Headlines - Tuesday August 3

Here's what your tax dollars are paying for.

 

###

 

What bothers us, at the center of our secular humanist souls, is that water even has to be declared a basic human right by the UN. And that the United States abstained from the vote. That pisses us off, too. "The United Nations General Assembly has declared for the first time that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right. In a historic vote Wednesday, 122 countries supported the resolution, and over forty countries abstained from voting, including the United States, Canada and several European and other industrialized countries. There were no votes against the resolution."

 

###

 

 

###

 

"Before we attend to the poor political judgment of such an extravagant affair during economic distress, let us wonder aloud where a poor boy who became president got such a fortune that he can blow $3,000,000 on a wedding. The American people did not take up a collection to reward him for his service to them. Where did the money come from? Who was he really serving during his eight years in office?" This shit came from Counterpunch, of which I'm not fully aware. Link

Is Counterpunch for Teabaggers or Clinton-hating Democrats?

Why do they hate the Clintons so much?

And whoever the lying whore is that was quoted, THEY KNOW where the Clintons got their money and it damn sure wasn't the profit they made off of their illegal wars of choice.
    
Oh, and I'd like to apologize for Chelsea falling in love and wanting to get married right after the Bush bastards broke the world's economy. 

Shame on her.
How selfish of Chelsea, wanting happiness.

At least Counterpunch didn't call Chelsea, "the White House dog," which means they probably have slightly more class than the vulgar Pigboy (not a compliment).

Lastly, the whore media just couldn't shut up about the "ugly costs" of this wedding.

If they capped the BP well on the same day, we wouldn't have heard about it because our whore media (and half the Democrats) were busy continuing the never-ending crucifixion of the best president America had in the last 60 years.
 
If the whore media (and half the Democrats) keep this up, we might be rewarded with President Jeb Bush in 2012.

I wish half the Democrats could realize that by tearing down Clinton, they are convincing undecideds that our biggest success since FDR is a loser and a scumbag.

Way to go, Democrats.

 

###

 

 

###

 

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes."- Jack Handey, SNL

 

###

 

###

 

"McCain would never put a 10% tax on tanning because he's pale and would probably want to be tan." -  Jersey's Shore's Snookie, on Obama's tax on taxing tanning booths,  Link

There go our brain-dead Democrats again - putting a tax on tanning booths - why?

So the GOP could, semi-rightly, complain that Democrats want to tax everyone to death?

That's why Obama's health care plan took 3,000 pages to explain - because the  idiot Democrats
kept adding complete bullshit like a f-ing tanning tax to the goddamn HC bill.

How did I get stuck in a party totally void of brains?

 If there was ANYWHERE else to go, I would've been there years ago.
 I want to get away from these idiot Democrats like I wanted to get away from the Catholics.


Quotes
 
"This is going to result in the largest tax increase in U.S. history and again it's idiotic,"Sarah Palin, Link

 Bible Barbie gets to mock the idiot Democrats because they do incredibly idiot shit
 like getting a tanning tax passed that, I assume, nobody knew about in advance.

 Oh God, how did I get stuck in a party that's so brain-dead,
 our thinkers can't out-think a complete moron like Sarah Palin?

 

###

 

Can't find any oil in the Gulf?
Stop looking where they tell you to look Link

###

 

David Stockman admitted DECADES AGO that Reagan's "trickle down" crap was always a sham. but STILL,
our idiot Democrats are losing the economic debate.

How is it possible our Democrats are so f-ing brain dead?

If my opponent ever admitted anything, I'd make sure that that admission was heard around the country DAILY
until the other side just couldn't take it any longer.

But no, we keep losing an argument that the GOP surrendered decades ago.

Bush's tax cuts will add TWO TRILLION DOLLARS to the debt, and our Democrats can't figure out how to debate this?

How is it possible our Democrats are so f-ing brain dead? Who taught them how to fight - Pee Wee Herman? 

 

### 

"See you boys later..."

 

###

 

The surreal world of the tea party movement

Welcome to their world.

The original Tea Party may have been in Boston, but some modern-day "tea party" activists are finding a powerful narrative this summer at a different historic landmark: Colonial Williamsburg.

Amid the history buffs and parents with young children wandering along the crushed shell paths of Virginia's restored colonial city, some noticeably angrier and more politically minded tourists can often be found.

