Stories to Watch: 4/1/11

Hey, your shoe's untied. Quick, look behind you! Do you have Prince Albert in a can? Now here's the news...


Remember Terry Jones, the asshole who threatened to burn a Quran? Yeah, he finally got around to it and at least 12 people died because of it. There are no good guys in this story -- one book isn't worth 12 lives, so the Afghans who did the killing are assholes too. But when everyone's telling you that you're going to get people killed, you probably shouldn't burn the goddam book. What a useless, useless pile of crap Terry Jones is.


Shelly Bachmann has raised over $2 million for a presidential run so far. For the record, that money is what it's all about. When outside interests "draft" losers like Bachmann, those interests are usually professional fundraisers -- who get a cut of the take. They don't care whether or not she can win, they just know the 'baggers love her and will give her lots of money. Michele Bachmann isn't a candidate, she's a goldmine.


One Wisconsin recall is all but officially underway, as canvassers turn in "more than enough signatures to launch a recall of Republican state Sen. Dan Kapanke." Bad news for Spanky Kapanke -- they had 60 days to gather enough signatures, but they needed less than half that time. Let's hope they have that kind of success in Ohio.


In related news: Judge Sumi's temporary restraining order on the union-buster may hold the law up for weeks. Now seems like an excellent time to remind everyone that all the GOP has to do to get this passed is schedule another vote with proper notice. That they aren't tells you all you need to know about how many votes it would get on a do-over. If this thing can't survive the courts, it looks like Scott Walker's dream of crushing unions to make the ghost of Reagan smile is over.


Libyan rebels are now hoping for what sounds like is essentially a draw. Juan Cole has the latest.


Joseph Stiglitz has a must-read in which he spells out how the top 1% pretty much own America, how it warps our politics, and how it won't work out well for anyone -- even that top 1% -- in the end. It ain't pretty.


Finally, intrusive, burdensome commie gummint regulations are responsible for the lowest traffic fatality rate since 1949.

News Roundup for 4/1/11

Most Americans' view of the federal budget

-Headline of the day-
"Poll: Americans Wrongly Estimate $178 Billion In Fed. Budget Goes To Public Broadcasting."

That's right, yet another poll showing that -- despite holding strong opinions about the federal budget -- most Americans have no idea what's actually in it. When CNN asked how much of the federal budget was spent on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the "median guess" was 5%. 20% of respondents believed it was 10% of the budget, while 5% thought half of all money spent by the feds goes to NPR and PBS.

"The survey also underscores how clueless Americans are about where the budget goes in general," we're told. "For example, Americans on average thought foreign aid took up 10% of the budget; it really makes up about 1%."

How much does CPB actually get? It's "approximately one one-hundredth of one percent," according to the report. One penny out of every hundred dollars?

Outrageous! (Talking Points Memo)


-The world's gone mad!-
Today, Scientific American announced it would begin to balance their science reporting with creationist and global warming denier viewpoints. Reddit got all moldy. Google announced that you can now use body English in Gmail. Huffington Post announces a pay wall that only applies to people who work at the New York Times. And PBS hires rightwing nutjob Ann Coulter, other rightwing nutjob Mark Levin, and nonpartisan nutjob Lindsey Lohan.

Weird day, huh? (Scientific American, Reddit Blog, Google, Huffington Post, American Spectator)


-Bonus HotD-
"Mike Huckabee Wants Every American To Be 'Forced At Gun Point' To Learn From Radical Historian."

'Cause that there's what you call "liberty!" (ThinkProgress)

Griper Blade: American Fad: The Tea Party's 'Big' DC Rally

Yesterday, as I was writing about the decline of the Tea Party, that very Tea Party was in Washington, proving me right. AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay posted this press release earlier this week, announcing a big rally in DC:

Tea Party Patriots, the nation's largest grassroots organization, today announced that it will hold its first "Continuing Revolution Rally" outside of the U.S. Capitol challenging Congress and the members it helped sweep into power to take swift action on the budget. Tea Party stars in Congress such as Reps. Mike Pence and Michele Bachmann will join thousands of Tea Party activists to send a message to the rest of Washington. Thursday's rally is co-sponsored by Let Freedom Ring, the Institute for Liberty, and Smart Girl Politics.

“Members of Congress have abandoned their service to the people by passing continuing resolutions instead of cutting the $100 billion they pledged," said Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinators of the Tea Party Patriots. "Is it lack or leadership? Is it a lack of courage? A real budget will spark a national debate on the role of government, and that's what the American people want."

While the press release promised "thousands of Tea Party activists," all angry that the GOP isn't eager to shut down government, the rally didn't deliver...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]