Will Joe Scarborough's multiple GOP donations lead Howie Kurtz to stop saying that MSNBC is a one-party network like Fox is?
After Howie's two-part job interview went so well?
Update (11/21): Mister Kurtz does not disappoint. On Reliable Soreasses this morning, he opined that Scarborough's infractions were not as bad as Olbermann's because Scarborough gave to candidates for state office. One could see the angels dancing on Howie's pinhead as he spoke those words.
AIPAC claims that Rosen, who was director of foreign policy issues at the lobby and one of its most senior and well-known employees, had engaged in viewing pornography on AIPAC computers at the lobby's Washington offices. Partial transcripts of the lengthy videotaped deposition of Rosen, which were made public as part of AIPAC's motion, show Rosen admitted to surfing pornographic websites from work. But AIPAC's lawyers insisted on more details.
“Q: What type of pornography?
A: Sexual pornography.
Q: What type? Man on man, man on woman?
A: Anything. Anything that occurred to me.”
Rosen also added more details than, perhaps, the attorney for AIPAC had bargained for.
“I witnessed [AIPAC executive director] Howard Kohr viewing pornographic material, [Kohr's secretary] Annette Franzen viewing pornographic material, probably a dozen other members of the staff,” Rosen said in his deposition. He added that, according to a Nielsen survey, more than a quarter of Americans regularly view pornographic websites at their workplace.
Later in his deposition, the former lobbyist also said he had heard from directors at AIPAC about their visits to prostitutes and he claimed executive director Kohr had routinely used "locker room language" at the AIPAC offices.
How big is the Israel lobby? Depends on what they're looking at.
Bonus query: Do a quarter of Americans regularly have access to a computer at their workplace?
Weak teabagger Joe Miller enlists a racist scumbag
to fight his losing battle:
Conservative political consultant Floyd Brown, acting as what he called a "volunteer strategist" for Miller, said the campaign had opened a voter fraud hotline to collect reports he said were flowing in to conservative radio talk show programs claiming bullying of voters, threats of job losses and other forms of purported intimidation aimed at garnering votes for Murkowski.
"There have been serious allegations of voter fraud, voter intimidation, voter bullying," Brown told reporters at the large warehouse where counting of write-in ballots, 98% of them for Murkowski so far, was winding up its second day.
"We encourage people who have been bullied themselves, people who have been told they would lose their jobs ... to call and share their story," Brown said. "Let me just say that Joe Miller takes these allegations of fraud and voter intimidation very seriously."
Retroactive voter intimidation. The number to call is 1-800-356-6887, or 1-800-FKN-NUTS.
(CNN) -- Jim Davis, the creator of the widely-syndicated "Garfield" comic has issued an apology for an ill-timed strip that ran on Veterans Day.
The strip, which appeared in newspapers nationwide Thursday, shows a spider's thoughts as Garfield the cat is about to crush it with a rolled-up newspaper.
"If you squish me, I shall become famous!" reads the thought bubble in the strip's first panel.
"They will hold an annual day of remembrance in my honor, you fat slob," the spider continues, referring to the pudgy orange cat.
The last panel shows the spider dangling above a teacher's desk while he addresses a group of other spiders: "Does anyone here know why we celebrate 'National Stupid Day?'"
Davis called the strip's appearance on Veterans Day "the worst timing ever."
So bad that CNN's writer didn't get the "gag." The spider in the third panel is supposed to be a different spider, one which is referring to the spider from panels one and two as the reason for commemorating "National Stupid Day." But Davis' artist drew both spiders alike. Not that the joke would be better if he had executed it correctly, but still...
Davis says that particular strip was created over a year ago, presumably meaning he recited the idea into a dictaphone or e-mailed it to the people who actually make the strip in 2009. Of course, this means that if Davis dies tomorrow, this dreck will be running until the end of 2011.
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has her sights set on the world of finance - she's launching her own credit card in a bid to teach teens how to spend sensibly.
The wealthy socialite has lent her name to the Kardashian Prepaid MasterCard, which will let parents give their kids a small amount of credit so they can keep an eye on their finances.
A representative for Mobile Resource, which is launching the card, says, "Teens do not spend their money as their parents think they do. And, drugs are a huge problem in this country. I give my son a small amount of cash and track his spending on his card."
Kardashian will launch the card at a party at Pacha nightspot in New York on Tuesday night.
To be followed by the Lindsay Lohan adjustable-rate mortgage and the Montana Fishburne Capital One Personal Auto Loan.
Howie Kurtz's Charm City lickspittle, David Zurawik, is crapping himself over this bit of programming information. I'm sure Zurawik will be back online to splutter after he gets finished polishing Howie's toupees.
Favorite Zurawik quote: "Really, in all the seminars I had to take to earn a Ph.D. I never heard one person talk the ridiculous hotdog way O'Donnell and Maddow do on these videos -- and a lot of the folks in those seminar rooms were pretty smart. This isn't about intelligence." Really, it isn't, "Doctor" Zurawik. Really really. Zurawik's post sounds like it was written by an elderly, incontinent Holden Caulfield, but without the benefit of J.D. Salinger's talent.
Update: First link fixed.
From PoliticHO:
But Alabama state campaign finance records show a $5,000 contribution in April from Scarborough, the former Republican congressman who now co-hosts an eponymous morning show on MSNBC and writes a weekly column for POLITICO, to Alabama state legislative candidate John Merrill, who said the two have been close friends since they attended the University of Alabama together.Survey says - Brzezinski lies:
That contribution should have been in the name of Scarborough’s wife, Susan Scarborough, according to Scarborough’s co-host on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski, as well as John R. McGregor III, a representative from the Scarborough’s [sic] Pensacola, Fla., bank.
"The Scarborough's [sic] expect John Merrill will amend his campaign report to accurately reflect that reality," said Brzezinski. "If he does not, I will recommend they file an ethics complaint against him."
Brzezinski also challenged Merrill's recollection of having brought Scarborough to Tuscaloosa for an August 2009 fundraiser for the county Republican Party, which Merrill said "was unbelievably successful. We raised a ton of money that we used to help local candidates."
That event was "was billed as a tribute to Gov. Bob Riley on his retirement from politics," said Brzezinski, noting that Riley and Scarborough served together in Congress and asserting, "Any suggestion that Joe Scarborough went to the University event to raise money for a political party is false. Sadly, many politicians try to elevate their standing by exaggerating their connection to Joe. This is one of those cases."
This year the dinner will honor Governor Bob Riley, who has brought positive recognition to the Republican Party and served our state with admiration and distinction. The Tuscaloosa County Republican Party is privileged to have the opportunity to honor a man of his character and integrity. All funds generated by the dinner are used by the Tuscaloosa County Republican Party to strengthen the Republican Party and help elect Republicans at the local, state, and national levels. We are certain The Fourth Annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner will be our most successful year yet.
When Joe was told that a Lincoln Reagan Dinner was a vehicle to raise money for the Republican Party, you could have knocked him over with a lying sack of shit.
Oh, and about that "on his retirement from politics" business?
