The family business

The Bush family, like the Plantagenets with a bottomless supply of Richard the Thirds.

The country managed to survive broccoli-hating George H.W. Bush without too much damage and then there was his son. The less said the better.

The family always thought that Jeb should be the President, and Jeb is promptly eschewing every principle he pretended to have in trying to do so. First, he managed to be both malevolent and hilarious in dropping his previous positions on immigration to make them tolerable to the right-wing rabble in Iowa and New Hampshire.

And now, there's this:

"Yes. You know, a lot of things in history change over time. I think people will respect the resolve that my brother showed, both in defending the country and the war in Iraq. But history will judge that in a more objective way than today. The war has wound down now and it's still way too early to judge what success it had in providing some degree of stability in the region."

I'd say his brother couldn't have said it better, but he has already said that many times, just badly. And, of course, history is vindicating that Iraq decision all the time.

Ten years and $60 billion in American taxpayer funds later, Iraq is still so unstable and broken that even its leaders question whether U.S. efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation were worth the cost.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I know it seems a frequent theme on this blog

But a lot of people, really suck.

A fitting capper to what they had already done metaphorically

Ugh.

On the morning of Dec. 19, 2012, in a Torrance courtroom, Larry Delassus' heart stopped as he watched his attorney argue his negligence and discrimination case against banking behemoth Wells Fargo.

His death came more than two years after Wells Fargo mistakenly mixed up his Hermosa Beach address with that of a neighbor in the same condo complex. The bank's typo led Wells Fargo to demand that Delassus pay $13,361.90 ­— two years of late property taxes the bank said it had paid on his behalf in order to keep his Wells Fargo mortgage afloat.

But Delassus, a quiet man who suffered from the rare blood-clot disorder Budd-Chiari syndrome and was often hospitalized, didn't owe a penny in taxes

Never quite gotten this, but okay

Let's see Lenin, Mao, Jeremy Bentham oh, and for a limited time only, Pope Formosus.

Its hard sometimes to wade between the legitimate and phony criticism of Chavez.   As Atrios pointed out a few days ago, the American Press does have a real aptitude for hating the leaders or government tells them to hate because of a hidden First Amendment Clause on that copy Nicolas Cage found.

Still, to each their own, but this hardly ever ends well.

Venezuela's acting president says Hugo Chavez's embalmed body will be permanently displayed in a glass casket so that "his people will always have him."

The deal with John McCain and pissing matches is

He'll have them all the time, especially every couple of hours during the night.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) responded to criticism Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has lobbed against him, saying in an interview, ”I treat Sen. McCain with respect, I don’t know if I always get the same in return.” McCain, who opposed Paul’s filibuster of now-CIA Director John Brennan, also referred to Paul, along with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), as “wacko birds” in a separate interview.

Paul's filibuster did at least pull him within one of a stopped-clock, so that I guess is an accomplishment.

Of course, this comes against the "laws of Attaturk's Life"

Sigh,

Soon after reaching perihelion, the comet [Pan-STARRS] may become visible to the naked eye for Northern Hemisphere sky-watchers low in the western horizon just after sunset on March 7, weather permitting, said Raminder Singh Samra, a resident astronomer at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada.

"When viewers look for Pan-STARRS, they should have a clear unobstructed view of the western horizon, as the comet is visible for only a few minutes each night in mid-March," Samra said.

"For best results a clear view of the horizon and dark skies are recommended, and having binoculars will greatly enhance the view for observers in large, bright cities." (Also see "New Comet Discovered—May Become 'One of Brightest in History.'")

About a half-hour to an hour after sunset on the 12th and 13th will be the easiest time to spot the comet, thanks to a young crescent moon.

But back to those "Laws" it is going to be cloudy and rainy/snowy here for the next few days.   There is no astronomical phenomena that will not be obscured by weather in my area.

Hide your face in shame

That THIS happened anywhere, let alone in the United States.

Stephen Slevin, arrested for a DWI and accused of driving a stolen car that he said he borrowed from a friend, was placed in solitary confinement shortly after he arrived at Dona Ana County Detention Center in New Mexico because he declined to post a $40,000 bond. After one medical examination, Slevin, who was severely depressed even before his arrest, was deemed suicidal and placed in a padded isolated cell with no natural light for 23 hours a day. Once in that cell, Slevin faced an insurmountable battle in changing his circumstance, in spite of neglect so severe that his toenails grew to curl around his foot, he pulled out his own decaying tooth and fungus grew on his face. He sent letters saying “I’m afraid to close my eyes” and “I don’t know much longer I can go on.” But the only response he received was greater sedation, his lawyer told NBC News. After two years in this circumstance, the charges against Slevin were dropped and he was released, having never been found guilty of any crime.

Slevin recently prevailed in a lawsuit which cost the taxpayers a large, large verdict. Slevin's jailers should be in jail.

[The] evidence included letters written by Plaintiff seeking help, and sick call requests documenting Plaintiff’s suffering from bed sores on his thighs, fungus growing on his face, rotting teeth, pain, inability to sleep and nightmares where he could not sleep. … Medical records kept by the Detention Center similarly documented Plaintiff’s experience of pain and suffering, and the lack of treatment for his many medical and dental conditions. … Plaintiff … spent six months along in his cell with virtually no human contact before his release.

Although first attempting to explain away his lack of recreation time by testifying that Plaintiff refused to come out of his cell, [Detention Center Director Christopher] Barela testified that he would not have put his dog in a cell like Plaintiff’s cell and left him there for a month at a time, even if his dog refused to come out. He admitted that, if his dog refused to come out, he would wonder what was wrong with her and take her to the veterinarian. Barela also acknowledged that he knew it was not acceptable to leave his dog or Plaintiff in the conditions in which Plaintiff was left [...]

With regard to the injurious effects of administrative confinement on Plaintiff, his expert, Dr. Grasisan,  … testified that Plaintiff was “more massively impaired by the PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, than [he] ha[d] ever seen in [his] entire professional life.” According to Dr. Grassian’s testimony, Plaintiff’s life “is kind of torture.”

You stay classy...and creepy Conservatives

Cripes!  What. An. Asshole.


As Blue Texan points out not only is this just offensive on its face, but the person referred to is on trial for killing her boyfriend.

Imagine

If public sector hiring was normal instead of austerity based how many jobs would be added and how many additional tax payers we'd have to drive down that deficit the monsters that rule the airwaves the much of the parties caucuses think can only be solved by fucking us?

