Nidal Malik Hasan Still Alive

Breaking: the Army said shooter Nidal Malik Hasan is still alive. The two other men have been released. It appears that Hasen acted alone. Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone reported Hasen dead. This story is getting stranger.

Kathy Dent's Feels Blue

Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent had numerous problems with undervotes during the 2006 election. The Christine Jenning/Vern Buchanan recount became a national news story. Election Systems & Software warned Dent about machine problems. Both Dent and ES & S swore there were no machine irregularities. That was until the letter the ES & S letter to Dent became public.

Dent is once again having voting machine problems. Brad Friedman reports Diebold/Premier optical-scan system will not read ballots with blue ink. Dent could move to replace the Diebold/Premier machines. Instead she requires every precinct have black pens. Friedman points out the error of Denr's ways.

Since the state now requires paper ballots, Dent chose to install the newest Diebold/Premier optical-scan systems, the ones that don't read blue ink properly, despite the fact that they had not been federally tested or certified for use at the time. Florida does not require federal certification tests for voting systems before using them.

As I said before, Republicans heart Diebold.

Audio of Crist Supporting Stimulus

Audio of Gov. Charlie Crist giving his support for the stimulus package. I'm waiting to see if Crist blames a impersonator on the podcast.

Update: the transcript of his address.

Florida has taken prudent steps to cut taxes for our people and balance our budget in these increasingly difficult times.
I believe strongly that any federal stimulus money must prioritize job creation and targeted a tax relief for small business owners, and Florida must get her fair share.
Tuesday I joined President Barack Obama for a town hall meeting in Fort Myers to discuss with Floridians the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
During the town hall, I reiterated my support for the federal stimulus package, and pledged to the people of Florida that here in Florida we stand ready to use our share of the money quickly and responsibly to create new jobs and serve our most vulnerable citizens.
There is no doubt that these are historic, challenging times for this nation – and our state.

We are balancing our budget here, even when it calls for difficult decisions. We cut spending by $2.5 billion dollars during the recent special Legislative session.
But even as we tighten our belts, we need a stimulus to help the people of Florida, and to help every state that is hurting. This federal stimulus package is a bridge of help for Florida.

As the U.S. Congress finalizes this stimulus package before sending it to the President, I continue to work with my colleagues and members of our Congressional delegation to improve the bill – while ensuring Florida receives her fair share.
Our Economic Stimulus Working Group met for the second time today. This group, which I lead, will spend the coming weeks making sure we quickly and responsibly implement these federal dollars – to meet the Sunshine State’s education needs, transportation and health care funding needs.

Thank you very much, and God bless you.

John Boehner Screws Up Again

Minority Leader John Boehner spoke at the Capital Hill tea party rally. Boehner cited the Constitution.

BOEHNER: This is my copy -- this is my copy of the Constitution. And I'm going to stand here with our founding fathers who wrote in the preamble, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

One problem: Boehner actually cites the Declaration of Independence. This is the actual preamble of the Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I'm happy that Boehner is the Republican House leader. Boehner makes Nancy Pelosi's job that much easier.

Rick Baker Protest

Homeless advocates plan to protest St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker's farewell party. Baker deserves the grief after destroying the property of homeless people.

The protest will be at Demens Landing.

Time: 6:00 PM
Date: November 7, 2009

Organizers ask if you can bring a plate of food for the homeless.

Side note: the press release for this protest is horrible. Read it for yourself.

Fort Hood Shooting

The Army told the AP that seven people are dead from a mass shooting at the Fort Hood, Texas base. 20 people were woulded from the attack. One alleged shooter is in custody. CNN reports 11 dead, including a second gunman. The FBI is on the scene.

The first shooting occured at 1:30 PM at the medical processing office. The second shooting occured at a theater. A graduation ceremony was scheduled at the latter. Apparently, the shooters had access and knowledge of the facilities.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the gunmen are military personal. One gunman is still on the loose. The death count is reported at 12.

A news report on the missing gunman.



Update: the New York Times reports the missing gunman has been killed.

Christopher Hogue, a spokesman at Fort Hood says that the gunman who was killed had two handguns. He confirms that 12 people are dead, including the gunman and that 31 have been wounded. The base remains locked down.

President Barack Obama's remarks on Fort Hood incident.

