News Roundup for 5/31/11

Sarah Palin's tour bus hits the road

-Headline of the day-
"Sarah Palin's bus tour treats reporters like paparazzi."

Sarah Palin clearly believes she's the most important person in the world -- and she wants to be sure the media treats her like it. In her big "hey, lookit me!" bus tour (which may or may not include an announcement on her presidential plans), Sarah's pretending she doesn't want anyone looking at her.

"I don't think I owe anything to the mainstream media ... I want them to have to do a little bit of work on a tour like this, and that would include not necessarily telling them beforehand where every stop's going to be," she told Fox News' Greta Von Susternoonie.

"When Palin says she wants news organizations to 'do a little bit of work,' what that means is she wants media outlets to simply follow her bus, wherever it might go," explains Steve Benen. "And wouldn't you know it, actual news organizations are doing just that." Because that's how bad our media sucks.

So, what's happening is that she's racing around the highways and news crews are racing around after her. "I just hope to God that one of these young producers with a camera whose bosses are making them follow Sarah Palin as a potential Republican candidate don't get in a car crash, because this is dangerous," said CBS News Producer Ryan Corsaro.

I've got a great idea; knock it off. Just let her big "hey, lookit me!" bus go careening down the highway all on its lonesome. In fifteen minutes, you'd be faxed a schedule with stops marked off with Google Maps.

I can guarantee that 100%. (CBS News)


-The goldmine-
Who stands to gain the most from a Sarah Palin presidential campaign?



Don't worry. There's still Shelly Bachmann. And Herman Cain. And Rick Santorum. And... (Political Wire)


-Bonus HotD-
"Recall elections approved for three more Wisconsin Republicans."

That makes six recalls approved for Republicans, zero for Democrats.

The GOP response to the news: "WAH!" (ThinkProgress)

Sarah Palin, Cultural Troll, Strings Out Her 16th Minute of Fame

"Liberals like this? Then I don't."

I think that pretty much sums up the entirety of Sarah Palin's political philosophy. She represents the reactionary nature of modern conservatism, where -- if it weren't for the left -- she'd have no idea what she stood for. She's a policy lightweight and she's fasting in a smorgasbord of information, yet starving for attention.

At her very core, Sarah Palin is what so many rightwing people are -- a troll. And that's why the far right loves her. She is what Ann Coulter was, until Coulter became familiar and boring. These people have the attention span of goldfish and Ann Coulter, once the right's woman of the future, turned out to be the flavor of the month. Sure, she still sells books, but her days on the covers of magazines are over.

What both Palin and Coulter have learned is that the best way to a wingnut's heart is through their hatred. If you can piss liberals off, then you're all right. Policy ideas, actual logical arguments, facts and figures -- who needs them? Just say something that liberals will hate and the wingnuts will love you.

Fox Nation:

Sarah Palin's participation in the annual Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C., has fueled as much noise about a potential presidential candidacy as the thousands of motorcycle-riding veterans participating in the Rolling Thunder ride-along Sunday.

At the Pentagon parking lot where the mob of veterans and their families pre-position for the thunderous two-wheeler march down Constitution Ave, Palin, who was not expected to address the Memorial Day crowd, said she was thrilled to participate.

"I love that smell of the emissions," she said, donning sunglasses and a Harley Davidson skullcap-style, black helmet.

Not exhaust, emissions. Why? Because liberals are worried about emissions and, if liberals don't like something, then that means there should be more of it. Meanwhile, ThinkProgress points out that carbon emissions are at an all time high.

But the future isn't important. What's important is giving liberals a hard time. If Palin had been on the Titanic and liberals had been warning of icebergs, Sarah would be boring holes in lifeboats.

Luckily for everyone, Sarah Palin is on her sixteenth minute of fame. Soon, she'll join other heroes of the right like Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck and Cal Thomas in the bottom of the toy box. The old cliche is true -- at least, on the right -- and familiarity does breed contempt. Whatever path Palin chooses -- doomed presidential campaign or continued Facebook trollery -- it'll be calculated to stretch out her remaining days of fame. And maybe cash in one last time.

There really isn't anyone home in Sarah Palin. At least, not Sarah Palin the public figure. She's just a reaction to what happens around her. She's a voice criticizing decisions made by others, without risking criticism herself by ever advocating an original position. She makes no arguments that are her own, she has no ideas that she didn't get second-hand, and the policies she defends have other authors. She's just a rubberband that snaps back in the opposite direction when pulled.

Fortunately -- whether she runs or not -- we're probably just about done with Sarah Palin. Unfortunately, bored wingnuts will replace her with another shiny new troll when they're done with her.

-Wisco

News Roundup for 5/27/11

Gov. Rick Perry

-Headline of the day-
"Texas Gov. Perry hints at possible presidential run."

That's right, Texican president and America's leading secessionist hates the America government so much that he's willing to take the helm -- and, presumably, steer it into the nearest iceberg.

After talking to reporters about the coming 2011 legislative session -- which in Texas lasts about a half hour -- he was asked if he would consider running for president afterward. "Yes Sir," Perry said. "I'm going to think about it."

