Tea Baggers have no manners. Just ask the president.

By GottaLaff

Okay, kiddies, what did your parents tell you to say after somebody is generous enough to treat you to something special?

::tapping foot:: I'm waiting. ... ...

Ready? Good.

Now say it with me:

"Thank you!"

Very good, boys and girls.

Now someone please teach that very basic common courtesy to the Tea Tantrumers:

MIAMI (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday he's amused by the anti-tax tea party protests that have been taking place around Tax Day.

Obama told a fundraiser in Miami that he's cut taxes, contrary to the claims of protesters.

"You would think they'd be saying thank you," he said.

Etiquette is apparently not their strong suit.

A thank you from Al Franken

By GottaLaff

I love e-mails from Al:

Dear Laffy,

What an incredible day.

This afternoon I was at the White House to watch President Obama sign comprehensive health insurance reform into law. This is the change Americans have been demanding for so many years.

Tell your family, friends, and neighbors -- the following reforms to our health insurance system take effect over the first year:

- Health insurance providers cannot deny any child coverage because of a pre-existing condition
- Insurance companies can no longer drop someone when he or she becomes ill
- Young adults can stay on their parents' health insurance plan up to their 27th birthday
- Health Insurers must now reveal how much money is spent on overhead
- New health insurance plans must cover checkups and other preventative care without co-pays
- New measures will be implemented to help eliminate health insurance waste, fraud, and abuse
- Small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) will get tax credits covering up to 50% of premiums
- Seniors on Medicare will get a rebate to fill the "donut hole" in their drug coverage
- Insurers will be required to put more premiums dollars toward actual health care services, not administration, advertising, or profits
- Insurance premium increases will be have to be reviewed and justified
- Lifetime caps on the amount of insurance a person can have will be banned
- A temporary high-risk pool will be set up to cover adults with pre-existing conditions

I would never have been elected to the Senate, and we would never have gotten health reform done, without your unwavering support. This is what real change looks like. Today, from the bottom of my heart -- thank you.

Paul Wellstone said "the future belongs to those who are passionate and work hard." Today is a great day for the people of Minnesota and the country. Because of your passion and hard work, Minnesotans and Americans have a much brighter future than ever before.

Thank you again -- for all you've done, and all you'll do.

Al

See that list? That's what the GOP wants to repeal. Great platform for 2010, Rushpublics.

PhotOh! Shameless Ed Schultz fangirl post

By GottaLaff

I am unapologetically gaga over this. Ed also tweeted something similar just now on Twitter, and I am flattered beyond belief:

(click on image to enlarge)

What an honor.

And Lizz Winstead could not have been a more generous, hilarious host. I love today.

Go ahead, tease me. I don't care.

Thank you David S!

Thank you very very much.

About that 5 million hits thing

I just want to throw in my 5 cents and say thank you to everyone out there who pops by to read what we think is interesting and sometimes what we think about it. It couldn't happen without the incredibly wonderfully intelligent readers like ya'll. Amazing that two crazy women typing in underwear can attract such attention...

5,000,000

By GottaLaff

Thanks to you, The Political Carnival has reached 5,000,000 readers! That's 35,000,000 in dog years.

Five. Million.

5,000,000!!!

And don't even get me started on the over 7,000,000 page views. Whew! I'm exhausted from typing all those zeros!

We are as grateful as we can be. The Political Carnival's success depends on your readership, and we can't thank you enough.

You're clearly the smartest, best looking, sweetest readers in the world, and we lerve you! Exclamation point!

And just because I really liked this one:

A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY TWEEPLE. You guys are a a blast!! Thank you!

"The past year is the first one in my life that has been entirely violence-free"

By GottaLaff

I like blogging on Saturdays, because it's the pace is a little slower, and I get to post things that I ordinarily wouldn't have time to during the week.

I have a 19-year-old friend who wrote some very poignant and noteworthy thoughts that we would like to share with you:

From the time I was born until a year ago, I was a victim of family violence. Today I am a survivor.

I've survived with the help of counselors, friends, the family I've been staying with, and my writing.

The past year is the first one in my life that has been entirely violence-free.

Almost every adult in my family has hit me at one time or another, most of them repeatedly. Until a year ago, I was always afraid to get my family members in trouble, and I am still not completely ready to go public with my story. But I do want to publish my poetry anonymously and encourage any other victims to seek help. The first night without family is the hardest, but having a home where you're not afraid is definitely worth the newness.

I wrote this my first night with friends, and today I'm not a stranger, fully a person, sometimes still crying, and I've redefined family.

Pretty room in a pretty house.
My things are here.

I am a stranger.
Half here
Half crying
Half a person
Less than half
a family.

A vacation visit
but I can't go home.
Home is gone.
Family gone.
Now I am gone.

I wrote this a few days later, but have since made peace with my changed family circumstances.

"You do as I say!"
"But not as You do."
"I WILL make you listen."
"Forever I do."

Bruises and welts-
Hurt through and through.
Family gone now.
Forever gone too.

If you can't even imagine a violence-free year, it's time to get help. Your community can be there for you.