Bob Riley is the present Governor of Alabama.
But wait, there's more:
But earlier in the day, Merrill, who cruised to an easy win this week, was under a very different impression when he spoke with POLITICO.
"We've been friends for 28 years and we stayed in touch all those years, when he was in Congress and when he got the show," Merrill said of Joe Scarborough. "When I announced, he told me he was going to help me and he wanted me to be successful,” Merrill said, recalling Scarborough's offering to lend his star power to the campaign.
Somebody needs to put an accurate script in front of Brzezinski. Because this making shit up business isn't working any better than Scarborough's hiding behind his wife.
Update (11/6): PoliticHO has corrected its (not it's) punctuation and made other changes to the linked article since this post was published, without noting that such changes were made. It is the practice of this blog to cut-and-paste directly from any source quoted in a post. Roger Ailes always quotes sources accurately, and is not responsible for the shitty writing on other websites.
Justice Thomas looks pretty good for a man living on a diet of boiled bunny.
In the middle of another pathetic attempt to get Ann Coulter into the sack, midget Mickey Kaus whines about how the New York Times didn't treat his Kaus Klown Kampaign with enough dignity:
When I ran for Senate recently, the "Sunday Styles" section did a piece on my effort that offered a similarly bogus, dismissive dorm-room theory on my motivations: I was having a "mid-life crisis." And here I thought I was running to oppose amnesty and card check!* But at least the Times' reporter for that piece, Janelle Brown, got her bogus theory out of the mouth of a bullshitting friend of mine.
Yes, it's the Times' fault that they quoted a "friend" of Kaus who didn't take his clowning any more serious than anyone else did. Meanwhile, the second place finisher in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, who got more than twice the vote Kaus did, got no coverage at all from the Times. Kaus seems to think that the news value of his campaign was something other than "pathetic wanker with a lot of media friends makes an ass out of himself." As they say, sadly, no.
Here's some background on libertarian martyr Johnny Irish:
The affidavit in the case is sealed but the Union Leader was provided with a copy and reported that the state is alleging a "lengthy history of domestic violence," between the couple, including incidents in March and August 2009 where Taylor reported that Irish assaulted her.
In addition, the Union Leader reports that Taylor is still legally married to another man and they had their two children taken from them in February 2009, after an official at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester spotted signs of abuse. A hearing was held last month to permanently terminate the couple's parental right. The results of that hearing are sealed.
The Union Leader also reported on Friday that Irish was convicted in 2003 of criminal threatening while a student at Winnacunnet High School after telling another student he was going to "create another Columbine."
Irish also underwent numerous court-ordered psychological evaluations and had several probation violations following his 2003 convictions, including possessing weapons, hanging out with criminals, violating curfew and threatening violence, according to the Union Leader.
For some inexplicable reason, the libertarians aren't in the least bit concerned with the two older children, the ones who aren't Irish's seed --either with their abuse or with big gubbamint terminating their parents' parental rights. Seems like your freedom matters to some libbaggers only if you're gun-lovin', state-hatin' criminal.
Perhaps this explains it:
According to an affidavit, a judge determined in 2009 that evidence pointed to Irish as "the main suspect" in an assault of his fiancee's oldest son, now 3. Taylor also has a 2-year-old son and is still married to the boys' father. The children were subsequently placed in a foster home in Farmington, Irish said.
A very fucking special review of The Social Network:
Justin Timberlake was born in 1981. Sean Parker, whom he portrays, in 1979. Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Zuckerberg, was born in 1983. Zuckerberg in 1984.
Chiara Luce Badano was born just seven years before Zuckerberg in Italy. Sept. 25 of this year, she was beatified. She was an athlete who wanted to be a flight attendant, but after she felt a sharp pain during a tennis game, it was discovered that she had cancer. Her subsequent pain became a service of love to those around her who were inspired by her faith and joy. She is said to have said to her mother: “I’m not asking Jesus to come and get me to bring me to Heaven anymore, because I still want to offer him my pain, to share his cross with him.”
“This is our time,” Timberlake as Parker declares in a now-famous nightclub scene in “The Social Network”. Something about that line struck me, I heard Luke recounting Christ: “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it … she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.”
This generation doesn’t have to be lost. So many don’t want to be. They’d love to be inundated with the good. Instead, frequently badly catechized, they get to college and are inundated with something else. And the technology that made Zuckerberg the youngest millionaire [sic] in history can be used in God’s service.
Why won't Jesus respond to my friend request!?!
If only Mark Zuckerberg hadn't been frequently badly catechized, he'd be a cancer-ridden flight attendant for God.
For those who like their bigotry larded with shtick, I give you the second-most loathsome Levin in wingnuttia:
"I was in the middle of eating a kosher pastrami sandwich,” Rabbi [Yehuda] Levin said. "While I was eating it, they come running and they say, 'Paladino became gay!' I said, 'What?" And then they showed me the statement. I almost choked on the kosher salami."
Insert Ed Koch joke here.
It's beginning to look like Charles Leaf won't be resuming his career as mosque-basher anytime soon.
Howad Kurtz demonstrates his continued commitment to serious journalism by giving an entire segment of his CNN show to the Salahis, who, of course, are media owners and publishers as well as leading journalists and political figures.
Howie can't be bothered to educate himself about Martin Peretz because his pants are constantly down around his ankles.
I love it when the Reasonoids apologize for alleged child abusers on libertarian grounds. Seems they have learned nothing since they got in bed with child-rapist and murderer David Koresh and begged for his not-so-tender mercies.
Here's the 411 on the latest Reason poster children for gubmint tyranny:
According to the affidavit, a judge determined that Irish abused Taylor's two other children. She is still married to the father of those children, though Taylor said yesterday that her husband has refused to accept her divorce petition for the past two years.
The affidavit also says that the police in Rochester report a "lengthy history of domestic violence" between Taylor and Irish, and that she accused him of choking and hitting her on more than one occasion. According to the document, Irish failed to complete a domestic violence course as ordered by the state, and that a hearing was held last month to terminate Taylor's parental rights over her two older children.
Irish denies the allegations, which, according to the authorities, were in part made by the child's own mother. (They would say that!) If it's improper for a state to protect a defenseless child from someone who is accused by the child's own mother of brutality, then there's no fucking reason for any government whatsoever.
Reason assumes without evidence or investigation that the man is a victim of a big gubmint conspiracy, and then whines about being "misled" when some inconvenient truths come out, as if it has the moral obligation to take the anti-government view without knowing any of the facts.
The good news is, Reason has located its next Nick Gillespie:
"The family should be left to resolve it on their own," Biondolillo said. "Or private enterprise - private companies can contact the family and say, 'We heard you were hitting your kids. Can you stop that?'"
Brilliant! And not even the geniuses at Reason thought of that elegant, free-market solution. Surely the infant child could earn enough to buy her own gun in case she fails to persuade in the family's marketplace of ideas. Give Ms. Biondolillo some that Stagliano/Koch money, fast!
