FOR ALL THE SARAH PALIN SUCKERS: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Explain How "The Quitter" Took Your Money and Ran...AWAY!

Jon Stewart uncovers Palin's money grabbing con--she knew she wasn't running a long, long time ago, but that didn't stop her from scamming her gullible supporters:

And Stephen Colbert takes the lipstick off this phoney pitbull for everyone to see:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Sarah Palin: The biggest scammer in American political history!


NEWSWEEK today highlights this paragraph from  [Joe McGinniss's] Daily Beast article, entitled, “Arrivederci, Sarah!”

“In our 235 years as a nation, [Sarah Palin] might have been—other than the Civil War—the gravest threat our republic has ever faced. Not only was she the most unqualified candidate in our history, she might have been the most mentally fragile, and she was certainly the only one ever who flirted openly with the notion of ending the separation of church and state.”

And for all those Palin apologists who never bothered to look behind the curtain to see the con artist working the emotional levers that kept her supporters blind to the con game she was playing, take a look  how phenomenally well Joe McGinniss's book "The Rogue" is doing:

« THE ROGUE debuts as #10 on NYTimes BestSeller list! #7 on e-book list. And it’s an “Editor’s Choice!”

Congratulations, Joe, well done!

HANK WILLIAMS, JR., AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT

The chronically uninformed on the right are spittle-flecking all over their keyboards because Hank Williams, Jr., was fired from ESPN for comparing President Obama to Adolf Hitler.  The usual low-informationists are calling it a violation of Williams' free speech, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

So for the bazillionth time we'll explain very, very, s l o w l y to these ignoramuses that the First Amendment prohibits the US Government from interferring with an American citizen's free speech.  But even then, there are exceptions to that freedom--for example, you cannot yell FIRE! in a crowded theater when there is no fire, or joke about explosive devices while on an airplane, or threaten the life of the president or a member of Congress.  Other than that, if I choose to, I could write on my blog, as do certain troglodytic and spelling-challenged rightwing bloggers, that the president of the United States is a Commie, Marxist, Socialist, Fascist, Kenyan anti-Christ who feeds honey-dipped puppies to Chris Christie, while shopping at Target, swinging a golf club, and smoking weed.  But I don't.  I leave that sort of overwrought tripe to those in the rightwing blogsphere, who continue to reinforce our suspicion that they've never actually read the Constitution, since they habitually get the First Amendment wrong.  All the time.

ESPN is a private corporation that made a business decision when it chose to not air Williams' drunken claptrap about Mr. Obama.  ESPN understands that its viewers are Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents, as well as Americans of all colors, and it does not wish to insult any demographic--it's bad for business. That's why when drunken idiots like Hank Williams, Jr., or pill-besotted racists like Rush Limbaugh, make slanderous remarks about presidents and football players, they get sacked.  Pissing viewers off is bad for business.  So, ESPN gets rid of inarticulate and hog-mouthed boobs who can't control their flapping mutton-lips and who demonstrate to the world what embarrassing blockheads they truly are.

Don't like ESPN's decision to can the jackass, Williams?  Don't watch it.  Simple. 

No government agent will come knocking on your door to take away your right to be outraged over a well-deserved firing.

Now excuse me while I go watch reruns on ESPN of last night's game when the fabulous Tigers beat the (insert epithet of choice) Yankees. 

GOP-TPers REJECT THEIR BIGGEST HERO, RONALD REAGAN...

and call  President Obama's plan to boost taxes on the wealthiest citizens "class warefare."  But listen to what President Ronald Reagan said about this very same subject.



The biggest hero of the Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, proposed EXACTLY what President Obama is proposing.

So the question is why do GOP-TPers call what President Obama is proposing "class warfare," and not condemn President Reagan as well on the exact same issue? 

Could it be that the GOP-TPers don't know what their own hero stood for?  Could it be that they are so deranged in their hatred of this particular president that they are blind to their massive hypocrisy?

Could it be that the GOP-TPers are more intererested in preventing President Obama from having a second term than in helping the American people? 

Is that why the GOP-TPers claimed JOBS!  JOBS!  JOBS! were the most important issue during last fall's campaign, and then when they got control of the House, they went after Planned Parenthood and NPR?

The GOP-TPers are NOT interested in governing or in the welfare of the American people.  They prove it every time more of their rank hypocrisy is uncovered.  And this video is a stark example of their rankest of rank hypocrisy.

The GOP-TPers never fail to bring Ronald Reagan's name into political discourse as an example of when America was great--"Morning in America."

But it turns out that if Mr. Reagan were alive today, he would be supporting President Obama's tax proposal and would turn away from the Crowd of Crazies that the present-day GOP-TPers have become.

 h/t WaPo

h/t to my friend, Ben Verheiden, in LA.

NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE: The Far Right Will Hate Him, Too.

UPDATE II: 

---

Christie Won’t Run for President, Associates Say

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER AND MICHAEL D. SHEAR

11:36 a.m. | Updated Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has decided not to seek the presidency, according to two associates.

Mr. Christie is scheduled to announce his decision at a news conference in the state capital at 1 p.m. But one adviser to the governor and another person who spoke to him directly said Tuesday morning that the governor would not pursue the Republican nomination.

The decision ends a late flurry of indecision on the part of Mr. Christie, who had been encouraged by a growing number of Republican donors and activists who had hoped he would add his name to the field of candidates vying to challenge President Obama.

