Get ready for "Draw Lucky -- the Exhibition"

Because by 2014 or so, we're going to read columns by Peggy Noonan where she writes about her unexpected moistness at the world's worst art gallery showing.

David Greene: Your husband has kept a pretty low profile since leaving office. But one thing that’s gotten some attention recently is his new hobby, painting. How did that come about?
Laura Bush: He was looking for a pastime. He got an app on his iPad where he could draw pictures. He communicated with me if I was on the road and with Barbara and Jenna with funny drawings.
David Greene: He was drawing you pictures to send you while you were on the road?
Laura Bush: Yeah, like he’d draw a picture of him in bed with Barney and the cat.

I'm going to guess it was a mix of 3-year old, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Dogs Playing Poker.

Masturbation NRA Leadership Style

Obviously just a person exercising their Second Amendment Rights the way Wayne LaPierre thinks they should.

The hunt is on for a gunman who police say sprayed two North Philadelphia blocks using a high-powered assault rifle in separate shootings that killed one and wounded three others earlier this month.

“We’ve already had one person killed and three others shot,” Homicide Unit Capt. James Clark said during a news conference Friday. “Quite frankly, we could have a lot more killed.”

...

“As he’s running away, he’s sort of just firing in the air, so he’s a very dangerous person,” Clark said. “We have to get him off the street as quickly as possible.”

A week later, on April 13, a gunman matching the description of the gunman opened fire on two men at 7th and Clearfield streets – about seven blocks from the scene of the first shooting. Police said the 23 shell casings recovered at that scene matched those found at the scene April 6. Both victims in that shooting, men aged 19 and 36, survived their gunshot wounds, said 25th District Capt. Frank Vanore.

Surveillance video from the second shooting shows sparks flying as bullets ricochet off the street and buildings and the victims running to escape the gunfire.

Behold the kind of state your average Randian covets

And the results that would occur:

Rescue workers in Bangladesh on Friday rushed to find survivors of Wednesday's horrific garment-factory collapse—but the death toll nevertheless climbed above 300, more than three times as high as initial reports...

 The collapse is the worst workplace accident in Bangladesh history, surpassing the fire that killed 112 five months ago, and workers have taken to the streets around the capital of Dhakar in protest of poor safety standards and workplace conditions , in some cases forcing factories to shut down. In response, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas.

The rubber bullets and tear gas for protesting mass deaths from negligence is a nice touch the Koch Brothers could appreciate.

This is what happens when you elect comic-book villains to high office

Another "shining" example of assholery from Florida.

Florida violated federal civil rights law with its new and unusual requirement that unemployment claimants file online and take math and reading tests before they can receive benefits, the U.S. Labor Department determined this month.

They also want drug-testing while the guy (and you know it was a guy, a white guy, a white Republican guy) who wrote it is probably addicted to prescription medication and cannot add or write beyond a 4th degree level -- or as it is known in Florida, a State University Grad.*



*Sorry, Floridian Collegians and Alums in advance.

Why not just spend this on coke or heroin?

At least you'll get high for a while...so it has more value than this.

The New York Times Global Forum: Thomas L. Friedman’s The Next New World, scheduled for June 20, promises to “explore the complex dynamics of new-world infrastructure, especially the transformative electronic, digital and mobile environment,” impart “invaluable insights into strategies for success in today’s new world order,” and answer the question: “What World Are You Living In?” Invitees can attend the one-day forum for the early-bird price of $995.

If you do not learn enough, fear not I'm sure "The Mustache of Understanding" will have all the answers for you within six months.

Via Balloon Juice.

Austerity continues to work its "Magic"!

Every sentient person anticipated the Spanish Disposition (and how it would suck):

More than six million Spaniards were out of work in the first quarter of this year, raising the jobless rate in the euro zone's fourth biggest economy to 27.2 percent, the highest since records began in the 1970s.

The huge sums poured into the global financial system by major central banks have eased bond market pressure on Spain, but the cuts Madrid has made in spending to regain investors' confidence have left it deep in recession.

30 days until all of the nation's Comedy Nerds have a Sunday of Worship

I shall be in attendance:

It's good to know...they could care less.

Ugh.

When a hearing to explore how to get the long-term unemployed back to work kicked off on Wednesday morning, only one lawmaker was in attendance. That was Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who was holding the hearing in her role as the vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee. The Joint Economic Commitee is one of a handful of committees whose members come from both parties and both houses of Congress. Klobuchar was eventually joined by three colleagues (in order of their appearance): Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. All four are Democrats.

In fairness, the GOP members had stints on all the cable news networks to show up for.

The freakout continues all over

It's bad enough that Iowa has a district (not my district thank goodness) represented by the stupid and loathsome Steve King.

But the determination of several Republicans in the Iowa Legislature to do their impression is the kind of thing that is bound to keep the GOP on the cutting edge of social issues -- in that they will bleed badly from them.

A group of conservatives in the Iowa state House have filed a measure that would cut the pay of state Supreme Court Justices by around 80 percent — but only for the ones who voted to legalize same sex marriage in 2009.
...


But Republican state Reps. Tom Shaw and Dwayne Alons insisted to The Gazette on Tuesday that the reduction in pay was not a punishment.

“It’s our responsibility to maintain the balance of power,” Shaw explained. “We’re just holding them responsible for their decision, for going beyond their bounds.”

Yeah, it's not a punishment, it's just for voting in a manner we don't like.  Totally not punishment.

Hard to believe that unassailable logic, huh?'

Meanwhile, in Iowa, like the rest of the nation, the public has come to accept gay marriage in ever increasing numbers.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

The "Modern" GOP

Paragons of rational thought everywhere. 

From Gawker:

GOP Lawmaker Suggests the Boston Marathon Bombing Was an Inside Job

This is Rep. Stella Tremblay. She is a Republican elected to New Hampshire's House of Representatives and she believes the government planned the bombing at the Boston Marathon last week that killed three people and injured more than 150 others.

