The Real Obama's Back!

President Obama, the Obama that's been absent from view most of last year, returned with a vengence today, and kicked some elephant ass in the process. As the Huffington Post put it: "Obama Goes To GOP Lions' Den -- And Mauls The Lions":

President Obama traveled to a House Republican retreat in Baltimore on Friday and delivered a performance that was at once defiant, substantive and engaging. For roughly an hour and a half, Obama lectured GOP leaders and, in a protracted, nationally-televised question-and-answer session, deflected their policy critiques, corrected their misstatements and scolded them for playing petty politics.

THIS is the guy we voted for! This is the president we need to get health care reform, economic recovery for all, a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", and a general advancement of the progressive agenda. It was wonderful to watch, and I hope we see more of this President in the future.

SOTU, Part 2: The End of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" At Last?

Thank all the gods that the President promised to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the stupidest military regulation in the history of armed warfare. Dismissing highly qualified men and women simply because of their sexual orientation is not something that we can afford anymore, not for our military, or our society.

Who Hijacked Media Matters' URL?

MediaMatters.org is a website I use often to check on the facts in the media. I've always found them to be reliable, verifiable, and truthful. Apparently, someone out there doesn't agree with me.

If you go to their website using Firefox, the URL in the address bar reads as "http://mediamatters.org". Same for using the Home button on the site. But, if you use Internet Explorer or Opera, the URL in the address bar will read as "http://globalwarmingmisinformation.com/", and ditto for the Home button.

I don't know--yet--who's behind this, but I will find out.

UPDATE: As of 11:19, the url for the site, when viewed in IE & Opera, now reads properly as "http://mediamatters.org". However, entering "http://globalwarmingmisinformation.com/" still directs you to the MediaMatters website.

SOTU, Part 1: Alito Channels Joe Wilson

A busy morning for me, so I'm posting my thoughts on last night's State Of The Union address in several parts:

Watch as Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito pulls a Joe Wilson, when President Obama called out the Supreme Court for their idiotic & short-sighted decision on corporate campaign contributions:





Asshole! Who's paying you off, Alito? And where was Uncle Clarence and Scalia? In the mens' room having a three-way with Larry Craig?

Thanks to Jed Lewison at DailyKosTV.

Go Left, Dammit! LEFT!!

Massachusetts voters went for Scott Brown because the Democrats haven't been progressive enough:

HuffPost:

Massachusetts voters who backed Barack Obama in the presidential election a year ago and either switched support to Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown or simply stayed home, said in a poll conducted after the election Tuesday night that if Democrats enact tougher policies on Wall Street, they'll be more likely to come back to the party in the next election.

A majority of Obama voters who switched to Brown said that "Democratic policies were doing more to help Wall Street than Main Street." A full 95 percent said the economy was important or very important when it came to deciding their vote.

In a somewhat paradoxical finding, a plurality of voters who switched to the Republican -- 37 percent -- said that Democrats were not being "hard enough" in challenging Republican policies.

It would be hard to find a clearer indication, it seems, that Tuesday's vote was cast in protest.

The poll also upends the conventional understanding of health care's role in the election. A plurality of people who switched -- 48 -- or didn't vote -- 43 -- said that they opposed the Senate health care bill. But the poll dug deeper and asked people why they opposed it. Among those Brown voters, 23 percent thought it went "too far" -- but 36 percent thought it didn't go far enough and 41 percent said they weren't sure why they opposed it.

Among voters who stayed home and opposed health care, a full 53 percent said they opposed the Senate bill because it didn't go far enough; 39 percent weren't sure and only eight percent thought it went too far.

So the idea that President Obama and the Democrats should move to the center (and where exactly is the center, when the right is full of teabaggers?) is, as I've said before, stupid. Obama needs to embrace progressive ideas and principles if he wants to have a successful presidency, and congressional Democrats need to fully and seriously support the party's platform, not kow-tow to Republican obstructionists, if they want to stay in office.

However, Obama's sudden embrace of Republican economic ideas seems to signal that he's not going to take that advice. I don't know who's advising him, but he needs to be kicked out on his ass. Summers, Geithner, whothehellever it is, they need to go. And frankly, I'd rather see Paul Krugman as Treasury Secretary than Tim Geithner, anyway. If the President wants to keep my support and vote, though, he'd better remember how he got to the White House in the first place. I didn't vote for him to become "Republican-Lite."

