Iran

A busy weekend what with gardening, cleaning playlist developing and such, but .... Jesus H Christ have you been following what's going on in Iran? Probably not if you were watching any of the news outlets. But, the twitter feed was amazing. Astonishing and frightening

Andrew summed his coverage last night

The Dish covered a coup and a revolt this weekend. Footage of demonstrations and street violence can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. More great footage came from MSNBC, the BBC, and Channel 4. The most disturbing images were of battered students here, here, and here. But we also showed inspiring footage of protesters protecting a policeman, people shouting and chanting from rooftops, and Zahra emerging in public (her translation here). The most iconic photos were displayed here, here, here, and here.

We posted personal accounts of the chaos here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, and posted ones from Dish readers here, here, here, and here. Among the many Iranian Twitterers, we highlighted the best Tweets here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

As the regime shut down and shut out the media, much of the mainstream press was AWOL, which we chronicled here, here, here, here, and here. A few readers stood up for the MSM and Kurtz defended CNN. Also, regarding the results, the Corner was conspicuously quiet and Newsweek's Dickey was incurious.

We scrutinized the election results here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. We also collected notable quotes from Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, an anonymous ministry official, a conservative Iranian student, and Hewitt/Krauthammer.

The Dish relayed some excellent reporting from Laura Rozen, Robert Dreyfaus, Roger Cohen, Laura Secor, Reza Shoja, Steve Clemons, and Muhammad Sahimi (and some excellent blogging from NIAC). We aired some great analysis from Kamal Nazer Yasin, Juan Cole, Spencer Ackerman, Kevin Drum, Gary Sick, Brian Ulrich, Kevin Sullivan, Nick Kristof, Mehdi Khalaji, and Ali Alfoneh (and some less-than-great analysis from Stephen Hayes, Max Boot, and John Podhoretz). Our readers gave us some great commentary here, here, here, here, and here, and invaluable translations here, here, and here.

Andrew offered his initial reaction here, his take on Twitter's impact here, and his comparison of Rove to Ahmadinejad here.

Stay tuned. The photo above at the University of Iran was sent via this Twitter feed.

I Definitely Expected This

A Team to Rival

Charlie Cook:

"A third of the way into his first year as president, Obama has established a White House operation as impressive as any before; in fact, you can't throw a rock in a West Wing hallway without hitting someone who would otherwise be among the most experienced people in any previous White House. In some ways, Obama has discovered that effective governing requires a blend of the strongest elements of his campaign with the seasoning, experience, and awareness of the pitfalls that hurt previous presidencies."

Hey, I would've done Just About Anything To Get Rid Of That Name Too

Chastity becoming Chaz:

Lesbian writer, activist and daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono, Chastity Bono is to undergo gender reassignment surgery to become a man. TMZ broke the news today, with a statement from uber-gay/uber-publicist Howard Bragman.

Quoth TMZ: "Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity," confirmed Bono's publicist, Howard Bragman.
Bragman continues: "He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved ones. It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his 'coming out' did nearly 20 years ago."

MUST Texas be Part Of Our Country?

As if TWO Bush Presidencies and execution rates equalled only by third work dictatorships, Texas is allowed to have courts and trials, even though they do this with them.

Another one where words fail:

Mentally Disabled Teen Gets 100 Years in Sex Case

Associated Press: Attorneys and advocates are questioning why an 18-year-old East Texan with profound mental disabilities was sentenced to 100 years in prison in a child sex abuse case.

They say the case of Aaron Hart was mishandled from start to finish and raises questions over how to deal with the mentally disabled when they encounter the criminal justice system.

After a neighbor found Hart fondling her 6-year-old stepson in September, the East Texas teenager pleaded guilty to five counts, The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday.

Hart has an IQ of 47 and was diagnosed as mentally disabled as a child. He never learned to read or write and speaks unsteadily. Despite being a target of bullies, he was courteous, well-behaved and earned money by doing chores for neighbors, supporters said. His parents say he'd never acted out sexually

Apparently Carrie Was The Smart One ....

Miss CA, you've heard, lost her job of being Miss CA because fag-o-phobe enchantress Maggie Gallagher wanted her all for herself.

Well, here's what Maggie has to say about all that:

“Hollywood hates Carrie. First they abuse her, then they try to get her to recant, then they threw mud, and now they are doing what they wanted to do from day one: Get rid of Carrie.

This cover story about a contract dispute doesn’t pass the smell test. Americans aren’t fooled that easily. God knows, and we know, the truth about Carrie: She’s a young woman of great beauty who chose truth over the glittering tiara that Hollywood offers,” said Brian Brown, Executive Director for NOM. “Of course they will try to punish her, but we know she will be fine in the end, because her values are in the right place.”