Tremblay posted on Glenn Beck's Facebook wall last week, saying that the search for the suspects was going exactly as he'd suggested it would. She then goes on to suggest that the U.S. government planned to whole thing, but for what reason she does not specify. The message was posted Friday morning, before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested, for some context.

 

We all know the Republican method of dealing with less regulation

Has only one path:

Since 1998, the specific issues that appear most frequently in [the Agricultural Retailers Association and Fertilizer Institute’s] lobbying disclosure reports are bills dealing with the safety and security of chemical facilities. During that period, the Agricultural Retailers Association has spent a cumulative $2.9 million on lobbying while the Fertilizer Institute has spent even more, some $14.4 million, according to data in Influence Explorer.

In a lobbying disclosure on file with the Senate, the Agricultural Retailers Association clearly states its opposition to EPA regulation of fertilizer safety.

Fertilizer plant blows up because of lack of funding for inspection and regulation?

Solution, less inspection and regulation.

False flag this!

Oh dear, looks like we found the real ringleader.

AP also reports that the conspiracy theory website controlled by radio host Alex Jones, Infowars, was also of interest to Tsarnaev.

Who couldn't anticipate?

Those "clever" Republicans have finally gotten to the bottom of things about Benghazi by doing nothing more than figuring out who the most likely Democratic nominee in 2016 is going to be.

Stunning.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday unveiled a report on last's year attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that blames then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for lapses in security...

The 46-page report by the five committees of jurisdiction concludes that reductions in security levels prior to the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, including by Clinton herself. 

I wonder if a major fact was completely ignored by the same group that doesn't believe in global warming or evolution -- hard as that may be to believe.

 "In 2011 they [The GOP controlled House] came in and passed a continuing resolution for the remainder of that fiscal year. The House proposed $70 million cut in the WSP [Worldwide Security Program for the State Department] and they proposed a $204 million cut in Embassy security," says Mr. Lilly. "Then the next year, fiscal 2012, they cut worldwide security by $145 million and embassy security by $376 million. This year's bill is the same thing all over again. The House has cut the worldwide security budget $149 million below the request."

Funny how that got left out...a lot like money for embassy security.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Irony is still dead

A Library dedicated to George W. Bush.

I just hope and pray that it contains a wing dedicated to "quality poetry" like it will have a wing dedicated to "Good Ideas" (y'know like two wars, tax cuts, pushing high-risk home loans, doughnut holes, torture, and a special display of how to open Chinese Doors and Umbrellas).

You know poetry like this:

Dear Laura,

Roses are red, violets are blue,

oh my lump in the bed, how I've missed you.

Roses are redder, bluer am I,

seeing you kissed by that charming French guy.

The dogs and the cat they miss you too,

Barney's still mad you dropped him, he ate your shoe.

The distance my dear has been such a barrier,

next time you want an adventure, just land on a carrier.*

It can go next to the art gallery.


*May have been written by Laura, making it even sadder.

La Cage aux Fuck You!

Despite the Le Pen like troglodytes engaging in violent protests, France is about to legalize gay marriage.

Vive la différence!!

The excess of Weasels

Big Gun means more than a modicum of morality to Republican Senator Jeff Flake.

Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) obfuscatory stance on background checks came back to haunt him Monday after the New York Daily News unearthed a letter he sent to the mother of a shooting victim, vowing to support stronger background checks before he voted against them.

In a handwritten note to Caren Teves, whose son Alex died trying to protect his girlfriend during the Aurora, Colo. theater shooting, Flake said he was “truly sorry” for her loss and vowed that “strengthening background checks is something we agree on.” His letter was a follow-up response after he and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) were criticized for initially sending rote form letters to the mother in response to her grievances.

He wrote this promise AFTER sending a pathetic fake letter.

That's a double-dose of douchebaggery.

This sends quite a message

Ugh!

Buried in one line of an Ohio Valley Herald Star report on local business is the news that Steubenville High School football coach Reno Saccocia was approved for a two-year administrative contract by the Steubenville school board over the weekend.

...

For those who don’t remember Soccocia, he is the football coach who, according to text messages and witness testimony at the Steubenville rape trial, knew about the rape of a 16-year-old girl by two of his players but didn’t report the crime to school administrators or law enforcement officials, as he is obligated to do under Ohio law.

Yes, it's so logical

For years conservatives, primarily Republicans have been screaming against immigration reform that allows illegals any kind of residency in this country, let alone into the mainstream -- primary because that would involve doing something positive for Latinos.

And we cannot have that.

So naturally after an attack by Chechnyan immigrants  (not Mexicans or other Central Americans) who are Muslims (a religious faith to  which virtually no Central American person adheres) there is only one natural, logical result.

WE MUST STOP IMMIGRATION REFORM!

The logic, as usual, is impeccable. 

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Good

This is how you handle these asses:

Local 25 was contacted by some concerned citizens of Medford asking for help to keep members of the Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funeral of Krystle Campbell, scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10 AM in Medford.

Local 25 President Sean O’Brien asked all off-duty Teamsters to participate:

Teamsters Local 25 will be out in full force tomorrow morning at St. Joseph’s Church in Medford to form a human shield and block the Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funeral of Krystle Campbell. The Campbell family and friends have already endured immeasurable amounts of heartache and tragedy this week, and deserve a peaceful funeral with time to grieve privately. 

Westboro Baptist Church should understand that we will go to great lengths to make sure they don't protest any funerals of the victims of the past week’s tragedies, and that those we lost receive a proper burial.

Teamsters Local 25 represents 11,000 hardworking men and women from the Boston area.

Another thing wrong

I was clearly under the impression on Friday night that the older brother involved in the Boston bombing had died from gunfire.

Maybe not.

One of his officers put his cruiser into gear and jumped out of it, letting it roll at the suspects to draw fire, he said. The suspects peppered the car with bullets.

After several minutes, the elder brother, Tamerlan, walked toward the officers, firing his gun until he appeared to run out of bullets, Deveau said. Officers tackled him and were trying to get handcuffs on him, when the stolen SUV came roaring at them, the younger brother at the wheel. The officers scattered and the SUV plowed over Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was dragged briefly under the car, he said.

