Yesterday my COPD flared up severely and I was coughing to hard to fall asleep until right before I normally get up to do research. I’ve only has a couple hours, so I need to return to bed. I’m not current with replies, but will catch up tomorrow.
Keep your kids inside, and make your dawgs wear chastity belts! The craziest of the crazy are now running wild, mindlessly drunk on InsaniTEA. At a zoo, one can normally find a guide to help you understand the animals there, and I have found a guide to the Republicans at CPUKE, who I will not compare to animals out of respect for the animals.
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) bills itself as an event convened to "crystallize the best of the conservative thought in America" that will showcase "all of the leading conservative organizations and speakers." Media covering CPAC 2013 should know that the conference’s speakers, from the most prominent to the lesser-known, have a history of launching smears, pushing conspiracy theories, and hyping myths about the validity of President Obama’s birth certificate.
CPAC 2013: A Rogue’s Gallery Of Smear Merchants …
Ann Coulter, Conservative Author
Coulter: Bill Clinton "Was A Very Good Rapist." During an interview with the New York Observer, Coulter responded to the question, "What should we remember about Bill Clinton?" by saying, "Well, he was a very good rapist. I think that should not be forgotten." [Media Matters, 1/12/05]
Coulter Attacked 9/11 Widows. In her book Godless, Coulter wrote of the women left widowed by the 9/11 attacks: "These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much." In a subsequent interview, she referred to the 9/11 widows as "cruel." [Media Matters, 6/8/06, 7/14/06]
At 2007 CPAC, Coulter Referred To John Edwards As A "Faggot." During CPAC in 2007, Coulter said she couldn’t "really talk about" former Democratic presidential nominee John Edwards because "you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot.’ " [Media Matters, 6/28/07]…
Inserted from <Media Matters>
Now, I have provided only the material on the Coultergeist. Click through for the rest of the asylum.
Both Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell shared the highlights of day one.
Ed discussed them with Howard Fineman.
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They knew that the camera was on them, but the were too stupid to care.
Lawrence’s panel included Anna Marie Cox, Alex Wagner and Ari Melber.
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Republicans have an excellent reason to fear that America will define them with Romney’s 47% remark. It does define them. As expected they offered all hype and no policy.
The one good thing is that it’s good for the economy. No doubt hookers are cleaning up from the family values trade. I’m sure there’s more to come.
Senate Democrats continue to attempt to craft common sense firearms legislation, designed to keep guns out of the hands of people forbidden to have them, outlaw military weapons that have no valid sporting use, and outlaw huge clips without interfering with the responsible use of firearms. The Republican Party continues to be part of the problem. They need a NOs job.
Three months after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre, the Senate Judiciary Committee has finally produced three major bills that could each make a significant difference in lowering the number and firepower of guns on the street and keeping them out of the wrong hands. But they have a deeply uncertain future as they head to the Senate floor, underscored by the utterly partisan split in the committee votes.
A bill to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines: 10 Democrats voted yes, eight Republicans voted no. A bill to require background checks on buyers in all gun sales, including from private sellers: 10 Democrats voted yes, eight Republicans voted no. A bill to stop illegal trafficking of firearms: 10 Democrats and one Republican voted yes, seven Republicans voted no.
Many Republicans claim to share the national concern over unabated violence, but, as the committee hearings showed, whenever there is an opportunity to do something about it, they find a way to object… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Rachel Maddow’s analysis last night was stunning!
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On a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high, Ted Cruz is a condescending asshole. All of the rights in the Bill of Rights are subject to exception, when the abuse of those rights, directly interferes with the rights of another.
I have to ask one thing. What possible need did the shooter’s mother have for an AR-15 Bushmaster and several 30 round banana clips? While I am sensitive to her loss and her pain, why shouldn’t she be responsible for failing to secure that weapon to keep it out of the hands of her dangerous son? In addition, the Republican Party needs to take responsibility for blocking the renewal of the law that would have kept that weapon out of the hands of the shooter. Instead, they have refused to cast even one vote on support of two these three needed measures, and only one in support of the third. Again, they need a NOs job.
Yesterday was a perfect balance between researching, blogging and napping. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears routine.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:02 (average 6:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: INSPIRING: Former GOP Lawmaker Admits To A Huge Mistake
I have to admire the integrity of this Republican, although I’m sure that her party does not share my respect for her.
From NY Times: JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank, ignored internal controls and manipulated documents as it racked up trading losses last year, while its influential chief executive, Jamie Dimon, briefly withheld some information from regulators, a new Senate report says.