We don't yet know all the details at this moment. We will share them as we get them. What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence. My immediate thought is with the wounded and the families of the fallen. These are men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk and at times give their lives to protect the rest of us on a daily basis. It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil. I've spoken with Secy Gates, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Adm. Mike Mullin and we continue to receive a constant stream of updates as new information comes in. We are working with the Pentagon, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security all to ensure that Ft. Hood is secure. And we will continue to support the community with the full resources of the government. In the meantime I would ask all Americans to keep the men and women of Ft Hood in your thoughts and prayers. We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident. I want all of you to know that as commander in chief that there's no greater honor but also no greater responsibility for me than to make sure the extraordinary men and women in uniform are properly cared for and that their safety and security when they're at home is provided for. So we are going to stay on this. I hope all of you recognize the scope of this tragedy and keep everybody in their thoughts and prayers....

Update: Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is the shooter that was captured killed. Hasan is a psychiatrist reassigned from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Hasan's Arabic name is definately going to raise red flags.

MSNBC reports two soliers are in custody.

Twelve people were killed and at least 31 others were injured when a soldier opened fire at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas, military officials said. One gunman was shot to death, and two other soldiers were in custody, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps, told reporters.

Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh called the shooting "isolated and tragic case." Three people suggest a conspiracy. We will have to wait for the results of FBI investigation. Terroist-backed attack or not, this is horrible.

Update: it is not clear if the the other soldiers fired weapons. The news video below confirms the shooter is dead and two suspects are being held for investigation.



Update: according to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s spokesman, Jeff Sadoski, Hasan was unhappy about being deployed to Iraq.

The view (and racket) outside my window: St. Petersburg teabaggers attend party of NO class

A couple of hours ago, a chorus of beeping horns and argumentative shouting emanating from the street below penetrated my apartment building's 80+ -year-old concrete-and-steel walls and made it difficult to concentrate on the letter I was trying to write.

Hmm...strange.

There were no emergency vehicle sirens (as there are right now).

Probably someone standing in the middle of Central, holding up traffic and ranting about the latest alien sighting or something, I thought.

Fifteen minutes passed; the noise only intensified. Boy, this guy's stubborn.

Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me and I went to the window, opened the blinds, and looked across the street. This is what I saw:


And as if the din of car horns and shouts--both supportive and oppositional--wasn't loud enough, the modest-sized St. Petersburg chapter of The Michelle Bachmann Invitational Teabagging FreedomChantFest put on their best off-key tavern voices and howled God Bless America, threatening the integrity of nearby glass curtain walls, traumatizing poor Marley the Cat, and leading this writer to wish that God would indeed bless at least this part of America and call forth one of those wonderfully sudden cloudbursts for which Florida is famous.

No such luck.

The sky couldn't have been bluer, and the teabaggers seemed happily oblivious to the anti-pro-freedom people of the Socialist Fascist Republic of Democrat Healthcare, responding to the odd appreciative beep with a wave of the flag or a flutter of the sign.

They're clearly ignorant about matters sociopolitical, but at least the St. Pete Teabaggers can spell. (Assuming these folks actually live in St. Pete, of course.)

Unsurprisingly, the teabaggers didn't offer any solutions--or even an idea for a solution or a brainstormed theory that might, given enough debate, turn into an idea for a solution--for the healthcare crisis and runaway costs that currently account for nearly two-thirds of the nation's bankruptcy filings. They sure were fond of one monosyllabic word, though:

воспрещаться Kein NOOOOOOOOOOOO! We are the party of it!

And then there were these senior citizens, and theirs were the signs I found to be most confusing of all: they're simultaneously insisting--nay, demanding--that government not take over their healthcare, even as government, insofar as I'm aware, continues to run (and fund) Medicare, the very, very popular health insurance program for American senior citizens that was signed into law by President Johnson in 1965; the social insurance program these gentlefolk apparently want preserved as hands off.

Okay, then.

I suppose I could've done the right thing, saved them from any further embarrassment, and, er, corrected them--after all, I can do Liberal Fortissimo Con Brio pretty impressively when the spirit moves me, and hell, they were just across the street, six floors down. But I started having visions of the old country, with Pythonesque peasant-wives screeching from upstairs windows as the cart clattered along the cobblestones, its driver repeatedly droning, Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!

Not wanting to assume a position in that disturbing (and perhaps comic) mise en scène, I closed my window and opened my laptop instead.

Also at litbrit.

Crist's Stimulus Flip Flop

"I didn't endorse it. I -- you know, I didn't even have a vote on the darned thing. But I understood that it was going to pass and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians."

Gov. Charlie Crist, telling Wolf Blitzer he did not endorse the stimulus package.

The Pultizer Prize-winning Politifact gave Crist's claim a pants on fire rating. Crist missed a cabinet meeting to stand onstage with Obama and advocate his support of the stimulus package.



Charlie Crist: "It's getting harder everyday and we know it's important that we pass this stimulus package. It is important that we do so to help education. To help our infrastructure and to help health care for those who need it the most."

