"Glorious" Austerity

It's only making unemployment 0.6 percent higher. And especially hurts women.

 Huzzah!

Unleash the dog-whistles!

Who can imply the most racist views in the next 72-hours?

Three candidates are vying for the win in the Alabama Republican presidential primary according to a new poll from Rasmussen. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gets 30, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sees 29, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is at 28 in the new poll

We have our winner

Of dumbest statement of year 2012.

All there can be now are ties.

And then they'll be appearing on the "School of Rock"

Most esoteric post ever!

President Barack Obama will be making his first visit Tuesday to Dayton as commander-in-chief. The White House announced Thursday that Obama will be bringing David Cameron, prime minister of the United Kingdom, with him to the University of Dayton Arena to take in a NCAA First Four basketball game, the first step to the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

There's a strong possibility that the President may continue hug people, some of them black -- so that will keep Breitbart's heirs busy.

Stay classy lady haters

They just don't stop:

 The sweeping anti-abortion bill working its way through the Kansas Legislature would levy a sales tax on women seeking abortions, including rape victims.

There’s just a few problems

Well, this is all well, fine, true and good:

Former Israeli intelligence chief Meir Dagan, in his first U.S. television interview, says he believes that the Iran regime is rational and that now is not the time to attack Iran.
"The regime in Iran is a very rational one," the former top Israeli spymaster tells CBS' Leslie Stahl, according to excerpts of the interview released by 60 Minutes.

Not that this is actually ever reported much, but the above is an unreported historical fact. Even if Iran got a nuclear weapon, they are not going to drop it on Israel, they are not going to use it on Israel or the United States. No, they are going to use it as leverage to dictate policy in the region so certain unnamed global superpowers cannot just decide to start dropping bombs and occupying countries anymore.
Which may not always be the worst thing that could happen.

So yes, the Iranians are very rational, even if their government has other substantial problems.

Too bad many of our political leadership are not.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Shorter even lamer (how is that possible?) Breitbartlets

Can we not stop this plague of black-on-black benevolence?

These clowns are like Charlie Brown falling down before he yanks his own football.

And yes, that also works for them as a masturbation reference.

Oh hooray

The GOP "fuck the rest of you" fest moves into famously progressive states this week -- Alabama and Mississippi?

Which one of The Four Horseman* of the Asspocalypse  are going walk in the limo tracks of Ronald Reagan and be driven to Philadelphia, Mississippi so as to metaphorically if not literally piss on the graves of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner by praising state's rights ("stahts rats") while decrying affirmative action, or possibly even race mixing?

First one to praise Theodore Bilbo wins.

Oh how I pray for some awkward Q & A's this week.


*Sorry Ann Romney

Mittfiles in Courage

But of course...

...after conservative outcry over his support for raising the minimum wage, Mitt Romney quietly reversed his position this week.

Romney has a long history of supporting increasing the minimum wage, including tying it into the CPI. Increasing the minimum wage is incredibly popular amongst the public (more popular even than the last right-wing fuck up, birth control). Once again, kissing the right's ass and flip-flopping is not a good idea in the long-game.

Sort of fitting in a way

Except for the Seal Team 6 ending, it appears that Osama Bin Laden's last days were pretty much a bad situation comedy and/or Newt Gingrich's eventual retirement:

Osama bin Laden spent his last weeks in a house divided, amid wives riven by suspicions. On the top floor, sharing his bedroom, was his youngest wife and favorite. The trouble came when his eldest wife showed up and moved into the bedroom on the floor below.

So One-Camera, or Multi-Camera format? Anyone who has read Lawrence Wright's magnificent "The Looming Tower" is not really surprised that it ended this way for him. When they weren't stumbling into mass murder, Al Qaeda's leaders were models of buffoonery in many ways.

Certainly not in a room full of mirrors

Were I Limbaugh (shudder) this is not the analogy I'd use when talking about losing advertisers:

That’s like losing a couple of french fries in the container when it’s delivered to you at the drive-thru. You don’t even notice it.”

As Limbaugh has now lost 45 sponsors, one does wonder how super-sized his orders are? I'm sure right after this that Rush went on again proclaim Michelle Obama is fat. As anyone can guess from his nose-hair forest, Rush is not the type to look in a mirror, let alone what passes for his soul. For those few who wonder how this guy is the intellectual powerhouse of the far right, it is by default.

Michele Bachmann argued last night that the Obama administration could institute a one-child policy under the Affordable Care Act.

Oh, how silly. As Ms. Bachmann can tell you, the best place for determining how many children one can have is your employer or nearest available cleric. Anybody but the one with the womb.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

She's a real heavyweight

Mythical figure Sarah Palin endorsed Newt Gingrich, how'd that end up working for him in her home state?

Thanks for the memories

So Kucinich is out (and not very with much class, frankly)...on the other hand so is Mean Jean Schmidt.

Now emerging as a winner against Kucinich, Marcy Kaptur gets to run against Not Joe the Not Plumber, who eeked out a victory in the Republican primary by the crack of his ass.  Good job Republicans, good job.

A great place to work undoubtedly

Could have been worse, been a producer for O'Reilly.

Two senior journalists working for Rupert Murdoch's News International have apparently attempted suicide as pressure mounts at the scandal-hit publisher of the now-defunct News of the World.

