All the News That's Fit to...oh never mind

FOX News hits the hard news stories hard...

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

When comes the Rapture, just think how many total freaking idiots will no longer walk the face of the Earth. It will be nirvana for those of us left behind.

Repeat Offender

A while back there was a story about a guy named Wayne Dumond. He was some schmuck from Arkansas who was doing hard time for raping a young girl...until then-governor Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence and let him out of prison. Dumond took advantage of Huckabee's goodwill -- which was steeped in political intrigue -- to rape and murder to women.

Now comes news of the mafia-hit-style execution of four Washington state police officers. Front-page news across the nation, we now learn that the alleged cop-killer in the Washington state was, in fact, granted early release from an Arkansas prison by...you guessed it: then-governor Mike Huckabee.

It bears asking, does "aw shucks" Huckabee have the proper judgement to be President of the United States?

UPDATE (Tuesday): They got him this morning.

WHOOPS: Palin Quotes Wrong John Wooden.

Chapter Three of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue opens with a quote she attributes to legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden:

Our land is everything to us... I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember our grandfathers paid for it--with their lives.

Alas, the quote actually comes from John Wooden Legs, -- I kid you not -- a Cheyenne Indian who was lamenting the white man's genocide on Native Americans. Left out of Palin's epigram? The final line of Wooden Legs' quote reads: "My people and the Sioux defeated General Custer at the Little Big Horn." It seems the Barracuda (and her crack team of researchers) confused the Wizard of Westwood with one of the combatants at Little Big Horn.

There's dumb, and then there's Palin dumb.

They're Watchin' You....

Wouldn't wish it on anyone, but currently I have "Private Eyes" by Hall & Oates stuck in my head.

Hopefully now you do, too!

Walking Away

There are plenty of people out there who have lost their homes the old-fashioned way -- by losing a job or getting sick, or getting hoodwinked! -- and then there are these people...

"Pat and Stephanie Valdez" say they can afford to pay their mortgage but see no point in doing so because well, let Stephanie explain:

"Why pay a $3200 payment on a 1200 square foot home? It makes no sense."
Steve Croft: "Because that's what you agreed to do when you bought the house."
Stephanie: "Fine, if the value is going up. The value's going down. It makes no sense. Because we will never be able to refinance and get a lower payment. There's no way."

This is the classic sypmptom of the bubble mentality. Apparently, these people believed their property value was going to go up forever. WRONG.

Happy Sunday....

Hope you got all your Black Friday shopping done.
...you godless communists!

Every Picture Tells a Story

One of the great rock songs.

"Every Picture Tells a Story"
Spent some time feelin' inferior
standing in front of my mirror
Combed my hair in a thousand ways
but I came out looking just the same

Daddy said, "Son, you better see the world
I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave
But remember one thing don't lose your head
to a woman that'll spend your bread"
So I got out

Paris was a place you could hide away
if you felt you didn't fit in
French police wouldn't give me no peace
They claimed I was a nasty person
Down along the Left Bank minding my own
Was knocked down by a human stampede
Got arrested for inciting a peacful riot
when all I wanted was a cup of tea
I was accused
I moved on

Down in Rome I wasn't getting enough
of the things that keeps a young man alive
My body stunk but I kept my funk
at a time when I was right out of luck
Getting desperate indeed I was
Looking like a tourist attraction
Oh my dear I better get out of here
'for the Vatican don't give no sanction
I wasn't ready for that, no no

I moved right out east yeah!
On the Peking ferry I was feeling merry
sailing on my way back here
I fell in love with a slit eyed lady
by the light of an eastern moon
Shangai Lil never used the pill
She claimed that it just ain't natural
She took me up on deck and bit my neck
Oh people I was glad I found her
Oh yeah I was glad I found her

I firmly believed that I didn't need anyone but me
I sincerely thought I was so complete
Look how wrong you can be

The women I've known I wouldn't let tie my shoe
They wouldn't give you the time of day
But the slit eyed lady knocked me off my feet
God I was glad I found her
And if they had the words I could tell to you
to help you on your way down the road
I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats
'cause it's all been said before
Make the best out of the bad just laugh it off
You didn't have to come here anyway
So remember, every picture tells a story don't it.

