Sunday, 7 April 2013

Kim Kardashian does what Sarah Palin never could. Shows the belly. Update!

After all of those rumors started to swirl about Kim Kardashian faking her pregnancy she did what would seem to be the most obvious response.

She showed a picture of the naked belly bump. Good for her, speculation will now come to a stop.

However after all of these years, Sarah Palin has not ONCE done the same. Not once.

And why not?

Simply put, there is no  picture of a naked belly for her to share, because it never happened.
March 26, 2008.
The same thing goes for a birth certificate, a picture of her in the hospital right after the delivery, or of her breast feeding.

That is why there has NEVER been any doubt for most of us that she faked her pregnancy. Because, and trust me on this, if Sarah Palin could make us all look like fools, she would have done so many times over by now.

Update: For those who have been interested in Palin's speech at the Schiavo fundraiser, that video can be found here.  (Thanks Lisa.)

And YES she tells the pregnancy story yet again.

Arizona Republican lawmakers don't like the idea of restricting access to guns, decide to put bulletproof vest on everybody instead. Oh yeah, MUCH better.

Courtesy of TPM:  

An Arizona state representative has a novel idea to increase safety among state lawmakers: start wearing bullet-proof vests. 

State Rep. Bob Thorpe (R) sent an email on Thursday to all Arizona House and Senate members, inviting them to attend an event this coming Wednesday at the capitol, where someone from a company called Arizona Tactical is scheduled to educate lawmakers about the protective vests it sells. 

In his email, Thorpe said he has been researching body armor in the wake of the Tucson, Ariz. shooting that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and led her to step down from Congress. He suggested the vests could be worn at public events like town halls and parades. “Just like our police and DPS (Department of Public Safety) officers, you typically wear the vest under a shirt or top, which conceals their use,” Thorpe wrote, adding that the company would cut the lawmakers a deal and offer the vests at the same price law enforcement officials pay. 

So this Republican feels that the best way to avoid ending up like Gabby Giffords, is NOT to demand background checks or out law extended magazines, but instead to wear body armor?

Who wants to volunteer to remind him that Gabby Giffords was shot in the FACE?

Some how I don't think covering her in Kevlar would have done her one tiny bit of good.

While we are on the subject of not doing a tiny bit of good, it looks like getting any gun legislation past the Senate is going to present quite the challenge as there are now 13 GOP Senators threatening to filibuster ANY attempt by Harry Reid to bring it to a vote.

This courtesy of Politico:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s threat to filibuster any new gun restrictions is gathering steam, as a dozen of his Republican colleagues have now signed onto his plan. 

The Kentucky Republican and Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) first wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid late last month to warn him of their intention to try to tie up the Senate if, as planned, Reid moved forward with legislation that would expand background checks and attempt to crack down on interstate gun trafficking.

Reid is expected to bring a gun-control bill to the floor as early as next week, or perhaps the following week, and Paul is renewing his vow to try to block the measure. Paul’s follow-up letter, obtained by POLITICO, bears Monday’s date and is signed by 13 Republicans, including fellow potential 2016 presidential aspirant Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — who signed on shortly after Paul’s first threat was issued — and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran of Kansas.

Can somebody explain to me again WHY Harry Reid backed away from his promise to end the filibuster?

Because I for one am sick and tired of this shit!

The position Jesus takes when it comes to gay sex. You know for those who were wondering.

And that explains why he never addresses it in the New Testament.

Man I wish I could see the faces of the Fundamentalists as they read this!


Saturday, 6 April 2013

On last night's New Rules Bill Maher trashed Libertarians for "trashing Libertarianism."

More courtesy of Mediaite:

Bill Maher ended his show tonight by railing against a political movement he has aligned himself with in the past: libertarianism. He slammed the current wave of libertarians, among them Paul Ryan and Rand Paul, for having a “creepy obsession” with free markets, Ayn Rand, and government staying out of the way. He made it clear that he has not abandoned the libertarianism altogether, saying, “I didn’t go nuts, this movement did.” 

Maher complained that the current crop of libertarians are “ruining libertarianism,” saying there’s a difference between holding that political philosophy and being a “selfish prick.” Maher admitted that he has expressed support in the past for a lot of what libertarians have to say, but along the way he noticed it evolved into a “creepy obsession with free market capitalism.” 

Maher specifically brought up libertarian worship of Ayn Rand, whom he argued only sounds good when you’re a teenager but actually lacks any real substance. He declared that libertarians like Ryan and Paul who subscribe to this line of thinking are “intellectually stuck in their teenage years.”

There are a few issues that Maher and I certainly do not see eye to eye on, and one of those was the fact that he embraced of Libertarianism, which to me was always a movement that gave selfish people an excuse to be assholes.

Nice to see that Maher is finally seeing the light as well.

P.S. If HBO act like assholes again and  and block the YouTube video, just go to the Mediaite link and watch it there. It definitely worth your time.

Kansas legislators pass sweeping anti-abortion bill claiming that "life begins at fertilization."

Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  

Kansas legislators gave final passage to a sweeping anti-abortion measure Friday night, sending Gov. Sam Brownback a bill that declares life begins "at fertilization" while blocking tax breaks for abortion providers and banning abortions performed solely because of the baby's sex. 

The House voted 90-30 for a compromise version of the bill reconciling differences between the two chambers, only hours after the Senate approved it, 28-10. The Republican governor is a strong abortion opponent, and supporters of the measure expect him to sign it into law so that the new restrictions take effect July 1. 

In addition to the bans on tax breaks and sex-selection abortions, the bill prohibits abortion providers from being involved in public school sex education classes and spells out in more detail what information doctors must provide to patients seeking abortions. 

The measure's language that life begins "at fertilization" had some abortion-rights supporters worrying that it could be used to legally harass providers. Abortion opponents call it a statement of principle and not an outright ban on terminating pregnancies.

"Not an outright ban on terminating pregnancies." Yeah right.

Essentially these Bible thumping assholes are making it all but impossible for women to get access to the information to help them prevent pregnancies, and then following that up with denying them services which would allow them to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Essentially the message to women in Kansas is "You may think that body is yours, but once you take in a little semen, your ass belongs to us!"

If this keeps up it will not be too much longer before you won't be able to throw away a used condoms anymore since it be considered "fertilized."

Ignorant people, making ignorant laws, to help ignorant teenagers, give birth to more ignorant babies.  And people wonder why America has fallen so far behind other industrialized nations in the last twenty years.

New morality clause at Catholic school causes President of Advisory Council to resign in protest.

Newly resigned Advisory Council President Jaci Russo.
Courtesy of KATC:

The President of Our Lady of Fatima School Advisory Council has resigned in response to a new morality clause the Diocese of Lafayette has asked teachers to sign. In a letter to Principal Joni Duos obtained by KATC, Jaci Russo said the morality clause is flawed. 