And here's some important information that Reason didn't think you (or it) needed to know before claiming victimhood:
Taylor says her two sons were removed from her care in 2009 because of abuse by a caretaker.
...
Child protection matters are confidential. But Lorraine Bartlett with the Division For Children Youth And Families said a child cannot be removed based on a parent's affiliation with an organization.
Damn that nanny state, refusing to admit that it the source of all evil!
Update (10/10): Its Koresh-sense tingling overtime, Reason also sniffed that the FBI brought bomb sniffing dogs "to the protest." In fact,
About the time of the protest, an FBI agent and a state bomb-sniffing dog team did a sweep on the hospital property in response to threats made to the hospital, said Kieran Ramsey, supervisory special agent to FBI officers in New Hampshire.
Ramsey declined to discuss the nature of the threats.
The hospital "felt that at the time the threats warranted some precautionary measures and getting law enforcement involved," he said.
The search of the hospital grounds turned up nothing, said Pamela Puleo, the hospital's vice president for community affairs. Staff were told of the search so as to allay any fears of visitors or patients, she said, and there have been no problems since.
"Things are pretty quiet as compared to (Friday)," Puleo said. "We worked hard to make sure everybody's feeling reassured and safe and calm."
The dry cleaning bills for removal of urine stains at Reason HQ must be astronomical.
Ann Alchouse, who has never allowed herself to be photographed wearing an Eva Braun costume in public, is outraged at the liberal media for reporting that RepublicBagger House candidate Rich Iott previously pranced around the fields of Ohio in an SS uniform. Alchouse outrage focuses on the fact that Atlantic reporter Joshua Green doesn't place one of Herr Iott's "defenses" -- the claim he has also dressed as an American doughboy and a Union solider -- high enough in his report to suit her tastes.
No, seriously.
Of course, Iott also fails to mention this defense in his own defense. But Ann's willing to call Green out for the dirty Simon Weisenthal reenactor that he is.
You see, Green hasn't done enough digging to find the exculpatory evidence and turn it over to Herr Iott, who is at a decided disadvantage in explaining his own acts. Alchouse wonders aloud, "Who decides, when war reenactments are done, which side somebody plays?" It would be sheer speculation to assume that a millionaire who has his own tailored SS uniform wasn't forced into the Nazi role by, say, a billionaire who called dibs on the role of a Nazi opponent. Surely he picked up his SS kit at the local Life Uniform outlet because the U.S. Paratrooper costume didn't come in 2XL. And if Herr Iott played a Minuteman twice for everytime he dressed as a Nazi, then Alchouse can't fault him for swinging both ways.
Of course, Alchouse can't refute the facts, and doesn't find any factual errors in Green's reporting. As noted, Green publicized a supposed "defense" by Iott that Iott hasn't bothered to publicize on his own website. It's the only way Alchouse would know abut it. Green also prints Iott's other defenses in paragraphs three, four, five, nine, ten and eleven of his article, so he has to be faulted for not prioritizing Iott's excuses according to Alchouse's peculiar tastes.
Alchouse sees lefty bias like some people see a giant pink rabbit -- if it doesn't appear on its own, she knows what to do to make it appear.
(If you're interested in some truly shitty reasoning, Alchouse's heavings are found here. I've "buried" it at the end of this post because you have already stopped reading, you mental defective, you.)
MYFOXNY.COM - FOX 5 reporter Charles Leaf has been arrested. Leaf is charged with one count first degree aggravated sexual assault, one count second degree sexual assault and one count second degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors say Leaf sexually abused a four year old girl, described as an acquaintance, at his home.
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office says Leaf was arrested at his Wyckoff, N.J. home Thursday following an investigation by the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit.
The 40-year-old Leaf was taken into custody without incident. He's being held on $250,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail. His arraignment is set for Nov. 4, 2010.
A station spokesperson says FOX 5 management is aware of the matter and is reviewing it.
Though not an employee of Fox News Channel, as noted by Gawker, Mr. Leaf featured prominently in the channel's efforts to peddle the "Ground Zero" mosque controversy to its pinhead viewers. Perhaps someone will ask Gretchen Carlson, Brian Kilmeade and the mentally-challenged weatherman their opinions on the appropriate distance between Ground Zero and an alleged child molestor.
At this time, of course, Mr. Leaf is not guilty of anything besides shitty reporting.
Even if the story damages Whitman -- and it's a bit hard to see what she did so wrong in a) hiring a maid she thought was legal and b) firing her when she found out she'd been deceived -- ...
Kaus is a true IOKIYARer. Because Meg's a Republican, Kaus can't even comprehend the possibility that her story's pure bullshit. No sane person believes Whitman's efforts to blame her husband -- what married couple wouldn't discuss a notice that a household employee (and a supposed close friend) was an undocumented worker? Kaus probably also believes his career success is due to merit.
Of his new role at The Daily Beast, [Howard] Kurtz said, “I've wanted to work with Tina Brown forever -- well, for a long time -- and I'm incredibly impressed by the energy and creativity of The Daily Beast staff. After a lifetime in newspapers, I'm ready for the challenge of fast-paced online journalism.”
Will the WaPo hire el-Brent Bozell to maintain Howie's high standards?
I guess "swamped starting a new blog" and "learning to post video" were Kurtz's euphemisms for fetching T-Brown's drycleaning.
P.S. to T-Brown: I don't imagine the WaPo will miss Kurtz, but swiping Howie's headshot from the Post might get their lawyers involved.
Actually, the headshots of Kurtz and Brown at the link would make a great "Seperated at Birth." The hairstyles are eerily similar.
I missed this whining defense by Howard "Howad" Kurtz of his refusal to inform himself about Marty Peretz' bigotry:
I've been criticized a few million times for things I have written and said. That's fair game.
Now I'm being slammed for something I didn't write or say.
I am, according to Columbia Journalism Review, remaining "silent." (Don't I have that Fifth Amendment right, like you see in the movies?)
My sin is that I have not denounced Marty Peretz. More on that in a moment.
The reason I have not weighed in is--boredom alert--I have been swamped. I cling to the old-fashioned belief that I ought to know what I'm talking about before I pop off. I put a lot of research, and thought, into what I write and say.
In recent weeks I've been swamped with launching and maintaining this real-time blog, including such mundane tasks as learning how to post video. I've also been traveling quite a bit. So I did not believe the world was breathlessly waiting to hear what I had to say about Peretz.
What the owner of the New Republic wrote, in a blog post, was this: "Frankly, Muslim life is cheap, especially for Muslims." And he questioned whether "these people" were worthy of First Amendment protection. I find those to be outrageous and unacceptable statements. You can say that about some Muslim terrorists, and you can criticize some Muslims for failing to speak out against violence, but how do you libel everyone who follows Islam?
...
I guess we live in a culture where everyone, including media critics, is supposed to have an instant response to everything that happens. But I'm going to resist that urge.
Note that Howad thinks it's just peachy to criticize Muslims for not speaking about violence they had nothing to do with -- for their "failure to write or say something" -- but it's beyond the pale to notice that Howad is failing to do his job, which involves pontificating on everyone else’s journalism, including that of the editor-in-chief of the New Republic.
