American Hero

posted by Armadillo Joe

This woman is an American hero.  I put her on the same pedestal as the Dixie Chicks as someone incredibly brave, who had the courage to speak her convictions at great risk to her personal well-being at a time when people were routinely punished severely for speaking out.

Recall, if you will, the dark days of early 2003.  We were ramping up to W-A-R (shock and awe) and the retarded chimpanzee in the White House along with his Evil Uncle Dick(head) had so twisted the public's imagination into pretzel knots of illogic and abject fear -- hellbent as they were on some good old-fashioned 'Murrican score settlin' against some random brown-skinned folks to hit the four-for-the-price-of-one bonus of 1.) gettin' even for our most holy of holies 9/11 (Ah-men) 2.) settling a blood-feud between the Bush and Hussein clans with American taxpayer-funded blood and iron 3.) making an example of some ragheads before the rest of them get anymore uppity ideas (I'm looking at you Tom "Suck on this" Friedman) and 4.) making up for having skipped Vietnam by collecting machismo points by proxy via the deaths of other people's sons and daughters -- that anyone anywhere at any time who ever whispered the slightest hint of dissent that maybe, perhaps just maybe, our glorious war in the Middle East wasn't quite the photogenic Greatest Clash of Civilizations since Cecil B. DeMille shod a cast of 10,000 extras in swords and sandals... was roundly persecuted, punished and plowed-under.

I was already living in the sodom of New York City during that time -- easily the place in America most immune to Mr. Bush's "charms" and machinations, amid the assorted degenerates and pinko-lib'ruhl-islamo-fascist-America-hating Lefty terrorist-sympathizers of the entertainment industry -- and even correcting for the emotional distortion field surrounding the smoldering pit at the southern end of Manhattan island, working as I did in the so-called "red zone" below 14th Street hardly ten blocks from Ground Zero, we spoke in dissenting voices rarely and even then in the hushed tones usually reserved for snarky comments during church.

It was a dark time, indeed.  And, other than social ostracization, we actually had very little to fear from saying something negative about the general drift of current events.  Imagine someone who did, who understood that they had a great deal to lose, and spoke anyway.

Ashleigh Banfield is that person.  I used to just think of her (when I thought of her at all) as just another vapid, pretty "news" model -- more famous for her stylish choices of eyewear than anything she might have accomplished as a journalist -- and when she disappeared from the Tee-Vee in early 2003, I hadn't even noticed.  It wasn't until her story finally came out in 2005 that I understood what became of her.  The ramifications of it break my heart in empathy for her struggle and in sadness for what America became, or was revealed to have already become, in the events of the first four years of the Cheney Administration.

She gave a speech to some journalism students at Kansas State University on April 24th, 2003 where she said stuff like this:

You didn't see where those bullets landed. You didn't see what happened when the mortar landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me. There are horrors that were completely left out of this war. So was this journalism or was this coverage? There is a grand difference between journalism and coverage, and getting access does not mean you're getting the story, it just means you're getting one more arm or leg of the story. And that's what we got, and it was a glorious, wonderful picture that had a lot of people watching and a lot of advertisers excited about cable news. But it wasn't journalism, because I'm not so sure that we in America are hesitant to do this again, to fight another war, because it looked like a glorious and courageous and so successful terrific endeavor, and we got rid of a horrible leader: We got rid of a dictator, we got rid of a monster, but we didn't see what it took to do that.

[...]

the message before we went in was actually weapons of mass destruction and eliminating the weapons of mass destruction from this regime and eliminating this regime. Conveniently in the week or two that we were in there it became very strongly a message of freeing the Iraqi people.

[...]

If we had paid more attention to Afghanistan in the '80s we might not have had 9-11. If we hadn't left it in such a mess, we might not have had 9-11 and three thousand people would be alive to talk to you today.

[...]

This TV show (the Iraq War - ed.) that we just gave you was extraordinarily entertaining, and I really hope that the legacy that it leaves behind is not one that shows war as glorious, because there's nothing more dangerous than a democracy that thinks this is a glorious thing to do.

War is ugly and it's dangerous, and in this world the way we are discussed on the Arab street, it feeds and fuels their hatred and their desire to kill themselves to take out Americans. It's a dangerous thing to propagate.

[...]

the Fox effect, the Fox news effect. I know everyone of you has watched it. It's not a dirty little secret. A lot of people describe Fox as having streamers and banners coming out of the television as you're watching it cover a war. But the Fox effect is very concerning to me.

I'm a journalist and I like to be able to tell the story as I see it, and I hate it when someone tells me I'm one-sided. It's the worst I can hear. Fox has taken so many viewers away from CNN and MSNBC because of their agenda and because of their targeting the market of cable news viewership, that I'm afraid there's not a really big place in cable for news. Cable is for entertainment, as it's turning out, but not news.

I'm hoping that I will have a future in news in cable, but not the way some cable news operators wrap themselves in the American flag and patriotism and go after a certain target demographic, which is very lucrative. You can already see the effects, you can already see the big hires on other networks, right wing hires to chase after this effect, and you can already see that flag waving in the corners of those cable news stations where they have exciting American music to go along with their war coverage.

