Republican Goal of Direct Government Policy Initiatives, Referendums and Propositions the End of our Republic

The two party system of government in America is now threatened by a third element, direct governing, where people bypass their elected officials and legislate by majority vote. That's why I've included the following more credible state supreme court justice's opinion here, and a conservative, to say exactly what I've been thinking for so many years. LA Times:

California Chief Justice Ronald M. George, in a speech before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, says the ease by which
Californians can make new laws at the ballot box has "rendered our state government dysfunctional." George criticize the initiative process and call for reform. George, a moderate Republican, has been critical of the initiative process in the past, George noted that in November, voters passed initiatives to regulate the confinement of fowl in coops and passed Proposition 8, which overturned part of a California Supreme Court ruling that gave gays and lesbians the right to marry.

"Chickens gained valuable rights in California on the same day that gay men and lesbians lost them," George said. Much of the state Constitution and many state laws "have been brought about not by legislative fact-gathering and deliberation but rather by the approval of voter initiative measures, often funded by special interests," George said.

"These interests are allowed under the law to pay a bounty to signature-gatherers for each signer. Frequent amendments -- coupled with the implicit threat of more in the future -- have rendered our state government dysfunctional, at least in times of severe economic decline."

George noted that voter initiatives have restricted the taxing power of the Legislature, leaving state revenues dependent on a "boom or bust economic cycle."

"The consequences this year have been devastating to programs
that, for example, provide food to poor children and healthcare for the elderly disabled," he said.

Unless Californians reform the initiative system, "we shall continue on a course of dysfunctional state government, characterized by a lack of accountability on the part of our officeholders as well as the voting public," George said.

Fort Oglethorpe's Head Cheerleader, GOD, Benched.

If you love the sign above, you'll be sad to hear that such messages displayed at high school football games are now relegated to the past. It took seven years before anyone noticed that something might be wrong.

LA Times: Fort Oglethorpe, population 7,000. The local paper lists 66 Baptist establishments alone crammed into the smallest county in Georgia.

So it didn't feel like wires were being crossed when, back around 2003, the cheerleaders at Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe High School began painting Bible verses on the big banners that their football team, the Warriors, would crash through under the Friday-night lights of autumn.

Donna Jackson, the mother of an LFO High student, called the school superintendent about the signs. Jackson had recently taken a law course at Liberty University, the evangelical school founded by the late Jerry Falwell. Jackson said she wanted the school to be "protected from potential lawsuits." A few days later, the school district determined that the signs violated the 1st Amendment.

I found myself wondering how it would feel driving through Fort Oglethorpe, after reading this interesting tidbit about the town:

Over at the Big Biscuit Barn (where the sign reads "PRAISE THE LORD AND EAT A BISCUIT"), owner Phyllis Cabe said the signs were "probably" unconstitutional. The back of the family SUV is painted up in pink letters: "WARRIORS STAND FOR JESUS." Down the street at Perfect Choice Family Haircutters (marquee: "THIS AIN'T NO CHAIN!!"), hairdresser Denise Yates said. "If that part of the game offends you, go turn around and buy you a Coke."

Meanwhile, another kind of sign has sprouted in the grass in front of the high school -- spelling out the name of Georgia's insurance commissioner, OXENDINE. John Oxendine, a Republican candidate for governor, is staking out a position as a champion of cultural conservatives.

Signs in from of the high school endorsing a political candidate...oh God!

Virtual Schools Social Networks, Airplanes Still Scary to Some and GOP demands Women Marry.

Kids not so lonely with Virtual Schools?

Wisconsin State Journal: A Things have gone "remarkably well" so far for the virtual charter school in its first year of operation, said Leslye Erickson, the head of the school. While the lack of social interaction was a concern for some parents new to online schooling, Erickson said it's rarely an issue for those used to it because they find other ways to make friends, such as through church or the YMCA.

Wow, that's inclusive. Thank God for Christianity.

Republicans Think Government Should Encourage Women to get Married. Where's Personal Responsibility?

Wispolitics.com: The Future Wisconsin Conference, an annual gathering of conservatives, featured a series of panel discussions on issues from health care to welfare reform. Republicans U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, and state Sen. Glenn Grothman, tackled welfare during one panel discussion, bemoaning what they said were the negative impacts the program has had ... including a failure to encourage women to get married.

