Baby Bush Resists Run

Republican elites felled by horrible new sickness: Jeb Bush fever! - Salon.com:

Can the Republican Party base catch Jeb Bush fever? They may have no choice. According to the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, GOP donors panicked over Gov. Chris Christie’s implosion are going all out to draft the long-ago Florida governor to run for president in 2016...

The Half-Story Of Climate Change

People must hear both sides of the climate story | Herald Sun:

THE media’s response to the latest instalment of the UN Climate Panel report will inevitably dwell on the negative effects of global warming — how it will reduce agricultural yields, increase heatwaves and drown communities.

Those stories will be correct, if only in a limited sense of that word. So while reading them, it is worth stepping back and realising that they provide just a partial version of the global warming story...

You Knew This, Suckers

Michael Lewis On '60 Minutes' Says Stock Market Is Rigged:

The U.S. stock market is rigged, with elite traders buying access to a high-speed network that allows them to figure out what you've just ordered, order it first, then raise the price before your order is complete...

Cheating Is Their Game

New G.O.P. Bid to Limit Voting in Swing States - NYTimes.com:

Pivotal swing states under Republican control are embracing significant new electoral restrictions on registering and voting that go beyond the voter identification requirements that have caused fierce partisan brawls...

Carter Slams Genderism

Jimmy Carter Speaks Out On Religion And Equality For Women; Slams Sexist Biblical Interpretations:

 Former President Jimmy Carter is issuing a call to action for religions to stop using scripture to trample on women's rights.

He spoke about his new book out today, "A Call To Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power," with HuffPost Live host Alyona Minkovski and responded to her question about what religion has to do with women's rights.

President Carter stressed that there is no room in Jesus' message for sexism:

"There's no evidence at all that Jesus Christ did anything except to exalt women. Never has a single word or action been alleged to him that would deprive women from their equal or superior rights..."

Condi War Cry

Cannonfire - "We Can't Afford To Listen To Condi Rice" :

And our taxpayers can't afford this kind of "leadership." Ultimate costs of the misadventures in Afghan and Iraq: Between four and six trillion dollars. Current federal budget: $3.8 trillion. Current year's federal debt: $514 billion.

I think Rice should be forbidden from ever again uttering the words "can't afford."

Gov. Wide Load Goes Sexist

The Slut-Shaming of Bridget Anne Kelly - The Daily Beast:

The Bridgegate report commissioned by Chris Christie included gratuitous details about the personal life of one of his staffers...

Ryan Doesn't Disagree With BillO's Racism

Paul Ryan’s endless “I am not a racist” tour - Salon.com: .

..So let’s get this straight: Ryan effectively uses Lee as a human shield against charges of racism, insisting “she knows I don’t have these views” and “she knows me well” and “she knows I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” But when O’Reilly trashed Lee as a “race hustler,” Ryan can’t be bothered to say a word on her behalf. Instead of smiling and nodding, imagine if Ryan had shown a little spine: “Look, Bill, Barbara and I disagree on these issues, but she is not a ‘race hustler,’ she’s a strong public servant looking out for her constituents.”

But you can’t imagine it, because Ryan likes to talk tough about the “character” of “inner city” men, while kissing the behinds of bullies like O’Reilly. Instead of squirming over charges of racism, Ryan is enjoying the acclaim they’re bringing him on the right, where he’s hailed as a teller of tough truths. And if Barbara Lee winds up collateral damage as Ryan is lionized by his wingnut admirers, so be it. I’m not going to say that’s racist, but it certainly tells me something is lacking in his character.

Crazy In NC: Crooked Mayor Edition

FBI says Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon took bribes | CharlotteObserver.com:

Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon was arrested Wednesday on public corruption charges after a four-year investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte announced...

Union Football Bomb

College athletes can unionize, federal agency says - CBS News:

In a stunning ruling that has the potential to revolutionize college athletics, a federal agency said Wednesday that football players at Northwestern University can create the nation's first college athlete's union.

The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board means it agrees football players at the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can legally unionize...

