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.

Some interesting tidbits appearing in my Twitter and RSS feeds today, not necessarily enough for a whole blog post, but still funny, interesting and worth sharing.

Kicking off with the political-gone-insane, we have Republicans blocking repeal of the 1099 filing requirement in the health care law after whining about it so long and hard, while Kentucky citizens raised hell at the unemployment office. What would Rand do?

Narcissism loses its place in the DSM. Being ignored drives narcissists crazy. Just ask Sarah Palin.

Here's a good overview of how Comcast's evil blossomed,. Twitter is being courted by several suitors including Facebook, or so the rumor goes. Google is readying a leap into e-books, adding value to eReaders worldwide.

This last one is near and dear to me, after two tussles with my bike that left me on the side of the road hurt and bewildered. Falling off, and deciding whether to get back on -- the battle rages on.

As for me, I got back on and have managed not to fall off again for the last couple of months. But give me time. I'm sure I will. Getting back up and on the bike is the hardest part but like politics, I can't give it up.

Booman Tribune: It's the Stupid, Stupid

PERRspectives: Conservative's Cafeteria-Style Constitution

The Reid Report: When you're running against a guy who took the Fifth 75 times in a deposition for his second Medicare fraud case, expect things to get ugly.

Vox Verax: Another weekend, another grass-roots demonstration starring Real Americans who are mad as hell and want to take back their country from you-know-who.

BagNews: Katrina and racial violence: Like the picture wasn't there the whole time?

Petrelis Files: Fox chooses to ignore Mehlman's coming out party

cleek: They're just better than you...

skippy the bush kangaroo: Lonesome Rhodes Beck

Southern Beale: It's Republican Rules

Dependable Renegade: An eloquent rebuttal

yikes: Sunday Funnies

HOLY CRAP: A bit late...Coincidence...Christian drill...C Street on 'Fresh Air'...He wasn't just a Christian...Jew on Jew violence...Freethought of the Day...Washington’s Letter...To Hell with reading...Identifying ignorance...Christian Side Hug...Dangerous book...Dangerous Religion

For Want of a Nail: Making sure one is on the right team

Reader Supported News: Right Wing Thought Police: An Analysis

R&D Mag: Alaska says to hell with polar bears. They cut into oil profits

Hullabaloo: Blasting right wing lies right out of the oil-soaked water

Counter Punch: Confronting rendition to torture in North Carolina

Bob Broughton: Hard to believe there's still a need to oppose this: International Day Against Stoning

Thou Shall Not Suck

Subject: An investigation that was supposed to look into the expenses of first-grade-teacher/plumbing-company-owner turned biologist/zoologist/anthropologist/paleontologist Connie Morris, who averaged $600 a day for a trip to Miami.

Hypothesis: The KBoE has lost it’s collective fucking mind.

Evidence: This is outstanding (use to view).
 
Remarks: You’ve got to read this:

Despite criticism of one member over her expenses during a Florida convention, a State Board of Education subcommittee decided Monday against proposing changes in board travel policies.
 
Board member Connie Morris, of St. Francis, was criticized last month because her trip in April to Miami for a six-day conference on magnet schools cost Kansas taxpayers nearly $3,600.
[emphasis added]

So what’s the problem?

But the subcommittee—whose three members include Morris—decided against recommending revisions to the full board, which was scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday. bugmenot to view).

Remarks: You’ve got to read this:

Despite criticism of one member over her expenses during a Florida convention, a State Board of Education subcommittee decided Monday against proposing changes in board travel policies.

Board member Connie Morris, of St. Francis, was criticized last month because her trip in April to Miami for a six-day conference on magnet schools cost Kansas taxpayers nearly $3,600.
[emphasis added]

So what’s the problem?

But the subcommittee—whose three members include Morris—decided against recommending revisions to the full board, which was scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday.
[emphasis again added]

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. The three-member (insert penis joke here) panel that looked into the expenses included Morris?? That’s like having a trial where the defendant is also one of the jurors.

“There has to be some latitude for different expenses in different parts of the country," said subcommittee Chairman Ken Willard, of Hutchinson, a conservative.

“Not guilty, ya honor!”
 
She averaged $600 a day! How much latitude are you going to give a person? Hell, I’ve had three meals in a 4-star restaurant, drained an entire mini-bar in a 5-star hotel, and STILL not been able to ring up that kind of bill. And we know she wouldn’t do that—according to her bio, she’s a born-again Christian. Of course, that sure does explain a lot.

[…]
Morris' expenses included $339 a night for a room at the hotel where the convention was held. She said no cheaper rooms at the hotel were available when she registered for the conference. She also wanted to avoid walking from another hotel to conference events.
[emphasis again added]

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. The three-member (insert penis joke here) panel that looked into the expenses included Morris?? That’s like having a trial where the defendant is also one of the jurors.

“There has to be some latitude for different expenses in different parts of the country," said subcommittee Chairman Ken Willard, of Hutchinson, a conservative.

“Not guilty, ya honor!”

She averaged $600 a day! How much latitude are you going to give a person? Hell, I’ve had three meals in a 4-star restaurant, drained an entire mini-bar in a 5-star hotel, and STILL not been able to ring up that kind of bill. And we know she wouldn’t do that—according to her bio, she’s a born-again Christian. Of course, that sure does explain a lot.

