IntoxiNation

More Breaking Palin News

jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:24:13 +0000

Sarah Palin is leaving Alaska and getting ready to hike the Appalachian Trail in Argentina with Mark Sanford!!!!

BREAKING: Palin Resigning As Governor At The End Of The Month

jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:43:23 +0000

There are mixed reports on this, but CNN and FOX are both reporting that she is leaving office at the end of the month. The reason is that Palin feels she can be “more effective outside of government”. Not really sure how that would play into a 2012 run. Not only that, but the timing is very curious. A Friday afternoon dump on a holiday weekend. I got a feeling there is more there than meets the eye.

UPDATE:

There’s a lot of speculation (and wishing) from the right that she is doing this so she can run for President in 2012. Let’s think about that for a minute. Governor is the only major office she has held and is quitting that to run for President. Now you can say that “well Obama quit to become President”, yet Obama remained in office as a Senator and ran his campaign. So did John McCain, John Kerry, Bill Clinton. The list goes on. If this is truly her motive then I would chalk it up there with John McCain “suspending” his campaign last year.

Palin Continues Her Lame Excuses

jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:02:00 +0000

This is from an email authored by Sarah Palin that CBS has obtained:

"That's not part of their platform and he was only a 'member' bc independent alaskans too often check that 'Alaska Independent' box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan," Palin wrote. "He caught his error when changing our address and checked the right box. I still want it fixed."

“He” being Todd. Of course there is a problem with her excuse:

Palin was attempting to bend the facts ever so slightly to fit neatly into her version of events. In truth, the box that Alaskans have the option of checking when registering to vote states the full name of the party, "Alaskan Independence Party," not "Alaska Independent," which would make an error by uncommitted voters more plausible.

And that’s exactly the point. Here’s the Alaska voter registration form (pdf file) and check out where you select your party:

So is Palin lying or is the Governor of the state of Alaska not aware of the actual political party names in her state or how they are listed on their voter registration forms? Please oh please let her be the nominee in 2012.

And as always Dave Neiwert has much more on this.

Jenny Sanford Willing To Forgive Her Husband

jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:30:00 +0000

My level of respect for this woman just went down some:

The real issue now is one of forgiveness. I am willing to forgive Mark for his actions. We have been deeply disappointed in and even angry at Mark

Mark Sanford publicly admits he doesn’t even love his wife, but that’s ok. She can forgive him. Yeah go ahead and forgive him. That just gives him a reason to go out and do it more.

It’s Not What You Did. It’s That You Got Caught!

jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:49:00 +0000

I remember reading about Judge Alex Kozinski when news broke that he had been caught having pornographic images on his personal website. To me there was nothing wrong with it. The pictures were all of adults, so who really cares? Yeah I know – the religious freaks.

Well a judicial council decided to take up the issue and have released their findings:

A panel of judges assigned to investigate concluded Kozinski's "possession of sexually explicit offensive material combined with his carelessness in failing to safeguard his sphere of privacy was judicially imprudent." His actions, the panel wrote, "can reasonably be seen as having resulted in embarrassment to the institution of the federal judiciary."

He wasn’t disciplined, but their findings really perked my interests, particularly the “carelessness in failing to safeguard his sphere of privacy “ part. So it’s not what he did, it’s the fact that he got caught. I wonder if more judges will tell defendants that in court rooms.

Palin’s Use Of Family

jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:32:44 +0000

Reading the latest interview with Levi Johnston something really caught my eye:

At the time, the Palins insinuated he’d have to move to D.C. if McCain won. “I ain’t never moving,” he says with a shudder, thinking back.

So the Palin’s were telling him where he and his bride would have to live? I don’t remember any other VP telling their adult children they would have to live in D.C. The only reason I can think of for such a demand would be keeping the “family appearance”. Palin just wants to show everyone she is some great family person, even if it means going against the wishes and desires of her family. In other words – everything is for nothing but show. Using your family in that way doesn’t make you anymore of a matriarch. Instead it makes you a user.

