Hey, yet another idea to post something when I'm out of ideas (OCD "served")

As I've blogged about before I go out and walk for about two hours every morning and then aim for another hour sometime during the day.

I generally do not listen to music, but rather use the iPhone the way it was intended...like an iPod and listen to podcasts.

What do I listen to?

Well, thank you for letting me pretend you are asking.

Generally comedy and history podcasts.

Some of you may listen to these, or possibly know of others in a similar vein you may know of that I don't.

I am open to suggestions.

Sklarbro Country/County
Harmontown
Doug Loves pot Movies
The Nerdist
Wits
You Made it Weird
The JV Club
The Bugle 
Comedy Bang Bang
Girl on Guy
Men-in-Blazers
The Dead Authors Podcast

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
The History of Byzantium
In Our Time
Stuff You Missed in History Class

Star Talk w/Neil DeGrasse Tyson

So much for uplifting

Whatever warm feelings one may have had about Patrick Stewart and his statements yesterday -- THIS just brings all the despair back even more.

In a stunning decision made worse by the length of time it took to be handed down, the Supreme Court of El Salvador gave a young woman a death sentence on Wednesday by denying “permission” for an abortion needed to save her life. Beatriz (a pseudonym) is now 24 weeks into an extremely high-risk pregnancy, complicated by a severe form of lupus, an autoimmune disease, hypertension, and renal (kidney) failure. Moreover, her pregnancy is not viable. The fetus she is carrying is anencephalic—it does not and will never have a fully formed brain—and can not survive more than a few hours after childbirth, if it survives at all.

Two deaths apparently more awesome than one, as long as a woman is involved -- ugh!

But this is the kind of decision many right-wingers in this country would applaud. There has been an appeal made to Pope Francis to try and intervene.

As Digby notes, you know it's bad when you are asking the the Pope to intervene -- given the Vatican's position on the subject.

Quite a reason to rely upon him

For a guy who never yet met a war he didn't want to either create or become entwined with John McCain sure trusts his judgment (along again, naturally)

U.S. Senator John McCain said on Wednesday, two days after meeting with rebels in Syria, that he is confident the United States can send weapons to fighters in Syria without the risk they will fall into the wrong hands. "We can identify who these people are. We can help the right people," McCain said

Yeah, about your awesome observation skills:

A spokesman for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that it would be "regrettable" if the lawmaker had posed for a photograph with Syrian rebels involved in kidnapping Lebanese Shiite pilgrims.

Time for that "Meet the Press" invite.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Oh this is sooooooo great

Just awesome. Suddenly this blog seems to be chopping up onions, sorry.

Yes, because his track record is impeccable

As the latest Republican to be praised for doing the king of things they ripped Nancy Pelosi for, John McCain expands upon his tremendous track record:

U.S. Senator John McCain said on Wednesday, two days after meeting with rebels in Syria, that he is confident the United States can send weapons to fighters in Syria without the risk they will fall into the wrong hands.

Oh, good plan

Keep fuckin' that chicken:

The Republican Party should ditch any attempts to reach out to the Hispanic vote and instead focus on courting more white voters. That’s the advice of longtime conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly.

Plan more appropriate when "Dixie" playing in background.

What a coincidence...

Suddenly, the soon to have more free-time on her hands has a good reason to come to Iowa again.

A trial date has been set in an Iowa lawsuit alleging that Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., stole and misused an e-mail distribution list maintained by an Iowa home school group during her failed 2012 presidential campaign.

This morning, the seven-day trial in Heki v. Bachmann was scheduled for May 14, 2014, court records show.

Here's a copy of the lawsuit, it is set to take place in Des Moines.  How convenient.

I know we're supposed to pretend to have written the crazy-eyed, crazier-thinking, Bachmann's obituary, but that is not how she thinks.

Who else but her thinks she could run for President and launch her 2016 Campaign in Iowa...while involved in a lawsuit for running an illegal campaign for President in 2012, in Iowa?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

To the surprise of no one

The possible technological advancements of "Google Glass" are augmented by technologies inevitable partner....PORN!

This would be hilarious

If it didn't also involve horrible people.

After years of trying to discipline him, the leaders of al-Qaida's North African branch sent one final letter to their most difficult employee. In page after scathing page, they described how he didn't answer his phone when they called, failed to turn in his expense reports, ignored meetings and refused time and again to carry out orders.

This is something right out of Lawrence Wright's excellent "The Looming Tower" there is an efficient mundane quality to Al Qaeda that isn't discussed much.

Oh, and the whole banality of evil shit.

Well I'm pretty sure it isn't to spend more time with Marcus

In a twist for a Republican, Michele Bachmann is riding the crazy train out of Washington.

Roger Ailes and Jesus already on alternating lines -- one of which may actually exist.

Let's make the government suck

As many of you know there is a never ending amount of bashing of the US Postal Service by members of Congress, especially Republicans (but a number of Democrats too). Oh, it's so inefficient, oh it's terrible, it should be privatized. Even though these same indviduals proclaim themselves lovers of the Constitution and the Postal Service just happens to be the only governmental service actually mentioned in the Constitution. It was never intended to be a "for profit" entity, but a service the founders believed the government owed the people. Well, to hell with that I guess:

...one of the Postal Service's biggest problems has nothing to do with the mail. Its finances sank in fiscal year 2007, shortly after Congress passed the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The act, among other things, required the Postal Service to start pre-funding the health benefits of future retirees 50 years in advance at a rate of about $5.6 billion a year. The year after the act was passed, Postal Service ledgers showed a loss of $5.1 billion.

Only the Defense Department is otherwise required to do this...and as we know, they are not required to operate at a profit, the more they spend the better it appears. There's actually a bill to undo this unbelievably stupid law. But don't count on it, it is too good a fallacy to not be beaten by the Conservatives who made it that way. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Mr. Pierce Weighs In

On the "Burrito Supreme" of Canadian Political Crime Rob Ford:

Pro Tips for rising young pols:a)  bad form to smoke crack; b) very bad form to be videotaped smoking crack; c) extraordinarily bad form to be videotaped smoking crack next to a guy who subsequently gets iced on a downtown street. I am going to post this now before Rob Ford hijacks an airliner and demands to be flown to a Singapore brothel.

Spam

Since the webpage redesign this place has been infested with Spammers.   I have resisted doing an authentication system because, well, I don't like them.

So I'm trying (not really hard, I admit, I have other priorities in life, sorry) to get rid of them without requiring you to authenticate yourself.