Other instances Crist touted his support of the stimulus package.

From Hardball with Chris Matthews on Feb. 3: Speaking of the stimulus, Crist said, "It's going to help (Floridians') children. It's going to help their traffic situation. It's going to help produce more jobs here in the Sunshine State. That's a perspective that I have to have as, in essence, the CEO of Florida. And that's why I support it."

From Time on Feb. 10: "I see this package as a pragmatic, commonsense opportunity to move forward. I didn't campaign for Obama, we don't agree on everything, but he's my president, and my job is to help Florida stay in the black."

From Meet the Press on Feb. 22: Q: Why would you buck your own party, which did not vote for this plan in Congress, as you know, to support the stimulus?

Crist: "It's not a matter of bucking the party, it's a matter of helping the people. I mean, I really view it as an issue of what can I do that's best for the people of Florida? We've got almost 20 million people that live in the Sunshine State now. I think my obligation is in essence the CEO of the state, to do everything I can to help us get through this tough economy. Certainly this stimulus package, about $12.2 billion to Florida, will help Florida an awful lot."

Crist needs to find a spine or he will lose. The worst thing to do in politics in do complete 180 turns. It didn't work for Mitt Romney and he won't work for Crist.

Update: White House Press Sec. Robert Gibbs said Crist supported the stimulus package.

"I think he was very supportive of the legislation and supportive of the benefits that it would have and has had for the state of Florida in seeing positive economic growth," Gibbs said. "I would say yes, yes."

I wonder if the White House views Marco Rubio as the candidate Kendrick Meek has the best chance beating.

William Shatner Reads Levi Johnston's (Alleged) Tweets

William Shatner reads the Twitter poetry of Levi Johnston. Even more amusing is Johnston is demanding a retraction from NBC.

Rex Butler -- Levi's lawyer -- tells TMZ the Alaskan is demanding a retraction from NBC. What really pisses Butler off ... before Shatner's dramatic reading of Levi's putative Twitter page, Conan said: "All real ... we did not make these up."

Butler says the Twitter page is NOT Levi's and that, "We are in the process of dealing with Twitter first. I think they have an obligation once something like this happens to make some kind of corrective measure."

Here is a recent Johnston tweet.

if NOT A VIRGIN WAS ok !! or that black people love CHICKEN- cause they don't , they hate chicken... just look at at my pics, TANK is black

Tank is Johnston's bodyguard. Johnston admits many of his tweets don't make sense. He is tweeting that he is not a racist. Interestingly, Johnston isn't pushing back against Conan O'Brien refering to him as a douchbag.

Senate Health Care Provision Backs Faith Healing

The House bill will honor the Hyde amendment by forbiding any federal funding for abortion. Lindsay Beyerstein and Dave Noon note the Senate version has a provision for funding Christian Science prayer treatments. The funding will go to the Christian Science Church. The religious organization was founded by Mary Baker Eddy. She was influenced by Phineas Quimby. From Eddy's bio page at Christian Science.

Without a doubt, the Bible was the most significant influence in Mrs. Eddy’s life. She was a devoted student of the Scriptures from early childhood and gradually gained the conviction that spiritual healing was not limited to biblical times but could be practiced as effectively today. Chronically ill, she also investigated the medical systems of her time and gained insights into the mental factors of health from her study of homeopathy. For a time, her health improved under the care of Phineas P. Quimby, a self-taught healer in Maine who combined mental suggestion or hypnosis with what today might be called therapeutic touch. The improvement was not permanent, however, and she moved beyond his methods after his death in 1866. Convinced that genuine healing was rooted in God, not the human mind, she experienced a profound spiritual healing at age 44 as she read an account of Jesus’ healings. She spent the next three years of her life researching the Bible to understand how she had been healed and applying what she was learning to healing others through a system she eventually called Christian Science. She later wrote and published a textbook that is so closely tied to the Bible that she called it Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

The Senate version is allocating tax dollars for faith healing. The U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health found Christian Scientists have a higher death rate. I feel better if Christian Scientists don't pray for me.

Majority Leader Harry Reid has not decided on if he will add the Christian Science provision. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stripped a similar it from the House bill.

Pelosi Promises Health Care Reform Votes

The media reported yesterday that the House plans on voting on health care this Saturday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker is confident she has the votes in her caucus.

“We will,” Pelosi said, when asked if she had the 218 votes needed to pass the $1.055 trillion bill, designed to extend healthcare to 96 percent of the population and create a government health insurance plan.

