"...And now the Battle of Pearl Harbor, reenacted by the Women of the Chicopee Townwomens' Guild"

I believe you can see the homage to the original, sans whaletail.

Well, some minor miracles do occur

The Bahrain F1 race gets called off.

Now on to you FIFA and your brilliant placement of the World Cup in 2022 (speaking of kickbacks). Better hope this all works itself out fast.

A more extreme and repellent example

But similar in kind of the relationship between a U.S. Supreme Court justice and unreported payments by conservative money laundering think tanks.

Ciavarella, who took the stand in his own defense, acknowledged to jurors that he failed to report the payments on his tax returns and hid them from the public, but he denied any plot to take kickbacks or extort money.

Well, here's a Wanker of the Day candidate for Atrios

Shorter A.G. Sulzberger

The problem ;people have with Union members is that they don't have to achieve what they have on their merits and through their own hard work and pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.

Like me.

So, in essence, says the guy who has a job because his daddy runs the paper.

(pic from here)

That's awesome

But somewhere Charles Lane is appalled at your lack of class in refusing to condemn the right of workers to collectively bargain because, after all, he's sure you'd agree with him.

Priorities Congressperson, priorities!

6.3 but worse

Happier days before Christchurch Cathedral (via eguide travel at flickr.com)

As it exist today:


(via @matwiseman at twitter)

The earthquake was a 6.3, but like the Haitian earthquake was very shallow magnifying its intensity at the surface. At least 65 are dead. That will undoubtedly grow, but undoubtedly and thankfully because of better construction will not reach the scale of Haiti's devastation.

Here's some statistics

As the Governor of Wisconsin tries to turn the Badger state into Dixie.

Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal.

Their ranking on ACT/SAT scores:
South Carolina - 50th
North Carolina - 49th
Georgia - 48th
Texas - 47th
Virginia - 44th

Wisconsin is currently ranked #2.

Up there with Chuckles the Clown

I'm surprised a 16-ton weight wasn't involved:

A man was shot dead at a Latvian cinema after eating his popcorn too loudly during a screen of Black Swan, according to reports.

I had heard from the Westboro Church there was dangerous munching in that film.






(I apologize in advance)

You don’t matter

With a major protest of the people coalescing around the Union movement in Wisconsin how many labor leaders were on yesterday's chat shows?

Same as usual, zero.

Meanwhile our new Republican Congress has demonstrated its priorities. After voting to prevent funding Planned Parenthood for family planning, the same Congress moved to fund "family planning" for horses.

Good to know where the American people stand with the Republican Party...well not standing really, more prostrate actually.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Forget about this not ending well

The stories about what is happening in Libya right now is absolutely appalling.

Golly

Hard to believe that far more people would show up on the side that is the opposite of the one Joe the Plumber and Andrew Breitbart are on.

Plus, I do love the novelty of "Don't Tread on Me" flags being used to support government against the workin' class.

The governor made things worse for himself by going on CNN and announcing that he had received 19,000 e-mails from the “quiet majority” of Wisconsinites since he made his proposal and claimed that most of them were supportive...

...Mahlon Mitchell, the president of the Wisconsin Professional Firefighters Association, which has been a high-profile participant in the demonstrations, surveyed the crowd while recounting Walker’s boast about the 19,000 e-mails.

“I think I have 19,000 people behind me,” said Mitchell.

Pointing to one edge of the massive audience arrayed before him, he said: “And 20,000 there.”

He pointed to the other edge of the crowd: “And 20,000 there.”

Finally, he pointed down State Street, the thoroughfare that stretches from the Capitol to the University of Wisconsin campus, which was packed with students who have backed the unions: “And 20,000 there.”

Nice job Koch Brothers.

For God's Sake, Don't Forget Your Camera!

You just know that Teabag Nation will wield some truly awesome signs at today's Wisconsin's rallies. Document the atrocities!

Oh, and the Balloon Juice crew has some excellent video and useful tips for how to handle Breitbart and his scooter brigade.

Americans' War on their own history

Comes to fruition, a Gallup poll for President's Day:



Reagan's been getting a free pass from history that began during his Presidency. Greater than Lincoln, Washington or FDR?

Not even at acting.

And just to be bipartisan, there's no fucking way Clinton is #3 either, nor should Kennedy be 4th.

It's an embarrassment to our own knowledge of well, anything.

But we did help make the Kardasnian's $65 million last year.

Cue Lee Greenwood.

Oh this will be lovely

Apparently Breitbart and his agenda-whores are descending on Madison today to try to pick a fight.

I agree with these tips for those on the scene via Balloon Juice.

So let me see here

The one "victory" for the GOP that somehow helps the economy is defunding Planned Parenthood?

Oh, sorry, that's just being an asshole.