UPDATE I:  TPM uncovers more troubling facts about Gov. Chris Christie.


The GOP is looking for another heart throb to take them to electoral victory prom--they've changed their minds on political sweethearts more often than a pre-teen at a Justin Beiber concert.

Their newest honey love is Chris Christie, the formidable governor of New Jersey.  So I did some research on his positions on key issues, and found that if he does enter the GOP popularity contest, as did Bachmann and Perry, Christies is sure to be left holding a bag of empty fries in a fast-food parking lot, just like the others were. 

Governor Christie is a centrist--NOT a far right politician.

Chris Christie on Gun Control:

Christie supports strict and aggressive enforcement of the state’s current gun laws. He strongly supported the assault weapons ban enacted during the Clinton administration. In a campaign flyer circulated during his 1995 campaign, he attacked his opponents support for repealing the ban.

Chris Christie supports the assault weapons ban and all current gun laws. He opposes attempts to permit conceal and carry laws in New Jersey – hardly the NRA position.

Chris Christie on Illegal Immigration:

“Being in this country without proper documentation is not a crime,” Christie told more than 60 residents and town officials. “The whole phrase of ‘illegal immigrant’ connotes that the person, by just being here, is committing a crime.”

“Don’t let people make you believe that that’s a crime that the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be doing something about,” he added of entering the country illegally. “It is not.”

Gov. Christie's position on abortion:

Q: Would you sign the abortion pledge going around the Republican field?

A: I haven't seen the abortion pledge, I don't know what it says.

Q: Only pro-life people working for you; a promise to back anything that coincides with the life agenda; defunding public payments for abortion across the board.

A: Here's my position on it. My name's the name on the ballot. I am pro-life, I believe in exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. That's my position, take it or leave it. --Source: Interview on NBC "Meet the Press" , Jun 26, 2011



 

Civil Unions for same-sex couples 

Homosexuals are born that way; they're not sinners

Q: Is homosexuality a sin?

A: Well, my religion says it's a sin. But for me, I've always believed that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual. And so I think if someone is born that way it's very difficult to say then that's a sin. But I understand that my Church says that but for me personally I don't look at someone who is homosexual as a sinner.

Q: You support civil unions. You don't support gay marriage. Can you see a situation where you would change your mind about that?

A: I don't think so. I believe marriage is an institution between one man and one woman. I think it's special and unique in society and I think we can have civil unions that help to give the same type of legal rights to same-sex couples that marriage gives them but I just think marriage is a special connotation. I couldn't change my mind on that but I am in favor of making sure that homosexual couples have the same type of legal rights that heterosexual couples have. --Source: Interview on CNN "Piers Morgan Tonight" , Jun 15, 2011

Jersey shore for tourism instead of offshore drilling

Governor Christie has expressed his strong opposition to off-shore drilling in New Jersey, as well as drilling off the coast of other nearby states that could negatively impact the state's 130 miles of coastline and multi-billion dollar tourism industry. He has also opposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities off of the New Jersey coast and has also restored beach replenishment funding to its full level. --Source: Governor's press release, "Shore Protection Initiatives" , Aug 11, 2011  

We ARE the leader in Libya; we MUST be the world's police

Q: Does American have to be the world's policemen? Would you like to see a spreading of that load going forward where America's not the go-to country? For military support, for helping out with despotic regimes and so on?

A: Well, America's always got to be the leader in that regard.

Q: Does it have to be?

A: I think it does.

A: I mean, look at Libya and the way Pres. Obama dealt with that. You know, he quite deliberately decided America wasn't going to be the leader.

A: But we really are. Let's face it, we are. He's calling the shots. and we all know that. And so let's not be kidding because they call it something different. America's taken the responsibility. Now, do I think there has to be shared sacrifice among other nations in the world who want a stable and secure world? Absolutely, there has to be. But I don't think that America can ever abdicate its leadership role in the world because of who we are & where we've come from. We are the symbol for the world for freedom & liberty.

--Source: Interview on CNN "Piers Morgan Tonight" , Jun 15, 2011

And finally, Gov. Christie's big problem--his weight.  The rightwing blogsphere has been relentless about Mrs. Obama's derrier--ignoring the fact that there isn't an ounce of blubbering fat on her body.  Just look at her arms and legs and chin--then look at Christie's chin--all six of them.  Christie has a huge weight problem and that matters when people are looking at him as a presidential candidate.  Eugene Robinson explains why:

"Chris Christie needs to find some way to lose weight. Like everyone else, elected officials perform best when they are in optimal health. Christie obviously is not.
You could argue that this is none of my business, but I disagree. Christie’s problem with weight ceased being a private matter when he stepped into the public arena — and it’s not something you can fail to notice. Obesity is a national epidemic whose costs are measured not just in dollars and cents but also in lives. Christie’s weight is as legitimate an issue as the smoking habit that President Obama says he has finally kicked.

On rare occasions, Christie speaks candidly about his weight. “I’m really struggling, been struggling for a long time with it,” he told CNN’s Piers Morgan in June. “And I know that it would be better for my kids if I got it more under control, and so I do feel a sense of guilt at times about that.”

Six weeks later, the New Jersey governor was briefly hospitalized for asthma — a condition that he has had for most of his life. Researchers say that many respiratory problems, including asthma, are worsened by obesity.