"By listing these 'sins,' a number of teachers are forced to either lie about who they are, or deny the things they may have done in order to keep their jobs at Fatima," Russo wrote in her resignation letter. "This is a travesty, as I know there are teachers who have had children out of wedlock and are divorced and remarried without annulment, yet they signed the clause and continue to teach." 

Russo added, "I cannot in good conscience stand by while we prevent great teachers from doing their jobs at Fatima." 

Longtime teacher Jane Riviere, who is openly gay, said she didn't sign her contract because she couldn't "be honest to its content." The morality clause bars teachers from engaging in homosexual activity, using birth control, or being married outside the church. Riviere said Wednesday that while she does not agree with the church's position, she accepts it. 

Russo, whose children have attended Fatima for the past 10 years, questions teachers who have lied or denied things to keep their jobs. 

"What does this say about their moral fiber?" Russo asks. "Is adherence to the clause based on reality, or just what each individual is willing to admit?" 

Russo also discusses Riviere's character in the letter. She notes Riviere has touched the lives of many in the community, which she says is evident in the number of former students and co-workers who have commented about Riviere not signing her contract. 

"I don't understand how she could be such a great teacher for the past 30 years, and now be viewed as unacceptable," Russo wrote. "Isn't a woman of this quality exactly who we want to teach character to our kids?" 

Believe it or not the list of "sins" that this contract included were, non-Catholic marriages, living with a boyfriend or girlfriend, homosexual activity, becoming pregnant or fathering a child out of wedlock, and of course having an abortion or helping someone to get an abortion,

I think that it is great that people are standing up for themselves and refusing to let the church bully them into hiding who they are or judging them for who they love, or how they love.

If more people were to do this these superstitious bronze age thinking assholes would have to change their mindset or watch their schools close down from lack of teachers.

Which by the way I don't see as a bad thing.

Rush Limbaugh rewards young listener with I-Pad for "discovering" that climate change is a hoax after visiting his school library. Dafuq?

"Okay just how small is my audience these days?"
Courtesy of Salon: 

On his show Thursday, Rush Limbaugh hosted a climate expert to explain how global warming is “a hoax.” Sorry, did we say climate expert? We meant 13-year-old kid from Indiana. The young man called into Limbaugh’s show and said he had done his own research at the local library for a school project and concluded that it was obvious that man-made climate change is bogus. 

“It was really easy for me to find this evidence, really easy,” said young Alex. “I believe the reason that the liberals do not have the evidence [that it's a hoax] is because they do not want the evidence. They don’t want to hear that it’s wrong.” 

Alex said he found all the information at the library, because he didn’t have a computer. Limbaugh was so impressed that he told Alex he wanted to send him an iPad, assuming his parents were OK with it, in order to help him with future research.

I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh, or any radio at all for that matter, but I just so happened to hear this exchange with this young man as I was driving in my car. 

It should be noted that at NO time did Limbaugh ask this young man WHICH books in the library supposedly provided this evidence which refuted the findings of virtually EVERY climatologist on the planet, nor did he ask him WHAT it was that he read that led him to conclude that climate change was a "hoax."

In fact all Limbaugh did was congratulate this child and offer him a free I-Pad (Limbaugh gives these away with some frequency.) for his completely unsubstantiated remarks.

The next day Limbaugh followed up on that conversation by saying this:

Folks, just exactly as the news media is no longer about the news, there aren’t any news outlets, it’s a branch of the Democrat Party, so too is much of science today. The Democrats have literally politicized everything they can use to expand government, which is their primary objective. Whatever they can do to grow government, they will politicize it… ‘The consensus of scientists.’ Well, they are all politicized as well. The global warming scientists are just Democrats, folks. They are all part of an agenda. It’s where they get their money, it’s where they get their funding to study all this stuff… Government money, grant money. So they’re all part of the agenda.

So since Limbaugh really cannot argue his case based on the evidence he has to undermine that evidence by claiming it is tainted with liberal bias.

Which, and I hate to agree with Limbaugh here, it kind of is. But not because the scientists doing the research start off that way, but rather because the evidence and facts do not respect mythology or stone age rationalizations.

I have to wonder just how long that young man will hold onto his contention that climate change is a hoax once he has an I-Pad to help him do some REAL research?

Gun store owner who sold weapons used in Newtown massacre has license revoked.

Courtesy of Journal News: 

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has permanently revoked the federal firearms license of East Windsor, Conn., gun store owner David LaGuercia, whose shop reportedly sold guns used in the Newtown school massacre and a second Connecticut mass shooting. 

ATF spokeswoman Deb Seifert told The Journal News on Thursday that she could not be more specific on the reasons LaGuercia’s license was revoked. It was revoked Dec. 20 and the 60-day time frame to appeal has expired. 

“It’s been revoked,” Seifert said. “It’s final at this point.” 

Seifert declined to comment on any criminal investigation into Riverview Gun Sales, which ATF agents raided in December, days after the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary left 26 dead. She referred questions on any criminal probe to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Tom Carson, who could not be reached Thursday for comment. 

In December, LaGuercia said in a statement that he was “absolutely appalled” to learn that a gun he sold to Nancy Lanza may have been used by her son Adam in the Newtown massacre. 

“There is nothing more devastating than the loss of a child, and I am absolutely appalled that the product that was sold several years ago would be used in this type of crime,” he said in the statement at the time. “Our hearts go out to the victims’ families and, as a father of three, I know firsthand of a parent’s loss and it’s the worst nightmare. 

“We are cooperating with law enforcement in their efforts to get to the bottom of this senseless tragedy,” he said. Citing anonymous sources, The Hartford Courant has reported that the guns used in the Newtown massacre, including a Bushmaster rifle, and the mass shooting at Hartford Distributors Inc. in 2010 that left eight dead were both bought legally at LaGuercia’s gun shop. 

I don't know if this has any actual connection to the shooting, nor do I see how it could be right now, but I will say that just having this happen might send a signal to OTHER gun shop owners to be very careful as to who they sell their guns to.

I would also have to imagine that this gun store owner was probably devastated to learn that the guns that he put out on the street were used in such a horrendous massacre.

I think if it were me I would not want to continue on in that business.

The Chicago Tribune's touching tribute to Roger Ebert.

I wanted to type a little more but I seem to have something in my eye.

Friday, 5 April 2013

First pictures of Sarah Palin at the Terri Schiavo fundraiser are coming in. Update!

The first reports are that the crowd is somewhat underwhelming. Which is fine, because so is the speaker.

I kid you not that Palin just said this in her speech: "God does not drive parked cars." Well good to know she wrote her own speech for a change.

I was actually unaware that God was a licensed driver in ANY type of motor vehicle.

I gotta read the Bible more often! You miss so much!

Update: More from our in house spies; "We are not to play God and snuff out the life that He's created."

Says the woman with the famous Wite-Out pregnancy termination.

