Video- Glenn Beck Wants To Reinstate McCarthy-Era Loyalty Oaths

Via Newshounds, hopefully this time he's jumped the frackin' shark.

VIDEO- Tea Party Express Guy: "This is AFRO-LENINISM! Coming to you on a silver platter! Barack Hussein Obama!"

By GottaLaff

Somethin's a-comin'! I don't know what, but... but... somethin'! It could be somethin' GREAT! Who the hell knows, man, 'cause I don't care! It doesn't matter!! Barack Hussein... He's... he's black! Gaaaaaaa!!! We're all gonna die!



How reassuring to witness adults-- these are adults, aren't they?-- who get so lathered up they can't see straight, yet insist upon spreading their unadulterated, seething, hateful spew on the Tee Vee Machine for children to watch while eating their Mac'N'Cheez din-dins.

But hey! Them Family Values, they sure 'nough do come through LOUD AND CLEAR!!

Video- Karl Rove: "Really Only 5 Million Without Health Insurance"

TeaBirthers Hoping For "Riot" At Rep. Scott's Town Hall

By GottaLaff

So many who claim to be "patriots" and "real Americans" act like anything but. Via TPM:

Tea Baggers are hoping for a literal "riot" at an upcoming town hall event, in order to create a spectacle for CNBC's cameras. And the event will be hosted by a Democratic congressman who this week had a swastika painted on a sign outside his district office.

Yesterday, Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin sent an email, obtained by TPMmuckraker, to a Tea Party google group. Martin told the group: "We have a media request for an event this week that will have lots of energy and lots of anger. This is for CNBC."

She then asked: "So, where are the big events this week and where can TPP best be represented on the news?"

Later that day, a Tea Bagger named Pat Wayman responded with a suggestion, also obtained by TPMmuckraker: "This one should be a riot! literally...." he wrote.

Wayman then posted information for an upcoming town hall meeting hosted by Rep. David Scott (D-GA).

Of course, CNBC would never consider such a preposterous proposition:

[...] [A]t least in Martin's telling, the pro-business CNBC was specifically looking for an event with "lots of energy and lots of anger." [...]

But it's even more interesting that the Tea Baggers were only to happy to try to provide that anger.

Feed the frenzy. Encourage extreme behavior. Anything for ratings and a few extra bucks, right? Way to go, corporate media.

This is how the TeaBirthers and their enablers want to "solve" America's problems: With violence, hostility, and stifling democracy. Remember that at the polls, America... if they don't shut you up, that is.

At Glenn Beck Tea Party: 'Burn the Books!'

My world is upside down. This is the second time in so many weeks that I've linked to Little Green Footballs exposing some Talk Radio Republican's insanity and calling it what it is. Total crazy talk. Even the comments at LGF are sane. Via Oliver.

VIDEO-- Glenn Beck: "Civil unrest is coming...Report [your neighbors] if you must"

By GottaLaff


As Paddy just told me, Beck can't even follow his own logic. Here's one of his little pearls:

"Left wing bloggers don't understand our Constitution."

No, left wing bloggers don't understand Glenn Beck.

Gingrich says U.S. is headed toward dictatorship

I'm seriously thinking that any talking head should be forced to show a certificate of sanity before they're allowed to opine on the airwaves. I think that'd cull the herd a bit.

GINGRICH: We are seeing the biggest power grab by politicians in American history. The idea that they would propose that the treasury could intervene and take over non-bank, non-financial system assets gives them the potential to basically create the equivalent of a dictatorship. […] Look, it absolutely moves it towards a political dictatorship.

Catholic Church Excommunicates 9-Year-Old Who Had Abortion... But Not The Father Who Raped Her

By GottaLaff

Haven't had enough religious derangement yet? Via Oliver Willis, here's another example of the latest lunacy:

A senior Vatican cleric has defended the excommunication of the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion in Brazil after being raped.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Catholic church’s Congregation for Bishops, told the daily La Stampa on Saturday that the twins the girl had been carrying had a right to live.

‘It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated,’ he said.

…

The regional archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, pronounced excommunication for the mother for authorising the operation and doctors who carried it out for fear that the slim girl would not survive carrying the foetuses to term.

“God’s law is above any human law. So when a human law … is contrary to God’s law, this human law has no value,” Cardoso had said.

He also said the accused stepfather would not be expelled from the church. Although the man allegedly committed “a heinous crime … the abortion - the elimination of an innocent life - was more serious”.

That should go a long way in rebuilding that poor little girl's emotional stability, whatever there might be left of it. How reassuring. Her belief system will surely stay intact now, what with the church comforting her with those big open arms of theirs.

Then again, the fetus must certainly be feeling all kinds of grateful, basking in the warmth of its nine-year-old mother's womb and the impenetrable protective armor of the Vatican cleric.