[skip]

The NIH estimates that nearly 34 percent of U.S. adults can be classified as “obese,” meaning they have a body mass index of more than 30. By this standard, a man who stands 5-foot-11 — Christie’s reported height — would be obese if his weight reached 215 pounds. While Christie does not disclose his weight, it appears to exceed the 286 pounds that would place him among the 5.7 percent of American adults whom NIH classifies as “extremely obese.”

DRIVING WINGNUT DROOLERS CRAZY!

You go, girl!  The morons in wingnuttia can't stand the fact that a highly educated First Lady is doing so well, and that she's light years smarter than they could ever hope to be.  Therefore, they're apoplectic about anything this brainy, beautiful woman does.


Psst!  Mrs. Obama!  They couldn't spell your name correctly if their stupid, small, cramped, and inconsequential lives depended on it.  

Remember:  They're ranting on blogs, and you live in the White House.  LOL!

President Obama's Support Still Excellent With Jewish Voters

According to a report published in Talking Points Memo, Mr. Obama is doing just fine with Jewish voters.  Despite the lies and disinformation found on rightwing blogs that falsely claim that the Jewish community is falling away from him, the truth is that Mr. Obama's support is solid and way ahead of anything the GOP candidates enjoy.


"It looks like a sweet start to the Jewish New Year for President Obama. According to a new poll by Democratic PPP, the recent panic over Obama’s standing with Jewish voters is little cause for concern in Florida, which has one of the largest Jewish populations in the nation.

Obama leads Rick Perry with Jewish voters 82-2 in a general election matchup and Romney 78-11, huge margins in line with Democrats’ traditional edge with one of their core demographics.

PPP notes that it’s a relatively small sample size, but all indications are still positive:

Obama’s approval rating among Jewish voters is 76/20 and 61/31 on his handling of Israel."

The Derangement is Complete

The radical right wants to protect their children from the Muslim, Kenyan, Commie, Socialist, Fascist, anti-Christ Obumma whose speech includes talking about responsibility, studying hard, not giving up, exploring educational possibilities, treating people with respect and dignity, and setting admirable goals. 

The horror!   The horror! 

Whacko conservatives find this sort of talk "indoctrination,"  and demanded an "opt-out" for their children, so they wouldn't have to listen to an inspirational talk they would have approved of if it had been given by anyone other than Barack Hussein Obama.  (Say no more. Say no more. Nudge. Nudge. Know what I mean, know what I mean.)

Meh.  I say let them keep their children away.  We understand their values and what such values produce:

Enjoy your ignorance, Teapublicans.

Excerpts from President Obama's speech:

"[Y]ou’ve got a lot on your plates. You guys are growing up faster and interacting with the wider world in a way that old folks like me didn’t have to. So today, I don’t want to be another adult who stands up to lecture you like you’re just kids. Because you’re not just kids. You’re this country’s future. Whether we fall behind or race ahead in the coming years is up to you. And I want to talk to you about meeting that responsibility.

It starts with being the best student you can be. Now, that doesn’t always mean you have to get a perfect score on every assignment. It doesn’t have to mean straight A’s all the time—although that’s a good goal to strive for. It means you have to keep at it. It means you have to work as hard as you know how. And it means that you take some risks once in a while. You wonder. You question. You explore.

[skip]

That’s what school’s for: discovering new passions and acquiring the skills to pursue those passions in the future. That’s why one hour you can be an artist; the next, an author; the next, a scientist. Or a historian. Or a carpenter. This is the time when you can try out new interests and test new ideas. And the more you do, the sooner you’ll figure out what makes you come alive.

[skip]

So that’s a big part of your responsibility: Testing things out. Taking risks. Working hard. Engaging with the world around you. Those are the things that will make school more fun. And down the road, those are the traits that will help you succeed – the traits that will lead you to invent a device that makes the iPad look like a stone tablet. Or figure out a way to use the sun and wind to power a city. Or write the next great American novel.

Now, to do almost any of those things, you have to not only graduate from high school, but continue your education after you leave. That might mean a four-year university, a community college, or a professional credential or training, but the fact of the matter is that more than 60 percent of jobs in the next decade will require more than a high school diploma. That’s the world you’re walking into.

So I want all of you to set a goal to continue your education after high school. And if that means college for you, just getting in isn’t enough. You’ve got to finish. Our country used to have the world’s highest proportion of young people with a college degree. Now we’re 16th. That’s not good enough. And so we need your generation to bring us back to the top.

If we do that, you guys will have a brighter future. And so will America."


Dear Mr. President--not if these people can help it:

NRA's WAYNE LAPIERRE'S NEW HOME IN CRAZY TOWN

When we look at the individuals who make up the base of the GOP--the Tea Party crowd,--we see people who cheer when a governor brags about executing people, we witness people who whoop loudly at the suggestion that an uninsured man should be left to die; and most recently, we see these "Support The Troops" yeehaws BOO! a soldier serving in Iraq, because that soldier is teh gaii.

If those horrors aren't enough to curdle your kidneys, then the latest nincompoopery from the NRA will:

Wayne LaPierre, one of the NRA’s highest-profile leaders, speaking at the CPAC:


“[The Obama campaign] will say gun owners — they’ll say they left them alone,”

Possibly.  And if the Obama campaign were to say that, it would be the truth.  But LaPierre adds this:


“In public, he’ll remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the Clinton [assault weapons] ban, he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws… "

Another truth.  So what is LaPierre's point?

"The president will offer the 2nd Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he's actually been good for the 2nd Amendment.”

Which, of course he has.  President Obama has actually e x p a n d e d gun rights.