Their next "victory" to helping the economy is breaking unions, because that somehow helps the middle class?

Oops, that's being an asshole too.

And for their final plan "shutting down" the Federal Goverment on March 4, even if it kills some jobs.

Well, that's mighty awesome of 'em.

Reality versus

Misogyny trying to create it's own reality.


Congressman Jackie Speier is a goddamned hero. And she's tougher than pretty much the entire GOP House delegation. Not only for her bravery in the face of the odious misogyny but this little nugget.

Speier served as a congressional staffer for Congressman Leo Ryan. Speier was part of the November 1978 fact-finding mission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by the Reverend Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple followers, almost all of whom were American citizens who had moved to Jonestown with Jones in 1977 and 1978. Speier was one of only two members of the mission who were concerned enough about potential violence to make out a will before traveling to Jonestown. Several Peoples Temple members ambushed the investigative team and others boarding the plane to leave Jonestown on November 18. Five people died, including Congressman Ryan. While attempting to shield herself from rifle and shotgun fire behind small airplane wheels with the other members of the team, Speier was shot five times and waited 22 hours before help arrived.

And I bet douchebags like these Republican congresspersons did nothing but talk shit about her behind her back after this speech.

For no particular reason

I'd like to point out, once again, the 70s were often propelled by the "power of cocaine imagination".

A lot of it.

Megadoses.

Political Protests are one thing

But calling him a foppish Gene Simmons apparently too much!

Actually no joking matter, fresh off becoming a recently declared Bush-buddy, Qaddafi is determined to quash protests the way Syria's Assad family does.

Human Rights Watch yesterday reported that at least 24 demonstrators had been killed in Libya over the last two days, and some speculate that that number could be much higher. In terms of communication and the availability of reliable news, Libya closer resembles North Korea than many of its neighbors.

(pic from here)

Too tired to think of something new to write

But too obsessive/compulsive to not put up a post.

user I do believe we’ve found the GOP’s game plan

Making Democrats flee the state. Is there no lesson of Tom Delay they didn't learn...especially the felonious parts?

And all those rallies of the last few years featuring FoxNews viewers wearing teabags don't seem to carry the weight that a spontaneous demonstration of the traditional Democratic base.

Authorities say an estimated 25,000 people are protesting anti-union legislation at the Wisconsin state Capitol, and nine demonstrators have been arrested.

And we know where a Republican's sympathies lie:

Republican Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan compared the protests in his state's capital to those in Egypt that led to the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Pity the poor Despots of the GOP. I guess they've re-modified the revolutionary slogan they used the last couple years already to be "I'll Tread on Thee".

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Breaking News

Apparently all of Wisconsin's Democratic Senators have moved to Eden Prairie, Minnesota and have been signed to play Quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.

Avery Brundage would approve

It would take one hell of a morally depraved group to continue an international sporting event in the wake of a brutal dictatorial crackdown.

But we're talking Formula One hear...so I imagine they'll follow the glorious precedent of the International Olympic Committee which never found a little thing like the slaughter of large numbers of people to be all that important.

Yep, he's our puppet

Another proud day for American foreign policy!

MANAMA, Bahrain — Without warning, hundreds of heavily armed riot police officers rushed into Pearl Square here early Thursday, firing shotguns, tear gas and concussion grenades at the thousands of demonstrators who were sleeping there as part of a widening protest against the nation’s absolute monarchy.

At least five people died, some of them reportedly killed in their sleep with scores of shotgun pellets to the face and chest

And furthermore, don't use Reynold's Wrap on your head!

So Glenn Beck is willing to trust the "fine folks at Goldline" but not use "the Google"?

Because "Google" is a tool of the American Government. First of all, crazy; second, what government does he want to "control" a search engine? That's not very patriotic.

Is he getting sponsored by "Bing"? Lord knows we want to be controlled by Microsoft over any government right? Fuckin' Beck, I bet he owns a goddamn ZUNE and powers his PC with Microsoft-Bob. Or maybe he's still using a Tandy?

That Meteor can strike the earth anytime now

Because I think the rankings of the low points of modern civilization go like this:

1. Hitler
2. Stalin
3. Pol Pot
4. Jim Jones
5. Ted Bundy
6. THIS

Although the order may be debatable.

What?

I'm not a big NBA guy, I mean I dabble, I have some general information about the NBA and the NHL to keep my middle-aged guy certificate up-to-date.

But WTF, the Lakers are now playing so badly they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers?

There is only family to blame:

Thanks for pretending to finally care

Somebody needs to make sure his Q-rating stays high:

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state at the time of the Iraq invasion, has called on the CIA and Pentagon to explain why they failed to alert him to the unreliability of a key source behind claims of Saddam Hussein's bio-weapons capability.

