My new hero.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL). Look at how he holds his own. And listen to the moronic attempts to back him into an apology. After all the CRAP the Republicans have been spouting for YEARS about the Democrats.



You are wonderful, Congressman Grayson!

Update 10/1: Support Grayson if you can!

I'll drink to that!

What could possibly go wrong?

Arizonans with concealed weapons permits allowed to bring guns in bars starting Wednesday

But then again... they could all be just like Lee Marvin and his horse...

When you listen to the voices in your head

And think it's America talking, you look like a massive idiot.

John L. Perry of Newsmax has such a problem:

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.

Um... YOU have a problem with Obama, John.

I admit I did with Bush and Cheney. They misused and broke the military, tossing soldiers into two unwinnable wars and declaring anybody who spoke out against them an unpatriotic American-hating traitor.. who was probably a communist and gay. I advocated a lot of things to do to Bush and Cheney... such as rockets into the sun or tar and feathers, but not a military coup.

As 'civilized' as John Perry dreamily imagines a coup would be, it would destroy the United States and unravel the Constitution in one fell swoop. It would not be clean. It could not possibly be civilized.

The neocons imagined the invasion of Iraq would be clean and civilized. They would pop out Hussein and pop in Chalabi and then be sitting pretty in a functional nation right in the middle of the best oil fields in the world, ready to start the real war with Iran.

Didn't work out that way, did it?

So why on earth do you think all those millions and millions of people who uphold the Constitution, voted for Obama, like the US the way it is, would stand for a coup? You think these citizens would stand by and watch? Really?

And who do you think makes up the military? Professional soldiers? Or citizens of the USA who wear a uniform, who respect their oath to uphold the Constitution, and some of whom actually voted for Obama?

Do you think the military as a whole would support such an overthrow? Really?

Do you really think the military is a monolithic block of obedient cloned soldiers ready to do the general's every whim without question? You don't think the military would fracture into Southern good old boys, white supremacists, fanatical Rapture-ready Christianists, Blackwater mercenaries, and Obama supporting soldiers?

Dream on, John Perry. But next time, keep your stupid masturbatory dreams of world domination and coups to yourself.

Because, sadly, some wingnut with a gun is going to try and do something because of your article.

Which is probably why you wrote it in the first place, isn't it?

Is scaremongering used by warmongers?

If the citizenry is kept afraid, they are compliant.

About a dozen retired generals and admirals, trying to add momentum to President Barack Obama’s effort to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, are accusing former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz of scaremongering about the dangers of closing it.

No one is to blame

Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?

Liz Cheney...

The daughter of Dick Cheney is the new hope for the GOP:

It is a source of debate whether “Cheney” is an asset or a liability for this 43-year-old lawyer and former State Department official who keeps turning up on TV, at lecterns and in discussions about future Republican candidates. There is also the question of whether the “Cheney message” on national security — which essentially translates to an aggressive and interventionist approach — is something the Republican Party should be trumpeting, or burying.

Like father, like daughter:

Keeping track of the changes

When we think Obama isn't doing enough....

Dylan Loewe of Huffington Post:

I'm not in that camp. I wasn't under the impression that Obama was going to somehow circumvent the political process in Washington. I didn't think he was going to end the game; I thought he was going to play it differently... and better.

And largely, it's clear he has. On policy alone, for those who ask, "Where's the change?" I'd remind you that the stimulus bill alone has over $60 billion in renewable energy investments, that the equal pay act is now law, that federal restrictions on stem cells are over, that Obama delivered on the middle class tax cut he promised, and that the White House has tighter ethics rules and broader transparency than any previous administration. Let's not forget that, like he promised, Obama is withdrawing forces from Iraq, his justice department has initiated a torture probe and the DEA has been ordered to stop raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. He's meeting the Afghanistan question with a critical skepticism and the kind of commitment to clear strategic goals that any anti-war Democrat should appreciate. On September 23rd at the United Nations, he said, "On my first day in office, I prohibited -- without exception or equivocation -- the use of torture by the United States of America." He did that too.

Oh, and by Thanksgiving he will almost surely sign a health care bill, the details of which are still unclear, but the outcome of which will almost certainly be the closest we've ever come to achieving universal health care. Those who are frustrated with him are forgetting that it wasn't a public option Obama had promised to bring to the country, it was universal health care. A promise broken by every other Democratic president will be fulfilled by Obama by the end of his first year in office. Where's the change? It's absolutely everywhere.

Everything's bigger in Texas

The land of the free... free of insurance, employment, and good health care....

HEALTH CARE -- THOUSANDS OF TEXANS SHOW UP AT 'LARGEST FREE CLINIC EVER HELD IN THE UNITED STATES' FOR CARE: Over the weekend, thousands of Texans attended what is being called the "largest free clinic ever held in the United States" to get health care they otherwise could not afford. Local Houston station ABC-13 said that the event showed there is an "epidemic" of people without proper health care coverage in Texas. "More than 2,000 people came to Reliant center to see doctors for free," the station reported. "Many of the people we talked to can't afford health insurance, especially in the rough economy. Some say it shows the need for health care reform." [snip] Texas has the largest uninsured population of any state in the country, yet its senators continue to resist supporting any sort of health care reform.

