Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Headlines - Wednesday April 6

I'll be out of town for 2 1/2 weeks ...... 
 
 
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Tax Returns Forensics - Brisket ® Palin was paid $260,000 by the Candies foundation to "to educate America's youth about the devastating consequences of teen pregnancy." And how much did Candies give to actual teen pregnancy prevention? $35,000. (Jezebel)
 
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Timing is everything - "I'm fired up, I don't know about everyone else." - President Carebear. On the same day that Obama starts his 2012 re-election campaign, he caves on civilian trials for 9-11 terrorists, thus negating his first pledge as President. (NYTimes)
 
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"No means no. No means no if you're drunk or if you're sober," Biden said. "No means no if you're in bed in a dorm or on the street. No means no, even if you said yes at first, and you changed your mind." -- Joe Biden, talking about campus rapes Link

Did you see that creepy footage on CBS yesterday?
They showed a couple of dozen "frats" at Yale chanting, "No means yes."

Apparently Yale has a rape problem and they aren't punishing the guilty. 
 
 

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REVEALED: Homophobic Hag Who Attacked Gauguin's Topless Ladies

Oh, no grudge at all!

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Robert Reich: Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich
 
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Not only did God kill all those birds in Arkansas because of the repeal of DADT, the earthquake in Japan and that tsunami? Totally because of gay soldiers in the U.S.
 
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A reader and former health insurance executive examined Paul Ryan's ridiculous Medicare privatization plan (see also this) and came up with the following analysis:

A Medicare supplement such as BC/BS Plan 65 covers the 20% of the allowed charge that Medicare does not cover--and note that the Medicare deductible is $100 yearly.

Now, presumably, BC/BS makes a reasonable profit on this. It would seem reasonable that if BC/BS Plan 65 had to cover 100% of the cost, it would need to price its product at five times the cost of its supplement. That is, 5 X 20% = 100%.

I just got off the phone with BC/BS. At that rate the MONTHLY premium for one aged 73 would be $900; at age 80 or older, the MONTHLY premium would be $1200.

THESE ARE MINIMUM RATES; THE ACTUAL RATE WOULD BE DETERMINED BY THE UNDERWRITERS.

Does anyone think the typical 73 year old retired person can afford $10,800 yearly for health insurance or that a typical eighty year old person can afford $14,400 yearly for health insurance?

Think about that; more than $20,000 yearly for a couple at age 73; almost $30,000 yearly for an elderly couple 80 or older to purchase health insurance.

But Paul Ryan is "bold and brave" for coming up with such awfulness, according to the Washington corporate press. Shame on all of them.

Adding... There's a reason why Medicare cuts and privatization, as well as raising the retirement age or cutting Social Security benefits are so popular with the media elites. It's because they're rich. But removing the payroll tax cap is inconceivable to them. Once again, because they're rich, and they'd have to pony up in order to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent. This is yet another reason why the notion of a "liberal media" is horseshit.

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political pictures - sarah palin - an american story - Stop the Presses
 
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Tokyo Electric has dumped 10,000 gallons of radioactive water into the Pacific.
 
 
 "The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday that it had found radioactive iodine at 7.5 million times the legal limit in a seawater sample taken near the facility, and government officials imposed a new health limit for radioactivity in fish."  In other words, if your Asian-Style Tilapia Fillet glows in the dark, it would be inadvisable to eat it.
 
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Jill: Here's why "I'll sneak in just under the wire" should comfort no one.
 
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The Devil's network
Mike Huckabee Destroyed All Evidence He Ever Used a Computer
They're hiding hundreds of hard drives under those shirts!
 
Mother Jones is apparently looking through the public records of the lame Republican presidential candidates these days (maybe THEY can figure out which of those Trump birth certificates/strands of hair are real), and they hit a snag when they requested Mike Huckabee's from his time as governor of Arkansas. Apparently Mike Huckabee never was governor of Arkansas, as there is no evidence of it; it was all destroyed, according to the office of the current governor. "Moreover, at that time, all of the computers used by former Governor Huckabee and his staff had already been removed from the office and, as we understand it, the hard-drives in those computers had already been 'cleaned' and physically destroyed," they wrote. Thanks to Huck sitting on all his hard drives to crush them, the world may never know what kind of porn he likes.