And when her corporate masters at MSNBC found out, they did this to her:

I was office-less for ten months....No phone, no computer. For ten months I had to report to work every day and ask where I could sit. If somebody was away I could use their desk. Eventually, after ten months of this, I was given an office that was a tape closet. They cleared the tapes out and put a desk and a TV in there, and a computer and phone. It was pretty blatant. The message was crystal clear. Yet they wouldn't let me leave. I begged for seventeen months to be let out of my contract. If they had no use for me, let's just part ways amicably -- no need for payouts, just a clean break. And [NBC News President Neal Shapiro] wouldn't allow it. I don't know what his rationale was -- perhaps he thought I would take what I felt was a very strong brand, and others felt was a very strong brand, to another network and make a success of it. Maybe that's why he chose to keep me in a warehouse. I will never forgive him for his cruelty and the manner in which he decided to dispose of me.

But "Bloody Bill" Kristol, Tom Friedman and a slew of other Big Media war cheerleaders were all richly rewarded for advocating Bush's Folly, while Ms. Banfield, after her contract finally, mercifully expired, was banished to the hinterlands of cable news on Court TV for having the courage of her convictions.

A promising career stopped dead in its tracks.

Until now.  She has been hired by ABC News.  I hope this is a new beginning for her.  I celebrate it and even sent her a congratulatory note. You should, too, at this link: banfield.info@gmail.com.

But first, you should go read her entire speech.

Must Reads

The Rude Pundit: Understanding Why Nidal Hasan Did It Makes Us Stronger

Joel Achenbach: Feeling the weight of war

James Gordon Meek: My solemn meeting on Veterans Day with President Obama at my friend's resting place in Arlington

Sam Stein: Anita Dunn Takes Parting Shot At Fox, Hannity And Beck

Daniel Tencer: Liberals cry ‘unfair’ after Fox orders unbalanced YouTube purge

David Michael Green: Twenty Years From Now, You Will Lie To Your Children

President Obama's Weekly Address - November 14, 2009

Veterans Day and Fort Hood

D.O.J. Decides to Try K.S.M. in N.Y.C. and G.O.P. Loses Their S.H.I.T.

What a bunch of quivering, diaper soiling pussies these GOP and wingnut mouthpieces be. Today, the Department of Justice announced that 9/11 alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would stand trial in New York City  for the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center along with four other suspected terrorists currently being detained in Guantanamo Bay.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said he would seek the death penalty against the five defendants if they are found guilty in federal court.

He announced those decisions in a news conference Friday at the Department of Justice. The arrangements would mean that civilian prosecutors would handle those detainees accused of the 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, northern Virginia and Pennsylvania, while the 2000 attack against the Cole would remain within the military system.

Holder went on to add that despite the possibility of certain evidence being thrown out of court due to the way it was obtained (damn, that waterboarding!) there was no way he would let these trials go to Federal court had he not been "confident that the outcome would be a successful one."

But the puzzling thing that I want to know is, why do these bed wetting Republicans opposed to this move have such little faith in the United States Justice system? Why do they insist on, at the the very least, a continuation of their fear mongering?

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey: "It shows a willingness to disclose how our intelligence process works and offer [the suspects] a platform in our legal system to gather intelligence for themselves," Mukasey said before an audience of conservative lawyers at the national Federalist Society's annual legal convention in Washington.

Holder's plan "creates a cornucopia of intelligence for those still at large and a circus for those being tried," Mukasey said."

House Minority Leader John Boehner: "The Obama Administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people. The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Nobody in America wants these people tried in their local community,” McConnell said, adding that getting a conviction in a civilian court will be “much tougher” and that once the U.S. Justice Department “hands these people over to the court system, they have no more control.

“If they are acquitted, a judge could simply let them go,” McConnell said. “There is no rational basis for bringing these foreigners into the U.S. court system.”

Joe Lieberman: "The terrorists who planned, participated in, and aided the September 11, 2001 attacks are war criminals, not common criminals. Not only are these individuals not common criminals but war criminals, they are also not American citizens entitled to all the constitutional rights American citizens have in our federal courts. The individuals accused of committing these heinous, cowardly acts of intentionally targeting unsuspecting, defenseless civilians should therefore be tried by military commission rather than in civilian courts in the United States...

...It is inconceivable that we would bring these alleged terrorists back to New York for trial, to the scene of the carnage they created eight years ago, and give them a platform to mock the suffering of their victims and the victims' families, and rally their followers to continue waging jihad against America."

These are our intrepid leaders, pissing in their pants at the thought of a fair trial.  Moaning about how our Justice system shouldn't be used for "non-citizens" while (as the Rude Pundit notes), "the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution says, 'In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial' and then talks about the rights that entails. That really doesn't distinguish between citizen and non-citizen and, indeed, there have been many decisions that allow for fair and speedy trial for immigrants both legal and illegal, as well as for non-Americans extradited to the United States for trial."

Speedy and public trial. Does speedy mean being held for six years without charges?

What are these chickenhawks frightened of?  Do they seriously believe that our supermax prisons, which hold  our most dangerous criminals, can't contain a terrorist? Do they have such little faith in our national security apparatus that even the idea of Gitmo detainees setting a physical foot on precious US soil would undermine our safety? Is McConnell really that dense to think that if by some infinitesimally slim chance KSM is somehow acquitted, he'd be able to walk out the front doors of the courthouse and disappear into the New York City streets?  Of course not.  It's all fear mongering and political posturing for his brainless base. Why would former AG Mukasey think that having Mohammed inside a federal courtroom "discloses our intelligence process" to terrorists?  How is it possible that a former prosecutor like Rudy Giuliani now thinks that the federal courts he worked in as a district attorney now can't handle terrorist cases?  Has he forgotten the name "Zacarias Moussaoui" so quickly?

All which leads to the question: why do these elected officials hate the Constitution (save Boehner who doesn't know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence)?   These war mongering, pants soiling chickenhawks should have a little more faith in the system they claim to defend than throwing out the Constitution whenever it suits them.

