Dig baby dig!!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Video Week In Review- Right-wing media and the fringe: A growing history of violence (and denial)
G-d bless Media Matters.
Jay Leno Told Similar Joke About Palin's Daughter
If I thought Palin gave a crap about McCain, I'd say it was payback for the way Letterman razzed him. But we all know it's just Sar looking for a "real people" fight.
Now, for the record, I think both the jokes are over the line, same as the crap that went out about underage Chelsea and the Bushie twins. But there is something weird about being a mom and only getting outraged when it suits your political agenda.Alan Colmes (former co-host of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes) makes a great a catch regarding the current feud between David Letterman and Governor Sarah Palin. While Palin has been blasting Letterman all over the airwaves for joking about Yankees star Alex Rodriguez "knocking up" her daughter, Jay Leno told an extremely similar joke during the presidential campaign that resulted in no such uproar:
Gov. Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant. And you thought John Edwards was in trouble before! Now he has really done it. -- "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," 9/2/08
VIDEO: Not just Tehran + other Iran updates
By GottaLaff
Video of protesters at the university in Shiraz, Iran.
"Deafening." From a reader: "My next door neighbor is an Iranian immigrant who came here in 1977. He just received a SAT phone call from his brother in Tehran who reports that the rooftops of nighttime Tehran are filled with people shouting 'Allah O Akbar' in protest of the government and election results. The last time he remembers this happening is in 1979 during the Revolution. Says the sound of tens of thousands on the rooftops is deafening right now." It's almost four in the morning in Iran.But see, we can't find any of this out from the Tee Vee Machine. Why? Well...
More house arrest reports. The National Iranian American Council notes reports that Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, has been placed under house arrest, as well as another of the four presidential candidates, Mehdi Karroubi, and Karroubi's campaign manager (and former Tehran mayor) Gholamhossein Karbaschi.
MSNBC is into documentaries, and CNN prefers reruns of Wolf Blitzer's interview of Sarah Palin. I'm sure Iranians would tune in, but unfortunately, their media access has been completely cut off.
VIDEO: Keith v. Palin. Keith wins
By GottaLaff
I need a break from all the disturbing Iran news.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Human rights group wants U.S. quiet on Iran
By GottaLaff
The strongly anti-Ahmedinejad Hadi Ghaemi, New York-based spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, explains why that's a mistake.Robert Gibbs' White House statement may not fully capture the depth of the crime committed against the Iranian people. "But I think it's wise for the U.S. government to keep its distance," Ghaemi says. The White House can and should "show concern for human life and protesters' safety and promote tolerance and dialogue." But to get any further involved, even rhetorically, would "instigate the cry that the reformers are somehow driven and directed by the U.S., whether under Bush or under Obama, and there's no reason to give that unfounded allegation" any chance to spread.
Ghaemi continues to say that the international community should present a united front that gives "no legitimacy" to the election. In particular, he wants U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to express "serious grievances" about how the election was conducted. "Sanctions and military threats, all these things are counterproductive," Ghaemi says. The initiative has to be expressed and promoted by the Iranians themselves
VIDEO--Iran turmoil + Updates
By GottaLaff
The news is coming in from everywhere but CNN and MSNBC. Big surprise, huh? Via HuffPost:
A reader gets a message from his cousin in Tehran: "Please share this message on Facebook or share it in a way for us to be heard: Tehran-9:50pm: We don't have text message, cellphone network, Facebook, youTube, Twitter and lots of other websites. BBC PERSIA is gone also on HOTBIRD. 3 reformist newspapers are banned (I can't check the names I've just heard and everything is blocked on internet) If anyone can, help me share the news. They have cut us off from the world."Via BuzzFlash Tweet:
Canada "deeply, deeply concerned." Speaking alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon "said his country was troubled by reports of voting problems," Reuters reports."Canada is deeply, deeply concerned by reports about voting irregularities in the Iranian election. We're troubled by reports of intimidation of opposition candidates' offices by security forces," said Cannon.He said Canadian embassy officials in Tehran were closely monitoring the situation and urged Iranian authorities to conduct a "fair and transparent" counting of ballots.
Rumors say Moussavi's real votes are around 70% of total & Ahmadinejad is in 3rd place. All we Have is Rumors Now
VIDEOS: Iran in turmoil
By GottaLaff
Update:
Iran's ex-Foreign Minister: It's a coup. Via an interview with The Nation's Robert Dreyfuss:A coup d'etat? They've already made one! They've created a dictatorship, in fact. Do you know that last night the security forces occupied the offices of many newspapers, to make sure that their reporting on the election was favorable? They changed many headlines. They fixed the election.The Guards are taking over everything, including many economic institutions. The ministry of the interior is increasing its control in all the provinces.
