the joshua blog

BANNED: Kyle Minogue's visually stunning video for, "All The Lovers."

2010-12-29T09:50:00.001-05:00

Check out Kyle Minogue's visually stunning (and banned in Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore video for her beautiful song, "All The Lovers."

Via Queerty:

A Couple More 'Rally to Restore Sanity' Pics ...

2010-11-07T17:25:00.010-05:00

My friend Jeff just sent me a couple of pics he took of us at the Rally to Restore Sanity with his camera:

David Shuster speaks to me about Keith Olbermann... sort of.

2010-11-07T16:03:00.002-05:00

After I had breakfast with David Shuster the day after the Rally to Restore Sanity, I did a quick post about it with the intention of giving a full account at some point. But after thinking about it, I decided against it:

"I've decided not to elaborate any further on my lunch with David, except to say that I told him that MSNBC really screwed him over and MSNBC President, Phil Griffin, is a real piece of work. Griffin took one of the few actual journalists that worked as an MSNBC host and walked all over him. David is remarkably at peace with everything and will be fine, great in fact, and what MSNBC is losing will be someone else's gain."

The truth is, I didn't feel like sharing our private conversation, even though David said I could blog about anything we discussed. It just didn't feel right. We talked about a lot of personal things; our families, our dads, in addition to some issues I have with MSNBC, the reasons David felt unsettled there, his decision to talk to CNN, and David's situation now.

It was a great couple of hours and decided to leave it at that...

Then, MSNBC President, Phil Griffin, suspended Keith Olbermann after it was reported Keith had been donated to three Democrats at the end of October

Despite the fact that NBC said that “MSNBC 'Doesn't Answer' to NBC News Standards," and it was clear Phil Griffin didn’t mind Joe Scarborough donating to Republicans (or that even Pat Buckkkanan has given 5 political contributions over the past few years), Griffin removed Keith from the air "until further notice."

Well, I just had to see what David thought about all this.

I spoke with him little while ago & tried my best to pry some juicy thoughts from him regarding Olbermann's suspension -- anything that I could blog that is -- but sad to say, I wasn't very successful.

Considering he's still under contract with MSNBC until December, and anything he would say could jeopardize him financially -- and that there was really no upside to him speaking out on Keith or his situation until then -- this was the best I could do on-the-record:

Joshua: David, thanks for taking my questions.

David Shuster: You are welcome. You may not be thankful when you see how little I can say about most things. You are the only person in the media/politics/blogosphere world I've even responded to. I have kept my phones turned off and haven't answered any e-mails just to avoid the questions from reporters and etc. But for you, I'll consider anything.

Joshua: Any reaction to the Keith Olbermann situation?

David Shuster: Joshua, I love you man. But it's not my place to talk about any of that. So, I'm not going to comment. I'm sorry.

Me: Any news on your suspension or your future plans?

David Shuster: As MSNBC has stated publicly, my contract ends in December. I'm sure that we will have an amicable discussion about my future and theirs.

Joshua: Any thoughts on how MSNBC handled your situation?

David Shuster: I harbor no ill will or negative feelings towards MSNBC.

Joshua: So, what have you been up too since we last saw each other?

David Shuster: I just participated with a bunch of friends in a 5k walk for an organization called the "Lungevity foundation." They are dedicated to finding a cure for lung cancer. It was a spectacular day today in DC and it was nice to be outside with friends, trying to help with a good cause.

At least is was something. ;-)

Run, Nancy. Run.

2010-11-06T10:54:00.006-04:00

Nancy Pelosi has been THE MOST successful House Speaker in history. That's why she's hated. It's not just that's she's a woman, it's that she's a strong, San Francisico, liberal woman who's accomplishments are only overshadowed by the Senate's inability to keep up with her legislative successes (see:Frustrated House still waiting for Senate action on 420 bills). The right hates her because she's so. damn. good. at getting things done.

She didn't lose the House for Democrats on Tuesday. Mealy-mouthed Blue Dog, Corporate Democrats, and an impotent Senate Majority leader did.

Via Rachel Maddow:

Run, Nancy. Run.

UPDATE: Also see:

David Shuster & I had breakfast this morning! (UPDATED)

2010-11-02T13:36:00.004-04:00

David Shuster & I breakfast this morning! It was truly an amazing experience to sit down with him and talk about our lives, our families, our thoughts on the current political climate and so much more.

Honestly, he's one the of the nicest people I've ever met. Down-to-earth, warm, welcoming and completely nonjudgmental. I left filled with tons of gratitude and appreciation knowing that he took the time out of his life to meet with me, and was eager to do so.

I'll probably do a full blog post about our lunch when I get home - I haven't decided yet - so, this picture will have to do for now.

(David Shuster & me after breakfast this morning at the Sofitel in Washington, D.C.)

Wow. I came to Washington D.C. to attend Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity," which was a huge success (215,ooo people according to the same CBS experts who estimated Glenn Becks rally at 87,000), and David Shuster had breakfast with me today.

What a great weekend!

UPDATE: "I've decided not to elaborate any further on my lunch with David, except to say that I told him that MSNBC really screwed him over and MSNBC President, Phil Griffin, is a real piece of work. Griffin took one of the few actual journalists that worked as an MSNBC host and walked all over him. David is remarkably at peace with everything and will be fine, great in fact, and what MSNBC is losing will be someone else's gain."

Trailer for HBO's Mini Series "Mildred Pierce"

2010-10-31T14:30:00.003-04:00

Oh. My. God.

They're remaking Mildred Pierce on HBO!!!

I had no idea they were making this and before I Googled it, I was very upset at the prospect. I thought there was a good possibility they butcher this masterpiece like they did with the remake of The Woman last year.

But this looks great. Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel Wood (h/t Ryan Adams):

Not crazy about Evan Rachel Wood as Vita thought. She's beautiful, and I once thought she could act, but if you've seen her on True Blood as "The Queen," you know she can't pull off sophisticated very well. Maybe she'll do better here.

Also, here's the original 1945 trailer for Joan Crawford’s Mildred Pierce....

Overall, I am very excited. A mini-series on HBO is a great way to bring this classic to life and a new, fuller, more glamorous (in a) high-definition way.

Also see these posts from Ryan Adams:

My Photos from the "Rally to Restore Sanity" - October 30, 2010

2010-10-30T17:56:00.000-04:00

Keith Olbermann Special Comment: "If the Tea Party Wins, America Loses"

2010-10-27T21:57:00.005-04:00

A Special "Tea Party" Comment from tonight's Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann. Democrats, Independents and real Republicans alike, should be very afraid.

In a Special Comment, Countdown’s Keith Olbermann explains why voting for the Tea Party will mean a step backward for America.

SPECIAL COMMENT

Now as promised a Special Comment on the madness of the Tea Party and the elections of next Tuesday.

It is as if a group of moderately talented performers has walked on stage at a comedy club on Improv night. Each hears a shout from the audience, consisting of a bizarre but just barely plausible fear or hatred or neurosis or prejudice.

And the entertainment of the evening is for each to take their thin, absurd premise, and build upon it a campaign for governor or congressman or senator. The problem is, of course, when it turns out there is no audience shouting out gags, just a cabal of corporations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and political insider bloodsuckers like Karl Rove and Dick Armey and the Chicken Little Chorus of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward** to hanging union organizers, or backward to the Trusts and the Robber Barons.

Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempt to use Democracy to end this Democracy, to buy America wholesale and pave over the freedoms and the care we take of one another, which have combined to keep us the envy of the world.

You do not think your freedom is at stake next Tuesday?

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for senator from Nevada, Sharron Angle, compared rape to, quoting, "a lemon situation in lemonade." She would deny an abortion even to a teenaged girl who had been raped by her own father.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate to be the only Congressman in Delaware, Glen Urquhart, said "there is no problem that abortion can't make worse. I know good friends who are the product of rape."

Mr. Urquhart also does not believe the phrase "separation of church and state" was said by Thomas Jefferson.

He thinks it was Hitler: "The next time your liberal friends ask you about the separation of church and state, ask them why they are Nazis."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Ohio 9th, Rich Iott, not only ran around in a Nazi uniform celebrating their military tactics, but implies he is a Veteran and as late as this March listed his occupation as "soldier" even though the volunteer militia to which he belongs has never been called, will never be called, to any active service, in the 29 years in which he has belonged to it.

It's more than just dress-up. They mean business - literally. The Tea-Party-and-Republican-candidate for New Jersey's 3rd House seat, Jon Runyan, defended corporate tax loopholes: "Loopholes are there for a reason. They are to avoid people from really having to pay too many taxes."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the Senate in West Virginia, John Raese, explained, "I made **my** money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. I think that's a great thing to do. I hope more people in this country have that opportunity as soon as we abolish inheritance tax in this country."

The inheritance tax applies only to estates larger than $3.5 million. For the 99.8 percent of Americans not affected by the estate tax, there is the minimum wage, which Mr. Raese also wants abolished. Or there is Social Security.

The Tea-Party-and-Republican-candidate in the Indiana 9th, Todd Young, says "Social Security, as so many of you know is a Ponzi scheme."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Wisconsin 8th, Reid Ribble, disagrees. Social Security "is, in fact, a Ponzi scheme."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Arizona 8th, Jesse Kelly, wants to resurrect President Bush's scam to transform Social Security into private investment accounts so the government can force you to spend part of your paycheck on Wall Street commissions, and so that market manipulators can wipe out your retirement money.

The Republican candidate in the Wisconsin 1st, Congressman Paul Ryan, has a more sophisticated plan: Personal investment Social Security, guaranteed dollar for dollar by the government. A fiscal fountain of youth, until you find out its cost: Ryan would pay for it by taxing the health insurance you get from your employer.

If you are not employed, Mrs. Angle of Nevada says unemployment benefits can neither be increased nor extended because that "has caused us to have a spoilage with our ability to go out and get a job… There are jobs that do exist. That's what we're saying, is that there are jobs."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senator in Alaska, Joe Miller, says this is academic, because unemployment insurance is unconstitutional. His own wife received unemployment insurance after losing a temp job he got for her. Mr. Miller also called Medicaid unconstitutional. It proved his entire family had received Medicaid funds.

Mr. Miller also claims Social Security is unconstitutional, yet hypocritically he says it should still be paid out, and then the issue dumped into the laps of the states.
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The Republican-and-Tea Party candidate for Senator in Colorado, Ken Buck, would not stop at butchering just Social Security. [He said] "would a Veterans Administration hospital that is run by the private sector be better run then by the public sector? In my view, yes."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Pennsylvania 4th, Keith Rothfus, has promised to overturn anything the Supreme Court decides, with which he disagrees: "Congress's ultimate weapon is funding. If the Supreme Court rules you have to do something, we'll just take away funding for it."

Back in Nevada Mrs. Angle decries health care - not reform, but health care itself. "Everything that they want to throw at us now is covered under 'autism'," she said. As to educating those children Mrs. Angle won't pay for, Mr. Buck of Colorado, waxes nostalgic: "In the 1950's, we had the best schools in the world, and the United States government decided to get more involved in federal education…well, since, we've made education worse, we're gonna even get more involved."

In Ken Buck's America of 1957, fewer than one in five Black children graduated high school. Fewer than half of white children did. To the Tea-Party-and-Republican-candidate in the California 11th, David Harmer, Mr. Buck is a wild-eyed liberal. Mr. Harmer once advocated eliminating public schools altogether, and return education in this country to where it was before 1876: "People acting in a free market found a variety of ways to pay for a variety of schools serving a variety of students, all without central command or control." And without girls, blacks, or even the slightest chance you could go to college.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Virginia 11th, Keith Fimian, is "not so sure we need a federal burocracy for education."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Florida 2nd, Steve Southerland, wants to "de-fund" the Department of Education because "we can't afford it."