Rachel Maddow's As Confused As I Am

A spending freeze? WTF? How is this supposed to help the economy? Watch Rachel Maddow as she quizzes Joe Biden's economic advisor Jared Bernstein on the proposed freeze, and comes away as dubious as I am:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Paul Krugman thinks it's an absolute disaster:

It’s bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment. Jonathan Zasloff writes that Obama seems to have decided to fire Tim Geithner and replace him with “the rotting corpse of Andrew Mellon” (Mellon was Herbert Hoover’s Treasury Secretary, who according to Hoover told him to “liquidate the workers, liquidate the farmers, purge the rottenness”.)

It’s bad long-run fiscal policy, shifting attention away from the essential need to reform health care and focusing on small change instead.

And it’s a betrayal of everything Obama’s supporters thought they were working for. Just like that, Obama has embraced and validated the Republican world-view — and more specifically, he has embraced the policy ideas of the man he defeated in 2008. A correspondent writes, “I feel like an idiot for supporting this guy.”

 The last time I heard verbal gymnastics like Bernstein's was when John Yoo was questioned about torture. This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard to come out of the Obama White House. Who the hell is advising President Obama on this....and why is he listening?


Thanks also to Crooks and Liars.

What's Wrong With South Carolina?

How is is that one state can cause so much trouble? Historically, South Carolina started the Civil War; in modern times, we've had a host of idiots coming out of that state: DeMint, Sanford, and the latest jackass, Lt. Governor Andre Bauer:

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer drew a comparison to “feeding stray animals” during a speech about people on government assistance, “babies having babies,” and parents whose children are on free and reduced-price lunch.

Bauer, who's running for the Republican nomination for governor, made his remarks during a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn that included state lawmakers and about 115 residents.

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better,” Bauer said.

In South Carolina, 58 percent of students participate in the free and reduced-price lunch program, 45.5 percent in Greenville County.

          [...]

Bauer later told The Greenville News on Friday that he wasn't saying people on government assistance “were animals or anything else.”

 Uh-huh...and if I say that South Carolina Republicans are ignorant, inbred, racist assholes, Bauer shouldn't take it personally or anything, either.

Ed Schultz Gives 'Em Hell

Ed Schultz spoke at AM950's Blue State Bash on Saturday. I couldn't make it, but I did find the video:




Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the link.

Sunday Gasbags

I was watching some of the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday. A few observations:

Peggy Noonan: Ann Coulter as a woman, without the vitriol. A Christian heretic, in that she believes that Ronald Reagan was the Second Coming of Christ.

Scott Brown: Sean Hannity, without his charming personality. How long will it be before he proposes the creation of an "Obama Citizenship & Legitimacy Truth Commission?"

The Supreme Court (now brought to you by Fox!): Proof positive that five old white men can jump...when ExxonMobil is calling the tune.

Digby noticed some other odd phenomenon:

In case you were wondering, the consensus on all the Sunday gasbag shows is that Obama is an abject failure because of his radical leftist ideology and that his only hope of even maintaining the presidency, much less winning a second term is to take a sharp turn to the right and enact the Republican agenda. Several commentators, including such luminaries as political cross dresser Matthew Dowd on ABC, insisted that the first thing the president has to do is pick a huge fight with the Democrats to show the country that he isn't one of them. Cokie said he should have asked John McCain from the beginning what he was allowed to do.

The historians and expert political observers on Fareed Zakaria's CNN show all agreed that Obama is no Reagan, a president who never governed ideologically and always worked across party lines. Oh, and he needs to be a president or a prime minister, but nobody could agree on exactly what that means except that he should try to be more like Scott Brown, the white Barack Obama, except without all the liberalism.

Oddly, the Republicans weren't mentioned, although Robert Caro did note that Obama inherited something of a mess. Peggy Noonan said he ran to win not to govern and they all agreed that was a brilliant observation. Zakaria did point out that Obama had a higher approval rating at this stage than both Reagan and Clinton and that the two Bush's were higher at this point because of wars and they all stared for a moment and then went on about centrism and prime ministers again.

The Village has officially turned. I'm guessing they'll be calling for his resignation by July.

I swear, it's not worth getting up on a weekend morning to watch this drivel.  I think I'd rather stay in bed with my baby.

UPDATE: Almost forgot--George Will is always an idiot.