Presidential

Read Meek's article here.

The Non-Existent Double Standard

The more I think about these last few Carrie Prejean meltdown interviews, the more it pisses me off. It may be that the ladies on The View actually gave her her most challenging interview to date. And without fail, Prejean brings up liberal media double standard. Or should I say the non-existent liberal media double standard.

I suppose it feels real to her after participating in softball interviews on Hannity or some other Fox show. But as she appears on other shows, as evidenced on Larry King, I think she thinks she can dictate how the interview goes. Sure, you're going to get uncomfortable questions when not surrounded by supporters, but that's how these things work. If you write a book about yourself and start publicizing it at the same time that it's revealed that you made a sex tape, lied about the age at which you made it, then the fact comes out that there could be a couple of dozen of them at a LEGAL age, which you also lied about, you might wind up being in a couple of situations that don't feel so homey.

And her accusations continue to have the mainstream media by the balls. For any criticism by talking heads or news outlets about a Republican or Conservative, especially when that criticism is truly warranted, they are all accused of the "double standard" that Carrie Prejean was whining about. How many times has that idiot already said, "If Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly said some of the things about Michelle Obama or Sonia Sotomayor that Keith Olbermann has said about me, they would be off. The. Air." They know it's coming. They've seen previous interviews. And they know that that pretty, little vacuous head of hers can't hold too much information except for the usual talking points, but do they prepare for a rebuttal?

Something like, "Well, actually, Hannity has constantly taken quotes from Michelle Obama's Princeton thesis completely out of context to make it sound like some racial views she was quoting were her own. Did you know that? Did you watch Fox News Channel at all during the election when pretty much every program was characterizing Michelle Obama as a bitter, militant, angry black woman?" But nothing. Prejean, and every other Republican or Conservative frankly, attacks the non-existent "liberal" media bias and the talking heads walk to the corner with their tails between their legs and don't bother challenging that lie for fear of being labeled "liberal."

But fine. Let them keep propping up Prejean's tome, the life of a 22 year-old beauty pageant queen. Riveting reading. Let Oprah hawk Sarah Palin's new, five chapter book. Then let's see Palin run in 2012. It's a win-win, and you know the GOP is quaking in its shit-kicking boots. If she runs on a Conservative ticket she'll fracture the party and the Democrats win just like NY-23. If the Republicans are stupid enough to nominate her, they'll lose the Independents and the Democrats win. Sit back and think for a minute on a debate between President Obama and Sarah Palin. Oh. My. God.

Do you think he'll have to bone up on some winking and some fancy pageant walkin'?

What A Way To Promote Your Book

With role models like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, it's no wonder why Carrie Prejean thinks her behavior is "appropriate."

South Park Rocks!

Last night's episode shows us an Eric Cartman run amok when he is chosen to be the daily announcement reader over the school's PA system. He soon becomes... wait for it... GLENN BECK! A must see!

Hannity: Jon Stewart Was Right

Of course, he still has to admit his mistake in that slimy, condescending Hannity way.



"It was an inadverdent mistake, but a mistake none the less."

Inadvertent? Sure it was.

UPDATE (4pm): Chez Pazienza: Sean Hannity's Act of Neo-Contrition

WTF?

This story has to be seen to be believed. And then filed in the annals of the WHAT THE FUCK?! Hall of Fame.

Obama Rejects Afghanistan Plans

Breaking news on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow show via the AP that President Obama has rejected all the plans recommended to him for our next step in Afghanistan and sent his national security staff back to the drawing board with the intention of forming a plan that transfers security to the Afghan military.

President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

That push follows strong reservations about a possible troop buildup expressed by the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, according to a second top administration official. In strongly worded classified cables to Washington, Eikenberry said he had misgivings about sending in new troops while there are still so many questions about the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Adding... This is huge considering the sketchy at best and fraudulent at worst election process that Karzai "won." In public, of course the White House has to say that Karzai was legitimately re-elected, but behind the scenes I'm sure it's a completely different story regarding the clusterfuck the whole situation has become.

Lou Dobbs Quits CNN

NY Times: Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said Wednesday that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately.

And Dobbs' new Fox News show starts in 5... 4... 3...

Veteran's Day

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

Fox Fact Checks Palin!

As I posted yesterday, while speaking to some fringey, meaningless group, Sarah Palin inferred that the current White House could be suspect in taking The Religion off our currency, when the actual legislation to commemorate US Presidents on the $1 coin laid at the feet of the Bush administration. Well, when you get fact checked by Fox News, you know you're in trouble.

Jon Stewart Busts Hannity

Fox News' coverage of the Michele Bachmann Monkey Circus last Thursday included some suspect footage, as Jon Stewart shows and calls out Sean Hannity in the process. Awesome.



So the next time you see "Earlier" in the top left corner of your screen on Fox News, just remember you could be looking at footage that is TWO MONTHS earlier. Every once in a while I have to ask, "Why is it that a comedian makes for a better reporter than most other talking heads on TV?"

Anita Dunn Stepping Down - UPDATED

As planned, Anita Dunn will leave at the end of the month as interim White House Communications Director.

Dunn, a longtime Democratic media consultant, took over the job on an interim basis earlier this year when Ellen Moran abruptly left the post to take a job at the Commerce Department. Dunn will return to Squier Knapp Dunn, the consulting firm where she is a partner, but will remain as a consultant to the White House on the communications and strategic matters.