Our Commenter SqueakToad heard back from her Iranian friend who lives here in the US. Per her comment here:
He wouldn't say much other than he had managed to speak to some of his family in Iran this morning and that the country is in a state of shock and upheaval. And then provided all these video links:
VIDEO: "Iranian protest against Ahmadictator" + stunning election updates
By GottaLaff
See previous post for some interesting insight into the Iran election mess.
Here's the latest from HuffPost:
Support from Ahmadinejad "pours in." Via the NYT: "Under the headline 'Congratulation Messages Pour In,' Iran's state news agency reports, with an apparent lack of irony, that Mr. Ahmadinejad's victory has been hailed abroad" -- by Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, and the government of Syria."Not healthy": Understatement.3:41 PM ET -- Potentially stunning development. The National Iranian American Council links to an Iranian story saying the President of the Committee of Election Monitoring has requested that the election be canceled.
Hojjat-ol-Eslam Yali Akbar MohteshamiPour officially requested that the Guardian Council to cancel this election and schedule a new election balanced and moderated democratically with the widespread and national presence of the people.Also from NIAC:
According to Mousavi's website, a group of employees in the Ministry of the Interior in an open letter warned that the votes have been changed and manipulated in the state election commission. In this letter, which was addressed to the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the President, the of Majlis of Iran, the heads of the legislative and judicial branch and several other government agencies, a group of employees stated that "as dedicated employees of the Interior Ministry, with experience in management and supervision of several elections such as the elections of Khamenei, Rafsanjani and Khatami, we announce that we fear the 10th presidential elections were not healthy."Full letter is available here in Farsi.
Iran elections: VIDEO + Why Did The Mullahs Panic? Theocracy is about to break wide open
By GottaLaff
Via Andrew Sullivan:
A reader writes:
Why did the clergy panic? Because they saw something much larger than just Mousavi being elected. They saw the beginnings of a wave that would sweep them out of power. This started with Khatami. and it won't stop today just because they declared a fraudulent winner. Mousavi would have been the crowbar with which to pry open the tangled nest of corruption that came into power soon after the 1979 revolution. There is enough pent-up anger in Iran's youth to fuel a complete wipeout of the regime. If the thugs were so utterly ham-fisted in their attempt to usurp power, they surely will commit scores of idiotic errors in the days to come. I cannot imagine Rafsanjani staying quiet for much longer; the theocracy is about to break wide open. Resistance will take many forms, and now will not stop until the mullahs are permanently out of power. Iran is headed for civil war.
Judge: Ex-Bush lawyer John Yoo can be sued over torture
By GottaLaff
Last night I posted about John Yoo being ordered to testify about his handywork leading to torture. Here's an update:A prisoner who says he was tortured while being held for nearly four years as a suspected terrorist can sue former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo for coming up with the legal theories that justified his alleged treatment, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White's decision marks the first time a government lawyer has been held potentially responsible for the abuse of detainees.
"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct," White said in refusing to dismiss Jose Padilla's lawsuit against Yoo.
If Padilla, now serving a 17-year prison sentence on terrorism charges, can prove his allegations, he can show that Yoo "set in motion a series of events that resulted in the deprivation of Padilla's constitutional rights," White said.
That's a big "if".
John Eastman, law school dean at Chapman University in Orange County, where Yoo taught for the past year, [...] predicted that the Justice Department will file an immediate appeal, going to the Supreme Court if necessary. [...]
Declared an enemy combatant, Padilla was held in a Navy brig for three years and eight months and was denied all contact with the outside world for the first half of that period, his suit said. He was then taken out of the brig and charged with taking part in an unrelated conspiracy to provide money and supplies to Islamic extremist groups. He was convicted and has appealed.
His suit against Yoo covers his time in the brig. He says he was detained illegally, held for lengthy periods in darkness and blinding light, subjected to temperature extremes and sleep deprivation, confined in painful stress positions, and threatened with death to himself, harm to his family and transfer to a nation where he would be tortured.
The suit said Yoo - who has acknowledged being a member of an administration planning group known as the "war council" - personally reviewed and approved Padilla's detention in the brig and provided the legal cover for his treatment.
At a hearing in March, Justice Department lawyer Mary Mason told White that courts had no power to scrutinize high-level government decision-making, especially in wartime.
But White said Friday that Padilla had a right to sue "the alleged architect of the government policy" on enemy combatants. He said an examination of Yoo's publicly disclosed writings would not damage national security, and an inquiry into "allegations of unconstitutional treatment of an American citizen on American soil" would not affect foreign relations.