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Texas 17th, Bill Flores, offers a tri-fecta plus a delusion. Get rid of "the pornographic endowment of the arts, department of energy, department of education" and with them, he says, ACORN. ACORN — which went out of business last April 1st.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Arizona 5th, David Schweikert, is "passionately" trying to eliminate the Department of Education because it's "unconstitutional."

And while one of the few threads uniting the ragamuffins who constitute the slate of Tea Party candidates is so-called 'strict interpretation' of that Constitution, Mr. Miller of Alaska wants, in fact, to change the Constitution. He wants to repeal the 17th amendment.

The TeTea Party-and-Republican candidate for senator from Utah, Mike Lee called the 17th amendment "a mistake."

Last year, Mr. Buck of Colorado said the 17th amendment "took us down the wrong path."
The 17th amendment, of course, permits the direct election by the voters of U.S. Senators.
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Buck and Lee and Miller not only demand you elect them to the Senate; they hope to then deny you the right to elect somebody else, next time.

The ubiquitous Mrs. Angle, meanwhile, wants to repeal the 16th amendment. It provided for a federal income tax. Mrs. Angle does not explain how, without it, the federal government would pay for keeping out the Mexicans she specifically attacks in her newest commercial.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul wishes to repeal the 14th amendment because it interferes with a private business's right to ban black people from its premises, and also because it allows anyone born here in America to be American. He is worried about anchor babies.

The Republican candidate for the 1st District of Texas, Louie Gohmert, fears not anchor babies but terror babies — unborn infants brought to this country in the womb, ready for American citizenship and pre-programmed to blow things up fifteen or twenty years from now. Curiously, he has not been asked if he is in favor of aborting them.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, sees not terror fetuses but headless bodies in endless deserts murdered by immigrants who are nearly all drug mules.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of Colorado, Dan Maes, believes a bike-sharing program is part of a plot to turn Denver into a metropolis run by the United Nations.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senate from Delaware, Christine O'Donnell, believes she was cleared to read secret classified documents about China because she's been working for Non-Profit Organizations for the past fifteen years. She also believes China is plotting to take over the United States and the first evidence of this is that "China is drilling (for oil) off the coast of Florida."

This fear of the Chinese clearly does not extend to the Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senate from Illinois, Mark Kirk. One day he held a fundraiser with American businessmen in China. The next day, he voted against closing tax incentives for outsourcing American jobs to places like China.

The Tea Party-and-Republican-candidate for Senate from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson is also in favor of relocating employees. He testified against toughening laws on pedophiles and employers who shield them. He argued this could damage a business. A business like the Catholic Church.

In Utah, the anti-bailout Senate candidate Mr. Lee, insists on not raising the liability limits for the next BP from $75 million to $10 billion: "You have a set of settled expectations that you give to a business when it decides to make an investment in this. Our country benefits from this type of activity…"

Asked by the Salt Lake City Tribune if that's a kind of bailout, if it leaves taxpayers on the hook for part of the damage, Lee admitted, "Well, yea, probably does."
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Mr. Paul of Kentucky called the nationwide pressure on BP to increase its damage payments "un-American." He is also opposed to Federal Mine Safety regulations: "The bottom line is: I'm not an expert, so don't give me the power in Washington to be making rules. You are here, and you have to work in the mines. You'd try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don't, I'm thinking that no one will apply for those jobs."

Mr. Paul's admission that "I'm not an expert" does provide one of the few dovetails of the campaign. It matches nicely with Mr. Johnson of Wisconsin, who refuses to offer any specifics about his plan to deal with homeless veterans. He says, "This election is not about details."

Details have proved devilish for the Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the second district of Virginia, Scott Ridgell He campaigned against the stimulus bill, including the Cash-for-Clunkers program. Mr. Ridgell is an automobile dealer, and happily made hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Cash-for-Clunkers program.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Missouri 4th, Vicky Hartzler, says she and her husband are just small business owners. "We just want the government to leave us alone," she said. Hartzler and her husband have a farm. In the last fourteen years, that government they want to leave them alone, has given them subsidies totaling $774,000.

Mr. Raese of West Virginia told the Associated Press that "America is in an industrial coma" and blamed the "restrictor plate" that is "a bloated federal government." "I can't think," he added, "of very many times when a government agency has helped me."

The companies Mr. Raese owns have received $2.4 million in contracts from the federal government since 2000, and $32 million in contracts from the state government since 2000.

Back in Colorado, Mr. Buck apparently thought he was speaking to a campaign worker when he self-exposed his hypocrisy. In fact he was talking to a Democratic operative with a recorder in his pocket. Out of the blue, Tea Party nominee Buck blurted, "Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking me about birth certificates while I'm on the camera? God, what am I supposed to do?"

The contempt of Mr. Buck towards his own Tea Party, extends in many cases to reporters - and thus by proxy, to actual citizens.

For instance, the Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of Maine, Paul LePage (Luh-Page), threatened to punch a radio reporter.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of New York, Carl Paladino, threatened to "take out" a reporter from the most conservative newspaper in any major American city.

A spokesman told the reporter that he was now off the Palladino mailing list, which has, in the past, consisted of e-mails featuring racism, pornography, and bestiality. Mr. Miller's private security guards in Alaska detained and handcuffed a reporter, and threatened to handcuff two more, without any legal right to do so, at an event at a public school.

The security company was operating with an expired license; its chief, has links to extremist organizations; and the defense was that the guards didn't know the individual was a reporter, which implies it would be just dandy to handcuff an ordinary citizen.

Ms. O'Donnell threatened to sue a Delaware radio station if it did not destroy the videotape of her interview there.When she did not like a question, she snapped her fingers at her own press aide then shoved him. The campaign manager threatened to "crush" the station if it did not comply.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the Senate from Florida, Marco Rubio dreams more of de-portation than de-capitation. He said, in March, "There are millions of people in America that hate our country, so why can't we just do a trade? We'll send you Sean Penn, Janeane Garofalo, and Keith Olbermann, and you can send us people that actually love this country."

This, incidentally, carries with it a tinge of irony. I don't know that any of his opponents has ever accused Mr. Rubio of not loving this country. He just doesn't love a lot of its people. The person they all love the least is of course the President.

The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Congress from the Florida 22nd, Allen West, had to leave our military after threatening to kill an Iraqi he was interrogating. Now he claims to have a higher security clearance than does the President. Mr. West also told his supporters that they could defeat his Democratic opponent by making the man afraid to leave his own home.

And Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the House from the Michigan 7th, the ex-Congressman Tim Walberg, wants to blackmail the President into showing his birth certificate… to Rush Limbaugh. He figures he can extort this from President Obama by threatening to impeach him.

You are willing to let these people run this country? This is the America you want? This is the America you are willing to permit? These are the kinds of cranks, menaces, mercenaries and authoritarians you will turn this country over to?

If you sit there next Tuesday and let this happen, whose fault will that be? Not really theirs. They are taught that freedom is to be seized and rationed. They can sleep at night having advanced themselves and their puppeteers and to hell with everybody else.

They see the greatness of America not in its people but in its corporations. They see the success of America not in hard work but in business swindles. They see the worthiness of America not in its quality of life but in its quality of investing. They see the future of America not in progress, but in revolution to establish a theocracy for white males, with dissent caged and individuality suppressed.

They see America not for what is, nor what it can be. They see delusions, specters, fantasies; they see communists under every bed and a gun in every hand. They see tax breaks for the rich and delayed retirement for everyone else. They fight the redistribution of wealth not because they oppose redistribution, but because their sole purpose is to protect wealth and keep it where they think it belongs - in the bank accounts of the wealthy.

They want to make the world safe for Bernie Madoff. But you know better. If you sit there next Tuesday - if you sit there tomorrow, and the rest of this week - and you let this cataclysm unfold, you have enabled this.

It is one thing to be attacked by those who would destroy America from without. It is a worse thing to be attacked by those who would destroy America from within.

But it is the worst thing to sit back and let it happen, to not find the time and the means to convince just one other sane voter to put aside the disappointment of the last two years and look to the future and vote. Because the disappointment of the last two years will be the "good old days" in a Tea Party America.

This is the week in which the Three Card Monte dealers hope to take over the government —the candidates who want their own way, who will say anything to make palatable their real identities as agents of regression, repression, and corporate sovereignty. They are here, they have energized the self-serving and the greedy and the proudly ill-informed.

And if no other fact convinces you of your obligation to vote and canvass and phone and drag even to the polls the most disheartened moderate or Democrat or Liberal or abandoned Republican or political neutral, to vote for the most tepid of the non-Insane candidates, if no other detail hands you that spark of argument with which to invigorate the apathetic, you need only commit to memory the words of Steffan Broden and Sharron Angle.

She can run from reporters but she cannot run from this quote from January, and all the horror and insurrection it implies: "Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years. I hope that's not where we're going. But, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those second amendment remedies."

Sharron Angle — too subtle for you? "Second amendment" remedies — guns instead of elections - too implicit? Fortunately, to our rescue, to the speeding of the falling of the scales from our eyes, comes the Tea Party and Republican nominee for the 30th Congressional District of Texas, "Pastor" Steffan Broden. "Our nation was founded on violence," he said, on tape.

Was armed insurrection, revolution, an option in 2010? "The option is on the table. I don't think that we should ever remove anything from the table… However, it is not the first option."

Thank you! The attempt to overthrow the Government of the United States by violence is not The Tea Party's first option. Next Tuesday is the first option!

The words are those of Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith from the screenplay for the movie "Inherit The Wind." As the attorney for the man on trial for teaching evolution, Spencer Tracy gets to the gist: "Fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, backward through the glorious ages of that 16th century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!"

The angered judge replies, "I hope counsel does not mean to imply that this court is bigoted." The attorney mutters, "Well, your honor has the right to hope." The Judge warns, "I have the right to do more than that." The attorney explodes: "You have the power to do more than that."

And you have the power to do more than that.

Joel Burns tells gay teens "it gets better"

2010-10-16T11:14:00.007-04:00

Via JoelBurns:

Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns reaches out to GLBT teens with a personal story and a message of hope. For more coverage, visit the following links:

Here's his interview with MSNBC about his moving speech:

I was bullied from from the age of 12 until I was almost 18, when I graduated high school. My bullies not only bullied me during the school year, but they would torment me with vicious letters sent to me while I was away at summer camp. Not all, but most of the bullying was related to my being a "sissy," a "fag" or "queer." I used to plead with God to make them stop -- make me different from who I was -- in letters I would ritualistically burn to him from my building's rooftop. I often thought of killing myself, but I was too afraid to actually try. Instead, I turned to drugs & alcohol at a very young age. While there were other 'family issues' that helped drive me to them -- which is usually the focus of most of my unresolved anger -- the bullying was really what made me search out drugs & booze to help make me feel numb.

My family doesn't understand why I can't be in a room with certain people I grew up with -- like the worst of the bullies who basically destroyed my childhood. I'm told I should just 'get over it.' Anyone who has been bullied will understand that this is like asking a rape victim to 'get over' having to be in the same room as their rapist. I'm not saying my bullying is exactly the same as being rape, but what else can you compare having the innocent soul you were as a child stomped out my a handful of vicious, homophobic bullies too?

Joel Burns was very brave for putting himself out there like this. I hope his bravery, and his story, help some young me who happens to see this video, make the decision to stick around.

"Doctor Who" to Film in the U.S. for the First Time!

2010-10-10T11:17:00.004-04:00

It's official (via jazgar).