LaPierre surely knows this, but he can't get his NRA members to keep sending in those checks if the president he opposes actually, y'know, is not doing anything to endager the 2nd Amendment, not even hinting at it but, in FACT, expanding gun rights for Americans.  So where does that leave Mr. LaPierre?

LaPierre has decided to buy himself one of the biggest, ugliest, homes in Crazy Town and here's the address: 

“But it’s a big fat stinking lie!” the NRA leader exclaimed. “It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and destroy the 2nd Amendment in our country.

Whoa!  LaPierre is asserting that because President Obama is NOT doing a thing to curtail gun rights it means that he is actually in a conspiracy to destroy gun rights.  Got that?

But wait, LaPierre explains how this works:

“Obama himself is no fool. So when he got elected, they concocted a scheme to stay away from the gun issue, lull gun owners to sleep and play us for fools in 2012. Well, gun owners are not fools and we are not fooled."

“… President Obama and his cohorts, yeah, they’re going to deny their conspiracy to fool gun owners. Some in the liberal media, they are already probably blogging about it. But we don’t care because the lying, conniving Obama crowd can kiss our Constitution!”


So in LaPierre's twisted paranoia, if Mr. Obama were to suggest that everyone's guns be taken away, that would really mean that Mr. Obama is SUPPORTING gun owners' rights?   And he'd be qualified to be the president of the NRA? 

BTW, I just realized that Mr. Obama has recently said nothing about kidnapping college Republicans and eating their brains on the White House balconey, so it's obvious that's exactly what he will do!

Someone, quick, call Glenn Beck!

"50 REASONS WHY I REJECT EVOLUTION"

By Bobbi-Jean Pentecost.

This is too good to just link to.  I want to document her entire piece.

1.) Because I don't like the idea that we came from apes… despite that humans are categorically defined and classified as apes.

2.) Because I'm too stupid and/or lazy to open a fucking science book or turn on the Discovery Science Channel.

3.) Because if I can't immediately understand how something works, then it must be bullshit.

4.) Because I don't care that literally 99.9% of all biologists accept evolution as the unifying theory of biology.

5.) Because I prefer the idea that a (insert god of choice) went ALLA-KADABRA-ZAM MOTHAH-FUCKAHS!!!

6.) Because I can't get it through my thick logic-proof skull that evolution refers ONLY to the diversity of living organisms which reproduce with genetic variation, not to abiogenesis, or planet formation, or big bang cosmology, or whether God exists, or where they buried Jimmy Hoffa, or why the sky is blue, or how many licks it takes to get to the center of a fucking Tootsie Pop.

7.) Because the fossil record doesn't comprise the remains of every single living thing that ever existed on this 4.5 billion year old planet, even though fossilization is a rare process that only occurs under very specific circumstances.

8.) Because science has yet to produce any transitional species… except for the magnitudinous numbers of them found in the fossil record which don't count because… I uh, OOH LOOK! A SHINY OBJECT!!! *runs away*

9.) Because I know nothing about Darwin except that he had a funny beard.

10.) Because the theory of evolution (which, according to scientists, perfectly explains the richness and diversity of life on Earth) contradicts biblical literalism… ya know, flat Earth with a firmament that keeps out the water, talking snakes, people rising from the dead, bats are birds, flamey talking bushes, virgin births, food appearing out of nowhere, massive bodies of water turning into blood… etc etc.

11.) Because I think the word "theory" actually means: "random stabs in the dark" when it really means: "an explanation of certain phenomena that is well-supported by a large body of facts and often unifies similarly well-supported hypotheses" i.e. atomic theory, gravitational theory, germ theory, cell theory, some-people-are-dumb-motherfuckers-theory, etc.

12.) Because the fact that science is self-correcting annoys me. Most of my other beliefs are rigidly fixed and uncorrectable.

13.) Because I am under the severely mistaken impression that evolution implies someone in my very recent ancestry was a chimp.

14.) Because everything appears designed to my mind which was expertly tuned by nature to perceive design, probably as a survival mechanism.

15.) Because some secretly fabulous closet-dwelling televangelist (who unironically preaches hate towards gays) told me that evolution is Satan's way of leading me away from God.

16.) Because that same guy (who was also caught snorting blow off a male hooker's shiny naked ass) told me that God planted those fossils to test my faith.

17.) Because I'm 100% correct about everything 100% of the time and there is 0% chance that some snooty Oxford educated scientist with numerous honorary doctorates could possibly know something that I don't.

18.) Because I don't know that fossils are found in sedimentary strata corresponding to their age as one would expect if evolution were true.

19.) Because I don't understand why, if we share common ancestry with chimps, there are still chimps. And when someone with more than three brain cells in their head inevitably replies: "for the same reason Americans share common ancestry with Brits but there are still Brits, I can't follow the logic. It's just too big a leap. Who am I, Evil Knievel?

20.) Because my mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby.

21.) Multiple times.

22.) On purpose.

23.) Because the idea that life evolved naturally over billions of years is infinitely less believable than the idea that an 800 year old man crammed two of every species into a giant wooden boat when the entire planet flooded, an event for which there is absolutely no geological evidence whatsoever and also makes no fucking sense at all.

24.) Because Jesus totally rode around on a fucking t-rex. He's just that badassed. And also, did you know that t-rexes were vegetarians? Ken Ham says so and I believe it.

