Somebody is due for a promotion!

FoxNews, which of course is portraying the story of James Rosen as a billion times worse than McCarthy (ironic as the number should be infinity as they love Joe McCarthy) stories continued...

During her syndicated radio show this afternoon, conservative columnist Andrea Tantaros reacted to the Justice Department’s snooping on the Associated Press and Fox reporter James Rosen by decrying “Obama’s America” and telling her audience if they see any Obama voters, “punch them in the face.”

Two sides of the story

It's been hard to really figure out which side of the James Rosen story to cheer against.   The government's use of police powers possibly chilling the First Amendment or FoxNews never ending ability to be assholes.

But while the media itself has somewhat of an agenda in reporting it, it is also clear that Rosen had an agenda as well:

Infrastructure, schminfranstructure

Good thing we can keep affording to give tax breaks to oil companies to avoid those nasty public safety measures that also provide actual jobs!

The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed Thursday evening, dropping two vehicles into the water and injuring three people.

Both the northbound and southbound portions of the bridge collapsed into the river sometime before 7 p.m., according to Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Francis.

Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle.

Obviously the only thing that can keep a bridge from collapsing is another bridge with a gun.

Funny how those talking points come true!

April 2013:

The Republicans who control Nashville rushed through committee a measure to create a state charter school authorizer — a centralized government body that strips school decisions away from local boards. Charter schools approved by the state charger authorizer would have to be funded by local taxpayers whether there was money available or not.

That didn't quite make it, but for-profit Charter Schools won't give up:

John DeBerry, Tennesse State Representative: ‘I think all of us on both sides of the aisle realize that Charter schools allowed us to go in a different direction and to use creativity in the way that we educate.

Beth Harwell, Tennessee Speaker of the House: ‘ It was wonderful to me that our first and most important priority was the quality of the charter schools that we would have in the state of Tennessee. I think I’m most impressed that we really achieved bipartisan support; both Democrats and Republicans see the good that can come from charter schools in this state.’

May 2013: Yeah, about "that good", how are Tennessee Charter Schools achieving that good?

Students are leaving in large numbers at a particularly important time of the school year, and the consequences may have an impact on test scores. Charter schools are literally built on the idea that they will outperform public, zoned schools. They are popular because they promise and deliver results, but some new numbers are raising big questions about charter schools.

One of the first things a visitor sees when stepping into Kipp Academy is a graph that shows how Kipp is outperforming Metro schools in every subject.

However, Kipp Academy is also one of the leaders in another stat that is not something to crow about. When it comes to the net loss of students this year, charter schools are the top eight losers of students.

In short Charter schools are "outperforming" public schools on test scores by dumping their underperforming students on public schools just as testing starts. And then crowing about their awesome results.

Yeah, seems just unfair enough for talking points.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Not enough palms for so many faces to rest upon

Worst. Defense. Ever!

A day after Sergio Garcia caused a major row by making a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, European Tour chief executive George O'Grady used the dated and racially insensitive term "colored" while saying that the European Tour accepts Garcia's apology for saying that he'd serve Woods "fried chicken" for dinner at the U.S. Open.

Yeah, he couldn't complete a pass either.

Wingnut congratulatory self-aggrandizement is weird:

“Tebow is a player who rises to the occasion and delivers big in critical game moments,” Norris wrote. “He reminds me of myself..."

I wonder if Bill Keller

Thinks the NY Times should bring back Jason Blair too?

The president should announce that he has told the Justice Department to appoint an independent investigator with bulldog instincts and bipartisan credibility. The list of candidates could start with Kenneth Starr, who chased down the scandals, real and imagined, of the Clinton presidency.

I wonder how many blue garments Bill Keller stained just thinking about that?

Oh the suffering

How will they abide?

The average CEO salary broke records in 2011 at $9.6 million — and now, that record high has been topped by 2012 salaries, which averaged out to $9.7 million. Health care and media CEOs enjoyed the highest pay, while utility CEOs had the lowest at $7.5 million. Sixty percent of CEOs got a raise last year.

So, "Federalism" then?

