If There's Never Any Negative Reinforcement...

...then Rep. Allen West will continue to say awful things about this President without anyone thinking maybe that he's unfit to serve in Congress.

Rep. Allen West, a tea party Republican from Florida, on Monday compared the draw down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to the appeasement of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, according to Right Wing Watch.

On May 1, President Barack Obama signed a ten-year security agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Under the agreement, the majority of U.S. troops will be withdrawn by 2014 but the U.S. will continue to have a role in Afghanistan for a decade.

“I look at what happened between President Obama and President Karzai as a 1930s, Chamberlain, Hitler moment,” West told radio host Frank Gaffney. “There is not going to be peace in our time.”

I mean at this point what does Allen West have to say in order to be admonished by anyone in the GOP, or to be thrown out on his ass by Florida voters?  He's a joke, and nobody's laughing anymore.  Furthermore, the joke's on us.

Luckily West's opponent is Patrick Murphy, a businessman (and thankfully NOT a current member of Congress) who is running to take back Florida's 18th for the blue team.  Here he is in a June interview with Think Progress:




 Seems a bit less insane than West, yes?

It Makes My Brain Hurt

The irony of this could power suns for aeons.

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a Fox News contributor, tea party activist and personal friend of Sean Hannity’s said in a sermon recently published to YouTube that America’s greatest mistake was allowing women the right to vote, adding that back in “the good old days, men knew that women are crazy and they knew how to deal with them.”

In the video, published to YouTube in March, Peterson explains that he believes women simply can’t handle “anything,” and that in his experience, “You walk up to them with a issue, they freak out right away. They go nuts. They get mad. They get upset, just like that. They have no patience because it’s not in their nature. They don’t have love. They don’t have love.”

Reverend Patterson, like myself, is an African-American.  The irony of any African-American saying other groups shouldn't be allowed to vote while on a cable "news" network dedicated to pushing the notion that African-Americans shouldn't be allowed to vote because they're all criminals and fraudsters actually caused me to slam my head on my desk when I first read the article. 

I just can't fathom it.  It's insane.  It makes me despair for humanity.

Say It Ain't So

Earlier this week, a story about a young boy dying hit the headlines, but the perpetrator may have only been fourteen years old, and his cousin to boot.  Losing a child is tragic and senseless enough without this to further muddy the waters.

INDIANAPOLIS –  Indianapolis say they are questioning a 14-year-old girl after her 4-year-old cousin was apparently stabbed to death in their grandparent's apartment, Fox 59 reports.

Police spokesman Kendale Adams told The Associated Press officers were called about 11 p.m. Saturday to an apartment, where they found the bleeding boy. He was rushed to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Fox 59 reports his cousin, a 14-year-old girl, fled the scene but was quickly found by police. The girl was covered in blood, and was taken to the police station for questioning. No arrests have yet been made.

That poor family.  There may be more loss than they are prepared for.  My heart goes out to them, as I know a thing or two about tragedies that you can't speak about that still tear up your world.

Why We Need Sex Education

Without science to cloud our minds with those pesky facts, Republicans can then lie and the uneducated masses won't be able to spot the deception.  Blaming the victim has been a long-standing practice, as has denying women a choice to carry a child conceived by rape.  Despite the claims that women are just wanting to get rid of babies everywhere, a surprising number of women do continue the pregnancy.  The important thing to me is that they have a choice.  Being forced to have sex against your will, then forced to carry and nurture the product of that act is a double assault.

BuzzFeed brings us an interesting array of comments that show us what is going on.

I'm sorry if I am a bit slow, but I just stumbled across the statement made in 1988 about how women can't get pregnant from rape:

The odds that a woman who is raped will get pregnant are "one in millions and millions and millions," said state Rep. Stephen Freind, R-Delaware County, the Legislature's leading abortion foe.

The reason, Freind said, is that the traumatic experience of rape causes a woman to "secrete a certain secretion" that tends to kill sperm.

"Secrete a certain secretion"... that's very scientific, yo.  I'm glad you enlightened me with not just a lie, but one so vague and useless that it not only can damage women, but did it ever occur to this jackass that it might also encourage rape?

But in case that is too far back in the past for you, here is a snippet from 2006:

"I think that life begins when the chromosomes of the sperm and egg line up," said Dr. Richard Dobbins, who works in the emergency department at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Kenton.

Dobbins also questioned the need for emergency contraception in rape cases, saying that most women either are not fertile during assault or do not become pregnant because the trauma prompts a hormonal response that prevents ovulation.

"So if they do get pregnant, they wanted it, is that it?" a reproductive-rights advocate in the audience asked.

