From The Pen Of: Nick Anderson

Obama's Weekly YouTube Address

Obama names Shaun Donovan as his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.



Source: Changedotgov

Republicans Out To Destroy Unions, Jobs, And US Paychecks

via MSNBC:

Countdown has obtained a memo entitled "Action Alert - Auto Bailout," and sent Wednesday at 9:12am, to Senate Republicans. The names of the sender(s) and recipient(s) have been redacted in the copy Countdown obtained. The Los Angeles Times reported that it was circulated among Senate Republicans. The brief memo outlines internal political strategy on the bailout, including the view that defeating the bailout represents a "first shot against organized labor." Senate Republicans blocked passage of the bailout late Thursday night, over its insistence on an immediate union pay cut.

Republicans are using the financial crisis to break unions, deepen the recession, put American manufacturing out of business and make sure US workers get paid less.

The GOP is all about elections and strategy to get elected. The have no interest in actually governing [see the last 8 years]. The unions play a vital role against the GOP in elections, usually backing Democrats, therefore, they must be destroyed.

All the Jo[k]e the Plumber, we support blue collar America rhetoric was a political scam. Remember Joe was a non-union plumber.

What they actually support are foreign car companies that ban unions in the Southern states like Toyota, Honda and Subaru. I'm sure all those plants were given tax breaks and subsidies to be built there. Thank you US taxpayer.

Source: The News Hole

Specious Reasoning Award

via New Atlanticist:

"People assume we should be offended that somebody in the military thinks our song is annoying enough that played over and over it can psychologically break someone down. I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that." - Bassist Steve Benton of Drowning Pool, whose 2001 hit "Bodies" is a particular favorite of interrogators.

So torturing random Iraqis, who had nothing to do with 9/11, instead of the Saudi students and the real people behind 9/11, with your horrible music, is a way to stop further attacks?

Specious, sophistic reasoning at its best.



Source: New Atlanticist

It's Always The Guys Not Getting Laid

From the anti-science guys who don't have sex and will never have kids we get biotethics:

The Vatican issued the most authoritative and sweeping document on bioethical issues in 20 years on Friday, taking into account recent developments in biomedical technology and reinforcing the church’s opposition to in vitro fertilization, human cloning, genetic testing on embryos before implantation and embryonic stem cell research.

But priests raping kids is still in that grey area. May have to ship them from community to community before they know what to do with them.

When you think of it, isn't Jesus [if you believe in the the myth] the ultimate in vitro baby? Not even a test tube.

This is no doubt aimed at President-elect Barack Obama who has said he would end the restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that were instituted by President Bush.

Source: NYT

Nerd Values

via Reason Magazine:

If you’re an American urbanite under the age of 30, Craig Newmark has probably helped you or someone you know get a job, get a sofa, or get laid. Newmark, 55, is the founder of Craigslist, the massively popular classified ads website. He’s also a member of a loosely affiliated fraternity of power geeks, along with figures such as Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales, PayPal’s Peter Thiel, and Google’s Larry Page.

What do these guys have in common? Newmark calls it “nerd values,” the drive to earn a comfortable living doing something geeky and then use the money to do some good. Newmark’s extracurricular activities include pushing for greater government transparency via the Sunlight Foundation and helping Barack Obama formulate tech policy.

Do you gave "nerd values"?

power nerds have something else in common too: Many of them use the word libertarian when describing their politics, though usually hesitantly and always with multiple caveats. They see themselves as part of an entrepreneurial class; they like openness and voluntary cooperation; they tend to be skeptical of top-down power structures. But they also see themselves as something new, a little different from the categories that came before. Some of them even endorse new regulations, with Newmark joining Page and others in support of “net neutrality” rules.

The article goes on to interview Newmark or watch it here:



Source: Reason

Letterman: Blaggo's Answering Machine

Letterman: Top 10 Messages left on Rod Blagojevich's answering machine.

