Gin and Tacos: Astoundingly ill-timed trash talk.

Between the Hammer and the Anvil: Cons and conspiraloons.

The Economic Populist: Bankruptcy Hell – the sequel to ForeclosureGate.

Eclectablog: Eight more Michigan state Representatives targeted for recall.

Guest post by Batocchio. Email tips to mbru AT crooksandliars DOT com.

The hammer came down from the NFL on Big Ben.

The bad behavior of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger resulted Wednesday in a six-game suspension by the NFL and reportedly has triggered what once would have been unthinkable: The Steelers are testing the market to trade him.

According to an ESPN report, Pittsburgh has been contacting teams selecting in the top 10 of this year's draft, which begins at 4:30 p.m. PDT today, to gauge interest in the two-time Super Bowl winner.

--

What's clear is the league and the Steelers have all but run out of patience with Roethlisberger, who last year faced similar accusations by a woman in Nevada. That case also did not bring criminal charges. Since then, reports have swirled that there's a pattern of bad off-field behavior by the quarterback, once among the NFL's most popular players.

Roethlisberger will be suspended without pay for six games, losing $2.8 million in salary, for violating the league's personal-conduct policy, and he must undergo a "comprehensive behavioral evaluation by medical professionals," the NFL said.

Good riddance. He's lucky that's all that happened. I keep hearing from his defenders that the only side of the story we're hearing is from the young woman, but there's plenty of space available in the newspapers and online for Ben to tell us his side of the story. ESPN would be drooling to get him on air for an interview. Why the silence if Ben is being so wronged and there's nothing to what happened?

On another note, the NFL draft is here and yes, I am a draft junkie when it actually takes place. The NFL and ESPN are looking to line their pocket with more gold and have turned it into a three day extravaganza. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are all being milked for everything they are worth---so for all you draftniks, put on your face paint or grab the nearest eye black---Tim Tebow Bible Verses. How interesting that the NCAA and the NFL outlawed the use of them after Tebow left college. It does look like these sports villagers have been reading my blog because I made this claim a long time ago.

Schuh denied that the rules committee wanted to ban the eye-black writing because they were worried about the kind of messages some players might try to use, such as someone protesting Tebow's Christian messages with a Muslim phrase, for example.

No Muslim phrases in the NCAA. I'm shocked Focus on Family of Falwell's people haven't tried to market the Christian Eye Black yet. Now, get your popcorn, boo the Jets draft pick...

...and hope the number 1 pick your team makes doesn't wind up to be Ryan Leaf.

By the way, he just got 10 years' probation.

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has agreed to plead guilty in his Texas drug and burglary case in exchange for 10 years of probation, attorneys in the case said Thursday.

Leaf's attorney, Bill Kelly, said his client has agreed to plead guilty to seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance. Leaf would be on probation for 10 years and a burglary charge would be dropped.

That's what I'm talking about.

Matt Taibbi has written a guide which decodes the entire draft process. All NFL GM's should read it immediately.

For years I’ve been obsessed with what is surely the greatest spectacle in all of sports: the NFL draft. Now I’ve finally figured out how to put my fixation to good use. Listen up, GMs. By Matt Taibbi

I probably know more about the nfl draft than I do about any other single thing in life. I have first cousins whose names I can’t remember, and I forget the contents of pretty much every book I read the moment I’m finished. But for some mysterious and no doubt deeply psychotic reason, I have a virtually limitless ability to remember details about football’s annual meat market. I can recall what kind of car Seattle Seahawks pick Jerramy Stevens crashed into an old-folks home in his Washington Huskies days (a red Toyota pickup) or what a lumbering Auburn tackle named King Dunlap “ran” in his pre-draft 40 two years ago (a 5.28, I’m pretty sure). People in my parents’ generation remember where they were when Kennedy got shot; I’ll remember where I was when Andre Smith first bared his bouncing man-titties during a pro-day workout...read on.

He's right about the pot thing. The Giants drafted Mario Manningham on the 3rd round because he admitted to smoking some weed before the NFL meat market, combine and slid into the Giants lap.

