Winning The War On Poverty

The Way to Beat Poverty - NYTimes.com:

...Jessica reminded us that the greatest inequality in America is not in wealth but the even greater gap of opportunity. We had been trying to help people in Zimbabwe and Cambodia, and now we found ourselves helpless to assist one of our daughter’s best friends.

One reason the United States has not made more progress against poverty is that our interventions come too late. If there’s one overarching lesson from the past few decades of research about how to break the cycles of poverty in the United States, it’s the power of parenting — and of intervening early, ideally in the first year or two of life or even before a child is born...

The Bought And Paid For: George Will Edition

George Will Promoted "Key Issue" Of Lobbying Group Two Weeks After Keynoting Its Conference | Blog | Media Matters for America:

George Will promoted a "key issue" of a lobbying group in his Washington Post column just two weeks after giving the keynote address at its conference.

Journalism ethicists have recently raised concerns about Will's ethical practices, and have urged greater transparency and disclosure in his Post columns. Will has been criticized for failing to reveal his connections to Wisconsin's conservative Bradley Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a massive political group backed by the industrialist Koch brothers...

Benghazi Recap Redux

Facts Media Haven't Covered From The New 13 Hours Benghazi Book | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...This disagreement was eventually politicized and inflated by media and political figures, who insisted that members of the Obama administration, or then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had ordered rescue efforts to "stand down" permanently and leave Americans to die. But as the contractors explained to Tapper, though they believe they could have done more to save American lives that night had they been allowed to leave immediately, they did not view the decision as one of "malice" towards Americans, nor did they place the blame for the decision on anyone higher up than the base chief...

Palin Pugilistics, Part 2

'Money Boo Boo' - The Most Hilarious Responses To Palin Family Drunken Brawl Found On Twitter | Firebrand Progressives:

When the news broke that the Palin family was involved in a drunken street brawl, it was met by a lot of skepticism that it really happened. Some things, after all, just seem too good to be true. But it really did happen. There are at least two witnesses who have given their accounts, one of which went on Good Morning America and subsequently got fired for doing so...

Terror Advice

Common sense please, ISIS more hype than threat (VIDEO):

...If America continues to react to every group that scares us by arbitrarily killing Americans and making threats on social media they likely cannot honor, it will actually make us less secure. America should invest in making America safer at home and letting those most affected by regional threats keep their own houses in order. Sadly Americans die every day in the streets of America and abroad. It is simply not sensationalized in a manner that affects good policy.

We must use common sense. Terrorists are not only in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia. They are all over. Many are already here in the US, both Muslims and Christians (Islamist terrorists and Right Wing militia terrorists in waiting). Dropping bombs in Iraq and Syria does nothing to prevent them from acting. Terrorists DO NOT need a base of operation.

We must not allow the neocons and the military industrial complex to profit once again at the expense of investing our taxes in middle-class programs, middle-class projects, and security at home.

Comment Of The Day: Flogging Darth Edition

MSNBC's Ed Schultz Calls Out Wall Street Journal Editorial Board For "Hiding" The Facts About Dick Cheney | Video | Media Matters for America

ModerateMan









•


a day ago

Obama and the United States owe Cheney a huge apology.

Cheney.
I'm sorry. We were wrong. We should have never allowed you to become
VP so you could push this country into the worst and most criminal war
in American history. We should have called you out on your delusions
that this war was going to be a quick little walk in the park.

Because
we allowed you and your fall guy to be in the WH...We actually ensured
that the terrorist organizations would get in and create the problems
they are creating now. When you said that they had WMD's...We should
have laughed you out of the WH. When you said that Iraq had something
to do with 9/11 and was trying to build nukes, we should have called you
out on your Bullshyt.

I'm sorry Cheney. We should have seen you
for the evil, sadistic, greedy, lying, backstabbing, unAmerican, bitter,
hateful and pompous piece of dried up, run over and fly ridden shyt
that you truly are.

I'm sorry you will burn in hell. Actually. No I'm not. Not even a little.

Palin Pugilistics, Part 1

Sarah Palin's Family Allegedly in Alaska House Party Brawl - ABC News:

Sarah Palin and her family were at the center of a lively party last weekend that erupted into a fight, with daughter Bristol Palin allegedly throwing a right hook, a man who says he was a guest at the party told ABC News.

“She was punching him [another man] in the face like six times; it was an assault if I’ve ever seen one,” Eric Thompson said, adding that he was among 70 guests at the birthday party in Anchorage Saturday...

More Brown Witnesses

“He had his hands in the air!”: New witnesses of Michael Brown’s killing come forward - Salon.com
  and here's another take on the same story.

Another No-Empathy GOPer

What Kind Of Man Writes A Letter Like This? Doctor Lays Off Long-Time Employee After Cancer Diagnosis | Firebrand Progressives:

... I hate the thought of bringing politics into a personal tragedy like Jumper’s. But I am fed up with pretending that the personal is not political. This tragic story is perhaps the most graphic illustration I’ve seen of how the personal and political in this country have intersected at the gateway to Hell.

It’s bad enough that I’m forced to end this by paraphrasing Newt Gingrich in 1994: there’s a sickness in this country today, and the only cure for that sickness is to vote progressive. This year, and every year after that. Until the Carol Jumpers of the world never have to fear receiving such a despicable letter.

The State vs. Church Argument In ME

Islamists Are Not Our Friends - NYTimes.com:

...President Obama is right to note the old order’s disappearance in the region and the time it’s taking for a new one to emerge. The administration is struggling to define an effective strategy — but the Islamist vs. non-Islamist divide creates an opening...

Nine Eleven Syndrome

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Cont'd - Esquire:

...What happened in New York 13 years ago deranged a nation that was almost begging to be deranged. The Soviet Union was gone. Grenada, Panama, the First Gulf War, the Balkans, in all these places where we made war, we had what were essentially walkover victories. We had no geopolitical enemies, no country strangling our trade, or impressing our seamen, or bombing our Pacific fleet, or pointing nuclear missiles at our cities any more. Then the planes hit the towers, and the towers came down, and we had an enemy again. We declared war on a tactic. We declared war on "terror." The concept was so patently absurd that dozens of other absurdities naturally flowed from it, the most glaring of which was the preposterous and mendacious case made for our invasion and occupation of Iraq. We jumped at shadows, heard voices in our heads, ducked and covered and lost our minds, and there were people in positions of power who were happy to oblige us for their own political and economic benefit. Then, we elected a new president, and the new president extricated us from the occupation of Iraq, and from whatever the hell we were doing in Afghanistan, which primarily seemed to be keeping the people who live there from slaughtering each other. But the war on the tactic never ended because it cannot end. You cannot defeat "terror," because it has too many allies, some of them in your own government. It is embedded in the political culture now as deeply as the Cold War ever was -- and that is not an accident, either. War against someone, war against something, somewhere, anywhere, is one of the last unifying elements in a country that was encouraged by both its declared antagonists, and by far too many people within its own government, to become deranged...

