Idiot Alert

Exxon Mobil, an American company... was involved in the Exxon Valdez spill.

And as Jason Linkins notes, the untrustworthy foreign company British Petroleum was, for eighteen years, the employer of one Todd Palin.

SARAH 2012!

Domestic Enemy

Faisal Shahzad?  No.  Barack Obama.

...[A Heritage Foundation] audience member claimed Obama had put us at greater risk, and asked [Rep. Eric] Cantor: “What would he have to do differently to be defined as a domestic enemy?” That prompted loud, approving laughter from the crowd.

Cantor replied, in part: “No one thinks that the president is a domestic enemy,” prompting audible grumbling from the crowd...

Seriously. The inmates have taken over the asylum.

(H/T Greg Sargent)

When Did They Stop Believing In The Constitution?

These have to be the saddest quotes in the ever evolving debate on Mirandizing criminals.

Rep. Pete King (R-NY): “Did they Mirandize him? I know he’s an American citizen but still.”

Within 36 hours of the failed SUV Times Square bombing attempt, a suspect is in custody, found at Kennedy Airport. A US citizen. And they're asking if he was Mirandized. Why? Because he's of Pakistani descent?

"Obviously that would be a serious mistake...at least until we find out as much information we have," McCain said during an appearance on "Imus in the Morning" when asked whether the suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan.

"Don't give this guy his Miranda rights until we find out what it's all about," McCain added.

Fuck habeas corpus, right Maverick? First it was enemy combatants and because they were foreigners, why should they get the same rights as US citizens? Now it's brown-skinned US citizens, but hey, he's not a "real American," right?

 Who's next?

Rep. Gene Taylor Aide Calls Concerned Citizens "Morons"

Earlier today, I blogged about Rep. Gene Taylor (R-MS), his comment about the BP oil spill looking like rainbows and chocolate milk and mocked it for it's flippancy. A silly thing to say because at the very least it sounds juvenile and dismisses the seriousness of the situation in the Gulf, and at worst it's a deliberate attempt to mislead his constituency and downplay the event. Frequent reader Wolfe Tone added that we were on the same wavelength in the comments section.

I soon thereafter received this comment:

Brian Martin said...

You are both morons. Rainbow sheen = broken down to the point of evaporation and degradation.

Chocolate milk = emulsified oil-water mix being broken down by waves and sun.

So those are useful descriptions from a 13-year Coast Guard veteran.

You should be mocking all the Chicken Littles who predicted that the coastal areas of 4 states would be covered with heavy crude by now.

Not thinking anything of it except that it was some random wingnut, I responded with the fact that he failed to address the spill being far from over with a conservative estimate of 200,000 gallons leaking per day, destruction of the local fishing industry, the wildlife and environmental repercussions, and other assorted things that right wingers don't care about. I also hoped he'd come back to apologize when the inevitable coastal areas actually would be "covered in crude."

My friend, Wolfe Tone however, was a little more curious and in a matter of a few mouse clicks was able to obtain a Washington DC internet service provider, Google the names and VOILÁ! Brian Martin works for Rep. Gene Taylor. And he called us morons because we understand the gravity of the situation, unlike his boss.

The next time Brian Martin decides to respond to blogs criticizing the Representative who employs him, he should have the sense to either A) use a pseudonym or B) have the professional courtesy of full disclosure. It kind of puts your credibility in question. ...Moron.

Obama's Katrina -UPDATED

The Rude Pundit is spot on.

Tell you what, motherfuckers, when dead people are left to rot in the sun because of the incompetence of the federal government, when corpses are floating in the streets, when the President passively ignores the pleas of the governors of Gulf Coast states, when entire neighborhoods have been physically destroyed, when the federal government strands tens of thousands of people without food or water, when the federal government starts to blame the local governments, when the President praises the work of a failed, incompetent bureaucrat while a major city rots, then you can say that this is Barack Obama's "Katrina."

It only took a couple of days before I started hearing the conservative pundits and assholes in general tried to dub the BP accident and subsequent oil spill clusterfuck "Obama's Katrina." Even Alex Witt-less on the "Obama News Network," also known as MSNBC, was asking if the federal response to the oil leak disaster was fast enough.

Question to Witt: Does the US Coast Guard work for British Petroleum or are they under the direction of the federal government and Commander in Chief, President Obama? Because the Coast Guard was there during the accident looking for survivors and leading in the rescue effort, you stupid twit. And coordinated efforts have been overseen by the government from the beginning. Yes, BP is in the middle of that, but are under government oversight to make sure the response has been cohesive.