The State of Arizona and it's Republican dominated government have tried to stop same-sex marriage, but on an even more local level they are being thwarted:

In a state with a conservative edge, Bisbee, population 5,600, in early April became the first municipality in Arizona to legalize same-sex civil unions. On Tuesday, after threats by Arizona's attorney general to sue Bisbee for exceeding its powers and interfering in state affairs, town leaders tweaked the ordinance to omit references to "spouses" and "marriage" and to refer to its civil unions only as contractual agreements.

But the intent is still the same – to lay down a marker that, inside these city limits, a red state becomes a blue oasis on the issue of gay rights. And Bisbee is not alone.

And it will take a great illogical leap for Jan Brewer and company to claim gays and lesbians cannot enter into contracts.

But I'm sure they'll be up for trying.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

He's still quite an unlit bulb

Blitzer said to Rebecca Vitsmun, who escaped from her house with her 19-month-old son right before the twister tore through it. "You've gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?" Vitsmun hesitates for a moment and smiles. "I -- I'm actually an atheist," she said, laughing off the awkward moment.

Yes, who doesn't want to "thank the Lord" right after -- using that logic -- he sent an F5 tornado to try and kill you and your neighbors? Thanks, God!

Helen Mirren is awesome

A dying boy had a wish to see the Queen -- she couldn't fit him in -- naturally Helen Mirren stepped into the breach and did so in a very Helen Mirren way.

They who yell the loudest

I do not really wish to take too strong a stance pro or con about the claims -- and perhaps claim is too weak -- that the Cincinnati Office of the IRS looked into tax exemption claims from various "Tea Party" groups than others.

But one does have to look at few logical reasons this should probably have occurred in any case.  There are two things true about such groups -- One, they HATE government; Two they REALLY HATE paying taxes. 

The possibility of such a group being a bit shady giving these motivations, I'm going to say a bit higher than most.  It is right in their DNA.

Meanwhile, in news few notice or care about:

Thousands of documents obtained by DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy show how Homeland Security and local law enforcement were obsessed with the Occupy movement and other activists.

You can still punch a hippie all you want -- but don't you dare question the guy wearing a tri-corner hat in the 21st century!

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

My self-serving passive-aggressive quote for today

"Everyone has a weakness, but exceptional is the person with no strengths"

And I feel exceptional!



I do have one question for those of you who run or walk regularly for exercise.  I've been walking 8 to 10 miles a day now for about two and a half months (one of the reasons my posts have been cut down).

Does there ever come a time -- especially for middle-aged people like me -- when something does not hurt?

I mean I've had shin splints; blisters harden into callouses and then gotten blisters on the callouses; the pounding my lower back takes has caused a burning sensation in my upper leg (commonly known as "thigh") and now my right ankle hurts.

None of these is debilitating and I keep on keeping on -- and so far I've lost quite a bit of weight (seven inches plus off my belt size -- which I'm calling the "blogger 35" pounds), but does it ever really end -- do you have some time period when there isn't a new ache or pain? 

Again not complaining (much), just wondering.

One think Ron Fournier could do to help this country

Move to a far away Island, without the internet, with the majority of those who comment on his site. It's like a Yahoo Comments section, only slightly more literate and right-wing.


Take Karl Rove with you...at least there'll be reacharounds.

Moore, Oklahoma

Oklahoma was hit hard by a series of tornado outbreaks. By far the worst appears to be at a school in Moore, Oklahoma. Tornadoes this time of year in that part of the country are not exactly unheard of, but the frequency and intensity of this outbreak is disturbing.

Several organizations are available for providing relief donations, including the Red Cross. The National Weather Service was able to post warnings and probably saved hundreds of lives. Sadly, the tornado occurred so suddenly and powerfully the death toll is so far is still 91 and possibly climbing much higher.

Oklahoma's Senators have a good track record of gumming up the works for disaster relief whenever it is needed.

Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release, Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained "wasteful spending," and identified a series of items he objected to, including "$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies."

Coburn spokesman John Hart on Monday evening confirmed that the senator will seek to ensure that any additional funding for tornado disaster relief in Oklahoma be offset by cuts to federal spending elsewhere in the budget.