Grothman said that a single woman with two children who makes $15,000 a year could theoretically get $37,000 a year in benefits. That amount is taken from the following programs: low-income housing assistance, food stamps, energy assistance, Milwaukee School Choice, Wisconsin Shares, BadgerCare and the earned income credit.

According to Grothman, if that woman were to get married to a man making $30,000 a year, she would lose all of her assistance. Grothman said that the answer to welfare might be scaling back services ... Petri broached having welfare programs phased out.

So are you for government assistance or against it? Or do Petri and Grothman want it both ways? Oh, and a family of four making $30,000 would probably be qualified for many of those same programs anyway. Are these guys familiar with public assistance at all?

RWC's Reince Priebus Still Not Comfortable with "Modern" Modes of Travel, like "air plane" Travel.

In response to Al Gore’s appearance in Madison to speak to the Society of Environmental Journalists, Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Reince Priebus issued the following statement: “Al Gore could have saved Wisconsin residents some hot air and carbon emissions by simply staying home. Wisconsin needs more jobs, not more empty rhetoric by Democrats contributing to the emissions problem. Flying in big-name Democrats to discuss how to force Wisconsin businesses to pay more taxes on their energy bill is the height of hypocrisy, and it’s precisely the reason voters will reject the misguided solutions proposed by the left in 2010."

Thanks Reince, for supporting our current energy policies. It was lots of fun paying $4 a gallon of gas and through the roof energy bills last winter. Screw the future, we're just scared to death of everything today.

New Gun Studies Ignored, NRA Bluster Real News.

Freedom States Alliance, a national non-profit organization working to free Americans from gun violence, offered up a few updates on gun death research in America.

Meleanie Hain, a 31-year-old gun proponent from Lebanon, Pennsylvania who openly carried a loaded handgun to her 5-year-old girl’s soccer game last September – an irresponsible stunt that put other parents and children at risk and resulted in her temporarily losing her CCW permit – was shot and killed by her husband in a tragic murder-suicide.

In a study released online this month in the American Journal of Public Health, epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that, on average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault ... estimated that people with a gun were 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not possessing a gun. And according to a well-cited study in the New England Journal of Medicine ... the risk of homicide is three times higher in homes with firearms.

Freedom States Alliance (FSA) pointed out that although Hain was an aggressive gun owner, her death followed a sad pattern of women being victimized by men with guns, in this case by her husband. According to a new study released this month, When Men Murder Women by the Violence Policy Center, firearms were used by males to murder 847 women in 2007 – a staggering number. More than 10 times as many females were murdered by a male they knew than were killed by male strangers.

“According to press reports, it appeared that Meleanie Hain lived in an abstract reality, infused with the gun lobby’s dangerous worldview and falsely believing that nothing bad would ever happen to her because her gun would always be her protection,” said Scott Vogel, Communications Director of FSA. “Hain fought against the very ideas, restrictions, and policies that reduce access to guns and save lives from gun violence. Although she thought that sensible gun violence prevention measures were an extreme threat, the truth is that lowering gun ownership and limiting access to guns saves lives.”

Hey Republicans Pay for War Fantasies with Tax Increase

Now that the bill for the "war on terror" is on the books, part of the budget deficit, Pres. Obama should treat it like any other expense. If we spend more money on Afghanistan, increase taxes to pay for it.

Make this the "Waterloo" for the Republicans. Have them propose area's they would cut, so they can pass a much needed tax increase.

This is a no brainer. Either way, the nation would come out ahead. The tax should have been in place since the beginning, but Bush and the Republican congress kept the expense off the books to avoid public scrutiny. It's time for fiscal responsibility.

Despite the existence of a warrior set of Democrats like Sen. Diane Feinstein and Joe Leiberman, war mongering is overwhelmingly Republican.

AP- "The U.S. mission in Afghanistan is in "serious jeopardy" and needs more troops to turn the tide against an increasingly potent Taliban insurgency, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said ... Sen. Dianne Feinstein ... said delaying the reinforcements also puts the forces already in Afghanistan at greater risk.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan ... presented Obama with a range of options, from adding as few as 10,000 troops to - the general's strong preference - as many as 40,000. There are already about 68,000 American forces in Afghanistan.

