Headlines - Wednesday

 

This is not from The Onion, it is a response from a wingnut acquaintance:

 

Me: QOTD on the Teabagger convention: ... Here's a tip: When your party's too crazy for MICHELLE BACHMANN, it's time to take the lampshade off your head.

 

Her: Oh I love that gal too!  She is AMAZING!   She was in Orange County recently and went to several events in the same day.  Those who attended were so impressed with her in EVERY way.  She apparently is another dynamo and articulates the Conservative viewpoints.  No wonder you and your friends are attempting to discredit her .... she is much like the awesome Sarah.   WHAT A COMBINATION THEY MAKE ... THEY ARE FANTASTIC.

 

Me:  

 

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Way back when, Lucy sensed the hominid evolutionary journey had taken a wrong turn. But there was nothing she could do about it.

 

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I wonder how things would be
in all our city halls
if politicians, like Toyotas
were subject to recall

 

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Tweet of the day:

 

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Greenwald: What Exactly Did Bush and Cheney Do Wrong?

 

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Global warming makes trees gow at fastest rate in 200 years.

 

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Portrait of a Teabugger as a young douche

Joe Basel, one of the guys arrested after sneaking into Mary Landrieu's office to tamper with her phones, was, you will be shocked to hear, a complete "douchebag" in college: http://gawker.com/5462663/portrait-of-a-teabugger-as-a-young-douche

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You can't hide yer snarlin' eyes.

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When the Snowbilly Princess calls, Rahm jumps!

Nice way to validate Sarah Palin, schmuck. Via Politico:

A White House official emails that Rahm Emanuel has acknowledged calling liberal Democrats "retarded" and apologized for the remark.

"Rahm called Tim Shriver Wednesday to apologize and the apology was accepted," the official said.

Shriver is the Chairman and CEO of the Special Olympics, which has launched a campaign against what it calls "the R word."

...

Said the official, "The White House remains committed to addressing the concerns and needs of Americans living with disabilities and recognizes that derogatory remarks demean us all."

UPDATE: A Democrat points out Rahm apologized to Shriver, but not to the liberals he called "retarded."

I guess this is just more of Rahm's brilliant eleventy-dimensional chess-playing.

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Mark Sanford was an impossibly terrible husband from the start

Barbara Walters is preparing to air another interview with Jenny Sanford about her Argentine-mistress-having husband, and boy is he looking like an awful mate. He insisted she remove the "faithful" clause from their wedding vows, and that's just for starters.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford also gave his wife the following romantic gifts: a drawing of half a bike, then on another occasion the drawing of the other half, then "the $25 used bike." Then this one time he gave her a diamond necklace, and took it back after she fell in love with the thing. Finally, after Jenny found out about his South American dalliance, he kept telling her she didn't love him, since she wouldn't give her permission to visit the mistress again. Mark Sanford is a staggering intercontinental cad, and you should buy the book his wife is promoting so that she can buy herself some proper presents.

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Sarah Palin to Add Library Wing to Lake Lucille Estate to House Copies of Going Rogue Purchased for $63,000 by Her Political Action Committee

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Sarah Palin writes editorial to explain her attention-seeking behavior

Sarah Palin "wrote" an op-ed for The USA Today called "Why I'm speaking at Tea Party convention." Weirdly, she doesn't mention the fact that they are paying her $100,000.

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Republicans just as dumb/crazy as you think

It's time once again for fun with polling. This time around, the polling isn't exactly official, but sort of preliminary numbers and highlights from an upcoming poll. Apparently, the report isn't completely written, but some of the numbers have been released early: http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2010/02/republicans-just-as-dumbcrazy-as-you.html

 

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Jonathan Turley

 

While the old adage said "all you need to run is a pair of shoes," researchers have found (and reported in Nature magazine) that all you need is a pair of feet. In their study, the researchers found that, before the invention of shoes, humans ran differently . . . and better.

It turns out that humans avoided heel strikes when running barefoot — and thereby avoided many of the injuries that plague modern runners. They would instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. The researchers, including Daniel E. Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, found that this technique uses Newtonian physics to avoid damaging impacts.

I have decided to offer a line of Newtonian running socks at just $200 a pair to be worn without shoes. You will run like a Cro-Magnon and look like Zola Budd.

For the full story, click here.

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Oh really?

Gibbs: KSM will be tried, convicted and executed

We have previously noted the problem with President Barack Obama assuring the public that people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) will be convicted. After the previous such incidents (here), many of us noted that a president is expected to avoid such comments which are inimical to a fair trial and sitting an unbiased jury. Now, in the video below, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs has decided to pick up the role as the Red Queen to promise not just a conviction but execution for KSM.
Continue reading 'Gibbs: KSM Will Be Tried, Convicted, and Executed'

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What is wrong with these people? They aren't even hiding it anymore.

