Stories to Watch: 3/22/12

Short one today. It's not that there's nothing much going on, it's that there's nothing much interesting going on. Or maybe I'm just tired. Anyway, here's the news...


Another way the GOP's War on Women is a self-inflicted wound: a new Pew poll finds that voters are getting sick of all the religious talk. The largest group of respondents -- 38% -- say there's "too much expression of religious faith and prayer from political leaders."


The Sanford, FL Police Chief steps down -- temporarily -- in response to the Trayvon Martin killing. I doubt anyone outraged by the killing will find his self-imposed vacation very satisfying.


Taxes don't chase rich people away.


A quick reminder: Mitt Romney is a serial liar.


A weakened insider trading bill goes to the president's desk. Bernie Sanders and Pat Leahy are displeased.


This is what happens when you don't have a constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech. Don't doubt that there are people in America who would love to see this here.


Finally, which congress critter is most guilty of serial nepotism? Ron Paul.

Related articles

• Sanford, FL City Council Passes 'No Confidence' Vote Against Police Chief over Trayvon Martin Case (crooksandliars.com)
• Million Hoodie March In Honor Of Trayvon Martin Held In NYC [PHOTOS] (hiphopwired.com)
• Rev. Al Sharpton: Why race matters in the Trayvon Martin tragedy (thegrio.com)
• Trayvon Martin case sparks dialogue on racial inequality, meaning of justice (news.blogs.cnn.com)

Stories to Watch: 1/31/12

Freakin' hell it was warm here today. It got up to near 50. In Wisconsin. In January. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. Now here's the news...


Tonight's the big night in Florida and things do not look good for Noodles.


Speaking of Newt, he has some seriously goonish security agents.


David Brooks wrote something stupid again.


Rep. Allen West, carpetbagger.


Related: Rep. Allen West, boob.


Sen. Chuck Grassley is an ass.


Polling shows that House Republicans' hostage-taking/obstructionist strategy to win the hearts and minds of the American voter hasn't worked out too awfully well.


Finally, Remember how Romney won the Iowa caucuses -- except later it turned out that Santorum did? Heads roll.

Related articles

• Allen West Denies He Said What He Said (alan.com)
• Allen West Says to President Obama, 'Get the Hell Out of the US,' Then Denies He Said It (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Florida Primary Preview (crooksandliars.com)
• Live blog of the Florida primary (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)

News Roundup for 10/5/11

Rep. Steve King believes there's just way too much voting going on in America

-Headline of the Day-
"Rep. Steve King Pines for the Days When Only Male Property Owners Voted."

A high-ranking member of the House Conservative Moron Caucus, Rep. Steve King, used his time on a hearing on a Balanced Budget Amendment to long for the good ol' days when only male property owners could vote.

"As I roll this thing back and I think of American history, there was a time in American history when you had to be a male property owner in order to vote," Steve said. "The reason for that was, because they wanted the people who voted -- that set the public policy, that decided on the taxes and the spending -- to have some skin in the game."

See people who rent or are women don't have that "skin in the game," because "47 percent of American households don't pay taxes, 51 percent of American wage-earners don't have an income tax liability." According to the report, "King made the disclaimer that he was only making 'a historical observation' about the era of property-owner-only voting, but the rest of his dialogue made it seem as though he thought the Founding Fathers might have been on to something."

Here's the problem with his "historical observation" -- it's not historically accurate. Or, at least, apt. The income tax didn't actually exist until 1861, when it was first implemented to pay for the Civil War. The only people running around in stockings and powdered wigs at that point were lunatics, not founders.

The thing is that the only people in the US nowadays who aren't paying taxes are those who never make or spend money. Everyone has "skin in the game" and if King wants to pretend that the only tax in America is the income tax, then its his prerogative as an American to pretend he's an even bigger idiot than he already is. (Crooks and Liars, with video)


-Meanwhile, in the corporate penthouse...-


Click to embiggen

He probably already does. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"IBM Projects It Will Have World’s Most Powerful Supercomputer in Two Years, Artificial Human Brain in 10."

Can you speed that artificial brain project up a bit guys? Steve King needs one now. (Talking Points Memo)

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)

News Roundup for 8/10/11

Ron Paul supporters arrive in Iowa

-Headline of the Day-
"Ron Paul busing 30 family members in to Iowa."

One of the more entertaining aspects of watching Paulistas is their habit of creating realities that they later celebrate. You'll check in on a messageboard or a comment thread on Reddit and you'll see a link to an online poll or something about who's gonna win what race in what state sometime maybe. All the Paulistas will rush off to totally skew the poll in their direction, then they'll later point to the poll as proof that RON PAUL IS DEFINITELY GONNA WIN!! They have as good a grasp on the concepts of logic, evidence, and cause and effect as their creationist, global-warming-denier hero. Seriously, when you look at it objectively [ED: get it?], it's freakin' hilarious.

Anyway, the latest adventure in manipulating reality so that RON PAUL IS DEFINITELY GONNA WIN comes from the Great Man Himself, Ron Paul. In order to make sure that he comes out near the top in the Iowa straw poll, Ron's packing up 30 "sons, daughters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and more" to the Hawkeye State to wander around "wearing their Ron Paul T-shirts" and "their Ron Paul dresses" and probably hats and pants and buttons and tattoos on their foreheads. Then all the Iowans are going to look around and say, "Wow, this Ron Paul guy is just super-popular -- I'm gonna hop on that bandwagon! All these people who coincidentally look like Ron Paul can't be wrong!"

And then Paul wins the Iowa straw poll, which automatically makes him the President of the United States. After that, we all live in a Libertarian paradise -- like Somalia.

You ever hear that phrase, "That's so crazy it just might work?"

Yeah, that's always bullshit. (Politico)


-Speaking of logic and evidence-
Some miracles just cannot be explained.


Click to embiggen

Clearly, this young man is a prophet. (SMBC)


-Bonus HotD-
"Wis. Dems: The Recalls Were A Win For Us!"

Wisconsin dem chairman Mike Tate: "[How can Walker] claim this is a real victory for him and his agenda, when his party lost two senators on his watch to recall elections? How can that be a win for Scott Walker when he lost two seats?"

Math always seems to hate Republicans as much as Republicans hate math. (Talking Points Memo)