No one can accuse Howad of having a double standard. He has no standards.
Howard's "not my job" defense is particularly pathetic when you compare his coverage of Rick Sanchez' bigotry to his coverage of Marty Peretz' bigotry -- the latter of which was only coverage about how mean everyone is to Howad.
And Howad's claim that he likes to think before speaking is belied not only by his Twatterings but, more significantly, by the fact that Peretz's bigotry has been on display for years and years, while Sanchez only spouted off two days ago. Kurtz had plenty of time to learn about Peretz' vile views if he had any interest in doing so. That being his job and all.
Howad's plea of ignorance as to Peretz' racism may or may not be true. In either case, the follow-up should be, "Then why should anyone give a fuck what Kurtz thinks about anything?"
Greasy-wigged wingnut Howard Kurtz finally gets around to mentioning the latest capers of Breitbart Slim:
KURTZ: Time now for the "Media Monitor," our weekly look at the hits and errors in the news business.
Here's what I liked.
CNN's Abbie Boudreau, reporting a documentary on conservative activists, tried to arrange an interview with James O'Keefe. He, of course, the guy who dressed up as a pimp to run that undercover sting against ACORN, and then was arrested for infiltrating Senator Mary Landrieu's office.
Boudreau discovered from a woman working with O'Keefe that he was planning a hidden camera sting against her and CNN. The setting? A boat filled with sexual props such as dildos and fuzzy handcuffs.
Apparently this is the first time Howie the Putz has mentioned a dildo outside the presence of Jonah Goldberg.
More substantively: Of course, Howie can't avoid repeating the lie that Breitbart Slim dressed as a pimp while "running" his "sting" of ACORN. O'Keefe dressed as a pimp to promote his smear, not during his encounters with ACORN employees. No matter how hard he tries -- or doesn't -- Howie just can't quit rightwing scripts.
Whitman: This person has no sense of humor. Makes George Deukmejian look like George Jessel! Seems annoyed she has to participate in this pointless democratic ritual when she could be in a boardroom with Mitt Romney. (You can see her thinking: "I guess I have to force a smile again.") I imagine the public employee unions might quickly cave to her demands just so they don't have to spend any more time in a room with her. Fails to hang Brown's disastrous appointment of Chief Justice Rose Bird firmly around his neck.
Yes, the most pressing issue of the 2010 Governor's race is Rose Bird, who was voted out of office 24 years ago. Kaus doesn't explain his hard-on for Bird. Perhaps he overheard Rose and Otto in the Supreme Court robing room, commiserating over Otto's shame in having such a worthless kid.
(Otto Kaus was also a Brown appointee; surprisingly, Midget Mick doesn't bash him for that as well.)
And how about that George Jessel zinger? Very relevant. I guess the midget wanted a more topical pop culture comparison than Fanny Brice or Theda Bara.
Roger Ailes, the blog, is scheduled to receive its 4 millionth reader sometime in the next 60 days. To celebrate, and to artificially inflate its traffic, Roger Ailes will award a Grand Prize of one dollar (U.S.) to its four millionth visitor. Winner is responsible for proving that he or she is the four millionth visitor. In the event the four millionth visitor does not claim his or her prize within 30 days, the prize money will be rolled over into Roger's 5 Million Dollar and a Quarter Sweepstakes. Roger Ailes will also pay for postage to mail the prize anywhere in the United States. Void where prohibited.
Conservative activist James O'Keefe apparently has been caught pilfering from his employer, Andrew Breitbart. Among the inventory of well-loved goods in O'Keefe's possession:
"condom jar, dildos, posters and paintings of naked women, fuzzy handcuffs" and a blindfold.
DNA testing will be required to determine ownership of the items. Initial reports make no mention of wetsuits or eggs.
Update: Matt Lewis notes the tragic dimensions of this event:
Sadly, O'Keefe's insistence on continuing his weird brand of performance art has probably cost him his chance to be considered the 21st-century version of Paul Weyrich or Phyllis Schlafly.If, by "cost" you mean "assured," then I concur wholeheartedly.
Update No. 2: O'Keefe is still listed as a contributor to Andrew Breitbart's Big Journalism, although I hear that a spin-off, Andrew Breitbart's Big Dildo, is in the works.
Howard "the Coward" Kurtz, who gave us saturation coverage of Helen Thomas' downfall, will decide what's media news and what's not:
Howard Kurtz, the media editor of the Washington Post, was among those journalists critical of Thomas, suggesting that she should "go home" to Lebanon and that she is a heroine to Hezbollah. Asked why the mainstream media has largely ignored Peretz's views over the years, Kurtz replied: "I'm afraid I just haven't focused on the subject."
When you spend all your time obsessing over Lindsay Lohan and Tiger Woods and moonlighting as Bob Woodward's p.r. flack, there's not a second to spare reporting substantive media stories that don't fit your right-wing agenda.
When the Washington Post performs damage control for Saxby Chambliss.
I'm guessing that Doug McKelway is the Daily Choler's Wankerman (this churlish dick). Or at least based on him.
You heard it here first.
p.s. Of course you've never heard of him. He writes for the Daily Choler.
In an effort to contrast their candidate with disgraced former Governor Elliot Spitzer, the New York Republican Party has nominated an animal enthusiast who will run under the slogan "Whores No; Horses -- Fuck Yeah!"
A Tea Party darling, Paladino reportedly sent an e-mail depicting a horse having sex with a woman and another that included a pornographic video and the headline "Miss France 2008 F[***]ing." He also reportedly sent out an e-mail depicting President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as a pimp and prostitute and one showing an airplane landing near black men with the caption "Holy Sh*t. run ni**ers, run!"
...
The Buffalo News reports that Paladino did not deny sending the e-mails at an event today. He called them "just another liberal Democrat blog smear."
There was an old man who swallowed a horse.
He's Republican candidate for Governor of New York — of course!
Update: Edited numerous times due to author's incompetency.
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gay members of the military is unconstitutional, a federal judge in California ruled Thursday.
Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court struck down the rule in an opinion issued late in the day. The policy was signed into law in 1993 as a compromise that would allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve in the military.
The rule limits the military’s ability to ask about the sexual orientation of service members, and allows homosexuals to serve as long as they do not disclose their orientation and do not engage in homosexual acts.
The plaintiffs, challenged the law under the Fifth and First Amendments to the Constitution, and Judge Phillips agreed.
“The don’t ask, don’t tell act infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members in many ways,” she wrote. “In order to justify the encroachment on these rights, defendants faced the burden at trial of showing the don’t ask, don’t tell act was necessary to significantly further the government’s important interests in military readiness and unit cohesion. Defendants failed to meet that burden.”
...
The suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative gay organization. The group’s executive director, R. Clarke Cooper, pronounced himself “delighted” with the ruling, which he called “not just a win for Log Cabin Republican service members but all American service members.”
Naturally, B. Arthur Blatt has already enlisted in the military is attacking the ruling. And he'll keep on doing so unless and until Sarah Palin tells him to stand down.
