Sunday Funnies with a classic from the King of Comedy:

Open thread below

Representatives Paul Ryan (R-Wis) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) introduce "A Roadmap to America's Future" which advocates the privatization of Social Security.

Funny thing about Republicans. They seem determined to NEVER learn lessons from the past. Which can be the only reason why Rep. Paul Ryan has reintroduced legislation to eliminate Medicare and privatize Social Security--a GOP pet project that spent all the political capital that Bush felt he earned with his re-election. His "Social Security-palooza" tour, designed to drum up populist support, actually had the opposite affect and set the administration back on its heels and backing off--a rare defeat for the destructive neo-con plans of the Bushies.

Say it with me now: THIRD RAIL. Seriously, you nimrods, you don't go after the well-being of Grandma and Grandpa without some serious negative political ramifications, no matter what the lunatic fringe teabagging set says.

Not content to let Ryan & Co. merely self-immolate on this, Representatives John Larson (D-CT) and Linda Sanchez (D-CA) have introduced a resolution clearly stating their opposition to this "roadmap" guaranteed to get Americans lost:

Today, Democratic Caucus Chair John Larson (D-CT), Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) and more than 20 original co-sponsors introduced a resolution in opposition to the Republican proposal to privatize Social Security. Rep. John Larson:

Republicans are dusting off their old playbook and re-hashing old ideas like the privatization of Social Security that the American people have already rejected. Their ideas would end the program as we know it and put the retirement security of millions of America’s seniors and workers at risk.

Rep. Linda Sánchez:

When the stock market crashed in 2008, it was apparent that the Republican’s push to privatize Social Security was a bad idea. Americans have not forgotten the dangers of tying their retirement security to the whims of Wall Street. It was a bad idea then, and it is a bad idea now. This resolution supports Americans who contribute all their working life to a retirement and want income security in their golden years.

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This Week marks the passings of actress Frances Reid, basketball player and coach Dick McGuire, Tuskegee Airman and ace pilot Lee A. Archer, Jr. and producer David Brown. In addition, the Pentagon has released the names of twelve service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Army SGT Carlos E Gill, 25, of Fayetteville, NC
Army PFC Scott G Barnett, 24, of Concord, CA
Marine Sgt David J Smith, 25, of Frederick, MD
Army CPT David J Thompson, 39, of Hooker, OK
Army SPC Marc P Decoteau, 19, of Waterville Valley, NH
Marine LCpl Michael L Freeman Jr, 21, of Fayetteville, PA
Army SSG Rusty H Christian, 24, of Greenville, TN
Army CPT Daniel Whitten, 28, of Grimes, IA
Army PFC Zachary G Lovejoy, 20, of Albuquerque, NM
Army SFC David J Hartman, 27, of Okinawa, Japan
Army SFC Class Matthew S Sluss-Tiller, 35, of Callettsburg, KY
Army SSG Mark A Stets, 39, of El Cajon, CA

According to iCasualties, the total number of allied service members killed in Iraq is 4,693; in Afghanistan, 1,624. During this same period, Iraq Body Count list 97 Iraqi civilians killed. In addition to the casualties suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan, three American soldiers were among the dead at a suicide bombing at a Pakistani school, that left four others dead.

(h/t Media Matters)

Just further proof that Sarah Palin's political career is entirely due to all these Republican men thinking with their GOPenises.

In an appearance on Imus in the Morning (now airing on the Fox Business Channel, which is why you probably didn't know it was back on the air), Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace** exposed a little more of his psyche than he probably should have:

WALLACE: We are going to have the first Sunday show interview ever with Governor Sarah Palin. We’ll be down in Nashville with her at the National Tea Party Convention and…I’m excited. First of all, I’m excited to finally meet and interview Sarah Palin. We’ve been chasing her like Captain Ahab and the great white whale for the last year and a half, so it’s going to be interesting to sit down with her and talk. And in addition, I’m interested in going down to the Tea Party convention and get a sense of other than seeing them on TV what they’re…what their platform is, what they’re interested in.

