World News Korner

Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue moron's Facebook page:

Honest Souls in Media? Prove It. Ask Away.

Here’s a great article that pins these yahoo reporters to the mat. It could be considered funny, if it weren't so tragic, watching these crackerjack "journalists" still squirm around with their herd mentality to avoid the obvious. Their credibility is long gone. And they waste your time, America.

As the article's author asks, is there an honest soul among them? Here's a taste:

"Can any of you news hounds explain how what happened in Watergate was worse than anything this president has done? Work with me, Media Stars…it’s a serious question. Nixon had an enemies list. Obama publicly declared his desire to punish enemies and reward friends. Nixon went after whistleblowers like Ellsworth. Obama has prosecuted more administration personnel and journalists for divulging his secrets than any president in history. Nixon tried to get the IRS to hound his enemies. Obama successfully invited the IRS to persecute his. (No, he didn't. That contention has been disproved to the satisfaction of everybody who is NOT a Right Wing conspiracy theorist.) Nixon covered up the political break-in of a hotel office. Obama covered up the facts of the slaughter of an ambassador and three other Americans to protect his campaign. (Also not even close to accurate.) What did Nixon do that Obama didn’t do better and worse?" (Not even close!)

The article hits just a tip of the iceberg. If you've had enough, tap out. Take control and change the channel. (To what? Somebody's new streaming video app perhaps? Nice try lady.)


- Sarah Palin

Palin then links up to the Right Wing rag Townhall.com, an online magazine that regularly attacks Democrats and liberals while claiming that everything the President does wrong is being covered up by the mainstream media.

Of course Palin likes this article because it contains this nugget:

Will you all apologize to Sarah Palin for y’all mocking her when she suggested Obama’s weakness might encourage Putin to invade Ukraine? Ya, know, since she was so right and you all were embarrassingly wrong?

You know the deal, mention Palin in a positive light and she will gladly pimp your article.

You know as a liberal I certainly have some criticisms of how President Obama has dealt with the issue of drones, domestic spying, and certain progressive policies.

However on his very worst day, President Obama is still head and shoulders above a man who was forced to leave office in disgrace, and almost single-handedly undermined the office of the President for decades to come.

I understand how desperate the Republicans are to replace Nixon with a new worst President ever, but by no measure does President Obama fit the criteria.

In fact that is a very good chance that history will view him as one of the very best.

So put that in your crack pipe and smoke it Sarah Palin.

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Courtesy of Happy Nice Time People:

Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea were all onstage in Tempe, Arizona, for a panel session at a Clinton Global Initiative University event; how Kimmel got picked is anybody’s guess. A student asked Hillary, “Ms. Clinton, if you don’t represent women in politics in America as future president, then who will?” (Standing ovation, because these people were not in town for the Gingrich Moon Initiative.) And then Kimmel started with the nudging, and it was kind of awful and beautiful all at once.

I also don't know how Kimmel got the job. (If you are going to choose one of the late night Jimmy's I would always suggest Fallon over Kimmel.) However he did manage to force an almost answer out of Hillary, and that is no mean feat.

The woman is almost as slick as her famous husband in avoiding answering uncomfortable questions, but EVERYTHING in her body language, and that of her family indicated to me that she is absolutely running.

Here is the now famous selfie that the group took after the panel session.

Yep, that is going to be framed on a White House wall at some point.

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Courtesy of Politico:

Taxpayers in 14 states will bankroll nearly $1 billion this year in tuition for private schools, including hundreds of religious schools that teach Earth is less than 10,000 years old, Adam and Eve strolled the garden with dinosaurs, and much of modern biology, geology and cosmology is a web of lies.

Now a major push to expand these voucher programs is under way from Alaska to New York, a development that seems certain to sharply increase the investment.

Public debate about science education tends to center on bills like one in Missouri, which would allow public school parents to pull their kids from science class whenever the topic of evolution comes up. But the more striking shift in public policy has flown largely under the radar, as a well-funded political campaign has pushed to open the spigot for tax dollars to flow to private schools. Among them are Bible-based schools that train students to reject and rebut the cornerstones of modern science.