Meanwhile, one thing blogger seems to do to handle spammers is pick one post where all spam seems to go.

For example look at this post -- from 2006!   There are hundreds of comments...all spam.

That is fucking scary.  My dog deserves better.

Why couldn't have picked one of my grotesquely insensitive and wrong Ann Coulter posts from those early days (wrong not in mocking Ann Coulter, but cruel otherwise)?

Knowing how to pick 'em

After firing their men's basketball coach and then Athletic Director because they were abusive and enabling respectively...Rutgers stays consistent I guess.

"The mental cruelty that we as a team have suffered is unbearable," the players wrote. Specifically, they said the coach had called them "whores, alcoholics and learning disabled."

In blunt terms, the players wrote, "It has been unanimously decided that this is an irreconcilable issue."

It is nice to know that so many positions of "authority" we have in created or allowed in society (politicians, cops, clerics, and coaches [the latter the only one invented in the last century]) are inhabited by complete sociopaths.

That has really worked out well.

Obviously all power should be invested in bloggers, especially the less than moderately popular ones.

Government isn't about "people" it's made for rich people

Shorter summary of state's not expanding medicare...

Sure we have more of you poor people because we always make the decisions that create more of you -- but now it is time to screw you over once again!

Cue Lee Greenwood -- and if you disagree you are not supporting the troops!

The refusal by about half the states to expand Medicaid will leave millions of poor people ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance under President Obama’s health care law even as many others with higher incomes receive federal subsidies to buy insurance. 

Starting next month, the administration and its allies will conduct a nationwide campaign encouraging Americans to take advantage of new high-quality affordable insurance options. But those options will be unavailable to some of the neediest people in states like Texas, Florida, Kansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, which are refusing to expand Medicaid.

More than half of all people without health insurance live in states that are not planning to expand Medicaid.

Hey, Washington Post

Thanks for your latest contribution to civil discourse and focusing on the important things:

It may say more about Washington than White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler that she’s known in the West Wing for her fabulous shoes.

Yes it may. And it says quite a bit about the Washington Post that this first line is followed by another three hundred words about one of the President's most important advisors.

All of which is dedicated to her choice in footwear. All.Of.It.

So totally almost journalism and completely patronizing.

Good thing as a paper the Washington Post can rely on it's elaborate Diploma Mill Scheme.

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Morals? What are those?

And now modern Republican-esque thought in a nutshell:

The House Homeland Security Committee chairman said on Sunday that he was “offended” that President Obama considered moral questions about U.S. counterterrorism policy in his major speech on national security last week. 

“That’s what bothered me about the president’s speech,” Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said on ABC’s This Week, was “the moral anguishing he was going through.” When asked whether the Obama administration should change its drone policy, King replied, “If it does change it shouldn’t change for moral reasons”

Yes, killing a person or persons should NEVER involve a moral dilemma. 

Just another day ending in "Y" for America

This list is the most depressing around...and there's going to be a new addition:

A gunman randomly firing from his pickup truck killed one person and wounded five, including the sheriff of Concho County, Texas, on Sunday before the suspect was killed in a shootout with law enforcement, officials said.

Authorities recovered an assault rifle, a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the suspect, who was said to be 23 years old and from North Carolina. The name was withheld pending notification of relatives, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

Yep, it's America

I'm betting this record probably falls again over the extended July 4th weekend -- in celebration, of course, of the only Amendment many Americans think they know but have never actually read.

The Transportation Security Administration found a record 65 guns in carry-on luggage last week, just a few weeks after setting a record of 50 firearms found. ... In addition, TSA agents found 12 stun guns, inert grenades, realistic replicas, razor blades, ammunition, and "a lot of sharp pointy things."

And, of course, in true dedication to the original authors of the Second Amendment:

An unloaded musket was recovered at Orlando International Airport.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Somehow it appears everybody missed this salient fact

My only regret about the Rob Ford, the crack smokin' right-wing Mayor, is that he is not American, but merely North American.

How could this guy not be Mayor of a city in the good ol' U.S. of A?

Looking at this from the outside, setting aside that it’s problematic to have a serving mayor caught on tape doing drugs, I’ve had to ask: how does the sitting Mayor end up carousing with Somali crack dealers and smoking crack? Well, we may have an answer. The Globe and Mail has just published a lengthy, very lengthy look at the Ford family. And basically all Ford’s siblings have substantial past ties to the drug trade.

Hello to those of you

Who do not have Netflix.

I do, but I'm am resisting binging.*




(*Binging misses my previous 47 years of dedication)

Somebody is due for a promotion!

FoxNews, which of course is portraying the story of James Rosen as a billion times worse than McCarthy (ironic as the number should be infinity as they love Joe McCarthy) stories continued...

During her syndicated radio show this afternoon, conservative columnist Andrea Tantaros reacted to the Justice Department’s snooping on the Associated Press and Fox reporter James Rosen by decrying “Obama’s America” and telling her audience if they see any Obama voters, “punch them in the face.”

Two sides of the story

It's been hard to really figure out which side of the James Rosen story to cheer against.   The government's use of police powers possibly chilling the First Amendment or FoxNews never ending ability to be assholes.

But while the media itself has somewhat of an agenda in reporting it, it is also clear that Rosen had an agenda as well:

Infrastructure, schminfranstructure

Good thing we can keep affording to give tax breaks to oil companies to avoid those nasty public safety measures that also provide actual jobs!

The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed Thursday evening, dropping two vehicles into the water and injuring three people.

Both the northbound and southbound portions of the bridge collapsed into the river sometime before 7 p.m., according to Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Francis.

Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle.

Obviously the only thing that can keep a bridge from collapsing is another bridge with a gun.

Funny how those talking points come true!

April 2013:

The Republicans who control Nashville rushed through committee a measure to create a state charter school authorizer — a centralized government body that strips school decisions away from local boards. Charter schools approved by the state charger authorizer would have to be funded by local taxpayers whether there was money available or not.

That didn't quite make it, but for-profit Charter Schools won't give up:

John DeBerry, Tennesse State Representative: ‘I think all of us on both sides of the aisle realize that Charter schools allowed us to go in a different direction and to use creativity in the way that we educate.

Beth Harwell, Tennessee Speaker of the House: ‘ It was wonderful to me that our first and most important priority was the quality of the charter schools that we would have in the state of Tennessee. I think I’m most impressed that we really achieved bipartisan support; both Democrats and Republicans see the good that can come from charter schools in this state.’

