Archive for April 14, 2010
Sonny Thomas — Spick, Spick, Spick
It’s been at least 30 years since I heard the word “spick.” I thought it had been laid to rest long ago.
Silly me.
Ohio Tea Party leader Sonny Thomas thinks using the “spick” word is OK, that is until he gets called on it and then he — ah — mans up and blames it on the Bee Gees?
Oh, OK.
The Bee Gees?
Seriously?
Really?
The Bee Gees?!
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So typical of the winger crowd.
Roads, Schools or Another War? John McCain Still Wants to Bomb Iran
Remember when Colin Powell said that if you invade a country you “own it?”
This from Steve Clemons at the Washington Note re John McCain’s taunts about bombing Iran (hello — yeah, we’re tough — but at what cost — our country is falling apart but McCain wants us to be responsible for yet another country? Wanna spend “your tax dollars” on that?):
Keith Olbermann Leads With News About the Tea Party Too!
I just ranted about the “liberal” CBS Evening News w/Katie Couric leading with a story about the Tea Party tonight but, to be “fair and balanced,” I’ve gotta say that the “liberal” Keith Olbermann’s opening his show with one about them too.
Again, what the hell’s going on around here?!
This tiny group is dominating our freaking lives, thanks to the media.
Pray tell anti-war protesters got that kind of coverage in 2003.
The “Liberal” CBS Evening News Leads With Boston Tea Party Story
CBS’s Katie Couric lead that, ahem, “liberal” channel’s primetime newscast tonight first, with a stat about how 18% of Americans support the Tea Party movement — a measly 18%! — and second with a report about Sarah Palin and the Tea Party rally in Boston today, pitiful as it was.
What the hell’s going on around here?!
Tea Party Claims 10,000 People at Boston Rally Today
I just got an email from the Tea Party Patriots. It says, “You – our supporters – made this happen with your donations and volunteer assistance. You all should be so proud! It was a fantastic event. Really incredible. Well over 10,000 people streamed in during the 2 1/2 hour event!!!”
They include this photograph:
Hey, I agree with some of the Tea Party’s beefs so don’t get me wrong, I’m not rabidly anti-Tea Party. But I have heard several news reports today stating that the crowd estimate was somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000. I think “well over 10,000″ might be, ah, a bit of a stretch.
Oh, and compare that to this shot of an Obama rally during the 2008 campaign:
Makes Boston look kinda pitiful, huh?
Obama’s Record on Gitmo Just as Bad as Bush’s, Unfortunately
Sadly, and disappointingly, Obama’s record on Guantanamo is just as “shoddy” as Bush’s was:
During his 2008 campaign, President Obama promised the country “change we can believe in.” Yet, more than a year into his administration, he has delivered “more of the same” on issues pertaining to Guantanamo Bay. The island prison is still open, detainees still await trials, and officials have recommended the worst of George W. Bush’s policies — indefinite detention.
The Bush way of thinking seems to be the guiding force behind many of the administration’s decisions on terrorism and Guantanamo. Following the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner, Obama administration officials decided to read the suspect his Miranda rights, claiming former President Bush would have done the same thing. I commend using our federal courts to try suspected terrorists, but I’m alarmed at how U.S. officials arrived at that decision.
If Obama’s invocation of Bush stopped there, I might cut him some slack. Unfortunately, the Bush mindset never left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue along with its former inhabitant. Not long after taking office, Obama promptly revamped the conviction machine known as the military commissions, an alternative legal system that, as a presidential candidate, he had led us to believe he would abandon altogether in favor of federal trials.
The military commissions system is a second-tier justice system that is tolerant of flimsy evidence and uncorroborated hearsay by unnamed sources. Cases tried under the military commissions allow evidence that is unreliable or tainted by abuse. In fact, an internal Department of Defense review found that the case of my client, Kuwaiti detainee Fayiz Al Kandari, is “made up almost entirely of hearsay evidence recorded by unidentified individuals with no first-hand knowledge of the events they describe.”
This is evidence that would be laughed out of federal court in real criminal proceedings.
The article continues (see link, above).
Will Arizona Regret Passing the “Most Anti-Immigrant Legislation in a Generation?”
Per RawStory:
LOS ANGELES — Immigrant rights groups Wednesday slammed Arizona lawmakers after they approved a bill which will allow police officers to determine whether suspects are in the United States legally.
Arizona’s House of Representatives passed the bill by a margin of 35 votes to 21 during a session on Tuesday, the legislature’s website showed, mirroring a similar measure passed by the border state’s Senate earlier this year.
The bill will now proceed to Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer to be signed into law.
The bill makes it a misdemeanor offense for an individual to lack proper immigration paperwork and also allows police officers to determine someone’s immigration status if they believe he or she could be an illegal immigrant.
Currently police can only ask about an individual’s immigration status if they are suspected of involvement in another crime.
However critics say the bill will transform Arizona into a “police state” and even sections of law enforcement have voiced fears it could harm relations between police and the immigrant community.
