Celebrity Roundup

Hugh Hefner's son Marson is facing up to eighteen months in jail.  He has officially been charged, and we will soon learn more about what happened the day police were called.  Hugh hasn't released a statement since this broke, but one has to wonder how he is going to handle this.

TMZ also shows a portrait of Whitney Houston, made of capsules.  It's actually pretty darned neat, but the obvious jab at the assumption she took too many pills and died as a result is a bit rude.  Still, edgy art comes at a price.  Click here to see the picture.

George Clooney has always been a classy dude.  When pressed yet again about gay rumors, he says quite eloquently that he accepts the rumors, but refuses to act like being gay is a bad thing.  In other words, it isn't worth getting in an uproar over, but of course he isn't.  All I'm saying is, if he can see Stacy Keibler and somehow not pounce on that... he's gay.  My hunch is George is just a gentleman all around.

Victory, Damn Close To Epic Fail

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has defeated a Republican effort to roll back President Barack Obama's policy on contraception insurance coverage.

The measure sponsored by Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican, was defeated 51-48. The measure, an amendment to a pending transportation bill, would have allowed employers and insurers to opt out of portions of the president's health care law they found morally objectionable. That would have included the law's requirement that insurers cover the costs of birth control.

Republicans said it was a matter of freedom of religion; Democrats said it was an assault on women's rights and could be used to cancel virtually any part of the law.

Roy Blunt is a jackass who doesn't care about the people. Well, that's not true, he doesn't give a damn about women. If you're a male, you're all aces in his book.  He came thisclose to leading a charge against womenfolk, and winning.  Though he promises it isn't over, and won't be until he gets his way.

Folks, 51-48 is too close. We were too close to having our medical rights stomped on.

Some people will say there is a good point to be had. I respectfully say screw you. Here's how you know they don't really give a damn about "morally objectionable" and only care about forcing women into a corner:

• There is no movement to affect any other industries.  They are not asking for the law to protect hotel owners to deny service to an unwed couple or people they may find morally objectionable.  You know, that (gasp) premarital sex happens somewhere.  Their family values are not offended enough to delve into vasectomy or those darned condom companies.
• There has been no mention of increased aid for unwanted children, the obvious outcome.  There is no discussion of child support, enforcement, or aid for the women who will be expected to stop their world to raise children that they did not want to have.  Boys will be boys, right?  
• There were many complaints about how vague and open to interpretation the language was.  It would seem any time something became too expensive, one could claim a moral offense and it wasn't their problem anymore.  Hey, if your disease looks like it is related to being overweight, the Bible says you are to be moderate in your lifestyle.  So it looks like you aren't covered, piggy piggy.  It could happen, and if this step is taken it is inevitable.
• Their fever to sound like Baptist preachers stops right when it becomes an inconvenience to them. They aren't going to outlaw smoking, gambling, drinking or strip clubs.  But  if you are upset about paying for insurance and paying full price for some medicine because it is morally offensive to someone else?  Serves you right, sinner!  
• There is no understanding from Republicans that employers and insurance do not have any right to judge the services people use.  Women should not have to answer for their legal choices.
• There is no acknowledgement that married women use birth control, and younger teenage girls use the Pill for more than just avoiding pregnancy.  This has become a controlling sex agenda, and they aren't even trying to pretend otherwise. 
• There was no acknowledgement of the Constitution.  There was no acknowledgement of women's health issues.  There was no reply that said "I hear you, here is the logic behind our ideas."  There was just "I think it's wrong and you are under my control.  STFU and keep an aspirin between your knees."

Bullshit times infinity.  I beg everyone to get involved to put an end to this.  It's criminal, and it's coming from our own leaders, people who stopped caring about those pesky checks and balances and have decided they know what is best for the people.  Some of the guys in charge have lost their damn minds, I can't think of another way to say it.

Blunt is nuttier than a squirrel turd.  I look forward to watching Elizabeth Warren use this to the maximum, to draw the line for women.  The tides will turn, and when they do there will be hell to pay.  The sheer stupidity in crying for religious protection while using their religion to make personal decisions for free citizens is appalling.  