Because it makes utterly no sense at all?

President Obama at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner last night, discussing false claims made about the health care reform bill, told a little anecdote.

"I was up at the G20 -- just a little aside -- I was up at the G20, and some of you saw those big flags and all the world leaders come in and Michelle and I are shaking hands with them," the president said. "One of the leaders -- I won't mention who it was -- he comes up to me. We take the picture, we go behind.

"He says, 'Barack, explain to me this health care debate.'

"He says, 'We don't understand it. You're trying to make sure everybody has health care and they're putting a Hitler mustache on you -- I don't -- that doesn't make sense to me. Explain that to me.'"

Well... there's these really stupid people that we like to call wingnuts....

Updated with new link.

Missing ladybugs

If you see one, get its name and address and then replace in the wild.

Across North America ladybug species distribution is changing. Over the past twenty years several native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time ladybugs from other places have greatly increased both their numbers and range. Some ladybugs are simply found in new places. This is happening very quickly and we don’t know how, or why, or what impact it will have on ladybug diversity or the role that ladybugs play in keeping plant-feeding insect populations low. We're asking you to join us in finding out where all the ladybugs have gone so we can try to prevent more native species from becoming so rare.

Stunned by hope

Phila of Bouphonia's hope blog.

A happy wise Latina

Denying playing the race card

While playing an entire deck of racist cards.

Clearly getting prepared for a pandemic is vital

But why must they poison us while doing so? (my bold):

OLYMPIA - State health officials are taking steps to ensure Washington residents at highest risk for H1N1 (swine flu) infection have broad access to the new vaccine when its available. Secretary of Health Mary Selecky is temporarily suspending Washingtons limit on the amount of mercury (thimerosal) allowed in H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine given to pregnant women and children under three.

Its vital to be sure everyone in a high risk group has the choice to be vaccinated when swine flu vaccine becomes available, said Secretary Selecky. Mercury-free H1N1 vaccine may not always be in stock, and we want to be sure there are no barriers to protecting people.

The six-month suspension is effective through March 23, 2010 and applies only to H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines now being developed. As a precaution, Washington state law limits the amount of mercury that can be in vaccines for pregnant women and children under three. The secretary of health can suspend the law when theres a shortage of vaccine or during a disease outbreak both criteria apply to the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine. Supplies of mercury-free vaccine will be limited, which may stop people in these groups who want the vaccine from getting it.

H1N1 vaccination is voluntary. Pregnant women and children under three are at the top of the list to get the vaccine because theyre at high risk for serious complications from swine flu.

h/t to Mike in comments.

The Center For Disease Control:

2009 H1N1 Vaccination Recommendations

With the new H1N1 virus continuing to cause illness, hospitalizations and deaths in the US during the normally flu-free summer months and some uncertainty about what the upcoming flu season might bring, CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has taken an important step in preparations for a voluntary 2009 H1N1 vaccination effort to counter a possibly severe upcoming flu season.

The CDC tracks the H1N1 flu and offers tips on how to take care of an ill family member.

Remember why the CDC is acting like this:

The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish Flu) was an influenza pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus.[1] Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients. The flu pandemic has also been implicated in the sudden outbreak of encephalitis lethargica in the 1920s.[2]

The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920,[3] spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 100 million people were killed worldwide.[4][5][6][7][8] An estimated 500 million people, one third of the world's population (approximately 1.6 billion at the time), became infected.[5]

Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research. Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims. The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths.[9]

Why are they so afraid of Obama

Speaking on television to the nation, talking to the press, talking to students, talking to heads of state?

Could it possibly be because the president is an amazing orator, especially after eight years of Georgie? That Obama can be charming and persuasive? That he uses facts and logic?

Is this why they bleat about overexposure?

You realize how difficult it's going to be

To glue tiny feathers to all those plastic T-Rexs?

Bush's Legacy still continues

In the country which had nothing to do with 9/11.

Two hundred to three hundred Iraqi civilians are killed each month, a number down a bit over the last year, according to a new study by the Congressional Research Service.

The study, which you can read here, looks at several different counts of civilian deaths, and notes that reporting on the deaths is still irregular, and methodologies variable. It was posted by Secrecy News.

Spreading fear and despair rather than freedom and democracy, George. Isn't that what you wanted all along anyway?

How does it feel to have ruined an entire country?

Expelliarmus!

Latimer writes that administration officials objected to giving author J.K. Rowling the Presidential Medal of Freedom because her writing “encouraged witchcraft” (p. 201):

This was the same sort of narrow thinking that led people in the White House to actually object to giving the author J.K. Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged withcraft.

Strange that she didn't hex the Bush administration to failure and contempt.....

oh.



Rowlings clearly has done the Imperius Curse on some of her fans, though. They feel no shame...

Cancer? What cancer?

"The reasons CIGNA did not want to give you your records is that they've known... way back for years that you've had cancer and they're not going to treat you."

