Today’s Tale of Second Amendment Heroism

Two concealed-carry heroes save America from each other.

WZZM (emphasis mine): IONIA, Mich. — Two drivers are dead after a road rage incident escalated into a shootout. The incident happened around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday on M-66 near Steele Street.\

Witnesses tell WZZM 13 one driver was following another driver too closely. The first driver pulled into the Wonder Wand Car Wash parking lot and the other driver followed him into the lot.

Witnesses say the driver of the following car fired shots, and the first driver returned fire. Both drivers were shot and killed. Authorities say both men had licenses to carry concealed weapons.

So don’t worry, it only seems like these guys were endangering the lives of people all around them. They had the Official State of Michigan Responsible Gun Owner Seal of Approval, so it’s simply not possible that they were two dangerous clowns who should never have been allowed within a mile of a loaded weapon. That’s an optical illusion or something. They were Second Amendment Heroes in the truest sense — it’s practically science.

If you doubt that, I give their deaths as evidence; they selflessly sacrificed themselves to protect the unarmed public from… well, from them.

[photo by washingtonydc]

Stories to Watch: 6/18/12

Pretty much every possible decision SCOTUS could hand down on the Affordable Care Act. Also: many of the people who benefit most from Obamacare don't even know it.


GOP responses to Pres. Obama's new immigration policy are as nonsensical as they are self-serving. For instance, they claim Obama jumped the gun because they were going to do something -- despite the fact that they obviously weren't.


GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde is just as big of a jackass as we've come to expect Wisconsin Republicans to be.


Were you one of the rightwing nutjobs who donated to George Zimmerman's legal defense fund? If so, you are once again proven to be a chump.


John King of savewhitepeople.com is the next Fred Phelps. Not the first time I made that comparison.


"Debate Prep," starring John Kerry as Mitt Romney.


Is Gallup's sampling method out of whack?


Finally, Michigan gynophobes seem to be sparking a movement -- just not the one they'd hoped for.

Related articles

• Mitt Romney mum on Obama immigration policy shift

  ---

• Bullet-ridden outhouse displays picture of Obama at Montana's GOP convention

  ---

• Obama and Immigration: Why the Right Thing to do Was Also the Smart Thing

  ---

News Roundup for 2/29/12

Rick Santorum

-Headline of the Day-
"Does Rick Santorum Have a Problem With the Ladies?"

I know it's hard to believe, because he's got all the moves of a white Smoove B, but Rick Santorum may not be connecting with the fairer sex. And by "may not be," I mean "isn't."

You'd think they'd like all that stuff about how they should stay at home and have emotions and have babies and never have birth control or college educations, but they don't. It's a puzzler. According to the report, "A Michigan exit poll showed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney garnered support from 43 percent of women voters compared to 38 percent for Santorum. With Romney notching such a narrow victory there, the margin among women is enough to be the difference. A poll taken a week before the Arizona contest showed women picking Romney over Santorum by a 2-to-1 margin."

Rick's plan so far is to talk about his wife and his mom a lot -- I guess to prove that there are women out their who can stomach love him. If that doesn't work, expect campaign ads with soft music and candlelight. "C'mon over here and let me talk some sweet, sweet capital gains tax cuts, bay-bee. Boom chaka wow-wow..." (US News)


-Speaking of Rick-


Click for full strip

Santorum 2012; because a dumber America is possible. (GoComics.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Wall Street Bonus Drop Means Trading Aspen for Discount Cereal."

In which the Wall Street one-percenters complain they don't have enough money. "Paid a lower bonus, [Andrew Schiff, director of marketing for broker-dealer Euro Pacific Capital Inc.] said the $350,000 he earns, enough to put him in the country’s top 1 percent by income, doesn’t cover his family’s private-school tuition, a Kent, Connecticut, summer rental and the upgrade they would like from their 1,200-square- foot Brooklyn duplex," the report tells us. Sounds awful.

But this is the fun part:

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

Maybe you can cut back on Lear jet polish? Then again, I probably don't understand the stress of having money.(Bloomberg)


-The Rare Bonus Bonus HotD-
"The Five Best Quotes in Bloomberg’s Outrageous Banker Bonuses Story."

In case you just want the good parts and a really funny stressed Wall-Streeter photo. (Gawker)

Stories to Watch: 11/17/11

Got my english muffins made. They're awesome. The recipe makes a whole passel of them. I've got a gallon bag filled with them in the fridge and more in the freezer. Now here's the news...


