Oregon's own Andreas Brevik speaks:
"You look like Obama. You are a Muslim like him," a court document quotes Crawford as telling an officer after he was arrested on Dec. 14 for a charge unrelated to the firebombing. "Jihad goes both ways. Christians can jihad too."
Authorities would be wise to check his computer's bookmarks for links to Atlas Shrugged and the usual warbloggers.
The G.O.P. is not so much determined to repeat past mistakes as it is to multiply them exponentially. They're intent on repeating the Delaware Miracle by tapping television superstar "Joe" "The Plumber" "Wurzelbacher" to run for Congress:
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, the Ohio resident who rose to prominence during the 2008 presidential cycle as "Joe the Plumber" and later served as a war correspondent, is now considering a run for Congress - and national Republicans appear to be on board.
Wurzelbacher would challenge longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who represents Ohio's 9th congressional district, an area that includes Toledo. Jon Stainbrook, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party, told the Toledo Blade that there exists a "high-level interest in the national Republican Party" in a Wurzelbacher candidacy, adding: "We are encouraging Joe to run."
Run, Joe, Run!
Asked about a possible run, he told the Blade: "I think it's a very interesting idea. That's as much as I can say."
We know, Joe.
And this theme of baseless insinuations of racism is emanating from Team Obama and the White House. Obama's press secretary Jay Carney referred to unnamed opponents "who wanted to secede from the union." The words "secede from the union" clearly invoke the Southern states' effort to preserve slavery in 1861.Poor dumb fuck doesn't realize that he's supposed to say that Confederacy-humping is about heritage and the heroism of ancestors, and that questions remain! about the birth certificate. He's not supposed to admit that secessionists (which Perry is, despite Politifucked's protestations)and Teabirthers are in fact racist.
Politifact has rated Carney's statement as "False," pointing out that Perry once jokingly referred to a supposed right of Texas to secede. He's repeatedly denied actually believing this. That didn't stop Carney. Facts rarely interfere with the Left's effort to tar conservatives as racist.
Robert Gibbs, Carney's predecessor and now an Obama campaign adviser, on TV last Tuesday joked that "Any day now, Rick Perry will ask to see the president's birth certificate
I could find no record of Perry ever insinuating that Obama wasn't born in the United States. Gibbs was trying to lump Perry in with a racially tinged line of attack on Obama that suggested he was really born in Kenya. By calling Perry a borderline birther, Gibbs was essentially calling Perry a racist."
Timmy's going get a brutal beating at the next CPAC for disclosing the wingnuts' true nature.
The wingnutosphere reminds one to paraphrase that old saw about faculty politics -- the fighting is so vicious because the brains are so small:
In a strange rationale for the e-mail leak, Erickson says Riehl tried to blackmail him after a Redstate blogger criticized fellow right-wing blogger Michele Malkin for her opposition to Texas Governor Rick Perry's position on HPV vaccines. Erickson claims that Riehl promised to "burn Erick's integrity to the ground" if Redstate didn't retract the post attacking Malkin. Erickson says he refused. "I certainly wasn’t going to apologize for something... let alone be more or less blackmailed into an editorial position."
On the one hand, you could burn Erick Erickson's integrity to the ground with lukewarm tap water. On the other, an apology from Erickson is like the vice-presidency -- not worth a bucket of warm spit, yet too good for Sarah Palin.
Not to be confused with the more masculine Jennifer Rubbin, Commentary Magazine's Michael Rubbin demands that President Obama capture the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, to show Obama's sincere about his regret that the Brits released the man:
Subsequent information showed that British officials facilitated Megrahi’s release in hope of receiving favor for British oil companies. Well, Megrahi is still alive, in a wheelchair but well enough to have been shown on Libyan television attending a pro-Qaddafi rally just last month. If Obama was sincere in his regret, perhaps the time is right to seize Megrahi and finally win justice for the American victims of Lockerbie.
This argument is intended to tarnish Obama's glow after killing Bin Laden, with the wingnuts offered up an endless parade of targets for Obama to (fail to) rub out. But my point is this: Why can Rubbin do his own rubbin'? There's nothing stopping Rubbin from entering Libya as a journalist and whacking (or capturing) Megrahi. Despite the fact that the color of his teeth match his necktie, Rubbin looks like he's healthly enough to take a 60 year old man in a wheelchair two falls out of three. Why do these wingnuts expect government to do everything for them?
Alicublog on Situational Cookie Ethics:
Maybe she's not the only one who's confused. I see Rush Limbaugh called Obama an Oreo. I remember when conservatives told us this was the worst thing you could say about a black guy. Considering it's one of their strong suits, isn't it amazing that they're actually fucking up at racism?
Update: Link fixed.
I mean this seriously: What could go wrong? I can't think of a single thing.
Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine.
Thiel has been a big backer of the Seasteading Institute, which seeks to build sovereign nations on oil rig-like platforms to occupy waters beyond the reach of law-of-the-sea treaties. The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place. Details says the experiment would be "a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."
Looser building codes? Few restrictions on weapons?
Pussies!
Also, Too: If this dumbass thinks $1.25M will get anywhere near the construction of a liveable platform in international waters, he's dumber than most other libertarians. (He and his Randian Supermen pals can't even time-share Ashton Kutcher's set trailer with that pittance.) Either he believes there's a couple hundred thousand more libertarian tools with $1M bills burning holes in their elasticized slacks, or he's planning on being very old when the thing gets built.
Also: Gilligan's Gulch definitely will not allow investor lawsuits.
The very Presidential Sharia Plain isn't satisified with the quality of service she receives from her media lapdogs:
Anyway, the Palin team pounced. Specifically inviting over reporter Kasie Hunt from Politico so she could hear the exchange, Palin called [Daily Caller stooge Alex] Pappas' cell phone and began berating him in a very scolding manner for writing a headline suggesting she supports Romney. Pappas didn't even know what she was talking about. When he tried to say that neither he nor his editors had written such a headline, she said she didn't have time for this, that she needed to go back to the "real people" at the State Fair, and hung up on him.
How did the Politicho stenographer cover this infantile outburst? Like this:
And when the Daily Caller wrote a story suggesting that she'd said she favored Romney, the Palin entourage was visibly angry. Todd Palin pulled the story up on his BlackBerry, and handed it to his wife — "those dang reporters!" she exclaimed. A few moments later, a Palin aide put the Caller reporter, Alex Pappas, on the phone with the former governor.
"So what you're saying is that I said that I support Mitt Romney?” she asked Pappas. "You need to be clear, otherwise people really lose faith in the state of journalists today."
At Politicho, nothing succeeds like suckcess.
Wingnuts in a Virginia school district are banning "A Study in Scarlet" from a sixth grade reading list for its anti-Mormon heresies. A Los Angeles Times article on the ban states:
You don't have to be a world-class detective to see that the book casts Mormons in a bad light, suggesting it's a religion whose adherents are willing to commit murder to protect their ideals.
Which makes it exactly like almost every other religion.
It would have been nice for the Times to point out that Doyle's depiction of Mormons was based on an historical event which involved Mormons murdering people. This is like banning a book for saying the Mormons were polygamists.
Meanwhile, the Ablemarle County School District replaced "A Study in Scarlet" with "The Adventure of the Three Gables" on the approved reading list. The District also banned "No Apologies: The Case for American Greatness" from its reading lists for casting Mormons as pathological liars who are willing to say anything to become President.
George Fwill, May 2011:
I think we know with reasonable certainty that standing up there on the west front of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2013 will be one of three people: Obama, [Tim] Pawlenty and [Mitch] Daniels. I think that’s it.