Because the time to do that is definitely eight years later, not before you personally go out and base your case for war upon it.

"It has been known for several years that the source called Curveball was totally unreliable," he told the Guardian . "The question should be put to the CIA and the DIA as to why this wasn't known before the false information was put into the NIE sent to Congress, the president's state of the union address and my 5 February presentation to the UN."

Oh it's "delightful" how willfully naive old hands get to appear in this country for the sake of their own reputations. Somehow all the policy-makers are both blameless and guileless in manufacturing this crap at the time. And then they pretend to demand answers a generation later.

This is modern America Mr. Powell, the one you helped make. The Village never looks back on the old lies, they just move on to pushing the new ones.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I wondered about the Matt Taibbi Asshole Supreme Court

But it meets the threshold for being a necessary and humorous evil.

I'd suggest Clarence Thomas join, but then again maybe he's on it and just never says a fucking thing, like usual.

Too bad he's not Oprah

It is apparently Kim Jong-Il's 69th Birthday today (fill in your own dirty damn joke!).

It should be a festive occasion, full of all manner of shades of gray. I understand everyone gets a free ration of ramen. What do you get the man that owns everything?

Woo-hoo!

Let's just make it even worse

The fact that Laura Logan was sexually assaulted is bad enough (and the fact rapes are common across all faiths and cultures sucks obviously) but the reaction of some to it just adds to the general horror.

...the ever-heinous Debbie Schlussel was quick to jump on her regular line of racism, noting how the assault happened in a "country of savages," because that never ever happens anywhere else, and it's never committed by light-skinned people! She then twisted the knife by going after Logan herself, saying, "So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows... How fitting that Lara Logan was 'liberated' by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the 'liberation.'" Debbie Schlussel, what's it like to be so liberated from the burden of having either a mind or a soul?

So in summary Schlussel believes no America, nay, Christian society has ever had a rape problem.

Now that's some ignorant depravity.

The Banality of James Cameron

Somewhere Glenn Beck is fainting...about something else, but he'll get to this eventually.

The NAZIS made 3D movies.

They had been previously ignored because they had been labled as "space films" instead of 3D ones. Oddly enough one film, a musical titled So Real You Can Touch It, featured shots of sizzling Bratwurst.

Of course, like Werner Von Braun, the United States (and/or Canada) eventually took advantage of one the pioneers of this technology:

Truth finally puts on its dockers, few notice

He's pretty much been known as a liar for years, but the Guardian newspaper (one of those foreign publications that practices journalism as opposed to repeating what someone tweets) landed an interview with Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, aka "Curveball", the man who's lies about Saddam's WMD program the Bush Administration used to sell the war. See interview excerpts here. Meanwhile, the Washington Post's coverage of "curveball" is found in Thomas Boswell's baseball column.

It was quite the mutually beneficial and deceitful arrangement between al-Janabi his German intelligence handlers [the BND], the British and the U.S.

He portrays the BND as gullible and so eager to tease details from him that they gave him a Perry's Chemical Engineering Handbook to help communicate. He still has the book in his small, rented flat in Karlsruhe, south-west Germany.

"They were asking me about pumps for filtration, how to make detergent after the reaction," he said. "Any engineer who studied in this field can explain or answer any question they asked."

When you see the interview, you'll notice that "Curveball" has something in common with his boosters in the Bush Administration. He has few regrets, not about the lies and the needless deaths, but about the loss of some of his conveniences, like his German Government supplied cellphone.

Oh, sorry he actually lost "something" because he lied and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. That's something that hasn't happened to anyone from the Bush Administration.

Moving right along...how about that Iran?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Some justice

Though one wonders just how apeshit right-wingers would go if this involved a "mexican" drug gang instead of some asshole right-winger:

On Monday, a jury in Tucson found former beautician Shawna Forde guilty of killing nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul in a bizarre paramilitary raid on the Flores home in 2009. Forde, the leader of a group called "Minutemen American Defense," is what you might call an anti-immigration activist, if you include murdering fourth-graders under your definition of "activism"

And it gets even worse:

Brisenia Flores was gunned down at point-blank range in her own home in Flores, Arizona, as her terrified mother Gina Gonzalez, who had also been hit, played dead on the floor.

She sobbed as the court was told how she had heard Brisenia's desperate pleas as her killer stood over her.

'I can hear it happening,' Mrs Flores told the court describing how her daughter said: 'Why did you shoot my dad? Why did you shoot my mum?'

'I can hear her telling him to "please don't shoot me."'

That seems impractical

Although it would make the time hiding from depth charges more entertaining considering the cargo. Das Blow

/colombian drug lords did the sensible—and trendy—thing: they spent 4,000 million pesos (approx $2.2 million) to build their own drug-trafficktacular submersible.