- Jo Joshua Godfrey, CIGNA Insurance Customer,
re-telling independent doctor's diagnosis

Icebergs never looked so beautiful

And, what with the global warming, we may be the last generation to see their breathtaking majesty.

Update 9/24:

OSLO (Reuters) – Scientists are surprised at how extensively coastal ice in Antarctica and Greenland is thinning, according to a study Wednesday that could help predict rising sea levels linked to climate change.

Analysis of millions of NASA satellite laser images showed the biggest loss of ice was caused by glaciers speeding up when they flowed into the sea, according to scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Bristol University.

"We were surprised to see such a strong pattern of thinning glaciers across such large areas of coastline -- it's widespread and in some cases thinning extends hundreds of kilometers inland," said Hamish Pritchard of BAS who led the study.

We knew it was bad for us

Just not THIS bad:

MONDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.

HFCS has replaced sugar as the sweetener in many beverages and foods such as breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS, but teens and other high consumers can take in 80 percent more HFCS than average.

"Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply," the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Dr. David Wallinga, a co-author of both studies, said in a prepared statement.

h/t to Bryan of Why Now?

Cats and idiots

The top ten.

When those who hate government

Try to run government:

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.

The Census' final report card on Bush's record presents an intriguing backdrop to today's economic debate. Bush built his economic strategy around tax cuts, passing large reductions both in 2001 and 2003. Congressional Republicans are insisting that a similar agenda focused on tax cuts offers better prospects of reviving the economy than President Obama's combination of some tax cuts with heavy government spending. But the bleak economic results from Bush's two terms, tarnish, to put it mildly, the idea that tax cuts represent an economic silver bullet.

From the Census Bureau:

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. This breaks a string of three years of annual income increases and coincides with the recession that started in December 2007.

The nation’s official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. There were 39.8 million people in poverty in 2008, up from 37.3 million in 2007.

Meanwhile, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008, while the percentage remained unchanged at 15.4 percent.

OMG GOP WTF?!

CREDO earns money from a quiz.

Well... rats.

Does this mean I won't bag a new car?

Has anyone ever considered the Republican party

A party of unwanted tumors?

Think of the poor CEOs!

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

45,000 people. FORTY FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE. A year.

The true cost of health care ... in dollars:

While the proposal by Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, outlines a direction for policy, the survey, which polls employers about health benefits to assemble a detailed look at the actual cost of health care, fits it squarely in our pocketbooks.

The truth is we all pay, and much more than we recognize, for health care.

For many, it's among the largest investments we'll make, on par, even, with the money we spend on a house or tuck away for retirement. But while it's easy to track our stock portfolios as they tank along with the market, our outlay for health care is less obvious. Employers pay some, and so do individuals, and taxpayers. And some even hides behind the deficit. As such, few of us see the full picture. But to make sense of the proposals for reform, getting a grasp of the cost is critical.

The average health-care coverage for the average family now costs $13,375, according to Kaiser. Over the past decade, premiums have increased by 138 percent. And if the trend continues, by 2019 the average family plan will cost $30,083.

And in lives:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.

"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.

Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.

If we had a flu that killed this many, or food poisoning, or a defective car or toy, we would be screaming for heads to roll, wouldn't we?

How bad does a health care reform bill have to be

Before it is too horrible to even work with?

De-Diebolding the elections?

Did you hear? Diebold is set to sell its voting machine division to Election Systems & Software – creating a company that would produce nearly three-quarters of our country's voting machine systems.

Please join us in calling on the Justice Department's Antitrust Division to investigate!

One company dominating the voting machine market means it will be more difficult for election officials to negotiate for voting systems on limited budgets, and raises serious concerns about reliability and election fraud issues.

Take action today!

Calling it what it is

Racism.

Bob Herbert of the New York Times:

These are bits and pieces of an increasingly unrestrained manifestation of racism directed toward Mr. Obama that is being fed by hate-mongers on talk radio and is widely tolerated, if not encouraged, by Republican Party leaders. It’s disgusting, and it’s dangerous. But it’s the same old filthy racism that has been there all along and that has been exploited by the G.O.P. since the 1960s.

[snip]

But the fact that a black man is now in the White House has so unsettled much of white America that the lid is coming off the racism that had been simmering at dangerously high temperatures all along. Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow with Media Matters, said, “If someone had told me in February that there would be mainstream allegations that Obama was a racist and a fascist and a communist and a Nazi, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Bryan of Why Now ? talks about his own perspective growing up in the South.

Let me count the reasons....

Chris Wallace: Why won't Obama talk to Fox?

Can't be too hard....

How about this one? (my bold):

It seems odd that Wallace would complain about not reaching out to all Americans when his own network decided not to broadcast Obama’s speech to Congress on health care last week (the cable network, not the broadcasting company, aired the speech).

During one of Wallace’s whining sessions this week, another Fox host complained that Obama is skipping out on “the highly rated Fox News Sunday.” But as Media Matters points out, Fox News Sunday is “in dead last, where it has remained pretty much since its inception.”