Journalists will be writing books abot how Pelosi's arm-twisting and dealmaking. Pelosi promised a bill with the public option and it appears she delivered. That is a testament to her leadership.

President Barack Obama toured Capital Hill seeking votes for the House bill. It is nice to finally see Obama use the weight of his office to directly push Congress on health care reform. The President made his case to the White House press corp.

"I urge Congress to listen to AARP, listen to the AMA, and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans who will benefit from it," Obama told reporters.

The AARP retirement group "knows this bill will make health care more affordable, they know it will make coverage more secure, they know it's a good deal for our seniors," Obama said.

As for the AMA, the president said, "the doctors of America know what needs to be fixed about our health care system."

Come to Jesus Meeting

Lagniappe:Zombie Republican losers will always Run!

Comix, comics, comixx, comic strips, editorial cartoons, cartoons, comic books, underground comix, satire, parody, Republicans, political cartoons

Zencomix

Hot Chip - And I Was a Boy From School

	Hot Chip - And I Was a Boy From School
	Found at skreemr.com

I have to give Hot Chip another listen. I dismissed this band before. However, I love this song.

Republican Health Care Amendment Doesn't Reduce Uninsured

The Republican amendment to the Democratic House bill is a joke that keeps providing laughs. The Affordable Health Care for America Act was nothing more then a legislative attack on the Democrats. The Congressional Budget Office informed Minority Leader John Boehner that the amendment would only insure 3 million Americans and lower the deficit by $68 billion. THe CBO is projecting these estimates for 2010 to 2019. There numbered of insured and fiscal reduction is than CBO estimates for Democratic heath care bills. The CBO states the the Repuublican amedment keep the level of uninsured relatively the same.

By 2019, CBO and JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people without health
insurance would be reduced by about 3 million relative to current law, leaving about
52 million nonelderly residents uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents
with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, roughly in line with the
current share. CBO and JCT estimate that enacting the amendment’s insurance
coverage provisions would increase deficits by $8 billion over the 2010–2019
period.

The amendment's funding structure makes me wonder if there will be enough revenue to fund federal funding for high risk insurance pools. Costs would be $49 billion and additional tax revenue would be $27 billion. The CBO report does not say what these state high risk pools would cost. Not that it matters. Republicans never wrote this amendment with the intention of it becoming law. Boehner and company should not have bothered.

Glenn Beck Hates Facts

It's bad when Fox News sister company the Wall Street Journal is calling Glenn Beck an intellectual weakling. Thomas Frank brutally tears Beck apart.

What Mr. Beck's silent phone really symbolizes is a new kind of ignorance, a coming high-tech dark age in which people can choose to blow off professional standards of inquiry; in which they can wall themselves off with cable TV and friendly Web sites, dismiss what displeases as liberal bias, and demand that any contrary view be transmitted to them via telephone call from the president himself.

Frank did some research on Beck's hotline phone. Turns out people that were attacked by Beck were not gien the number.

Professor Robert McChesney: "He never asked me or Free Press to call the red phone."

Mark Lloyd: "No, no one gave me a phone number to call Beck."

Beck doesn't want to debate people he disagrees with. His embarrassing performance on The View is a perfect example.

Barbara Walters: "You are an investigative reporter..."

Glenn Beck: "No, I am not."

Barbara Walters: "You're a reporter."

Glenn Beck: "No, I am not."

Barbara Walters: "So you check no facts at all."

Glenn Beck: "No. I am a commentator."

Beck admits he is ignorant and proud of it. His fans have his same disdain for knowledge.

Quote of the Day

"If we stop (health care reform), I think it could be dead for 10 years."

Michele Bachmann, during a tea party conference call

Vitter Confronted On Voting Against Amendment 2588

Sen. Al Franken was the sponsor of Amendment 2588, of the Defense Department bill. The amendment would allow female defense contractor employees, that were sexually assaulted, to take their cases to civil courts. Companies such as Halliburton and KBR would be forbidden from doing business with the military, if they continued to force sexually assaulted women into arbitration. Jamie Leigh Jones is the inspiration for the Franken amendment.

David Vitter and 29 other Republicans voted against Amendment 2588. A woman, at a townhall meeting, asked Vitter how could he vote against the Franken amendment. The woman tells Vitter she is a rape victim. Vitter briefly talks to her without answering the question. A true profile in courage.

WOMAN: It meant everything to me that I was able to put the person who attacked me [behind bars]. And what allowed me to do that was our judicial process. I showed up in court every day to make sure that happen
VITTER: And I'm absolutely supportive of any case like that being prosecuted criminally to the full extent of the law.

WOMAN: But there are rape victims who are being kept silent.