Jindal flip-flops on his support for prostitute enthusiast David Vitter:
UPDATE: Melissa Sellers, a spokeswoman for Jindal, tells CNN the governor meant to convey he has not weighed in on the race yet, but may do so in the future.
(CNN) - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has finally answered a questioned asked of him for months: Will he endorse embattled Republican Sen. David Vitter's reelection bid?
The answer is no.
"Voters can make up their own minds," the Louisiana governor and fellow Republican told local television station WDSU.
Jindal added he doesn't like to get involved in federal races, though the station reports he has backed federal-office seekers in the past.
Ms. Sellers' explanation doesn't hold water. If Piyush had meant to say that he hadn't endorsed anyone yet, he would have said that. Don't piss on my leg and tell me that it's Senator Vitter, Bobby.
Wonderful as it would be if Ms. McArdle's opinion of our book were to change when/if she gets around to actually reading it, I'm not holding my breath because I don't think she's responding to the substance of the book at all; she's responding to what it makes her feel, which is something entirely different.
Yes. It's a paycheck.
Update: Ann Alchouse throws her morning wood onto Meeegan's bonfire of the inanities.
(Via Fire Meeegan via Sadly, Bonobo!)
A former aide to the McCain campaign got in touch with me this morning to cop to being the half-serious progenitor of a story which, embellished almost beyond recognition, appears in Vanity Fair's portrait today of Sarah Palin as monster.
Reports Vanity Fair:
Soon after her nomination, she brought up with McCain aides the subject of Bristol's out-of-wedlock pregnancy by Levi Johnston: "Would it be good for the campaign if they got married before the election?" she asked, and went on to wonder whether one weekend or another would be more advantageous for media coverage.
This anecdote first popped up in London's Sunday Times, a regular landing point for political anecdotes that the less credulous American press won't print without checking. From that story:
Inside John McCain's campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. "It would be fantastic," said a McCain insider. "You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week."
The fantastic quote — and perhaps the clue that this one hadn't quite risen to the levels of the principals — is the guarantee that Levi would show: "“It’s a shotgun wedding. She kills things,” the source joked.
Smith assumes that Vanity Fair's version is a mistelling -- an embellishment -- of the Times story. (Weigel makes the same bonehead mistake.) But the Vanity Fair story recounts a discussion in which Palin speaks to McCain aides, and the Times article quotes an "insider" speculating to the press, off the record. Smith offers no evidence that Vanity Fair account came from his anonymous source, or that the two articles were referring to the same event.
There's no reason both things couldn't have happened -- Sharia making her statement to McCain campaign staffers while an entirely different staffer (or the same staffer who didn't want to attribute the source of his or her idea) blabbed his or her insipid thoughts to the Times. It's not only possible, it's plausible.
I don't care whether either story is true. The significance of the matter is that it demonstrates that Smith is a Palin fluffer who's willing to make unwarranted assumptions and slime other reporters in support of a fellow right-wing Republican. As far as can be determined from Smith's article, Smith didn't contact Vanity Fair to determine its source(s); he didn't contact Palin; he didn't even confirm that his source was also the Vanity Fair source. He just assumed his ass off. Smith strapped on the half-term Gubernatorial knee-pads and phonied up a bullshit defense.
At Politicho, that's par for the course.
When former Alaska governor Sarah Palin mentioned John McCain, Steve Richardson, 72, of Denver shouted, "John who?"
Richardson, who attended last year's 9/12 rally, said, "I just think McCain was a better airman than a politician."
Good one, Granddad!
The pressure will only build for more and dirtier musical obscenity, just as almost every aspiring stand-up comedian finds it necessary to pepper his and her act with lots of curse words. Comedians can't just be funny as singers can't just sing.
What could be dirtier? Justin Bieber singing "Brent Bozell is a Syphilitic Cunt"?
Beck, who predicted that at least 100,000 people would show up, opened his comments with a joke: "I have just gotten word from the media that there is over 1,000 people here today."
Moron.
B. "Arthur" Blatt, your Freudian slip is showing:
In leading the War on Terror, W was the real enemies of gay people, those who threaten the lives of our fellows rather than those who attempt to block the state from granting us certain privileges.
Such as when W. threatened the lives of our fellows by blocking the state from granting patriotic men and women the right to serve in the military?
Read the post before Blatt does, changes it, and then denies changing it.
Of course, after he "corrects" it, it will still state that "those who attempt who attempt to block the state from granting us certain privileges" are not "the real enemies of gay people."
For a Breitbart site it's a relatively small inaccuracy, but rather telling. Over at Big Girl's Blouse, Kristinne Taylor and Andrea Shea King "report" on a protest of an August 21 Jerry Brown fundraiser in Venice:
Also observing the scene was Andrew Breitbart, who was wearing inline skates, as well as prominent blogger Mickey Kaus of Slate, who heard the disturbance from his house across the street. He came out and observed, but did not join the protest.
Sadly, no. Kaus is no longer employed by Slate; the site has even removed Kausfiles from its blogroll.
You'd have thought Kaus' pal, Breitbart, would have corrected the error as soon as he got back from the roller disco and started scanning his sites for mentions of his own name.
Taylor and King may even be mistaken about the Kaus sighting, as Kaus hasn't blogged about the incident at his own moribund website. Surely Kaus' mad reporting skillz would have kicked in if such a momentous event happened so close to home that he wouldn't have to change into a clean sweatsuit to cover it.
Without Kaus' unique take on the event, readers are left with only this word picture from Taylor and King to memorialize the goings on:
Jerry Brown sneaked into the house from the back door while Melanie Morgan threw her body onto the sidewalk shouting, “Code Pink supports terrorists!” When not laying on the sidewalk, Morgan stood outside the back gate, “yelling through a screen at [Evans] while she sipped her white wine as Brown’s security guard watched from inside his SUV with the engine running for two hours.”
I feel sorry for the sidewalk.
(No link to Big Girl's Blouse.)
Jimena Navarette for Mickey Kaus, Mark Krikorian, Kate O'Beirne and Peter Brimelow.
And Fonthip Watcharatrakul for the entire right-wing blogosphere.
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry.
Don, that's pathetic even for someone like you. Please document when and where I have been asking you for links? If I hadn't seen your post, I'd have forgotten you existed. Man, that's pretty pathetic, dude. If you were mashed up in some broadly CC'd email I responded to who knows when, I never saw your name. And I know I don't approach you for links. So I guess your paper is cool with having poseurs and bald-faced liars on its paid staff? Shame on you, man. Produce the emails you are apparently referring to. Or, consider yourself called out as a pathetic liar.
That's all right, because I love the way you lie.
I thought better of it and removed it. Why stir things? This happened in minutes. Now Dan Riehl wants to raise a stink. Let him. The fact is he blew up at me in an email last November and then had the gall to send me some stuff to link. If he denies it, so be it. Readers know who he is by what he posts.
Bonus co-dependent comedy from Don: "As reader know, I am an editorial writer and columnist for the Charleston Daily Mail."
