Last Call

Somebody explain to me again which side is trying to start a "race war" again, because these folks don't look like the New Black Panther Party or La Raza or a Islamist jihadi group to me.

Members of a white supremacist skinhead group called American Front trained with AK-47s, shotguns and explosives at a fortified compound in central Florida to prepare for what its reputed leader believed to be an “inevitable race war,” prosecutors said Tuesday.

According to court documents, members of American Front discussed acts of violence that included causing “a disturbance” at City Hall in Orlando, shooting at a house and attacking an anti-racist skinhead group.

At least 10 members of the group, which authorities described as a militia-styled, anti-Semitic domestic terrorist organization, have been arrested in Florida since the weekend, including at least three people on Tuesday.

The felony arrest charges include paramilitary training, attempting to shoot into an occupied dwelling, and evidence of prejudices while committing an offense. The last charge falls under Florida's hate-crimes law.

“This investigation is a result of our ongoing partnership with local law enforcement and federal agencies in a concentrated effort to stamp out hate crime in our community,” Ninth Circuit State Attorney Lawson Lamar said in a statement Tuesday.

So can we admit that we have a domestic terror problem in the United States, and that law enforcement should profile, I dunno, rural white people? Pull them over at traffic stops randomly? Harass groups of them because a group may pose a danger to the community? Put them on no fly lists?   We have to throw these guys in Gitmo because we can't possibly give them a trial here on US soil, right?  I mean, when does this administration do what conservatives say we have to do in a situation like this?

Oh that's right, never.  This administration doesn't operate like that.

Thank god.

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

Just a reminder that not all racist assholes are Republicans, folks.

Just how unpopular is President Barack Obama in some parts of the country? Enough that a man in prison in Texas is getting 4 out of 10 votes in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary.

The inmate, Keith Judd, is serving time at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999. With 83 percent of precincts reporting, Obama was receiving 60 percent of the vote to Judd's 40 percent.

For some West Virginia Democrats, simply running against Obama is enough to get Judd votes.

"I voted against Obama," said Ronnie Brown, a 43-year-old electrician from Cross Lanes who called himself a conservative Democrat. "I don't like him. He didn't carry the state before and I'm not going to let him carry it again."

When asked which presidential candidate he voted for, Brown said, "That guy out of Texas."

Yeah.  Two out of five WV Democrats voted for an insane Texas felon than support the black guy.  Much like Kentucky, Romney will win WV by 15-20 points in November for the simple reason that Barack Obama is black.

No more.

No less.

Evolution Revolution

President Obama announces the position he's held on same-sex marriage for, oh, I don't know, several years now, but it makes national news:

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts, in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday. Excerpts of the interview will air tonight on ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer.”

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept.

“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational,” the president continued. “You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation that they believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

FOX News immediately blew a gasket:

 

 

When FOX Nation is attacking POTUS on its front page, he's winning, folks.  Your move, Mittens.  Bwahahahaha.

Does This Look "Clinically Obese" To You?

She loves bouncing on her trampoline, goes to swimming lessons once a week and always eats her veggies.

So five-year-old Chloe Ward’s parents were stunned to receive a letter from the NHS informing them that she is clinically obese.

The letter, which followed a check-up at her school, said Chloe is so overweight she’s at risk of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

BMI isn't always a dependable measure. Like any system, there will be exceptions.  If they felt that she was in danger, it makes sense to check further and make sure that this little girl is okay.  But common sense has to weigh in here somewhere.  The truth is, she's just fine.

I'm amused and horrified that they discuss eating disorders without a trace of irony.   The reality is, a second check would indicate that Chloe's weight is within normal bounds, and certainly not obese to the point of risking health issues. If her parents are accurate, she has regular exercise and eats healthy food.  What red flag are they using to continue to insist that she is in danger?

Healthy weight isn't the ultimate end result.  Healthy weight is the product of good eating habits, exercise, and balance.  It doesn't do the person any good to reach an ideal weight if they do so by drug abuse, bad eating habits, or skipping food that also contains vitamins and minerals.  All of these aspects are related, and to focus on weight alone skews the reality of treating the body as a whole.

Meet Chloe.  Imagine being told she is so overweight she is in life-threatening peril.

Short And Sweet: Syrup Optional

Our nieces and nephews have always loved specialty pancakes.  Mickey Mouse shapes, hearts, even flowers if I am feeling artsy that day.