Distorting the Facts

jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:24:43 +0000

There has been a lot of talk today about a WSJ article talking about the totally insane rise of overseas trips taken by members of Congress on the taxpayers dime. If you read Ed at Hot Air you can quickly see where the problem is:

Democrats ran on the Culture of Corruption charge in 2006 and gained control of both chambers of Congress on the promise to clean up Capitol Hill. The Wall Street Journal finds instead that Democrats have used their power to spend taxpayer dollars on high-priced global travel. Taxpayer-funded Congressional delegation travel has increased by 50% since the Democrats took charge:

Sounds like the Democrats are just wasting away all our money – doesn’t it? Even the WSJ alludes to this:

Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

But that isn’t the worse part. Let’s look at the actual graph the WSJ supplied:Sire

Sure the Democrats have increased the spending by 50%, but what about the almost 600% it went up under Republican control? Ed doesn’t seem to mention that. He also seems to not notice any of the Republicans mentioned in the article, like:

Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, took a cruise on the River Seine with defense-industry executives and elected officials from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

Or how about:

In October, Rep. Bud Cramer (R., Ala.) spent two weeks in Europe on government business. Reports show that Mr. Cramer spent $5,700 on hotels, meals and incidentals. Mr. Cramer wasn't running for re-election and left office just two months later.

"Knowing that I was leaving with my 18 years of seniority, I wanted to conclude some issues that I was working on," Mr. Cramer said. He now works for a lobbying firm in Washington.

This isn’t a partisan issue like Ed tries to make it out. All lawmakers are taking advantage here. But for the hatred of the Malkin crew that’s not the point. “Democrats are wasting money” – that’s what they want to highlight. Just ignore the facts, because if they were paying attention then they would see that the cost of these trips went up about 800% while the Republicans ran the show. That’s right – the Republican controlled Congress saw a rise in travel expenses of 800%. That doesn’t make that 50% under Democratic control seem so bad – does it?

UPDATE:

Thanks to OsborneInk for pointing out that Bud Cramer is actually a Democrat. It looks like the WSJ got that wrong. What I do find interesting is that the WSJ failed to mention all of Tom Delay’s little trips. Or how about Bob Ney? These two names were synonymous with abuse of tax payer funds when they were in office.

$60 Billion A Year

jamie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:27:30 +0000

That is how much a new healthcare proposal would cost – one that would cover 97% of the country:

The plan carries a 10-year price tag of slightly over $600 billion, and would lead toward an estimated 97 percent of all Americans having coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and Chris Dodd said in a letter to other members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The AP obtained a copy.

We can expect the right wingers to balk at that prices, but lets put it into perspective. Basically this cost would be about 1/3 of the we pay per year to fight our two wars. It would also be around 1/10th of our annual defense budget, and the Republicans never complain that we spend too much on defense.

The bill also puts some of the burden on employers, but not that much:

Additionally, the revised proposal calls for a $750 annual fee on employers for each full-time worker not offered coverage through their job. The fee would be set at $375 for part-time workers. Companies with fewer than 25 employees would be exempt. The fee was forecast to generate $52 billion over 10 years, money the government would use to help provide subsidies to those who cannot afford insurance.

There’s only one of two reasons an employer wouldn’t offer coverage – either they are greedy or the insurance companies are just too damn expensive. This bill will help alleviate the later by giving the insurance companies some real competition, another thing the Republicans will complain about.

Hopefully with the addition of Senator Franken we can see a real momentum to get this through the Congress in the next few months. We have the highest healthcare costs in the world and the quality is faltering to other industrialized nations, who offer care to their citizens. If America wants to succeed then we need this reform and we need it yesterday.

Palin Shows Her Disrespect For Old Glory

jamie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:20:17 +0000

But what is to be expected from a person who wants to secede from the union. Sullivan points out this picture:

Then in another post he points out that her display of the flag goes against all etiquette. What kind of shit storm would Malkin, Reynolds, Drudge and FOX make if that was a picture of President Obama?

Beck And Guest Wants Bin Laden To Attack

jamie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:35:43 +0000

These people are sick and Rupert Murdoch is the enabler to them.

Could you imagine the right if someone like Keith Olbermann was saying last year that bin Laden should attack our country again? I can and its not pretty.

Sanford – Politics Before Family

jamie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:17:31 +0000

It’s amazing to hear Sanford now admit he had “crossed the line” with more women. So Sanford stood before the people of his state last week and lied while begging forgiveness. He even has been invoking God on his lies. This man is a plethora of sin.

But if that isn’t enough, this part really got me:

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

Now we have a man who is putting his political future before his family. Growing up in a family where your parents are no longer in love is not fun, and becomes stressful. Sanford isn’t thinking about his wife or his kids. He wants to put on some charade just so he looks politically viable. And any Republican who supports Sanford’s will to remain in office are every bit as guilty as he is. If people like Lindsey Graham and Joe Scarborough are truly friends of Sanford then they would tell him he needs to either resign or let go of his family. Let Jenny move on and stop prolonging the inevitable pain his children will go through. This isn’t about politics, its about human lives.

Don’t Count On Pawlenty’s Signature

jamie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:55:12 +0000

Now that the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Al Franken there is a lot of expectation that Governor Tim Pawlenty will sign the certification and Al will be on his way to the Senate. One problem though:

Pawlenty, a Republican, has said he would sign the certificate if ordered to do so by the court. The court's ruling stopped short of explicitly ordering the governor to sign the document, saying only that Franken was "entitled" to it.

I could see this being the very kind of bullshit technicality a Republican would use to try and keep Franken out of the Senate. We are in an era of seeing Republican presidential front runners doing very stupid things, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Pawlenty isn’t next. Not signing the certificate would be the very kind of stupid thing I am talking about.

I guess most of this will depend on what Coleman says in about 5 minutes.

UPDATE:

Coleman has just congratulated “Senator Al Franken” and said he will live by the decision. Sounds like he is giving in – FINALLY!

Impersonating God

jamie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:48:30 +0000

I’m not a religious person, but I got a funny feeling this is a pretty major sin:

When Trig was born, Palin wrote an e-mail letter to friends and relatives, describing the belated news of her pregnancy and detailing Trig’s condition; she wrote the e-mail not in her own name but in God’s, and signed it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.”

Even if it isn’t a sin, its at least chalked up to “creepy as hell”. This is the star of the GOP for 2012 and what little we really do know about her is something that could work its way into an M. Night Shyamalan flick.

The Shocking Support Behind Obama’s Iraq Plan

jamie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:44:56 +0000

This is rather amazing:

A new national poll suggests that nearly three-quarters of all Americans support the plan to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns, even though most believe that the troop movements will lead to an increase in violence in that country.

But nowhere near as amazing as this:

"This plan has widespread bipartisan support," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Seventy two percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Republicans favor this move."

Republicans support the drawdown in Iraq more than Democrats do. The difference is within the MOE, but it does put a big crimp in Cheney’s claims that Obama is making us less safe.

Oh and Iraq is really going down hill. I mean look at this violence:

The only ones that want us there is Dick Cheney and the rest of his war-mongering, draft-dodging friends.

Soul Shake?

jamie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:15:03 +0000

Limbaugh just loves showing his racist beliefs:

In Venezuela, we had a soul shake, or whatever -- that black handshake he has that he had with Chavez. We had a soul shake.

And the GOP wonders why they are losing the black and Hispanic vote? What do you expect when you got a racist being you mouth piece?

But I don’t blame Limbaugh alone in this. He has done this kind of crap for years. Last year he was referring to then candidate Obama as a “spade” and Hillary Clinton as a “ho”, and there was no outrage over it. Where was NOW, the NAACP, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? They constantly give this fat wind-bag a pass. That’s why I didn’t care that much about Don Imus. They went after him, but totally ignore Limbaugh. I guess these groups are just scared of the fat man.

(h/t Cesca)

The Crazies Latch On To Honduras

jamie — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:35:00 +0000

Larisa has uncovered some very disturbing posts by the right wing crazies:

I was going to add this as an update to my earlier post, but thought it deserved its own post. Apparently, some glue-sniffing types are hoping that our own military will be inspired by the Honduras coup to overthrow our own president in order to save democracy. I kid you not. I have been reading the comments at several blogs and they are mind-blowing.

This is the exact kind of stuff you would expect to hear in some government report. I don’t know what we would call that report. Maybe something about right wing extremists?

Exit question. What would happen if we had our own military try to overthrow a President as popular as Obama? I think we can pretty much imagine it. We would end up with a civil war in this nation. So basically these wingers are advocating for the destruction of the United States of America. Maybe we should keep Gitmo open, just for them.

Transformers 2

jamie — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:08:00 +0000

As my long time readers know I am big into CG effects. I have even done some work in 3D computer graphics and modeling, so it should come as no shock that I had to go see Transformers 2 when it came out. I really liked the first one, so anxiously awaited the sequel. Heading into the theater I was preparing myself for disappointment. The reviews on the big dollar sequel were horrible.

Despite the bad reviews I hit the theater at opening and saw the movie and must say that I was highly impressed. Critics be dammed, but this movie had not only great effects, but also tons of action and awesome comedy. It appears that I am not the only one disagreeing with the critics:

After just five days, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is halfway to $400 million domestically, a box-office milestone only eight other movies have reached. If it climbs that high, the "Transformers" sequel will be by far the worst-reviewed movie ever to make the $400 million club.

Critics and mainstream crowds often disagree, but "Revenge of the Fallen" sets a new standard for the gulf between what reviewers and mass audiences like.

The movie pulled in $201.2 million since opening Wednesday, the second-best result for a movie in its first five days, just behind "The Dark Knight" with $203.8 million. Even after its whopping $60.6 million opening day, "Revenge of the Fallen" was packing theaters, a sign that unlike critics, who mostly hated the movie, audiences felt they were getting their money's worth and were giving the flick good word of mouth.

Critics be damn, the money and people have spoken. This movie is raking in the big bucks and the people love it. I know leaving my little local theater, people were in aww. One guy even said he was going to see it again. That’s movie magic and a magic the critics seem to be left out in the cold on.

Wrong But Not Unjust

jamie — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:32:00 +0000

I don’t condone the attacks on children of politicians. I really think it isn’t right, but that’s just me. I can see other people getting into it and even having some Photoshop fun.

But just as attacking the children is wrong, so is using them for political cover. How often did we see the Obama kids on the campaign trail with their daddy? Not much at all, yet Sarah Palin marched her kids out on every single stop.

Yes its wrong to attack the children, but its even worse to throw them into the viral political spotlight the help your own political future. As matter of fact it borders on child abuse. Just consider Palin’s speeches and how she would always drag Trig out on stage afterwards to try and say “hey look – I’m a mommy!” It didn’t matter what time of day or night it was. That kid has to have the most screwed up sleep schedule ever, and that was done to help his mommy’s political future.

So to the Palin supporters. If you want to bitch about the nastiness that does happen on the internet, then also focus your complaints to the enabler. In this case that enabler is Sarah Palin. She has used her children as a political shield, and that shield isn’t strong enough for the online world.

(And as a side thought, can you imagine a President Palin? “You can’t attack my country, I’m a mommy!”)

State Department Worked To Prevent Honduras Coup

jamie — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:12:00 +0000

I’m still catching up on all the news of Honduras, but I found this article to not be that newsworthy:

The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Manuel Zelaya's ouster, said a senior U.S. official. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Barack Obama wouldn't support any nondemocratic transfer of power in the Central American country.

"We had some indication that a move against Mr. Zelaya was afoot," said a U.S. official briefed on the diplomacy. "We made it clear it was something we didn't support."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Obama Sunday in criticizing the Honduran coup and calling for the restoration of the democratic process.

Sounds logical. Any sort of coup leads to political instability in a nation, and we don’t need anymore instability in the world right now. Like I said, not really news. Well not really until you start reading how the right is taking it:

Figures... Barack Obama meddled and worked to prevent the ouster of this leftist tinpot dictator.
...When a Leftist dictator's career is on the line, Obama finds reason to meddle.
When Iranian democracy protesters are slaughtered on the street, Obama refuses to insert himself into the "debate."

What is happening in Iran is disgusting, but we can’t distract from the fact that they did have an election and until proven otherwise it has to be considered legitimate. Besides, and as I have said before, can we really cast judgment upon other nations electoral system when ours has so many problems?

But now when you really start thinking about it you see something else happening here. It appears that the right is now against democracy. A coup is a violent takeover of a government. Nothing Democratic about that, but now Obama is the bad guy because he tried to stop something that is anything but democratic. Obama didn’t try to stop the results of an actual election in Iran, and didn’t push harder for unrest there (maybe leading to a coup) and he was wrong for it.

The dislike for democracy from the right should come as no shock. It has been Republican policy for years to try and support coups in other nations. They have engaged in this behavior in the Middle East for decades, and the product of all that work has been people like bin Laden. I don’t think we really need such a person in Central America. Do you?

A New Republican Leader?

jamie — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:43:13 +0000

Chris Cillizza thinks we could be seeing the emergence of a new Republican Leader in Lindsey Graham:

Graham, who spent the 2008 election cycle as Sen. John McCain's loyal sidekick, appeared alongside former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the GOP frontrunner in advance of 2012, and managed to stand out.

Why? Because unlike other Republicans who seem to be so fixated on scoring political points on President Obama, Graham was willing to point out where his own party had strayed while also making a reasonable argument for GOP ideals.

Asked about Gov. Mark Sanford's extramarital affair, Graham, who is close to the governor, said that he was "disappointed" in his friend's behavior and praised Obama as "one of the better role models in the entire country for the idea of being a good parent, a good father."

Graham is playing the good guy right now, but that isn’t what the higher-ups in the GOP want. Instead they want attack dogs; people who will viciously attack anything President Obama does. That will prevent someone like Graham from becoming a de facto leader, and will help keep the GOP in the minority for some time to come.

Linking A Copyright Infringement?

jamie — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:16:00 +0000

Judge Richard Posner thinks that should be the case:

Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent . . .

What Posner is arguing is insane. Basically he is saying that if I want to link to an article on the New York Times site (just a link, no quoting), I would need express written permission from them.

This would not only hurt the blogosphere, but also help destroy much of the internet. What would Google do? This would destroy search engines. Basically they are nothing but a link repository that is searchable, so they would be violating the copyrights of everyone, unless they receive express permission before hand.

Even more disturbing is that Posner is considered one of the most brilliant judges in our nation. He has been mentioned countless times for the Supreme Court and has really made a name for himself. For such a legal mind to even suggest such a thing is very scary.

Sanford Gets Religious

jamie — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:08:12 +0000

I find it very interesting that Mark Sanford is now equating himself to King David:

I have been doing a lot of soul searching on that front. What I find interesting is the story of David, and the way in which he fell mightily, he fell in very very significant ways. But then picked up the pieces and built from there.

No where in the Bible does it say you can pick and choose which parts you want to live by, so I have to Matthew 7:1

Don't judge, so that you won't be judged either

Judge is exactly what Mark Sanford did back in 1998 during the Clinton impeachment hearings:

In 1998, Sanford was a Republican congressman from South Carolina when he demanded "moral clarity" from Clinton and called on him to resign. "Very damaging stuff. This one's pretty cut and dried," Sanford told The Post and Courier in September 1998. "I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally [to resign].”

Sanford is refusing to leave office, yet he judged Bill Clinton and voted for him to be removed from office. This is a pure double standard, and one becoming more common amongst Republicans every day. Sadly the religious right is the enablers of this double standard. Like the guy on the corner trying to sell drugs, the religious right tries to sell votes to Republican politicians by getting them to say what they want to hear.

Perhaps the best path to recovery for the Republican Party is to just tell the dealer “no”. Tell the religious right that they will no longer bow to them and that they can no longer lead by a double standard. A majority of Americans are not going to tolerate this anymore. Republicans already point some of the blame for their fall from power to people like Larry Craig and Mark Foley. Now they can add Mark Sanford and John Ensign to their list of scapegoats, but the part as a whole needs to realize they are equally as guilty as these men.

Mark Sanford should do the right thing, not only for his state, but for his party. He should resign from office. If anything being governor is about the same as having two full time jobs. How can he work on making amends to his family and repairing the damage his libido has done to them if he continues serving?

Double Standards

jamie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:46:04 +0000

There is no argument that when it comes to our politicians and their little sexcapades we have a double standard in this nation – a standard clearly divided amongst party lines.

Take John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer or Jim McGreevey. These four Democrats suffered severely for their extramarital affairs. One was impeached, two were force out of office and the other has no political future.

But when we switch to the Republican side and look at Mark Sanford, John Ensign, David Vitter and Larry Craig, they were able to continue. Craig of course decided not to run again, but that was his choice. Mark Sanford and John Ensign have vowed to stay in office even though the hypocrisy now triumphs over any good they can do. These were men who adamantly yelled for Bill Clinton to be impeached. Now that they are swimming in the same pool, impeachment isn’t an option.