Racist Rummy

Rumsfeld: If Obama Was A 'Trained Ape,' U.S. Diplomacy Would Be Better | Crooks and Liars:

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Monday blasted President Barack Obama's diplomacy, saying a "trained ape" could do a better job...

Will Roundball Cook Mitch?

Mitch McConnell Ad Hits YouTube with Duke Championship Footage | WebProNews:

A new ad for Senator Mitch McConnell’s reelection campaign hit YouTube today, and it features one of the most egregious errors that a politician can make in the state of Kentucky: glorifying Duke basketball.

For about a second, the new ad shows Duke’s Jon Scheyer and Lance Thomas embracing after winning the 2010 National Championship. If you remember, that’s when Duke knocked off the number 8-seeded Butler...

Lest We Forget: My Lai Cover-up Edition

He Was a Crook - Hunter S. Thompson - The Atlantic:

...It was Richard Nixon who got me into politics, and now that he's gone, I feel lonely. He was a giant in his way. As long as Nixon was politically alive -- and he was, all the way to the end -- we could always be sure of finding the enemy on the Low Road. There was no need to look anywhere else for the evil bastard. He had the fighting instincts of a badger trapped by hounds. The badger will roll over on its back and emit a smell of death, which confuses the dogs and lures them in for the traditional ripping and tearing action. But it is usually the badger who does the ripping and tearing. It is a beast that fights best on its back: rolling under the throat of the enemy and seizing it by the head with all four claws.

That was Nixon's style -- and if you forgot, he would kill you as a lesson to the others. Badgers don't fight fair, bubba. That's why God made dachshunds...

The Weather And Nat Silver

A meteorologist once explained that weather forecasts are never wrong because the weather forecast is the way things would happen if everything remained the same. In other words, forecasts are made with the best available data at the time. But one thing is for sure about American politics-- things change.



Democrats to Nate Silver: You're Wrong - NationalJournal.com:

Democrats aren't taking Nate Silver's latest Senate prediction lying down.

In an unusual step, the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Monday issued a rebuttal the famed statistician's prediction—made a day earlier—that Republicans were a "slight favorite" to retake the Senate. Silver was wrong in 2012, the political committee's Guy Cecil wrote in a memo, and he'll be wrong again in 2014.

"In fact, in August of 2012 Silver forecast a 61 percent likelihood that Republicans would pick up enough seats to claim the majority," Cecil said. "Three months later, Democrats went on to win 55 seats..."

Lying Liars: Red State Women Edition

Red State Women: Propaganda for the 3rd Millennium:

Both sides of the aisle play games with the balance of truth and fiction; but for a society that holds itself to be the most advanced, a wave of propaganda has taken over the nation. Groups have taken to a new low in Red State Women, a political action group touting itself as a completely independent, woman led, action committee who pits woman against woman in the contentious field of Texas politics...

A Source Of Bigotry

Stacy Kranitz: The Rape of Appalachia — BagNews:

...Just 10 years after the War on Poverty was declared, Caudill saw that nothing was changing for the Appalachian people. After becoming the first person to successfully call attention to the dark reality of what was happening in Appalachia, Caudill’s thinking changed. He concluded that Appalachia could not be fixed because its people were broken. He came to believe that Appalachia’s gene pool had been watered down by inbreeding among what he called “dullards” who lived on welfare in remote mountain hollers (1). He concluded that poverty is “genetic in origin”(2) and invited the eugenicist William Shockley to his home in Kentucky Together they proposed to study poor eastern Kentuckians as part of a research project on inherited intelligence.Cash bonuses would be offered to participants in exchange for sterilization (3). The man, who proclaimed that Appalachia had been raped, now wanted to rape certain Appalachian people of their ability to procreate...

Evil Apple, Wage Suppresser

Revealed: Apple and Google’s wage-fixing cartel involved dozens more companies, over one million employees | PandoDaily:

Back in January, I wrote about “The Techtopus” — an illegal agreement between seven tech giants, including Apple, Google, and Intel, to suppress wages for tens of thousands of tech employees. The agreement prompted a Department of Justice investigation, resulting in a settlement in which the companies agreed to curb their restricting hiring deals. The same companies were then hit with a civil suit by employees affected by the agreements...