25.) Because I don't realize that saying "microevolution is possible but macroevolution isn't" is as stupid as saying "I can pick my nose for one second but I cannot pick it for 10 seconds."

26.) Because the education system failed me miserably.

27.) …and then took a big wet dump on my face.

28.) Because I think that knowing how nature works magically obliterates all of its beauty.

29.) Because I didn't know that evolution has been tested and observed in laboratories.

30.) Because when confronted with that, I refuse to believe it. It's obviously a scientific conspiracy aimed at turning everyone on the planet into atheists... even though evolution says nothing about god's nature nor whether he, she, it, or they exist.

31.) Because I'm too stupid to realize that Social Darwinism has nothing to do with evolution and is actually a pseudo-scientific bastardization that real science largely rejects.

32.) Because the planet and all the life on it was designed for humans… kinda like how the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY was designed specifically for the dust-bunnies that may accumulate on the floors.

33.) Because I don't realize that if we actually found croco-ducks in the fossil record, it would falsify evolution.

34.) Because plenty of respectable people like Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee (who are not scientists) don't accept evolution, and that somehow validates my opinion.

35.) Because my mother didn't know not to drink while she was pregnant. She also didn't know not to repeatedly throw herself down a flight of stairs in an attempt to undo the accident of screwing someone who voted for Bush both times.

36.) Because I don't know that "irreducible complexity" has been debunked a frazillion times by a frazillion different people and is no more credible an argument than "NEEN-er NEEN-er NEEN-er, I'm right and you're wrong."

37.) Because I have never seen a duck evolve into a cat over night, despite the fact that such a thing would be contrary to all known scientific disciplines.

38.) Because I have no imagination, learning is too much effort, I don't like proven facts, change scares me, and I think deoxyribonucleic acid is something I'm supposed to clean my bathroom floors with.

39.) Because evolution means that I absolutely MUST reject everything else I know, abandon all my beliefs, and start aping around my house like a fucking monkey. OOOh-ooohh-ooohohh -OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!

40.) Because I haven't put my cave on the market and moved into the 21st century yet. I'm waiting for the cave market to rebound from the recent financial meltdown.

41.) Because I don't know what an atavism is and if you told me, I still wouldn't believe it. Too weird.

42.) Because I don't know that evolution explains methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and also provides the answer in preventing it from turning into a superbug and killing massive numbers of people.

43.) Because I don't know that evolution is routinely used in medicine to diagnose and treat certain illnesses such as genetic ailments, bacterial infections, and viral infections.

44.) Because I believe there is a strong comparison between designed inanimate objects such as buildings, paintings, and watches (which we know were pieced together from identifiable components by human beings) and living organisms (which reproduce with genetic variation under the effects of environmental attrition).

45.) Because I see no significant similarities between humans and apes. *scratches my ass-crack then smells my fingers*

46.) Because I think I'm too special to have been crafted by any natural process and the entire planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe were created with me especially in mind.

47.) Because I unquestioningly swallow the ignorant anti-science bullshit spewed directly from the fraudulent stupid asses of people like Ken Ham, Ted Haggard, Fred Phelps, and Kent Hovind.

48.) Because I'm a freethinker and freethinking really means ignoring anything that contradicts what I already believe.

49.) Because I don't know what confirmation bias is.

50.) Because despite the fact that in all my years of life, I have never seen any magic, I still believe magic is the answer to anything I don't immediately comprehend.

Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case. Quod erat demonstrandum, I fucking win. Take that you EVILutionists!

~By Bobbie Jean Pentecost

Where is the GOP's public rebuke of the booing of an active duty American soldier?

Frequent commenter here on PE, Dave Miller, left this insightful comment about the audience members at the last GOP debate who booed the soldier serving in Iraq:

Dave Miller said...

We have watched over the years as many conservative pundits and politicians have tarred and feathered Muslims for their faith.

We have been told that in the absence of any public rebuke of extremist Muslim views, that we can safely view the entire religion as extremist.

We have been told that at least 10% of the Muslim people are terrorists.

And we have been told that we, as Americans, have a right to look suspect on an entire people group.

Why? For two reasons.

One, a relatively small number of the followers of Islam have gone off the deep end and believe in terrorism.

And two, the apparent lack of Muslim leaders who will publicly say that the actions of that relatively small number of terrorists are wrong and have no place in civilized societies.

It is time that those that advocate this type of stance, step forward and accept their due.

Unless and until we see national leaders from the Republican Party stand up and disavow the words and attitudes of people like Mr. Santorum and the crowds that cheered the death penalty, said "yeah, let him die" and then booed a gay serviceman, it is safe to assume that these views are representative of the entire party.

Where are the national GOP leaders that will say these people do not represent our party?

Where is one elected GOP congressional leader who will publicly state that what we have been watching the last three weeks is wrong?

Republicans, this is your dancing in the streets Palestinian moment. Your masses are booing US Servicemen, celebrating the death penalty, and saying let 'em die to your fellow citizens.

In the absence of any leaders stepping forward, why should we not tar your entire party with the same brush you have used for years to tar Muslims?


(NOTE:  Rick Santorum condemned the booing by the audience of the active duty soldier, but a day later--he claimed he didn't hear the booing.)