The findings by the Congressional investigators shed new light on the multibillion-dollar trading blunder, which has claimed the jobs of several top executives and prompted an inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The 300-page report, released a day before a Senate subcommittee plans to question bank executives and regulators at a hearing, will escalate the debate over how to police complex risk-taking on Wall Street. It may also foreshadow a criminal case against employees at the heart of the troubled wager.
If this does not trigger criminal charges, it will signal the need to replace the top people at DOJ.
From Washington Post: Schultz-hosted “The Ed Show” will be moved from its 8 p.m. weekday berth to weekend evenings, starting next month…
…Hayes, who has hosted weekend morning show “Up w/Chris Hayes,” is moving to the 8 pm. weekday slot, leading in to “The Rachel Maddow Show,” starting April 1. (Hayes has regularly served as guest host for “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”)
I definitely like Chris Hayes, and Ed will become a good video source on the weekends. This might not be so bad.
Cartoon:
During the 2012 campaign, Little Lord Willard loved to etch his sketch. Since he was absolutely and irrevocably committed to both sides of every issue,m it could be difficult to tell what he really thought about anything. Some Republicans even floated the rumor that he was really much more moderate than he had to appear for the sake of the extreme Republican base. Then a video tape appeared of him talking to fellow vulture capitalists, when he thought none of the peon classes were listening, and America got to see who he really is. To people like Little Lord Willard, the people who wait on them are virtually invisible, so it never occurred to him that there was a giant in the room, and what he thinks would become public. The man that made that happen is a patriotic hero. His name is Scott Prouty.
…Prior to his political fame, the filmmaker worked as a bartender for a high-end catering company. Before that company was hired for the Romney event, it catered a dinner at which Bill Clinton spoke. The bartender/Romney-ruiner told the Huffington Post that after the speech, Clinton went to the kitchen to thank the staff, posing for photographs and signing autographs.
So when the bartender heard about the Romney event, he decided to bring his camera with him, just in case the candidate met with the staff like Clinton did. But because he’s Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate didn’t greet or thank any of the staff working the event, and rushed out shortly after his speech, though not before bartender secretly filmed it, noting that Romney told the dinner guests it was off the record but not the staff working the event.
But even then, the bartender didn’t have plans to distribute the video, at least not until he heard Romney’s offensive comments. After that, he told the Huffington Post, he had no choice but to leak the video.
"I felt it was a civic duty. I couldn’t sleep after I watched it," he said. "I felt like I had a duty to expose it."
…
Inserted from <Gawker>
His identity was revealed last night by Ed Schultz, who interviewed Scott in four segments, all of which are too important not to share.
1:
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2:
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3:
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4:
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The debt of gratitude that America owes this hero is infinite. Kudos!
Part of the problem with fossil fuels is that nobody pays for the damage they do to the environment. Instead, their pollution remains and does damage, and the expense of the damage is borne by the people damaged, such as medical costs by individuals and cleanup costs by taxpayers. Cap and Trade is the most often proposed solution to that problem, but I think there is a better alternative.
Looking for a way to improve the operation of the economy, lower our dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution, slow global warming, cut government spending, and decrease the long-term budget deficit? Then you should support a carbon tax, which could help the nation address all these issues simultaneously. A new paper I’ve written with Samuel Brown and Fernando Saltiel, Carbon Taxes as Part of the Fiscal Solution, argues the tax would even be a good idea if we didn’t have a budget problem.
Although a carbon tax would be new for the U.S. government, it already has been implemented in several European countries (though not always in the manner advocated by economists), Australia, and three Canadian provinces. California recently initiated a cap-and-trade system, which auctions carbon permits to companies and functions much like a tax.
A carbon tax makes good economic sense: Unlike most taxes, it can correct a market failure and make the economy more efficient. Although there are substantial benefits from energy consumption, there are also big societal costs that people don’t pay for when they produce and consume energy – including air and water pollution, road congestion, and climate change. Since buyers of fossil fuels don’t directly bear many of these costs, they ignore them when they decide how much and what kind of energy to buy. And that results in too much consumption and production of these fuels. Economists have long recommended a tax on fossil fuel energy sources as an efficient way to address this problem…
Inserted from <Christian Science Monitor>
At one time many Democrats supported a carbon tax, but they moved to cap and trade for the sake of bipartisanship. Cap and trade, that Republicans so hate as Satanic Kenyan socialism today, was then the Republican alternative to a carbon tax.
Here’s how they are handling it in Australia.
Love that accent! And I particularly like the way they are using the revenue.
Now, there is as much chance of getting a carbon tax through Congress now as there is that ice hockey will become hell’s national sport, but to realize it in the future, now is the time to start advocating it.