...The passing of the baton from Dunn to [Deputy Communications Director Dan] Pfeiffer had long been expected within White House circles as she had made clear when she took the job that the "interim" in her title was meant to be taken literally.

How soon before Fox News calls this a victory on their end in the war of Reality vs. Fiction?


UPDATE (11/11/09 10:30am): I called it. It was a matter of a couple of hours. What took so long?

Fox Nation Claims Victory

Palin Just Can't Help Herself

Now I know why Sarah Palin quit her Governorship. She wanted the extra time to attend Michele Bachmann's Wingnut Conspiracies 101 class. I wonder if she'll get a graduation lei? Judging by her track record, she probably won't even complete the course.

While speaking to a fund-raising banquet of Wisconsin Right to Life in which no press or recording devices were allowed to document her ever continuing idiocy,

"...she began her remarks with a puzzling commentary on the design of newly minted dollar coins.

Noting that there had been a lot of “change” of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of the new coins.

“Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?”

She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.”

Unsaid but implied was that the new Democratic White House was behind such a move to secularize the nation’s currency.

But the new coins – concerns over which apparently stemmed from an email chain letter widely circulated among conservatives – were commissioned by the Republican-led Congress in 2005 and approved by President Bush.

But Palin doesn't let facts stop her from a good anti-Obama smear, whether it's "palling around with terorists" or ridding US currency of it's national motto. Of course, we'll never know if Palin realizes the little factoid that a Republican led Congress unanimously voted for the coin and The Shrub approved it, because she's either A) duplicitous enough to lead the current group of lemmings she's speaking to over a cliff, or B) just fucking stupid. I think she's both.

I don't believe the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 specifically answers any design "trends," like putting "In God We Trust" on the edge of the coin instead of front or back (which I think is pretty cool from a design standpoint). I'm guessing it was just a decision based on esthetics. But no matter where the national motto is, when was the last time you "read" your coin currency other than to check out the new designs of quarters or to see if you come across a wheat cent? And by the way, has anybody seen these coins in circulation? I think I remember having the Washington coin in my hand at one point, but I haven't seen the other presidential coins yet. If I come across one, it's usually good ol' Sacagawea.

All of Palin's yammering is moot anyway because God fearing men like Senators Sam Brownback and Robert Byrd introduced legislation to praise the Lord by putting His name back in prominence on US minted coins in 2007. Nothing like worshipping idols on your money, huh? So not only was Ms. Wasilla wrong on where this affront to God started, she is also completely unaware that it is no longer an issue. She's at least two years late on the "controversy." Maybe she was too busy trying to get a state trooper fired or something. It must be bliss going through life so incredibly stupid.

And speaking of stupid while we're on the subject of currency, after doing some traveling in Canada and Europe over the years, when are we going to finally quit the US dollar bill? Sure, polls overwhelmingly favor the continuation of the dollar bill. No one likes change, no pun intended. But when it comes to situations like this, I don't care what the public thinks. It costs more to make a US penny and nickel than they are monetarily worth. The Treasury could save over $200 million per year just by the discontinuation of printing the dollar bill. It would take a little getting used to, but don't you think the cost savings alone would be worth it?

Cartoon of the Day

Dealing With Children

Yesterday, Rep. John Dingell and the Women's Democratic Caucus in the House were no more than frustrated baby sitters dealing with incorrigible, bratty seven years olds playing the "I'm not touching you" game while wiggling their fingers in their opponents' faces.



These are elected officials whose sole purpose was to delay the proceedings and derail the vote for House health care bill on the day it passed. Absolutely stunning and appalling behavior. This went on for an hour and yet these imbeciles want to be taken seriously? Think Progress has a compilation of video here.

Tancredo's Hissy Fit

And this numbnuts wanted to be President!



Why MSNBC, or any other real news organization for that matter, would continue to have an overt racist on as an "expert" boggles the mind. That goes for Pat Buchanan too.

Why is it always the chickenhawks who complain about the VA? It's not like they ever qualified for that benefit and know them through usage.

Must Reads

The Rude Pundit: Fox "news" Takes Us To Its Leader

Dan Froomkin: Want Obama To Be Bolder? Take To The Streets!

Bob Cesca: Hope, Change and The Long Road: One Year Later

Robert Fisk: America is performing its familiar role of propping up a dictator

Mahablog: Republican Health Care Still an Oxymoron

Brian Beutler: Reid Continues To Target Republican Obstruction

President Obama's Weekly Address - November 7, 2009

Tragedy at Fort Hood

Classic

Jon Stewart goes all wingnut on us.

Doofus Quote of the Day

"I actually have to agree with Vice President Cheney, that the president is dithering. And I actually had to look up 'dithering,' and it means 'indecisive,' and that's exactly what he's being."

That's Republican Rep. Joe "YOU LIE!" Wilson (R-NoBookistan) agreeing with former VP Dick Cheney's assessment... after some lowly, eye-rolling staffer had to look up the word "dither" for him. Seriously, these are the idiots who oppose health care reform most likely because they don't understand it. These are the morons who complain when a piece of legislation is 1,000 pages long because they can't get through it with their third grade reading level.

Nope, we don't need no fancy book learnin' in Congress.

Wingnut Rejection

Well, yesterday was Election Day and yes, I was a little disappointed in a couple of races that the MSM was concentrating on. John Corzine losing in New Jersey to Chris Christie was anticipated as was the Democratic no-name running against the Republican no-name in Virginia. But Jersey is a fickle bitch. They want honesty in their politicians, but when someone like Corzine tells them their $8 billion budget deficit will mean cuts and higher taxes, they vote for Christie, the guy that told them what they wanted to hear, not what they needed to hear. What do they expect Christie to do, eat the shortfall?

