"To paraphrase Julian Sanchez, though, if the only way for you to respect others is to believe that someone wielding omnipotent powers is constantly watching you, then you probably aren’t a very good person to begin with. Still, if you are that kind of person, I’m glad you’ve found religion."
Adam Serwer on Atheism And Morality. (via Instapaper)
(Source: misterjt)
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Untitled
1/1000th of 1%
"Speaker Boehner’s proposed Congressional Budget Cuts amount to 1/1000th of 1% (.001%) of the total Budget. Hoping to close the Budget Deficit with a 5% cut in House Office Cuts is like planing to buy a new mansion in Aspen by digging for change in your couch cushions."
Chris Hayes (in for Rachel Maddow)
Republicans deliver nothing, their base unblinkingly approves.
I Can See It In Your Eyes
"Mika, you need to buck up. I know you think this story has no purpose other than keeping Sarah Palin’s name in the headlines for another news cycle.I know you think she has nothing to offer the national dialogue and that her speeches are just coded talking points mixed in with words picked up at random from a thesaurus.
I know you think Sarah Palin is, at best, a self-promoting ignoramus, and at worst a shameless media troll who’ll abuse any platform to deliver dog-whistle encouragement to a far-right base that may include possible insurrectionists.
I know you think her reality show was pathetically un-statesmanlike, and at the same time I know you think it represents the pinnacle of her potential, and that her transparent desperation to be a celebrity so completely eclipsed her interest in public service so long ago, that there would be more journalistic integrity in reporting on one of the lesser Kardashians’ ass implants.
And I know, I know that when you arrive at the office each day, you say a silent prayer that maybe, just maybe Sarah Palin will at long last shut up for ten fucking minutes.
I know ‘cause I can see it in your eyes!"
- Stephen Colbert, offering words of encouragement for MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski after she nearly refused to read a story on Sarah Palin, on The Colbert Report.
Priceless.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Hospital Visitation Regulations Go Into Effect Today
"There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital. In these hours of need and moments of pain and anxiety, all of us would hope to have a hand to hold, a shoulder on which to lean – a loved one to be there for us, as we would be there for them."
With those words on April 15, 2010 President Obama directed HHS Secretary Sebelius to initiate rulemaking to ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare and Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors. The President further advised that the rule should ensure that participating hospitals may not deny visitation privileges based on factors including sexual orientation or gender identity.
Today the new Hospital Visitation Regulations go into effect.
This policy impacts millions of LGBT Americans and their families.
via whitehouse.gov
B-R-A-V-O
Today, new hospital visitation regulations go into effect—a policy that will impact millions of LGBT Americans and their families.
Vatican Warned Irish Bishops Not to Report Child Abuse
A newly disclosed document reveals that Vatican officials instructed the bishops of Ireland in 1997 that they must not adopt a policy of reporting priests suspected of child abuse to the police or civil authorities.
The document appears to contradict Vatican claims that the hierarchy in Rome never determined the actions of local bishops in abuse cases, and that the church did not impede criminal investigations of accused child abusers.
Abuse victims in Ireland and the United States quickly proclaimed the document to be a “smoking gun” that would serve as important evidence in lawsuits against the Vatican.
via nytimes.com
The top Cardinal in charge of handling sexual abuse at that time, Joesph Ratzinger, is now Pope, Benedict XVI.
That whole "infallible" claim is a complete joke. What moral authority could you possibly have?
Frist: Health Care Bill Is Law Of The Land
"It is not the bill that [Republicans] would have written. It is not the bill that I would have drafted. But it is the law of the land and it is the platform, the fundamental platform, upon which all future efforts to make that system better, for that patient, for that family, will be based. And that is a fact.
I know the discussion of Washington is repeal and I’m sure we will come back to that discussion…[The bill] has many strong elements. And those elements, whatever happens, need to be preserved, need to be cuddled, need to be snuggled, need to be promoted and need to be implemented."
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist: Health Care is ‘Law of the Land,’ GOP should drop repeal and build on it. (via corruptpolitics)
They always have to leave office to speak some truth. While in office, it’s talking points and mindless rhetoric.
Lieberman To Not Seek Re-election
via brooklynmutt.com
NYT NEWS ALERT: Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut Will Not Seek a Fourth Term
Obama's Bump
It seems real enough now after several impressive weeks from the president, as the Tea Party suffers a big jump in unfavorable ratings to Palin levels. From Obama's tax cut deal to repealing DADT to ratifying START and the South Korea free trade agreement followed by his flawless performance in the wake of the Tucson shootings ... Americans are warming to him.