Mitt Romney's memory is so good that he can remember things that happened before he was born.


Michigan could be swinging back Rick Santorum's way.


Eagle cam and more.


Santorum knows about the voter mischief plot in Michigan and is capitalizing on it with robocalls.


A study finds that the wealthy are "more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work." No wonder they don't want to pay their fair share.


Santorum says he doesn't "want to impose" his religious beliefs on anyone. This comes after promising various and sundry religious nuts that he'd impose his religious beliefs on everyone.


More on embattled Wisconsin Gov. Walker's attempts to ride Obama's coattails.


Finally; "CO2 is a pollutant? Tell that to the plants," says Rick Santorum. This is idiotic. It's like saying that flooding couldn't possibly be a problem, because fish live in water.

Related articles

• Santorum Still Leads in Ohio (politicalwire.com)
• Santorum adviser says Romney will be hurt even if Santorum loses Michigan (thehill.com)
• Rick Santorum has a women problem. But does Mitt Romney have a problem with men? (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• Rick Santorum Playing the Class Warfare Card (motherjones.com)

Stories to Watch: 2/25/12

I haven't made english muffins for a while. I've got some starter that I have to use up, so maybe that's what I'll do with it. Now here's the news...


Rick Santorum says that wanting every kid to be able to go to college makes President Obama a "snob." In addition to the absurdity of this statement, we can add a little hypocrisy. Rick's old Senate campaign website promises the candidate is "committed to ensuring the every Pennsylvanian has access to higher education." What a snob!


Liberal activist plan to use Michigan's open primary to put Santorum over the top and sink Romney. Voter mischief generally doesn't work, but this looks like it's going to be a tight one, so you never know.


The bird flu probably isn't as deadly as we first thought it was.


The LA Times plans to put up a paywall. You can read 15 free stories every 30 days, which is probably more than I read it now. People in California might feel a bit of a pinch, though.


Finally, Newt "Make the Moon a US State" Gingrich thinks Obama's reference to synthetic fuels made from algae is "weird." It's probably a bad idea from a climate standpoint, but it can be done. This is more of an example of being contrary just to cook up an issue than anything.

Related articles

• Santorum: Obama "A Snob" For Wanting All Americans To Go To College (buzzfeed.com)
• daveeza: AWOOOGAH!!! Conservatives Start To Sound The Alarm Over Rick Santorum's Extremism | TPM2012 (2012.talkingpointsmemo.com)
• The Politico Catches Rick Santorum in a Lie (themoderatevoice.com)
• No Really, Rick Santorum Can't Beat Barack Obama (usnews.com)

Stories to Watch: 2/24/12

Cleared up some snow earlier today. It was wet, heavy stuff -- the kind that makes great snowmen but sucks to shovel. I should sleep well tonight. I try to think of it as good cardio. Now here's the news...


A nice catch by one of my web buddies Lordrag: Jeb Bush says he "used to be a conservative."


Regular fella Mitt Romney brags that he owns four cars.


Rick Santorum's doing better with female voters than most would've predicted. The most likely explanation; these ladies don't know Rick very well.


Nate Silver says that Romney will probably win Michigan.


Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren both write op-eds in the Boston Globe. The subject is contraception coverage and Brown takes the losing argument. Even severely conservative and severely Catholic Pat Buchanan thinks the GOP is playing a losing hand.


Consumer confidence continues to rise, so gas prices aren't having that much of an effect so far.


Finally, the Dutch are none too happy with Rick Santorum. People who are running for president should probably avoiding sparking international incidents.

Related articles

• Jeb finds "fear" mongering by GOP candidates "a little troubling." Paging Rick Santorum? (miamiherald.typepad.com)
• Will Satan stop Rick Santorum? (cnn.com)
• Rush Limbaugh: I 'Cringed' At Rick Santorum's Team Player Comment At GOP Debate (huffingtonpost.com)
• Romney, Santorum Tied in Arizona: Poll (newser.com)

Stories to Watch: 2/20/12

Heads up: I probably won't be blogging at all Wednesday, because I've got an important errand to run that'll probably eat up the whole day. Now here's the news...


Gallup gives Rick Santorum a substantial national lead over Mitt Romney. But the latest poll in Michigan shows his lead there has completely evaporated. It's now a tie.