Please take notes

Steven Benen of Washington Monthly describes Obama's adroit 'educating' of Stephanopoulos over mandatory health insurance: individual mandates:

At that point, Stephanopoulos referenced Merriam Webster's, to try to nail down a precise definition of a "tax." The president responded, "George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition."

The host added, "But your critics say it is a tax increase."

Obama replied, "My critics say everything is a tax increase."

And here endeth the lesson.

Remember, this man has taught law students, students trying to weasel out of due dates, tests and papers. He knows how to recognize and deal with bullshitters....

I've heard of inhaling your food....

But the utensils as well?:

(CNN) -- "I know I didn't chow down on a spoon!" declared John Manley, who recently discovered that an eating utensil was the source of his two years of ill health, coughing, vomiting and pain.

The Wilmington, North Carolina, resident had surgery last week to remove part of a plastic spoon from his lung. And it wasn't just any old plastic spoon; it came from the fast-food chain Wendy's, with the restaurant logo clearly visible on the handle.

"It must have been in the food or drink," Manley told CNN affiliate WECT.

His doctor found the spoon after looking into his lungs with an endoscope, a medical instrument with a long, thin tube containing a light and a video camera.

Never mind....

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Which reminds me... what ever happened to Bush's War Czar? He kinda just disappeared, didn't he?

But ... WHY?

Waiting on a hill top

Will they wear sheets this time?

What we’re really talking about is a group of people are resentful because they know they’ve been left behind by modernity, by science, by education, by art, by literature—the rest of us are getting on with our lives. These people are standing on a hill top waiting for the end and this is a dangerous group of people to have as neighbors. And they’re our national neighbors. And this is the source of all these insanities that we see leveled at the President. One way or the other they go back to this little evangelical subculture. It’s a disaster.

Truer words have never been bespeaked!

Remember the creationism/ intelligent design debacle: the Kitmiller v. Dover Area School Board court case? Just finished Charles Pierce's Idiot America and he mentioned the utterly quote of a local pastor, Ray Mummert:

We've been attacked,"Mummert said,"by the intelligent, educated segment of our culture."

Exactly. Duly noted.

They really have no idea what they are protesting,

Do they?

Besides setting off every geiger counter in the country...

This explains why the fish were glowing!

Mafia 'sank nuclear waste ship'

So does that mean we don't eat anything pulled from the Mediterranean for a while?

Why does this make me laugh every time?

Maybe the frantic thudding paws?

Uh oh.... you just know the first thing this will be used for

Will not be for legal purposes.

Video footage has been released of a robot that can leap over obstacles more than 7.5m (25ft) high.

Most of the time, the shoebox-sized robot - which is being developed for the US military - uses its four wheels to get around.

But the Precision Urban Hopper can use a piston-actuated "leg" to launch it over obstacles such as walls or fences.

The robot could boost the capabilities of troops and special forces engaged in urban warfare, say researchers.

h/t to Bryan of Why Now?

Personally, I think it would make an excellent clay pigeon....

Hanging out with fun guys...

Fun guys... get it?

h/t Mike in comments.

Nice way of telling us the US has been a thuggish rogue nation

My bold:

"Clearly the U.S. share of 'global power,' however measured, is in decline," the report said.

The head of another respected London think tank, Robin Niblett of Chatham House, said the rise in the relative power of China, India, Russia and the European Union has made it harder for the U.S. to exercise its influence.

"America should apply changes in leadership style, but I wouldn't overplay the decline because decline is relative," said Niblett — who was not involved in drawing up Tuesday's report. "One should not doubt that the U.S. remains the most powerful nation in the world, but it's difficult to use the power and to use it to influence others."

In addition to a rise in regional powers, Niblett said the U.S. has long been viewed as being part of the problem rather than the solution on many issues — including climate change, the financial crisis, and the failure of the Middle East peace process.

"It's also carrying the baggage of failed policies and of a failed financial approach," Niblett said, referring to the Bush administration. "There's a lot of catching up to be done."

The IISS report praised Obama, saying that he recognized there was only so much America could do "to impose its views on others."

After years of often thorny relationships between the U.S. and its allies during Bush's administration, Obama has talked of the need to work with other nations on such issues as the financial meltdown, climate change and nuclear proliferation.

"These are challenges that no single nation, no matter how powerful, can confront alone," Obama said in April after attending the G-20 summit in London.

"The United States must lead the way," he said. "But our best chance to solve these unprecedented problems comes from acting in concert with other nations."

The very power grab for ultimate glory and control of the world by the neocons in the Bush administration was the very thing that brought us down. Their hubris, their bloated egos, their infantile view of the world as a zero sum game is the reason we are in retreat.

And the rest of the world, battered by our wars and our weapons sales, breaths a sigh of relief.....

Blog sprinkles

Crazy ants.

A teachable moment:




Watch CBS Videos Online

The hate and ignorance in full flower:



via Daily Kos.

Friday Hope blogging on Monday.

Watch how a man attaches a skimmer to an ATM machine.