Sen. John McCain said it would be "an error of historic proportions" if Obama decides against a significantly larger U.S. presence. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Afghan national police are "getting slaughtered" and thousands more forces are needed to bring security and stability to the country. Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell said that a request by Obama for more troops as advised by commanders would meet with broad support in the Senate. Although he acknowledged massive fraud in elections in Afghanistan and called its government flawed, McConnell said the strategy there is about protecting the U.S."

Of course, these same Republicans were wrong about Iraq and the war strategy there. So why should we listen to them now? That's just plain "crazy talk."

Paul Ryan Votes Against Supporting our Troops, Misinformed on District Opinion of Public Option.

Congressman Paul Ryan is on the wrong page again with his district and country. Let's start with health care reform.

According to Wispolitics.com:

"Ryan also said his 1st CD constituents are largely supportive of the position he has taken in opposition to the health care reform agenda being pushed by Dems."

BUT: Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight pointed out Research 2000's survey results in Rep. Paul Ryan's 1st district and found it supported the public option by 47% vs. 42% opposed.

And when it comes to a Republican alternative: Ryan: “But the point is there’s lots of alternatives that are out there, lots of Republicans have proposed them.”

That's funny, not one of those proposals have had enough flesh in it to get a CBO estimate. But that might not be the final word. Republicans did submit a plan to the CBO last week, with absolutely no cost containment in it. We'll see how well the fiscal conservatives are with their free market model.

And get this, Ryan admits we have rationing now. LA Times: "

At least one conservative Republican, Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, acknowledges what this debate is really about. "Rationing occurs now," he said recently. "The question is: Who does it? Is it the government, or is it the patient [and] the doctor along with their insurance?"

Rep. Paul Ryan joined 146 other Taliban sympathizers when they voted against the 2010 military budget. Instead of trying to bring our troops home alive and prevent another 9/11 from happening again, Ryan voted against the interests of our troops so he could opposed the inclusion of hate crime legislation based on gender, sexual orientation and disability.

You would think such enhancers would be welcome by the party known for being tough on crime and who have acted like drunk sailors when it came to spending taxpayer dollars on building more prisons.

Protecting criminals and voting against supporting the troops will not look good in the upcoming elections.

Note; The military funding commentary I wrote here utilized the same talking points and style perfected by the Republicans Party, just in case you thought I was going "Beck" (off the deep end).

Right Wingers Worried that Health Care will lead to Gun Bans, Prison, IRS fines, Lists of Dangerous Lifestyles...

The right wing has kept other conservatives heads spinning with a confusing array of issues tied together willy-nilly as a way to justify their campaign of fear. For example: What has health care got to do with guns? It's like a political version of six degrees of Kevin Bacon. It won't make any sense, but read on compliments of Ammoland.com:

ObamaCare Could be Used to Ban Guns in Home Self-Defense--(AmmoLand.com)- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has something to say to gun owners: “Own a gun; lose your coverage!” It is nearly certain that coverage prescribed by the administration will, to control costs, exclude coverage for what it regards as excessively dangerous activities. And, given HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ well-established antipathy to the Second Amendment — she vetoed concealed carry legislation as governor of Kansas — we presume she will define these dangerous activities to include hunting and self-defense using a firearm. It is even possible that the Obama-prescribed policy could preclude reimbursement of any kind in a household which keeps a loaded firearm for self-defense.

It is possible, in Bizarro land. The irony in all of this is there example of how this is happening right now. They whine the current health care system, and those abusive private insurers, are already demanding trigger locks in homeowners policies or pay the price. They even blame Obama for policies already in place by insurers to charge more for smokers, unhealthy employee choices and an insurers definition of bad habits.

The ObamaCare bill already contains language that will punish Americans who engage in unhealthy behavior by allowing insurers to charge them higher insurance premiums. (What constitutes an unhealthy lifestyle is, of course, to be defined by legislators.) Don’t be surprised if an anti-gun nut like Sebelius uses this line of thinking to impose ObamaCare policies which result in a back-door gun ban on any American who owns “dangerous” firearms. After all, insurers already (and routinely) drop homeowners from their policies for owning certain types of guns or for refusing to use trigger locks (that is, for keeping their guns ready for self-defense!).

How crazy is ammo-land.com? How would feel knowing veterans with PTSD are allowed to own and carry guns? I know, how unfair.

Remember, the federal government has already denied more than 150,000 military veterans the right to own guns ...They were denied because of medical information (such as PTSD) that the FBI later determined disqualified these veterans to own guns.

And, although a Schumer amendment purports to exempt Americans from prison sentences for non-purchase of an ObamaPolicy — something which was never at issue — it doesn’t prohibit them from being sent to prison for a year and fined an additional $25,000 under the Internal Revenue Code for non-payment of the initial fines.

Wow, that sounds so...crazy.

CBO Throws in Republican Tort Reform Theory, Credibility Now in Question.

Why has the CBO thrown a wrench into the health reform machine? Why is it backing two new tort reform studies that together, don't move the needle one way or another. It looks like the CBO is unusually quick to throw out all the other studies. Why? Something isn't quite right with CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf, who goes off the Richter scale with the new numbers.

(AP) - Limits on medical malpractice lawsuits would lead doctors to order up fewer unneeded tests and save taxpayers billions more than previously thought, budget umpires for Congress said Friday.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that government health care programs could save $41 billion over ten years if nationwide limits on jury awards for pain and suffering and other similar curbs were enacted. Those savings are nearly ten times greater than CBO estimated just last year.

That's just after one year, influenced by two additional studies that aren't definitive in any way. Now that I'm more skeptical about the CBO analysis , I'm wondering how it will approach the human toll of reform, the health outcome. This one point, more than any, is really what this is all about isn't it:

"Because medical malpractice laws exist to allow patients to sue for damages that result from negligent health care, imposing limits on that right might be expected to have a negative impact on health outcomes. There is less evidence about the effects of tort reform on people’s health, however, than about its effects on health care spending— because many studies of malpractice costs do not examine health outcomes. Some recent research has found that tort reform may adversely affect such outcomes, but other studies have concluded otherwise.

Lakdawalla and Seabury (2009) found that a 10 percent eduction in costs related to medical malpractice liability would increase the nation’s overall mortality rate by 0.2 percent. However, Kessler and McClellan (1996 and 2002) and Sloan and Shadle (2009) concluded that tort reform generated no significant adverse outcomes for patients’ health."

The CBO is pushing the negative impact on a persons health aside, while accepting the idea that fewer tests would improve mortality rates by 0.2 percent. How? More tests may cost more money, but how would that save a persons life? And it's just one study by a group I know nothing about.

The bottom line is this; going after the victims compensation, as opposed to finding a better way to prevent the medical errors, calls into question the motivation of the CBO. What a time to pass these theories along to congress, in the middle of passing health care reform. If tort reform saves doctors, hospitals and insurance companies money, why hasn't it lowered patient premiums? Everybody wins except the victim of an illness.

Chris Chistie to Fat? Was Obama to Skinny? Whiny GOP Hypocrites.

Hypocrites all.

The criticism against Gov. Jon Corzine suggesting the portly candidate Chris Christie is fat seems a little misplaced, when you consider the wacky shots at Obama. Remember:

According to Fox News & WSJ: Forget arrogance, Barack Obama is just too skinny to be president. The Wall Street Journal reported that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee may be turning off voters by refusing to chow down at every pit stop on the campaign trail. The newspaper notes that 66 percent of the voting-age population is overweight — while 32 percent fits the definition of obese — and that could be hurting Obama. “He’s too new … and he needs to put some meat on his bones,” Diana Koenig, 42, a housewife in Corpus Christi, Texas. "I won't vote for any beanpole guy," another Clinton supporter wrote last week on a Yahoo politics message board.

McCain’s campaign has already used the senator’s healthy livingagainst him, linking his “celebrity” to his diet. “Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand ‘MET-RX chocolate broasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew — Black Forest Berry Honest Tea’ and worry about the price of arugula.” McCain campaign manager Rick Davis wrote.

Assassination Agenda: Rep. Wasserman Schultz used for Target Practice by GOP Candidate.

Let me repeat: The rush to arm people in this country, is a rush to arm mostly conservatives hell bent on a possible armed solution to their perceived liberal problems. Here's more proof:

(AP) - A GOP candidate in South Florida says it was a mistake to shoot at a target with a Democratic congresswoman's initials. Robert Lowry, a Republican vying to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, fired at a full-body silhouette with her initials written next to its head.

Lowry first told the Sun-Sentinel it was a joke, then that it was a mistake.

GOP Attacks Nobel Peace Prize and Winner Obama, sides with Hamas and Taliban: It was his "Star Power"

I found this headline an interesting response to the news our president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "GOP chairman scoffs at Obama winning Peace prize."

