The hypocrisy - it is to laugh!
BTW, how's your salary doing?
I agree that they are "coming for the taxpayer." But I think they are just a teensy bit misinformed about who is responsible:
###
Well, we all know that the DOJ has cleared the Bush Administration officials who authorized torture. Bad judgment is the judgment. It was the process that mattered, not the crimes against humanity. And had the Bush Administration decided simply to massacre an entire village, that too, apparently, would have been but a case of bad judgment. Because that, too, was given clearance by one of the same Bush officials. Had it happened, that apparently would have been excused with the same "Oops. Sorry. We'll try to think more clearly, next time."
Everything is excused when we're afraid and there's a sense of urgency. International law, domestic law, and basic humanity can be scared right out of us, and it's all perfectly legal, according to the now curiously named Department of Justice. We already know that it's legally okay for "detainees" to be tortured to death. And Jesselyn Radack has elucidated the surreal double standard that now makes it punishable to respect the law and excusable to violate it.
But there is good news. It comes from Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Commitee: http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014811.php
And Rep. John Conyers is planning to hold hearings in the House as well.
###
CPAC straw poll
Poor Willard Romney. His winning streak is over. Results via Mike Madden:
Ron Paul 31%,
Mitt Romney 22%,
Sarah Palin 7%,
Tim Pawlenty 6%,
Mike Pence 5%,
Newt Gingrich 4%.
Losey McSevenPercent comes in third. And Newtie? Yeah, no.
Then again, these things don't mean much. But it is fun to snark about.
###
Bill Maher on the Tea Party Cult. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCr6LdGAPl0&feature=player_embedded#
###
Just one more day before you can pack heat in a national park! And if you're in Virginia, but are afraid to eat at the Red Lobster, you can take your gun in there with you - as long as you don't drink.
Will they pat people down when they order drinks?
###
Glenn Reynolds suggests defaulting on the federal debt as a way to balance the budget.
###
Surprise, surprise: It turns out that NOT ONE of the Haitian so-called "orphans" that a group of Baptist missionaries tried to take over the Dominican Republic border earlier this month was actually an orphan.
This is Christianity? Taking advantage of desperate people and lying to them to give up their children so you can put them in an "orphanage", where you can make them a captive audience to religious proseletyzing and conversion?
Before you tell me that it's noble to take children from their parents under false pretenses if it means "a better life" for them, consider that the "adviser" to this group of Predators for Jesus is at the center of an Interpol investigation for sex trafficking of underaged girls.
Has it become so difficult to gain converts by "spreading the Word" to consenting adults and American teenagers in public schools that you have to resort to exploitation of a natural disaster to wrest kids away from their parents? What's next, proseletyzing pregnant women's bellies?
###
'Angel sent down' to put Bible on Kentucky school curriculum, legislator says
A Kentucky state Senate committee has approved legislation 12-0 allowing the Bible to be studied as a literary subject in public schools, a move that means the state will likely follow Tennessee, Texas and a handful of others in bringing the Christian text into the curriculum.
In praising the legislation, state Sen. Elizabeth Tori told the bill's sponsors that "an angel was sent down on your shoulders" prompting "you to put this bill together," as quoted at the Courier-Journal.
http://rawstory.com/2010/02/angel-bible-kentucky-curriculum/
###
Social networking gone bad - shop till you drop
Welcome to the craven world of Blippy, wherein the question is not What are you doing, but instead is What are you buying. Because, you know, as Americans we are only the sum of our purchases.
Here's the basic idea: you register your credit card(s) with the Blippy Service, and Twitter-like, all of your purchases are announced to your circle of friends on Blippy. The founders of Blippy think that your friends will be grateful to learn about your bargains and might want to buy the same things. Alternately, they also think it might help you make better choices knowing that everyone is going to see what you are purchasing. ("Hmmmm, sex toys today? Maybe not…")
I recall, vividly, the first party I attended during my LA years. Instead of asking what I did, I was asked where I shopped. It's not that it is just that shallow — Blippy that is, not LA — but it is designed to be a show-off tool. I mean who else wants to announce to the world that they just bought an expensive trinket? And you know that's how this will play out.
You get the picture. Twitter is bad enough at this sort of thing, imagine it without the pretense that you are just expressing your thoughts. Publicists will get some celebrity/athlete/Paris Hilton to sign up for this service and of course sponsors for them to make purchases that will be broadcast near and far, and all the salivating fans will march along in to buy the same doodad. Imagine Soylent Blonde announcing all of her Budlight and hair extension purchases.
After eight years of Chimpy only referring to us as Consumers and never Citizens, just about the last thing I have any tolerance for is this sort of crass marketing tool going under the radar of social networking. We are indeed at the end of the Roman Empire.
###
On 81st birthday, Oregon man gives company to employees.
###
After years of itching for war with Iran, Bolton admits that 'things could go wrong' after military strike on Iran.
###
Obama explains climate science to deniers: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/19/obama-snow-storms/
###
4,376 soldiers killed in Iraq; 999 in Afghanistan.
###
Another incident of rewarding bad behavior
Still and always will be a child rapist. He raped a child. He forcibly raped a 13-year-old vaginally and anally. "Roman Polanski has won the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival for his new political thriller, The Ghost Writer. Polanski could not accept the award as he is under house arrest and fighting extradition to the US over a conviction for having sex with a minor in 1977. His producer, Alain Sarde, said he would be "very happy" with the honour."
###
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Trailing the South Koreans and a pair of Canadian brothers, Apolo Anton Ohno had to rally on the last lap to make history.
With the gold and silver out of reach, Ohno scooted furiously past brothers Charles and Francois Hamelin to earn a bronze in the short-track 1,000-meter final Saturday night, making him the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian.