GOPer Foreign Policy

No More Mister Nice Blog:

...I think this quote is being interpreted, in part, as "We Republicans don't want to be saddled with any of the blame if the military action runs into problems." But why would that happen? When there are foreign policy problems, presidents get blamed. The president is the commander in chief of the armed forces. Many Democrats signed on to the Iraq War and denounced it later. The Bush administration got the lion's share of the blame.

No, I think this is about Republicans wanting to run as the We Hate Obama With The Fury Of A Thousand Suns And Would Denounce Him If He Cured Cancer And Simultaneously Saved A Thousand Newborns From A Burning Building Party. This is about not even wanting to hint at the possibility that Obama has any appropriate policies or redeeming features whatsoever -- certainly not with an election coming up!...

Lying Liars: WaPo Edition

Our Incredibly Dishonest Media Does It Again | Crooks and Liars

Loser Dems

Why Democrats Can’t Win the House - NYTimes.com:

...How is it possible that the Democrats, who have won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections, are at such a disadvantage in the House, theoretically the most representative body of government? It is the biggest paradox in American electoral politics.

Democrats often blame gerrymandering, but that’s not the whole story. More than ever, the kind of place where Americans live — metropolitan or rural — dictates their political views. The country is increasingly divided between liberal cities and close-in suburbs, on one hand, and conservative exurbs and rural areas, on the other. Even in red states, the counties containing the large cities — like Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis and Birmingham — lean Democratic...

Wrong On DA

Opinion: Wife-beating is not a private matter - CNN.com:

...It's not up to victims to decide whether their husbands should be prosecuted. Abusers damage the community, not just the women they assault. Whether the Rices and Fullers stay married is their business; but whether Ray Rice and Judge Mark Fuller committed crimes should be a question for prosecutors, and ultimately, juries to decide.

Unfortunately, it looks like the prosecutors failed in Atlantic City and Atlanta. The sweet deals for these two prominent defendants cannot be undone; the double jeopardy clause of the Constitution forbids it. All the rest of us can do is hope that the next prominent man who beats up his wife doesn't get off as easy.

It's not your business or mine until it spills into pattern behavior. This is similar to labeling a mooning teenager a sexual pervert for life.

Putting Them Away In NOLA

Former New Orleans mayor starts 10-year sentence for graft | Reuters:

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin reported to federal prison on Monday to begin serving a 10-year sentence for corruption committed during the years when the city was struggling to recover from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina...

The Immoral Scalia

Scalia’s utter moral failure: How he destroys any claim to a superior system of justice - Salon.com:

...This man claims that he could not be a judge if he thought his participation in the death penalty was immoral and yet he does not believe it matters under the Constitution if the state executes innocent people. How on earth can such a depraved person be on the Supreme Court of the United States? On what basis can our country lay claim to a superior system of justice and a civilized moral order when such people hold power?

Liars' Loans And Econ Collapse

Finally, Wall Street gets put on trial: We can still hold the 0.1 percent responsible for tanking the economy - Salon.com:

... This is a difficult thing to understand—indeed, not understanding it is the stated reason Obama Administration officials have made no effort to send financiers to jail—so let us take this slowly. Executives at the mortgage origination companies got huge bonuses in those days for writing lots of loans. OK? They wanted to write more of them, and the only way to really crank out mortgages on a vast scale was by giving one to anyone who wanted one, regardless of their ability to pay, a feat that is only possible by means of the “liar’s loan.” So: Liar’s loans = rich bankers.

Now, it just so happens that liar’s loans are a lousy product, something that is virtually guaranteed to fail when prices stop rising, something that everyone knew at the time would fail when the bubble burst. That’s why you don’t see liar’s loans when banks are honest and regulators are on the job. Because the bank that makes liar’s loans—and the investor who buys a security based on liar’s loans—will eventually lose their money. That’s why they are banned today. So: Liar’s loans = dead banks. Liar’s loans = slow-acting arsenic. But on the other hand, the immediate bonuses that mortgage execs were collecting for making these poisonous loans were so sweet that they didn’t really care about the long-term effects. So while those awful loans they wrote eventually sank all the big subprime houses—and wrecked the global economy to boot, with Europe still in ruins, etc.—the bankers themselves lived to sail away into the sunset, their yachts laden with bullion...

 So if you understand how this works, you're smarter than Obama.

Deep Racism

The new racism, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin: Deny it exists and smear the victim.:

...In other words, to dismiss racism as a general concern is to also stand against the claim that in the deaths of Martin and Brown, race matters. Indeed, you have to deny that discrimination mattered for either victim. And to do that, you have to challenge their victimhood. If Michael Brown was a thug, if he was violent and aggressive, then Officer Wilson was justified. Suddenly, it’s a “good kill,” not a deadly case of profiling.

Put another way, if countless people believe in the myth of the thuggish Trayvon and the dangerous Mike, it’s because they have to—without the monsters, their worldview couldn’t stand.

The Daily Flashback: Latin America Edition

Noam Chomsky exclusive: Pope Francis, Oscar Romero and the horror of Reagan foreign policy - Salon.com:

...Daniel Kovalik, a human rights lawyer and Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is among a small group of academics that have dedicated their time to write about the bitter legacy of these crimes. When I contacted him for comment, he told me that the U.S.’ “war on Latin America” really began in 1962 in response to the emergence of Liberation Theology, a Marxist-influenced school of thought within Catholicism which emphasized social justice and advocated peaceful activism designed to improve the lives of the poor.

American assaults on multiple societies below its southern border were “designed, in large part, to wipe out that movement” Kovalik suggested, recalling that “we know from its training manuals and training exercises as well, the [U.S.-run] School of the Americas trained Latin American military personnel to view community priests as suspect and to attack them accordingly.”

“The result was the murder of scores of Catholic priests, nuns and a number of Bishops from 1962 and continuing indeed to the present time,” he added...

Piggery In LA

Baton Rouge cop resigns after he’s caught texting desire to ‘pull a Ferguson’ on ‘n*ggers’:

A police officer in Baton Rouge resigned Thursday after a local news channel revealed that he sent text messages in which he wished that fellow officers “would pull a Ferguson” on a “bunch of monkeys,” The Advocate reports...

The Daily Flashback: Savages Edition

When Fox News Didn't Blame The (GOP) President For Beheadings | Blog | Media Matters for America:

... That last part is telling because in the spring of 2004, when Cheney was vice president and the misbegotten war he championed was raging in Iraq, two American citizens, Nick Berg and Paul Johnson, were also kidnapped by Islamic terrorists and were also beheaded for the world to see. But of course, Cheney didn't see that as a sign of President Bush's weakness and ineffectiveness, and neither did the White House's loyal band of professional defenders at Fox News.

Even six years into Obama's presidency, it's still stunning to see how radically different Fox presents the news and frames its commentary based entirely on which party controls the White House. When Bush was president, Fox talkers urged that Americans come together and support the administration as it battled lawless killers ("murders," "sadists," "savages") who decapitated Americans...

All Those Losers!

Limbaugh Guest Host Erick Erickson: Minimum Wage Workers Are "Mostly People Who Failed At Life" | Video | Media Matters for America

...especially the ones living off Wingnut Welfare.