Rumsfeld To Hell: "Get The Kettle On, I'm Coming"

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other members of the Bush administration "conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees," claims a Senate Armed Services Committee report issued Thursday

"According to the committee, prisoners were tortured in the Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib, the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other US military installations."

Why does the Bush Administration say we do not torture? Dana Parino says it all the time. It's a lie.

The report determined that placing the blame on "a few bad apples," as Bush administration officials attempted to do in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib scandal, is inappropriate.

This was a top down decision. Soldiers were not asking their superiors to do this. Bush, Cheney, Tenet, Ashcroft, Powell and Rice, aka "The Principals", all have their hands in this, too. This is not a few bad apples, this is War Crimes, Inc.

The Senate report confirms that senior administration officials authorized torture. Specifically, they authorized the "SERE" techniques -- which had been originally used decades ago to train American troops to withstand Communist torture -- to be used on detainees. In other words, they used illegal medieval methods designed to obtain false confessions, and made them the centerpiece of our intelligence-gathering.

Remember this report from ABC?



And for the mental Neanderthals who think torture works,

the report finally claims that Rumsfeld's torture policies "damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies and compromised our moral authority."

Perfect score, Don, proceed to Hell.

Source: NYT

Wall St Ponzi Scheme: $50 Billion In Losses

For those critics of Wall St and the preferred bailouts they get for behavior and financial trickery that appears to be on par with a low brow pyramid scheme, I give you this: Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Bernard L. Madoff, was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents who accused him of running a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme — perhaps the largest in Wall Street’s history.

Just days earlier, Mr. Madoff had told another senior executive he was struggling to raise cash to cover about $7 billion in requested withdrawals from his clients, and he had appeared “to have been under great stress in the prior weeks,” according to the S.E.C. complaint.

So on Wednesday, the senior executive visited Mr. Madoff’s office, maintained on a separate floor with records kept under lock and key, and asked for an explanation.

Instead, Mr. Madoff invited the two executives to his Manhattan apartment that evening. When they joined him there, he told them that his money-management business was “all just one big lie” and “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme.”

And what is the scope of this fraud? How does this reflect on Wall St? Madoff's firm, which at one point was the largest market maker on the electronic Nasdaq market, estimated the losses at $50 billion and would dwarf past Ponzi schemes. It would be nearly five times larger than the accounting fraud that drove telecom company WorldCom into bankruptcy proceedings in 2002.

Source: NYT

"Stop Shouting And Take A Look At Yourself"

Colin Powell with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria discussing Republican's using polarization for political advantage and how it backfired.

"Gov. Palin, to some extent, pushed the party more to the right, and I think she had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about how small town values are good. Well, most of us don’t live in small towns. And I was raised in the South Bronx, and there’s nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx."

Powell's hindsight is 20/20. Too bad his party has a base than alienates huge blocks of voters including urbanites, minorities, educated voters, pro-choice voters, etc. and will never listen to his advice.

Obama: Quote Of The Day

"There are two views of politics. There's a view of politics that says you go into this for sacrifice and public service and then there's a view of politics that says this is business, and you're wheeling and dealing and what's in it for me."

President-elect Obama, commenting on the politics in his home state of Illinois.

Social Conservatives Ass Backwards. Again

Republican logic:

Want to lower unwanted pregnancies, abortions? Under fund Planned Parenthood.

"Abortion opponents are pressing state and local governments to stop sending taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood, arguing that the nonprofit group has plenty of cash and shouldn't be granted scarce public funds at a time of economic crisis"

The single best thing you can spend money on to reduce the number of abortions, not just in this country but around the world, is Planned Parenthood.

via Slate:

If you define pro-life as preventing abortions, Planned Parenthood is the most effective pro-life organization in the history of the world. No, it doesn't give teenagers the idea of having sex. That idea comes to them quite naturally, thank you very much. What Planned Parenthood does, more comprehensively than anyone else, is to distribute the means and knowledge to control your risk of getting pregnant when you don't want to be pregnant. And those two things, combined with pressure to exercise that control assiduously, are the surest way to prevent abortions. If you wait till women are already unhappily pregnant, you're too late.