November 9th 2007 - November 13th 2008 one year on foot - 4646km through China unlimited beard & hair growth thelongestway.com:

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

Shower heads are killing people? Up with dirt!

Showering may be bad for your health, say US scientists, who have shown that dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria.

Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbour significant levels of a bug that causes lung disease.

Levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies.

Judge, friend of Bush and Rumsfeld, lets torturers from Abu Ghraib get away....

Because.. because Obama is a commie!

Military weaponry brought in to deal with out of control town halls?

The intelligence just shines forth,

Doesn't it? Makes me so proud to be a Merkin!



h/t to Ali in comments... who has a rather iconic pic on her blog....

Update: Watertiger has more!

Somehow the last election just can't be true...

Even though they told liberals to just shut up and get over the bizarre selection of George Bush. Clearly Obama is a foreign-born nazisocialistic islamofascist!

The Arlington Independent School District, which passed on airing President Barack Obama's live classroom address, has announced that some students will be bussed off campus to hear a message from former President George W. Bush on Sept. 21.

The legend of the thunderbirds might be true, then?

Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humans

Thunderbird cryptozoology.

Thunderbird legend.

I always thought Gallant looked like a deeply closeted self-hating Republican....

click to embiggen

And the top ten whining wingnuts.

Could it be that hunting shark music maybe?

This hat gives you the right to shoot people!

Now you can stand on the front lines of America's battle with illegal immigrants by wearing the U.S. Border Patrol Cap.

America's U.S. Border Patrol is the thin green line of men and women who protect America's borders. They struggle to do their job with fewer resources than any similar service in the world. They guard the 6,000 miles of our border with one-tenth as many people as are in the New York City police department.

They stand alone. More than 1,000 have been killed or wounded protecting America.

Now you can stand with them by wearing the U.S. Border Patrol Cap . . . and send a message to your friends and neighbors that you too believe America should have safe and secure borders.

Wear the Cap everywhere . . . and drive those who want open borders crazy!

Buy one now!! Them there hippie liburls hates these here hats! And you can shoot them illeguls as they pour over the border!

Buy 12! One for each of your family members and your dog!

Another one from Dave

I posted this letter on August 24th and made a joke about Godwin's law:

________ A delight to hear from you. I'll give you a rundown in response to your "fact sheet" point by point shortly. Just finished a book which I highly recommend to you: "The Nazi Seizure of Power...The Experience of a single German town 1930-1935" by William Sheridan Allen. As one on the Right (or perhaps Center Right) I find a frightening similarity to the swift takeover of Germany to what has been transpiring here over the past few months. That is not to say in any way that I believe Obama to be a Nazi as his Marxist credentials are most obvious. You may find of interest my recent letter to the editor of the Denver Post in response to that paper's editorial which implied that those who bring up the similarity are way off base....same is attached. No, it is a rather liberal publication and my letter was not printed...even though I gave myself a PHD after my name hoping the editorial board would believe me to be one of the Left. P.S. "PHD" = Patriot-Humanitarian-Dedicated. Best for now, ________.

IT IS A VALID COMPARISON: U.S.A. 2009 and Germany early 1930’s

Regarding Post Editorial on health care debate 8/13/09 and comment “….went off the rails by likening Obama’s tactics to those of Adolf Hitler,” Read the history of Germany 1930-1935…I recommend “The Seizure of Nazi Power…The Experience of a Single German Town 1930-1935” by William Sheridan Allen. Then in Germany and recently here in the U.S. there was an economic crisis. A charismatic political figure emerged promising HOPE & CHANGE: Hitler and Obama. Both wrote best sellers of their plans for the country: “Mein Kampf “ (English “My Struggle”) by Hitler and “The Audacity of Hope”by Obama. Hitler established total governmental control…Obama seeks (and has partially established) total government control. Under Hitler and his party, The National SOCIALIST Workers Party (the Nazi Party), opposition was steadily intimidated, newspapers and organizations were taken over, a scapegoat for all their problems was created, the youth were organized and indoctrinated. Here the Left intimidates with “political correctness” smears, ridicule, and distortion. Here the institutions of learning teach the Leftist viewpoint and ridicule Conservatism. Hitler had his Storm Troopers, the “Brownshirts” of his Sturm Abteilung (the SA); Obama has his “Community Organizers…ACORN. Hitler had his Hitler Youth; Obama plans his own youth corps. The Nazis used informants as a means of control (as have all authoritarian regimes); Obama has his flag@whitehouse.gov website. Hitler had his Jews to blame for Germany’s ills…..Obama has President Bush. The Nazis moved with lightening speed to consolidate power. Obama and the Democrats are rushing legislation through Congress as fast as they can. And you don’t think the comparison between then and now is not valid? _________PHD, Denver CO

Well... here is my friend Dave's response:

NOT A PASS ON. I WRITE MY OWN STUFF. THIS IS FROM THE RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, BUT I WAS THE AUTHOR. I HAVE HAD NO ASSASSINATION THREATS, BUT AS A HEAVILY ARMED LIBERAL, I AWAIT THEM WITH ANTICIPATION. (SEE, LIBERALS CAN BE CRAZY TOO.)

