Thursday, March 10, 2011

Headlines - Thursday March 10

Science is hard
Your liberal media: 

Both sides claim science. Will this article tell us if both sides have anything to back up their claims?

Any guesses?

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/03/09/science-is-hard/

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Republicans for military dictatorship

President Obama recently drew the ire of critics when he ordered the continuation of military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, and what critics fail to acknowledge or recognize is that the president has been left with very little choice.

President Obama signed an order to close Guantanamo the day he took office, but congress has repeatedly, and unanimously, voted against closing Guantanamo, moving the detainees to secure locations inside the United States, or even carrying out civilian trials. This leaves the president with no choice other than to proceed with trials in the only way that they can, which is by continuing the process in a military court located at Guantanamo. The only other option is indefinite detention without trial, which no one wants.

Republicans in congress actually want to take things a step further now. They want to completely cut the Department of Justice out of the loop, and place the interrogation and detention of prisoners entirely in the hands of the Department of Defense. They want the processing of military prisoners to occur completely outside of civilian law without any oversight by the nations chief law enforcement official.

This would place the military's handling of detainees above the law and above oversight in the name of "national security."

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are teaming up with Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee to write legislation that would take decisions about trying detainees out of the attorney general's hands and hand that power to the secretary of defense.

In the wake of the White House's new executive order allowing Guantanamo detainees to be held indefinitely, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) unveiled legislation that would, among other things, affirm the military's right to detain, hold and interrogate detainees at its discretion without Department of Justice or Attorney General Eric Holder involvement.

"affirm the military's right to detain, hold and interrogate detainees at its discretion without Department of Justice or Attorney General Eric Holder involvement"

What could possibly go wrong?

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E.J. Dionne: How Boehner is playing the Democrats
 
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Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O'Brien is calling on Maryland's Catholics to pray and fast on this Friday in order that God hears their call to prevent same-sex marriage. Good As You has the rest of his message:
"The institution of marriage can only belong to the union of one man and one woman because nature – not social prejudice – has given this relationship the unique capacity to bring children into the world," Archbishop O'Brien said. "It is for this reason that religion and governments alike have bestowed special recognition upon this relationship for thousands of years. We commend those political leaders who have had the courage to stand by their convictions by voting to uphold our society's most fundamental institution…The value of marriage must not be abandoned for the sake of partisan politics or political gain. It is not too late for the members of the House of Delegates to hear from God's people and to vote in accordance with their true conscience to uphold marriage."
And in a priest-related story:
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has suspended 21 priests for involvement in the sexual abuse of minors. The suspensions come after a grand jury found that 37 priests in the diocese were implicated in such abuse.
Continue reading 'Catholic Church Suspends 21 Priests For Allegations of Child Abuse'
 
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It's A Power Grab

Was more confirmation needed of the fact that the situation in Wisconsin is all about power? State Senator Scott Fiztgerald (R-Prick) apparently thought so. He appeared on Fox News today with Megyn Kelley to give us the goods.

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On every US armored vehicle, drone, helicopter and fighter jet there should be a sign "9 year old children ripped apart here", or "Wedding parties crashed here".

Hypocrites.

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In an announcement that has many civil libertarians charging hypocrisy, the Obama Administration has gone public with a commitment to hold Moammar Gaddafi accountable for war crimes. This is the same Administration that has been denounced internationally for blocking any prosecution of Bush officials, including Bush himself, for alleged torture and war crimes. This includes the recently disclosed communications with the Spanish government revealing that the Obama Administration pressured Spain to shutdown its own war crimes inquiry.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley insisted that the Administration would insist on the full investigation and prosecution of Gaddafi and his family. Crowley insisted "[w]e are going to hold him accountable."

To be sure, the Bush Administration did not commit the wide array of atrocities of the Gaddafi. However, the Administration is claiming the very authority over alleged war crimes that it blocked in Spain. The announcement is likely to increase the view around the world that the United States applies one law to itself and one law to the rest of the world.

Source: CNN

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Maybe it's their right under the law, but it's interesting that nearly 3,000 millionaires collected unemployment benefits last year.

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Mountain goats astound me. Here's a bunch of them scaling a near-vertical dam.

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The fix for high oil prices? Regulate the speculators.

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War criminal Donald Rumsfeld On Facebook, Wants To Be On 'America's Next Top Model'

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Newt Gingrich Committed Adultery Because America Made Him Horny

'Oh yeah, baby, oh yeah, you like when I stick it in your Mississippi? Yeah, does that make you wet? UHHHHHHHNGHHHHH.'

