The coal industry distributes coloring book brainwashing kids on coal and recruiting them to create coal clubs.
Breaking News
Comcast Close To Buying NBC
12 Killed At Fort Hood, Reports Say Multiple Gunmen (Major Malik Nadal Hasan)
November 5th, 2009
99 Comments
Multiple deaths and multiple injuries have resulted from shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, according to a Fort Hood spokesman.
At least seven people are dead and as many as 20 are wounded, CNN affiliate KXXV reported, citing a Fort Hood spokesman. One person is in custody in connection with the incident, it said.
UPDATE: President Obama has been briefed
The army is saying 20 have been wounded.
UPDATE 2: Army rep says 12 dead currently… shooter was killed, was soldier and 2 additional arrested (also soldiers)
UPDATE 3: Gunman identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan
UPDATE 4: VIDEO: President Obama on the “horrific outburst of violence”
Transcript of President Obama’s remarks
UPDATE 5: I should note that I find the constant cable news appearances of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson to be unseemly. Other pols have come on from the area (Republican) and have not been as icky as Hutchinson.
UPDATE 6: Army now reports that the shooter – Hassan – is not dead. He’s alive.
Glenn Reynolds Is A Stupid Person
November 5th, 2009
1 Comment
So of course he is a top conservative blogger.
Is Jessica Alba Back?
November 5th, 2009
14 Comments
Bernard Kerik Pleads Guilty To Corruption
November 5th, 2009
10 Comments
This is the man that George W. Bush and Rudy Giuliani thought should oversee the homeland security of the United States.
Bernard B. Kerik, a former New York police commissioner, pleaded guilty to eight felonies in a Federal District Court in White Plains on Thursday morning. Mr. Kerik, who will be sentenced in February, faces 27 to 33 months in prison.
Conservatives again demonstrate their impeccable judgement.
11.5.09 Link-El
November 5th, 2009
26 Comments
“With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
– Barack Obama, 1/20/09
* Apparently the Yankees bought another World Series
* Woman at bakery supposedly fired for being too sexy, so she takes her clothes off for the newspaper. I love Brit tabloids.
* Toyota makes a profit
* Grayson counts the dead in GOP districts thanks to lack of health care reform
* Carly Fiorina shouldn’t be anywhere near the US Senate
* George Stephanopoulous is an idiot
* 54 years ago today, Dr. Emmet L. Brown came up with the flux capacitor.
* Kim Kardashian. Princess Jasmine. Halloween.
Teabaggers To March Inside The US Capitol?
November 5th, 2009
63 Comments
John Riggins: Dan Snyder Has A Dark Heart
November 5th, 2009
7 Comments
In many ways, Riggo is acting like some sort of senator or ambassador for the aggrieved Redskins fans. He’s the NFL’s Alan Grayson.
CBO: Fake GOP Health Care “Bill” Is Useless
November 5th, 2009
63 Comments
Turns out Alan Grayson was completely right.
I am totally shocked.
The Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday that an alternative health care bill put forward by House Republicans would have little impact in extending health benefits to the roughly 30 million uninsured Americans, but would reduce average insurance premium costs for people who have coverage.
The Republican bill, which has no chance of passage, would extend insurance coverage to about 3 million people by 2019, and would leave about 52 million people uninsured, the budget office said, meaning the proportion of non-elderly Americans with coverage would remain about the same as now, at roughly 83 percent.
The budget office has said that the Democrats’ health care proposal would extend coverage to 36 million people, meaning that 96 percent of legal residents would have health benefits. The Democrats’ bill would cost $1.1 trillion, with the costs more than covered by revenues from new taxes or cuts in government spending, particularly on Medicare.
The Republican party had years to improve the health care of Americans, they didn’t do a damn thing. If the Democratic party has any interest in not being complicit in the deaths and discomfort of millions of Americans, they’ll do the right thing and pass this law.
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Is A Very Bad Idea That Is Dumb
November 5th, 2009
1 Comment
If the Obama administration lets any of this pass, they’re idiots. The one special interest group I will totally concede that Democrats far too often give in to is the copyright/content people. This is an outgrowth of that, laws that could deny someone internet access for the mere accusation of copyright infringement. It is ridiculous.
Watching Bobby Haircut
November 4th, 2009
5 Comments
Oh boy, Bob Ehrlich is taking some inspiration from GOP wins in New Jersey and Virginia and thinking about taking another run for governor here in Maryland. I relish the thought. Maryland isn’t Virginia or Jersey. The election of Ehrlich in 2002 was an anomaly, quickly corrected by the citizens in resounding fashion 3 years ago.
Governing Magazine just named Gov. O’Malley the governor of the year.
Anti-Immigrant Message Doesn’t Work
November 4th, 2009
5 Comments
One of the lessons I hope the GOP doesn’t learn from last night’s elections.
WWII in HD
November 4th, 2009
6 Comments
Oh heck yeah. Glad to see History Channel showing some history for a change.
11.4.09 Link-El
November 4th, 2009
41 Comments
“Republicans and conservatives around the country are sending an important message to the Republican establishment in their outstanding grassroots support for Doug Hoffman: no more politics as usual”
– Sarah Palin, 10/22/09
Book Of The Day: Carter Beats The Devil
Movie Of The Day: Swimming With The Sharks
* 1 Year ago today Barack Obama was elected President, and a great country became greater
* AP’s Liz Sidoti takes a break from fetching John McCain’s donut to do more GOP stenography
* Japanese combine beer and mecha
* Jesse Thorn explains how to dress like a grownup. I never will (t-shirt and kicks forever!) but maybe some of you will.
* Ninel Conde illustrates why telenovelas are awesome
* Disneyland Shanghai is coming
* Obama offers Iran a choice
* … and sweet Jesus how much did Creigh Deeds SUCK?