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

Oh, and speaking of the broken wasteland Breitbart left behind, there's now this:

On his program Thursday, Fox News’ Sean Hannity spoke with Steve Bannon (producer of The Undefeated, among various other films) about a series of tapes Andrew Breitbart claimed to have about Barack Obama. Breitbart mentioned the tapes during his recent CPAC speech, sharing that “[w]e are going to vet [Barack Obama] from his college days to show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008.”

Bannon confirmed that there exists a series of tapes taken during Obama’s time at Harvard, which will be publicly released “in a week or two.” Breitbart has been “very systematic about going through this thing,” Bannon added.

This "Obama is the other" circus, including the endless Birther controversy, was gearing up for months of brutal, racist attacks on the President.  It's the only way the GOP can win in 2012 and they know it.  They don't want to talk about the issues.  They want to talk about how America has fallen into such an awful state that one of them is now running for re-election.  That's why we're re-fighting affirmative action, birth control, voter suppression and whether or not government should exist:  because if America can elect one of them President, then the society that allowed such a sin clearly must be dismantled to the point it can never happen again.

Those who allowed Barack Obama to become President must be punished.  All those people.  That's why the GOP is no longer talking about jobs and the economy.

"What do we really know about that one?" is the new, old dog whistle.  Breitbart and his ilk thrived in that fecal matter.  His legacy is the 2012 election season.  Because after all, it's not like anyone ever really looked into President Obama's past, right?

Andrew Breitbart Trolls America One Last Time

The rehabilitation of Andrew Breitbart is proceeding at the speed of 'net.

On a day where President Obama's late mother is said to be copulating with a dog in an awful joke spread by a Montana federal judge, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona is holding press conferences on national TV to announce the President's birth certificate is a "forgery" we have Andrew Breitbart's death, as covered earlier by ABL.

Here's my problem.  Andrew Breitbart did truly awful things.  But his rehabilitation into a great guy begins with crap like this from David Frum:

Because President Obama was black, and because Breitbart believed in using every and any weapon at hand, Breitbart’s politics did inevitably become racially coded. Breitbart’s memory will always be linked to his defamation of Shirley Sherrod and his attempt to make a national scandal out of back payments to black farmers: the story he always called “Pigford” with self-conscious resonance.

Yet it is wrong to see Breitbart as racially motivated. Had Breitbart decided he hated a politician whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower, Breitbart would have been just as delighted to attack that politicians with a different set of codes. The attack was everything, the details nothing.

No.  See, no.  This is equivocating, self-serving, puerile bullshit of the highest magnitude right here, and it's the major reason why the ruined wasteland of American journalism that Andrew Breitbart helped to create was allowed to happen because the people who clearly knew better gave him a pass anyway.


Frum is basically saying that Breitbart did racist things, used racist phrases, and played on racial fears and stereotypes, but he wasn't a racist because he was either playing a character or that he hated everyone equally.

To which I again cry "bullshit".   That is such astonishing white privilege as to be shocking, and it's all the more terrible because Frum clearly admits in his obituary piece that Andrew Breitbart did really unforgivable things, and still calls him a "loyal friend".   He wasn't a bad person, he just was playing the game that he helped to create, and it's really heart-rending that the discourse is in tatters right now, but hey, it's okay, he wasn't a racist, he hated women and Muslims and liberals and academics and environmentalists too, so it's all good.

Sorry Frum.  You don't get to dispense this particular plenary indulgence.  You don't get to posthumously absolve him of his sins.    You don't get to play the "loveable bastard" card.  He was a darkness on the American political media scene, and his death left behind a country where you think it's okay to treat people like animals, objects, or worse just because you feel you can just explain away the behavior as acceptable due to "you can't prove intent".

And so you give him a pass, and CNN gives him a pass, and Dave Weigel gives him a pass, and Arianna Huffington gives him a pass, and the GOP clown car crew gives him a pass, and before the election we're going to have at least one Republican running for office demand that the President be impeached for the "cover-up over Breitbart's death" and the emails will go flying around and everyone will have a good laugh at the ni-CLANG President and Frum will continue to lament why his party has become full of racist assholes and he'll shrug and say "The attack was everything, the details nothing" and racism and bigotry and hatred will become that much more acceptable in society because Oh Well What Can You Do, He Said As He Shook His Head.