Driving away on a golf cart with her husband Marcus beside her, Mrs Bachmann stopped to buy a foot-long corn dog -- a chicken and beef sausage in deep-fried batter. After applying mustard and allowing Mr Bachmann to take the first bite, she chomped into it with gusto.In the photo, Bachmann's corndog isn't pre-bitten by Marcus and it doesn't have mustard on it. So she must have downed at least two feet of corndog (give or take Marcus' chomp) in very little time. And Tim Pawlenty says Bachmann hasn't accomplished anything.
ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Police say there was more on the menu than Munchkins and lattes during the late shift at a Dunkin' Donuts in northern New Jersey.
A 29-year-old female is facing prostitution charges after police say she took breaks to provide sex in exchange for money.
...
Detective Sgt. Kyle Schwarzmann told The Daily Record of Parsippany he noticed that 29-year-old [name redacted] of Mine Hill would go out to cars and would spend 10 to 15 minutes in the vehicles.
Schwarzmann says Redmond was arrested after soliciting sex from an undercover officer.
No one at the Dunkin' Donuts wanted to comment.
...as they were contemplating how many times they had ordered the glazed.
[Glenn] Beck, a multimillionaire darling of the Tea Party movement, said on his nationally-syndicated radio show: "There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler youth. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."
Who? By Glenn Beck followers, that's who!
TAMPA — Here's another option now that the kids are out of school: a weeklong seminar about our nation's founding principles, courtesy of the Tampa 912 Project.
The organization, which falls under the tea party umbrella, hopes to introduce kids ages 8 to 12 to principles that include "America is good," "I believe in God," and "I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable."
Organized by conservative writer Jeff Lukens and staffed by volunteers from the 912 Project, Tampa Liberty School will meet every morning July 11-15 in borrowed space at the Paideia Christian school in Temple Terrace.
"We want to impart to our children what our nation is about, and what they may or may not be told," Lukens said.
The 912 Project is, of course ...
Eh, I see this was already covered on Daily Kos. I'm getting slow.
Longer Boris Johnson:
Yesterday the television reporters found an acquaintance of his from Norway, a fellow called Ulav Andersson, who said that he had known Breivik pretty well. He was surprised by all the Knights of Templar stuff, because he had never really been religious, and he wasn't aware that he had been interested in politics.
"He didn't seem opinionated at all," he said. He just became chippy and irritable, said Ulav Andersson, when some girl he had a crush on jilted him in favour of a man of Pakistani origin.
It wasn't about immigration, or Eurabia, or the hadith, or the Eurocrats' plot against the people. It wasn't really about ideology or religion. It was all about him, and his feeling of inadequacy in relation to the female sex.
Well, if some guy who said he knew Breivik pretty well said so, who are we to argue? But this theory doesn't explain how Boris covered up all his rejection-based killing sprees.
Typically, the men Anders Breivik most admired are claiming to be his victims, although, remarkably, they are still alive. And some, like fan fave Bruce Bawer, are blaming Breivik's crimes on the evils of toleration:
It came as stunning news that Norway had been attacked by a blond, blue-eyed, anti-Islamic terrorist. It should not have been: Several of us who have written about the rise of Islam in Europe have warned that the failure of mainstream political leaders to responsibly address the attendant challenges would result in the emergence of extremists like Breivik.
If only mainstream politicians had been more bigoted, the private sector wouldn't have had to take action. Another failure of big government!
Then there's the no true wingnut defense:
In the second half [Breivik] describes himself as having revived the Knights Templar. He also outlines in extreme detail how he and his fellow anti-jihadists can acquire weapons, ammunition and body armor and thereupon proceed to use "terror as a method for waking up the masses" to the danger posed by Islam. This makes it clear he is completely insane.
In the same way that every terrorist is completely insane, a point apparently lost on our friend Bruce.
Finally, Bawer engages in some conditional weeping:
During the hours when I thought that Oslo had been attacked by jihadists, I wept for the city that has been my home for many years. And I hoped Norwegian leaders would respond to this act of violence by taking a more responsible approach to the problems they face in connection with Islam. When it emerged that these acts of terror were the work of a native Norwegian who thought he was striking a blow against jihadism and its enablers, it was immediately clear to me that his violence will deal a heavy blow to an urgent cause.
No weeping for the victims of Breivik, just for the lost opportunity to do something "responsible" -- what that is is not explained -- about those nasty Norwegian Mohammedens, who now also stand guilty of not killing 92 of their fellow citizens.
Update: More on the Real Victimwives of New Media from Roy Edroso, who said it better and earlier.
Breivik not only read warbloggers, he was one:
With the 1,500-page manifesto, which he said took three years to complete, Mr. Breivik endeavored to find common cause with xenophobic right-wing groups around the world, particularly in the United States. He quoted extensively from the anti-Islam writings of American bloggers, and cut and pasted a whole section of the manifesto written by Theodore J. Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, into his own, replacing "leftism" with "multiculturalism" as the object of aspersion.
...
When not surfing conservative blogs, Mr. Breivik was fighting virtual demons, ogres and other fantastical creatures in online role-playing games. He was a regular in talk forums for players of "World of Warcraft," using a busty female as his avatar and the handle Conservatism.
Sounds vaguely familiar.
Right-wing bigots are predictably pretending that everything Anders Behring Breivik (not Breitbart) ever said and did and thought -- especially praising their websites -- is utterly meaningless. The guy was a loon, and nothing he ever did can ever be attributed to, or associated in any way with, the groups he identified with!
This, of course, represents intellectual dishonesty unseen since the majority published its opinion in Bush v. Gore.
Bonus Unrelated Question: Was there ever a non-state-affiliated mass murderer who had so many headshots of himself?
As wingnut bloggers explicably lose interest in the Norway terrorism story, its time to take them seriously and implement the racial and religious profiling they demand in the name of Homeland Security.
OSLO — The Norwegian police on Saturday charged a man they identified as a right-wing fundamentalist Christian in connection with the bombing of a government building in central Oslo and a shooting attack on a nearby island that together killed at least 92 people.
As stunned Norwegians grappled with the deadliest attack in the country since World War II and a shocking case of homegrown terrorism, a portrait began to emerge of the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, 32. He was described as a religious, gun-loving Norwegian obsessed with what he saw as the threat of multiculturalism and Muslim immigration to the cultural and patriotic values of his country.
"We are not sure whether he was alone or had help," a police official, Roger Andresen, said at a televised news conference. "What we know is that he is right wing and a Christian fundamentalist."
Airport screening based on race and religion. Prohibiting places of worship. Slander. Wiretapping. Waterboarding. Every last fucking bit of it.
And Wan Julliams will have to piss himself everytime he appears on FOX News.
Update: The article linked suggests that Breivik (not Breitbart) authored a number of internet postings, but apparently was not yet a #TCOT. One wonders if his Favorites list included any prominent Muslim-hating blogs.
Genius creates shitty software, and learns of his mistake. So what does he do?
Concerned that the analysis using CacheBack could be wrong and that a woman’s life might be at stake, Mr. Bradley went back to the drawing board and redesigned a portion of his software to get a more accurate picture.If Mr. Bradley was so concerned a woman's life was at stake, why didn't HE CONTACT THE WOMAN'S ATTORNEY ABOUT HIS MISTAKE? And why didn't the New York Times ASK HIM WHY HE DIDN'T?
He found both reports were inaccurate (although NetAnalysis came up with the correct result), in part because it appears both types of software had failed to fully decode the entire file, due to its complexity. His more thorough analysis showed that the Web site sci-spot.com was visited only once — not 84 times.