Preventing unintended pregnancies is the goal. Ask Sarah Palin how effective she was in teaching her kids. We need services like Planned Parenthood, despite your convictions [and don't use the pro-abortion angle if I'm pro-choice], because birth control and sex education works.

Contraception helps prevent abortion. Defunding Planned Parenthood is buying more abortions.

via Elizabeth Nolan Brown:

only about 3-5 percent of PP services are abortion-related anyway; the majority are actually aimed at preventing abortion (by preventing unwanted pregnancies), with the rest devoted to basic women’s health services (mammograms, pap smears, etc.). If anyone is actually going to purchase and give out Planned Parenthood gift cards, it will probably be, say, women’s shelters and charitable organizations that want to help low-income women obtain contraception, STD testing, or basic gynecological care.

Source: Slate

"F*ck Off" Is The New Let's Do Business

The Right Wing reading the tea leaves, so earnestly.

"Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but 'they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F*ck them.’"

"…the FBI says it heard Blagojevich complain he has to give this 'motherf*cker [the president-elect] his senator. F*ck him. For nothing? F*ck him.'"

Their conclusion is just reverse everything Blaggo said and you have Obama involved. Next time someone tells you to "f*ck off", take that as a good thing. That means they want to do business and should be considered a close friend.

To the Right, the fact that Obama pushed for ethics reform that helped Blaggo out himself only strengthens their case. If you're curbing corruption, you must be knee deep in it. Transparency must mean you're hiding something.

Times up. Get back to your alternate parallel universe for further instructions.

Source: 1115.org

Obama To Realease Staff Contacts

Pro-active change is coming to Washington.

President-elect Obama stated at a press conference that he's "absolutely certain" that no one on his staff was involved in Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pay-for-play scheme for filling Obama's old Senate seat. Most importantly, Obama said that his staff is compiling of its own contacts with the governor and his staff and will release that information "in the next few days."

Imagine if this happened with Bush and Cheney in the Valerie Plame outing? Bush said he would fire anyone involved, then went on to pardon Scooter Libby.

Whereas Obama never spoke with Blagojevich about the selling of his Senate seat, [not denying he's spoken with Blagojevich, in general,] Bush and Cheney actively outed and covered up the outing of Plame. Libby was just the fall guy. The faux Republican "we need answers" is laughable.

Source: Political Wire

Daschle's Frames: FAIL

Tom Daschle, get yer ass back to LensCrafters and toss those Sally Jessy-meets-Teddy Roosevelt frames you're sporting for some proper frames.

How Dems Deal With Crooks

Tom DeLay v Rod Blagojevich

Though not a perfect match, Rod's hair is way better, the way the parties dealt with their scandal plagued members is enlightening.

In 2004, with a Republican majority:

"Four years ago, shortly after national elections, Republicans were forced to deal with the criminal indictment of a high-profile member -- Tom DeLay. One of the House GOP caucus' first major moves after the elections was to agree, behind closed doors, to change the rule forbidding those under indictment from holding leadership posts in the party. (Embarrassed, they later changed their minds.) Republican officials also defended the accused and lashed out, in a coordinated effort, against the prosecutor."

The pattern is there, deny, deny, deny: never admit it.

In 2008 with a Democratic majority:

"All fifty members of the Democratic Senate caucus have signed Majority Leader Harry Reid's letter calling on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to step down from his post and refrain from appointing anyone to the vacated Illinois Senate seat, a source confirms.

The fact that [Harry Reid and] 49 other Democratic colleagues, including Vice President-elect Joseph Biden and Secretary of State nominee Hillary Clinton, have signed this letter suggest that they are serious about pushing back against any 11th-hour Blagojevich move."

From Monday to Tuesday, the scandal was announced and dealt with. Democrats are at least trying to deal with "corruption". Aside from Charles Rangel, but this is Washington DC, after all.