The End of Democracy?

The Supreme Court just screwed us all. Corporations can now spend money on elections the same way that you and I can. Yeah, that's fair! I've got $50 in my pocket, and ExxonMobil made $4 billion in profits last quarter. Crooks and Liars has more:

The case we've all been waiting for – and dreading – is finally here. Citizens United v. FEC started off as an insignificant case about an anti-Hillary film, but the Roberts Court turned it into a vehicle for radically expanding the influence of corporations.

Here's the bottom line to today's 5-4 ruling: giant corporations can spend as much as they please on elections to advance their agendas. The right-wing Roberts court ruled that Exxon has the same free speech rights as you and me. In other words, Exxon is a person too.

While companies still won't be able to give directly to federal candidates, they'll be able to spend billions on attack ads, robocalls, and direct mail. You know, just like you and I are free to do.

Yeah, I just happen to have a spare billion dollars to spend on advertising against wingnuts like DeMint, Imhofe, Palin, Ensign, Boehner, Brown, and their ilk. This has to be fought, and fought hard. I swear, these days I just about have my congresscritters on speeddial.

Random Observations on Last Night's Massachusetts Knockdown

Tuesday's election was a wakeup call for the Democrats, but not, I think, in the way that the conventional wisdom seems to perceive it. As events continue, I find myself more and more in agreement with the Rude Pundit. He's given me permission to repost his thoughts on Tuesday and the aftermath.

1. Oh, grow a fucking pair already, whiny goddamn Democrats like Anthony Weiner or Barney Frank. You still belong to the majority party, the big majority party. You should be out there shredding Republicans, saying that they want to take us back to the policies of the Bush administration. Put that shit on repeat and use it. The biggest failure of the Democrats since the election of Barack Obama is that they have not made Republicans own the presidency of George W. Bush. It should become ingrained that "Republican=Bush." And the fact that it's not at this point means that idiots are running message for the Democrats. Americans are, for the most part, historical amnesiacs. They've already forgotten how our condition of being deeply fucked was a result of the very policies that Scott Brown ran on.

2. Let's give credit where it's due. Scott Brown won the Senate race fair and square, by campaigning like the underdog son of a bitch he was until a week ago. Martha Coakley should have acted like Hillary Clinton did in her re-election campaign in 2006. Clinton went all out when she didn't even have a real opponent because she knew how quickly the tide could turn against an incumbent, even though she had a 20 percent lead in most polls, even though she won by 31 percent. That's what you do.

3. Briefly (because anger must be released): Fuck you, Massachusetts. Not just for Brown's election, but for voting for Coakley in the Democratic primary. And fuck you because you already have health care program in your state, which made it a fuck of a lot easier to not give a shit about the rest of the nation (and means that it wasn't really about health care). Fuck you, White House and DSCC, for not seeing this coming.

More after the jump.

No More Magic Negroes

The Daily Show's Larry Wilmore reminds us that Barack Obama is merely a mortal man:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The First 364 Days 23 Hours
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

blackink12 at PostBourgie adds:

But somehow, I still think a lot of people – including an increasing number of progressives – are still waiting on the “jungle spell” that will unilaterally deliver us health care reform, the end of poverty and a chicken in every pot.

And a unicorn.

Unfortunately, all of this stuff takes hard work, patience, cooperation and, at the least, an agreement on a basic set of facts. You tell me if President Obama has had the benefit of at least two of these elements at the same time.

Damn....haven't been any unicorns for ages.

Howard Dean Gets It

Howard Dean on Rachel Maddow's show last night:

This is like Washington was when I got there five years ago. You know, the Democrats really weren't sure they were Democrats. If you want to win, you actually can't sort of move to the middle and become a Republican. You've got to stand up and stand for the things that you got elected on and that the Democratic Party believes in and we haven't seen that in the healthcare bill and I think that's part of the problem.

I do not think, however, that this is a referendum on health care. I certainly don't think it's a referendum on President Obama. I think it's a very smart, tough Republican campaigner, people are upset because of unemployment and they don't that the climate in Washington--that people are listening to them in Washington. They think they're more interested in making deals with special interests than they are in dealing with the Wall Street bankers who ripped them off.

[...]I would say to my fellow Democrats that this not the time for appointing blame.... There are plenty of things that went wrong, plenty of blame to be spread around.