Happy Hour?

It's incredible to me that someone could get so drunk the bartender would feel the need to call the cops and have them hauled away before noon. Of course, I was at the bar and witnessed said incident, so who am I to talk?

Precious

Precious.

Certain not to be a blockbuster, but no less worthy of a movie. Surely it will be far too uncomfortable for lots of people -- black, white and/or otherwise -- to ever go see this important film. From the LAT:

Richard Yarborough, an associate professor of English and African American Studies at UCLA, says there might be something else to the aversion for not just blacks, but all Americans. "The abject degradation of black people in 'Precious' is as close as you can get to a modern film that may be similar to a film about slavery," says Yarborough. He points out that slave-era films such as "Beloved" and " Amistad" didn't do well at the box office, and those were mainstream movies with big budgets and established directors. Those movies also presented widespread black exploitation and oppression as phenomena of the past; "Precious" has no such buffer.

Overheard at McCarthy's

Dude walks into a bar:

"But I like earthquakes."

Black Friday Freaks Early Birds

Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, 1:30pmBlack Friday freaks lined up and camping out for the big sale!

I saw a clip on the LA news about some people camping out in front of a Best Buy down in Glendale. "There's no way that could be going on in sleepy ol' SLO," I thought. "Is it?" So I hopped in my truck and drove over there. There were probably 20-30 people, mostly gamers I'll bet. Somebody (the shopping center people?) had even set up a port-a-potty. I thought it would be uncomfortable taking the picture (given that I was shaking my head and muttering "You freaks..." at the time), but the people sitting outside the first tent in line just waved happily.

No Escape from the Schemers

You get spam on Skype now.

Tom's Toys -- SLO, CA

Saying Grace

NBC declined to air this commercial during tomorrow's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...

Textbook Case of Projection

Rush Limbaugh describes liberalism himself:

If you live in the universe of lies, the last thing that you are governed by is the truth. The last thing you are governed by is reality. The only thing that matters to you is the advancement of your political agenda. And you tell yourself in the universe of lies that your agenda is so important the world will not survive without it and therefore you can lie, cheat, steal, destroy whoever you have to to get your agenda done because your opponents are evil, and in fighting evil, anything goes. There are no rules when you're in a fight with the devil.

FOX News: Where You Can Say Any Old Thing.

Dana Perino: "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."

BTW -- Here's what Dana Perino once had to say about the Cuban Missle Crisis:

“I was panicked a bit because I really don’t know about . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis,” said Perino, who at 35 was born about a decade after the 1962 U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown. “It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I’m pretty sure.”

So she consulted her best source. “I came home and I asked my husband,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Wasn’t that like the Bay of Pigs thing?’ And he said, ‘Oh, Dana.’”

Plain Honest Truth

Nobody that you know (nor I, for that matter) knows diddly-squat about "Cap-and Trade." So when they say they're against it (or for it! let's be fair), just ask them to explain why.

CSI: North Pole

St. Ronnie's Finest Hour

Epic Hypocrisy

Chris Matthews dismantles the bishop who cut off pro-choice Patrick Kennedy from taking communion and exposes the hypocrisy and confusion of the Catholic Church's policy on abortion. This is an epic, Perry Mason-style take down....

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

When do you suppose this guy plans to speak out against all the elected officials who support the death penalty{...chirp, chirp, chirp...} Still waiting...

Only Way to Go on Health Care Reform

Make. Them. Filibuster.

Note: This strategy will have the added bonus of forcing the four recalcitrant, so-called "Democrats" who oppose the public option -- Blanche Lincoln ("D"-Arkansas), Ben Nelson ("D"-Nebraska), Mary Landrieu ("D"-Louisiana) and Droopy Lieberman ("Traitor"-Connecticut) -- of having to stand up and work with the Republicans, on camera, for all the world to see -- against their own party's signature issue. There are only four of them, versus 56 Democrats solidly in favor of the public option. If they don't think their stance is going to get them unelected, well, then let them find out the hard way what happens when you're on the wrong side of history.