Flogging Kristol AND Maddow

Rachel Maddow Savages Bill Kristol, Ignores Liberal Blogs That Have Written About Him For Years | Crooks and Liars:

I don't want to take away from the fact that I'm really happy to see someone in our corporate media point out that Bloody Bill Kristol should not have a platform where he's allowed to push for more military interventions, to fearmonger and to lie about U.S. foreign policy (or any other subject he's asked about for that matter), to the point where, as our brother Charlie Pierce pointed out this week, he deserves to be shunned, and certainly does not deserve a platform on any of our so-called "news" networks -- I was disappointed to see MSNBC's Rachel Maddow ignore the fact the the criticism she gave of Bill Kristol for always being wrong about everything, has been written about and highlighted and mocked on progressive blogs like this one and others for years on end now....

Lest We Forget: Iran Contra Criminals

RIP Lawrence Walsh - Esquire:

Regular readers of the blog know that I am a little bughouse on the subject of the Iran-Contra scandal -- and especially on the fact that most of its principal architects -- including Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush -- were allowed to skate away from crimes that were an order of magnitude worse than the crimes that cost Richard Nixon the White House. Moreover, the utter lack of accountability in the wake of the Iran-Contra revelations was the seedbed for most of what has gone wrong with the balance of powers, American foreign policy, and the courtier media ever since...

The Poisoning Of Our Police Forces

Very thorough article.


“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control - Salon.com:

 ...Perhaps the best insight into the mentality the police brought to the DNC protests could be found on the T-shirts the Denver police union had printed up for the event. The shirts showed a menacing cop holding a baton. The caption: DNC 2008: WE GET UP EARLY, TO BEAT THE CROWDS. Police were spotted wearing similar shirts at the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago. At the 1996 DNC convention in Chicago, cops were seen wearing shirts that read: WE KICKED YOUR FATHER’S ASS IN 1968 . . . WAIT ’TIL YOU SEE WHAT WE DO TO YOU!...

Palin's New Talkin'

Sarah Palin Debuts Her New Southern Accent (Video) | Progressive Populist:

...Yee Haw! Sarah Palin has got herself another new show. And a Suthin’ drawl, y’all. We know her affection for all things redneck. She loves the Robertson family. (Or does she? They have actually established themselves as her competition as backward, hate and fear mongering “Christians”.) Did we mention she loves guns? She really loves guns. And dead things. And freedom. Has “The First Lady of the Outdoors” been palling around with racists like Paula Dean? What could possibly explain this promo where she slips in and out of a Southern accent the way Bristol slips out of her snow pants?...

Where The Snark Runs Deep

Georgia Pol Will Unmask These Brutuses, Iagos, Dastardly Villeins Who Plungeth Knives Unto His Back; Is Not Crazy:

Georgia state Representative Jason Spencer sat upon his mount, Puffikins, and narrowed his noble and handsome gaze upon the hills. He knew they came, and they would be legion. He planted his staff in the heather and sang a little song...

Startled

He just heard that the Carolina Panthers have cut Steve Smith.

Good Cold War

From Putin, a Blessing in Disguise - NYTimes.com:

There are a lot of people who seem intent on restarting the Cold War — in both Moscow and Washington. I am not one of them. But if we’re going to have a new Cold War, then I have one condition: I want a new moonshot.

The Space Race and the technologies it produced weren’t purely an offshoot of the U.S.-Soviet missile competition, but they were certainly energized by that competition. Well, if we’re going to go at it again, this time I want an Earth Race. I want America to lead in developing an energy policy that will weaken the oil-and-gas-autocracy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and, as a byproduct, produce the technologies that will mitigate climate change, make America a global technology and moral leader and ensure that the next generation can thrive here on Earth...