Here's the full press release for today's announcement:

DOCTOR WHO TO FILM IN THE U.S. FOR THE FRST TIME

Upcoming season's first two episodes to be set in the U.S.

The BBC announced today that season six of Doctor Who, which delivered record ratings for BBC AMERICA earlier this year, will open with a spectacular two-parter set in the U.S. and penned by 'Who supremo' Steven Moffat.

In the special two-parter co-produced with BBC AMERICA, key scenes will be filmed in Utah for a story set in the late '60s in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves on a secret summons that takes them on an adventure from the desert in Utah - right to the Oval Office itself.

Production on episodes one and two of the new season starts in Cardiff this month and Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will then travel to America in mid November to shoot pivotal scenes. They will also be joined by Alex Kingston who reprises her role as River Song.

Showrunner and lead writer, Steven Moffat, said: "The Doctor has visited every weird and wonderful planet you can imagine, so he was bound get round to America eventually! And of course every Doctor Who fan will be jumping up and down and saying he's been in America before. But not for real, not on location - and not with a story like this one! Oh, you wait!"

Piers Wenger, Head of Drama BBC Wales and Executive Producer, added: "Steven's scripts generally inspire us to go that extra mile - this time we're going that extra four thousand. Thanks to our friends at BBC AMERICA and to the continuing ambition of our lead writer and production team, the first two episodes of Matt Smith's second season as the Doctor are going global and look set to become Doctor Who's most action-packed and ambitious season opener yet".

The new season follows on from the Doctor Who Christmas special guest starring Katherine Jenkins and Michael Gambon which is due to premiere at Christmas. Season six will start airing on BBC AMERICA in spring 2011 and has been split into two blocks, with the second block airing in autumn 2011. By splitting the series Moffat plans to give viewers one of the most exciting Doctor Who cliffhangers and plot twists ever, leaving them waiting, on the edge of their seats, until the autumn to find out what happens.

2010 has been a breakthrough year for the Doctor Who franchise across all platforms since BBC AMERICA became the official home of the series. The series reached the number one spot on the "Top TV Seasons" chart on iTunes and now Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Season hits stores on Blu-ray and DVD on November 9.

Doctor Who was co-commissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning for BBC One and Jay Hunt, Controller of BBC One and will be produced by Marcus Wilson (Life on Mars) and Sanne Wohlenberg (Margaret). Steven Moffat is Lead Writer and Executive Producer (Sherlock Holmes) with Piers Wenger, Head of Drama, BBC Wales and Beth Willis (Ashes to Ashes), also Executive Producing.

Filming is taking place in Cardiff until March 2011.

Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in "Right Wing Radio Duck"

2010-10-03T15:37:00.003-04:00

Oh. My. God. Just watch.

Via rebelliouspixels (h/t Joshua Oakley):

Just in case the video get's pulled from Youtube:

Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" & Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive" -- Oct 30th on the Washington Mall!

2010-09-19T10:44:00.007-04:00

Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert have been convinced by their legions of fans to restore sanity and truthiness to the political arena by having dueling rallies of their own on the Washington Mall this on October 30, 2010.

The rallies are indirect response to to Glenn Beck's, Fox "news" sponsored, insanity-laced, hate-fest scheme to hijack Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy this past August 28th.

UPDATE: Here's video of Jon's announcement:

Rally to Restore Sanity

RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Who among us has not wanted to open their window and shout that at the top of their lungs?

Seriously, who?

Because we're looking for those people. We're looking for the people who think shouting is
annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices
shouldn't be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it's appropriate
to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. Or Charlie Chaplin
in certain roles.

Are you one of those people? Excellent. Then we'd like you to join us in Washington, DC on October 30 --
a date of no significance whatsoever -- at the Daily Show's "Rally to Restore Sanity." Ours is a rally for
the people who've been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are
looking for jobs) -- not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the
political view of our participants in a single sentence... we couldn't. That's sort of the point.

Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement;
the Million Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest; or the Gathering of the
Juggalos, but instead of throwing our feces at Tila Tequila, we'll be actively *not* throwing our feces
at Tila Tequila. Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice. Or don't.
If you'd rather stay home, go to work, or drive your kids to soccer practice... Actually, please come anyway.
Ask the sitter if she can stay a few extra hours, just this once. We'll make it worth your while.

Watch Jon's call-to-reasonableness on The Daily Show.

Keep checking back for updates and rally information.

UPDATE: Here's video of Stephen's announcement:

March to Keep Fear Alive Announcement

MARCH TO KEEP FEAR ALIVE

America, the Greatest Country God ever gave Man, was built on three bedrock principles: Freedom. Liberty. And Fear -- that someone might take our Freedom and Liberty. But now, there are dark, optimistic forces trying to take away our Fear -- forces with salt and pepper hair and way more Emmys than they need. They want to replace our Fear with reason. But never forget -- "Reason" is just one letter away from "Treason." Coincidence? Reasonable people would say it is, but America can't afford to take that chance.

So join The Rev. Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. on October 30th for the "March to Keep Fear Alive"™ in Washington DC. Pack an overnight bag with five extra sets of underwear -- you're going to need them. Because, to Restore Truthiness we must always... Shh!!! What's that sound?! I think there's someone behind you! Run!

Watch Stephen give the marching orders on The Colbert Report.

Keep checking back for updates and rally information. I'm going. Are you?

Au Revoir. Arrivederci. Adios. Shalom. Ciao. Auf Wiedersehen. Das-Vi-Dan-Niye. Sayōnara. Ba-Bye. (UPDATED)

2010-07-19T11:40:00.002-04:00

No, this isn't a GBCW post....

I'll be around on twitter, but won't be blogging over the next few weeks while I take some time off.

UPDATE: See you in ~~August~~ ~~September~~ as much time as I feel like.

That Woman Is An Idiot! (UPDATE)

2010-07-18T19:40:00.010-04:00

Sarah Palin the half-term former racist, fear-mongering, xenophobic Christian extremist, half-term Governor from Alaska -- decided to get involved in the right-wing's frothing over the purposed Islamic Center being to built near ground zero.

From her twitter a/c:

Refudiate?

That woman is an idiot.

Of course, she didn't kindly to all the attention her idiocy had once again drawn down on her, so she explained her grasp of the English language it yet another mind-boggling tweet (after quickly deleting the original):

Shakespeare? She's comparing her butchering of the English language to Shakespeare?

"To be a cunt today, or not to be cunt today, that is the question." - Sarah Palin

Now I get it.

Perhaps next time, Sarah Palin should stay the fuck out of NYC's business, if nothing than to save the English language.

That woman is an idiot.

Sarah Palin 2012!
Sarah Palin 2012!
Sarah Palin 2012!

UPDATE I:

Olbermann had some fun with this:

And this one:

Sharron Angle's World Continues to Turn, or is it Churn?

2010-07-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

This was another mind-boggling week from teabagger Sharron Angle's soap opera of a campaign.

Where to begin? Well.....

Sharron Angle thinks a lot of things are unconstitutional. Last week, she-affirmed her stance that separation of Church & State is unconstitutional to Face to Face's, Jon Ralston:

But Angle also believes that Executive Orders are unconstitutional as well:

In Sharron Angle's world, key historical moments like the Emancipation Proclamation and the desegregation of the United States military were unconstitutional. From "2nd Amendment remedies" to the unconstitutionality of church-state separation, Angle has some pretty wild ideas about the US Constitution.

At a July 2010 campaign event Angle said, “There’s not a law that comes out of the oval office except for executive orders. That’s unconstitutional I believe…” [Angle Campaign Event, 7/3/10]

At a May 2010 candidate forum Angle was asked on the subject of executive orders:

Questioner: Are you willing to put a committee of Senators together to repeal executive orders that are non-constitutional?

Angle: Yes! And I’m glad you bring that up. Executive orders: I don’t know where those are in the constitution. I don’t know how that President, or any President, got that kind of power. And one of those executive orders that I’d like to repeal right off is that policy that Jimmy Carter put in place that says that we can’t reprocess nuclear spent fuels in this country. [Angle Campaign Event, 5/28/10]

Hmmm. Wonder who gave her this idiotic idea?

Nevada's Fox 5 asked Sharron Angle to explain why she wouldn't have tried to save CityCenter and its 22,000 jobs. They didn't appreciate her flat out lie of an explanation:

Then Angle tripled down on her CityCenter blunder, even prompting Fox "news" airline attendant, Neil Cavuto, to take hang her out to dry:

Neil Cavuto calls out Sharron Angle for her repeated comments that she would not have fought to save CityCenter, as Sen. Harry Reid did. Cavuto takes Angle's latest false statement -- that it was a bailout -- and basically calls her out as either clueless or lying.

Politicususa has more in, "Fox News Hangs Sharron Angle Out To Dry."

Harry Reid didn't waste anytime producing this ad:

Sharron Angle Wouldn't Fight for Nevada Jobs

HuffPo's Elyse Siegel reports on how Nevada Republicans aren't exactly warming to Sharron Angle: Tea Party Darling Sharron Angle Struggles To Persuade Some Nevada Republicans

A growing number of Nevada Republicans are expressing skepticism over Angle's Senate candidacy. Some are even signaling they may not vote for the GOP contender over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in November.

Mayor Geno Martini, the Republican mayor of Sparks, Nev., bucked his own party this week when he endorsed Reid over Angle.

"Harry Reid's been very good for us for many, many years," Martini said of his decision to support the majority leader. "We can't rely on a new person, especially Sharron Angle, to do anything for us here in Sparks."

After first withholding her support, former Nevada Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich, a well-respected figure in the party, announced this week that she would back Angle. But Vucanovich's endorsement ended up sounding more like a scolding.

"I said, 'Sharron, you're scaring the bejesus out of everybody,'" Vucanovich told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, describing "a long, candid conversation" with Angle. "I told her you better make damn sure people really understand what you're trying to do."
[snip]
State Sen. William Raggio, who Angle tried but failed to unseat in 2008, recently said he will "find it very difficult to support" the Senate candidate and also wagered he's hardly the only member of the Nevada GOP who has concerns.

"I would say there are a lot of Republicans who will find it difficult to support Sharron Angle," Raggio said shortly after the Nevada primary. "Abolishing the Department of Education, phasing out Social Security, those are pretty extreme positions. I think any incumbent is vulnerable, but you have to have somebody that is also acceptable if you're going to win."

Republican Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, who backed Angle's GOP primary opponent, Sue Lowden, recently criticized Angle by calling her an "ultra right-winger." Cashell does not mince words when it comes to Angle: "Our state [would] suffer and we would never get anything done." The Reno mayor intends to hit the campaign trail for Reid.
read more...

Sharron expressed her dismay to the Las Vegas Review Journal that she can no longer express her desire to "take out Harry Reid."

Still, Angle acknowledged she has toned down her words after being pummeled for saying things such as wanting to "take out" Harry Reid in the same breath that she mentions that people angry at government have "Second Amendment remedies" available, or the right to bear arms.

"As far as a makeover and refining the message, Harry Reid has pretty much forced that when he sound bites me," Angle said. "I have to be very careful about how I phrase things. I can no longer say words like 'take out.' Those have now gone out of my vocabulary because he has misinterpreted what I meant by those words. I don't say 'take out.' I say 'defeat.' It means the same thing. And my people know defeat means the same thing. I don't have to use our colloquialisms to get my point across.

"They also know that I'm a person who has done what I have said I would do, and I will continue to do what I say I'll do."

read more...