IMUS: When she…when you interview her, will she be sitting on your lap? [laughter]

WALLACE: One can only hope. [laughter]

Ewwww. The dirty old man chuckling made me more than a little nauseated. This is not the first such occasion where Wallace has made really inappropriate statements, as documented by our friends at Media Matters:

Wallace on Brown's looks: A female Fox anchor said, "you guys have all had Sarah Palin, now we've got Scott Brown"

Fox's Wallace asks conservative host Gallagher to "do me a favor ... put in a good word for me" with Palin

Fox's Wallace on ACORN booking: I wish we "were going to have the prostitute [Giles] because she's pretty cute"

Fox's Wallace: NTSB chair Hersman "a babe ... you would not expect a government bureaucrat to be an attractive woman"

However, this time, Wallace got the condemnation of none other than GOP also-ran Fred Thompson and wife, Jeri. Dude, when Fred Thompson wakes up enough to say you're out of line, you have really messed up.

**Corrected. No one should confuse the quasi-journalism/propagandizing of Chris Wallace with any other family member

Men on Football...not necessarily safe for work

Okay, we got beer chilling, the margarita mix standing by, some of my husband's incredible queso dip and chips and barbecued pulled pork sandwiches ready to go, HDTV fired up...it's SUPER BOWL TIME!!!!! Naturally, it's taking a little more than normal concentration to look at what's happening Sunday morning with the anticipation of getting together with friends and family to enjoy the Super Bowl. Nevertheless, concentrate we must, because it's a wide array of bobbleheads this morning, from new State of the Union host Candy Crowley with Hillary Clinton to temporary This Week host Jake Tapper with Timothy Geithner to sell out Fox News Sunday host Mike Wallace with Sarah Palin. Let the games begin.

ABC's "This Week" - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser; former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson; former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; Ed Gillespie, former Bush White House counselor; Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary for President Bill Clinton.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Kathleen Parker, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Michael Duffy, Norah O'Donnell. Topics: How President Obama Plans to Recapture His Momentum; Obama's Advice: Ignore the 24/7 Cable and Blogosphere Trash Talk.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Is peace in the Middle East still an option? King Abdullah II of Jordan gives Fareed a rare and exclusive interview. Plus, Fareed sits down with (John Yoo,) the man who wrote the infamous "torture memos" for President Bush. It will be a fascinating discussion on terrorism, Guantanamo, and Presidential power.

CNN's "Amanpour" - Veiled Hatred? As France moves closer to a partial ban on the burqa, a leading European lawmaker declared Wednesday that the full Muslim veil is a symbol of political Islam and has no place in Europe. New Global Threat: former US National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski talks about the US and others turning their focus to defending interests of "public spaces."

"Fox News Sunday" - Former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska; Mark Skoda, a talk radio host who helped organize the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

When he was elected in 1992, Bill Clinton openly admitted that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be an active and engaged member of his inner team, with jokes about "two Clintons for the price of one!", much to the disgust and outright hostility of the right wing. How dare Hillary Clinton be so presumptuous as to believe that her non-elected status as the spouse of the President gave her the right to sit in policy meetings and advise her husband on matters of national importance?

Don't look now, GOP, but it appears we have another case of "two for the price of one":

Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails that Todd Palin exchanged with state officials, which were released to msnbc.com and NBC News by the state of Alaska under its public records law, draw a picture of a Palin administration where the governor's husband got involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked "confidential" from his oil company employer to a state attorney.While 1,200 separate e-mails were released this week, 243 others were withheld by the state under a claim that executive privilege extends to Todd Palin as an unpaid adviser to the government. Still, just the subject lines of those e-mails provide a glimpse of the ways the Palins divvied up their responsibilities when she became governor in December 2006, less than two years before Republican Sen. John McCain pulled her onto the national political stage by nominating her as his vice presidential candidate.You can read all those e-mails in msnbc.com's searchable online archive.

