Last Call

President Obama gave the correct response to Rep. Todd Akin's asinine rape comments.

Speaking to reporters during Monday’s daily press briefing, President Barack Obama admonished Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) for suggesting that women do not get pregnant in cases of “legitimate rape,” seizing on the comments as a chance to rebuke Republicans for repeatedly pursuing legislation that would ban all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest.

“The views are offensive,” he said. “Rape is rape. The idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we’re talking about doesn’t make sense to the American people, and it certainly doesn’t make sense to me.”

The president added that Akin is an example of “why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women.”

Any questions about which party respects women and which one doesn't?

Good.

A Second Take On Todd Akin

Zandar covered it well, but there are just a couple of things I'd like to say.

Please, Missouri... please be smarter than this.  We should not consider a man who tells an outright lie in his "off-the-cuff" remark for a position of power.  Either way, he is either completely ignorant, thinks we are ignorant, or he is a liar who weasels when called on his untruths.  Some combination (or an all of the above) leads to his statement.  The man tried to say that women who are raped and become pregnant were either participating or enjoyed it.  There is no other way to read the words he used.

I do not want a man who so grossly misunderstands or is willing to lie about women's bodies to make decisions about my rights to health care, my medical rights, or my ability to make choices for myself.  His job is to represent the people, not force them to behave how he wishes.  He clearly does not understand this.

He spewed ignorance and an outright lie, and when people knew better he tried to spin it.  Don't let it work. Either he thought that was the truth or he was lying.  There is no other explanation.  Neither will suffice.  Also, his references to women

As a Missourian with a uterus, and a soul... I am disgusted.  So is his opponent, Claire McCaskill, according to the LA Times.

“Akin previously was the co-sponsor of a bill to redefine rape,” McCaskill said. “And it was recently reported that Akin opposed a state law against spousal rape because it might be used as a tool against husbands in a ‘messy divorce.’ ”

The “redefinition” of rape was contained in a federal bill co-sponsored by Akin in 2011 that would have redefined the conditions under which federal funds may be used to pay for abortion.

Currently, federal money may be used in cases of incest, rape or if the mother’s life is in danger. The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act” was co-sponsored by more than 200 Republicans, including Mitt Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul D. Ryan. It would have changed the word “rape” to “forcible rape,” which abortion rights supporters feared would rule out paying for abortions in cases of statutory rape or when a victim is drugged or verbally coerced.

So yeah, this wasn't misspeaking.  This was getting called out on some major issues, and failing.  Victims of rape shouldn't be denied medical options because they are unable to afford them.  But oh yeah, if you get pregnant you were either willing or enjoyed it.

He promises victims of rape the justice they "deserve"... the problem is he doesn't think they deserve any.

In Which Dave Mustaine Sets Us All Straight

Before I post this, I just want to say that Barack Obama has class and grace.  Great big heaps of the stuff, because I cannot imagine how someone could ever grow to tolerate hearing such amazing lies about who they are.  To work so hard and do so much right, and have it dismissed and twisted and forgotten.

And now, the best and worst example of political ignorance I have seen in a long time, I present Dave Mustaine.

Dave Mustaine -- the lead singer of Megadeth -- believes Barack Obama"staged" the massacre in Aurora, CO in a sick, twisted plot to pass a gun ban. 

Mustaine made the comments on stage at an August 7 performance in Singapore ... when he told the crowd, "Back in my country, my president ... he's trying to pass a gun ban, so he's staging all of these murders, like the 'Fast And Furious' thing down at the border ... Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there ... and now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple."

Obviously, Mustaine is not an Obama fan ... and recently bashed the President during an interview with Alex Jones ... saying, "With all of the proof about his birth certificate being fake. And you see the signs in Kenya that say 'the birthplace of Barack Obama.' Hello?! C'mon, guys. How stupid are we right now?"

Now that he's cleared that up, I feel better.  Don't you?  And if you think that's bad, take in Pat Boone's pitiful attempt at looking hip.

I understand that people are going to have different opinions.  But let's try rooting them in fact, mmkay?

How To CH_AT at Scrabble

Well, you hide blank tiles on yourself, of course.  Just like a card cheat stuffs aces... well, wherever one can stuff aces.

The young male, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found in possession of two blank tiles, rumbled when he accidentally dropped them on the floor, at the 350-player event.

Any hardcore Scrabble player will know that a blank tile is essentially gold dust in the word-making world.

According to the report by the Daily Mail, executive director of the National Scrabble Association John D. Williams Jr said cheating is known to happen but at smaller, regional events and it has never happened at national level before.

That is a large event, and cheating in major Scrabble events has been a concern but rarely proven.  I know, because I watch it on ESPN2 (much to my husband's pain, that's the only connection I have to the network).  It would make sense for hosts to color or mark tiles to prevent such a thing, and I bet that is what they do in light of this.