According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 236,000 jobs were created last month, bringing the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent. Analysts had expected 160,000 jobs.

The private sector created 246,000 jobs, while the public sector again contracted, losing 10,000 jobs. The wider U-6 measure of underemployment fell a tick to 14.3 percent

Hey Dick Cheney is still in the news even if only quasi alive

MoDo had the right amount of paxil when she wrote this -- and there's a forthcoming documentary where he's interviewed and says how AWESOME he is.   Which reminded me of this old chestnut.

Hey the guy who wrote this seems like a halfway decent snarky blogger, wonder what ever happened to him?

Chapter 1:

Dick was born in the house his father built. Dick's father was a sort of a little man, common man. He was a streetcar motorman first, then a farmer, and then he had a lemon ranch. It was the poorest lemon ranch in California Wyoming. He sold it before they found oil on it. And then he was a grocer Lion-Tamer. He was a great man, because he did his job, and every job counts up to the hilt, regardless of what happens.

Nobody will ever write a book, probably, about Dick's mother. Dick's mother was a saint. A saint with eight teats and a dewclaw.

Chapter 2:

When Cheney was just a year and a half, he intercepted Japanese codes that stated they were preparing to attack Midway Island. He promptly sketched a crayola-gram to Admiral Chester Nimitz and changed the course of the war in the Pacific. For his heroism, Nimitz recommended Cheney for the medal of Freedom, but he was denied the award by Fascist-apologist Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Dick got his revenge at the age of four, when on a trip to Warm Springs, Georgia he introduced the resting Roosevelt to his pillow. [Sorry, classified]

Chapter 3:

1948, seven year old Dick Cheney tries to volunteer for the United States Air Force to participate in the Berlin Airlift, the attempt to keep West Berliners fed is known to young Dick as "Germany's second chance to get National Socialism right!". But just before he can bicycle down to the recruitment office he stubs his toe on the coffee table, suffering a nasty hangnail that would likely compromise his flight status. Darn the luck. Fortunately, Dick is able to turn to other priorities and engage in the war at home with incessent red-baiting of fellow second grader milk monitors and playing in Whittaker Chambers' pumpkin patch.

Chapter 4:

Dick hits puberty -- puberty hits back.

Dick waterboards puberty.

Puberty confesses to just about anything Dick asks.

It is a very dark period for Dick's old socks.


Chapter 5: The College Years

1960: Dick attends Yale, having won a scholarship for his High School Senior thesis in late 1958 "Castro's 26th of July Movement, an insurgency in its Last Throes". However, Dick has to leave school early after participating in the 'Kill a Commie for Nixon' program. Neverthless, it is determined by a council of Skull & Bones that Cheney will not be prosecuted because, after all, his victim was a liberal and from a mere middle class family. Dick drinks from Geronimo's skull and departs for Wyoming in 1962.

Dick takes time off from school, working for an electrical company as a lineman. However, in reality, Dick is listening in on phone conversations involving the Kennedy Administration. Later that Year, Dick visits Hollywood and gets a job as Marilyn Monroe's housekeeper going by the name "Eunice".

Dick and his High School Sweetheart Lynne begin sending each other letters and gifts. Lynne sends Dick the heart of a local farmhand, Dick sends Lynne the pelvic bone of a vagrant whose flesh he had boiled away. Their co-dependency grows stronger. On Valentine's Day 1963 Dick sends Lynne a letter that reveals the poet in Dick Cheney's soul:

Miss Vincent,

My regards to you on this February 14, 1963. Without you, my will to power would have stopped when I assumed hall monitor duties in junior high after Tim Wilson's 'little accident'. You have given me the drive to attain the highest levels of executive authority as well as introduced me to the consumption of human flesh. I look forward to maintaining a respectful distance from you for years to come.

Sincerely,

Richard B. Cheney

Dick returns to college this time at the University of Wyoming, to be closer to Lynne and available for late night sessions of passionless dry humping and random euthanizing of the pets of Wyoming Democrats. In the Fall of 1963, Dick who is double majoring in Unethical Behavior and Embezzlement, proposes to Lynne, saying the only thing he wants to do more than get in her pants is get the United States into a War it cannot win. Lynne chuckles, accepts and tells Dick he'll have at least two opportunities to do each. But first, she asks for a blood sacrifice to prove his devotion. Dick is puzzled as to what to do, but then just before Thanksgiving, he hops a train to Dallas.

Mitt Romney, leaving politics to spend more time taking money from other people's families

Late to the party, but he's back in private equity management and I just thought of the headline.

BLOGGING!

The price of being a d-bag

I wonder if the victim of the Dildo-boat assault has a claim pending?

James O’Keefe—the blonde bombshell who set the conservative world of hidden-camera YouTube movies ablaze—has just agreed to a $100,000 settlement to calm down the unjustly fired (and weirdly litigious about it) ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera. According to a copy of the deal, obtained late last night by your wonkettes and viewable after the jump, O’Keefe has also agreed to ink an 11-word non-apology apology, that sources close to reality are calling “insincere” and “suuuuuuuch bullshit.”

"Next time, definitely"

In the late 1990's CNBC money maven James Glassman and a co-author loudly proclaimed everything about the economy was SO awesome the Dow-Jones would be hitting 36,000 by the time George W. Bush eliminated the deficit for good and ended terrorism by August 2001, if I recall.

Missed it by that <------------------------------------------------------------------------->much. 

But like any conservative or corporate apologist there is no amount of being wrong that can keep them from their six and seven-figure gigs while asking for people in the five-figures to be fired. Less than two-years ago, Glassman announced he was wrong then and would apparently always be wrong forever into the future.

Slowly and reluctantly, after three decades writing about finance, I have come to the conclusion that because the world has changed, investment strategy must change with it. The old rulebook, which served us so well for nearly a century, needs revising. The rush of recent bolts from the blue - the attacks of 9/11, the BP oil blowout, the "flash crash" that sent the Dow tumbling 1,000 points in minutes and the unprecedented collapse of U.S. home values - is no fluke.

And now two years later, FLUKE YOU!

Today, the far edge of that time frame is clearly in reach. From its low of 6,547 on March 9, 2009, the Dow has risen 117 percent. Another 117 percent in four years would put it at 31,022, just 16 percentage points shy of the magic number. ... How fast can the U.S. grow? Four percent is attainable, but I’d settle for 3 percent. Get there quickly, and we’ll get to Dow 36,000 quickly, too.