I should also point out, that Virginia’s rule where you can’t run in 2 consecutive gubernatorial elections is asinine.
American Politics, I Can’t Quit You
November 4th, 2009
103 Comments
UPDATE:
NY-23: “The first Dem Congressman since before electricity was invented.”
— Jaim
No matter how hard I try. You’re so unpredictable.
Virginia: Creigh Deeds sucked it, hard. Deeds did his damndest to discourage the voters that turned out for Obama last year while McDonnell ran a good campaign. My guess is this election was far more about traditional NoVa gripes about things like traffic in addition to the economy, but it remains to be seen. In 2012, I would still bet on Virginia to go Democratic, however.
New Jersey: This one surprised me, I thought Jersey would pull this out again. But while a Republican win there is a legit good win for them, indications are this was a corruption plus bad economy play again. New Jersey isn’t about to go South Carolina on us. Christie will probably end up like Bob Ehrlich did in Maryland: A republican goofball in a Democratic state that doesn’t much listen to him.
Maine Marriage: This one is still up in the air, but it probably says that at some point we need to go at the gay marriage issue from the federal level, because the states keep going back and forth on it. I don’t see that happening under President Obama or this congress, however. This is a long fight.
NY-23: Oh, snap. TEABAG FAIL. As I write this, Fox is calling it for the Democrat Owens, and from what I read that’s likely to hold up. But for this race to be even close is a big failure for the conservative movement, even more so than for the Republican party. This is a +30% seat they should win easily, but they were so damned concerned about purity control they kicked themselves in the nuts. As I said previously, when Dems were out of power we encouraged Dems to show some gumption but we also knew that in some areas you had to take the stakes of the tent and expand them to their near-breaking point. Thats how parties build majorities. Then you have the latitude to whittle down your ideology.
Hoffman had the support of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Fred Thompson, and the entire Teabag movement. At best he is in a tight race, and a likely loss.
The much vaunted Tea Party movement probably just increased Nancy Pelosi’s power by one.
OVERALL: A setback at the gubernatorial level for Democrats, you always want governors to be the local vanguards of enacting progressive change. I don’t think this is any sort of serious repudiation of President Obama, although the resources he put in backing Corzine makes the slightest of blemishes. The probable loss in Maine is also a pushback on the larger progressive movement, leaving the issue of gay marriage still up in the air (also makes me think the movement should follow the civil rights folks and also work through the courts instead of costly referendums).
NY-23 is egg in the eye of the teabag movement and especially con leaders like Sarah Palin. I do hope that this does not dissuade them from picking off viable Republican candidates squishy RINO moderate Democrat-lite candidates in order to help elect Democrats crush far left Democrat-party ideologues.
Lesson for Dems: Put up candidates with guts. Deeds ran a squish campaign and got squish results. He opposed cap and trade and said he would opt out of the public option. Way to suppress the base vote, dude. Also, I love negative ads more than most, but I don’t remember any from him I love negative ads more than most, but I don’t remember any positive ads from him*. Try that.
*(I miswrote this sentence, initially. I think Deeds did not run enough positive ads about himself to balance out the warranted negative ads vs. McDonnell)
Planned Parenthood Defection Story Doesn’t Pass The Smell Test
November 3rd, 2009
2 Comments
Like with much the right pushes, it doesn’t work logically.
Exit Polls: Not About Obama
November 3rd, 2009
31 Comments
The media has a narrative to pull, facts be damned.
Still, majorities of voters in both states (55 percent in Virginia and 60 percent in New Jersey) said President Obama was not a factor in their vote today. Those who said Mr. Obama was a factor in New Jersey divided as to whether their vote was a vote for the president (19 percent) or against him (20 percent). In Virginia, slightly fewer voters said their vote was for Mr. Obama (18 percent) than against him (24 percent).
Among Corzine supporters in New Jersey, 38 percent said one reason for their vote was to express support for Mr. Obama, while 39 percent of Christie voters said it was to express opposition to Mr. Obama.
In Virginia, among backers of the Democratic candidate, Creigh Deeds, 38 percent said their vote was in part to support the president, while 42 percent of McDonnell voters said their vote was in part to oppose the president.
The Danny “Apologizes”
November 3rd, 2009
No Comments
Was actually unable to replicate emotion while doing so, of course.
Is Harry Reid Going To Derail Health Care Reform?
November 3rd, 2009
6 Comments
Looks like Harry Reid is getting ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of near-victory.
The Senate Democratic leader indicated Tuesday that lawmakers may not complete health care legislation this year, missing President Barack Obama’s deadline on his signature issue and pushing debate into a congressional election year.
With just eight weeks left, the Senate is running out of time to finish a comprehensive bill to extend coverage to millions of Americans and control rising medical costs. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., emerged from a closed-door meeting of rank-and-file Democrats signaling that delay was likely.
Asked if he could pass health care this year, Reid said: ‘We’re not going to be bound by any timelines. We need to do the best job we can for the American people. We want quality legislation, and we’re going to do that.’
Look, if health care reform doesn’t pass this year, it isn’t going to pass. The entire reason we’re this late on it is because Reid allowed Baucus to dick us around this summer. Harry Reid is a majority leader who acts weaker than a minority leader. He bends at the slightest sign of resistance. He talks big, then retreats.
If he doesn’t get a health care vote this year, Harry Reid should either step down or be removed from his leadership role.
UPDATE: And now, backpedaling. Message control in the Reid office is not a virtue.
“Our goals remain unchanged. We want to get health insurance reform done this year, and we have unprecedented momentum to achieve that,” Reid spokesman Jim Manley emailed. “There is no reason why we can’t have a transparent and thorough debate in the Senate and still send a bill to the President by Christmas.”