Update 2: Palin's appearance is also, as to be expected, drawing some negative press:

Nonetheless, despite the serious and heartfelt concerns of people involved in the Schiavo case, and despite Palin’s oft-stated concern for the disabled due to the condition of her youngest child, the inclusion of Palin as the keynote speaker and a $25,000-a-session fundraising ploy seems to take away from the substantive issues that merit thoughtful discussion and debate.

You know if you make a living off of grifting using the memory of your dead daughter, perhaps you don't want to draw attention to it by hiring the Queen of the Grifters to give a speech and allowing her to pimp herself out afterwards for $25,000 a "visit."

Just saying.

Update 3: I think someone scared her wig. It looks like it has its back up.

Hillary Clinton: "Women's rights are human rights, and human rights are women's rights." Gee, if ONLY the Republican party could understand that fact.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

Hillary Clinton delivered a rousing speech on women’s rights on Friday, insisting that empowering women is a “core imperative” for society if the United States is to enjoy economic success and remain a global leader. 

Speaking at the Women in the World Summit organized by Tina Brown, editor in chief of Newsweek The Daily Beast, Clinton acknowledged women “have come so far” in areas including politics and in the workplace. But she called gender equality the "unfinished business of the 21st century"—not just in developing countries, but also in the U.S., where women continue to be “marginalized” when it comes to access to education and their ability to receive a salary equal to their male peers. 

“For many American women, the dream of upward mobility … the American dream remains elusive,” Clinton declared. “No country can achieve its full economic potential when women are left out or left behind." 

It was Clinton’s second major speech this week—and the second time she spoke of the need to empower women around the world, an issue that has long driven her career in public life.

Hillary Clinton is quickly becoming an unstoppable force in politics. I am not even completely confident that President Obama could have beaten THIS Hillary Clinton back in 2008.

By the way our friend Sarah Jones over at Politicususa has noticed that already Hillary is kicking Republican ass. Well at least on the internets.

Hillary Clinton’s Super PAC already surpasses the Republican 2012 Presidential nominee’s PAC’s Facebook fans, and she hasn’t even announced if she’s running for President in 2016. The Ready for Hillary SuperPAC has more twitter followers than Karl Rove’s Crossroads PAC and more Facebook fans than Mitt Romney’s Super PAC had on election day. 

Clinton hasn’t mentioned any 2016 plans, but a SuperPAC “Ready for Hillary“, filed papers two months ago and reports gaining an average of 1,000 supporters a day. They write, “Even before the impending official launch of the PAC, more than 100,000 grassroots supporters are now part of our network.” 

The “Ready for Hillary” SuperPAC also gave Karl Rove a little kick in the pants, “Reached 50,000 @readyforhillary Twitter followers – already five times more than Karl Rove’s American Crossroads.” Actually, Ready for Hillary is at 54, 768 as of this writing. @AmericanXRoads, which links to American Crossroads.Org, has 9,544 followers and @CrossroadsGPS has 4,966 followers.

Nope not looking good for any future Republican opponents that's for sure. 

By the way there is some talk among Republicans that their best bet, in fact perhaps their ONLY bet against Hillary in 2016, would be the tiny man with the road kill toupee himself, Rand Paul.

All I can say to that, is "YES please!" For me literally the only thing better than watching Rand Paul face off against Hillary Clinton would be if he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.

If that were to happen you would know my reaction simply by the fact that I would not be able to post for several days as I would be too overcome with euphoria to get up off the floor.

I have to say that there are a lot of reason that I am looking forward to Hillary winning the White House, but one of them has to be that this amazing young woman might also take up residence there once again.

If ever there were anybody who could be said to be the very antithesis to the Palin and McCain daughters. this young woman is it.

I think the whole country, perhaps even some on the Right, would take great pride in having this family represent their country once again. And yes that means Bill Clinton as well.

Study finds that states that vote conservative and have a higher ratio of gun ownership also tend to have more suicides. Filed under "Things that make perfect sense."

Courtesy of Science Daily:  

With few exceptions, states with the highest rates of gun ownership -- for example, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Alabama, and West Virginia -- also tended to have the highest suicide rates. These states were also carried overwhelmingly by George Bush in the 2000 presidential election.

Leaving aside the idea of voting for George Bush and the desire to commit suicide aside for right now, I think the study certainly makes sense in that people who have more access to guns usually choose THAT as their method for ending it all.

And as the study also points out; "Many studies show that of all suicide methods, firearms have the highest case fatality, implying that an individual who selects this technique has a very low chance of survival."

I can say one thing for sure, I live in Alaska, and we have tons of conservatives. as well as easy access to guns. and our suicide rate is the highest in the nation.

The study goes on to say; "Even modest efforts to reform gun laws are typically met with vehement opposition. There are also millions of Americans who continue to believe that keeping a gun at home protects them against intruders, even though research shows that when a gun is used in the home, it is often against household members in the commission of homicides or suicides,"

Yeah I am guessing this study is not going to be embraced by the Right Wing anytime soon. Still it DOES provide a little more ammunition, if you will pardon the pun, for those looking to restrict access to guns in this country.

H/T to Mediaite.

Ever since Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy, now every famous pregnant person is suspect. Update!

Courtesy of The Hollywood Gossip: 

The National Enquirer screams on its latest cover that Kim Kardashian is faking her pregnancy because her "baby bump seems to change size and position… as she travels around the country." 

Why would Kim possibly conduct such a hoax? Straight cash, of course. 

Alleges the newspaper: 

“A source close to Kim believes the star might have hatched a sensational scheme with her money-hungry momager Kris Jenner to fake her pregnancy while secretly having a surrogate mom carry a baby for her and her lover Kanye West." 

Well... sure. 

Asks the newspaper: “How convenient is it that Kim got pregnant just as she was making a mad push to wrap up her ongoing divorce from Kris Humhpries?” 

And also: 

“It also would be an insane coincidence that Kim just so happened to get pregnant soon after she learned the girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend Reggie Bush - Lilit Avagyan - is pregnant.”

Okay now I don't think that Sarah Palin was the FIRST person to fake a pregnancy, but clearly her  audacious, and successful, attempt to fool the public has meant that certain media outlets have scrutinized famous pregnancies with a particular eye out for frauds. (I have spoken to TWO different writers for the National Enquirer and they both accept as fact that Palin faked her pregnancy.)


Now as you know there was a lot of controversy surrounding Beyone's recent "pregnancy" as well.  In THAT case I am on the side of that being a potential hoax.

However in Kardashian's case I really am not convinced that she is faking it. After reading this I Googled some images and it looks like her entire body is expanding, and NOT like somebody simply strapping on a empathy belly to fool the media.

However I would like to say that considering the fact that Klondike Kardashian seems to have based her life after leaving the governorship on the business model laid out by the ACTUAL Kardashians, it would be rather ironic if Kim were returning the favor by taking a page out of the Palin playbook as well.

I'm just saying.

Update! You know the first thing I think of WHENEVER anybody questions the validity of a pregnancy, is that if the local press in Alaska had demonstrated even a fraction of that kind of skepticism about Palin's pregnancy she would have been quickly found out and it would have dramatically changed the face of politics in the country today.