“Hollywood will dance its tribal war dance over her body–the hatred generated against her has been extraordinary–but Carrie will be free to define her own mission and message from now on. Congratulations,” stated Maggie Gallagher, President for NOM.

Noise In April, crickets Chirping In June

Joe Scarborough comments not at all on crazy right-wing killer this AM.

Of course that may be because crazy right wingers don't exist:

Picture We Must Post

US cautiously awaits Iranian election

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is cautiously watching Iran's presidential election this week for signs that the Islamic Republic may be willing to engage with United States, but U.S. officials have meager expectations for change.

Despite the challenge from reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi to incumbent hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, many officials and experts believe a Mousavi victory will result in only incremental shifts toward the U.S.

By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer

Obama takes health care agenda on road

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, facing challenges to his ambitious health care overhaul from Congress, is visiting supporters outside the capital and turning to them to muster up momentum for one of his top legislative priorities.

Obama on Thursday readied to fly to Green Bay, Wis., to talk directly with voters about his proposals to spend $1.5 trillion over the next decade to cover uninsured Americans. Administration aides said the visit was designed for Obama to build support for a health care overhaul that has eluded Democrats for decades, as well to inject a personal angle into a debate that affects some 50 million Americans without insurance.

By PHILIP ELLIOTT Associated Press Writer

You're Fired!

Still, I think her greatest crime was just sheer stupidity.

Gay Atheist:

According to Fox News Carrie Prejean is being stripped of her Miss California crown. K2 productions sites continuous contract violations as the reason Prejean is being fired. Executive direction of K2 productions Keith Lewis said:

"This was a business decision, based solely on contract violations."

"After our press conference in New York we had hoped we would be able to forge a better working relationship. However, since that time it has become abundantly clear that Carrie has no desire to fulfill her obligations under our contract and work together.”

According to Fox News it was Donald Trump himself who gave the ok to fire her. Trump said:

"I told Carrie she needed to get back to work and honor her contract with the Miss California Organization and I gave her the opportunity to do so. Unfortunately it just doesn’t look like it is going to happen and I offered Keith my full support in making this decision."

Who Does This Kind Of Thing?

From the Website of the Holocaust Museum Shooter:

James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE and played varsity football.

During WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, receiving a Commendation and four battle stars. For twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. He is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.

In 1981 Von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison.

(Read about von Brunn's "Federal Reserve Caper" HERE.)

He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

More Here

Loaves And Fishes Baby

Here's an idea.

The FoxBots are planning for another orgy of the GlennBeckian self-serving outrage known as 'Tea Parties'. The American Citizen/Foxnews Volunteers will be doing their Teabagging on July 4th, because that's the day that we celebrate our refusing to pay taxes to governments where we had no representation, unlike now, when all these citizens actually have representation and ... oh you know they have no more idea of what they're talking about than do I.

Anyway.

Some on the left have decided that rather than celebrating our independence by reveling in our self-centeredness PERHAPS we could acknowledge Liberty's need for inter-dependence and community.

To that end, GT12 wants to get on board with The Million Can March

THE CHALLENGE: To collect one million cans of food for our nation's food banks, food pantries and shelters by July 4, 2009.

WHO: Progressive bloggers with a special invite to conservative bloggers.

Here's what we'd like you to do:

• Take a bag of food to a local pantry


• Organize a food drive where you work or play, your church or motorcycle club, etc.


• There's no one right way to get involved. Look around you, see the need and do something about it.


• LET GT12 know about what you you've done

Let Us know how your effort goes. We'll pass it on to the organizers so that YOUR CANS CAN BE COUNTED.

Seriously, let's do something to ease the recession.

Info will also be available over there on the right hand side of the blog. Just click on the dancing cans!

YES WE CAN.

Keepin' The Water Gay-Free

Gay Families, Not Families

A lesbian couple and their 3 children showed up to the Lava Hot Springs Swim Park located in Idaho looking to have a fun family day together, but they soon found out they were not welcome there. The couple and their children were denied the parks special family admission rate.

The executive director for the hot springs said:

“the state doesn't recognize gay or lesbian marriage and defines a family as one male, one female and children.”

In fact however the Idaho state code says nothing about what defines a family. You can contact the park here.

Update: A quick visit to the park’s website shows a link in the top left corner stating the “Family Pass Policy.”

Hosed Down As The Day Goes On

Politico wakes up nutty, has coffee, reconsiders own foolishness.

