198 replies to this topic

[The Lorcan Nagle]

Feeding ignorance and breeding radiation!

[Ricardo_C]

Do Republicans get a serioulsy fucked up water supply the rest of the country is spared?

Tom Head, Texas Judge: Obama Reelection Could Lead To 'Civil War,' I'm Ready To 'Take Up Arms'

Tom Head, a county judge in Lubbock, Texas, plunged far out into the periphery of anti-President Barack Obama conspiracy theories on Monday, pushing a particularly outrageous one as justification for a tax increase in the county.

Head told FOX34 that Lubbock's law enforcement needed extra tax dollars in order to be prepared for a full-scale uprising, which he said could be a byproduct of Obama's reelection. According to Head, the president is seeking to sign a variety of United Nations treaties that will effectively take precedent over domestic law.

“He's going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the U.N., and what is going to happen when that happens?” Head asked. “I'm thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we're not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we're talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy."

Head continued, delving deeper into his hypothesis and claiming that he was prepared to join the hypothetical resistance.

"Now what's going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that? He's going to send in U.N. troops. I don't want 'em in Lubbock County. OK. So I'm going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say, 'You're not coming in here,'" the judge said. "And the sheriff, I've already asked him, I said, 'You gonna back me?' He said, 'Yeah, I'll back you.' Well, I don't want a bunch of rookies back there. I want trained, equipped, seasoned veteran officers to back me."

So, there you have it. Head would have listeners believe that they must agree to increase Lubbock's property tax rate by 1.7 cents in the next fiscal year, or risk being forced to submit to a foreign occupying force invited into the nation by the president of the United States.

Of course, this theory is entirely bunk.

While it might seem outrageous that such a bizarre conspiracy theory is being promoted by an elected official -- as grounds to support a particular policy no less -- Head isn't the only one.Anything signed by the president as part of a U.N. Convention “can only be implemented through domestic legislation enacted by Congress or state legislatures, in a manner and time-frame determined by our own legislative process.” Effectively, broader U.N. provisions can't supersede laws passed by Congress, and only serve as guiding principles for signatories to consider.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared to give some credence to the same theory in response to a question at a town hall in Ohio last month"Turning to the United Nations to tell us how to raise our kids, or whether we can have the Second Amendment rights that our Constitution gave us, I mean, that is the wrong way to go, right? Do not cede sovereignty," Romney said. "I’m happy to talk there. I’m not willing to give American sovereignty in any way, shape or form to the United Nations or any other body. We are a free nation. We fought for freedom and independence. We are going to keep freedom and independence."

http://www.huffingto...&comm_ref=false

Edited by Ricardo_C, 22 August 2012 - 08:17 PM.

[Johnny Henning]

To use his own animal-kingdom analogy, Williamson does a credible impression of the beta rolling over and exposing its defenseless belly to the alpha as a sign of submission.

No, I'm sorry. I can't get over the misogyny of the piece to make fun of Williamson's pathetic eagerness to bow down to power.

If I have to choose a Greek letter to represent me, then it's this one:

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared to give some credence to the same theory in response to a question at a town hall in Ohio last month"Turning to the United Nations to tell us how to raise our kids, or whether we can have the Second Amendment rights that our Constitution gave us, I mean, that is the wrong way to go, right? Do not cede sovereignty," Romney said. "I’m happy to talk there. I’m not willing to give American sovereignty in any way, shape or form to the United Nations or any other body. We are a free nation. We fought for freedom and independence. We are going to keep freedom and independence."

It's a free nation, but nothing's for free in it.

What are these supposed treaties Obama's poised to sign? Is Mitt as opposed to the World Trade Organization and G8 as he is to the UN?

Edited by Johnny Henning, 22 August 2012 - 08:22 PM.

[Chris D]

Do Republicans get a serioulsy fucked up water supply the rest of the country is spared?

That guy sounds like he needs to be relieved of duty and given a psych evaluation. Because he sounds like a freakin' lunatic.

[Johnny Henning]

Yeah, he's crazy...


Crazy like a fox*!








*with rabies.

Edited by Johnny Henning, 22 August 2012 - 08:44 PM.

[Todd Gross]

Yeah, he's crazy...


Crazy like a fox*!








*with rabies.

or Fox News...

[Adam Wednesdays]

This really has been a banner week for stupidity, hasn't it?

What did the one giant, detestable blob of hot air say about the other? If you managed to catch conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s Wednesday morning rant about Hurricane Isaac, you may already know.

During Wednesday morning’s broadcast of Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated radio show, the legendary host called attention to the tropical storm slated to hit Florida next week right at the same time that Republicans from across the United States are expected to scurry down south for the GOP National Convention.

In typical Limbaugh fashion, he says he isn’t falling for the mainstream media’s claim that the storm, Hurricane Isaac, is going to hit Tampa next week. No, no, no. Limbaugh told his millions of listeners that the impetus for the encroaching storm is US President Barack Obama, and the hurricane is actually just the latest effort from his administration to collapse the country’s Republican Party.

“The National Hurricane Center, a government agency, [is] very hopeful that the hurricane gets near Tampa,” Limbaugh said early Wednesday, according to a recorded excerpt uploaded to MediaMatters.org.

But who is the National Hurricane Center, exactly? Don’t worry — Rush has you covered.

“The National Hurricane Center is Obama. The National Weather Service is part of the Commerce Department,” he says. “It’s Obama.”

“You know what it is in the media, it’s all about the hurricane hitting next week and they’re not talking about [Vice President Joe] Biden, They are talking about this Hurricane Isaac thing,” Limbaugh continues. “We, who live in south Florida, become experts on it and we don’t need the national hurricane center; we don’t need all these weather dolts analyzing this for us.”

Limbaugh goes on to claim that he has been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast for next week and says that meteorologists have moved the expected point of impact several times. Just between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, Limbaugh says, the hurricane’s expected trajectory was shifted from striking Miami, Florida to instead the Naples/Ft. Meyers area.

“Now we’re still not talking about ‘til next Tuesday, so it’s going to be all over the ballpark between now and then. We don’t know where this thing is going to hit. The models are moving it more and more out into the Gulf. I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing hits in Louisiana someplace before it’s all said and done,” he says.

“Just kidding! Nobody knows.”

Why exactly is Limbaugh so heated up about the storm? He claims, obviously, that it is being orchestrated as part of a major Democratic conspiracy.

“They are desperately hoping, they are so desperately hoping for Tampa,” he says. “The media…I can see Obama sending FEMA in in advance of the hurricane hitting Tampa so that the Republican convention is nothing but a bunch of tents in Tampa. A bunch of RVs and stuff. Make it look like a disaster area before the hurricane even hits there.”

So there you have it. The president is hacking the planet’s weather for the sake of soaking a few of his opponents. At least it’s a very imaginative idea, Rush.

[Todd Gross]

If only Obama would use his superpowers for good, not evil...

[Adam Wednesdays]

Oh, and also this: 31 states allow rapists parental rights over children conceived out of rape.

Editor's note: Shauna R. Prewitt is a lawyer in Chicago. She is the author of "Giving Birth to a 'Rapist's Child': A Discussion and Analysis of the Limited Legal Protections Afforded to Women Who Become Mothers Through Rape," written for the Georgetown Law Journal.
Chicago, Illinois (CNN) -- When I was in law school, my criminal law professor introduced us to the crime of rape by reading us a quote from Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century English jurist: "In a rape case it is the victim, not the defendant, who is on trial."
It was not merely a history lesson. I had lived it.
While a student in my final year of college, at age 21, I was raped. I have dissected that moment -- the horrifying moment that I became a "victim" -- from every possible angle. I have poked and prodded, examined and re-examined. Regrettably, I have even suspected myself in a desperate, ultimately futile attempt to understand how I became a victim.

Shauna Prewitt
But blaming myself was neither my idea nor my first inclination. I thought such 17th-century notions were long dead. I was wrong. People who did not even know me were quick to comment or speculate on my rape. What were you wearing? Did you scream loudly? Did this occur in public?
'Legitimate rape' reaction, from the Congo to black crickets
As my history lesson said, I found myself on trial, facing the most fierce judge and jury: ignorance.
Defiant Akin still in Senate race Rep. Akin's controversial claims
Eight years after my rape, I find myself on trial against ignorance again. Rep. Todd Akin's recent comments that "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy not only flout scientific fact but, for me, cut deeper. Akin has de-legitimized my rape.
You see, nine months after my rape, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. You could say she was conceived in rape; she was. But she is also so much more than her beginnings. I blissfully believed that after I finally had decided to give birth to and to raise my daughter, life would be all roses and endless days at the playground. I was wrong again.
It would not be long before I would learn firsthand that in the vast majority of states -- 31 -- men who father through rape are able to assert the same custody and visitation rights to their children that other fathers enjoy. When no law prohibits a rapist from exercising these rights, a woman may feel forced to bargain away her legal rights to a criminal trial in exchange for the rapist dropping the bid to have access to her child.
Opinion: Wake up, it's not just Akin
When faced with the choice between a lifetime tethered to her rapist or meaningful legal redress, the answer may be easy, but it is not painless. For the sake of her child, the woman will sacrifice her need to see her once immensely powerful perpetrator humbled by the court.
I know it because I lived it. I went to law school to learn how to stop it.
Having fought this injustice for the past several years, I have come to believe that ignorance is to blame for this legal absence. Opponents argue no woman would ever choose to raise the child she conceived through rape. The only two studies to analyze the choices made by pregnant raped women indicate otherwise -- at least 30% of women who conceive by rape make this choice.
Others argue that no rapist would ever seek parental rights. Not only does my experience and that of others I know prove otherwise, but it is not surprising that a man who cruelly degrades a woman would also seek to torture her in an even more agonizing way, by seeking access to her child.
Today, it seems we may face a new and unbelievable challenge: convincing legislators that women can conceive when they are raped.
iReport: 'Rape is rape'
Make no mistake, my efforts and the efforts of others to persuade legislators to pass laws restricting the parental rights of men who father through rape will be directly impacted by Akin's recent comments. Whether these efforts will be helped or hurt, however, depends upon us as a society.
Either we will fight ignorance and take steps to legislate for raped women based upon reason and facts, or we will be led by ignorance and continue to make bad laws. Or fail to make good ones.

[Jim Ohara]

There's going to be alot of strokes and heart attacks in November when Obama wins. Luckily there's Obamacare to take care of all these morons.

Lubbock exists to make the rest of Texas look normal.

[Ogul]

Tom Head, a county judge in Lubbock, Texas, plunged far out into the periphery of anti-President Barack Obama conspiracy theories on Monday, pushing a particularly outrageous one as justification for a tax increase in the county.

What does it take to get someone disbarred on the grounds that they're mentally unfit?

In typical Limbaugh fashion, he says he isn’t falling for the mainstream media’s claim that the storm, Hurricane Isaac, is going to hit Tampa next week. No, no, no. Limbaugh told his millions of listeners that the impetus for the encroaching storm is US President Barack Obama, and the hurricane is actually just the latest effort from his administration to collapse the country’s Republican Party.

Oh, great, now there's a whole generation of Republicans who believe that the National Weather Center controls hurricanes and sends them wherever they like. Does that mean that we can officially blame Bush for Katrina now, or did they not perfect the machinery until 2008?

