Friday, January 7, 2011

Headlines - Friday January 7

 
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"I love the idea of reading the Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives..." the vulgar Pigboy
 
Sure, that's a cute gimmick,  but how many jobs will it create?
 
Thank you Jesus for letting us change things. Wait, no, we don't want to change any more! STOP!
 
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"America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani is reportedly seeking to give new life to his national profile by running for president in 2012.

 
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From Bartcop:
 
Hello Bart!
Happy New Year!

So, about those birds.  Internal trauma, not external, eh? 

ha ha

Doesn't that kind of rule out the fireworks AND the weather ideas? 
Seems to me, that logic would dictate that if it were fireworks or weather
there would have been some external damage done and visible, no? 

Let's go out on a limb and take into account the large fish kill that happened
as well, not that far away.  I'm beginning to suspect that perhaps Uncle Sam
got his hands on a new Tesla style, directed energy type weapon and had some fun. 

I'm certainly open to other ideas, but this one seems to fit the "internals ruined,
outside just fine, thanks!" shoe, in my opinion…If so, that's some seriously scary shiz! 

What's to say they won't turn it on some unsuspecting humans of a bothersome
nature at some point?  Since there is no external damage, they can easily walk away
with no accountability. 

Call me kooky (OK, I'll do it – I'm kooky!), but this explanation of fireworks or weather just doesn't add up…
Dennis in Portland


Another point - it happened at night when the birds weren't flying.

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"If they want to vote their very first vote to take away prescription drug money from 
senior citizens, to take away coverage for young Americans 21 through 26, to take away coverage for people who have pre-existing conditions—this is the first thing they want to do. If they want that fight, bring it on.  That that's exactly the kind of debate that we want to have." 
- Rep Anthony Weiner (D-NY) today's Alan Grayson (compliment)   
theangryliberal.blogspot.com
 
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Batshit Bachmann to run in 2012?
If so, it's a gift from Baby Jesus!



Link

Can you imagine a debate between Batshit and the Publicity Whore?
 
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I don't think they should be allowed to sell you "A" and then serve you "B."

Graphics from http://www.alphaila.com

Sometimes more government is good.
 
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Pete Sessions of TEXAS! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

It seems that even after a grandstanding performance of reading the Constitution aloud today, the comprehension level of the GOP is, well, at a Mooselini level, i.e., low to none:

Call it a stumble out of the gate. Or a failure to find the gate entirely. Veteran Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and freshman Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) failed to make the official swearing in ceremony yesterday, a violation of the Constitution that has sent Republicans scrambling and briefly brought an end to the new majority's push to repeal the health care reform law.

So... where were they, you ask? At a fundraiser. But you see, they thought that they had it covered. They claimed that they took the oath of office while watching it on the teevee machine. 

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Wisco: The GOP's $100 Billion Lie
 
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First Sarah Palin's Alaska and now this. Time for The Learning Channel to change its name.
 
Disgraced pastor, rentboy patron, and accused meth-head Ted Haggard has landed a reality show.
Ted Haggard is coming to TLC. The controversial Christian evangelical is getting his own reality project on the cable network. Ted Haggard: Scandalous will air as a one-hour special on the network. The special, produced by RelativityReal and debuting Jan. 16, follows Haggard as he announces his new ministry in Colorado Springs, Colo. — the same town he left after the scandal. Naturally, if the special performs well, TLC might expand the concept into a full series.
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Openly gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) tangled today with lunatic Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who says that health care reform is unconstitutional because some babies are born in trash cans and never see a doctor. I sincerely have zero idea what that is supposed to mean.
 
 
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As Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) read the Constitution's stipulation that the president must be a natural-born citizen, a woman in the gallery of the U.S. House shouted, "Except for Obama! Except for Obama! Help us Jesus!" She was immediately removed. So much for the sanctity of our nation's most-revered document. UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, World Net Daily is ecstatic.
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Poll on the pope's qualifications as a physicist
 
The Pope has announced that God was the cause behind the Big Bang, which is nice…but unfortunately, he hasn't shown any data, nor has he published in any of the physics journals. Instead, we're going to have to rely on a poll.

The pope says God was behind the Big Bang, which scientists believe created the universe. What do you think?

God created everything in seven days as the Bible says, no Big Bang necessary. 13.2%
There is no God and the Big Bang was probably responsible for all creation. 21.2%
I agree with the Pope. If there was a Big Bang, it was God's work. 39.7%
No one really knows and likely never will. 25.9%

What? No "The Pope is making it all up" option?

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Teabagger Rep. Allen West says that President Obama is a chickenshit for secretly landing Air Force One under the cover of darkness when visiting Afghanistan. The president should totally come under the same enemy fire that our brave soldiers do every day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PQRuLwuyto&feature=player_embedded
 
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Bill Daley, the man with solid ties to Wall Street and the man who said in a 2010 NYT interview that the Obama administration…

""…miscalculated on health care. The election of '08 sent a message that after 30 years of center-right governing, we had moved to center left — not left."

is President Obama's new Chief of Staff.

Daley's resume:

  • Son and brother of Chicago mayors.
  • Banker and lawyer.
  • Commerce secretary under Clinton.
  • Senior executive with JPMorgan Chase.

Opinion and thought from the blogoshphere…

"…Daley's method, allowing extreme positions to redefine the parameters of the debate, is almost surely the wrong way."