Launching The Propaganda FL Style

Florida Lawmaker: Make Students Watch Dinesh D'Souza's Movie Because America Owes It To Those Who Died Protecting Freedom | Right Wing Watch:

Florida state Senator Alan Hays was the guest on "WallBuilders Lives" today, explaining the need for his legislation that would require every eighth grade student in the state to watch Dinesh D'Souza's ridiculous film "America: Imagine The World Without Her..."

A Warning For Cons

Clickety-Clack Go The Tumbrels - Esquire:

...But the jury understood the facts and they understood the law. (And their relatively short deliberation indicates that they got the point fairly quickly, and that they were not distracted by the baroque details of how the McDonnell marriage came apart.) This should come as something of a cautionary tale for people like Scott Walker, and Rick Perry, and Chris Christie, to say nothing of the political reporters who too easily dismiss the trouble they could be in back home. People, especially people on juries, understand more than you think they do.

Biden Gets Tough

Biden Warns: We Will Chase ISIS 'to the Gates of Hell' - NBC News.com:

Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the United States will follow militant group ISIS "to the gates of Hell."

"The American people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand," Biden said in the wake of the killing of a second American journalist by the extremist group. "As a nation we are united and when people harm Americans we don’t retreat, we don’t forget..."

Tea Leaves Wrong On Health Spending

The Medicare Miracle - NYTimes.com:

...The story so far: We’ve all seen projections of giant federal deficits over the next few decades, and there’s a whole industry devoted to issuing dire warnings about the budget and demanding cuts in Socialsecuritymedicareandmedicaid. Policy wonks have long known, however, that there’s no such program, and that health care, rather than retirement, was driving those scary projections. Why? Because, historically, health spending has grown much faster than G.D.P., and it was assumed that this trend would continue.

But a funny thing has happened: Health spending has slowed sharply, and it’s already well below projections made just a few years ago. The falloff has been especially pronounced in Medicare, which is spending $1,000 less per beneficiary than the Congressional Budget Office projected just four years ago...

Terra! Terra! Terra!

Terraists are everywhere!

What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days? - Esquire:

...Look, I have no illusions about the barbarians over there. But this is starting to sound like Saddam's balsa-wood escadrille that was going to come over and drop anthrax bombs on the Little League World Series. You close your eyes and listen and, very soon, you get the image of people running around in circles, looking for a goat to sacrifice, reading the signs left by flocks of birds, and pleading with the sun god to enfold us in his arms. Rap music? Honky, please. Can everyone just settle the fk down?...

The South, Unions, And Nonsense

Why white men hate unions: The South, the new workforce and the GOP war on your self-interest - Salon.com

Don't look for an intelligent answer to the question posed in the above link. The union-hating is supposedly because of the word "union" and the perceived notion that people living below the Mason-Dixon get up every morning and refight the Uncivil War. Talk about a shallow dive into the shallow end of the analytical pool. 

The Daily Flashback: Thieving Liars Edition

The 1 percent’s long con: Jim Cramer, the Tea Party’s roots, and Wall Street’s demented, decades-long scheme - Salon.com:

...And there were incredible prizes to be won as long as the bubble continued to swell, as long as the fiction of Wall Street as an alternative to democratic government became more and more plausible. Maybe the Glass-Steagall act could finally be repealed; maybe the SEC could finally be grounded; maybe antitrust could finally be halted. And, most enticingly of all, maybe Social Security could finally be “privatized” in accordance with the right-wing fantasy of long standing. True, it would be a staggering historical reversal for Democrats to consider such a scheme, but actually seeing it through would require an even more substantial change of image on Wall Street’s part. The financiers would have to convince the nation that they were worthy of the charge, that they were as public-minded and as considerate of the little fellow as Franklin Roosevelt himself had been. Although one mutual fund company actually attempted this directly—showing footage of FDR signing the Social Security Act in 1935 and proclaiming, “Today, we’re picking up where he left off”—most chose a warmer, vaguer route, showing us heroic tableaux of hardy midwesterners buying and holding amidst the Nebraska corn, of World War II vets day-trading from their suburban rec-rooms, of athletes talking like insiders, of church ladies phoning in their questions for the commentator on CNBC; of mom and pop posting their very own fire-breathing defenses of Microsoft on the boards at Raging Bull. This was a boom driven by democracy itself, a boom of infinite possibilities, a boom that could never end.

Refuting A Con Claim On Racial Violence

Do black leaders ignore black-on-black crime? - Chicago Tribune:

...There's another, bigger problem with the preoccupation with "black-on-black crime." The term suggests race is the only important factor. Most crimes are committed by males, but we don't refer to "male-on-male crime." Whites in the South are substantially more prone to homicide than those in New England, but no one laments "Southerner-on-Southerner crime." Why does crime involving people of African descent deserve its own special category?...

Turkey Neck Loses Vulture

Mitch McConnell campaign manager resigns in fallout from Iowa case - LA Times:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, locked in a fierce reelection fight in Kentucky, lost the services Friday of his tea party-allied campaign manager, who abruptly quit over a scandal involving the 2012 Iowa presidential caucuses...

Join A Union!

I never could but I would have in a heartbeat joined a union.



Why Fight For Unions? So We Can Fight An Economy Rigged Against Us | Crooks and Liars:

...This is where labor unions come in. Working people organizing into a group so they are not fighting this power alone as individuals gives them a chance to demand a slice of the pie.

Campaign for America's Future has released a report, “Inequality: Rebuilding the Middle Class Requires Reviving Strong Unions.” The introduction explains that, "Government policy helped strengthen the hand of workers and build the middle class coming out of World War II, and today government must once more become an ally of working people. The effort to make that happen will meet fierce resistance, but the report shows that the first steps have begun..."

Class Warfare And White Privlege

Cannonfire "White Privlege Or Class Privelge":

The right-wing media infrastructure exists for one great purpose: To convince the white underclass to direct their rage at any target other than the class system.

On Fox, class is a permissible topic of discussion -- but only when the target is a liberal who happens to have some money: The Clintons, Al Gore, Michael Moore, the Kennedy clan, Hollywood celebrities and so forth. If you are liberal and affluent, the Fox crowd will sneer at you endlessly -- but if you are a Republican, you can light your cigars with $100 bills while pissing on homeless people, and Bill O'Reilly won't say a word against you.

White Privilege Or Something Else

Bill O’Reilly and White Privilege - NYTimes.com:

...“Last night on ‘The Factor,’ Megyn Kelly and I debated the concept of white privilege whereby some believe that if you are Caucasian you have inherent advantages in America. ‘Talking Points’ does not, does not believe in white privilege. However, there is no question that African-Americans have a much harder time succeeding in our society than whites do.”

It is difficult to believe that those three sentences came in that order from the same mouth. Why would it be harder for blacks to succeed? Could interpersonal and, more important, systemic bias play a role? And, once one acknowledges the presence of bias as an impediment, one must by extension concede that being allowed to navigate the world without such biases is a form of privilege...