Dave Weigel:

twice in two weeks Politico has given rather sensational headlines to stories, then changed them later in the day. The original headline for Mike Allen’s preview of the president’s Cairo speech, which has been preserved in a syndicated version:

Obama walks Muslim minefield

The headline that replaced this later in the day:

Obama faces Mideast test

The original headline for today’s story by Carrie Budoff Brown, which has been preserved in a Google News search:

Obama’s gov’t-mandated diet plan

The new headline:

Coach Obama: Shape up now

Without “government mandated” this is a lot less dramatic, although still not as dramatic as “Muslim minefield,” which enters the all-time bad metaphor hall of fame. (”Today, the president strapped on a vest of truth and walked into a Sbarro pizza parlor of controversy…”) It’s just odd coming from a publication that liberals like to attack for “baiting” the Drudge Report.

NOMinally Rational

Democrats Still Frugal

By comparison anyway. (click to enlarge)

About 33 percent of the swing stems from new legislation signed by Mr. Bush. That legislation, like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, not only continue to cost the government but have also increased interest payments on the national debt.

Mr. Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000. Such policies — together with the Wall Street bailout, which was signed by Mr. Bush and supported by Mr. Obama — account for 20 percent of the swing.
About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. Obama signed in February. And only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.

If the analysis is extended further into the future, well beyond 2012, the Obama agenda accounts for only a slightly higher share of the projected deficits.

Andrew notes:

It is not Obama's debt - or, rather, he owns about 10 percent of it. It's Bush's. And like everything Bush did, he left the wreckage for others to handle after he left the stage. And the bribing, war-making, spending and borrowing didn't even win him any durable popularity. They sold this country, its reputation and its treasure for a one-off re-election.

Honest Dems though will admit that some of Bush's spending was just fine in principle if not in execution.

News To Me

Political Wire:

The Power and Influence of David Brooks

Marc Ambinder: "It's an open secret in Washington that White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel telephones the conservative New York Times columnist more than just about anyone else except for his wife. Brooks's columns have been quite critical of Obama as of late, which testifies to Brooks's independence and to Emanuel's sticktoitiveness. Their friendship predates the administration by many years, but the White House understands that Brooks's voice, even when not embraced by conservatives, influences how centrists and many intellectually honest liberal Democrats look at the world."

Take A Break

All the good videos have had embedding banned so you have to click here to see today's GT12 much beloved musical selection

Taking The Fight To The People

Colbert and DADT

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Mis-Graduation

M.O.R.O.N.

There is simply no thinking going on inside that woman's braincase.

TNR:

Sarah Palin Prefers Her State Poor
From the governor's interview with Sean Hannity:

Hannity: …The price of oil is going up again. It’s not quite at $140 a barrel, but it’s on its way up to $70 and $80…

Palin: Yeah, well and I thank God it’s not at $140. You know people say, “Hey, Alaska! 85% of your state budget is based on the price of a barrel of oil. Aren’t you glad the price is going up?” I say, “No!” The fewer dollars that the state of Alaska government has, the fewer dollars we spend. And that’s good for our families and for the private sector.

Potential 2010 gubernatorial challengers take note...

Political Wire

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) was interviewed last night by Sean Hannity on Fox News:

Palin: We are the only state with a negative tax rate where we don't have any income, sales or property tax statewide, and yes we have a share of our oil resource revenue that goes back to the people that own the resources. Imagine that.

Hannity: And it went up higher since you've been the governor and you negotiated with the oil companies. That all went up so people get a bigger check.

Palin: There was a corrupt tax system up there and we had a couple of lawmakers end up in jail because of the tax system that was adopted so we cleaned it up and said we wanted a fair and equitable share of the resources that we own, and the people will share in those resource revenues that are derived.

(A few minutes later...)Palin: If Americans aren't paying attention, unfortunately our country could evolve into something that we do not even recognize. Certainly that is so far from what the founders of our country had in mind for us.

Hannity: Socialism?

Palin: Well... that is where we are headed.

Hat tip: The Mudflats.

Department Of Wild West(-Hollywood)

Gays For Huckabee?

God Is Love

His followers though? Not so much

R.(& R. & R. & R.) S.V.P.

Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny's

Commander-In-Chiefiness

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They All Suck

A Fair And Balanced Skewering. This may help me kick the habit.

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"i" on News
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Greatest Picture In Rock History Used On Lefty Humor Blog

Just needed to link to this.

Not Helpful

Not all victims of genocide are created equal, apparently:

Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose mother survived the death camp at Auschwitz, said yesterday that only Jews persecuted during the Nazi reign should be honored at a Holocaust memorial in Brooklyn.

Hikind said even though 5 million people from other groups -- including gays, the disabled and Jehovah's Witnesses -- were killed along with 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust, the memorial in Sheepshead Bay should be for Jews only.

"To include these other groups diminishes their memory," said Hikind, as he stood next to his 89-year-old mother, Frieda. He said he is not against a memorial to honor the other groups -- as long as it is somewhere else.

"These people are not in the same category as Jewish people with regards to the Holocaust," Hikind said following a press conference at the memorial. "It is so vastly different. You cannot compare political prisoners with Jewish victims."