The suicide attempts follow weeks of intense scrutiny of the role of The Sun, another Murdoch paper, in the phone-hacking scandal and police bribery case.

It was bad enough he chalked up some wins

But when Mitt launched into a rendition of "Up where we belong" doing the Joe Cocker parts I'm not gonna lie, it got a little weird.

Settling on boring over crazy

The story last night was supposed to be Romney's SuperPac, "Restore our Future" allowing Mitt to put on a ribbed-jacket and rhythmically pound the supine Rick Santorum into a frothy lather, the only thing left would be a brown stain and the wet spot where Santorum is made to meekly lay exhausted and spent, covered in sweat.

So, how's that breakfast stayin' down?

But not so fast apparently.  Romney is still almost surely the nominee, I just pray he doesn't start singing. You can truly feel the GOP's excitement. It is palpable. ... Nope sorry, I was sitting on a set of grilling tongs.

It wasn't all bad for the Grand Old Party, at least one of its main legislative priorities of the last few years came to glorious fruition:

Paul Carroll, an 86-year-old World War II veteran who has lived in the same Ohio town for four decades, was denied a chance to vote in the state’s primary contests today after a poll worker denied his form of identification, a recently-acquired photo ID from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The poll worker rejected the ID because it did not contain an address, as required by Ohio law...

"I went to war for this country, but now I can’t vote in this country.”

Congratulations, jackasses. What a win for Democracy. Truly that is Mitt Romney's America.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

This is bad news for John Bolton's chubby

I'm sure he'll have it back within a few minutes.

Iran will grant U.N. inspectors access to a military complex where the U.N. nuclear agency suspects secret atomic work has been carried out, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported Tuesday. Tehran had previously banned U.N. inspectors from visiting the Parchin installation, southeast of Tehran, but a statement by Iran's permanent envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said the visit will now be allowed in a gesture of good will. However, it would require an agreement between the two sides on a guidelines for the inspection, ISNA reported.

I'm guessing the last sentence is the "nip slip" of that paragraph for Bolton to masturbate upon.

Oh this will be awful

Oh what joyous message of peace will Rick Santorum bring to AIPAC? Hard to believe that less than three decades later FoxNews was modeled after a 30 second skit.

With all due respect "Your Holiness"

Shut the fuck up:

Gay marriage is like slavery, Catholic leader says Britain’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has condemned gay marriage as an “aberration”, likening it to slavery and abortion.

The Catholic laity is so opposed to abortion they won't even think so as to abort idiotic thoughts before they speak.

Funny thing though, if my 13-year old Confirmation classes serve me (this future agnostic was the highest scoring person on the test, suck on that Methodists!) there's no mention of gay marriage in the Bible, just a bit of Sodom (wonder what "Gomorrahmy" would mean?*) and Jesus shacking up with a dozen dudes but slavery is in there a lot.


*Seriously, how much does it suck to be allegedly wiped out by God and not even get a verb out of it?  What exactly did Gomorrah do wrong any way?  Did they not have enough S&H Green Stamps?  Were they into teabagging?  Did they not wear shoes but expect service?

...but I've never been to me....

Ann Romney may be the child of a prosperous businessman who married the wealthy scion of a rich man...who then became ever richer, making sure her many sons also became multimillionaires.

But Ann Romney doesn't feel wealthy.

I suppose because she's never felt anything else.

Time for Pooty-Poot

To call his ocular soul-buddy George W. Bush and find out where he can rent those Brooks Brothers riot guys.

(pic from here)

Romney in Two-thousand never...

If nothing else America must be spared the Mitt Romney songbook:

1. Who let the Dogs out...
2. America, the Beautiful...
3. The Davey Crockett theme... 

If he's nominated, he's going to do 'Radar Love' and if elected C&C Music Factory at the inauguration (in fact, why isn't somebody doing a video of a faux Mitt doing 'Everybody Dance Now' already on YouTube?)

Is that an America you want to live in?

I know Irony is allegedly dead

But must it be repeatedly dug up and mutilated like poor Pope Formosus?

The Hall of Famous Missourians in the Missouri State Capitol is filled with the busts of famous people from the Show-Me State... Right-wing radio personality Rush Limbaugh...will soon be joining that esteemed group.

Okay, that's ridiculous. Could it be any worse?

Would I rhetorically ask if it could not? 

On Feb. 13, Kansas City, Mo. sculptor E. Spencer Schubert posted on his blog that he was in the process of sculpting busts of Limbaugh and Dred Scott

Didn't poor Mr. Scott suffer enough indignities the 19th Century?  Must he spend his posterity in the proximity of that posterior?

When it comes to Rusty, like the three ex-Mrs. Limbaughs, haven't we all had enough of that?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Deja Screwed

John McCain calls for airstrikes on Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Iran, Libya, Iran, Syria!

Yep

A perfect summary and a portion of a Tom Tomorrow 'toon:

Somebody's producers read their stars twitter account

From JoeMyGod:

The widely-followed Twitter account of wingnut actress Patricia Heaton has vanished, perhaps in the wake of her douchey tweets about "sluts" and birth control. (Tipped by JMG reader Thomas)

Something tells me ABC or the producers of "The Middle" decided that backing up calling women "sluts" was not good for business.