[…]
Morris' expenses included $339 a night for a room at the hotel where the convention was held. She said no cheaper rooms at the hotel were available when she registered for the conference. She also wanted to avoid walking from another hotel to conference events.

So she fleeced Kansas taxpayers because she: a.) didn’t get off her ass and book her room in time; and b.) didn’t want to walk across the street? After looking at her picture, my guess is that she could probably use the exercise.

She said little during Monday's meeting …

Apparently she’s not totally retarded …

… but in the past has suggested criticism of her is political and part of the board's ongoing dispute over how evolution is taught.

Actually, I think it has more to do with the fact that she ripped off the people of Kansas. Granted, what she did was not technically against the rules, but it sure as hell is ethically questionable. Although, that’s never stopped her before ...

Morris upset moderate board members last month with a newsletter to constituents describing evolution as "an age-old fairy tale" and criticizing other board members by name.

In other words, it’s okay for her to attack other board members, but when the tables are turned, it’s wrong.

So she fleeced Kansas taxpayers because she: a.) didn’t get off her ass and book her room in time; and b.) didn’t want to walk across the street? After looking at her picture, my guess is that she could probably use the exercise.

She said little during Monday's meeting …

Apparently she’s not totally retarded …

… but in the past has suggested criticism of her is political and part of the board's ongoing dispute over how evolution is taught.

Actually, I think it has more to do with the fact that she ripped off the people of Kansas. Granted, what she did was not technically against the rules, but it sure as hell is ethically questionable. Although, that’s never stopped her before ...

Morris upset moderate board members last month with a newsletter to constituents describing evolution as "an age-old fairy tale" and criticizing other board members by name.

In other words, it’s okay for her to attack other board members, but when the tables are turned, it’s wrong.

The subcommittee also was directed to review policies saying that board members are supposed to treat each other with courtesy and not let debates lapse into personal attacks. The subcommittee decided those policies already are clear.

Fucking hypocrites.
 
Conclusion: You would think that the Department of Education would want to teach kids good ethics by example. Of course, you’d be wrong.
 
Solution: Send the entire school board a copy of this.

Debunking Rove Spin         That Colored Fellas weblog

The subcommittee also was directed to review policies saying that board members are supposed to treat each other with courtesy and not let debates lapse into personal attacks. The subcommittee decided those policies already are clear.

Fucking hypocrites.

Conclusion: You would think that the Department of Education would want to teach kids good ethics by example. Of course, you’d be wrong.

Solution: Send the entire school board a copy of this.

Time for Robert Novak to Feel Some Chill

via Jay Rosen: "I, for one, have had it with Robert Novak. And if all the journalists who are talking today about "chilling effects" and individual conscience mean what they say, they will, as a matter of conscience and pride, start giving Novak himself the big chill...read on"

It's about time somebody starts beating the drum to silence that arrogant, smug bastard. (Here's the video of Robert with Ed Henry trying to be the victim in the Plame game.) I was able to get Novak to apologize on the air twice by simply getting off my ass and raising some hell to CNN. What will it take for the journalistic community to do the same?

As Jay says, "how can they look at anybody with a straight face and say they are concerned for future whistle blowers if one of their own, Robert Novak, together with sources made possible an act of retribution against an actual whistle blower?" Wasn't it Novak who started the rumors flying about Rhenquist?

Don't Dismiss Downing Street

via Molly Ivins from Alternet

I don't know if these memos represent an impeachable offense. But they strike me as a hell of lot worse than anything Richard Nixon ever contemplated.

I hope this is not too insider baseball, but I am genuinely astonished by what the bloggers call "mainstream media." (In my youth, it was quaintly called "the Establishment press.")

The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have all gone way out of their way to deny that the Downing Street Memos (it's now plural) are news. Like many of you, during the entire lead-up to the war with Iraq, I thought the whole thing was a set-up.

I raise this point not to prove how smart we are, but to emphasize that I followed the debate closely and probably unconsciously searched for evidence that reinforced what I already thought. Most people do that. I read some of the European press and most of the liberal publications in this country. I read the Times, the Post, the Wall Street Journal and several Texas papers every day. It's my job...read on

The reasons are many, not the least of which is age. I turned 55 recently and, having lived more than half my life, I can't afford to worry anymore about the other guy. It's time for me.

As a Republican, I can now proudly -- indeed, defiantly -- pledge to never again vote for anyone who raises taxes for any reason. To hell with roads, bridges, schools, police and fire protection, Medicare, Social Security and regulation of the airwaves.

President Bush has promised to give me more tax cuts even though our federal government owes trillions of dollars to its creditors. But that's someone else's problem, not mine. Republicans are about the here and now, and I'm here now.

As a Republican, I can favor exploiting the environment for everything she's got. No need to worry about quaint notions like posterity and natural legacy. There are plenty of resources left for everyone, and if we don't use them, someone else will.

I want a party that doesn't worry about things before we have to. Republicans refuse to get hog-tied by theories such as global warming, ozone depletion, fished-out oceans and disappearing wetlands. The real problems -- if there are any -- aren't forecast to take hold for at least 50 years. So what do I care? I'll be dead.

Nightline: Janice Karpinski says Rumsfeld knew about Abu Ghraib

Download | play -Real Audio

Download | play -WMP this is from ABC World News Tonight

She's mad as hell and is not going to take it anymore.