontline” television documentary to be broadcast Tuesday. The hour-long program raises questions about whether District officials have adequately investigated persistent suspicions that public school employees may have tampered with tests during the tenure of former Chancellor Michelle Rhee.

Ree has become the darling of the media in educational reform on the basis of those inflated scores and an undying ability to self promote. She's the Rudy Giuliani of education-reform bloviators. And, naturally, her actual achievements are tissue-thin.

I'd watch this

Who would not want to watch this fine bit of silver beefcake?

Can’t get enough of Vice President Joe Biden? A petition on the White House website calls for a weekly reality TV featuring Biden at his finest moments... The petition comes one day after Biden’s swearing-in of senators went viral, where he hugged senators’ mothers, doled out dating advice and made an awkward joke about being frisked. If the petition receives 25,000 signatures in one month, the White House will respond to the request.

It would certainly beat 'The Mitch McConnell Show' which is just footage of McConnell sitting in shallow water and eating small fish that get too close to him.

Falafeled of shit

Sometimes the stupidity that forms modern conservatism leaves you with nothing to do but put your head in your hands.

"Asian People Are Not Liberal, You Know, By Nature. They're Usually More Industrious And Hard-Working"

Bill-O forgot to add "inscrutable".

In case you were wondering whether you should cheer for a giant meteorite to hit

This should help tilt the scales to ..."Oh please".

A Court Ruling Todd Akin could love

Congratulations California Supreme Court, really, just sterling 19th century logic. Apparently if you have sex with sleeping married woman who thinks it is her husband...it isn't rape. Really.

And now two years of suck

Ah the first day of a new congress. Full of hope like the first day of school, except the immaturity starts leading to devolution immediately. Still there are some awesome things. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis, first openly gay Senator. Some moving things, like Senator Mark Kirk, R-Ill being returning to the Senate from a major stroke. Of course, there were tears, but there are always tears. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Was wondering what Ben Shapiro was up to

Still no word on when "America" can get a restraining order against the Palin family.

This is a very wise decision

I was born in the Midwest (Minnesota to be precise) and have lived here all my life. This is most wise:

... the Green Bay Packers have moved up last call at Lambeau Field for Saturday night's wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings? Alcohol sales will cease at the beginning of the third quarter instead of the end. The Packers' web site attributed the decision to "the game's unique circumstances: Saturday night, playoffs and a division rival."

Frankly the wisest decision would be to ban alcohol sales at all games involving exclusively the Vikings vs. Packer vs.or Bears no matter what the order.

Save drinking for when the Lions come to town.

Lovely people, part douche

Lovely people

Just lovely,

For the first time since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act does not exist, because House Republicans didn't want the bill to protect immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans — groups added to the bill by the Senate in April — so, after some futile attempts at compromise, they decided they'd rather let the law expire than protect millions of women who desperately need those resources.

Orange Haze

Well the last 24 hours have been quite the display for John Boehner.

* He tells Harry Reid to "f-off"

* His two principal deputies leave him out all alone in voting for the fiscal cliff band-aid.

* And he has Chris Christie calling him a horrible human being while praising Eric Cantor.

Oh and I suppose the latter can be related to this:

"I was chasing the Speaker all over the House floor last night, trying to talk to him and his staff," King said on CNN on Wednesday morning. "He kept telling me, wait until the vote is over, wait until the fiscal cliff vote is over, everything will be taken care of. And then he was gone. He refused to meet with us. He actually yelled at Congressman LoBiondo, saying, 'I'm not meeting with you people.'" LoBiondo spokesman Jason Galanes confirmed that King's account was "accurate."

I'd say it couldn't happen to a more appropriate person...but then I remember what the rest of the people in this story are like.

I guess I still feel for his liver.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

John Boehner's personal crying and drinking day

Just got infinitely more drunken and tearful.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Wednesday said House Speaker John Boehner and congressional Republicans are to blame for the "continued suffering" after superstorm Sandy. "This is not a Republican or Democratic issue," Christie said during a press conference in Trenton. "National disasters happen in red states and blue states and states with Democratic governors and Republican governors. We respond to innocent victims of natural disasters not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans. Or at least we did until last night." "This was the Speaker's decision — his alone," Christie said.

What's more Governor Cankle heartily said he thought Cantor tried his best. Ouch!

However much I booze...

Oh dear,

It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal.

“Go f— yourself,” Boehner sniped as he pointed his finger at Reid, according to multiple sources present.

Reid, a bit startled, replied: “What are you talking about?”

Boehner repeated: “Go f— yourself.”

I'm going to say "keep fucking that chicken"

Because this is one of those times the statement is in better taste than the reality. Politics and the GOP -- always about the IMPORTANT things:

Gov. Tom Corbett scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit against the NCAA over stiff sanctions imposed against Penn State in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. The news conference announcing the filing in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg was set to be held at the university's State College campus.

The Penn State Football program, of course, was sanctioned for turning a blind eye and deaf ear to a lengthy period of sexual abuse toward minors by Jerry Sandusky.

Corbett was on the Board of Regents of PSU as well as Pennsylvania Attorney General during a period of time in which Sandusky was not prosecuted.

Naturally therefore, the blame is on the NCAA.

Start the revolution without me...or gin

Given that his majority whip and his majority leader voted against the fiscal cliff deal (delay) the coup plotting seems rather obvious. Good luck Mr. Tangerine Man.

The aiding and abetting

Hey unemployed, seniors, the disabled, poor kids I know you may be facing cuts in benefits you desperately need and that this stuff does seem to be the essence of government and y'know maintaining any semblance of a quality of life. The rest of you might be concerned about your taxes, or what a fairer share for some might be.

But the fiscal cliff is about other things that the Village takes far more seriously:

In case you were wondering why politics is so screwed up -- politicians take guys like Chris Cillizza seriously -- because they think you take him seriously.

How seriously to they take you?

Not so much.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Somebody gave Wile E. a parasol

Latest fiscal cliff deal passes Senate with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 89 to 8.

It must really suck.

Maybe in 2013, we'll master metaphors

Because we start out the new year having our manufactured phrases running into each other. For we are alleged to be simultaneously "falling off a cliff" while "hitting the ceiling". It's almost as if we're being governed by bad salespeople. Oh, wait. [Cross-posted at Firedoglake]