Impossible to believe, but the Peace prize is now a source of disgust from real Americans, our whiny creators of the Great Republican Recession. They must now de-legitimize the award given to those who have set a direction of peace in the world. It's not a gold watch for service given.

AP - The chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, is contending that President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize as result of his "star power" rather than meaningful accomplishments. "The real question Americans are asking is, What has President Obama actually accomplished?"

Again, this is a "PEACE" prize, but...

He doesn't think Obama will be "receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action."

That's PEACE prize Michael. (Steele should be reminded that Obama didn't cause the Great Recession, Republicans did, the very reason for the massive job losses.)

A better point is made by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, who wrote:

His winning the Nobel Peace Prize is very bad for Obama politically," said Republican consultant Curt Anderson. "It will completely reinforce the notion that he is all flash and no substance, all style, and more popular in Europe than in America."

The Democratic National Committee is pushing back -- hard -- against attacks from Republicans about the prize. "The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists -- the Taliban and Hamas this morning -- in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize," said DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse.

If you thought that was bad, check this out from Washington Post writer Brad Hirschfield, an Obama supporter:

But awarding this prize, at this time, to President Obama may actually be a bigger embarrassment than having awarded it to Yassir Arafat.

If anyone assumed that only Democratic politicians were weak kneed and spineless, liberal pundits from the Huffington Post to Robert Reich have folded under the pressure of right wing crazies, and have criticized the award. But Moveon.org put it best with this email message:

"

According to my Moveon.org email: President Obama has "created a new international climate," the Committee said. "Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position... The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations."

In his historic April 2009 speech in Prague, the President vowed to pursue a world without nuclear weapons. Words are important, but words without action mean little. Thankfully, President Obama has already taken a number of concrete steps toward that goal by:

Starting bilateral negotiations with Russia for a successor to the START arms reduction agreement.

Giving a jump-start to diplomacy by restarting talks with Iran that have already proven constructive.

Pledging to ratify the CTBT, secure loose nuclear material around the world, and host a global nuclear security summit in Washington next year.

Sending Secretary of State Clinton to an international conference for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Securing international endorsement of his campaign for a world without nuclear weapons when he presided over a special session of the UN Security Council, continuing the momentum toward nuclear security and arms control.

This progress is just beginning, and we will need sustained focus to achieve these goals over the coming years. But neo-conservative critics of the President are staunchly opposed to nuclear disarmament. The international community has made a dramatic show of support for President Obama's vision, and we need to show that the American people support him as well.

A Christians Right to Bully Gays in Schools Threatened by Kevin Jennings.

The conservative team of character assassins, led by Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly, continues to pull names out of a hat to cleanse the Obama administration of liberal advocates. Remember, conservative ideologues usually make great government officials, they're doing Gods work after all, but liberal ideals tack to closely to Nazi Germany's efforts to protect free speech, gay rights and health care for all. Hitler was such a socialist.

The right wing now has their sites set on anti-gay bullying advocate Kevin Jennings, because as we all know, God would want us to cast verbal stones and denigrate gay or effeminate kids in schools. The Examiner:

The term ‘Christian hate group’ seems an oxymoron but in fact like ‘pro-life’ groups who support some killing, these groups support the principles of Christian love and tolerance on their
terms i.e. with exceptions. Kevin Jennings has been appointed by the Obama Administration to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Department of Education’s Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools. He believes that all children deserve an education free of bullying.

A group calling itself American Principles in Action is spearheading a letter writing campaign and distributing the video below.

The American Family Association, a longtime Christian hate group finds the idea of preventing the bullying gay children outrageous. AFA head Tim Wildmon spitefully calls for Jennings resignation and in fact seems to believe that gay children will be encouraged to bully Christian children.

Wildmon asked. “Students of faith will hardly be safe from bullying and intimidation in any school that listens to him.”

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) yesterday became the first Congressman to call for Jennings to step down

Soccer Mom's Gun Used by Hubby in Murder Suicide. Gun Ownership, What Could Go Wrong?