I'm willing to bet that states' rights proponents were the first to run to the federal level for help or blame the feds for a lack of response, neither reaction being rational for their ideology. See Jindal, Bobby.

Adding... Stay tuned for the sabotage conspiracy to take wing, right wing that is. Of course, the President had said just recently that we need to expand oil drilling while we begin a transitional phase to other sources of energy in order to ween ourselves off of the Middle East teet, so why would this be sabotage? Wouldn't he have said the opposite so he can have an "I told you so" moment? Fucking wingnuts...

UPDATE (7:30pm): See what I mean? CONSPIRACY!!!



Great job, Neil Cavuto! But I wouldn't expect anything different. Seriously, does "Heckuva Job, Brownie" really have any credibility? It's not like we're talking about Arabian horses.

Rainbows and Chocolate Milk

Really, folks. What's the big deal? Doesn't everyone like pretty rainbows and yummy chocolate milk?

"This isn’t Katrina. It’s not Armageddon,” [Republican Missisippi Rep. Gene] Taylor said. “A lot of people are scared and I don’t think they should be."

He described the spill as a light, rainbow sheen with patches that look like chocolate milk.

Mmmm... chocolate milk. Delicious. And his remedy is to let nature take its course and let the oil "break up naturally." Trust Taylor. He said it'll "evaporate within a week."

This is an elected official, folks.

CORRECTION: Rep. Taylor is a Democrat. Sad, huh?

Fuck You, BP

Thanks for taking responsibility for the clean up since it is your mess. But this is just outrageous.

Over the weekend, news emerged that BP was circulating settlement agreements among coastal residents of Alabama and possibly other states, essentially requiring that "people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000," the Alabama Press-Register reported. Alabama's Attorney General Troy King protested and asked BP to stop distribution of the letters.

How about trying to get this shit cleaned up and concentrating on stopping the continuous leak of oil instead of financial damage control and screwing the citizens twice?  The practice has since stopped, but the fact that it began at all is just sickening.

Lynn Redgrave Dies at 67

People: Lynn Redgrave, a vital and popular member of Britain's Redgrave dynasty, died Sunday night. She was 67 and had waged a lengthy battle with breast cancer.

Speaking on behalf of her children – Ben, Pema and Annabel, who were with her – Redgrave's publicist Rick Miramontez, confirmed to The Associated Press that Redgrave died peacefully at her home in Connecticut.

Quote of the Day

Frank Rich: "So how does that profiling work without race or ethnicity, exactly? Brian Bilbray, a Republican Congressman from California and another supporter of the [Arizona "Paper's Please"] law, rode to the rescue by suggesting 'they will look at the kind of dress you wear.' Wise Latinas better start shopping at Talbots!"

White House Correspondents' Dinner 2010

Just Another Day In The Big City

NY TIMES: Federal authorities have joined the search for a suspect who planted a crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks in a smoking Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers on a warm and busy night.

Although the device had apparently started to detonate, there was no explosion, and early on Sunday the authorities were reviewing surveillance tapes and forensic evidence as they sought out a motive.

And then the very next day, there is a No Nukes Peace rally happening just three block south of the incident.

President Obama's University of Michigan Commencement Speech

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

Must Reads

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President Barack Obama: Michigan Graduation Speech

Gail Collins: Teachers Always Show Up

Arizona Has Gone Nuts

Arizona "...schools will lose state funding if they offer any courses that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

...Meanwhile, in a move that was more covert until the Wall Street Journal uncovered it, the Arizona Department of Education has told schools that teachers with "heavy" or "ungrammatical" accents are no longer allowed to teach English classes."

Okay y'all, we gotta git these Mexicans to stop book learnin' our red-blooded, God fearin' Amurkin kids and git us some proper English teachers to edumacate our young'n's likes my mammy learnt me.

But it's not about race, right Arizona?

President Obama's Weekly Address - May 1, 2010

Giving Government Back to the American People

Make Them Vote NO - UPDATED

Yesterday, the Senate brought the financial reform cloture vote to the floor again, and for the second straight day, Republicans voted against moving forward on financial reform debate. For the second straight day, Republicans voted to protect Wall Street while claiming to be looking out for Main Street.