May 2013: Yeah, about "that good", how are Tennessee Charter Schools achieving that good?

Students are leaving in large numbers at a particularly important time of the school year, and the consequences may have an impact on test scores. Charter schools are literally built on the idea that they will outperform public, zoned schools. They are popular because they promise and deliver results, but some new numbers are raising big questions about charter schools.

One of the first things a visitor sees when stepping into Kipp Academy is a graph that shows how Kipp is outperforming Metro schools in every subject.

However, Kipp Academy is also one of the leaders in another stat that is not something to crow about. When it comes to the net loss of students this year, charter schools are the top eight losers of students.

In short Charter schools are "outperforming" public schools on test scores by dumping their underperforming students on public schools just as testing starts. And then crowing about their awesome results.

Yeah, seems just unfair enough for talking points.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Not enough palms for so many faces to rest upon

Worst. Defense. Ever!

A day after Sergio Garcia caused a major row by making a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, European Tour chief executive George O'Grady used the dated and racially insensitive term "colored" while saying that the European Tour accepts Garcia's apology for saying that he'd serve Woods "fried chicken" for dinner at the U.S. Open.

Yeah, he couldn't complete a pass either.

Wingnut congratulatory self-aggrandizement is weird:

“Tebow is a player who rises to the occasion and delivers big in critical game moments,” Norris wrote. “He reminds me of myself..."

I wonder if Bill Keller

Thinks the NY Times should bring back Jason Blair too?

The president should announce that he has told the Justice Department to appoint an independent investigator with bulldog instincts and bipartisan credibility. The list of candidates could start with Kenneth Starr, who chased down the scandals, real and imagined, of the Clinton presidency.

I wonder how many blue garments Bill Keller stained just thinking about that?

Oh the suffering

How will they abide?

The average CEO salary broke records in 2011 at $9.6 million — and now, that record high has been topped by 2012 salaries, which averaged out to $9.7 million. Health care and media CEOs enjoyed the highest pay, while utility CEOs had the lowest at $7.5 million. Sixty percent of CEOs got a raise last year.

So, "Federalism" then?

The State of Arizona and it's Republican dominated government have tried to stop same-sex marriage, but on an even more local level they are being thwarted:

In a state with a conservative edge, Bisbee, population 5,600, in early April became the first municipality in Arizona to legalize same-sex civil unions. On Tuesday, after threats by Arizona's attorney general to sue Bisbee for exceeding its powers and interfering in state affairs, town leaders tweaked the ordinance to omit references to "spouses" and "marriage" and to refer to its civil unions only as contractual agreements.

But the intent is still the same – to lay down a marker that, inside these city limits, a red state becomes a blue oasis on the issue of gay rights. And Bisbee is not alone.

And it will take a great illogical leap for Jan Brewer and company to claim gays and lesbians cannot enter into contracts.

But I'm sure they'll be up for trying.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

He's still quite an unlit bulb

Blitzer said to Rebecca Vitsmun, who escaped from her house with her 19-month-old son right before the twister tore through it. "You've gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?" Vitsmun hesitates for a moment and smiles. "I -- I'm actually an atheist," she said, laughing off the awkward moment.

Yes, who doesn't want to "thank the Lord" right after -- using that logic -- he sent an F5 tornado to try and kill you and your neighbors? Thanks, God!

Helen Mirren is awesome

A dying boy had a wish to see the Queen -- she couldn't fit him in -- naturally Helen Mirren stepped into the breach and did so in a very Helen Mirren way.

They who yell the loudest

I do not really wish to take too strong a stance pro or con about the claims -- and perhaps claim is too weak -- that the Cincinnati Office of the IRS looked into tax exemption claims from various "Tea Party" groups than others.

But one does have to look at few logical reasons this should probably have occurred in any case.  There are two things true about such groups -- One, they HATE government; Two they REALLY HATE paying taxes. 

The possibility of such a group being a bit shady giving these motivations, I'm going to say a bit higher than most.  It is right in their DNA.

Meanwhile, in news few notice or care about:

Thousands of documents obtained by DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy show how Homeland Security and local law enforcement were obsessed with the Occupy movement and other activists.

You can still punch a hippie all you want -- but don't you dare question the guy wearing a tri-corner hat in the 21st century!

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

My self-serving passive-aggressive quote for today

"Everyone has a weakness, but exceptional is the person with no strengths"

And I feel exceptional!



I do have one question for those of you who run or walk regularly for exercise.  I've been walking 8 to 10 miles a day now for about two and a half months (one of the reasons my posts have been cut down).

Does there ever come a time -- especially for middle-aged people like me -- when something does not hurt?

I mean I've had shin splints; blisters harden into callouses and then gotten blisters on the callouses; the pounding my lower back takes has caused a burning sensation in my upper leg (commonly known as "thigh") and now my right ankle hurts.

None of these is debilitating and I keep on keeping on -- and so far I've lost quite a bit of weight (seven inches plus off my belt size -- which I'm calling the "blogger 35" pounds), but does it ever really end -- do you have some time period when there isn't a new ache or pain? 

Again not complaining (much), just wondering.

One think Ron Fournier could do to help this country

Move to a far away Island, without the internet, with the majority of those who comment on his site. It's like a Yahoo Comments section, only slightly more literate and right-wing.


Take Karl Rove with you...at least there'll be reacharounds.

Moore, Oklahoma

Oklahoma was hit hard by a series of tornado outbreaks. By far the worst appears to be at a school in Moore, Oklahoma. Tornadoes this time of year in that part of the country are not exactly unheard of, but the frequency and intensity of this outbreak is disturbing.

Several organizations are available for providing relief donations, including the Red Cross. The National Weather Service was able to post warnings and probably saved hundreds of lives. Sadly, the tornado occurred so suddenly and powerfully the death toll is so far is still 91 and possibly climbing much higher.

Oklahoma's Senators have a good track record of gumming up the works for disaster relief whenever it is needed.

Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release, Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained "wasteful spending," and identified a series of items he objected to, including "$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies."

Coburn spokesman John Hart on Monday evening confirmed that the senator will seek to ensure that any additional funding for tornado disaster relief in Oklahoma be offset by cuts to federal spending elsewhere in the budget.