Second amenders love to brag about their good judgment and responsibility. They love to promote the insane idea carrying loaded guns in public, even if it scares everyone else to death. They're law abiding citizens. Let no law be written to stop the proliferation and public right to carry guns everywhere. Get this; We're actually safe around them, our great protectors. But here's the story they don't want you see, from the Examiner:

Melanie Hain made national headlines when she brought a handgun to a her daughter's soccer game in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. A fight over her permit to carry the gun ensued. Gun rights advocates took Hain's side arguing her rights allow her to take the gun wherever she wishes including a child's soccer game. Gun control advocates argued that Hain displayed poor judgment in bringing the gun to the game and attempted to make her an example of why conceal and carry laws should be repealed.

Here's where the proof of "poor judgment" comes in:

Sadly Hain has now reemerged on the national scene but for an entirely different reason. Hain was shot to death with by her husband Wednesday night who then shot himself in an apparent murder-suicide. Evidently the couple had been in a state of marital discord before the shooting. Thankfully the couples three children are all safe.

Here we have a normal gun loving couple, familiar with gun safety and their use, turning that defensive weapon on themselves as a final solution to their problem. And that's why I fear guns. The people who advocate carrying them everywhere might be more predisposed to use them in a heated argument, no matter how petty.

Gun rights advocates will argue that it was the people involved and not the guns that caused the deaths while gun control advocates will point to the story as an example of how more guns help bring about more death and violence.

Right on both accounts. But the argument that people don't kill people, that they just get in the way of a bullet, rings hollow here. In fact, its a lie. In a follow-up article, the Examiner tries to minimize the obvious:

People who believe they have a right to the means of self defense are portrayed by the media as notorious. And kooky. And comments under this story tell us about "those who live by the sword," some viciously disparaging Hain as a person, and generally exploiting this terrible incident to attack the notion that citizens have adequate competence or temperament to be
trusted with guns.

Right on all accounts again, even when the truth hurts. Or should I say kills.

UPDATE: Philadelphia Enquirer, 10-10: "Meleanie Hain, was unarmed in her kitchen and idly Web-chatting with a family friend. Outside the webcam's view, Scott Hain picked up a gun. By then, the chat partner, in another Pennsylvania county, had let his attention wander over to the television.

Then, at what police would say later was 6:07 p.m., the online feed erupted with a gunshot and a scream, and the friend saw Scott Hain walk into view. He raised a handgun and fired several times, and the friend called 911.

By the time police arrived, Meleanie Hain was dead in the kitchen, and Scott Hain had used a shotgun to commit suicide in an upstairs bedroom. Their three children, a neighbor said, had run from the house shouting, "Daddy shot Mommy!"

Six shell casings were found on the kitchen floor. Meleanie's 9mm pistol, with a full magazine and a bullet in the chamber, was in a backpack hanging from the front door. She had told interviewers that she feared unforeseen dangers in her quiet, rural community ... Scott Hain had mowed the yard before going inside and leveling his gun at his wife."

I can hear the gun nuts now, "If she had only been carrying her gun in the kitchen at the time."

Getting to see Levi's Johnston! in online Playgirl, and Marge Simpson makes Playboy Spread.

What would you expect from the Palin's family album. Judging by the picture, Tripp beat dad to the punch.

(AP) - "Levi Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure - the 19-year-old father of Sarah Palin's grandchild will pose nude for Playgirl, his attorney said Wednesday."

"To get ready for his close-up, Johnston is training three hours a day, six nights a week at an Anchorage gym with a local body builder."

"The world will get a gander of the finished product by the end of the year. Playgirl approached Johnston about posing in the buff."

Not to be outdone, and already for the newstand, Marge Simpson makes the cover and a 3 page spread in Playboy:

AP-Marge is about to do something Homer might not approve of.
Playboy magazine is turning over its cover to the matriarch of
Springfield's first family: Marge Simpson.

Marge isn't going to bare all, though, as the magazine says there will only be "implied nudity" in the 3-page pictorial.

See the new Playgirl photos here

Judge Napolitano on Health Care and getting sick: "...it's a good, that you would purchase." We don't buy "health," and we don't "buy cancer."

Fox News' judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is another crackpot who somehow got the impression the constitution should have a detailed list of what's covered and what isn't. Like health care. You won't believe the load of BS he shoveled at Neil Cavuto, who by the way, didn't buy into any of his nonsense. For example:



Napolitano: It's not a right (health care), it's a good, that one would purchase...

Cavuto: "... would you equate borderline creature comforts with something that would keep you alive...?

Napolitano: "If it's in the constitution, its a right... and if it is a right, than a lot of other things we like are rights also...'