This blows me away.  Here are dozens of pancakes, from geckos to instruments, organs, animals, buildings, you name it.  I can't verify the site's authenticity, but even if this is a Photoshop extravaganza, it's a fun one.

Check it out!

The Loan Deranger Rides Again

Oldage Mutant Nimrod Turtle and his crew have used the filibuster again to block a majority Democratic party vote from passing, this time to punish college kids.

The political battle over President Obama’s plan to keep student loan interest rates from skyrocketing escalated as Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal to tax wealthier earners to pay for it.

Republicans stopped the effort with a filibuster, even as some in the GOP view this as a politically risky move at a time when middle-class families continue to struggle to afford college. Rates for 7 million new undergraduate student loans are set to double to 6.8% on July 1 if Congress fails to act.

The vote was 52-45, failing to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome the GOP filibuster. All Republicans voting opposed the effort, except Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who voted present. Democrats voted to advance the proposal.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said the standoff could be resolved easily if Obama would negotiate an alternative plan. Republicans back a House-passed proposal that would gut a public health and prevention fund in Obama’s new healthcare law to pay the costs of keeping government-backed student loan rates low – a non-starter for Senate Democrats.

So you can have your student loans at decent rates,  we just can't ever have our precious, privileged rich people pay for it.  Instead, we have to eliminate health care for poor people.  Hey, if the poor useless bastards die, they're no longer a drain on the economy, right?  Self-solving problem!

And Mitch is betting that not a single Republican will be punished for this vote, or the dozens of other filibusters in the last four years.  No, he's betting you'll take it out on President Obama and Harry Reid.

He's counting on it, actually.

The Most Dangerous Game

And here I was, all ready to write about how Benjamin Netanyahu's call for early elections in September meant A) he didn't have the domestic backing to lob bunker busters in the general direction of Tehran and B) he was rolling the dice in order to try to get a better result.  Turns out I was right in a sense.  He just bypassed the whole early elections and democracy thing on the way.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition chairman MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) reached a surprise agreement early Tuesday morning to form a national unity government.

The move came as the Knesset was preparing to disperse for early elections, which were expected to be scheduled for September 4.

Under the agreement, Kadima will join Netanyahu's government and commit to supporting its policies through the end of its term in late 2013. Mofaz is expected to be appointed deputy prime minister, as well as minister without portfolio.

Mofaz will also serve as a member of the security cabinet, and Kadima members will serve as chairmen of the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committees, the economics committee, and any others that are agreed upon by both sides.

Mofaz ousted former Kadima head Tzipi Livni a couple weeks back as head of the opposition.  Ambitious doesn't begin to describe the guy, apparently.  Now thanks to Mofaz, Bibi is holding all the cards and the rest of his coalition government can suck it.  Dice were loaded all along.

So the question now is what will Bibi do with his new instant majority government?  We know what Mofaz is getting out of it.

As talk of early elections heated up in recent weeks, polls have shown Kadima losing significant strength, winning perhaps a dozen seats rather than its current 28, a clear incentive for Mr. Mofaz to make the unity government deal. Several other centrist and left-leaning parties would have each won about a dozen seats, according to the polls, leaving a divided opposition that would likely only have increased Mr. Netanyahu’s power and hold on the government.

Plus he's now Bibi's right hand man and Vice Minister.  And as such, Netanyahu now has free reign to do whatever he wants for the next 18 months or so.  I actually have to hand it to the guy, this is a pretty epic win on his part.  Opinions differ on what Bibi will do with his new power but nobody's disputing he has it.  Somewhere, a bunch of Republicans are looking into how to pull this off here.

I'm sure this will end well for everyone involved.  Yep.

StupidiNews!

• As widely expected, North Carolina voters have overwhelmingly passed a state constitutional amendment to restrict the legal recognition of a relationship to one man, one woman being married.
• Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will get his rematch against Gov. Scott Walker as Wisconsin Democrats selected Barrett to run against Walker in June's special recall election.
• Tea Party backed Indiana Secretary of State Richard Mourdock has easily unseated six-term Senator Richard Lugar in last night's GOP primary in the Hoosier State.
• Greece's Syriza party is vowing to form a coalition government that ends their bailout deal with the EU and could exit the euro currency to boot. 
• Chinese trade restrictions on rare earth metals are not expected to be relaxed anytime soon, according to Congress.