Presidential candidate/kitsch 1990s artifact Newt Gingrich knows he's going to have to explain why he had so many affairs when he was trying to remove President Clinton from office for getting a blowjob, and here's how he explained it to CBN in what appears to be some kind of tractor shed for storing murder victims: "There's no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard, and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate." Ah, there you go! Newt was so horny for America he would have sex with anything, and probably even made his mistresses dress up in a map of the United States in the sack so he could act out his fantasy. Newt Gingrich will stop committing adultery as soon as this country stops looking so gosh-darn beautiful! It's not his fault! Keep reading here.

"We understand, Mr. Gingrich, that to show the love you have for your country, every time you committed adultery you first sang The Star-Spangled Banner and recited the Pledge of Allegiance."

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Wisconsin State Senate Just Passed the Anti-Union Provisions of the Budget Repair Bill. What the hell?

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The company they keep

In case you didn't already know what a pair of nasty bastards the Koch brothers are, Rick Ungar at of all places Forbes.com introduces us to Tim Phillips, the face of the Koch-founded astroturf group Americans for Prosperity (sic): http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/03/company-they-keep.html

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Welcome to the party, Gray Lady!

The New York Times has finally picked up on the fact that Rep. Peter King was for terrorism a long time before he was against it.

King unwittingly proves the truth to the old saying that "one man's terroist is another man's freedom fighter." King was a supporter of the IRA for many years and he mouthed lots of excuses for the IRA's use of bombs against civilians. Pub-bombings, knee-cappings, assassinations of opposing political figures, none of that disturbed a hair on the head of King when it was the IRA doing it.

But now, King sees political hay to be made by switching from supporting terrorism to opposing it.

But, but white people can't be terrorists!

Federal agents [yesterday] arrested an ex-soldier with ties to the white supremacist movement and charged him with planting the backpack bomb along the planned route of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day march in downtown Spokane.

Kevin William Harpham, 36, of Colville, could face life imprisonment on charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered explosive device, according to documents on file in U.S. District Court.
The second charge boggles my mind. It is just peachy to own an IED if you register it with the ATF?

Anyway, this clown got pretty damn close to killing a lot of people. But some city workers (the same people that Republicans hate so much) discovered the bomb first.

Of course, this guy is a white dude, given that
he has ties to neo-Nazis. Which means that Congressman Peter "I was For Terrorism Before I Was Against It" King won't be at all interested. It is also why you won't find many conservatives screeching to send this clown to Gitmo.
 
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Ohio plans to execute man with animal euthanasia drug.
 
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Digby: American Dreamers
 
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Just don't hurt their feelings by calling them racist, mmkay?
 
Another scalp

NPR's CEO has resigned. This approach of bending over and taking it every time you upset the wingnuts is proving to be really successful.

And I love the rules. Say true but harsh things in private, and you have to go. Make up awful nonsense, and you get a gig at Fox, a Vice Presidential nomination, or a Senate seat.

Steve M. described this inanity perfectly:

GUY WHO THINKS ALL TEABAGGERS ARE RACISTS UPSETS PEOPLE WHO THINK ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS

Ron Schiller, NPR's former senior vice president of fundraising (he quit last week), was filmed by James O'Keefe's crew discussing a possible $5 million contribution to NPR with two guys who identified their (fictional) organization as "founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood." Schiller didn't take the money, but he said some embarrassing stuff.

Later, he wrote that the problem is the dems forgot how to punk.  I agree, but now that we're the punkees, the problem is that we're surrendering instead of fighting back.

The man was recorded telling the truth about proven facts that can be backed up with miles of videotape.

When you are accused of repeating facts, especially by people who lie for a living, you never, NEVER, NEVER apologize.

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This sounds strange to us - the Shiite Iranians arming the Sunni Taliban? "The foreign secretary has condemned Tehran's "completely unacceptable" behaviour after British Special Forces seized a shipment of suspected Iranian arms intended for the Taliban. The 48 rockets are understood to have been intercepted in Nimruz Province, in southern Afghanistan, on 5 February. UK officials say technical analysis showed they had come from Iran. William Hague said Iran's actions were at odds with its claim to "support stability and security in Afghanistan". The rockets are understood to have a much greater range than the weapons currently available to Taliban insurgents."

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Not having a passport gives you diabetes

Cue the banjos.
Hey, look what happens when you put together a map of the density of diabetics in the U.S. with one of passport ownership! (You get fired from NPR, is what happens.) Isn't it funny how every map of the U.S. like these are basically the same? Somebody find us a map of dentists per capita so we can throw that up there too. READ MORE »

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I

 
So, these religiously insane handjobs have a right to scream
"God hates fags" at a soldier's funeral, but a cameraman has
NO RIGHT to film the Supreme Court while they're in session?
 
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