Why we can be glad about Arizona's terrible law

By GottaLaff


In the old Hayley Mills movie Pollyanna, the title character was the eternal optimist and loved to play what she called "The Glad Game". There was only one rule: No matter how hopeless or frustrated you felt, there had to be at least one thing you could find to be glad about.

Time to play.

Arizona passed their new, terrible, jaw-dropping racial profiling legislation, aka the Show Your Papers law. That pretty much sucks as badly as anything could suck. Silver lining anyone?

I know! I'm glad that it's uniting opposition and attracting attention to the need for sweeping immigration reform as well as exposing racists who try to hide behind patriotism:

The Los Angeles Police are preparing for as many as 100,000 marchers to rally for immigration rights in downtown Los Angeles during the annual May Day event Saturday.

LAPD officials are preparing for a surge in the number of participants in the wake of an outcry over a controversial new Arizona law that requires police to check the legal status of people they suspect of being illegal immigrants.

I'm glad there will be a surge. I'm glad people are getting angry. I'm glad the law is being contested in court. I'm glad this has become a major topic of discussion. I'm glad we have a president who feels the outrage.

I'll be glad when racism becomes a thing of the past.

I'm glad I'm a dreamer.

PhotOh! Guns and Poses

By GottaLaff

Family outings can be so educational, can't they? (click to enlarge)


"Dozens" showed up. I'm still trying to figure out what they're protesting.

Actor Danny Glover arrested in protest

By GottaLaff

(Jacquelyn Martin - AP)

Danny Glover stepped past the dreaded yellow tape. That got him cuffed.

Okay, he did it thrice. And yes, I just wanted to say "thrice".

He and 11 other tape-steppers were arrested during a labor union protest at a Maryland food service company:

The Service Employees International Union was protesting what it calls Sodexo's unfair and illegal treatment of workers. Sodexo says the union was spreading misinformation.

The consequences: Pay $1000 or do 90 days.

That rebel.

Hey, remember unions?

Tea Party, FreedomWorks, Others Plan Rally, Virtual March

By GottaLaff

Speaking of Tea Tantrumers, it looks like they're planning yet another protest for which they can inflate their numbers. Dickle Me Armey's been busy:

With the deadline for tax filings just two weeks away, several groups including the Fair Tax Campaign, Tea Party Express, Americans for Tax Reform and FreedomWorks are banding together physically and digitally to urge Congress to overhaul the tax code.

The groups, they're a-mergin'! Or, emergin'. Or, on the margin. I can't decide which.

Michele Bachmann accuses African American lawmakers of lying despite VIDEO proof

By GottaLaff

Please go read Steve Benen's post. It's perfect. I'll give you a couple of excerpts, but please pop over and see how he takes apart her idiocy so beautifully that I have little to add:

Oh, Michele Bachmann, is there anything you won't say out loud? [...]

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told a crowd at a Duluth, Minn., rally over the weekend that there is no evidence that several black lawmakers were harassed by conservative protesters on Capitol Hill in the days leading up to the health care reform vote. [...]

She went on, "There's a $10,000 reward right now for anyone who can produce a video or an audio. Don't you think we would have seen a video or an audio by now if there was something out there?"

It's easy to expect garden-variety stupidity from Michele Bachmann, but these remarks question the integrity of her colleagues, who've been harassed by Bachmann's unhinged friends. The sooner she apologizes, the better.

Benen has much more for you to savor at this link.

Here's the video, via the Huffington Post, that Bachmann will likely ignore, deny, mock, and/or call phony, but is apparently worth 10 grand:

If you go to the comments under my original post of the video, you'll notice the skepticism there. It's mind-boggling.

Then again, it's mind-boggling that any civilized human being would spit like that to begin with, as is the utter disregard and lack of respect for anyone but their own Tea Tantruming clan.

The elusive VIDEO: Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver gets spat on

By GottaLaff

Here's video, via the Huffington Post, that sure appears to show Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver getting spat on by a Tea Tantrumer.

Looks like Andrew Breitbart and Sean Hannity were wrong about the Big Liberal Commie Marxist Kenyan Conspiracy:

Fox News personality Sean Hannity asked if there was any evidence proving that it had actually happened, and Tea Party groups offered a cash reward for proof.

There's your proof. Now where's our apology? Oh, and the cash?

Big hat tip to the Gawker.

VIDEO: Tea Bagger Circus 101

By GottaLaff

Your honor, Exhibit A:



Wow.

