Stopped Clock Is Right Alert

And credit where credit is due:  Glenn Greenwald does sufficiently manage to capture just how unremittingly awful NBC's new war porn reality show "Stars Earn Stripes" really is, and just how far Gen. Wesley Clark has fallen as he has all but damned himself as the ringmaster of the proceedings, but equally complicit in this hell is out Village media and the military complex that owns them, lock, stock, and smoking barrels.

Venerating the military is such a common American cultural ritual that one barely notices when it happens any longer. This morning, ABC News‘ Jake Tapper pointed to a fun, playful video of his ABC News colleague, Pentagon correspondent Luis Martinez, jumping out of a military airplane with the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army team that regularly parachutes into football stadiums during halftime as the adoring crowd cheers. In the four-minute video, Martinez plays the role of the hapless clown, acting goofy and nervous with his manly, stoic military guide, Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Figel, over whom Martinez openly slobbers and to whom he is symbolically tied as he jumps.

That worshipful, tongue-wagging fun and games with the U.S. military might not be the most appropriate activity for someone who is supposedly an adversarial reporter covering the Pentagon would never occur to any of them, because, like NBC, they’re just practicing America’s national religion — military worship — and who would ever object to that? Martinez was the reporter who gave anonymity to military officials to smear Michael Hastings over his Rolling Stone article that ended the career of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, allowing the anonymous officer to claim — falsely — that the quotes used by Hastings were off the record. Martinez did the same when he gave anonymity to a military officer to falsely attack a story by Jeremy Scahill exposing the network of secret prisons in Somalia which the U.S. effectively operates. Nobody practices this religion of military worship like the Pentagon Watchdogs who work at the nation’s major television networks.

I hate reality shows.  I'm not too particularly fond of watching military video games either, but dropping Todd Palin and Dean Cain into Call of Duty and expecting me to watch is pretty much a brand new low. Greenwald concludes:

It’s actually necessary that America have a network reality show that pairs big, muscular soldiers with adoring D-list celebrities — hosted by a former Army General along with someone who used to be on Dancing with the Stars – as they play sanitized war games for the amusement of viewers, all in between commercials from the nation’s largest corporations. That’s way too perfect of a symbol of American culture and politics for us not to have.

Even I have to agree with him on that sentiment.  I can't think of a show I want to see be pulled faster from a network than this for a variety of reasons:  it's crude, shallow, it glorifies our military and demeans our troops as lavishly trained animals, but most of all it's bread and circus nonsense that given the actual horrors of war is a bridge way the hell too far.

It also neatly absolves the drooling armchair generals we already have in Washington, too.  They're the ones who send real people off to die quite real deaths, and often cause all new ones from innocent bystanders.  I understand war is necessary whenever there's human conflict, but there's no need to glorify it like this to sell fast cars and beef jerky.

To hell with this show.

StupidiNews!

• Three are dead after a shooting spree in Texas, including the gunman and the county constable who served the gunman an eviction notice.
• No injuries were reported at an Islamic school in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, Illinois after it was targeted by someone with a thrown device filled with household chemicals.
• As rates of obesity continue to rise in US, a new government survey finds that Colorado remains the least obese state, while Mississippi has nearly 35% of adults in the obese category.
• The eurozone has officially entered recession with its second consecutive quarter of contraction as Q2 GDP shrank 0.2%, pulled under by Italy and Spain's descent.
• Game-maker Blizzard is facing more criticism for weak password security, and experts warn a significant percentage of its online service passwords may already be compromised.

Last Call

How bad is the US Drought of 2012?  This bad.  As in "G20 crisis bad."

France, the United States and G20 president Mexico will hold a conference call at the end of August to discuss whether an emergency international meeting is required to tackle soaring grain prices caused by the worst U.S. drought in half a century.

A French agriculture ministry official said the call would decide whether to convene the first meeting of the G20's Rapid Response Forum. The body was created last year to promote early discussion among decision-makers about abnormal market conditions with the aim of avoiding unilateral action.

"If the situation requires it, a meeting of the Rapid Response Forum could be called as soon as the start of September," the official said, adding the forum could hold its discussions in person or by a conference call.

"The aim is to talk about the situation and avoid measures like export embargoes which would be damaging for everyone," he said.

Benchmark Chicago corn climbed to an all-time high on Friday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its production estimate by 17 percent, intensifying fears the world is headed for a repeat of the 2008 food price crisis.

2008 was brought on by speculation.  2012 will be brought on by serious lack of supply.  The US is still the breadbasket of the world and as it is we have people going hungry in this country every day.  With the drought pushing prices for all food up this fall, it's going to be even harder to feed the country in a healthy manner.

