Ta much, dear Ar0cketman...I think.....
Ta much, dear Ar0cketman...I think.....
Unemployment benefits and GOP principle
Michael Tomasky Monday 5 April 2010
... You may remember a few weeks ago that it was Republican Senator Jim Bunning who held up extension of these benefits because the Senate wasn't coming up to any way to pay for them and make the extension deficit neutral thereby. This time around it's Oklahoma's Tom Coburn:
"The legitimate debate is whether we borrow and steal from our kids or we get out of town and send the bill to our kids for something that we're going to consume today," Coburn said on the Senate floor.
The cost is $10 billion, so I can see that if you're concerned about the deficit it's a fair point. But here's the thing that gets me.
Somehow, Republicans don't manage to raise these objections about deficit neutrality when the question involves tax cuts heavily weighted toward the rich. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 increased the deficit. I don't remember many Republican protestations about that. As you can see from this roll-call vote from 2006, extending the tax cuts (well after their deficit-augmenting reality was known), all 51 (at the time) Republican senators voted for them, Coburn and Bunning among them.
Rich people are rich because they're good, so by definition the deficit isn't their fault. Working-class unemployed people, well, hard luck.
Michael Tomasky Monday 5 April 2010
... You may remember a few weeks ago that it was Republican Senator Jim Bunning who held up extension of these benefits because the Senate wasn't coming up to any way to pay for them and make the extension deficit neutral thereby. This time around it's Oklahoma's Tom Coburn:
"The legitimate debate is whether we borrow and steal from our kids or we get out of town and send the bill to our kids for something that we're going to consume today," Coburn said on the Senate floor.
The cost is $10 billion, so I can see that if you're concerned about the deficit it's a fair point. But here's the thing that gets me.
Somehow, Republicans don't manage to raise these objections about deficit neutrality when the question involves tax cuts heavily weighted toward the rich. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 increased the deficit. I don't remember many Republican protestations about that. As you can see from this roll-call vote from 2006, extending the tax cuts (well after their deficit-augmenting reality was known), all 51 (at the time) Republican senators voted for them, Coburn and Bunning among them.
Rich people are rich because they're good, so by definition the deficit isn't their fault. Working-class unemployed people, well, hard luck.
When rightwing hate goes mainstream
The Republican party is indulging extremists, hoping they'll put down their guns long enough to vote for them this November
Dan Kennedy
Wednesday 7 April 2010
... The first warning came a year ago, when the department of homeland security predicted a rise in rightwing extremism fuelled by economic calamity and the election of our first black president. News of the report, and especially about a warning contained therein that military veterans might be pulled into the movement, set off criticism among conservative bloggers. Yet it proved prescient.
The most recent and oddest manifestation was last week's arrest of nine people involved in what authorities have referred to as a "Christian militia" intent on sparking revolution. But there have been other examples, each treated by the media as isolated incidents. The murder of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, whose killer was sentenced to life in prison last week. The pilot who crashed his plane into an Internal Revenue Service facility in Austin, Texas, in February. Protesters whipped into a frenzy during the healthcare debate who yelled racist and homophobic slurs at members of Congress, who spat upon one and who phoned in threats of violence.
According to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, the number of rightwing extremist groups has risen exponentially during the past 18 months. And in an interview with National Public Radio's On the Media last week, he was unstinting in placing at least some of the blame for that with their enablers in the Republican party and in the media....
The Republican party is indulging extremists, hoping they'll put down their guns long enough to vote for them this November
Dan Kennedy
Wednesday 7 April 2010
... The first warning came a year ago, when the department of homeland security predicted a rise in rightwing extremism fuelled by economic calamity and the election of our first black president. News of the report, and especially about a warning contained therein that military veterans might be pulled into the movement, set off criticism among conservative bloggers. Yet it proved prescient.
The most recent and oddest manifestation was last week's arrest of nine people involved in what authorities have referred to as a "Christian militia" intent on sparking revolution. But there have been other examples, each treated by the media as isolated incidents. The murder of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, whose killer was sentenced to life in prison last week. The pilot who crashed his plane into an Internal Revenue Service facility in Austin, Texas, in February. Protesters whipped into a frenzy during the healthcare debate who yelled racist and homophobic slurs at members of Congress, who spat upon one and who phoned in threats of violence.
According to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, the number of rightwing extremist groups has risen exponentially during the past 18 months. And in an interview with National Public Radio's On the Media last week, he was unstinting in placing at least some of the blame for that with their enablers in the Republican party and in the media....
New nuke policy and old political idiocy
Pentagon chief Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton just announced the new US nuclear policy, which is a middle-of-the-road kind of thing in which we say we won't use nukes against non-nuke countries unless they're Iran.
