Saturday, April 3, 2010

Must Reads



Rosie.com: We Had Eight Years of Bush and Cheney, Now You Get Mad?!

The Rude Pundit: Kansas Late-Term Aborts Scott Roeder from Society

Bill Moyers & Michael Winship: Dr. King's Economic Dream Deferred

Karoli: CNN Pimps Great American Tea Party Express PR and Propaganda Tour

Bob Herbert: We Still Don’t Hear Him

Armadillo Joe recommends...
Matt Taibbi: How I'd Save Baseball

driftglass: Original Sin

President Obama's Weekly Address - April 3, 2010

Holiday Greetings

Friday, April 2, 2010

Maddow: Let Them Eat Fake

On. Fire!

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Shameless

Via HuffPo: At a solemn Good Friday service, Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher likened the tide of allegations that the pontiff has covered up sex abuse cases to the "more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism."
...As the pope listened in a hushed St. Peter's Basilica, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa likened accusations against the pontiff and the Catholic church in sex abuse scandals in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.
...Cantalamessa, in his reflections for the pope on the Catholic church's most solemn day, said he was inspired by a letter from an unidentified Jewish friend who was upset by the "attacks" against Benedict.
Jews "know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms," said Cantalamessa, a Franciscan priest.
Quoting from the letter, Cantalamessa said his Jewish friend was following "with indignation the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful of the whole world."
"The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," he said, quoting from the letter.
Yeah... tell me again why the Catholic church is losing its congregation? Of course, they then tried to distance themselves from the comments of the "rogue" reverend, but the damage was already done.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, later contacted The Associated Press and said Cantalamessa wasn't speaking as a Vatican official when he compared "attacks'" on the pope to "collective" violence against Jews.
...Although the Vatican said Cantalamessa wasn't speaking as an official of the Holy See, its official daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano ran the text of the homily in full.
Uh... I haven't thought about this much these last couple of drcades, but wouldn't that fall under the category of breaking the ninth commandment? A very sad Good Friday indeed.

Cartoon of the Day

John Forsythe Dies at 92

NY Times: John Forsythe, the debonair actor whose matinee-idol looks, confident charm and mellifluous voice helped make him the star of three hit television series, including ABC’s glamour soap “Dynasty,” died on Thursday in Santa Ynez, Calif. He was 92.

Goodbye, Charlie.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Tea Party Compromised by Secret Agents

Seriously? This is what they're touting to distance themselves from the crazy faction of the Tea Party to seem more legitimate? That possible agents have infiltrated the group to discredit them? I sincerely hope this is an April fool's joke.

[R]ecent Tea Party people who allegedly denounced a Parkinson’s patient or spat at gay and black congressmen might well have been agents. Offensive signs might be Made in DC too. Next might come calls for violence by alleged Tea Party types, and perhaps acts, which can be used to suppress dissent. Peaceful resistance is not only right, it is all that works, unless you are with the state. If anyone urges the use of violence, the state’s characteristic action, he is probably an agent.
Put your tin foil hats on boy and girls, and all aboard on the Crazy Train! Choo-Fucking-Choo!

Ooh, look! An agent posing as an elderly, keep-your-govmint-hands-off-my-Medicare, racist just to discredit the "movement."



Uh, huh. Looks like FBI to me. And Victoria Jackson is the Maxwell Smart of the FBI!

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Fox "News": Literally Just Making Shit Up Now

After the network announced that Sarah Palin would host a special Thursday called "Real American Stories" -- featuring interviews with LL Cool J, Toby Keith and other celebrities -- the rapper and country singer both hit back claiming they were lying.
"Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show. WOW," he tweeted.
Likewise, Toby Keith never sat down with Sarah Palin, Keith's spokesman told HifFix. "We were never contacted by Fox," Keith's spokesman said. "I have no idea what interview it's taken from. They're promoting this like it's a brand new interview."
After the complaint from LL Cool J, Fox decided to edit his interview out and wished him well in his "fledgling acting career." The guy's been acting for 20 fucking years! Jesus Hussein Christ!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Quote of the Day

It is disingenuous for mainstream purveyors of incendiary far-right rhetoric to dismiss groups such as the Hutaree by saying that there are "crazies on both sides." This simply is not true.
...there has been explosive growth among far-right, militia-type groups that identify themselves as white supremacists, "constitutionalists," tax protesters and religious soldiers determined to kill people to uphold "Christian" values. ...we should never forget that the worst act of domestic terrorism ever committed in this country was authored by a member of the government-hating right wing: Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.
It is dishonest for right-wing commentators to insist on an equivalence that does not exist. The danger of political violence in this country comes overwhelmingly from one direction -- the right, not the left. The vitriolic, anti-government hate speech that is spewed on talk radio every day -- and, quite regularly, at Tea Party rallies -- is calibrated not to inform but to incite.
~ Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

What Do Conservatives Think of Nuke Treaty? SURPRISE! Hate It!