FROM "DEPENDABLE RENEGADE'S" BLOG:

"Jon-John Huntsman, who said it was "totally unfortunate and unnecessary when someone in uniform asks a question of a panelist in this case, the first response should be thanking the soldier for his or her service," and New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson who said, "That’s not the Republican Party that I belong to,” said Johnson. “I’m embarrassed by someone who serves in the military and can’t express their sexuality. I am representing the Republican Party that is tolerant. And to me that shows an intolerance that I’m not a part of in any way whatsoever. ”Johnson added that he could hear the boos from the stage and believes that the other candidates – despite Santorum’s denial – could as well." (ABC)

Ooops!

THUS, conscience does make cowards of them all:

"Businessman Herman Cain declined to go into detail about the incident saying only, “If you don’t have time to explain your whole position on that, you can very easily be taken out of context so I don’t even want to comment on that.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s spokeswoman Alice Stewart said in an email to ABC News, “There was booing and cheering throughout the debate – Michele didn’t comment on any of it.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also declined to comment, and Ron Paul’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spokespeople from Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign did not return requests for comment, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign had no comment either."

GOP Audience Boos American Soldier at FOX News Debate

UPDATE:  Conservative pundit, William Kristol of the Weekly Standard writes this about the GOP-TP debate:

"Most won’t express publicly just how horrified—or at least how demoralized—they are."

"The e-mails flooding into our inbox during the evening were less guarded. Early on, we received this missive from a bright young conservative: “I'm watching my first GOP debate...and WE SOUND LIKE CRAZY PEOPLE!!!!” As the evening went on, the craziness receded, and the demoralized comments we received stressed the mediocrity of the field rather than its wackiness. As one more experienced, and therefore more jaded, observer wrote: “I just thought maybe it’s always this bad...they’re only marginally worse than McCain and Bush.”

Bad news for the Goopers:  Young GOPers agree with us Liberals:  The GOP candidates "sound like crazy people!"

Go here to read Andrew Sullivan's righteous post on the disgrace the GOP brought on itself last night.

On to my original post:

Another debate, another exhibit of what the GOP stands for.  At two previous debates we've watched GOP-TP supporters cheer when Gov. Rick Perry boasted about  how many people, innocent or not, he's executed in Texas; we've seen GOP-TP supporters cheer when a hypothetical question was put to Rep. Ron Paul about letting a young man die who did not have health insurance; and at last night's debate, a US soldier asked Rick Santorum about his position on DADT, and the GOP-TP audience BOOED the soldier and cheered as Santorum promised he would repeal DADT. Santorum calls being honest about who you are and treating people equally "social experimentation."


This is what the GOP-TP stands for:


The executions of people, whether they're innocent or guilty

The deaths of people who do not have health insurance

The return of DADT, where American military personnel are forced to lie about who they are.

We Are Respectable Negroes blogs on this subject as well.


(According to the reports I read, Rick Perry was outshone by Mitt Romney last night. Gov. GoodHair apparently isn't up to politics outside of Texas, and the former Massachusetts governor did better than Perry.)

The GOP and its supporters have provided a new level of disgust with this newest exhibition of its bigotry--booing a soldier in a war zone.   

After the last two debates, one would think we’d be immune to their self-righteous hatreds. 

The GOP represent exactly what is wrong with America today.

JUST SEEN OVER AT SMARTYPANTS' BLOG:

Remember the artery popping indignation over this photo of then candidate Sen. Barack Obama?

To Conservatives, this was proof positive that Mr. Obama was a disrespectful, America-hating Commie, Marxist, Alinsky-loving, Kenyan usurper who also hates America.  Did I mention that the Conservatives said he hates this country?  Yeah.  That's what the CONSERVATIVES claim is proved by this photo.

As Smartypants pointed out, at a recent GOP debate, we found another instance of America-hating Commie, Marxist behavior.  It's a disgrace, a filthy disgusting America-hating disgrace.  But wait!  Oh my!  Who is that man who refuses to give proper respect to the American flag?  Who?  Who?  Who?  O, THE HUMANITY!

How long before this photo of Governor Rick (Good Hair) Perry goes viral in the Conservative blogsphere with the caption stating HE DISRESPECTS AMERICA AND HER FLAG?!

Steve Benen asks the same question.

ANSWER:   It's disrespectful and America-hating only when Democrats do it.

I suggest to our Liberal blogger friends that they copy and paste this all over the blogsphere to show the rank hypocrisy that is endemic to the GOP.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent, by (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone

UPDATE III, from the comment section of The Field Negro, by The Field Negro:

"Seven of the nine witnesses for the state recanted, and they stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured by the police to testify the way they did at the trial?

NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE!


I REPEAT: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE!

NO DNA EVIDENCE!
Yes, he might have been a punk and he was running with some bad dudes. But you forgot the fact that the person who reported Davis to the police in the first place was with Davis that day, and was the person who first accosted and beat that homeless man.

Also,you might want to check on your facts regarding the gun:

"One of the state's key claims at trial was that the same gun used to shoot Officer MacPhail was also used in the first of two shootings earlier that evening in another neighborho­od known as Cloverdale­--and that this 'fact' implicates Mr. Davis -- has now been called into serious doubt. The state attempted to link the two crimes based on 'expert' findings. The state had a ballistics examiner, Roger Parian, testify that there was enough similariti­es between a bullet fired in Cloverdale and a bullet removed from the officer's body that the bullets may have been fired from the same gun...