But there was a backup!

Parsons requested the backups and eventually filed a lawsuit against Huckabee and Beebe, alleging that the new governor had siphoned taxpayer money from an emergency fund to pay to replace the destroyed hard drives. Altogether, the new equipment cost over $335,000. Huckabee countered that the information on the hard drives included private details, such as social security numbers, that shouldn't be released to the public. In the end, Parsons' suit was dismissed—largely because he didn't name Turner, who apparently possessed the records, as a plaintiff.

$335,000? Exactly how many computers was Huckabee using that he needed to destroy? Keep it in your office, Huck!

Huckabee's aversion to public disclosure extends beyond his gubernatorial papers. He and his handlers have also taken steps to block access to videotapes of his sermons, spanning his 12 years as a Southern Baptist minister before he entered politics. During the 2008 campaign, Mother Jones reported that Huckabee's campaign had refused to make the sermons public—and that, according to an official at one of the churches he'd led, much of the archival material relating to Huckabee's tenure had been destroyed.

So not only was Huckabee watching weird man-on-dead-squirrel porn on hundreds of government computers, he was also illegally taking lobbyist money directly from God. This is what we must assume, as Huckabee destroyed all the evidence he was ever anything but a former presidential candidate with a terrible talk show. [Mother Jones]

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President Obama's top 5 broken campaign promises.
 
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Excellent idea! Mandate it and call it the "Truth in Bill Naming Act of 2011" "Rep. Gerry Connollly (D-Va.) wants to change the title of a bill that would permanently block Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations to the "Koch Brothers Appreciation Act," a reference to the billionaire brothers who are active in Republican politics. ... Connolly has submitted to the House Rules Committee a series of amendments that would change the title of the bill to everything from the "Middle Eastern Economic Development and Assistance Act" to the "Head in the Sand Act.""
 
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Where are the jobs in this nonsense? In the run-up to November, John Boehner took to Twitter on a daily basis and demanded to know "Where are the jobs?" Now that the republicans are in power, they have done nothing to actually create jobs -- indeed, they push agenda items that would destroy even more jobs -- but have instead concerned themselves with social issues like abortion and gay marriage and even repealing the repeal of don't ask don't tell. Watching republicans try to govern is like watching a dog try to figure out what to do with a car once he catches it.
 
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Right-wing radio nut / ex-cop accused of murdering neighbor

Uhh

A former Baltimore cop, carpet installer and wingnut host of some web-only thing called "Liberty Works Radio Network" has been arrested for the shooting murder of his next-door neighbor, because the neighbor's dog allegedly wouldn't stay in its own yard. Charles "Pete" Richter (?), a 66-year-old ex-cop and failed candidate for Queen Anne's County sheriff known for painting swastikas on the cars of his political opponents, is accused of killing his neighbor on Maryland's Kent Island. Because of the dog. READ MORE »

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Get a job, you parasite
 
What a loser.

Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe, who asked supporters for donations a few weeks back to help him and his friends pay off the major credit card debt they racked up when they targeted National Public Radio, is hitting up his email list one again.

O'Keefe wrote in an email to supporters on Monday that he hopes to "assemble and train an army of new truth-seekers and investigators who will expose more corruption in government and shine a bright spotlight on just how corrupt power can be in America -- including many at the highest levels of government."

"But to keep up our efforts, we must grow an army of truth-seekers and investigators, purchase equipment, hire staff, etc. All of this is very expensive," O'Keefe writes. "Remember, every dollar The Project Veritas receives comes from generous supporters, like you."

He also asks supporters for suggestions on who he should go after next, writing: "What institution, organization, or public figure would you like The Project Veritas to investigate next?"


How about an investigative piece on conservative parasites who want to destroy the working class but who have never worked a day in their lives - mostly because they wouldn't last five minutes doing real work.

 
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The book that can justify anything!
Bryan Fischer: Jesus Had Disciples So They Would Become GOP Politicians
 
'The lowly should shut up. These rich people really need a tax cut.'
 
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Inhofe, Beck and Pat Robertson defend brutal Ivory Coast dictator.