Mr. Bradley, fearing that jurors were being given false information based on his data, contacted the police and the prosecution the weekend of June 25. He asked Sergeant Stenger about the discrepancy, and the sergeant said he was aware of it, Mr. Bradley said. He waited to see if prosecutors would correct the record. They did not.
“They needed to get that right,” Mr. Bradley said.
Detectives are examining a computer, paperwork and a phone found in a bin near the riverside London home of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International.
...
The car park, under a shopping centre, is yards from the gated apartment block where Brooks lives with her husband, a former racehorse trainer and close friend of the prime minister David Cameron.
It is understood the bag was handed into security at around 3pm and that shortly afterwards, Brooks's husband, Charlie, arrived and tried to reclaim it. He was unable to prove the bag was his and the security guard refused to release it.
Instead, it is understood that the security guard called the police. In less than half an hour, two marked police cars and an unmarked forensics car are said to have arrived at the scene.
Police are now examining CCTV footage taken in the car park to uncover who dropped the bag. Initial suspicions that there had been a break in at the Brooks' flat have been dismissed.
David Wilson, Charlie Brooks's official spokesman, told the Guardian that Charlie Brooks denies that the bag belonged to his wife. "Charlie has a bag which contains a laptop and papers which were private to him," said Wilson.
"They were nothing to do with Rebekah or the [phone-hacking] case."
Wilson said Charlie Brooks had left the bag with a friend who was returning it, but dropped it in the wrong part of the garage. When asked how the bag ended up in a bin he replied: "The suggestion is that a cleaner thought it was rubbish and put it in the bin." Wilson added: "Charlie was looking for it together with a couple of the building staff.
Who doesn't loan a laptop computer to a friend with instructions to return it by leaving it lying around in a parking garage, where it might be mistaken for junk and thrown into a dustbin? Something very interesting should turn up on the hard drive, and it won't be photos of Gary Glitter.
Finally, a Fox News host who loves Jesus more than those unbelieving CLINOs who control the G.O.P.:
A Fox News host said Sunday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is "obviously not ... a Christian," a view that, if widely held, may have repercussions for the Mormon candidate’s election odds.
During a conversation about the Republican presidential field if Texas Gov. Rick Perry were to get into the race, "Fox & Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt speculated that Perry would have a much better chance of raising funds and rallying the social conservative base since Perry is Christian and rather open about his faith. During an exchange with co-host Dave Briggs, Earhardt said:
“Well the Christian coalition … I think [Rick Perry] can get a lot of money from that base because [of] Romney obviously not being a Christian … Rick Perry, he's always on talk shows, on Christian talk shows, he has days of prayer in Texas," she said.
As Jesus Christ said, "You cannot serve God and Mormon." Once the Republicans purge themselves of cultists like Mittens and anti-Christ Papists such as Gingrich and Santorum (and the soft-on-papacy Bachmann) true men of God like Rick Perry will lead God's Own Party to victory in 2012.
The editorial page cowards at the Hack Street Journal offer an empty threat:
The last time the liberal press demanded a media prosecutor, it was to probe the late conservative columnist Robert Novak in pursuit of White House aide Scooter Libby. But the effort soon engulfed a reporter for the New York Times, which had led the posse to hang Novak and his sources. Do our media brethren really want to invite Congress and prosecutors to regulate how journalists gather the news?That "reporter" for the New York Times is, of course, FOX News/World Nut Daily contributor Judy Fucking-Miller. The late Novak, if I recall correctly, burned his own sources like a pyromanic granted immunity from all arson-related crimes. And the prosecution of I. Scooter Libby had nothing to do with how journalists gather the news, and everything to do with how co-conspirators threaten political opponents through criminal conduct. If Wall Street Journal reporters and their employer haven't violated laws against wiretapping and bribery, and Hell doesn't exist, then they have nothing to fear.
So risky John Galt would shit himself:
Just on the face of it, it would seem to have been the biggest risk in marketing history to roll out a documentary about a politician with less than stellar poll numbers on the same night that the last Harry Potter movie was scheduled to be released.Yes, all accounts of the box office success of The Undefeated consists of one article in a Texan newspaper and the ravings of an aged, subliterate Palin fanboy who linked to tweets from "GeorgiaO4P" and "OnePurpleKrayon." Those are the only accounts. There are no other accounts. Don't even try to find another account. No, seriously. Don't.
But, by all accounts, "The Undefeated," the Sarah Palin biop [sic], which was placed in limited release in ten screens across the country, did surprisingly well.
According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the theater in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb near the Dallas/Fort Worth area, at least one Friday evening showing actually sold out.
Gateway Pundit reports similar sellout or near sell out crowds seeing "The Undefeated" in Georgia, Orange Country, California, Houston, Orlando, and other markets.
"The Undefeated" was heavily marketed in social media, with regular updates on Twitter and Facebook. The below the radar strategy seems to have paid....
The U.K. leader of Slap-Headed Toffs for Incest would be right at home in Soggy Bottom:
Foreign Minister William Hague defended those ties on Saturday, telling the BBC that inviting Mr. Coulson to Chequers was "a normal, human thing to do” and that it was "not surprising that in a democratic country there is some contact" between political leaders and media officials. "Personally I'm not embarrassed by it in any way," he said.
It would be surprising if we find something that William Hague is embarassed by.
You, too, can join this citizen journalist on the WorldNutDaily cruise to Alaska:
I was getting very angry and not at the rangers but at Jan, my video cameraperson who was still fiddling with the video camera. I was furious at myself for not bringing an extra Flip camera or at least learning to work her camera. I wanted to yank it out of her hands.
Citizen Journalism is hard work. It is a necessity now that the media is propaganda. You and me are the journalists. We have cameras, eyes, and ears. We will record the truth because NBC, CBS, ABC, and especially CNN, HLN and MSNBC are not telling the truth. Every stranger I interviewed agreed to that. (montage to come)
...
As Jan and I briskly walked away, knowing our tour group was mad at us for lagging behind, again, I desperately inquired, “You got it, I hope. Did you get it? Oh my goodness, I hope you got that…” Jan said, “I couldn’t hear it.”
“What?!” My face twisted into rage. I took the camera out of her hands and stuttered, “Hhh…hhow do you rewind?”
If this report is true, Ken Gladney perjured himself:
During his closing argument, D'Agrosa questioned whether Gladney was wearing a neck brace to the trial for sympathy, saying it reminded him of a "Brady Bunch" episode.
Gladney had testified that he underwent recent neck surgery not related to the August 2009 fight. Later, outside the court, Gladney told a reporter he belived his neck problems were the result of "blunt trauma" he suffered in the fight.
Or maybe he just hallucinated, like a wingnut watching a YouTube video.
Gladney, 40, of St. Ann, declined to comment after the verdict and directed questions to his twin brother, Keith.Following the verdict, St. Louis residents should exercise caution if they are approached by a man dressed like Nancy Grace, screeching "Justice for Kenny." If you see Mr. Hoft, do not approach him. Call the police.
"It's atrocious. It’s obvious," Keith Gladney said. "The legal system here has come to the point where you can beat somebody up and still get off."
McCowan and Molens, each at the meeting for the Service Employees International Union, claim Gladney was selling anti-Obama buttons, and that when they confronted him about them, Gladney started the physical attack by slapping McCowan's hands.
Molens testified that Gladney slapped McCowan's hands a second time, and that McCowan pushed him.
"Gladney started punching him in the face," Molens said. "I tried pulling him off."