Of course it is.  Women want to be forced to carry and raise a child they never asked for, and nurture the product of an unspeakable violence performed against them. But thanks for asking.

Then, in the midst of all the stupidity, we have a quote from Planned Parenthood.  The only quote that shows caring and understanding for women who have been violated.  Based on actual numbers, compassion and knowledge, our beacon of truth the that has had its funding slashed ever since:

I heard that a woman can't get pregnant from being raped. Is that true?

No, it is not true. Women can and do get pregnant from rape. In fact, more than five percent of all rapes result in pregnancy. That is one reason why Planned Parenthood is fighting so hard to make it mandatory for emergency rooms across the country to offer emergency contraception to women who have been raped.

Emergency contraception can reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75 to 89 percent. More than 22,000 unwanted pregnancies a year could be prevented if all U.S. women who were raped were provided with emergency contraception.

Now seriously, who should I believe is Public Enemy #1 here, the ones who lie and demean women, or the ones who try to help?

Sins Of Omission

Mitt Romney standing idly by as a woman at his campaign rally Monday accuses the President of treason?  Anyone surprised by either of those two occurrences? 

A woman in the audience expressed dismay that Obama was "operating outside the Constitution," then said Obama should be tried for treason for violating separation of powers.

"I do believe he should be tried for treason," she said to applause from the audience.

Romney replied that "I happen to believe that the Constitution was not just brilliant, but that it was inspired, and so was the Declaration of Independence," avoiding the woman's comment.

If you've been paying even one iota of attention to the modern GOP, you shouldn't be.  Steve M.:

The notion that his presidency flagrantly violates legal and constitutional restraints is articulated day in and day out by Republicans and rightists of all degrees of prominence. It's not considered controversial. Whether it's the use of so-called czars, the inclusion of an individual mandate in the health care law, or merely the collecting and distribution of tax money for any social program at all, mainstream rightists and Republicans now deem it a violation of the Constitution and an example of full-blown, undiluted socialism.

This, of course, is nuts. It's nutty, conspiratorial, fringe thinking -- it's not birtherism, but it's exactly as crazy as birtherism. Taken to its logical conclusion, it would define just about every president of the past century as a traitor to the Constitution.

But it's simply what Republicans believe now. It's mainstream GOP thinking.

So you can't really blame Mitt Romney for failing to criticize that woman, can you? It's not his fault -- the fault lies with the degeneracy of his party's philosophy. 

I'll go one step further.

You didn't actually expect Mitt Romney to develop a spine and to challenge the Tea Party lunatics that he must have 100% support from in order to win, did you?  If so, you need to pay a few more of those iota things in attention.

The audience applauding the woman accusing the President of treason and Romney dodging the unpleasantness?  Republicans never thought Barack Obama was actually President anyway.  And don't expect the "reasonable, moderate" right to defend the President here either.  They don't exist.

Republicans own this hate monster 100%.

Pretty Sure The Sequel Is Being Greenlighted As We Speak

Hulk SMASH puny domestic box office records.

"The Avengers" have conquered America -- for one weekend, at least.

The superhero smorgasbord featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk brought in $200.3 million its opening weekend in 4,300 U.S. theaters, smashing the previous domestic record for any movie's first three days, Walt Disney Studios said Sunday in a news release.

While "The Avengers" was predicted to be a hit, the performance outpaced expectations. Box Office Mojo, for instance, had projected the film would pull in $172.5 million on its opening weekend.

Its ultimate domestic haul is well ahead of the $168 million "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" conjured up in its opening weekend domestically in July.

Both Bon and I saw this one over the weekend, and I can say without a doubt it's the best of the Marvel films so far.  Bon loved it too, her nephew went nuts.  Smartly written, expertly paced, sufficiently epic and Joss Whedon runs the show like a well-oiled machine.  Iron Man gets the best lines, but Hulk steals the movie.  Thor has his moments too, and amazingly enough we even get to see Captain America's human side on more than one occasion.  The crowd cheered several scenes...especially the one between Loki and Hulk in Stark Tower, and that's all I'm going to say.  I may even catch it again, it's that good of a time.  It's everything we expected from a Joss Whedon helmed Avengers flick, and those expectations were met, even as high as they were.

After the disappointing John Carter (which bombed so badly it cost Disney studio chief Rich Ross to fall on his plasma sword) it's good to see that the box office is back, and it's back BIG TIME.  

Oh, and stick around for the credits.  All of them.  Trust me on this.

StupidiNews!