Somewhere this account joins Pat Sajak's blog in the ether.

Speaking of which...

Pat Sajak Hosted ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Drunk In Early Days

Saved it for blogging or National Review articles later...called it "K-Lo Goggles"

Obviously, this story was too big to handle

Life well lived buddy. Breitbart's promised last big scoop he was promising before, well, I guess his actual last big scoop, was this...

 Obama went to a play in 1997 about Saul Alinsky.

Which, is not, I'm guessing, as nearly as recent as the last time Andrew Breitbart enjoyed the cinematic work of the adult film industry.

Fitting capstone on a career of rancid vapor.

What a small-minded asshole

Nearly three-quarters of a town wiped-out and it's right-wing governor makes sure the relief is not as good as it could be...so that the victims can be punished for his narrow-minded principal:

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said thanks but no thanks to immediate federal disaster relief Saturday, even as governors in Indiana and Kentucky welcomed the help.

Kasich did not rule out asking for assistance later, but his decision means tornado-ravaged towns in Ohio will not get federal aid now and are not eligible at this time for potentially millions of dollars in payments and loans.

The governor said Ohio can respond to the crisis without federal help and he would not ask federal authorities to declare the region a disaster area.

What a petty and stupid SOB. He's just killing time (and people's lives apparently) until he can return to FoxNews with a bigger contract.

Somebody's been hitting Wikipedia and his stash

Or perhaps Bartlett's quotations on-line, because that can be done. 

Otherwise, yes, Bobo, I'm sure ol' Mitt will get right on that:

If I were Romney, I’d spend the next period of the campaign reading the Stoics, maybe Marcus Aurelius: “Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.” Or perhaps Epictetus: “Difficulties show what men are. Therefore when a difficulty falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a rough young man. Why? So that you may become an Olympic conqueror; but it is not accomplished without sweat.”

I'm betting that last Epictetus quote has more meaning for Brooks that you can imagine. I'm sure he's quoted it at many an Applebee's salad bar in the middle of the country...just ask him.

 (via Balloon Juice)

Poor little victim

Having disappeared for a few weeks, former Komen board member and pro-lifer, Karen Handel has reemerged to re-write history yet again. 

You see her preemptive actions to get rid of Planned Parenthood were discovered by Planned Parenthood and it was therefore all the latter's fault.

That must be just like Ari Fleischer wrote it up.

God Botherer calls collect

Aspiring Cardinal Rick Santorum was interviewed by the generally enabling Fox employee Chris Wallace yesterday and asked how charitable he is in comparison to more allegedly heretical types.

I want to ask you about the 2010 tax returns because in them, they show that President Obama gave 14 percent of his income to charity. Mitt Romney almost 14 percent. You gave 1.76 percent.

Why so little, sir?

Ruh-roh.

Li'l Ricky has managed to parlay his $923,000 in income in 2010 into negligible charitable donations. In fact, since having his pasty tuckus tossed out of the Senate in 2007, Santorum's income has sky rocketed to nearly a million a year on average, barely any of it going to charity. For a guy who wears his religion like a jacket on his whole body (except the littlest Ricky of them all, no jacket there) that is pathetic.

Why Ricky, why?

I was in the situation where we have seven children and one disabled child who we take care of and she's very, very expensive. We love her and we cherish the opportunity to take care of her. But she's -- it's an additional expense and we have round the clock care for it and our insurance company doesn't cover it, so I pay for it.

As Karoli at Crooks and Liars notes that is an incredibly ironic answer coming from a guy who thinks Obama a terrible American for wanting insurance companies preventing from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Yes, Rick your child's medical care is expensive, thank goodness you have the insurance you received as a member of Congress.

That insurance stuff is only good for you of course and a few other elites...and you like it that way.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

And here is the problem for that idiot

20 plus years of offensive behavior and a non-apologetic apology are not going to cut it for most...because most already figured out this guy's act a long time ago.  You can get away with it, until you become associated with him:

Moments ago, Carbonite – a company providing backup software for computers – announced that it will no longer advertise on Rush Limbaugh’s show. CEO David Friend made clear in a Facebook statement that, despite Limbaugh’s “apology” issued tonight, the company was still pulling its ads...

 No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.

Limbaugh has several million devoted listeners, and they are his greek chorus. But there are many times the number of his listeners who think of him as a vile-pig. Ultimately, if you are associated with a vile pig, the public at large is going to think less of you. But, as in this whole matter, Republican politicians do not know how to react. Their default position is to kiss his gigantic physical and metaphorical ass.

Sorry for himself, as he should be, as a sorry sack of shit

So Limbaugh apologizes for using sponsors essentially.  And, as ever, his so-called apology is just repeating the same old bullshit.

And also, Rush Limbaugh is so stupid he thinks the more sex women have, the more birth control pills they have to take.  Even though I'm a dude, I knew that wasn't the case pretty much the first time I saw birth control pills, or saw pictures of them -- for maybe from age 13 or 14.  It requires an IQ of about ...oh 50...to not be able to divine that one.

And, of course, he continues to outright lie about what Ms. Fluke's actual testimony was.

So fuck you and I hope and expect more sponsors to run away Rusty.