Yes, they are still pulling victims from the debris and Tom Coburn's mind is on making sure other poor souls get harmed too. But he'll get credit for consistency, without mentioning the consistency is for being horrible.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

More evidence that reality is ignored by modern politics

In the sixties and seventies environmental regulations succeeded in substantially reducing lead exposure, particularly in the ways it was commonly spread through paint and gasoline emissions. The beneficial result, amongst other things, is the apparently correlation between reducing lead exposure and reducing violent crimes. It is quite apparent and not solely due to the reduced birth rate post-baby boom.

A rather one-sided battle of wits

It would be funny, if it were not so sadly true:

Bill Nye, the harmless children's edu-tainer known as "The Science Guy," managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun. As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own. But don't tell that to the good people of Waco, who were "visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence," according to the Waco Tribune. Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College's Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption. But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: "God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars." The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector. At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled "We believe in God!" and left with three children, thus ensuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they'd always suspected.

And I bet he wants his income taxes cut too

Ah, the "War on Terror" has anything ever been more profitable?

Over the last decade, former Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig, a prominent lawyer, presidential advisor and biowarfare consultant to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, has urged the government to counter what he called a major threat to national security.

Terrorists, he warned, could easily engineer a devastating killer germ: a form of anthrax resistant to common antibiotics.

U.S. intelligence agencies have never established that any nation or terrorist group has made such a weapon, and biodefense scientists say doing so would be very difficult.

Nevermind, can you use fear to make a profit?

Oh yes:

Danzig did this while serving as a director of a biotech startup that won $334 million in federal contracts to supply just such a drug, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

Meanwhile, let's cut more food stamps and Medicare.

Oh, and based on the above, you might think Danzig was a "loyal Bushie".

He's not, he has substantial connections to both Clinton and Obama too.

A bipartisan approach to making a profit on panic.

So ignore this scandal and go back to Benghazi.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

The audio book comes with rimshots

The known unknowns of life. 

Or just a complete unfettered asshole and narcissist.

His latest book, “Rumsfeld’s Rules” suggests he still has lessons to share after a lifetime in politics and business.

And the rules?

1.  It’s easier to get into something than it is to get out.

Yeah, way to LIVE that one Donny, boy.


2.  “I’ve been mistaken so many times, I don’t even blush for it anymore.” – Napoleon

Nope, you just take advances to publish a book of tragic and laughable self-parody.


3. Monitor progress through metrics.

"I am shitfaced Nate Silver!"

This is literally a quote -- and bear in mind, points one and two that proceed this:

“I think that history over time will probably be a better judge than you or I, but I’ve been struck by the amount of criticism that the Bush administration has received and President Bush personally and the attempts to assign blame to him and I think it’s probably not going to sort out that way.”

He says President Bush’s decision to enter Iraq is “something that over time will be better understood.”

Um, how about a hearty Fuck You?!

So, same ol' same ol' then?

Not much of surprise, really:

In a letter to members of Congress, which was obtained by NBC News, Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation (which recently found itself in hot water over the racial IQ theories of the co-author of their widely panned immigration reform study, Jason Richwine, who resigned from the think tank last Friday), urged Republicans on Capitol Hill not to govern, and instead, to focus on the would-be “scandals” plaguing the Obama administration.

You stay classy, asshole

Ugh.

Radio host Pete Santilli made shocking remarks about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, claiming she should be "shot" for being "involved in the killings of American troops."

Santilli hosts a show on his website, but says he's "ready to take my show to national syndication; that is, of course, if the FCC regulated AM/FM radio stations can handle my truth & honesty."

"Hillary Clinton needs to be convicted. She needs to be tried, convicted and shot in the vagina," Santilli said, Right Wing Watch reports. "I want to pull the trigger."

...

 
Santilli also criticized Obama, saying he deserves the same punishment as Clinton.

"Barack Obama needs to be tried, convicted, and shot for crimes against the United States of America," Santilli said. "And if anybody has a problem with that, then you are an enemy of our state."

So is this jackass related to Rick Santilli?

Who could have anticipated?

Global price-fixing of the oil market?

Other than anyone?

How is this guy not deported down here to join the Tea Party

Toronto has a right-wing Mayor named Rob Ford -- who apparently really loves to smoke crack.

But he's got a sweet alibi, says his self-proclaimed lawyer on his hotmail account with the excuse that is essentially 'how do you know he's smoking crack?'

THIS SCANDAL IS TOO AMERICAN FOR CANADA PEOPLE!

So apparently

The "real" Benghazi scandal is the Benghazi "scandal" scandal?

Earlier today, CBS News reported that at least two of the Benghazi e-mails that were leaked by Republicans last Friday were altered. The GOP leak of the altered Benghazi e-mails came five days before the White House released 100 pages of e-mail correspondence regarding the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

Of course they will not

Stunned, I'm sure.

Wal-Mart Stores said it won’t accept an agreement “at this time” to improve fire and building safety in Bangladesh that is supported by labor monitoring groups and was signed by several retailers this week.

Meanwhile...

Part of a shoe factory has collapsed in Cambodia, leaving at least two people dead, officials say.

The concrete roof at the factory in Kampong Speu province, west of Phnom Penh, crashed on to employees as they were working, a police spokesman said.

At least six people were injured, police said. Rescue workers combed through the rubble for several hours before finishing operations.

The never ending walking tour of cemeteries to whistle through

The usual cheerleaders are out to sing the blessings of increased levels of carbon monoxide:

“The Earth has had many-times-higher levels of CO2 in the past,” said Marc Morano, former spokesman for Republican Senator James Inhofe and executive editor of Climate Depot, a blog that posts articles skeptical of climate change. “Americans should welcome the 400 parts-per-million threshold. This means that plants are going to be happy, and this means that global-warming fearmongers are going to be proven wrong.”

Marc Morano, the 21st Centuries Lysenko, here to encourage as much pollution as a smokestack can bellow.

Meanwhile, in reality:

For years, scientists have worried about the impact of climate change in the invaluable Himalayan region. Recent research seems to confirm worries that a warming world is melting one of Earth's most iconic, not to mention tallest, summits: Mount Everest.

Of course, the elimination of glaciers in the Himalayas is no big deal -- they are only the predominant source of fresh water for about one in every four people in the world.  

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I for one would like to state for the record

That Louis Gohmert's asparagus makes your pee smell like shit.

Literally.

How's that for an aspersion?

"Always be the bigger asshole"

Your archetypical National Review contributor ladies and gentlemen.