• The CIA has foiled another Al Qaeda underwear bomb plot, this one designed to get around metal detectors to destroy a jetliner.
• Drugmaker Abbot Laboratories has been fined a record $1.6 billion for illegally marketing the anti-seizure drug Depakote for a variety of unintended purposes.
• Greece's far-right neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has won enough votes to gain 21 seats in the 300 seat parliament, but new elections may be coming if no party can form a coalition.
• Rick Santorum has finally endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential nominee...by e-mail.
• Google's self-driving car got its special license plates from Nevada officials as the state becomes the first to pass laws dealing with driverless car testing.

Last Call

The latest USA Today swing states poll shows some pretty sobering news for Camp Romney.  As expected with Santorum and Gingrich now out, support for Romney has increased among the GOP.  The bad news?  It brought the enthusiasm gap back along with it, and unlike 2010, the gap is massively favoring the Democrats.

The president and the former Massachusetts governor start their head-to-head contest essentially even among registered voters — Obama 47%, Romney 45% — in the dozen battleground states likely to determine the election's outcome. That's closer than the lead of 9 percentage points for Obama in the Swing States survey in late March.

But the poll also finds a reversal in what has been a key GOP asset in the five previous battleground surveys taken since last fall: an edge in enthusiasm among voters. For the first time, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting — a shift from a 14-percentage-point GOP advantage at the end of last year to an 11-point deficit now.

That drop is driven by Republicans who describe themselves as moderate or liberal, about a third of the party, even though the candidate widely viewed as the most moderate in the GOP primary field is poised to be nominated. Just 7% of moderate and liberal Republicans now say they are extremely enthusiastic, down from 24% in January and compared with 34% of conservative Republicans who feel that way.

A 25-point flip in the enthusiasm gap in roughly five months in the swing states that will determine this election?  That's devastating news for the GOP and Romney.  There's more:

Obama has some advantages.

By a yawning 27 points, those surveyed describe Obama as more likable than Romney — not a frivolous asset. The candidate viewed as more likable has prevailed in every election since 1980. Even among Romney's supporters, one in four call Obama more likable.

By 10 points, voters say Obama is more likely to care about the needs of people like themselves. By 7 points, they call Obama a stronger and more decisive leader.

"No president can get everything done in four years," says LaTonya McCants, 44, a nursing assistant from Cleveland and an enthusiastic Obama backer. "He did make some good changes, and I feel he should get another four years" to finish the job.

Times may be tough, but she believes Obama is on her side. "He's for everybody," McCants says. Who does Romney care about? "Probably the business people," she says.

You want to know where that enthusiasm gap is coming from?  Romney should look in a mirror.

Tokyo Twister Kills One

It looks like we aren't the only ones having a savage tornado season so far.

TOKYO - A tornado tore through a city northeast of Japan's capital on Sunday, killing one person, injuring dozens of others and destroying scores of houses.

Firefighters and medical teams rushed to the area after the tornado struck Tsukuba city, 60 kilometres (40 miles) from Tokyo. The city is a science centre, with dozens of research and academic institutes, but the tornado appeared to be mostly in residential areas.

A 14-year-old boy died after being injured by the storm, Tsukuba Medical Center said.

On a (mostly) unrelated note, here is a far older video that still amazes me... a tornado in broad daylight, striking a soccer game.

AT&T Keeps Raking In The Good Publicity

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Kansas City woman who converted to Islam in 2005 said she was harassed for years at AT&T, and that the abuse boiled over in 2008 when her boss snatched her head scarf and exposed her hair.

A Jackson County jury on Thursday awarded Susann Bashir $5 million in punitive damages in her discrimination lawsuit, along with $120,000 in lost wages and other actual damages.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/JKWbqR ) reported Saturday the award appears to be the largest jury verdict for a workplace discrimination case in Missouri history.

This sort of thing doesn't go on, and go on for years, without the actual assistance of the business.  Missouri caps what Bashir will actually collect (yay for protecting those people versus businesses, am I right??) but it sets a standard in a state that often refuses to allow people religious or personal freedom.

Her boss snatched her head scarf off of her head.  Not only is that a religious issue, but I'm pretty damn sure it's beyond acceptable behavior even beyond the religious angle.

Maybe this is why we're having a hard time teaching kids that there is a better way than bullying.  Ya think?

The Best Three Minutes Of The Day

Oh please, PLEASE watch this video.  It has two of my favorite actresses telling Republicans what they want to hear (maybe hoping they will go away).

Get in my vagina.

I watched it, and the amusement grew.  Such delicate sarcasm, what brilliant directing.  And for you perverts, a chance to hear Kate Beckinsale invite you into her... well, you know.

I love Funny Or Die anyway, but this cements our lifelong friendship.

