It was probably a case of "Hey, Billy Joe Bob, I'm frostin' the cake--should ah spay-ell that Yoo-ro-peen place lahk Mama spay-ells her name--L-Y-N-N-E--or is it jes' plain ol L-Y-N after the BER. Also, d'ya think ah made his eyebrows too bushy and furriner-lookin'?"
From Eugene Delgaudio, a member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors (as opposed to The Onion ... or reality):
When the young men are sufficiently intoxicated, homosexuals dressed as pirates whisk them away to God knows where to take advantage of them sexually.
There are even countless stories of any number of immoral sex act being performed by open homosexuals - some even in broad daylight during the event.
Pro-family citizens and churches in Tampa are horrified and unfortunately VASTLY outnumbered and overwhelmed by the popularity of the event.
One mother complained her three year old had witnessed a man performing oral sex on a Jack Sparrow look alike in her front yard.
As long as the Radical Homosexuals run free in our streets, they will continue to spread their debauchery and corrupt our culture.
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In a presentation at CPAC on Thursday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) called on Republicans to hold the government hostage until President Obama abandons his dream of reforming the nation's health care system. ...
The reform law signed by Obama last year includes what King called "self-enacting appropriations" -- mandatory spending -- which means they'll kick in on their own unless Congress passes a law to stop them. King's plan: tell Obama that unless he agrees to kill that spending, the GOP will refuse to pass new legislation to fund the government, which runs out of money on March 4.
Without that legislation, the government would shut down. And, voilà: a government held for ransom.
So Steve King wants a hostage situation...give up on health care reform, or the government gets a bullet in the brain.
But his "brilliant" little plan has a not-so-tiny little problem...you see, the Republicans are already threatening a government shutdown over the budget.
That means Steve King wants to take something hostage that's already been taken hostage. And everybody in the hostage-taking business knows you can't take a hostage twice.
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Another world leader quits
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Wisco on Egypt.
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In the search for ways to kick people who are already down, Florida Republicans have come up with a new idea: Require unpaid volunteer service to qualify for unemployment benefits.
Florida's jobless could soon have to do unpaid work for a non-profit group in order to be eligible for unemployment benefits.State Rep. Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) recently introduced a bill that would require the state's unemployed to do at least four hours of unpaid service each week to qualify for benefits.
...Under the bill, residents who don't meet the volunteer service requirements could be denied unemployment benefits, which could shore up a system that already has a $2.07 billion deficit.
So Florida Republicans plan to fix their budget problems by requiring people to obtain unpaid jobs just to qualify for the unemployment insurance which they paid into at their former real job.
Passidomo says the experience gained from volunteering could lead to getting a real job. I suppose it could do that, if real jobs are even available. Of course it could also lead to the creation of a new unemployed slave class of people. Maybe, just maybe, it would be a better idea to create real jobs, with real pay, to rebuild a healthy tax-base.
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So the Rude Pundit was watching the (now celebratory) Egyptian uprising on CNN when he noticed that every single random protester interviewed by the news network's reporters was incredibly articulate and thoughtful in their comments on Mubarak and democracy. In English, which, one can presume, is not their first language. And then he thought about recent American "protests," the Tea Party rallies and teabag fests, and how not a single one of the "average" people interviewed there made a goddamned lick of sense. In English, which, one can presume, is the native language of the teabaggers.
Whereas an Egyptian in Tahrir Square generally says things about how Mubarak has demonstrably repressed the masses of citizens, a teabagger makes sputtering, guttural noises that amount to "Blurgh. Obama. Blurgh," which has about as much of a basis in reality as it does in English syntax and grammar. It's a fascinating phenomenon, one that should probably be studied by linguists, sociologists, and stand-up comedians.
Indeed, one of the things the events in Egypt have shown Americans is what a serious effort to overthrow a government looks like. It's enormous, it's sustained, and it's angry. If one calls one's movement a "tea party," even if it's named after the night a bunch of drunken thugs in costume hired by greedy merchants vandalized British ships, then one shouldn't be surprised if one's movement behaves like a bunch of little girls pouring water into tiny cups for their stuffed bears.
Now, below, this is a totally unfair comparison, to an extent. It's two photos from Egypt and two photos from the 9/12 DC rally (from a pro-Tea Party website):
This man is protesting on despite his injuries.
This man's sign says, "We will not quit." You can bet he's quit.
These Egyptian women are furious in their demands for justice in their children and their nation.