People who blame others are losers. If you want to win elections you stop blaming and you get to work. And that's what's going to have to be done after this election.... I think the message has been sent that if we plan to do better than this in 2010, we'd better do better for the American people between now and next November.

You know what? To hell with Scott Brown! This ain't over yet.

Thanks to mcjoan at DailyKos.

One Bright Spot

We don't have to kiss Joe Lieberman's ass any more.

AP Calls It For Brown

DailyKos:

[...]the Boston Globe is reporting that Martha Coakley has conceded to Scott Brown.

Coakley 46
Brown 53

Assuming these results hold, we will now have our first true teabagger senator -- and it didn't have to happen. Look for Senator Scott Brown to be in the Senate for only three years, but to use that as a launching pad of one unpleasant sort or another.

<>Sarah Palin with balls, oh great!< /snark >

No, it didn't have to happen! I guess you actually have to campaign to win elections, huh? What the hell is it with MA politicians??

Olbermann on Scott Brown

Massachusetts, are you listening?

John McCain Will Burn For This One Day

This is the person they thought was qualified to be "a heartbeat away" from the Presidency:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This ignorant, greedy, power-hungry idiot is now a major factor in American politics, because that old fool McCain thought she'd attract the Hillary voters. WTF was he thinking?? As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, Palin "just offers proud ignorance in all of its naked, fulminating glory. The odious humors regularly issuing forth from her gaping, defecating maw are unconstrained." My SO says that for her, as a woman, watching Palin speak gives her the same feeling that I get when I see in the news that the latest armed idiot running amok is African-American, best described as: "Oh shit, why did it have to be one of us??"

Of course, the wingnut community embraces Sarah as one of their own (take from that what you will). Rush Limbaugh, in particular, has been one of her staunchest defenders. However, he seems to have a selective view of any news about her:

The Rude Pundit:

Rush Limbaugh gleefully danced like a gelatinous circus bear on his show yesterday over the Reid and Clinton parts of Game Change. Man, he couldn't get enough of it, even laying out a buddy movie with Robert Byrd and Harry Reid, involving shoeshining: "The shoe shiners are dark-skinned Negroes, just to highlight the stars' tolerance here. In the background you'd have a light-skinned Negro serving a young Bill Clinton coffee." There's more, but who the fuck cares because it's just not funny. By the way, Limbaugh wasn't using "Negro" in quotation marks. He was just using it.

The point here is that Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, in Game Change, also describe some pretty devastating scenes with Sarah Palin. Like that she was prone to wild mood swings and didn't know jackshit about anything: "She couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were separate nations and she did not know what the Federal Reserve did. She also said she believed Saddam Hussein attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001." And, of course, she kept calling the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate "Senator O'Biden." But that's just charming, you betcha.

Rush Limbaugh has called Sarah Palin "the most prominent and articulate voice" on the right, and he's defended her like a gelatinous bear might defend its brain-damaged cub. Yesterday, he dismissed the Palin sections: "There's nothing new in the book about Sarah Palin." Of course, he didn't mention any of those old things.

Nope, nothing new about "wild mood swings" and "catatonic stupor." Move along, folks, nothing to see here. Now, if Rush Limbaugh said that it was raining, I'd look out my window first. But I'm not one of his millions of "dittoheads." And these people, who run out and buy his books, and Sarah Palin's book (now available at DEEP discount at Amazon and Barnes & Noble!), seem to be to be almost as ignorant and deeply disturbed as Palin herself, and happy about it, too! "All of 'em," to coin a phrase.

Frankly, the idea that many of my fellow citizens think that this cretin is qualified to be President of the United States makes me wish we that we really had developed that lunar colony I saw as a kid watching 2001. I frequently wish there was somewhere else, far away, where I could go to get away from these fools--so, thanks alot, John McCain!

In the Midst of Massive Tragedy, Another Passing

R.I.P., Teddy Pendergrass:

Philly soul legend Teddy Pendergrass died Wednesday at a hospital in Philadelphia, succumbing to colon cancer at age 59. Known for hits such as “Close the Door” and “It Don’t Hurt Now,” Pendergrass was a multiplatinum artist at the peak of his career in 1982, when a car accident left him a paraplegic. Working with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and the production team Gamble & Huff, Pendergrass’ charismatic vocals and image helped define ’70s soul.

Damn, there goes another icon of my misspent youth. Fair winds, Teddy.

