Stories to Watch: 1/24/12

Lasagna tonight. Gonna be awesome. Now here's the news...


Big State of the Union address tonight. There will reportedly be a focus on the shrinking middle class, so expect shrieks of "class warfare!" from the country club set. John Boehner gets the fainting couch all warmed up.


One of my fave go-to bloggers -- Steve Benen -- is moving to the Rachel Maddow show. No word on who'll be replacing Steve, but Washington Monthly' Political Animal will go on.


Both Gingrich and Romney are unpopular with general election voters. The frontrunner situation has the right falling on each other like a pack of wolves.


Barney Frank proves that flawless logic can be really funny.


Dem insiders think the GOP primaries could last until the daisies start sprouting again.


This may be the stupidest, most unnecessary piece of legislation in the nation right now.


Bill Kristol's panic deepens.


Finally, Wisconsin dems make sure Scott Walker's out-of-state fundraising tour gets the attention it deserves.

Related articles

• Griper Blade: Out of State Money King Scott Walker Complains About Out of State Money in Wisconsin Recall (gripernews.blogspot.com)
• Preview Obama's State Of The Union Address (dfw.cbslocal.com)
• Romney Attacks Obama in 'Prebuttal' (myfoxny.com)
• White House on the offensive in final hours before State of the Union (whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com)

Stories to Watch: 8/2/11

Burgers tonight -- inside, in a skillet, because there's no way you can imagine what it's like out there now. It's a freaking sauna. And it looks like rain. Now here's the news...


Biden's alleged "terrorists" comment brings down an avalanche of victim cards. Remember it the next time one of these clowns calls a Democrat a Marxist.


Tiny pinhole of sunlight in the debt limit deal: Nancy Pelosi gets to appoint the House dems on the "super-committee" and she says she's not appointing anyone who'll allow cuts in entitlement benefits.


The Economic Policy Institute has issued a report finding that the debt limit deal will cost 1.8 million jobs in 2012. And, now that the debt ceiling stupidity is behind them, Democrats think it's time to focus on jobs. Too late, guys. Too late.


Joe Lieberman is insane.


Returning to yesterday's theme, the stock market hates the debt limit deal.


The Republican commitment to America can only go so far. Asking that their fundraising doodads be American-made is apparently too far.


Hate-porn writer Pam Geller's new book is eerily similar to Anders Breivik's crazy-assed manifesto.


MSNBC's Rachel Maddow isn't going anywhere any time soon. The network extended her contract until 2014.


Finally, Rick Santorum is Glenn-Beck-level crazy.

Related articles

• Joe Lieberman: We Have To Cut Social Security So We Can Fight Muslim Extremists (alan.com)
• Rachel Maddow Signs Multi-Year Contract Extension at MSNBC (aoltv.com)
• Stocks extend fall as Senate votes on debt plan (marketwatch.com)
• Wall Street on Debt Deal: So What? (foxbusiness.com)

Stories to Watch: 3/29/11

Made the puff pancake last night. It was really good, but kind of a lot of work. I'll make one again, but not soon. Now here's the news...


Sen. Chuck Schumer accidentally let's the cat out of the bag: Democrats have a messaging strategy, just like Republicans. Needless to say, this is the worst thing ever.


When is Sarah Palin going to go English-only?


Florida Gov. Rick Scott is about as popular as a cold sore at a kissing booth.


Richard Lahey, a GE safety expert who worked on the Fukushima Daiichi plant, says that Japan may have "lost the race" to prevent a meltdown. Big surprise, he said it's not going to be as bad as Chernobyl. This is like dismissing the Hindenburg as "not as bad as the Titanic."


It's official: if you've mentioned Rachel Maddow in an email, it means you hate America. McCarthyism is alive and well.


If you found Tom Tomorrow's final This Modern World strip for Salon mystifying, here's the key to that particular lock.


Finally, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ignored a judge and declared his union-busting bill law, the same judge tells him, "Not so fast there, Sparky."

News Roundup for 2/4/11

Fox isn't having anything to do with Satan's Bible!

-Headline of the day-

"Attention Fox Nation: There Is More Than One Version Of The Bible"

Fox News' site Fox Nation is always on the lookout for something that President Obama has completely screwed up. When they find something, they put it on the site with a big banner headline and then all the wingnuts come and laugh at it. Hahaha! Silly president!

Today's big headline is "Obama Botches Bible Verse at Prayer Breakfast." Seems that the crazy president cited a Bible verse and screwed it all up! Hahaha! So they put up the story and everyone had a good laugh.

There's only one problem: the President didn't actually screw anything up. Where Fox checked the King James version of the Bible, Obama quoted the New International Version. Media Matters caught Fox's flub and put it up at their website for everyone to laugh at.

Now some of that laugh traffic is spilling over to Fox Nation, where everyone and their brother is joining in on the comment thread to tell them they're all wrong and stupid and what are they drunk?

So, has Fox corrected or retracted the story? Of course not. They're Fox.

It's not like they give a crap about accuracy. (Media Matters)

-Maybe he's trying to drum up business-

Rand Paul was the sole GOP vote against a bill that makes it illegal to try to blind a pilot with a laser pointer. No, really. Seems Randy's fine with people trying to crash planes from their backyard and anyone who wants to make that illegal are engaging in government overreach.

And, of course, Randy's an ophthalmologist. And any pilot who survives the attempt on their life would probably need to see an eye doctor.

But I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Reading over the Constitution, it's easy to see that shooting lasers into the eyeballs of jet pilots is clearly what the founders intended. (Politico)

-Bonus HotD-

"Republicans totally, totally focused on jobs."

Except, as Laura Conway points out on Rachel Maddow's blog, they really aren't. (Maddow Blog)

Stories to Watch: 1/22/11

The big story from last night; Olbermann's out at MSNBC, effective the signoff of his final show. Here's that signoff:

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

There's been some noise that Keith's been ousted because of the Comcast merger, but this strikes me as maybe not so true (a suspicion backed up here). MSNBC still has Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, and Ed Schultz, so the idea that Olbermann was "too liberal" for his new corporate masters seems to hit kind of a false note -- if I were looking for people who were dangerous to the corporate bottom-line, I'd be a lot more worried about Rachel Maddow's investigative bent. Check out Steve Benen's take on the whole thing here. If that's not enough, there's just boatloads of commentary here. As I said, it's the big story.


Speaking of "dangerous" cable hosts, let's take off the quotation marks. Glenn Beck is dangerous. Sooner or later, this bastard is going to get someone killed.


The right goes from asking why lefties are so "obsessed" with Sarah Palin to asking why the left is refusing to cover Sarah Palin. Make up your freakin' minds, people.


Former GOP congress critter Bob Barr loves him some "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Republicans -- authoritarians at their core -- just can't get enough of monsters.


The governments of states across the nation have become a lot more anti-abortion-rights recently, which never works out well for the GOP in the end. Nothing brings out the crazy like abortion. You thought the 'baggers were crazy? You ain't seen nothin' yet.


Finally, when you see them laid out graphically, the shift in Obama approvals looks pretty radical.