Head of a minuteman group arrested for double homicide
By GottaLaff
Of course, Beck, O'Reilly, et al. will say they were actually ultra far leftists while simultaneously defending their Second Amendment rights. And of course, Forde should be exonerated because she's been keeping evil brown people from entering our country:
Three people have been arrested in connection with last months deadly double homicide in Arivaca that left a nine-year-old and her father dead. One of the people arrested for the homicide is the National Executive Director of the Minuteman American Defense group (M.A.D.), a group known for patrolling the border, and is dedicated to "Defending America's Borders" according to their website.M.A.D. indeed. In more ways than one.
Jason Eugene Bush, 38, Shawna Forde, 42 and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 43, were all taken into custody and charged in connection with the murders of 29-year-old Raul Flores and 8-year-old Brisenia Flores. Both were killed during an alleged home invasion. [...]
The mother survived the shooting, called police, and found a gun. Sheriff Dupnik says the three returned moments later to make sure everyone was dead. At that point, the mother shot and injured Bush, and the three fled the scene.
The trio has been charged with two counts of First Degree Murder, one count of First Degree Burglary, and one count of Aggravated Assault.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik says, "Jason Bush was in fact the shooter of all three of these people under orders from Ms. Forde." [...]
Sheriff Dupnik adds, "To just kill a 9-year old girl because she could be a potential witness, to me, is one of the most despicable acts I have ever heard of."
Forde is known for being the head of the minutemen group M.A.D., where she is listed as the National Executive Director.
"If you look at her history closely, and you know what we know, she is at best a psychopath," says Sheriff Dupnik referring to Forde during a press conference Friday. [...]
Upon leaving the press conference, Forde stated to reporters, "I have nothing to do with the murder."
H/t: Liberalchik
Breaking: All Telephone Cut Off Teheran, Mousavi Arrested: Rafsanjani Resigns
By GottaLaff
Via DKos:
[...]Link Telephone communication between Tehran and the rest of Iran has been completely disconnected. This corresponds with the beginnings of the arrests of the opposition. It is suspected that this is being orchestrated by the son of Mojtaba Khamenei son of The Supreme Leader, Ali.
Pyknet: Mousavi has been place under house arrest. He was arrested on his way to Khamenei's house. All communication has been shut off. Khamenei has issued a statement claiming that HE that he is leading this coup to SAVE the Islamic Government (Nezam)Sianat az ara (Protectors of Votes) Iran' Election Commission, have called the result fraud and are calling for new election. [...]
peiknet.com is reporting;
Translation -Rafsanjani has resigned all duties in protest to Supreme Leader Khamenei's endorsement of Ahmadinejad as winner of yesterday's election.
Much more at Kos.
Glenn Beck: The face of treason
By GottaLaff
Thank you, Mark Karlin, for linking me to this:
The Face of Treason.
If Glenn Beck wore a turban and incited violence the way he does,
he would be in Gitmo as a terrorist and enemy of the state.
Nancy Pelosi: House won't pass health care reform without public option
By GottaLaff
What, our present system isn't good enough? Why no. No it isn't:
Keep writing to your representatives and here. Let the White House know how you feel. Speak loudly and clearly... and politely.Nancy Pelosi is stepping up to the plate in her support for a good public option.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Huffington Post Thursday that a health care overhaul that did not include a public option wouldn't make it through the House because it "wouldn't have the votes." [...]
The goal, she responded, was affordability and accessibility. "If you have another way to do that, put it on the table. And that's where we are. Everything should be on the table," she said. [...]
Asked by HuffPost if she would allow a reform package without a public option out of the House, she responded: "It's not a question of allow. It wouldn't have the votes."
Profit motive in healthcare is sick
By GottaLaff
I found these letters to the L.A. Times share-worthy:
Re “A booster shot for insurers,” June 7Next:
I have some questions for the health insurance companies pushing a mandate:
I'm apparently uninsurable, according to your own underwriting standards.
Will you cover me? Will you cover my preexisting conditions? Will you be as expensive or more expensive than COBRA or California's high-risk pool?
What will be my options as my divorce at this later stage of my life becomes final?
Will I make too much money to qualify for assistance, or will I make too little to afford it in the first place, because I'm self-employed and my income in this economy is so uneven?
You'll have to excuse me if the government-run plan looks more attractive than yours. You're in the business of not paying for my medical needs, and you always have been. But you've been very good about collecting my money.
Your article pointing out that mandating health insurance will result in a windfall for the insurance industry was excellent.Apparently Nancy Pelosi's fighting hard for the "public option", which will be the subject of my next post.
But the view that a single-payer system is "politically unfeasible" is a result of insurance and pharmaceutical dollars flowing to our representatives.
That is the reason why it has been "taken off the table."
Journalists should be following the money and informing the public what "single payer" means (healthcare for all) and does not mean (a government takeover of healthcare).