The attack escalated with more punches and shoves, and McCowan suffered a fractured shoulder, he testified.
McCowan, a Baptist minister, got chuckles in the courtroom when he testified that he didn't turn the other cheek because it "hadn't gotten hit yet."
In the above excerpt [sic, see footnote 1], the Post-Dispatch did not bother seeking quotes from Gladney or other witnesses, only Perry, Molens, and the defense attorney, a pricey private attorney I'm told is the best in the city.Of course, in the article linked to by Big Babywood (which I link to above), the St.L. P-D does quote Gladney's whiny twin brother and sought comment from Gladney. FOX and Bigbabyhood can't even tell the truth about the coverage of the story.
Looks like some of Rupert's executives will soon be back on the chain gang.
Sound legal advice from a doctor-shopping, maid co-conspiring hillbilly heroin addict who got away with it, if you consider permanent hearing loss and payment millions in legal fees and reconstructive surgery costs getting away with it:
I love the bumper sticker Rush suggested at the top of the show today: "If you can't do the time, do the crime in Florida!”
Snort!
"The concern is harassment, property damage, a chilling effect. If I know I have to disclose my name, I'm not going to get involved with the Minnesota Family Council," [Tom] Prichard [President of the Minnesota Family Council] told the board.
Karla Faye Tucker's Daily Choler is the place where wingnut memes go to die. Take this "article" from timorous Heritage hack Rob Bluey entitled "White House Users Twitter to Bully Critics." Bluey includes this virtual swirly as the only example of cyber-bullying:
Eder posted this tweet: “Hmm…it can’t be true that @SenateDems haven’t passed a budget in 790 days and the only plan Obama has is a speech. Right, @jesseclee44?”
To which Lee responded: “@keder @SenateDems Plan is keep negotiating w/ Rs & Ds, not default & trash economy, not voucherize Medicare to fund more tax cuts for rich.”
Brutal. Growing up, there was nothing more I feared than a bully who would respond to my unsolicited inquiry by answering it civilly. Whenever it happened, I shrieked like Bluey giving himself a wedgie while looking a photo of Shirley Sherrod. I'm still traumatized.
Bluey also refers to three incidents of alleged White House bullying, none of which involved Twitter -- or bullying. One wonders if Bluey was homeschooled and regularly kicked in the head by his classmates.
What is stunning, at least to me as an attorney, is that a number of charges were brought under the indictment.No, Doug, it's not possible under Florida law.
Perhaps first degree murder or abuse were not proven, but the elements of manslaughter seem to have been met.
I am taken aback that the prosecution did not request JNOV (judgment notwithstanding of verdict) on the manslaughter charge, perhaps its not possible under florida law.
(Certainly not any of the clowns who appear on her show.)
A New York man died Sunday while participating in a ride with 550 other motorcyclists to protest the state's mandatory helmet law.
Police said Philip A. Contos, 55, hit his brakes and his motorcycle fishtailed. Contos was sent over the handlebars of his 1983 Harley Davidson and hit his head on the pavement.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
"The medical expert we discussed the case with who pronounced him deceased stated that he would've no doubt survived the accident had he been wearing a helmet," state Trooper Jack Keller told ABC News 9 in Syracuse.
Condolences to Mr. Contos' family and friends.
"On July 4, I weep for the country we once were; pray for it to be again."The rest of the year, he has the same reaction about his career.
While the Fox News Channel is consistently loathsome, it has been surpassed in loathsomeness by CNN Headline News. America now has a cable television network dedicated to villifying -- dehumanizing -- a single human being. Even the Christian channels don't spend as much time bashing Satan.
The murder of a child is a terrible crime, which is why we have courts, and prisons. But justice and demented bloodlust are not the same things. And HLN has never concerned itself with "Justice for Caylee," as it chyrons and wig-wearing freak-hosts proclaim. Only with "Hating for Ratings."
Demonstrate your independence by following my idiotic suggestion to e-mail a photo of your weiner to Mayor Bloomberg.
Better yet, e-mail a photo of John Hinderaker eating a hot dog to greynold@utk.edu and ask the Huckleberry Hound Professor of Law why there is a need for state law schools when legal education can be provided by private institutions.
Ohio continues its long tradition of exporting its drunks to Indiana. I know some Buckeyes will blame this matter on the poor quality of Ohioan strippers, but the Party of Personal Responsibility never would:
CINCINNATI -- The Dearborn County Prosecutor's Office released video Friday from the arrest of Ohio State Rep. Robert Mecklenborg.
The video begins with Mecklenborg being pulled over by an Indiana state trooper just before midnight on April 22 on U.S. 50 in Lawrenceburg for a broken headlight.
...
The trooper then asked the woman to step out of the car and began to question her. He asked how she knew Mecklenborg.
"We've been friends for a while," the woman replied.
The woman in the vehicle reportedly works at a strip club in Lawrenceburg.
Mecklenborg is married with three children.
A judge ordered a blood test on Mecklenborg, which showed his blood-alcohol content level at .097, which is above the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle. The toxicology report showed Mecklenborg also tested positive for Viagra.
Well, it's not like Mecklenborg is a current prosecutor who sits on the State Senate's Judiciary and Ethics Committee.
(The arrest video is at the first link. For those who have witnessed passive-agressive whining, there's no need to watch the arrest video.)
In a shockingly uncharacteristic manner, the Ohio G.O.P. circles the wagons for Mecklenborg to fall off of. Because it's not like he killed anyone from Ohio, or twittered his dick:
Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party, said Thursday that party leaders are "assessing" the matter.
"It's a tough situation," Triantafilou said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Bob and his family."
Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, said in a statement late Thursday that he was "shocked and disappointed to learn of the difficult situation that Rep. Mecklenborg and his family are facing."
"We are working with Rep. Mecklenborg to find a solution that is in the best interests of the representative, his family and all concerned," Batchelder said.
It's hard out there for a diminutive Republican drunk. Since the arrest happened in April, the G.O.P. has had two months to assess the matter, work out a solution and pray. But the arrest became public, so their prayers weren't answered.
And what does Governor Kasich have to say?
Gov. John Kasich has not called for Rep. Mecklenborg's resignation.
"Not from me," Kasich said. "This is tough for him. It's something I've thought about but I'd like to keep those thoughts to myself. We have to stop pounding people when they make mistakes."
Plus, the cop was a moron.
But no one feels more sympathy for Representative Mecklenborg than the true victim in all this:
The Enquirer learned of the arrest Wednesday, nearly nine weeks after it occurred. Asked whether he had any idea how and why it finally had surfaced, Mecklenborg said: "When you're in public office, you've got a bull's-eye on your back."
Apparently only thought leaders are allowed to hear the word "dick."
Thursday morning, Halperin appeared to be encouraged to some degree to be off-color by the hosts of “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
“Are we on the seven-second delay today?” Halperin asked. “I wanted to characterize how I thought the president behaved.”
“We have it we can use it,” Brzezinski said. “Go for it.”
“Take a chance,” Scarborough said.
“I thought he was kind of a ... yesterday,” Halperin said.
“Delay that. Delay that. What are you doing?” Scarborough said. “I can’t believe you! I was joking. Don’t do that! Did we delay that?”
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski practically begged Mark Halperin to whisper sweet dicks into their ears, but didn't want the great unwashed (those without media-industrial complex connections and advanced degrees in conventional ignorance) to hear dick. If Moron Joe encouraged the dickish behavior, as his employer admits in the article above, why isn't he being dicked around by his employer? (Rhetorical question.)
Don't worry, Republicans. Halperin will be back in the circle jerk soon enough. It's not like he said "blow job," even though it's in his job description.