Woven to make a net
The arms of the community
Catch us when we fall
Or when we are pushed.

Woven into a hug
The arms of the community
Hold us when we hurt
Or when we are hurt.

Woven with bonds of love
The arms of the community
Hug us until we
Can hug them back.

The young author is the very definition of bravery, the very essence of survivor, and one who knows profound pain all too well and is learning to conquer it. She is someone who I truly admire.

Thank you for allowing me to post this. I hope it will circulate widely enough to be seen by so many who need to read it.

You have provided others in your situation with inspiration: an outline of the courage it takes to confront devastation, the knowledge that there are people who want to help, and the wisdom to realize they can do something about it.

Think Progress: 27 Reasons To Give Thanks

By GottaLaff

I got an e-mail from Think Progress. I didn't see this on their site, so I hope it is okay that I post it in full here:

We're thankful President Obama is thinking long and hard about committing more troops and money to Afghanistan.

We're thankful President Bush feels liberated now.

We're (not) thankful Dick Cheney has elected to move from his undisclosed location to the media spotlight.

We're thankful Al Franken has gone from playing self-help guru Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live to helping rape victims receive justice from their employers.

We're thankful for the healing power of beer.

We're thankful there are some on the right who think Glenn Beck is "incoherent," "mindless," "erratic," "bizarre," and "harmful to the conservative movement."

We're thankful for long hikes on the Appalachian Trail.

We're thankful Michael Steele understands that he can't "do policy" and that no one has any reason to trust his "words or actions."

We're (not) thankful for "birthers," "deathers," "tenthers," or "tea baggers."

We're (not) thankful conservatives believe they love America so much that they can root for our President to fail and for our nation to lose out on hosting the Olympics.

We're thankful NFL players refused to "bend over and grab the ankles" for Rush Limbaugh.

We're thankful six companies have resigned from the Chamber of Commerce due to its denial of climate change science.

We're thankful Falcon "Balloon boy" Heene wasn't actually in the balloon.

We're thankful Lt. Dan Choi and Lt. Col Victor Fehrenbach bravely spoke out against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

We're thankful Shep Smith doesn't always drink the Fox News kool-aid.

We're thankful more than 80 companies refused to lend their sponsorship to Glenn Beck's hateful rants.

We're thankful there are progressive organizations in D.C. lobbying for a two-state solution in the Middle East.

We're (not) thankful for the filibuster.

We're thankful that more than 20,000 of you stood up to Bill O'Reilly's harassment machine and called for impeachment hearings against torture advocate Jay Bybee.

We're thankful that Iran's authoritarian rulers live in fear of their own population.

We're thankful we'll no longer have to listen to nativist rhetoric on CNN and global warming skepticism on ABC News.

We're (not) thankful for bailed out CEOs who think they're doing "God's work" by doling out billions in bonuses.

We're thankful for the legacy of the Liberal Lion.

We're thankful Bill O'Reilly won't be following us home for Thanksgiving.

We're thankful a "wise Latina" sits on the Supreme Court.

We're thankful our boss helped rescue imprisoned American journalists in North Korea.

We're thankful for our readers and the support you give us.

And we at TPC are thankful for the content of this e-mail, especially the last entry.

Dear Readers: Thank you!

By GottaLaff

The fundraiser is over! (Yay!)

Paddy and I would like to thank each and every one of our readers, whether you were able to donate or not. Without you, there would be no TPC.

To those who did donate, huge hugs and tons of gratitude!

And to my special Twitter pal who put us over the top with her remarkable generosity, a special thanks! You know who you are Pinkomomma! The pics are in the (e)mail.

As promised, we are sharing a peek at her prize for being the winning donation that put us over our goal. Mini-Laffy:

Thank you to everyone!!

Fundraising is over, done, complete! Thank you to everyone- those that gave, those that cheered us on and those that thought the good thoughts. Hell, I'll even thank the trolls!!

Court: Pharmacists must sell "morning after" pill

By GottaLaff

Thank you:

Pharmacists are obliged to dispense the Plan B pill, even if they are personally opposed to the "morning after" contraceptive on religious grounds, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

In a case that could affect policy across the western U.S., a supermarket pharmacy owner in Olympia, Wash., failed in a bid to block 2007 regulations that required all Washington pharmacies to stock and dispense the pills. [...]

The plaintiffs asserted that their Christian beliefs prevented them from dispensing the pills, which can prevent implantation of a recently fertilized egg. They said that the new regulations would force them to choose between keeping their jobs and heeding their religious objections to a medication they regard as a form of abortion. [...]

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction, saying the district court was wrong in issuing it based on an erroneous finding that the rules violated the free exercise of religion clause of the U.S. Constitution. [...]

Although the courts have yet to pronounce judgment on other aspects of the lawsuit, the unanimous ruling on the free-exercise clause could portend further judgments, as the case moves forward, that a patient's right to timely medication supersedes a pharmacist's personal convictions. [...]

The right to freely exercise one's religion "does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability," the 9th Circuit panel wrote.

"Any refusal to dispense -- regardless of whether it is motivated by religion, morals, conscience, ethics, discriminatory prejudices, or personal distaste for a patient -- violates the rules," the panel said.