Make. Them. Filibuster.

Lies, Damn Lies...

and statistics.

Today's Oxymoron: Palinite Reading List

How many "Palinites" do you think will actually read the book they just bought with the Barracuda's "pitcher" on the front? How many books do you think the average Palinite reads in a year...or has read ever? Just think of the home library of the typical Sarah Palin fan: Books by Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity and Palin, plus the Bible, the spines on each as pristine and uncracked as the day they were purchased. No Hemingway, no Faulkner, no Steinbeck, no Twain, no Salinger, no Whitman and you can be damn sure no Shakespeare. You betcha.

In Due Time, PP. In Due Time.

A week or so ago I made a small donation to Planned Parenthood. I routinely do this whenever the nation's leadership engages in some cheap political stunt or passes some stupid legislation that chips away that the reproductive rights of American women.

When George W. Bush did that whole $300 rebate thing I endorsed the check over to PP and sent it directly to the local office. I got back a thank-you note signed by the entire staff that I still keep on my desk as a subtle FU to all the crazy anti-choice fundies we've got working here.

When Dr. Tiller got assassinated, I sent Planned Parenthood a check.

Last week it was the Stupak [Coathanger] Amendment, the anti-choice measure tacked onto the House version of the health care reform bill. Along with that donation, I asked PP to send an acknowledgement letter to Stupak's office in Michigan thanking him for inspiring me to give yet again. Ha-ha! Good idea, no?

Within a day after said recent donation, I got a fund-raising call from Planned Parenthood's national HQ somewhere back east.

"Dude, I just made a donation last night and you're hitting me up for more money?"

"Well," he replied, "Did you make that donation to the national office?"

"No, I asked that the donation go to the local office in my town."

"You could make a donation to the national office if you'd like."

"Sir, I just made a donation. I can't believe the act of making a donation triggers you to make a phone solicitation the next very day. That kind of heavy-handed begging only turns people off to your cause."

I hung up, but over the past week or so, I've received two new Planned Parenthood fundraising requests by mail! This makes no sense to me. It's a waste of resources (paper, postage and personnel). I understand the thinking that those who have given in the past are more likely to give in the future, but please, perhaps we can let little time go by before recommencing with the solicitations. I'd barely shaken the lint from my pocket before they were looking for more coin.

Given my system of basing my donations on legislative stupidity, murderous religious kooks and anti-choice grandstanding, you'll get your money soon enough PP. It's only a matter of time.

Trouble Ahead

Why Saturday's sausage-making festival in the Senate portends trouble for the health care reform bill...

Committment to Excellence

The one and only Lester Hayes. [h/t paco camino]

Health Care Vote Mystery: 60-39?

Where in the world was George Voinovich?

Leftwing Leverage

Bernie Sanders, the Democrtat socialist from Vermont, reminds the nation that it's not just ideologues on the right who have a vote that could derail health care reform. That whole 60 vote thing is a two-way street; Harry Reid can't afford to lose even one of them, from the right or the left. And Bernie Sanders loves him some public option.

Coolest President Ever?

Say what you will about President Obama. He's got some game...

Lie to the Nation

It's interesting to note that Senator Jon Kyl (R-Lala Crazyland) on Face the Nation is either lying about his reading of the ramifications of the health care reform bill, or he can't read. BINGO: He just said:

"I've read good portions of this bill..."

Don't you supposed he ought to read the whole thing before he starts popping off on national television about what he knows?

100% Racist, 110% Stupid

Racism and teh stupid, right out in the open in Wheat Ridge, CO.

"Everything I have read about Mr. Obama points right to the fact that he is a Muslim. And that is the agenda of what Muslim is all about. It's about anti-American, it's about anti-Christianity," West said.
[...]
Keith Walters, [a] passing driver, saw nothing wrong with the billboard.

"I can't honestly say he's a Jihadist, but there's a lot of things that are questionable," Walters said. "The whole birth certificate controversy. From what I've read, there's no proof Obama isn't a Muslim. And I don't believe there's any racism [in the billboard]. I think that should be a question asked to any president who -- they have some questionable backgrounds."