Kind of makes you pissed off at the ADN all over again doesn't it?

Virginia Attorney General fights to reinstate sodomy laws. Apparently in Virginia its 1813 not 2013.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

Although most people think sodomy laws have been unconstitutional since the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, Virginia Attorney General  would like to explain why — in his view — that's not so. 

What's more, he wants the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to agree with him and uphold the constitutionality of Virginia's sodomy law — which makes anal and oral sex between people of any sex a crime — in the process. 

Cuccinelli last week asked the full appellate court to reverse a three-judge panel's decision and uphold the application of the law in a criminal prosecution against William Scott MacDonald, a very unsympathetic defendant. 

MacDonald, 47 at the time, was convicted of violating the state's criminal solicitation statute, which applies whenever a person over 18 "commands ... or otherwise attempts to persuade" a person under 18 to commit a felony.

Hmm so in order to punish a man for forcing sexual contact on a young woman this guy wants to make the sex act itself illegal?

Isn't that kind of like punishing a drunk driver by making operating a motor vehicle by EVERYBODY against the law?

And by the way just which segment of the population might be the most affected by having sodomy laws prosecuted in Virginia? Well, certainly not the uptight Mr. Cucinelli, that's for damn sure!

I am pretty sure that even Virginia has laws against rape in their state, and do NOT need to reinstate laws originally thought up by people wearing black outfits with belt buckles on their hats.

Oh and by the way for those who want to provide a knee jerk defense of this guy, be aware that this is not the first time he has demonstrated intolerance for the LGBT community:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has urged the state's public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school that their boards of visitors had no legal authority to adopt such statements. 

I am suddenly made to feel very badly for MRS. Cuccinelli, whose sex life with Attorney General "Cotton Mather" must consist of being completely covered head to toe with a sheet in which a hole has been strategically placed over her genitals allowing "the master" to do his business while beating her about the head and face with a Bible and screaming "Oh Lord please forgive this revolting creature for a forcing me to defile her in this manner!"

Personally I think sex between religious zealots should be outlawed. That would certainly help to quickly put an end their ignorant reign of terror don't you think?

The LA Times knows exactly where President Obama's $110 million dollar brain initiative should focus first. Here's a hint, it's best to start small.

Courtesy of the LA Times:

President Obama wants to invest an initial $110 million in a study of the human brain that could have benefits as great as those achieved by the Human Genome Project. Maybe the first study should be done on the one-track minds of tea party Republicans, who will undoubtedly oppose funding for the study because their brains are fixated on the single idea that government can do nothing right. 

After that, researchers could move on to figuring out Sarah Palin’s brain. Perhaps they could answer this question: How can a person with so little knowledge and so little interest in acquiring knowledge imagine that she has what it takes to be president of the United States? Is it an example of the George W. Bush effect? (“Hey, if he can be president, anybody can.”) Inquiring minds want to know.

Look as much as I usually support the idea of scientific exploration, I think Sarah Palin's mind is  kind of like "Pandora's box." In other words, some things are best left locked up tight.

One can only imagine the dark twisty convoluted corridors constructed to keep her secrets hidden from view and the steel spring traps she has laid for those who would attempt to untie the Gordian knot of her  psyche.

After all this is a woman who has constructed layers upon layers of mythology to hide her true nature from public scrutiny. I don't think even Indiana Jones would have the balls to enter that death trap.

Other than that I think this brain mapping thing, and its potential for uncovering information that will help to treat traumatic brain injuries and alleviate the suffering of those with Alzheimer's, sounds amazing.

However I would also give up on trying to understand the brains of the Teabaggers. Some things science simply cannot hope to fathom.



Roger Ebert's long glorious career of loving movies has come to an end.

I used to watch these two guys religiously. I especially loved it when they disagreed on a movie, which seemed to be quite often though that may be a trick of memory.

When they did disagree it seemed that Ebert's take on the film was usually in sync with my own. Not always of course, but more times than not, and certainly more times than Gene Siskel.

So as hard as it was for me to accept the passing of Siskel, I took solace in the fact that Roger Ebert would still be there giving me advice as to which movies were worth my hard earned money, and which were not.

Sadly yesterday he followed the lead of his long time partner and also shuffled off this mortal coil.

You have NO idea how close I came in 2004 to starting a blog dedicated to movies, instead of politics. In fact if I had not been so pissed off about George W. Bush winning that second term you might right now be reading about the new information that has leaked about newly discovered outtakes from the Avengers movie instead of about Sarah Palin giving a speech at the Terri Schiavo fund raising dinner or Republicans freaking out over the possibility of school vouchers being used to open Islamic charter schools.

Like Roger Ebert I also love movies, and in fact see just about every big movie that comes out each year. If I can't make it to the theater I put it in my Netflix's queue and watch it while riding my exercise bike in my office.

I once thought it would be my dream job to get paid to watch movies and then write about them for the newspaper. However the idea of watching a movie in order to critique it later on seemed like a good way to miss out on the magic, and to start dreading the very idea of sitting in a darkened theater.

So I never pursued that dream.

Which is why I have always appreciated Roger Ebert. In many ways he proved my fears wrong, in that it seemed he NEVER got tired of seeing the movies, and he NEVER missed out on the magic while doing so.

Still I think I'll stick to politics.

Goodbye Roger, and let me just give you two thumbs up for all of the GREAT movies I saw that I very well might have missed if you had not insisted that they were movies "not to be missed."

More often than not, you were right.


Thursday, 4 April 2013

In an attempt to differentiate herself from the OTHER children of the 2008 Republican candidates, Meghan McCain is launching a new reality show. Do you want to tell her, or should I?

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Meghan McCain will host her own show entitled "Raising McCain" on Pivot, a new cable channel launching in August. The show will follow McCain as she goes on the road, and film her interactions with guests. 

"I keep telling people it's like 'Meet the Press' meets 'Jackass,'" McCain, the daughter of former presidential candidate John McCain, described at Pivot's upfront on Wednesday.

Okay what is it with these Republicans wanting to get paid by having somebody film them while they do their laundry, get fat sucked out of their asses, and break up with their boyfriends?

Well to be fair it looks like McCain will have "guests" on her show, whatever that means,so maybe it will not fit the usual reality show formula. (Though I have to wonder if it will be like Bristol having her mother guest star on the show so that she could get paid as well? Couldn't you just see John McCain showing up to yell at kids walking across his daughter's lawn?)

But all kidding aside I am sure that McCain's show will have NOTHING in common with Bristol or Sarah's crappy reality shows which were filmed in Wasilla.

Wait, what's that you say?

She said that the show would be "uncensored" and "real." One example of an issue she would be interested in covering is the explosion of meth in her homestate of Arizona.

"The explosion of meth in her homestate of Arizona?" Sounds like Sarah and Bristol DID leave their mark on Arizona after all!