At the Corner, Andrew McCarthy (star of the 1987 movie I.Q. Less Than Zero) writes that Michele Bachmann:
said that a number of America’s founders had opposed slavery and worked to end it.
He then claims the Bachmann was right when she said that, and critics of Bachmann(specifically, Geo. Stephanopolous) are wrong.
What Bachmann actually said was:
we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.
Not "some" founders, but "the very founders" who wrote the founding documents. And those founders lived to see the abolition of slavery!
So Andy lies about what Bachmann said to prove Bachmann was "right." He has to, because he can't defend what Bachmann acually said. If he wasn't a dishonest hack, he'd admit he was wrong and Bachmann is wrong.
Wingnuts are soiling themselves imagining that this story involves TSA thuggery:
[A woman accompanying her 95 year-old mother, who was in the final stages of lukemia, on a flight to Michigan] said security personnel then came out and told her they would need for her mother to remove her Depends diaper because it was soiled and was impeding their search.
Weber wheeled her mother into a bathroom, removed her diaper and returned. Her mother did not have another clean diaper with her, Weber said.
Weber said she wished there were less invasive search methods for an elderly person who is unable to walk through security gates.
“I don’t understand why they have to put them through that kind of procedure,” she said.
Koshetz said the procedures are the same for everyone to ensure national security.
“TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability,” she said.
Weber filed a complaint through Northwest Florida Regional’s website. She said she received a response from a Homeland Security representative at the airport on Tuesday and spoke to that person on the phone Wednesday.
The representative told her that personnel had followed procedures during the search, Weber said.
“Then I thought, if you’re just following rules and regulations, then the rules and regulations need to be changed,” she said.
Weber said she plans to file additional complaints next week.
“I’m not one to make waves, but dadgummit, this is wrong. People need to know. Next time it could be you.”
Well, dagnabit, but the way this goldurn story is reported, I can't feign any rackinfrackin outrage.
The story isn't "federal agents ordered [woman's] elderly mother to remove her adult diaper," as one incontinent wingnut would have it. (No link to the nut.) The elderly woman had a soiled adult diaper, the TSA alerted the woman's mother to the problem, and the woman didn't have a spare diaper for her mother to use. Were TSA agents supposed to allow the woman to remain in her own waste? I'm not saying the daughter was negligent in not preparing for her mother's travel, because there may be more to the story. (I'm also not commenting on why the mother's family members would make their wheelchair bound, incontinent, dying 95-year-old relative fly to Michigan, rather than getting their own asses on a flight to Florida. Maybe they were older and sicker.)
But the story is not that the TSA agents searched the diaper, or ordered the mother to remove the diaper so they could search underneath the diaper. It's not to hard to imagine that the agents were simply discreetly advising the daughter of her mother's problem, which the daughter was unaware of.
The real stink here is coming from the racist wingnuts who, admittedly, have good cause to fear that someone will uncover their own hidden apparel. And its contents.
From The New York Times:
After nearly a year of fighting to remain free, Conrad M. Black is going back to prison.
Mr. Black, the onetime newspaper baron, received a new jail sentence on Friday from a federal judge in Chicago for his remaining convictions on charges that he defrauded his investors. Judge Amy St. Eve imposed a three-and-a-half-year sentence on Mr. Black, although prosecutors say he will get credit for the more than two years that he has already served in federal prison.
The resentencing of Mr. Black stems from a federal appeals court decision in October that upheld two of Mr. Black’s 2007 convictions, for mail fraud and obstruction of justice, even though it reversed two other convictions for fraud. Mr. Black had been out on bail since last summer pending the appeal.
Mr. Black’s wife, Barbara Amiel Black, appeared to faint in the courtroom after the prison sentence was announced on Friday, according to news reports.
Note to journalists: The last sentence is the essence of good journalism.
Maggie Gallagher's not going to take the New York Legislature shoving gay marriage down our throats lying down:
New York Republicans are responsible for passing gay marriage. The party will pay a grave price.
I'm sure she doesn't mean grave as in a-mouldering in. Probably just Tea Party challenges or nude photos of herself.
Tommy "Tom Tom" Christopher has penned a defense of his own incompetence and stupidity which reveals hitherto undisclosed evidence of his own incompetence and stupidity. In summary, here are his defenses:
1. I Did For The Children! Tom Tom's first defense is to hide behind the skirts of imaginary children:
Two weeks ago, we ran a story that contained statements from two 16 year-old girls, who we dubbed “Betty” and Veronica” to protect their identities.... Shortly after the story’s publication, however, suspicions arose about the identities that these people had given me. I continued to follow up with these sources, but after several days, they broke off contact with me. At the time, without evidence to the contrary, I continued to investigate, but also acted publicly upon the belief that these were minor children, at risk of harm."
...
Now, it is true that, in my desire to protect these kids, I reacted emotionally to Moulitsas, and at other times since the publication of this story. Is it possible that my bias as a parent played some role? The SPJ Code of Ethics instructs journalists to “minimize harm,” and to show “special sensitivity when dealing with children,” so I would like to think that all journalists would take this as seriously as I do, but if that is not the case, I’ll plead no contest to that charge.
First, to state the obvious, Tom Tom wasn't dealing with children. He was dealing with someone pretending to be children, and he wasn't smart enough to realize it. He wasn't protecting children because there were no children.
More significantly, nothing Tom Tom did was done to "protect children." If he had wanted to protect children, he wouldn't have published anything about people he purportedly believed to be children. He would have left the entire thing alone, in order to avoid drawing attention to the "children." He certainly wouldn't have published a five-page wank-a-thon in which he gave children the names of cartoon characters with adult physiques and prattled on about what a great parent he is. Nothing Tom Tom did protected children, either real or imaginary.
2. I'm Really An Investigative Reporter, So Stop Saying That! Tom Tom's second defense is that he did everything possible to verify the identify of people he never met and the veracity of their story. Not really:
On Friday, we detailed the steps that I took to verify the information these sources gave to me, which included independently verified documentation, telephone conversations with Betty’s mother, extensive email contacts, and photo identification for all three sources, which I checked against available information. The photos of the girls were consistent with, but not identical to, those on available social media profiles, the address on the mother’s driver’s license was not fictitious, and was consistent with the school district listed on the girls’ student IDs.
In other words, "I checked to see that the address I was given was an actual address, and that the photographs of the fake teens someone unknown person sent me were similar to other photographs of the fake teens. If they hadn't made an effort to fool me, I never would have fallen for it! If only they had told me they lived at 123 Mockingbird Lane and sent me photos of the cast of Glee!" Would anyone working for a real news organization have published Christopher's shit based on that level of fact checking? Hell, no.
If I Could Reveal My Fake Sources, I Wouldn't Sound So Pathetic! Finally, Tom Tom argues that he wouldn't sound as incredibly dense as he does if only he could reveal information about the people who played him for a fool:
Secondarily, until I had evidence they were lying, I had an ethical duty to my sources to adhere to the attribution and publication guidelines we had agreed to. There are still supporting facts and documents that, for ethical reasons, I’m not at liberty to share. I mention this because some of my loudest critics have demanded that I reveal things (by virtue of off-the-record conversations) that they know I cannot.
"It's a painful coincidence that the evidence might demonstrate the depths of my stupidity is evidence which I cannot share, because that evidence would make me look so good!" Some might say that until he had evidence they were telling the truth, or that they even existed, Tom Tom had an ethical duty to his readers not to publish made-up shit from people he didn't know. But Tom Tom's so friggin' ethical that he's bound to honor his agreements with people who don't exist!