The Party of Lincoln

Who would have thought that "Blanche Lincoln," Democrat from the great state of Arkansas, would ever become the most powerful woman in America. When it comes to health care reform...apparently she's just that. After all, she represents about 2.8 million people, roughly 8/10ths-of-1% of the population of the United States. WTF?

Fast Fact from the Floor of the Senate

60% of all personal bankruptcy filings in the United States are triggered by an inability to pay medical bills.

Scene from a free health care clinic in Arkansas:

No Such Thing as Bad Publicity?

It seems Queen Sarah is leaving the plebs on the book tour circuit wanting for more. Some people had waited as long as 15 hours in the cold and rain of Noblesville, IN, for an audience with the syntactically-challenged Princess of Wasilla. Here they are booing her bus once she skipped out on them after just half-an-hour.

Getcher Popcorn Ready

If you though last week's wingnut speech-i-fyin' on the Health Care Reform Bill in the House was insane, wait 'til the free-market fundaMENTAList lunatics in the Senate -- I'm looking at you Tom Coburn and Jeff Sessions and Mitch McConnell and Orrin "It's Gonna Be a Holy War" Hatch -- take to the floor of the Upper Chamber tomorrow and start with the pearl-clutching and the caterwauling. I can tell ya right now, after a few mid-morning pops down at McCarthy's, my teevee's gonna be all CSPAN all the time. The first big vote on the Senate health care bill is set for 8pm Eastern time tomorrow.

Quote of the Day

"With soap, baptism is a good thing." -Robert Green Ingersoll

Hanky-Wringers

Amidst all the apoplectic hanky-wringing over the audacity of bringing Kalid Sheih Mohammed (KSM) and the other accused 9/11 masterminds to New York for trial, it's worth remembering that the perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing (which killed 6 people) were all tried and convicted in federal court in New York City. Case closed.

Play of the Week

Just like they drew it up in the huddle. Really.

Fuck Chickens!

It's a long story..."The Call of the Wreckin' Ball"

"You know the life I live is mighty slim pickins,
There ain't much call for stompin' on chickens!"

Still More with the Bowing?!?

Obama visits Munchkinland. Bows to leader.

Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting...

Obama takes a new approach to meeting with world leaders.

Good Question

Gail Collins in the NYT:

(Has anybody noticed that the people who darkly warn about government bureaucrats forcing insurance companies to cut back our coverage appear to be the same ones who just voted to force insurance companies to stop covering abortions? Where’s the sanctity of the marketplace when we really need it?)

Making Sausage

When your legislator comes home over the Xmas holidays and crows about passing an extension of unemployment benefits, it's worth keeping in mind that the way they went about passing it -- thanks Republicans! -- means millions of people are going to get screwed anyway.

Pray for Obama

If you happen to see one of these nifty bumper stickers in your travels on highway or byway, you should be forewarned to steer clear of the wingnut behind the wheel. The person who has stuck said sticker to his or her vehicle does not, in fact, have the President's best interest at heart. Click here for the full text of Psalm 109. Verses 7, 8 and 9 read as follows:

7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

Veterans' Day Revisited

I see Sarah Palin is the latest to accuse President Obama of "dithering" on Afghanistan. Perhaps she -- and we -- should ask:

"How many times did we see George Bush in a photo like this one?"

When all else fails....

...blame the dog.

A 25-year-old San Miguel man accused of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his wife told a sheriff’s investigator his dog ran underneath his feet, tripping him and causing the handgun to mistakenly fire at her.

Elephant in the Room: "Teh Sexy"

Looks like the MSM has finally pulled back the curtain on the whole Sarah Palin phenomenon.

Anecdotal Evidence of the Crash

Spoke on the phone at work yesterday with a guy from Santa Barbara who was a major player in the real estate/lending scene back when I was doing loans there (mid-80s). Dude kinda ruled the town when it came to putting giant deals together and making hard money loans to people at 12-and-14% interest. Now? Twenty years later, when he should be enjoying his retirement? He's "lost it all." Called our office because there's a condo in SLO that's in foreclosure that he trying like hell to hang on to. Sad.