WOMAN: But how can you support [a law] that tells a rape victim that she does not have the right to defend herself?

VITTER: Ma'am The language in question did not say that in any way shape or form.

WOMAN: But it is unconstitutional to have a law that says a woman does not have a right to defend herself.

VITTER: You realize Mr. Obama was against that amendment that his administration was against that amendment

WOMAN: But I'm not asking Obama. I'm asking you.

VITTER: Do you think he's in favor in rape?

WOMAN: I'm asking you Senator. What if it was your daughter who was raped? Would you tell her to be quiet and take it? Would you tell your daughter to be silent?

Does Vitter think this woman cares if President Obama agrees with him? Vitter looks at the world through partisan lenses. He can't vote without his party leaders telling him what to do. Vitter already has an image problem with women. Voting against the Franken amendment was political suicide.

Obama has been sending mix signals on the Franken amendment. If Obama doesn't support the amendment he deserves to get shit from women. Vitter's argues that if Democrat supports his wrongheaded position then it's okay if he is wrong. No, that just means two people are on the wrong side of the issue. We see which side the White House is on.

Florida Democrats Punish Mary Landrieu

Florida Democrats are punishing Sen. Mary Landrieu for not supporting the public option. The Palm Beach County Democratic Party has decided not to have Landrieu as the keynote speaker for the keynote speaker for the Truman-Kennedy-Johnson dinner.

“We just didn’t want to have a keynote speaker who’s not committed to cloture. It would have just been wrong,” said Siegel, who said party higher-ups and rank-and-file members had voiced displeasure with the choice of Landrieu as a keynoter.

Landrieu has hinted that she would support a Republican filibuster of the health care bill. I 100 percent agree with Palm Beach County Democratic Party for uninviting Landrieu as keynote speaker. No new keynote speaker has been chosen.

Side note: The Palm Beach Post couldn't reach Landrieu's office for comment. I can believe not reaching Landrieu but the entire office. Translation: no one in Landrieu's camp want to comment on being dissed by Palm Beach Democrats for not supporting health care reform.

Did somebody mention a Mormon f!@#face?

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Steve Kornell Makes History

Congratulations to Steve Kornell. He become the first openly gay man to be elected to the St. Petersburg City Council. Kornell beat Angela Rouson to win the District 5 seat.

"The thing about making history is fine," he said. "But this campaign was really about the future of St. Petersburg and that's what I plan to focus on for the next four years."

Kevin Beckner's election to the Hillsborough County Commission and Kornell's victory is a refreshing change from the days of Ronda Storms.

House May Vote On Health Care Saturday

The House may vote on the health care bill on Staurday.

"It could happen at 6 p.m. on Saturday, but no final decisions have been made," said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Pelosi.

Pelosi has reiterated her support for the public option. Where she conpromised was allowing doctors and hospitals to negotiate payments. This is a reasonable compromise. The House plan would raise taxes on high income earners. The Senate has yet to unveil their plan. Pelosi must be confident her caucus will support the bill, if she is bringing it onto the floor for a vote.

The White House is going to have time going against the public option. The Huffington Post reports Obama has been actively telling Senate Democrats to not support the public option.

On Thursday evening, after taking the temperature of his caucus, Reid told Obama at a White House meeting that he was pushing a national public option with an opt-out provision. Obama, several sources briefed on the exchange, reacted coolly.

"He certainly didn't embrace it and he seemed to indicate a preference for continuing to work on a strategy that involved Senator Snowe and a trigger," said one aide briefed on the meeting. Several other sources, along with independent media reports, confirmed the exchange.

I have given up on Obama. Progressives are going to have to push for health care. The President doesn't have the moral courage to do it himself.

The Scary Worldview of Marco Rubio

Beth Reinhard has written a must-read piece on Marco Rubio. Reinhard outlines Rubio's policy positions. We learn what Rubio stands for is very scary.

*Marco Rubio doesn't have an opinion on Barack Obama's citizenship status. Rubio either lacks the political courage to state his view or lacks the intellectual capacity to formulate an opinion.

* Rubio supports abolishing the income tax. Rubio proposes a national sales tax. A Cato Institute study found that a national sales tax would be regressive.

The incidence of the tax burden under this reform depends in important ways on the measure of household well-being. If annual income is used to rank households, the tax reform looks very regressive. If lifetime income is used to rank households, the tax reform continues to look regressive, though much less so than when the annual income approach is used. If a universal rebate tied to poverty thresholds is coupled with the national sales tax, as is the case in the Schaefer-Tauzin bill (H.R. 2001), the sales tax is about as progressive as the current income tax. Alternatively, if a payroll tax rebate is provided to low-income families, the new system is only slightly less progressive than the current income tax system.