Cheating at Scrabble is like cheating at golf.  There is a hidden code, a bar that has been set for players, that says they are better than the average competitor.  At times like this, we are reminded that anyone can fall from grace if they want to win too much.

LeBeouf Whines About Work

26-year-old Shia spoke with The Hollywood Reporter recently, swearing off studio flicks for the rest of his life ... in favor of a career in indie films -- saying, "I'm done ... There's no room for being a visionary in the studio system. It literally cannot exist."

Shia said, "You give Terrence Malick a movie like 'Transformers', and he's f**ked. There's no way for him to exist in that world."

Shia then gushed about the people behind his new movie "Lawless" -- saying, "These dudes are a miracle ... They give you the money, and they trust you -- [unlike the studios, which] give you the money, then get on a plane and come to the set and stick a finger up your ass and chase you around for five months."

You know, if they paid me as much as they paid him... I could put up with some aggravation.  Filming movies is hard work, but for those who haven't noticed (you listening, LeBeouf?) just about everyone has complications at work.  We just don't get paid millions for our inconvenience.

Good luck with indie films, kid.  We could use a break from you anyway.

The Mask Slips Again

..and Republicans accidentally tell the truth.  This time it's Franklin County, Ohio GOP chairman Doug Priesse, on the recent decision by Ohio's GOP Secretary of State Jon Husted to equalize early voting hours for all Ohio counties, but to eliminate early weekend voting completely:

“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine,” said Doug Preisse, chairman of the county Republican Party and elections board member who voted against weekend hours, in an email to The Dispatch. “Let’s be fair and reasonable.”

Black people won't vote for Republicans for any number of valid reasons.  Why should Republicans make it easier for black people to vote, right?

Still, one argument to restore early voting hours in Ohio keeps reoccurring: They worked in 2008, so what’s the rationale for removing them?

“As a result of historical discrimination against African-American voters, in addition to the recent wave of suppressive voter laws being enacted in statehouses across the country, African-American voters are skeptical of any laws aimed at limiting the opportunity to vote,” said NAACP Ohio Conference President Sybil Edwards McNabb. She and other black leaders have asked to meet with Husted.

A study by Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates says that even after Husted’s directive last week, the hours when more than 200,000 Ohioans voted in 2008 have been wiped out. The group and others such as the League of Women Voters are calling on Husted to restore voting on at least two weekends in late October.

President Obama won Ohio by 263,000 votes in 2008.  The election is expected to be somewhat closer this year.  Eliminate 200,000 voters from the turnout, well...you do the math.

Dig Him Up And Shake His Hand, Appreciate The Man

Paul Ryan, meet Paul Ryan.

Long before he became one of the right’s most vocal critics of the idea that government spending could help boost the flagging economy, Rep. Paul Ryan offered a forceful, full-throated defense of stimulus spending — when then-President George W. Bush wanted it in 2002.

Ryan has denounced the 2009 Recovery Act signed by President Obama as “a wasteful spending spree” and “failed neo-Keynesian experiment,” and – as The Huffington Post pointed out this morning — dismissed as “sugar-high economics” the idea that government spending, through measures like payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits, can help shore up a faltering economy.

But in 2002, when then-President Bush was seeking a roughly $120 billion package of tax cuts, tax incentives for business and unemployment benefits to jump-start the economy, Ryan offered a vigorous defense of the plan. “What we're trying to accomplish today with the passage of this third stimulus package is to create jobs and help the unemployed,” Ryan said in video that aired today on Up w/ Chris Hayes. The remarks came during a House debate on the measure on Feb. 14, 2002.

Perhaps the two of you need to have a discussion. I'm sure Salt Lake City Olympics Chairman Mitt, Governor Mitt, Senate Candidate Mitt, GOP Presidential Hopeful Mitt, and current Mitt will all be of help in finding your way, Paul.

Oh, and I would have seriously considered voting for Ryan on this speech alone in 2002.  I was next door in Minnesota at the time, but still.

Remember when Republicans weren't insane?

StupidiNews!

• A Chinese court has suspended the death sentence of Gu Kailai, wife of disgraced Party official Bo Xialai, for the poisoning death of a British businessman.
• The FBI is looking into the wild behavior of GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder of Kansas during a recent trip to Israel, where Yoder apparently got naked and jumped into the Sea of Galilee.
• In a 100-6 vote, Democratic Illinois State Rep. Derrick Smith was expelled from the Illinois House for bribery, where he immediately vowed to take the issue to court to be reinstated.
• LA County law enforcement officials are treating the death of "Top Gun" director Tony Scott, brother of "Aliens" director Ridley Scott, as a suicide after he jumped from a bridge Sunday afternoon.
• A jury has awarded an openly gay University of Michigan student $4.5 million for being stalked and harassed by a former Michigan assistant attorney general.