See? Now this is how a nice assimilated homo like me winds up thinking less-than-bipartisan thoughts about my fellow man.

Fuck Him

Northern Workers Must Die!

I mean, that's what this is all about (TPM):

Rush and Hewitt: GM Must Die!

A big push to boycott GM seems to be gaining steam on the right.

Going For The Whole Enchilada

Rather then step-by-step, these guys think that if you ask for everything, then you'll get it.

Gay donors propose omnibus rights bill

Ahonen-Jover and his partner, Ken Ahonen-Jover, retained LGBT-rights attorney Karen Doering to draft the proposed bill after arranging for her to conduct extensive legal research on whether the bill should create a freestanding law or amend existing civil rights statutes.

Doering, a former staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said she concluded from her research that it would be better for the omnibus bill to amend existing civil rights laws, including the landmark U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.

She and a corps of activists organized by Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover decided that the omnibus bill should amend a series of existing civil rights, disability and education laws by adding the protected categories of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to those laws. The existing laws now bar discrimination based on race, gender, religion and ethnicity, among other categories.

Under the proposed omnibus bill, the limited employment protection provisions for gays and transgender persons in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which is pending in Congress, would be reintroduced as amendments to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Doering said.

But the proposed omnibus bill goes much further than ENDA by adding sexual orientation and gender identity and protection provisions to more categories in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and other civil rights laws that ENDA’s sponsors in Congress considered too risky to include in ENDA.

Among them are protections from discrimination in housing and public accommodations, such as hotels and restaurants, and in the ability to obtain credit.

“If you think about it, why should we be excluded from those protections?” said Juan Ahonen-Jover

Well, We May Never Hear From Terry Again

Yglesias:

China to Require All PCs Include Internet-Censoring Software

[T]he Chinese market is so enormous that China can impose rules like this new one and know that many companies will want to play along:

China has issued a sweeping directive requiring all personal computers sold in the country to include sophisticated software that can filter out pornography and other “unhealthy information” from the Internet. The software, which manufacturers must install on all new PC’s starting July 1, allows the government to update computers regularly with an ever-changing list of banned Web sites.

This also highlights why political developments in China are so crucial for the entire world. If, say, Iran tried to do this it almost certainly wouldn’t fly. But companies will fall all over each other to cater to the Chinese market. Then, once the technology is in place other autocracies can try to piggyback on work that’s been done in and for China. But absent China, almost all of world output would be happening in democratic nations, and it would be easy to structure the global economy in the kind of way optimists were hoping it would work for China.

Some Things That You Can (and Should) Do

Visit this site for some other ways to keep the pressure on our elected officials:

Another Fave

BillO Spanked

If he was the only person in the world, CNN could probably run something like this once a day:

Why Aren't We Waterboarding This Terrorist?

I mean, this is the proverbial 'Ticking Time Bomb', isn't it?

Scott Roeder, Abortion Doctor Murder Suspect, Warns Of More Violence

WICHITA, Kan. — The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell Sunday that similar violence was planned around the nation for as long as the procedure remained legal, a threat that comes days after a federal investigation launched into his possible accomplices.

A Justice Department spokesman said the threat was being taken seriously and additional protection had been ordered for abortion clinics last week. But a leader of the anti-abortion movement derided the accused shooter as "a fruit and a lunatic."
Scott Roeder called The Associated Press from the Sedgwick County jail, where he's being held on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the shooting of Dr. George Tiller one week ago.

"I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal," Roeder said. When asked by the AP what he meant and if he was referring to another shooting, he refused to elaborate further

It Starts Tonight

Suspect in abortion doctor death warns of violence

Sent from Express News
WICHITA, Kan. - The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell Sunday that similar violence was planned around the nation for as long as the procedure remained legal, a threat that comes days after a federal investigation launched into his possible accomplices.

A Justice Department spokesman said the threat was being taken seriously and additional protection had been ordered for abortion clinics last week. But a leader of the anti-abortion movement derided the accused shooter as "a fruit and a lunatic."
By ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press Writer

Obama marks D-Day's solemn 65th anniversary

Sent from Express News
OMAHA BEACH, France - On the 65th anniversary of the Allies' D-Day landings, President Barack Obama on Saturday paid tribute to the invasion that turned the tide of World War II and cemented the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Normandy's cliffs and coastline, still pocked with gun emplacements and other remnants of the war, provided sure footing for an American president. The site for Obama's last speech of his international tour was the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach near Colleville-sur-Mer. The leaders of France, Britain and Canada also planned remarks.
By JENNIFER LOVEN AP White House Correspondent

Colbert to broadcast 4 shows from Baghdad

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - Stephen Colbert will broadcast four shows next week from Baghdad, where he says he'll be "Bob Hoping" it for the troops.