Something else that we need to have a political discussion about, but won't or can't thanks to another monolithic lobby preventing oversight, in this case Big Agra...not to mention the whole climate change issue.

It's getting old.

Stephen Baldwin, Hero

Rarely do the words "Baldwin" and "hero" collide in the same sentence, so let's enjoy this one while there are no photographers around.

Stephen Baldwin was visiting his publicist when he heard a loud sound, which startled everyone.  He then did something sweet, kind and brave and took care of the woman, recognizing the signs of an epileptic seizure.

"All of a sudden every head turned," Baldwin told the New York Daily News. "It was this girl, fallen on the floor." 

A young woman had suddenly gone into violent convulsions which Baldwin, who grew up with an epileptic family member, immediately recognized as an epileptic seizure. As other patrons ignored the episode – "A guy right next to us was just sipping his martini and didn't look up," Taylor said – the actor rushed to her aid. 

"I held her hand and said a few prayers," said Baldwin. The seizure lasted three terrifying minutes before the young woman came to. Baldwin was on hand to comfort her. "She started going, 'Where am I? What happened?' And then I asked, 'Do you have epilepsy?' and she said, 'Yes.' Then she started crying," he said. 

There is little a regular citizen can do besides comfort and make sure the person's environment is as safe as possible.  He comforted her and gave her a light physical contact, and that's all there was without the benefit of drugs or medical equipment.

Could you imagine a person in such distress and not looking up from your martini?  Frankly, that's more what one might expect from a celebrity family member who has enjoyed privilege and fame.  Our littlest Baldwin is growing up.  *sniff*  Good for him.  And in this case, good for her.

Tennessee Judge Suspected Of Pre-Signing Warrants

ATLANTA (AP) - A prosecutor says a judicial watchdog agency is investigating a north Georgia judge for allegedly pre-signing warrants for law enforcement officials.

District Attorney Bert Poston said the Judicial Qualification Commission is investigating Chief Magistrate Bryant Cochran of Murray County over the accusations. Public defender Mike McCarthy said he was aware of the investigation.

This is what happens with safeguards supposedly in place.  Imagine what is being done under the protection of the Patriot Act.  Imagine what happens without judicial oversight or checks and balances to prevent abuse.

A judge knows the full consequences of this, as well as the reasons why his actions were so despicable.  If he is truly guilty, I hope the citizens he has deprived of due process get their day.  The sad thing is, if the police do their job right, they should be able to justify a warrant.  This can't be for any reason other than laziness or cutting corners. Neither are acceptable when people's lives and reputations are at stake.

Voter Fraud: Those Pesky Facts Keep Getting In The Way

A new nationwide analysis of 2,068 alleged election-fraud cases since 2000 shows that while fraud has occurred, the rate is infinitesimal, and in-person voter impersonation on Election Day, which prompted 37 state legislatures to enact or consider tough voter ID laws, is virtually non-existent.

In reality, there have been about ten cases of voter fraud, or about one for every fifteen million potential voters.  Yeah, that's worth changing the laws, and if you don't agree then you're not a patriot.

According to Pennsylvania’s Department of State and the Department of Transportation, as many as 758,000 people, about 9 percent of the state’s 8.2 million registered voters currently don’t have the identification that now will be required at the polling place.

Even if 90 percent of those voters got the correct identification by Nov. 6, that still could leave 75,800 voters disenfranchised. 

A coalition of civil-rights groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union has sued Pennsylvania in state court, arguing the voter ID law would deprive citizens of their right to vote. The trial began July 25.

This is criminal.  There is no other explanation for it.  There are plenty of ways to improve the voting process and experience.  If these numbers are correct, the only people you have to worry about manipulating votes and cheating are the politicians themselves.  I'll try to pretend to be surprised.

Chad Johnson Uses His Head

NFL star Chad Johnson was arrested Saturday night for domestic violence ... allegedly against new wife Evelyn Lozada, one of the stars of VH1's "Basketball Wives," this according to various reports.

Johnson allegedly head-butted Lozada during an argument, says the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reportedly while the two were in a car. The paper says when cops arrived to the scene, Lozada had lacerations on her forehead. 

That's bad enough, his explanation of the events is even worse.  He says it was an accident.  Yeah, sure, and she just walked into that door.  Seriously, if that's the best defense or explanation he can give, this should be a cut and dried case.

And She Said "No Moose! No Moose!"

You wont have Sarah Palin to kick around at the GOP National Convention anymore, dammit!