Dzhokar Tsarnaev abandoned the SUV almost immediately on a nearby street and fled on foot, triggering an all-day manhunt.

There are a lot of possible explanations for such an action IF that is actually what happened: from error, to panic, to anger, to a determination to shut him up.

Let the speculation begin.

Another day, another wholesale slaughter

America, the armed:

Gunfire erupted at an apartment complex in a city south of Seattle and five people were shot to death, including a suspect who was shot by arriving officers, police said early Monday.

Officers responding to an emergency call at 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the apartments in Federal Way found two injured men on the ground in a parking lot.

A Party comprised of real, rational leaders

Good to know that the "fever" broke with the election -- leaving a virus resistant to medical treatment.

...columnist Chris Nogy encouraged his fellow Republicans to utilize their 2nd Amendment rights to make sure that lawmakers — particularly Republicans who vote with Democrats — are held accountable...

The 2nd amendment means nothing unless those in power believe you would have no problem simply walking up and shooting them if they got too far out of line and stopped responding as representatives.

Not the party of evolution. Of course, we may soon learn that the other Party isn't always better when it comes to things like the Keystone Pipeline. The last day for the public to write (hopefully not) in futility their comments is today. So go here -- keystonecomments@state.gov -- if you wish to file your resistance.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

This guy may make Michele Bachmann and Steven King look almost sentient

Maine's minority vote Governor Paul LePage may be the dumbest asshole in America.

Maine Governor Paul LePage accused the University of Maine of turning on an electric motor when the wind wasn’t blowing their turbine to fool people into thinking that “wind power works.”

Keeping it in perspective

America...who needs it to to stand for anything anyway?

Greg Ball, a state senator in New York, suggested Friday that authorities should "torture" the captured Boston bombing suspect,  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is a naturalized American citizen and remains in serious condition at an area hospital.

We'll see how accurate this is

And even so, it may have been more in post-even concealment than a conspiracy.

Neighbors say three have been arrested in New Bedford in connection with the Boston Bombing suspect.

Police apprehended suspects from the Hidden Brook Apartments on Carriage Drive in New Bedford. Neighbors say they think that the girlfriend of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have lived in the complex and they have seen him in the area as recently as yesterday.

Dzhokhar is a student at the nearby University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Earlier on Friday his brother, also a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, was killed in a gun fight with police.

To some of you

Enjoy your bong today.

So...

They're foreign (but Chechnyan, not Saudi or nearby) but White but also Muslim.

So every conspiracy theory sort of wins -- half a point to all of you...still, fuck you.

Meanwhile, everyone else loses.

Why look at all the JOOOOOOBBBBBBBSSSSS

Jeebus.

...once up and running, the operation of the [Keystone] pipeline would only support 35 permanent and 15 temporary jobs, mostly for inspections, maintenance and repairs.

Watertown, Mass -- not a place to be at the moment

As many of you a police hunt for the suspects is currently going on right now in this section of the Boston area -- here's a pic of a nearby house to where a shoot-out occurred late last evening.

Behold the power of the neutered regulatory state

Oh the oppression of regulations industries are forced to endure in their determination to make a buck.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration most recently inspected the Texas fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in 1985.

Thanks to a prolonged and sustain policy of not providing the funding necessary to hire inspectors or do inspections the United States is now officially Bhopalesque.'

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Rupert's Scumbags

I know it shocks nobody.

But the New York Post could not be comprised of worse human beings engaging in scumbag behavior.

But that costs a negligible amount of money! We've got countries to occupy!

Naturally:

It’s impossible to know at this point whether unsafe workplace conditions were a direct cause of this disaster, but we do know that it was cited for failing to obtain or qualify for a permit in 2006 after a complaint of a strong ammonia smell, a smell that was reported to be “very bad last night.” The plant hasn’t been inspected in the past five years, and in fact only six Texas fertilizer plants were inspected in that time. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is chronically understaffed, which means that a given plant like West Fertilizer can only expect to get a state inspection once every 67 years on average.

"No Government" run amok

How on earth does a governmental body like a zoning commission allow THIS kind of situation other than "we put money first!"?

That's a nursing home, two schools, and two medical facilities within a half mile (most a quarter-mile) of a potential giant bomb.

Un-fucking-believable.

Another day, another failure

And with the assistance of the following "Democrats" a bill to make even the most modest non-controlling kind of improvements to gun control fall short:

Mark Pryor of Arkansas; Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota; Mark Begich of Alaska; and Max Baucus of Montana.

Thanks for nothin'. It also means we lose again to a Party that is made up of geniuses like this:

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) warned Wednesday that "radical Islamists" are being "trained to act like Hispanic[s]" and cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

So, you hate both the them! And lying assholes like this:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has been raising fears that expanding background checks would bring about a national gun registry, conceded Wednesday that the legislation doesn’t actually do that.

Heckuva job on reform Harry...who could have anticipated? Other than everyone but you?

Annnnnnnnnd...of course:

A man protesting new gun control measures being considered by the Senate was arrested Tuesday on the Capitol grounds when police discovered he was carrying a loaded handgun, CNN has learned.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I expect Rush Limbaugh to be arrested for the Boston bombing

There.

Just as accurate as CNN.

Perhaps, arguably more-so.

No so Happy Trails (not Appalachian ones either)

Oh dear, this doesn't sound too good.

 Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford must appear in court two days after running for a vacant congressional seat to answer a complaint that he trespassed at his ex-wife's home, according to court documents acquired by The Associated Press on Tuesday. 

The complaint says Jenny Sanford confronted Sanford leaving her Sullivans Island home on Feb. 3 by a rear door, using his cell phone for a flashlight...

The complaint filed by Jenny Sanford's lawyer, Deena Smith McRackan, said that Mark Sanford has "entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff's property. Plaintiff has informed defendant on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation of the court's order and has demanded that it not occur again."...