Colbert arrived at the former Al Faw Palace at Camp Victory on Friday. For weeks, he's promoted the trip on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," but because the military urged caution, he has only trumpeted a vague trip to "the Persian Gulf."
By JAKE COYLE AP Entertainment Writer

Obama: 'Time to deliver' on health care

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama issued a strong plea for action on his health care agenda Saturday, using his weekly radio and Internet address to focus on his top domestic priority even while traveling overseas.

"It's time to deliver," said Obama, in a talk timed to gatherings in living rooms and coffee shops around the country by tens of thousands of Americans organized by his campaign to talk about health care. The aim of the community gatherings beginning Saturday morning and continuing through the weekend was to build a groundswell of support for congressional action.
By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer

We Are Winning

Big Time.

Andrew deserves the honor of the post:

Conservatives Shift in Favor of Openly Gay Service Members

The new Gallup poll shows even more progress on persuading the American public to allow qualified and honest gay servicemembers to be in the military. The biggest shift in the last few years has been an upswing in support from conservatives and weekly church-goers:

While liberals and Democrats remain the most supportive, the biggest increase in support has been among conservatives and weekly churchgoers -- up 12 and 11 percentage points, respectively.

58 percent of self-described conservatives now favor ending the ban. The overall polling currently shows an overwhelming 69 percent favoring ending DADT. The South lags at 57 percent - but that's up from 50 percent four years ago. How the Obama administration justifies not fulfilling a clear campaign pledge backed by 70 percent of Americans and implemented by all our major allies ... well, it's beyond me.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund is leading the fight against DADT.
Go There. Send E-mails. Give Money. Find People to harrass.

Our reps need to know that action on this bill is important to their constituents.

Find Your Congressman Here.

Find Your Senator Here.

Write the White House Here.

Twitterers can also use @whitehouse.

JUST DO IT!!!!

NOW!!!!

THX.

Onward Christian Tattaglias

Kevin Drum posts:

From Bob Enyart, spokesman for Colorado Right to Life, on the assassination of abortion doctor George Tiller:

"If a Mafia hit man gets killed, people recognize it's an occupational hazard."

According to the LA Times, this was his way of explaining that "his group doesn't condone Tiller's slaying."

STFU - III

Conor Clarke

Sarah Palin gave a speech about economics on Wednesday, but it only popped into my RSS reader last night:

"Some in Washington would approach our economic woes in ways that absolutely defy Economics 101, and they fly in the face of principles, providing opportunity for industrious Americans to succeed or to fail on their own accord," she said. "Those principles it makes you wonder what the heck some in Washington are trying to accomplish here."

Alaska gets $13,950 per resident from the federal government, more than any other state in the nation. It ranks number one in taxes per resident and number one in spending per resident. It's also number one in pork-barrel spending. Each Alaska resident receives a check for $3,200 a year from state oil revenues -- which Palin bumped up from $2,000 last year. Palin once justified this by saying that the state of Alaska was "set up, unlike other states in the union, where it's collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs." (Sounds socialist!) Industrious indeed.

STFU - II

Wonkette, even, is stunned

Even after all these years, we’re still shocked that a popular television host can be so morally bankrupt as to take this passage from Barack Obama’s speech —

“I’m aware that there’s still some who would question or even justify the events of 9/11. But let us be clear: Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with.”

— but cut it off after the first sentence and tell his audience that Barack Obama

“decided to give 9/11 sympathizers a voice on the world stage.”

At least make your comedy show funny, Sean.

Tony Time

Neil Patrick Harris visits Letterman to plug his stint as Tony host this week:

Priceless

TNR:

Obama Back to Jakarta?
In a roundtable with Muslim journalists after his Cairo speech, Obama teases at some future plans (and reminisces a bit). From the official White House transcript:

Q Thank you, President Obama. Of course, as an Indonesian, my first question would be when will you come to Indonesia?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I need to come to Indonesia soon. I expect to be traveling to Asia at some point within the next year and I would be surprised if when I came to Asia I did not stop by my old home town of Jakarta. And I'll go visit Menteng Dalam and have some bakso -- nasi goreng. These are some special dishes here that I used to eat when I was a kid.

Q Actually I live only 300 meters from your old house.

THE PRESIDENT: Is that right?

Q Yes, Menteng Dalam.

THE PRESIDENT: Except now it's all paved.

Q Yes, it's all paved.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, when I was there it was all dirt, so when the rains came it would all be mud. And all the cars would get stuck.

Q And your school is much better now.

THE PRESIDENT: It's nicer now, yes.

This has been another episode of He's Not George W. Bush.

No One Better

Not Jimi, Not Jimmy, Not Eric.

Not Nobody:




On my first trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, when I turned a corner and saw the very guitar Duane plays in this video, I wept. Really.