"It should be Celebrity freebie"

Looking again at Bill O'Reilly's stupid statement yesterday...it grows dumber:

“So let me get this straight...and I ask this with all due respect, I am: You want me to give you my hard earned money so you can have sex.”

Something tells me this is O'Reilly's opening line with actual prostitutes.

Oh, and there are even worse people.

When is Malkin going out and peeping in Fluke's back window for a counter-top inspection?

Tricky Ricky

If it's bad I'll give an awkward excuse:

"He's [Limbaugh] being absurd, but that's you know, an entertainer can be absurd," Santorum told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday. "He's in a very different business than I am."

Except, of course, when he isn't.

"Rick Santorum is 'the last conservative standing'," so said preeminent conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. And the Rick Santorum presidential campaign has lifted that quote and put it front-and-center of their campaign flier in an effort to rally the conservative base ahead of the February 28 Michigan and Nevada primaries.

Nobody could have anticipated

That the the guy who paid a settlement in the millions because of a sexual harassment suit, and has a pattern of blaming rape victims for being raped, would agree with Rush Limbaugh's fabricated story about a woman supporting insurance provided birth control requirements equals 'slut'.

Profile in Courage, Redux

Digby is right, Romney is not just a coward he is an awful politician:

Mitt Romney steered clear of the Rush Limbaugh controversy until Friday evening, even avoiding a CNN reporter earlier in the day, when he addressed the issue after an event in Cleveland. “I'll just say this which is it’s not the language I would have used," Romney said. "I’m focusing on the issues I think are significant in the country today and that’s why I’m here talking about jobs and Ohio.”

So what language would you have used Willard?

floozy? harlot? hussy? loose woman? nymphomaniac? painted woman? strumpet? tramp? whore?

Here's one for you Mitt. You're an asshole and also, of course, an investor.

Profile in Courage

Just wondering

In 2002, Roy Blunt, sponsor of "No Contraceptives on your Insurance Companies Dime" dumped his wife of 35 years, shortly thereafter he married a much younger lobbyist named Abigail Pearlman (so biblical). As they were suspected of dating while the pious ol' Blunt was still married, one does wonder what birth control was used by the then 40-year old Ms. Perlman, and what insurance company picked it up...because I bet it wasn't Roy going to Osco for a trojan.

BOTOX...MAKES...SKIN...SO...TIGHT. EYES...BECOMING...LIKE...FLOUNDER.

 I apologize to the second Mrs. Blunt if there is a factually incorrect statement in this allegation...but not to her significant hypocrite.

The jokes write themselves

So it wasn't a bomb, or a plumbing emergency, at Rush Limbaugh's house yesterday:

According to WPBF 25 News reporter Ari Hait, the package was nothing more than a business opportunity

Apparently somebody forgot to leave the package of hillbilly heroin at the back door.

WTF?

Super Creeeeeeeepy: It's Toddlers & Tiaras only more disturbing.

Four-Loco

I know it is just a few of the selective low-lights of the last day or so, but what a collection of advertisements for the Grand Ol' Party:

Rush Limbaugh: Doubles down on slander of women who favor the provision of contraceptives as "sluts" demanding to see video. Rush usually doubles-down at KFC only.

Obviously about to be indicted Joe Arpaio goes birther while surrounded by World Nut Daily's Jerome Corsi and a "posse" of retired 70s male pornstars. Hope you enjoyed trying to get that endorsement Mitt.

A Federal Judge, Richard Cebull, a George W. Bush appointee has to self-report himself after sending out admitted racist emails against President Obama.

And John Boehner and the Republicans in Congress, knowing that "damn the science" they've got a sure winner, are going to continue to keep contraceptives in the hands of male religious leaders, where they belong.

Way to pitch a small tent fellas.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Wow

His contribution such as it is to the cesspool of political discourse will not be missed.  I won't say more about Breitbart out of politeness, but death at 43 of a heart attack sucks.

He leaves four kids.

Y'know

In my real life job as "law-talkin' guy" one of the things we really hope judges do is to read things and have some sense of comprehension. So even if this Federal Judge in Montana is being truthful (and call me skeptical), it is still appallingly stupid at best.

Montana Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull, a George W. Bush nominee, admitted on Wednesday that he forwarded a racially-charged email implying that President Barack Obama might have been the product of a sexual encounter between his mother and a dog...

The federal judge’s email called the joke “a bit touching” and said he wanted all of his friends to feel what he felt when he read the email. “Hope it touches your heart like it did mine,” he wrote...

He added that he “did not forward it because of the racist nature of it” although he acknowledged it was racist. “The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan,” Cebull explained to the newspaper. “I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.”

So how many cases should this guy have to recuse himself from now (after all he's not on the Supreme Court)?

* Any race case
* Any case involving the Federal Executive Branch
* Any case involving a Republican
* Any case involving a Democrat
* Any case involving dogs

Other than that I guess he can sentence white people to the federal minimums for Meth and Pot.

I'm no theologian

But I'm pretty sure that "lying" is one of the Ten Commandments [googles]...yep it sure is.

But I guess it is okay to lie now, in biblical fanatic circles.

"I am pro-life," Brownback said. "When I campaigned I said that if a pro-life bill got to my desk, I will sign it. I am not backing away from that."