 "I am doing my best not to get in the way of his race," Jenny Sanford told the AP. "I want him to sink or swim on his own. For the sake of my children I'm trying my best not to get in the way, but he makes things difficult for me when he does things like trespassing."

I'm sure his Argentinian fiance/wife/girlfriend isn't too happy about this either.

That "austere" magic continues

Meanwhile, the self-imposed blight of Ol' Blighty, the Tories Austerity continues to wield its magic.

UK unemployment rose by 70,000 to 2.56 million between December and February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

It meant the unemployment rate for the quarter was 7.9%.

"But my funeral, shall not be privatized!"

The Tinhorn Lady who privatized everything she could while Prime Minister is making sure as many tax dollars as possible is spent on her funeral.

Seems consistent.

Thatcher is being given a ceremonial funeral – not officially a state funeral, which requires a vote in Parliament. Still, the proceedings will feature the same level of pomp and honor afforded Princess Diana in 1997 and the Queen Mother Elizabeth in 2002.

Just take your soiled slacks and retire already

Ron Fournier of the National Journal manages to be more pathetic than Alex Jones over the Boston bombing.

Yeah, it killed like 1/1500th of the people 9/11 did and I have a sneaky suspicion it will not lead to two or even one crippling wars that will kill six-figures of human beings and cost trillions.

But other than that, so much worse Ron -- you are so right.  Good job, good effort.

But then, ol' Ron has the true soul of a modern newsperson.

Karl Rove exhanged e-mails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "H-E-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier's e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."

There's always another ass to kiss inappropriately whether the pants are wet or not, isn't there Ron?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Sorry about the light blogging again

I've been busy in the morning doing something strange and unique the last month and a half.

Exercising.

Oh, and spending too much time with my hummel-figures at Pinterest.*






*That's a thing on there right?

The sane side

There's no greater despair that I feel right now about politics ("chained-ennui"?) than the fact that about nine-tenths of the country wants at least background checks and the small side represented by THIS is still winning.

An 11-year-old boy brought an AR-15 and a white flag with the words "Come and Take It" to a rally at the New Hampshire State House Saturday, the Union Leader reported. 

Organized by the Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC, the "Honor Your Oath" rally charged that lawmakers who voted to repeal the state's "Stand Your Ground" law last month violated their oaths of office and should be impeached, according to the Union Leader. The rally organizers said the event was not "gun rally."

Somebody may need to explain the birds and the bees to someone

Yeah, men and women will never be married again...you bet.

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" this week that he thinks same-sex marriage discourages marriage between a man and a woman.
"Would we be discouraging heterosexual marriage by allowing gay marriage?" Bill O'Reilly asked Santorum.

"Yeah, I believe we would," Santorum replied.

Hmmmm....

Seems like now would be a good time to have an ATF Director.

Wonder why we don't?

Good luck with that

Republicans, ready to move forward as ever.

...even as attitudes continue to shift among most Americans, Republicans have been slow to embrace the change. The NBC/WSJ poll showed that 66 percent of Republicans are opposed to same-sex marriage — a stark contrast to the 73 percent of Democrats who support giving gay and lesbian couples the right to tie the knot. That level of opposition may place national Republican leaders who are trying to soften the party's stance on issues related to gay rights in an awkward position.

Anything beyond missionary (gimp suits excepted) is an awkward position for the GOP base.

Oh dear

Future political aspirant...sneakily under a different name.

Just over a week away from the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, received even bigger news: they are now grandparents.

The newest member of the Bush family is Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager.

You just know that kid's first birthday is going to be rewarded with a self-portrait of Bush sitting on the can.

She'd have wanted it no other way

Americans often cannot quite understand that our determination to mythologize other leaders is not always shared by that leader's fellow citizens. But I have no doubt Thatcher would totally agree with this bullying action.

Campaigners reacted angrily tonight after Scotland Yard suggested protesters should consider avoiding Baroness Thatcher’s cortège – because they face arrest under a controversial public order law. A Metropolitan Police spokesman told The Independent that demonstrators were more likely than usual to be held under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, because mourners are considered particularly vulnerable to suffering distress.

There is, of course, a tad bit of difference between protesting at or near the funeral of a former political leader and the actions of the folks of Westboro Baptist Church. Maybe they could just play this song -- a big hit -- within a few hundred yards of the procession? [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Have to admit, it's a solid list of deserving candidates

Tit-for-tat and all that:

Russia on Saturday banned 18 Americans from entering the country in response to Washington imposing sanctions on 18 Russians for alleged human rights violations.

The list released by the Foreign Ministry includes John Yoo, a former U.S. Justice Department official who wrote legal memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques; David Addington, the chief of staff for former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney; and two former commanders of the Guantanamo Bay detention center: retired Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller and Adm. Jeffrey Harbeson.

The move came a day after the U.S. announced its sanctions under the Magnitsky Law, named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested in 2008 for tax evasion after accusing Russian police officials of stealing $230 million in tax rebates. He died in prison the next year, allegedly after being beaten and denied medical treatment.

Oh, hi taxes

I better do them, so light posting this weekend.

Sorry.

Never enough blood

How shocking from a National Review asshole, and there's no bigger one than Daniel Pipes.

Western governments should support the malign dictatorship of Bashar Assad.

Here is my logic for this reluctant suggestion: Evil forces pose less danger to us when they make war on each other. This (1) keeps them focused locally and (2) prevents either one from emerging victorious (and thereby posing a yet-greater danger). Western powers should guide enemies to stalemate by helping whichever side is losing, so as to prolong the conflict.

The death of others...it's good for my decrepit soul.



(Soul?)

Fucked, we are

Oh, good idea!

Former Vice President Dick Cheney discussed tensions on the Korean peninsula with Republican leaders in Congress in a closed-door meeting Tuesday, warning them that the United States was in danger.

 “We’re in deep doo doo,” Cheney told lawmakers, according to CNN, which first reported the talk.