If you can pose and smile with your friends for a group photo that you're not ashamed to post to someone's blog and if your rally is a nice day out, then your protest is worth about as much as the effort it took to make your shitty signs.The other difference? In Egypt, they have been revolting against a government that has stripped away their rights, with the arrest and random torture of citizens, with a three-decade state of emergency in existence, with corruption wrecking the standard of life for the populace. The Egyptians have been intense and unrelenting, sacrificing their time, their bodies, their jobs, and, in some cases, their lives in order to guarantee democracy in their country, doing so with comparatively little violence. In the United States, a few cranks didn't like the way an election went. And they wandered aimlessly for a little while, listening to their incoherent speakers, fondling their guns that most of them will never really use, but, oh, they can fantasize, and then they went home until it was time to vote again, probably stopping at the Taco Bell drive-thru on the way to watch Beck on the Tivo.
Now, which method worked? So, dear, pseudo-active teabaggers, put up or shut up. But mostly, shut up. And enjoy the sight of an actual revolution instead of your fake one. Watch history being made instead of pretending that you are part of anything other than a minor blip on a dim radar.
...Greenwald:
I find it ironic that this is being revealed at the same moment that I'm watching the events in Egypt unfold on my TV in the background. Lot's of talk about freedom there, with shots of Joe Biden in the corner of the screen extolling the virtues of democracy and liberty for all. And as an American I don't think I've ever felt more paranoid in my life.
...The law is only for us. If you're a corporation or filthy rich, you can do as you please. Maybe it's time for our own Cairo?
There are supposed to be institutions which limit what can be done in pursuit of those private-sector goals. They're called "government" and "law." But those institutions are so annexed by the most powerful private-sector elites, and so corrupted by the public officials who run them, that nobody -- least of all those elites -- has any expectation that they will limit anything. To the contrary, the full force of government and law will be unleashed against anyone who undermines Bank of America and Wall Street executives and telecoms and government and the like (such as WikiLeaks and supporters), and will be further exploited to advance the interests of those entities, but will never be used to constrain what they do. These firms vying for Bank of America's anti-WikiLeaks business know all of this full well, which is why they concluded that proposing such pernicious and possibly illegal attacks would be deemed not just acceptable but commendable.
Fuck donating to politicians, support WikiLeaks and support Anonymous. They are our last line of defense.
Nancy Pelosi's extremely blunt assessments of the true motives of Republicans are why her supporters love her and her enemies hate her with equal passion, and on a conference call with bloggers just now, she unleashed a slashing attack on the House GOP's new anti-abortion push that may churn up emotions on both sides.Pelosi -- who promised a huge fight against House Republicans over the issue in the days ahead -- didn't hold back one bit, claiming the new legislative push by Republicans "disrespects the judgment of American women."
"I don't know if they ever give that a thought," she added.
Pelosi described the GOP push as the "most radical assault" on women's reproductive rights "in our lifetimes." And she was equally blunt in her assessment of right-wing assaults on family planning.
"They are at a different philosophical place," she said, characterizing their view as: "all engagement has to result in a child." Pelosi noted that contraception and family planning is "not consistent with their belief that it's all about procreation."
Digby comments:
That's right. And it's why there is no "common ground" to be found on this issue. I know that's uncomfortable for many good liberals who just want more than anything to not have a fight with Republicans on ... well, anything. But it's either fight or get rolled over.You can't compromise with people who want you dead.I feel fairly confident that the progressive House Democrats are not going to falter on this. But the Senate is where this kind of deal making really happens and if it gets there, I'm not entirely sure that it won't pass. So Pelosi is calling for liberals to man the barricades.
She has good reason to be worried. It's going to be very difficult for the GOP to deliver the kind of government the Teabaggers are demanding. The Democrats are likely to cave, of course, on some things that we hold very dear. But Obama will not let them do too much damage to his signature health care plan and the planned cuts in social security won't manifest themselves for some time. They need to give these people something they really, really want and I would guess that, as usual, female sacrifice will fit the bill. It's not like it's "important" and selling out women always sends a positive "signal" to all those independents and Villagers who must be appeased with a constant stream of nonsensical bullshit, that the Democrats are in tune with Real America.
More of this please:
Pelosi added that the unreconcilable philosophical differences between Republicans and Dems on abortion left Dems no choice but to adopt a scorched-earth approach to the war ahead. "We don't have a set of shared values," she said. "We have to fight this out in the public domain, so when we move to the Senate it has no popular support."