S. Carolina GOP Activist: “I’m sure [escaped gorilla] is just one of Michelle’s ancestors"
By GottaLaff
(click on image to enlarge)
All I can do at this point is shake my head. This is simply unacceptable:
UPDATE-- Great comment from my pal Mark Karlin at BuzzFlash on this, via e-mail to me:A prominent S.C. Republican Party activist is in hot water after describing an escaped gorilla at a South Carolina zoo as an “ancestor” of First Lady Michelle Obama.
The exchange occurred after Trey Walker, an advisor to S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, posted an innocuous Facebook update about this morning’s escape of a Western Lowlands Gorilla from Columbia’s Riverbanks Zoo.
Walker’s harmless update, however was followed by a highly-questionable comment from longtime SCGOP activist and former State Senate candidate, Rusty DePass. [...]
An early South Carolina supporter of former President George W. Bush, DePass has been active in Republican politics in South Carolina for decades. [...]
The comment has been removed from Facebook. No word yet on who yanked it.
the irony here is that the gorilla in quesition is an ancestor of the s.c. republican, my ancestor and yours tooH/t: The Joshua Blog
Hatred and the far right
By GottaLaff
We're not talking here about mere conservative Republicans. This is the lunatic right, for whom the election of Barack Obama was much more than a political defeat: It was a racial and existential nightmare. If he can succeed, if no catastrophe or deprivation of rights ensues, then these people have feared and plotted and hated in vain. [...]
Still, it's clear that something is stirring this peculiarly American cesspool in ways that haven't occurred since the mid-1990s, when an upsurge in activity among so-called militia groups culminated in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the deadliest terrorist incident on American soil until 9/11.
Rumors that the new Obama administration secretly planned to seize people's firearms surged through the Internet, which nowadays links extremists like a kind of fevered nervous system, and fueled a run on gun stores that stock assault weapons. [...]
The violent right, however, is a particularly difficult problem for law enforcement. Since the early 1990s, the movement's theorists have promulgated the concept of the "unorganized resistance" conducted by "lone wolves." It's a tactic meant to prevent believers from joining organizations that undercover law enforcement agents might infiltrate. Adherents are urged to keep to themselves, to use the Internet to inform themselves and to avoid rallies where they might be photographed. They're also urged to act on their own.
At the same time, American extremists have the benefit of our lax gun laws. In most countries, would-be terrorists need to join groups in order to secure arms. Here, they can buy them by the carload at a nearby gun store. The NRA is the lone wolves' best friend.
Two months ago, the Republican National Committee and many conservative commentators went into paroxysms of rage over a report by the Department of Homeland Security drawing attention to the potential terrorist threat of resurgent right-wing extremism. The department ended up apologizing for noting the extremist underground's attempts to recruit returning military personnel. (All three of the men involved in the Oklahoma City bombing met and developed their convictions while serving in the Army.) As the body count mounts, the department may want to reconsider that apology.
Hate means never having to say you're sorry.
Disputed Iran Election Prompts Rioting
All sorts of rumours running around, one that Mousavi has been house arrested. (He is also supposed to speak publicly at 2p Tehran time, but I can't figure out what time that is EST) Laura Rozen has more here.
(CBS/AP) Supporters of the main election challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires Saturday as authorities declared the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide.
Opponents responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade and charges that the result was the work of a "dictatorship."
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the disputes from Friday's election. In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment."
But Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship."
Video- Real Time With Bill Maher June 11, 2009 Panel
Fran Townshend sounds like a total tool. This woman was in charge of DHS? Oy.
Saturday Linkage
Did someone move everything over an inch and not tell me?
Hairy camel "hides" pregnancy for 13 months
N. Korea Rattles Sabers After U.N. Vote
Homes You Can Buy With A Credit Card
U.S. to restart plans for a coal plant to capture greenhouse gases
E-love perils: Castro's son caught in Internet flirtation
Body Politic: The Senate's New Soap Opera
Ahmadinejad Declared Winner of Iran Election
Not what we were looking forward to yesterday.
TEHRAN, June 13 -- Iran's Interior Ministry declared Saturday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a decisive victory in Friday's presidential election, but the incumbent's leading challenger protested the results, and clashes broke out between the two candidates' supporters.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister who waged a heated campaign against Ahmadinejad's bid for reelection, urged his supporters to reject a "governance of lie and dictatorship." He attributed the results to widespread vote fraud and vowed to resist a "dangerous manipulation" of the balloting.
Later, fighting broke out at Tehran's Vanak Square among hundreds of Iranians who backed the rival candidates, Reuters news agency reported. Up to 2,000 Mousavi supporters sat down in the street, chanting: "Mousavi take back our vote! What happened to our vote?"
Police wielding batons then moved to disperse the protesters, the news agency said.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Bush lawyer Yoo ordered to testify
By GottaLaff
A federal judge has ruled that John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer who wrote crucial memorandums justifying harsh interrogation techniques, will have to answer in court to accusations that his work led to a prisoner’s being tortured and deprived of his constitutional rights.Suh-weet.