Yeah, you are listening to Cheney...or his offspring Kim Liz Un.

Isn't the simple question fromt the Press Corps to Ken Cuccinelli

Who wants to make all sodomy illegal (this would include oral sex) in Virginia...

"Have you ever had a blowjob in this State?"  

If so, he'll have to resign.

My life obviously is empty

As I'll never be going to Coachella.*



*Or Burning Man, or Sturgis, or a Miami Marlins game.

Nice system

In 2012 Maine, which has three parties, the two traditional ones and an independent party managed to make sure that only two candidates ran for office.

They did so, in no small part, because of what happened in their Governor's race in 2010.
And with 38 percent of the vote they got this guy.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) recently bullied state workers to resolve unemployment claim disputes in favor of businesses, according to an investigation by the Maine Sun Journal published on Thursday.
According to the paper's report, LePage called a mandatory meeting on March 21 with more than a dozen state Department of Labor employees. He allegedly scolded the hearing officers and their supervisors, complaining that they too often decided against businesses that challenge laid-off workers' unemployment claims.

Yes, how dare judges independently apply the law to provide assistance to people fired -- often in the name of better executive bonuses.

That's not how a three-way is supposed to work.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

On the road

Have a matter out-of-town for the thing I do for a living, so light posting the rest of the day from me.

Something tells me you'll all be better for it.

A proud and noble species

We. Are. Not.

Take a dip in the Great Lakes these days, and you might get more than you bargained for. That's because, in addition to the water, fish and plant life you might normally expect, the region's waterways are increasingly clogged with plastic debris, according to researchers.

Well why should the oceans get all the major garbage patches, right?

We suck.

Armageddon Follies

Comforting that we elect so many truly powerful intellects to serve in Congress -- (when so many out there are clearly more qualified)

A Republican Congressman cited the biblical flood as an example of climate change that had not been caused by humans. Texas Rep. Joe Barton made those remarks Wednesday at the Subcommittee on Energy and Power hearing on H.R. 3, the Northern Route Approval Act, a bill that would give Congress the authority approve the Keystone pipeline. "I don't think it's a secret that I'm a proponent and supporter of the Keystone pipeline," Barton said.

Of.Course.You.Are.

So to be clear, we must approved a potentially environmentally catastrophic pipeline because not only could humans cause it to be faulty -- or nature -- but God might also get in on the act and who are we to deny him a good solid smiting opportunity?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Quote of the Decade already

The master(bater?) of understatement:

Each witness testified they were fearful Blakely's driving would cause an accident. 

"He was taking his hand, wetting his mouth, and masturbating," Sturgill said.

"At over 90 miles per hour, he had his penis out [the window]... he was masturbating... and that's when it got really, really bad. I wouldn't look over any more, and I wrote his tag number down on my hand, which I believe he noticed, and he exited very quickly," Street said.

Penis out the window?

McConnell, logically refuses to take one on the chin

You can't hit what doesn't exist.

Obama's judicial nominees wait an average of 116 days on the Senate floor for a vote, which is three times longer than the average wait for President George W. Bush's nominees. Many nominations stall even after being passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Which Mitch said is them being "totally fair".   After all they have to ponder their potential mental health issues.

Uh, what?

Yeah, made the Communist Witch Hunts much easier...(hint, it was normally the Jews...the "other" white people, right Bill?)

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore...so feel free to think for yourself."

Apparently the British public is showing their opinion on mandatory reverence:
 

Lady Thatcher’s death could propel The Wizard Of Oz track "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead to the top of the charts.

Those who saw her death as a cause for celebration have prompted a download surge for the track.

Within 24 hours of the former Prime Minister’s death, the song had risen to number 9 in the iTunes best-sellers chart. It reached number 2 on the Amazon singles download chart.

Hey, have you heard this one before?

Modernity vs. religious bigotry is not solely a phenomenon here and a few other places, it's an age-old worldwide conflict.

Feminism is a "very dangerous" phenomenon that could lead to the destruction of Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church has said.

"I consider this phenomenon called feminism very dangerous, because feminist organisations proclaim the pseudo-freedom of women, which, in the first place, must appear outside of marriage and outside of the family," said Patriarch Kirill, according to the Interfax news agency.

"Man has his gaze turned outward – he must work, make money – and woman must be focused inwards, where her children are, where her home is," Kirill said. "If this incredibly important function of women is destroyed then everything will be destroyed – the family and, if you wish, the motherland."

"It's not for nothing that we call Russia the motherland," he said.

A vocal supporter and close ally of Vladimir Putin, Patriarch Kirill has helped spearhead Russia's turn toward conservative values. He supported the case against Pussy Riot, the anti-Kremlin feminist punk band tried after performing a song criticising Putin and the church's explicit support of him, inside a Moscow cathedral. During their trial, prosecutors argued, successfully, that feminism when proclaimed inside a church was heretical.

Women, worse than Stalin.

Yeah, that whole Pussy Riot prosecution worked wonders in world opinion.

Until women are allowed to take their fairly earned place in politics everywhere, men are going to be paranoid about lady-parts.

Or whatever Mitch McConnell can think up.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Filibuster this

Oh there's no gun problem in this country, nosirreebob:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say a 4-year-old boy grabbed a loaded gun at a family cookout and accidentally shot and killed the wife of a Tennessee sheriff's deputy.

Way to really put "backbone" into filibuster reform Harry

Same old shit.

While President Barack Obama was delivering an emotional plea on Monday about gun control legislation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that he will be among those filibustering the gun package that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is trying to bring up.

"Sen. McConnell opposes the Reid bill," McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said in a statement. "While nobody knows yet what Sen. Reid’s plan is for the gun bill, if he chooses to file cloture on the motion to proceed to the Reid bill, Sen. McConnell will oppose cloture on proceeding to that bill."

McConnell is the fifteenth Republican to join the filibuster effort being led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Your Republican platform.

Jobs - No
Taxes - No
Gay Marriage - No
Birth Control - No
Civil Rights - No
Pain - Yes
Guns- OH YES!