Well, at least he's taking it well

I'm sure the 27 other people that voted for him are proud:

D Magazine on Tuesday published a shockingly not safe for work voicemail from Dallas City Council candidate Richard P. Sheridan who said that the publication had not done enough to inform voters that his opponent was gay. 

In the voicemail left over the weekend, Sheridan tells reporter Dan Koller that he’s “extremely happy” that “Sodomite” Leland Burk lost to Jennifer Staubach Gates.

“You know, you didn’t post the fact, communicate to voters that he’s gay, and I think I did a pretty good job of communicating to voters,” Sheridan, who only received 28 votes, opines. “You, sir, are cunt, bitch, coward, Mr. Koller. Dan Koller is a cunt, bitch, coward. And I don’t think you have one testicle, sir. You’re a sorry-ass, you’re a disgrace to our city, you’re a propagandist to the Sodomites.

Finally able to dwell in her own alternative reality

Michele Bachmann wears Google Glass, where Marcus wants to have lots of hetero sex and those with one "L" instead of the normal two rule.

Pretty Cool

The I-35W bridge (get more creative bridge names Minnesota!) in Minneapolis after Minnesota made it a dozen states to legalize gay marriage.

Perhaps my favorite poll excerpt

Ever.

A whopping 41 percent of Republicans polled think the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi is the greatest scandal in U.S. history. “One interesting thing about the voters who think Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in American history,” PPP adds, “is that 39% of them don’t actually know where it is. 10% think it’s in Egypt, 9% in Iran, 6% in Cuba, 5% in Syria, 4% in Iraq, and 1% each in North Korea and Liberia with 4% not willing to venture a guess.”

Greatest.Scandal.Ever.  Say the living embodiments of Comic-Book Guy.

Yeah, it's like 12 Benedict Arnolds; 9 XYZ Affairs; 88 Nullification Crises; 35 Mexican-American Wars; like 55,000 Civil Wars; 3,000 Credit Mobiliers; 875 Spanish Flus; 300 Teapot Domes; 84,000 Great Depressions; 9 Million Pearl Harbors; 3,400 Tonkin Gulf Resolutions; 4 billion Watergates; 9 Trillion Iran-Contras; a mere 1.05 Monica Lewinskis; an infinity of Iraq War Resolutions over WMD; and 456 Bankster Induced Economic Collapses -- ALL WRAPPED UP INTO ONE.

More reality to ignore

One would hope this would stop the kicking of the poor and downtrodden...but we know that won't happen until the powers that be made poor and downtrodden jelly.

According to new CBO projections out today, assuming no changes to current law, this year’s deficit will be $642 billion, the lowest since 2008. Chart after the jump …

That comes out to 4.0% of GDP compared to the high of 10.1% in 2009. CBO projects that it will fall to 2.1% by 2015.

Stupidity is all over -- "and they couldn't prevent Jack from being happy"

Still too sophisticated for Leno though:

Legislation to outlaw homophobic discrimination in Isle of Man to be accelerated after lesbian couple prevented from renting a house

Rim-shot optional.

And yes, I'm aware there's an available island joke in there already. I went with the obscure song lyric instead.

Oh, the humanity

I guess the Wurlitzer shall never die:

The Internal Revenue Service, under pressure after admitting it targeted anti-tax Tea Party groups for scrutiny in recent years, also had its eye on at least three Democratic-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status. One of those groups, Emerge America, saw its tax-exempt status denied, forcing it to disclose its donors and pay some taxes. None of the Republican groups have said their applications were rejected.

But at least there's no passive-aggressive race-baiting going on.
Now on to a bipartisan scandal we can all get behind. As opposed to the bullshit ones.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

That's some outreach!

Only fitting that the man the Florida GOP appointed to reach out to Hispanics has resigned and registered as a Democrat.

Next up, Republicans just claim that Marco Rubio is nation's ONLY actual legal Hispanic.

Good for her

It took some guts for someone in her position, not necessarily to do this (it would be nice if more people HAD the resources to have this option), but to come forward and say she had done so.

And hopefully it will help others.

Well, this should go over well

There is some real tone-deafness (at best) at work here:

A prominent Japanese politician has described as "necessary" the system by which women were forced to become prostitutes for World War II troops.

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said on Monday that the "comfort women" gave Japanese soldiers a chance "to rest".

On Tuesday, Japanese ministers tried to distance themselves from his remarks.

Some 200,000 women in territories occupied by Japan during WWII are estimated to have been forced to become sex slaves for troops.

Ugh.

Now they notice

While made up or imaginary scandals (man that Ben Ghazi guy is really getting twitter hits now, huh?) are all over the place...

Nice of the AP to notice what the rest of us have been complaining about for years.

The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.

...

...the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown, but more than 100 journalists work in the offices where phone records were targeted, on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.

And why exactly?

Officials have previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have provided information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United States.

If the U.S. had just dispatched a drone we'd have two constitutionally disturbing uses of power in one.

Give it another Administration or two and it'll happen.

The land of fuck you, honey

Glorious, huh?

Half the jobs in the nation pay less than $34,000 a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A quarter pay below the poverty line for a family of four, less than $23,000 annually. Families that can send another adult to work have done better, but single mothers (and fathers) don’t have that option. Poverty among families with children headed by single mothers exceeds 40 percent. 

Wages for those who work on jobs in the bottom half have been stuck since 1973, increasing just 7 percent.

Only the already wealthy have seen their incomes grow generally...and they've grown A LOT!

Look who's "God-damning America" now?

Hey, at least Reverend Jeremiah Wright is interesting.

Minnesota Congresswoman and former Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann has been conspicuously silent since her nail-biter of a congressional re-election, but was back at her sound bite machine ways this week, calling 9/11 and the Benghazi consulate attacks “judgments from God.”

I think the only "judgment" that will ever be associated with Michele Bachman will be the one rendered over her use of campaign funds in Iowa.

What could be more American

Than this headline?  

It is unclear what sparked the shooting, which happened in the city's 7th Ward on Sunday afternoon. Police say two or three suspects were seen fleeing the area. Police said that, as well as the 12 people with gunshot wounds, one person was injured in the ensuing panic.

It is all part of a typical week of gun incidents in this country, which the NRA would like to have you completely ignore.

Cue Lee Greenwood.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I wonder who

The first Republican candidate will be to change their names to Ben Ghazi?