Haiti II: Disaster Brings Out The Assholes on the Right

I'm so angered by the remarks made by Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh about the earthquake in Haiti, and American disaster relief efforts there, that I'm tempted to ask "who will rid me of these troublesome pundits?", but I won't.....for now. I always knew that these two demons didn't give a damn about anyone other than themselves, but they outdid themselves with their remarks today about Haiti.

I can scarcely find words to express my anger and contempt for these two. Amidst the most horrific disaster since the 2008 tsunami, as a human tragedy unfolds in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, these two slimebags can't wait to pile on the hatred, racism, and ignorance that is their stock-in-trade. Haiti as a country has been literally destroyed, with no seaport, no services, no telephones (save satellite phones), no police, and no hospitals or schools intact. The most powerful earthquake the country has experienced in 200 years has left thousands of people buried alive in collapsed buildings, waiting for help that may come too late. Doctors Without Borders believes that they've lost most of their 800 people in the country, and thousands of American citizens are caught up in the disaster. The UN mission in Haiti estimates that more than 150 of their personnel are buried in the rubble, and dozens more are dead. In Port-au-Prince, the bodies of the dead are strewn about the city's streets, there's no electricity, water, or food, and the final death toll is estimated to exceed 100,000, yet Limbaugh and Robertson gleefully step feet first into the disaster with their patented evil.

Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh will sleep safe & sound in their beds tonight, while millions are left naked, fearful, and dazed, while the injured and dead lie in the streets and shantytowns of Haiti. I know who made a deal with the devil, and it wasn't the Haitians--it was these two walking shitbags, and I hope they burn in hell.

Help for Haiti

There are several ways to send aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti:

PRNewswire:

What: The quickest way to provide monetary relief to those affected by
the recent earthquake in Haiti is mobile giving. By texting a
keyword to a designated short code via a mobile phone, a micro-
donation of $5 or $10 can be made to aid the millions of people
affected by this tragedy. 100% of your donation goes to the
recipient charity, and the donation appears as a charge on your
carrier bill, standard rates may apply.

Who: There are several organizations that are responding to this urgent
need with mobile - giving efforts, including the following:

Text the word "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5
On behalf of the Yele Foundation, the leading contributor to
rebuilding Haiti founded by Wyclef Jean

Text the word "Haiti" to 85944 to donate $5
On behalf of the Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International

Text the word "Haiti" to 25383 to donate $5
On behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee

Text the word "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10
On behalf of the Red Cross in the U.S.

Text the word "Haiti" to 45678 (In Canada Only)
On behalf of the Salvation Army in Canada
[...]
When: Please contribute now.

You can also send donatations to:

• Heart to Heart International [...] regularly sends humanitarian aid to Haiti and just this week shipped $2 million worth of medicines and other supplies to the country.

The organization expects to send more aid in the coming days.

“Haiti is a nation of tremendous need, even before the earthquake struck,” said Jon D. North, the organization’s chief executive officer. “We’re planning to send medicines and supplies that address waterborne and airborne illnesses, as well as minor injuries.”

People can donate financially to Heart to Heart online at www.hearttoheart.org or by phone at 913-764-5200.

The organization is also asking groups or businesses to assemble care kits made up of personal hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, bandages, washcloths and hand towels.

•The Salvation Army operates schools, clinics, a hospital, feeding programs, children’s homes and church-related activities in Haiti.

Spokesman Bob Brady said the Salvation Army was committing $50,000 to the relief effort and was preparing for a greater financial commitment along with providing food, water and other emergency supplies.

[...]

The organization is accepting donations for the relief effort at www.salvationarmyusa.org or by calling 800-SAL-ARMY (800-725-2769).

There's also an extensive list of charitable organizations participating in the Haitian relief effort at Rachel Maddow's site at MSNBC.

You Knew It Was Gonna Happen: Palin Joins Fox

Finally, someone dumber than Gretchen Carlson will appear on Faux News!

TPM:

It was inevitable. Fox News confirms to the New York Times today that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will become a regular contributor to the cable news channel.

In a multi-year deal, Palin will appear on the channel regularly. A source told the Times that while she will not have her own regular show, she will host an occasional series.

Looks like Levi Johnston was right, she's after the benjamins. Putting Palin on Fox, as one commenter put it, will give Jon Stewart multiple orgasm, and Keith Olbermann might elevate her to his "Worst Persons In The World" Hall of Fame. Hilarity will almost certainly ensue.