Cut and Paste "Reagan" to make it applicable here

Here's somebody pulling no punches, I agree with Glenn Greenwald on this:

Exactly the same is true of Thatcher. There's something distinctively creepy - in a Roman sort of way - about this mandated ritual that our political leaders must be heralded and consecrated as saints upon death. This is accomplished by this baseless moral precept that it is gauche or worse to balance the gushing praise for them upon death with valid criticisms. There is absolutely nothing wrong with loathing Margaret Thatcher or any other person with political influence and power based upon perceived bad acts, and that doesn't change simply because they die. If anything, it becomes more compelling to commemorate those bad acts upon death as the only antidote against a society erecting a false and jingoistically self-serving history.

When Reagan died...after several years of dementia which forced him into a relative non-existence, he received the last fumes of the ethos of the first term of George W. Bush -- NEVER SAY ANYTHING CRITICAL about a Republican or what the country did.

"Hey everybody, is there a way we can be bigger assholes?"

"Why yes there is"

LITTLE ROCK, Ark, April 8 (Reuters) - The Republican-led Arkansas state Senate approved a measure on Monday that would require random drug testing of Arkansas residents who receive state unemployment benefits - a plan that the state's Democratic governor said could violate federal law.
The bill, which passed on a 25-5 vote and now goes to a House committee, could affect about 85,000 Arkansas residents currently receiving unemployment benefits.
If the measure becomes law, those seeking unemployment benefits would have to sign a waiver and allow for random drug testing. Those who refuse to sign or who test positive for drugs would not be entitled to benefits.

But no limits on their ability to buy a firearm, so there's that.

Awkward

I wondered yesterday what the Pope was going to say.

I'm sure the Vatican was ready with the cutting and the pasting on this one:

Pope Francis on Monday hailed Britain's former prime minister Margaret Thatcher for her "promotion of freedom" and said he was "saddened" by her passing.

The Argentine pope "recalls with appreciation the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and to the promotion of freedom among the family of nations," a condolence note read.

The overwhelming occupants of the Falkland Islands (500,000 of them to less than 3,000 bipeds) did not bah a comment about that whole "promotion of freedom" thing.

Neither did the majority of South African citizens.

(pic via think defence at Flickr.com)

"My soul's up here Vlad"

There is an element of George W. Bush about ol' Vlad.

Associated Press

Godwin escapes the Law

Well, it was "minimum-security":

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A man who took hostages at a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign office in 2007 escaped from a minimum-security correctional facility on Sunday, authorities said.

Leeland Eisenberg was discovered missing during an afternoon head count at the Calumet Transitional Housing Unit in Manchester, state Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Lyons said.

 I'd suggest they'd look for places doing WWII re-enactments.  A little shave and, uh, well...

Seriously, the guy is also a convicted rapist so I do hope he is recaptured from whatever "bunker" he takes refuge in while ordering non-existent divisions to take to the field against the Russians.

On the other hand, this may be an opportunity to get some new inappropriate YouTube rants up.

Iron Lady was still a horrible movie

But Margaret Thatcher is dead.

I'm anxiously awaiting the statement of the Pope on this matter.

I sincerely apologize for getting in trouble

This guy is going to be the Herman Cain of 2016, no doubt about it.

...last week, in one of his many appearances on Fox News, Carson stepped on a political land mine when he compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia in explaining his opposition to gay marriage.

“As you know, I have been in the national news quite a bit recently and my 36 year association with Johns Hopkins has unfortunately dragged our institution into the spotlight as well. I am sorry for any embarrassment this has caused,” wrote Carson, who is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. “But what really saddens me is that my poorly chosen words caused pain for some members of our community and for that I offer a most sincere and heartfelt apology. Hurting others is diametrically opposed to who I am and what I believe.”

Carson said he has not changed his views on gay marriage, but that he recognizes he erred badly in expressing his opinion.

“There are many lessons to be learned when venturing into the political world and this is one I will not forget. Although I do believe marriage is between a man and a woman, there are much less offensive ways to make that point. I hope all will look at a lifetime of service over some poorly chosen words,” he said.

i.e. I'm still an ass, I just shouldn't make it so obvious.

America 2013 a tale of two citi....wtf?!

The hell?

The latest creepy relic from the darkest recesses of the Dickensian past that appears to be making a comeback these days are debtors’ prisons. Debtors’ prisons show up in a number of Dickens’ novels, most notably Little Dorrit, which is one of his masterpieces. George Bernard Shaw claimed it converted him to socialism and called it “a more seditious book than Das Kapital.” Dickens surely knew from debtors’ prisons, since his chronically impecunious father had been in one. And now, as Think Progress reports, this reviled institution is being revived, and poor people in Ohio are being thrown in the clink for being unable to pay off debts — mostly legal fees and court fines. On Friday, Ohio’s ACLU released a report about the state’s debtors’ prisons, and it is a sobering and quietly enraging read.

Among the findings of the report:
— Being imprisoned for debt is clearing unconstitutional and was declared so by the U.S. Supreme Court over 20 years ago. It is also against Ohio law.
— People are being jailed for failure to pay fines and court costs, sometimes for amounts as low as a few hundred dollars.
— It’s affecting many people — as many as 20% of the bookings in the Huron County jail in the second half of 2012, for example. In two other counties, in one six-week period in 2012, a total of at least 120 people were jailed.
— Sentence lengths vary. One woman went to jail for ten days for being unable to pay $300 in overdue legal fines. A man who owed $1,500 in court fines and was behind in child support payments was sent to prison for three and half years.
— The law requires that you are entitled to a hearing to determine if you are able to pay court costs. Needless to say, none of these folks got that. Nor did they any of them receive a court-appointed attorney (are you joking?).
— Also? This practice makes no economic sense whatsoever. The court costs, cost of serving a warrant, cost of jailing these folks, etc., generally adds up to far more than the defendant owed in the first place.

Ugh.  

At What Price?