On March 16, 2010, Tea Partiers from around the country gathered (in disappointing numbers) in front of the Capitol building for their final protest against health care reform. Also in town, appropriately, was Barnum & Bailey's actual circus. The protestors voiced their usual conspiratorial concerns about healthcare reform: that it was a government takeover and more government, of course, equals less freedom; that it would euthanize seniors too expensive to treat; and that the bill would sink the nation into irrecoverable debt, despite its actually reducing the deficit by more than $100-billion over the next ten years. Averse to facts, no one interviewed was able to cite evidence for their false beliefs about the reform proposal, and instead suggested we seek the "truth" from Glenn Beck and Fox News.

We rest our case.

H/t: BuzzFlash

VIDEO: Dan Choi and Jim Pietrangelo handcuffed to fence, arrested at WH in DADT protest

By GottaLaff



Via AMERICABlog:

Choi and Pietrangelo have been arrested. [...] The crowd is applauding them. [...]

After delivering remarks, Dan and Capt. Pietrangelo handcuffed themselves to the fence in front of the White House. [...] Handcuffed to the fence in front of Barack Obama's White House to protest the President's failure to deliver on his promise to end DADT.

This isn't exactly the kind of publicity President Obama wants. The gay community is already ticked off that things have moved much more slowly than they anticipated to end Don't Ask Don't Tell.

It's a ridiculous policy, and it's on its way out, but not quickly enough for many, many people.

The argument is that the administration has its hands full with other major issues. This is true. Nonetheless, there has been a backlash, and this is part of it.

Added- More video from Americablog-

VIDEO- Mock and Awe: Westboro Baptist "Church" protesters outnumbered by snarkmasters

By GottaLaff

WBC Tries to Protest at Twitter from Ed Hunsinger on Vimeo.

Priceless. A must-read:

Westboro Baptist Church showed up to protest in front of Twitter’s San Francisco office on Thursday, but found themselves severely outnumbered by a crowd of absurdist pranksters...

photo by Rubin Starset

Dee-lish.

photos by Chad Armstrong

This is the same hate group that tried to harass the Obama girls' school.

H/t: GregOstravich, RyanNewYork

VIDEO: Rachel Maddow humiliates Tea Partier Dick Armey (again)

By GottaLaff

I posted the Tea Party Dickle Me Armey video earlier today, anticipating this very moment of superb Tee Vee Machine fun:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I just love a happy ending. Thank you, Rachel, you never disappoint.

VIDEO: Bachmann Invokes 'Charge Of The Light Brigade' (Note- They Lost)

By GottaLaff

Code Stupid:

At today's conservative "Code Red" rally against the health care bill, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) rallied the faithful with a fun historical and literacy reference: "It's the charge of the light brigade!"

The fun part here is that the Light Brigade lost that famous battle of the Crimean War -- they lost it badly, sustaining heavy numbers of deaths and injuries.

Charge! (and by that, I don't mean MasterCard or Visa, 'Chele)

PhotOh! Tea Party Time, Health Care edition

By GottaLaff

I can tell you this much after watching CSPAN, these Tea Tantrumers are a loud, screamy, chaotic bunch. Enjoy:

The scheduled tea party "die-in" this morning didn't exactly live up to the hype. A group of tea partiers gathered this morning and "stormed" Senate offices as planned, but the crowd was smaller than at past events. As for the "dying" part, that didn't seem to play a large part in the event either. TPMDC noticed no deaths, fake or otherwise,

Oh, did I mention "failures"? I meant to. How remiss of me.

Here are my screen grabs. I got what I could, came in late, but it doesn't look like I missed anything (click on images to enlarge):

Just in time for the holiday season and all its peace and goodwill toward men.

H/t: Tiggrr1 for link

100,000 march for more aggressive action on global warming

By GottaLaff

(Via)

Now this is how you do a protest. Tea Partiers, eat your hearts out:

Police and organizers estimated that between 60,000 and 100,000 people showed up to protest the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen Saturday, demanding more aggressive action on global warming. The demonstrations were mostly peaceful, except for some radical groups whose spontaneous protests led to 900 arrests. The chief coordinator for Danish police said, [...] Most demonstrators were looking to speed up action to stop climate change, but various social and political causes were represented, from vegetarianism to the Iranian opposition, and of course, the ubiquitous Free Tibet folks.

And that's the way it is.

Tea Party "Patients" to Storm Senate Offices

I just laughed so hard I think I pulled something in my side. Pray to god that someone like Mike Stark gets some good video of this. Bless Taegan for going to the Tea Baggers site.

The next major Capitol Hill protest, planned for Tuesday, plans to simulate dying inside the Senate office buildings. Here's a direct quote:

"So here's the plan... We call this plan 'Government Waiting Rooms.' The intention is to go inside the Senate offices and hallways, and play out the role of patients waiting for treatment in government controlled medical facilities. As the day goes on some of us will pretend to die from our untreated illnesses and collapse on the floor. Many of us plan to stay there until they force us to leave."