What kind of job can a guy who is wrong all of the time get anyway?

James K. Glassman is executive director of the George W. Bush Institute.

Naturally.

Hey look "real" good faith everybody

Congressional Republicans, proudly as incurious as Bill O'Reilly:

President Obama took 12 Senate Republicans to dinner last night -- the president reportedly paid for the evening out of his own pocket -- in the hopes that some schmoozing might ease the gridlock that has paralyzed much of Washington. By all accounts, the gathering went quite well, but there was one paragraph in one report that stood out for me. From NBC's First Read:

[O]ne senator told us that he learned, for the first time, the actual cuts that the president has put on the table. Leadership hadn't shared that list with them before.

That, my friends, is amazing.

That was fast

The remaining opposition to same sex marriage can be summarized thusly: The Olds, the Scolds, and the Untolds.

Somebody ask John McCain about this

Iowa just got a bit more geologically interesting:

Buried beneath the rocks, dirt, buildings and roads of the city of Decorah, Iowa, lies a 470 million-year-old meteorite crater. Unlike the craters on the pockmarked surfaces of the moon and Mars, this crater can't be seen by looking down at Earth's surface, at least not by the human eye. But recent aerial surveys primarily aimed at getting a better picture of the minerals that underlie the region got a look at the crater structure using instruments that detect the variations in gravity of different types of rock, as well as their ability to conduct electricity.

Decorah is a lovely city on the banks of the Mississippi in Northeast Iowa (and a place yours truly was last to more than 20 years ago -- to confirm that I was indeed being dumped by my then girlfriend [it wasn't that miserable she just accepted what we both knew before I did, it was a sad but mature dumping]) ... oooooh window into my anonymous blogger life...and "Good times".

Explains a hell of a lot about Bill O'Reilly

Ta-Nehisi Coates in regard to self-delusional claims of non-discrimination has this sentence that explains so much about Mr. "The didn't say motherfucking iced tea":

In 1957, neighbors in Levittown, Pa., uniting under the flag of segregation, wrote: “As moral, religious and law-abiding citizens, we feel that we are unprejudiced and undiscriminating in our wish to keep our community a closed community.”

Something not to be reported heavily

Oh p'shaw -- what about how fat Pregant Kim Kardasian is?  THAT'S NEWS!

The improving global economy has triggered a near-record increase in heat-trapping CO2 emissions, according to new statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This makes it unlikely that global warming can be contained, as world leaders had hoped.
Carbon dioxide levels rose 2.67 parts per million in 2012 to just under 395 ppm. The jump was the second highest ever recorded, behind only 1998 — another year that saw tremendous economic activity.

...“January, 2013 also marks the 37th consecutive January and 335th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average.” 

...

Current pollution trends translate to another 2.5 to 4.5 degrees of warming within the next several decades, according to John Reilly, co-director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.

The amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere and the amount being produced by factories are both higher than the worst-case scenarios climate scientists have been relying upon, according to Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann.

This means that the harmful effects of climate change may begin happening more rapidly. The evidence shows that it’s already playing a role in making storms like Hurricane Sandy worse.

Allow me to summarize.

We're fucked.

And Al Gore was fat at various times.

"PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

North Korea, still the "Un":

North Korea is vowing a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States. The harsh rhetoric Thursday comes hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

Lying and being sloppy not a problem for conservatives

Tucker Carlson knows he's stumbled upon a business model at least as successful as his prior one, "My family is loaded".

Despite ABC News' throwing into question the veracity of The Daily Caller's sources for a Nov. 1 report that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) had sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, the site's editor-in-chief doesn't seem bothered in the least. 

"I'm not seeking their approval," Carlson said of detractors in the Post piece. "Why should I care if a bunch of losers on Twitter don't like it?"

I quoted Carlson on Tuesday about how he wants "aggression" from prospective Daily Caller staffers; is hiring journalists, not "wine stewards"; and doesn't care whether they have college degrees.

Wrong/Schmong the only thing that matters is that the shit gets peddled.  

Hey look the world didn't end

And someone filibustered in a traditional manner.

Let's replace the difficult with the unlikely

On the one hand this is already well-know, depressing, and frustrating that the response of professional prosecutors is a shoulder-shrug:

The size of the largest financial institutions has made it difficult for the U.S. Justice Department to bring criminal charges when there’s wrongdoing, Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Criminal charges against a bank -- something that could threaten its existence -- may also endanger the national or global economies in the case of the largest ones, because of their size and interconnectedness. That has “made it difficult for us to prosecute” some of those institutions, Holder said today at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.'

The reasonable response would seem to be -- I somehow thing somebody who wants to make a crapload of money will be there to pick up the pieces.

Or there's this obvious solution hat one can talk about:

While Holder didn’t single out any specific institutions, he said bank size was something Congress would “need to consider.”

That's a great idea.  I'm glad Holder took time out from arguing the President can kill anyone anywhere to says it.

However, you know that the biggest lobby of them all and about 80 Senators and 360 Congresspeople they pay off will never allow this to happen for the foreseeable future without a concerted groundswell of voters with an interest in the issue.

So, welcome to the United States of Bank America.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

We'll keep the freeance, you take the peeance.

Who could have anticipated -- the post-anticipatining:

Ten years and $60 billion in American taxpayer funds later, Iraq is still so unstable and broken that even its leaders question whether U.S. efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation were worth the cost.

In his final report to Congress, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen's conclusion was all too clear: Since the invasion a decade ago this month, the U.S. has spent too much money in Iraq for too few results.

The reconstruction effort "grew to a size much larger than was ever anticipated," Bowen told The Associated Press in a preview of his last audit of U.S. funds spent in Iraq, to be released Wednesday. "Not enough was accomplished for the size of the funds expended."

And no one will ever be held accountable.

Twat of the day...and many others

Oh James O'Keefe, how much longer does that parole last?



I'm pretty sure no human being should have to read the words of James O'Keefe on a "Hooker Scandal".

Great...when can I leave my shoes on?

Just wondering?

Starting April 25, passengers flying on U.S. flights will be allowed to carry small pocket knives – blades less than 6-centimeters, up to two golf clubs, ski poles, as well as sporting sticks used for hockey, lacrosse, and billiards. Baseball bats will remain on the no-fly list, though wiffle-ball bats and souvenir baseball bats (less than 24-inches long) will be allowed.

Not overly praising the guy

But Billmon retweeting Greg Palast with a nice pithy summary for those anxious to talk too much trash in regard to the now deceased Hugo Chavez:

When did they start naming Snow Storms?