Now, the real question is: is Palin smart enough to read off a TelePrompter, or will they need a three-second delay to edit out the stupid?

Random Thoughts OnHarry Reid, Liz Cheney, and George Will

Harry Reid's comments were no more or less than what I'd expect from a white man of his age and region of the country. At this point, as far as I'm concerned he can call President Obama (and me too!) a coon, as long as he gets a strong public option through the Senate.

Liz Cheney has never heard any of her circle talking about black people the way that Harry Reid referred to then-candidate Sen. Barack Obama? Oh, PUH-LEEZE!! What a mealy-mouthed bitch she is.

And George Will, like a broken clock, is right sometimes.

More From The Michael Steele Minstrel Show

Honestly, this guy is an embarrassment:

TPM:

Appearing today on Laura Ingraham's radio show, RNC chairman Michael Steele said that he wrote his book Right Now before he became chairman. The problem is, the book itself doesn't read like it could have possibly been written before January 2009 -- it was clearly written in late 2009, either in November or December, and is based entirely on current events up to that point.

[...]When we here at TPM heard that Michael Steele had a new book, we immediately bought a copy and I proceeded to read the whole thing cover to cover. Unless Steele is remarkably clairvoyant, it seems as though it could not have been written before he became chairman -- it is overwhelmingly a commentary on the political situation in America under President Barack Obama, as of late 2009.

The book is full of references to current events in 2009: The stimulus bill, the health care debate, foreign policy, ACORN, the party switch of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Tea Parties and the 9/12 March on Washington, etc.

Not just a liar, but a stupid and inept one, too. When is Steele going to recognize that he's just the trained monkey? And for those who don't know who I am--yes, I am African-American, and I say again: Michael Steele is a damn one-man minstrel show for the wingnuts, and I am embarrassed by this man. Not just for his politics, which I find odious, but mainly for his actions, which I find to be foolish, disrespectful, unintelligent, and clownish. Will someone please tell him that he's the monkey, not the organ grinder, and shut down this show?

"Unruly" In The Air?--Your Ass Is Mine

Another jackass caused a mid-air ruckus yesterday, resulting in the flight being escorted to the nearest airport by two F-16s:

An airliner with 132 passengers and crew aboard was diverted to Colorado Springs Airport today after an intoxicated passenger became unruly and locked himself in a bathroom, officials said.

AirTran Airways Flight 39 was en route from Atlanta to San Francisco when it made an unscheduled landing in Colorado Springs at 11:30 a.m., said John McGinley, the airport's assistant director of operations.

Two F-16 fighter planes were deployed by NORAD to escort the plane to the Colorado Springs Airport, NORAD officials said in a release.

The passenger, whose identity was not immediately released, was taken off the plane by Colorado Springs Police officers. He was being detained, but had not been arrested, McGinley said.

I'm sick of this shit. "Detained"? I promise you, if there's an "unruly" passenger on the next flight I take, or another whackjob with plastic explosive in his underwear, shoes, or asshole, the police won't need to "detain" them: I'll personally see to it that the bastard will need to be hospitalized. "Detained"?--no, more like "destroyed."

I have no tolerance for this crap. I mean, really.

Move Your Money

I've been following the development of this idea on the Huffington Post, and I like it! Why should we fund the lifestyles of the greedy & uncaring? Who says Wells Fargo and Bank of America are "too big to fail"? Watch this video, go the website, and then stick it to Potter!--move your money:

YeeeeeeOWWWW! Hot Pants!!

James Brown had no idea:

I've Always Said It Was Demons

HuffPost via Yglesias:

Matt Yglesias grabs a key paragraph from Peter Baker's lengthy New York Times magazine piece, "Inside Obama's War On Terror", in which Baker finds a coven of unnamed conservatives staying mum on their support of Obama's counterterror policies out of fear and/or resentment.

A half-dozen former senior Bush officials involved in counterterrorism told me before the Christmas Day incident that for the most part, they were comfortable with Obama's policies, although they were reluctant to say so on the record. Some worried they would draw the ire of Cheney's circle if they did, while others calculated that calling attention to the similarities to Bush would only make it harder for Obama to stay the course.