Ferguson Audio Not Hoax

Attorney asks CNN for ‘redress’ of ‘hoax’ comment regarding Ferguson tape - The Washington Post:

 Lopa Blumenthal says she knows how today’s news cycles go. “I understand that the media’s fickle,” she says.

Yet she says she’s “not going to tolerate” the treatment she received this morning on CNN’s “New Day” morning program. As reported on this blog, a CNN law-enforcement commentator, Tom Fuentes, said of an audiotape whose release Blumenthal had negotiated with CNN on Monday: “When I heard this yesterday, I thought the exact same thing — it’s a hoax,” said Fuentes, who clarified that he was ultimately unsure of its status...

Flogging Joe (And Ron)

Joe Scarborough Career - A Gobshite Special Report: Morning Squint - Esquire:

...Joe Scarborough, the mysteriously well-compensated host of a micro-rated morning talk show asylum for disgraced hacks and television historians, has brought out a new book-like product about which we likely will be hearing far too much on our liberal MSNBC teevee network. Anyway, it seems that Scarborough has taken it upon himself to rescue his beloved Republican party and to return it to the values of Ronald Reagan, who gutted civil rights laws, started his campaign talking about "states rights" not far from the improvised graves of murdered civil-rights workers, made up stories about black bucks buying steaks and welfare queens with their Cadillacs, sold missiles to the people who bankrolled the killing of hundreds of our Marines, and then used the cash to bankroll his own terrorists in this hemisphere. Ah, the good old days. Joe is simply agog at what a monkeyhouse his Republican party has become, and he can't stands no more...

Voting For Dems Despite...

Cannonfire:"Why you should donate to the Dems in spite of Obama"

 One excellent measurement of this country's segue into insanity can be found in the fact that Mitch McConnell is not far enough to the right to please many Tea Partiers. How is that even possible? Mitch is as hideous a reactionary as the Senate has ever seen. Asking him to be more conservative is like saying Baltimore should be more humid in the summer.

In his secretly-recorded speech before a conclave of billionaires -- all gathered together under the aegis of the Koch brothers -- Mitch makes Mitt Romney seem like Michael Parenti. Here is what Mitch promises if Republicans control the Senate:...

Girl Guns Instructor

It's AP-- no words. 9-year-old girl accidentally kills gun instructor with Uzi - San Jose Mercury News

Remembering O'Candidate

Cannonfire: "Cornel West Wakes Up"

My question is: Why were people like Cornel West unable to recognize Obama's counterfeit nature back in 2008? I could see it. It was as plain as a dog turd on a frozen lake. He was so obviously counterfeit that I don't even feel comfortable calling him a counterfeit.

White Police Victims In NM

Is Police Brutality Color-Blind? | The Smirking Chimp:

...As anyone who regularly follows news pertaining to police brutality knows, the police are generally out of control across the country and the victims of their brutishness are not just African-Americans – but in fact, Latinos, Asians, and yes, even white people.

In one recent case that received some national attention, police shot and killed a homeless white man in Albuquerque, New Mexico, sparking a wave of demonstrations in the city. Police officers gunned down 38-year-old James Boyd on March 16 in the Sandia foothills following a standoff and after he allegedly brandished a small knife, authorities said. But a helmet-camera video showed Boyd agreeing to walk down the mountain, gathering his things and taking a step toward officers just before they opened fire...

Punking The Cons

"Josie" Story of Brown Shooting Lifted From Fake Facebook Page - See Updated Timeline Below - Little Green Footballs:

I posted this in the comments on another thread, but I think it needs repeating. The anonymous caller “Josie”, who supposedly gave Officer Wilson’s version of the story was very obviously just repeating a Facebook post. A Facebook post that even breitbart.com admits is a Hoax. Compare for yourself...

Breaking An Eye In Ferguson

CNN's Stelter: Fox Used Baseless Fractured Eye Socket Report For 'Sowing Doubt' About Michael Brown | Crooks and Liars:

...Stelter pointed out that the most public officials had ever confirmed was that the officer had a swollen face. And in fact, a CNN source refuted the broken eye socket claim.

"I have yet to see any firm evidence of an eye socket injury," Stelter said. "But that does not seem to matter because these claims have spread all over the place, sowing doubt in people's minds about what happened that terrible day in Ferguson."

Corruption In NY

Zephyr Teachout’s Anti-Corruption Campaign:

...The entrance into the electorate of men who owned little or no property democratized American politics. The fear that they would sell their votes—a fear that was not unfounded—was chiefly addressed, in the eighteen-eighties, by the adoption of the secret ballot. In the eighteen-nineties, reformers who had fought against machine politics turned their attention to a new source of corruption: big business. In 1894, Elihu Root proposed an amendment to New York’s constitution, banning “great aggregations of wealth”—corporations—“from using their corporate funds, directly or indirectly to send members of the legislature to these halls, in order to vote for their protection and the advancement of their interests as against those of the public.” The amendment failed, but Root kept the issue on the agenda when he helped Theodore Roosevelt campaign for mayor of New York, in 1886, and for governor, in 1898. In 1905, when Roosevelt was President (Root served as his Secretary of State), he told Congress, “All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law...”

Palin Said This

...whatever it is.

Sarah Palin Picks Imaginary Fight With Elizabeth Warren, Loses | Mother Jones:

...'We believe?' Wait, I thought fast food joints, hurh. Don’t you guys think that they’re like of the Devil or somethin’ I was. Liberals, you want to send those evil employees who would dare work at a fast food joint then ya just don’t believe in, thought you wanted to, I dunno, send them to Purgatory or somethin’ so they all go VEGAN and, uh, wages and picket lines I dunno they’re not often discussed in Purgatory, are they? I dunno why are you even worried about fast food wages because dha..."

A Different Candidate

Tell It to the Camera - NYTimes.com:

...Once in the office, Curtis began posting videos at the end of every day in the Legislature in which she stood in her office or kitchen, sometimes looking perky, sometimes looking exhausted, and talked into the camera. (“Day 73 and wait until you hear this ...”) Her mission was part educational, with heavy emphasis on the workings of the Business and Labor Committee.

On the other hand, it was partly pure venting. “It was so hard to ... not to walk across the floor and punch him,” she said, in a rant that Montana Republicans have already included in a mash-up of video highlights. Their collection does not note that Curtis was talking about a debate over gay rights in which another lawmaker insinuated that homosexuals lacked moral character.

Imagine what it would be like if our senators all came home every night and posted their real thoughts. When they were too tired to self-censor. Maybe we should make that a requirement.

The Daily Flashback: Bush Vacations Edition

Worst Presidential Vacation Ever: 5 Years Ago, Bush Took Time Out to Politick While New Orleans Drowned�Pensito Review:

...But this seems like the wrong moment to dwell on fault-finding, or even to point out that it took what may become the worst natural disaster in American history to pry President Bush out of his vacation.

Of course, that last bit in the NYT editorial was simply false. About five months earlier, on March 19, 2005, Bush cut short his Easter vacation to rush back to Washington for something far less urgent:

President Bush is changing his schedule to return to the White House on Sunday to be in place to sign emergency legislation that would shift the case of a brain-damaged Florida woman [Terri Schiavo] to federal courts, the White House said Saturday...