Frum of course will never figure out that the only thing worse than a bigoted, racist jackass of a liar is the person who excuses that kind of behavior and enables it to happen.  And in that very real way, David Frum is a much worse problem with our ass-over-teakettle media than Andrew Breitbart ever, ever will have been.

To be fair to David Frum, he isn't the only one.  Breitbart and his ilk were getting passes from a number of sources.  Even more passes are being issued in the wake of Breitbart's death.  And so it goes as we spiral into hell with afterburners alight, we are reminded here that in the end, as it always is, the racist bigoted asshole is  the true victim for having to be forced to live in an America with a black President he never wanted thrust upon him.

For tomorrow, the fresh hell of the news cycle begins anew, and Breitbart's pervasive taint will be all over it and the many, many news cycles to come after.  The dead racist guy gets the last laugh in this America.  His replacement will invariably be worse.

That's how the game is played.  Hate the game, not the players?  I choose to call out the people who make the game possible.  That means you, David Frum.  You're a big, big reason why we're in this hellhole with your fellow travelers finding all kids of ways to justify Breitbart and those like him.  You have to in perpetuity, lest you see the abyss staring back at you with your own face.

StupidiNews!

• As forces loyal to the al-Assad regime have captured the Homms neighborhood of Baba Amr, aid workers are being allowed to evacuate the wounded and provide relief.
• The Department of Justice has issued multiple civil subpoenas to mortgage banks, wanting more information on the packaging and selling of subprime loans.
• The President's task force on investigating oil speculation was created last year, but since then they've not met often and have issued no public findings.
• Automaker Hyundai is getting into the luxury car market with its new Equus sedan, starting at $59,000.
• Microsoft says over 1 million people have already downloaded its consumer preview of Windows 8, the OS due later this year.

Last Call

And Obama Derangement Syndrome gets one step closer to its logical endpoint.

Montana Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull, a George W. Bush nominee, admitted on Wednesday that he forwarded a racially-charged email implying that President Barack Obama might have been the product of a sexual encounter between his mother and a dog.

“A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?’” the email forwarded from Cebull’s official court email address on Feb. 20 read, according to the Great Falls Tribune. “His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!’”

The federal judge’s email called the joke “a bit touching” and said he wanted all of his friends to feel what he felt when he read the email. “Hope it touches your heart like it did mine,” he wrote.

Oh trust me, millions of Americans are having a good laugh at the black guy, privately.  There's a reason the dehumanization of the President is so wonderfully popular with Republicans.  Getting rid of Obama and punishing those who voted for him in 2008 remains the major motivation for GOP voters to get behind the current crop of "leaders".

Even federal judges think this blatantly racist stuff is "touching".

Mitt Romney Starring In "Wormhole X-Treme!"

E.J. Dionne makes the excellent case that Rick Santorum's reckless social extremism is giving Mitt Romney cover for Romney's own (even worse) reckless economic extremism.  Just because Romney isn't running around spouting brimstone doesn't mean he's any less dangerous for the country, either.

And the candidate who says that he’ll eliminate the deficit does not let on, as a new Tax Policy Center report noted Wednesday, that his tax giveaway would add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Romney talks vaguely about closing loopholes to recoup some revenue, but aren’t “moderates” supposed to see deficit reduction as urgent?

There is a terrible bias in the mainstream media that judges “moderation” almost entirely in relation to positions on social issues such as abortion or gay marriage. The media love these issues because they often involve sex, which everyone likes to read about, and do not demand elaborate explanations, charts or tables.

Go right on social issues, and the extremist charge can’t be far behind. But the media rarely peg an extreme economic conservative as “extreme” because doing so requires tedious math-laden paragraphs. Besides, people in pinstriped suits who are driven by money don’t seem “extreme.”

So here’s a counterintuitive argument: These primaries have damaged the Republican candidates’ images in the short run. But in the long run, they may yet help Romney — if he prevails — because by comparison with Santorum and Newt Gingrich, he seems “moderate,” and his supporters are more “moderate” than the voters backing the other guys. And Romney has been on so many sides of so many issues that pundits can arbitrarily imagine their own Romney.