Rubio does not support progressive tax proposals. Rubio has pushed flat tax policies. Rubio (if he can't abolish the IRS) want a simplified tax code. Every American would be taxed equally. It sounds nice on paper. It works badly in practice. Florida has no income tax and is bleeding debt. Sales tax revenue was hurt during the recession. A national sales tax would hurt the economically disadvantaged. Imagine paying 50 cents on every dollar of groceries. That gives you an idea of how sales taxes would increase under Rubio.

* Rubio want Roe v. Wade overturned. The less government Rubio believes government owns women's uteruses.

* Rubio tells conservatives climate change legislation will make America the "cleanest third world country on the planet." Rubio also supports drilling off of Florida's coast. The Daily News editorial board was shocked to learn Rubio did not know the military was using the coast for exercises.

But he was unaware of military officials’ concern about expanded drilling, which complicates the issue here on the Emerald Coast. In June, the commander of Eglin Air Force Base’s Air Armament Center told our editorial board that more drilling in water ranges that are used for training will, “at some point,” have an impact on national defense.

Mr. Rubio said he would have to research the matter.

The Miami resident also seemed unfamiliar with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s recent shutdown of amberjack fishing, which has riled folks in Destin. The most he could muster was a one-size-fits-all observation that federal officials were “overreaching.”

* Rubio believes the best way to reform health care is to trust private insurers.



Rubio: "And the key is can we get this insurance independent of our employer. The way I buy my auto insurance and my life insurance, and I think a private market, that the government stays out of the way can offer these things."

The problem is many Americans either can not afford health insurance or are denied because preexisting conditions. Rubio provides no policy details on how the private market will provide health insurance to people they previously denied. Rubio doesn't do policy. He is a intellectually lazy conservative ideologue.

Stupid Rumor of the Day

Follow this under why did this media outlet even write the article. The Buzz reports there is a rumor Pam Iorio will challenge Alex Sink in the US Senate Democratic primary. My first reaction was this is a joke. Apparently, Iorio thinks so.

The Buzz has heard rumors that Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is once again considering jumping into the race for the U.S. Senate. Iorio broke out into peals of laughter when she heard about it. "I don't know who's saying that," she said. "I haven't changed my view on running for statewide office in 2010."

Translation: Pam Iorio's inner-thoughts : "Alex Sink would kick my ass in the primary. Hell no! I'm not running."

Grayson Breaks Fundraising Goal

Alan Grayson has broke his fundraising goal by raising $500,000. Grayson's web site Congressman With Guts reports $513,435 in fundraising. CQ Politics rates the race for Grayson's district are toss up. The conventional wisdom for freshmen Congressional election does not apply.

Republicans can't find a candidate to field against Grayson. Open Secrets list Republicans Peg Dunmire, Dan Fanelli, Todd Long and Patricia Sullivan as District 8 candidates. None have raised money or have name recognition. Republicans Larry Cretul and Rich Crooty said they will not challenge Grayson. Any Republican candidate will have a huge fundraising disadvantage. Grayson is not the usual freshman Congressman. The internet and cable news have turned Grayson into a progressive superstar.

Grayson can tap into internet fundraising. Republicans can not compete with Democrats, in terms of online fundraising. There is no right-wing version of ActBlue, Daily Kos or FireDogLake. RedState.com spends more time attacking moderate Republicans than raising money for the GOP. The Washington DC tea party protest showed how small the movement really is. The Obama campaign used progressive grassroots organization and took the White House. Grayson is appealing to the same base.

Tea Bagger Voter Intimidation

The New York Daily News reports tea bagger are using voter intimidation. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has been endorsed by Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project and garnered tea bagger support. The Daily News Elizabeth Benjamin has been informed, by June O'Neill, Hoffman supporters were getting too close to voters.

"We've gotten reports that people are standing there, covered with Hoffman stickers and yelling anti-choice stuff at voters," said O'Neill, a St. Lawrence native who has been running the party's GOTV effort for Bill Owens in NY-23.

"Apparently, there's some woman claiming to be a commissioner," O'Neill continued. "Commissioner of what, I don't know. She's from Texas, I think, and she won't leave."

"This is not the way we roll in the North Country."

Anyone that witnessed how tea baggers behaved at the Kathy Castor townhall meeting should not be surprised. Voters have the right to not have the access to the precincts blocked. People can't protest. However, they can't bliock entrances.

Benjamin double-checked the story with GOP Elections Commissioner Debbie Pahler. Police were called to remove tea bagger protesters.