There was never any doubt that eventually the moral vacancy of the US Drone program would be put in the starkest light:

An American military airstrike in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border was reported to have killed 18 people, including at least one senior Taliban commander but also women and children, raising the thorny issue of civilian casualties for the third time in roughly a week.

Of those 18 reported deaths, 11 were children.

But I'm sure reportedly getting that one senior Taliban commander TOTALLY offsets killing 11 children. Another American success.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Tweety

Obviously has a mouth that moves faster than his brain...a lot faster.

Women and domestic violence is the topic.

“Is that something women really worry about?” he continued.

“Men being brutal?” Mitchell asked. “Yes,” she soldiered on, “the Violence Against Women Act, Joe Biden…”

“In the home?”

“Yes. Domestic violence,” she replied, before pivoting back to Biden again.

"Hey, I'm still an asshole!"

Shorter George Will.

"I just don't see how displaying open bigotry and contempt for people should be such a big deal for the people who are the victims.  Plus, who cares about groups expressing opinions that differ from me...everybody be the same!

Suck it up, white people like me did during all our years of being oppressed."

Don't mention the base

Rick Perry stupid is as stupid does.

Projection

Republicans and voter fraud.

31-year old Jennifer Derrebery reportedly worked for Gingrich's election contractor Stillwater LLC and, according to prosecutors, turned in campaign petitions with some 400 signatures in the failed attempt to collect the 10,000 needed for Gingrich's name to appear on the primary ballot last year. According to WVIR, nearly all of the signatures submitted by Derrebery were fake.

And the slowdown starts

As Atrios said yesterday for several years Spring has not exactly been awesome for new jobs...and the unemployment claims have ticked up the last few weeks.

And then there is this awesome, can never fail, idea of austerity, and Obama seems to be unilaterally capitulating yet again.

Hindsight

Of course, if he had more trouble buying an arsenal that would have helped too.

Thirty-eight days before the attack on the Century Aurora 16 movie theater, the psychiatrist treating suspect James Holmes told a police officer that her patient had confessed homicidal thoughts and was a danger to the public, according to newly unsealed court documents in the murder case against Holmes.

The psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton, also told the officer that Holmes had stopped seeing her and had been threatening her in text messages and e-mails, the documents state. The officer, Lynn Whitten, responded by deactivating Holmes' key-card access to secure areas of University of Colorado medical campus buildings, according to search warrant affidavits.

Just a half-dozen left

One more down.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) announced his support for marriage equality on Thursday, leaving just six Democratic holdouts yet to publicly endorse same-sex marriage.

The hold outs:   Mark Pryor (AK), Tim Johnson (SD), Joe Manchin (W.VA), Mary Landrieu (LA), Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Joe Donnelly (IN). Just four, both Heitkamp & Donnelly did the right thing today.

A decade of stupid

Celebrated with great stupidity:

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said that the United States should be prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike "right now" against North Korea, warning that its "deranged" president Kim Jong Un could attempt a nuclear attack on America...

 “In terms of the capability we have out there with the F-22s and the battleships … a pre-emptive strike from something like that would get their attention.’’

And as a self-proclaimed "born-again Christian" what clearer explanation of WWJD than bombing somebody first.

Plus, this sounds also familiar.

"Our intelligence system has said that we know that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction -- I believe including nuclear. There's not one person on this panel who would tell you unequivocally that he doesn't have the missile means now, or is nearly getting the missile means to deliver a weapon of mass destruction. And I for one am not willing to wait for that to happen."

There's no place on Earth Jim Inhofe doesn't want to bomb.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

 

I hope this Memorial Day is like the last nine Memorial Days

And you were not planning on inviting Atta J. Turk, Podiatrist to the Stars, to your BBQ.

Because I have plans.

I remain available for the 4th of July as well as bar and bat mitzvahs.

They probably won't perform at Rush Limbaugh's next wedding either

Republicans, loved by, uh, not many.

Not even a million dollars could convince Lady Gaga to perform during last summer's Republican National Convention.

The snub by the pop star is included in a lawsuit filed by a powerful Republican nonprofit fundraising organization, American Action Network, against a vendor whose job was to stage entertainment just outside the doors to the GOP's convention in August.

Documents filed with the lawsuit show that other entertainers also said "no thanks" to appearing at the GOP convention including Dolly Parton and the rapper Pitbull, who Republicans hoped to feature at an event for the Hispanic Leadership Network.

So they had to settle for Clint Eastwood's act.

Good plan.

The logic is unassailable

Especially the "ass" part:

Congress's "troll in residence," Rep. Louie Gohmert, managed to link limits on high-capacity gun magazines to gay marriage to bestiality in three moves...

 And I pointed out, well, once you make it ten (rounds in a magazine), then why would you draw the line at ten? What's wrong with nine? Or eleven? And the problem is once you draw that limit ; it's kind of like marriage when you say it's not a man and a woman any more, then why not have three men and one woman, or four women and one man, or why not somebody has a love for an animal?

If A is B, then B is Pi.

Another fierce "advocate" of "traditional" marriage

Who better, this side of Gingrich, than Mark Sanford?

The big tent...that's being pitched

Republicans, sure know how to make people think they're opening their minds (it helps the pod get in their easier for body snatching):

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli has filed a petition with the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond asking the full 15-judge court to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel last month that overturned the state’s sodomy law.

The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 on March 12 that a section of Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute that outlaws sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, is unconstitutional based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003 known as Lawrence v. Texas.

Stupid, mean, and wrong.

Of course it has

Carnival's PR Department literally having a shitty couple of months.

Progress

Good to see Brent Bozo's Bozell's clown show, the Media Research Center has conservatism moving in a manner than now white people get to employ the "paper bag test" in assessing who is black enough?

Too busy spending 3 minutes redesigning this site yesterday...

To notice this unbelievably offensive and stupid Bobo Brooks column.