Amen.

4,000,000

By GottaLaff

The Political Carnival is about to get its 4 MILLIONTH hit!!

Thank you to all our fantastic readers!

We lerve you!

UPDATE- One of these people was number 4 million. Email us at the political carnival at gmail dot com and we'll send you something annoyingly stupid.

1
174.102.231.# Jul 8 2009 9:53:18 pm 1 0:00
2
ideal-homes.com 9:53:13 pm 1 0:00
3
rogers.com 9:52:59 pm 1 0:00

Dear Paddy (and readers)...

By GottaLaff

Padlock did an incredibly good job covering a lot of breaking news while I was off lolling around a lake for the past few days. Nobody is a better partner than she is. Not no one, no how, no way.

I missed her, and I missed you, despite the fact that I couldn't tear myself away from my brand new mini-laptop for more than half a day at a time. You all make it very hard to leave...
So, to every one you, but especially Paddy: !

Love, Laffy

Thank You!!!

A very generous TPC'r gave me a wonderful present!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

A personal thank you to our readers

By GottaLaff

The three hour time difference always makes me late to the party, but, well, better late than never:

A big, fat, sincere, heartfelt thank you to all our generous, sweet, selfless, kind readers who were able to donate to TPC. I know that wasn't easy. I know the economy sucks and many of you are deeply affected by it, as are Paddy and me. So, I am more than aware that it couldn't have been easy to come up with even five dollars at a time like this.

That makes your generosity even more meaningful.

We have the best readers in the Blogosphere. Those of you who couldn't add to the pot have added something just as important: Your readership and input in Comments. To Paddy and me, that is just as important as a monetary donation.

Big hugs to all of you. Thank you so, so much.

Love, Laffy

VIDEO response to "Barack Obama drops in on Ben's Chili Bowl in D.C."

By GottaLaff

Remember the video I posted awhile back of President Obama dropping into Ben's Chili Bowl in D.C.? Remember some of the despicable racist comments it generated?

Time for a welcome and long overdue counterpoint. Meet Prez150, a breath of fresh air, who sent me this heartfelt video response to the original post, and to those poor excuses for human beings in the YouTube comments:

VIDEO-- President Obama speaks at State Dep't: "America's moral example" will guide policy

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Here is the video of President Obama's speech at the State Department. That would be the very same one that got the "rousing ovation" that brought the crowd to its feet.

He's not so much a breath of fresh air as a hurricane. Hurricane Barack.

Thank You To Everyone!!

The fundraiser is over and successful in a record amount of time. We want to sincerely thank each of you for your help. This place is truly one of those "we couldn't do it without you" joints.

Obama Will End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

By GottaLaff

(click on genie to animate)

I feel like I've stumbled upon the proverbial genie in a bottle and one by one, my wishes are coming true:

President-elect Obama "will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, Fox News reports.

The news came during an exchange between incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and members of the public who sent in questions that were answered on YouTube.

"Thadeus of Lansing, Mich., asks, 'Is the new administration going to get rid of the "don't ask, don't tell policy?'" said Gibbs, looking into the camera. "Thadeus, you don't hear a politician give a one-word answer much. But it's, 'Yes.'

I don't know what's better: Getting rid of that stupid policy, or the continuing back and forth between Team Obama and millions of communication-deprived Americans.

How many wishes do I have left, I wonder?

Obama's thank-you notes

By GottaLaff

Colbert I. King says that President-elect Obama should write a few thank you notes:

1. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. The allegiance of Obama's Democratic party allies should be measured against the standard: "BATK" (Before or After Tim Kaine.)
2. Bill and Hillary Clinton. Obama could not have asked more of the Clintons. [...] [T]hey went all-out for Obama [Plus...] Obama wouldn't be set to become the nation's 44th president were it not for the toughening-up he got from the Clintons in the primaries. [...] By the time Obama locked horns with the GOP attack machine, he was battle-tested.
3. The debates elevated Obama's presidential stature -- and took McCain down a peg or two.
4. The Rev. Jeremiah Alvesta Wright. In Liberty Baptist church, my childhood place of worship, I heard it preached: "Sometimes a stumbling block can be a steppingstone in disguise." [...] Without Wright's fiery and controversial sermons, short segments of which were repeatedly aired in the media, Obama would not have delivered his "A More Perfect Union" speech in Philadelphia.
5. The U.S. Secret Service. The number of threats against Obama is kept confidential, but I'm reliably told it is huge. [...] That Obama is on his way to the White House is a tribute to the men and women who, 24-7, put their lives and limbs between him and harm.
6. Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, courtesy of their prime-time cable broadcasts, found new ways to get the juices of the Obama faithful flowing.
7. Katie Couric. [Her interviews with Wardrobe Barbie] sent McCain's claim to good judgment up in flames.
8. Soul-searching Republicans. If the GOP does not become more inclusive and open to new ideas, it could take on the image (not the ideology) of F.W. De Klerk's now disbanded National Party of South Africa.

   If that happens, Obama can thank narrow-minded Republican strategists.

He offers more details than I've posted here. The last part is the best.