But that didn't stop her from expressing her feelings that Sen. Bob Bennett has "outlived his usefulness" also to Fox's Neil Cavuto (h/t Crooks & Liars & Greg Sargent):

Responding to comments by Utah Republican Robert Bennett that Sharron Angle was destined to lose in November, Angle, inexplicably, responded by saying Bennett had "outlived his usefulness."
"I'm glad to be lumped with a crowd of mainstream Americans who believe, as they showed at the polls, that Senator Bennett has outlived his usefulness. I suppose he's not mainstream any longer. He has become one of those elitists that is no longer in touch with what the country is really thinking about in these economic times."

Rethugs expressing their death threat fantasies shouldn't come as a surprise, but admitting, out in public, that they choose to go on Fox "news" partly because Fox allows them to raise money? Crooks & Liars has the actual video):

Sharron Angle suggests she prefers to appear on Fox because they let her raise money
In a July 14 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV) suggested that she prefers to appear on Fox News over shows like Meet the Press because Fox gives her an opportunity to raise money. From the interview:

David Brody: Not to harp on the point but when you're on Fox News or talking to more conservative outlets but maybe not going on "Meet the Press" or a "This Week", those type of news shows, then the perception and the narrative starts to be like you are avoiding those mainstream media outlets.

Sharron Angle: Well, in that audience will they let me say I need $25 dollars from a million people go to Sharron Angle.com send money? Will they let me say that? Will I get a bump on my website and you can watch whenever I go on to a show like that we get an immediate bump. You can see the little spinners. People say 'Oh, I heard that. I am going and I'm going to help Sharron out because they realize this is a national effort and that I need people from all around the nation. They may not be able to vote for me but they can certainly help."

On Monday, Angle began an interview with Neil Cavuto by stating, "Well, first of all, Neil, it's great to be on your show to talk about this campaign against Harry Reid who needs $25 million -- and I have been saying I only need a million people to send $25 to SharronAngle.com." Angle also made fundraising pitches on Hannity and Fox & Friends.
read more...

Here's the full CBN video:

Think Progress has more:

Sharron Angle: I Go On Fox News So Much Because The Mainstream Media Won’t Let Me Raise Money On Air

When she first appeared on Sean Hannity’s show on June 14, shortly after winning the Republican primary, she offered a similarly phrased statement on her interview fundraising strategy and asked for donations on the spot:
HANNITY: It’s obvious the media wants to attack you just like Rand Paul, who was on this program last week. Are you going to give them what they want? Are you going to go on their shows or are you going to run your campaign locally in the state? What are — what are your plans media-wise for this campaign?

ANGLE: You may have heard that I’ve been dodging the media. But I actually I’ve been doing five to seven interviews with folks that can really help me, everyday I’m — I’m on somebody’s talk show.

HANNITY: Right.

ANGLE: And the message is — you may not be able to vote for me, Sean but you can send money to SharronAngle.com.

HANNITY: Oh you’re good at the Web site.

[...]

Although Angle is now hyping this strategy, it hasn’t been as lucrative as she might have hoped. Her finance chair admitted to the Las Vegas Review-Journal today that the campaign “fell short of a $1.4 million fund-raising goal by the June 30 deadline.”

read more...

Bet Rupert Murdock loves all that.

Here's more God silliness from this nutter Rethug, via Sam Stein:

Sharron Angle On Her Campaign: 'God Has Been In This From The Beginning'

Angle has a far more public religious streak than other notable Tea Party candidates. She is devoutly pro-life, arguing against abortion in cases of rape and incest because "God has a plan." And she has argued in the past that: "the tenet of the separation of church and state is an unconstitutional doctrine."
But this appears to be the first time she's discussed the celestial imprint on her Senate candidacy. Here's the interview with Reed, posted on his Faith & Freedom Coalition website:

read more...

Progressive Now Nevada posted this video of Sharron Angle saying she'd "Eliminate both the Federal Department of Education and the Nevada Department of Education."

It's no wonder that Harry Reid pulled ahead of her in the polls: Reid takes lead on Angle: New poll shows Republican losing support among every voter group

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid has opened a strong lead over Republican opponent Sharron Angle after pummeling her in a ubiquitous TV and radio ad campaign that portrays the Tea Party favorite as "too extreme," according to a new poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The latest is a Mason-Dixon poll showed that if the general election were held now, Reid would win 44 percent to 37 percent for Angle. Ten percent were undecided, 5 percent would choose "none of these candidates," and the remaining 4 percent would pick another candidate on the ballot.
That is the best Reid has done against Angle this year in a series of Mason-Dixon polls. Previously, the two had been locked in a statistical dead heat with Angle finishing just ahead of Reid in February, 44 percent to 42 percent, and in June, 44 percent to 41 percent, and Reid finishing just ahead of Angle in May, 42 percent to 39 percent.
read more...

Even in the latest Right-Wing Rasmussen poll, Angle's lead has shrunk down to almost nothing:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is creeping forward and now is nearly tied with Republican Sharron Angle in his bid for reelection in Nevada.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Nevada finds Angle with 46% support, while Reid earns 43% of the vote. Six percent (6%) like some other candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) remain undecided.

This is Reid’s best showing all year and follows a visit by President Obama to the state to help his campaign.

Reid has also been trying to raise doubts about Angle and a solid plurality of voters now have negative perceptions of both candidates. Reid is viewed Very Favorably by just 26% of Nevada voters and Very Unfavorably by 48%. For Angle, Very Favorables are 18% and Very Unfavorables are 39%.
read more...

Maybe rejecting that political makeover wasn't such a good idea?

But have no fear, Ms. Angle.... you have friends in high places:

Group Run By Anti-Stimulus Crusaders Rove And Gillespie Airs Ad Attacking Reid For Lack Of Stimulus Money In NV

GOP operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie recently founded a network of right-wing attack groups to rival what they view as inept and ineffective Republican National Committee. One of those groups, American Crossroads, is a 527 committee, formed to spend tens of millions of dollars on House and Senate races this year.
The group recently launched an ad in Nevada attacking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D):
Rove even attacked the stimulus for not creating jobs. “We’re approaching the anniversary of the stimulus package, and a recent poll shows, and I think it was 9 percent of the American people think the stimulus package has helped create jobs,” he said.
Moreover, Nevada is one of the smallest states in the U.S. and as the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson noted, “stimulus money went disproportionately to states with larger public sectors and higher Medicaid bills.” In fact, it’s Reid who has been trying to get unemployment benefits extended for out-of-work Americans, but Senate Republicans have been blocking it from getting though. “Almost two million people who are long-term unemployed. These are not numbers. They are people,” Reid said scolding the GOP for their obstruction.

Of course Rove And Gillespie lied.

"According to data from Recovery.gov, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awarded 13 states less money than Nevada."

Don't forget to check out TheWrongAngle.com

Glenn Beck. Paranoid, Delsuional Anti-Semite.

2010-07-17T11:15:00.001-04:00

I wonder what my Jewish peeps think when they hear Glenn Beck blame the Jews for Jesus' death? Do they turn the channel when they hears his Antisemitic rants? Do they do so Temporarily? Permanently?

From the July 13 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck (via Media Matters):

"Jesus conquered death. He wasn't victimized. He chose to give his life. He did have a choice. If he was a victim, and this theology was true, then Jesus would have come back from the dead and made the the Jews pay for what they did."

Keith Olbermann talks with author of, "Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance," Alexander Zaitchik, about Beck's ignorance:

Understanding Beck the bizarre

Also see:

Tea Klux Klan: Tea Party is Racist to Its Core (UPDATED)

2010-07-17T10:19:00.000-04:00

The NAACP just passed this resolution officially condemning racism in the Tea Klux Klan movement. On cue, Tea Klux Klan leader Mark Williams attacked the NAACP, charging that the they make “more money off of race than any slave trader ever,” denying that his 'movement' is laced with racism. Oh, really?

Teabaggers in 50 seconds (via Think Progress):

ThinkProgress has produced a short video demonstrating the vile racism that has been exhibited at some Tea Party events:
TEA PARTY ACTIVIST1: He’s too black to be President.

TEA PARTY ACTIVIST2: I’m a proud racist, I’m white.

TEA PARTY ACTIVIST3: Afro-Leninism! Coming to you on a silver platter, Barack Hussein Obama!

Free flowing hate from the Tea Klux Klan (via Keith Olbermann):

Is racism flowing freely in the Tea Party?

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous talks about the resolution his organization passed to condemn “racist elements” within the Tea Party and reacts to Sarah Palin’s objection to it.

Tea Parties are a threat to our democracy (via Ed Shultz):

NAACP targets Tea Party groups

Hilary Shelton, director of the D.C. bureau, discusses why the civil rights group is voting on a resolution that condemns the “explicitly racist behavior” of some Tea Party supporters.

UPDATE I

First, Mark Williams doubled down with this hateful faux letter from NAACP's President to Abraham Lincoln:

Tea Party Leader Mocks NAACP "Coloreds" In Online Screed
On Tuesday, the NAACP passed a resolution denouncing racist elements within the Tea Party movement. Responding to the resolution, Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams lashed out against the civil rights group, claiming that "they make more money off of race than any slave trader ever." Williams continued his assault last night on CNN, telling host Roland Martin, "Racists have their own movement. It's called the NAACP."

Williams, however, is doing little to refute the notion that there is racism in the Tea Party movement. Last night, the proud Tea Partier wrote a blog post mocking NAACP president Benjamin Jealous. The post takes the form of a fake letter to Abraham Lincoln, in which Jealous asks the former president to repeal the 13^th and 14^th Amendments (and to reinstate slavery) because the "coloreds" don't agree with the Tea Party's version of "freedom."
read the letter....

Keith Olbermann had a field day over this:

Tea party's racism revealed

Keith Olbermann shares a snide and racist letter by tea party leader Mark Williams written in response to the NAACP request for the renunciation of racism.

But then, Mark Williams backed down:

Mark Williams Removes Racist Blog Post, Calls for Racial Harmony...Kind Of

A day after he posted a screed to his personal website calling the NAACP "racist" for using the word "colored" in its name, the Tea Party Express' Mark Williams has taken the post down and called upon tea partiers and NAACP activists alike "to fight those who seek to divide us by race, no matter the color of the racist."

[snip]
Under pressure from critics, Williams says that he first altered the post before removing it all together today:

"[Y]es, there were several versions," he writes on his blog. "As reasonable people pointed out to me wording that I agreed was indeed objectionable was removed or changed."

UPDATE II:

Report: ‘It’s Clear That Some With Racist Agendas Are Trying To Make Inroads Into’ The Tea Party

But as ThinkProgress has documented, there is racism in the Tea Party movement. Moreover, a new report from the Kansas City Star digs deeper into the racist elements of the Tea Party and citing various instances of racism linked to the movement, concludes that “it’s clear that some with racist agendas are trying to make inroads into the party,” noting that “in several instances, tea party members with racist backgrounds”:

read more...

Oh, and Tamron Hall owned his racist ass yesterday:

Tea Party responds to NAACP

Mark Williams with the Tea Party Express talks about the NAACP recently condemning elements of the Tea Party as "racist." Both groups seek an intermediary to voice their views.

Weekly Presidential Address: Filibustering Recovery & Obstructing Progress

2010-07-17T09:13:00.003-04:00

In his weekly Presidential Youtube-radio address, President blasts Senate Republicans for blocking unemployment insurance extensions while attempting to make one of the main causes of the deficit -- Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy -- permanent.

Three times, the Senate has tried to temporarily extend that emergency assistance. And three times, a minority of Senators – basically the same crowd who said “no” to small businesses – said “no” to folks looking for work, and blocked a straight up-or-down vote.