I seem to recall a cheaper version of a submarine being available during my childhood...and I'm sure it was completely legit.


(first pic via REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga, second from here)

Must be the Muslim Brotherhood

Oh dear,



That's a terrible headline, but a far worse job task.

Somebody call in Bobby Jindal

He's the expert and needs to tell us what it all means!

The second largest earthquake since Mount St. Helens erupted -- a magnitude 4.3 shaker -- rocked a fault line six miles north of the volcano Monday morning. People felt it as far away as Astoria, Lake Oswego, Hood River and even Bremerton, Wash., near Seattle.

The roosting of destiny's poultry

Democratic protests are one thing in Egypt, but not there:

In the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, thousands of demonstrators marched to call for reforms to their hereditary monarchy and clashed with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets. In Yemen, a key U.S. counterterrorism ally, government supporters armed with sticks and knives attacked pro-democracy demonstrators calling for the ouster of the country's dictatorial president, in the fourth straight day of protests in that troubled Arab nation.

But these oppressive dictatorships are our "freedom friends"! Just like Egypt.

And in Bahrain the first middle eastern nation found to have oil...and the first to see it start to run out...these protests threaten something truly important. Ironic symbolism, the year's first F1 race.

So world's eyes now turn to you Daytona.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Fair and Balanced all around

Excluding all Democrats isn't just for FoxNews anymore:

ABC's "This Week" - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Reps. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Bobby Schilling, R-Ill.; Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Egyptian-American scholar and Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail

"Fox News Sunday" - Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss.; Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

I guess "scholar" and "Nobel Laureate" equals "liberal".

Oh and thank goodness we got John McCain's analysis once again. We never get to see or hear that guy otherwise.

Uh, so I guess you're just there to play golf, drink and get a tan

I suppose the occasional fuck is on the list too:

"It's not my job to tell the American people what to think."

Or to think apparently.

(pic from here)

What could be more romantic? Well, maybe a paper cut.

Via here, an actual ad for pro-flowers:




















Wouldn't this be more accurate?

Upholding a fine tradition of Democracy

Who else but John Bolton could give us such a fine summary of why the GOP is worse than even the blue dogs as summarized by TBogg:

Democratic elections are only a good thing when they result in our guy winning

My Goodness the voters will be made up of Muslims and "weird" Christians, we cannot have that.

Bolton's solution, let Israeli's vote only...and then force his wife to take part in the sex party afterwards.

Oh by all means run for President.

I guess they knew where to find him

Normally out in the world there are so many rocks he could potentially crawl under, but there wasn't much doubt this weekend where you could find Andrew Breitbart.

Andrew Breitbart, the owner of several conservative Web sites, was served at the [CPAC] conference on Saturday with a lawsuit filed by Shirley Sherrod, the former Agriculture Department employee who lost her job last year over a video that Mr. Brietbart posted at his site biggovernment.com.

While small violins played metaphorically...

Mr. Breitbart said in a statement that he “categorically rejects the transparent effort to chill his constitutionally protected free speech.”

As was likely true of most things at CPAC this must be the work of the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Joe McCarthy would approve

Somebody thinks they're a better tyrant than Mubarak:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Friday that he was willing to mobilize the state's National Guard force in order to address the potential repercussions of his stated proposal to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees.

Well Wisconsin, you asked for it.

Personally, as a Minnesotan, I choose to blame the Packers organization.

Well, this is better

Mubarak is gone and though obviously all the credit should go to the brave protesters of Cairo and other Egyptian cities but compared to how John McCain any other Republican or even Hillary Clinton would have handled the matter are President, I'm glad it was Obama over them.

Last Saturday afternoon, President Obama got a jarring update from his national security team: With restive crowds of young Egyptians demanding President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation, Frank G. Wisner, Mr. Obama’s envoy to Cairo, had just told a Munich conference that Mr. Mubarak was indispensable to Egypt’s democratic transition.

Mr. Obama was furious, and it did not help that his secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Wisner’s key backer, was publicly warning that any credible transition would take time — even as Mr. Obama was demanding that change in Egypt begin right away.

Seething about coverage that made it look as if the administration were protecting a dictator and ignoring the pleas of the youths of Cairo, the president “made it clear that this was not the message we should be delivering,” said one official who was present. He told Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to take a hard line with his Egyptian counterpart, and he pushed Senator John Kerry to counter the message from Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Wisner when he appeared on a Sunday talk show the next day.

And of course his hands are totally clean

Mitch Daniels, now Governor of Indiana at CPAC:

"I refer, of course, to the debts our nation has amassed for itself over decades of indulgence," he added. "It is the new Red Menace, this time consisting of ink."

