Mike's Blog

Elayne Boosler on little Alberto

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FROM THE SHOW: "I don't remember having that conversation which I didn't have or remember having. During the process I can't recall if I remember if I was involved in deliberations I may have been involved in that I was not present at to the best of my recollection. I oversaw it. I had nothing to do with it. But to the best of my remembrance in which I was not really paying attention I wasn't party to the deliberations as to whether U.S. attorneys with excellent performance evaluations should or should not be asked to resign due to poor performance evaluations, at the pleasure of the president"....(link)

Mitt Romney - aside from psychotic and delusional is the king of flip floppers

Joseph Smith could have been one of the rising stars and role models for PT Barnum "there's a sucker born every minute". It's just amazing that anyone can  be so delusional and stupid as to believe this silliness.  I mean, you can try to get away with gold plates that vanished up to heaven 5,000 years ago or something but trying to claim this was a recent happening (early-mid 1800's) is loony beyond comprehension.

In addition to flip flopping and saying anything to anyone to appease them such as trying to pitch his great white hunter persona to the NRA, "well, I had a 22 and I used to shoot varmits".

He is known in Maine by many as a fraud who lies and ignores campaign promises.

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Kindly note:
if you Google <"Mitt Romney" "flip-flop"> you only get 95,500 hits.
if you Google <"Mitt Romney" flip-flop> you only get 159,000 hits.
if you Google <Mitt Romney flip-flop> you only get 180,000 hits.
(link)
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Very good read. Being illiterate was no impediment for Joseph Smith in his divine revelation and translation from the golden plates - which of course he was the only one to have seen and they subsequently mysteriously vanished up to heaven.

Mormonism: A Racket Becomes a Religion

  by Christopher Hitchens, Slate

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The actual story of the imposture is almost embarrassing to read, and almost embarrassingly easy to uncover. (It has been best told by Dr. Fawn Brodie, whose 1945 book No Man Knows My History was a good-faith attempt by a professional historian to put the kindest possible interpretation on the relevant "events.") In brief, Joseph Smith announced that he had been visited (three times, as is customary) by an angel named Moroni. The said angel informed him of a book, "written upon gold plates," which explained the origins of those living on the North American continent as well as the truths of the gospel. There were, further, two magic stones, set in the twin breastplates Urim and Thummim of the Old Testament, that would enable Smith himself to translate the aforesaid book. After many wrestlings, he brought this buried apparatus home with him on September 21, 1827, about eighteen months after his conviction for fraud. He then set about producing a translation. (link)
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Al Gore joins the creationists

He put's the date at 200,000 years rather than 6,000 but includes the caption "Adam & Eve". He's either  sucking up to the religious right or he is also among the ranks of the  seriously delusional. He seems to  have been science, science, science, science - well except for the fairies.

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The slide I found particularly interesting/shocking/sad, was his new(?) slide containing a graph of human population growth over the past couple hundred-thousand years. It started off good. He pointed at the beginning of the graph, showing the population of humans on Earth from 200,000 years ago, and referred to the "rise of humans."

Cool beans. So he believes that Homo sapiens evolved from other hominid ancestors, right? Nope. In the very same breath, he then continued to explain that according to his religious beliefs, this "rise of humans" was God's creation of mankind - apparently 200,000 years ago. His graph then changed to include the caption "Adam & Eve" above this starting point.
... (link antidelusionist)

The BushCo Blueprint

1 Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2 Create a gulag
3 Develop a thug caste
4 Set up an internal surveillance system
5 Harass citizens' groups
6 Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7 Target key individuals
8 Control the press
9 Dissent equals treason
10 Suspend the rule of law

Ten Steps To Close Down an Open Society

Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody.

They were not figuring these things out as they went along. If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.

As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration ... (link The Huffington Post)

The Culture Of LIfe (and Death of the Constitution)

The War On Terror Freedom. Somehow I'm much more terrified of Bush than any radical Muslim jihadist with a 3 1/2 oz bottle of shampoo. Bush is a much larger enemy of freedom than anyone else in the world. Let me say that clearly. Those who claim to support a "Culture of Life" are the enemies of freedom and democracy in the world.

It doesn't get any more Orwellian than this.

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court upheld a law that prohibits the abhorrent procedure of partial-birth abortion. Today's decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America. The partial-birth abortion ban, which an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress passed and I signed into law, represents a commitment to building a culture of life in America.

The Supreme Court's decision is an affirmation of the progress we have made over the past six years in protecting human dignity and upholding the sanctity of life."

-G.W. Bush, 4/18/07

Setting aside the fact that Bush has just stated that the Constitution doesn't stand in the way of Congress, let us dwell for the moment on his concept of this "Culture of Life".

Does it look like this?

Or maybe THIS is his "Culture of Life"?