"I think liberal criticism of some potential Obama nominees is overblown… But putting a figure like Daley in a position of strategic importance seems like a major blunder." - Jonathan Chait

"The Daley pick seems like a bad idea to me. The particular theory of politics he espouses seems woefully detached from the realities of the modern partisan environment… But you can certainly read this post as evidence that Daley is a singular political talent, and the Obama administration would be well served by hiring someone able to sustain these sorts of contradictions." - Ezra Klein

"There's been a lot written about how this pick is sure to anger the liberal base, because the optics of appointing a banker as chief of staff are bad and because Daley early on urged Obama to chart a more "centrist" course. But I think there's another problem worth pointing out, though it's probably not too high on Obama's list of concerns. The Daley pick will inevitably reinforce a faulty interpretation of Obama's first two years: That Obama governed from the far left." – Greg Sargent

Progressives have already begun bitching about Daley being a moderate and his close ties to business.

"This was a real mistake by the White House," said Adam Green with BoldProgressives.org. "Bill Daley consistently urges the Democratic Party to pursue a corporate agenda that alienates both independent and Democratic voters."

I haven't read any commentary yet from conservatives but they'll no doubt refer to Daley as a socialist, a radical and a Chicago hoodlum…blah, blah, blah.  Whatever.

I have no idea how any of this will play out but Daley has his hands full negotiating the President's agenda with the current crop of clowns in Congress…and I'm referring to both Dems and Republicans.

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Funny Somewhat Topical Ecard: I hope the care you receive under health care reform helps keep you alive long enough to see the repeal of health care reform.

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Republicans block Congressional health care disclosure. Can't have any of us knowing which ones are getting free socialized medicine.

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Via ThinkProgress:
WILLIAMS: Name a program right now that we could do without.

BOEHNER: I don't think I have one off the top of my head.
Perhaps a little less time at the tanning salon.

HuffPost Hill notes what comes later on in the same interview:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: When you go home next, is there a sidewalk, a place, a person that's kind of a talisman to grab onto? Again, talkin' about strength and the new job?

JOHN BOEHNER: Well, I get strength every day just uh, going to my Facebook site.
For a guy who cries a lot, there doesn't seem to be a heck of a lot going on upstairs.
 
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How long do you think the Republicans will put up with this?

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that the nation's "extreme fiscal duress" now required him to call for cuts in the size of the Army and Marine Corps, reversing the significant growth in military spending that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

...
Their "constituents" in the Military Industrial Complex will make sure full funding is restored tout suite. We have to go to war with Iran eventually; how can you cut the defense budget?
 
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Jill: The story of the you-can't-make-this-up-named Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden pipes who has in just a few days gone from the street to media darlinghood, is a lovely one. But the insanity surrounding the multiple offers and the relentless media self-congratulation on giving a hidden gem the exposure warranted by a media that loves a resonant voice disguises the larger problem of homelessness in this country.
 
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funny graphs - Runway or Run Away?
 
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Repeat after me:  "We won't pay for their crisis."

John Nichols at The Nation:

In 2010, the new theme of the Washington elites was that the U.S. had spent itself into a financial mess. President Obama's "Deficit Commission," Republicans in Congress and even some Democrats were all saying that the country was broke and that it was going to be necessary to put Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs at risk to balance the books.

That's right. They want working Americans to sacrifice in order to pay off the debts they ran up on their wars and bailouts?

And what do defense contractors and big banks get under the scenario that is currently in play? More federal contracts, more bailouts, more tax breaks.

The close of 2010 saw the Obama administration and congressional Republicans working together to extend tax breaks for billionaires, create new estate-tax exemptions for millionaires and weaken the underpinnings of Social Security. Now, Washington is abuzz with speculation about the prospect that the next Obama-GOP project will be a formal assault on Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid-with an announcement coming in the State of the Union address.

What's the proper response?

Remember who got us in this mess?

Reject the spin of those who would suggest that "entitelment programs" ever were or are the problem.

Recognize the genius of the slogan heard on the streets of European cities as governments sought to spread the pain caused by financial speculators to the whole society.

The banners declared: "We Won't Pay For Their Crisis."

That should be the starting point for any American response to the threat of austerity.

Of course, there is a place for fiscal responsibility. But there is also a place for moral responsibility. Those who created the mess should shoulder the burden of cleaning it up.  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid did not create this crisis, war profiteering and Wall Street speculation did. So before any working family sacrifices, the first demand should be that the profiteers and the speculators pay for their crisis.

 
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For the last few years, as the rest of the world has been watching Iran with bated breath, fearing that they might get the bomb any minute now, I have been saying "excuse me, but if you want to get all worked up and in a lather over something that might actually be a threat to our way of life, worry about China and the fact that they are fast-and-furious
building a blue-water navy and developing stealth technology for their bombers."

Congratulations, China. You're a superpower.

If you think the timing is coincidental, I have a bridge to sell you.

China is no longer in a defensive crouch. Instead, it is staning up and flexing muscles and embracing the concept of deterence through strength and the projection of power and influence beyond it's borders. A decade of modernization and dedicated efforts to use their noew economic clout to beef up their military are paying handsome dividends for the Chinese.

That's not to day they have caught us yet -- they haven't -- but they have the people, the money and the dedication to science and technology that we used to have that let us recover after Sputnik and win not just the space race but the Cold War, too.

If we don't get our shit together and stop giving tax cuts to rich people while simultaneously gutting education and putting science on trial for witchcraft, we better learn Mandarin.

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If you do that so much, your face will stick like that.

The military must be pretty confused, as they probably thought they were the ones who were supposed to implement military policies, but nope! Wrong answer! It's John McCain who will go door to door, barrack to barrack, making sure the troops know that they're allowed to be gay now, so they don't freak out or anything. "It is a law and I have to do whatever I can to help the men and women who are serving, particularly in combat, cope with this new situation. I will do everything I can to make it work," he said. John McCain may not like it very much, but because his Senate colleagues say he has to personally help gay soldiers have sex with each other, he will put on a pair of rubber gloves and get to work. READ MORE »