Daniels previous job was as George Bush's budget director, where a huge surplus was turned into a gigantic deficit.

Not that it's anyone's fault but the Democrats, of course.

I imagine Broder got what passes as a chubby for him over this.

But, of course

How could it possibly be otherwise?

A producer of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" reality series is listed in an application seeking film production tax credits from the state.

The heavily redacted 2010 document names Maria Baltazzi as executive producer of the unidentified production.

The Alaska Film Office does not disclose specifics about productions seeking tax credits until final approval. The Palin show, which debuted in November, is not among those listed as approved by the office.

If the Palin series tapped into the tax credit program, it would mean the show would retroactively be subsidized by the state.

Bill Baby Bill!

Just Dbags being Dbags I guess

Being allowed to complain about our corporate kleptocracy is just passe I guess.

...underhanded and surreptitious campaign waged by a lobbying firm representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a right-wing association representing big business. The report detailed how Hunton & Williams, a lobbying firm hired by the Chamber, solicited “private security” companies to investigate the Chamber’s political opponents, including ThinkProgress, the labor coalition Change to Win, SEIU, US Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com. Their tactics included planting false documents, creating fake personas, and targeting opponents’ families and children.

It would be wrong to speculate one of our frequent trolls is on the payroll, it would be wrong not to. You'd just think they'd take more pride in their work.

So, just another day ending in "Y"

And the audience continues to shrink.

Congratulations

To Driftglass and Blue Gal two lefty bloggers brought together by their mutual love of linking (which sounds kind of dirty).

May they be happy...and if they so choose, have future obsessive compulsive tweeters together...or not, I'm not here to judge, direct or watch (I'm not a Republican Congressman).

I, of course, maintain my determination to court ladies only through chain letters. But I'm old-fashioned in that way.

Naturally

You must work yourself to death:

CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee on Thursday that the health care law will reduce employment by 0.5 percent by 2021 because some people will no longer have to work just to afford health insurance.

This is held out by the GOP as "job killing" naturally.

Why spend money on infrastructure?

This is why:

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A thunderous gas explosion devastated a rowhouse neighborhood, killing five people, and suspicion fell on an 83-year-old cast-iron gas main. The fiery blast was latest natural-gas disaster to raise questions about the safety of the nation's aging, 2.5-million-mile network of gas and liquid pipelines.

Surprised and Stunned, I'm sure

Did you hear that the self-proclaimed self-made man who was the son of a really really wealthy guy spoke before a bunch of conservatives yesterday?

It's true.

Hard to believe.

I bet he then left to speak to a convention of bankers about how awesome it is to blackmail your way into being bailed out of pending bankruptcy, repeatedly. They learned it all from him.

Only in America.

(pic from here)

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

What we gave all that bailout money for...

An internet clown-car full of self-entitled fail.

I have to agree with John Cole's summary, though I don't really know Glenn Greenwald:

Knowing Glenn, I bet what angers him the most is the quality of his enemies. Really? The road to riches is advocating for someone the majority of the country thinks is a traitor? How stupid do you have to be to believe this shit? That has to be a let-down to know that you are up against a clown car full of wingnut internet sleuths who can’t even figure out the basics about you. It’s like learning that you thought your arch-rival was Ernst Blofeld but is actually Andy Dick.

Oh, and Bank of America's crusade against criticism gets even more melodramatically and malevolently funnier (via a h/t from Jane Hamsher):

"Bank of America has snapped up hundreds of abusive domain names for its senior executives and board members in what is being perceived as a defensive strategy against the future publication of damaging insider info from whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. According to Domain Name Wire, the US bank has been aggressively registering domain names including its board of directors' and senior executives' names followed by 'sucks' and 'blows.'"

There's really only one thing to say...

"Hello, Ladies..."

Cavs were favored to win tonight.

How'd that go?

Oh, nobody could have predicted.

Cavaliers tie Tampa Bay Buccaneers' record for professional sports futility

Hey, leave him alone he already caved

And I'm not talking about Mubarak:

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told U.S. President Barack Obama that his country would prop up Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak if the United States withdrew its aid programme, The Times said on Thursday.

The Times also added:

America’s closest ally in the Gulf made clear that the Egyptian President must be allowed to stay on to oversee the transition towards peaceful democracy and then leave with dignity.

Because who knows more about how to properly foster "democracy" and "dignity" than the House of Saud? A family that named a country after themselves and treats democracy like it treats pornography.

Hand-holding photo sure to follow.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I apologize,

Not just for Steve King, but for the entire state of Iowa.



And these are the people that somehow will manage to remember to breathe for the next year until they convene in Caucus to select their exemplar of stupid as their Presidential candidate.

Now you know why, as an Iowan, I'm counting on you New Hampshire.