Family Research Council Calls For Criminalization Of Homosexuality

Echoing the words of the American Family Association, Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council said tonight that the Supreme Court decision to overturn sodomy laws was "wrongly decided" and that homosexual behavior should be outlawed. Sprigg appeared on Chris Matthews' MSNBC show tonight to debate Aubrey Sarvis of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network about today's DADT hearings in the U.S. Senate. Sprigg also repeated FRC head Tony Perkins' claim that overturning DADT will lead to gay men raping straight soldiers. Video here.

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Taking advantage of those in town for the Grammys, yesterday producer Quincy Jones gathered a galaxy of pop stars for a re-recording of 1984's We Are The World. Among the 70 artists lending their voices: Beyonce, Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, Usher, Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, Gladys Knight, Rihanna, Harry Connick, Kayne West, Toni Braxton, LL Cool J and Wyclef Jean.

Meaning in the UK, American Idol host Simon Cowell gathered a similar group of stars for a recording of a cover of REM's Everybody Hurts. Taking part: Susan Boyle, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, and many others. Below is the advance audio. Both tracks will be released in the next week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hompvId-g9w&feature=player_embedded#

 

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All  "Recidivist" Gitmo Detainees Were Released By Bush
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014756.php

 

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China financially threatens the United States because they are scared of Obama meeting and talking with the "terrorist" Dalai Lama

China warned the US on Tuesday that any meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would further damage relations, in the latest sign of the deteriorating political mood between Beijing and Washington.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/16d18214-0fe6-11df-b278-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

Did you know that China skins cats and dogs alive?

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AIG to hand out $100 million in bonuses today! What are you gonna get?

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I thought only torture, and sacrificing all of our beliefs, got these guys to talk.

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If yer making $250K ...

You can afford to pay a little more tax:

...

More importantly than that, the tax increases on the $250,00+ set are marginal tax increases which only apply to...money in excess of $250,000. People making, say, $300,000 aren't going to see their tax bill increase by very much.

I'm tired of all the sniveling from the well-to-do, but what bugs me more is the sniveling from poor folks who think the well-to-do are taxed too much.

Listen to me.

1. The rich don't care about anyone of a lower economic class than they are. That means you.

2. "Trickle-down Economics" doesn't work. The rich don't "spread the wealth", they hold onto it.

3. Somebody's gonna have to pay. Better those who can afford it than those who can't. Protecting the rich from taxes only assures that the rest of us are gonna pick up the bill.

4. If you fall into the demographic of people making less than $250K, you shouldn't be voting for Republicans. They're not even protecting your "moral values", let alone your financial security.

   

I'm so freaking tired of people complaining about taxes. How the  hell do you expect to run a country? How do you expect to fight these wars that so many seem to love? It's unbelievable to me how brainwashed we are to believe we can have everything we want without having to pay for it.  

 

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Excellent article by Glenn Greenwald on Constitutional rights and to whom they apply and who's lying about it.

 

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Carebear gives up on Cap 'n' Trade legislation.

 

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Republicans unite to halt trials of alleged 9/11 plotters.

 

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eMeg: now with more bad business

It's not secret that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is running for governor on the hackneyed campaign slogan/promise that she will run California like a business.

Yes, eMeg, she who famously bought Skype but forgot to buy the source code or intellectual property rights when she plunked down $2.5 billion for it in 2005, essentially buying, well, nothing. Later new eBay management was able to sell whatever it was that eBay owned back to the founders for $1 billion. Anyway, she wants to bring that sort of expertise to running California. Hooray!

Because it certainly must be better than her parenting skills.

(Via Gawker: read all the links. It's appalling.)

UPDATE 1: HuffPo condenses eMeg's book, um, for your reading pleasure. (HT: SkinnyDennis)

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Tea party profiteers: how Republican operatives are exploiting economic anxiety for power, cash.

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INVESTIMAGATIVE JOURNAMALISM! Yesterday Reuters, the famous wire service, ran a story about how Obama's decision in his new budget to let Bush tax cuts expire meant that all of the pre-tax levels for every included tax were coming back, and even offered a list of all the new taxes the Obama administration was going to impose on working people, just for shits and giggles, without telling them. It made the top of Drudge. Now that article has been removed, however, because IN THE BUDGET IT ACTUALLY SAYS that none of the old tax rates on those making less than $250,000/year would return. Reuters pulled the story and acknowledged the massive error, though, so we no longer have to worry about every Republican still referencing it as fact every day and in every teevee ad through November with cable news approval. Washington Monthly

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Unveiling the Scott Brown naked action figure

Yes, the Scott Brown naked action figure.

Pull off his fig leaf, and Larry Craig shows up at your door!

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Innocent until proven guilty

Because they're white, republican. But I repeat myself.

Don't miss this scathing piece blasting both conservaturds and their asshole buddies in the so-called liberal media, from the BradBlog.