FREE DOOBIE

If you ever wondered whether those medical marihuana dispenseries serve any real legitimate purpose beyond selling weed, well, wonder no more...The first one's always free.

Feeling Safer?

The world would be a safer place if we were all packing heat.

Wonderful Metaphor

Glenn Beck on health care reform...

Delusions of Banjeur

The one and only...Bad Livers.

Delusions of Grandeur

In the process of criticizing President Obama for bowing to the Japanese Prime Minister, this wingnut at the Appraisers Free Forum exhibits a decidedly overinflated view of himself...

I have been a leader all my life. From the time I was a kid I had my little posse. I was the team captain. I was a even a church deacon. I founded a business that I built to 30 employees. I founded and led a Bike club chapter of 70 men, many of which could eat me alive. In the Army I graduated at the top of my Officer Candidate School class and went on to lead 120 men as a Field Artillery Battery Commander. I have been a leader of the meek and the fierce. I know leadership. I know how a leader conducts himself, how he walks, talks and expresses himself.

Obama is a faker. He is a puppet and a coward. He leaves others to make or announce difficult decisions. He voted "present" how many times? He has let the congress bear the spears and arrows on healthcare. Look this week about the detainees being tried in NYC. He fled the country and let Holder be the fall guy.

The man is no natural leader. Leadership is foreign to him. He grovels and is apologetic. He is a submissive male. The sooner this "obamanation" is through the better for our country. He invites challenge and disrespect.

Epic Culture Jamming

Witness these intrepid protesters as they manage to infiltrate an anti-immigration rally and take to the stage to chant "Europeans Out!" and "Columbus Go Home!"


I'm not ashamed to admit, right here and right now, that I am stealing this idea for the next anti-immigration rally in SLO. Here's the jist of Robert Erikson's speech:

In Minneapolis, where I’m from, we have a huge immigrant population that’s been causing a number of problems. With the economy in recession, and so many people getting laid off, and unable to find work, immigrants should not be competing for the few jobs that are out there. Its just not fair to the folks who have a claim to this land and the right to be here. All across America, they are contributing to the flooding of our job markets making it hard for American’s to find jobs. Well I’m fed up and its time to let our politicians know that enough is enough, and we’re not gonna take it any more!
[...]
I say its time for us to say enough is enough! Are you with me? Are you with me? Lets send these European immigrants back where they came from! I don’t care if they are Polish, Irish, English, Italian, or Norwegian! European immigrants are responsible for the most violent and heinus crimes in the history of the world, including genocide and slavery! Its time to restore the sovereignty of people native to this land! I want more workplace raids, starting with the big banks downtown. There are thousands of illegals working in those buildings, hiding in their offices, and taking Dakota jobs. Let's round them up and ship them out. Then we need to hit them at home where they sleep, I don’t care if we separate families, they should have known better when they came here illegally!

If we aren't able to stand up to these European immigrants, who can we stand up to? We need to send every one of them back home, right now.

That, my friends, is fucking genius.

Daytime TV is Whacked!

Today on Oprah: Sarah Palin
Tomorrow on Oprah: Jenna Jameson

Wouldn't it have been funny if they'd mixed up Oprah's cue cards?

Carrie Prejean: Biblical Scholar

Carrie Prejean is interviewed in the current edition of Christianity Today:

Q: You wrote that you don't regret getting breast implants. Have you ever wondered whether it might be incompatible with your Christian faith?

A: No, I don't think there's anything wrong with getting breast implants as a Christian. I think it's a personal decision. I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says you shouldn't get breast implants.

And thank God for that.

Hubris: Thy Name is Weyrich

We've got our very own monument to excess right here in SLO county. David Weyrich is a pompous, bigoted, 400-pound, Philistine blowhard who parlayed a business inheritance into $650-million cash and then blew it all -- blew it all -- in less than 15 years.