The state's 'same gun' theory is no longer viable. A new report prepared by the Georgia Bureau of Investigat­ion years later at the request of the Board of Pardons and Paroles showed that the markings on the two bullets are insufficie­nt to determine that they were fired from the same gun. Former Georgia Bureau of Investigat­ion firearms examiner Christophe­r Robinson confirms that the 2007 GBI reports show that the state's 'same gun' testimony at trial was 'inaccurat­e and misleading­.' and that the 2007 GBI report 'indicates that it is impossible to tell whether the bullets were fired from the same firearm."”

There is a very good chance that the guy who fingered Davis was the actual trigger man.

But it doesn't matter now, does it?

Go read Infidel753 on this subject.

 (Radical Redneck: Stay away from this blog.  You're too stupid to understand how grindingly stupid you are.)

UPDATE II:  10:22 pm --Supreme Court denied the stay of execution.
UPDATE I:  7:12 pm  --  Execution delayed.   Waiting for Supreme Court to decide if they will issue a stay of execution.

Cross-posted: By (O)CT(O)PUS, The Swash Zone:


According to The Innocence Project, 273 ex-felons in American prisons have been exonerated through the use of DNA testing - including 17 who have served time on death row. In theory, our justice system is based on an assumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. However, once you have been found guilty, the burden of proof is reversed: You must prove your innocence to a Byzantine bureaucracy before justice is finally served. Of those 273 wrongful convictions, innocent victims of a flawed justice system served an average of 13 years in prison before exoneration and release. Thirteen years! For crimes they did not commit! Attributable to false testimony. Faulty evidence! Police coercion! And/or prosecutorial abuse!


Troy Anthony Davis is scheduled for execution later today. He was convicted in the murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, who was working part-time as a security guard when he intervened between several men having an argument in a parking lot. One of the men, Sylvester Coles, implicated Davis in the killing. No murder weapon was ever found, and no physical evidence linked Davis to the crime.


Years later, 7 of the original 9 witnesses who linked Davis to the killing recanted all or part of their stories. New witnesses implicated Coles in the crime. State and federal appeals courts found those recantations unpersuasive and declared that Davis had failed to provide sufficient proof of innocence [my bold].


Among those who petitioned the courts for a new trial or evidentiary hearing: Amnesty International, NAACP, former President Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, Pope Benedict XVI, Desmond Tutu, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, and former FBI Director and Judge William Sessions.


One would think a continuing search for truth and justice should take precedence over a lust for revenge. However, once convicted, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. Yesterday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Troy Anthony Davis a petition of clemency. His execution is scheduled for 7:00 PM today.

The End of DADT: September 20, 2011

Thank you President Obama and all who worked to overturn this terrible law.

"Today, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is officially over.


Gay men and lesbians in the military no longer have to hide who they are, and the servicemembers who were discharged under this policy can re-enlist.


This is one of the administration's signature achievements. Countless Americans fought hard to end this law over the course of nearly two decades, and President Obama is proud to have signed the repeal.


But today's news isn't just a policy promise kept -- it's a personal promise kept to the thousands of people who needed and deserved this change." --Jim Messina, Campaign Manager, Obama for America







AUBREY SARVIS, Executive Director, The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network: "The President directed his forces with precision, methodically insisting all options be examined and re-examined. He realized almost from the beginning that success would depend upon the military, that he would need Gates and Mullen and his senior commanders and the troops with him to bring about this change. And he also knew that would take time. He was determined not to be rushed. The last time this was rushed without a plan and military support the results had been disastrous. He would not make that mistake."

Americans Dislike Congress, But They Dislike The Republicans in Congress The Most.

Good job, Speaker Boehner.   You've done a terrific job of making Americans detest the Congressional Republicans.

The Democrats are not loved, to be sure, but the Republicans are positively hated according to the latest polls.

The GOP-TP's plan of obstructing everything President Obama proposes has backfired.  The American people don't think saying NO! to anything that would help this country through its financial woes is a good enough plan.

Americans, by large percentages, want the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, but the Republicans consistently say NO! to the American people. 

NO! taxing the wealthiest and YES! to the continued suffering of the middle class. 

The GOP-TP are willing to hurt the American people in order to remove Mr. Obama from the White House.  That's not a way to win the hearts and minds of the American people, and the American people are sending Congress that message.

"And the stat that should terrify congressional Republicans:

In keeping with Congress' dismal review, just 6 percent of registered voters think most members deserve re-election - the lowest percentage ever in CBS News Polls during the past 20 years, and a lower percentage than the 9 percent who thought so right before the 2010 midterms.

That is a direct indictment on Congressional Republicans, because fact is, "most members of Congress" are Republican.

Hence the current GOP dilemma—continue obstructing the president in hopes of weakening Barack Obama ahead of the 2012 elections, or actually show voters they have some ability to govern. And hey, a little pork from the jobs bill for their districts, in the form of infrastructure and transportation funding, would also go a long way toward securing reelection.

At the moment, it looks like Obama hatred is trumping self-preservation. We have to wait and see if that changes. Because if they maintain the status quo, expect huge Democratic gains in the House next year. No incumbent party can be expected to survive numbers like these. Democrats certainly didn't in 2010."

This is What They Are

In my post below the Elizabeth Warren announcement, I documented the Obama derangement that has infected and festers in FAUX NOOZ talking heads reports  and that has overtaken the once great Party of Lincoln. 

I document these atrocities that certain groups on the right continue to spread because of the fundamental damage I believe they do to our politics and to our country. 

Recently, the rightwing blogsphere spread the most slanderously vile lies about First Lady Michelle Obama.  None of the calumny is based on fact, but instead, on some filthy lie which these demented people THINK or IMAGINE she said to her husband, the president, during memorial services for September 11. 