Gov. Wide Load Steps On Self Again

NJ Politics Roundup: Christie photo controversy, property tax law, and more | NJ.com:

New Jersey's acting attorney general and the head of the State Police on Wednesday ordered the State Police to stop taking photos of protestors at Gov. Chris Christie's town halls.

Earlier in the day, the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union called on the State Police to explain why they took pictures of protestors at Christie's most recent public forum...

Tedious O Insult

Obama has “too much golf, not enough work” - IrishCentral.com:

A former US Ambassador to Ireland has slammed President Obama for not appointing a new envoy to Ireland in over 15 months, saying he needs to play less golf and do more work...

Let's see: obstructionist GOP (click anywhere on this list); Bush vacations (click anywhere on this list). Some arguments are hardly worth the effort.

Epic Rant From Pierce

This Just In From Our Sociopath Bureau - Esquire:

"... monstrous, bloodthirsty fraud..."

That is just one tiny snippet from this fine flogging of one William Kristol, who so richly deserves to be flogged. hanged, drawn and quartered, burned at the stake. and buried in a crossroads with a stake through that empty place where his heart should be. You can read Kristol's new chicken hawking here if you're inclined to fill your mind with intellectual slop.

Crazy In NC: Imperial Utility Edition

GOP bill protects Duke's coal ash | The Asheville Citizen-Times | citizen-times.com:

Duke Energy was in a bind.

North Carolina regulators had for years allowed the nation’s largest power company to pollute the ground near its plants without penalty. But in early 2013, a coalition of environmental groups sued to force Duke to clean up nearly three dozen leaky coal ash dumps spread across the state, including the utility’s Lake Julian plant in Asheville.

So last summer, Duke Energy turned to North Carolina lawmakers for help...

Yet, The Majority Votes Idiot Often

Poll: Majority of Americans want government to reduce income gap – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs:

A majority of Americans surveyed believe the government should work to reduce the income gap between rich and the poor, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/ORC International survey released Wednesday indicates more than six in 10 Americans strongly or somewhat agree that the government should work to narrow that gap, compared to 30% who believe it should not...

Crimea Econ Shock

If History Is a Guide, Crimea’s Enthusiasm Might Wane - NYTimes.com:

...Aleksei A. Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Russian officials “will be shocked” with the challenges they face when trying to manage Crimea — reviving its economy, distributing money and influence among its ethnic groups, and trying to control the corruption that accompanies all big Russian projects. And, judging from precedent, the public’s euphoria will fade, he said...

Beating A Living Horse

I've been raising as much Hell about this as I possibly could since 1976. Come on, people. Help beat the horse.



Professors in homeless shelters: It is time to talk seriously about adjuncts - Salon.com: Here’s the thing, AWP.

...The percentage of teaching positions occupied by non-tenure-track faculty has more than tripled in the past four decades. According to the Adjunct Project, “Two-thirds of the faculty standing in front of college classrooms each day aren’t full-time or permanent professors.” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that “the shadowy world of would-be academia is filled with people cobbling together five or six such teaching gigs at once. That’s possible because some 70 percent of college courses offered are now taught by adjuncts — part-timers who are paid a pittance and have no job security...”

Bad Citing

Paul Krugman hits Paul Ryan for using a “racial dog-whistle” - Salon.com:

...In his latest column for the New York Times, Krugman slams Ryan for his controversial remarks, describing them as a “racial dog-whistle” intended to pander to white voters who think liberals are primarily interested in taking their hard-earned money and giving it to undeserving minorities. Mocking Ryan’s subsequent claim that he was simply “inarticulate,” Krugman sarcastically writes that the House GOPer “even cited the work of serious scholars — people like Charles Murray, most famous for arguing that blacks are genetically inferior to whites...”

GOPer Knocks $1k Savings

Former New Hampshire GOP Chair Saves $1,000 A Month With Obamacare:

The former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party will save $1,000 a month in premiums for his family's health care package after signing up for a new policy through the Obamacare exchange.