Source: Steve Benen

Bush's 26 Year High

No not his booze and cocaine days. If only it was just him screwing himself over. No, he decided to do it to the whole country. This 26 year high in the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits.

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits jumped by 58,000, the biggest increase since September 2005, to a seasonally adjusted 573,000 in the week ended December 6 from an upwardly revised 515,000 the previous week. That was the highest print since November 1982, when 612,000 workers submitted new claims for unemployment benefits.

Bush and the GOP have tattooed their policies on the ass of American workers: FAIL.

Conservatives and Republicans sure know how to run an economy. Let's never forget their legacy.

Source: Reuters

Will Farrell Brings Bush To Broadway And HBO

Paraphrasing what Bush said to the Pope, "this is awesome".

via: Variety:

"HBO will air a live telecast in the spring of Will Ferrell's Broadway show "You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush".

An exact date for the HBO airing has not been confirmed, although it seems likely it would come toward the end of the run of "You're Welcome America" to prevent the telecast from cannibalizing ticket sales for the Broadway engagement. Limited Rialto stint is slated to end March 15."

Source: Variety

God And His Bum Son

A second religious-y post, I must be ill.

From Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five:

The visitor from out space made a very serious study of Christianity to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that at least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament. He supposed that the intent of the gospel was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low.

But the gospels actually taught this:

Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.

The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn't look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought . . .
Oh boy--they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time!

And that thought had a brother: "There are right people to lynch." Who? People not well connected. So it goes.

The visitor from outer space made a gift to Earth of a new Gospel. In it, Jesus really was a nobody, and a pain in the neck to a lot of people with better connections than he had. He still got to say all the lovely and puzzling things he said in the other Gospels.

So the people amused themselves one day by nailing him to a cross and planting the cross in the ground. There couldn't possibly be any repercussions, the lynchers thought. The reader would have to think that, too, since the new Gospel hammered home again and again what a nobody Jesus was.

And then, just before the nobody died, the heavens opened up, and there was thunder and lightning. The voice of God came crashing down. He told people that he was adopting the bum as his son, giving him the full powers and privileges of The Son of the Creator of the Universe thoughout all eternity. God said this: From this moment on, He will punish horribly anybody who torments a bum who has no connections!

How The Bronze Age Influences Marriage

What was so wonderful about Bronze Age thinking that we should pattern modern society after it? The New Testament with Jesus never mentions homosexuality and lists divorce as the biggest sin. Where do Bible folks get their facts to back up these modern situations?

via DailyKos:

In short, if we are to let the Bible [mostly Old Testament] define what "traditional marriage" should look like, then our marriage laws should be amended as such:

A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)

B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)

C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)

D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)

E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)

F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)

G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)

Think about this, fundamentalist [pro-Prop 8 churches] who follow the Bible would have to marry their daughter to the man that raped said daughter, after he paid the father 50 silver coins. How romantic.

Christians and Catholics should be following Jesus and the New Testament, if anything, and not Leviticus and the Old Testament. For any passage you can kinda' sorta' make out to be anti-gay, I can show 100s that say to love and respect and be merciful. What son of God are you following?

BTW, "homosexual" is a nascent term, first used in the 1890s. The concept of sexual orientation is rather new so anyone using the Bible for this purpose is kind of clueless.

Source: DailyKos

Most Inane Punditry of the 2008

Another list! Vote for the worst punditry of 2008. Choose from these turds and head over to mediamatters.org to cast your vote.

Fox News' Hill criticizes Clinton for leaving too large a tip, accuses her of "spending like a Learjet liberal"

Barnes: Obama not "strong on national security" because he opposed war "when the entire world believed" Saddam had WMD

Defending Givhan's cleavage coverage, Harwood asserted "calculati[ng]" Clinton knew "what she was communicating by her dress"

On Hardball, Matthews and Shuster critiqued Obama's "weird" beverage selection at Indiana diner.