Shorter E.J.:  If it takes more than 140 characters and doesn't include a crotch shot, Shiny Object Villagers get bored with it.  Besides, how can econ nerds be extremists?  You know, besides that shrill Krugman guy.

The larger issue is that Romney doesn't have to pivot at all from his current far right positions as long as Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are saying "He's not a real conservative!"  Voila!  If he's not a real conservative, he must be a centrist.  Q.E.D. and all.  As long as Marquis de Mittens here can keep from saying social stuff worse than "Those inner city kids should work as janitors!" and "That baby your rapist left you with is a gift, ladies!" then he can happily continue the work of transferring that slice of the pie the one percent doesn't have right on up the line.

Not that the Village would complain much about that, either.  Eventually, they'll just toss his "slide to the right" into the wormhole and say "How could Mitt Romney be an extremist?"  Worked for Bush.  Twice.

Correlation Does Not Equal Causation, Ricky

Rick Santorum seems to think high gas prices caused the housing depression and the recession, and so since Obama is causing high gas prices, he's going to cause another recession.  Of course, Rick Santorum wouldn't know his own ass from one of Saturn's moons, so it's all good.

Here’s what Dean Baker, who was miles ahead of most economists in giving early warnings about the housing bubble, said about Santorum’s theory.

“It doesn’t fit is the basic story. It doesn’t fit from the word go,” he told me by phone Tuesday. “[Housing] prices peaked in mid ‘06, dribbling downward, one percent a month by early ‘07 then to two percent a month by the end of ‘07.”

Energy prices, by contrast, “started climbing in late ‘07, but didn’t really go through the roof until late ‘08,” Baker said. 

In other words, high energy prices were not the cause of the housing bubble unless there's time travel involved.  And President Obama had nothing to do with the financial crisis unless again, time travel is involved and he was really running Bush's Fed policy and the banks in 2004-2008.  Your chart:

 

 

So back here in reality, it was roughly 8 years of Bush policies that broke our economy but good in 2008.  Of course, Santorum wasn't speaking to actual people, he was speaking to Republican primary voters, who are apparently the most gullible and/or stupid people on Earth.

After all, the number one thing on their mind is "beating President Obama."

An Old Crime Is Still A Crime

John Hinckley is a tragic case, a young man who did something incredibly stupid and will pay the price for the rest of his life.  However, the tragedy is that he committed the crime, not that he is paying for it.  Hinckley recently gave an interview where he claimed that he is just seen as "the guy who tried to kill Reagan."

Well, to be fair, he is the guy who tried to kill Reagan.

Trying to plead for unsupervised visits to see his mother, Hinckley claims that he is cured and not the same guy who tried to shoot the POTUS on that fateful day in 1981.

He may not be the same guy.  But he was that guy once, and was found guilty because he was guilty.

A second November 2011 psychiatric evaluation notes that a keyword search on a computer in the hospital library (which was used by Hinckley and others) showed hits for Jodie Foster, Reagan, the movie “Taxi Driver,” variations on the word “assassinate,” and the 2011 film “The Beaver,” which was directed by Foster (with whom Hinckley claims he is no longer obsessed).

Additionally, searches were conducted for the names of several women with whom Hinckley has carried on romantic relationships with while hospitalized, three Beatles, the 2011 book “Rawhide Down,” which reconstructed the day Hinckley shot Reagan outside the Washington Hilton, and killers Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.

When questioned about the hits, Hinckley denied responsibility for the searches. “All I can tell you is I didn’t type in Ronald Reagan or Jodie Foster or any of these names,” he told a psychiatrist. Asked specifically about Bundy and Manson, Hinckley answered, “Hell no.” He added, “Give me a little more credit than that, please.”

Given the evidence, there is no reason to give him credit for anything. His behavior since the crime has no bearing on the sentence he was given, and the reason he was sentenced. There are some things you just don't do. A classic example is trying to harm the POTUS or FLOTUS. If you do that, you should expect death or life without parole. Crazy doesn't mean stupid, and Hinckley hasn't tried to play the dumb defense. He knew the cost going in, and the price makes sense. Anything less is an invitation to the Hinckleys and Jared Loughners of the world.