They stand in the crowd listening closely as the costumed actors relive dramatic moments in the founding of our country. They clap loudly when an actor portraying Patrick Henry delivers his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. They cheer and hoot when Gen. George Washington surveys the troops behind the original 18th-century courthouse. And they shout out about the tyranny of our current government during scenes depicting the nation's struggle for freedom from Britain.

"General, when is it appropriate to resort to arms to fight for our liberty?" asked a tourist on a recent weekday during "A Conversation with George Washington," a hugely popular dialogue between actor and audience in the shaded backyard of Charlton's Coffeehouse.

The "self-described conservative activist" who asked the question noted:

"We live in a very dangerous time," Nieves said. "People are looking for leadership, looking for what to do. They're looking to Washington, Jefferson, Madison."

"I want to get to know our Founding Fathers," he added. "I think we've forgotten them. It's like we've almost erased them from history."

Watching teabaggers do their thing gives one a sense of what it would be like if you could live your life in a Dali painting.  A place where all it takes for a pretend President to be real is a wig, an eighteenth century costume and a healthy dose of insanity.

###

 

 

###

 

Paul Krugman: 'our governing elite doesn't care about economic distress' 

 

###

 

First they came for the wikileaks

If the Bill Kellers of the world had any sense, they'd be pushing back hard against stuff like Marc Thiessen's "let's waterboard Assange" piece. Instead, they're internalizing the same principle upon which Thiessen builds his whole argument: publishing classified information that may bring harm to someone makes Julian Assange a bad, bad man.

Assange is bad, according to Keller, because he didn't vet his material like a true journalist. Keller's justification is a bland assertion of something he can't know:

In our own publication, in print and on our website, we were careful to remove anything that could put lives at risk.

The Times has no way of knowing what puts people at risk in the Wikileaks material. There's always a chance that a story about a war is going to endanger lives, and the Times will have "blood on its hands", to use Liz Cheney's characteristically subtle formulation.

In better times, a New York Times editor might have the courage to use principles like the First Amendment to defend his newspaper's right to print classified leaks. He might even be making noises about shield laws, which encourage more illegal leaking. Instead, because Assange doesn't own a printing press or a broadcast station, he's a bad, bad man practicing some other trade than the noble calling of the true journalist, and he's to be derided, not protected.

It should be obvious to Keller and other true journalists that this is a very dangerous position to hold. Liz Cheney and Marc Thiessen think he's a bad, bad man, too, and they'd be happy for the FBI to snap him up and throw him in jail for publishing something that might possibly harm the US.

###

This is the future of the American worker 

There are no jobs. American corporations are sending what jobs they create overseas. There is no tax cut deep enough to make them have any sense of responsibility towards American citizens other than those wealthy enough to be stockholders. And that -- the profit motive NOT above all else, but EXCLUSIVE OF all else, is where capitalism falls apart.

 

So what happens to the American worker in a society in which we're told to work hard but there are no jobs?

http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-is-future-of-american-worker.html

 

###

 

Notorious baby mill operator, future resident of Bedlam, McCarthyite witch hunter and self-confessed confident of God, Miss November, Bachmann-the-Nut, was admitted to a Minnesotastan hospital for an undisclosed "illness" (mental?), to the horror of Teabaggers everywhere, worrying that their Borg Queen will be facing the Kenyan Usurper's Death Panel.

The Nut even had to cancel a campaign appearance for unpopular Missouri candidate (is that redundant?) Roy Blount, who in spite of the evidence is still living.

Anyway, they've tagged and released her. She wondering around Minnesotastan, frightening children and senior citizens, and alarming the simple.

###

###

Oil company, law enforcement block media access to public sites hit by Michigan oil spill.

###

Sarah Palin won't stop talking about Obama's genitals

Most of us missed yesterday's episode of "Fox News Sunday," because Sunday is the Lord's Day, the day when you crawl off the couch and dirtbike to church so you can show Jesus the new unregistered semiautomatic you purchased at Walmart. But anyway, back to this Fox News segment: Chris Wallace blurts out something about "the Arab Arizona immigration law," which is confusing because "Arab" should never be used as a compliment. But that is neither here nor there. The real hot-as-Tim Pawlenty's-hot-wife scoop is that Sarah Palin was too busy fantasizing about the size of Barack Obama's genitals to notice that Chris Wallace called Arizona "Arab".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7e_5qlWCQ&feature=player_embedded

 

We are shocked to learn that of all people, Jan Brewer is the one with the undocumented, Spanish testicles. Those things have papers, right? Washington Post

 

###

 

Wasillageddon

Bristol Palin Breaks Off Engagement With Levi Johnston, Ending Democracy As We Know It

For the past few weeks our nation has had hope. Bristol and Levi got back together! That is a leading indicator of decreasing unemployment, somehow, probably! But now those two kids no longer are getting married. It has been reported, with journalism, that Levi's pregnant ex-girlfriend is not the issue; rather, it's another ex-girlfriend, an ex-girlfriend with whom Bristol saw Levi in a Facebook photo. What does this mean for Levi's new job as OMB Director and the future of America itself? We could try to make you wait until after the jump to answer this question, but it's clear EVERYTHING IS RUINED.