I'm tired of all this partisan rancor

Can't we all unite and condemn the new Gawker-media format as sucking?!

Oh they're just bein' cagey

Those SCARY MUSLIMS!!!! Made scary because someone said so.... BOO!

The Muslim Brotherhood said Wednesday it will promote democracy in Egypt but does not intend to field a candidate for president.

Shocking, I know

Incompetence on a grand scale seems to lead to promotion in the CIA.

Competence seems to get you outed by Cheney and company.

B(eyond) P(arody)

Oh BP was there no bit of moral turpitude beyond your grasp last year? Guy in jail for killing 270 people by bombing a jet over Lockerbie, Scotland pales in comparison to an oil drilling deal:

BP, Europe’s second-largest oil company, successfully lobbied the government to get Al-Megrahi included in a prisoner transfer agreement after the Libyans warned they would pull out of deals if he were left out.

And helping out, naturally:

British government ministers secretly advised Libya on how to get convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi released from a life sentence in a Scottish prison, American documents published by WikiLeaks allege.

But there was nothing "improper" about this somehow.

We cannot let the little matter of international terrorism and mass murder get in the way of our precious corporate profits -- that's what limiting peoples' civil liberties are for.

Good thing the American government doesn't do stuff like this (casual whistling ensues). And that last statement is true because being an American, history usually matters only when it can be used on various sports teams' message boards, or worshiping a version of the "founders" they'd laugh at three-fifths of the time. Besides, we'll never get to see those Cheney Energy Task Force notes anyway.

(photo via Ian Tait at flickr.com)

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Blackout

Sarah Palin Media Addict from Gina Gershon

Not this shit again

Re-writing history and cults simultaneously Republicans fantasize about Reagan on Mount Rushmore:

"Is he of that stature? The answer is yes," said Grover Norquist, chairman of the Reagan Legacy Project. "Reagan was the most successful president of the twentieth century. He took a country that was in economic collapse and militarily in retreat around the globe and turned it completely around."

Yeah, he was so much more successful than that complete failure Franklin Roosevelt. All that SOB FDR did is prevent a revolution, restore the economy, create social security, the minimum wage, and help win the greatest military conflict in world history from his wheelchair. What a douche!

Tell you what Grover, let's compromise, there's a mountain carving in the Philippines that would do the trick, it just needs to be touched up a tad* and it will look just like your guy.

Peggy Noonan can go there an rub herself raw below it.


*well, maybe more than just a tad.

Looks like Newt is scopin' out new hotties

As old ones, if their good enough for Reagan...




The latest "Mrs. Gingrich" has the far-away look of a long-time hostage...but then again peroxide poisoning will do that to a person as it soaks through the roots.

Drugs are powerful things

Must have been quite the Super Bowl Party at the freak's house.



And then the blackboards closed in around him before he could wield his +2 Staff of Imbecility.

America's Concern Troll

Democracy is just not worthy of the swarthy heathens...and I don't know how the Obama Administration couldn't see this coming.

And I speak as a man who gives out awards, ironically, for not foreseeing things.

Hey, could be more ironic, I could give them out for writing skills.

So, we're learning new things about Egypt

Over at FoxNews.

Man, I'm going to miss the Guggenheim and the slightly less interesting half of Niagara Falls.

Meanwhile, some folks are going to be thrown overboard in an attempt to right the sinking ship:

Egypt's Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud issued a travel ban for a handful of former ministers as well as a prominent member of the ruling National Democratic Party.

The bank accounts and assets of those barred from leaving the country have also been frozen, according to reports.

Ex-interior minister Habib El-Adly, former housing minister Ahmed El-Maghrabi and former tourism minister Zoheir Garannah are among those banned from travel.

And if this is accurate, no amount of bailing will ever save the regime.

But I guess we can still blame the Muslim Brotherhood no matter what.

(pic via Alex Pareene at Salon)

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

It has to be said

Congrats Wisconsin, you'll always lead my home state of Minnesota by a considerable margin in three things; dive bars, serial killers, and NFL Titles.

Pepsi Max ad strategy

Let's see the "mis(ses)"

1. The "evils" of "Mis"cegenation

2. The awesomeness of "Mis"ogony.


Sloppy and lazy reinforcement of stereotypes suitable for the hosts of Top Gear, or Reagan's birthday.

Shorter Fred Hiatt

If only Obama had bombed a few more countries....

Vicarious Eating

Oh, if only they had been grapes. That's how you maintain those body issues ladies.



Oh, and feel free to boo how "W" continues to be the world's free-loader. No wonder Madden is exchanging junk pictures with Brett Favre and keeping his distance from Condi.

Meanwhile, no one at EBay has met my reserve price of a buck-fifty

And to think not even the Koch Brothers are willing to underwrite K-Lo's virginity blog.