Especially the ones that just hit the Northeast?

I mean they've been having blizzards there a long time.

And so have we in the Midwest.

But I never remember having them named when I was a kid....other than "Two Hours Late, or Closed, Public and Parochial" which was the effective name of every major snowstorm as we listened to WCCO in Minneapolis tell us small town hicks about our pending late morning or day off.

Keep diggin' Tucker

Tucker (that rhymes with somethin' but I just can't place what?) Carlson's Breitbart on the Potomac is certainly digging deeper and back upon itself in defending its checkbook faux journalism:

Here's their explanation:

"The Washington Post mistook one prostitute for another Monday in a report that initially seemed to debunk a November 2012 Daily Caller exposé of New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez," DC editor David Martosko wrote. "While the Post said it had an affidavit from a woman in the Dominican Republic admitting she fabricated claims Menendez paid her for sex, that woman was not one of the two prostitutes TheDC interviewed for a Nov. 1 report."

And cue reality:

Early Tuesday the Daily Caller said the woman who said she was lying was not one of the women featured in their original report. However, the attorney who presented the affidavit Monday identified the woman to reporters in attendance as the female wearing a yellow shirt in a video on the Daily Caller website. […] 

Her account of sex with Menendez in the video interview was almost word-for-word the account given by two other women who were produced for interviews about having sex with the man they knew only as "Bob."

(via the Great Orange Satan)

How dare you filthy beggars speak to me!!!

Bill Keller has trouble with people having the right to criticize him.

In both venues the commenters were rough on me, and quick to categorize me (and dismiss me) in partisan terms: as a shill for the right wing, or a footsoldier of the morally bankrupt center. But the Twitter exchange was markedly meaner and shallower than the comment feed on The Times website. It was like the difference between a relatively civil town meeting and open mike night at a really bad comedy club.

And Bill Keller has the words worst knock-off of Spalding Gray's act.

Reality and its well known liberal bias

Texas Republicans never let a little good policy get in the way of bankrupt ideology:

In the fiscal crunch of 2011, the Legislature cut the state’s family-planning budget by two-thirds, with some lawmakers claiming that they were defunding the “abortion industry.” Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, found that more than 50 family-planning clinics had closed statewide as a result.

Now, amid estimates that the cuts could lead to 24,000 additional 2014-15 births at a cost to taxpayers of $273 million,  lawmakers are seeking a way to restore financing without ruffling feathers.

We cannot afford to feed these freeloadin' infants born because people didn't get their birth control!

Maybe Texas Republicans just need to appoint a Pharaoh -- or somebody to float children out of State? 
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Philly the Motown of blogging

Let's see Atrios, Boo Man, Will Bunch several others that I don't want to guess wrong on...

And, of course, this guy:

For eight years, Palmo has been writing "Whispers in the Loggia," an insider's chronicle of doings in the Catholic hierarchy, at http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/. It has become a must-read for church insiders who value its commentary and analysis - and its leaks.

Now Palmo has been handed the story of a lifetime: the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, cardinals descending on Rome, election of the next pope. It hasn't happened in centuries.
How's he doing it?

Palmo takes out his iPad, his pocket WiFi connection, his cellphone and puts them on a small table in the lounge of the Omni Hotel at Fourth and Chestnut Streets [ed:  in Philadelphia].

"You're looking at it," he says, erupting in a signature laugh, a kind of nervous cackle.

The Wanking Dead

So you're a zombie then?

Four months after he lost to President Barack Obama, Mitt Romney says “it kills me” not to be in the White House

(pic from here)

From Tennessee of course

Criminy, how many assholes can one state produce?

It's always about punishing "the poors".

To fight the specter of poor people spending taxpayer money on drugs, a Republican congressman has reintroduced legislation to make welfare applicants pee in cups to prove they're clean.

Rep. Stephen Fincher's (R-Tenn.) bill would require states to randomly test 20 percent of people receiving benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which spends roughly $16 billion per year supporting poverty-stricken parents with monthly checks averaging $392.

"Currently the federal government enables drug abusers a safety-net by allowing them to participate in the TANF program," Fincher said in a statement. "Instead of having to make the hard-choice between drugs and other essential needs, abusers are able to rely on their monthly check to help them pay their bills."

When Bank of America's Executives have to pee in a cup before they get TARP money maybe we can talk.

Hard to believe that Tucker Carlson's Vanity project is wrong again, huh?

A couple of months ago a videotape surfaced on the Daily Caller website in which a Dominican Republic woman claimed that New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez had been in her nation and subscribed for the Rush Limbaugh Sex Tourist package.

Oh how the denizens of Breitbart on the Beltway danced badly with glee.

And they did set a record, it appears it took a few months to prove them to be have their claims undermined severely.

An escort who appeared on a video claiming Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican Republic police that she was instead paid to make up the claims in a tape recording and has never met or seen the senator before, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.

Someone was engaged in political shenanigans overseas?

Hmmm, how well does Tucker know Sheldon Adelson?

I'm sure the Daily Caller will get right on this news.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

This is brilliant

And stated in less than 140 characters too!

As pretty much always

What Charles Pierce says, since I cannot say it as well:

The one thing I can say for absolute certainty, after watching Willard Romney try to impersonate a carbon-based life-form for over a year, is that "people" got as good a look at who he really is as they have of any candidate in the past 20 years. His problem was that he couldn't even fake being a fake well enough. I look forward to many more appearances from America's Fun Couple in the weeks and months to come, as they keep digging that hole with both hands.

Now THAT'S Rich!

World's most mustachioed glass house:


Oy. Amongst Geraldo's lowlights -- one of many.

Ah the rites of the late winter

A miserable snow storm; the melting snow reveals all the dog crap people haven't picked up; and, of course, the annual gathering of right-wing crazies does something (well many things) revolting.

As of February 27, the American Conservative Union (ACU) website features an article by Dr. Robert Weissberg, a retired University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign political science professor with a second career as a white nationalist. Since the first CPAC conference in 1973, the American Conservative Union has been the principal sponsor of the gathering.

...


At the 2000 American Renaissance conference, Weissberg spoke about "The Relationship between Blacks and Jews." The talk, entitled “Jews and Blacks: Everything the Goyim Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask,” argued that Jews and other whites should unite against racial minorities. They would supposedly sort out their own differences later. 