VIDEO: Blair, Bush protesters wear bloody masks at Iraq War inquiry

By GottaLaff

This is what showed up in my e-mail alerts today:



We need an thorough investigation of our own:

Demonstrators wearing blood-smeared masks of the former British and U.S. leaders stage a protest at the start of an official inquiry into Britain's involvement in the Iraq war. [...]

Demonstrators also held banners saying "No more whitewash" - alluding to fears that the inquiry will not be fair.

VIDEO: Rabbis protest outside Joe Lieberman's home

By GottaLaff

From a few days ago, but still relevant:

"We ask you Joe, look into your conscience". He assumes Traitor Joe has a conscience:

--Sen Joseph Lieberman, Nov 8, on Fox News Sunday.

Rabbi Fish of Beth El, in Norwalk, calls on Lieberman's conscience to do the right thing. His invocation of the Torah commandment (Lo taamod al dam reakha, "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbors") was especially poignant.

Amen.

H/t: Pearlagogo, JayAckroyd

Physicians protesting health care reform in 20 cities tomorrow

By GottaLaff

Here we go. These people are, and will be, doing everything they can to muck up health care reform. The so-called professionals are acting anything but.

Whatever happened to trying to keep patients, you know, alive and properly cared for? (click on images to enlarge)

These physicians sure do appear to be caring, dedicated grassrootsy types, don't they? Except for the fact that they're perpetuating lies and misinformation, and knocking themselves out to deny millions of people access to life-saving procedures, preventive care, medications...

Who is funding them? Anyone know? I'm sure Rachel Maddow covered this, but I can't seem to dig up a link.

UPDATE: 1kecko traced it to docs4patientcare.org who is headed up by someone from United Healthcare. He's still digging. Good work, 1kecko!

UPDATE #2:


(Thank you Wordsmith!)

H/t: 1kecko

PhotOh! Protesters: Global warming is a hoax! Al Gore's a carbon whore!

By GottaLaff

One of my Twitter pals, TexBetsy, forwarded this e-mail to me. I just had to share the (not global) warmth and love!

Infowars
November 15, 2009

An Infowars reader sent the following photographs of the protest against global warming scammer and opportunist Al Gore in Florida. As usual, the corporate media under-reported the number of protesters.

While Al Gore spewed his Global Warming lies in an outdoor arena we did our best to chant and educate on the TRUTH about the global warming scam! We could be heard during his lecture… and we just kept getting louder. Sufice to say I bet he’ll never do a lecture in an outdoor venue again! Also there was not 1,000 people in attendance – no way more like half of that!

Yeah, boyoboy, we'll show that crazy Gore whore! Why... why... I bet he'll never ever eat an alfalfa sprout-laden lunch in this town again! That'll show him! HA! Yeah! I bet... Boy...

Now for the pretty pictures that further depict their good sense, exquisite etiquette, and savoire faire:

VIDEOS- More hate, more neo-Nazis, more clashes

By GottaLaff



Is it that the media is picking up on these incidents, reporting on them more often, and consequently making them more visible, or is the neo-Nazi movement growing? Pleaseohplease make it the former:

American Citizens United was one of several groups protesting across the country today, opposing a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

The group, which is against amnesty for illegal immigrants, made it clear that racism had no place at its rally. The mood, however, changed drastically when Neo-Nazi protesters tried to join.

Police stepped in and calmed everybody down.

Anger like this is so ugly, so scary, and becoming so prevalent that I'm have an increasingly difficult time posting stories like these. I can barely read them, let alone write about them.

The root cause of this kind of hostility must be addressed. It starts in the home, and should be treated there. However, that's not always possible. The question then becomes, how do we address the issue of deep-seated racism, bigotry, and hatred that has already been ingrained into very dangerous individuals?

Here's one more reason to worry. Please read the accompanying article; here's a taste... a bitter one:

I do like the fact that Fox 10 linked Ready to bigoted state Senator Russell Pearce, though I wish the reporter had asked Ready about his criminal history and being booted from the U.S. Marines after two courts-martial.

And if that's not enough, try this from last August.

H/t: Tiggrr1

Dem: GOP attendance at protest 'saddest thing I've seen here'

By GottaLaff

The Million Anti-Semite March was marred even further with the appearance of Rushpublic Congress members. From dropping the American flag to botching the Pledge of Allegiance, it was a huge embarrassment:

A freshman Democrat on Thursday said that Republican lawmakers' attendance at the "House Call" protest was "the saddest thing I've seen here."

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) chided GOPers from skipping out on official House business, including the swearing in ceremony for a special election winner.