If anybody wondered whether Stephen Colbert would help his sister in her campaign for the South Carolina Congressional seat, that is no longer a mystery. He is all in!

Now that Ashley Judd has broken my heart by not running against Mitch McConnell, THIS is now my favorite race!

I don't think that Mark Sanford has a chance.

Tennessee Republican lawmakers all for school vouchers until they realize that Islamic schools can apply for them as well. Uh oh!

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are threatening to block Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s school voucher bill over fears that Muslim schools could receive funding. 

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported on Monday that Haslam hinted that he would withdraw his bill after objections from Republican lawmakers that it was not broad enough and that the vouchers could be used by Islamic schools. 

Over the weekend, state Sen. Jim Tracy (R) had told The Murfreesboro Post that he had “considerable concern” that tax dollars could go to schools that teach principles from the Quran. 

Tracy, who is on the Senate Education Committee and identifies himself as a member of the Church of Christ, insisted that Islamic school funding was an “an issue we must address” before the voucher bill can go forward. 

“I don’t know whether we can simply amend the bill in such a way that will fix the issue at this point,” he said. 

On Monday, Tracy told the News Sentinel that his staff had determined that there was at least one Muslim-oriented school — Pleasant View School in Memphis — that would be eligible for vouchers under the governor’s plan. 

And state Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R) worried that an attempt by Sen. Brian Kelsey (R) to broaden Haslam’s bill from the bottom 5 percent of schools to every school in the state would only make more tax dollars available to Islamic educators.

So to be clear, schools that ignore science and indoctrinate your children into the Christian religion are fine, but if they ignore science and indoctrinate your children into Islam? Not so much!

"I don’t know whether we can simply amend the bill in such a way that will fix the issue at this point." Not without exposing your agenda to the world, and stomping on the Muslim communities 1st Amendment rights you can't.

These morons simply did not think through their plan to undermine the public school system and implement a plan to indoctrinate children. If they push through this voucher system they may soon have Islamic schools, Hindu schools, and even Scientology schools, vying for their state dollars.

But if they amend the program to block those other faiths from being able to participate they invite criticism, and undoubtedly very expensive lawsuits, which would most likely undermine the e3ntire program.

Damn I love karma!

Reaction to the adding of Sarah Palin to the roster of speakers at the Terry Schiavo fund raising dinner has so far been, if you will pardon the expression, "comatose."

Sarah Palin apparently following in Teri Schiavo's footsteps.
Courtesy of Philly.com:  

By now, eight years later, the details and debate over his sister's situation - her diagnosis, her prognosis, her wishes, her autopsy - are no longer that important to Bobby Schindler. 

For him, one thought dominates. Terri Schiavo deserved to live. 

Schindler now heads a growing foundation to help others in similar situations. Every year since her death, they've held a "Terri's Day" of remembrance. 

This year, the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network has moved from Florida to the Philadelphia area, where both the Schindler and Schiavo families are from, and the event has grown. 

On Friday at 5 p.m., Archbishop Chaput will celebrate a mass dedicated to Terri Schiavo at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Sarah Palin will speak afterward at a fundraising dinner at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. A ticket is $150, and 350 have been sold; $25,000 gets you a visit with Palin, but no takers so far, Schindler said.

$25,000 to "visit" Sarah Palin? What kind of a visit would be worth that kind of money?

It can't be a conjugal visit because there is not enough meat on her bones to warrant a payment of 25 cents much less $25,000.

But seriously I am surprised that Palin is not having more success with this crowd, after all she has a long history of necrophilia as represented by her constant fawning over the corpse of Ronald Reagan. Once you go cadaver, nothings the same after.

You know I used to imagine just how far Palin would fall after she left office and then came to the end of her long political prick tease about running for president. But even I never thought she would one day be pimping herself out for a free dinner and a couple of bucks at a fundraising dinner for a  corpse.

Rachel Maddow calls out the gun nuts for using intimidation tactics to suppress opposition.

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This of course follows up on the report by Dana Milbank that I reported about yesterday.

Of course Rachel takes this issue and does her usual incredible job of adding new data and defining it in a way that should make it easily understandable even to those ignorant enough to think that more guns equals more safety.

Yeah I know, even Rachel Maddow cannot explain clearly well enough for THAT crows to understand!

Your feel good post of the day. Brooklyn judge slams birther for filing "frivolous" lawsuit, demands he repay court for wasting its time.

Christopher Earl Strunk not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
Courtesy of Little Green Footballs:  

A birther’s lawsuit was born of a crackpot theory. 

That’s what an irritated Brooklyn judge said in slapping a preeminent conspiracy theorist with a hefty bill for filing “a frivolous” suit and wasting the court’s time. 

Christopher Earl Strunk sought to have President Obama disqualified as a candidate. The author of some 20 other lawsuits — most of which have been dismissed — Strunk was ordered to pay $167,707 in attorney fees plus a $10,000 sanction for the 2011 lawsuit that named Obama, New York’s Board of Elections and a list of others as defendants.”If the complaint in this action was a movie script, it would be entitled ‘The Manchurian Candidate Meets The Da Vinci Code,’ ” wrote Judge Arthur Schack, calling the allegations, “fanciful, delusional and irrational.” 

When the judge dismissed the suit a year ago, he blasted birther arguments that contend Obama isn’t a natural-born U.S. citizen. 

Schack also mocked Strunk for claiming a “massive conspiracy to defraud American voters (that) was perpetrated by hundreds of individuals, at the behest of the Roman Catholic Church and especially the Jesuits.” He imposed the fees for three law firms that opposed Strunk’s lawsuits.

Well, that should put a smile on MY face for the rest of the day.

I loved this part, " If the complaint in this action was a movie script, it would be entitled ‘The Manchurian Candidate Meets The Da Vinci Code."

THAT is gold.

Bill Maher expresses my feelings on religion quite eloquently.

My bitch about religion, as I think I have voice quite clearly numerous times, is that it often lends power to people who should remain powerless.

Insinuating God's endorsement of your prejudices give those prejudices undeserved power, and make them seem acceptable to the simpletons who place faith over intelligence.

By invoking God you can also destroy entire civilizations, destroy the planet's environment, and brutalize children until they bow to your, and of course God's, will.

And it's influence in this country is especially troubling. Especially if you are to realize that without it there would have been NO President Reagan, President Bush, or VP candidate Sarah Palin.

Faith kept private can provide solace and comfort, but used as a bludgeon it can, and has, led to immense suffering and harm.

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Federal budgets are NOT like household budgets. Despite what Sarah Palin would have you believe

Earlier today Sarah Palin posted this misleading video on her ghostwritten Facebook page.

Underneath she had RAM write this out for her:

I say it IS time we furlough the political consultants, the permanent political class, and the politicos who've been part of the problem that got us into this mess. Politicians, listen to your mother... or at least listen to these moms... 

Now admittedly this idea of listening to our moms is something that sounds like it should be right, but of course, and we should know this simply because it is an idea Palin endorses, it is not right. 