So it's not Shane Goldmacher's opinion, just straight news, that the lame-duck governor of California is sending a "gubernatorial ransom note" and "holding the state hostage" in his budget negotiations, thus repeating a "shameful chapter in California's history" and alienating cooperative Democrats with his "ultimatums." It is furthermore objectively true that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing this not just from an honest desire to fix Sacramento's chronic budgeting problems but out of personal pique, that he is trying to retrofit a "fiscal system that has bedeviled California -- and him -- for years."So what does the article actually say:
Some have likened his wish list to a gubernatorial ransom note, being used to polish his tarnished fiscal legacy.Two of the five quotes that Cavanaugh characterizes as the reporter's opinion are actually quotes from Arnie's critics, and they are clearly labelled as such. A third is the reporter's accurate characterization of the opponents' position. The fourth is an accurate characterization of Arnie's position, and the fifth isn't critical of Arnie. Arnie himself is quoted at least four times in the piece, and another Republican is quoted as well. Nothing in the article suggests Arnie's mindset or motives for his actions (except to quote Arnie's claim that his motivations were not personal). Cavanaugh identifies nothing in the article which is false.
"This is a governor that holds the state hostage," said Assemblywoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa). "How irresponsible is that?"
The effects of the budget impasse are cascading across California.
State worker furloughs resumed Friday, forcing Department of Motor Vehicles branches to reschedule more than 15,600 appointments so they could close that day and again next Friday. An emergency fund to pay health clinics that serve the poor has run dry; the final payments go out Monday.
And state Controller John Chiang has warned that IOUs could be as little as two weeks away, repeating last year's "shameful chapter of California history."
Schwarzenegger says his final budget is a last chance to fix the state.
"I have two choices as governor, especially since this is my last year," Schwarzenegger told a group of Bay Area business leaders this month. "Do I want to go and just make everyone happy and … go along with them, or do I want to go and, you know, wage this battle?"
The elderly op-ed embarassment has gone from pushing igornant opinions to displaying more prominently her ignorance of the facts.
Let me be perfectly clear, Mr. Perfectly Unclear President: You cannot take such a stand on a matter of first principle and then take it back the next morning when, lo and behold, Harry Reid goes craven and the Republicans attack. What is so frightening about Fox News?
Leaving aside the issue of whether Obama took back his original statement (the answer is no), Moldo fucks up the timeline like it's Leon Wieseltier's septum:
August 16, 2010
President Obama's staunchest ally in the Senate broke with the president today over the controversial Islamic center planned for a site near Ground Zero, and said he is opposed to its construction.
The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, "The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else."
Reid's comments came just days after Obama told a White House gathering that Muslims had a right to build the mosque, and Republicans vowed to make the president's stand an issue in the November elections.
...
The president's statement on Friday that Muslims have a right to build an Islamic center two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attack immediately prompted outraged reactions. The next day, Obama appeared to soften his stance by saying that he questioned the wisdom of the building the center so close to Ground Zero.
Moldo surely is no stranger to the concept of the lost weekend, but voluntary incapacity doesn't entitle one to her own facts. The New York Times badly needs to rehabilitate its opinion pages, even if they have to hire Dr. Drew Pinsky as an editor.
Later in her column, Moldo refers to Mayor Mike as a Republican. Perhaps her blackout began in 2007.
Ross Douchehat says:
The interplay of fertility, reproductive impulses and gender differences in heterosexual relationships is, for want of a better word, “thick.”
Heterosexual relationships are like Chunky Reese Witherspoon's ass. So thick you can eat them with a fork.
The "better" word that Douchehat wants to use is phallocentric -- as in this marriage is only big enough for one cock, and I'm the Dick.
But, really, who gives a fuck what Douchehat thinks? His wife surely didn't buy Ross's definition of thick -- given all the evidence to the contrary -- and neither will anyone else.
My beef here is with Ezra Klein's characterization of Douchehat:
And Ross Douthat, as humane and thoughtful a supporter of traditional marriage as you'll find....
If, by humble and thoughtful, you mean pompous and illogical.... The idea that Douthat's opposition to marriage equality is "support of traditional marriage" is laughable. The point is so obvious that it hardly needs repeating -- thoughtful supporters of heterosexual marriage can, and by definition do, support the rights of gay men and lesbians.
I'm agnostic on marriage, but I'm a holy roller on discrimination.
P.S. Yes, World-O-Crap was there first.
Meegan McArdle does battle with the strawpersons inside her otherwise vacant skull:
I am hoping that at least one person will attempt to explain why we should support the mosque near Ground Zero, but not the gay bar next to the mosque near Ground Zero.
This from someone who desecrates "Ground Zero" by putting it on her resume. Sorry, Meegan, but no one wants to play in your delusional hollow head.
From M.K. Ultrahack's Twitter feed:
@NickBaumann I hope to get paid soon, but right now I'm between sites. Nobody's paying what they used to pay, that's for sure. Cheers
6:31 PM Aug 3rd via web in reply to NickBaumann
We wish Mr. Kaus all the best. Maybe a nice union job. Or he could show those overpaid, pampered public school teachers how it's done. A bidding war between The Atlantic and Human Events. Andrew Breitbart's Big Forehead. Roger L. Simon's care attendant. A fence. I'm just spitballing here....
The Alaskan Travelers continue to play the tabloids like a delusional masseuse:
In an emotional phone interview with PEOPLE, Palin spoke through tears about feeling heartbroken, humiliated and trapped – while Johnston acted cool. "There's been no remorse," she says, adding that she's seen him only once in the past three weeks.
"The final straw was him flying to Hollywood for what he told me was to see some hunting show but come to find out it was that music video mocking my family," she says. "He's just obsessed with the limelight and I got played."
"That music video"? How many are there? I just hope that they gave the starring roles to Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.
In response to this shocking development, the Queen of the Grifters flips off Phyllis Schlafly while humping Ronnie Reagan's shoe:
"I wish for Bristol to be able to move forward in life with her same forgiving, gracious, optimistic spirit, but from henceforth she'll know to trust but verify. Bristol is strong, she is independent, and she knows what is right for her son."
"From henceforth." You can't make this up.
Mitch Miller, American patriot, passes at age 99.
Years later, in 1993, when David Koresh and members of his Branch Davidian cult were holed up in their compound in Waco, Tex., F.B.I. agents tried to flush them out by blasting “Sing Along With Mitch” Christmas carols.
It's heartwarming to think that the last thing the Libertarian Messiah heard before he died in the gasoline fire he set was a medley of "Tavern in the Town/Show Me the Way to Go Home." Or perhaps "Bell Bottom Trousers/Be Kind to Your Web-Footed Friends."
The woman who vouched for Mel Gibson's feminist bona fides shows that her ability to judge character hasn't changed:
Andrew Breitbart is a wonderful man and an American patriot, and both of those qualities are on display in this Newsweek interview. "If I could do it all over again," he says, "I should have waited for the full video to get to me."
Admitting that you purposefully published something false without knowing all the facts isn't the best defense to a defamation action, but it's better than using a dimwit as a character witness.