On top of this of course, Obama is going to Prague Thursday to sign a new treaty with Medvedev to reduce nuclear stockpiles.
Needless to say, in Republicanland, all this means Obama is the Disarmer-in-Chief who wants the terrorists to win or whatever nonsense they're cooking up. Here, for example, is Rudy Giuliani:
President Obama's revamping of American nuclear policy is the mark of an "inept" leader intent on living a "left-wing dream," says Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, in an interview with National Review Online. "A nuclear-free world has been a 60-year dream of the Left, just like socialized health-care. This new policy, like Obama's government-run health program, is a big step in that direction."
"President Obama thinks we can all hold hands, sing songs, and have peace symbols," Giuliani says. "North Korea and Iran are not singing along with the president. Knowing that, it just doesn't make sense why we would reduce our nuclear arms when we face these threats."
Every hallmark of irresponsible right-wing posturing exists in those words, and it's this kind of thing that has driven the polarization in this country to such awful extremes.
If Giuliani -- who you'll notice tried to be president but is in fact not -- can guess the US nuclear stockpile within 1,000, I'd be surprised (it's about 5,700 in the active stockpile). He also probably conveniently forgets, if he ever knew, that just 18 or so years ago, we had about 24,000 active warheads. ...
Pentagon chief Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton just announced the new US nuclear policy, which is a middle-of-the-road kind of thing in which we say we won't use nukes against non-nuke countries unless they're Iran.
On top of this of course, Obama is going to Prague Thursday to sign a new treaty with Medvedev to reduce nuclear stockpiles.
Needless to say, in Republicanland, all this means Obama is the Disarmer-in-Chief who wants the terrorists to win or whatever nonsense they're cooking up. Here, for example, is Rudy Giuliani:
President Obama's revamping of American nuclear policy is the mark of an "inept" leader intent on living a "left-wing dream," says Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, in an interview with National Review Online. "A nuclear-free world has been a 60-year dream of the Left, just like socialized health-care. This new policy, like Obama's government-run health program, is a big step in that direction."
"President Obama thinks we can all hold hands, sing songs, and have peace symbols," Giuliani says. "North Korea and Iran are not singing along with the president. Knowing that, it just doesn't make sense why we would reduce our nuclear arms when we face these threats."
Every hallmark of irresponsible right-wing posturing exists in those words, and it's this kind of thing that has driven the polarization in this country to such awful extremes.
If Giuliani -- who you'll notice tried to be president but is in fact not -- can guess the US nuclear stockpile within 1,000, I'd be surprised (it's about 5,700 in the active stockpile). He also probably conveniently forgets, if he ever knew, that just 18 or so years ago, we had about 24,000 active warheads. ...
The US Senate is known as the body where legislation goes to die, and a Republican senator from Kentucky has spent several days illustrating that point at the expense of nearly 500,000 out-of-work Americans.
Since last week Senator Jim Bunning [an ex-baseball player] has used his privilege under the chamber's parliamentary rules to hold up a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits, health insurance assistance, funding for road and infrastructure projects across the country, and other aid.
In exchange for lifting his objections he demands the senate come up with a way to pay for the $10bn extension package by reducing spending elsewhere, eliciting scoffs from Democrats who note that he voted for President Bush's $1.7tn tax cuts for the wealthy.
Nearly every major item on President Barack Obama's agenda, from health insurance reform to cap-and-trade climate regulation, has stalled in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives. ...
Since last week Senator Jim Bunning [an ex-baseball player] has used his privilege under the chamber's parliamentary rules to hold up a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits, health insurance assistance, funding for road and infrastructure projects across the country, and other aid.
In exchange for lifting his objections he demands the senate come up with a way to pay for the $10bn extension package by reducing spending elsewhere, eliciting scoffs from Democrats who note that he voted for President Bush's $1.7tn tax cuts for the wealthy.
Nearly every major item on President Barack Obama's agenda, from health insurance reform to cap-and-trade climate regulation, has stalled in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives. ...
The rethuglicunt party should be ashamed, exploiting such obviously mentally handicapped folks - like palin!
Ta much, dear Glenn321
Ta much, dear Glenn321
I wish sarah's rededicate itself to God by taking a vow or silence, or meeting its maker - and not at the Faire.
GOP Gone Wild: Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics
This morning, the House began consideration of the rule for debate of the House health care bill. As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.
In an effort to delay and derail the proceedings, the Republicans continually talked over the Democratic women for half an hour. They sought to prevent the debate by calling for unnecessary “parliamentary inquiries” and requests for “expanding the debate” by an hour.