Meanwhile, Rick's spending a lot of time "clarifying" the stupid and insane things he says.


Republicans sure do love their racism, don't they?


23 years, 500 episodes -- I think The Simpsons must be the most successful spinoff in the history of television.


Republican voters definitely do not want a brokered convention.


Romney's Super PAC blew through $14 mil. last month.


Finally, Santorum says liberals are "anti-science," because we don't want to use up the Earth's resources in a big hurry and pollute everything. In other words, if you don't want to do something that science tells you is absolutely stupid, that means you're against science. Black is white, up is down, and Rick Santorum's a freakin' genius.

Related articles

• Romney Making A Comeback In Michigan? (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Why a Republican Political Savior and a Brokered Convention Is Unlikely to Happen (themoderatevoice.com)
• Rick Santorum Leads National Polls, But When Will The Roller Coaster Stop? (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Talk of Brokered Convention May Be Just That (thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)

News Roundup for 2/16/12

About to unleash a shitstorm of biblical proportions

-Headline of the Day-
"Multiple New Polls Find Santorum Leading in Michigan."

One of the things that kind of freaks me out about Mitt Romney is that he seems to be from pretty much everywhere. He's from Mexico and Massachusetts and France and Utah and Rhode Island and, of course, Michigan. So what this means is that Mittens has a lot of "home states" to defend and, in the case of Michigan, that's not going very well.

According to the report, "Rick Santorum currently holds a solid lead in the upcoming Michigan primary according to four recent polls of the state. In the polls, the Santorum lead over Mitt Romney ranges from 3-10 points."

This is not good. Losing Michigan would be a huge embarrassment for Romney and some people are saying it's something he may not be able to recover from.

But the primary is not today. And that means that Romney's going to pull out his not-so secret weapon -- money in denominations you've never even heard of before. He's going to buy ads upon ads and ads about ads and ads announcing ads. Michiganders are in for an unprecedented fountain of bullshit.

In the end, I think Mittens probably will win Michigan, because it's not the most difficult job in the world to convince people that Santorum sucks -- especially if you put a big bazillion dollar bow on the argument. Still, Rick's getting a lot of money now too, so he just might be able to pull this off.

Regardless, if I were in Michigan, I'd board up my teevee. It's gonna be awful. (Firedoglake)


-The stuff that really matters-




She totally looks like she's going to vote GOP, doesn't she? (Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Our prediction: Obama will win re-election with 303 electoral votes to the GOP nominee’s 235."

Yahoo News predicts a solid Obama win, using a model they claim is historically 88% accurate.

I like those odds. (Yahoo! News)

Stories to Watch: 2/14/12

Been a hectic few days, but things are finally starting to settle down. At least, I hope so. Now here's the news...


After the birth control controversy, President Obama suffers no backlash from Catholic voters. GOP pander fail.


Mitt Romney's view of the auto bailout veers off into incoherence.


Google recognizes same sex couples with its Valentine's Day doodle and destroys the holiday forever.


After all the brouhaha over Mitt Romney's tax documents, it seems the fact that Santorum hasn't released his has been overlooked.


Obama beats everyone.


Satorum doesn't think anyone should have contraception coverage.


Mittens may not be able to count on Michigan.


Finally, Herman Cain won't appear on Dancing with the Stars. Try to contain your grief.

Related articles

• Inevitability Fading: Poll Numbers Now Show Trouble for Romney in Michigan (swampland.time.com)
• Mitt Romney attacks 'crony capitalism' of Obama's auto bailout (guardian.co.uk)
• US politics live: Rick Santorum's surge threatens Mitt Romney (guardian.co.uk)
• Romney's Offensive Against Santorum Will Be Weak But Well-Funded (huffingtonpost.com)

Stories to Watch: 11/4/11

Got a loaf of sourdough in the oven and the place smells outlandishly good. Now here's the news...


Joel Bennett, the attorney for one of Herman Cain's alleged harassment victims, cites not a single instance, but a "series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances" from the candidate. The National Restaurant Association says they're "willing to waive the confidentiality of this matter and permit Mr. Bennett’s client to comment," but Bennett says his client would rather remain out of the media three-ring circus that would no doubt result from her coming forward. Hard to blame her.


Meanwhile, Cain's Koch ties and his money-laundering scandal start to get more media attention.