Bolton can suck it.
In a potential preview of conservative arguments for rejecting the Obama administration’s new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia in the Senate, John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, said the treaty reflected “stunning naivete” and placed it in the context of threats to American sovereignty during a wide-ranging speech to the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday.
Yes, let's take foreign diplomacy advice of a man who once said you could lose ten floors of the United Nations and it wouldn't make a difference.

Oh, The Big Brother Census

The Bachmann Conundrum has started to take effect. Republicans are not filling out census forms which will cause them to be undercounted, causing a loss of federal funds and congressional seats.

As of Friday afternoon, only 27 percent of Texas households had filled in and returned their census forms — well below the national average of 34 percent — according to computer data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Harris County, the response rate is 23 percent. Houston's returns are running at 21 percent.
Meanwhile, Democrats are the political group most motivated to complete the census and fill it back--and Republicans are following leaders like Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann in refusing to fill it out. Some conservative counties in Texas have a response rate as low as five percent...
Keep going, Republicans! You're doing great! Maybe Bachmann's seat will disappear.

Jon Stewart's Back...

...and comments on the violence, post health care bill passage.



ADDING... Is this your typical Glenn Beck viewer? I'd say so.

President Obama - Today Show Interview

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Monday, March 29, 2010

The Mother of All Ironies


(H/T Armadillo Joe)

Don't Fuck With Kathy

If there were any incentive for a public option or Medicare buy-in, this is it.

"The American people debated and discussed health insurance reform for more than a year. Congress and the President have acted. Now is not the time to search for non-existent loopholes that preserve a broken system." 
~ Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a letter to top insurance lobbyist Karen Ignagni after stories emerged of insurance companies searching for loopholes to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.

Can A Republican Brother Get A Party Sanctioned Lap Dance?

I don't care about what Michael Steele spends money on. I don't care what he does at night. I don't care if he prefers to frequent lesbian-and-bondage-themed nightclubs and uses private jets and chauffeured limousines to get there. Just don't use public funds, asshole.
On Monday morning, the Daily Caller reported that the RNC spent thousands of dollars on high-end travel arrangements, swanky hotels and, most remarkably, "meals" at a lesbian-and-bondage-themed nightclub in West Hollywood. The latter expense, naturally, grabbed most of the attention and the cleverest of headlines -- prompting the RNC to simultaneously state that it would investigate the expenditures and that it wasn't Steele who went to the club.
But the damage had already been done. While several GOP strategists are willing to grant Steele a pass -- under the rubric that one has to spend lavishly to raise lavish amounts of money -- several big donors and party officials are completely baffled.
"For those donors who truly believe in conservative values, this latest news about Steele has to be very disturbing," said Douglas MacKinnon, former press secretary to Majority Leader Robert Dole. "No matter which side of the aisle you find yourself, if you are giving a political party your hard-earned money, you should have no doubts that it is going to be spent as advertised and not to provide a spoiled, egocentric, out-of-touch chairman with frivolous luxuries which are out of reach of the vast majority of the American people. Michael Steele needs to resign and let the RNC vote in a man or woman who understands that his or her needs do not come before the needs of the nation or the party."
If the Republican National Committee doesn't sack his ass over this, then we can and should call them out on their hypocritical, holier than thou, fiscally conservative, family values bullshit.

That is all.

June Havoc Dies at 97

NY Times: June Havoc, who first appeared on vaudeville stages when she was 2 as Baby June and went on to a successful stage and film acting career — but saw her real-life accomplishments overshadowed by the fictionalized portrayal of her in the 1959 musical “Gypsy” — died on Sunday. She was believed to be 97 and lived in Stamford, Conn.
The death was confirmed by her caregiver, Tana Sibilio.
In “Gypsy” — whose book, by Arthur Laurents, was based on a memoir by her sister, the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee — the adorable, pampered June (now known as Dainty June, having outgrown the baby billing) quits show business to elope with one of the boys in her act and is never heard from again. In real life, not long after her sister rose to burlesque fame in the 1930s, June established a solid career on Broadway and in Hollywood films.

Alan Grayson Fighting Back



A liberal pit bull AND a sense of humor! But seriously, there's something about supporting Grayson that's a little exciting knowing that the likes of Sarah Palin and the Michael Steele led RNC are gunning for him. Donate here.

Adding... Watching that video took me back to nightmares of the Bush years. I didn't remember how much of a revulsion I had to the former president to the point that even an impersonator brought it back.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Quote of the Week

If Obama’s first legislative priority had been immigration or financial reform or climate change, we would have seen the same trajectory. The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House — topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman — would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play. It’s not happenstance that Frank, Lewis and Cleaver — none of them major Democratic players in the health care push — received a major share of last weekend’s abuse. When you hear demonstrators chant the slogan “Take our country back!,” these are the people they want to take the country back from.
~ Frank Rich, March 28th, 2010 New York Times Op-Ed

I Lost My Religion Years Ago

This is why.

 
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