After being repeatedly interrupted by Republican shouts, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) observed:
Do I not have the right to be able to continue my sentence without objections that are trying to censor my remarks here on the floor that I have a right to make as a member of this House?
...
The goddam rethuglicunts musta been wearing these their entire repulsive lives.
Ta much, dear Anneliese
This morning, the House began consideration of the rule for debate of the House health care bill. As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.
In an effort to delay and derail the proceedings, the Republicans continually talked over the Democratic women for half an hour. They sought to prevent the debate by calling for unnecessary “parliamentary inquiries” and requests for “expanding the debate” by an hour.
After being repeatedly interrupted by Republican shouts, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) observed:
Do I not have the right to be able to continue my sentence without objections that are trying to censor my remarks here on the floor that I have a right to make as a member of this House?
...
The goddam rethuglicunts musta been wearing these their entire repulsive lives.
Ta much, dear Anneliese
... The 'satanic abuse' hysteria was particularly appalling, but year after year in America prudery exacts a terrible toll – as witness the unfortunate female schoolteachers packed often to prison with hefty sentences for having affairs with boys in their mid to late teens.
Is America permanently lodged in the 17th century so far as moral policing is concerned? The answer is Not exactly, since gay marriage wasn’t a big item on the legislative agenda of the colonies at that time. But regulation of sexual behaviour is the preferred route to wider social control.
The control of sex and pornography is a major part of promulgating a puritanical political culture without ever imposing overt political censorship. Sexual repression, often through the allegation of 'deviant' fantasy crimes, is the designated stand-in for violations of the social order that are hard to crush in a courtroom. As Williamson is now ruefully aware, the state not only has a long arm, it has a long gaze.
Moral: the eyes of the law are on you at all times, even at 8.30 am in the supposed privacy of your own kitchen.
What did you expect from a cuntry founded by folks so uptight the Brits threw them out?
Is America permanently lodged in the 17th century so far as moral policing is concerned? The answer is Not exactly, since gay marriage wasn’t a big item on the legislative agenda of the colonies at that time. But regulation of sexual behaviour is the preferred route to wider social control.
The control of sex and pornography is a major part of promulgating a puritanical political culture without ever imposing overt political censorship. Sexual repression, often through the allegation of 'deviant' fantasy crimes, is the designated stand-in for violations of the social order that are hard to crush in a courtroom. As Williamson is now ruefully aware, the state not only has a long arm, it has a long gaze.
Moral: the eyes of the law are on you at all times, even at 8.30 am in the supposed privacy of your own kitchen.
What did you expect from a cuntry founded by folks so uptight the Brits threw them out?
... Cllr Sonja Wilson added she thought the festival was against the teachings of the Bible.
She said: "We feel strongly about the potential dangers of letting youngsters become involved in it.
"We never encouraged our own children to join any Halloween activities because it's unhealthy.
"The Bible says not to believe in other idols and Halloween is all about promoting Satan.
"There is a risk that it could lead to other things like an interest in the occult and witchcraft – it's like encouraging young people to drink beer."
The pumpkin competition task fell to the deputy mayor, Councillor Clive Stringer, who said: "As far as I'm concerned it's just a bit of fun for the kids.
"I was brought up as a Christian but I don't see anything wrong with children dressing up as witches and wizards and making faces out of pumpkins."
She said: "We feel strongly about the potential dangers of letting youngsters become involved in it.
"We never encouraged our own children to join any Halloween activities because it's unhealthy.
"The Bible says not to believe in other idols and Halloween is all about promoting Satan.
"There is a risk that it could lead to other things like an interest in the occult and witchcraft – it's like encouraging young people to drink beer."
The pumpkin competition task fell to the deputy mayor, Councillor Clive Stringer, who said: "As far as I'm concerned it's just a bit of fun for the kids.
"I was brought up as a Christian but I don't see anything wrong with children dressing up as witches and wizards and making faces out of pumpkins."
Christian Broadcasting Network Warns Against 'Demonic' Halloween Candy
Huffington Post | Alex Leo & Katla McGlynn
First Posted: 10-29-09 02:34 PM | Updated: 10-30-09 07:37 AM
UPDATE: CBN has removed the blog. The original text is available here.
-----
Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network posted a blog by Kimberly Daniels recently that warns Christians to forgo celebrating Halloween because of its evilness. Daniels specifically calls out candy as a source of soul-molestation:
"During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches."
Obviously, we shouldn't be buying Halloween candy, but what about getting it by trick-or-treating?
"Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference."
Darn.