But Fergus Cullen said the savings aren't enough to turn him into a supporter of the new health care law. He said he anticipates higher out-of-pocket costs with his new Anthem-administered plan, and he's frustrated by what he sees as a lack of information about coverage options. His old plan, which was pricey but covered what he needed, was cancelled by his insurer because it didn't meet Obamacare regulations...

Lava For Haters

An open letter to the people who hate Obama more than they love America:

...Republicans can NOT win on the issues. They've got NOTHING. All they have is a divide and conquer class war that pits ignorant racist and bigoted people against the rest of us in a meaningless battle of wedge issues and the already proven to fail George W. Bush agenda again of tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, privatization and war profiteering and nothing else, so all they can do is blame black people, gays the government, anybody and everyone else for their own failings. The party of personal responsibility, my ass...

GOPers Shaft Docs

For a change, it's not women, children, veterans, gays, or the poor who are the target of Republican double-dealing.

Partisanship engulfs U.S. Congress effort to avoid doctor pay cut | Reuters:

A bipartisan deal in Congress to spare doctors from recurring Medicare pay cuts was in jeopardy on Thursday, as Republicans ignored protests from physicians and moved forward with legislation that would use the so-called "doc fix" to undermine Obamacare...

Ending Poverty

Paul Ryan’s worst nightmare: Here’s the real way to cut poverty in America - Salon.com:

...The difference is entirely the result of government social spending on the poor — mostly in the form of transfer payments, like public pensions, unemployment insurance, child subsidies and/or wage subsidies. Many other developed democracies start out with lots of poor people, just like the U.S. But the countries with big welfare states remove most of them from poverty. The American welfare state does lower the poverty rate — but not enough. The American welfare state is way too small to be effective in doing its job of lowering poverty.

We know, then, how to slash poverty in the U.S. It’s very easy. All we have to do is expand the American welfare state, not necessarily to Swedish levels, but at least to Canadian or British levels. If we restrain public and private health cost inflation, by adopting medical price controls (“all-payer regulation”) of the kind used in most other democracies to prevent price-gouging by pharma companies, hospitals and doctors, we can pretty much end poverty in America very quickly...

Call To Murder Liberals

U.S. Political News, Opinion and Analysis - HuffPost Politics:

Austin Ruse, president of the nonprofit research group Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, said on American Family Radio Wednesday that liberal leaders of “modern universities” should “all be taken out and shot..”

Issa Getting More Dem Flack

New Resolution Condemns Darrell Issa As 'Offensive':

...Nevertheless, the move highlighted the deep, lingering anger that Democrats feel for the Californian, who they believe has abused his role atop a committee meant to ferret out waste and abuse in the federal government. It was high-lighted even further in the way Democrats tried to proceed, with many holding up iPads and phones with pictures of Issa cutting off Cummings.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who was presiding over the session, gaveled the reading of the so-called "privileged resolution" by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) to a halt until members put their devices away, saying the display was a "violation of the House rules..."

Dems Win One For The Little Guy

Huge Victory for Democrats as Senate Republicans Cave on Unemployment Benefits:

Late this afternoon, Democrats scored a huge victory on President Obama’s agenda by getting Senate Republicans to cave on unemployment benefits that are paid for in part by effectively raising taxes on corporations. But heck, they’re paid for and that’s what Republicans said they wanted....

Further on...

...The AP also points out that the agreement ends jobless payments for those earning over $1 million. Republicans would rather try to make a “moral” argument for denying food to starving children than take a penny away from a millionaire, so it looks like poor John Boehner will be stuck between the tea and an election...

Say what?

Crazy In NC: Burr v. Canada Edition

Canadian doctor makes anti-Obamacare senator look like a buffoon - Salon.com:

Speaking before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday, Dr. Danielle Martin, vice president at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, masterfully showed how to smack down a disingenuous politician’s misleading and misinformed questions with courtesy, intelligence and, well, facts.

In this instance, the role of disingenuous and ill-informed politician was played by North Carolina’s GOP Sen. Richard Burr, who decided to use his question time to imply that the Canadian healthcare system was bad because it led to Canadian doctors moving to America and rich people going to the U.S. to get complicated and expensive surgery. These were both good points — except for the fact that they were, as Martin made clear, completely wrong...