H/t: Greg Mitchell
Overnight and Open Thread
Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory) Explanation: Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe -- a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way.
It's been awhile since I've posted one of these, and I really like how psychedelic this one looks. Click to enlarge, via.
Obama on DOMA: He IS Keeping A Promise, per fed attorney
By GottaLaff
Much more here. Your turn.I am an attorney, and I am a federal government attorney. I am here to say that Obama is keeping a promise with regard to DOMA, just not one you are thinking about in your haste to call him out as having abandoned the GLBT community by filing a brief arguing in support of DOMA.
Here's the promise you claim he is breaking: By defending DOMA in court, he is breaking his promise to fight for gay and lesbian rights. He is breaking a policy promise.
I think that is incorrect.
Rather, here's the promise he is keeping: He is keeping his promise that he will serve and act as President as if America is a nation of laws, which it is. He is keeping his promise to uphold the law. [...]The point is: The man I voted for told me he would return us to a nation of laws, not of men. That means we follow (and apply, and defend--or else it means nothing) the law. Regardless of the whims or policy desires of the man in the chair. Because he is bound by the law, too.
Have you all forgotten this so soon?
So rail about breaks of promises where policy is concerned; you should and you must petition your government for a redress of those grievances. We all must. We must use our voices to make Obama change the policy, make him change the law, make Congress change the law. Everywhere we think it needs changing. Hold his feet to the fire on those campaign policy promises, and beat him up when he doesn't.
But for God's sake, don't beat him up when he (and his DOJ) does his Constitutional duty--a duty ignored for 8 years--and defends and upholds the law.
Video- Bill O'Reilly accuses Joan Walsh of having "blood on her hands" for defending Tiller
I tried to watch, but Bill is just too damn much. Glad to hear Joan did good.
Dinner with Rachel Maddow
By GottaLaff
[I]t was hugely exciting for me to have dinner with Rachel, who is also a foodie and cocktail expert, last night. At Ssäm Bar. The table, which included Rachel’s partner, artist Susan Mikula and a special guest star or two, was a late one—Rachel doesn’t finish taping her show until after 10 pm so there we were eating bo ssäm (the restaurant’s much-documented 6-pound caramelized pork butt) at midnight. The conversation ranged from Gitmo detainees going to Palau (that country’s president had been a guest on her show that evening) to the ice cubes in Ssäm's excellent Old-Fashioned (they’re hand-cut in Queens by an ice-cutting silver medalist—Rachel said she'd never seen better ones). I didn’t think Rachel Maddow could get any cooler but anyone who can eat bo ssäm at midnight (after digging into Momofuku pork buns and fried chicken and before tasting four kinds of cake from Momofuku Milk Bar) is my all-out hero.Sounds like she would have had Rachel for dessert if she'd been on the menu. Yum!
GOP National Security Attacks On Obama at Odds with Defense Pros
By GottaLaff
Those trendsetting Rushpublics... they're just so on top of what's hottt and what's... nottt.A striking trend worth watching: The national security attacks GOP leaders are lobbing at Obama are putting them increasingly at odds with former allies in Washington’s permanent Defense establishment, many of whom are agreeing with Obama and sometimes even condemning the GOP attacks as baseless. Consider:
* Guantanamo: Senator Mitch McConnell and many other Republicans have condemned Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo [...]
But Colin Powell supports closing Guantanamo, and James Baker does too... [a]nd General David Petraeus agrees, saying that “Gitmo has caused us problems” [...]
* Mirandizing terrorists: House GOP leader John Boehner condemned Obama today for allegedly Mirandizing terrorists, [...] John Cornyn also attacked on this today.
But Petraeus said yesterday that he has “no concerns at all” about the practice, adding: “This is the FBI doing what the FBI does.”
* Torture: It’s opposed by Petraeus and Powell.
* Funding for the IMF: GOP leaders Eric Cantor and Boehner have repeatedly said that Obama’s request for Congressional funding for the International Monetary Fund could help terrorists [...]
But Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Adviser James Jones say the opposite: That not funding the IMF could increase global terrorism and endanger our security. Condoleezza Rice, Henry Kissinger and Powell also back the IMF funding.
**************************************
We have ourselves a trend. [...] It’s a clear sign that Obama’s national security positions (for good or for ill) are squarely in the mainstream of the D.C. Defense establishment. And it shows that the GOP’s need to attack those positions has forced Republican officials outside that mainstream, isolating them further and putting them at odds with its onetime allies in that establishment.
Obama Note Girl Denied Fox Interview?
By GottaLaff
Well now Kennedy Corpus (and her dad, John, who brought her) is enjoying a bit of a spotlight, and will appear on NBC's Weekend Today show tomorrow morning.Party poopers. Maybe Obama should write a note on their behalf, too, saying there is absolutely no excuse for these dufi.