While there is no instruction manual for First Spouse involvement, there's little doubt that Todd's input on Alaskan governmental issues was more than merely 'advising' Sarah Palin. Given that they sought to suppress knowledge of Todd's membership in the extremist AIP party, it does beg the question how much his far-right secessionist beliefs played into his influence on matters of judicial appointments and other matters of state.

It also shines a new light on the news that the Palins jointly cheated on their taxes by never declaring two properties built on parcels they owned as Palin ran on a platform of cleaning up Alaskan corruption:

It was things like this that really made Sarah Palin stand out as a gubernatorial candidate. Republicans in the state were sick of the corruption that was running rampant in their own party, and they wanted change. They wanted a "fresh face" who had new ideas and ethical standards. They wanted someone who was actually bothered by a public official who would cheat his community by passing his personal tax burden on to others.

Ironically, Palin refused to do a commercial endorsing another candidate when it came out that he had an unpaid tax debt.

Dan Coats on The Young Turks from the 2008 Republican National Convention

I'm not sure if it's possible to get a more Republican candidate for Indiana than Evan Bayh, but the GOP isn't going to go down without trying. Former Senator Dan Coats has announced this morning that he will challenge Bayh for the Senate seat in the 2010 Election.

But for all of his high profile--and Dan Coats certainly does have that within the Republican Party--I'm not sure the GOP is really learning the lessons of the tea baggers distrusting the incumbents and politicians when opting to promote Coats for the Senate seat.

To wit, Coats is a member of the C-Street Family, responsible for the failed ushering of Harriet Miers through the Supreme Court confirmation process. I think his quote on Miers, who failed to capture even Republican support shows his contempt for Americans:

She certainly has the capability to be an excellent Supreme Court justice. If great intellectual powerhouse is a qualification to be a member of the court and represent the American people and the wishes of the American people and to interpret the Constitution, then I think we have a court so skewed on the intellectual side that we may not be getting representation of America as a whole.

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(h/t Amanda at TP)

Oh, that klassy, klassy spokesman for the Right.

Apparently, Rush Limbaugh, fresh from his stint as a Miss America judge (I guess it's as good a cover for his preferences as any), felt a little sensitive by criticism that some women feel that beauty pageants are a sexist, dehumanizing spectacle that unfairly places too much emphasis on the female's attractiveness for her sense of value. Evidently, attractiveness to the opposite sex is not a concern for Rush, so perhaps it's not something he's ever considered before.

But Rush insisted that he's not against women. Far from it:

CARLSON: So for those who were critics of you in judging this pageant, and saying that you haven’t been a supporter of women in the past —

LIMBAUGH: Oh, I’m a huge supporter of women. What I’m not a supporter of is liberalism. Feminism is what I oppose, and feminism has led women astray. I love women. I don’t know where all this got started. I love the women’s movement — especially when walking behind it. This idea that I don’t like women is absurd. This is Miss America. And if there’s a Mr. America out there, it’s me.

Ugh. Boy, you know how much women like those kind of double entendres from a such a stud as Rush. For my part, I'd prefer to be in front. I can honestly say that the view walking behind Rush wouldn't exactly be picturesque.

In a segment of a wide-ranging interview, available here, former New York Govenor Eliot Spitzer gives his impression of the effectiveness of Barack Obama's first year in office and advises the Democratic leadership in Congress that the key to the mid-term elections is to give voters a clear and unequivocable Democratic candidate to re-elect, rather than a frightened, ineffectual politician moving to the right for expediency's sake.

While Spitzer's shine has been tarnished by his peccadillos, his own clear-eyed view of the party and reform are difficult with which to argue. Sadly, inside the Beltway, I don't think this message is getting through, so I'm laying it out clearly now for our friends in DC to show their bosses.

Wouldn't you prefer an unapologetic defender of Democratic Party values (who does not get all the legislation passed due to the political gamesmanship) over someone who will get legislation passed, only by watering it down and capitulating to demands to accomodate the Right?

Man, cameras are racist too? What is this world coming to?