I DON'T DO THIS OFTEN, NEVER WITH POORLY WRITTEN PROPAGANDA CRAP FROM RIGHT OR LEFT, BUT IT SEEMS TO ME GETTING TO THE FACTS IS ESSENTIAL, AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT I TOLD MY STUDENTS IN CRITICAL REASONING. YOU HAVE BEEN SPARED A LONGER MISSIVE BECAUSE THE PAPER INTELLIGENTLY LIMITS LETTER TO TWO HUNDRED WORDS. THAT WOULDN'T ACCOMMODATE ONE OF SARAH PALIN'S SENTENCES. IF ONLY SHE WOULD SEND ME HER STUFF TO EDIT. DAVE

Heeeere's Davy:

FACT CHECK: (Please do. Please, please do.)

1. No version of healthcare reform presently in the House or Senate requires end of life counseling. Incidentally, Medicare provides for end of life counseling, but no one seems to mind, and no one has been advised to cash in his or her chips.

2. No health care proposal covers illegal aliens. Illegals have to go to emergency rooms, just like always. (If this seems extravagant, join up with No Hearts for a Better America, and you can be one of the volunteers who get to turn away sick children.)

3. No health care proposal covers abortions.

4. Medical insurance companies take 20% plus off the top (they are asking for more), about the same as the casinos [they seem to do all right]. Medicare operates with less than a 3% administrative overhead. No one wants to give Medicare up or swap it for private care, and the OMG it’s socialism crowd in Congress doesn’t want to repeal it (men and women of real conservative principles—oh yes).

5. Oh, and President Obama was born in Hawaii, part of the United States. (Drop a line to the folks in North Carolina who appear to be confused on the issue.)

David Sundstrand

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR FROM ME, DROP ME A LINE AND WE CAN CHAT ABOUT IT.

Obviously Thomas Jefferson was a commie

Or a nazisocialistic islamofascist!

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

Thomas Jefferson

You definitely don't want to piss this guy off

Consider Joe Wilson's breaking of wind during the President's address to Congress another case of sphincter confusion. Think Glenn Beck, a proctologist's nightmare. Where to put the tube? Where to put the tube?

On a more serious note, Wilson's insistence on the reality of his fact free delusion is indicative of the Republican cast of mind. Hatred for Obama and anything connected to him has become an article of faith. Their rage stems from fear, fear of being disenfranchised, of [] their dream of an all white overweight America roaring about in HUMMERS with AK47's in their gun racks, a vestigial nightmare from the piney woods of Mississippi. They're afraid their country is being taken over by pointy-headed intellectuals who read books and do not share in Cain’s defense about not being “my brother’s keeper.” Sadly, their dream is a uniquely American nightmare, but it is at odds with the Christianity they so ardently profess but rarely practice, and it is at odds with the dreams of the founding fathers, as far away from the thoughtful discourse that made our country possible as Joe Wilson's belch of rage is from considered debate.


David Sundstrand

I get emails....

The Color of Change.

Thank you for calling on Glenn Beck's advertisers to take their dollars elsewhere. It's an important step towards keeping the misinformation and race-baiting of people like Glenn Beck off of cable news.

175,000 people have already signed on, and 62 companies have stopped their ads from running on Beck's show. And the more of us who stand together, the stronger our voice will be. Will you take a moment and invite your friends and family to add their voice as well?

Feel free to use the draft letter below, or write your own. But please only contact people you know personally — spam will hurt more than it helps.

You can cut and paste the text below into an email message:

Dear friends,

As you may know, right-wing talk show hosts have been bringing race-based fear mongering into the mainstream, but FOX's Glenn Beck has taken it to another level.

I signed ColorOfChange.org's petition to stop Glenn Beck's lies and distortions, and so far, 62 major companies have stopped their ads from running on his show. These companies have decided they don't want to be associated with Beck's race-baiting.

But Beck is only stepping up his fear-mongering, so we can't stop now. We have to make sure advertisers keep leaving, and stay away from his show.

Will you take a stand and be counted, and invite your friends and family to do the same? It takes just a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/hold/?id=2101-1089494

This summer, Beck said:

This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people... this guy is, I believe, a racist.

That statement fits into a pattern of rhetoric from Beck designed to stoke racial paranoia and fear. He has claimed that President Obama has a "reparation appetite" and a desire to use his policies to settle old racial scores. Beck's overall plan is to create an atmosphere in which the White House can accomplish nothing, and he's carrying it out by preying on race-based fears and mobilizing hate. Beck relies on dishonesty, distortion and exaggeration, and he is embarking on character assassinations of Obama administration officials with whom he disagrees.

FOX has a horrible track record on pushing racist propaganda, but Glenn Beck appears to be taking the network to an even lower standard. He's trying to divide and distract America when we should be coming together and talking about issues that really matter--like health care and the economy.

The good news is that we have the power to stop this. Over 175,000 people have joined this campaign, and 62 advertisers have already stopped their ads from being run during Beck's show. Please help keep the momentum building.