Spending Your Defense Dollar

Shrinking Size Of The Army - Why A Larger Navy And A Smaller Army Just Isn't A Good Idea - Esquire:

...So you see, putting our eggs in the Navy basket may be a bad idea since apparently as highly touted as our technology may be, it is demonstrably not good enough. The Chinese have demonstrated that they can get inside our most alert and capable screening force and come to the surface as a sort of international military signal for "Gotcha!" The practical implication is that they could sink that ship if they wanted to, even if the DF-21s did not get there first. What we need is a lot of little carriers, if we must have carriers at all, so that the loss of any one is not catastrophic. As my friend Jerry Hendrix says, "Buy Fords, not Ferraris," and he is spot on with that assessment...

Solving The Libertarian Puzzle

3 Things That Make Libertarian Heads Explode | Alternet:

Libertarians are proponents of a philosophy that embraces free-market ideology, limited government, and a certain form of individual liberty. They would like to take the government and drown it in the proverbial bathtub. Unfortunately, libertarians tend to ride on theoretical unicorns that don’t take them too far in the real world...(to the list!)

Brewer Says No To Re-Election

AFP: Hardline Arizona governor won't run for re-election:

Arizona governor Jan Brewer, known for her hardline stance on illegal immigration and a stand-up row with President Barack Obama, said Wednesday she will not seek re-election later this year...

CIA v. Senate

The Senate-CIA Blowup Threatens a Constitutional Crisis | Mother Jones:

This morning, on C-SPAN, the foundation of the national security state exploded...

With a lede like that, the rest had better be good. It is.

Russia: The Laws Of Blowback Heed No Borders

Russian Oligarchs Fear Economic Casualties if Ukraine Crisis Escalates - NYTimes.com:

...In private conversations, though, several people described high anxiety within corporations, especially about the prospect of any sanctions’ affecting banks. Large Russian corporations have significantly increased foreign borrowing in recent years, and 10 were negotiating loans when the crisis boiled over, said Ben Aris, the editor and publisher of Business New Europe. Financial sanctions could set off a chain reaction of blocked transactions, frozen accounts and bank closings. “Those oligarchs who are already having trouble would be completely cut off,” he said...

Calling BS To BS

Robert Gates Explains There Was Nothing America Could Do To Prevent Putin | Crooks and Liars:

While most of the Beltway media is lapping up Republican talking points against President Obama and the Russian-Ukraine situation, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates brought some much needed sanity to the discussion when he flatly rebuked Chris Wallace's assertions that Obama emboldened Putin to act and stated the obvious:...

Christie's Real Problem

Chris Christie's 2016 problem has nothing to do with a bridge - CBS News:

...This line of criticism isn't new. Christie has drawn ire from conservatives for years, and many saw his cozying up to President Obama in the wake of Hurricane Sandy as an intentional message that he frankly doesn't care. But if he's serious about 2016, conference-goers seemed to agree, Christie needs to realize: The bridge fallout may fade. His longstanding problem relating to the types of conservative activists who frequent such cattle calls will not.

"He's very liberal, in my opinion," proffered English Hinton from Florida. Though she said she'd opt for the lesser of two evils in the event Christie did secure the 2016 GOP nomination, she emphatically clarified she would never even consider voting for him in the primary...

Well, not really. Christie's real problem is that he was finally exposed for what he is to the voters who kept putting him in office (the same type who keep electing lunatics in the South): low information voters. In Christie's case. these voters came from the Democratic party; he lost the Democratic vote on a bridge too crowded.

Conspiracy Romper Room

Cannonfire: "Christian Concentration Camps"

 ...There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of similar websites. As Alex Jones has proved, an entrepreneur can make small fortune providing fixes for fear-junkies.

Visit the link above for a nice sample. (I love Joe's term "fear junkies"; I think I'll steal it.)