They also have made the cable rounds: MSNBC at 11:54amET, CNN at 1:33pmET...but no Fox News.Sources tell TVNewser the Corpus family was told by NBC they were not allowed to do the FNC interview, which was slated to take place during "Happening Now" (11am-1pmET). The interview with Fox News had to be canceled at the last minute.
An NBC spokesperson tells TVNewser: "We agreed that she could honor any interviews she scheduled prior to the Weekend Today booking."
Frustrated with my party
By GottaLaff
Rush Limbaugh and his quest for ever higher ratings is not our leader, or anyone's leader. He is doing this for him. If there is harmony in the country, the need for a show like his is less. If there is chaos and discord his ratings skyrocket. His success depends on the country in turmoil. The more discord, the more bloody attacks on innocents, the more dissention among neighbors, the more extremism we have, the better he does and the richer he gets. I have no use for anyone like him. I will not give him my time or attention any longer. He is creating the atmosphere for the upswing in domestic terrorism and he is encouraging it. He is destroying us. I believe that many of his messages borderline sedition or treason.Here's the interesting part... it's a post by a Republican:
We conservatives have a problem. We lost and we need to know why. We can't say it is because Obama was better online than the Republicans and dismiss it. There were problems with our message. We weren't focused. We were put on the defensive. We reacted. We didn't establish our goals and then go after them in an organized way. We didn't lead. We didn't put up any leaders. We put up a moderate and a dingbat. We failed to understand the problems and formulate solutions. We were so used to being in charge that we couldn't see how much trouble we were in. We still don't. Nothing has changed. We complain about the Democrats and put out distorted negative ads on You-Tube. We say outlandish things. We rail against the Democrats. We do not have a cohesive positive message yet. We cannot find a leader. We trot people out in front of a camera and see how they play and if they don't do so well, we abandon them like we have Bobby Jindal.This is one Republican I would like to get to know a little better. How refreshing to hear a reasonable voice amid the usual madness.
We are so busy posturing and saying the same talking points over and over we don't listen. We don't listen. We don't listen. We are a representative government or supposed to be. We need to listen to the people, understand their concerns and find leaders who will take their message to Washington.
There are very good people out there, but the very good people are NOT Rush Limbaugh, NOT Sarah Palin, NOT Newt Gingrich, NOT Michael Steele. These people are all jokes. They are all gimmicks. They make outlandish statements and make for interesting news cycles but they are not leaders. I want my party back. I want real conservative leaders who listen and do the right thing. I want all the hate mongering messages to stop. I want the hatred to stop. I want to work together to find solutions that are the best for the country not one side's reaction to 8 years of impotency. Our complaints are not being heard. We are not being taken seriously.
And I'm listening.
H/t: Shoq
VIDEO proves Joe Scarborough et al. wrong, Scarborough just gets worse
By GottaLaff
Apparently feeling a tad red-faced in light of the above video, Joe Scarborough got a little testy:
...Scarborough lashed out at Paul Krugman, and doubled down on his unjustified criticism of the DHS report from April.On Krugman, Scarborough said:
"As somebody that has to sort through a lot of hate mail, a lot of hate email, a lot of viciousness. Paul Krugman's name is attached to a lot of those emails. They use Paul Krugman as their shield for their left-wing hate. This is because Paul Krugman, like a lot of extremists on the right, they only see their side. They have a closed-minded world view. Paul Krugman uses this tragedy, uses this death to try to knock down his opponents on the right."
Scarborough can't (or won't) address the substance of Krugman's claims, so he finds it easier to equate the Nobel laureate with right-wing blowhards. As for the DHS report, Scarborough added:
"What upset most of us [about the document was] the fact not that they were targeting right-wingers, it's that they were targeting veterans."
Scarborough can keep saying that, but it doesn't make it true. [...]
It would never happen, but instead of lashing out, Scarborough should either avoid the subject altogether, or apologize for his insulting behavior.
That was dripping with sarcasm, in case by some crazy chance you didn't notice.
Attorney General Defends DOMA
By GottaLaff
I don't understand this at all. I am as disappointed as I can be. Please go sign the letter. Let Obama hear your voices.On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder, once heralded by the gay community as someone who would work to achieve President Obama’s promise to repeal DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, on Wednesday stood in front of his Department of Justice’s LGBT employees and, as reported in an article just released by The Washington Blade, spoke to the Obama Administration’s promise of equality for all [...]
That was Wednesday.