And we all know that Virginia is a purple, if not a maroon state. We were all surprised Obama won the state in the presidential election just last year, so why would a Republican winning the Governor's race be a "referendum" on President Obama?

In my own home town, Michael "I'm Support Term Limits Until It Affects Me" Bloomberg bought his third term as Mayor of New York City. I was mostly disappointed in the voter turnout. A little over a million people voted in the election with Mr. Monopoly receiving 557,000 votes. Spending an estimated $100 million on the race against his former Comptroller Bill Thompson, that amounts to about $180.00 per vote. And he still only won by 50,000 votes. Had this race not been billed as a blowout which in my opinion contributed to voter indifference and indirect suppression, there might have been a different outcome.

But if there was a real referendum, it was in New York's 23rd District, where Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck were flatly rejected by upstate New York voters. This was supposed to be the beginning of something big for the Teabagger movement but it might turn out to be just a big bowel movement and the beginning of the end for them and the fractured Republican Party. Their anointed Conservative candidate, Doug Hoffman, who doesn't live in the district and therefore didn't know the important issues at hand lost to Bill Owens in a district that hasn't seen a Democratic congressman since the Fillmore administration in 1852. Eighteen-fifty-fucking-two!

They were so confident they were going to win the district, (because after all how can you possibly be unimpressed by endorsements from Ms. Wasilla, America's Mayor and the relatively rational Tim Pawlenty?) that GOP leader Rush Limbaugh put his intrepid reputation on the line, predicting a victory along with liberals downplaying such a coup post election. He was banking on it:

If Hoffman wins -- and polls suggest that he will -- the race there will be dismissed as an outlier...

Folks, I want you to print these words out. I want you to get the transcript off my website. I want you to print these out, I want you to distribute them, I want you to carry them with you, and we'll just see how close I am to being right. (When Hoffman wins) the State-Run Media will say, "New York-23, the race is more about the demise of the Republican Party and anger on the right than Obama or his policies."

Rush is right. The debacle in New York's 23rd District was more about the demise of the GOP and the anger of the fringe right toward Obama which is why their candidate lost.  The voters knew better than to listen to the teabag loudmouths who don't even know they're sponsored by the corporate interests they claim to despise. The country (at least conservative, rural upstate New York) didn't seem ready for a Party of Crazy and said so by electing their first Democrat in 157 years. That's a pretty damning repudiation of Palin's Facebook followers and Beck's 9/12 Boneheads.

Chris Kelly has more.

Like Armadillo Joe, Hoping to Pop in Here More Often...

Posted by Fraulein

Finally checking back in after a shamefully long absence, I've been inspired by Armadillo Joe's recent posts to give a brief update on my own disappearance. I've been dealing with some minor health issues, and hope to have it all resolved soon. Once I'm on the mend, hopefully in a week or so, I plan to dive back into the political news!

Take care, Blog-o-Maniacs, and keep the faith for decent health care reform--we may see that happen yet.

Very Classy, Rush

Limbaugh's remarks on Dierdre Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for the Congressional seat in New York's 23rd District, who has suspended her run for due to wingnut mania and has since endorsed the Democratic candidate:

"We can say she is guilty of widespread bestiality. She has screwed every RINO in the country. Everyone can see just how phony and dangerous they are. 2010 might be a nightmare for PETA. Tow animals may become extinct: RINOs and Blue Dog Democrats."

They just keep eating each other alive. Let the feeding frenzy continue!

The Price of Prosperity

posted by Armadillo Joe

A new photography exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. documents the price our oil dependency -- not just in the US but across the whole planet -- exacts on our landscapes both near and far.  It is sobering to contemplate and we really must ask the hard questions about how much is enough and what else we can do.


Edward Burtynsky: Oil from Corcoran Gallery of Art on Vimeo.

O'Donnell Rips Liz Cheney on Dover Lie

Compulsive lying must run in the genes of the Cheney family. Playing Renfield to Dick Cheney's Dracula, daughter and pseudo-pundit Liz Cheney was one of the first to criticize President Obama's presence at Dover Air Force Base to meet and honor the latest fallen coming from the Middle East, something the previous president failed to do. But that didn't stop her from opening her cakehole and lying about it. Lawrence O'Donnell does an excellent job at a little reality check while ripping Liz a new one.

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

For the last few months, we've seen Liz Cheney parade around on the talking heads circuit (only on networks that wouldn't seriously challenge her, of course) backing up daddy's atrocious White House years and authoritarian policies. Is this a precursor for a possible run at political office? If so, she may be the only person to possibly have a lower approval rating that her father before announcing her candidacy in her continuation of the soulessness and classlessness of the Cheney family name.

Must Reads

John Cole: Fair Questions

Steve Benen: False Positives

David Michael Green: Big Bad Government Is Coming To Get You

Scott Ritter: McChrystal Doesn't Get It - Does Obama?

Abby Zimet: Everybody Is Supposed to be Equal In This Country

Frank Rich: The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

Petro Sapien™ (Part Two)

posted by Armadillo Joe

NoWhereMan wrote the following comment on my last post, Petro Sapien™:

Great to have you back Joe but, as life long resident of the city who makes his living delivering goods to those stores that dot what was once Times Sq,it is so aggravating and ridiculous for me to have to park 5 or 6 blocks from my vehicle to my delivery point.Its time consuming which means less $ in my pocket.These past two dickheads weve had for mayor have reinvented Times Sq for thw worst.Giuliani made it into Disneyland now the present munchkin sized mayor has turned it into Oz.I don't see either version as an "improvement".