Crazy In NC: Why They're Poor Edition

Here's Why North Carolina Keeps Getting Poorer | NC House Representative Bobbie Richardson:

...Earlier this year, North Carolina also cut unemployment benefits to a 14-week maximum, which is the shortest amount in the U.S, according to The Wall Street Journal. Previously, the maximum allowed in the state was 19 weeks. In addition, North Carolina became the only state in 30 years to eliminate a state Earned Income Tax Credit, which reduced taxes for low- and moderate-income people, according to WUNC.org.

In conducting interviews with impoverished people in cities such as Charlotte, Nichol said the solution isn't as complicated as one would think...

Study: Not expanding Medicaid to cost billions

The decision by Gov. Pat McCrory and Republican lawmakers not to expand Medicaid coverage through the Affordable Care Act will cost North Carolina $51 billion in lost federal money and thousands of jobs over the next decade, according to a new report.
The study issued by the non-partisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute says the state will lose nearly $40 billion in Medicaid funding and more than $11 billion in reimbursements to North Carolina hospitals if the state continues to forgo expansion through 2022...

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/18/4079996_study-not-expanding-medicaid-to.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Crazy In NC: Voucher Edition

NC school vouchers ruled unconstitutional; state must retrieve distributed funds | NC Policy Watch:

In a stunning rebuke to state lawmakers’ efforts to bring school vouchers to North Carolina, Wake County Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood today found the recently-enacted “Opportunity Scholarship Program” unconstitutional and permanently enjoined disbursement of state funds for that purpose...

Votin's A Librul Thang

Right-Wing Media Continue To Decry Ferguson Residents Registering To Vote | Research | Media Matters for America:

...Fox News: Voter Registration Booths In Ferguson Show That "Protestors Aren't Out There For Free Speech." On the August 21 edition of Fox & Friends, host Anna Kooiman complained that Ferguson residents protesting the fatal shooting "aren't out there for freedom of speech. They're out there to push their side." Co-host Clayton Morris responded, "Setting up a voter registration booth? Yeah, you think?"

Defending Clinton

The following links to a very thorough post about Hillary Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

Is Maureen Dowd Necessary? Defanging a Hillary Basher | The New Agenda:

...Entitlement may have been the media’s mantra, but it was not Clinton’s. A woman who thinks she is owed does not bother with exhaustive preparation on every issue, nor would she have the will to campaign twenty hours a day without rest. Entitlement is allergic to hard work...

Threatening To Kill Reporter

...a Ferguson police officer has been suspended. http://egbertowillies.com/2014/08/20/ferguson-corrupt-police-officer/

Driving In Ferguson

Ferguson: Economic, Political Conditions Fuel Protest Fury - Businessweek:

...Who’s to blame in the confrontation that led to Brown’s death has yet to be sorted out. But the ArchCity Defenders report is the clearest evidence to date that Ferguson’s justice system was discriminatory in practice, if not intent, long before the police force’s heavy-handed response to the riots that followed the fatal shooting. Harvey and his co-authors found that middle-class drivers stopped by police routinely hire lawyers who knock speeding tickets down to non-moving violations; poorer drivers, mostly black, who can’t afford lawyers, often find themselves caught in a downward spiral. They get points on their licenses, they can’t afford their fines, they’re jailed, they lose their jobs, they drive with suspended licenses and get into deeper trouble...

Tea Dummies Of LA

Tea Party Of Louisiana Falls For Hoax Article: 'Common Core Turns Students Gay' | Right Wing Watch:

The Tea Party of Louisiana has declared Sen. David Vitter a “turncoat of liberty” because of his support for Common Core, warning yesterday that the education standards will turn kids gay. Vitter came out in favor of Common Core while Gov. Bobby Jindal, who once supported Common Core, is now trying — so far unsuccessfully— to repeal the standards. Angry with Vitter’s remarks, the Tea Party group responed by linking to an article titled “Common Core Turns First Wave Of Students Gay,” apparently unaware that it was from the parody website Broken World News...

The Media In Ferguson

On Reporting - Esquire:

...So much of the criticism of the people covering Ferguson in Ferguson is dead reminiscent of the complaints lodged against people like Michael Herr and Neil Sheehan in Vietnam, and against the reporters who went South to cover the Civil Rights Movement -- that they were "taking sides," or "getting in the way," or, even, "becoming the story." Let us be completely clear. The reporters whose professionalism so concerns Dylan Byers are "part of the story" because the police made them "part of the story." Forever now, as regards the events in Ferguson, Missouri, there will be those who were there, and those who were not, and the first group deserves better than being heckled by peanut galleries in ivory towers.

Nixon The Traitor

George Will Confirms Nixon's Vietnam Treason | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community:

Richard Nixon was a traitor.

The new release of extended versions of Nixon's papers now confirms this long-standing belief, usually dismissed as a "conspiracy theory" by Republican conservatives. Now it has been substantiated by none other than right-wing columnist George Will.

Nixon's newly revealed records show for certain that in 1968, as a presidential candidate, he ordered Anna Chennault, his liaison to the South Vietnam government, to persuade them refuse a cease-fire being brokered by President Lyndon Johnson.

Nixon's interference with these negotiations violated President John Adams's 1797 Logan Act, banning private citizens from intruding into official government negotiations with a foreign nation...

Now if someone will just cement Reagan's deal with the Iran Hostage-takers.

Dean Flogs Con Media

Former Nixon Counsel John Dean: Right-Wing Media Impeachment Calls, Watergate Comparisons "Absolutely Silliness" | Blog | Media Matters for America:

..."They don't understand it, they don't have a clue what happened during Watergate, do not have a clue," he added. "They want to distort that history, rewriting it, ignore it and then use it. That's the conservative media."

Dean's book, The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It (Viking 2014), is based on hours of tapes from Nixon's years at the White House, many of which were never catalogued, he said. It attempts to set the record straight on the scandal and Nixon's involvement, arguing the president's actions had broader implications than previously understood...

Comment Of The Day: War Police $ Edition

Jake Tapper Denounces Militarized Police Response In Ferguson

Pj Parker · Top Commenter 

Soldiers can have the "us vs them" attitude in a foreign land, because they go home, back to America, where' they're safe.


Police are home. This is where they live. That "us vs them" attitude
makes them above the law. It allows them to believe they are overlords
of the people, creating fear, distrust, and resentment.

This
has to stop. We don't need police 90% of the time. We need peace
keepers. We need diplomacy. We need community leaders. We need a united
community working toward the greater good.

But, war profiteers
really, really want a civil war in the USA. District Attorneys really
need to fill those for profit prisons, and lawyers and bail bondsmen
need to make a living. Look at the money to be made with little effort.
Look at the money they make now, arming an entire country's police
force as if it were a war zone. 

Chillin' The First In Ferguson

If police in Ferguson treat journalists like this, imagine how they treat residents - Vox:

...This has a much deeper and more damaging effect than just suppressing media coverage. Arresting and intimidating journalists are inherently political acts, guaranteed by design to generate attention. Much as when it's done in far-away conflict zones and authoritarian states, it's about making a statement. It's about demonstrating, to ordinary citizens even more than to journalists, that police believe they can exercise absolute control over the streets and anyone in them.