His talk began with his theories about why Jews support civil rights and black causes, a practice which he termed "an affliction." Weissberg argued that it would be advantageous if Jews were on the side of white nationalists. Weissberg, who is Jewish, claimed that most Jews are actually racist, and that the right wing should be wary of anti-Semitism, lest it lose an "energetic" ally."Certainly, if one were looking around for people about to do in the Jews, why do we worry about the white Christians? Why not concentrate on where the real enemy is, the blacks," he told the crowd. 

Singling out African Americans as the enemy, Weissberg added, "Jews cherish education, they are obsessed with it. Blacks, on the other hand, destroy it. Anybody who's gone to schools in the inner city knows that not only do they hate the idea of learning, but they physically destroy the schools and assault their teachers. (Chuckle) I could go on forever on this point."

He sounds like he'd be REALLY popular at J-date. /sarcasm

Should have never been hired...thought this already happened anyway

I guess it is on to FoxNews:

In a move that caused millions to cheer, Ted Nugent has been fired and will no longer be promoting guns on The Discovery Channel. As it turns out "Ted Nugent's Gun Country" was not a popular program, only drawing 864,000 viewers by the Nielsen Ratings system. Although according to rawstory.com the low ratings were not the reason for the cancellation, but rather Nugent's close connection with the NRA. In the wake of Sandy Hook it is simply bad business for the network to promote guns which is why "American Guns" has also been cancelled.

I hate to say it, but while 864,000 viewers is hardly a megahit, that isn't all that bad for a cable show. But its a repulsive 864,000 viewers no doubt.

Moral quandaries are for the little people

Two stories, one common theme.

In California, the private San Diego Christian College fired 29 year old Teri James because she got pregnant hence proving she had premarital sex with her fiance before marriage.

Naturally the college approached someone to replace Ms. James, that someone was her fiance, the man who had premarital sex with her.

Meanwhile, another prominent religious sex-botherer, Cardinal Keith O'Brien the United Kingdom's highest ranking Catholic spent the last eight years or so speaking against Gay rights.

Well guess what?
 

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the former leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, has admitted his sexual conduct has at times "fallen beneath the standards expected of me". 

He apologised and asked forgiveness from those he had "offended".

...

The cardinal resigned last Monday after three priests and a former priest had made allegations of improper behaviour against him dating back to the 80s.

He made no effort to apologize for being a hypocrite who projected his self-loathing bigotry upon others who don't happen to be powerful nor prominent.

And he probably never will.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

And how dare they!

Mitt Romney still an asshole.

I Lost Because Minorities Love Obamacare

Yeah Mitt and they count for 5/5ths of a vote just like you.

You stay classy

Remember when it was like a 3-week story when some random person submitted a possible ad in a Move-On contest and dared to compare Bush to Hitler?

The right-wing talked about how that should NEVER EVER be done.

Welcome to 'Murica less than a decade later.

National Rifle Association President David Keene on Friday defended the decision by gun rights activists in Albany, N.Y., to wave signs depicting Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as Hitler. The signs were prevalent at a protest Thursday against New York state's new gun regulations, where Keene spoke to a crowd of approximately 5,000 gun rights supporters.

How have you not resigned already?

Cripes!

In defending himself over allegations that he made an inappropriate remark to a 17-year-old girl, Connecticut state Rep. Ernest Hewett (D-New London) may have dug himself into an even deeper hole. 

Hewett was already under fire for telling a high school senior who had described her fear of snakes in a public hearing that, "If you're bashful, I got a snake sitting under my desk here." But when he explained to the Hartford Courant that he did not have a history of questionable behavior, he cited his lack of female interns as evidence of his clean past. He told the Courant:

"I purposely will not have female interns. My intern now is a male. I want to keep it like that. I've had female interns in the past that sit in my office all day. I thought it was totally weird and I didn't want another. As a matter of fact, I went four, maybe six years without having an intern at all because of stuff like that. I have a male intern, the last two I've had were male."

He went on to say that he could not choose to hire only male interns, but would prefer not to be assigned females, because "that way that keeps me good and that keeps everybody else good."

So you willfully discriminate -- because "that way keeps you good"?

Gah!

I agree...but too lazy

To write a great review like Lyndsey Beyerstein does of Lawrence Wright's "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief" book.   Wright wrote what I've mentioned on this blog before is the best book I've read on Al Qaeda, "The Looming Tower" which netted him a Pulitzer.

I've never had the slightest interest in Scientology.   Once I left the religion I was quasi-raised in (two church services a year Christmas and Easter and maybe one or two more) Methodism, I never looked back and have been an agostic leaning to atheism since.   I didn't even know much about Scientology, nor cared -- except it seemed a crackpot, if harmless, bit of new age mumbo jumbo that didn't like mainstream religion but really saved its hatred for mental health professionals.

Wright's book makes it clear that my assumption was correct for the most part -- except for the "harmless" aspect.   Oh, it isn't a huge threat, but it really does abuse many of its rank and file (small as they are in numbers) and grift from its wealthy adherents in a way that even traditional organized religion generally hasn't been able to match in per capital donations.

Wright is a great writer and the book isn't as absorbing to me as "The Looming Tower"  because the main characters are not as malevolent (though they are definitely malevolent) nor as interesting (L. Ron Hubbard smells of snakeoil and shinola from the moment he appears) it is still a tremendous read.

The Democrats have one "Lanny Davis" and that's one too many

But the right-wing has an army of paid shills who will trade in their already miniscule level of credibility to write what some foreign despot wants them to.

Articles written by conservative American pundits, but paid for with money from the government of Malaysia, appeared in a number of U.S. media outlets between 2008 and 2011, BuzzFeed reported on Friday.

The news came out of a filing that conservative commentator and RedState co-founder Joshua Treviño recently made with the U.S. Department of Justice. The disclosure, which was made in late January under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), detailed how Treviño was paid $389,724.70 by the “[g]overnment of Malaysia, its ruling party, or interests closely aligned with either” between May 2008 and April 2011. According to the filing, Treviño did not deal directly with Malaysian representatives or officials. Instead, he had relationships with and was paid by three groups: the British firm FBC Media, the lobbying firm APCO Worldwide, and the now-shuttered online consulting firm David All Group.

Treviño was paid to blog at two websites — malaysiamatters.com and malaysiawatcher.com — which have now gone dark, and also to generate and secure the placement of opinion pieces in U.S. media outlets. The FARA filing also details how Treviño paid thousands of dollars to ten other writers — including the conservative writer Ben Domenech, American Center for Democracy director Rachel Ehrenfeld, and Commentary editor Seth Mandel — to write opinion pieces.

