I learned today from the local Yes Weekly that "You Can't Take It With You", a show I was in last year with the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem, is being produced again by the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem this year on the exact same dates.
Either that, or Mark Burger is recycling an article from last year.
TPM reports:
Meet Tennessee state senator Paul Stanley. He's a solid conservative Republican and married father of two, who according to his website is "a member of Christ United Methodist Church, where he serves as a Sunday school teacher and board member of their day school." (Check out the religious imagery on the site — the sun poking through clouds, as if manifesting God's presence — which of course shows Stanley's deeply pious nature.)
Stanley recently sponsored a bill designed to prevent gay couples from adopting children. And when a Planned Parenthood official recently sought his support for family planning services for Memphis teens, Stanley told her, according to the official, that he "didn't believe young people should have sex before marriage anyway, that his faith and church are important to him, and he wants to promote abstinence."
So far, so far Republican. But you can see where this is going…
In a sworn affidavit, a Tennessee state investigator has said that Stanley admitted to having a "sexual relationship" with a 22-year-old female intern working in his office, and to taking nude pictures of her in "provocative poses" in his apartment.
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Late Update: It gets worse. In 1994, Stanley's first wife, Judy Martin, filed for a restraining order against him, charging that he had physically assaulted her three times. She wrote: "He was going out the door to leave our house and he hit me with a tremendous blow and then he proceeded to turn and run away from me outside the garage to the street." Stanley and Martin divorced the following year.
According to the Nashville Post, Stanley met his current wife, Kristi Stanley, soon afterwards, while both were working for Bill Frist's U.S. Senate office in Memphis. She was working as — an intern.
By the way, this isn't the Paul Stanley of KISS.
Anyway, he quit yesterday, taking full responsibility but blaming bloggers and the media.
When George Bush was "elected" president in 2000, I thought it was bad for the country. I didn't agree with his policies, and I thought he was a weak leader. And I said so.
But what I didn't do was FREAK OUT. I didn't go around saying, "OMG! He's going to force us all to wear uniforms, and he's going to cancel elections and declare himself dictator, etc.". Yeah, I knew George Bush was going to be bad, but real-life bad, not science-fiction bad.
I'm sure there were a few on the left who were prognosticating the end of civilization itself when Bush was elected. Yes, the left has its lunatic fringe. But the left lunatic fringe is, you know, on the fringe.
By contrast, the Obama opposition is not only loonier, but it comes from the political and media centerpieces of their party.
in the GOP, you've got elected representatives (hardly, the "fringe") railing on about Obama starting internment camps to imprison Americans and the whole birther issue.
And now the latest? Obama wants to euthanize the sick and elderly.
Again, this meme doesn't come from Cheetoh-eating conservative citizens typing insane screeds on their blog from their parents' basements. It comes from elected party representatives.
Including oy NC representative, Rep. Virginia Foxx:
Rep. Foxx: The Republican plan would "make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government."
Now, there's a somewhat rhetorical question here. Does Foxx really think that Obama's health care plan will really put seniors to death? Or is she just knowingly lying to convince the stupider citizens of its truth?
In the end, it doesn't matter. Dishonesty or stupidity have no place on Capital Hill.
The TRUTH of the matter is that Obama's health care plan does provide for end-of-life services. But that does not mean "putting seniors to death". It means providing consselling for seniors on certain subjects like how to make a living will, education about hospices, etc. Furthermore, that couselling is not mandatory.
The New York Times takes this up today:
A provision of the House bill would provide Medicare coverage for the work of doctors who advise patients on life-sustaining treatment and “end-of-life services,” including hospice care.
Conservative groups have seized on this provision as evidence that the bill could encourage the rationing of health care. The Family Research Council, for example, said the bill would “limit end-of-life care.”
The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, said, “This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”
What??? How??? How does advising patients on something like hospice care lead to government-encouraged euthanasia?
In the same article, another NC politician weighs in:
G. K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina, said he heard many expressions of concern from constituents when he answered telephone calls to his office on Tuesday.
“The longer we wait to vote,” Mr. Butterfield said, “the more opportunity our opponents have to put out false messages. Seniors fear they will lose Medicare. They worry they will have to discuss plans for end-of-life care every five years.”