House Republicans go on a fishing expedition, come back emptyhanded.


It's finally happened; Mittens flip-flops on the subject of Mittens' flip-flops.


ThinkProgress's Alyssa Rosen proposes a cure for abusive Twitter trolls.


Faced with budget shartfalls and the GOP's resistance to "bailing out" state and local governments, a Michigan city turns out the lights -- literally and permanently.


Finally, Republicans' frequent bouts of frothing outrage are often brought on by their own stupidity. Today's GOP; always on the lookout for a chance to play the victim card.

Related articles

• Text of Statements on Allegations of Sexual Harassment by Herman Cain (blogs.wsj.com)
• Herman Cain Harassment Victim's News Conference (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Cain Accuser's Lawyer: 'Where There's Smoke There's Fire' (abcnews.go.com)
• Cain Accuser Disputes His Account, But Decides Not To Go Public (alan.com)

Stories to Watch: 9/25/11

Yet another shorty. Deal with it. Now here's the news...


Occupy Wall Street protests take a dark turn as police begin seemingly spontaneous mass arrests. Widespread reports of excessive force characterize the independent reporting from the scene and although mainstream sources also acknowledge the violence, they don't seem to go beyond reporting press releases.


Herman Cain wins a meaningless Florida beauty contest, while Mittens takes the pageant crown in Michigan.


Ann Althouse simply doesn't understand why people get upset over the death penalty, but not life imprisonment. I pays to remind people that she's a Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin. You'd expect her to be bright enough to understand the difference between life and death.


Also in fun with the death penalty news; NYT's Ross Douthat argues that Troy Davis was kind of lucky there's a death penalty.


Finally, one of those news items you really don't know which way to take; Saudi Arabia will allow women to vote and run for office. Of course, that doesn't mean all that much in a sham democracy.

Related articles

• Following the Murder of Troy Davis, Keith Olbermann and Liliana Segura Discuss the Death Penalty | AlterNet (faktensucher.wordpress.com)
• The Death Penalty: Are We Getting It Right? (theroot.com)
• The road to abolition (dailykos.com)
• Kevin Powell: Troy Davis Is Not Dead (huffingtonpost.com)

McCain Puts His Chips on PA, WI, and MN

clipped from www.politico.com Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) now must win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Minnesota in order to get enough electoral votes to win the presidency, his campaign says.  Those were considered swing states in 2000 and 2004, but George W. Bush lost them both times.  “Our ability to pick off one of those three states is where our fortunes are largely held,” a McCain official said. “These are states where Barack Obama is on the defense.”  McCain has very limited ways to win, with no room for error. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) still has many routes to the White House and so can afford to campaign on a much broader playing field.  McCain figures that winning one of those three big remaining swing states, plus those he considers safe, would put him 10 shy of the 270 electoral votes he needs to win.  “We can dig up an additional 10 electoral votes in Nevada, Colorado and New Hampshire,” the official said.

The problem with this strategy is that it's insane. Minnesota, for example, is so far from competitive that Politico's swing state map doesn't even list it anymore.

I went to Electoral-Vote.com and got these numbers -- McCain is the lower number in each case:

Minnesota - 54%-43%
Pennsylvania - 50%-43%
Wisconsin - 49%-43%

Maybe PA and WI make sense, but MN? Seriously, I don't see the reasoning.

Poll: Obama Leads Wisconsin

clipped from strategicvision.biz Below are the results of a three-day poll of likely voters in the state of Wisconsin. Results are based on telephone interviews with 800 likely voters in Wisconsin, aged 18+, and conducted September 26-28, 2008 by telephone. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. 1. If the election for President were held today would you support the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden or the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin? Obama/Biden 49% McCain/Palin 40% Other 2% Undecided 9% 6. Which presidential candidate do you believe would be best able to handle the economy, Barack Obama or John McCain? Barack Obama 56% John McCain 37% Undecided 7%

This one's a little personal. If I see one more electoral map that shows the Badger state as a toss-up, I'm going to hurt someone. Wisconsin isn't going McCain, it hasn't gone GOP since the Reagan landslide.

Other fun results; Bush is really unpopular here -- only a 15% job approval rating. More evidence that McCain's done here.

He's still spending money here, though. You can't watch TV for an hour without seeing a McCain ad.

Glad to see him blowing that cash on a lost cause.