Well, there's always a future in Chuck Hegel look-a-like contests

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said he may consider leaving the bank where he has held the top post since 2005, if shareholders vote to split his duties, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Shareholders will vote later this month at an annual meeting in Tampa, Florida, on a non-binding proposal to separate the chairman and chief executive roles after a more than $6 billion trading loss last year raised questions about risk oversight.

Boy I can hardly wait until this September 11th

When Republicans ignore 2001 and just celebrate "memorialize" 2012.

Shorter James Inhofe

"The Obama Administration's cover up of Benghazi is the greatest conspiracy of all time, even greater than the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which happens to be totally true by the way."

This does sum it up

Krugman on the Heritage Foundation:

Wheee! The Heritage Foundation is engaged in frantic damage control; not only did its big anti-immigration-reform report turn out to be a steaming heap of, um, bad research, but one of the co-authors turns out to have a serious white supremacist background. 

It would be a terrible thing to happen to a serious think tank. But Heritage isn’t a serious think tank, which means that all of this is just a bit of overdue poetic justice.

...

The truth is that Heritage has never been in the business of doing economic analysis; it’s just a propaganda agency posing as a think tank. And this time it finally caught up with them.

Of course, proving the point, it does appear that the Heritage Foundation has one fan.

Rush Limbaugh...after all they are one of his few remaining sponsors.

Oh, that's good policy

Less a political philosophy than a doomsday cult:

Boehner defended the bill in the Bloomberg interview. “Listen,” he said. “Those who have loaned us money, like in any proceeding, if you will, court proceeding, the bondholders usually get paid first. Same thing here.”

That's a BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDING he's referring to.

Flatulence, then irrelevance

So sad, so really sad:

...trade site Radio Ink quoted a "very high ranking Cumulus official," who said, "Forty-eight of the top 50 network advertisers have 'excluded Rush and Hannity' orders. Every major national ad agency has the same dictate." This statement was in line with other reports about the ad market's hostility towards Limbaugh.

Rush is well on his way to dying old, bitter and probably alone -- as well remembered by history as Father Coughlin.

Who, you ask?

Exactly.

Knowin' how to pick 'em continued

Yesterday I posted about how former Senator, freak, and current Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint managed to put out a factually laughable immigrant bashing report put together in large part by a bigot.

But the bigot, Jason Redwine, is so much, so very much more:

The Heritage Foundation's Jason Richwine, who co-authored the think tank's study claiming immigration reform will cost trillions of dollars, contributed two articles to a "nationalist" website about Hispanic incarceration rates, Yahoo News reported Thursday. Richwine came under fire after the Washington Post reported Wednesday that his Harvard dissertation argued Hispanics have lower IQs than Caucasians and that the United States should screen immigrants based on their IQ scores.

Meanwhile in reality, which is NOT a whiter shade of pale:

A record seven-in-ten (69%) Hispanic high school graduates in the class of 2012 enrolled in college that fall, two percentage points higher than the rate (67%) among their white counterparts, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Looks like it is time for resign again Jim DeMint.

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

And yet another

That makes four, FOUR!, of these in the last week.

A 2-year-old boy died Wednesday after accidentally shooting himself in the head in the Texas town of Corsicana, the Associated Press reported.

The child reportedly found a handgun in a bedroom while his father was in another room.

This came a day after a Florida 3-year-old fatally shot himself with a gun belonging to his uncle, and a week after a 2-year-old girl in Kentucky died after reports that her 5-year-old brother accidentally shot her in the chest.

And within a day or two of that the 13-year old shooting the 6-year old.

Oh, I bet he's scared now...

Dick Morris predicts Benghazi is the beginning of the end of the Obama Presidency.


So, Obama 2016 then.

Sounds fair

Be poor, black, and sell fifty bucks in Meth...10 years no parole.

Or be rich, white, and be responsible for stealing billions more and ruining the lives of tens of thousands (some of whom may have ended up selling Meth?) serve only 4 of 14 years in jail.

Oh the injustices of the system.

Knowin' how to pick 'em

James DeMint resigned from the Senate (as a representative of South Carolina) some months ago -- so he could get a big pay raise to be the head of the conservative Heritage Foundation. What better place to be rewarded with seven-figures at a think tank, when this is your big thought:

DeMint said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn't be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who's sleeping with her boyfriend — she shouldn't be in the classroom.

Classy. Naturally as head of the Heritage Foundation, DeMint used his first big project -- critiquing immigration reform to keep those big "ideas" flowing.

One of the co-authors of the Heritage Study claming immigration reform would add $6.3 trillion to the deficit, Jason Richwine, advocated barring immigrants from entering the United States based on their IQ in 2009.

Really getting their Confederate Dollars' worth the Heritage Foundation.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Another day another grim tribute to the NRA

What is this, the third in the last week at a minimum?

A 3-year-old boy in Tampa, Florida fatally shot himself with his uncle's gun on Tuesday evening, the Tampa Bay Times reports. The boy found the 9mm gun in a backpack in the bedroom he shared with his 29-year-old uncle, Jeffrey D. Walker, and accidentally discharged it. Walker was arrested Tuesday and charged with culpable negligence. He held a concealed weapons permit, authorities told the Tampa Bay Times. The boy's parents, Jasmine Bell, 21, and Trentin Speights, 22, were in their bedroom at the time of the shooting. This comes a day after a 13-year-old fatally shot his 6-year-old sister, also in Florida.

A fucking back pack!!! Way to keep it safe asshole.

This guy just keeps getting better

Charles Ramsay is just more awsome all the time:

No, no, no. Bro, I'm a Christian, an American, and just like you. We bleed same blood, put our pants on the same way. It's just that you got to put that - being a coward, and I don't want to get in nobody's business. You got to put that away for a minute.
[...]

I tell you what you do, give [the reward] to them. Because if folks been following this case since last night, you been following me since last night, you know I got a job anyway. Just went picked it up, paycheck. What that address say? [...] 2203 Seymour. Where are them girls living? Right next door to this paycheck. So yes, take that reward and give it to—that little girl[.]

Make that man KING OF THE POPES! \

Well, go figure

Right-wing talking points wrong again...bring on the new Heritage Foundation nightmare fuel about Immigration reform.

Extended unemployment benefits Congress put in place at the outset of the Great Recession didn't discourage people from taking jobs, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
...

"It did not reduce the job finding rate," Farber told HuffPost. He added the benefits probably helped the economy, however, not to mention the individual people who otherwise might have had no income. "These are people who spend the money you give them."