Does this qualify?

Or maybe this?

We know how important his Culture of Life was when Hurricane Katrina hit.  Then again, those people were brown, too. (link Dependable Renegade)

 

 

The new Stalinism

Bush is attempting to make it illegal to disagree with him. An increase in massive domestic warrantless spying, data mining, FBI files on ordinary citizens - now we see the real need for this. Bush's lawyers are arguing that it is illegal to disagree with the president. Whether someone makes and assassination attempt, disrupts and convention, heckles, etc. are not important. The fact that they disagree is grounds for action against them.

2 Ejected From Bush Speech Posed a Threat, Lawyers Say

By DAN FROSCH

Published: April 15, 2007

 

DENVER, April 13 — Lawyers for two men charged with illegally ejecting two people from a speech by President Bush in 2005 are arguing that the president’s staff can lawfully remove anyone who expresses points of view different from his. ...(link The New York Times)

Bush's solution to today's VA Tech tragedy - more guns

Someone should be held accountable? WTF? It's a bit late for that. Wadda ya gonna do. Fine the estate of the gunman?

Bush Said Shocked at College Shootings

DEB RIECHMANN  |  AP  |  April 16, 2007 01:16 PM EST

WASHINGTON — President Bush was described Monday as shocked and saddened by the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, the deadliest incident of campus violence ever in this country.

"He was horrified and his immediate reaction was one of deep concern for the families of the victims, the victims themselves, the students, the professors and all the people of Virginia who have dealt with this shocking incident," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "His thoughts and prayers are with them."

"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," Perino said, noting that Bush and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings held a conference on school gun violence last October. "Certainly, bringing a gun into a school dormitory and shooting ... is against the law and something someone should be held accountable for," Perino said....(link
The Huffington Post)

Update: McCain agrees of course. More guns are the answer

McCain Backs Gun Rights After Shootings

ELIZABETH WHITE  |  AP  |  April 16, 2007 08:21 PM EST

Compare 08:21 PM EST version07:53 PM EST version07:52 PM EST version with 08:21 PM EST version07:53 PM EST version07:52 PM EST version

   

LAREDO, Texas — Sen. John McCain said Monday the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech does not change his view that the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to carry a weapon. ... (link The Huffington Post)

Don Giuliani?

I read this headlines on The Huffington Post. At first I didn't get it and when I looked at it later I thought, ah, a spoof on the Sopranos. No, he actually said that.

Here was Rudy Giuliani this week in a speech in California. No one much noted it -- he was lucky it was subsumed by the Imus wave. But this is how Mr. Giuliani opened a speech to citizens considering his candidacy for the American presidency. "Thank youse all very much for invitin' me here tuh-day, to this meeting of the families from different parts'a California."

He was imitating Marlon Brando in "The Godfather." (The rendering comes from a Newsday report.) Actually the character of Don Corleone, as drawn by Mario Puzo, was possessed of a certain verbal elegance, but never mind. Mr. Giuliani's imitation was clear enough to inspire in the audience a smattering of applause and, apparently, laughter.

Earlier in the week, in reaction to a spate of critical stories about his wife, Judith, he asked reporters to leave her alone: "I am a candidate. She's a civilian, to use the old Mafia distinction." ... (link WSJ.com)

One down and ....

Well they finally got rid of Imus. Only hundreds more like Glenn Beck, Nancy Grace, Rush Limbaugh... to go.
One of my favorite bloggers was linked to in the The TimesOnline

The ‘perfect storm’ that brought a shocking radio career to an end

Don Imus was a renowned shock jock — then he insulted a black girls' sports team

Tim Reid in Washington

He has called the black tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams “two cooma-chucka, big-butted women”, the African American news anchor Gwen Ifill a “cleaning lady”, and the Palestinians “stinking animals” — and he has always got away with it.

Now America’s most famous “shock jock” has been dismissed by CBS and NBC for his racially charged insults against a university women’s basketball team. Don Imus must be asking himself why his latest insult provoked a level of outrage powerful enough to end his career. ...

“Just stupidity masked as edgy, envelope-pushing” — Watertiger http://www.firedoglake. com/2007/04/12/buh-bye-imus/

(link The Times Online)

GMAFB

This is a great YouTube video.

Some comments from Ed Brayton's blog.

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You gotta love the Defender Of The Faith starting with "GMAFB."

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   At some point his mom is going to find out that she's been viewed over 100,000 times on YouTube and that's just so far today...

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Some genius posted this in the youtube comments...

I think it was the 10789th commandment, subpart 9, paragraph (j) that says : "Thou shalt not say 'fuck', even when thy son perturb thee, for it maketh thee to look like an unhinged lunatic, yea and the heathens shall laugh at thy stupidity, thus saith the Lord."