So why is this? I can only assume that Democrats are held to a higher standard by the public and their own beliefs. This really puts a damper on the Republican Party being the party of values, since every value they claim to believe they end up ignoring.

Republicans have a major problem moving forward. Not only are they viewed poorly on every issue across the board, but the one issue they always did have is now gone. That issue is family values. People like Tony Perkins try to hold on to yesteryear and thinking the Republicans are the superior moral beings, but the people have realized that Republican superiority is now synonymous with hypocrisy.

John Conyers Wife Convicted Of Conspiracy To Commit Bribery

jamie — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:52:21 +0000

We all knew this was coming, but now its official:

Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to commit bribery and is free on personal bond.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn said, "The defendant now stands convicted."

The one count of conspiring to commit bribery is punishable for up to five years in prison.

[SNIP]

Conyers, the wife of powerful Democratic congressman U.S. Rep. John Conyers, appeared before Cohn to answer charges in connection with the wide-ranging probe of wrongdoing at Detroit city hall.

She has long been under suspicion in the Synagro bribery probe, not least because she had been a vocal opponent of the contract before suddenly switching her sentiments. She became the deciding voice in the city council’s 5-4 vote to approve the sludge-hauling deal in November 2007.

A crook is a crook, it doesn’t matter if they are a D or a R. I’m glad justice caught up with her.

Can Democrats At Least Act Like Leaders?

jamie — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:14:17 +0000

Childish crap like this helps no one:

After the House floor had largely cleared following a series of votes, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) split apart from a heated conversation and began yelling at one another.
“You’re out of line,” Waters shot while walking down toward the well.
“You’re out of line,” Obey shot back before turning and walking away.
But then Obey stopped, turned back toward Waters, and shouted: “I’m not going to approve that earmark!”
Obey turned away, but Waters went to go huddle with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. She could be over heard telling them: “He touched me first.”

Yes passions can fly in Congress, but this is ridiculous. And what they were arguing over is even worse:

Waters and Obey have had an ongoing dispute about an earmark for a public school employment training center in Los Angeles that was named after Waters when she was a state representative.
Obey rejected that earmark as violating policies against so-called “monuments to me.” Waters revised her request to go to the school district’s whole adult employment training program, so the district could decide whether the money would go to the school named after Waters.

This whole sense of righteous that plagues our elected leaders, making them feel that they deserve things named after them has to stop. Pushing for something named after yourself isn’t symbolic of your service to our nation, its symbolic of your overgrown ego.

And I know Obey can be a hot head also. The article says Hoyer met with him, but it wasn’t over the altercation. It sure as hell should have been. The House leadership should look into it and punish whoever was at fault. Stop this childish behavior.

Double RIP Day

jamie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:44:26 +0000

Wow what a day. Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both dead and both still rather young. A very sad day in the entertainment world.

Sanford Did Go To See His Girl On The Taxpayers Dime

jamie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:50:14 +0000

Just go this:

Sure he’ll pay it back, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he did it to begin with. While this asshole was out showboating over his rejection of the stimulus funds, he knew damn good and well that he was abusing taxpayers dollars. This guy is a major fraud and shouldn’t be allowed to remain in office. But we are talking about a Republican. They never make their cheaters leave office. Only the Democrats live up to that higher standard.

Blame Obama!

jamie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:45:53 +0000

The man who leads the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, has jumped the shark yet again. Today he is blaming the Sanford affair on President Obama:

So it’s Obama’s fault that Mark Sanford had to go out and get some? Oh and don’t forget that this has been going on for quiet a few years, and possibly before Obama was even in the Senate. Now that is power!

Rush just proved once again that he is a deranged idiot willing to say anything. Thank God no one takes him seriously. Well no one except the GOP, which accounts as no one in our nation anymore.

Strip Search Was Illegal

jamie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:15:06 +0000

The Supreme Court issued a 8-1 ruling today that the strip search of a 13 year old girl by school officials was illegal. Clarence Thomas was the only vote for the strip search. Make sure you check his coke can later on today.

Quotes That Haunt

jamie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:48:17 +0000

"I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign)... I come from the business side," he said. "If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he'd be gone."

Mark Sanford talking about Bill Clinton’s affair in 1998. 11 years later and he is now on the receiving end with no talk of resigning. Just another GOP hypocrite exposed.