Among his many failed enterprises were the infamous North County Gazette newspapers, which were initially sold for .25 or .50-cents an issue (can't quite remember) but fell into disgrace amid a preposterously slanted right-wing bias.

Around the time of California's Proposition 22, the staunchly Catholic Weyrich issued an edict mandating that the papers (plural because there were several editions, one for each NC town) not publish any -- read any -- "positive" news items about homosexuality, and by that I mean to say it was a black-and-white policy decision the paper made no bones about.

The backlash was so severe that sales of the Gazette plummeted, leading first to a change that made the paper a free weekly and then, when even that failed to increase readership, Weyrich tried delivering the Gazette, for free, to every household in the County. People raised holy hell about finding his garbage on their driveway every Thursday, embarrassed journalists on the staff bailed out like so many rats off a sinking ship, and the paper folded within a matter of weeks.

There are at least a half dozen other examples of Weyrich's colossal miscalculations -- a $300-a-night hotel in downtown Atascadero, a million-dollar-per-lot residential subdivision in Paso Robles, a high-end luxury jet charter business at tiny Paso Robles airport -- all of which went belly-up faster than he could shovel the money into getting them started.

David Weyrich the living embodiment of the old saying: "A fool and his money are soon parted." He literally burned through $650-million, and now he's going to find out how the other half lives. Been nice knowing you Weyrich.

Saturday Morning Art Corner

Get it?

It's a Long Way to the Top...

Made loud to play loud.

"Going Rouge"

The Village Voice has obtained several excerpts from Sarah Palin's soon-to-be-released memoir. Here's a taste:

On Election Night: I never heard so many bleepity-bleeps and blankety-blanks as I heard while I was waiting to go out on that stage in Phoenix. It was like I was at a dad-gum fancy-house in Fairbanks instead of a Republican Party event, and I tried to ask ol' John about it, but he was shaking his wife by the shoulders and talking in Vietnamese again, so I couldn't get any relief from him, and his minders were all poking at my family with sticks like they were bears and telling them things like, "Get back in your trailer, you stupid snowbillies." Finally it comes time to go out there and tell the people we lost, and some fella comes up and gives ol' John an injection, and in a couple of seconds he loosens his grip on poor Cindy and goes out on stage with me. It must have been something powerful they shot him up with, but he still looked so mad that I had to keep rubbing my fingers to keep from freaking out.

That's when I decided: I am going to quit my job, go out there among the people, and turn this Party right the heck around!

How Will This Play in Peoria Wingnuttia?

Uh-oh..."Obama bows to Japanese emperor."
Are you ready for some [faux] outrage?

Update: 3-2-1...Blast off!

Hannity Apologizes (It's Not Worth It)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Apologizes to Jon
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Compare and Contrast

Former Congressman William "I got caught with 90-grand hidden in my freezer" Jefferson was smacked down today with a 13-year sentence for corruption, while former Congressman Randy "Duke"/"Top Gun"/"I got caught taking $2.5-million in bribes" Cunningham got slapped with 8 years and 4 months. One of these men is white, conservative and Republican. The other...no so much. Can you guess which is which?

Don't Call it a Comeback.

When one of your primary arguments in support of Sarah Palin is to note that, while her favorable/unfavorable ratings are running at 40/60, she's still not as unpopular as philandering baby-daddy and all-around scumbag John Edwards, maybe it's best to just leave well enough alone, also.

Headline of the Day

from the Christian Science Monitor via Wonkette.

Step Inside this House

Lyle Lovett covers Guy Clark.

"I'll show you all the things I own, my treasures, you might say."

BUSTED!

Breaking news....
I never did trust that Peter Parker.

Man's Best Friend

Several heartwarming clips of dogs welcoming their people home from the war. Thanks to all the veterans.

FAUX News Exposed (Again)

WTF? TMI Dept.

Don't you think Andre Agassi's legacy would have been better served if he'd just kept his mouth shut and continued about his business as tennis royalty?

Why crush so many dreams?

UPDATE: Rare pic of Agassi at the conclusion of the 60 Minutes interview.

Wingnut TeaDouchebaggery

Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King skipped his son's wedding in order to vote "No" on the House health care reform bill. What a lovely man.

Inigo Montoya Department

[click image for larger view of button]

As ever: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Compassionate Conservatism

Once again we turn to the Appraisers Free Forum [more appropriately called the Appraisers Free-fire Zone] for a nuanced take on Nidal Malik Hasan and the recent shootings at Ft. Hood. Hasan, you will remember, counseled shell-shocked soldiers after they returned from Iraq and Afghanistan...

It's almost worse thinking about them being subjected to the Muzzie's "treatment" once they got back state-side trying to cope with PTSD.

Whoever let this scumbag continue on because they were toeing the PC line at Walter Reed ought to be strung up along with that Muslim shit bird. At least that asshole gets to think about how a woman brought his jihad to an end with a quick four shots.

"The Muzzie"? How nice.

Boxer says Dems can KO Stupak Amendment

My senator, Barbara Boxer, says the pro-choicers in the Senate have enough juice to keep the Bart Stupak Coathanger Amendment out of the Senate healt care reform bill...

"If someone wants to offer this very radical amendment, which would really tear apart [a decades-long] compromise, then I think at that point they would need to have 60 votes to do it," Boxer said. "And I believe in our Senate we can hold it."

"It is a much more pro-choice Senate than it has been in a long time," she added. "And it is much more pro-choice than the House."

Let's hope she's right.

Obama at the Ft. Hood Memorial

From the President's prepared remarks...

We need not look to the past for greatness, because it is before our very eyes.

This generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have volunteered in a time of certain danger. They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known. They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different and difficult places. They have stood watch in blinding deserts and on snowy mountains. They have extended the opportunity of self-government to peoples that have suffered tyranny and war. They are man and woman; white, black, and brown; of all faiths and stations - all Americans, serving together to protect our people, while giving others half a world away the chance to lead a better life.

How will they spin that into hating the troops?

Big Blue Marble

CA-Senate: The One to Watch

Here in California there's going to be a circus-like Republican primary as Carly Fiorina and Chuck Devore battle it out for the right to get trounced by Barbara Boxer.

California, Unter Alles

California voters remain steadfast in their resolve to break the state economy.

Actual Product

"Smencils." An actual product offered for sale as a school fundraiser in the breakroom at my office.What ever happened to Girl Scout cookies and $2 chocolate bars?

GOP: No Girls Allowed

Democratic Womens' Caucus = 75 members
Republican Womens' Caucus = 17 members

Despicable: The Party of 'No'

In the debate over the health care bill this morning, more than forty Democratic congresswomen took to the floor of the House of Representatives to voice their support for an amendment in the legislation that would expand health services for women and offer pre- and post-natal care to young mothers. In each and every case, the Republicans rose to object.

That's my congresswoman Lois Capps being disrespected by rightwing nutbag Tom Price of Georgia. It went on and on like that as forty additional women took the podium only to face objection for having the temerity to speak on the issue of women's rights.

Make no mistake about it, this was a coordinated effort on the part of the Republicans to silence the voices of women in the House and deny adequate and affordable health care services to the women of America.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor...

Garage Rawk!

[The Pretty Things -- Come See Me]

Word.

 

A Confederacy of Dunces

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post was at yesterday's bizarre teabagger takeover on the steps of the Capitol building. You can read his epic takedown of this foolishness here. An excerpt:

"More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician's office -- an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care -- rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.

This turned into an unwanted visual for the speakers, as a D.C. ambulance and firetruck, lights flashing, pulled in just behind the lawmakers. A path was made through the media section, and the patient, attended to by about 10 government medical personnel, was being wheeled away on a stretcher just as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped to the microphone. "Join us in defeating Pelosi care!" he exhorted. A few members stole a glance at the stretcher. Boehner may have been distracted as well. He told the crowd he would read from the Constitution, then read the "we hold these truths" bit from the Declaration of Independence.

[...]

By the time it was over, medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care."

U-6 Unemployment Reaches 17.5%

The Labor Department's U-6 Unemployment Rate counts Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.

U-6 = 17.5%...way up in holy shit territory.