The latest bill -- which is scheduled to be discussed by a legislative committee for a second time on Wednesday -- contains a number of provisions which would give the state one of the most sweeping anti-abortion laws in the nation. Among the provisions is one which would exempt doctors from malpractice suits if they withhold information -- in order to prevent an abortion -- that could have prevented a health problem for the mother or child. A wrongful death suit could be filed in the event of the death of the mother. 

Other provisions include requiring women to hear the fetal heartbeat prior to an abortion, taking away tax credits for abortion providers and removing tax deductions for abortion-related insurance. The bill also requires that women be told that abortions would increase the risk of breast cancer, a controversial theory that the World Health Organization, the National Cancer Institute and gynecological groups in the United States and the United Kingdom have said is incorrect.

This is what happens when people who don't believe in science...or scruples...are elected. I'm guessing Brownback was crying tears of joy when Dr. Tiller was shot in church too.

Oh he's such a delight

How does he manage to have so many divorces?

LIMBAUGH: What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic] who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.

Now Ms. Fluke was testifying about a lesbian friend who was using contraceptives for medical reasons so Rush was about Zero for Infinity. Ms. Fluke is also, one should add, a law student who now has a very personal reason to have an interest in defamation laws too.

Finally, one does have a reason to ponder just how Rush perceives every woman who ever lived...especially his mother.

Of course viagra-fueled trips to bang Dominican's of indeterminate gender for money is just good clean male fun.

They'll have to invent the DSM-V just to deal with his psychotic problems.

Into the breach, dear "centrists", into the breach

With Lieberman, Snowe, and especially Ben Nelson leaving, our nation was threatened with losing the people our nation's pundits love (until they might fill their Sunday morning chairs) -- the elusive, yet pervasive, "reasonable" person.

And look who comes to the rescue...but the self-described prototype.

Democrat Bob Kerrey said Wednesday that he will run for his old Senate seat from Nebraska, soon to be vacated by retiring Sen. Ben Nelson and a major target for Republicans who hope to win control of the chamber in November.

Oh hollow victories, how can we miss you if you never go away?
But wait, it gets more tragi-comedic:

“I think he would do very well with young people, and it would very exciting to see him reintroduce himself to a new generation of Nebraskans,” said Bob Shrum, a retired Democratic consultant now teaching at New York University. “He is the anti-politician and in this age of conformity and often drabness, his life story will appeal to young people.”

Oh, Bob Shrum -- how de-light-ful! The "anti-politician" who cannot help but keep coming back to run for office; the 68-year old who appeals to the "young people"; the age of conformity that has started breaking down barriers against gays and lesbians (how drab) and elected a black guy who tepidly, sort of, supports some of it. All of which happened, of course, without one bit of help from Bob Kerry -- the anti-politician.

But Kerrey's a career-long deficit scold -- how non-conformist.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

More overwhelmingly white people problems

Actually, just the 1%:

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

Um, pull them out?

White People Problems

Even this relatively clever Santorum ad seems to admit it:

Buh Bye!

Rupert threw another child under the bus:

James Murdoch Steps Down As Executive Chairman Of News International

It all makes sense now

Via C&L:

Reports are coming in that Santorum lost Mackinac County in Michigan by one vote. 667 for Romney which means....666 for Santorum.

In summary (though with more talent)

Saw this over in a comment thread at Atrios' place, but it works as a summary of the GOP nomination race...only with actually talented people (some, but not all of whom, are Canadian).

Good job Mitt

You continued to barely win poorly attended primaries and caucuses by winning America's largest base...the very well-to-do (especially under Democrats).

Good plan for the general election.

Just so we know his options...

NFL Teams looking for a defensive tackle would like to know Newt's 40-time.

Try Hard

Now that the Republicans are chronologically required to nominate someone who doesn't remember Pearl Harbor, Tom Brokaw is out of his analogy comfort-zone:

[Rick Santorum] is "like a character in a Bruce Willis movie. He just knows how to stay alive. He's running through the jungle, fighting back, shooting from the hip, takes a lot of hits, stays angry the entire time, and he is giving a voice to a lot of people out there whose lives have been completely upended.""

Yeah, nobody kicks hypothetical ass like a guy with a penchant for bodily fluids and sweater-vests.
He meant 'Die Hard' I think, but with Santorum I think the "The Sixth Sense" now works better.

I'm sure Santorum's going to keep on running though, why not? There's still Ohio and he still speaks for some people...especially the people who just want a chance to stick things in pregnant women. And in the GOP that's a big constituency.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Um, what?

Apparently Ernest T. Bass, is asking for the pleasure of saying the N-word with impunity while setting a Koran on fire.

He's the pride of Tennessee.

There are not enough desks for the head to hit sometimes...

In Mitt's defense, he is dealing with Santorum

And also, ewwww:

Carpet Cruncher

Money well spent all those conservatives who plopped down money so Tucker Carlson could hold a job:

Some panty sniffer at the Daily Caller keeps count (via) of the number of times Rachel Maddow says “vagina” or “vaginal” on her show, and his report on the site is accompanied by a loop of Rachel saying those words.

Well, if that happened you should have the cash to pay off a lot of those

Sexual abuse of minor lawsuits...