Yesterday I celebrated with a nice long nap and a lazy day. As dull as that may sound, I’m not al all disappointed and the hundreds of greetings I received really made my day. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears routine.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:30 (average 5:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From NPR: Lawyers for former Sen. Larry Craig argued today that using campaign money for a legal defense over his 2007 arrest was proper because he was arrested while on official business.
If you recall, Craig, a Republican from Idaho, was arrested during a sting at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig used a bathroom there during a layover, when an undercover officer said Craig sexually solicited him by tapping his foot.
Craig pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor but after his case became public he tried to renege.
The Federal Elections Commission sued him for using more than $216,000 in campaign money for that legal fight.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sure relieved to hear that this family values Republican trolling airport bathrooms with his wide stance was official business.
From The New Yorker: A puff of white smoke over Vatican City today raised hopes among the faithful who jammed St. Peter’s Square until an official spokesman explained that the Vatican was “just burning some documents.”
“Wednesday is the day we traditionally burn documents and other legal evidence, and we totally forgot about the white smoke thing,” the Vatican spokesman said. “We apologize for any misunderstanding this might have caused.”
Actually that is a deception. What really happened was that the Cardinals were relaxing in a circle, when some of what they were smoking went up the chimney by mistake. Once they realized that the white smoke had been seen, they elected the guy that brought the stash of Argentinian Ass Kicker, because he had the best stuff.
From Blog for Arizona: The dimmest bulbs in the political marquee, state of Maricopa Tea Party teabaggers, are upset that the recall effort against their beloved Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio is going so well. So they are throwing a bit of a temper tantrum by retaliating for the recall by filing a recall of their own against House Minority Leader (and exploring for a gubernatorial bid) Chad Campbell.
Don’t try to make sense of it, there isn’t any. They are just cherry-picking a high profile Democrat whom they dislike. These are people who have not advanced beyond the emotional development of a three year old with the "terrible threes."
All I can say is this author has done three year olds a grave injustice by comparing even their worst tantrums to this vile TEAbuggery! Crazy Joe must go!
Cartoon:
In that, he truly represents the Republican Party.
In the run-up to the 2012 election Paul Ryan clearly said that the election would determine what type of budget policy America would have: the Ryan plan of welfare for the rich and austerity for the rest, or the Obama plan of balance between cutting spending and increasing revenue by cutting back on the special treatment that the 1% receive in the tax code. America chose. But now Republicans are acting as if they had won, and the new Ryan Budget is virtually identical to the old one.
Senate Democrats and House Republicans on Tuesday outlined vastly divergent approaches to shoring up the government’s finances, a reminder of how far apart they remain on fiscal policy even as both sides insist publicly that a bipartisan compromise is possible…
…The Republican plan sets out to balance the budget in a decade and would cut spending by $4.6 trillion through 2023, in large part by rolling back many of Mr. Obama’s signature legislative accomplishments. It would repeal the health care overhaul of 2009, eliminate the subsidized insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion that make up the core of the law, and turn Medicare into a system of private insurance plans financed by federal vouchers.
Republicans would also do away with Wall Street regulatory laws that Mr. Obama championed and cancel the financing his administration sought for a high-speed rail network.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, were pressing forward with a budget they planned to start moving through the committee process on Wednesday. Before they could proceed, they had to set aside differences among themselves over how much to change costly but cherished federal benefit programs. When Mr. Obama met with them on Tuesday, several voiced concerns about cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
The Democrats’ budget plan will not call for adjusting the way inflation is calculated as a way to lower the future cost of those benefits, though Mr. Obama has said such a change should be on the table in talks with Republicans…
…Their proposal calls for a new $100 billion economic stimulus initiative for job training and repair to roads and bridges, projects that Democrats say they would pay for by closing loopholes in the tax code that benefit large corporations and wealthy individuals. All told, Democrats believe they can save nearly $1 trillion through such tax changes.
They would save an additional $1 trillion by trimming spending, with a quarter of those cuts coming from the Pentagon…
Inserted from <NY Times>
Am I the only one getting a sense of déjà vu?
Both Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow had segments covering the impasse.
Lawrence interviewed Robert Reich and others.
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The only way to balance the budget is the way Clinton did it, to grow the economy until revenue catches up. As an alternative Lyin’ Ryan offers massive magic asterisks, more welfare for the 1%, and tax increases for everyone else.
Rachel put it into perspective.
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No doubt, Republicans will slither back to their districts, screaming that Democrats are trying to raise YOUR taxes. If YOU are a billionaire or a corporate criminal, they will be right. Otherwise only the Republican plan raises taxes on the poor and middle classes, just like they were trying to do when you rejected their plan in November. Lets hang this on every Republican candidate from dog catcher up.