Good news for Ben Domenech as he could just cut and paste shit and get tens of thousands of bucks.

It pays to not even have a vestigial soul.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the facts are lying again"

Another day another GOP myth exposed...another day when it won't matter:

Ron Fournier everybody!

He and Bob Woodward will be here all week apparently forever. Yes, taking out the opposition -- now THAT'S really not how it works Ron. But then he's a master at inappropriate journalism.

CRIMINY!

1.   How stupid is this guy?

2.   Resignation by 5 p.m. TODAY!

Connecticut state Rep. Ernest Hewett (D) made an inappropriate remark to a 17 year old girl testifying about a program that helped her overcome her shyness and get over her fear of snakes, the New London Day reports.

Said the girl: "I am usually a very shy person, and now I am more outgoing. I was able to teach those children about certain things like snakes that we have and the turtles that we have... I want to do something toward that, working with children when I get older."

According to an audiotape of the hearing, Hewett replied: "If you're bashful I got a snake sitting under my desk here."

Funny how he and Cheney re-surface at the same time with the same message

Funny that. 

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier has angrily defended his time as president of the Caribbean country as he appeared in court for the first time after shunning three previous summonses... 

 "I have a positive record and this is in all areas," said Duvalier, who succeeded his late autocratic father Francois "Papa Doc".

This is what is so shocking

About the recalcitrance of so many Republicans (hell the MAJORITY) on their refusal to expand the Violence Against Women Act:

“We have serial rapists on the reservation — that are non-Indian — because they know they can get away with it,” said Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center in Lake Andes, S.D. “Many of these cases just get dropped. Nothing happens. And they know they’re free to hurt again.”

Asetoyer was talking about the loophole that prevents tribal authorities, who have jurisdiction over crimes committed on Indian territory by Indians, from having any authority over non-Indian male abusers. That’s despite the fact that non-Indian men account for an estimated 80 percent of rapes of Indian women, and that the astronomical rate of abuse of Indian women is well documented by the federal government.

And allowing Native American women to be raped by non-Native Americans WITH impunity is what the GOP was willing to continue to allow.

What's next for them, investments in small-pox covered blankets?

It was a group of 19 less crazy Republicans, primarily from areas where the GOP is making itself endangered that pushed the Senate's version ... which fixed this outrage ... that forced the leadership's hand in this case. Naturally this means in 25 years the GOP will be acting like it was ALL their idea.

(Via Booman)

He better watch it...

Or she'll date him for a couple weeks and then write a song about it...that is just like the last song with a couple of words changed.

More than three years after the most famous VMA interruption of all time, Kanye West still thinks Beyoncé is better than Taylor Swift.

And just like last time, it was an awards show that set him off. During a performance in London over the weekend, the rapper ripped into a slew of people and companies during an 11-minute rambling rant … including, once again, the “I Knew You Were Trouble” singer.

“Taylor Swift beat Beyoncé at the Grammys?” he bellowed into the mic during a tirade, which also took aim at Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie,” according to MTV News. “Beyoncé be dancing in heels and s**t.”

ONLY the most important news discussed here.

What?

You want another post about Woodward already?

Naturally

Sucks for you 'merica, but not for us:

The across-the-board reductions set to begin tomorrow might eventually close air-traffic control towers, reduce the number of nutrition vouchers for low-income children and lead to unpaid leave at the Pentagon and other agencies.

The cuts, known as sequestration, will have no impact on the president, U.S. lawmakers and other top government officials. It is especially ironic that Congress, which has the power to avert the reductions, has nothing to lose in the negotiations, said Dan Gordon, former head of federal procurement in the Obama administration. 

“The members of Congress are damaging our country by their refusal to repeal sequestration, and I think the American public would like them to personally feel some of the pain they are imposing,” said Gordon, an associate dean at George Washington University law school in Washington.

Congress is really going to hurt its single digit approval rating.

The Arc of History is long

And sometimes it bends toward justice quicker than you'd think.

While the Supreme Court may try to think differently by bringing back the greatest misses of the 19th Century, politically the issue of same-sex marriage is going forward...quickly.

As state officials make their case for gay marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court, a new Field Poll showed record support in California for same sex unions. “By a nearly two-to-one margin (61% to 32%), California voters approve of allowing same-sex couples to marry,” according to the poll.

This represents a complete reversal in views about the issue from 1977, when the Field Poll conducted its first survey on the topic, and is the highest level of support ever measured by the poll. The poll noted that in 1977 only 28% approved of gay marriage while 59% disapproved. In 2006, it had 44% approval and 50% disapproval.

And not even four and a half years ago, Prop 8 passed in California banning same sex marriage (52% to 48%).

That is pretty dramatic.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Well, well, well, William Tell

Remember Mine Company Asshole of the First Rank, Don Blankenship?

As you "should have anticipated":

A former president of a Massey Energy subsidiary has implicated the coal company's ex-CEO in safety violations as he pleaded guilty to charges resulting from an investigation into the 2010 explosion at a Massey mine that killed 29 men.

David Hughart entered the plea to two federal conspiracy charges on Thursday in federal court in Beckley. He was accused of working with others to ensure miners at Massey operations got advance warning about surprise federal inspections.

When asked by the judge where the orders for the advanced warning came from, Hughart said it came from the company's chief executive officer. The CEO at the time, Don Blankenship, was not mentioned by name, and federal prosecutors declined comment after the hearing.

John Roberts ponders "Whether I'm saying Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine is more racist than Highlights?"

I think this answers it...Holy Shitballs, that's racist.

In which the "power of google" demonstrates someone is quite the piece of shit

Oh looky here -- I forgot about this kiss-assery of the past.

November 16, 2005:

Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed. 

In a more than two-hour deposition, Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not believe the information to be classified or sensitive, according to a statement Woodward released yesterday.

And -- of course:

It would also make Woodward, who has been publicly critical of the investigation, the first reporter known to have learned about Plame from a government source. 

Because it might threaten Woodward's precious black-mail like access he's maintained like a ramora to succeeding Administrations for the last 40 years.

And now he's making up non-existent threats.

WHAT.

AN.

ASSHOLE.

But hey, don't credit me, credit 15 seconds on "Google", something no one in the beltway who is paid to "commit journalism" seems capable of doing.

And now JEEBUS, even Tucker Carlson's vanity project "The Daily Caller" is calling out Woodward as a gigantic douche.