And don't even start me on Daddy Dearest...

Blatant Bush hypocrisy: Sunday is "Sanctity of Human Life Day"

By GottaLaff

I don't even have to list the reasons why this is such an absolute contradiction, such a flagrant example of oxymoronic mendacity, that I've given up trying to snark and sputter and rant about it. Here it is, straight out:

As one of his final actions in office, President Bush proclaimed today that Jan. 18 is National Sanctity of Human Life Day. In his official statement, Bush made it clear that his conception of “human life” includes the unborn:

All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique, and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world. We also underscore our dedication to heeding this message of conscience by speaking up for the weak and voiceless among us.

Hlqutoijahqeyuazxneug! Must. Find. Wall. To hit.

No. No wall. Just this. I will live and breathe this beautiful red, white, and blue reminder that reason and sanity are just around the corner:

900 billion

By GottaLaff

Yeah, we can afford this:

From a new report: "In real (inflation-adjusted) terms, the war in Iraq alone has already cost more than every past U.S. war but World War II."

That would put the symbolic worth of each shoe thrown at Bush at about 450 billion.

AUDIO-- Rush Limbaugh interviews Dick Cheney: "Guantanamo Has Been Well Run"

By GottaLaff

This is audio only:



Fork-in-eye time:

Today, Vice President Cheney continued the Bush administration’s legacy tour by appearing on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. Limbaugh’s hard-hitting questions included, “What are you most proud of?” and praise such as, “Over the years when I’ve spoken to you, you have purposely avoided any partisanship, because I know that this has been a policy of the administration.

At one point, Limbaugh mocked President-elect Obama’s promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Cheney agreed and defended Guantanamo, saying that it has been “very well run”:

CHENEY: I think so. I think Guantanamo has been very well run. I think if you look at it from the perspective of the requirements we had, once you go out and capture a bunch of terrorists, as we did in Afghanistan and elsewhere, then you’ve got to have some place to put them. If you bring them here to the U.S. and put them in our local court system, then they are entitled to all kinds of rights that we extend only to American citizens.

Black is white. Bad is good. Up is down. Bush is wise. Cheney is sane. Republicans compromise. We won the war. We don't torture. Obama's an idiot. Palin is qualified. David Gregory deserved Meet the Press. Joe is a plumber. Billo is a liberal. Rachel is straight. Blagojevich is bald.

VIDEO: Obama-citizenship conspiracy mongers wonder why media won't cover them

By GottaLaff

Oy. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "Who a-a-are these people?"

A small but determined band of conservative protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court Friday morning to pray the justices would invalidate Barack Obama's election.

The court was deciding whether it would hear oral arguments in Donofrio v. Wells, which argues that Obama's placement on the New Jersey presidential election ballot was invalid because he is not a natural born citizen. The justices are expected to dismiss the case.

Discussions with several of the 18 demonstrators who gathered despite freezing temperatures revealed disjointed, confusing and increasingly conspiratorial reasons for their presence. Several alleged varying degrees of a cover-up to hide the circumstances surrounding Obama's birth; none were willing to accept the much simpler explanation that Obama was in fact a natural-born citizen eligible to be president. [...]

To be clear, the questions of Obama's birth have been roundly and convincingly debunked.

The citizenship questioners organized on fringe Web sites and through YouTube videos. Several questioned why the mainstream media wasn't covering their conspiracy-mongering.

Pete Anderson, a retiree from Springfield, VA, spun a theory involving "staged backpack nukes already in this country" that were somehow involved in preventing the media from reporting on Obama's citizenship.

"There is a theory -- as crazy as it may seem -- that we are now in a state of siege," Anderson said.

It was tough to follow Anderson's logic, and even fellow demonstrators thought it was too far out there.

"I didn't bring my tinfoil hat," Bredow ribbed, cutting into our interview.

The two demonstrators went on to bicker between themselves over the true reasons for the media's silence.

I've posted about this previously. Every single legal mind on the Tee Vee Machine has literally bet anything from their reputations to their "vast wealth" (said kiddingly by Jeff Toobin) that the Supremes will throw this time-wasting excuse for a case out on Monday.

Bipartisan Support for Wall St. Rescue Plan Emerges

By GottaLaff

While we're waiting for the endless download of the ABC Roundtable video, and while I wait for my GMail account to start working again so I can receive your comments, there's this:

Bipartisan support appeared to be emerging Sunday among American lawmakers to approve quickly a vast bailout of financial institutions in the United States. The Bush administration has proposed granting unfettered authority for the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from private firms as part of a program that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said “has to work.”

You know what they don't add in? Other bail-outs and the costs of the fraudulent occupation of Iraq. We're in for over a trillion, but we don't hear much about that, do we?