Some Republican leaders actually treat this unemployment insurance as if it’s a form of welfare. They say it discourages folks from looking for work. Well, I’ve met a lot of folks looking for work these past few years, and I can tell you, I haven’t met any Americans who would rather have an unemployment check than a meaningful job that lets you provide for your family. And we all have friends, neighbors, or family members who already knows how hard it is to land a job when five workers are competing for every opening.

Now in the past, Presidents and Congresses of both parties have treated unemployment insurance for what it is – an emergency expenditure. That’s because an economic disaster can devastate families and communities just as surely as a flood or tornado.

Suddenly, Republican leaders want to change that. They say we shouldn’t provide unemployment insurance because it costs money. So after years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, including a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, they’ve finally decided to make their stand on the backs of the unemployed. They’ve got no problem spending money on tax breaks for folks at the top who don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them; but they object to helping folks laid off in this recession who really do need help. And every day this goes on, another 50,000 Americans lose that badly needed lifeline.

Well, I think these Senators are wrong. We can’t afford to go back to the same misguided policies that led us into this mess. We need to move forward with the policies that are leading us out of this mess.
Read the full transcript

The Fox Cycle: From Bogus Right-Wing Attack To Mainstream News

2010-07-15T11:05:00.005-04:00

We know what Fox "news" is, but most people who waste time watching this propaganda network, faithfully believe that what they are seeing is the honest-t0-god truth.

Scary.

Media Matters explains in this piece, and the accompanying video, how their propaganda/attack machine really works and how their manufactured outrage at non-issues, like at the New Black Panther Party, is duping their viewers and then the main stream media who eventually report on the lies, fear-mongering and faux outrage as though they don't know the facts.

As more and more media outlets follow Fox News' lead in covering the manufactured New Black Panther Party/Department of Justice (DOJ) scandal, Media Matters offers three case studies of previous bogus right-wing attacks that, with help from Fox News, went mainstream before being debunked.

Separate But Equal: Pentagon Says Segregation of Gay Troops Possible Result of DADT Survey (UPDATED)

2010-07-13T11:10:00.001-04:00

TPM has a piece titled, "Pentagon Slams Critics Of Don't Ask Don't Tell Survey." It really should have been titled "Pentagon Spokesman Says Segregation of Gay Troops a Possible Result of Survey."

While the gist of the piece is, according to TPM's Megan Carpentier, "Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell is hitting back against criticisms of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell survey," the real takeaway was what he said and what Carpentier reported in the fourth paragraph:

In response to questions from reporters, Morrell clarified that the survey responses could lead the military to conclude that it would "perhaps need adjustments to facilities themselves," indicating that it is not outside the realm of possibility that, in order to preserve the privacy and modesty of heterosexual service members in group showers and barracks, the military would consider segregating gay and lesbian service members in some way.

Yes, you read the correctly. The Pentagon is considering, under the first black Administration in our nation's history, segregating gay and lesbian service members as a possible outcome of a survey that by any measure, was meant to sway that outcome by it's absurd, insulting, leading nature & tone of questions like these:

"If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed and you are assigned to bathroom facilities with an open bay shower that someone you believe to be a gay or lesbian Service member also used, which are you most likely to do?"
The choices:

“Take no action;

“Use the shower at a different time than the Service member I thought to be gay or lesbian;

“Discuss how we expect each other to behave and conduct ourselves;

“Talk to a chaplain, mentor, or leader about how to handle the situation;

“Talk to a leader to see if I had other options;

“Something else;

“Don't know.”
[snip]
Another question asks troops "If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed and you had onbase housing and a gay or lesbian Service member was living with a same sex partner onbase, what would you most likely do?" Options range from "I would get to know them like any other neighbors" to "I would probably move offbase."

Yet another asks, if DADT is repealed "and a gay or lesbian Service member attended a military social function with a same sex partner, which are you most likely to do?" With options ranging from "Continue to attend military social functions" to "Stop attending military social functions."
read more..

If the first black president allows his pentagon to implement separate but equal for gay & lesbian service members as a possible deal in order to have Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) repealed, it would be my last straw.

UPDATE I: The Pentagon has responded to the uproar over what seems like the possibility of "segregating" gay and lesbian service members:

Pentagon Pushes Back Against Claim That DADT Survey Could Lead To Segregation Of Gay Troops
In an interview with Morrell this afternoon, the Pentagon spokesman told the Wonk Room that his comments were twisted and taken out of context and vehemently denied that the Defense Department was considering segregating the troops. “So what I said, I used the term ‘facilities adjustments’ and I think people have gotten carried away as to what that could mean,” he began:

MORRELL: So, when I was asked, about the, you know – this is in the context of “why are you even asking these questions?” – well, we’re asking these questions because in our engagements with the force thus far, this has been an area of some concern. Now we need to test it to see if that holds for—if it really reflects the concerns of the force, and which members of the force. Is it older members? Is it younger members? Are they, you know—which ones? And, and then along with this information, the working group will make some recommendations about how to deal with those concerns. It could be, as I said, who knows? This could be dealt with through education programs, through training programs, or it may require “facilities adjustments.” But no one, no one is considering “separate but equal” bathing or living facilities for you know, gay and straight troops. That’s just not ever a consideration.

Q: So that’s off the table.

MORRELL: Absolutely off the table.

UPDATE II:

PENTAGON: We Were Only Talking About Adding Shower Curtains
Via CBS:

Morrell told Hotsheet that the suggestion the survey could lead to segregation is "absurd." "No one is talking about segregating gay servicemembers from straight servicemembers," Morrell said. "We don't know that any adjustment will have to be made, but in the event that's a recommendation from the review group, it would not result in any 'separate but equal' facilities." Hypothetically speaking, Morell said, it is possible the military could consider facility modifications like adding shower curtains to shower stalls that are currently open. "We don't know if any adjustments will be required, but we need to survey the force to get an idea of what their privacy concerns are," he said. Morell said the suggestion the survey could lead to segregation is "inflammatory nonsense" from groups trying to discredit the survey, which is "not helpful" for the Defense Department.

UPDATE III:

Pentagon responds to our blog post about segregating gay troops. Apparently, I'm not being 'helpful.'
Today, Morrell - who has been less than truthful about Pentagon efforts on DADT in the past - took umbrage at our post:
"We think it would be irresponsible to conduct a survey that didn’t try to address these types of things. Because when DADT is repealed, we will have to determine if there are any challenges in those particular areas, any adjustments that need to be made in terms of how we educate the force to handle those situations, or perhaps even facility adjustments that need to be made to deal with those scenarios."

"No one is talking about segregating gay servicemembers from straight servicemembers," Morrell said. "We don't know that any adjustment will have to be made, but in the event that's a recommendation from the review group, it would not result in any 'separate but equal' facilities."

[snip]
With all due respect to Mr. Morrell, a Bush appointee, it's not my job to be "helpful" to a Defense Department that treats my community as second class citizens, and regularly undercuts its own commander in chief. As for Morrell's assertion that we are responsible for this notion that the Pentagon might be considering segregating gay troops, the idea didnt come from me, it came from the Secretary of the Army last October:

The Real Sharron Angle

2010-07-10T16:40:00.005-04:00

Don't forget to check out Sharron's original website, you know, the one that she tried to scrub but that Harry Reid saved and posted on a new site, TheRealSharronAngle.com. That was despite her ridiculous threats to sue (see below).

Included are her real opinions on the the following issues:

Keith Olbermann's report on her lawsuit threat :

Angle takes legal action against Reid campaign

Also see:

This Week, On Sharron Angle's World Turns: Abortion, BP, NRA & Jobs (UPDATED)

2010-07-10T11:18:00.006-04:00

How much further can a person can dig themselves into a pit of blind stupidity & heartless ignorance. Let's check in on Sharron Angle, shall we?

You know you're week isn't going to go well when you have to explain that you're really not a birther.

First Greg Sargent reported how Sharron Angle wouldn't say whether she's 'birther' or not

Nevada journalist Jon Ralston reports on his TV show that Sharron Angle's campaign Web site touts the endorsement of something called the Declaration Alliance, which questions Obama's eligibility to be president.

Even more amusing, though, is this nugget: Ralston says he can't get Angle's campaign to say one way or the other whether she's a birther. "She no longer answers her voicemail, and her press secretary's voicemail is full," Ralston says.

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The WaPo reported that Sharron Angle confirmed she is in fact, not a birther. Right.

In an interview with Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle firmly denies being a "birther," a term used to describe those who believe that President Obama was not born in the United States. Morrissey reports:
Earlier today, I spoke exclusively to Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee to challenge Harry Reid for the Senate seat in Nevada. In the past few days, rumors have swirled that Angle is a crypto-Birther. I asked her "flat out" whether she believed Barack Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii, and she replied, "No. Is that flat-out enough for you?"

This is in stark contrast to remarks Angle made Thursday night in an interview on the radio show Libertarian Politics Live. During the interview, Angle was asked, point-blank, if she believed the president was "a legitimate president or a naturalized born citizen." Angle replied saying, "You know I think our Supreme Court has pretty much made that decision." An Angle spokesman denied that Angle was a birther or had ducked the question.

Angle's response also serves to rebut earlier reports that the endorsement of her campaign by the Declaration Alliance could serve as proof that she was among the birthers' ranks. A search for the endorsement on Angle's website turns up cached results but no active pages.
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The NRA might endorse Harry Reid? Get out!

Via Salon.com: NRA to endorse Harry Reid? Conservatives, already angry at the gun lobby for dealing with Dems on the DISCLOSE Act, won't be happy

The NRA will negatively score lawmakers who vote to confirm Elena Kagan, even though she never said anything bad about guns. But! According to RedState's Erick Erickson, who brought out the bootleg Drudge siren and everything, the NRA is "leaning toward endorsing Harry Reid."
Why would the NRA do this? Because Harry recently bought them a fancy gun park in Nevada.

The right-wing Internet nuts are all enraged at the NRA these days, for things like occasionally supporting Democrats and for successfully lobbying for their right to continue electioneering. Erickson points out that the real gun lobby -- the fringey Gun Owners of America -- hates Reid and is working tirelessly to fire him, or at him.
read more...

Politico has more:

The NRA isn't even denying this line of reasoning but says it hasn’t made a decision about whether to endorse Reid.

“The Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association are always one bad incident away from politicians like Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin exploiting their agenda of gun control,” said Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman.

Still, the fact that a Reid endorsement is even a possibility has conservatives buzzing.

“Sharron Angle has been a true patriot on Second Amendment issues in the Nevada Legislature, and Harry Reid both voted for every anti-gun nominee [Barack] Obama has put up and voted for the Brady bill, the assault weapons ban, etc.,” conservative blogger Erick Erickson wrote on Redstate.com. “People at the NRA and people in the Senate are telling me the NRA will be endorsing Harry Reid later this year and the only way to stop it is to be very vocal about it right now. So keep making sure they know it would be unacceptable.”
read more...

That should be fun.

Mike Barnacle: "Harry Reid's opponent sounds like a mental patient." Morning Joe Doucheborough: "This race is over":

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Panel Eviscerates Sharron Angle
In 3 truly brutal minutes of commentary, the panel of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" argued Harry Reid's re-election prospects in NV are good and that Sharron Angle's extreme and dangerous agenda will be rejected by Nevadans in November.

This one should really go over well with Nevadans: Sharron Angle wouldn't have saved 22,000 Las Vegas City Center jobs like Harry Reid did:

In a radio interview with Alan Stock on KXNT, Sharron Angle stated unequivocally she would not have taken the actions Sen. Reid took to save City Center in Las Vegas, and the 22,000 jobs it created and saved.