October 29, 2009 2:04:00 AM EDT

To which I responded:

I understand your difficulty as a delivery man in coping with a car-unfriendly arrangement. It most certainly would be better for you and for all delivery men if you could just drive right up to the door and roll your packages into the store through the front door. The same goes for cabbies with their passengers and for single-passenger vehicles driving in from the suburbs rolling right up to their destination.


But when we scale any one of these specific issues upward and apply it to city-life generally, we run into a NIMBY problem, applied to transportation resources.


...(continue reading)...

President Obama's Weekly Address - October 31, 2009

Milestones on the Economy and the Recovery Act

It’s a Jerry Springer Episode

From John Cole regarding Sarah Palin's attempt to bilk $100,000 for a speaking engagement from the Iowa Policy Center. You know, Iowa? The same state that potential presidential candidates bend over backwards for a year before their campaign run? For free? Yeah, that Iowa.

Umm, guys? SHE’S. A. GRIFTER. She quit her damned job to go on the wingnut welfare circuit. Seven in ten people think she is unqualified to be President. She’s just in this for the money, and she is currently having a public feud with the father of her teenage daughter’s child who is himself cashing in by posing for Playgirl.

This isn’t a credible politician. It’s a Jerry Springer episode.

Yes, she's a con artist. Just like the book that she didn't write. To think that it was only a week after the country (and John McCain) discovered her that she reached her political peak for delivering a snarky Convention speech from a teleprompter. How soon before it all catches up with her?

John McCain Plays David Letterman

Boy, does the old man love to tweet. Forgive my naiveté, but don't these projects at the Energy and Water conference Johnny Boy calls "pork" have to do with, oh, I don't know... energy and water?

Joe Lieberman is a Fucking Scumbag

I'm in the middle of a post about the opt out option for health care reform, but I had to put it aside to mention this:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill. 

Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid has said the Senate bill will.

"We're trying to do too much at once," Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now."

Lieberman added that he’d vote against a public option plan “even with an opt-out because it still creates a whole new government entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line."

Another fucking douche who doesn't understand the difference between health care reform that we have to pay for and a "government entitlement program." We don't need it right now? What do you mean "we," white man? Fine, we'll start by dropping your governement-run health coverage. And now Lieberman is trying to position himself as a fiscal hawk after we've spent trillions of dollars on wars that he supported in Iraq and Afghanistan? Fuck you, Joe. Harry Reid has sent two versions of the bill to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring and Holy Joe already thinks he knows better. At least the other fence sitters are taking a "wait and see" attitude... you know, the responsible thing to do.

The reason this pisses me off to no end is because all I've been hearing is how President Obama is stabbing us in the back for Olympia Snowe's vote just to say reform was a bipartisan effort, when the fact is the 60 vote threshold we all boast about is nothing of the sort. We never had sixty. We have 58 plus two Independents, one of whom I trust. We lost Lieberman when he lost to Ned Lamont in his primary and decided his political life was more important than his political party.

Ben "Helmet Head" Nelson, "Bayou Mary" Landrieu and Blanche "Hatchet Face" Lincoln are all straddling the fence on health care reform as if it were topped with gyrating dildos, not to mention Kent "The Ferret" Conrad and Max "The Insurance Man" Baucus. And now the one dickhead who I was worrying about the whole time but no one mentioned is wielding the knife into the back of the Democratic Party yet again. If we were worried about Ted Kennedy dying before this legislation came to the floor and Robert "Methuselah" Byrd who breaks hip when he blinks too hard to give us our sixty votes, then we were never actually there to begin with. We were never close to sixty. Can we now please stop blaming the White House for trying to coddle Snowe? There's a reason for it, and now we're seeing why. It's time to strip Lieberman of any seniority he has left. They should have done it two years ago.

Great job on Lieberman in 2006, Connecticut!

Jon Stewart Takes On Net Neutrality

How many schlubs are going to think the Internet Freedom Act actually means what it means?

Douche Quote of the Week

Rush Limbaugh: I'm also told that the blog containing the passage on Obama's thesis is a satire blog. So it's one of these sites like ScrappleFace or The Onion or some such thing. So I shout from the mountaintops: "It was satire!" But we know he thinks it. Good comedy, to be comedy, must contain an element of truth, and we know how he feels about distribution of wealth. He's mad at the courts for not going far enough on it. So we stand by the fabricated quote because we know Obama thinks it anyway. That's how it works in the media today.

Petro Sapien™

posted by Armadillo Joe

Hey, Blog-O-Maniacs, Armadillo Joe here. I've been absent these parts for quite some time and hope to start working my way back over with a tad more frequency in the coming months. I've been crazy with work and then traveling for my anniversary and then trying to buy an apartment (first time!) and, (same as last year during the election season) I am in a deep, existential political fight with my parents, which is only intensified by the emerging contours of the looming health-care debacle and the political atmosphere surrounding it. I couldn't even bring myself to read HuffPost or watch Olbermann or Maddow. When I opened the Blogger editor, the words just wouldn't come. Though I did have a number of trains of thought pile up in my head and I'd like to get them out over the next few days.

...(READ MORE)...

Soupy Sales Dies at 83

NY TIMES: Soupy Sales, whose zany television routines turned a pie in the face into a madcap art form, died on Thursday in the Bronx. He was 83.

His former manager, David Usher, said Mr. Sales had died in a hospice after suffering from multiple health problems.