Well, everyone got their shorts in a bunch, because no one likes the GOP field as it is now, and everyone got to thinking he was definitely going to run. Not so, says Texican Press Minister Mark Miner. Mark says Perry thinks about a lot of things and that those things don't often pan out. Call Rick a dreamer.

"He thinks about a lot of issues," Miner said. "Nothing has changed. The Governor has no intention of running for President."

Still, it might be worth a shot. If Perry can't get Texas to secede from America, maybe he can become President of America and secede from Texas!

That'd work, right? (McClatchy)


-Republicans want us to get naked with Paul Ryan-
Actual quote from Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) on Paul Ryan's Medicare plan: "I said it many times. This is like skinny dipping. Somebody has to be the first one in the pool and it's real lonely when you're the only one in the pool. Paul Ryan is in the pool. We want the rest of the town to come along."

Probably not the best metaphor. (Political Wire)


-Bonus HotD-
"Poll: Americans Don’t Approve Of Ryan's Plan For Medicaid, Either."

For God's sake, put some clothes on! (ThinkProgress)

Republicans and Homegrown Terrorism

This is terrorism, right?


[Wisconsin State Journal:]

A Marshfield man who drove to Madison to kill an abortion doctor faces federal charges after he was arrested Wednesday night when his gun went off in his motel room not far from the Planned Parenthood clinic that he planned to attack Thursday.

Ralph Lang, 63, told a Madison police officer at the Motel 6, 1754 Thierer Road, that he had a gun "to lay out abortionists because they are killing babies," according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Lang said he planned on shooting the clinic's doctor "right in the head," according to the complaint. Asked if he planned to shoot just the doctor or nurses, too, Lang replied he wished he "could line them up all in a row, get a machine gun, and mow them all down," the complaint said.


In fact, this is religiously-motivated terrorism. According to the report, Lang had been in Madison a week earlier -- with a gun -- "but was having 'spiritual struggles' and was not '100 percent in sync with God' so he did not shoot anyone." The Madison clinic was apparently to be the first of many, as he had "a map of the U.S. with dots in each state and the handwritten words 'some abortion centers.'" Also on the map: the words, "Blessed Virgin Mary says Hell awaits any woman having an abortion."

Yeah, this is terrorism -- good old-fashioned religious extremist terrorism. Lang was found out after accidentally firing a bullet through his motel room door. If it weren't this example of responsible gun-ownership, it seems likely that he would've been able to carry out his planned shooting spree.

According to the National Clinic Violence Survey (pdf), carried out by the Feminist Majority Foundation, nearly one quarter of abortion providers experienced "severe violence" at their clinics in 2010.


Overall, the percentage of clinics experiencing severe violence has increased to 23.5% of all abortion providers participating in the survey in 2010, compared to 20% in 2008 and 18.5% in 2005. Moreover, this marked the highest level of violence recorded since 1997 when 25.0% of all clinics experienced one or more incidents of severe violence.


The right often makes the hyperbolic claim that liberals are "in bed with terrorists." Many of the birthers believe that President Obama is a terrorist. Yet, if this clinic violence is homegrown terrorism, then the party most associated and sympathetic with terrorists is the Republican Party. If you tell people over and over that abortion is murder, this is the predictable result. If you want to make sure this is the result, you lie to people and tell them they're paying for all the "murder" with their tax dollars.

It was, after all, House Republicans who attacked Planned Parenthood funding earlier this spring, portraying the organization as an abortion provider only and completely ignoring the services it provides in the field of women's health. It was Republican Sen. Jon Kyl who claimed that abortion was "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does." The reality is three percent -- none paid for with taxpayer dollars.

What would Republicans say if Democrats were telling the same lies that are told by al Qaeda? I think we all know the answer to that. Yet Republicans repeat the lies told by anti-abortion terrorists on a regular basis. Maybe it's time to ask the question of Republicans that they would no doubt ask of Democrats in a similar situation.

"Why are you siding with terrorists?"

-Wisco

News Roundup for 5/26/11

OK, done

-Headline of the day-
"Dane County judge strikes down collective bargaining law."

Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans are having a real rough week. First, they found out that polls aren't going their way. Now, the big piece of legislation that started the whole thing is dead in the water.

According to the report, "a Dane County judge has struck down Gov. Scott Walker's legislation repealing most collective bargaining for public employees." Why? Because they broke open meetings laws to jam the thing through and it turns out that breaking laws is illegal -- or some liberal, judicial activism crap like that.

Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued a 33 page decision (pdf) overturning the law. "The Legislature and its committees are bound to comply with the open meetings law by their own choice. Having made that choice, they cannot now shield themselves from the provisions that give the law force and effect," she wrote.

In other words, you guys wrote the law -- what the hell are you complaining about?

Anyhoo, off it goes through the appeals process. If it survives, it'll probably be just in time for Scott Walker's recall replacement to repeal it. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, did you hear about that scary Supreme Court ruling that says California has to let a bunch of people out of prison? No? Well, Uncle Mark will tell us all about it!


Click for animation

You know, if prison were the last resort for most offenders, instead of the first, then maybe they wouldn't have all these problems.

But then, what would the private prison industry do? (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"House GOP Staffers Floated Using Taxpayer Money To Promote Paul Ryan's Budget."

Because it's all about protecting the taxpayers and reducing the deficit, right? (ThinkProgress)