Thom: Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.
Ann Telnaes: John McCain responds to HBO’s Game Change.
Pap with John Nichols: The Wisconsin Uprising.
Comcast Newsmakers interviews Gov. Christine Gregoire.
The Republican War on Women™
- Olbermann with Molly Ball on Republican opposition to the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
- Alyona’s Tool Time Award: Abused wives should stick it out?!
- Ann Telnaes: The G.O.P Crusade against women.
- Young Turks: Romney, “I’ll get rid of Planned Parenthood”.
- Thom: Tell your boss why you are on the pill.
- Jennifer Granholm: GOP must stop their war on women
- Stephen: The plot against Rush.
- Olbermann with Lewis Black on Rush Limbaugh.
- Young Turks: Santorum, “Raped women should accept the gift of a child”
- Mitt: Wrong for women
- Tweety interviews Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on Republican’s refusing to fight violence against women.
- Sam Seder: Conservatives’ viscious attacks on women
- Jon: The cultural battle for supreme vulgarity.
- Alyona’s Tool Time Award: ‘Papers Please’ birth control policy
- Mitt Romney wants to eliminate Planned Parenthood.
- Jennifer Granholm and Tracy Clark-Flory: Mock bills threatening men’s rights offer comic relief—and perspective.
- Ann Telnaes: PA Governor, “You can close your eyes.”.
Mark Fiore: Koney or Baloney.
Jon on Syrian President Assad.
White House: West Wing Week.
Tom with some Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.
Thom: Somewhere Grover Norquist is freaking out.
Martin Bashir: On Sarah Palin and vetting.
The G.O.P. Freak Show Continues:
- Stephen on candidate’s speech pattern.
- Martin Short belts out a Romney anthem on David Letterman (via Indecision Forever):
- Ed: The charlatan right wing media battling over presidential nomination
- Lawrence O’Donnell: Inside the 2012 Republican ‘3 ring circus’
- Newsy: Newt ignores calls to drop out.
- Young Turks: Santorum’s War on Porn™.
- The G.O.P. big encounter.
- Pap: Why Republicans hate their candidates.
- Mitt foregos Medicare, but Seniors need it.
- Jon on last Tuesday’s primaries (via Political Wire).
- Sam Seder: Rick Santorum to Puerto Rico: Speak English!
- Young Turks: Romney gets into a fight with FAUX’s Megyn Kelly.
- Ed: The three stooges.
- Stephen: Santorum’s wild Southern night.
- ONN: Romney & Santorum supporters to beat the living shit out of each other for Montana Primary
- Actual Audio:Mitt goes Southern.
Liberal Viewer: FAUX News “Recording Cop” story forgot First Amendment.
Maddow does Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) on climate change “hoax” (via Indecision Forever).
Obama on American Energy.
Thom: The Good, the Bad, and the Very, Very Ugly.
Sam Seder: Dick Cheney fears Canada!
Jennifer Granholm and Ann O’Leary: What you need to know about Obama’s health care reform law.
Alyona’s Tool Time Award: Santorum and his war on porn.
Young Turks: Racist bumper stickers.
Comcast Newsmakers: State Sen. Ed Murray (D-43) on marriage equality:
Maddow: Ronald Reagan’s 1982 tax hike was the biggest ever in America’s history.
The Daily Show: U.S. cutting off funding for UNESCO.
Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.
SSgt. Robert Bales, 38, the alleged shooter in this week’s Afghanistan massacre of 16 villagers (including 9 children), has arrived in the U.S. and is being held in pre-trial confinement at Leavenworth.
Bales is represented by well-known Seattle criminal defense attorney John Henry Browne.
His wife is an executive at a Seattle company. They have two children. The family lives in Lake Tapps, near Tacoma.
Bales joined the Army after 9/11 and his spent his entire career at Fort Lewis. He was deployed to Iraq 3 times and suffered a traumatic head injury in Iraq from a non-combat vehicle rollover accident. Afghanistan was his 4th deployment.
Bales reportedly was drunk when he went on his alleged killing spree. He potentially could face the death penalty. But if the U.S. military’s handling of American perpetrators of war atrocities is any kind, he’ll be out after a couple years behind bars. Not that anyone would want to do time in a military jail.