When you walk up to an innocent person and fire at point blank range, you forfeit the ability to play nice and make up for it. Tragic doesn't change that, it just means it it's a sadder story.

Freedom Of Speech VS Facebook

I was trying to keep an open mind when I started reading about Mark Byron.  The reason I had reservations was that the word "threatened" came up early in the story.  I read this from end to end and no threats came forth.  Instead, it seems Byron vented his frustration with his divorce, and has now been ordered to post an apology on Facebook or face 60 days of jail time.  He's to post it every day for a month, and the woman who says she has been so offended isn't even one of his Facebook friends, so she will never be able to see it!

The idea "that anybody could tell you what to say to your friends on Facebook should be scary to people," said Cincinnati attorney Jill Meyer, who specializes in free speech and media issues.

The ruling is highly unusual and "troubling because it's a court telling someone to say something to - in some regards - his chosen group of friends," said Meyer. She noted that the comments were not directed to Byron's wife, Elizabeth Byron, who was blocked from accessing the page.

According to the ruling, Byron posted comments on his page in November, saying in part, "If you are an evil, vindictive woman who wants to ruin your husband's life and take your son's father away from him completely - all you need to do is say you're scared of your husband or domestic partner and they'll take him away."

Greiner said he doesn't think the First Amendment "allows a court to find that someone has harassed or caused a person to suffer mental abuse merely by expressing one's opinion about a court proceeding in a non-threatening way."

Greiner said that a court compelling speech through a court-written apology raises as many free speech concerns as actions prohibiting free speech.

I've seen worse Facebook divorces. I find it troubling that a man is forced to repeat a statement he feels to be false as punishment for making statements he felt to be true. It doesn't seem that there is any kind of successful slander or libel route from his ex-wife, so the evidence would seem to be imply that Byron is within the boundaries of the law, if not those of good taste.

Pulling One Snowe-ver On Us

Jon Chait argues this morning that Sen. Olympia Snowe's surprise announcement that she's quitting the 2012 race is really nothing the Dems should be cheering, because all indications are that the real reason behind her bowing out is that Americans Elect and their Sensible Centrist shenanigans are afoot, judging from her outro statement.

This sounds exactly like the kind of rhetoric emanating from Americans Elect, the third-party group that believes that both parties should put aside partisanship and come together to enact an ever-so-slightly more conservative version of Barack Obama's agenda. Moderate retiring senators often deliver lofty, vacuous paeans to bipartisanship on their way to a lucrative lobbying career. But Snowe's statement seems unusually specific ("unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate") about her intent to do something.

I suspect it may not be coincidental that David Boren, the former Democratic senator from Oklahoma and oil industry lickspittle, came out for Americans Elect today. The group is set up so that its presidential and vice-presidential candidates need to come from opposing parties. The process is set up to, at least putatively, allow the voters to choose the ticket. But Americans Elect and its well-heeled funders have maintained tight control over the proceedings to ensure their envisioned ticket pairing establishmentarian insiders can prevail over candidates like , say, Ron Paul who might be able to actually win an open vote.

Snowe and Boren would make for the kind of ticket Americans Elect is looking for. Is that the plan?

Americans Elect is definitely designed to take votes away from one candidate and give a "less than 50% popular vote but 270+ electoral vote" situation, which will faithfully be interpreted by the Village as a "you don't have a mandate so you'd better listen to us" win.  That would be more effective if used against Barack Obama, but I'm not entirely convinced that the Americans Elect ticket would hurt only the President, especially given Romney as the GOP nominee.

On the other hand if you believe that there's going to be a brokered convention leading to a crackpot wingnut non-Romney nominee however, Americans Elect is exactly the vehicle that could give that nominee the win in November.

On the gripping hand, Romney keeps winning the GOP primary voters whose motivation is solely defeating Barack Obama.  It's also very possible that the anti-Obama vote will line up behind Romney, and with Americans Elect in the mix, it could be enough to put Mitt in the White House even with an otherwise depressed GOP base.