This courtesy of the LA Times:  

Decisions about the federal budget are fundamentally different from those of individual households, because policymakers need to account for how their choices affect the economy as a whole. It is more appropriate to liken government budget deficits to prescription medicine. Just as medication can be helpful to a sick patient, deficits can aid a failing economy. 

The U.S. economy slumped largely because of a reduction in spending by households and businesses. For households, this was a reasonable response to declining property values, job losses and insecurity. Likewise, it made sense for firms to cut back on investment as their customers spent less. If the federal government were to act this way, though, it would reinforce the decline in economic activity, not alleviate it. 

To stabilize the economy, the federal government needs to counterbalance the swings in consumer and business expenditures by moving in the opposite direction. When consumers and firms cut back, government can help replace the lost economic activity through direct spending (on infrastructure projects, for example) and through indirect means, such as tax cuts, which increase households' disposable income. 

This idea of "counter-cyclical" policy was the basic principle behind the tax cuts and spending in the stimulus bill of early 2009, as well as the one-year payroll tax cut agreed to as part of the budget deal at the end of 2010. Though the stimulus proved inadequate in scale, it helped reduce the depth of the downturn. Without it, the unemployment rate in 2010 would have been between 0.7 and 1.7 percentage points higher, according to an estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That is, the economy has been lousy, but it would have been considerably worse without government action.

The problem with these idiots talking about "common sense solutions" is that if the answers to these complicated issues were really attainable through "common sense"  they would be solved overnight, or never become a problem in the first place, and everybody would be in perfect agreement with how to handle them. Of course such is not the case.

However my REAL bitch about Palin and the other Right Wing nutjobs suddenly freaking out over debts, deficits, and budgets, is that they were completely silent during the Bush years, when the government was spending money hand over fist, while also cutting the taxes that helped fund the government, which of course created the situation that they are now lamenting.

It is impossible to take ANY of these people seriously if they stand idly by while the pyromaniac sets the house on fire and then scream and insult the firemen for not putting it out quickly enough.

By the way the producer of this video is an organization called Bankrupting America, and it is run by a woman named Gretchen Hamel. This is what FactCheck.org dug up about her and her organization:

Public Notice (Now Bankrupting America. Hmm why the name change do you think?)is a group headed by Gretchen Hamel, who has a long history of working for Republicans. She was a press assistant for former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, then press secretary to GOP Rep. John Carter of Texas and later for the House Republican Conference. She was deputy assistant U.S. trade representative during the final years of the Bush administration. 

This group describes itself as "an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization." Hamel insists that the organization is "an education advocacy group" and not a "political group." Unlike some "super PACs" and overtly partisan groups, it does not attack specific candidates. But it does echo Republican campaign themes and attacks federal spending programs identified with Democrats. 

So this group is yet another thinly veiled Republican propaganda outlet dedicated to spreading misinformation in order to fool the low hanging fruit.

So of course Palin is working with them.

When the 2nd Amendment bullies the 1st Amendment into submission. NRA brings 20 armed gunmen into National Press Club to intimidate reporters. Update!

Cover me guys, these reporters are armed with dangerous looking pens.
Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

The gun-lobby goons were at it again. 

The National Rifle Association’s security guards gained notoriety earlier this year when, escorting NRA officials to a hearing, they were upbraided by Capitol authorities for pushing cameramen. The thugs were back Tuesday when the NRA rolled out its “National School Shield” — the gun lobbyists’ plan to get armed guards in public schools — and this time they were packing heat. 

About 20 of them — roughly one for every three reporters — fanned out through the National Press Club, some in uniforms with gun holsters exposed, others with earpieces and bulges under their suit jackets. 

In a spectacle that officials at the National Press Club said they had never seen before, the NRA gunmen directed some photographers not to take pictures, ordered reporters out of the lobby when NRA officials passed and inspected reporters’ briefcases before granting them access to the news conference. 

The antics gave new meaning to the notion of disarming your critics.

I just saw Dana Milbank talking about this on Hardball and I almost could not believe my ears. (I will link to that interview when it become available.)

I almost don't know how to respond to this, but I am so angry I am spitting nails!

The idea that these NRA assholes would use their 2nd Amendment rights to bully reporters into NOT being able to exercise their 1st Amendment rights, demonstrates the seriousness of what is going on in this country right now.

And by the way if you are so paranoid that you find yourself terrified to face a roomful of unarmed reporters without a phalanx of armed guards around you, perhaps you are not the best person to be telling schools how to keep our children safe.

Update: As promised here is the interview with Dana Milbank on Hardball.

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Republicans in some states have decided to stop pussy footing around, simply do away with the Constitution and impose their will on their citizens with no regard for their welfare or religious faith.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Republican North Carolina state legislators have proposed allowing an official state religion in a measure that would declare the state exempt from the Constitution and court rulings. 

The bill, filed Monday by two GOP lawmakers from Rowan County and backed by nine other Republicans, says each state "is sovereign" and courts cannot block a state "from making laws respecting an establishment of religion." The legislation was filed in response to a lawsuit to stop county commissioners in Rowan County from opening meetings with a Christian prayer, wral.com reported. 

The religion bill comes as some Republican-led states seek to separate themselves from the federal government, primarily on the issues of guns and Obamacare. This includes a proposal in Mississippi to establish a state board with the power to nullify federal laws.

I always like how the Republicans inflame their constituents by implying that President Obama and the Federal government are the ones not respecting the Constitution, but when it serves their needs they are the first to take a giant crap on it.

After all wasn't it George Bush who once said:

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

The ONLY reason that these assholes argue for freedom of religion is that they fear someday THEIR religion will be blocked from having an impact on government, and then they will no longer have the cudgel to use in order to drive through bills that undermine our freedoms and impose their faith base prejudices on this nation.

I have watched for decades as the Evangelicals have stacked the courts, the school boards, their city assemblies, and the federal government with religious zealots, all with the ultimate goal of driving out the influences of secularism and other religious faiths so that one day they can run this nation as they see fit.

As a theocracy.

It looks like North Carolina just got tired of waiting.

Lawrence O'Donnell virtually eviscerates Asa Hutchinson, head of the NRA's "School Shield Task Force," in an interview last night.

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Okay I am not going to lie to you, this interview is long (Just over 25 minutes). But do yourself a favor and watch it, because Lawrence REALLY puts this guy through the meat grinder, and does NOT allow him to bullshit his way out of ANYTHING.

There were a number of times that Hutchinson looked like he wanted to just crawl away, and a number of questions, such as on the extended clips, that he simply could not answer adequately.

This is one of O'Donnell's best interviews, and I think he deserves serious props for getting Hutchinson to come on, and then doing his job as a journalist once he did.

As much as it pains me I should also say that I am impressed that Hutchinson showed up for an interview that he had to know would be hostile, and then sat through it without ripping off his mic and running for the exit. I think a lot of people would have bailed.