It's all Bill Clinton's fault

By GottaLaff

When in doubt, blame Bill:

On CNN just now, the McCain surrogate just placed blame for our horrendous economy on Bill Clinton. Clinton created the bubble, even though Republicans de-regulated everything, you see. He said so, and therefore it is gospel.

Except that Hillary Rosen just swatted that one away.

Oh, and no matter who messed us up, Gramm-pa Sid is the one person who can fix this, doncha know. Ignore the past 8 years the way we're supposed to ignore the first 3 or 4 years of the Iraq occupation. It all started with the Surge.

And now, it all begins with the meltdown. There is no past. There is no blame. Nothing preceded this, and Grammps and his merry band-o'-lobbyists will make it all better.

Sure they will.

By the way, James Carville just swatted that one away.

Gramm-pa McCain's lost marbles

By GottaLaff

Yesterday, I posted about what passed for the first joint town hall meeting with Gramm-pa and his granddaughter. Here are some more highlights, along with an accurate assessment of Gramm-pa's deteriorating mental capacity:

John McCain will not only take on special interests and Washington insiders, he'll fundamentally alter human nature. And without raising taxes, either. He'll lead us to a sort of martial nirvana where all other emotions are replaced with patriotism, and turn the United States into a shining, selfless, bipartisan cross between heaven and Sparta.

Or maybe he's just a desperate shell of a man, babbling glorp.

If Reverend Wright went around shouting stuff like "We're going to put an end to greed!" people would start thinking he was some kind of fruitcake.

Now let's take a second look at that town hall meeting:

You might think "I'll end greed" would be the most mortifying thing John McCain could say at one sitting. You'd be wrong. At Wednesday's town hall -- his first with Sarah Palin -- he topped himself with this explanation of her credentials:

"She has been commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard. Fact. On September 11 a contingent of the Guard deployed to Iraq and her son happened to be one of them so I think she understands national security challenges."

Which is fine except:

The governor of Alaska doesn't command the National Guard in combat overseas.

Sarah Palin didn't deploy anyone anywhere on September 11th. She was a guest speaker at an Army deployment ceremony.

Track Palin isn't in the National Guard; he's in the Army.

Sometimes it seems like it's more than John McCain can handle, just keeping all the lies about Sarah Palin straight in his head. Tomorrow he'll say she's in the Air Force herself, on a plane she bought on eBay, bombing the bridges at Toko-Ri.

And the piece de resistance:

"I know how to win wars! I know how to win wars!" -- John McCain 7/15/08

I know this is a sort of threadbare exercise -- the old switcheroo -- but imagine what would happen if Barack Obama got the Army and the National Guard mixed up.

What's even more threadbare are what's left of the contents of Gramm-pa's head.

H/t: Chris

Dear Paddy, you're not alone...

By GottaLaff

(Via)

(see tags, which are the list of words in burgundy just below the post that explain what the post is about)

UPDATE (for you, Bucky): Caption of the photo says, "Camera crews gather outside Evan Bayh's Washington house, ready if Obama names him the next Democratic VP candidate. (AP PHOTO)"

"Black is the new green"

By GottaLaff

Black is green. Up is down. Dirty is clean. Bush is Gore.

Speaking to USA Today, Gregory Boyce, CEO of Peabody, the world’s largest coal company, “shrugged off any worries” about coal’s enormous greenhouse gas emissions or moves to make energy more environmentally friendly, declaring the U.S. would never move away from coal [...]

“There’s a perception out there that coal is dirty, and we have to change that,” he adds, noting that coal plants already have cut emissions of some pollutants and boosted efficiency to slash CO2 discharges. “Black is the new green.“

Though Peabody is swimming in green — with profits soaring so far this year to $290 million — it’s a lie to suggest coal is somehow clean. Burning coal “adds a significant amount of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per unit of heat energy, more than does the combustion of other fossil fuels.” What’s more, though Boyce boasts of a $9 million investment into “clean coal” technology, he fails to note that the coal industry’s largest front group has vowed to pour $40 million into efforts to block climate change and alternative energy legislation.

And guess who contributed to Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future, the 527 corporation promoting the "Drill Here, Drill Now" campaign? Right.

You know the drill

By GottaLaff

Drill, drill, drill. That will solve all our energy problems, lower the price of gasoline drastically, and make us a happy, healthy, wholesome nation again. And it will take no time at all! Why, it will be nearly instantaneous! We'll be able to go back to our Hummers, and oil slicks will be a thing of the past, what with all that swell technology that keeps the environment nice and squeaky clean. The money quote from an L.A. Times editorial:

To step up domestic drilling now when we wouldn't see the results until 2030 would be like investing in steamboats after the invention of the nuclear submarine.

Now let's take a peek at what those crazy-ass Republicans are up to this election season:

The real reason is that oil drilling has become an important wedge issue in the November election, and they want to keep it that way.

Duh? Heck no! Duh Ultra!