That police in Ferguson are targeting journalists so openly and aggressively is an appalling affront to basic media freedoms, but it is far scarier for what it suggests about how the police treat everyone else — and should tell us much about why Ferguson's residents are so fed up. When police in Ferguson are willing to rough up and arbitrarily arrest a Washington Post reporter just for being in a McDonald's, you have to wonder how those police treat the local citizens, who don't have the shield of a press pass...

It's The Poor, Stupid

I've repeated this theme numerous times in various comments threads, usually I'm called a racist.

The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race | TIME:

...This fist-shaking of everyone’s racial agenda distracts America from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor. Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.

And that’s how the status quo wants it...

Comment Of The Day: Gov. GoodHair Edition

The Joke That Is Rick Perry Is Not Funny - Esquire

Brea Plum · Top Commenter

This may seem flimsy, but as staffers are turning on him and as he was stupid enough to threaten, publicly, to do this before he actually did it, Perry is kind of fucked. Some of us here in Austin and elsewhere in the state are wondering if the prosecution is going to use this indictment as a foot in the door to start a real investigation of theTexas Emerging Technology Fund, which has functioned mainly as a mechanism to financially reward Perry's campaign donors. As Jim Hightower says, Perry puts the goober in gubernatorial.

Well, What Could Go Wrong Here

Residents Outraged At Open Carry Stunt In Black Neighborhood: ‘You Are Not Welcome Here’ (Video) | Americans Against the Tea Party:

What do you get when you take a bunch of insanely stupid white people, hand them loaded weapons, and turn them loose in a predominantly African-American neighborhood? Well, it seems we’ll find out on August 16 at the Cracker Crawl or whatever Open Carry Texas is choosing to call this latest foray into dumbf*ckery...

Fox Justifies Brown Killing

Fox & Friends Host: Robbery Video Shows Ferguson 'Officer Was Justified' | Crooks and Liars:

Fox News host Juliet Huddy on Sunday asserted that the Ferguson Police Department was right to release video of a robbery because it could convince protesters that the "officer was justified" when he killed unarmed teen Michael Brown...

DOJ On Brown Vide

Ferguson Police Released Robbery Video Despite DOJ Concerns:

Attorney General Eric Holder announces at the Justice Department in Washington Monday, July 14, 2014, that Citigroup will pay $7 billion to settle an investigation into risky subprime mortgages, the type that helped fuel the financial crisis. The agreement comes weeks after talks between the sides broke down, prompting the government to warn that it would sue the New York investment bank. The bank had offered to pay less then $4 billion, a sum substantially less that what the Justice Department

The Ferguson Police Department on Friday released a video that allegedly shows Michael Brown robbing a convenience store. Critics lashed out at police, saying that the footage's release was an attempt to disparage Brown's character.

CNN revealed on Saturday that the Department of Justice found out about the video earlier this week and asked police not to make it public. According to CNN, the DOJ was worried that the footage would spark more violence in Ferguson...

No More Gear Says Senators

It's AP so no quotes. Federal officials reconsider giving military equipment to police | The Rundown | PBS NewsHour

Police Watch Looting

Looting, confrontation mar Ferguson's streets once more - CNN.com:

...Some protesters tried to stop the looting, at times standing in front of one convenience store and preventing others from doing more damage. Police, criticized days earlier for being too aggressive with protesters, now drew the ire of merchants who told CNN they weren't doing enough.

"You still have a job to do now, and now you're not doing your job," Tanya Littleton said of police after thieves broke into her beauty supply shop in the St. Louis suburb and made off with bags of hair extensions worth hundreds of dollars...

GOPers Wonders About Truth

Here's One Republican Senator Who Isn't Exactly A Fan Of Fox News:

...BuzzFeed reported that he was asked how he would "fix" the media if he were in charge of it. Coburn also said that "the truth is somewhere in between" Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, and lamented the current state of journalism as a whole...

Comment On Ferguson Cop Injuries

Police Release Shooter's Name, ID Michael Brown As Robbery Suspect | Crooks and Liars

CafeenMan•2 hours 

Looks like they might pull another Zimmerman where he either injures
himself or gets someone else to do it so they have "evidence".

Taarak

 CafeenMan 2 hours ago

He was injured; when his car door closed because he was backing up too close to Mike Brown. It hit him on the nose, which really pissed him off. He then grabbed Michael through the window, and when Michel tried to pull away, Officer Wilson pulled his gun and shot him – through the open window. Officer Wilson then got out of his car, and Michael ran (still shot). Officer Wilson fired again, hitting him in the back, and Michael turned around with his hands up. Wilson fired six more times, hitting Michael in the head and chest.

Likewise, I Praise Paul

Rand Paul’s race moment - Burgess Everett - POLITICO.com:

...And some liberals found themselves praising Paul for his political bravery — however much it pained them.

“Of course I am a Democrat and the farthest thing imaginable from a right-wing libertarian. But Sen. Paul is showing some ideological spine,” said Paul Begala, a former aide to Bill Clinton. “I gotta call ‘em as I see ‘em: a guy from the party of Nixon and Reagan — whose careers were built in part on “law and order” — to be so critical of police tactics and weaponry is bracing...”

Zell Hearts Nunn

It's AP so no quotes. Former Ga. governor Zell Miller endorses Nunn's Senate bid

Ferguson Backstory

The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie - The Daily Beast:

The officers got the wrong man, but charged him anyway—with getting his blood on their uniforms. How the Ferguson PD ran the town where Michael Brown was gunned down...

Teacher Senator Candidate

Meet Montana’s Nose-Ringed Candidate for the U.S. Senate - The Daily Beast:

...In the scramble to replace Walsh (who dropped out last Thursday), Amanda Curtis has quickly emerged as the cream of a not particularly distinguished crop. Curtis, a first-term state representative from Butte who posted YouTube videos for every day that the Montana legislature was in session last year, has already received the backing of the biggest union in Montana and is attracting enthusiasm from liberal activists. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Curtis said she was “honored and humbled” to even be considered. The state representative, who isn’t running for reelection this year, said she “started getting texts, Facebook messages, emails, and phone calls” from “big Amanda fans” all over the state after Walsh dropped out. She made the decision to jump in after feeling it would be hypocritical not to run after her TEDx talk on “showing up and saying yes...”

Apparently her choices in body decoration are of interest to reporters. Must we always have mention of women's fashion? In fairness. the reporter did talk about bolo ties.

Con Fantasy Causing Police Issues

Why are Ferguson cops so completely out of control?:

...Six years of whipping yourself into a paranoid frenzy is a lot of years. I don’t even know if it’s possible for a mostly white—and with 99% certainty, mostly conservative—police force to meet a crowd of mostly black protesters in a calm, rational state after spending six years wallowing in this kind of paranoid thinking. If you’ve been waiting on tenterhooks for the violent “takeover” that right wing email chains have been predicting for years, is it even possible to see a bunch of peaceful protesters for who they are? I’m guessing not. No, you’re going to think the mythical war has finally come, and you’re going to act like it.