By the way to go along with this there is also a report on Raw Story which undermines the very premise of the NRA's "School Shield" findings: 

The proposal appears to be based on a faulty — although widespread — opinion. The NRA has said schools are not safe places for children because gun-free zones make them “utterly defenseless.” However, the article contends schools are in fact safe places. Though gun violence is the second leading cause of death among those ages 5-9 and 15-24, nearly all of those deaths occurred outside of school. In fact, Stephen Brock of California State University, a leading expert on school violence, described schools as “the safest place for a student to be.” 

“To try and reduce something that already is rare… is tricky business,” Crews remarked, noting that there is only 1 homicide or suicide at school for every 2.7 million students. 

Crews and his colleagues found there was little evidence to suggest that placing armed guards in schools would actually prevent gun violence. About 27 percent of schools in the United States already have armed or unarmed security officers. Both Columbine High School and Virginia Tech had armed security guards, but that did not prevent two deadly mass shootings. A 2011 study found schools with armed guards actually had higher rates of violence than similar schools without armed guards. 

Having armed guards in schools also raises the troubling possibility that a student could get ahold of their firearms. 

“Ongoing research that we are conducting with incarcerated perpetrators of school violence also indicates that school shooters have easy access to weapons, often getting them (either as gifts or stealing them) from their parents, neighbors, or friends who may have purchased them legally,” Crews explained. “Putting more weapons in schools just makes more weapons available because inevitably, someone will forget to lock their drawer, misplace their key, or otherwise lose track of their firearm, making it easy for kids who want to have one to take it.”

Personally I think that just about anybody with critical thinking skills could have worked this out on their own, but nice to see a report by experts which backs our commons sense.

If the conservatives and gun nuts thought they could bully Jim Carrey into silence, they do NOT know Jim Carrey!

Yesterday Jim Carrey posted this on HuffPo in answer to attack against him:  

I disagree wholeheartedly with those who say that there are just too many guns out there to control and that more gun laws won't make a difference. Change must start someplace. I'm pretty sure that no worthwhile endeavor has ever been accomplished without a beginning and reducing gun violence in America is a worthwhile endeavor. 

These mass shootings and daily body counts on your local news are terrible tragedies. The utter devastation that must be endured by the victims' families is unfathomable. These horrific events are also an invitation for us to become more civilized and to deal with our addiction and entitlement to violence. Not to shut our eyes and ears and scream at those with a different opinion than ours to "fuck off and go back to Canada." I will gladly go back and visit Canada as I have many friends and loved ones there. I am so proud of that country and everything it's given to me, but I am also a naturalized American citizen and I have been bringing as much joy as I can to people in this country for 30 years. I care deeply about our future and I feel it's my duty as a citizen to do everything in my power to make this a better place. 

For those who say I'm a hypocrite because I have an armed bodyguard, lets make one thing clear: No one in my employ is allowed to carry a large magazine and NO ONE IS ASKING ANYONE TO GIVE UP THEIR RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS, though it is in the vested interests of those who profit by gun sales to make it seem so. It's just the type of arms, the easy access and the means with which to cause massive devastation to good and innocent people that I hope we can limit. It's the quality of mercy, the tiniest spark of empathy that I know lives in every one of us that I wish to ignite in you. 

And to the bullies who will try to marginalize and discredit me by saying, "Shut up, you're just an actor," while they brag about what a great president the ACTOR Ronald Reagan was, who threaten me with the demise of my acting career and much worse, I say SO BE IT! How shallow do they think I am? I would trade my money, my fame, my reputation and legacy if there were the slightest chance of preventing the anguish of another Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, or Sandy Hook Elementary School. I ask you, truly, what manner of human being would not? 

I have been aghast at the level of hatred heaped upon me, my family and the people I work with over a mere difference of opinion on this issue. Perhaps my words were a bit harsh at the onset, but calling someone a "Motherfucker" is far different than wishing them to die. It is shocking to see this concerted effort to brutally intimidate anyone who speaks of a compassionate compromise. These thugs, though menacing, are a minority but they will have their way if good people don't step forward now and make a difference. Every American has the right to speak their mind. Every American has the right to bear arms. But it is up to every American to draw the line when it comes to the type of guns that are considered a reasonable means of self-defense. 

No one is allowed to own a bazooka. In a movie theater an assault rifle with a 100-round drum magazine can cause just as much damage. 

So don't just sit there and do nothing. Contact your representatives and let them know that their jobs depend upon change. It won't always be someone else's kids in the line of fire. 

The time is now. LET YOUR HEART BE HEARD.

Carrey followed this by providing a list of the Senators in every single state.

It is clear to me that the those Fox News idiots and the gun lobbyists have seriously underestimated Carrey's commitment to this cause. There is no doubt he is in it for the long haul.

As am I by the way.

The only question remaining is, are you?

Perhaps an uncomfortable truth, but a truth nonetheless.

Actually I think we would still find things to fight about, after all we are only human, but the hindrance to science and the vilification of others by religion is well documented.

And the truly sad part is that it not only continues today, it is oppressing entire continents, and teaching hate to an entirely new generation.

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Final image of the day.

Our President comforting a crying boy during yesterday's Easter egg roll at the White House.

I know I am an old softie but these images, which demonstrate the President's humanity, always make me so proud that we elected him.

HuffPo has the video.

No wonder religious people are fighting against gay marriage, it will criminalize Christianity. Wait, what?

So let me get this straight. If gay people get married then Christianity will be against the law?

Wow, and just when I thought I could NOT be more for marriage equality!

You on second, thought I think what this video is suggesting is that if gay people become accepted members of American society that the religious people will not be able to discriminate against them anymore.  And apparently for some Christians this would be an attack on their belief system.

Gee I guess that they might have to hide their homophobia from the rest of us wouldn't they? What a shame.

Hey I have an idea! Perhaps they could hide it away someplace in their house, I don't know like in a closet perhaps? I understand that a lot of those have recently become available.

If you get my drift.

P.S. Just in case some of you were hoping this was a left over video from April Fool's day, I am sorry to inform you that such is not the case.

The Yin and Yang of gun laws in America. Connecticut introduces strictest gun laws in the nation while city in Georgia mandates everybody own one.

Courtesy of the AP:  

Connecticut lawmakers have announced a deal on what they called some of the toughest gun laws in the country that were proposed after the December mass shooting in the state, including a ban on new high-capacity ammunition magazines like the one in the massacre that left 20 children and six educators dead. 

The proposal also called for background checks for private gun sales and a new registry for existing magazines that carry 10 or more bullets, something of a compromise for parents of Newtown victims who had wanted an outright ban on them, while legislators had proposed grandfathering them into the law. 

The package also creates what lawmakers said is the nation's first statewide dangerous weapon offender registry, immediate universal background checks for all firearms sales and expansion of Connecticut's assault weapons ban. 