The Huffington Post, which began in 2005 with a meager $1 million investment and has grown into one of the most heavily visited news Web sites in the country, is being acquired by AOL in a deal that creates an unlikely pairing of two online media giants.

The two companies completed the sale Sunday evening and announced the deal just after midnight on Monday. AOL will pay $315 million, $300 million of it in cash and the rest in stock.

Important Thought

Performing at the Super Bowl Halftime is the pop-music equivalent of hosting the Oscars.

You may have heard of this guy...

In a bit of cloying irritation Fox and the NFL managed to salute the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan yesterday during the pre-game festivities to the Super Bowl.

And why not, after all who better to salute the Gipper than another group of billionaires who are going to lock-out their workers and get people to call it a strike?

As Charles Pierce noted, the Super Bowl occurred just prior to January 30th, 1982 the Centennial of Franklin Roosevelt's birth, and that was met with crickets. But then all he did is guide the nation through a Depression and the Second World War.

But he never made a movie with a Chimp so I guess he'll just have to settle for being a far greater President than Reagan.

Carpe Diem!!

Don't just watch the Puppy Bowl, follow the tweets of those watching the Puppy Bowl!!!

How surprising

Cheney's "come hither" eyes say it all.

The same people who call Obama arrogant

Probably think it is awesome that Sarah Palin is trying to trademark, "Sarah Palin".

Of course she is...

Not that anyone will ever look into it.

Nice job with your tax dollars

Maybe Mubarak should have been advising various pension boards?

He's managed to take those military contracts we've paid him over the years and turn those kickbacks into tens of billions while his people are dirt poor.

Oh, and he and his family own a lot of Chili's Restaurants (I bet Karzai has his in Applebees).

Naturally

Apparently as part of the Super Bowl pregame festivities (between new super expensive male enhancement ads) the NFL and Fox (naturally) are going to note it is nearly Reagan's 100th Birthday.

As Charles Pierce noted you may have missed the 100th Anniversary noting of the far greater President's, FDR, 100th birthday by the NFL in 1982 because it didn't happen.

An important thing to understand about the protests in Egypt

Not that the FoxNews crowd would understand:

The Catholic Cardinal in Egypt was witnessed hand in hand with a Muslim cleric, both in their religious dress with the pro-democracy demonstrators. He was speaking about national unity, stating that the myth of sectarian strife is only made by the failing government security apparatus and urge people to unite as Egyptians. The Muslim cleric also stated the same.

Never gets old

Letterman last night:

"The good news is that Hosni Mubarak may step down.

The bad news is that he may be replaced by his idiot son Hosni W. Mubarak."

Super Bowl Prediction

Mixed-breeds over purebreads on the strength of their less dysplasiaed hips.

So long, and thanks for all the fish?

Will it be the helicopter on top of the roof method?

The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately and turn over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats said Thursday.

Suleiman, as you might expect, is a real prince. It may, however, be a "relatively" fairly broad coalition so the Right in this country can still go remain insane.

But it's not like Mubarak will not be leaving without the traditional parting gifts of a long-time tyrant who has benefited in part from the West's largess:

Egypt’s embattled President Hosni Mubarak’s and his family’s net worth is estimated to be between U.S. dollars 40 and 70 billion, a media report said. The wealth of the Egypt’s first family was built largely from military contracts during his days as an air force officer...

For some reason this argument is more compelling than Leviticus

Which I often say over a nice dinner of crabcakes.

In Iowa, the GOP is slobbering to try to outlaw same-sex marriage -- rather than y'know helping the economy and shit like that. Well, here's a 19-year who pretty much has come to dominate the debate.

For Husni, Newt, and Grandpa McCain

Um, a Spelling Bee?

The Banality of Evil

I know that many will still hold out Neville Chamberlain as an example, but surely Tony Blair's statements yesterday before Mubarak's thugs took to the streets will merit some eternal mark in the Hall of Shame and Ignorance:

Tony Blair has described Hosni Mubarak, the beleaguered Egyptian leader, as "immensely courageous and a force for good" and warned against a rush to elections that could bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power.

Say what you will about the Obama Administration's customary fecklessness, it beats a pair of false claims straight out of a Glenn Beck rant. Or maybe just John McCain's playbook.

Meanwhile, somewhere the Ghost of Hannah Arendt surely noticed this happening seemingly right after Blair's statements about this "immensely courageous" "force for good":

In one almost medieval scene, a small contingent of pro-Mubarak forces on horseback and camels rushed into the anti-government crowds, trampling several people and swinging whips and sticks. Protesters dragged some riders from their mounts, throwing them to the ground and beating their faces. The horses and camels appeared to be ones used to give tourists rides around Cairo.