Thursday, Holder’s Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss a gay marriage case the U.S. Court of Appeals is hearing. In “Obama defends DOMA in federal court. Says banning gay marriage is good for the federal budget. Invokes incest and marrying children,” John Aravosis of AmericaBlog writes,
Obama didn’t just argue a technicality about the case, he argued that DOMA is reasonable. That DOMA is constitutional. That DOMA wasn’t motivated by any anti-gay animus. He argued why our Supreme Court victories in Roemer and Lawrence shouldn’t be interpreted to give us rights in any other area (which hurts us in countless other cases and battles). He argued that DOMA doesn’t discriminate against us because it also discriminates about straight unmarried couples (ignoring the fact that they can get married and we can’t).
He actually argued that the courts shouldn’t consider Loving v. Virginia, the miscegenation case in which the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to ban interracial marriages, when looking at gay civil rights cases. He told the court, in essence, that blacks deserve more civil rights than gays, that our civil rights are not on the same level. [...]
Attorney General Holder has taken one of our most sacred pieces of history and all but used it against us. What’s past IS prologue, Mr. Holder, Mr. Obama. You too should know that better than most Americans. We certainly do.
It’s time to march. It’s time to fight for our rights. It’s time to win.
Both Sides Declare Victory in Iran
By GottaLaff
Although I prefer the content of Paddy's post below, this is the latest as of now:
Iran's state news agency is reporting that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won re-election, but his reformist rival Mirhossein Mousavi is also claiming victory, the AP reports.
The BBC reported "huge turnout."
Official results are not expected until Saturday.
Kyl Threatens GOP Boycott of Sotomayor Hearing
By GottaLaff
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) told Roll Call yesterday that he and his Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee may boycott Judge Sotomayor’s hearings if Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) does not cave to right-wing demands to delay the hearings:And then they took a milk-and-cookies break, had nap time, and learned how to tie the laces on their big boy shoes.“As the hearing time approaches we will evaluate whether we can make that deadline,” Kyl said, explaining that if Republicans do not feel they can adequately question Sotomayor they will try to meet with Leahy to make a plea for more time.
However, Kyl, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, did not explicitly rule out the use of delay tactics, including a Republican boycott of the confirmation hearings, if an accommodation cannot be made.
But Kyl is not entitled to any more accommodations than what he has already received. Far from expediting Sotomayor’s confirmation process, Leahy set a schedule which is virtually identical to that enjoyed by Bush appointee John Roberts [...]
Earlier this week, all seven GOP members of the Judiciary Committee signed a letter demanding that Sotomayor complete a series of irrelevant or even impossible tasks before her nomination may be considered.
George H W Bush Defends Sotomayor
Wonder if Rush is going to start trashing him now? (Video is GHWB jumping out a plane for his 85th birthday)
In a CNN interview, former President George H.W. Bush defended Judge Sonia Sotomayor:
Said Bush: "I don't know her that well but I think she's had a distinguished record on the bench and she should be entitled to fair hearings... And she was called by somebody a racist once. That's not right. I mean that's not fair. It doesn't help the process. You're out there name-calling. So let them decide who they want to vote for and get on with it."
Video- Michael Savage: Obama "attacking Israel, attacking Jews and breeding a climate of hate against Jews"
This crap kills me but it's so typical of the way pretty much anyone can project their ideas on Obama since he's so damn centrist. Wright thinks the Zionists own the President and Savage thinks Obama wants to destroy them. Oy.
Looks like Pro Western Mousavi has won in Iran
Strong turnout looks like it made a difference. More as I get it.
Added- Here is an interesting interview with Mousavi that Joe Klein got. Below is Obama's comments on the election-
Obama Rides High as Pessimism Wanes
A new Ipsos/McClatchy poll finds President Obama's approval ratings remain high with 64% of Americans saying that they approve of the job he is doing as President and fully 40% say that they strongly approve of his performance.
Key finding: A majority of Americans -- 52% -- now feel that the country is headed in the right direction while 42% worries that things are off on the wrong track.
Video Afternoon Distraction
Where else would you find a guy in bondage gear dancing with puppets? No, wait, don't answer that.
Quote of the Day
"A rabid follower of Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson shot up the offices of the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday to protest delays in implementing protections against global warming..."
Dep't. of Predictable: Far Right Goes After Shepard Smith
By GottaLaff
Rushpublics eating their own is becoming a routine pastime now.As Media Matters noted yesterday, the right-wing has now turned its fire on Smith. On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh mocked Smith’s “whining and moaning and complaining about e-mails”:
LIMBAUGH: As for Shepard Smith whining and moaning and complaining about e-mails, nobody needs to tell me about hateful e-mails, for crying out loud. I get the most vile, sick e-mails attacking me as a “Jew lover” that you can imagine. I don’t read ‘em. I hear about them. [...]
So, Shep, you got nothing on anybody out there. The vile hate that was 24/7 in most of the American media for the eight years of Bush — and particularly from 2003 on after the Iraq war — nobody, nobody at this point in time has ever done, in our society, anything comparable to the kind of hate that we got from mainstream sources.