And yes, Snowe would have won re-election easily, unlike Arlen Specter or Evan F'ckin Bayh or Joe Lieberman.  She bailed for a reason, and Cohn's argument as to why makes sense.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Red states and industrial lobbyists are getting their trial against the EPA underway, and their attack on the government is of course THE SCIENCE ISN'T SETTLED!

Heavy industry groups and states argued in a federal court on Tuesday that U.S. environmental regulators had used faulty science in determining that greenhouse gas emissions endangered human health in the latest attempt to dismantle the Obama administration's rules on the emissions.

During the first of two days of arguments on a case that seeks to overturn Environmental Protection Agency regulations, Harry MacDougald, a lawyer for the petitioners, said uncertain evidence was used to reach "90 percent" certainty that human emissions are responsible for harmful climate change.

Too bad the judges aren't buying it.

The three judges hearing the case appeared to resist deciding on whether the EPA's science was sufficient, with U.S. Circuit Judge David Tatel pointing out the agency had found the science certain enough.

"To win here, you have to make an argument that EPA's decision is actually arbitrary and capricious," Tatel said.

But it doesn't matter, of course. No matter what the decision here, the case will be decided by SCOTUS eventually and given the fact that in practically every major business law case before the Roberts court that the court has sided with big business, I don't see anything being different here. At the very least they stall until a new President comes in and tells the EPA to go suck on a smokestack and the regs are dropped. That's certainly what business wants to see happen, and you can bet these same lobbies are giving heavily to see President Obama defeated.

StupidiNews!

• The death toll from the tornadoes that swept through the Midwest over the last two days stands at 12 as the system that spawned the deadly storms has weakened.
• President Obama remains "confident" that the US will be able to stick to its plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
• Both the Obama administration and House Republicans appear ready to fight over the future of high-speed rail in California.
• Energy analysts say the KeystoneXL oil pipeline would actually raise gas prices in the Midwest by allowing an outlet for surplus Canadian oil to be exported away from the US.
• A new study suggests plants can pass knowledge of pests they've encountered to their offspring through genetic memory.

Last Call

Say what you will about Lil Kim, but he's making the right call with getting back to the discussion table for North Korea.

The United States said on Wednesday that North Korea had agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests and long-range missile launches and to allow nuclear inspectors to visit its Yongbyon nuclear complex to verify a halt to all nuclear activities including uranium enrichment.

The U.S. announcement paves the way for the possible resumption of six-party disarmament negotiations with Pyongyang and follows talks between U.S. and North Korean diplomats in Beijing last week.

"To improve the atmosphere for dialogue and demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization, the DPRK has agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests, and nuclear activities at Yongbyon, including uranium enrichment activities," the State Department said in a statement. "

The DPRK has also agreed to the return of IAEA inspectors to verify and monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment activities at Yongbyon and confirm the disablement of the 5-MW reactor and associated facilities," it said.

Hey, once again President Obama's "weak, vacillating stance" is working, with the super awesome added bonus of us not having to bomb the crap out of anyone.  It's like he knows what he's doing, and that Secretary Clinton continues to be one of the more underrated diplomats in US history.

Imagine that.  The White House has a competent foreign policy leader.  Shocking, I know.

RIP, Mr. Jones

TMZ broke the news that Davy Jones had died this morning of a heart attack.  I found myself sadder than I would have expected.  I was only a so-so fan of the Monkees, but I loved Jones as a person.  He never took himself too seriously, and was gracious and grateful to his fans, something unheard of now.

“People ask me if I ever get sick of playing ‘Daydream Believer’ or whatever,” he told The Chicago Daily Herald, a suburban newspaper, in 2006. “But I don’t look at it that way. Do they ask if Tony Bennett is tired of ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’?”

The Monkees knew their charisma carried their mediocre music talents, though they did improve over time.  They were just so darned nice, and unafraid to take a blow to the head.  I'll always have fond memories of them on Saturday mornings.  The other Monkees gave appropriately sad and classy press statements.  I'll miss him, and I will stop now before I snivel.