Poor, poor Glenn Beck. Faced with plummeting ratings, advertisers abandoning ship like rats in a storm, and a boss on a tear about the help doing political things, what else is there to do but look for an arranged marriage?

Lucky for Beck, Dick Armey is always on the lookout for a good dirt hill upon which to plant his AstroTurf. Need meets need, and ... a partnership is born. FreedomWorks, meet Glenn Beck. He only slept with Americans for Prosperity a few times ... he's still pure enough for you.

Listen carefully to the very beginning:

BECK: This half-hour is sponsored by FreedomWorks

Then the long explanation of how the elopement happened. From the beginning, I'm guessing the NRA didn't want to sponsor him? Toward the end of his little speech, there's this:

And we must, must, must link arms with people. Everybody plays a different role. My message to you is to shore yourself up personally, with history, with faith, and with your own personal finances. That is my course that I am charting. I’ve got to move away from the political stuff. That is what kept me up last night. But political stuff has got to be done. You have to pay attention. There are things that are happening in Washington that you have to know about. We need the Tea Party protests to continue. We need to organize and reach out to each other. So I want you to go to Freedomworks.org, because freedom works.

See, Rupert already smacked Hannity down, and Beck has a benefit planned for August. Enter FreedomWorks, ready to accept all the Glenn Beck faithful into their fold.

As if they're not there already.

(h/t Think Progress)

Comcast responded to this post, which caused quite a stir in the media yesterday. Their response confirmed to me that they have nothing to do at all with Kelsey Grammer's new right-wing outfit, RightNetwork.

Here is a statement from Comcast to clear up any confusion:

"We have no partnership with this venture and have no plans to launch or distribute the network. As we have done with hundreds of other content providers, we have met with the network’s representatives. We do carry a number of independent networks on Comcast representing a wide variety of interests and diverse viewpoints.”

Keith Olbermann called RightNetwork liars for making a connection between the two.

Olbermann: A head of one of its subsidiaries has some of his own money in the thing, so RightNetwork starts by lying about who's backing it....

As far as I'm concerned Comcast's answer is fine. We'll also definitely be keeping an eye on RightNetwork. It's got a fishy smell to it.

UPDATE: Media Matters actually reads our entire story and then nails Howard Kurtz for misreporting the controversy.!

This is a very interesting turn of events.

Bob Corker was looking for Chris Dodd. When the Tennessee Republican got him on the phone, he started to get the feeling that financial regulatory reform talks were collapsing after weeks of negotiations.

"You've been a great partner," Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, told Corker, who had been taking a lead role in the talks.

"My little antennae went up," said Corker in response to Dodd's use of the past tense to describe their partnership. On Wednesday afternoon, the pair met privately and Dodd broke the news: He was moving forward with his party on reform, cutting short negotiations with Corker that have been dragging on for roughly a month.

Dodd (D-Conn.) announced on Thursday morning that he will unveil a bill on Monday without GOP support and he intends to bring it to a vote the following week.

And I believe the pressure we've been putting on Dodd not to fold the CFPA into the FED is one of the major reasons he broke off with Corker.

Corker said that the second pressure point for Dodd was that "members on the left were getting nervous" about where the Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be located. Progressive Democrats have been particularly vocal in their opposition to placing the CFPA inside the Federal Reserve and Dodd was beginning to wonder if he had enough Democratic votes, he said.

The same Democrats are also concerned that the CFPA will lack sufficient independence and authority. But, said Corker, Dodd had accepted a GOP proposal to create a board of regulators with veto power over any rules passed by the CFPA. The panel would include the SEC, FDIC, Fed, Treasury and CFTC.

It looks like Queen Snowe will step in and help in the end.

Democrats, however, do not need Corker to pass the bill. Earlier this week, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) told HuffPost that once the bill was out of committee she looked forward to playing a central role in negotiations. She already joined Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in sending a letter to Dodd, calling for tough regulation of derivatives. Dodd's decision to move forward without Republican support in the committee opens the door for Snowe, who's more moderate than Corker and Shelby, to step in.