Zero Attacks!

Another Republican strategist/Cheney apologist on Hardball expounding on the favorite Bush administration myth. Terry Jeffrey from CNSNews.com (I won't link it, but visit if you dare) trying some more revisionist history and boy, we should thank our lucky stars that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were in the White House to keep us safe! The proof is in the pudding because we've had "zero attacks" since 9/11. It really is a shame that these imbeciles either A) don't know that the Bush administration lasted a full eight years, and not the seven years and four months that they'd like us to remember, B) always dismiss the anthrax attacks or C) think that we're stupid enough to have forgetten that we were attacked on their watch.

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

Check out the full segment in which Jeffrey also infers that Afghanistan is Barack Obama's war, and since he won't appease either political side with the proper troop levels, history will remember that it will be his failed policy. An astute Matthews make a comparison to Nixon's Vietnam, another inherited war which was a slow bleed, but Jeffrey suggests that it might have turned out differently had the Democratic congress not "turned and ran out on the whole country" after Nixon left office in disgrace. So, you can't blame Nixon because he inherited a war, but you can blame Obama. And you can't blame Nixon for not sending enough troops to Vietnam, but you can blame Obama if he falls into the same situation in Afghanistan.

Brilliant!

Must Reads

Robert Reich: Why Wall Street Reform is Stuck in Reverse

The Rude Pundit: Photos That Make Christian Conservative Brains Short Out and Pat Buchanan Hearts the Oath Keepers, Does Not Heart Black People

Jason Linkins: Fake Obama Thesis Story Goes Viral, Because Of Stupidity

Dan Froomkin: Why Journalists Shouldn't Be Defending Fox News

Bill Moyers & Michael Winship: Texas, the Eyes of Justice Are Upon You

Christopher Brauchli: The Prolonging of Palin

David Michael Green: Paranoia For Breakfast

Don't Listen To Anonymous Saboteurs

As we've been getting closer and closer to finalizing health care reform bills coming out of the House and Senate, there have been various "unnamed sources" from the White House quoted as being against real reform, watering down the public option with artificial triggers and other nonsense. This is all an attempt to undermine the administration's plans and cast a shadow of doubt into the minds of the Conservadems and Blue Dogs on the fence about reform.

I don't know who the unnamed sources are or what their agenda can possibly be, but it's incredibly frustrating to think that some stooge that may be working in or close to the White House would be willing to undermine something as important to the administration as health care... if such an unnamed source actually exists.

These quotes could also be trial balloons to judge public opinion on certain ideas, but at this late stage of the game, it would be foolish to keep fanning the flames. So until the unnamed sources have the balls to come out and back up their statements (which will never happen) or until responsible journalists rely on unnamed sources to back up their stories so they don't look like idiots making shit up, just ignore any story citing anonymous quotes. The cycle is too obvious: 1- Story gets published with an unnamed source. 2- Left or Right or the mainstream media goes apeshit. 3- White House denies any validity to the story. 4- Repeat as needed.

Remember everyone reporting that the public option was supposed to have died during the summer? Stop falling for it.

President Obama's Weekly Address - October 24, 2009

Working with Small Business to Drive Recovery

Music Break! Virginia O'Brien

Say We're Sweethearts Again

Virginia O'Brien's trademark was a deadpan face as she sung some pretty swingin' stuff. This is one of her more humorous songs.

Going Rouge: GENIUS!

I wonder how many Sarah Palin lovers are going to pick up the wrong book and fly into a rage?

An alternative, liberal judgment of Sarah Palin's legacy will appear in book stores on November 17, the same day Palin's own autobiography, "Going Rogue: An American Life," hits the shelves. "Going Rouge: An American Nightmare" is the brainchild of Richard Kim and Betsy Reed, editors at the progressive magazine The Nation. In addition to their nearly identical titles, the two books share similar covers, both showing Palin smiling into the distance.

The Thing About Alan Grayson

I've been thinking about the newest Democratic star and his tactics. It's pretty impressive for freshman Congressman Alan Grayson to have so much exposure so early in his time in office. He was a successful lawyer with previous background work in the Colorado Supreme Court as well as a successful businessman which has made him a multi-millionaire. Part of what makes him tick is that he's not worried about where his next donation is coming from, which is key.

Basically, Alan Grayson is one smart cookie. He realized early on that the Democratic party has been on the defensive for so long because of the time and effort it takes to keep swatting away the flies that are attracted to the shit that spews from GOP mouths on a daily basis. So instead of spending time debunking asinine statements that an eight year old can debunk, Grayson decided to beat them to The Crazy.

Alan Grayson is beating the wingnuts at their own game. And the more he pushes and slaps the Bullshit Bully around, the more he gets them off balance, sitting on their heels and reacting to his dart throwing instead of locking and loading their own cockamamie cartridges. As a result, they're less inclined they are to run against him in his home district.

He's crazy like a fox - he knows that he'll get media attention by using extreme measures just like the GOP nutballs, but instead of using that time to push conspiracy theories of FEMA concentration camps or agreeing with the Birthers, he uses it to shine a light on important things like the health insurance cartel. So maybe his new website, NamesOfTheDead.com can come across as a little harsh when you first hear of it. But it puts a name to the statistic. It makes that number human. And it's one of the only ways the mainstream media will pay attention and he knows it.

Grayson Wipes The Floor With Broun

In defense of ACORN, Rep. Alan Grayson embarrasses Rep. Paul Broun while discussing a bill to deny funds to one specifically named organization in a Science and Technology markup. "Bills of attainder" are unconstitutional.