Matthews on Obama shooting pool: "[I]t's not what most people play. People with money play pool these days"

Politico's Simon now on to a different part of Romney's anatomy: "shoulders you could land a 737 on"

Matthews: "Who would win a street fight ... Rudy Giuliani or President Ahmadinejad"

Brooks thinks Obama wouldn't seem to "fit in naturally" at an Applebee's salad bar -- maybe because Applebee's doesn't have them

Cokie Roberts on Obama's vacation: "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state," but it looks "foreign, exotic"

Scarborough on Obama's "dainty" bowling performance: "Americans want their president, if it's a man, to be a real man"

Not nearly enough Kristol, Hannity and Buchanan.

Source: Media Matters

Putting The "Blag" In Blagojevich

This is a term used a lot in the UK.

Blag, v.,
1) To gain, usually entrance to a restricted area or club, or some material good, through confidence trickery or cheekiness. Lying is also acceptable.
2) To lie.
3) To make up as you go along.

Source: Urban Dictionary

The 10 Worst Predictions For 2008

The end-of-year lists start to roll in:

No surprise this oxygen thief tops their list. How can Weekly Standard editor and New York Times columnist William Kristol maintain 2 jobs in these tough times?

Oh, that's right, he's a conservative pundit.

No need to be correct. Just repeat the old talking points, slam a Clinton, then use "winning", "terror" and "9/11" in a sentence.

Kristol is like the Frank Burns [M*A*S*H] of politics: ferret-faced, devoid of personality, total suck-up to the conservative establishment, horrible sense of humor with an annoying, insecure laugh, yet, somehow still in the mix spewing old rhetoric despite having no connection with reality.

Another nugget:
Donald Luskin in September, the day before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy:

"[A]nyone who says we're in a recession, or heading into one -- especially the worst one since the Great Depression -- is making up his own private definition of 'recession.'"

Read on for the complete Top 10, Source: Foreign Policy

"The Time For Denial Is Over"

Too bad Rod stole all the headlines yesterday.

President-elect Barack Obama met with former vice president Al Gore in Chicago on Tuesday to discuss climate change, declaring after the meeting, "The time for denial is over."

"We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now," Obama said, "that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way. That is what I intend my administration to do."

8 years of Bush foolishness will be tough to overcome.

Source: WaPo

Call In Gay

Source: http://daywithoutagay.net/

NBC's Leno Show: "How Funny Died"

5 nights a week at 10pm, Jay Leno will explore how he stopped being funny 20 years ago, watered down his wit and perfected the boring interview. FAIL.

The NBC drone at the press conference kept saying the show was "DVR-proof". Does he even know what that means? Try being "DVR-worthy" first, broseph.

So no hour-long shows on NBC anymore?

"I, Barack Hussein Obama"

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the President-elect said that "when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20, he plans to be sworn in like other presidents, using his full name: Barack Hussein Obama."

First name is Swahili, middle name is the cause of a war, last names rhymes with Osama. You got to love America.

Source: LA Times

White House Attempts To Rewrite History

Keith Olbermann debunks White House talking points memo on rewriting Bush Legacy. History will be most cruel to the Bush Administration.

Obama's Call To Ethics Reform

Will Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's scandal dog Obama? No.

Just the facts. First via the NYT:

"Mr. Obama placed the call to his political mentor, Emil Jones Jr., president of the Illinois Senate. Mr. Jones was a critic of the [ethics] legislation, which sought to curb the influence of money in politics, as was Mr. Blagojevich, who had vetoed it. But after the call from Mr. Obama, the Senate overrode the veto, prompting the governor to press state contractors for campaign contributions before the law's restrictions could take effect on Jan. 1, prosecutors say."

Followed by The Washington Monthly's take:

"So, in an indirect way, Blagojevich's fiasco may not have come to pass were it not for Obama's commitment to ethics reform. Once Obama intervened and the bill became law, Blagojevich had to scramble to collect as many campaign contributions as possible before the law took effect. The governor's efforts generated the attention of federal investigators, who in turn tapped Blagojevich's phone, which in turn produced stunning evidence of brazen corruption."