I spent 3 hours in a military jail once. One of my jobs in Vietnam was “riding shotgun” for truck drivers on ammo resupply runs to remote outposts. This obviously was dangerous work because I rode sitting on several tons of explosives and if we hit a mine or got hit by an RPG or tracer fire, or got ambushed, it was goodbye Roger. Once, we drove right through an NVA ambush that kicked the blew out of a tank column 10 minutes behind us; I’m alive to write this because setting up an ambush is a lot of work and those NVA didn’t want to waste their ambush on 1 human and 1 rabbit in a truck.
On one such run, on the way back to base, my driver made a detour into the local ville to score some weed. I didn’t think this was a good idea and told him so, but he said “there’s never MPs here.” A mile later, we rolled up to a U.S. Marine Corps checkpoint. The MPs arrested us and hauled us back to the base.
The jail was a conex box. For those of you who don’t know what that is, visualize a steel shipping container. There was a 30″x30″ hole cut in one wall that opened into an office inside a crude plywood “hootch.” Next to this “door” sat a desk, at which sat a Marine sergeant who was about 7’0″ and a muscular 300 lbs., with a Colt .45 strapped on his web gear. He told us to “crawl in there and don’t come out until I tell you to.” Inside the “jail,” I looked at my buddy and said, “I don’t think escape is an option.” He nodded. If you want to know what it’s like to spend 3 hours in a conex box in Vietnam, where daytime temperatures can hit 130 degrees, go see the movies “Bridge on the River Kwai” again.
Eventually a captain from our battalion came down to the MP compound to retrieve us. He thought this was very funny. The Marines aimed a locked-and-cocked 50-caliber machinegun at us when they handed our weapons back to us. I guess they didn’t want to have a customer satisfaction incident. The machinegun made Captain —- uncomfortable, so he said “let’s get out of here.” We jumped into his jeep and he peeled out of there before the scrawny Marine up on the APC with the machinegun got an itchy finger.
That was the only time I’ve ever been in jail. Three hours in a Marine MP jail is about like 3 months in any other jail.
I wouldn’t want to be SSgt. Bales right now. I’m pretty sure the accomodations are Leavenworth are better than what I experienced in Vietnam, but I wouldn’t want to be him, anyway. He shouldn’t have oughta allegedly shot those people. He should’ve left well enough alone and let the Taliban do it. Then he could’ve served out his 4th deployment and spent the rest of his life with his wife and kids. Now, he may never see them again.
I should mention that a certain percentage of the bombs we dropped in Vietnam were duds, and the enemy liked to bury them in the roads with anti-tank mines on top. If you’re in a truck, APC, or tank that runs over one of those, it’s goodbye Roger. A buddy of mine saw a Marine tank get blown up by a 500-lb. bomb. He said the turret separated from the chassis, and the chassis landed 50 yards on one side of the road and the turret landed 100 yards on the other side of the road. The crew — how can I put this politely? — they, um, all got Purple Hearts. The kind that are given to wives and children with folded flags in the absence of a coffin. Those guys are up in the stratosphere somewhere, so next time you look at the sky, think of them, because their terrestrial remnants are looking down on you.
You don’t necessarily need a rocket or $20 million to get a ride into space.
2008 vs. 2012 Favorability Ratings
March 2008: Obama 51% positive, 28% negative; Clinton 45% positive, 43% negative
March 2012: Romney 28% positive, 39% negative; Santorum 26% positive, 39% negative
March 2008: Democrats 45% positive, 35% negative
March 2012: GOP 32% positive, 43% negative
Bottom line: This ain’t 2008, and Romney ain’t gonna replicate Obama’s 2008 victory.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....ma-primary
In Bed With Reds
“As the Chinese government forges ahead on a multibillion-dollar effort to blanket the country with surveillance cameras, one American company stands to profit: Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney.
“In December, a Bain-run fund in which a Romney family blind trust has holdings purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government’s Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system that allows the authorities to watch over university campuses, hospitals, mosques and movie theaters from centralized command posts.
“The Bain-owned company, Uniview Technologies, produces what it calls ‘infrared antiriot’ cameras and software that enable police officials in different jurisdictions to share images in real time through the Internet. Previous projects have included an emergency command center in Tibet that ‘provides a solid foundation for the maintenance of social stability and the protection of people’s peaceful life,’ according to Uniview’s Web site.