"We had electioneering within the 100-foot polling marker," Phaler said. "It's my understanding that they were asked to leave and wouldn't leave."

"If people are electioneering within the marker and don't stop when we ask them to, our inspectors are instructed to call law enforcement to assist them. I don't think anybody was arrested."

Joy Yearout, a Hoffman supporter, accuses the poll workers of being Bill Owens supporters. Do this tea baggers have any other conspiracy theories?

Lemonheads - Step By Step

Step By Step - Lemonheads

One of the most hysterical covers I heard. Evan Dando makes a horrible New Kids on the Block song into a cheesy pop gem.

Why the Stimulus Was Important

Economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com testified to the Joint Economic Committee. Zandi said the stimulus spending saved the economy.

The fiscal stimulus is also working. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed early this year has reduced payroll tax withholding, sent checks to Social Security recipients, and provided financial help to unemployed workers whose normal benefits have run out. The cash for clunkers program revved up vehicle sales, and the housing tax credit has boosted home purchases.iii It is no coincidence that the Great Recession ended just as the stimulus began providing its maximum economic benefit (see Chart 1).iv The stimulus is doing what it was supposed to do: short-circuit the recession and spur recovery.

Zandi and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman note jobs are not coming back. Krugman makes the case for more stimulus spending. Krugman stresses the need for more stimulus spending.

Suppose that the economy were to keep growing at 3.5 percent. If that happened, unemployment would eventually start falling — but very, very slowly. The experience of the Clinton era, when the economy grew at an average rate of 3.7 percent for eight years (did you know that?) suggests that at current growth rates we’d be lucky to see the unemployment rate fall by half a percentage point per year, meaning that it would take a decade to return to something like full employment.

Companies are scared to hire. Small businesses are not getting loans from banks. Cunsumers are spending less. The Federal Reserve offering zero percent interest has not been able to kick start the economy. The current economic climate is not creating jobs. Zandi testified that 17 percent of the workforce is unemployed or underemployed. America is on economic life support. The conservative answer is less spending and to let businesses fail. Gleen Beck and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman propose just that.

GLENN: Well, let's just use GM because everybody knows it.

HOFFMAN: Right.

GLENN: They come to you and they say GM is going under. If we don't save it, we're going to lose all of these jobs. It's going to be an economic nightmare. As GM goes, so goes America, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And they give you a million great reasons for saving it. Do you step in and bail GM out?

HOFFMAN: I don't think so, Glenn. I think that's what's getting us into this problem. All the bailouts from last year, spending money that we don't have. And certainly we can't save every business in this country and if it was a small business, the small businesses generate over 80% of the jobs in the country. We can't save every small business.

GLENN: Now when you say I don't think so, because for me that answer is, no. What do you mean you don't think so? What would come to play where you would where that would change your mind?

HOFFMAN: Well, let me be more emphatic and agree with you. I would say no, absolutely. I don't think we should save mismanagement. We shouldn't save any corporations that can't effectively run in the free enterprise system.

GLENN: See, America, this is the passion that I think you are hearing.

Passion about economic illiteracy. Those corporations and small businesses Hoffman and Beck wouldn't save provide millions of jobs. Bush and Cheney implemented every Laffer Curve and trickle down theory conservatives held dear. The result was the worst economic meltdown since the depression. Conservatives should try taking a few economics classes before running for office.

Mental Floss

Blue Gal creates another photoshop masterpiece. Go check it out.

Ray Sanson's Credit Card Problem

I loved how former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom would tout his fiscal conservatism. Sansom spent $173,000 on a Republican Party of Florida issued American Express card. Records showed Sansom used his RPoF credit card for personsal expenses.

• $348 for personal babysitting services from Nanny Can in December 2006.

• $320 at Cole Haan in Destin in May 2008 and $224 at Kenneth Cole in October 2007.

• $1,953 for tuxedo rentals.

• $69.50 for fabric and yarn at Jo-Ann Fabrics in Fort Walton Beach in March 2007.

Sansom charged meals in restaurants as disparate as Diva in the SOHO district of Manhattan and Burger King in Orlando. He bought subscriptions to Time and Sports Illustrated.

Sansom never reimbused the RPoF for his credit card expenses. Republican State Sen. Don Gaetz called Sansom and asked if he was willing to reimburse the RPoF.

"I asked him if he used the party credit card to fly his family to Europe and he said that he did but said he offered to pay the party back. He said Chairman Greer did not accept the check."

The media asked RPoF chairman Jim Greer if he attempted to have Samsom repay the money. Greer gave a truly bizarre response.