STFU

Terry, can I use the term 'Uncle Tom?

Steele On Sotomayor: ‘God Help You If You’re A White Male Coming Before Her Bench’

STEELE: And apparently, the comments that she made that have been played up about, you know, the Latina woman being a better judge than the white male is something that she has said on numerous occasions. So this was not just the one and only time it was said. They’ve now found other evidences and other speeches, Trip, that she has made mention of this, this fact that her ethnicity, that her cultural background puts her in a different position as a judge to judge your case.

TRIP: Yep.

STEELE: And God help you if you’re a white male coming before her bench.

TRIP: Why don’t we focus on the content of her character?

STEELE: Well, you got that right. You got that right. Thanks Trip for the call.

Trip On Back

My first R-Rated movie experience has been released on DVD!

Something from someone who clearly influenced the young Carlos Santana

The Best Company Imaginable

Ygelsias:

All The Right Enemies

Mark Kleiman: “Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, John Bolton, Hugh Hewitt, and the Republican Jewish Coalition, and John Boehner all disliked the President’s speech.”

And, look, it’s no coincidence. Extreme elements on both sides of a conflict are in a symbiotic relationship. Islamist violence against the west strengthens the hand of the nationalistic right in the United States. But nationalist militarism from the United States strengthens the hands of violent radicals in Muslim countries.

"Good Times"

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Plein Air

Ambinder notes a promising shift in influence

... there has been a quiet debate in Washington over the past month over how to talk to Israel: whether negotiations should be kept private or disagreements should be aired in public.

On one side is AIPAC, and the 328 representatives and 76 senators who signed onto a letter earlier this month, who say we should keep things private: "The proven best way forward is to work closely and privately together both on areas of agreement and especially on areas of disagreement,"

On the other side is J Street, the up-and-coming, liberally aligned, peace-promoting lobby group that aims to rival AIPAC. With them is Rep. Barney Frank, who penned a letter to Obama on his own: "it would be a mistake to refuse to discuss important differences on how to achieve our mutual goals in a way that the electorates in both countries could understand,"

Speaking in Cairo today, Obama addressed the issue head on: "America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs," he said, rebuffing AIPAC's call for privacy and restraint.

Today's Speech

Get some popcorn and a cool drink. It's almost an hour long.

I Believe

"I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do – to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart."

Really Quite Astonishing

via Andrew:

Goldblog:

An African-American President with Muslim roots stands before the Muslim world and defends the right of Jews to a nation of their own in their ancestral homeland, and then denounces in vociferous terms the evil of Holocaust denial, and right-wing Israelis go forth and complain that the President is unsympathetic to the housing needs of settlers. Incredible, just incredible.

We Are All Marxists! Not!

A new Chart shows just how far off the edge we are ....

So, Republicans (and you Joe Scarborough) Shut The Fuck Up!

Ding! Ding! Ding! We Have A Winner!

This, I think, explains why the Republican Party is seen one way while it has ALWAYS done another. It certainly goes the heart of the Question: 'MSNBC! Pat Buchanan! WTF?!?!?':

[C]onservative politics was not “reborn” after the Goldwater campaign in 1964 and cemented by Reagan. Instead, the Nixonites allowed this new ideological trend to be the face of the party, but they retained control over the institutional functions of the party, as evidence by Nixon’s resurgence. This observation explains a lot of other puzzling feature of Republican politics. This is not the party of small government, it’s the party of national security. The party of individual liberty and self-reliance is actually the party of “enhanced interrogation.” The idea tying it together is national security, with superficial appeals to whatever helps win the election.

Another New State!

New Hampshire Legislature Approves Same-Sex Marriage

**UPDATE 5:30 PM** Governor John Lynch, calling it a “great day for all New Hampshire families” has signed the gay marriage bill into law.

Today, after many votes and many revisions, New Hampshire will become the sixth state in the Union to offer marriage equality to all couples. After many rounds of votes, including full passage in both Houses of the Legislature May 6, then a vote on Governor Lynch’s required language that passed the Senate but failed to pass the House May 20, the revised bill passed today.

Another New Family!

Gay penguins rearing chick in German Zoo

A gay penguin couple living in a German zoo have hatched a chick which they are now rearing as if it were their own child. They're one of four gay couples living in the zoo.

Z and Vielpunk were handed the egg by staff at the Bremerhaven zoo after it appeared to be rejected by its actual parents., northern Germany, says the adult males -t - were given an egg which was rejected by its biological parents.

The baby penguin is now four weeks old is apparently doing well.

In 2006, the zoo controversially imported four Swedish penguins to seduce three other gay penguin couples in order to test their sexuality. But the temptresses' advances were met with a frosty reception by both gay rights activists as well as the penguins themselves. One couple remain devoted to and nurse pebbles as if they were eggs.

