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It should come as a surprise to no one that some wingnuts think it's cool to use the Bible to promote veiled threats against the President. Disgusting.

But using online personalized item sites to spread the word? Apparently this Maddow segment from Thursday had an impact in ending that. Cafepress is now following Zazzle.com and pulling the "Pray for Obama" merchandise that clearly expressed a wish for his demise. The CafePress website announced yesterday:

This morning we made the decision to remove all Psalms 109:8 designs from CafePress.

General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.

We try to create an atmosphere of self-expression. Many of the things we encounter are not black and white, but grey. When the dialogue is civil, we want to let the larger community work things out rather than making an uninformed ruling. The dialogue has played out and common sentiment has reached agreement – this merchandise is not appropriate.

Thank you all for your input.

Transcript of Rachel Maddow's segment below the cut:

Continue reading »

Cartoon from Walt Handelsman at Newsday (reg. required for some pages).

No one can predict how today will go, there is some hope that since the Senate likes to appear to be the royalty of the Congress, we might avoid some of the circus antics that Saturday in the House brought. It's unlikely anyone will use procedural objections over and over to silence Barbara Boxer or Olympia Snowe.

It's an open thread for what you're seeing in, and thinking about, today's procedures.

This morning my crazy thing locator pointed to this pro-Palin oped by Mary Matalin, who pooh-poohs complaints in Palin's book about the rough, nasty and foul-mouthed staffers inside the McCain campaign:

Time is the most valuable commodity on a campaign and you just can't waste it thinking about how to choose your words carefully or get your job done more diplomatically. If someone isn't in tears every day, that day wasn't all it could be advancing the campaign. I once witnessed an experienced (big) man slap a professional female colleague across the face over an ad buy... and no one thought anything of it, starting with the woman. In fact, she would have been insulted if anyone told her she should have been insulted.

Yes, politics is a hard job full of lots of pressure, long days, and high-stakes high-stress decision making. And many of the personalities attracted to that kind of work are narcissistic, most to the point of tantrums, and more than a few to the point of violence, and think it's no big deal. Matalin isn't just dishing about a specific instance here; she's pimping her insider importance--you bet she can remember just exactly the specific "ad buy" mistake that "deserved" the workplace assault and battery--and contrasting that insider importance to Palin's relative political naivete.

Matalin should be ashamed of herself, her politics, and her "professionalism" on a daily basis. That she actually points to an instance of physical assault of a female employee by a male superior as "the way it is in a campaign--get over it" just puts everything that's wrong with her argument in high relief. Does anyone wonder what would happen if that kind of thing happened in the private sector, or the outrage if a former corporate employee reported such physical assault as "acceptable in the business we're in" hearsay on the pages of CNN's website?

The appeal of Sarah Palin, worth a thousand words. From Zaius Nation. Open thread below.

Dean Broder: "Get off my lawn!" by Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors. Open thread below...

Landslide winner of the "vote for your favorite Carrie Prejean LOLcat" balloting at my tiny blog. Open thread below...

Somebody had to make this obvious joke video; it might as well be me.

Open Thread below....

Bernie Sanders pushes for single payer healthcare.

Open thread below...

Reporters Without Borders: Two Azerbaijani bloggers were sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison this week on trumped up charges.

Anti-War Blog: The itch in Joe Lieberman's Gitmo finger.

Facing South: Are Southern politicians more likely to be against health care reform?

Yikes!: BAC doesn't sugarcoat it regarding the Catholic Bishop's lobbying in the health care debate.

Zaius Nation: Get Well Soon, Glenn Beck!

William K. Wolfrum: Kareem's leukemia and a personal campaign for the National Bone Marrow Registry.

Guest round-up by Blue Gal, Batocchio takes over for the weekend: send tips to batocchio9 AT Yahoo dot com.

Lou Dobbs, "always a good man of business," as Marley's Ghost in A Christmas Carol: "Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

Click image for larger. Open Thread below...

Vagabond Scholar: A series of Armistice Day posts, well worth the time.

Earth-Bound Misfit: And the military has yet another problem.

Speaking as a woman writer and film-maker, I laugh and scream simultaneously when I hear national publications imply that women can't write and women can't make films.

Stupak, Stupak, Stupak, Stupak.

Pour Me Coffee: Good news from the WH Visitor Logs! But did they search for Stupak?

Mike's away, guest-posted by Blue Gal (Did somebody say Stupak?)

From Slowpoke Comics by Jen Sorensen, click here for full comic strip.

Also well worth a click, Mental Floss presents a commemoration of Veterans Day, with some overjoyed dogs greeting returning soldiers.

Open thread below...

The Political Carnival: It's not okay to listen to Obama's education speech at school, but watching the Fort Hood funeral, even if it causes deep emotional distress? That's a go. (h/t Relaxed Politics)

Figleaf (not work-safe): A perfect analogy to why 'no means no.'

Mock Paper Scissors: No, really, Peggy Noonan, it's a distinction to be the only person left from the Reagan administration "brand" that is not in jail, senile, or dead.

The Plum Line: Obama not taking the 'racist' bait of that moron Rupert Murdoch.

Off the beaten path, hey kids, it's Comic Panel Remix!!!

Geoff Badenoch reads Robert Burns as he should be read. I suggest you close your eyes when the poetry starts.

Open Thread below....

[cartoon by Claus Seidel]

Michael Bloomberg spent a reported 105 million dollars on his re-election campaign, the same amount Norway donated in 2007 to The World Bank for a health care initiative for the poorest nations.

Open Thread below...