1965 was the year the Andy Griffith Show was first broadcast in color, although Mayberry wasn't integrated until 1967.
(Via Washington Monthly)
OREGON CITY – An Oregon City couple will face charges of second-degree manslaughter in the faith-healing death of their newborn son, the third such fatality involving the Followers of Christ church in the past two years.Here's the law:
...
Their infant son was born in September, 2009, about six weeks premature. He weighed 3 pounds, 5 ounces and lived nine hours.
No one with medical training attended the birth, and no one called a doctor or ambulance. An autopsy determined the infant died of staph pneumonia and complications from a premature birth, including underdeveloped lungs.
The medical examiner noted the presence of a bacterial infection, which could have caused the amniotic sac to rupture, or the water to break as the event is commonly called.
...
"Mr. and Mrs. Hickman are presumed innocent," defense attorney Mark Cogan said. "The government has the burden of proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. We have not seen the evidence yet."
...
In 1999, the Legislature passed a law that eliminated religious protections in cases of second-degree manslaughter and first- and second-degree criminal mistreatment. The law left religious immunity in place for some other crimes but gave prosecutors more options for charging parents in such cases.
Friday, July 23, 1999 ... House Bill 2494 passed 24-2 and heads to the desk of Gov. John Kitzhaber, who is expected to sign it.As the parents' attorney states, these are just charges, and have yet to be proven. The parents may argue that their child would have died with medical treatment, that the ME's observations were wrong, etc. However, if they're convicted, and claim that they've already suffered enough, 75 months shouldn't be the half of it.
HB2494 eliminates the spiritual healing defense against charges of second-degree manslaughter, first- and second-degree criminal mistreatment and nonpayment of child support.
In a key compromise, the bill eliminates the mandatory minimum 75-month prison sentence for second-degree manslaughter in faith-healing cases. The bill largely leaves the sentence up to the judge.
"We have a constitutional right to die for our religious convictions," said Sen. Peter Courtney, D-Salem, who carried the bill on the Senate floor. "We don't have a constitutional right to make our children do so."
Couldn't happen to a bigger pair of pricks:
Sam and Charles Wyly, billionaire Texas brothers who gained prominence spending millions of dollars on conservative political causes, committed fraud by using secret overseas accounts to generate more than $550 million in profit through illegal stock trades, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thursday.
...
According to the SEC, the brothers, who live in Dallas, created an elaborate and clandestine network of accounts and companies on the Isle of Man and in the Cayman Islands. The brothers then used these accounts and companies to trade more than $750 million of stock in four public companies on whose boards they served, not filing the disclosures required for corporate insiders, the SEC said.
...
The SEC says that by using offshore accounts to trade shares of these public companies, the Wylys were able to escape filing the regulatory disclosures required of board members when they buy or sell shares.
By keeping their trading activity secret, the Wylys deprived outside investors of information they could use "to gauge the sentiment of public companies' insiders and large shareholders about the financial condition and prospects of those companies," the SEC said.
Wyly? Because we can get away with it when the Republicans are in charge.
The article mentions another fraud for which the Wylys were never prosecuted:
In 2004, the Wylys helped fund Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, another third-party organization that ran controversial television ads attacking the military record of Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), Bush's Democratic opponent.
And the Wylys have a teabag connection:
Their biggest beneficiaries include three Texas Republicans, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions and former House Republican leader Richard K. Armey, according to the Center for Responsive Politics analysis. The Wylys also have given to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and many other members of the GOP.
The fake grassroots will be thinner than Dick Armey's real hair if the Wylys do time.
The Wylys deny all charges, saying they relied on the advice of attorneys. One of their attorneys is also charged in the scheme.
An admission against interest from Meegan McArdle:
I'm not a fan of tampering with large, complex systems that I don't really understand, which is why I tend not to support much direct government intervention in the economy....
David Brooks used to wear a green Army jacket festooned with FDR buttons, albeit nowhere near an actual Army or war. He's since graduated to American flag finery.
DHB, which specialized in making body armor used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, paid for more than $6 million in personal expenses on behalf of Mr. [David] Brooks, covering items as expensive as luxury cars and as prosaic as party invitations, Ms. Schlegel testified.
Also included were university textbooks for his daughter, pornographic videos for his son, plastic surgery for his wife, a burial plot for his mother, prostitutes for his employees, and, for him, a $100,000 American-flag belt buckle encrusted with rubies, sapphires and diamonds.
The expense-account abuse, the prosecution has said, represented a pittance compared with the $190 million that Mr. Brooks and another top employee are accused of making through a stock fraud scheme in which he falsified information about his company’s performance — including significantly overstating the inventory of bulletproof vests — to inflate the price of the stock before selling his shares in 2004.
Okay, that's not really our BoBo. His interns have to pay for their own whores.
It's another neo-con man named David Brooks. And that David Brooks is a big supporter of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. And that David Brooks isn't just a fraudulent scumbag and proud Republican, he's also an alleged war profiteer:
There have been questions about the vests produced by the company, similar to questions faced by others in the industry, regarding both the use of a material now known to become more permeable in high heat and the lack of protection provided to some vital areas. Those issues, however, are not related to the current case.
The good news?
Mr. Brooks, who his lawyers have said is in a "tenuous emotional state," has watched much of the proceedings with glassy eyes and a nervous demeanor.
Let's hope they confiscated that fancy belt.
Slate's hiring of David Weigel demonstrates the e-zine's willingness to move into the present century. It's about time. Here's Hanna Rosin writing on Slate earlier this week, recalling some ancient history:
The abortion plot is another way in which this show [Friday Night Lights] is stuck in the 1980s or maybe the early 1990s. Those were the days when Christian conservatives used the school board bureaucracies to push their agenda, and Texas was ground zero.Because nothing like that ever happens in the 2000s. Those Hollyweird screenwriters must be smoking crack.
A month ago, I wrote that
Now that WaPoCo has fired Wiegel, they can afford to pay Kaus again. Not that they should, but they surely will.
WaPoCo has now rehired Dave Weigel. Does this mean there's no money left for Kaus?
Meanwhile, we await with great anticipation the disclosure of Kaus' e-mail exchanges with Andrew Dimbart, Lucianne Goldberg and Matt Drudge. Democracy! Transparency! Skeezy!
Perhaps Mickey Kaus hasn't returned triumphantly to Slate because he's trying to pay off his campaign debt. On his blog, Kaus claims that, as of July 20, "the campaign still has a small (approx. $5,000) debt." And then nods his head in the direction of his begging bowl.
I'm sure those donations are rolling in.
According to the FEC website, the campaign reported on 6/30/10 a debt of $4,997, but cash on hand of $5,050. That was enough -- three weeks after the election -- for Kaus to retire his campaign debt and have two pizza parties with Meegan McArdle. Was the accounting incomplete, or did Kaus run up additional expenses after the primary? And what exactly were the $3,970 in office supplies that Kaus fronted the campaign? More transparency, please!
Referencing the spambots who are the last surviving visitors to kausfiles.com, one commentator quips, "Mickey, are you getting a cut of all knock-off Gucci bags sold via your site? That $5k debt will be finished in no time!"