Obama is not part of "the murky and insular world of Illinois politics". His commitment to ethics reform has allowed him to escape that world to become President.

Source: Steve Benen

Stewart Grills Huckabee On Gay Marriage

Great interview between Jon Stewart and former fat guy Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

"Gay people don’t choose to be gay. At what age did you choose to not be gay?"

When you think of all the people who are allowed to marry, an 80 year old man is allowed to marry an 18 year old girl, a person divorced 6 times is allowed to marry someone else divorced 6 times, and on and on, yet two monogamous same sex adults can't.

Mike's hang-up is that it would change the "definition of marriage". With divorce rates at 50%, hasn't marriage lost "til death do us part" a long time ago?

And if Huchabee is trying to frame gay marriage around what the public wants, over 60% of the pubic want legal abortions. A bit hypocritical.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Source: ThinkProgress

As Markets Waver, Treasury Yield Turns Negative

I'll hold your money for free.

Investors were so desperate to put their cash into government notes that they were willing to pay a penalty for the privilege: three-month notes traded at a negative yield, meaning that investors will receive about 99 cents on the dollar in return after the note matures. The news sends a sobering signal: in this environment, losing only a small amount of money on an investment is tantamount to coming out ahead.

Source: NYT

The Face Of Copernicus

Although I knew they found his bones, I never saw a computer reconstruction of Nicolaus Copernicus' face from his skull most recently discovered in a cathedral in Frombork, Poland.

The Father of Modern Astronomy, his 16th-century theory of heliocentrism would send shivers down the spine of simpleton Bible freaks like Bush and Palin. Bush no like science.

It may have taken 600 years, but the great man will finally get the tombstone he deserves.



Source: BBC

VIDEO: Leveraging And Deleveraging Explained

Leveraging and deleveraging from Marketplace on Vimeo.

Leveraging—or borrowing—has been cited as one of the contributors to the financial crisis. In this Marketplace Whiteboard, Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains how the move to deleverage—or reduce debt—is prompting wild market swings and concerns about deflation.

"Flaccid and useless" here we come!

Source: BoingBoing

What Me Worry?

"I don't believe there's any cloud that hangs over me. I think there's nothing but sunshine hanging over me," - IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to reporters one day before being taken into Federal custody.

Rod Blagojevich: "I Want To Make Money"

Shocking! Not really. An Illinois politician trying to make money off his influence is pretty common. His predecessor, Gov. George Ryan [R], is currently incarcerated. Seems at every point when someone tried to give him sage advice, Rod dropped the f-bomb. All on tape. Classic.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich [D]was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder.

A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

Otherwise, Blagojevich considered appointing himself. The affidavit said that as late as Nov. 3, he told his deputy governor that if "they're not going to offer me anything of value I might as well take it."

"I'm going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain," Blagojevich allegedly said later that day, according to the affidavit, which also quoted him as saying in a remark punctuated by profanity that the seat was "a valuable thing _ you just don't give it away for nothing."

Pretty brazen stuff, Rod's own words will seal his fate. How could you be so idiotic in this day of wiring tapping, bugging and surveillance. Such wide ranging graft, too. I guess they'll spend the next few days trying to connect this to Obama, since it was his seat he was trying to sell. Probably nothing there.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald is in charge of the case, the guy who convicted Scooter Libby. Seems to be very thorough. At the press conference today, Fitzgerald said "the conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave".



Source: HuffPo

Peter Schiff On Mortgage Rates

Peter Schiff has a great article on how artificially suppressing mortgage rates is not the solution for re-inflating the housing market.

"If real estate prices are too high they must be allowed to fall, regardless of the consequences. Lower prices are the market's solution to housing affordability. Government attempts to artificially prop up prices will have much more dire economic consequences then letting them fall. Until we figure this out, there will be no escape from the economic death spiral the government is setting in motion."

