News Roundup for 9/8/11

America's dark future, according to Ron Paul

-Headline of the Day-
"Ron Paul Feeds Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory That Government Could Turn U.S. Into A Concentration Camp."

In last night's episode of Who Wants to Be the GOP's Top Lunatic?, Ron Paul swung for the fences with some good, ol' fashioned Glenn-Beck-style conspiracy theorizin'. In discussing a border fence between Mexico and the US -- a super-fashionable and expensive idea among the xenophobic -- Ron brought up the possibility that the fence wouldn't be to keep those dirty Mexicans out, but to keep patriotic Americans in. Whoa, did he just blow your mind?

"I think this fence business is designed and may well be used against us and keep us in," Ron said. "In economic turmoil, the people want to leave with their capital. And there's capital controls and there's people control. So, every time you think of the fence keeping all those bad people out, think about those fences maybe being used against us, keeping us in."

That's right, the fence is designed to turn the entire United States into a concentration camp, because we only have that one border with Mexico. If we wall that off, how else can anyone possibly get out of the US? Canada, you say? Ha! This so-called "Canada" is a liberal myth, invented to create an example of a fairytale-land where socialized medicine actually works. In reality, there's nothing up there but polar bears and Santa Claus. No. If Mexico is walled off, there is no way out!

So paranoid and stupid. Ron Paul may very well be the perfect Republican. (ThinkProgress)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, Uncle Mark is still sick or on vacation or whatever, so he put up a rare rerun! Yay! Let's see how it holds up, given our present news cycle.


Click for animation

Still pretty topical. Those 'baggers just haven't gotten any smarter. (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Joe Scarborough writes bizarre 9/11 song, for some reason."

Subject yourself to the video, if you suffer from self-hatred. (Salon's War Room, with video)

Stories to Watch: 8/13/11

Rained all night and it is humid. I went out last night for a bit during a break in the rain and you could actually see the steam in the air. I walked into an air-conditioned store and my glasses fogged up. No foolin'. Now here's the news...


Michele Bachmann is definitely not winning friends in the media. At an event in Iowa, CNN's Don Lemon gets pushed around, which brings to mind Bachmann campaign staffers manhandling ABC's Brian Ross about a month ago. This is beginning to look like a habit -- and not a good one.


Of course, Bachmann was in Iowa for the Ames Straw Poll today. The cable networks are giving the poll wall-to-wall coverage, making it the most important near-meaningless event of the week. It's a poll of self-selected respondents, like an online poll. The words "not scientific" should be plastered all over the coverage. It may weed out a candidate or two who never should've run in the first place, but that's about it.


Norman Podhoretz is a jackass. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, he whines about the right being "attacked" by liberals -- then he calls the president an "anti-American leftist." When he gets "attacked" (i.e., criticized) for that, he'll probably whine some more. It's becoming a running theme on this blog because it's true; modern conservatives reflexively play the victim card. Look at Sarah Palin. Her entire argument seems to be that she deserves to be a presidential candidate because the press is so mean to her. It's always about skinned knees and personal grievance.


David Axelrod "attacks" Rick Perry on national teevee! Oh, the horror...


And the brutality keeps coming as Joe Scarborough "attacks" Michele Bachmann.


Rick Perry makes it official.


Sarah Palin unveils her plan to give herself a heart attack.


Finally, this is great. After Standard & Poor's said that Republican default-denialism contributed to it's downgrade of America's credit rating, GOPers now say they never said that default wouldn't happen or that it wouldn't be so bad. Call it default-denialism-denialism. But Brian Beutler has a list of names and details and... Well, the GOP is slinging bullshit here.

Related articles

• Straw poll the "graveyard" of some candidacies (cbsnews.com)
• Sarah Palin Visits Iowa Ahead Of Ames Straw Poll, Stokes 2012 Speculation (huffingtonpost.com)
• Michele Bachmann Feels The Heat On Eve Of Ames Straw Poll (huffingtonpost.com)
• As Sarah Palin wavers, Rick Perry may fill niche (sfgate.com)

Stories to Watch: 5/2/11

Bin Laden's dead. So, is it safe for us to have some of our rights back or is that too much to ask? Now here's the news...


Was some of the information that brought down Osama Bin Laden obtained through torture? A lot of people are making the case that it was, but there's really no evidence to back the claim up.


Consistent right up to the end, bin Laden shuffled off this mortal coil with a final act of cowardice. He also reportedly has a posthumous "death to America" tape in the pipe.


Joe Scarborough's a dick. Rick Santorum is an assclown. Bryan Fischer's just an idiot. Eric Cantor reminds us why he's been nicknamed "manager of the asshole store."


Crap. Does this mean I have to follow Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson's twitter feed now?


Were bin Laden and the Pakistani government in cahoots? The evidence -- circumstantial though it may be at this time -- is damning. On the other hand, the Pakistani Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, makes a fairly sound argument to the contrary. Count Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) among the unconvinced.


Finally, Raw Story collects "The 5 craziest conspiracy theories on bin Laden’s death." Make sure to watch the video, which is completely insane.

News Roundup for 3/8/11

Rep. Peter King

-Headline of the day-
"Republicans divided over Muslim hearings."

Rep. Peter King is fixing to fire up his hearings into THE MUSLIM MENACE!! and probably the way SHARIA LAW IS TAKING OVER AMERICA!! and some Republicans aren't 100% behind him. Those would be the ones who HATE AMERICA!!, I guess.

One GOPer who doesn't hate America is House GOP majority leader Eric Cantor, who agrees with King that Muslims are a menace to society and must be dealt with. Others aren't so keen and wish King would drop this whole witchhunt totally justified investigation into Americans' religious beliefs.

Speaker John Boehner and majority whip Kevin McCarthy are "keeping their distance from King," according to the report, "perhaps trying to avoid letting this issue become a distraction for the GOP majority." All Boehner would do was state the obvious, that King was "chairman of the Homeland Security Committee" -- and even then, only through a spokesperson. McCarthy wouldn't comment on it at all. Frankly, I think they're in on the whole thing. They probably work for al Qaeda, like the president.

In related news, King himself simply cannot understand what all the fuss is about. Here he is, just trying to single out a religious minority for political gain, and everyone's all up in arms.

"What are they afraid of? What are they hiding from? Why are they attacking me in such a rabid way?" King asked MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, who probably shrugged.

It's always sad when an American congressman gets criticized simply for wanting to capitalize on teabagging bigotry. Is that so wrong? Seriously, what has happened to this country? (Politico)


-Hitting the big time-
Wisconsin's budget battle went all federal today when protesters shut down a town hall in Wauwatosa (yes, that's a real place). Not only did a Republican state senator get an earful, but a GOP House member got one as well. According to the report, "Menomonee Falls Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and Wauwatosa Republican State Senator Leah Vukmir were hosting the events at the Wauwatosa Library."

"You're trying to shut down any response from these people who live in a free society!" Sensenbrenner told the town hall protesters.

Of course, he praised town hall protesters when they were against healthcare reform. But protesting GOP budget cuts is an attack on a free society.

So, what's the difference between American citizens passionately expressing their views and an unruly rabble making a free society impossible? Easy; when Sensenbrenner disagrees with them, they're rabble. The end. (WTMJ, with video)


-Bonus HotD-
"GOP senators also fleeing (from Gov. Walker's extreme bill)."

The Republican wall is cracking... (One Wisconsin Now)