Yes, they are still pulling victims from the debris and Tom Coburn's mind is on making sure other poor souls get harmed too. But he'll get credit for consistency, without mentioning the consistency is for being horrible.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

More evidence that reality is ignored by modern politics

In the sixties and seventies environmental regulations succeeded in substantially reducing lead exposure, particularly in the ways it was commonly spread through paint and gasoline emissions. The beneficial result, amongst other things, is the apparently correlation between reducing lead exposure and reducing violent crimes. It is quite apparent and not solely due to the reduced birth rate post-baby boom.

A rather one-sided battle of wits

It would be funny, if it were not so sadly true:

Bill Nye, the harmless children's edu-tainer known as "The Science Guy," managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun. As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own. But don't tell that to the good people of Waco, who were "visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence," according to the Waco Tribune. Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College's Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption. But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: "God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars." The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector. At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled "We believe in God!" and left with three children, thus ensuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they'd always suspected.

And I bet he wants his income taxes cut too

Ah, the "War on Terror" has anything ever been more profitable?

Over the last decade, former Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig, a prominent lawyer, presidential advisor and biowarfare consultant to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, has urged the government to counter what he called a major threat to national security.

Terrorists, he warned, could easily engineer a devastating killer germ: a form of anthrax resistant to common antibiotics.

U.S. intelligence agencies have never established that any nation or terrorist group has made such a weapon, and biodefense scientists say doing so would be very difficult.

Nevermind, can you use fear to make a profit?

Oh yes:

Danzig did this while serving as a director of a biotech startup that won $334 million in federal contracts to supply just such a drug, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

Meanwhile, let's cut more food stamps and Medicare.

Oh, and based on the above, you might think Danzig was a "loyal Bushie".

He's not, he has substantial connections to both Clinton and Obama too.

A bipartisan approach to making a profit on panic.

So ignore this scandal and go back to Benghazi.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

The audio book comes with rimshots

The known unknowns of life. 

Or just a complete unfettered asshole and narcissist.

His latest book, “Rumsfeld’s Rules” suggests he still has lessons to share after a lifetime in politics and business.

And the rules?

1.  It’s easier to get into something than it is to get out.

Yeah, way to LIVE that one Donny, boy.


2.  “I’ve been mistaken so many times, I don’t even blush for it anymore.” – Napoleon

Nope, you just take advances to publish a book of tragic and laughable self-parody.


3. Monitor progress through metrics.

"I am shitfaced Nate Silver!"

This is literally a quote -- and bear in mind, points one and two that proceed this:

“I think that history over time will probably be a better judge than you or I, but I’ve been struck by the amount of criticism that the Bush administration has received and President Bush personally and the attempts to assign blame to him and I think it’s probably not going to sort out that way.”

He says President Bush’s decision to enter Iraq is “something that over time will be better understood.”

Um, how about a hearty Fuck You?!

So, same ol' same ol' then?

Not much of surprise, really:

In a letter to members of Congress, which was obtained by NBC News, Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation (which recently found itself in hot water over the racial IQ theories of the co-author of their widely panned immigration reform study, Jason Richwine, who resigned from the think tank last Friday), urged Republicans on Capitol Hill not to govern, and instead, to focus on the would-be “scandals” plaguing the Obama administration.

You stay classy, asshole

Ugh.

Radio host Pete Santilli made shocking remarks about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, claiming she should be "shot" for being "involved in the killings of American troops."

Santilli hosts a show on his website, but says he's "ready to take my show to national syndication; that is, of course, if the FCC regulated AM/FM radio stations can handle my truth & honesty."

"Hillary Clinton needs to be convicted. She needs to be tried, convicted and shot in the vagina," Santilli said, Right Wing Watch reports. "I want to pull the trigger."

...

 
Santilli also criticized Obama, saying he deserves the same punishment as Clinton.

"Barack Obama needs to be tried, convicted, and shot for crimes against the United States of America," Santilli said. "And if anybody has a problem with that, then you are an enemy of our state."

So is this jackass related to Rick Santilli?