I suspect this is the last we'll hear of this from Tom Tom. He's already back to personally vouching for Andrew Breitbart's heterosexuality (presumably based on personal experience, rather than on reports in e-mails from "underaged girls").
The answer, of course, is infighting and name-calling.
From the New York Times website:
The audience, which was nearly entirely white, watched with befuddlement as the impersonator told them to look into the future to see what the Obamas will look like when they are retired. An image of a feuding husband and wife, from the TV show “Sanford and Son,” was flashed on screens in the ballroom.
From tomorrow's New York Times:
A report yesterday on The Caucus blog, "'Obama' Stuns Crowd at Republican Event," incorrectly identified two individuals from a 1970s situation comedy whose photograph was displayed Saturday during a presentation at the Republican Leadership Conference. The individuals depicted, comedian Redd Foxx and veteran actor LaWanda Page, portrayed a widower and his sister-in-law, Esther, not a married couple. The Times regrets the error.
.
Tom Tom Christopher, self-proclaimed ethicist and defender of "underage girls," has a little trouble distinguishing between fantasy and delusion:
Then, in what seems to be an elaborate ruse, the Twitter user claiming to be Nikki Reid and then a woman claiming to be her mother contacted Tommy Christopher, a correspondent for Mediaite, the media blog. After first communicating online, Mr. Christopher said, the woman dismissed claims of incriminating evidence against Mr. Weiner and accused members of the #bornfreecrew of harassing her daughter and her daughter’s friend. The woman also made a statement, which offered a forceful defense of Mr. Weiner.
She repeated this by phone to Mr. Christopher, who insisted the woman provide documentation confirming her identity. The woman faxed over a copy of a California driver’s license with her name, Patricia Reid, at a Los Angeles address, as well as school identification for the girls. But it turns out that the driver’s license and the school identification were fake, according to California state officials and school district officials.
What a jughead!
Tom Tom needs to spend less time protecting imaginary teens and more time in remedial journalism class. Yes, this is kind of quality journalism that Dan Abrams puts out.
Update: Tom Tom's defense: "'Without concrete proof, though,' Christopher says, 'we had to proceed under the assumption that these people were who they said they were, and that compromising their identities represented a significant risk of harm.'"
We had to protect the fake identities of nonexistent people we identified in the first place, even though there was no reason for our fake story, even if it was true. Fucking funniest thing I've read this year.
How can anyone boycott the Huffingglue Post when it generates original reporting of this caliber?
Joe Scarborough let loose on Newt Gingrich during Friday's "Morning Joe."
Scarborough was eating a bun of some kind when Mika Brzezinski played a clip of Gingrich saying in a speech that President Obama favored "the opposite of freedom." This was too much for him, and, with food still in his mouth, he went on a sarcastic rant about Gingrich.
"It's not the opposite of freedom," he said. "If you're scoring at home, kids, Barack Obama and his sort of mushy progressive but moderate, extending the Bush tax cuts and tripling the number of troops in Afghanistan, that is not left-wing Marxism or socialism. That is not the opposite of freedom. The opposite of freedom would be, oh, I don't know, Gaddafi."
Brzezinski let out a shriek of laughter.
Now, some may criticize the Huffingglue Post for failing to nail down exactly what kind of bun Scarborough was eating. But the point is the Post took the time and effort to watch a television program and then craft a dramatic narrative that accurately describes the television personality's thoughts and actions.
The website also calls Scarborough's comments an "epic rant," but I suspect that's just puffery to get Arianna a more favorable time slot than Tina Brown.
The National Review finally dumps that loathsome old bigot, Bill Buckley, on the trash heap of history. From The Corner:
Segregation was a profound social evil. Full stop. Marriage as an exclusive heterosexual union is a necessary social good. It is why all cultures since earliest days, regardless of religion, law, or culture, have marriage as only between men and women.
Loving v. Virginia struck down a legal regime, peculiar to certain parts of the nation, that was wholly racist at its core. As the court observed, the Virginia law was about “the absolute prohibition of a ‘white person’ marrying other than another ‘white person’.” It was about nothing more than the racial purity of whites and all the ugliness that implies.
But Bill Buckley thought segregation was a profound social good. Full stop:
The central question that emerges . . . is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not prevail numerically? The sobering answer is Yes – the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race. It is not easy, and it is unpleasant, to adduce statistics evidencing the cultural superiority of White over Negro: but it is a fact that obtrudes, one that cannot be hidden by ever-so-busy egalitarians and anthropologists.
[...]
National Review believes that the South's premises are correct. It is more important for the community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority. Sometimes it becomes impossible to assert the will of a minority, in which case it must give way, and the society will regress; sometimes the numerical minority cannot prevail except by violence: then it must determine whether the prevalence of its will is worth the terrible price of violence.
In 50 years, National Review may acknowledge that Glenn Stanton's bigotry is the same as Bill Buckley's. I suspect a condemnation of Glenn Stanton's criticism of Buckley is more likely.
"It is not reasonable to presume that a judge is incapable of making an impartial decision about the constitutionality of a law, solely because, as a citizen, the judge could be affected by the proceedings," Ware wrote in his ruling.Of course, the losers plan to appeal, citing the devastating destruction of marriage already caused by the ruling.
The chief judge said all Californians share an interest in having the the Constitution enforced. The "single interest" Walker shared with the same-sex couples who challenged Proposition 8 "gave him no greater interest in a proper decision on the merits that would exist for any other judge or citizen," Ware wrote.
He mixed policy talk with light chatter. Talking to one of the diner employees, Romney warned her that he was about to make a "terrible joke." Noting that the diner served eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce, he suggested that they start serving the dish in "hubcaps because there's no place like chrome for the holidays."
The term "mastermind" is not used literally here:
NAIROBI, Kenya — Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Al Qaeda's leader in East Africa and the mastermind of the American Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, was killed in a late-night shootout at a security checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, Somali and American officials said Saturday.
...
"Fazul’s death is a significant blow to Al Qaeda, its extremist allies and its operations in East Africa," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. "It is a just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and elsewhere — Tanzanians, Kenyans, Somalis and our own embassy personnel."
Mr. Mohammed, who was one of the most wanted men in Africa and had a $5 million bounty on his head from the United States government, was shot to death before midnight on Tuesday after he and another militant mistakenly drove up to a checkpoint manned by Somali government soldiers.
When the two men tried to escape, the Somali forces fired on their black Toyota four-by-four and killed them during a short gunfight. Somali intelligence officials said that DNA tests carried out in Kenya "by our friends" — suggesting the Central Intelligence Agency, which has been working covertly in Somalia for years — confirmed Mr. Mohammed’s identity.
"This was lucky," a Somali security official said Saturday night. "It wasn't like Fazul was killed during an operation to get him. He was essentially driving around Mogadishu and got lost."
There go Newt Gingrich's seven votes:
Newt Gingrich's campaign manager and a half-dozen senior advisers resigned on Thursday, two aides said, dealing a significant setback to his bid to seek the Republican presidential nomination and severely complicating his plan to make a political comeback.
The campaign manager, Rob Johnson, along with advisers in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, joined together to step down after a period of deep internal disagreements about the direction of the campaign.
...
The defections included several veteran Gingrich political advisers, along with new aides who were recently hired. The list, according to two aides, included: Rick Tyler, his longtime spokesman, David Carney, a New Hampshire-based political strategist, Sam Dawson, a strategist, Katon Dawson, a South Carolina consultant and Craig Schoenfeld, an Iowa consultant.