But really. What should we expect from someone who thinks that the unemployed are "spoiled" and are just too lazy to go out and get a job?

Also see Jed Lewison's: NV-Sen: Angle blasts Reid for creating jobs

ProgressNowNevada has more on the media reports of this blunder (along with MGM's response to her nonsense):

Sarron Angle says that given the chance she would have let City Center fall into bankruptcy and lose the over 20,000 jobs with it.

Harry Reid stepped in and saved those jobs and kept The Strip from having a giant dark and empty complex right in the middle of everything.

Learn more about the extreme Sharron Angle:

http://www.TheWrongAngle.com

Reid then got this ad up & running: Sharron Angle Wouldn't Fight for Nevada Jobs

Did you hear that Sharron Angle compared herself to Abraham Lincoln?

Sharron Angle also stepped into the BP frey:

Via Greg Sargent: Sharron Angle: The $20 billion in BP escrow cash was "slush fund"

Looks like Sharron Angle has now had her ultimate Rand Paul moment: During a radio appearance she labeled the $20 billion BP escrow fund secured by the White House as a "slush fund."

Angle also seemed to agree with a caller who flatly described the fund as extortion, and added: "Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company." For good measure, she said Dems are exploiting the crisis to push energy reform and are following "Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals."

Angle made the claims on the Alan Stock show late yesterday. A caller said that Obama had "basically extorted $20 billion from a private company," and asked Angle what she thought of "the $20 billion slush fund."

"Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company," Angle replied. "And I think you named it clearly: It's a slush fund."
[snip]
"It's an overreaction by government for not the right reasons," Angle said. "They're actually using this crisis if you will, because they never waste one -- Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals -- they are using this crisis now to get in cap and trade, and every crime and penalty, and slush fund."

Listen to the audio.

Oops.

Then Angle quickly walked that one back: I shouldn't have used term "slush fund"

Sharron Angle, under fire for comparing the BP escrow cash to a "slush fund," walks it back and declares support for the BP fund in a statement sent over by her campaign:
"Having had some time to think about it, the caller and I shouldn't have used the term slush fund; that was incorrect.
"My position is that the creation of this fund to compensate victims was an important first step -- BP caused this disaster and they should pay for it. But there are multiple parties at fault here and there should be a thorough investigation. We need to look into the actions, or inactions, of the Administration and why the regulatory agency in charge of oversight was asleep at the wheel while BP was cutting corners. Every party involved should be held fully accountable."

The Angle campaign, partly because of low staffing and partly due to a strategy of shutting out the media, had previously been unwilling to engage the national press on stories like these. That the Angle camp is quickly walking this latest one back suggests a recognition that this approach no longer will do and that the time has come to engage on such stories before they get out of control.
read more...

But it was too late. Dems pounced, including her in their new campaing: BP Republicans

Sharron Angle (R-BP)

On a conservative radio show, Sharron Angle -- the GOP nominee for Senate in Nevada -- called the Gulf oil spill victim's relief program a “slush fund.”

When a caller suggested the BP payout was extortion, she agreed, saying, "Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company."

Her solution to the energy crisis is to deregulate the oil industry.

Listen:

Then, President Obama Ripped Angle: She's 'Even More Extreme Than The Republicans We Got In Washington'

President Obama campaigned last night at a fundraiser in Las Vegas for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- and directly took on Reid's opponent, former state Rep. Sharron Angle.

Obama never mentioned Angle by name, but frequently singled out the view of "Harry's opponent" on such issues as financial reform, oil industry regulation and jobs. "On a lot of these issues, she favors an approach that's even more extreme than the Republicans we got in Washington," said Obama, to the audience's laughter. "That's saying something."
read more....

Perhaps the most bizarre (and entertaining) part of the week, however, came when Sharron Angle threatened to sue Harry Reid for not letting her get away with scrubbing her old website away in an attempt to clean up her radical image.

Via Keith Olbermann:

Angle takes legal action against Reid campaign

Also see:

Perhaps the most disgusting news of Sharron Angle's week was her renewed, abhorrent stance on abortion.

It was already widley reported that Sharron Angle Is Against Abortion In Cases Of Rape Or Incest, referring to it as interfering with God’s ‘Plan’:

In a radio interview with Bill Manders on Jan. 25, Sharron Angle — the GOP candidate and Tea Party darling challenging Harry Reid for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat — came out firmly against abortion. She even took the extreme position that women should not have control over their reproductive rights in cases of rape or incest, because it would interfere with God’s “plan” for them:

read more....

Keith Olbermann leveled her for it:

Well, that wasn't the worst of her vile sentiments on abortion, Keith.

The Huffington Post's Sam Stein then found another shocking interview: Sharron Angle's Advice For Rape Victims Considering Abortion: Turn Lemons Into Lemonade

In a radio interview Angle did in late June, the Tea Party favorite re-affirmed her pro-life sensibilities (rigid, as they are, even within Republican circles), when she insisted that a young girl raped by her father should know that "two wrongs don't make a right." Much good can come from a horrific situation like that, Angle added. Lemons can be made into lemonade.
Stock: Let me bring up one other topic that I rarely talk about here, because it's one of those topics that's a lose-lose, but we've got to talk about it because it was brought up in your TV interview and that has to do with the issue of abortion, and whether or not abortion should be available in the case of rape or incest. The question to you at the time by the interviewer was that do you want the government to go and tell a 13 year-old child who has been raped by her father that she has to have that baby. And of course you responded 'I didn't say that I always say that I value life.' Where do you stand on the issue of abortion, a consensual abortion, from a person who is raped or is pregnant as a result of incest?
Angle: Well right now our law permits that. My own personal feelings and that is always what I express, my personal feeling is that we need to err on the side of life. There is a plan and a purpose, a value to every life no matter what it's location, age, gender or disability. So whenever we talk about government and government's role, government's role is to protect life and that's what our Founding Father said, that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Stock: What do you say then to a young girl, I am going to place it as he said it, when a young girl is raped by her father, let's say, and she is pregnant. How do you explain this to her in terms of wanting her to go through the process of having the baby?

Angle: I think that two wrongs don't make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade. Well one girl in particular moved in with the adoptive parents of her child, and they both were adopted. Both of them grew up, one graduated from high school, the other had parents that loved her and she also graduated from high school. And I'll tell you the little girl who was born from that very poor situation came to me when she was 13 and said 'I know what you did thank you for saving my life.' So it is meaningful to me to err on the side of life.
listen to it here....

It wasn't all bad news for Sharron Angle, well at least in her eyes, as she was endorsed by none other than Citizens United:

Citizens United Political Victory Fund says their mission is to assist a conservative candidate who shares Ronald Reagan’s vision of reducing the size of government, lowering taxes, cutting spending, promoting traditional family values, and keeping America safe. Their goal for the 2010 election cycle is to elect a candidate who will fight for conservative principles and challenge the agenda of the Obama Administration.

David N. Bossie, President of Citizens United said:

“This is a critical race, and that is why it is so important to nominate a true Conservative with the credibility to stand up to Senator Reid’s out-of-control spending and big-government ways. Sharron Angle is a strong candidate with impeccable Conservative credentials, and I am proud to endorse her for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.”

But I bet it was the endorsement from the always unhinged Pat Boone (see here, here, here, here & here) that must have truly made her week:

Today, Pat Boone officially endorsed Sharron Angle’s GOP bid to replace Harry Reid in the United States Senate. Boone, a famous singer and actor, is also well known as a political writer and commentator willing to tackle the tough conservative issues that matter to America.
“I know a real conservative when I meet one” said Boone when asked to talk about his endorsement for the former 4-term Republican lawmaker. “I was there helping Ronald Reagan when he ran for Governor in California, and I followed him all the way to the White House. Today, I’m getting behind another Reagan-conservative, this time from Nevada. Her name is Sharron Angle, and she is the proven consistent conservative in this race who can retire Harry Reid and send him back to Searchlight to pound sand.”

Boone said that Nevadans enjoy a prime opportunity during the June 8th Nevada primary to elect a bona fide conservative capable of defeating Reid, someone with the moral fiber and determination to clean up the messes in Washington, D.C.
“Nevada cannot afford to elect a Republican who is watered-down or unproven…Nevada has the opportunity to elect a real Republican who is battle-tested, someone we know who is capable and willing to stand up for what’s right for our country. Sharron Angle is that person; she has a rock-solid record that conservatives can trust. That is why I am proud to support Sharron Angle for United States Senate, and I ask you to stand with me and support Sharron Angle as well.”

read more...

The NV Democratic Party points out that even Conservatives recognize what a terrible candidate Sharron Angle truly is:

Conservative talk show host Heidi Harris lays into Sharron Angle and her campaign team on MSNBC. Per Harris, "This is not the city council; this is the big leagues."

Mind you, this was all just in the past week.

UPDATE I:

Don't forget to check out Sharron's original website, you know, the one that she tried to scrub but that Harry Reid saved and posted on a new site, TheRealSharronAngle.com. , despite threats of those dreaded lawsuits mentioned above.

Included are her real opinions on the the following issues:

Weekly Presidential Address: Help for Vets w/ PTSD Begins Monday (UPDATED)

2010-07-10T09:12:00.004-04:00

Republicans like to say they're the ones who support out military, but actions speak much louder than words.

In his Weekly Youtube-Radio Address, President Obama announces that starting Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs will make it easier for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to get the benefits and treatment they so desperately need.

Today, we’ve made it clear up and down the chain of command that folks should seek help if they need it. In fact, we’ve expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets.

But for years, many veterans with PTSD who have tried to seek benefits – veterans of today’s wars and earlier wars – have often found themselves stymied. They’ve been required to produce evidence proving that a specific event caused their PTSD. And that practice has kept the vast majority of those with PTSD who served in non-combat roles, but who still waged war, from getting the care they need.

Well, I don’t think our troops on the battlefield should have to take notes to keep for a claims application. And I’ve met enough veterans to know that you don’t have to engage in a firefight to endure the trauma of war.

So we’re changing the way things are done.

On Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs, led by Secretary Ric Shinseki, will begin making it easier for a veteran with PTSD to get the benefits he or she needs.

This is a long-overdue step that will help veterans not just of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, but generations of their brave predecessors who proudly served and sacrificed in all our wars.

It’s a step that proves America will always be here for our veterans, just as they’ve been there for us. We won’t let them down. We take care of our own. And as long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, that’s what we’re going to keep doing.

Read the full transcript

UPDATE I:

This is why news of the changes being made to the Department of Veterans Affairs will be most welcome by vets and their families.

Via the Rand Corp. (h/t Steve Clemons): 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Suffer from PTSD or Major Depression

Nearly 20 percent of military service members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan — 300,000 in all — report symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder or major depression, yet only slightly more than half have sought treatment, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

In addition, researchers found about 19 percent of returning service members report that they experienced a possible traumatic brain injury while deployed, with 7 percent reporting both a probable brain injury and current PTSD or major depression.

Many service members said they do not seek treatment for psychological illnesses because they fear it will harm their careers. But even among those who do seek help for PTSD or major depression, only about half receive treatment that researchers consider "minimally adequate" for their illnesses.

In the first analysis of its kind, researchers estimate that PTSD and depression among returning service members will cost the nation as much as $6.2 billion in the two years following deployment — an amount that includes both direct medical care and costs for lost productivity and suicide. Investing in more high-quality treatment could save close to $2 billion within two years by substantially reducing those indirect costs, the 500-page study concludes.

"There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Terri Tanielian, the project's co-leader and a researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation. Unfortunately, we found there are many barriers preventing them from getting the high-quality treatment they need."

read more...

