Friday, November 13, 2009

Headlines - Friday

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"As soon as Muslims give us a foolproof way to identify their jihadis from their moderates, we'll go back to allowing them (in the military).  Until that day comes, we simply cannot afford the risk.  Invent a jihadi-detector that works every time it's used, and we'll welcome you back with open arms."- Bryan Fischer, at the American Handjob Association Link
 
What if Japan said, "As soon as America give us a foolproof way to identify their rapists, we'll go back to allowing the military in our country. Until that day comes, we simply cannot afford the risk.  Invent a rapist-detector that works every time it's used, and we'll welcome you back with open arms."
 
What if Catholics said, "As soon as The Vatican give us a foolproof way to identify their rapists, we'll go back to allowing the priests in our parish. Until that day comes, we simply cannot afford the risk.  Invent a rapist-detector that works every time it's used, and we'll welcome you back with open arms."
 
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If health care is gutted, blame them:
 
Link Excerpt:
Harry Reid faces a number of obstacles to passing health care reform (Like courage, brains and a spine) but his main task is to keep his caucus united for not one, but two, supermajority votes, just to get the reform bill an up or down on the Senate floor. Failure to get 60 votes to push past either of those two procedural chokepoints could derail the reform bill. Here are the six key holdouts Reid must wrangle to reach the magic threshold.
 
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"Just imagine, folks, if the Fort Hood shooter was shouting 'Jesus Christ!' as he fired.  Do you think there would be any of these calls: 'Hey, let's not rush to judgment here'?" - the vulgar Pigboy, attempting to make some kind of point, but the syphilis won't let him 
 
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It appears that opponents of same-sex marriage cannot even tolerate the thought of gay couples being buried together. Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri (R) has vetoed a bill that would have added "domestic partners" to the list of people authorized by law to make joint funeral arrangements. He feels that idea of joint burials smacks too much of a marriage.
http://jonathanturley.org/2009/11/12/keeping-corpses-straight-rhode-island-governor-bars-same-sex-couples-from-joint-funeral-arrangements/#more-17196
 
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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington appears to have learned a few secular lessons from corporate felons in that state. On the eve of the first trial of dozens of sex-abuse cases with hundreds of millions in potential damages, the diocese filed for bankruptcy to try to make any damages more difficult to collect. The decision by Bishop W. Francis Malooly is being attacked as an effort to reduce potential damages in the various cases moving toward trial.
 
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RNC-Abortion-Clinic
 
Oops. RNC's own health care plan covers abortion.
 
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Cheerleaders
 
Greenwald takes apart David "Bobo" Brooks and the media cheerleaders who just loves them some war:


David Brooks' column today perfectly illustrates what lies at the core of our political discourse: namely, self-loving tribalistic blindness laced with a pathological refusal to accept responsibility for one's actions. Brooks claims there is a unique evil that one finds in the "fringes of the Muslim world":
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There's a unique evil at the fringes of every religion. Some might even say within the leadership of every religion.
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So here's a person who is constantly advocating and justifying the killing, bombing, and slaughtering of Muslims, including well over 100,000 innocent civilians. And yet today he writes a column saying: Look over there at those radical Muslims; can you believe how degraded and inhumane they are? In fact, he says, "they" -- those Muslims over there -- "don't see others as fully human. They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so." That's from the same person who cheerleads for the endless deaths of Muslims and destruction of the Muslim world while thinking that it makes him strong, resolute, Churchillian, righteous and noble -- exactly that which he accuses "fringe Muslims" of doing. And even as he blames the U.S. for "absolving" radical Muslims for the "evil" of their choices, Brooks will never make the connection between what he does and its results because he believes he is free from accountability and that his righteousness justifies the killings he desires -- again, exactly that which he says today is the hallmark of Islamic monsters ("They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so").

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I think it's what bothers me most about the wars. Those raving on from the sidelines can casually look at other (different, whether by nationality, race, religion, or color) people, the "they" Greenwald speaks of, as subhuman. The last thing we hear in the corporate media is about the thousands of innocents killed in our quest for oil, or territory, or whatever the motives were at the time.

I don't know how those people can stand to look in the mirror. I guess denial is a powerful drug.
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If one needs to reduce my point to a single sentence, one can try this: "if you constantly cheer on one war after the next that results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings and the extreme suffering of millions more (as Brooks has done -- beyond Iraq and Afghanistan -- and continues to do), then you can't coherently claim that the targets of your wars have a unique disregard for human life; that they -- but not you -- "don't see others as fully human"; that they -- but not you -- "cause incredible amounts of suffering"; and that they -- but not you -- "come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so." [all ems in orig]

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Indeed. A buncha folks in Germany thought that way 70 years ago. Brooks, and the institution he represents, shed their humanity when they denied a significant part of the world's population theirs.

A note: Be sure to check out Gord's posts (here and here) re:"Tattooed Under Fire" about some of the other consequences of the wars these clowns cheered for, and demonized those who didn't. There are more than the deaths of innocents on Brooks' hands.
 
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Feel the Thunementum

In for a Broder, in for a Brooks. Am I alone in thinking that "prairie background" sounds like a euphemism? And why do so many profiles of Republican presidential candidates read like soft-core gay male pornography (not that there's anything wrong with that)?