Maybe Newt's streamlining his campaign, like John McCain did.
If confirmed, [the death of Al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmirihis] would be the first major kill or capture since Osama Bin Laden, and the highest profile drone target since Beitullah Mehsud in 2009.
Jesus, what took you so long? It's been over a month! And now back to the Tot Mom trial, already in progress.
As we enter week two of The Mysterious Case of Anthony Weiner's Cock, the story has finally gotten interesting, mostly for revealing the existence of cretins even more cretinous than Andrew Breitbart and Ace O' Spades.
Take, for instance, Tom-Tom "Tommy" Christopher, a blogger at Dan Abrams' website, Mediocrity. Christopher has written a five-page post celebrating the fact that on one occasion Andrew Breitbart did not publish something false. His headline:
Andrew Breitbart Did Not Run "Weinergate" Evidence Which Turned Out To Be Fake.
Of course, many people don't publish (or repeat) lies all the time. But Tom-Tom thinks that Breitbart deserves a long-winded and poorly-written gold star about the one time Breitbart could have published a lie, but didn't.
According to Tom-Tom, Tom-Tom was contacted by an "under-aged" girl who was chatting with one of Represenative Weiner's online stalkers/accusers. The girl told Tom-Tom that she and her friend had previously communicated online with some other netcretin associated with the accuser, and the girl's friend told the netcretin that Rep. Weiner had communicated privately with her. (The friend later admitted she made this up.) Tom-Tom thinks that Breitbart's decision not to publish an undocumented, third-hand allegation makes him worthy of copious praise. Perhaps Breitbart can return the favor and heap praise on Tom-Tom for not sodomizing newborn kittens before their eyes have opened.
(The love-struck Tom-Tom even promises Breitbart, "For my part, I would testify in court that Andrew did not induce anyone to produce evidence against Anthony Weiner, fabricated or otherwise, and treated the documentation presented to him with circumspection." Of course, such testimony would never be permitted in court, based on such fundamental principles of evidence as compentency, the hearsay rule, etc. Tom-Tom would be more credible promising to catch a grenade for "Andrew," ala Bruno Mars.)
Of course, Tom-Tom's praise of Breitbart as ethical and concerned about protecting minors is based on false facts and premises, as demonstrated here and here. But we're more concerned with Christopher's scumbaggery, not Breitbart's. And Christopher's post is exceedingly creepy.
In the course of his story, Tom-Tom details parts of his lengthy communications over the internet with one of the two high school girls, and names the girls "Betty" and "Veronica" in his post. I'm not saying that Tom-Tom imagined his online chats in this matter, but the mere fact that he was communicating with "under-aged" girls about a sexual subject (the false allegation of inappropriate conduct by Weiner) is pretty sleazy in itself. Someone actually concerned with the privacy of minors might have spent less time (that is to say, no time) communicating with those minors and/or might not have featured them so prominently in a story the only point of which was that Andrew Breitbart did not publish one false allegation he received.
Diving even deeper into the sewer, presented, without comment, is the transcript of a 3.5 hour online sexychat between between some student filmmaker and "Dan Wolfe", in which Dan denies any desire to be the next Joe the Plumber. Like Tom-Tom Christopher, Dan is a concerned parent who spends quality time with his kids by ignoring them for hours while engaged in self-centered online wankery (figuratively) and trivia.
Who knew the internet was so jam-packed with losers?
Update: Tom-Tom gives Andrew some more love by crowing that Andrew removed a link to "underage" girls on the Big Government site after only four days. Whatta guy! At least Tom-Tom didn't get the chance to name those girls after Josie and the Pussycats or other characters in comic books for preteens.
Has the G.O.P. become a big tent party?
Rumor has it that Sharia Plain will launch her presidential campaign on June 22 at a public event in San Francisco.
San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® Women’s Motorcycle Contingent is the mother chapter of the Dykes on Bikes®. We oversee the use of the name Dykes on Bikes® and have chapters nationally and internationally.
Riders are considered a Dykes on Bikes® participant just by registering for the SF Pride Parade.
And by rumor, I mean something I just made up. Like Palin and her support for veterans. Dukakis looked more comfortable in that tank than does Palin trying to avoid direct physical contact with the woman operating that bike.
Bonus Comedy:
The NYT reports:
Ms. Palin climbed aboard a chopper, assisted by a member of the Rolling Thunder staff, but was unable to move because there were so many members of the press snapping photos. Organizers eventually brought in police, also on motorcycles, to clear a path.
After moving just a few feet, Ms. Palin got off the bike to sign autographs and talk with the crowd. At one point she could be heard discussing "the missing," a reference to the soldiers still missing in action — a key part of the Rolling Thunder cause.
Why is everyone (example here) pretending that a new straight-to-landfill film about Sharia Plain signals the Alaskan Dumbass' intention to run for President? The trigger for this speculation is a puffer at the right-wing Real Clear Politics site, which pimps the film with book report quality prose such as the following:
If [Palin] does decide to run, "The Undefeated" [sic] will be the key element to her initial coming-out party. The film's impending release -- and the frenzied media attention that it is sure to generate -- will serve as a vivid wake-up call that despite the many obstacles in front of her, Palin's entry into the race would turn the campaign on its head in an instant, just as it did in 2008.
Wait, where's the vivid snooze button? Ah... here it is:
Over the next hour, the crux of the narrative is taken over by Palin's Alaska backers, with former spokesperson Meg Stapleton and attorney Tom Van Flein leading the charge. Other more unfamiliar faces who uphold Palin's Alaska legacy include former Wasilla Deputy Mayor Judy Patrick, former gas pipeline adviser Marty Rutherford, longtime confidantes Kristan Cole and Judy Patrick, and former state Sen. Gene Therriault -- one of the few Alaska legislators who has remained vocal and consistent in his praise of Palin.
What, no spoiler alert?
Nothing generates electoral excitement like headshots and soundbites of and from a candidate's shyster, former mouthpiece and pipeline adviser.
And if that wasn't exciting enough:
As the documentary transitions to Palin's ascent to statewide office, it dramatizes the culture of corruption that permeated Alaska, with images of fat men smoking cigars in dark rooms and the infamous Suite 604 at the Baranof Hotel in Juneau, where the FBI secretly videotaped executives of the oil services company VECO in a corruption scandal that would shake the foundations of Alaska government just as Palin was making a name for herself as an ethics crusader.
I'm not sure why poorly-lit shots of Rush Limbaugh and a hotel room door would encourage anyone to vote for Palin (who didn't work for the FBI), particularly since Palin fled her office to avoid accountability while under investigation for ethics charges against her.
Apart from the crappiness of the film itself, the film isn't a Palin product. So why would it tell us about anything about Palin's plans? Palin didn't even bother to cooperate with the making of this magnum dopus, leaving the filmmaker to recycle audio from Palin's audiobook. (And we all know how riveting audiobook readings can be.)
Whether Palin runs is the guess of anyone who cares to guess about such things, but the fact that some deep-pocketed wingnut nobody decided to make a fanfic film about Palin last year, and is now promoting it, says nothing about Palin's present plans.
Will Newt Gotrocks throw his wife under the bus to save his Presidential campaign? Depends on whether wife number four is already lined up, I suspect.
At the same time Tiffany & Co. was extending Callista (Bisek) Gingrich a virtual interest-free loan of tens of thousands of dollars, the diamond and silverware firm was spending big bucks to influence mining policy in Congress and in agencies over which the House Agriculture Committee - where she worked -had jurisdiction, official records show. ...According to her filings, Callista Gingrich listed debts to Tiffany of between $250,001 to $500,000 on a "revolving charge account" during 2005-2006. After she left in 2007, she was no longer required to report her finances.