Gallup now has him back up at 48 percent with disapproval at a year's low; ABC News has him at 54 percent. The ABC poll also showed a sharp shift in the right/wrong direction numbers, which have been headed in the wrong direction for a long, long time. The right track just jumped from 27 to 38 percent in the past three months and the wrong track dropped from 71 to 60. Obama is more trusted on every major issue than the GOP, including the budget deficit, except healthcare where they're tied. By 44 - 35 percent, the public would prefer the country go in Obama's direction rather than the GOP's.
True leadership.
Right Sees No Irony In Tucson
"We learn that the Right doesn’t even recognize the irony of its claim of being unfairly blamed for the violence of others, when it has spent the last several years doing exactly that to Muslims — particularly American Muslims. We also learn that the Right can simultaneously insist no political party or inclination can be blamed for Tucson — while it itself blames the Democratic Party and the left, for Tucson…
And ultimately we learn… this template of what the Right would do in an actual open-and-shut slam dunk case in which a partisan of the Right attempted to kill one of the Left. The Right would blame that victim, blame him or her for not having brought enough security. Or for not having brought a gun." - Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment, January 17th, 2011
62% Want Health Reform And More
Americans want more “Job-Killing Health-Care.”
62% is the will of the people, Mr Boehner.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Money Talks
Jimmy Margulies / The Record (N.J.)
As with the Supreme Court ruling this past election, corporate and lobbyist money is speech and trumps "we the people".
Gabbie Giffords' Update
As of yesterday, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' (D-Ariz.) condition had been upgraded, from critical to serious. She is also now breathing on her own.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Rush Limbaugh’s Billboard In Tucson
A billboard advertising Rush Limbaugh’s radio show with the slogan “A straight shooter” in Tucson has been taken down by Clear Channel because of the shooting which recently occurred in the city.
The company commented that although the billboard had been up for a number of weeks, it was no longer appropriate to keep it up because of the recent sad events that took place.This was in Tucson! The Right Wing uses bullets and guns to intimidate, then play “dumber” when their acolytes follow through on their coded messages.
WikeLeaks And The 2,000 “High Net Worth Individuals"
The offshore bank account details of 2,000 “high net worth individuals” and corporations – detailing massive potential tax evasion – will be handed over to the WikiLeaks organisation in London tomorrow by the most important and boldest whistleblower in Swiss banking history, Rudolf Elmer, two days before he goes on trial in his native Switzerland.
British and American individuals and companies are among the offshore clients whose details will be contained on CDs presented to WikiLeaks at the Frontline Club in London. Those involved include, Elmer tells the Observer, “approximately 40 politicians”.
Jared Loughner's Crazy Views Mirror Those of Glenn Beck and Dana Rohrabacher
The media has portrayed alleged Arizona rampage shooter Jared Loughner as holding such politically jumbled views--his top three grievances center on government mind control, returning to the Gold Standard and political correctness--that it is impossible to find any Left or Right direction in him.But a military veteran who posts political humor from a liberal bent has discovered a televised conversation between conservatives espousing similar views. Who are today's mystery guests? None other than anti-P.C., return-to-gold pusher Glenn Beck and his congressional doppelgänger, Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Fairview Hospital).
Read Rack Jite's full post here. (And, for more on the shooting, check out our sister paper Phoenix New Times and its ongoing blog coverage.)Here's how Jite introduces a July 30, 2009, transcript from FOX News' Glenn Beck show:
Send in the clowns: Glenn Beck and Dana Rohrabacher. After reading this transcript of the Glenn Beck show below, I want the media to tell me that Glenn Beck and Dana Rohrabacher are only expressing a jumble of political beliefs with no Left or Right direction to it. My God, man, this entire interview is about an extreme right-wing-conspiracy screed against government mind control by two of the craziest right-wing loons in the world.
Birds of a feather.
Bill Maher: Tea Baggers Are The "Anti-Founding Fathers"
Comedian Bill Maher took issue with the Tea party’s identification with America’s “Founding Fathers’ at the end of the season premiere of his cable show Friday night.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the Founding Fathers would have hated your guts, and what’s more, you would have hated them,” he said, seemingly speaking directly to the followers of the right-wing astroturf group.
He continued, “They were everything you despise. They studied science, read Plato, hung out in Paris, and thought the Bible was mostly bullshit.”
Yes, yes, yes and yes.
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