It seems like only yesterday tenants had all the rights, and landlords were only allowed to breathe air at their tenants' sufferance.
But yesterday's gone. Landlords now hold all the cards, and tenants can do nothing but twitter ineffectually about the unfairness of it all.
One would have thought that two economically savvy libertarians would have negotiated a lease that would have placed the risk of uninhabitability on the landlord. Maybe a nice liquidated damages clause, or a provision for payment of alternative living expenses in the event an indoor swimming pool is added without the tenants' consent. Something like that. I'd bet the landowner doesn't even have an MBA.
Except for the feelings of nostaligia, coming from family of intellectually intimidating academics doesn't help much when you're wading in sewage.
Over at Dan Abrams' pathetic Gawker knockoff, Mediaitie, Frances Martel writes that the filming of part one of a proposed Atlas Shrugged trilogy is bigger news than the firing of Shirley Sherrod following slanderous attacks on her by racist Andrew Dimbart. Martel implicitly posits that the fact that AS I is in production is more important than the production of any other movie, since the production of movies is never headline news.
Dig:
Whatever way we define Atlas Shrugged's place in the greater scheme of classic literature, its philosophy is at the cornerstone of the Tea Party movement, intentionally or not. Many of the ideas presented by the movement that seem a bit haphazard and arbitrary —- the initial calls for the return to the gold standard, the belief that extreme socialism could actually overtake the nation in ways similar to how it has previously abroad, the abhorrence of any government aid to the underprivileged -- align more coherently in the context of the book and the greater themes of Rand's philosophy.
Whatever that paragraph means, its incoherence is the cornerstone of Martel's shitty writing, intentionally or not.
But it gets worse:
Many who follow hard news were disillusioned with the fact that the media chose the Sherrod story over bigger national security and economic concerns, and while there is an argument to be made there, it is also unfair to ask the media not to cover, for lack of a better word, propaganda. Of more palpable, more specific concern here is that the media chose Breitbart's Sherrod propaganda story -- because race is a sexy thing to cover -- over Breitbart's story on the development of a sophisticated series of political films that can have a significant impact on the American right. Their eager participation in the Sherrod case does not fully exonerate Breitbart for his part in this fiasco, but it does emphasize how much the media and thus, the public, chooses to pass on interesting and potentially big stories to harp on issues that don't really matter.
As far as I can tell, Martel's beef is that the media covered something that did happen instead of something that might happen -- a film based on a right-wing novel might get made, it might be sophisticated, and if those things happen, the film could have a significant impact on teabaggers. Or maybe Martel is paying tribute to Ayn Rand by writing a long, incoherent and delusional fantasy.
More on Martel's background here, including an unconfirmed rumor that she attended college.
The pants of some rightwing bloggers have passed the piss saturation point, as their prayers for a race war go unanswered:
Local law enforcement was bombarded with calls from across the country Saturday asking about a report that the Zetas had taken over two ranches off Mines Road.
But officials with the Laredo Police Department, Webb County Sheriff’s Department and Border Patrol said they knew nothing about such an incident, while Erik Vasys, an FBI spokesman in San Antonio, said the agency does not comment on rumors.
The report, which spread like wildfire among blogs Saturday afternoon, appears to have initially been posted on a blog called Diggers Realm.
The blogger wrote that he got a tip from a San Diego, Calif., minuteman named Jeff Schwilk, who said that the Zetas, former enforcers of the Gulf Cartel, had crossed into the United States and taken over two ranches off Mines Road, about 10 miles northwest of Interstate 35.
...
But Investigator Jose E. Baeza, LPD spokesman, said he had not heard anything about the incident. Also, an LPD sergeant, who was on duty as a watch commander Saturday afternoon, said she had not heard anything about it either.
It should be interesting to see which wingnut blogger makes the biggest ass of him or herself swallowing this rumor.
Yesterday I asserted that Andrew had made a mistake and owed Shirley Sherrod an apology. Whether I am right or wrong about that, I also think he is right to withhold it under the circumstances.
...
With the hounds baying, Andrew deserves the support of conservatives in his struggle with the Democrat-Media complex.
Imagine having to deal with the author of these simperings in "real life." The author of these words has no moral conviction and no concept of integrity. And no spine.
From the man that Howard Kurtz bragged about bringing to television:
When it seemed that Sherrod was a racist who abused her power, exposing her and the NAACP's hypocrisy was perfectly fair game. But now that we have the benefit of knowing the facts, the equation is completely different.
(No link to the scumbag.)
Doctor, my eyes have seen for years
And they've faked a lot of tears
I was lying
Now you have to understand
I have done all that I can
To be pure evil
Smear the good
My fat face smiling
You must help me
I can pay
Doctor, my eyes
I realize I was wrong
It was unwise
To blow smoke assward for so long
'Cause I polluted this whole world
As each slander I unfurled
And I pimped some gold fraud schemes
People swallowing my swill
I never gave a shit until
I started squinting
Karma sucks
Or so it seems
Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
"Not a blind man on teevee"
Doctor, my eyes
I cannot see
Or spell
Is this my prize
Or just ironic as all hell
Here's a right-wing activist that Glenn Reynolds might hehndorse -- one who was "armed, both intellectually and especially with guns."
OAKLAND, Calif. – A California man known for his anger over left-leaning politics said after a freeway shootout with CHP officers that he had been planning an attack on the ACLU and another nonprofit group, police said Tuesday.
Byron Williams, 45, a parolee with two previous bank robbery convictions, wanted to "start a revolution" by killing people at the American Civil Liberties Union and Tides Foundation, both in San Francisco, Oakland police Sgt. Michael Weisenberg said in court documents.
The FBI joined the case after a binder entitled "California" was discovered in the truck driven by Williams and removed by a bomb squad robot, CHP spokesman Sam Morgan said.
...
Officer Jeff Thomason, an Oakland police spokesman, said the two nonprofit groups were targeted because of their political ideologies. The ACLU is a civil rights group, while the Tides Foundation says on its website that it works to advance progressive social change.
"It's an unbelievable incident," Thomason said, adding that authorities believe Williams was acting alone. "We're very fortunate in the Bay Area that the CHP was able to stop him."
...
Williams was wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with three guns, including a rifle, as he traveled to San Francisco late Saturday night in his mother's Toyota Tundra, police said. He is accused of opening fire on California Highway Patrol officers who approached his truck after pulling him over for speeding and weaving in traffic.
Williams surrendered and was arrested after a 12-minute gunbattle with 12 officers, most of whom responded as Williams reloaded several times, police said. Morgan said about 150 rounds were fired during shootout.
Williams had "made a decision that he would not be arrested and that he was willing to shoot and kill the officers," according to the probable cause statement filed in court.
Another website reports that "[i]n addition to his job woes, Byron was extremely upset over the U.S. political climate, often ranting at the TV about how his rights were being taken away by the government." I hate to inform you, By, but Fox and Friends aren't really your friends. It's just a marketing ploy.