...
The Washington Post' Glenn Kessler wrote that he was "puzzled" by Newt Gingrich's "claim that he had a 'standard, no-interest account' at Tiffany & Co."
"Would Tiffany really charge no interest for that period of time on that amount of money?" he asked.
Tiffany's standard credit card application, Kessler noted, states that customers pay 21 per cent interest on unpaid bills. If Newt and Calista Gingrich paid no interest on a $250,000 balance, it would amount to an interest-free loan of $50,000.
Of course, Newt may have been completely in the dark about his wife's indebtedness to Tiffany's, and just can't admit it. Perhaps, unbeknownst to Newt, Calista also had a Mercedes-Benz and a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends. Some people just lie to their spouse.
The Daily Choler prints the truth!
Red State Editor-in-Chief and CNN contributor Erick Erickson is "a total douchebag," wrote Palin speechwriter and domestic policy adviser Rebecca Mansour in a May 22, 2010, message. "Greasy dumb ass with a talent for self-promotion. He threw himself in at the Gov's SC rally. Self-promotion."
But not the whole truth:
Other messages, including several TheDC has chosen not to publish....
They wouldn't want to start a precedent.
One has to wonder whether Mansour's assessment of Oly Olafson reflects Palin's viewpoint as well, given that "Mansour serves as Palin's domestic policy adviser and speechwriter. She is a gatekeeper, deciding who gets to see and talk to Palin, and who doesn't. Mansour also maintains Palin's online presence." It certainly sounds like the kind of language Palin would use. Or maybe Mansour has just mastered the obvious. In any event, this episode demonstrates the type of pinheads who Palin surrounds herself with.
You also gotta love the whining wingnuts (no links) who are shocked and dismayed that Tucker Faye Carlson would publish private communications. They have not mastered the obvious.
Three years ago, a bunch of wingnut welfare libertarians thought it would be fun to prance around the Jefferson Memorial late at night to celebrate their privileged existence. The U.S. Park Police told the dancing fools to bugger off, but the lead prancer thought the law didn't apply to her. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has just advised her that she is full of shit.
At the time of the arrest, libertarian bloggers engaged in a group whine, and one of the very special libertarians crowed that "given that my friend's immediate social circle is largely composed of journalists, bloggers, and constitutional lawyers who sue the government for fun, I predict hilarity." You were right about that, Julian. The government's cost bill will be a real rib tickler.
And kudos to the Park Police for keeping pests out of our national monuments.
Hint: In other contexts, FOX can't say the word enough. In this context, FOX won't say it at all.
Confidential to the New York Post: Here's how you source a charge of a politician engaging in smear tactics:
Although Palin promised to take the high road in politics, [Frank] Bailey was forced into “an ethical limbo dance” that included making up letters to newspaper editors and signing them with the names of supporters. On another occasion, Bailey and other staffers spent hours voting repeatedly to manipulate a television opinion poll on Palin’s decision to reject part of the federal government’s economic stimulus funding. Bailey also helped smear a neighbor who complained about excessive tourist traffic around the governor’s mansion. After hearing of the gripe, Palin sent her daughter Piper out to sell lemonade and then derided her neighbor for protesting children at play. Soon, the neighbor was portrayed on conservative blogs as “sick,” “unhinged” and “drug-addicted.” “By the time we finished with our politics of destruction, he surely regretted ever mentioning the governor’s name,” Bailey writes. “He learned firsthand why so few people were willing to speak out against Sarah Palin.”
Is the Obama campaign trying to dig up dirt on Gov. Kris Krispycreme? The Murdoch Post is pretending that it is:
President Obama's re-election campaign is trying to dig up dirt in the Garden State.
Despite New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's repeated pronouncements that he will not seek the GOP presidential nomination, Obama operatives are compiling a dossier of what they call "opposition research" -- material that could be used to damage Christie if he changes his mind, The Post has learned.
The Obama campaign is trying to keep its efforts from public view, concerned they would only elevate Christie's already impressive standing within the Republican Party, sources said.
Sources say, the Post has learned. That's proof enough for the usual defects in the wingnutosphere, who take the Australian pornographer at his word. (No links to the morons.) These cretins are particularly incensed that Obama's actually conducting research, which makes them look bad when they simply make shit up about Obama without leaving the comfort of their triple-reinforced Barcoloungers.
This article portrays the other Roger Ailes as a Republican kingmaker. Let's ask King Rudolph CMXI how that worked out for him.
I'm also suspicious of this set of quotes:
"He thinks things are going in a bad direction," another Republican close to Ailes told me. "Roger is worried about the future of the country. He thinks the election of Obama is a disaster. He thinks Palin is an idiot. He thinks she's stupid. He helped boost her up. People like Sarah Palin haven't elevated the conservative movement."
I'm sure some Republican said that, whether he/she believes it or not. But let me go out on a limb and suggest that Other Ailes thinks the election of Obama was a wonderful thing -- an endless source of phoney baloney controversy to keep his scared, elderly viewers glued to the Fox News Channel through the next commercial break. If Ailes had any interest in elevating the conservative movement, or in the direction of the country, he wouldn't program low-rent drivel and employ all the drivellers he's got on his payroll. The beginning and end of Ailes' interest is more interest in his bank accounts.
It's time to make the bail for a Maine Republican who thinks the law doesn't apply to lawmakers:
WATERVILLE -- A state representative from Garland was arrested Saturday morning for pointing a handgun at a man at point-blank range in a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot.
The legistlator, Republican Frederick L. Wintle, 58, faces a felony charge of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon for pulling a gun on Morning Sentinel photographer Michael Seamans, of Sidney, in a public area near a busy road.
Over the previous few days, people at the Legislature commented on Wintle's increasingly erratic behavior, and he was kicked out of the hotel at which he was staying in Augusta.
Saturday morning, Wintle started talking to Seamans about the infant that died this week at Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter on Ticonic Street and said he was looking for the mother's drug dealer, according to both Seamans and police.
News reports made no mention of drugs involved in the infant's death and did not reveal the family.
He then pulled a .22-caliber handgun out of his pants waistband and pointed it at Seamans in the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot on Kennedy Memorial Drive.
Apologists for Wintle say he's one of God's chosen legislators:
State Rep. Kenneth Ferdette, R-Newport, District 25, said Saturday he had visited Wintle at the Kennebec County Jail twice after Wintle's arrest Saturday morning. He said he and other friends were trying to arrange bail for his release.
Ferdette, an attorney, agreed that Wintle is a religious person.
"I would certainly characterize Fred as being someone who is religious -- I've attended church with him in Exeter, so he's certainly a religious individual," Ferdette said. "We think it's an unfortunate incident; right now we're just trying to get things sorted out and I have had conversations with different people regarding bail. Certainly we would anticipate that he'd be pleading not guilty."
Athens Selectman Charles Rotondi and his wife, Athens Town Clerk Tracey Rotondi, said Saturday they remember Wintle telling voters during the annual town meeting in March that God had led him to run for public office.
"He made those kinds of references a couple of times," Charles Rotondi said. "I remember that kind of rhetoric, but not word for word; I do remember that he was saying God had brought him to office."
Not guilty by reason of Jesus isn't a plea, Kenny boy.
"If my colleague from the great State of Louisiana can hold down a job," Sen. Coburn added, "why not this guy?"
Not everyone can find gainful employment as the bagman for a friend making hush money payments in the guise of severance pay, Senator Coburn.