"Mhhhhhaaaaaaaaaawwwww," Greer bellowed with laughter.

If I was a Republican, I would be angry this clown was running the RPoF. Greer eventually got around to (sort of) answering the question.

"There was some discussions I had with the speaker last year when I made the decision to end the ability to spend (translation: He took Sansom's card away) and there were some talk about reimbursement. But they never came to fruition. The party was never reimbursed," Greer said."That's all I'll say."

Translation: Greer is not going to press Sansom to repay the money. Republicans treat donations the same as tax dollars. As long as it is not their money they don't care.

Quote of the Day

"I share that fear, and I believe they should be fearful. And I believe the greatest fear that we all should have to our freedom comes from this room, this very room. And what may happen later this week, in terms of a tax increase bill masquerading as a health care bill. I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country."

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)

I fear elected officials fearmongering.

How Marco Rubio Represents the Shrinking GOP

Josh Marshall suspects the national conservative base of the Republican Party will hurt Charlie Crist's Senate campaign.

If Democrats have a bad night tomorrow night it will be a real headache for the White House. But I don't think there's any question that the big loser as of this moment is Charlie Crist and, potentially, a string of other moderate Republicans angling for 2010 nominations. Already yesterday, folks on the right who were most vocal in pushing Hoffman's candidacy were explicitly pointing to Crist as their next target and seeming genuinely confident they could deny him the Florida GOP senate nomination and hand it to Marco Rubio.

Another winner is Kendrick Meek. The Obama wave has produced more registered Democratic voters than Republicans. A Quinnipiac University poll has Meek beating Rubio in a 36 percent to 33 percent. The same poll shows Crist beating Meek. Crist has the ability to pull Democratic voters. Rubio's harshly rightwing candidacy and mudslinging tactics are a sign of a candidate unconfident with his message. Rubio falsely accused Crist and Obama of supporting homeless sex offenders. Voters are wise to Swiftboating tactics.

Short answer: Rubio is the candidate Meek wants. Alex Sink's gubernatorial will help Democratic turnout. Bill McCollum's lackluster fundraising has opened talk about State Sen. Paula Dockery running in the Republican primary. An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows only 20 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans. Rubio believes America is a right of center country. Someone should remind him Democrats won the popular vote in 4 of the last 5 presidential elections.

Bible Dude

What the world needs: a Christian fundamentalist super hero.

Quote of the Day

"I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them."

Sen. Joe Lieberman, giving Majority Leader Harry Reid another reason to strip to strip Lieberman of his chairmanship.

Creamed Corn Dogs

Lagniappe:
The Coffee Messiah serves up a hot pot of Mail Art.



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Zencomix

Beck's Wingnut Theories Boomerang Back to Fox

Glenn Beck labels General Electric (owner of MSNBC) as a fascist group bent on controlling America. Beck replaced the stars of the American flag and with the logos of ACORN, SCIU, General Electric, Wall-Mart, GM and Citi-Bank.

"You know, SCIU and GE are big on designing the whole health care bill," Beck told John Stossel. General Electric is a technological company best known for making refrigerators. GE Healthcare makes medical equipment. Sen. Max Baucus floated the possibility of taxing medical equipment. General Electric has good reason to be against health care reform. Nevermind the fact Beck provides no proof of his General Electric conspiracy theory. The truth is GE is hardly socialist. As Megan Carpentier points out: GE continued to advertise on Beck's show after other companies fled.

In 2009, General Electric, Farmer’s Insurance and Office Depot have financially supported Glenn Beck’s racism and threats against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the radio; Bayer, Chattem Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth have given Lou Dobbs money to continue his radio-based support for the Birther conspiracy theorists and his portrayal of the current Administration as alternately Socialist, Fascist and Communist; and Home Depot, JC Penney’s and Office Depot are helping provide Rush Limbaugh promote his racist, divisive commentary on a daily basis.

On another hysterical episode of Beck's program, the shock jock explains the Rockefeller family put secret socialist/communist imagery in the Rockefeller Center. A check of Google Maps shows Fox News is located in Rockefeller Center. The News Corporation/Fox News Channel headquarters is located in a building owned by the Rockefeller Group. We are to believe that Beck is protecting America from News Corp's landlord. Beck is so frightened by GE that he will let them run ads on his program. The other possibility is Beck needs bogus villians to portray himself as a coked up knight. Beck will use the flimsiest on connections to make conspiracy theories.

In professional wrestling, there needs to be heroes and villians. Beck needs mock bad guys because he isn't paid to give wonky speeches about policy. The question is why is News Corp letting Beck go after corporate partners. People wonder why Beck is losing advertisers. This is why.