Archive for February 19, 2010
Where Are Obama’s Rhetorical Skills — Defining The Austin IRS Bomber?
Here’s the tweet of the day from KatrinaNation re what Clinton said after the Oklahoma City bombing:
Do you mean to tell me that the “rhetorically gifted” Barack Obama can’t come up with one single sentence — something like this — in response to the IRS airplane bomber in Austin?
Sadly, yes.
Take That Bra Off!
Check out this “1938 Dating Guide for Single Women.“ (Looks more like the late 1940s if you ask me but, whatever.)
Is it any wonder women were burning their bras in the 60s? Turn the tables and men would have burned…something (or started a war or two?).
Gutless Democrats Blow a Gigantic Lead in Just Over a Year
Senate Forecast Update: The Plummet Continues.
It is indescribably frustrating out here to watch this, when the fix is so simple: Grow a pair!
The CBS Evening “News” Turns National Enquirer
The CBS Evening “News” w/Katie Couric led with the Tiger Woods apology tonight and stayed with the story for nine minutes. Nine minutes is an eternity in television “news.”
Tiger Woods’ Apology
I have no interest whatsoever in Tiger Woods’ private life and I don’t think it’s any of my business but the progressive radio station I listen to broke into “regularly scheduled programming” this morning and aired his “apology” while I was driving to work at the food bank.
I listened and though heh, fine. But a few minutes ago I was watching my local news — waiting for the weather (wanted to see the forecast — it’s supposed to snow all freakin’ weekend) — when I caught video of the end of the “press conference.” (Is it a press conference when you don’t take questions?) Woods was hugging members of the “carefully selected” audience while making his way out of the room. That changed it for me: His body language looked so staged; so contrived.
Plan Your Fall 2011 Wardrobe Now
Pantone is one of the premiere trendsetters in the world of color — paint colors; the color of mobile phones and clothes. It says these will be the “must-have” colors for Fall 2011:
Yuck. I like the light purple but that’s about it.
Americans Want to Bomb Iran
Americans seem to be ready to start a third war:
Seven in 10 Americans believe that Iran currently has nuclear weapons, according to a new national poll.
“But if economic and diplomatic efforts fail, support for military action rises to 59 percent, with only 39 percent opposing military action under those circumstances,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
This is deja vu all over again: Half of Americans believe Saddam Hussein had WMD, and we know where that got us.
Americans still think that the US is so strong and so endlessly wealthy that going to war has no consequences. The overriding emotions seem to be machismo and fear, not caution and a sense that we need to do everything possible to avoid war.
So Much Hate at the CPAC Convention
Just read this tweet from Stephanie Mencimer who is at the CPAC convention in D.C. this afternoon:
Now that’s just cruel and downright vicious. Think about the GOProud members who were in the audience listening to this. Heartbreaking.
Fox News Knows No Bounds
A Fox News Producer Helped Pathologist With Kathleen Savio’s Autopsy.
After a renowned pathologist testified that the 2004 death of Drew Peterson’s third wife Kathleen Savio was a homicide on Friday, Peterson’s defense attorneys tore into the doctor–who then admitted that a Fox News producer helped him perform the autopsy.
Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner of New York City testified Friday that Kathleen Savio not only drowned in her bathtub, she was beaten, according to the Associated Press. But during cross-examination, Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky questioned Baden’s motives for coming to that conclusion, “contending he was determined to reach the conclusion to please his bosses at Fox News,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
I don’t know if this is prohibited ethically or legally but it sure as hell looks bad and shows horrible judgment on Fox’s part in my opinion.
The Toyota Recall Mess — Another Bush Administration Disaster
At least four U.S. investigations into unintended acceleration by Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles were ended with the help of former regulators hired by the automaker, warding off possible recalls, court and government records show.
Christopher Tinto vice president of regulatory affairs in Toyota’s Washington office, and Christopher Santucci, who works for Tinto, helped persuade the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to end probes including those of 2002-2003 Toyota Camrys and Solaras, court documents show. Both men joined Toyota directly from NHTSA, Tinto in 1994 and Santucci in 2003.
The article is long and detailed. Short version: the Bush administration looked the other way over a period of several years even though it faced complaints (and deaths) associated with Toyota’s defective acceleration and other problems.
Tea Partier Admits to Calling for the Murder of a U.S. Senator
Tea Party planner admits making “hanging” remarks.
I’m a big, big, BIG believer in the First Amendment but are there any limits, other than yelling fire in a crowded theater? I wrestle with that.
CPAC’ers Boo Republican Bob Barr For Saying Waterboarding is Torture
If you’re a CPAC’er, torture is cool.
They may love torture but they’re gonna hate this. Fortunately the American public is generally saner that the CPAC’ers.
Fox News as an Asset in the Arsenal of Republican “Infrastructure”
In 2004 when Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism was released, lots and lots of people were shocked that we claimed (and documented) that Fox was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican party, especially Republicans, of course because they were still pretending that Fox was putting out “fair and balanced news.”
Now, Republicans are unabashedly including Fox News as an asset when talking about upcoming elections and their political “infrastructure.”
So, can we stop pretending now? Fox ain’t no “news” organization.
By the way, here’s the movie if you want to watch it.
Fox News’ Latest Candidate
In the run up to the Massachusetts election between Martha Coakley and Scott Brown, Brown had in Fox News a 24/7 campaign channel. Fox pushed him like there was no tomorrow. So, now that that mission has been accomplished, Fox has moved on to championing Tea Party darling, “political star,” Marco Rubio, who’s running for the Senate in Florida.
Must be nice having a whole channel dedicated to getting you elected.
Honoring Joseph Andrew Stark
There are some crazy pages being set up around the web to honor Joseph Stark — the man who crashed his airplane into the IRS building yesterday.
Break Time — Striped Icebergs?
Ever heard of striped icebergs? Me either. But there is such a thing and they’re beautiful.
(H/t NA.)
Do We Really Need Another Food Channel?
The Scripps Network thinks so, so it will debut “The Cooking Channel” on May 31: “The craving for food programming is insatiable.”