Teabagger Lipstick on the GOP Pig

2010-07-08T10:57:00.000-04:00

If you ever had any doubt that the "Tea Party" is nothing more that the most extreme elements of the GOP under a different name, doubt no more....

Via Think Progress (And Gallup):

Members of the Republican establishment are fond of treating the Tea Party as an original, organic political phenomenon that is separate from the GOP. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed from February, Karl Rove hailed how the movement “arose spontaneously” and “made an important splash” while warning that the Tea Party and the GOP “are, and should remain, distinct from one another” because “the sum would be less than the parts.” Similarly, early this year, a prominent Tea Party organizer insisted, “We must not allow the Tea Parties and other patriotic grassroots movement to be hijacked by the GOP.”

However, a new Gallup poll illuminates how the Tea Party and the GOP are already closely related because they share virtually the exact same priorities:
The Tea Party movement has been the focus of media attention during the past year, and has had some success in getting its preferred candidates nominated or elected in the 2009-2010 election cycle. However, as Gallup has pointed out, those who describe themselves as Tea Party supporters are in many ways indistinguishable from, and largely a subset of, Republican identifiers more generally.

As a result, Tea Party supporters’ issue concerns are not decidedly different from those of Republican identifiers. The two groups differ only slightly in their views of federal government debt and the size and power of the federal government among the 10 issues tested.

Both Tea Party supporters and Republicans identified the same top three “extremely serious threats” to the U.S. future, and in the same order: “federal government debt,” “terrorism,” and “the size and power of the federal government.” On all 10 issues mentioned by Gallup, the average gap between the Tea Party level of concern and the Republican level of concern was only 3.2 percent. Gallup has also found that 79 percent of Tea Party supporters identify as Republicans, as opposed to only 44 percent of the general population, leading Gallup to suggest that “the Tea Party movement is more a rebranding of core Republicanism than a new or distinct entity on the American political scene.”

read more....

Via Greg Sargent:

For some time now, the Post's E.J. Dionne has been valiantly making the case that the Tea Partiers, rather than representing some new political phenomenon, are essentially just right-wing Republicans. The only new thing about them, Dionne suggests, is the ham-handed revolutionary garb and the signs of Obama as the Joker.
[snip]
It's striking: Tea Party supporters and Republicans are almost in lockstep agreement on what constitute the biggest threats to America's well-being: The size of the Federal debt; the power of the Federal government; terrorism; and illegal immigration. The percentages are almost the same on all those issues.
Similarly, Tea Party supporters and Republicans are also in close agreement on the things that don't constitute serious threats: Unemployment; discrimination against minorities; and the power of large corporations.
The Tea Party movement gets a disproportionate share of media attention because of all the funny costumes, Hitler references, and fantasizing about armed revolution. But it's hard to see what's distinctive about the Tea Partiers' actual political views and priorities.

read more...

Via E.J. Dionne:

For some months now, I have been battling against the idea that the Tea Party movement is some brand-new thing in American politics, an independent movement akin to the rebellion led by Ross Perot in the 1990s. Tea Party people, I have been arguing, are simply right-wing Republicans organized under a new banner.

I have not been alone in making this case, of course, and it has been slowly gaining ground, but I hope a new Gallup study will settle the question. Gallup is one of our oldest polling firms and no one’s idea of an agent for the left-wing conspiracy.
[snip]
Last April, I argued that “both major parties stand to lose if they accept the laughable notion that this media-created protest movement is the voice of true populism. Democrats will spend their time chasing votes they will never win. Republicans will turn their party into an angry and narrow redoubt with no hope of building a durable majority.” I see no reason to change my mind on that.
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Via Daily Kos' Barbara Morrill:

While the righwingnuttia, with an able assist from the media, continues to pretend that the tea party movement is some sort of an "American awakening," the reality is that they are Republicans whose concerns mirror those of ... what a shock ... Republicans.

Make no mistake about it. The Tea Klux Klan is the GOP.

The Mad (Republican) Tea Party

2010-07-06T10:17:00.002-04:00

You have to watch this video from Bob Cesca. It's absolutely hilarious (h/t @Karoli).

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

As Sharron Angle's World Turns, These Are The Days....(UPDATED)

2010-07-05T11:15:00.004-04:00

Last week, on Sharron Angle....

Plain-Esque Delusions of Grandier: Sharron Angle Calls Herself "Ronald Reagan In Heels"

Sam Stein reports on Angle's website maker: "Sharron Angle's Tea Party Agenda Gets A Drastic Makeover":

In early June, Senate candidate Sharron Angle spoke emphatically on her website about abolishing the Department of Education, having Social Security "transitioned out" to the private sector, and repealing legislation that prohibited offshore drilling.

But today, if you visit the Nevada Republican's website, you'd have no indication that any of these positions were planks of her agenda.

After three weeks of rewrites, the Angle campaign has released (with little publicity or fanfare) a new and improved campaign website. It was done with obvious care, and tailor-made to pitch the Tea Party favorite as a mellow-minded conservative alternative to her Democratic opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

A comparison of the content from both websites shows dramatic, fundamental shifts in her policy platform. For instance, the candidate has gone from calling for the "repeal" of "regulations that prohibit off shore drilling" to a position that is, simply put, the exact opposite.

read more....

Outsider Sharron Angle also hired an insider GOP team for her much needed personal makeover:

The teams that brought us Rick Santorum, Rudy Guiliani and John McCain are gearing up to bring America a new conservative hero: Nevada Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle.

Just back in the Silver State after her week in D.C., Angle is rolling out her new team of consultants and staff. The group is pulled together from past Republican campaigns and prominent firms on the national circuit. For Angle -- charged with pulling off the most high-profile incumbent defeat of the cycle -- the team provides a mainstream sheen to her decidedly outsider campaign. National Republicans said they were going to come to her aid, and now we see they have put their money where their mouths were.

The team of consultants has a tough job ahead of it. Angle is facing a hostile local media, a skeptical national media and an opponent in Sen. Harry Reid who has made it clear he intends to put her on the defensive over some of her more extreme positions.
read more...

UPDATE I: About that website makeover...
Angle Sends Cease-And-Desist To Reid -- For Reposting Her Own Website

[...] After the former state Rep won Nevada's Republican Senate primary, Angle's campaign took down most of its website, and later replaced it with a relaunched version that in some ways toned down her right-wing rhetoric. But Internet pages are rarely ever forgotten -- the Reid campaign saved the old version, and put up a website called "The Real Sharron Angle," reproducing the old content.
Then, they say, the Angle campaign sent them a cease-and-desist letter, claiming misuse of copyrighted materials in the reposting of the old website -- which was, of course, being posted for the purposes of ridiculing Angle. The Reid campaign has in fact taken down the site, rerouting visitors to another website that goes after Angle's positions, "Sharron's Underground Bunker."

The Reid campaign said in a press release:

Despite her threat of a frivolous lawsuit, Nevada voters can still learn about her long-held policy positions at www.sharronsundergroundbunker.com.

"These are Sharron Angle's positions in Sharron's own words from Sharron's own website. What was good enough for Nevada voters to read during the primary should be good enough for them now," said Reid campaign spokesman Jon Summers. "Sharron has long believed in killing Social Security, eliminating the Departments of Education and Energy and shipping nuclear waste to Nevada. We've always heard that Sharron Angle is an unapologetic conservative. It has to be embarrassing for her to have her handlers trying to hide who she really is."
Check out "The Real Sharron Angle" site.

We then learned that Sharron Angle thinks rape & incest is "god's plan" and is against abortion even then.

No, really: Sharron Angle Is Against Abortion In Cases Of Rape Or Incest: It Would Interfere With God’s ‘Plan’

In a radio interview with Bill Manders on Jan. 25, Sharron Angle — the GOP candidate and Tea Party darling challenging Harry Reid for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat — came out firmly against abortion. She even took the extreme position that women should not have control over their reproductive rights in cases of rape or incest, because it would interfere with God’s “plan” for them:
MANDERS: Is there any reason at all for an abortion?

ANGLE: Not in my book.

MANDERS: So, in other words, rape and incest would not be something?

ANGLE: You know, I’m a Christian, and I believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives and that he can intercede in all kinds of situations and we need to have a little faith in many things.

Listen here:

Last week, Manders — who is a conservative radio host — told his listeners that in order to beat Reid, Angle has to “slide to the left a little bit, to the middle, so to speak. Not stay way over to the right.”

No shit, bill.

Her "Pro-Choice" views got her named Worst Persons by Keith Olbermann:

Sharron Angle finally met with the Nevada Press -- after being begged for an interview & ultimately fleeing from reporters to avoid them -- and now we know why.

Things didn't go as smoothly as she had hoped when she sat down with Nevada political reporter, Jon Ralston, on his show Face to Face, for what amounted to be one pretty entertaining interview:

Sharron Angle: Separation of Church & State is Unconstitutional

Angle: Don't Extend Unemployment Benefits, Go Get a Real Job

Sharron Angle's Views on unemployment benefits raised some eyebrows:

Unemployment Benefits: Sharron Angle's "Screw You" Economics

Don't think she'll be interviewing with any non-Fox-like media anytime soon. You can read a more in depth analysis of the interview at Talking Points Memo. Also, here's that full Ralston interview if you feel like watching it.

Angle was raked over the coals, first for not interviewing with media that might not be as friendly as Fox "news" per say, and then for her interview with Ralston - as were conservatives in general - which Rachel Maddow pointed out so eloquently in her take on that interview:

Stay tuned for more drama on As Sharron Angle's World Turns.

Weekly Presidential Address: Investing $2 Billion in Solar Energy

2010-07-03T18:58:00.006-04:00

In his weekly Youtube-radio address for the July fourth weekend, the President announced $2 Billion in Solar Investments as part of the Recovery Act:

The first is Abengoa Solar, a company that has agreed to build one of the largest solar plants in the world right here in the United States. After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas, it’s good news that we’ve attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America. In the short term, construction will create approximately 1,600 jobs in Arizona. What’s more, over 70 percent of the components and products used in construction will be manufactured in the USA, boosting jobs and communities in states up and down the supply chain. Once completed, this plant will be the first large-scale solar plant in the U.S. to actually store the energy it generates for later use – even at night. And it will generate enough clean, renewable energy to power 70,000 homes.

The second company is Abound Solar Manufacturing, which will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. A Colorado plant is already underway, and an Indiana plant will be built in what’s now an empty Chrysler factory. When fully operational, these plants will produce millions of state-of-the-art solar panels each year.

Learn more from the White House fact sheet.

Read the full transcript.

Yet Another Reminder of Who's Really to Blame for the Deficits (In a Graph That Even a Teabagger Can Understand)

2010-07-01T10:44:00.011-04:00

This has been covered many times before and in many ways, but it's always bares repeating, especially when we a comatose press corp who continually allows the GOP to hypocritically champion deficit reduction while simultaneously blaming President Obama for the current deficits.

Check these out for more background info:

Republicans Spent 82% of the $11 Trillion U.S. Debt (That's $8.8 Trillion for You Teabaggers)
What (Who) Really Caused the Budget Deficit? Hint, It's Not Barack Obama.
Rove falsely Suggests Obama is Responsible for Entire 2009 Deficit
Fox "News" Lies. Cato Institute Calls Them Out.

Well, TPM posted this new graph a couple of days ago as yet another simple reminder for those with short memories (and that's easy enough for even the dumbest teabagger to understand), showing hoe "Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Bush tax cuts (along with the economic downturn) are what is driving the U.S. deficit, not stimulus spending," and not Barack Obama's stimulus spending.

It comes from the the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities piece, "Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in Coming Years: Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers."