Decades of litigation have established that public schools cannot teach creationism or intelligent design. But private schools receiving public subsidies can — and do. A POLITICO review of hundreds of pages of course outlines, textbooks and school websites found that many of these faith-based schools go beyond teaching the biblical story of the six days of creation as literal fact. Their course materials nurture disdain of the secular world, distrust of momentous discoveries and hostility toward mainstream scientists. They often distort basic facts about the scientific method — teaching, for instance, that theories such as evolution are by definition highly speculative because they haven’t been elevated to the status of “scientific law.”

And this approach isn’t confined to high school biology class; it is typically threaded through all grades and all subjects.

One set of books popular in Christian schools calls evolution “a wicked and vain philosophy.” Another derides “modern math theorists” who fail to view mathematics as absolute laws ordained by God. The publisher notes that its textbooks shun “modern” breakthroughs — even those, like set theory, developed back in the 19th century. Math teachers often set aside time each week — even in geometry and algebra — to explore numbers in the Bible. Students learn vocabulary with sentences like, “Many scientists today are Creationists.”

That last sentence sent a chill up my spine at the same time that it made my hands clench in anger.

THIS is the kind of garbage that is spoon fed to impressionable children in some of these schools.

Yesterday my mother came by to visit and the topic turned to the rash of religiously themed movies coming out this year.

My mom thought that was a weird coincidence, but I told her it is no coincidence and that it is part of an overall master plan that was first put into place during the 80's with the Moral Majority, and which has only expanded today, for Christians to slowly take over the 7 mountains of influence that they believe will allow them to once again regain control of the country.

One of those mountains, of course, is education. And with the school voucher system it allows the fundamentalists to sabotage the public school system, while providing religious based education, which relies on faith, rather than a secular education, which relies on critical and rational thinking.

We have to recognize that we are in a war for the future of this country, and sadly the progressive side of the battle lines are woefully unprepared for what is to come.

And please if you think I am putting forth some sort of conspiracy theory, then research for yourself. Because believe me, I only wish it was a conspiracy theory.

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Courtesy of KTUU:

A petition to the Obama administration for the secession of Alaska back to Russia has reached more than 10,000 signatures in three days.

The petition, entitled "Alaska Back to Russia", was created by an unnamed Anchorage resident on Thursday, and has gathered signatures from Alaska and several other states. It cites historical evidence of previous visitors and claimants for ownership of the territory.

The petition must reach 100,000 signatures by April 20, 2014, in order to be considered by the current presidential administration for review and an official response. The White House petition site currently has 120 petitions gathering signatures and awaiting consideration.

WTF?

As of this post the petition has 11,272 signatures.

Now I have no idea what the motivation of the "unnamed Anchorage resident" might have been to create this petition, but I can guess as to why it has received so many signatures so quickly.

So let me set the record straight. She no longer lives in Alaska!

That's right she now lives in Arizona, so giving Alaska back to the Russians will not do you any good.

Sarah Palin will not go with it!


She no longer sees Russia from her porch. Instead she sees Saguaro cactus, rattlesnakes, and fresh new skin cancer lesions on John McCain's forehead.

Besides if the Russians wanted Alaska back, don't you think Putin would have invaded us by now?

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Courtesy of the You Tube page:

Witness smaller and bigger girls swear allegiance to their dads. Fundamentalist Christians convince daughters to avoid all contact with boys until they're married. By going on a date to a ball and exchanging vows and a ring, the girls promise to abstain completely from any and all interaction with the opposite sex.

"It's the right thing to do, and the Lord wants us to do it." Says the clearly brain washed young lady.

The video up above is from 2007. At that time this was a phenomena that was fairly isolated.

But as we learned in Friday's post these balls now takes place in 48 of the 50 states.

In other words this kind of creepy incestuously tinged religious control is being leveraged against young girls all over the country.


All in the name of Christianity, and ancient superstitions about the value, and bargaining power, of virginity.

Remember in ancient times a "soiled" young woman, who had allowed her virtue to be stolen away, was worth nothing to the father seeking to use her as a bargaining chip to gain access to wealth and position.

While the young man was encouraged to sow his wild oats and bed as many wenches as he could, the woman was expected to remain chaste until given, like a prized farm animal, to her future husband. Who would then treat her as his possession for the remainder of her life.

Such is the value of "virtue" in ancient times.

But what's the excuse for this continued overreach by a modern day father into his daughter's potential love life?

P.S. By the way according to this (5:35) 82% of these young ladies will break their vow of chastity before marriage.