The gay males were separated from each other and one by one the females were introduced. The males pined for each other until they were reunited.

In 2008, another pair of gay penguins in the China has been stealing eggs from straight couples in an attempt to become 'fathers'.

The three-year-old male penguins who are kept in Polar Land in Harbin, north-east China attempted to conceal their theft by placing stones at the feet of the parents before waddling away with their eggs.

The deception however was noticed by the other penguins and the couple were soon ostracised from the group.

Keepers have decided to segregate the pair during hatching season to avoid disrupting the rest of the community.

Look, I'm Sure The Guy'd Never Heard The Word

via TPM

Bush found himself perplexed by the flap over Joe Biden describing Obama as "articulate and bright and clean" in January 2007. So, naturally, the president turned to the top U.S. diplomat, the trusted Condi Rice, to explain what the heck this was all about.

Here's the tidbit from the first chapter of Wolffe's book [Renegade]:

Bush was so taken aback with the public criticism of Biden that he called in his African American secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. "I don't get it," he said. "Condi, what's going on?" Rice told him what everyone else had said: that white people don't call each other articulate.

One has to ask: can we really blame Bush for not knowing the conventions attached to that particular adjective?

Dick Dicked

Raw Story:

Former CIA station chief challenges claims that torture thwarted terror attacks

Two current CIA officers agree

Milton Bearden, a former Central Intelligence Agency Pakistan station chief who served at the agency for three decades, says claims that the Bush administration’s so-called enhanced interrogation techniques saved American lives are likely false.

The retired senior CIA officer also says that the former administration’s repeated assertions that attacks were foiled through torture are hurting US credibility abroad, endangering alliances and aiding the cause of would-be terrorists.

Bearden, who formerly headed the CIA’s Soviet/East European Division and served as station chief in Pakistan, Nigeria and Sudan, was a key figure in the funding and training of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. He retired in 1994 but says he has communicated with contacts who agree they’ve heard of no evidence to support Bush officials’ claims.

Do Not Hide Your Light Under A Bushel

If you want rights, you have to make sure that those who know you really know you.

Andrew offers a lesson I first learned in '82:

for all of those of you out there who are gay .... one simple political act can do [so] much ... :

let your family, friends and co-workers know who you are. If you don't, please quit complaining about your lack of civil rights.

What Do You Say?

via Twitter:

This was what greeted those who attended Dr. Tiller's vigil in Wichita:

Good

Political Wire

Democrats Want Specter to Face Primary

A new Susquehanna Polling and Research survey in Pennsylvania finds Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) leads Pat Toomey (R) by a 46% to 37% margin with 13% undecided.

However, by a 63% to 28% margin, Pennsylvania Democrats think Specter should face a primary challenge in 2010 in order to secure the nomination. This suggests most Democrats want Specter to earn his rightful place as the Democratic nominee despite comments by top Democratic Party officials and leaders.

Hat tip: Greg Sargent.

Sigh

americablog:

The Council of Conservative Citizens, a southern group that has been wooed by former GOP Senate leader Trent Lott and current GOP presidential hopeful Haley Barbour, has a doctored photo on its Web site of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in KKK garb. The CCC also calls Sotomayor "whitey hating."

The ADL says that the CCC is an "extremist group" that is "squarely within Southern racist traditions." The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the CCC "brazenly racist." More from SPLC on the CCC:

[A] hate group that routinely denigrated blacks as "genetically inferior," complained about "Jewish power brokers," called homosexuals "perverted sodomites," accused immigrants of turning America into a "slimy brown mass of glop," and named Lester Maddox, the baseball bat-wielding, arch-segregationist former governor of Georgia, "Patriot of the Century."

Did You Know That Pat Buchanan's A Racist?

Yglesias:

Sonia Sotomayor, like many Americans, was born into a Spanish-dominant family. But she worked hard, learned English, went to Princeton, then Yale Law School, then had a successful career as a lawyer, as a District Court judge, as an Appeals Court judge, and now as a Justice of the Supreme Court. This is, as I’ve said before, a good inspirational story that parents are going to tell their kids to encourage them to work hard in school.

Unless, that is, you’re Pat Buchanan in which case you take a cute story about Sotomayor spending her summers re-reading classic children’s books she hadn’t had a chance to read as a kid and turn it into a pretext to mock her:

Amanda Terkel reminds us that normally Buchanan claims that Hispanics need to work harder to learn English. But faced with an actual example of someone working to learn English, he has nothing but scorn and spite.

Uh, MSNBC, maybe its time to find a more respectable Rightwing hack.

Something Good To Know

Joe Scarborough came to the rescue of this man



whose wikipedia entry goes like this

Michael Frederick Griffin (born September 11, 1961), murdered Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida on March 10, 1993. This was the first killing of an OB-GYN for performing abortions.