Cardinal George: We'll Close Every Catholic Hospital Rather Than Provide Birth Control

Cardinal George is a MOST holy guy.

He once called gay activists "Nazis".

Which is pretty ironic considering who his boss is.

Oh dear, dear, dear

To the shock of no one, things are getting worse for Rupert's company.  They paid people off and knew for a long, long, long time, they'd hacked a whole bunch of people.

Elitism for thee, but not for me

Well, Republicans in Michigan and Arizona go to the polls today (and in the Michigan a few independents and democrats will vote too, mostly for santorums and giggles).

I predict...finally...the process of settling for Ol' one percent of the one percent to finally emerge. And the crowd will go mild.

This, of course, will free up Rick Santorum for more vomiting and calling those who favor college education for their children elitist enablers of liberal brainwashing.

Rick and his wife are a fecund pair and have rhythmically produced seven children not residing in a mason jar. Somehow I'm pretty confident all seven of those children are going to be sent to college by Ricky. Good luck Santorum kids, enjoy those effete cigarettes and disowning the triune God. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Congratulations

To the following assholes:

Looking at the flip side, which three of the 26 news personalities are America's least favorite, almost half say Rush Limbaugh (46%). Three in ten say Bill O'Reilly (31%) and almost one-quarter say their least favorite is Nancy Grace (23%).

That's a strong, strong, first for giant asshole by Limbaugh. Which is ironic, because the guy is such an asshole it kept him out of 'Nam.

His ego couldn't take it...

Bob Kerry changes his mind, will run for Senate.

America's No. 1 -- of course, I'm rich and was born that way...

He just cannot help himself:

Asked by the AP reporter if he follows NASCAR, Romney responded, "Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans. But I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners."

So the whole point of last night was...

To show that Viola Davis was not wearing a wig, while Billy Crystal was?

I guess it makes sense

That Kennedy's speech about how a Roman Catholic can still be President would make Rick Santorum vomit.

On the other hand, Santorum likes to rub-one-out to the Zapruder film.

Movies

Boy that one movie sure should have one all sorts of awards over that other movie which was the suck.

Unless you felt differently of course.

Moral Paragons

 

 Well, lookie hear we have yet another middle aged white Republican, male naturally, Roy Blunt, telling us his bill to let employers say what medical coverage their "religion" allows them to pay for is not about lady parts.

Our bill protects health care providers and insurers from being forced to violate their principles to provide products and services under the new health care law, and it ensures that all Americans are protected against discrimination, penalty or exclusion from the health care market for exercising their rights of conscience and following religious beliefs.

Of course if you are a woman, it means you are discriminated against. I guess excluding just over half the population is the kind of discrimination that doesn't matter so much.
It should be noted as well, that Blunt starts out his statement with this:

This weekend, millions of church-going Catholics in St. Louis and across America will hear or read a letter from their bishop making clear that the Obama Administration's Feb. 10 announcement does nothing to change the serious threat to religious liberty created by new government mandates in health care.

Oh those Catholic Bishops, such a fine record and so much understanding of the whole sex thing. Take for example one of their long-time leaders -- a real critic of contraception throughout his career.

Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua ordered aides to shred a 1994 memo that identified 35 Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests suspected of sexually abusing children, according to a new court filing.

I believe there's a place I'd politely tell these folks to place their consciences. Fortunately, it will not require a contraceptive...a suppository on the other hand.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Flippin' ridiculous

Back-heel goal, from the world's foremost metrosexual Christiano Ronaldo: Just glad Ray Hudson didn't do this game, he'd have stroked out.

Real Jour-na-mal-minimalism

Granted Glenn Beck is not a journalist, he's a loud-mouthed, slack-jawed, dry-drunk, idiot. But what of the quality of a cable news outfit that sends softball questions...IN ADVANCE?

I was curious to see what sorts of things Palin received from Fox News, so I searched on that and came up with this nugget. It's a series of questions for her appearance on Glenn Beck's debut on Fox News, submitted in advance so that she could either object to the question or form an answer ahead of time.

On the other hand, I'm in favor of their taking a position on not taking a position

You go GOP, keep up that sound logic:

“Republicans being against sex is not good,” the G.O.P. strategist Alex Castellanos told me mournfully. “Sex is popular.”

Thank you Judge Smails

Are we really now living in a world where sending your kids to college is a bad idea because President Obama thinks it's a good idea?


 Apparently. So by that logic, if the White House would encourage white racists show up and vote...?

What we learned this week...

If Mitt Romney becomes President, while most of us are not paying attention, he's going to treat the nation's trees like a hedge.

Yeah, it was a nasty visual

For Romney to have about 1,000 people at at place that holds 65,000 plus.

On the other hand, the ratio of people to square footage was pretty normal for Romney at one of his many homes, er, estates.

(Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Don't fear the Man-Goat

I know all the Republicans now fear Satan and all that.

But we middle-aged nerds and geeks are unafraid.  We long ago learned that while quite powerful, Asmodeus can be taken down by a well-balanced team of characters, some magic weapons and a few natural 20s.

BTW, starting March 15th Satan can again be seen in the darkest, most terrible, timeline.

Good luck with that

The Susan G. Komen foundation fresh off hiring Ari Fleischer to tell them how to piss off the majority of their donors has followed up its insane strategy by hiring Mark Penn, the man who elected Hillary Clinton President (oops) to further craft their PR campaign.