But today, things look different. P0litico has posted the exclusive email from Gene Sperling to Woodward. It begins, “I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today.”
(Frightening, I know!)

Sperling’s email eventually does say, “I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.” But this is clearly not a veiled threat of retaliation, but rather a warning that the reporter was about to get the story wrong.

When Woodward tells of being warned he would “regret” challenging Obama, it sounds ominous. But if Politico’s reporting today is correct, it seems much more innocuous than that.

Looks like we were played.

We'll see how this plays out but...

On the same day Justice Roberts asks, "Is it the government’s submission that citizens in the South are more racist than citizens not in the South?”

This happens...

Mississippi Mayor Candidate Found Dead — First Openly Gay Candidate in State He is also African-American. 

Foul play is suspected -- who knows the reason, but when the words "Mississippi"; "African-American"; "Candidate"; "Murder" and "Gay" appear in one sentence it's hard not to suspect the type of assailant it will end up being.

And why is that Mr. Chief Justice?

History and experience.

SLUUUUUUUURRRRRPPPPP!

I'll bet you are:

Der Popenfaust

I have no idea whether the soon to be ex-Pope is gay or not.   I'd add I don't care, but obviously I must care enough to comment on this from the blogosphere's most melodramatic person.

So Benedict’s handsome male companion will continue to live with him, while working for the other Pope during the day. Are we supposed to think that’s, well, a normal arrangement? I wrote a while back about Gänswein’s intense relationship with Ratzinger, while noting Colm Toibin’s review of Angelo Quattrochi’s exploration of Benedict, “Is The Pope Gay?”.

I'm pretty sure just getting to live in the Vatican...let alone getting to retire there; keep everything but your ring and red shoes; all while avoiding any criminal conspiracy charges is ALL outside a normal arrangement.

And that's just before we get to the lifestyle priests are SUPPOSED to maintain to begin with -- which is violated so frequently because it is not at all normal.

All the above doesn't make a person gay or straight.   Just different, very different.

The cobwebs of the recent past

Did I just live through a day where Bob Woodward wanted a President of the United States to wantonly violate the law? Ugh.

Sounds familiar

Figures he'd be Nixonian about it.

Is he first going to talk to his staff and mention his father's "zitrone-ranch" or how "meine Mutter war ein Heiliger"?

"Problem Solved!"

The conservatives of the Supreme Court sure reflected their rich life experiences in discussing the Voting Rights Act yesterday. Of course Antonin Scalia self-proclaimed "originalist" showed that his original thought ends with whatever he heard on FoxNews last week.

Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that the continuation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act represented the "perpetuation of racial entitlement," saying that lawmakers had only voted to renew the act in 2006 because there wasn't anything to be gained politically from voting against it.

That, again, comes from a guy who says legislative intent is bunk. Something is certainly bunk.

How can I explain this in a way he'll understand?

Ugh.

 “Is it the government’s submission that citizens in the South are more racist than citizens not in the South?” Roberts asked.

My suggested response would be...

"You bet your Cracker-Ass they are, Mr. Chief Justice."

 The worlds "Slavery"; "Jim Crow"; "Miscegenation Laws" mean anything to you?

America...ugh

And where else but Tennessee, Alabama, Utah, North Dakota, Louisiana, Texas, Florida?

Gregory Dale Lanier, 35, of Frostproof, Fla., told police Saturday that he and his dog were in their truck in nearby Sebring when the dog kicked a gun that was on the truck's floor, the Highlands Tribune newspaper reported. 

The gun went off, shooting Lanier in the leg, Sebring police said.

...

The incident is only the latest in a string of bizarre shootings in Florida. Just last week, a woman in St. Petersburg was wounded when she was shot by a friend's oven.

Of course they did

Fresh off being repeatedly frustrated in expressing their desire to burn down Mosques, the home of Ernest T. Bass, Esq. and the Scopes Trial continues its proud tradition of cartoon intolerance.

A proposed law in Tennessee would allow student organizations at public colleges to forbid people from joining based solely on their religious beliefs.

State Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), a member of the Tennessee Religious Freedom Caucus, has introduced a new version of a bill that Gov. Bill Haslam (R) vetoed last year after a controversy erupted over Vanderbilt University's non-discrimination policy.

Lemme Guess...

1. They still maintain their own blog.
2. They write under a pseudonym.
3. They cannot bother to think of four more ways to recognize a narcissist because it doesn't affect them personally.


(via HuffPo)

Easy for you to say

Perhaps he just gets to invoke the royal "we"?

Like most soft-spined Americans, you probably have painful memories of the financial crisis and consequent recession. Perhaps you even think of those things as "bad." Fortunately, Jamie Dimon is not like the rest of you losers. That is because, unlike you, Jamie Dimon is CEO of JPMorgan Friggin' Chase, America's greatest bank, which just so happens to snack on financial crises and recessions like so much KIND bar. "This bank is anti-fragile, we actually benefit from downturns," Dimon bragged to his bank's investors at a conference on Tuesday. And it is true! The bank definitely benefited from the last downturn. It got to buy Bear Stearns in a government-backed fire sale, getting itself a brokerage business on the cheap in exchange for shouldering only a few tiresome legal burdens. It also got billions of dollars in government handouts, from $25 billion in TARP funds to billions in savings from low-interest-rate borrowing programs to a permanent subsidy arising from the idea that the government will bail out the bank if it ever gets in trouble.

There's a simple explanation or this

Phenomena:

Shep Smith, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity all saw huge drops in the demo from the same point in 2012. Hannity fell a staggering 35 percent from 2012, and O'Reilly fell 26 percent. It was the two mens' worst performance in the demo since 2006 and 2008, respectively.

Simple demographics explains it. Audience is dying off. To match the brain death that occurred sometime earlier.

BRAINZZZ

One really has to admire, in a sick and sad way, the straight out lack of scruple at FoxNews sometimes.

They love burning coal -- ("It's good for the environment!").

They love nuclear power -- ("Fukushima will prove it's awesome!").

They love fracking natural gas -- ("fracking is as safe as it is awesome!").

And, of course, "drill baby drill!".

However, when it comes to wind power.

OH MY GOD, THE TURBINES WILL KILL US ALL!

It's enough to hope for a meteor hit. Either me or FoxNews headquarters, at this point I may not care which anymore.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

And the GOP's collective response will be "Are not ... I'LL KILL YOU!""