Straight out of central-stereotypical-casting.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

You've got to be fucking kidding me?!

Apparently the recruited and paid "pro-Mubarak" thugs came straight out of tragi-comic stereotyping.

Wham! Bam! O'Reilly's on

With FoxNews there are no winners:

"We didn't even do that. He was too busy watching Fox News, he didn't want to cuddle."

"Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Camille Grammer telling Joy Behar on Monday what went wrong in her marriage to her estranged husband Kelsey Grammer

I guess it's better than what usually happens when Kelsey Grammar rams things, exchanging insurance information.

New Zealand's not even on the map Motherf**ker!!

WORST RISK PLAYER EVER!

"I believe that I can make a case in the end that there are three powers that you will see really emerge. One, a Muslim caliphate that controls the Mideast and parts of Europe. Two, China, that will control Asia, the southern half of Africa, part of the Middle East, Australia, maybe New Zealand, and God only knows what else. And Russia, which will control all of the old former Soviet Union bloc, plus maybe the Netherlands. I'm not really sure. But their strong arm is coming. That leaves us and South America. What happens to us?"

Always remember people

What would Chuck Todd think?

Dear Egypt

I'm just sayin' I'm going to be available, other Joes have done it and I have my own Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (hint, it's my winning smile).

Meanwhile, Al Gore is soooooo fat

What global climate change? It still snows in the Winter.

Tens of thousands of people fled the path of a monster storm bearing down on northeastern Australia as officials warned that the life-threatening cyclone had increased in strength overnight.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh urged residents of low-lying areas to evacuate quickly as gusts up to 174 mph (280 kph) were expected ahead of Cyclone Yasi, forecast to hit Cairns late Wednesday.

There are times to avoid Sully

After he completely kissed Bush's ass toward Iraq in 2003, but it is telling...and I wonder if Sullivan noticed...to compare these pictures of the central squares of Baghdad that he was so taken by and those of Cairo.

Naturally, this was written not by Sullivan but by Chris Bodenner.

Johnny One Note

John Bolton set the moral tenor of his life early on by saying:

"by the time I was about to graduate in 1970, it was clear to me that opponents of the Vietnam War had made it certain we could not prevail, and that I had no great interest in going there to have Teddy Kennedy give it back to the people I might die to take it away from."

Thus began a life-long tradition of presumptively blaming liberals for all bad things while having no problem watching others die for a situation he didn't want to get personally involved in. A real moral giant. A real Neo-Con.

And so it goes:

Bolton: Mubarak’s Downfall Would Mean We Need To Bomb Iran Sooner

What else calls for the bombing of Iran? Bolton's a war mongerer for all seasons. The coming of Spring; Summer; Fall; and Winter.

North Korea does something, bomb Iran! Gaza protests, bomb Iran! And, of course, Iran protests in Iran, bomb Iran!

Packers win, bomb Iran. Steelers win, bomb Iran.

There's only one instance where John Bolton did not want to bomb Iran, when he wanted to bomb Chicago.

Fill In The Blank

Welcome to a fun new Rising Hegemon feature: "Our Trolls are so stupid that _________". To play, all you need to do is fill in the blank!

I'll get us started.

"Our trolls are so stupid that they believe the New York Times is 'leftist'".

You play along in comments.

Maybe they should put some of that bonus money

The Tax Payers have given them into security?

NBC New York says that over the past few weeks, law enforcement agencies have been briefing banks on this new, terrifying terror threat. What kind of threat? Well, let's see: it's "general in nature." But a terror blogger did write about "targeting financial sites." And Al Qaeda wrote about the same thing in its magazine.

Wait a minute, Al Qaeda has a magazine?

"Better Homes & Bombings"?
"Good Jihading"?
"Highlights"?

Why don't we just wait for them to go bankrupt on it?

Richard Cohen's Nightmare

All those brown people, little people, silly people, demanding a Democracy.

Ooh, icky!

Now his concern trolling belongs to the World

Determined to become irrelevant in all cultures, noted social critic and military strategist Richard Cohen has decided to critique political movements overseas.

The dream of a democratic Egypt is sure to produce a nightmare.

Egypt's problems are immense. It has a population it cannot support, a standard of living that is stagnant and a self-image as leader of the (Sunni) Arab world that does not, really, correspond to reality. It also lacks the civic and political institutions that are necessary for democracy. The next Egyptian government - or the one after - might well be composed of Islamists. In that case, the peace with Israel will be abrogated and the mob currently in the streets will roar its approval.

My take on all this is relentlessly gloomy. I care about Israel. I care about Egypt, too, but its survival is hardly at stake.

Screw Egypt's people, it will still be a place on the map! If you can't bomb 'em, what's the point?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]