Warblogger Mercede Johnston says Bristol's jealousy is always like this. All Mercede and her mom want to do is hang out with Levi's ex-girlfriends and give them gifts on Valentine's Day, but Bristol won't let them do it. AND NOW LOOK AT OUR ECONOMY.

But wait, could this all just be part of the plan?

Things now look even bleaker than before they were engaged, and that will make us all the more joyful when Bristol and Levi get paid to ANNOUNCE THEIR RE-RE-ENGAGEMENT on the cover of People magazine. And then it will be very, very bleak when they break off their engagement again when it is reported that Levi knocked up all three hygienists at the local Wal-Mart dentist's office. But then we will be very, very joyful when Bristol and Levi get paid to announce their re-re-re-engagement on the cover of Star magazine.

And repeat.

Here is a true market solution to fix our economy. Suck on that, Keynes. [E!]

###

Wisco: without hate, the teaparty is nothing.

###

This is the sort of thing that believing in magic sky wizards gets you "Four men have been convicted of murdering a couple in a bungled honour killing arson attack. ... Abdullah and Ayesha Mohammed were overcome by smoke after petrol was poured through the letter box of their Blackburn home and set alight. ... A jury at Preston Crown Court took just 90 minutes to find Hisamuddin Ibrahim, 21, Habib Iqbal, 25, Sadek Miah, 23, and Mohammed Miah, 19, guilty. ... The group's intended target lived in a house further down the street."

###

 

 

 

 

A federal court has ruled that Vitaminwater is nothing but a sugared drink and that its marketing is deceptive. The product is owned by Coca-Cola.

###

Today President Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq will cease on August 31st, with a transitional occupation force to remain for another year.

Meanwhile the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan continues to increase.

###

 

 

 

 

 

 

New from Young Heart Books is With My Rifle By My Side, a children's guide to the importance of the Second Amendment and the right to blow away fellow humans. Unsurprisingly, the book is from God's Gentle People™. "Young Heart Books encourage the young to seek the Lord in prayer, worship in church, and love the liberties provided by the sacrifices of our country's forefathers so they may grow into tomorrow's American patriots." Glenn Beck is a big fan.

###

On mosques and bigotry

DailyKos…

…the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks included innocent Muslims, some of whom were killed in the attacks. But when considering the pain and suffering of those who survived 9/11, or who were traumatized by it, it's worth considering that there are more than half a million Muslims living in New York City. They saw what other New Yorkers saw. They smelled what other New Yorkers smelled. They experienced the same devastating horror and sorrow. They were New Yorkers like any other New Yorkers. They were no more responsible for the attacks than were any other New Yorkers.

[...] The Muslim faith is no more responsible for the 9/11 attacks than is the Republican Party responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, perpetrated by registered Republican Timothy McVeigh. Should the Republican Party choose to build local headquarters near the Oklahoma City memorial site, would anyone object? This isn't about the pain and suffering of the 9/11 victims, it's about bigotry.

[...]

If all Muslims are to be held responsible for the horrors of 9/11, then all Americans are responsible for every act of bigotry and hatred perpetrated by those whose reactions to 9/11 were most irrational and extreme. Where does it end? Perhaps this is where it should end. Perhaps it's time to start getting this right. Perhaps it's time for people to rediscover their basic sense of humanity. Perhaps it's time to heal collective wounds rather than exploiting, deepening, and adding to them.

If the mosque was being built 200 blocks from Ground Zero instead of two, nothing would change in the minds of those opposed to its construction.  Nothing would change because this issue has nothing to do with proximity and everything to do with bigotry.  It really is that simple a matter.

###

From Jon Perr at Crooks and Liars, a powerful weapon:

So it's come down to this. On Saturday, David Stockman, the legendary Reagan budget chief who presided over the Gipper's supply-side tax cuts, announced that the "debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party's embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits don't matter if they result from tax cuts." The next day, the former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who famously helped sell the 2001 Bush tax cuts to Congress, declared them simply "disastrous."