I'd be surprised if Broun wasn't helped back to his office for not being able to see through the blood in his eyes. You can donate to Alan Grayson here.

Can We Please Give Him A Show?

Lawrence O'Donnell shows once again why he needs a show. He is beholden to no one as he spars with Joe "Cheney Apologist" Scarborough over Cheney's comment that President Obama is "dithering" in Afghanistan, as if his administration didn't dither for the last eight fucking years.

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

ADDING... Scarborough: "Okay, Lawrence... go sell your appliances." WHAT A FUCKING DOUCHE!

They All Look The Same

I kid, I kid. Poor Contessa Brewer. Those damned teleprompters strike again!

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

A Final Note on Limbaugh & The NFL

I touched briefly on this last week but I could let the Limbaugh/NFL debacle conclude without mentioning an article written by sportswriter Mike Lupica.

With all the sports wingnuts (who just so happen to agree with Rush) calling in to the local NY sports radio station last week in support of Rush being allowed to own a team, I couldn't stand the idiocy of these people not understanding the difference between free speech and private enterprise.

Rush has said some pretty vile shit over the years and he's completely free to say whatever he wants thanks to our 1st Amendment rights. But that doesn't mean that he can't be held accountable for what he says. And so his racist rants came back to bite him in his ample ass, as the ownership group he was a part of found him too toxic to their cause. And the free market being what it is, they decided his services and his money would no longer be required, so they bid farewell to Mr. Oxycontin. It's as simple as that.

But Limbaugh, not knowing why in the world anyone would reject him, immediately blamed his woes on a conspiracy, vast left wing conspiracy, when he should have just been looking in the mirror.

Well, Mike Lupica's column hit the nail on the head so well, I had to include it here in it's entirety.

Mike Lupica: Rush Limbaugh learns there is no room for him as a team owner in the NFL

Rush Limbaugh is always an advocate of a robust free-enterprise system, as it relates from health care to everything else. Only now he squeals because the same free-enterprise system rejects him as a possible owner of the St. Louis Rams football team.

You may have heard, Rush isn't taking this well at all, being told an exclusive private club of National Football League owners, along with Commissioner Roger Goodell, only want him as close to their sport as he is watching games with his NFL Sunday Ticket package.

So this must be a conspiracy. And an attack on conservatism, too, even though no one knew until now that comparing the behavior of the Chargers and Patriots one time to the Bloods and Crips was just another example of Rush being the acknowledged leader of the conservative movement in America.

President Obama is part of the conspiracy, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the head of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith, a hateful media, and whomever stole the strawberries on Capt. Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny."

Why? Because the league couldn't possibly be telling him they don't want him, that's why.

Except that is exactly what is happening. It's not conservatism they're rejecting.

It's him.

Rush gets banged out of Dave Checketts' ownership group-and what did Checketts suppose was going to happen when he asked Limbaugh to get on board with him?-and immediately started screaming about the "race hustlers" like Sharpton and Jackson doing him in. No. He did himself in, with his own body of work. And, let's face it, Limbaugh calling anybody else a race hustler is pretty wonderful. You'd say this was an example of the pot calling the kettle black but, well, you know.

Sharpton in particular is a champion race hustler. So is Limbaugh. What he said about Donovan McNabb one time was just one small lyric in a song he's been singing for years, all the way to song parodies about "Barack the Magic Negro." But that was all right, that's what he told us, he was just looking for some laughs and, besides, it was just something he read in a Los Angeles Times headline.

Limbaugh says that the media has only gone after him this way because it hates him. But he's not important enough to hate.

There Limbaugh was on the "The Today Show" earlier this week talking about how his critics are just shooting "BB's at a battleship." Then he starts taking fire from all directions at even the notion that he could be a part-owner of the Rams, and gets hysterical. You dish the way Limbaugh does, you have to be able to take it better than this.

This is what they're doing to the country, folks! This is what is happening on Wall Street! Now it's happened to me! Limbaugh is never funny when he tries to be. But this week he was as funny as he's ever been.

The best idea of all here was that this is America, he's got the money, why shouldn't he be able to buy a seat at the table? Right. Rush should try that with Augusta National, where he likes to remind us he's played golf plenty of times. He's got the money. He likes golf. He should just show up at the front gate with a check and tell them he's ready to join, and where's the first tee. See how that works out for him.

Back when Martha Burk tried to force Augusta National's hand and get the club to admit a woman member, Limbaugh praised Hootie Johnson, then the chairman of the club, for not "caving" in. Right. A private club deciding who-and what-it wanted. The NFL basically did the same thing to him. Only now, because it's him, it's a vast left-wing conspiracy and a secret plot from the NFLPA because of an upcoming collective bargaining agreement.

The race hustlers, the lefties, they're behind this. Sportswriters, too. Yeah, owners in sports always do exactly what we tell them in the sports section.

Rush Limbaugh thinks he can say anything he wants to about anybody, black or white, and never have to face any consequences. Only this week there were consequences. Imagine something like that happening to a big powerful guy like him.

The NFL treated him like he was Rodney Dangerfield trying to join the club in "Caddyshack."

Where Did All The Rational People Go?

I saw this on Hardball last night and all I could do was shake my head... after I had picked my jaw up off the floor.

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

Seriously, Oath Keeper guy? When law enforcement officers and military personnel lose their process of rational thinking to the point of joining this pathetic, fear mongering group, it really is time to worry. Why is it that this group formed only after a black man won the Presidential election? Do you seriously think they would exist under a President John McCain? Me neither.