The right-wing noise machine can really come up with some good ones.

Right-wing media figures have criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for carrying a gavel while walking to the Capitol to vote on health care reform, claiming she sought to incite Tea Party members protesting the legislation. Glenn Beck said Pelosi was "inciting" the tea partiers and "slapping them across the face," and Rush Limbaugh said Pelosi tried to "provoke" tea partiers by "carrying that big gavel" with an "excrement-eating grin on her face."

Did you know the gavel had that kind of power? Man, it turns people into racists and douchebags.

Beck: "If [Pelosi] was really worried about violence and she thought these people were violent, why would you grab a big hammer and walk into a sea of these people?" He later asked, "Did anyone say to Nancy Pelosi, 'You're inciting these people. You're slapping them across the face'?"

I would say she had to protect herself from the teabaggers and the gavel was all she had at her disposal, but that's absurd too. I thought there were not too many conservative comics around, but they keep proving me wrong.

Their big problem: They are the opposite of funny.

Unlike those in our corporate media, I do not live in awe of military judgment. Like any other specialist, they see the world through the prism of their own narrow experience and of course think the only solution is theirs. Those "solutions" are often extreme, even to the point of condoning torture.

Or, as most people would say, "To a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.

The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago's unsuccessful Olympic bid.

Gen James Jones, the national security adviser, yesterday did little to allay the impression the meeting had been awkward.

Asked if the president had told the general to tone down his remarks, he told CBS: "I wasn't there so I can't answer that question. But it was an opportunity for them to get to know each other a little bit better. I am sure they exchanged direct views."

An adviser to the administration said: "People aren't sure whether McChrystal is being naïve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn't seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly."

From everything I've ever read, the generals know their job is to execute orders coming from the White House. I wonder what make General McChrystal think his job description has suddenly changed? Don't tell me he's a Rush Limbaugh fan!

In London, Gen McChrystal, who heads the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan as well as the 100,000 Nato forces, flatly rejected proposals to switch to a strategy more reliant on drone missile strikes and special forces operations against al-Qaeda.

He told the Institute of International and Strategic Studies that the formula, which is favoured by Vice-President Joe Biden, would lead to "Chaos-istan".

When asked whether he would support it, he said: "The short answer is: No."

He went on to say: "Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely, and nor will public support."

The remarks have been seen by some in the Obama administration as a barbed reference to the slow pace of debate within the White House.

Informed Comment: The real question is, would John McCain be good for women?

Feministing: Weekly feminist reader

Greatscat! Priorities, priorities...

Hammer Of The Blogs: Stop Apologizing

The Satirical Political Report: The true story of the Democrats' 2008 "color wars.'

HOLY CRAP: Which Senator lives and loves with D.C. Satanists?...Trying to find something that will stick...Israelis argue over Hagee...'Personhood' begins at fertilization...Repuglican Supreme Court Justices in Wisconsin see nothing wrong with Pastor's call to kill homos...Jesus endorses Obama...Hagee gets ovation at AIPAC...Can Obama get 40% of the evangelical vote?...Is the war in Iraq a U.S. Crusade for Christ?...Al Quada mastermind questions terrorism...Bill Maher's movie on religion coming soon...Balancing faith and doubt

SteveAudio here again with some tunes to begin your week:

Jesus is Just Alright With Me. . . It seems that Christianity is dead. Or maybe Right-wing Fundamentalism. Or is it the hammer lock the latter has had on the Republican Party for so many years. And by the way, aren't Christians supposed to be good stewards, instead of blowing everything up and killing people?

I remember you, you're the one that made my dreams come true. . . The current Right-wing position vis-a-vis the crop of Presidential wannabees is that they need another Reagan. Because he was so, you know, big and tough and strong and the Daddy some of them never had.

Lies, lies, I can't believe a word you say; Lies, lies, I'm gonna make you sad someday. . . Rudy Giuliani seems desperate, pathological, and mean. Traits suitable for a mob enforcer, or Blackwater mercenary, but for President? Eh, not so much.