Sadly, Stockman and Greenspan are just about the only voices in the Republican Party speaking the truth about the fiscal devastation wrought by the expiring Bush tax cuts. After all, the national debt tripled under Ronald Reagan, only to double again during the tenure of George W. Bush. And as it turns out, the Bush tax cut windfall for the wealthy accounted for almost half the budget deficits during his presidency and, if made permanent, would contribute more to the U.S. budget deficit than the Obama stimulus, the TARP program, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and revenue lost to the recession - combined. Of course, you'd never know it listening to the leaders of GOP.

And that's just the beginning. Here, then, are 10 Republican Lies about the Bush tax cuts:

Lie #1: Democrats Plan Across the Board Tax Hikes on January 1st
Lie #2: Democrats Want a $3.8 Trillion Tax Increase
Lie #3: Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves
Lie #4: The Bush Tax Cuts Didn't Add to the Deficit
Lie #5: Expiring High Income Tax Cuts Will Hurt Small Business
Lie #6: The Estate Tax Devastates Small Businesses and Family Farms
Lie #7: The Bush Tax Cuts Helped All Americans
Lie #8. Extending Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy is the Best Way to Stimulate the Economy
Lie #9. Bush Tax Cuts Produced 52 Straight Months of Job Growth
Lie #10: The Rich Pay Too Much in Taxes Already

For the details, data and charts for each, read the whole thing.

Then call and email your members of Congress and tell them to let the bush tax cuts for the rich expire.

###

Cue the cries of "anti-Semitism" because Yaweh knows that you can never, ever, ever criticise Israel or question anything they do, no matter how thuggish and barbaric their behavior, because no one has ever suffered like the Jews and therefore the policies of the Hebrew Theocracy are above reproach. Or something. We don't get it. We want them to grow the fuck up and learn to get on with the neighbors and stop acting like assole neighbors all the time.

###

How many thousands more will get the death penalty by electrocution for the capital crime of not submitting instantly to a cop's hysterical demands? 

As always, Digby:

Here's an excellent story in the St Petersburg Times about tasers. People are beginning to notice that the police are using these things willy nilly --- and it's killing people.

As I've said before, if a prescription drug were shown to have killed this many people the government would have withdrawn it from the market and class action lawsuits would be pending no matter how many people the drug had also helped. For some reason few people seem to think that all these deaths of innocent people by electrocution at the hands of police are cause for concern:

Late one night in October, a 17-year-old on a bike was chased by a police officer in a cruiser. When the boy refused to stop, the officer aimed his Taser out the driver's window and fired. The boy fell off the bike and the cruiser ran over him, killing him.

Victor Steen was the fourth person who died in Florida in 2009 in an incident in which a Taser was used. It was the 57th such death since 2001, according to statistics compiled by Amnesty International and the St. Petersburg Times. At the time this placed Florida first in the nation as the state with the most fatalities related to Tasers, a weapon that delivers an incapacitating electrical jolt.

Number 54 was a mentally ill man in Fort Lauderdale who was hit with a Taser in April as he wandered in traffic, refusing to go with police. He had a heart attack and died at a hospital.

SNIP

Taser International, the maker of the weapon, denies that these deaths were caused by its product. Yet, these four unconnected cases illustrate a worrisome trend in Taser use.

There is no question that Tasers frequently save lives by offering law enforcement officers a nonlethal means of stopping people who present a threat to the officers, the public or themselves. But as the four fatal cases from 2009 show, Tasers are also being used to subdue people who appear to pose no threat.

Read on for the details.

This is truly a terrible problem. Thousands of people are dying now. It's giving police officers a distorted sense of power and they are losing their good judgment. (Tasering a kid on a moving bike in traffic? What was he thinking?) And despite what Taser International says, people who knowing or unknowingly have heart conditions shouldn't have to die because they don't instantly comply with an police officer's order. The mentally ill or those having an epileptic fit shouldn't have to die because they can't process those orders or physically comply with them. It's a downright Orwellian excuse that because tasers often kill people who are sick or on drugs, they aren't responsible for the deaths.

And that doesn't even get into the civil liberties implications of this weapon which are horrific --- shooting electricity into citizens to gain compliance used to be known as torture, but now is considered a law enforcement "tool" so benign that nobody blinks an eye when it's used haphazardly against people who just happen to look at a cop sideways (which happens frequently.)The idea that in a free society the police are allowed to shoot people full of electricity for any reason is beyond bizarre.