Allahpundit of Michelle Malkin’s Hot Air wrote that if Smith truly believes his viewers are “would-be presidential assassins,” then “why doesn’t he quit?” Further out on the fringe, conservative blogger Pamela Geller, who writes at Atlas Shrugs, titled a post, “Please Shepard Smith Out the Door!” She followed it up with a post saying, “Shepard Smith has got to go.” Geller’s call for Smith to be fired is beginning to get traction with some conservatives online.
It's amazing how hypocritical these twerps are considering how regularly they poison the airwaves with vile lies and attacks that very possibly result in violence.
When will they finally understand the meaning of the words "consequences", "civility", "bigotry", and "hate speech"?
Patrick Kennedy Enters Rehab Again
By GottaLaff
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), "a public face of recovery from addiction since an automobile accident spurred him into rehabilitation three years ago, has entered an undisclosed medical facility for treatment," the Providence Journal reports.
"While close friends of Kennedy gave few details of what the congressman called a temporary 'step away from my normal routine,' they stressed that this chapter in his recovery was not prompted by any sort of accident, injury, or trouble with the law."
Bill O'Reilly Books Joan Walsh After Her Harsh Criticism of Him
Tonight on The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly will interview Salon.com editor, and frequent MSNBC guest, Joan Walsh. Here's the backstory:On Wednesday's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Walsh was critical of O'Reilly and seemed to connect him to the murder of Dr. George Tiller. "When Bill O'Reilly goes on TV every night and calls Dr. Tiller a baby killer and a Nazi and a Mengele, and shows where he works, why do we put up with that?" she asked. "Why is that entertainment in our culture? It's demonizing a private citizen for doing a lawful job? Why are people doing that? Why is that acceptable?" (She expanded on this in a blog post.)
Last night O'Reilly called Walsh "one of the most extreme" critics of him for "telling the truth about Dr. Tiller."
He also invited Walsh on the FNC show — and she accepted. On Twitter, she asked for advice. "I plan on being calm, smart, kind and well-prepared," said Walsh.
Fact Check Weekly
Your info dose of what crazy lies are flying around the intertubes.
Q: Did Obama issue a policy that "no U.S. serviceman can speak at any faith-based public event"?
A: This claim in a chain e-mail is false. Army officials say there has been no change in policy regarding "faith-based" events. And the event the e-mail refers to wasn't a "faith-based" one.
Q: Would Senate bill 2099 put a yearly $50 tax on each privately owned firearm?
A: There is no such bill. A chain e-mail containing bogus claims refers to a bill that died more than eight years ago.
'Be a man,' urge Indiana organizers of would-be national holiday
I may be confused on this, but do ya'll really need urging to watch Rocky flicks and burp? No man I've ever known did. /snark
CELESTINE, Ind. (AP) — Two Indiana men have declared Monday "National Man Day" and have rallied thousands to their cause on the social networking Web site Facebook.
The event's Web page listed more than 260,000 attendees as of Thursday for the event, which the site says is "about being a responsible man and having fun doing it!"
(snip)
While the site urges participants to take part in "manly" activities such as football or hunting, Longanecker, a youth pastor at River of Life Church in Huntingburg, says the real theme is responsibility.
Boehner Opens Up About GOP Problems
If they were really doing some genuine navel gazing they wouldn't be ramping up to attack Obama over something that has already been disproved.Via Taegan-
In an interesting interview with George Stephanopoulos, House GOP leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) spoke bluntly about many of the Republican party's problems.
Said Boehner: "We're digging ourselves out of a deep hole. We took it in the shorts with Bush-Cheney, the Iraq War, and by sacrificing fiscal responsibility to hold power."
Boehner also acknowledged that the GOP hasn't done a good enough to job shaking the "party of no" label.
Friday Links For Thee
Weird that it's still no where near feeling like summer. But I like it.
Obama, Congress Reach Deal On Abuse Photos
Schoolboy survives direct hit by meteorite travelling at 30,000mph
Study: Public ignorant of anatomy
Wall Street Journal: Data-Driven Schools See Rising Scores
Last fall, high-school senior Duane Wilson started getting D's on assignments in his Advanced Placement history, psychology and literature classes. Like a smoke detector sensing fire, a school computer sounded an alarm.
Radioactive wasps bug out nuclear cleanup workers
N.J. Blogger Turner, Charged With Inciting Injury, Posts Bail In Hartford
Arrest Report: Man Tied Up Kids to Watch Basketball
CNN: Iran election race tightens The day before polls open in Iran's presidential election, the streets are suddenly quiet again as official campaigning comes to an end, and voters prepare for what is expected to be a record turnout.
Pic via Cat of course.
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