The amount of lies and fearmongering from the GOP's leaders are lunatic. And it's not fringe stuff. It's coming from their elected officials.
It's an old game plan. Bill and Hillary made fun of it back in 1995:
Only remember a few lyrics, but can't think of the song's name?
Go to Lyricrat, type them in, and LyricRat will tell you the song.
Or twitter the lyrics to @LyricRat on Twitter, and it will respond with the song title.
It does pretty well even if you don't know the lyrics. "Wrapped up like a douche, another rubber in the night" will probably still get you "Blinded By The Light"
My one line of dialogue in a full length indepedent film.
I say it into a phone and then I die after I say that.
The working title is "Hellphone" — it's being shot this fall. Sundance, here I come!
More from the "Better Conservative Criticism Please" Department.
In the same interview this morning, Glenn Beck said:
"This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture…"
Moments later, Beck said:
"I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem…."
So according to Beck, Obama has a deep-seated hatred for white people, but that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't like white people.
Watch:
It's bad enough that a huge percentage of Americans can't find Iran or Iraq on a map, but it's totally unexcusable when a major news organization can't get its countries right.
This is an unretouched photograph from a segment which aired on Fox News last night:
From infoplease:
No wonder the Egyptions hate us.
I didn't come up with that title. It's what Pareene at Gawker used for her video timeline article, which is worth looking at if you want a laugh.
It starts from the fairly competent Sarah Heath, the sports teleprompter newsreader from the late 1980's:
…to her farewell speech last weekend.
And Gawker pointed that this line from Sarah's farewell speech:
"In the winter time it's the frozen road that is competing with the view of ice fogged frigid beauty, the cold though, doesn't it split the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs?"
…was, like all the other lines, prepared. She wasn't talking off the cuff. She wrote this speech.
The communications department of the University of Idaho (Sarah's undergrad major/alma mater) must be so proud!
Actually, I doubt that Sarah wrote this speech. What she did, no doubt, was dictate it, and then have her secretary transcribe it. So it is nonsensical.
I finally found a transcript of last weekend's farewell speech, and even it was extemporaneous, it is remarkably disjointed. Here's the opening paragraph:
What an absolutely beautiful day it is, and it is my honor to speak to all Alaskans, to our Alaskan family this last time as your governor. And it is always great to be in Fairbanks. The rugged rugged hardy people that live up here and some of the most patriotic people whom you will ever know live here, and one thing that you are known for is your steadfast support of our military community up here and I thank you for that and thank you United States military for protecting the greatest nation on Earth. Together we stand.
Here's the same opening paragraph with what is going on inside Sarah's head as she speaks:
What an absolutely beautiful day it is Gosh it really is, and it is my honor to speak to all Alaskans I should mention "families" or the military if I can, to our Alaskan family There ya go! this last time as your governor. And it is always great to be in Fairbanks. The rugged rugged hardy people that live up here and some of the most patriotic people whom you will ever know live here Gotta work in the miltary still, and one thing that you are known for is your steadfast support of our military community up here and I thank you for that and thank you United States military for protecting the greatest nation on Earth. Together we stand. Atta girl, Sarah. I'm such a patriot and they love me for it.
Let's continue below the fold…
The GOP's favorability rating has slid noticeably from the spring, from 41 percent in early April to just 36 percent. At the same time, the party's unfavorable rating increased from 50 percent to 53 percent. Both of the current numbers represent new lows for the Republican Party in Fox News polling.
At the same time, the Fox News survey finds that Americans view the Democratic Party significantly better, with 50 percent viewing it favorably and just 41 percent viewing it unfavorably. Barack Obama's favorable ratings are even better — still close to a 2-to-1 positive-to-negative ratio — with 62 percent viewing him favorably and 33 percent viewing him unfavorably.
Of course, to get these numbers, you have to actually look at the poll results (PDF). If you go to the Fox News article about the poll, they won't mention any of that.
Why is life expectancy higher in Canada than it is in the United States?
Bill O'Reilly knows:
That is to be expected…. we have ten times more people here [than in Canada]…
… and therefore we have ten times more crimes and accidents, which is why we have a lower life expectancy than Canada.