Now, who in "Cheney's circle" could make life difficult for these people, and why? Aren't they all "patriots," great Americans who love their country more than us dirty libs? Seems to me that the political takes precedence over policy with these folks, and HuffPost agrees:

[...]what Cheney is clearly trying to do is influence the politics, so any reporter worth his salt should be able to simply listen to Cheney and accurately report that the former vice president has been reduced to demagoguery. It's really just stupid to pretend that there's some great policy debate unfolding between the current White House and the previous White House.

After eight years of selling out America, eight years of government by venality and greed, eight years of lies, deceit, deception, and dishonor, shouldn't it be obvious to everyone that all that Cheney cares about is getting all he can get from the government, and the devil take the hindmost? The idea that Dick Cheney truly cares about the security of America truly makes me laugh. All Dick Cheney cares about is the security of Dick Cheney, and nothing else.

If the Obama Administration won't do what's right, then I can only hope that the Spanish or German government might someday soon "extraordinarily rendition" Dick to some Third World hellhole for crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, Cheney might find a hellhole comfortably much like home.

The Gifts Just Keep On Comin'...

Sunday's StarTribune (I never read that rag, myself; I first heard about this on TPM) reports that Minnesota may lose a seat in the House as a result of the 2010 Census:

Minnesotans have extra incentive this year to be sure they are counted -- and counted here -- by the decennial U.S. census that will begin in March. The retention of the state's current complement of eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives is on the line.

Now, who's been the most vociferous opponent to the Census in Minnesota? And who's also likely to lose their seat if the state loses a congressional district as a result of the 2010 Census?

It's ironic that a Minnesota member of Congress, Republican Michele Bachmann, went so far last summer to declare her intention to only partially complete her census forms, and to suggest reasons for others not to comply with the census law. If Minnesota loses a congressional seat, Bachmann's populous Sixth District could be carved into pieces. She likely would have to battle another incumbent to hang on to her seat. We've noticed that her anticensus rhetoric has lately ceased.

Poetic justice, I call it. TPM also noticed the deafening silence on this issue from Bachmann recently:

[...]interestingly enough, it's been a while since we heard Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) talk about refusing to participate in the Census.

Last year, Bachmann repeatedly said she would defy the Census by not completely filling out the information on the forms, but would instead only give the number of people in her household. She said that Census data was used to conduct the 1940's Japanese-American internment, and warned that the government was seeking to gather information about people's mental health. But as far as we can tell, her last anti-Census public statement was in August.

[...]The really fun fact, as I've learned from Minnesota experts, is that Bachmann's district would likely be the first to go if the state lost a seat. The other seats are all fairly regular-shaped, logical districts built around identifiable regions of the state (Minneapolis, St. Paul, the Iron Range, and so on). Bachmann's district is made of what's left over after such a process, twisting and turning from a small strip of the Wisconsin border and curving deep into the middle of the state. As such, the obvious course of action if the state loses a seat is to split her district up among its neighbors.

Awww, Bachmann might have to run against a sane politician, and not be able to have her christian Taliban buddies stuff the ballot boxes for Bachmann in her gerrymandered district again? Whatta predicament! I tell you, it's Christmas in January.

A Late Christmas Present

A Ramsey County judge has issued a temporary restraining order against Gov. Pawlenty, thus preventing him from starving thousand of poor Minnesotans:

Judge Kathleen Gearin, chief judge of the Ramsey County District, has granted a temporary restraining order, retroactive to Nov. 1, preventing one piece Gov. Tim Pawlenty's use of his unallotment powers. Specifically, she is restoring the funds unallotted from a state program that subsidizes Minnesotans with special health-related dietary needs. Pawlenty unalloted that program in its entirety. The judge's order un-unallots it. But the logic of her order affects the entire $2.7 billion unallotment that Pawlenty ordered at the end of the 2009 legislative session and seems to invite other plaintiffs to come forward seeking reinstatement of all of the appropriations that Pawlenty unallotted.

Hoorah!--that's a big "FUCK YOU!" To Governor Wonder Bread. Pawlenty, in an attempt to burnish his image with the wingnuts as a fiscal Scrooge, had previously screwed thousand of Minnesotans dependent on state aid for medical and dietary assistance. With this ruling, his hands are tied, and the rest of his cold-hearted budget cuts can begin to be erased, too!

Pawlenty's underhanded and callous decision won't be forgotten, I promise you. And thank you, Judge Gearin!!