The then 31-year-old Griffin waited outside Gunn's clinic and shot him three times in the back. He is reported to have yelled "Don't kill any more babies," just before the shooting.[1] Griffin did not attempt to hide his involvement in the murder, telling police, "We need an ambulance."

A jury deliberated three hours before finding him guilty on March 4, 1994. He was sentenced to life in prison. He is currently serving in Okaloosa Correctional Institution in Crestview, Florida. [2] The murder was one of the justifications for the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.[citation needed]

Cheney Changes Tune

Greg Sargent

[Cheney]:“Yes, but the way I would describe them is they have to do with the detainee program, the interrogation program. It’s not just waterboarding. It’s the interrogation program that we used for high-value detainees. There were two reports done that summarize what we learned from that program, and I think they provide a balanced view.”

... Cheney is carefully saying that the documents summarize what we learned from the overall interrogation program. Torture, of course, was only a component of that program. So he’s clearly saying that the docs summarize what was learned from a program that included non-torture techniques, too.

Here’s why this is important. It dovetails precisely with what Senator Carl Levin, who has also seen these docs, says about them. Levin claims the docs don’t do anything to “connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of the abusive techniques.”

My bet is Cheney is planning to cite the valuable intel in the docs and say that the program — of which torture was only a part — was responsible for producing it. He’ll fudge the question of whether the torture itself was actually responsible for generating that information. Cheney is as experienced as any Washington hand at using precise language to obfsucate, and this is the game plan. You heard it here first.

An Appreciation

It's always a good day when this movie pops up in conversation.

Here's to your good day.

Stop The Infanticide!

Close Down The Religious Schools and save the (pre)children

Unwed pregnant teens and 20-somethings who attend or have graduated from private religious schools are more likely to obtain abortions than their peers from public schools, according to research in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

"This research suggests that young, unmarried women are confronted with a number of social, financial and health-related factors that can make it difficult for them to act according to religious values when deciding whether to keep or abort a pregnancy," said the study’s author, sociologist Amy Adamczyk of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Well, Why Not Post This?

The Ex-Future-Vice-Presidential-Ex-Son-In-Law

Who Knew?

Burritto Deluxe For America!

Marcus Epstein: "Diversity can be good in moderation -- if what is being brought in is desirable. Most Americans don't mind a little ethnic food, some Asian math whizzes, or a few Mariachi dancers -- as long as these trends do not overwhelm the dominant culture."

What A Surprise!

TPM:

Who'da Thunk? Pt.2

Racist freak karate chopper Epstein doesn't just work for former Rep. Tancredo.

He works for Pat Buchanan too

To The Met

The World's only Blues Opera

Greatest Hits

Some Highlights with a great performance

Before The Blues

Summer, 1969. Mick taylor's first performance with the band. Special Trivia: Jagger is wearing a wig.

The Wimp-ness Of Rap

Eminem meets Bruno ... and can't handle it.



C'mon Marshall, ... are that short?

In Real Folks Language

Yesterday's Meet The Press: translated.

In A Crowded Theater

BillO has a lot to answer for ... which he says he will tonight. I don't expect anything

Implausible Denial

This ...

...Marcus Epstein has [written] speeches for former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) during his presidential bid, and he’s still working as the executive director of Tancredo’s Team America PAC, alongside Bay Buchanan. Epstein has been targeted for years by civil rights groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the One People’s Project, who have obtained Epstein’s guilty plea to a hate crime he committed two years ago.

From the U.S. Attorney’s factual proffer:
On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p.m. at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street making offensive remarks when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [REDACTED], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, “Nigger,” as he delivered a karate chop to Ms. [REDACTED]’s head.

Epstein has pled guilty and will be sentenced on July 8, although he changed his plea to water down an admission of guilt into the belief that “the government could prove me guilty.” A spokesman for Team America PAC confirmed that Epstein is still at work until he leaves for law school in the fall, and an official statement is forthcoming.
Tancredo has taken a large public role in criticizing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, telling MSNBC that the judge “appears to be a racist.”

Goes so far toward explaining this:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So Many Steps Ahead

Democrats Wanted Clinton Out of Senate

A very interesting excerpt from Renegade by Richard Wolffe, which will be available tomorrow:

"His decision to offer her the job of secretary of state came surprisingly early. Well before the end of the primaries, when his staff and friends still felt hostile to her, Obama decided that Clinton possessed the qualities to carry his diplomacy to the rest of the world. 'We actually thought during the primary, when we were pretty sure we were going to win, that she could end up being a very effective secretary of state,' he told me later. 'I felt that she was disciplined, that she was precise, that she was smart as a whip, and that she would present a really strong image to the world... I had that mapped out.'