I live in Colorado and, as I noted on Monday, Mexicans, or people of Mexican descent, perform the bulk of the hard labor around here. You see them working as roofers, as landscape laborers, in farm fields, at constructions sites, on road crews and in restaurant kitchens to name but a few. I would imagine the same is true — if not more so — in Arizona. And I have a feeling that this new law will make the climate so hostile toward anyone with brown skin, be they legal, illegal (or a born and raised American), chances are good that businesses will suffer because brown people will stay away from the state in droves.
So, good luck Arizona. I think you’re going to regret this. You don’t appreciate how important these people are to your economy. But maybe, now you will.
Break Time
Some people have an unfathomable amount of courage and guts:
A skydiver has pulled off an astonishing stunt by climbing out of a glider’s cockpit, crawling along the wing and then somersaulting underneath and stepping onto the wing of a second glider flying below.
Paul Steiner then moves back onto the main fuselage of the second glider while the first glider turns upside down and flies overhead so that he can reach up and hold the tail fin at 100mph, forming a human link between the two aircraft. He then leaps off and parachutes back to the ground.
The spectacular stunt, captured on YouTube, was carried out by the Red Bull skydive team 2,100 metres above the mountains in Styria, Austria. And they look mightily relieved as they returned to their airfield.
Video below and photos here.
Maybe Bill O’Reilly Needs New Researchers, or Maybe He Thinks His Audience is Really, Really Dumb
Per the Washington Monthly:
MAYBE O’REILLY NEEDS NEW RESEARCHERS…. Sen. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma recently told a group of constituents not to let Fox News warp their sense of current events. “[D]on’t catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody is no good,” the senator said, among other things.
The comments were not, as one might imagine, well received at the Republican cable network. Bill O’Reilly spoke to Coburn directly last night, and told the conservative senator that some of his allegations are incorrect.
“[Y]ou don’t know anybody on Fox News — because there hasn’t been anyone — that said people will go to jail if they don’t buy mandatory insurance,” O’Reilly said. He added: “[W]e researched to find out if anybody had ever said you are going to jail if you don’t buy health insurance. Nobody has ever said it. What it seems to me is you used Fox News as a whipping boy when we didn’t qualify there.”
Maybe O’Reilly needs new “researchers.”
November 13, 2009: Glenn Beck tells Fox News’ audience that those without coverage will “go to jail.”
November 12, 2009: Beck said “there will be jail time” for those who refuse to participate in the health care system.
November 9, 2009: Dick Morris argues, “One of the provisions in the Pelosi bill is you actually can go to jail for not having health insurance.”
November 10, 2009: Sean Hannity tells viewers, “Penalties for people who don’t get government-mandated health insurance, uh, jail time, a possibility?”
I don’t think BillO needs new researchers; he counts on his audience having the historical memory of a gnat.
November Tea Party Rally Cost Taxpayers Almost $14,000
Hey, I’m fine with Tea Partiers holding rallies in Washington, D.C., or anywhere else, but you’ve got to admit it’s pretty ironic that while they whine about taxes and government spending, their tax dollars are being spent — you know — to provide security, to pick up the trash, to provide medical services, for the sound and stage equipment, etc. Case in point: Almost $14,000 of “our tax dollars” was spent on government-provided services at the Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C. last November.
Republicans Lie About Americans Who Want to Repeal Health Care Reform
Shocking, I know, to think that Republicans would ever, every lie, but they are lying when they rant and rave about how “nobody” likes the new health care reform bill and “everyone” wants it repealed because they “don’t want government in their lives.”
Sorry guys but that’s not why people want to repeal and/or change the law. In fact (yeah, those pesky facts), people want something stronger: 59% of those polled by the Indiana University Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research, “want Congress to pass more liberal legislation that includes a public option.”
So the next time you hear the righties tell this tall tale, remember the facts. No, this poll isn’t the be all, end all; there have been others that have shown the same thing:
In some ways this isn’t very surprising. The public option remained the most popular element of health care reform throughout the 17 month debate. In fact, public opinion turned against the bill as it moved through the legislative process and became more conservative and both Republicans and Democrats continued to tell pollsters that they would like a choice between private and public coverage.
Fox News Raises Funds for Ohio Tea Party
Hey, FCC, it’s time — beyond time — to put your foot down. You can’t allow Fox to call itself a “news” organization any more: Audience members who attend a taping of Sean Hannity’s show tomorrow are required to donate $5.00 to $100.00 to the Cincinnati Tea Party.
“Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is a Disaster
The Young Turks have the inside scoop on Sarah Palin’s new er, documentary — “Sarah Palin’s Alaska – that Discovery/The Learning Channel is producing. Some of those who have seen previews rolled their eyes, snickered and laughed. It’s being called a “new all time low for Discovery.”
Here’s more:
How Much Are the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Costing Your Town?
The Iraq war has cost my town $228,811,124 and the war in Afghanistan has cost $84,652,573.
Man, we could really use that money.