How many people you know "likes cancer?" Since when is getting sick a "good," like buying a friggin' hamburger?

If Republicans Want to Send More Troops to Afghanistan, Raise Taxes to Pay for It!

Raise taxes, or get out!

The fighting in Afghanistan isn't paid for. Democrats should ask the supporters of the war to pay for the Afghan conflict, just like the Republicans are insisting the Democrats pay for an actual program that helps Americans, like health care. Put these guys on the spot, now.



Come on Republicans, that means you Rep. Mac Thornberry, introduce a war tax so the U.S. can continue to spend lives and money on nation building, all in the name of self defense. Thornberry is willing to stay as long as it takes. What a sick bastard.

Odd isn't it, with the scope and manpower of Homeland Security, war mongering conservatives are acting like this specialized department doesn't even exist.

I'm convinced Pres. Obama won't risk appearing weak, and will instead allow the Republican Party to force his hand.

NY Times: Obama: "A day after telling Congressional leaders that he would not substantially reduce American forces in Afghanistan or shift the mission to just hunting terrorists there...."

Rep. Paul Ryan, the Bailout King and "Taxpayer Hero?"

Michael Moore's new film, "Capitalism: A Love Story," features Rep. Paul Ryan pushing the Bush bailout of Wall Street. He even calls it, a "Herbert Hoover moment." Where are the tea party protesters when you need them. From Politico:

Ryan: "Herbert Hoover moment"Young conservative Paul Ryan (R-WI), who helped lead the House GOP revolt a few days ago, just made a passionate plea for his colleagues to back the bailout. "This bill offends my principles but I'm going to vote for this bill in order to preserve my principles... to preserve [the free enterprise system]," he said. "This is a Herbert Hoover moment.. he made mistakes during the Great Depression... Let's not make those mistakes... If we fail to do the right thing, heaven help us—if we fail to pass this I fear the worst is yet to come."

He then added a tart critique of the Bush administration's rush to pass the bill, saying its predictions of catastrophe if it's not passed have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. "I think the White House bumbled this thing—they have brought these issues up to a crescendo, a crisis so that all eyes are on Congress [so] we have to deal with this panic."

He went on to urge his fellow Republicans not to say, "I want you to vote for it, not me."

But in Ryan's conservative Bizarro World, only he could be named a "Taxpayer Hero."

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today honored Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as a Taxpayer Hero for scoring 85 percent on its 2008 Congressional Ratings. The average for the entire House was 35 percent, and the average for the Senate was 38 percent; this makes Rep. Ryan’s achievement that much more impressive.

The Capital Times' John Nichols wrote:

It was a virtuoso performance. Moore was right to highlight it.

The filmmaker has given Wisconsin taxpayers a dramatic illustration of how it came to pass that we are bailing out bankers and billionaires at the same time that auto plants are closing in cities such as Janesville and Kenosha - both of which are in the 1st District.

More importantly, Moore has reminded the voters of southeastern Wisconsin how key members of Congress such as Paul Ryan determined to take care of the speculators on Wall Street rather than working families on Main Street.

MIchele "I know what you did last summer" Bachmann. Worst Person Award

I'm posting this Keith Olbermann Worst Person's award to Michele Bachmann because it struck me the right way. I really like the way Keith closed; "Michele 'I know what you did last summer' Bachmann." It's a name that should stick.

Shepard Smith Goes After Both Parties Seeking Truth about Health Care

In the clip below, Shepard Smith conducted the kind of interview we should see more of in the news media. Aggressive and relevant. Is he really on Fox News?

Morning Meeting host Dylan Ratigan introduces Term Corporate Communism

The definition of communism gets an update now that it has been combined with "corporate." Corporate communism's meaning might look something like this: A form of corporatism that abolishes "social" ownership. Thank you Dylan Ratigan.

Think Progress wrote:

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and health care provocateur Betsy McCaughey took their health care debate to MSNBC’s “Morning Meeting” hosted by Dylan Ratigan.

Throughout the interview, McCaughey was constantly on the defensive, complaining that she was being shut out of the debate. “Anthony, you are ignorant about health insurance,” she said, before insisting to Ratigan that “this will go down in history as one of the most browbeating interviews in television history.” “I hope that it does,” Ratigan replied. “And maybe you’ll learn at that point then to answer questions as opposed to go on television and cast accusations.”

Here's Ratigan defining Corporate Communism