As you may or may not know, Thune is the junior senator from South Dakota, the man who beat Tom Daschle in an epic (nasty) campaign five years ago. The first thing everybody knows about him is that he is tall (6 feet 4 inches), tanned (in a prairie, sun-chapped sort of way) and handsome (John McCain jokes that if he had Thune's face he'd be president right now). If you wanted a Republican with the same general body type and athletic grace as Barack Obama, you'd pick Thune.

[....]

He says his prairie background has given him a preference for small companies and local government.

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Cartman does Glenn Beck: http://eb-misfit.blogspot.com/2009/11/wonder-who-cartman-is-riffing-on.html

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Faith, charity and extortion

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.
Smooth move, using the downtrodden as pawns in a political game of chicken.
 
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Ick: Tom Cruise will reportedly team up with pal John Travolta in a remake of the 1960s western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
 
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Chimpy McStagger, Boy Genius

bushstupid0jy.jpg

The Imagineers at Disney could not have a more difficult task than trying to rehabilitate Chimpy McStagger into the appearance of a thoughtful, intelligent, and well-read person, if they tried.

So my amusement tonight comes in the form of noted War Criminal and Chimpy's former Intelligence Chief, John Negroponte, coming to the aid of Poppy's Little Seed.

The latest defender is the former administration's intelligence chief, John Negroponte, who has also worked with several other presidents. "Some are more intellectual than you think. Bush 43 is in that category," he says. For proof, he embellished the oft-told story about the reading race between the former president and top aide Karl Rove, reports our Suzi Parker. Both carried lists of books they had read and compared them often. Bush, says Negroponte, read "heavy-duty stuff," like French history. "He must have read two to three books a day," says the former aide.

There's only so many times you can read "My Pet Goat," but two or three times a day seems ambitious for Chimpy.

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A bridge too far, even for Bachmann-the-nut? http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/?p=25875
 
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Boehner won't pledge to offer GOP health care plan, refuses to post it online if he does: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/29/boehner-gop-72-hours/
 
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Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused of involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks will be put on criminal trial in New York. The move is "the first set of decisions before a Monday deadline on how to deal with the more than 200 prisoners remaining" at Gitmo.

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Nidal Hasan will probably face the death penalty: Wall Street Journal

Remember when 5 US soldiers gang-raped and murdered a 14-year-old girl after they had murdered her family? Remember how they set her body on fire to destroy the evidence and then got the death penalty? Oh wait.  

Or how about the ones that got the death penalty for the Haditha massacre? Oh wait. All charges were dropped for the murder of 24 Iraqis.

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Here's a super hot sex story from an affadavit that this one birther, Lucas Smith, filed in a Birther lawsuit, in which he claims that Orly Taitz asked him to perjure himself. Lucas also tells us about Orly's affair with some other birther, though, which we thought we'd pass along, to ruin your day. [TPM]

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Gene Lyons: What were the Republicans smoking?

After the disastrous Bush presidency the GOP had the option to go crazy or rethink. Guess which one they chose
 
 
For right-wing Republicans, the presidency of George W. Bush began as a dream come true. People calling themselves "conservatives" ran everything in Washington. Even before the GOP won both houses in 2002, Congress gave Bush everything he asked for. Republican apparatchiks controlled every agency from the Pentagon to the Treasury Department. Fox News savants expressed intermittent outrage that dissent was permitted. Rush Limbaugh's interviews of Dick Cheney sounded like a high-school girl gushing over the Jonas Brothers.
 
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With the departure of Lou Dobbs, Wolf Blitzer picks up the slack
 
CNN's now-reigning dumbass Wolf Blitzer questions how Hasan's lawyer can represent 'someone accused of mass murder.'
 
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That HAD to hurt

Caught outright committing fraud, Sean Hannity responded to Jon Stewart by admitting "unintentionally" false video footage was used to bolster the nutwork's lies.

Hannity: "Jon Stewart was right. Big thanks to Jon and his writers for watching the show."

Jon Stewart: "Well, we have to keep an eye on our fake news competition. It's just good business."
That's right: a major "news" organization was busted and held to account by a freaking comedy channel. If THAT doesn't tell you the sorry state of the "liberal MSM" I don't know what will.
 
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The Mormon Church has been a target of vituperation by some gay rights groups because of its active opposition to same-sex marriage. But on Wednesday, the church was being praised by gay rights activists in Salt Lake City, citadel of the Mormon world, for its open support of a local ordinance banning discrimination against gay men and lesbians in housing and employment.
 
It's OK if teh gay gets to live somewhere and work, but oh, boy, they can't have a legal relationship with their honeys. 

I don't know if this is a step forward or if this is a bit of smoke being thrown by the Mormons so they can claim that they are not completely homophobic. This little bit, though, is telling:
At least one of the [previoulsy proposed] measures [in the Utah legislature] is poised for a 2010 comeback: an anti-discrimination statute that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's fair employment law. The bill includes the same exemption for religious organizations and their affiliates that Otterson praised in Salt Lake City's ordinances.

That means the capital's new rules, prohibiting discrimination against gay and transgender workers, homebuyers and renters, do not apply to churches or small businesses. The LDS Church and its wholly owned subsidiaries, such as the towering City Creek Center condos taking shape in downtown Salt Lake City, are exempt.
Translation from Mormon-speak: "Thou shalt not discriminate against gays and trannies (but it's OK if we do)."

There is a word for that: "Hypocritical", as in "what a bunch of hypocritical bastards."

Thanks for nothing.

at 7:25 AM