But last week saw a setback for the forces of maximum freedom. A representative of millions of gays and lesbians went to the Supreme Court and asked the court to help put limits on their own freedom of choice. They asked for marriage. Marriage is one of those institutions — along with religion and military service — that restricts freedom. Marriage is about making a commitment that binds you for decades to come. It narrows your options on how you will spend your time, money and attention. Whether they understood it or not, the gays and lesbians represented at the court committed themselves to a certain agenda. They committed themselves to an institution that involves surrendering autonomy. They committed themselves to the idea that these self-restrictions should be reinforced by the state. They committed themselves to the idea that lifestyle choices are not just private affairs but work better when they are embedded in law. And far from being baffled by this attempt to use state power to restrict individual choice, most Americans seem to be applauding it.

It's so bad one you know it is a botched attempt at parody...but Bobo apparently doesn't know you cannot parody a self-parody.

It makes one harken back to the 1860s after the Thirteenth Amendment passed and Bobo's great great great uncle, Preston Bully-Bob Petunia Brooks, wrote in the Charleston Times-Lynchmob:

Whether they understood it or not, the Negroes represented at the court committed themselves to a certain agenda. They committed themselves to an institution that involves having to put their own roof over their nappy heads. They committed themselves to the idea that these self-restrictions should be reinforced by the state. They committed themselves to the idea that lifestyle choices are not just private affairs but work better when they are embedded in law.

Although in Petunia's defense, this argument still is made at CPAC.

Right wing terrorism...not a problem

Nosirreebob:

A federal prosecutor has reportedly left a case involving members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas citing "security concerns." The Dallas Morning News reports that Houston-based assistant U.S. attorney Jay Hileman told defense lawyer Richard O. Ely II that he was withdrawing in an email. Ely is representing one of the defendants in the case, which involves racketeering charges.

Human beings are ridiculous

And often dangerously stupid. Jon Stewart sparks Twitter fight between U.S. Embassy and Egyptian president’s office

The black helicopter of reason...

Oh dear, here comes the nutjob conspiracy screamers:

The United Nations' overwhelming approval Tuesday of an arms trade treaty opposed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) sets up a showdown between President Obama and the powerful gun lobby's friends on Capitol Hill. President Obama is expected to sign the treaty within the next few months after the United States joined 153 other countries in supporting the treaty.

The treaties whole purpose is to create national standards throughout the globe to ensure that their arms exports aren't likely to be used to harm civilians or violate human-rights. Naturally, the NRA and all of its bought souls (okay, souls is debatable) CAN. NOT. HAVE. THAT. At least they are in league with the right bedfellows:

The U.N. panel considering the treaty broke up last week after failing to reach consensus amid objections from North Korea, Syria and Iran.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

After months, if not years, of complaints

About how Firefox makes this blog look like shit.

I decided to make it look like shit through my own incredibly lame powers of HTML.

Or something.

After all I just passed my 9th Anniversary of having no life, I mean blogging.

Now I imagine it looks terrible with Opera or Safari.

America's Concern Troll

Richard Cohen announces the mission of his life has been completed...and we're all going with him.

We have all become political hacks.

I am now a 'REAL LIVE BOY'

The Gen-Xers are taking our fun away

What greater blow to the far-right than the fact that within a few years they cannot use the "f-word" for gays at the same time they have to stop calling hispanics names too?

All they are left with is Islam and and pretending Michael Moore and Al Gore are fat and Rush Limbaugh isn't.

What is never allowed to go around...still comes around

Remember the early faux outrages of the Obama Administration when DHS nixed a study of right-wing terror groups because "there just is no such thing"?

Apparently, just like the slaughter at the Wisconsin Sikh Temple this did not actually happen then:

A Texas prosecutor and his wife who were shot dead over the weekend may have been the targets of a white supremacist group, a US congressman said on Monday.
Republican Ted Poe speculated that the Aryan Brotherhood may have carried out the killings of Kaufman County district attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia, 65.

The couple were killed two months after Mark Hasse, the assistant district attorney for Kaufman County, was shot dead. Kaufman County was among a number of agencies to have brought a racketeering case against the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison gang. In December the Texas department of public safety had warned the Brotherhood was "actively planning retaliation against law enforcement officials".

Good thing these things don't actually happen.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

"What, I don't get tax deductions for declaring stupidity?"

The sleepiest-eyed and dumbest Baldwin brother forgets to render unto Caesar:

Hollywood actor Stephen Baldwin has avoided a jail sentence after admitting income tax evasion.

In Rockland County Court, Mr Baldwin admitted failing to pay New York state income taxes for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

A plea bargain was reached to enable The Usual Suspects star's record to be wiped clean if he pays back $300,000 (£197,000) within a year.

Wheeeeee!

It's been so long since we had a pandemic freakout.

Two men have died here after contracting a strain of avian flu that had not been previously found in humans, Xinhua, China’s official news agency, reported Sunday. 

The authorities said the two Shanghai men, 27 and 87 years old, fell ill after contracting the H7N9 strain in February and died in March. 

A third person, a 35-year-old woman from the city of Chuzhou, in neighboring Anhui Province, also contracted the strain and is critically ill.

Government sucks! Let's spend the fuck out that fucker!

And a bunch of Atlases Shrug:

After Todd Akin lost the Missouri Senate race to Democrat Claire McCaskill in November, he had one final piece of business to take care of as an outgoing member of the House of Representatives -- giving piles of government money to his staff. Akin nearly doubled the salaries of his House staffers in the quarter after his defeat, according to the website LegiStorm, which tracks congressional pay.

Funny how the government still produced even after Akin forcibly raped it.

The hits keep on coming

I wonder just how accurate and how far this austerity bite is?

Depositors in Cyprus with savings of more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) could face losses of up to 60 percent, under tough conditions attached to an international bailout, Finance Minister Michalis Sarris said Saturday.

The deal would force large depositors at the country's two largest lenders - Bank of Cyprus and Laiki - to take heavy losses, while smaller deposits would be guaranteed.

When austerity starts hitting the wealthy in larger countries that will probably be its final end...not the fact that it does not work.

 

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]