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/hold/?id=2101-1089494

Thanks.

Here are some links to more info:

"Beck: Obama has 'exposed himself as a guy' with 'a deep seated hatred for white people'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008

"Glenn Beck: Obama agenda driven by 'reparations' and desire to 'settle old racial scores'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907230040

Health Care Reform

And a real death panel decision.

As the world burns

Fascinating and scary sequence of fires around the globe from 2000 to present day.

And amazing video taken from the International Space Station of Sarychev Peak exploding.

The creatures from the Black Lagoon

Inside the mind of Mark Foley.

Inside the pants of Michael Duvall, a family values Republican state representative from Orange County, California. His resignation came rather fast...

One in 33 Female Worshipers Is Target of Sexual Advances by Clergy Member

Rep. Joe Wilson having to apologize for shouting,"You lie!' at the president. Broke the House rules.

And then finally.... Russia:

Dalarna, Sweden – Russia angrily denied media reports over the weekend that a freighter seized in what was dubbed the first act of piracy in northern Europe in over 100 years was in fact carrying a secret cargo of missiles to Iran.

"This is absolutely not true," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, reacting to claims made in last week's Sunday Times (London) and elsewhere that the Arctic Sea, the ship allegedly hijacked on July 28 off Sweden's coast and released on Aug. 16 by a Russian Navy ship, was secretly carrying S-300 antiaircraft missiles to Iran. The ship's official cargo was timber bound for Algeria.

Nevertheless, rumors continue to swirl around the seizure of the Arctic Sea, not least because Russia has not been forthcoming about the results of its investigation, centering around eight men who it says hijacked the ship and are now in Russian custody.

What all the spittle-flecked mouth breathers

Really mean when they scream about Obama's islamofascistic nazisocialistic commie tendencies. Even though they will deny it.

Hat in hand, boy!:

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) said today that, because of angry town hallers and the like, President Obama should show "humility" when he speaks to Congress Wednesday night.

(updated with more links)

As long as you give health insurance companies your money

They are fine with covering you. It's when you actually try to use it that they get mad at you. And drop you. After years and years of paying into the program.

The money is for health care for the CEOs, not for you.

Isn't greed a pre-existing condition?

Update: Robert Reich on the public option:

Slowly strangling the farmers

Massive seed corporation Monsanto -- through acquisitions and cut-throat business practices -- has cornered 90% of the soy, 65% of the corn, and 70% of the cotton market, and has a rapidly growing presence in the fruit and vegetable market, all without government anti-trust officials raising an eyebrow.

Not only that, but in order to be productive, the entire line of Monsanto's seeds all but require the use of Roundup herbicide, trapping all of their customers into buying it. And who owns Roundup? You guessed it, Monsanto.

Monsanto has, it seems, cornered the market on abusive monopolistic practices as well. In the middle of a recession, while farmers' incomes are dropping, Monsanto recently announced a 42% price hike on its most popular genetically modified seeds. When in many areas of the country distributors carry nothing but these seeds, this sure looks like evidence of a monopolist abusing its market position.

President Obama's antitrust chief Christine Varney has promised rigorous enforcement of antitrust law with a special focus on the agricultural sector. She should start with the worst of the worst, Monsanto. Sign the petition to demand that Varney immediately open an investigation into Monsanto and its abusive business practices.

And:

Last year's food riots in Haiti, India, Indonesia and elsewhere sounded the alarm bell for a painful level of global hunger that is only going to increase with a growing population and a changing climate. In a promising move, the G8 -- a group of the world's eight wealthiest nations -- has just announced a shift away from providing direct food aid to developing countries and towards helping farmers abroad produce and distribute their own food.

That's a laudable goal. But the Obama administration along with members of the U.S. Congress are using this singular moment to move their own agenda: propping up U.S. biotechnology companies like Monsanto. They hope to accomplish this by promoting genetically modified seeds and chemical inputs as tools to fight hunger through an exclusive focus on increasing crop yields. One powerful Senate committee has already passed a bill, sponsored by Senators Casey (D-PA) and Lugar (R-IN), that requires GMO technology to be part of the U.S. agricultural research agenda abroad. We need to tell them not to use our tax dollars to market Monsanto's products abroad!

Despite all the hype, GMOs have simply failed to deliver: there is no evidence that exporting this technology to the developing world will actually boost productivity. A recent analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that GMOs have had almost no impact on crop yields in the United States. Further, GMOs have little to offer drought-prone regions like Africa. Simply put: there are no drought-tolerant GMOs currently on the market. The only two GMO seed traits available -- sold by the biotechnology giants Monsanto and Bayer CropScience -- are herbicide tolerance and pest resistance for a handful of commodity crops like corn, soy and cotton. And not only are the existing seeds expensive but the use of these seeds would also tether poor farmers to the synthetic pesticides and fertilizers GMOs require.

Dedicating millions of dollars in aid money to biotechnology companies also reduces the funding available for proven agro-ecological systems and infrastructure improvements that are more appropriate for small and limited-resource producers.