We wholeheartedly agree with Daniels and have put together a handy guide of outrageously demonic candy to stay away from this (and every) season. ...
High-quality xian stupidity and paranoia and hilarious slideshow by the more enlightened courtesy of dear Zaxy
Huffington Post | Alex Leo & Katla McGlynn
First Posted: 10-29-09 02:34 PM | Updated: 10-30-09 07:37 AM
UPDATE: CBN has removed the blog. The original text is available here.
-----
Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network posted a blog by Kimberly Daniels recently that warns Christians to forgo celebrating Halloween because of its evilness. Daniels specifically calls out candy as a source of soul-molestation:
"During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches."
Obviously, we shouldn't be buying Halloween candy, but what about getting it by trick-or-treating?
"Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference."
Darn.
We wholeheartedly agree with Daniels and have put together a handy guide of outrageously demonic candy to stay away from this (and every) season. ...
High-quality xian stupidity and paranoia and hilarious slideshow by the more enlightened courtesy of dear Zaxy
Ta much, dear Zaxy for hippin' me.
... Clearly "news" is not what Fox is about. Republican media strategist Roger Ailes, the network's founder and architect, has run a brilliant rhetorical game from the start: Fox adopts the outward forms of the establishment US media and pretends to hew to its standards – in order to undermine those very things. Fox claims to give its viewers the straight story, while proclaiming it's the New York Times and CBS that are really biased.
Of course, CBS and the NYT have their problems. But to believe Fox tells it like it is is to conclude that a basic idea of journalism – that what's happening in the world can be understood and fair-mindedly explained – is a sham.
"Political" attacks are inherently unfair. But the White House is simply stating the obvious about Fox. Obama promised to be reality-based, right? And the criticism seems, for the first time in a while, to have started a real debate on the issue. The Washington news media has simply accepted Fox as one of their own – after all, it has money, cameras, anchors and an audience. Jacob Weisberg argues that journalists who value their credibility should stop appearing on Fox, as they only help perpetuate the network's misleading premise. ...
Of course, CBS and the NYT have their problems. But to believe Fox tells it like it is is to conclude that a basic idea of journalism – that what's happening in the world can be understood and fair-mindedly explained – is a sham.
"Political" attacks are inherently unfair. But the White House is simply stating the obvious about Fox. Obama promised to be reality-based, right? And the criticism seems, for the first time in a while, to have started a real debate on the issue. The Washington news media has simply accepted Fox as one of their own – after all, it has money, cameras, anchors and an audience. Jacob Weisberg argues that journalists who value their credibility should stop appearing on Fox, as they only help perpetuate the network's misleading premise. ...
Balloon boy's father 'wanted TV fame before world ends in 2012'
Richard Heene, the man suspected of the alleged "balloon boy" hoax, was driven by a conviction that the world will come to a cataclysmic end in 2012, according to a friend.
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
20 Oct 2009
Robert Thomas, who claims to have been a confidante and researcher for Mr Heene, has been interviewed by police.
Mr Thomas's lawyer, Linda Lee, claimed: "Heene believes the world is going to end in 2012. Because of that he wanted to make money quickly, become rich enough to build a bunker or something underground, where he can be safe from the sun exploding."
It was the latest disclosure about Mr Heene's bizarre world view, which also allegedly includes a belief in aliens and UFOs.
The suggestion that the world will come to an end in 2012 is based on an interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar.
It is also the subject of a soon to be released Hollywood blockbuster called "2012".
However, scientists and Mayans themselves have debunked the theory. ...
Great. Not only is it a prick and a liar, it's also a bleeding ignorant looney.
A hoaxer who's bought into a hoax = Priceless.
I'm sorry, but, uh, how in fuck will a bunker protect you from an exploding Sun?
Mayhap he's got one of those ahem Looney Tunes cartoon images stuck in his head: Bugs Bunny & co hanging onto what remains of the Moon after the vast explosion caused by Marvin the Martian.
Idiot.
Richard Heene, the man suspected of the alleged "balloon boy" hoax, was driven by a conviction that the world will come to a cataclysmic end in 2012, according to a friend.
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
20 Oct 2009
Robert Thomas, who claims to have been a confidante and researcher for Mr Heene, has been interviewed by police.
Mr Thomas's lawyer, Linda Lee, claimed: "Heene believes the world is going to end in 2012. Because of that he wanted to make money quickly, become rich enough to build a bunker or something underground, where he can be safe from the sun exploding."
It was the latest disclosure about Mr Heene's bizarre world view, which also allegedly includes a belief in aliens and UFOs.
The suggestion that the world will come to an end in 2012 is based on an interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar.