Fox News Jr. Blasted

Harry Reid to Politico: 'Get a brain,�OK?':

...In Reid's mind? He's just imagining the tea party took over? He just imagined it when Mitch McConnell said his top priority was denying President Obama a second term? (Which Politico reported on, btw.) He's just imagined all those bullshit amendments, every cloture vote required on every nominee—even those that end up garnering 100 affirmative votes? He's imagined the most filibusters ever forced? Politico reporters obviously don't spend enough time with C-SPAN2.The last thing Reid should be apologetic for is speaking the truth about Republican obstruction. And he really doesn't need to apologize for telling Politico reporters to get a brain.

Pierce Flames CPAC

The Crooks At CPAC - Esquire:

You have to hand it to the conservatives here at CPAC. They're a forgiving lot. They believe in second chances, even for felons. Why, just this morning, I heard a speech by a guy who sold missiles to a government that sponsored terrorism, lied about it, got convicted, and then dove like a scalded rat through a loophole. I watched a panel including a guy who, while working as police commissioner in New York, entangled himself in such baroque corruption that he ended up in the federal sneezer for 36 months. And, this afternoon, on a panel entitled "After Obama," we will be treated to the views of a guy who helped out a covert CIA agent, lied about it, got convicted, and then got pardoned...

A Burning Pot Question

Minister's daughter: Cannabis 'a gift from God' - CNN.com:

...In the meantime, patients like Curry, who have become staunch proponents of medical cannabis, are confounded by the debate.

"I don't get why the government can recommend narcotics, your doctor can prescribe you Percocet or Oxycontin and you can literally die if you take too much," said Curry. "But if you smoke too much pot you'll just ... fall asleep..."

Military Sexual Assault Bill Up Again

Military sexual assault bill heads for Senate vote - The Messenger: News:

Legislation to curb sexual assaults in the military by stripping senior commanders of their authority to prosecute rapes and other serious offenses is headed for a highly anticipated vote in the Senate...

Let's hope this bill has better luck.

The Daily Flashback: Russia Invades! (2008)

Flashback, 2008: When A Russian Invasion Made Fox News Shrug | Blog | Media Matters for America:

Fox News commentators have been rushing in to blame President Obama for the Russian military's excursion into Ukraine. It's because of Obama's "weakness" that Vladamir Putin has seized the military initiative, announced Sarah Palin...

From The Fainting Couch: Miss Lindsey Tweets Nonsense

How The Right Helped Sen. Graham Blame Ukraine On Benghazi | Blog | Media Matters for America

Ukraining It

What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days? - Esquire:

...Don't take it from me. Take it from foreign policy savant Marco J. Firefl...er...Rubio who, as part of his ongoing effort to apologize for having been empathetic for 11 seconds towards undocumented immigrants, dropped by Disco Dave's Disco Dance Party to say a lot of sentence-like things about how the shit's getting real in the Ukraine. Of course, we're not going to actual war. We are going to war rhetorically. We will fight them at the buffet tables. We will fight them in the Green Rooms. We will fight them in the studios. We will fight them in the think tanks. We will never surrender...

Dems Target Districts

DCCC taps 16 pols for 'Red to Blue' - Emily Schultheis - POLITICO.com:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named 16 new House candidates to its “Red to Blue” program Monday, aiming to offer support to top recruits in competitive races across the country.

Included on the list are Democratic candidates facing off against some of the DCCC’s biggest Republican targets: former Colorado state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, running against GOP Rep. Mike Coffman; Michigan Democrat Jerry Cannon, running against incumbent Republican Dan Benishek, and Gwen Graham, who’s challenging GOP Rep. Steve Southerland in Florida...

GOPer Hypocrisy, Part ???

Paralyzed GOP Lawmaker On Medicaid Opposes Medicaid Expansion:

More than a decade ago, Arkansas Rep. Josh Miller (R) was in a catastrophic car accident that broke his neck and left him paralyzed. Medicare and Medicaid paid the $1 million bill for his hospitalization and rehabilitation.

But this week, as the Arkansas legislature has debated continuing its privatized Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, Miller has remained steadfast in his opposition...