Police Errors In Ferguson

In Ferguson, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery gives account of his arrest - The Washington Post:

...Multiple officers grabbed me. I tried to turn my back to them to assist them in arresting me. I dropped the things from my hands.

“My hands are behind my back,” I said. “I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting.” At which point one officer said: “You’re resisting. Stop resisting.”

That was when I was most afraid — more afraid than of the tear gas and rubber bullets.

As they took me into custody, the officers slammed me into a soda machine, at one point setting off the Coke dispenser. They put plastic cuffs on me, then they led me out the door.

I could see Ryan still talking to an officer. I said: “Ryan, tweet that they’re arresting me, tweet that they’re arresting me.”

He didn’t have an opportunity, because he was arrested as well.

The officers led us outside to a police van. Inside, there was a large man sitting on the floor between the two benches. He began screaming: “I can’t breathe! Call a paramedic! Call a paramedic!”...

The legal mugging of reporters cannot be tolerated.

Actual Reporting Criticized By Cons

Conservatives Attack Reporters For Being Arrested In Ferguson | Blog | Media Matters for America:

Following the arrest of two journalists covering the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, some conservative media figures are attacking the reporters for being insufficiently deferential to police, doing "the opposite of journalism," and trying to make the story about themselves...

MoDo Goes Low On CDS And Robin Williams

Maureen Dowd Reaches Self-Parody: Links Robin Williams' Death To Hillary Clinton Attack | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...Several critics noted Dowd's tendency to turn any news event into an attack on the Clintons. Wonkette's Rebecca Schoenkopf called the piece "as glowing an example of Maureen Dowd's Hillary vendetta as any we've seen yet," while Mother Jones' Kevin Drum asked, "I wonder if there's anything left in the world that doesn't remind Dowd of Hillary Clinton?"

The answer is no. Dowd's bizarre obsession with Hillary Clinton dates back more than two decades, during which she has attacked the former secretary of state and first lady in at least 141 columns. A Media Matters analysis of Dowd's work since 1993 found that the columnist has repeatedly used popular culture references to attack Clinton, managing to link her to everything from the movie The Stepford Wives to a Picasso painting.

DINO Lite Gov In WI?

Mary Burke Gives Wisconsin Democrats A New Approach Against Scott Walker:

...Burke is the Wisconsin Democrats' attempt at a reboot after their worst losses in recent history. They lost to Walker in the 2010 governor's race, again to him in the recall and to Walker's Republican allies in the Legislature as they stripped the Democrat-leaning public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights, triggering the protests. The latest polls peg the race as a dead heat, and groups on both sides are investing millions of dollars in the contest.

While populist slogans, union rights and anti-elite insults are the traditional red meat of Democratic rallies, Burke — a former top executive at Wisconsin's Trek Bicycles — is trying to win as an experienced business professional with a plan for improving the state's underperforming economy. The idea is to attract more people concerned about Wisconsin's fiscal health than labor issues...

Anonymous On Brown Case

Anonymous video at the link.

What If Anonymous Is The Future of Protesting? - Esquire:

...Defeat spawns apathy. Anonymous, for all its double-standards and vaguery, has none of that. It's at least making an attempt to fight, which is more than most Americans have done right now. Even if Anonymous is foolish to try to bully a non-existent law's passing—overnight, too—Anonymous, with a capital or a lowercase "a," is right to speak up. It reminds us that we do, minimally, have a say over state laws. And we'll have even more of a say in a few months.

Comment Of The Day: Iraq ReReReDux Edition

Obama slams reporter: Analysis is 'bogus and wrong'

Mike Isbell · Follow · Top Commenter · Salt Lake City, Utah

You're talking to people who don't listen to facts. They know what the want to say, "it's Obamas fault, quit blaming Bush", even though Bush did it. Even though every thing you said is true, the right will not believe it. And why is it we call them the right wing when they are so wrong mostof the time.

Nugents Thanks His Sponsor

How Ted Nugent Repaid The Newspaper That Hosted His Concert (UPDATED) | Blog | Media Matters for America:

After the Toledo Blade received months of criticism for reluctantly hosting National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent at their food and music festival, the conservative commentator repaid the Ohio paper by declaring that "So as long as you know the Toledo Blade hates you, you're a good American."

Nugent has been a source of virulently racist, sexist, and homophobic commentary for years, but his January declaration that President Obama is a "subhuman mongrel" has triggered a wave of cancellations and protests of his concerts....

GOPers Will Take It All

Republican takeover of Senate appears more and more assured - The Washington Post:

...These past seven days typified the fates of the two parties this election cycle. Democrats have been hit by retirements in tough states — Montana, West Virginia, South Dakota and, to a lesser extent, Iowa — and Republicans haven’t nominated the sort of extreme candidates who lack broader appeal in a general election...

Deeper Into Iraq

Biden Signals Potential for Deeper U.S. Involvement in Iraq - WSJ:

Vice President Joe Biden on Monday told Iraqi leaders the U.S. is ready to help a new government in its fight against Islamic State militants, signaling the potential for deeper U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Mr. Biden spoke separately with Iraqi President Fuad Masum and Haider Al Abadi, the country's new prime minister-designate, by telephone the White House said. Mr. Masum selected Mr. Abadi on Monday to lead a new government,...

The Daily Flashback: Obot Remorse

One of many "I told you so" moments from me and others: Telltale signs of buyer’s remorse | The Confluence

Police Killing-- Again

Ferguson outraged after police kill teen, Michael Brown - CNN.com:

...Dorian Johnson said he was walking with Brown in the middle of the street when a police car pulled up. The officer told the teens to use the sidewalk, according to Johnson.

After an exchange of words, the officer shot Brown even after he raised his hands in the air, Johnson said.

The officer "shot again, and once my friend felt that shot, he turned around and put his hands in the air," Johnson told KMOV. "He started to get down and the officer still approached with his weapon drawn and fired several more shots..."

Not Brought To You By The Media

15 Things Americans Would Know if There Were a "Liberal Media" | Alternet:

...1. Where the jobs went.

Outsourcing (or offshoring) is a bigger contributor to unemployment in the U.S. than laziness...

Dems Do $ Better

Getting lucky: Why the economy has grown faster under Democratic presidents | Making Sen$e | PBS NewsHour:

...For the past 64 years, since Harry Truman was first elected to the White House, Democrat presidents have presided over stronger economies than their GOP counterparts — by almost any measure of economic health.

It’s not just GDP, which Making Sen$e has shown is not always the most reliable of economic indicators. Under Democratic presidents, per capita GDP has been higher; job creation has been stronger; decreases in unemployment have been greater; the S&P 500 stock index has been higher; corporate profits have been bigger; and real wages and labor productivity have increased...

Gettin' Interesting In KY

Grimes Is As Tough As McConnell -- And As Nasty:

It’s finally dawning on people, perhaps including some Republicans here in Kentucky, that the 35-year-old woman tearing into Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) day after day may be as tough and nasty as the 72-year-old five-term incumbent she is trying to oust.