It is also the subject of a soon to be released Hollywood blockbuster called "2012".
However, scientists and Mayans themselves have debunked the theory. ...
Great. Not only is it a prick and a liar, it's also a bleeding ignorant looney.
A hoaxer who's bought into a hoax = Priceless.
I'm sorry, but, uh, how in fuck will a bunker protect you from an exploding Sun?
Mayhap he's got one of those ahem Looney Tunes cartoon images stuck in his head: Bugs Bunny & co hanging onto what remains of the Moon after the vast explosion caused by Marvin the Martian.
Idiot.
Often 'new age' should be pronounced so it rhymes with 'sewage,' but most especially when it buys into Western religion's paranoia and fear addiction.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Two newlyweds are fighting for the dismissal of the justice of the peace who refused them a marriage license because they are of different races. ...
Um, what century is this again?
Um, what century is this again?
Women MPs fight back as Berlusconi lashes out
You are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent, PM tells furious Bindi
By Jack Bremer
FIRST POSTED OCTOBER 9, 2009
Amid warnings that Italy is on the edge of a constitutional crisis after Silvio Berlusconi was stripped of his immunity from prosecution, the man himself has been flailing around like a bear with a thorn in its foot. Taking part by phone in a late-night television discussion, he struck out at President Giorgio Napolitano saying he should have used "his influence" to get a different ruling from the Constitutional Court.
When a studio guest, Rosy Bindi, a former family minister in Romano Prodi's centre-left government, expressed shock at this suggestion, Berlusconi replied: "I recognise you are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent".
Even coming from Berlusconi, this was over the top and Bindi answered that she was "not a woman at your disposal", alluding to the call-girls and television showgirls at the centre of the long-running Berlusconi sex scandal.
Among the first to leap to Bindi's defence was another former minister under Prodi, the American-born Italian MP Giovanna Melandri. She said the remark summed up "the Berlusconi philosophy towards women". The diminutive prime minister, she went on, had shown himself to be "taller than he is well-mannered". ...
He has also shown himself to have more height than integrity - and wisdom.
You are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent, PM tells furious Bindi
By Jack Bremer
FIRST POSTED OCTOBER 9, 2009
Amid warnings that Italy is on the edge of a constitutional crisis after Silvio Berlusconi was stripped of his immunity from prosecution, the man himself has been flailing around like a bear with a thorn in its foot. Taking part by phone in a late-night television discussion, he struck out at President Giorgio Napolitano saying he should have used "his influence" to get a different ruling from the Constitutional Court.
When a studio guest, Rosy Bindi, a former family minister in Romano Prodi's centre-left government, expressed shock at this suggestion, Berlusconi replied: "I recognise you are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent".
Even coming from Berlusconi, this was over the top and Bindi answered that she was "not a woman at your disposal", alluding to the call-girls and television showgirls at the centre of the long-running Berlusconi sex scandal.
Among the first to leap to Bindi's defence was another former minister under Prodi, the American-born Italian MP Giovanna Melandri. She said the remark summed up "the Berlusconi philosophy towards women". The diminutive prime minister, she went on, had shown himself to be "taller than he is well-mannered". ...
He has also shown himself to have more height than integrity - and wisdom.
Her collaborator isn’t just a creationist. There’s the white supremacy issue, too ...
... The Palin book, moreover, is clearly being styled as a work of polemic, appealing to the Christianist base, thereby fanning homophobia, and empowering those who would like nothing more than to push gay people back into the closet, out of marriage, out of the military, and out of the workplace. Burnham is now directly party to this effort.
It's not possible to accuse Jonathan Burnham of hypocrisy because that would imply he has any convictions or principles at all. Here, for example, is his quote about a 400-page book written in two months:
“Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project…. It’s her words...”
Hey, if it makes a buck, and advances his career, Burnham will do it. As gay people prepare to march for their civil rights, Burnham, one of the more powerful gay men in New York, is preparing to capitalize on their avowed enemies. It's just money, after all. And buzz. Always buzz.
It's not possible to accuse Jonathan Burnham of hypocrisy because that would imply he has any convictions or principles at all. Here, for example, is his quote about a 400-page book written in two months:
“Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project…. It’s her words...”
Hey, if it makes a buck, and advances his career, Burnham will do it. As gay people prepare to march for their civil rights, Burnham, one of the more powerful gay men in New York, is preparing to capitalize on their avowed enemies. It's just money, after all. And buzz. Always buzz.
This asshole needs to lose its law license, its Merc, all of its books, and as Mom said, "And get his house burned down."
Ta much, dear Foxy
Ta much, dear Foxy
Stupid; don't wanna insult cows; etc