Never forget who's really responsible for the mess we're in.

Obama Mocks John Boehner, Joe Barton & the GOP Over Financial Reform & BP

2010-07-01T10:21:00.004-04:00

Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner compared the financial crisis to an "ant," and the new financial reform bill as "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon." President Obama didn't let that slide.

Here is President Barack Obama from Racine, WI, mocking John Boehner & the GOP:

"Do you think this financial crisis was an ant?"

The leader of the Republicans in the House said that financial reform was like — I’m quoting it — “using a nuclear weapon to target an ant.” That’s what he said. He compared the financial crisis to an ant. This is the same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs. The same crisis that cost people their homes, their life savings. He can’t be that out of touch with the struggles of American families, and if he is, he should come here to Racine and ask people what they think. Maybe I’m confused. Do you think that the financial crisis was an ant and we just need a little ant swatter to fix this thing, or do you think that we need to restructure how we regulate the financial system so you aren’t on the hook again and we don’t have this crisis again?

Here's he is going after Republican Rep. Joe BP Apology Barton:

President Obama on Joe Barton's apology to BP

"The top Republican on the energy committee apologized to BP -- did y'all read about that? He apologized to BP that we had made them set up this fund. Called it a tragedy that we had made them pay for the destruction that they'd caused. Now, I've got to say -- they pulled it back after -- he meant it, but then they kind of walked it back."

UPDATE I:

The DNC got the video up yesterday:

Ants? Really John Boehner?

Well, now they have this ad airing on TV:

"On Their Side"

Lifestyles of the Rich & Fossil-Fueled

2010-07-01T10:16:00.003-04:00

Mark Fiore on BP & Tony Hayward:

See the latest in riches and oil entertainment. What happens when you combine BP and JP Morgan with bailouts and oil spills? Tune in to see what Tony Hayward has been up to.

See more Mark Fiore animations at http://www.markfiore.com/

Prebunk'd! Media Repeat Already-Disproven Kagan Myths

2010-06-30T18:16:00.001-04:00

Via Media Matters:

Also see: 38 Myths And Falsehoods About Solicitor General Elena Kagan's Supreme Court Nomination

Senate Republicans Block Investigative Power for Oil Spill Commission

2010-06-30T18:09:00.002-04:00

Democrats need to keep making these kinds of votes public -- showing just what Senate Republicans block on nearly hourly basis.

Via Senate Democrats:

Senate Democrats today asked unanimous consent to pass legislation that would give the BP Oil Spill Commission the subpoena power it needs to do its job. "Frankly, it's time we have a vote after so many Republican objections to this commonsense legislation," said Sen. Robert Menendez. "[This bill] asserts that we want to protect those families, taxpayers, not oil company profits."

Vote Vets Ad: Senators Are Awash in Oil...Money

2010-06-30T18:02:00.005-04:00

VoteVets.org has released the follow ad targeting Democratic Senator Ben Nelson (NE) & Republican Senators Richard Burr (NC) & Mike Johanns (NE) :

Clean Up

Senator Nelson is awash in oil.... money. Call him and tell him to stand up for America and against Big Oil.

Why Do Republicans Hate Our Military Vets?

2010-06-30T12:20:00.004-04:00

Hypocrisy, thy name is GOP. The Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans with Children Act was blocked by Senate Republicans.

Via SenateDemocrats (h/t Crooks & Liars & Daily Kos):

Senator Patty Murray today called up a homeless women veterans bill on the Senate floor but it was blocked by Senate Republicans. The bill was introduced in June of 2009 and passed the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on January 28, 2010 with strong bi-partisan support.

"I am deeply disappointed that Senate Republicans continued to put politics above people and blocked my bill that would provide support for homeless women veterans and their families," said Senator Patty Murray. "This is a bipartisan, common-sense bill that would support veterans in my home state of Washington and across the country. I am going to continue fighting for it to pass. And I urge Senate Republicans to end their obstruction and allow homeless women veterans across the country to get the support they have earned."

Sam Seder Calls "Bullshit!" On Conservatives' "Judicial Philosophy" Meme

2010-06-30T12:13:00.004-04:00

Check out Sam Seder's latest "That's Bullshit" segment on Conservative's "Judicial Philosophy" and how they wield it as though they're honest brokers.

This week, Sam zeroes in on Elena Kagan's Supreme Court Justice Nominee hearings and calls Bullshit! on the so-called Conservative Judicial Philosophy.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is a National Embarrassment

2010-06-30T12:06:00.005-04:00

I always wonder what the rest of the world thinks about us when they see a U.S. Senator say something like what Chuck Grassley said in Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearing yesterday (via TPM)?

He's an embarrassment to us all.

ATT SENIORS: Republican House Leader Boehner Pledges to Cut Social Security, Raise Retirement Age to 70

2010-06-30T11:59:00.001-04:00

Some days they just hand you your fall campaign ad:

The press/blogs immediately jumped on it:

Slash Social Security to Pay for War? Dems Slam Boehner for Remark - FOXNews
House GOP leader John Boehner proposes raising age‎ - USA Today
Boehner suggests raising Social Security age‎ - Washington Post (blog)
Boehner: Raise Social Security Retirement Age‎ - CBS News
John Boehner's too-honest preview of a Republican Congress Salon
GOP vs. Social Security Daily Kos
Boehner: We Can't Have the War AND Social Security - So We Need To Cut Social Security! - Crooks & Liars

Rachel Maddow took him to task on last night's show for this and other political missteps:

Boehner fails politics 101

Rachel Maddow lists the political missteps by House Minority Leader John Boehner in a single interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Thank you, John Boehner.

Jon Stewart Takes Issue w/ Fox's "Don't Blame Bush" but "Everything is Clinton's Fault" Hypocrisy

2010-06-30T11:08:00.009-04:00

Everything that happened under George W. Bush, even 8 years into his presidency was somehow President Clinton's Fault. And now, even the BP oil disaster is somehow Clinton's fault as well.

But how dare anyone, blame Bush for for anything, like two wars, the collapsed economy, deficits for decades to come and the oil drilling policies of the his administration which were actually dumped in Obama's lap.

Jon Stewart calls bullshit on the GOP's and their Fox "news" allies' blaming hypocrisy:

Blame

"Fox &Friends" deems it inappropriate for the Obama administration to mention Bush when talking about the wars, economy or oil spill.

To view this movie you need the Adobe Flash Player plugin. You also need JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This "Third Depression" Could and Should Have Been Avoided

2010-06-28T11:32:00.000-04:00

Paul Krugman is out with his latest editorial, and things aren't looking good.

While reading his piece, "The Third Depression," all I kept thinking about was how Paul, and most other serious economists, were calling for a much larger stimulus back in late 2008/early 2009, that focused on stimulating the economy by creating jobs, jobs, jobs. Not cutting taxes.

The Great depression and F.D.R.'s handling of it - and the subsequent lost year in 1937 when conservatives got him to cut spending -- was referred too ad nauseum in articles such as "The "FDR Failed" Myth" (also see here), with the hope that the newly elected Obama Administration would take heed.

Paul even wrote the new President: A Letter to the new president. What Obama must do.

The last president to face a similar mess was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and you can learn a lot from his example. That doesn't mean, however, that you should do everything FDR did. On the contrary, you have to take care to emulate his successes, but avoid repeating his mistakes.
About those successes: The way FDR dealt with his own era's financial mess offers a very good model. Then, as now, the government had to deploy taxpayer money in order to rescue the financial system. In particular, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation initially played a role similar to that of the Bush administration's Troubled Assets Relief Program (the $700 billion program everyone knows about). Like the TARP, the RFC bulked up the cash position of troubled banks by using public funds to buy up stock in those banks.

There was, however, a big difference between FDR's approach to taxpayer-subsidized financial rescue and that of the Bush administration: Namely, FDR wasn't shy about demanding that the public's money be used to serve the public good. By 1935 the U.S. government owned about a third of the banking system, and the Roosevelt administration used that ownership stake to insist that banks actually help the economy, pressuring them to lend out the money they were getting from Washington. Beyond that, the New Deal went out and lent a lot of money directly to businesses, to home buyers and to people who already owned homes, helping them restructure their mortgages so they could stay in their houses.

Can you do anything like that today? Yes, you can. The Bush administration may have refused to attach any strings to the aid it has provided to financial firms, but you can change all that. If banks need federal funds to survive, provide them - but demand that the banks do their part by lending those funds out to the rest of the economy. Provide more help to homeowners. Use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the home-lending agencies, to pass the government's low borrowing costs on to qualified home buyers. (Fannie and Freddie were seized by federal regulators in September, but the Bush administration, bizarrely, has kept their borrowing costs high by refusing to declare that their bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the taxpayer.)

read more...

President Obama didn't take heed.

After two years of watching this President, it's become clear that his modus operandi -- as we saw with the Health Reform Bill when he didn't really fight for the Public Option (the only true means of stemming health insurance costs) -- is to take the path of least resistance when he should be going BIG.

Let's not forget that at the time in question, he had a 71% approval rating and could have gotten what he wanted without much more effort than he was already expending.

But, rather than go for a stimulus package in the higher end of what Krugman and economists were calling for -- $1.5 to $2 trillion -- Obama chose their minimum figure of $800 billion. He went small.

Rather than make the plan already low-balled plan be 100% job creation in nature, nearly 35% of the that minimum was wasted on tax cuts which he knew going into it would do absolutely nothing to stimulate the economy, & it didn't even win over the GOP.

Where FDR "Welcomed Their Hate," Obama gave in to it.

In 2009, after being pounded by Krugman for the size and scope of the stimulus, President Obama dismissively said that ‘If Paul Krugman has a good idea…then we’re going to do it.’

Krugman did. The Obama administration didn't. And we now know that Paul Krugman was right.

Now we are faced with the fallout of those earlier decisions. The stimulus stopped the economic free-fall the country was in, but it didn't thrust us into a strong recovery either.

Going back to the stimulus well now -- with the GOP playing obstructionists in ways never seen before in the history of this country -- is impossible, especially with the handful of Consevadems like Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln & Evan Bayh, holding the door for these Hoover-esque obstructionists.

And as you can see from Paul Krugman's latest piece, he believes we are now actually in a "Third Depression":

Neither the Long Depression of the 19th century nor the Great Depression of the 20th was an era of nonstop decline — on the contrary, both included periods when the economy grew. But these episodes of improvement were never enough to undo the damage from the initial slump, and were followed by relapses.

We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.
[snip]
In 2008 and 2009, it seemed as if we might have learned from history. Unlike their predecessors, who raised interest rates in the face of financial crisis, the current leaders of the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank slashed rates and moved to support credit markets. Unlike governments of the past, which tried to balance budgets in the face of a plunging economy, today’s governments allowed deficits to rise. And better policies helped the world avoid complete collapse: the recession brought on by the financial crisis arguably ended last summer.
[snip]
As far as rhetoric is concerned, the revival of the old-time religion is most evident in Europe, where officials seem to be getting their talking points from the collected speeches of Herbert Hoover, up to and including the claim that raising taxes and cutting spending will actually expand the economy, by improving business confidence. As a practical matter, however, America isn’t doing much better. The Fed seems aware of the deflationary risks — but what it proposes to do about these risks is, well, nothing. The Obama administration understands the dangers of premature fiscal austerity — but because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress won’t authorize additional aid to state governments, that austerity is coming anyway, in the form of budget cuts at the state and local levels.
[snip]
And who will pay the price for this triumph of orthodoxy? The answer is, tens of millions of unemployed workers, many of whom will go jobless for years, and some of whom will never work again.
read more...

Also see: