Crystal Gazing

Where Was The Schiavo Circus?

2007-12-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

Nataline Sarkysian, RIP

Crickets... chirp... chirp... chirp... chirp... chirp...

Historian?

2007-12-20T13:36:00.000-08:00

I don't think it means what Tom Wolfe thinks it means...

They Should All Resign in Shame

2007-12-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

Mark Halperin, kneepads in place...

Editors, anchors, executive producers, reporters, and campaigns are instantly aware when Drudge posts something political. And with just days to go before the voting — with everyone so busy, so tired, so manic, and so vulnerable — political and media actors are more easily turned chasing in whatever direction Drudge points them. Or, more specifically, in whatever direction Drudge’s spoon-feeding sources point them.

Wingnut Headlines You Can't Resist

2007-12-13T00:49:00.000-08:00

Video: Mary Katharine Ham explains porn sites to O’Reilly

Precious goldmines of self-aggrandizing pretense

2007-12-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice look at Joe Klein, a man "blinded by self-regard."

Bacon Can Save Your Life

2007-11-29T00:29:00.000-08:00

No, really...

A researcher at the University of Texas at Houston says bacon can actually help save your life during a heart attack.

Dr. Nathan Bryan claims nitrates found in bacon form a gas, which can re-open blocked arteries.

Early research indicates the nitrates in bacon cause cancer, but Dr. Bryan says this research is false.

"You should not avoid eating bacon because of the nitrite content. If anything, the nitrite content is what protects our heart during a heart attack," he says.

More info here.

Shorter Joe Klein

2007-11-27T00:39:00.000-08:00

"I've no time or ability to deliver facts and analysis to readers. It's not my job..."

Great Moments in Reading Comprehension

2007-11-20T11:04:00.000-08:00

Coattails Limbaugh:

Solicitor Romulo Diaz said, "While we respect the right of the Boy Scouts to prohibit participation in its activities by homosexuals, we will not subsidize that discrimination by passing on the costs to the people of Philadelphia."

The solicitor apparently doesn't care that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Scouts have a right to exclude homosexuals...

Clinton Crotch Holler

2007-11-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

K-Lo's words say no, but her ruttish empty void says otherwise...

Cootie Vibes

2007-11-12T23:51:00.000-08:00

Silly Sully has another case of cootie vibes...

Rescissions

2007-11-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

Your free market health insurance...

One of the state's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved.

Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million in medical expenses by rescinding about 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. During that period, it paid its senior analyst in charge of cancellations more than $20,000 in bonuses based in part on her meeting or exceeding annual targets for revoking policies, documents disclosed Thursday showed.

The revelation that the health plan had cancellation goals and bonuses comes amid a storm of controversy over the industry-wide but long-hidden practice of rescinding coverage after expensive medical treatments have been authorized.

These cancellations have been the recent focus of intense scrutiny by lawmakers, state regulators and consumer advocates. Although these "rescissions" are only a small portion of the companies' overall business, they typically leave sick patients with crushing medical bills and no way to obtain needed treatment.

Chumps

2007-11-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Pat Leahy edition...

Congratulations are in order: Leahy and the White House will soon celebrate the one year anniversary of Leahy's November 15, 2006, request for “any and all Department of Justice directives, memoranda, and/or guidance . . . regarding CIA detention and/or interrogation methods.” So a Happy Torture Policy Stonewalling Day to Pat and everyone in the Bush Administration!

Better Reporting Please

2007-11-05T13:16:00.000-08:00

Once again ... is it too much to ask that a Peter Dreier, Professor of Politics at Occidental College, posting at the Huffington Post or that our respected and valued Tristero at Digby's place point out to their readers that Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution says that only "the Legislature thereof" may change the manner of selecting electors... ?

Professor Dreier is particularly remiss when he includes this...

"There's nothing in the Constitution that requires states to divvy up their electoral votes a certain way. Currently, Maine (with four electoral votes) and Nebraska (with five) allocate their electoral votes based on the popular vote in Congressional districts, but neither state has had a split vote in any of the last five elections. All other states have adopted the winner-take-all system."

...without so much as mentioning the Art. II, Sec. 1 requirement that the Legislature must make the change.

Maureen Dowd

2007-11-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry, but your shit does too stink...

Sadly, Yes...

2007-11-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

B. Rocket at Sadly, No!

"Incidentally, if Bush started rounding up opposition politicians, you get the feeling that the Democrats would willingly jail themselves."

The Prophet Moe?

2007-10-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

Oh, sweet Jesus...

On My little infidel
Go to hell!
Cover up, convert or die - Sharia!
Muslim foot baths in the schools - airports too!
Public school madrassas are taking over.
Never gonna stop, give it up
We're such girliemen
Always give it up to the call of the Prophet Moe.
Allah Akbar!

When you gonna cut my va?
va jay jay!
Gotta live in dhimmitude,
Honor Killings!
Gonna call you racist and Islamophobe!
If you dare to use the word Islamofascist

Refrain:
Never gonna stop
Give it up
We're such girliemen
Always give it up to the call of the Prophet Moe

My My My My Sharia!
My My My My sharia!

Steny Hoyer, Incompetent

2007-10-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Via Correntwire we learn, incredibly, that the office of the House Democratic Majority Leader does not know who Atrios is and is unaware of one of the leading liberal media outlets:

Welcome, Eschatonians, and thanks to Lord Atrios for the link. I called up Hoyer’s office, and courteously informed the young staffer about the link. And you know what? They didn’t know who Atrios was.

Look, I don't proclaim some egomaniacal exceptionalism for Atrios (nor would he) that expects all the world to know about his blog, but one would think that the leadership office of a major political party would at least be aware of who has a significant media megaphone within his own party and in the political world generally. How are we ever going to counteract the right wing noise machine when our leaders don’t even know who the key new liberal media outlets are, let alone have a strategy for using them effectively. Can you imagine anyone in John Boehner’s office not knowing who Assrocket and Powerline is?

The sheer incompetence of Steny Hoyer and our leadership is breathtaking…

Perfected Like Ann...

2007-10-25T01:19:00.000-07:00

h/t Maha

Prehistoric Minds

2007-10-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

It's only a matter of time before these people who are too stupid to rub sticks together start whining about government aid being given to those who chose to live where there is fire...

"A disaster waiting to happen"

2007-10-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

What Kevin says about Rudy Giuliani...

Rudy Giuliani is the guy you'd get if you put George Bush and Dick Cheney into a wine press and squeezed out their pure combined essence: unbounded arrogance and self-righteousness, a chip on his shoulder the size of a redwood, a studied contempt for anybody's opinion but his own, a vindictive streak a mile wide, and a devotion to secrecy and executive power unmatched in presidential history. He is a disaster waiting to happen.

Five Reasons to Stiff Rahm and the DCCC

2007-10-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

No turkee for these turkeys...

Howie Klein:
You might be interested in knowing that 5 Democrats voted with the Republicans on condemning Rep Stark and another 8– all reactionaries– voted “Present,” refusing to come to Stark’s defense. You can probably guess the names of the disgraceful 13 Democrats. But just in case… the 5 who voted– as they so often do– with the GOP:

Jason Altmire (PA), still not kicked off the DCCC Front Line list (Bush Dog)
Chris Carney (PA), still not kicked off the DCCC Front Line list (Bush Dog)
Joe Donnelly (IN), still not kicked off the DCCC Front Line list (Bush Dog)
Brad Ellsworth (IN), still not kicked off the DCCC Front Line list (Bush Dog)
Heath Shuler (NC), still not kicked off the DCCC Front Line list (Bush Dog)
Howie has another interesting statistic — according to Progressive Punch, of the 20 House Democrats who vote with the Bush Administration most frequently in tough roll call votes, 10 are freshmen recruited by Rahm Emanuel. Altmire, Carney, Donnelly, Ellsworth and Shuler are all on that list.

I’ll just leave you with that thought and let it sink in.

Better to give through Actblue or directly to the candidate(s) of your choice.

2008 in a Nutshell

2007-10-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

Digby:

If one political party is a complete failure at governance, but their rivals are total, all-encompassing failures at politics, which do you suppose will win the favor of the citizens?

It looks like we are about to find out.

It's come this this: Hoping the morons can prevail...

Tucker is a douche...

2007-10-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Tucker Carlson is a douche (but you probably already knew that...).

But what makes the Tucker segment noteworthy is not that it featured false, misleading, and oversimplified claims about a prominent progressive -- that happens all the time on cable news. What really makes it noteworthy is that at the end of the segment -- a segment in which three journalists (Tucker, A.B. Stoddard of The Hill and Josephine Hearn of the Politico) had discussed at length an allegation against Hillary Clinton that appeared, based on a single anonymous source describing a 14-year-old event, in a factually flawed book that at least two of the three had not read -- Carlson and his guests agreed that the media is giving Clinton a pass on the allegation.

None of the journalists had noted the allegation's dubious provenance. None noted that Gerth, at least, has a long history of deeply flawed reporting about the Clintons. Instead, they made false claims (as in Hearn's assertion that nothing in the book had been contested) and misleading statements (as in Carlson's description of the authors as "not two guys from The American Spectator. These are two -- in at least one case, I think, a pretty well-established, at least, former liberal. I mean, they're not screaming right-wingers") bolstering the credibility of a book that at least two of them had not read.

The Wikiality of Goat Blowing

2007-10-16T00:43:00.000-07:00

Mickey Kaus, goat blower.

The Page

2007-10-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

"The Page" -- pathetic and sad, in a 'fading teen idol reunion comeback tour' kind of way...