Sign this petition today to tell your Senators that the path out of poverty isn't through Monsanto's doors. Ask them to oppose Casey-Lugar and any development aid bill that promotes GMO technology.

As simple as it could be

From Bill Moyers "Here's a suggestion, Mr. President: ask Josh Marshall to draft your speech. Josh is the founder of the website talkingpointsmemo.com. He's a journalist and historian, not a politician. He doesn't split things down the middle and call it a victory for the masses. He's offered the simplest and most accurate description yet of a public insurance plan -- one that essentially asks people: would you like the option -- the voluntary option -- of buying into Medicare before you're 65? Check it out, Mr. President."

No death panels, no denial of care, no pre-existing conditions, no rightwing hysteria.

Just a simple question.

Ask it, Mr. President.

Blog sprinkles

To help you figure out why billowing smoke is coming out of the computer tower vents...


click to embiggen..

And speaking of fires, California could use this information from Bryan of Why Now? The real hazards of wood ash after a burn.


Look forward, not back! There's nothing to see or learn from, really! No investigations are needed!

Steve Benen muses that Obama must really hate Bush:

I've been trying, however, to think about this from Obama's perspective. Bush left him with a generational economic crisis, an abysmal job market, a budget mess, a war in Iraq, a deteriorating war in Afghanistan, an nuclear-armed and unstable Pakistan, a nuclear-armed and nutty North Korea, a warming planet, a collapsing U.S. auto industry, an ineffective health care system, a massive debt, an absurd national energy framework, and a nation that has lost much of its global prestige.

Ready to dive in and start getting the nation back on track, the president is told, "Wait, before you tackle this to-do list, we have to deal with the consequences of the previous administration's alleged war crimes, too."

It's no wonder No Drama Obama prefers to turn the proverbial page.

I still wonder what happened to Riverbend of Baghdad Burning.

Matt Taibbi:

Let's start with the obvious: America has not only the worst but the dumbest health care system in the developed world. It's become a black leprosy eating away at the American experiment — a bureaucracy so insipid and mean and illogical that even our darkest criminal minds wouldn't be equal to dreaming it up on purpose.

The system doesn't work for anyone. It cheats patients and leaves them to die, denies insurance to 47 million Americans, forces hospitals to spend billions haggling over claims, and systematically bleeds and harasses doctors with the specter of catastrophic litigation. Even as a mechanism for delivering bonuses to insurance-company fat cats, it's a miserable failure: Greedy insurance bosses who spent a generation denying preventive care to patients now see their profits sapped by millions of customers who enter the system only when they're sick with incurably expensive illnesses.

The cost of all of this to society, in illness and death and lost productivity and a soaring federal deficit and plain old anxiety and anger, is incalculable — and that's the good news. The bad news is our failed health care system won't get fixed, because it exists entirely within the confines of yet another failed system: the political entity known as the United States of America.

Cell phones are rotting our brains!

One man's trash.... makes a neat house!

Too many pennies!

Mentioned in comments somewhere:

The Chemists Drinking Song
Words by : John A. Carroll (inspired by Isaac Asimov) Tune of : The Irish Washerwoman

Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde,
Sodium citrate, ammonium cyanide,
Mix 'em together and add some benzene,
And top off the punch with trichloroethylene.

Got gassed up last night with some furfuryl alcohol, Followed it up with a gallon of propanol, Tanked up on hydrazine 'til after noon, Then spit on the floor and blew up the saloon.

Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde,
Powdered aluminum, nitrogen iodide, Chlorates, permanganates, nitrates galore, Just swallow one drink and you'll never need more.

Whiskey, tequila, and rum are too tame. No, the stuff that I drink must explode into flame, When I breathe and dissolve all the paint in the room, And rattle the walls in a ground-shaking boom.

Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde,
Go soak your head in a good strong insecticide, Slosh it around and impregnate your brain, With dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane.

Just let the mothers at the Mom And Me group have at him.

And ... ew? ....

Orlando, FL (AHN) - The unknown animal found inside a can of Diet Pepsi drank by a man from Ormond Beach, Florida last July was a frog or toad, the Food and Drug Administration has confirmed after testing the product.

How to talk to Republicans....

If you must.

Actually, I just wanted to copy Coulter's idiot title on her work of fiction....

Al Franken shows respect and intelligence in this video.



He's wonderful.

Exactly.

Delicious

From nonny mouse at Crooks and Liars.

Why are the Republicans all plugging their ears

And singing 'La la la I can't hear you la la la'?

WASHINGTON -- Government efforts to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy appear to be helping the U.S. climb out of the worst recession in decades.

Ah. Never mind.

Update: .... but then again...Atrios reminds us

Run away! Run away!

I wonder what kind of recordings the Bush NSA wiretapping has on Ridge.... Ridge was really pitiful on the Rachel Maddow show when she ever so gently eviscerated him.

Listen to all three videos

To hear what an impassioned journalist sounds like. Bill Moyers talking to Bill Maher: One, two and three. Definitely worth your time.

h/t to Steve Bates