When Joz Wang and her brother bought their mom a Nikon Coolpix S630 digital camera for Mother's Day last year, they discovered what seemed to be a malfunction. Every time they took a portrait of each other smiling, a message flashed across the screen asking, "Did someone blink?" No one had. "I thought the camera was broken!" Wang, 33, recalls. But when her brother posed with his eyes open so wide that he looked "bug-eyed," the messages stopped.

Wang, a Taiwanese-American strategy consultant who goes by the Web handle "jozjozjoz," thought it was funny that the camera had difficulties figuring out when her family had their eyes open. So she posted a photo of the blink warning on her blog under the title, "Racist Camera! No, I did not blink... I'm just Asian!" The post was picked up by Gizmodo and Boing Boing, and prompted at least one commenter to note, "You would think that Nikon, being a Japanese company, would have designed this with Asian eyes in mind."

Open thread below...

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This Week marks the passings of actor Pernell Roberts, author J.D. Salinger, former senator Charles Matthias, historian and progressive icon Howard Zinn and ex-Bush Commerce Chief Robert Mosbacher. In addition, the Pentagon released the names of six servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Army PFC Gifford E Hurt, 19, of Yonkers, NY
Navy PO2 Xin Qi, 25, of Cordova, TN
Marine LCpl Jeremy M Kane, 22, of Towson, MD
Marine Sgt Daniel M Angus, 28, of Thonotosassa, FL
Marine LCpl Timothy J. Poole, 22, of Bowling Green, KY
Marine LCpl Zachary D Smith, 19, of Hornell, NY

According to iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,693; in Afghanistan, 1,611. During this same period, Iraq Body Count lists 111 Iraqi civilians killed.

Canadian Bacon - 1995

To function as a country, we apparently must have an enemy. Peace and diplomacy doesn't work, as this scene in Michael Moore's 1995 movie satirically depicts. When lacking a real enemy, we must create one.

And that is what the Senate did last week, apparently without the blessings of the President. Who is the enemy? Iran.

In a surprisingly swift move on Thursday night that could have wide-ranging implications, the U.S. Senate passed a bill containing broad unilateral sanctions to punish foreign companies that export gasoline to Iran or help expand its domestic refinery capabilities.

The voice vote came at the eleventh hour before the chamber recessed so legislators could go home to campaign. The bill cannot come before the president to be signed into law until a conference procedure combines it with a similar House bill, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), passed in October.

The Senate move reveals an administration losing control of even its own party in foreign policy dealings, as U.S. President Barack Obama has tried to maintain engagement with Iran aimed at curbing its nuclear programme, which the Islamic Republic insists is for peaceful purposes.

Along with scores of Democrats, who favoured the bill over the administration's objections, the effort was supported by Iran hawks including Republican co-sponsor John Kyl and neoconservative independent Joe Lieberman, and was characterised by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a shot at Obama.

"If the Obama administration will not take action against this regime, then Congress must," McConnell said.

Take action for what? Remind me again, what American interest has Iran threatened? That's right, NONE. Now the neo-cons/hawks will scream "nuclear weapons!", but we had a new NIE this month on Iran, and guess what? No nuclear weapons program. But don't let some little piddly facts get in the way of starting yet another war front in the Middle East:

As the Obama administration edges toward imposing tougher sanctions on Iran, it has begun upgrading its approach to defending its Persian Gulf allies against potential Iranian missile strikes, officials said Saturday.

The United States has quietly increased the capability of land-based Patriot defensive missiles in several Gulf Arab nations, and one military official said the Navy is beefing up the presence of ships capable of knocking down hostile missiles in flight.

What the hell, people? Where are all those deficit queens now? Can we possibly afford--in both lives and treasure--yet another war of choice, with a country that is not threatening us?

Are we doomed to keep repeating mistakes of lessons not learned, or is this another example of needing an enemy?

Video courtesy of our very own BlueGal.

There's a dangerously short memory span in our country. People can barely remember past two or three news cycles. Last year? Not so much. Five years ago? Fuhgeddaboudit. Generational reference? Listen to the wind whistling by. And that makes life frustrating to those of us engaged enough to remember these things. I can't figure out if it's just a collective congenital defect or the byproduct of our media. Maybe it's a "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" kind of question. But I do know the media sure isn't helping matters any.

