Headlines - Thursday May 20

"If you find it uncomfortable to believe that we're biologically related to humans, you can always grow up to be a Creationist, my child."

 

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If you need further proof that this is now the Corporate States of America, here you go: 

 

A CBS News team was threatened with arrest by Coast Guard officials in the Gulf of Mexico who said they were acting under the authority of British Petroleum.

 

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69% of Utah fourth-graders not reading at proficient level.

 

The other 31% must be liberals.

 

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They didn't care when they used to burn Negro churches either:

On May 10th, a middle-aged man carried a can of gasoline and a pipe bomb into the Jacksonville Islamic Center of Northeast Florida during evening prayers and detonated it. Fortunately, there were no injuries to people, though the bomb did damage property.

...

So, a mosque is bombed by a white guy and the bomb isn't exactly small, but the national media sees no value in reporting it? Really? And yet, that is evidently the case.

Muslims are the new Black, don'tcha know ...

 

The General writes to Wolf Blitzer.

 

 

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A bunch of hardscrabble Gulf fishermen are one thing: the multi-billion-dollar Florida economy is catastrophe squared. "The first oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill has entered an ocean current that could take it to Florida and up the east coast of the US, scientists say. A "small portion" of oil sheen is in the Loop Current, which circulates in the Gulf, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. Diluted oil could appear in isolated parts of Florida if persistent winds pushed the current that way, it added. European scientists warn the spill could reach Florida within six days. Oil has been spewing into the Gulf since the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, leased by oil giant BP, exploded off the coast of Louisiana on 20 April and sank two days later. Satellite images released by the European Space Agency (ESA) depict a streak of oil stretching south from the main slick into the Loop Current - a body of fast-flowing water coming from the Caribbean which the agency says is likely to propel oil towards Florida within six days."

 

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As Upton Sinclair once remarked, "It is difficult to get a

man to understand something, when his salary depends

upon his not understanding it!"

 

 

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How Secretary Salazar Pledged to Reform

the Obama Administration's Ties to Big Oil

 

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The God Over Progress party strikes again

 

I guess the GOP believes that either the baby Jesus will take care of things like energy and disease, or that they'll be raptured and they don't care what happens afterwards. Because the Republican Party is now officially the party of ignorance, superstition, and despair:

It was strike two for a major science funding bill Wednesday as House Republicans again united to derail legislation they said was too expensive.

Going down to defeat was legislation that would have committed more than $40 billion over three years to boost funding for the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies involved in basic and applied science, provided loan guarantees to small businesses developing new technologies and promoted science and math education.

Congress enacted a first version of the legislation in 2007 with a large majority in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate. But in this election year, with Republicans out to show their anti-spending credentials and intent on disrupting the Democratic agenda, things are different.

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Explain to me why the teabaggers are not clamoring for the heads of these guys

 

Probably because the banksters who have been ripping off the states by collusion and bid-rigging are (a) white; (b) rich; and (c) Republicans.

Of course, if they were Black and working for ACORN, oh, how the outrage would flow!

Don't expect to see much coverage of this story on the Fox-Murdoch Right Wing Noise Machine.

 

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Arizona threatens to cut L.A. power as payback for boycott.

 

LADWP To Arizona: 'Suck It, We Actually Own Your Power Plants'

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Top-notch conservative intellectual and Hegel scholar Glenn Beck is so mad at Rep. Anthony Weiner for attacking his beloved Goldline company that he has started a new website, WeinerFacts.com, to criticize the New York congressman, a socialist. Also, did you know that "Weiner" can also mean PENIS? There are some of those jokes, too, and they are fine.

 

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How the Rekers 'rent boy' scandal could undermine Prop 8 supporters' court battle.

 

 

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Bob Bennett still literally considering running as a write-in candidate

After elderly ultra-conservative right-wing extremist monster Utah Sen. Bob Bennett recently lost his party's nomination, for being too liberal, he was entertaining the idea of a write-in campaign for November. 

The only reason anyone votes in this country is because you don't have to write anything. You just check a box somewhere and then steal all of your polling place's complimentary muffins and bagels. Does Bob Bennett really think that people from the same state that voted against Bob Bennett for being too liberal are literate/caring enough to write out his entire name in such great volume that he would win? Showing up for that would take at least a tray of like… club sandwiches… or whatever's fancy these days. Potatoes filled with bacon.

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F**k these people:

 

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) was seeking the unanimous consent of the Senate to move forward on the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act, which would retroactively boost the legal cap of $75 million on how much companies must pay for economic damages.

But Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) blocked the effort, saying it would make drilling too expensive for smaller companies. "Big Oil would love to have these caps there so they can shut out all the independents," he said, echoing the argument of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who halted an identical move last week.

 

Inhofe is protecting the oil industry DURING an ongoing oil leak. How cool is that?

 

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Republican Rep. Mark Souder:

"I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff."

Dana Milbank asks:

When was it, exactly, that the Republican revolution merged with the sexual revolution?

With each passing year, the class notes for the famous House Republicans Class of '94 get more lurid.

Yes, Souder is simply another politician, Republican and Democrat, who has been unfaithful.  No big story there…except that Souder is yet another conservative hypocrite who preached family values while screwing around on his wife.  It is that aspect of the story which disgusts me most.  The classic case was Newt Gingrich who, day after day, pounded Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky matter while he himself was in the midst of a sizzling affair.  Scumbags.

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Own property on the Gulf Coast? Get your damage claim in now before our oil-soaked Congress and White House absolve BP of all blame.

 

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U.S. State Department Condemns Conviction Of Malawi Gay Couple

The U.S. State Department has denounced the Malawi government's conviction of two gay men for "unnatural acts and gross indecency."

"The United States is deeply disappointed in today's conviction of same-sex couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza in Malawi," said assistant secretary Phillip J. Crowley at a press briefing Wednesday. "We view the criminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity as a step backward in the protection of human rights in Malawi. The Government of Malawi must respect the human rights of all of its citizens. The United States views the decriminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity as integral to the protection of human rights in Malawi and elsewhere in the world."

Thank you, Secretary Clinton. It may not help these poor men, but it's better than silence.

 

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How could they not know the difference between a 5000 barrel a day outflow and one of damned near 20 times that much?  This gets more damned sickening by the hour.