At the Fancy Farm picnic this past weekend, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) clearly bested McConnell in the most elemental of political confrontations: back-to-back speeches in front of a thousand cheering and jeering partisan spectators...

Walgreen Felt Consumer Heat

How Americans Scared Walgreens Out Of A $4 Billion Tax Dodge:

...Walgreen's decision bucks a growing trend of "tax inversions" -- essentially, renunciations of U.S. corporate citizenship, in which an American company buys a business in a foreign land with low tax rates and then moves its headquarters there. President Barack Obama and some lawmakers in Congress are considering steps to end the practice. But it took the threat of a consumer boycott to make Walgreen take notice and keep its headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois...

Colbert vs. Clinton

The Colbert Report: "Hard Choices" - Hillary Clinton - YouTube

Busting Teachers

Who The Fck Is Campbell Brown? - Esquire:

...As long as, against all logic and evidence, we continue to insist on financing our public schools through local property taxes, teachers are going to be caught between the hammer of inconsistent budgets and the anvil of local politics. What Brown and her merry band of plutocrats call "tenure" is really a safeguard to guarantee due process for teachers who suddenly find that their school board wants them to teach Genesis in biology class. (Please see Kitzmiller v. Dover School Board for details.) But that doesn't matter because what Brown is fronting for has nothing to do with improving education and everything to do with busting one of the last remaining public-sector unions that people like Scott Walker haven't yet blown up...

Crazy In NC: Prince Of Evil Edition

RALEIGH: Art Pope stepping down as North Carolina budget director | State Politics | NewsObserver.com:

North Carolina’s budget director Art Pope, a major conservative donor with broad influence who became a lightning rod for critics, is leaving his post in Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration...

O'Shell Shocked

The Shellshocked Presidency - Esquire:

...For the past four years, it seems to me, at least since the American people in their infinite wisdom elected the worst Congress in the history of the Republic, the current administration has been functioning on many issues at a level approximating shell-shock. It is not that they haven't been able to get anything done; it is remarkable that they've been able to disarm Syria's chemical weapons without giving John McCain the big boom-boom that he so wanted. The economy is recovering, slowly and unevenly, and there was no second Great Depression. But, day to day, this administration has been under constant bombardment almost since the president took his hand off the Bible in 2009. It now lurches from one place to the next, hoping to find five minutes' respite from the assault on its policies, and on the very legitimacy of a twice-elected president. In this, I think, the president and his administration are very much in the place described by those researchers who studied those afflicted soldiers. This administration is slug-nutty because it is so rational. It is afflicted with the blind staggers because all of its senses are functioning "with painful efficiency." It has figured out all too well -- and far too late -- the source of the bombardment that has been laid down upon it daily for the past six years...

Poopy Pants Back At It

NRA's Ted Nugent Uses Racial Slur For Japanese While Speaking In Front Of Tea Party Crowd | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...Returning to his usual attacks on elected Democrats, Nugent called Attorney General Eric Holder a "racist" and a "felon," called for the arrest of Holder and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and said that Obama "doesn't have the credentials to drive my tour bus.."

Crazy In NC: Getting Loose Edition

RALEIGH: Wake judge's ruling to dismiss 'Moral Monday' cases could have sweeping effect | State Politics | NewsObserver.com:

A Wake County judge is expected to issue an order this week for five “Moral Monday” protester cases that could have much wider implications...

The End Of The Tea Party?

The tea party's last gasp this year - CBS News:

This is not how tea partiers had hoped things would turn out this year.

Grassroots conservatives entered 2014 hoping establishment Senate Republicans seeking re-election would be vulnerable to primary challenges: Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to name a few.

But in every instance, they've failed - in some cases, miserably. So far, they've lost every one of their intra-party Senate challenges. But the near-toppling of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran in June has given the remaining tea party-backed Senate challengers a slim hope for victory. This week's primaries offer the grassroots conservatives a last gasp at ousting some incumbents...

MoDo's Bush Book Column

This is her best column in years.

Throw the Book at Him - NYTimes.com:

...So now, symbolically washing his hands, W.’s putting out this cute little disingenuous book about his father that won’t mention that he bollixed up the globe, his presidency, and marred Jeb’s chances, all because he wasn’t listening to his father or “working the problem.”

W.’s fear of being unmanned led to America actually being unmanned. We’re in a crouch now. His rebellion against and competition with Bush senior led directly to President Obama struggling at a news conference Friday on the subject of torture. After 9/11, Obama noted, people were afraid. “We tortured some folks,” he said. “We did some things that were contrary to our values...”

Media Corruption Or Incompetence?

The Scary Lawyer Guy Blog: Chuck Todd Has (Another) Sad:

...I do not know whether Chuck Todd was being serious or rhetorical when he said "[t]hey're driving people away from the polls, they're driving people away from politics. This is cynical, it's ugly, it's disgusting." That is true so far as it goes, but his total lack of awareness of the "Beltway" media's culpability in this is axiomatic and obvious to anyone who lives outside Interstate 495. You see the DC media long ago relinquished its responsibility to objectively report the news of the day and instead became, as Jon Stewart observed, the kid in high school who eggs on the fight by saying "you gonna take that shit?" Of course, it is easier for Chuck Todd and his ilk to write off ideas of impeachment, after all, these same suckers took John Boehner at his word when he said a government shutdown was "off the table," and we all know how that one worked out ….

The Daily Flashback: Bill vs. Bin

When Sean Hannity Attacked Bill Clinton For Trying To Kill Osama Bin Laden | Blog | Media Matters for America:

Sean Hannity is lashing out at President Bill Clinton for not moving forward with a 1998 missile strike aimed at Osama Bin Laden that the military thought was likely to fail. But that same year, Hannity actually attacked Clinton for approving a different mission to kill bin Laden, claiming he was trying to distract from Monica Lewinsky.

SkyNews Australia recently aired audio of President Clinton stating in a speech shortly before the September 11, 2001 attacks that he "nearly got" bin Laden with a proposed December 1998 cruise missile strike in Kandahar, Afghanistan, but decided not to approve the attack because it would have killed hundreds of innocent Afghans...

Racism In CA

No Joke: California Parents and Religious Leaders Fight to Make Skin Color Criteria for Teaching:

...Rev. Karen Crozier, local pastor and activist, is leading an effort to protest the district’s decision. She explained:

We’re just saying what the community wants. We didn’t fight for a white male or female teacher to educate our babies.

We still are at these racial fault lines, and we want someone who will be able to think critically about those racial fault lines and how do we help heal, to restore the problems that have existed.

In other words, Rev. Crozier supports discrimination of skin color for the position of teaching about the evils of discrimination of skin color...

Headin' To The Wingnut Trough Early

Cantor, Ex-Majority Leader, to Leave Congress Early - NYTimes.com:

Representative Eric Cantor, the Virginia Republican whose last day as House majority leader was Thursday, said on Friday that he would resign his seat effective Aug. 18 in hopes that his successor will be able to participate in the lame-duck session after the November elections...