Source: Peter Schiff

The Lonely Island "Jizz In My Pants"

The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg , Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone) debuted their first single "Jizz In My Pants" on SNL.



Video features guest appearances by Molly Sims, Jamie Lynn Sigler, and Justin Timberlake.

Source: The Lonely Island

O'Reilly's War On Christmyth

The Messiah of the Non-story has his "holiday" quiz. Christmas hater, that's some war. The red herring Clown Prince Bill O'Reilly should be consistent and demand that all his viewers boycott his show.



Note also the complete lack of any “Christian” imagery in the graphic accompanying the piece.

* Santa - not Christian; based in pagan beliefs
* Kwanzaa - not (generally) Christian; based on African traditions
* Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - not Christian; a children’s story
* Hanukkah - definitely not Christian; minor Jewish holiday
* Decorated tree - not Christian; based in pagan beliefs
* December 25th - not Christian; from the Julian calendar, date of pagan festival and also date of birth of Mithras
* Bill O’Reilly - not Christian in any way you can recognize; descended from pagans from Ireland

Source: Think Progress

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal

Will the same racist Republican Palin-types who say Barack Hussein Obama offer their missing chromosome charm hate toward Piyush "Bobby" Jindal?

Deepak Chopra: Letter to Sean Hannity

The love guru deals on college drop-out Sean Hannity.

Dear Sean,

I saw a report about last night's show that quotes you as follows:

"Hannity continued by saying, "We had Deepak Chopra on last night and he's blaming America! ...He was blaming America for the attacks in Mumbai and I challenged him on it and I'm like, 'Wait a minute. You've done so well in America. Why are you blaming us?' We protect 100% of the world's population. We're 4% of it."

I am really disappointed in you. Do you not remember your other guest when I was on, former Defense Secretary Bill Cohen? He made the same point I did about America's policy toward the jihadists: "Are we creating more terrorists than killing them?" Ironically, this question is attributed to Donald Rumsfeld.

It really doesn't matter to me personally whether you agree with me or not. Leaving our debate aside, your habit of taking statements out of context and playing the blaming game is sad. You have a powerful platform that influences many people. Why do you use your influence to monger fear, militancy, divisiveness, and jingoism?

I was hoping to come back on your show and have a reflective, intelligent dialogue, but perhaps the attack mode is the only way you know to make a living. The best excuse for your dishonest accusations against me is that you don't believe what you're saying. The far right has deflated, so you are there to pump it up with hot air. If you stop blowing, you'll be out of a job. I empathize.

Love,
Deepak

PS: No one expects the right wing to change, but for what it's worth, they have entered an era of reconstruction. They've lost both their power and their credibility. Instead of trying to educate me about being an American, you might want to re-educate yourselves about dirty pool and below-the-belt attacks. Just a thought.

Source: HuffPo

Ricky Gervais On Atheism

Ricky Gervais on religious burden of proof:

'There are so many reasons to believe in God - the biggest one is: If there is no God what happens to me when I die? That's belief through necessity. The alternative is unthinkable. Now I wish I was taller, but it's not going to happen. And if truth be told, I wish there was a God. Of course, I don't want to live for 80 years and then be worm's meat. It would be brilliant but it's not going to happen, it's impossible. When I'm dying I probably will go 'I wish there was a God', but it doesn't mean there is. Wishing for something doesn't mean it's possible.'

He lightens up again. 'It annoys me that the burden of proof is on us. It should be: 'You came up with the idea. Why do you believe it?' I could tell you I've got superpowers. But I can't go up to people saying 'Prove I can't fly.' They'd go: 'What do you mean 'Prove you can't fly'? Prove you can!''

Source: The Telegraph UK



Ricky is doing a show in London next week called "Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People".