” … [H]uman rights advocates say … China … [uses the cameras] to intimidate and monitor political and religious dissidents. ‘There are video cameras all over our monastery, and their only purpose is to make us feel fear,’ said Loksag, a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Gansu Province. He said the cameras helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest at his monastery in 2008.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46.....ork_times/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Next time Mittster talks about “freedom,” ask him what he’s doing to Free Tibet. Selling infra-red cameras to Beijing’s dictators — that’s like Prescott Bush selling oil to Hitler. What a fucking jerk.
Too Stupid Even For A Republican Governor To Sign
“Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Friday vetoed a controversial bill banning public schools from teaching contraception as a way of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
“The bill, which also sought to bar instruction on homosexuality or other aspects of human sexuality other than the teaching of abstinence, would have been the first of its kind in the nation if it had become law.
“It had previously cleared Utah’s Republican-controlled House and Senate.”
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....ic-schools
The stock market was mostly sideways this week, but I made $1100 yesterday and had two $3000 days this week. This money is all gas, of course, created by the European Central Bank from thin air; but it spends at the grocery store and gas pump just as good as real money that you work for. And why would anyone work for $10/hr. shelling peas or sweeping floors if he can make $375/hr. without getting out of bed or commuting to a job or putting up with an asshole supervisor? We live under a weird system. It’s called Capitalism and rewards useless slackers like me while hating on workers. Someday, everyone will figure this out, and nobody will work anymore, and then where will Capitalism be? I sure hope the working class doesn’t catch onto this scam until after I’m dead and have no use for FREE MONEY anymore.
This is a hilarious one for the asshat troll moron. A “castsillian” even a racist idiot can support:
Sorry asshat, this “castsillian” has an R next to his name instead of an M for moron but since you’re such a Dino Lossi and Ron Paul fanboi, I’m sure you can make allowances.
@8 – Just when you think the Wingers can’t get any stupider…
@8
O’ no Agenda 21, run for your lives!
Ofrah Winfrey just axed the “Rosie Show” after a few pathetic months. Rosie is a mean, nasty, pathetic excuse for a human being slinging her leftist BS to very few people. she is o-u-t. Ofrah’s station is losing money hand over fist.
how come you lefty’s weren’t watching Rosie??
11 – We’re watching real entertainment:
debates,
better known as degenerate right wing travelling clown shows.
It’s side-splitting!
@11
I haven’t had a TV in years.
You tell ’em Fluffee.
From a Republican woman:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....etail=hide
“our own business”.. EXACTLY! Trust women with control over their own bodies..
Right wing men – mind your own fucking business. You don’t have to associate with women whose personal decisions you disagree with. And if women are truly paying attention they’re not going to throw the lever for these knee jerk right wing idiots (something like 99 percent of them men) who are trying make life harder for them.
@11 – Because only morons see everything in life as a Left/Right issue.
Daily Kos is commemorating the 9th anniversary of the start of the invasion and occupation of Iraq which will be on Monday.
I thought it’d be nice to salute those Republicans who voted NO on the AUMF, the authorization for use of military force in Iraq, one of the most craven and despicable acts in the history of politics in this country. Yep put that up with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.
Thanks to the following Republicans who said NO to this piece of garbage:
Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) a very moderate Republican
John James Duncan Jr (R-TN 2nd)
John Hostettler (R-IN 8th)
Amo Houghton (R-NY 29th)
Jim Leach (R-IA 1st)
Connie Morella (R-MD 8th)
and last but certainly by no means least
Ron Paul (R-Tx 14) old Congressman NO..
I salute you for saying NO to this heinous act.
@13 Me neither. I spend all my time on the computer or reading. When I’m not busy rolling Wall Street, I’m reading Barron’s.
@11. the same could be said about you.
Upstanding Citizen Award
“Michael Kobulnicky, the public relations spokesperson for the San Diego Tea Party, was arrested Thursday afternoon in front of his home, according to Lt. Anastasia Smith with the San Diego Police Department.
“Kobulnicky is accused of a Feb. 25 abduction and sexual assault of a 56-year-old woman who … was pulled into a car and assaulted, … police said.
“Surveillance footage of the area near the assault gave police evidence to pursue a suspect. They released a picture of the suspect to the public, and many identified the suspect as Kobulnicky, police said.”
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....sault-case
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I want to remind everyone that an arrest (snicker) is not the same as a conviction (guffaw). A suspect is presumed innocent until convicted …
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
… I’m sorry, I can’t help it
.
“The third floor of an apartment building in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, New York, collapsed during a party late Saturday night, injuring 12 people, emergency officials told NBC News.”
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....ring-party
Roger Rabbit Commentary: That was quite a party! They must have been drunk, because there were no serious injuries.
Here’s Michael J. Kobulnicky’s bio.
http://conservativepartyusa.or.....nicky.html
Hey, I’m not saying the cops got the right guy. Just because he’s a prominent political agitator and well-known in the community and was recognized by a slew of people who know him doesn’t mean he did it! He might have a twin brother or maybe some unrelated creep looks just like him! All lawyers know eyewitness identifications are notoriously unreliable. I’m just sayin’ …
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Two guys got kicked out of a Ricky Sanitarium political rally yesterday for kissing in front of the TV cameras. I can’t say I disagree with this. It was a deliberate attempt to upstage a candidate running for office, whose campaign paid for the venue and other event expenses, and I do understand his campaign staff’s knee-jerk reaction to this obviously staged stunt — they sicced security on those guys and threw them out of the rally– and I’d probably do the same thing if I were a candidate who had to deal with audience members trying to take over my event in this manner. But nevertheless, I feel Ricky Bigot is the wrong person to run our federal government and I hope he loses. Although I’m not gay, and would never dream of kissing a male rabbit in public or private, and sure as hell wouldn’t soil myself by kissing a human of any sex — although I’ll gladly take all the hugs I can get Darcy Burner because she loves rabbits and is soft and warm — I believe all of you stupid humans are entitled to your human dignity — if there is any — and so I think as a matter of fairness that gays should have the same rights as the rest of us and I’m against haters and dividers like Ricky Jerk who wants political power so he can force everyone else to live according to his personal beliefs and bigotry. That’s wrong and anyone who votes for someone like that is irresponsible.
I’ve been drinking tonight but that has no effect on my ability to reason through complex social problems. Trust me, Roger Rabbit has the answer — DON’T VOTE REPUBLICAN!!! You won’t go wrong by never voting Republican.
http://dailykos.com/story/2012.....etail=hide
@25 Does Sheriff Arpaio have a warrant out for Sammy because of his unpaid speeding tickets? Last I heard, “Joe the Plumber” was a wanted man in Arizona.
Pinocchio Nose Dep’t
Mittster’s campaign lies are growing more amusingly desperate as his nose grows longer. Now he’s telling his ever-dwindling rally audiences that Obama made a campaign promise in 2008 to raise gasoline prices.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....ice-of-gas
Chaos In GOP’s Missouri Caucuses
This is becoming routine:
“Contention and confusion marred various Republican caucuses in Missouri on Saturday…. ‘It looks like a chaotic day around Missouri’ said former senator Jim Talent, a Romney campaign adviser.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46774446
Roger Rabbit Commentary: And these people want to dictate to the rest of us how to run elections?
So if the Stock market goes up 5% but you lose 5% because of the massive money printing and debasing, inflation, and zero earnings on your bank accounts, CD’s, etc, you have gained nothing.
The stock market going up is only a reflection in most cases of the value of the company in a debased dollar world, considering inflation and with some exceptions.
@29 The problem with your argument is the stock market has gone up over 20% since October and over 12% since Jan. 1 — and it’s not even April yet.
It appears France has a terrorist on the loose. In the last few days, this individual has killed 3 French soldiers, a rabbi, and 3 children in three separate attacks — this morning on a Jewish school — and all three strikes look like professional jobs. My bunny nose detects Iranian retaliation for a) Mossad hits on Iranian scientists and engineers and b) France joining in sanctions against Iran.
Apple instituted its first-ever dividend today — a miserly 1.7%. ($2.65 per share, per quarter).
This is a big victory for me in Barron’s magazine’s annual investing predictions contest. (Entries had to be submitted in January.) One of the questions was which company would start paying dividends this year, and I correctly chose Apple.
Now, if Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi gets fired before Dec. 31, I’ll be well on my way to a free lunch with a Barron’s editor at a Manhattan bistro sometime next spring.
We were spending all our time trying to figure out who the fuck is this shithead david c and what the fuck is he doing here…
@33 Probably one of the usual suspects recycling himself under a new screen name to cover his embarrassing tracks.