I thought the disrespect and hatred that First Lady Hillary Clinton endured from the rightwing while her husband was in the White House was monsterous, but they now seem tame compared to the Right's all-out malignant campaign to defile Michelle Obama that the GOP and its lackeys promote.

Here is the latest sewerage coming from the Right (via Media Matters). 

"Right-Wing Lip Readers Take Michelle Obama Derangement Syndrome To A Whole New Level

Before today, when the right-wing media made up quotations to attack progressives, they at least had some audio to misinterpret. But now, they are reduced to lip-reading.

The Washington Times' senior editorial writer for foreign affairs James Robbins and right-wingbloggersare claiming that Michelle Obama likely disparaged the American flag during a ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks.

They have posted video of Michelle Obama whispering something inaudible to her husband during the ceremony and are speculating that she said "all this just for a flag," "all that for a flag," or "all of this for a damn flag." (They disagree on exactly what she said.)

Blogger Jim Hoft, still in the running for the Dumbest Man on the Internet, didn't even have the confidence to type the fake Michelle Obama quotation himself. He instead provided a link to an American Thinker post making the accusation for him.

The video the bloggers have posted has no audio of Michelle Obama at the relevant point, and their lip-reading is hindered by the fact that Michelle Obama's lips disappear behind a partition at one point:

But they still believe Michelle Obama must have said something extremely controversial. We leave you with the ramblingsof Debbie Schlussel, who seems to believe it doesn't matter what Michelle Obama said, because we all know what "she's thinkin' ":

"I can't really tell for sure, but a number of people are abuzz about this video of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Hussein Obama Idi Amin Dada. The consensus seems to be that the First Ms. Thang is saying to hubby Barack, "All of this for a damn flag." (She said this about the American flag -- you know the one brave men died for.) Wouldn't be surprised if that's what she said because we know she hates America and previously said she wasn't proud of our country until Obama had a chance to become Prez. Looks like that's what she said, but I can't tell for sure. I would need a deaf person or other expert lip reader to confirm. Watch and see if you agree (like I said, even if she didn't say exactly that, we know she's thinkin' it)."

So this Schlussel entity speaks for the rightwing in knowing what Mrs. Obama thinks?  And they project their hatred of America onto the First Lady in doing so.  For they do harm to our country in spreading and encouraging this malicious branding of a First Lady. 

And I will invoke Godwin's law right now in stating that these sorts of character assassinations are the same sort of tactics the Nazis used in dehumanizing Jews in the 1930s.  There is nothing this admirable woman does that earns her any respect from these people because they made up their spongiformed brains right from the beginning to hate and demean her and her family.

THIS IS WHAT THEY SEND AROUND IN EMAILS:

ELIZABETH WARREN FOR US SENATE!

Elizabeth Warren for US Senator from Massachusetts.


I've signed on to work in her campaign. 

Go Elizabeth!




Elizabeth Warren steals the show at Labor Day breakfast.

Berkshire Democrats want Warren to run, run, run.

Elizabeth Warren fires up labor leaders.

Thank you, Oklahoma, for the gift of Elizabeth Warren.

GOP-TPers Give Good Facepalm

Just when  I think FAUX NOOZ and the GOP-TP pols can't be any more dickish, more idiotic, more small minded, roiling in gallons of fetid bile and filled with more hate than a ballpark full of Yankee fans at a Red Sox game, they demonstrate to me that yes! Yes they can!

Let's examine the latest FOX fake outrage about President Obama's use of a clip to hold together his Jobs bill.  And no, I'm not kidding.  The meat-heads who pass themselves off as cable news reporters at that clown cable "news" station actually reported on this with indignation.  Is it possible that I have the misfortune to be living in an age of such  unimaginably  petty assholedness?  Well, the answer is yes.  I live in times that are not so much interesting as they are insane!  Do I have to draw a picture with my favorite crayolas to illustrate how deranged these people are? 

How about you just read this and then give yourself the hardest facepalm of your life.

"...Fox & Friends joined the New York Post in attacking President Obama for using a paper clip. Read that again: They attacked Obama for using a paper clip."

But wait, there's more. 

Rep. Steven King (Idiot-IA) wants President Obama's drunken uncle to testify before Congress.

What? Did I just type that incredibly stupid sentence?  Why yes, yes I did. 


"Onyango Obama, who allegedly does not have a valid visa, was arrested in Framingham, Massachusetts, on August 24 and charged in Framingham District Court with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He is the half-brother of President Obama's father.

King suspects that Onyango Obama will get favorable deportation proceedings due to his relation to the President.

'We have to bring drunken 'Uncle Omar' in front of the House Judiciary Committee, drill down into this, and tell America what's going on,' the Iowa Republican told Fox News' Chris Stirewalt Monday."


Apparently Rep. King thinks Congress's time would be well spent, not in finding jobs for the American people, not in solving our financial crises, but in wasting tax payers' time and money on investigating some obscure half-uncle of President Obama's, because finding some way, any way, to embarrass or annoy the president is way more important than actually doing, y'know, his job.

Does anyone need anymore evidence of the complete mental and moral breakdown that has tragically overtaken the GOP-TP?  I don't think so.  This petty harrassment from the once great party of Lincoln is evidence of a party that has been overtaken by a rampaging group of racist ninnies hellbent on screwing over the president and not one bit interested in doing the right thing for America.