A new state-issued eligibility certificate would be needed to purchase any rifle, shotgun or ammunition under the legislation. To get the certificate, a buyer would need to be fingerprinted, take a firearms training course and undergo a national criminal background check and involuntary commitment or voluntary admission check. 

The deal is "the most comprehensive package in the country because of its breadth," said Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, a Fairfield Republican whose district includes Newtown.

Now, you see THAT is how to address the issue of gun violence in this country! Good for Connecticut!

However virtually the same time that Connecticut was leading the way on responsible gun ownership, a little town in Georgia seems adamant to encourage even MORE gun deaths.

This also from the AP: 

Backers of a newly adopted ordinance requiring gun ownership in a small north Georgia town acknowledge they were largely seeking to make a point about gun rights. 

The ordinance in the city of Nelson — population 1,300 — was approved Monday night and goes into effect in 10 days. However, it contains no penalties and exempts anyone who objects, convicted felons and those with certain mental and physical disabilities. 

City Councilman Duane Cronic, who sponsored the measure, said he knows the ordinance won't be enforced but he still believes it will make the town safer. 

Wait they aren't even going to enforce it? So what's the point?

Another purpose, according to the city council's agenda, is "opposition of any future attempt by the federal government to confiscate personal firearms." 

Aha, so essentially it is just a giant middle finger to the Obama administration.What a delightful use of the people's time and resources.

Of course in the meantime there will undoubtedly be residents of this town that will feel encouraged to purchase a weapon, some perhaps for the first time, so I am confident the town can looked forward to more reports of accidental shootings and incidents of domestic violence in the relatively near future.

And of course this attitude goes hand in hand with the recommendations coming today from the NRA's "School Shield Program: "

The National School Shield program would give schools the opportunity to designate certain personnel as licensed and trained firearm carriers. While many schools are deemed gun-free zones, Hutchinson made the case that arming school officials is one of the only ways to make sure teachers can protect their students in time. 

Yes because more guns in a school setting equals more safety for its students. Brilliant logic.

And people wonder why we need to pass comprehensive gun control laws.

Cute little boy, terrified refrigerator.

Picture come courtesy of Brancy's blog.

Don'tcha love it when the Palins accidentally post evidence that the stories about them are true?

All I have to say is I have had the same refrigerator for eight years and it remains dent free.

For profit prisons churning out waves of angry, violent white supremacists.

Courtesy of Mediaite: 

The nation’s “for-profit” prisons have been incubating thousands of Aryan Brotherhood gang members and, as their sentences expire, they are prepared to flood the nation. This wave of white supremacist gang members will emerge from the nation’s prisons and engage in a terrorist campaign of targeted revenge which will soon evolve into indiscriminant mayhem and racial violence. At least, this is the warning of an anonymous former prisoner writing for The Daily Beast

“Law enforcement may have a real problem on its hands,” writes a former prisoner who declined to share his name in a piece recently published in The Daily Beast. “They’re being tight-lipped about it, but it’s something they should have been aware of for decades. They had to see it coming.” 

“Four people have been killed since the beginning of the year in a series of shootings that appear to be connected to the homegrown jihadists of the Aryan Brotherhood,” Anonymous asserts. He cites the murders of Kaufman County, Texas District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, his predecessor Mark Hass, and Colorado prison chief Tom Clements as examples of bloodshed committed by the Aryan Brotherhood. Reports have linked the assassination of McLelland to his targeting by Aryan Brotherhood members. 

“Many of the first men locked up when our nation embarked on a policy of for-profit mass incarceration near the end of the last century are now returning into society,” the former prisoner writes. “And, as predicted by numerous professionals, they are sicker and more dangerous than when they went behind bars.”

In other words what is happening in Texas may spread across the country as more of these angry racist bastards get out onto the streets.

You know I have been reading a lot about the school-to-prison pipeline that has emerged in various communities around the country, including Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and many other places in mostly red states.  It is often identified as largely impacting the black community, but it certainly shuffles through its fair share of youthful white "offenders" as well.

The state allows these private prisons to crop up and then feeds them a steady stream of young people. A large number of who were expelled from their schools, due to their "zero tolerance policies," for small infractions like drug possession, or fighting, or even skipping class, and then pushed out into a community where they are destined to get into trouble and are eventually locked in cages.

In those cages, abandoned by society, by their schools, and often by their parents, they learn how to survive by following the rules put in place, and reinforced, by criminals. A set of guidelines that rather than turn them into functioning members of society, instead turn them into feral creatures who learn to fight for what they want, and to ONLY trust their fellow gang members. Gangs, by the way, often identified by ethnicity.

Then after the prison can no longer milk the state for funds to incarcerate them, they are released into the communities that abandoned them in the first place.

It is only a matter of time before many of them re-offend and go back into the only place they have ever felt welcome. But NOT before they put in to practice on the streets the "skills" they learned in prison.

As long as private prisons remain so profitable there will be no real attempt at reform. So while the communities embrace this false sense of security, in reality the very prison system that they trust to keep them safe may be breeding the kind of lifelong criminals that will one day return to victimize them again, and again, and again.

It's Voting Day!

Okay today is the day that many Anchorage residents wake up and think "Wait, is today the day we are supposed to vote?"

Yes, yes it is.

And these are the elections that often fly under the radar and this is no exception. Even I, a political junkie,barely know WHO is running for WHAT.

However here is a run down provided by ADN, Alaska Dispatch, and the Municipality to help you sort through the candidates and issues.

My rule of thumb is if you worked for, or were endorsed by Mayor Sullivan, you're not getting my vote. (Amy Demboski, Ernie Hall, and Cheryl Frasca are all on that list.)

And if you are backed by BOTH Dan Sullivan AND Jerry Prevo, I'm looking at you Andy Clary, then hells to the no!

All in all I expect a small turnout, but I hope that the liberals get up and get motivated because the pickings are slim for our side, and Sullivan stands to gain even more support on the Assembly which as we all know is bad, bad, bad for Anchorage.

So don't just sit there, vote!

Pat Robertson explains why "miracles" tend to happen in other countries like Africa, but not here in the United States. Spoiler Alert: It has to do with education.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

Today on the 700 Club, a viewer asked host Pat Robertson why miracles such as “people raised from the dead, blind eyes open, lame people walking” seem to “happen with great frequency in Africa, and not here in the USA?” Robertson first responded by joking it is “because those people overseas didn’t go to Ivy League schools.” 

But Robertson was actually serious. 

“Well, we are so sophisticated, we think we’ve got everything figured out, we know about evolution, we know about Darwin, we know about all these things that says God isn’t real, we know about all this stuff,” Robertson lamented, “in many schools, in the most advanced schools, we have been inundated with skepticism and secularism.”

So if I may paraphrase a little, the reason that we don't see God performing miracles in America is because we are too highly educated to be fooled by things easily explained by science, and the reason that they still occur in other places is due to the ignorance of the populace.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Okay, I REALLY need to stop agreeing with Pat Robertson! Not exactly good for my reputation.