I'll be somewhat surprised if they still exist in 2013.

Funny about that

Republicans are absolutely determined to disenfranchise folks from the traditional Democratic base through spurious vote fraud charges and legislation.

Yet they seem to be the only ones that practice actual vote fraud.

Well that didn't take long

Newt Gingrich criticizes Obama doing exactly the same thing he didn't criticize George W. Bush for, when in reality there is no choice for the government of the United States to apologize for actions of its troops.

I suppose one, of many, reasons Gingrich should not -- and will not -- be President is in such a situation he'd tell a group of people to "go fuck themselves".  It's like he's already married to them.

Waiting for that animated 3-D version of The Fountainhead, I guess

I guess when you have an audience of dozens yet have hours to fill and an order not to "outsmart" Fox & Friends eventually you settle into a theme of stupidity.

Fresh off having one of its squawking heads take on the socialistic evil that is the Muppets, Fox Business retread Lou Dobbs (El Dye-Job Grande) has gotten into the act.

On Tuesday, host Lou Dobbs railed against "The Lorax," along with the Japanese children's film, "The Secret World of Arrietty." "Hollywood is once again trying to indoctrinate our children," he warned. He claimed that the movies were "demonizing the 1% and espousing green energy policies."

Yeah, why can't kids read National Review and beat baby seals with clubs* like real Americans?

The Lorax is, of course, a Dr. Seuss book that was written over 40 years ago, it was made into an animated television special soon thereafter and was aired repeatedly in my childhood. I'm now a middle-aged man, the demo that makes up about 26 of the 42 people that watch Fox Business. So I think the indoctrination argument falls a bit short. Further, the fact they've made this 45-page, large-print, illustrated book into a 90-minute movie primarily in the name of making money is the finest indoctrination into capitalism I can think of.

What exactly humors the "talent" at Fox Business anyway? I'm guessing it starts with nut-shots and ends with an ethnic joke.

*Especially Canadian Americans [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

But hey, the bankers got their money

So far...

Salary cutbacks (called "unified payroll") for contract workers at the public sector set to be finalized today. Cuts to be valid retroactively since november 2011. Expected result: Up to 64,000 people will work without salary this month, or even be asked to return money. Amongst them 21,000 teachers, 13,000 municipal employees and 30,000 civil servants.

Having read this article the Koch Brothers each just got their first erection since Nixon beat Humphrey.

"Let's do this in Wisconsin, call Walker!"

Feel the love...

 The kind of base that gets paid to show up behind somebody....

I admit the story of how the angry teen, the  black guy and  Jedidiah got put together intrigues me.  It's got Farelly Brothers movie plot written all over it.




(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

I'm not Catholic

But half of the odious quartet of GOP Presidential Candidates are (still less than the Supreme Court) so what I want to know is...

Where was the forehead ash last night? It was Ash Wednesday so where was it, especially for such two self-proclaimed devout Catholics?

Did they get a dispensation from Bill Donohue?

I'm sure they expect nothing in return

Nice job Kennedy:

USA Today analyzed super PAC donations since Jan. 1, 2011, and found that one out of every four dollars came from just five spectacularly wealthy donors -- Harold Simmons, owner of Contran; Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam; Houston home builder Bob Perry and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. All of the donors donated to Republican-leaning groups.

Colbert was on this from the beginning, but this particular topic just a few weeks ago.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Nice investment orange-face

Awwwww....

Judge Jeffery White of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause in a case brought by Karen Golinski. Golinski, represented by Lambda Legal, “was denied spousal health benefits by her employer, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.” White was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush in 2002. The decision represents a serious setback for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), whose Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) defended DOMA after the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend the law. Read the full opinion here. (HT: GinnyLaRoe)

Well, well, well

Looks like Obama took down Bin Laden AND Satan in short order.

Rick Santorum on Tuesday stood by comments he made in 2008 about Satan attacking the United States...

Asked whether he still thinks Satan is attacking the United States, Santorum called the inquiry “not relevant to what’s being discussed in America today.”

Patriotism Sugar Daddy Style

Newt Gingrich's main financial "dealer" Sheldon Abramson -- who said he's willing to spend 9 figures helping the GOP this fall -- wishes he'd have worn another country's uniform rather than his own American one.

But it is the Democrats accused of being not patriotic enough...as ever.

We apologize for our offensive practice...we now get back to engaging in our offensive practice

Who could have anticipated?

Anne Frank, the Jewish girl whose diary and death in a Nazi concentration camp made her a symbol of the Holocaust, was allegedly baptized posthumously Saturday by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to whistleblower Helen Radkey, a former member of the church. The ritual was conducted in a Mormon temple in the Dominican Republic, according to Radkey, a Salt Lake City researcher who investigates such incidents, which violate a 2010 pact between the Mormon Church and Jewish leaders.

Classy Family man, stays classy

Well, come November, hopefully we will not have to hear of Deadbeat Dad Archetype Joe Walsh anymore. But until then...

Opponents of U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh fired back at the conservative Illinois congressmen over the weekend after he said the national debate over birth control coverage is "not about women."

John XXIII ruined everything…

Another day another past revelation from Opus Dick:

When asked if he believed Obama is a "sincere liberal Christian," the former Pennsylvania senator said he didn't believe that sort of ideology exists

Which must make Martin Luther King Day interesting in the Santorum household for more reasons than you may have expected.

But then again, the last few weeks without primaries have pretty much been Rick Santorum demanding we all pay attention to a terrible Sunday School Class.

Well, at least he's all alone out there on the extreme fringe.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday that President Barack Obama's administration has "fought against religion" and sought to substitute a "secular" agenda for one grounded in faith

A long year is getting longer.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Coming soon

FoxNews newest series (and totally not ripped off from some taxpayer-funded bullshit show):

Good job Anthony Kennedy

Some speech more equal than others.

“They like to trash other people. It’s unfair that I’ve been treated unfair—but it doesn’t stop me. I might give $10 million or $100 million to Gingrich.”

But oh those evil unions and trial lawyers.

George Orwell would have a thing or two to say about it I'm sure.

Priorities

When not comparing having a probe stuck up one's hoo-hah to making sexy-time, Dana Loesch is having SNL's Weekend Update "fact-checked".

Apparently they also inadvertently discovered that Obama really wasn't in that Cosby show parody either.

Tbogg sums this up the best:

It's like a bad sandwich that won't stay down

There's another GOP debate tomorrow. And it just seems like we are a few weeks removed from having them every other day.

Bad times.

Yes Virginia, the 19th Amendment involves the 1st One...

The desire of many Virginia Republicans to treat some women like the popsicles of the damned has run into a major problem...the public.

Of those polled, 55 percent say they oppose the requirement and 36 percent support it ... those surveyed oppose defining life beginning at conception 52-41 percent ...

Looks like they managed to poll more people than Rick Santorum or the Diocese of Richmond. Or for that matter, still for some reason, employed by CNN Dana Loesch:

“Oh what about the Virginia rape? The rapes that, the forced rapes of women who are pregnant?” What? Wait a minute, they had no problem having similar to a trans-vaginal procedure when they engaged in the act that resulted in their pregnancy.

If that is similar to sex, Ms. Loesch, to say the very least, you are doing it wrong. Virginia is apparently for the very worst of lovers.

Still for the moment, the fact that most of the public seems to have become aware as to what the Virginia GOP has done has led to this:

With hundreds protesting outside the Capitol, the House of Delegates delayed multiple contentious bills that appeared poised for final passage today.

Aw, and it was supposed to be such right-wing trifecta of a day:

The chamber pushed back votes on a measure that would require an ultrasound of all women considering an abortion as well as adoption- (ED: targeting gays to prevent such adoptions) and gun-related legislation.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

This may be the GOP's strongest argument

Not Qualified to discuss

Apparently the sex between awful people Dana Loesch and her cross-dressing (oops, sorry, "Cross-Burning") bad rapping Husband is really, really, really bad.

Bias

I cannot help but notice that on this President's Day the site My Daguerrotype Boyfriend which sounds like a cross between Twilight and the awful plot of a Zooey Deschanel movie has put up a post on our hottest Presidents...at a young age.

All Republicans (one not even a President!)...most of them pre-beard.

BIAS!

Amen!

A more than fair question: Where were the bishops when Troy Davis died?

The Catholic Church officially opposes capital punishment. This doctrine is in the same vein as those opposing abortion, birth control, and physician-assisted suicide: church doctrine dictates that life begins at conception and is a gift from God. Consequently, it is beyond the scope of any soul, no matter how high the earthly authority, to terminate a human life. It does not matter if it is legal, and it does not matter if the rationale is to relieve suffering: the taking of life is God's department, not ours. Yet in the middle of September, as opposition to the impending execution of Troy Davis reached a fever pitch and a singular opportunity presented itself for the Church to not just call for an act of mercy, but support a key element of doctrine, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was silent as the grave.

Of course, they also made themselves somewhat scarce during times when illegal wars are launched and expanded health care rights are debated...also issues concern via the Church's doctrine. But OH MY GAWD SOMEBODY BOUGHT A CONDOM or IS ON THE PILL, those old guys who aren't supposed to have sex are totally on that one and screaming as loud as they can.

Too good not to post again

Many of you may have already seen this...but worth a view.

Going the wrong way...

Fifty-two years ago, John Kennedy faced the real hurdle of his Roman Catholic faith. This was, at the time, a significant impediment that only one major party candidate, Al Smith, had faced before -- to the latter's detriment.

Kennedy had to face the hurdle that Mitt Romney may eventually have to face, assuring the public he will govern as best for this country, not as what is best for his faith. Here is Kennedy in 1960 facing that question.


But one candidate is determined to show just the opposite. Rather than proclaim himself determined NOT to govern solely as his religion's doctrines proclaim Rick Santorum is doing the opposite. He is completely non-secular. The Opus Dei candidate.

Being religious isn't enough -- even mainstream protestants are unfit to govern in Rick Santorum's view.

...this was a Protestant country and the Protestant ethic, mainstream, mainline Protestantism, and of course we look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.

Two generations of Republicans decrying secular government have given birth to a candidate who can accept only one type of religious doctrine  leading to one type of rule.

To quote James Madison, "Ugh"*.

*(may not be actual James Madison quote)

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]