[garjones]

The US middle class is in a "lost decade" as its share of the country's income has been surpassed by affluent earners, a new report says.
The Pew Research Center found that 62% of middle class Americans reported they were being forced to reduce spending.
And 43% expect their children's standard of living will be better than their own, down from 51% in 2008.
Both US presidential candidates have offered competing plans for the economy to middle class voters.
But among the self-described middle class, 52% of adults believe President Barack Obama's policies in a second term would help them, opposed to 42% who said electing Republican challenger Mitt Romney would do the same.
About half of US adults define themselves as middle class, roughly the same percentage defined by US Census data, with incomes ranging from about $39,000 to $118,000 (£24,000 to £74,000).
Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor told the Associated Press that the middle class has been hurt by rises in healthcare costs and college tuition, as well as disappearing mid-wage jobs.
"No matter who is president, the climb back up for the middle class and the recovery will be slow and often painful," Mr Smeeding said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-19351183

[Adam Wednesdays]

So, you Irish people... is it all right with you if we keep your president for a little while longer?

[The Lorcan Nagle]

The President's a ceremonial position - similar powers to the British Monarchy but elected. So yeah, you guys can keep him for a while.

(My choice in the last election was even further left than Micahel D and openly gay. He would have been awesome)

[Russell H]

Feeding ignorance and breeding radiation!

...the reason why less than 10% of [the] nation reads books daily, wh
y most people think Central America means Kansas,
Socialism means unamerican
and Apartheid is a new headache remedy.

Not sure about points 2 and 4, but the first one sounds about right for a lot of countries, not just the US, and the third point is still being claimed almost daily.





Oh, and that radio clip is from May 2010. Not sure why it's suddenly getting out now, or why it didn't back then.

[Johnny Henning]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-19351183

This is interesting though:

Overall, the percentage of Americans in the middle class declined, from 54% in 2001 to 51% in 2011, while both the percentages of people in the upper and lower class grew.

So, how much of the decline in Middle Class was due to rising to Upper Class and falling to Lower? It would be interesting to see if there was more movement up or down.

[garjones]

So, how much of the decline in Middle Class was due to rising to Upper Class and falling to Lower? It would be interesting to see if there was more movement up or down.

It is a good point, although the pyramid structure of any organisation would suggest more go down, it woud be nice to see the numbers.

[Johnny Henning]

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What does it take to get someone disbarred on the grounds that they're mentally unfit?



Oh, great, now there's a whole generation of Republicans who believe that the National Weather Center controls hurricanes and sends them wherever they like. Does that mean that we can officially blame Bush for Katrina now, or did they not perfect the machinery until 2008?

Far be it from me to defend Rush, but you are all missing the nuance in his stupidity - - mainly, because the article encourages it.

He's not saying Obama created the Hurricane/Tropical Storm. He's saying that the administration is drafting or forcing the NWS to draft reports saying it will hit Tampa to disrupt the news cycle. To get people to talk about the potential postponement of the convention rather than whatever it is Rush would rather people talk about - Biden, apparently.

It is a good point, although the pyramid structure of any organisation would suggest more go down, it woud be nice to see the numbers.

Here it is, I think: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48754974


But here is an equally important fact: many of those middle class Americans became upper-income Americans. The rich did get richer, but they also became more numerous.

The study shows that as the number of middle-class Americans fell (from 61 percent of the population to 51 percent of the population), the percentage of Americans who are upper income surged from 14 percent of the population to 20 percent of the population.

According to Pew, the shrinking middle and rising top comes from two trends: “Larger income gains for upper-income households than for others and a decline in the share of adults who live in middle-income households,” as well as a growing “share of the adult population living in upper-income households.”

Granted, some of the middle class also fell lower on the ladder. But the majority of those who disappeared from the middle wound up at the top.

[Ogul]

He's not saying Obama created the Hurricane/Tropical Storm. He's saying that the administration is drafting or forcing the NWS to draft reports saying it will hit Tampa to disrupt the news cycle.

But if it's going to hit Tampa, then that's their job. He's basically saying "I've looked out my window, the sky looks clear, they shouldn't be talking about hurricanes." If the GOP didn't want to deal with hurricanes in late summer, they should have had their convention elsewhere.

[Paul F]

Oh, and that radio clip is from May 2010. Not sure why it's suddenly getting out now, or why it didn't back then.

It was definitely around (I posted it here around the time of the election last year), a US site just found it and it's spreading everywhere now.