Keep on fuckin' with your AR-15:

At a time when the Republican Party’s image is at a historic low, 62% of the public says the GOP is out of touch with the American people, 56% think it is not open to change and 52% say the party is too extreme.

So he still gets to be a Virgin?

Shouldn't he at least have to wear a T-Shirt that says, "I'm Not the (Holy) Father"? -- it's what the "Maury"-level audience that makes up the hardliners would be into.

Pope Benedict XVI will be known as "emeritus pope" in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock, the Vatican announced Tuesday, again fueling concerns about potential conflicts arising from having both a reigning and a retired pope.

I guess it beats shackles and an Orange jump suit like he might deserve.

I'd say this might have made Dick Cheney's heart skip a beat

But Cheney literally does not have a beating heart.

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) suggested on Saturday that former Vice President Dick Cheney will have to answer in the afterlife for his role in taking the country to war with Iraq. "Congress will not hold anyone to blame," Jones said during a speech in Raleigh, N.C. "Lyndon Johnson's probably rotting in hell right now because of the Vietnam War, and he probably needs to move over for Dick Cheney."

At least LBJ has some mitigating bits of humanity in there. He was at least "tortured" over Vietnam. He did get Civil Rights laws passed and medicaid. Cheney on the other hand has Iraq and torture. So if there's a Hell, he'll be burning it up.

Somehow, this just feels right

This should happen ... all the time.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman brought his basketball skills Tuesday and flamboyant style - tattoos, nose studs and all - to a country with possibly the world's strictest dress code: North Korea.

Good look posting up against the world's greatest player inside the paint, Kim Jong-Un.

Good...and who will listen?

Funny how those completely unaffected usually are the biggest assholes -- while those who went through the experience are the most understanding.

Two top officials who were held hostage in Tehran in 1979 called Monday for expanded diplomatic outreach to the Iranian government... "Only sustained, robust, and comprehensive diplomacy based on the premise of mutual compromise can break this cycle, which threatens to enflame the region," Laingen said. "And until we have an established channel for communication between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic on the many interests we share, our countries will continue to teeter on the brink of war."

But what could they possibly know that Sean Hannity doesn't...other than everything?

It's like there's an agenda or something...

I suppose it is only natural that within the effort to gut the Voting Rights Act -- one of the most successful pieces of legislation in history -- there is an agenda to eliminate voting rights entirely -- well for one type of voter.

William Consovoy also last year argued on behalf of Republican officials in Florida and Ohio, who in both cases were seeking to significantly reduce the days allotted for early voting, which blacks take advantage of more than whites. Consovoy, a former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, is a partner at Wiley Rein, a Washington, D.C., law firm that bills itself as the best in the country for election law. Bert Rein, one of the firm’s principals, also is listed on court documents as representing the plaintiffs.

And of course, there is a bedfellow:

Consovoy, who did not respond to a request for comment from MSNBC.com, will likely find a friendly audience from at least one Justice: his former boss Thomas, who has written that Section 5 is unconstitutional.

I'm sure Mr. Consovoy is paid quite a bit per hour, so that we know his soul's price for being the person who's legacy is depriving people of their rights. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

And the world's hipsters gulp in terror!

Well, it is in the glue they sell when there's assembly required:

Ikea has halted sales of its meatballs in Sweden after meatballs set for sale at its stores in the Czech Republic were found to contain horsemeat.

And the hits keep coming...

Another day another scandal.

Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric has resigned amid allegations of inappropriate behavior made by priests.

The Vatican said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI had formally accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh. The Observer newspaper reported Sunday that the Vatican had been notified of allegations of inappropriate behavior stretching back 30 years.

And of course, you will be shocked that this guy has been a prominent basher of gays for years.

Self-loathe much?

Forever stupid

Continuing his epic comedy the man who picked Sarah Palin to be his VP says...

Republican Senator John McCain on Sunday said his former colleague Chuck Hagel was not qualified to be U.S. defense secretary

Good thing Republicans are going to eliminate "irony" from "Conservopedia".

So I missed the Oscars again

But I imagine the coming freak out over Anne Hathaway's dress and Michelle Obama's mere appearance will keep the right-wing hacks busy for days.

For different reasons.

From your ears to God's lips

Didn't we mock Oral Roberts for this sort of statement a quarter-century ago?

To applause and cheering from the crowd, [the Pope] said he had been "called" by God to devote himself to a quiet life of prayer and reflection.

Funny, years of scandal (most of which occurred under his predecessor John Paul II -- the Ronald Reagan of Popes [i.e. criminally overrated]) and cover up did not seem to be a good enough reason, but the Lord speaks through the process of aging -- doesn't seem very miraculous.

Okay.

Of course, I'm sure this had NOTHING to do with it.

La Repubblica, citing unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, alleged that the investigation revealed a series of scandals involving sex, money and power that touch cardinals, priests and lay people that work in the Vatican. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi declined to comment on La Repubblica's article in a media briefing on Thursday.

History will not be kind to Benedict XVI -- in fact it will probably be even crueler as the failures of John Paul II (of which Ratzinger played a major part) are dumped upon him to preserve the memory of the former. But, like any ancient post that has seen its ups and downs he can take comfort in not even being close to being the worst Pope ever.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

So anything happening this weekend?

I know if the Sequester happens it is partly my fault because I've spent the weekend "Game of Thrones(ing)".

So blame me Khaleesi.

Well at least they're only lying and acting crazy about it

So business as usual for these shitheads.

Gun Activists Warn Obama is Raising a Private Black Army to Massacre White Americans

Are we sure this isn't a preview of the upcoming Arrested Development?

Because if we were to design a twitter page for a right-wing politician -- I'd think this is what we'd figure it would be.

Via Gawker.

Oh this really helps

For those who think the GOP is full of out-and-out racists, here's some more evidence from Iowa Senator, and embarassing twitterer, Chuck Grassley.

Republicans have offered a number of reasons why they oppose the Violence Against Women Act. Some think it’s unconstitutional. Others argue that it’s just a meaningless bill with a patriotic title.

On Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) added a new one: Native Americans supposedly aren’t capable of holding fair trials.

Ugh.

I'm ready for another meteor

It either lands on Louie Gohmert or me, I don't really care which anymore:

Appearing on The Voice of Freedom, Gohmert said he “hoped and prayed” that Congress rejects gun safety legislation, arguing that Americans may need to use the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment to avoid succumbing to Muslims

Theodore Bilbo would be proud.

About everyone else on Earth, ashamed.