Just imagine the kind of emotional pain that must cause them. To feel they have failed their church, their God, and their Daddies.



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To be fair there are quite a number of Jewish people and Muslims who believe the Christian version as well.

But remember if 5 billion people believe in something stupid, it does not make it any less stupid.

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From what I can gather tonight's episode is about comets and the orbits of the planets.

"When Knowledge Conquered Fear" - Ep 3 of Cosmos: A SpaceTme Odyssey premiers tonight 9pm on @FoxTV. Be there or be a sphere
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 23, 2014

My only question is, how many religious people will THIS episode piss off?

As usual I will DVR the show, and watch it after my Sunday night visit to the zombie apocalypse is complete.

Feel free to leave a comment about your impressions. And I will add mine after TWD.

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The entire segment is pretty good, but what Maher says about the importance of Democrats getting control of the language used in politics is a must see.

"What's the difference between drilling for oil and energy exploration? Nothing, except one sounds like something assholes do, and one sounds like Indiana Jones."

"What's the difference between Creationism and Intelligent Design? Not IQ points."

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Courtesy of Salon:

“We think the Republicans are now slight favorites to win at least six seats and capture the chamber,” Silver writes Sunday at FiveThirtyEight. “The Democrats’ position has deteriorated somewhat since last summer, with President Obama’s approval ratings down to 42 or 43 percent from an average of about 45 percent before. Furthermore, as compared with 2010 or 2012, the GOP has done a better job of recruiting credible candidates, with some exceptions.”

Silver writes that he is “bullish on Republican chances” in West Virginia, South Dakota, Montana and Arkansas, and that the GOP could take control of the Senate if it wins at least two additional races in Louisiana, North Carolina, Alaska or Michigan — states that are at the moment very much in play, he notes. Wins in Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire could be considered “backup options” for the GOP, according to Silver.

Now if you are like me, and place a great deal of credibility in what Nate Silver says, a man who had the single best track record in the last few elections cycles as picking the winner, you might feel as if you have been punched in the gut.

However before you start to panic, and I admit that panic started for me about two lines into the above paragraphs, first read this:

As always, we encourage you to read this analysis with some caution. Republicans have great opportunities in a number of states, but only in West Virginia, South Dakota, Montana and Arkansas do we rate the races as clearly leaning their way. Republicans will also have to win at least two toss-up races, perhaps in Alaska, North Carolina or Michigan, or to convert states such as New Hampshire into that category. And they’ll have to avoid taking losses of their own in Georgia and Kentucky, where the fundamentals favor them but recent polls show extremely competitive races. [...]

Okay well that's a little better, but it still has to serve as a not to be ignored warning that we have GOT to get off of our asses and vote this midterm, or we will be stuck in neutral for the next two years.

Or what's worse we may even start to go backwards, and lose some of the important progress that we have made.

This all comes down to turnout, and everybody expects turnout on the liberal side to be low.

We HAVE to prove them wrong. We HAVE to!

Here is what Digby suggests we need to do in order to inspire the young and minority voters:

For a young voter or voter of color, voting for Democrats isn't a matter of hope for a better future. It's basically a defensive crouch to prevent the insane sociopaths from taking over. To provide real hope, Democrats would have to start pushing for a $15 minimum wage, for basic universal income, for single-payer healthcare, for a green jobs Apollo Program, for student loan forgiveness, and similar policies.

I do not think that campaigning for single payer health care is an option at this point, but his other suggestions are more than valid.

We need to excite the base, and there are many policies the Democrats could introduce that would do exactly that.

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Courtesy of Raw Story:

Members of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church staged their first protest Friday night after the death of the church’s founder Fred Phelps on Thursday.

According to Kansas City’s KSHB Channel 41, the stridently anti-LGBT demonstrators were met with a counter-protest outside a concert by New Zealander pop sensation Lorde. The counter-protesters held up a banner that said, “Sorry for your loss,” a message of condolence to the church members, many of whom are relatives of the late Rev. Phelps.

Westboro members — who reportedly ousted Phelps from his own congregation earlier this year — pretended to not understand the message.

“I don’t even know what they’re saying,” said longtime WBC member Steve Drain.

You know what, I am not even sure that WBC member was being purposefully ignorant.

I think it is completely possible that their hate and self loathing is such that they simply cannot recognize genuine sympathy.

What a truly unfortunate way to go through life.

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