Archive for February 23, 2010
John McCain Thinks You’re Really, Really Stupid
John McCain is getting so desperate in the run-up to the Arizona primary, and the challenge by Tea-Party endorsed J.D. Hayworth, that he’s flipping out, trying to convince voters that he didn’t realize the TARP money he voted for in September, 2008, was meant for Wall Street.
Yeah, sure John. What a pitiful, desperate, shell of a man.
Escape to Beauty
Look at this beautiful picture of a Snowy Owl. Then click on “Favorites” and feast your eyes.
(Bob Palmer lives in my area and is a legend in the birding community here. He won the 2009 National Wildlife Federation’s photo competition with this incredible shot of an eagle grabbing a starling in mid-air.)
So Much Suffering
This is indescribably bad news:
First American CoreLogic, the research firm that monitors housing equity, reported Tuesday that 11.3 million homeowners — or 24% of all homes with mortgages — were underwater as of the end of 2009. That’s up from 23% and 10.7 million borrowers three month earlier.
Just Another Afternoon in America
Two “juveniles” have been shot at Deer Creek Middle School in Jefferson County, Colorado. Local media is covering the situation live. Kids are running out of the school and across the street to a local park. Cop cars and yellow police tape are everywhere. The overall scene looks a lot like Columbine. But while ten years ago the cable “news” networks would have cut in to cover this with “breaking news,” school shootings are apparently so commonplace here in the United States that so far, 20-minutes in, at 6:16 p.m. ET, they’re sticking with their regularly scheduled programming.
Sad.
Senate Republicans Will Not Bring Health Care Proposal to Thursday’s “Summit”
The most recent Republican response to the health care debate has been to insistance that President Obama throw out all the proposals and start over. Obviously, that hasn’t happened but we do have the health care “summit” coming up on Thursday. (It will be carried live on C-SPAN3 and MSNBC.) So one would think that the Republicans would bring some ideas with them to that gig, but no, they’re not bringing anything.
They think, “a step by step approach on areas where we agree is the best path forward.” And, by that they mean areas where Democrats will do what Republicans want.
So, what are they going to do at the “summit?” Sit in silence?
Another Republican Politician Caught Lying About a Woman
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) came off a flight with a woman he has previously denied having a relationship with, KLAS-TV reports.
Though he is recently divorced, Gibbons initially denied the woman was even at the airport despite video footage proving otherwise.
Break Time — Food
Look at the cool cakes the proprietor of “Debbie Does Cakes” has made. (Turn your volume down — music is a little loud.)
It is Now a Crime to Have a Miscarriage in Utah
This is going to ensnare a lot of innocent, unsuspecting women: Utah Bill Criminalizes Miscarriage.
Using the legal standard of “reckless behavior” all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn’t intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.
“This creates a law that makes any pregnant woman who has a miscarriage potentially criminally liable for murder,” says Missy Bird, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Utah. Bird says there are no exemptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence or for those who are substance abusers. The standard is so broad, Bird says, “there nothing in the bill to exempt a woman for not wearing her seatbelt who got into a car accident.”
What’s next? Women have to wear burkas?
So Cheney Had a Fifth Heart Attack
Who survives five — FIVE — heart attacks? Is that a world record?
Uber-Winger Insanity Alert
Sometimes I just don’t know what to say about the perversely wild imagination of some wingnuts, and this is one of those times: Uber-winger Cliff Kincaid is suggesting that if we repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and give conservative gay GOP’ers a seat at the table, gays and lesbians will flood the military, invade other countries and overturn “homophobic” regimes.
Is the guy kidding or is this for real?
Scott Brown (R-MA) as Male Model?
Did you know that Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) spent “the better part of a decade essentially as a male model?” That and other tidbits about Scott Brown can be found in an article set to appear in next week’s New York Times Magazine – Where Scott Brown in Coming From. Despite campaigning as one, he is not “just a regular guy.”
Oh, and check out the video and the size of Brown’s “just a regular guy” house, and him in leather shorts.
Fox Tries to Manufacture Ft. Hood-type Terror Incident
I woke up this morning to Fox & Friends’ Alisyn Camerota breathlessly interviewing the Public Information Officer at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The “breaking news” was this — two men who crashed a stolen car through the gate at the base overnight. Camerota was wrapping up but left no doubt about why this was such an allegedly huge and important story when she said something like, “these days you never know what might be behind something like this what with Ft. Hood.”
Gotta keep that audience afraid; very, very afraid (and leave them wondering whether President Obama is “keeping us safe.”)
Out-of-Touch Elites
While millions of Americans struggle with unemployment, or under-employment, the New York Times frets about whether it’s time “to think private jet again.“
Disgusting.