Daily Show ANALyses Glenn Beck

Greatest parody ever? Greatest parody ever.

Disturbing Picture

I have a feeling the details emerging about the Ft. Hood shooter are not going to help Islamo-WingnutChristian relations here in the good ol' U.S. of A.

Carrie Prejean's Got a Sex Tape

Think the folks at TMZ are working overtime for Harvey this week?

"in-DUH-visible"

Those wingnut idiots trying to take over the Capitol building ran into a little hiccup in their snark against the libruls this morning. Watch marginally literate Congressman Todd Akins (Wingnut-MO) botch the Pledge of Allegiance barely two seconds after joking that the mere recitation of the words "drives liburls crazy."


FAIL!!

Shooting at US Fort Hood

If only someone at this location had been armed, perhaps not so many might have died.

Governator's Veto Includes a Hidden Message

What is this, the Da Vinci Code?

Labor Trouble, Philadelphia Style

Public transportation workers are on strike in Philly.
The public is not happy.

Economic Analysis

Empire State is Deep, Dark Blue

There are 51 representatives in the state of New York's congressional delegation.

Following last night's election, 49 of them are Democrats.

Wingnut Logic

The last time a Democrat held the congressional seat in New York's 23rd district, Ulysses S. Grant was President of the United States...

..but Bill Owens' victory there last night is a "huge win" for conservatives.

"Pancakes from Mommy"

Chris Matthews sums up the reality of politics in America...

Matthews: Somebody needs to tell these netroots people that you can't just order pancakes from mommy, that you can't order change in American government as easy as mommy gimme some pancakes. It's not that easy!

Well, That Settles It.

I'm not sure what part of this screen grab cracks me up most, the fact that it's from FOX News, the fact that specifically it's from the O'Reilly Factor, or the disclaimer at the bottom noting it is "not a scientific poll." Given the demographics on the Factor, how many respondents to this [alleged] "survey" do you suppose are on Medicare?

Congrats

To the Republican Party for taking back control of the country from the evil socialists.

Rock On!

Hate Wins Again

Mainers are as backwards as Californians. Also.

Election Roundup

Your newspaper is probably telling you this morning that the Republican gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia should serve as a warning to Democrats, but we'd do well to remember that Virginia routinely bats its top job between parties like a ping-pong ball, and New Jersey's just outsed top exec. Jon Corzine was so tremendously unpopular the door to the governor's mansion swung wide open for the deeply-flawed Chris Christie.

The better story comes out of upstate New York, where a Democrat won the congressional seat for the first time in forever, and he only did it because the wingnuts like Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh came out against the Republican in the race, arguing she was too liberal and instead throwing their support behind a know-nothing paper tiger from the state's Conservative Party. The Republican in the race subsequently dropped out and endorsed the Democrat. Aside from easing the path to victory for the Democrat, this teabagger takeover also put the rest of the nation's moderate Republicans on notice: You will be taken down by the extremists in your party. And that, my friends, portends more victories for Democrats.

Daily Show: Clash of the Cretins (NYC vs. Phila.)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Clash of the Cretins
www.thedailyshow.com
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Charlie Gets a Makeover

Not sure the editors of Central Coast Magazine were aware of how the cover layout looks on this month's issue, but prison life appears to be treating Charles Manson surprisingly well...

FOX News Can't Get Anything Right

They try to claim they're a legitimate news organization, but what they really are is just a slipshod operation. In two of the most hotly-contested races this election night, in two of the contests the teabaggers are just champing at the bit to declare victory, FOX News has blown its coverage with careless mistakes.

Photo Evidence, Case #1
NY-23rd District:

[That's Conservative Party candidate (and teabagger hero) Doug Hoffman, not Democrat Bill Owens.]

Photo Evidence, Case #2
NJ-Governer:
[That's Jon Corzine and Chris Christie, candidates for governor of New Jersey, not Virginia.]

No on Hate: Maine

Early returns indicate Mainers may be a bit more progressive than Californians, as voters there are rejecting a measure aimed at repealing the state's gay marrige law.