Republicans, Get In My Vagina! from Kate Beckinsale

So Long, Goober. We Will Miss You.

Sigh.  I grew up with this man in our living rooms.  My dad loved everything Andy Griffith, and now that you mention it, Hee Haw as well.  Not only was he a great character actor, but by all accounts George Lindsey was a good, kind man.  The icons are leaving us, and I may sound like an old fart when I say this, but there are few classics to take their place.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — George Lindsey, who made a TV career as a grinning service station attendant named Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw," has died. He was 83.

The Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness.

Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, "Mayberry RFD," from 1968 to 1971. He played the same jovial character on "Hee Haw" from 1971 until it went out of production in 1993.

"At that time, we were the best acting ensemble on TV," Lindsey once told an interviewer. "The scripts were terrific. Andy is the best script constructionist I've ever been involved with. And you have to lift your acting level up to his; he's awfully good."

In a statement released through the funeral home, Griffith said, "George Lindsey was my friend. I had great respect for his talent and his human spirit. In recent years, we spoke often by telephone. Our last conversation was a few days ago ... I am happy to say that as we found ourselves in our eighties, we were not afraid to say, 'I love you.' That was the last thing George and I had to say to each other. 'I love you.'"

Unleash Joe Biden, Gay Marriage Edition

Vice-President Joe Biden's major duties in the Obama administration continues to consist mainly of being a combination trial balloon and lightning rod.

In an appearance on Meet the Press Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden said he is “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women.” But, he added, “The President sets the policy.” 

Biden’s comments mean he has gone further than President Obama in expressing support for marriage equality. 

“I think Will and Grace probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far,” Biden said Sunday. 

Two things I learned from Will and Grace:  Debra Messing has big feet, and people in New York City drink constantly.  But in all seriousness this is going to put the entire gay marriage issue on the map just as North Carolina votes on Amendment 1 tomorrow to end civil unions and domestic partnerships as well as end same-sex marriage.

It's an interesting play.  We'll see how the President responds, as he will be attacked by both the left and the right.

Dressed To The Nines

The New York Times figures the entire presidential campaign will come down to nine of the states the President won in 2008 that are up for grabs in 2012.

The nine — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — offer both parties reasons for hope, and concern. It is no coincidence that Mr. Obama chose two of them, Ohio and Virginia, to hold his first official re-election rallies on Saturday. 

“This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class,” Mr. Obama said at Ohio State University in Columbus. 

While the performance of the national economy will help shape the mood of the country and set the tone of each campaign, the situation on the ground in each of the nine states could be pivotal as well.

It would be hard to argue that these states are better off now than they were four years ago, given that they have yet to recover the jobs they lost. Often, that makes a compelling argument for a challenger trying to unseat an incumbent. 

But political scientists have found that past elections have been more influenced by the changes in the economy in the year or two before the election. And a range of economic data provided by Moody’s Analytics shows that all nine states are rebounding and that most now have unemployment rates below the national average. If voters in those states begin to feel the improvement by the fall and the economy does not take a turn for the worse, it could aid the president’s efforts to hold on to enough of them to win. 

Seems to me that the Times is making the case this race is wide open.  It's not.  The Real Clear Politics averages map shows right now President Obama needing only a couple of tossup states, or really just one: Ohio or Florida, to win outright with a 253-171 lead of Mitt Romney.  Romney would have to win at least 7 of 9 tossups in this scenario and cannot lose either Ohio or Florida or it's over.  In other words, the reality here is that Romney has a major uphill battle right now.

But the Times model ignores North Carolina, another state that went for President Obama (barely) and doesn't mention it as a toss-up.  It also takes Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada out of President Obama's column, and ignores perennial swing state Missouri which barely went for McCain.  If we make those changes and keep NC for Obama and give Missouri to Romney, it's still a 232-180 race, but Romney has more options, and in that scenario Pennsylvania and Florida become far more important than Ohio.  It's still tough for Romney to win, but not nearly as tough as the truth.

In other words, the Times is selling you a horse race where Romney remains extremely competitive.  Our liberal media, folks.

StupidiNews!

• As expected, French Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande has ousted French President Sarkozy in a 52-48% result.
• The US treasury will sell some $5 billion in AIG stock as it continues to unwind the near-bankrupt insurance giant.
• Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer has signed legislation that eliminates all public funding for Planned Parenthood in the state.
• Leftist Greek party Syriza came in second in Sunday's elections behind New Democracy, putting the long-time ND-PASOK coalition that has ruled Greece for a generation in ruins.
• PC gaming giant Blizzard will take 15% off the top and another 15% for using other payment services in its real world auction house for Diablo III equipment later this month.