We didn't hear about that vote because the mainstream media was too engrossed in the Goldman Sachs Senate hearing. You know, the one where Senators were saying naughty words. We didn't hear about the second vote because the MSM likes drama and the GOP blocking the financial bill a second time was "old" news. Twenty four hours old.

However, I am beginning to enjoy the Democratic strategy of making the GOP vote against cloture over and over and over again. Someone is going to notice and say, "Hey, what's with the Republicans opposing financial reform?" Maybe they'll be saying that today on the news with a story of the impending block for a third straight day. Just like the Goldman Sachs executives claiming they did nothing wrong, Republicans will eventually be exposed for their bullshit excuses on why they're on their knees for the fat cats soon enough.

UPDATE (2:55pm): Republicans vote 'No' for a third straight day. But the fun is just beginning.

TPM: Frustrated by an ongoing campaign by the GOP to block debate on financial reform legislation, Democrats plan to hold the Senate floor open all night, potentially holding repeated votes to break the filibuster, or forcing Republicans to publicly object to debating their bill. But the move comes just as Republicans appear closer than ever to throwing in the towel.

Could it be that staying on the floor all night put a crimp in Sen. Mitch McConnell's beach plans to lay his eggs and bury them?

Quote of the Day

Eugene Robinson: Isn't the whole premise of the Tea Party movement that overreaching government poses a grave threat to individual freedom? It seems to me that a law allowing individuals to be detained and interrogated on a whim -- and requiring legal residents to carry identification documents, as in a police state -- would send the Tea Partyers into apoplexy. Or is there some kind of exception if the people whose freedoms are being taken away happen to have brown skin and might speak Spanish?

Liar

Why did Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson vote with Republicans to block the financial reform bill?

...Nelson said he was worried the "legislation will adversely impact Main Street when the focus needs to be on Wall Street. ... I don't think everyone is aware of the unintended consequences."

Oh really?

The removal of a provision that would have dramatically benefited financial tycoon and Nebraska native Warren Buffett, it was said, played a role in the Senator's flip.

"He was on board until today and the only thing that changed was the removal of that provision," said one Democratic aide, who definitively said Nelson changed his vote because the Buffett carveout was removed.

Ben Nelson sold out the American people for a short while for $8 billion, the money Warren Buffett's company would have to set aside to cover potential losses on derivatives contracts.

Ben Nelson sold out the country for Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men if not the wealthiest, in the world.

Republicans Protect Wall Street As Expected

Senate Republicans followed through on their threat today to block debate on a financial regulatory reform bill authored by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)...

The move ratchets up a political food fight between Democrats and Republicans, with Dems on the offense, charging that the GOP's decision to block progress on the legislation puts them on the side of Wall Street.

...Speaking on the Senate floor hours before the vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid said the vote "reveal[s] who believes we need to strengthen oversight of Wall Street, and who does not [and] force[s] each Senator to publicly proclaim whether party unity is more important than economic security."

So how do you think Tea Party members are feeling about their hero, populist Scott Brown, right about now siding with the big banks? And what is Olympia Snowe's excuse? She insisted that Reid include Senator Blanche Lincoln's amendment into the bill - which he did - and then voted against it anyway. And there's Ben Nelson being all dickish again.  Maybe the weight of his Fred Flintstone haircut is affecting his brain.  Or perhaps he wants his "Cornhusker Kickback" returned. The one that he says he never asked for.

Now let's see if all this Tea Party mania and rhetoric is actually about what they say it's about. Or if it's about a black man in the White House. I mean, hey, when you have David Duke on your side...

UPDATE (8pm): Why did Nelson vote with the GOP? Maybe this is the answer.

A Decent Man in Oklahoma

And guess what? He's a Democrat.

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said he vetoed a bill that would require women to go through ultrasound examinations before abortions to avoid a court fight.

Henry Friday also vetoed a measure that would have banned wrongful birth lawsuits, The Oklahoman reported Saturday. Such suits are brought by parents of children born with Down’s syndrome and other congenital problems that were not diagnosed during pregnancy.

Henry, a Democrat, said the first bill was likely to involve the state in expensive litigation. He also described the bill as too sweeping because there are no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

"State policymakers should never mandate that a citizen be forced to undergo any medical procedure against his or her will, especially when such a procedure could cause physical or mental trauma," Henry said.

Sounds to me to be a basic human right. And why are small government proponents, as most conservatives are, always the first to author legislation to get into your personal medical business? Hypocrites.