The findings are similar to 2011 research by Jesse Rothstein of the University of California, Berkeley.

But obviously Princeton and Cal-Berkeley are not prestigious enough Universities.   What do Liberty and Bob Jones say?

Too small for a republic, too large for an insane asylum

Good job South Carolina.

Can hardly wait for that next vote to preserve "traditional values".

Obama's fault

Plague of Locusts descend upon East Coast!

"Last appeared under Clinton in 1996, before that under Carter in 1979, before that Kennedy in 1962, before that Truman in 1945.

SEE THE PATTERN PEOPLE, THE PATTERN!"

I'm just glad that someone invented the internet

Because I'm glad it now belongs to Charles Ramsey.

I just hope it doesn't now try to destroy the guy, because he's a stone cold hero.

Also yes, the man should have free McDonald's for life if he wants...and it will always be McRib season if he wants one.*

Let us just say that America has now found a reason to completely replace Not Joe the Not Plumber with a real, earthy, and sincere 'Murican and he's even from Ohio.




*Somehow this seems like no real reward.

A couple months later than I suspected, but relatively on schedule

He'll be 3/4ths the size of Huckabee by the time he starts visiting Iowa in sixteen months.

He says he did it for his wife and kids, not for his political ambitions. But either way, the political world awoke to news Tuesday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had secretly undergone stomach surgery to lose weight.

Good for him for trying to do something about his weight, but I'm sure it isn't just because he wants to buy suits off the rack.

Republican "Science"

I anxiously await the Heritage Foundation's study on the economic benefits of slavery...to the slave.

On Monday, the Heritage Foundation published a widely panned study arguing that comprehensive immigration reform that allows undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship would cost taxpayers $6.3 trillion, as the population will take advantage of an array of government programs, including, Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, Medicaid, public education, and population-based services like police and parks. 

But the study, which comes out under the leadership of conservative former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), is a sharp departure from a “Backgrounder” the Foundation published in 2006. Then, Heritage noted that “worker migration is a net plus economically” and warned lawmakers against succumbing to “a lopsided, ideological approach that focuses exclusively on border security while ignore migrant workers (or vice versa) is bound to fail.”

Because, well, why not?

Who needs creativity?

Men in Black will be revived for a fourth instalment of the science fiction film saga

America's Concern Troll

With such a sterling history of foreign policy accuracy like this:

"The evidence Colin Powell presented to the United Nations — some of it circumstantial, some of it absolutely bone-chilling in its detail — had to prove to anyone that Iraq not only hasn't accounted for its weapons of mass destruction but without a doubt still retains them. Only a fool — or possibly a Frenchman — could conclude otherwise."

And this:

In a post-Sept. 11 world, I thought the prudent use of violence could be therapeutic.

Richard Cohen is still paid a great deal of money by the same money-losing entity to dispense foreign policy advice like this:

The Syrian situation is spinning out of control. The longer Obama waits to intervene, the harder it becomes to do so. More than 70,000 people have been killed. More than a million Syrians have become refugees. The suffering is vast and the consequences of inaction are catastrophic. The White House is coldly wrong. Obama didn’t misspeak when he said red line. He misspoke when he later suggested that he didn’t mean it.

Self-proclaimed Washington Post "liberal" columnist Richard Cohen has yet to meet a war he wasn't willing to have some other American fight.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Well, shit, now who do we invade?

About that whole chemical weapon thing in Syria:

U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

I guess my vote still stays with "nobody" gets invaded.

From the "But....OF COURSE!" files

Well, well, well...

Over the past five years, David Stein has made a name for himself as a leader for Hollywood's conservatives. As an operator for the popular website Republican Party Animals, he hosted right-wing congressmen and celebrities at parties, and he was a regular on conservative talk shows. But it turns out Stein had a bizarre secret.

Two weeks ago, Stein was unmasked as David Cole, an infamous Holocaust revisionist who questioned the existence of Nazi gas chambers. Throughout the 90s, he was a guest on talk shows like The Phil Donahue Show and The Montel Williams Show, and profiled by the likes of 48 Hours and 60 Minutes.

I'm sure he'd be the first in line to blame FDR/Clinton/Obama with killing Breitbart too.

...and, of course, the Jews.
 

It's a theme day here

Guns, guns, guns, guns....

Joshua Duehr is one of more than 50 sex offenders in Iowa who can carry a gun in public.

“I don’t leave the house without one,” said Duehr, who lives in Dubuque.

Oh and by the way

In the wake of story after story of children shooting children...behold the NRA's advice:

Gun owners should store a gun in their kids’ room, according to a ‘Home Defense Concepts’ seminar offered at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meeting, comments that came just days after the fatal shooting of a two-year-old at the hands of her five-year-old brother.

FOR. FUCKS.SAKE!

It feels like there's one of these everyday now

Dedicated to the NRA:

A six-year-old Florida girl was in critical condition Sunday after being shot by her 13-year-old brother Saturday night in a city just north of Fort Lauderdale.

Neighbors said the two children were playing a game when the shooting occurred shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday in Oakland Park, a city in Broward Country.

"They were playing hide and go seek. I don't know how it went down but he shot his sister,"

Behold the further wonders of austerity!

The eurozone's recession will be even deeper than previously feared this year, the European commission has warned, as it slashed its outlook for crisis-stricken Cyprus and downgraded the prospects of the bloc's biggest economies.

The EU's executive arm now expects GDP in the single currency zone to shrink by 0.4% in 2013, a sharper decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 0.3%. The recovery pencilled in for 2014 will also be slower than expected and the unemployment crisis in the eurozone will persist, the commission said in its spring forecasts.

No matter how much they want to say otherwise, it's pretty clear that that gay guy, John Maynard Keynes, was absolutely right in how important spending is to job growth.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Annnnnnnndddd....no problem whatsoever

Nothing to see (or breathe) here:

Carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere are on the cusp of reaching 400 parts per million for the first time in 3 million years.

The daily CO2 level, measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, was 399.72 parts per million last Thursday, and a few hourly readings had risen to more than 400 parts per million.
''I wish it weren't true but it looks like the world is going to blow through the 400 ppm level without losing a beat,'' said Ralph Keeling, a geologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US, which operates the Hawaiian observatory.

''At this pace we'll hit 450 ppm within a few decades.''

The 450 ppm level is considered to be the point at which the world has a 50 per cent chance of avoiding dangerous climate change. Any higher and the odds of avoiding searing temperature rises of 4 or 5 degrees by the end of the century become prohibitively risky.