Corker will probably go on all the shows and do a bipartisan whine for the Villagers to embrace. You know republicans are only watering down the bill as much as possible.

Republicans wanted banking regulators to take the lead in enforcing consumer rules, but Democrats argued that such a system would water down consumer protections

.

Americans unequivocally want strong Wall Street regulations.

An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout and the bonus scandals that have rocked the U.S. financial sector, according to a Harris poll released on Thursday.The findings suggest that 82 percent of Americans want the government to clamp down more strongly on Wall Street excesses, with a particular emphasis on bonus schemes that have rewarded employees at loss-making companies such as American International Group.

John Harwood said on CNBC that Democrats want to get this done sooner than later and that's why they moved in this direction.

Just to prove that irony is not dead. The site Digg has banned Brave New Films for "Inappropriate Content" for this video on Fox Porn.

(Not safe for work)

YouTube requires an age check to access this video...but all of it was aired on FOX News.

Apparently, after discussion with the Digg editors, Brave New Films was reinstated after promising not to post inappropriate content from FOX News again. (There's just too many jokes to make there) And in a circular bit of logic, a Digg posting by Brave New Films on the banning is now getting Diggs.

But here's where you have to tighten that tin foil just a bit: in a convenient bit of timing, Digg has recently entered into a partnership with FOX parent company News Corp to offer WSJ content. And News Corp has been wooing Digg for the last year to outright acquire the site. Coincidence?

AP Via Yahoo:

Former World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz, who resigned amid a furor over his handling of a bank pay package for his girlfriend, has joined the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, as a visiting scholar.

AEI's president, Christopher DeMuth, made the announcement Monday. Wolfowitz will work on entrepreneurship and development issues, Africa and public-private partnerships, the group said in a release.

Wolfowitz's last day as head of the World Bank, a major poverty-fighting institution, was on Saturday, ending a stormy two-year run.

He was essentially forced to step down from the World Bank after a special panel found that he broke bank rules in arranging a hefty pay raise for Shaha Riza, his girlfriend and bank employee. Wolfowitz's handling of the pay package prompted a staff revolt and calls by Europeans and others for him to resign. Read more...

CorrenteWire: The Beltway aristocracy, in the person of Sally Quinn, are demanding Obama's "references." These are the same people who were impressed by an AWOL/counterfeit cowboy being advised by a group of recycled wingnuts.

theWatchdogBlog: The FDA is hooked on drug money

The Reality-Based Community: The NRA is defending the Second Amendment rights of people on the terrorist watch list

Undercover Black Man: David Horowitz publishes--again--an unrepentant bigot. Anybody surprised?

Intrepid Liberal Journal: A podcast interview with international best-selling author, author Riane Eisler. Eisler is primarily known for her book The Chalice and the Blade. Her most recent book, The Real Wealth of Nations promotes an economic model based on "partnerships" and "caring" and challenging the "hiearchical/domination" model of most countries and corporations.

earthfamilyalpha:Foolish Wise Men

Jesus General and Bill O'Reilly formed a new partnership.

Brad Blog: "In the spirit exemplified by the Peace House in Crawford, Texas, Saturday Night radio "competitors" Laura Flanders of Air America Radio and Brad Friedman of The BRAD SHOW via RAW RADIO are announcing an historic partnership as they simulcast their programs together this Saturday Night from on the ground in Crawford!..read on"

More from Raw Story on the joint venture.

Church Of England Idiocy The Brutal Truth

via Shakespeare's Sister

Big Brass Blogger JJ is reporting that Spokane Mayor Jim West, another closeted, self-hating Republican queer who as recently as last week threatened to get rid of newly-instated domestic partnership benefits for Spokane City employees, has been outed. And yowza—this one really takes the cake, having used his position as Mayor to appoint a young and unqualified man to a position with the Spokane HRC and his roles as a sheriff’s deputy and (surprise, surprise) a Boy Scout leader to facilitate sexual relationships with boys and young men.