Just runnin scared each place we go, So afraid that he might show. . . As a special Halloween treat, some tool at the RNC came up with a "Scariest Democrat" contest. Now there's a good use of html coding talent. Too bad they left the correct answer off the list.

That music you hear means we're playing our break song. If we didn't get to your favorite, we'll try tomorrow. Send any bloggy tips to steveaudio at earthlink dot net, with Blog Round Up as the title.

So long, we're here all week, and try the shrimp, it's great.

Any talking heads doubting whether "Gekko Jack" and the Hammer are pals should just watch this circle jerk introduction by Abramoff at the 2002, College Republican Conference.

Jack: Never before has an individual who has been steadfast to our principles-risen as high as Tom Delay.

Jack: Tom Delay is who all of us want to be when we grow up.

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

What principles are those Jack? Using Terri' Schiavo's ravaged body as a political tool, or maybe the Island of Saipan affair that Brian Ross revealed on 20/20? (Al Franken's book has a chapter dedicated to this) Are these the high moral principles that all those impressionable "College Republicans" should aspire towards.

TDS on Delay's ACU Tribute

Blast form the Past

I'm digging in the vault to see what I come up with and this is a winner. The American Conservative Union sponsored a big party in honor of Tom Delay back in June. As usual-they all blamed the media for his troubles and Phyllis Schlafly hit the high point with her Star Trek reference.

Download | play -WMP only- Download | play -QT

Roy Blunt makes a cameo appearance too.

Blunt: When I became the WHIP, he gave me a velvet coded hammer

Jon: "You never hear about the laws Tom Delay doesn't break."

The segment wrapped up with a tribute to "The Hammer" by playing Pete Seeger's song called " If I Had a Hammer"

Jon: If Tom Delay actually had a hammer, he'd bludgeon Pete Seeger to death...

Any talking heads doubting whether "Gekko Jack" and the Hammer are pals should just watch this circle jerk introduction by Abramoff at the 2002, College Republican Conference.

Jack: Never before has an individual who has been steadfast to our principles-risen as high as Tom Delay.

Jack: Tom Delay is who all of us want to be when we grow up.

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT (David Edwards)

What principles are those Jack? Ripping people off, using Terri' Schiavo's ravaged body as a political tool, or maybe the Island of Saipan affair that Brian Ross revealed on 20/20? (Al Franken's book has a chapter dedicated to this)These are the high moral principles that all those impressionable "College Republicans" should aspire towards.

Hammer of the Krauts, takes it out on the ID Crowd
Found via AmericaBlog On just about every other issue Chuckles is excreble, but he is right on the money this time.

Intelligent design may be interesting as theology, but as science it is a fraud. It is a self-enclosed, tautological "theory" whose only holding is that when there are gaps in some area of scientific knowledge -- in this case, evolution -- they are to be filled by God. It is a "theory" that admits that evolution and natural selection explain such things as the development of drug resistance in bacteria and other such evolutionary changes within species but also says that every once in a while God steps into this world of constant and accumulating change and says, "I think I'll make me a lemur today." A "theory" that violates the most basic requirement of anything pretending to be science -- that it be empirically disprovable. How does one empirically disprove the proposition that God was behind the lemur, or evolution -- or behind the motion of the tides or the "strong force" that holds the atom together? In order to justify the farce that intelligent design is science, Kansas had to corrupt the very definition of science, dropping the phrase " natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us," thus unmistakably implying -- by fiat of definition, no less -- that the supernatural is an integral part of science. This is an insult both to religion and science.

Mainstream Republicans have to take up the cause on this, lest Democrats alone become the Party of Science. It has already swung that way in too large a fashion. Eventually the GOP will drive out the suburban thinking-middle class if "hocus pocus" bullshit is allowed to keep dominating. It is not just that it is bad for one Party or the other, it is horrible for the country. Granted, I keep waiting for this swing against low-brow religious dogma to happen and it hasn't. But it has to eventually -- just like someday Angelina Jolie will decide, "to hell with those Hollywood celebrities, I want that schlub with the average blog and the fez." Posted by Attaturk