Organised by Gervais's touring sidekick Robin Ince, the line-up includes both men, along with Chris Addison, Phill Jupitus, Stewart Lee, Dara O'Briain and Mark Thomas. The bill is bolstered by leading lights from the world of science - including arch atheist Richard Dawkins - and music from, among others, Jarvis Cocker.

More here on the show.

Condi And The Queen

Old Skool meets Even Older Skool? Two ceremonial relics meet? Two white women that share the same hairstyle? Bush's Queen meets her idol?



Source: BAG news

5 Blackwater Guards Surrender

The military in Iraq had to do twice the job because the overpaid contractors were lawlessly making their jobs near impossible. We're finally shedding some light on the situation. Rumsfeld's dream of a privatized operation, complete with lack of chain of command and oversight, comes crashing down.

Five former Blackwater security guards surrendered to federal authorities today in Utah “over charges stemming from the 2007 shootings in Baghdad that killed 17 Iraqis.” Subsequently, the Justice Department unsealed a 35-count indictment charging the five former security guards “with voluntary manslaughter, attempt to commit manslaughter, and weapons violations.” From the Justice Department press release:

If convicted of the charges against them, the defendants face a potential maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment for each count of manslaughter, seven years of imprisonment for each count of attempt to commit manslaughter, and a mandatory minimum imprisonment of 30 years for the firearms count.

Source: CNN

Film Maker To Implant Camera In Eye

A real life eyeborg.



A film maker, Rob Spence, with no sight in his left eye, is going to replace his prosthetic eye with a tiny wireless video camera.

"If you lose your eye and have a hole in your head, then why not stick a camera in there?" he asks.

If successful, Spence will become one of a growing number of lifecasters. From early webcam pioneer Jennifer Kaye Ringley, who created JenniCam, to Microsoft researcher Gordon Bell, to commercial lifecasting ventures Ustream.tv and Justin.tv, many people use video and internet technology to record and broadcast every moment of their waking lives. But Spence is taking lifecasting a step further, with a bionic eye camera that is actually embedded in his body.

Source: WIRED

"Stretch" Gregory

David Gregory is 6'5". Bush called him "Stretch". I think that's twice as tall as Stephanopoulos.

Going To Church Or Watching Football

Both are religious experiences for certain people.

Barack Obama has been missing church the past few weeks, I guess he's a little busy.

George Bush never went to church much in the past 8 years, in fact, he lacked membership in a Washington, D.C., congregation.

See which story the conservatives pick up on. Ben Smith at Politico has already has.

As a wise man once pointed out, the Constitution actually says we have the freedom OF religion, not the freedom FROM religion.

Source: Politico

Karl Rove Is Gonna Tattle Tale On You

Maybe this strikes fear in the conservatives who are looking back into history, trying to figure out how to go back in time to 1984, but most should not care, ding-dong the wicked witch is dead:

"I've got behind-the-scenes episodes that are going to show how unreceiving they were of this man as president of the United States. I'm going to name names and show examples."

-- Karl Rove, quoted by the Austin American-Statesman, on his forthcoming book in which he describes the "political actors in this town who never accepted [Bush] as a legitimate president."

Political actors? Isn't he describing Bush? The cowering conservatives were just playing along in his massive Jesus-with-a-gun Pantomime, all at our expense.

In this day and age, those fingered by Rove will look cool for not buying into the Bush farce. Write your lame passive-aggressive book, Karl, and fade into the sunset.

Source: Austin Statesman

Dec 7, 1941 - 67 Years Ago

December 7, 1941. A day that will live in infamy.

Had Bush been President at the time, he would have seen the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and used that intel to invade Mexico.

USS Arizona - Pearl Harbor Memorial, Hawaii



UPDATE: Obama nominates Gen Eric Shinseki, the first Asian-American in a military-related cabinet position, not to mention a Japanese-American honored for lifelong military service, for Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

"He was right"

Amy Poehler Back On SNL

Hillary and Bill on SNL.

"this is almost a dream come true"

"is my new job better than being Governor of Alaska?"