A perfect example is this week with the bobbleheads. Now you would think that after the SOTU and that nice little smackdown by Obama to the Republican congressmembers, that we might have some measure of cognitive reasoning on the part of the press to perhaps ask their Republican guests why deficits are so concerning now, when they were adding to it like madmen in the previous administration. Or why their definition of "bipartisanship" is "do it our way or we'll not work with you". Or why they have threatened to filibuster more legislation than any other congress in the history of the country. But no. With the memories of all past historical actions wiped conveniently off the slate, the bobbleheads approach each issue as if there are two (and only two) equally valid sides to present as "balance." Meanwhile, they continually feed and enable these short memory spans for Americans, who then expect results as quickly as possible, or else.

Continue reading »

LA Times:

In a trial that never became the referendum on abortion that some abortion foes wanted, Scott Roeder, a 51-year-old airport shuttle driver, was convicted today of murdering George Tiller, one the nation's few physicians who performed late-term abortions.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for only 37 minutes. Roeder faces life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder.

Roeder also was convicted on two counts of aggravated assault for threatening to shoot church ushers Keith Martin and Gary Hoepner as he fled Reformation Lutheran Church after murdering Tiller.

Roeder tried to claim that the murder was justifiable homicide, as he was protecting the "unborn." That, of course, ignores the very real medical reasons why a woman may be forced to terminate a late term pregnancy.

In his testimony, Roeder acknowledged that he did not believe an abortion was warranted even when the life of the woman was at risk. That's the same kind of fanaticism that led him to walk into a church and shoot a man in the head.

No matter how much Alito may bobble his head in disagreement with the President over the Supreme Court's recent ruling on Citizens United v. FEC, this is the next logical step in affirming corporate personhood.

Corporation Murray Hill, Inc. has decided to run for the Maryland's 8th congressional district seat, one currently held by DCCC chief Chris Van Hollen. Murray Hill, Inc., will be running as a Republican(s?). From their corporate website:

Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill Inc. today announced it was filing to run for U.S. Congress and released its first campaign video on www.youtube.com/user/murrayhillcongress

“Until now,” Murray Hill Inc. said in a statement, “corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence peddling to achieve their goals in Washington. But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves.”

Murray Hill Inc. is believed to be the first “corporate person” to exercise its constitutional right to run for office. As Supreme Court observer Lyle Denniston wrote in his SCOTUSblog, “If anything, the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission conferred new dignity on corporate “persons,” treating them — under the First Amendment free-speech clause — as the equal of human beings.”

Murray Hill Inc. agrees. “The strength of America,” Murray Hill Inc. says, “is in the boardrooms, country clubs and Lear jets of America’s great corporations. We’re saying to Wal-Mart, AIG and Pfizer, if not you, who? If not now, when?”

Murray Hill Inc. plans on spending “top dollar” to protect its investment. “It’s our democracy,” Murray Hill Inc. says, “We bought it, we paid for it, and we’re going to keep it.”

Damn straight. I think this is an excellent way to illustrate just how short-sighted and dangerous the SCOTUS decision was. Campaign manager William Klein will be updating the status of the campaign on HuffPo:

Corporations are people too--with the same rights and privileges enjoyed by humans. The Supreme Court says so! The courts have devoted endless attention to the rights of the "unborn," but finally, they are recognizing the rights of the never born.

Murray Hill, Inc.'s run for Congress is, therefore, a milestone in the struggle for civil rights.

And the Murray Hill for Congress campaign is drawing support from all over. Our YouTube video is spreading through the Internet, our Facebook page brings in new Friends and Fans every hour, and and Designated Human Eric Hensal appeared on the Thom Hartmann show as well as Russian TV. (How's that for a juxtaposition?)

And now, we're even selling mousepads. Our message?

Corporations are people too!

Thom Hartmann interviewed Murray Hill Inc.'s designated human, Eric Hensel earlier this week about their campaign..