Video here.
For what it's worth Japan has a higher population AND a higher life expectancy than Canada, so there goes O'Reilly's theory.
From CNN:
Blue M&Ms linked to reducing spine injury
The same blue food dye found in M&Ms and Gatorade could be used to reduce damage caused by spine injuries, offering a better chance of recovery, according to new research.
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that when they injected the compound Brilliant Blue G (BBG) into rats suffering spinal cord injuries, the rodents were able to walk again, albeit with a limp.
Nice to know that M&Ms can actually have beneficial health effects.
Of course, CNN tells us of the fly in the ointment:
The only side effect was that the treated mice temporarily turned blue.
And they provide a picture:
That mouse doesn't look very happy.
But what a spine. huh?
It just cracks me up.
Yesterday, Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) introduced a resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood. The resolution also proclaims the state as President Obama’s birthplace, a point the Plum Line’s Greg Sargent noted may "put House GOPers who are flirting with birtherism in a jam."
On the House floor, Abercrombie spoke of his measure and specifically noted that Obama had been born in Hawaii. “It’s also going to be the birthday in a week or so of President Obama, born in Kapiolani hospital just down the road from where I lived,” he said.
A small resolution — the kind that typically goes unnoticed — and yet, it had big implications. Would Republican congressmen acknowledge that Hawaii was the birthplace of Obama, even in a meaningless resolution?
Despite an attempt by The World's Shittiest Politician ™ — Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) – to halt the vote on the resolution, it eventually passed unanimously. Even Bachmann voted for it. 50 congressman, however — mostly Republican — did not cast a vote at all.
Republican Congressman certainly are in a pickle:
National Review even had to step into this, to spank some of its conservative readers:
President Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at 7:24 p.m, in Honolulu County, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. The serial number on his birth certificate is 010641. Baby Barack’s birth was not heralded, as some of his partisans have suggested, by a star in the east, but it was heralded by the Honolulu Star, as well as the Honolulu Advertiser, each of which published birth announcements for young Mr. Obama.
***
If one applies for a United States passport, the passport office will demand a birth certificate. It defines this as an official document bearing “your full name, the full name of your parent(s), date and place of birth, sex, date the birth record was filed, and the seal or other certification of the official custodian of such records.” The Hawaiian birth certificate President Obama has produced—the document is formally known as a “certificate of live birth”—bears that information. It has been inspected by reporters, and several state officials have confirmed that the information in permanent state records is identical to that on the president’s birth certificate—which is precisely what one expects, of course, since the state records are used to generate those documents when they are requested. In other words, what President Obama has produced is the “real” birth certificate of myth and lore. The director of Hawaii’s health department and the registrar of records each has personally verified that the information on Obama’s birth certificate is identical to that in the state’s records, the so-called vault copy. Given that fact, we are loath even to engage the fanciful notion that President Obama was born elsewhere, contrary to the information on his birth certificate, but we note for the record that his mother was a native of Kansas, whose residents have been citizens of the United States for a very long time, and whose children are citizens of the United States as well.
***
The hallmark of a conspiracy theory is that a lack of evidence for the theory is taken as yet more evidence for the theory. Indeed, the maddening thing about dealing with conspiracy hobbyists of this or any sort is the ever-shifting nature of their argument and their alleged evidence: Never mind the birth certificate, his step-grandmother said he was born in Kenya! (No, she didn’t.)
Meanwhite, WaPo reports:
Hawaii again declares Obama birth certificate real
HONOLULU — State officials in Hawaii on Monday said they have once again checked and confirmed that President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen, and therefore meets a key constitutional requirement for being president.
They hoped to stem a recent surge in the number of inquiries about Obama's birthplace.
"I … have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen," Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said in a brief statement. "I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago."
And the lastest conspiracy? One Freeper thinks he knows:
I wonder if we are being manipulated by the Obama WH… getting us focused on his birth certificate while he pursues his liberal agenda?
Oy.
As reported in the Times Online:
Scientists have found that evolution is driving women to become ever more beautiful, while men remain as aesthetically unappealing as their caveman ancestors.
Fuck you, scientists.