Of course, with the exception of cyborg-Cheney all of our political leadership will have died by then...and unlike many of us, not from starvation.

I imagine he had the Star Spangled Banner playing on his cd player...

Your NRA Constitution in Action...

Authorities released terrifying footage of an armed madman shooting up a patrol car in Middlefield, Ohio, turning a routine traffic stop into a combat zone.

Local police told reporters on Friday that they still have no clue why James Gilkerson fired 37 shots at two officers using an AK-47 style assault rifle after the officers pulled him over on March 10, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

‘He got of the vehicle, intending to kill my officers. We don't know why he did it,’ said Middlefield Police Chief Arnold Stanko.

 

 

I just love the digging

It's been a few days but I still enjoy the irony of this:


It's like Jason Collins had the temerity to NOT have a glass closet to come out of .

Being "Gay" does not come with a placard or easy tell all the time Howie.

Unlike being a putz.

Putzdar greater than gaydar.

Slap on the wrist, pending...

It's what we have to settle for apparently.

The regulator of U.S. power markets appears likely to pursue manipulation charges against JPMorgan Chase & Co , analysts said, after a New York Times report on the agency's document that seemed to lay out its case.

The Times said on Friday it reviewed a confidential, 70-page government document that the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent to JPMorgan in March, which alleged the bank manipulated the power market in California and Michigan in 2010 and 2011.

FERC investigators found JPMorgan devised "manipulative schemes" that transformed "money-losing power plants into powerful profit centers," the Times reported, citing the document. It said the bank has until mid-May to respond.

Uh....SYRIA SYRIA SYRIA!!!

Good jobs report.

Republicans must look abroad for clusterfucks...again.

Meanwhile, it is May effing 3rd and it is still snowing.

Although it could be worse, I could still be where I grew up.

Fuck!

The ultimate compromise

I can see where the gun-lobby is headed. We're allowing same-sex marriage. Next year, gun-nuts; they will demand, must be allowed to marry their guns. You know they want to. And why not, as long as they are both loaded -- and you know they are.

A truly emblematic new leader

I imagine, if we tried, we could easily have a half-dozen people sit around a table and when the question posed is, "If you could create the perfect stereotype for the new President of the NRA, what would he (because it's gonna be a guy) be like?"

And after about 30 seconds we would probably come up with this:

1.  He would be from the South.
2.  He would be certain that Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton tried to get the U.N. to take guns away.
3.  He would refer to the Civil War as "The War of Northern Agression".
4.  He'd call Obama a "Euro-peen" Socialist (to which I'd respond, "if only!")
5.  He would look like Yosemite Sam.

Well, four out of five isn't bad.


[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Long-time readers of this blog know a few things about me

1.  Despite my pseudonym, I'm not Turkish.
2.  I get up real early, because I have no life.
3.  I do love a nicely shaped foot.
4.  And the dream of one day seeing Howard Kurtz and yelling, "Fuck you, Howie.  Fuck you!"

It looks like Tina Brown beat me to it.

And not undeservedly.

Guns are not for fearing...

They are clearly objects to be masturbated about:

The Daily Caller discounted the experiences of some victims of gun violence who have promoted stronger gun laws by claiming they suffer from "hoplophobia," a fake psychological disorder defined by the gun rights movement as "the morbid fear of guns."

This baseless attack found in the featured article of Daily Caller's "Guns and Gear" section is the latest salvo from a conservative media that have launched vicious attacks on survivors of gun violence who support reforms to current gun laws.

So getting shot, or knowing someone who has been shot, is an automatic disqualification from having knowledge of guns.

I guess from the Daily Caller's perspective being raped automatically disqualifies someone from recounting their experiences to the police too.

My response is as eloquent as I can muster.

FUCK YOU!

Granted, it inappropriately eloquent, but it will have to do.

This will make you feel better

It really will.

Not just the club for doing this, but for thousands to turn up in the stands...really touching.

This one is on FoxNews

Great job Hannity, I'm sure you're proud:

Mohamed A. Salim, a Muslim cabdriver who served in Iraq and at the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, claims a passenger he picked up last week in Northern Virginia attacked him for being a "jihadist," comparing him to the two men that allegedly carried out the Boston marathon bombing.

“Because I’m a Muslim, he treated me like a piece of trash,” said Salim, who also happens to be an Army reservist, according to the Washington Post. “I love this country. I didn’t deserve this.”

Salim, a 39-year-old man from Great Falls, recorded an 11-minute video which he claims shows Ed Dahlberg spouting obscenities ahead of the alleged assault. Authorities have charged Dahlberg with misdemeanor assault.

“If you’re a Muslim, you’re a [expletive] jihadist,” the passenger says. “You are just as bad as the rest of them.”
The video ends with a blur of motion and audio of Salim asking, “Why are you punching me? Sir, why are you punching me?”
The passenger replies: “You’re a [expletive] Muslim.”

You stay classy, GOP

Typical, sadly:

In a shocking example of Republican indifference to the problems Americans face, the Republican party is distributing a fundraising video today that mocks the background check defeat in Congress recently, using a photo of the grieving mother of a dead Sandy Hook Elementary 6 year old boy in order to brag about the legislation’s defeat.

It's like they took their dickishness and said, turn up the dicks to maximum.

But then again, there is their base.

Eighteen percent of Democrats said an armed revolt “might be necessary,” as compared to 27 percent of independents and 44 percent of Republicans. Support levels were similar among males and females but higher among less educated voters.

One in five or four is bad enough...but nearly half?!!!

There is only one solution...

Oh goody,

According to the payroll giant's latest survey, private employers added 119,000 jobs in April. Economists had been expecting a gain of around 150,000. ADP also cut its March employment figure to 131,000 from the 158,000 reported a month ago...

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, which helps compile the report, said: "Job growth appears to be slowing in response to very significant fiscal headwinds. Tax increases and government spending cuts are beginning to hit the job market. Job growth has slowed across all industries and most significantly among companies that employ between 20 and 499 workers."

And...

The Federal Reserve has explicitly criticised budget cuts imposed by Congress, blaming fiscal policy for holding back the US's economic recovery.

So naturally,

Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.)... said Tuesday that his constituents want even more cuts to kick in. "The people that I've talked to seem to be doing well," Long told local news affiliate KOLR10 News.

Shocking, I know, that Billy Long doesn't talk to many poor people.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]