Sarah Palin will not speak at the 2012 Republican National Convention, the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee said in a statement Sunday.

"This year is a good opportunity for other voices to speak at the convention and I'm excited to hear them," Palin wrote. "As I've repeatedly said, I support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in their efforts to replace President Obama at the ballot box, and I intend to focus on grassroots efforts to rally Independents and the GOP base to elect Senate and House members so a wise Congress is ready to work with our new President to get our country back on the right path."


In her statement, Palin did not say whether or not she would attend the convention, which is to take place in Tampa at the end of this month. 

The fact that she immediately released this flatulence when Paul Ryan was announced makes me honestly think Sarah here was expecting Mittens to call her up.   Considering her main source of funding is her grifting through speechifying at rubes, the fact that she's not speaking at the GOP convention makes me also think that she's grasped the concept that Romney and Ryan are screwed.

She's distancing herself from this mess and holding out for 2016, bless her blackened little heart.  Republicans will be back for her.  She'll make sure of that.

Deficit Of Truth

The Democrats are correctly and rightfully ripping into Paul Ryan's record as a fiscal conservative:  Ryan voted for basically every Bush deficit-busting project that came up for a tally, and his own plan is rife with trillions in debt caused by eliminating much of the taxes for America's wealthiest.

But the Obama campaign isn’t ceding any ground to Ryan on the issue. As the campaign was quick to point out on Sunday, Ryan, who has served in Congress since January 1999, voted for a slew of Republican-sponsored legislation during the Bush administration that added trillions of dollars to the national debt.

“[T]his was a guy who rubber stamped every aspect of the Bush economic policy, including not paying for two wars, a Medicare prescription plan, two big tax cuts,” Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And now he wants trillions of dollars of more budget busting tax cuts skewed to the wealthy. He really isn’t in a strong position to talk about this problem.”

The Obama campaign is hoping to use Ryan’s consistent votes for Bush-era policies as part of its narrative that Republicans want to take America back to failed ideas. “We all know how well that worked out the last time we tried it,” the president — whose re-election slogan is “forward” — likes to remind voters on the campaign trail.

Ryan’s voting record during the Bush years is something he has spoken openly about. For a profile of the Congressman earlier this month, he told the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza that “as a fiscal conservative, he was ‘miserable during the last majority’ and is determined ‘to do everything I can to make sure I don’t feel that misery again.’” Lizza described Ryan as “embarrassed by the Bush years,” which goes against his image as willing to make tough choices to cut government spending.

Ryan's record will remain a serious problem for the Romney ticket, as will his budget.  I don't know how the Romney camp expects to win with this decade-plus long disaster, but they're counting on being able to lie about it, and being able to make up the difference by disenfranchising millions of urban, elderly and young voters.

Not going to let them get away with it, and neither should you.  Spread the word:  Ryan Lyin'.

StupidiNews!

• Golfer Rory McIlroy took the PGA Championship by 8 shots on Sunday,ending with a 13 under par 275 on Kiawah Island's Ocean course, his second consecutive major win in record-setting fashion.
• The mayor-elect and campaign manager of the Mexican city of Matehuela has been gunned down, reportedly by drug cartels, as Mexico's violent war on the cartels continues.
• Afghan security forces say they have broken up a terror attack plot on the Afghan Parliament and at least one of the country's leaders.
• Google will be cutting about 4,000 workers, most outside the US, in its Motorola mobile phone unit as it struggles to get the division back to profitability.
• Facebook and the ACLU are among the heavy hitters appealing a federal judge's decision that liking something on Facebook is not free speech.

Last Call

The Daily Caller gives the game away regarding the Village love affair with Paul Ryan.  Front and center:  Nooners.

“It’s good to remember that the Republicans won in 2010 — rather overwhelmingly — and part of the reason they won in the congressional races was that the American people have really become concerned about the future of their country when they think about the endless hemorrhagic spending that is going on from Washington,” Noonan said.

“Now, Paul Ryan has been very associated, primarily associated on the Republican side, with being someone who has come forward and said, ‘We have got to more align revenues with what we are spending. We have got to get a little more reasonable here.’”

It’s important, Noonan added, for the Wisconsin congressman to define his policies for the public instead of letting his opponents define them first.

“The challenge for him and the danger, I think, of his nomination, is that there are a lot of Americans who are in financial hard times, a lot of Americans are living near the edge, a lot of Americans perhaps half are receiving some money from the U.S. government each month. Paul Ryan — when you include Social Security — Paul Ryan has to go to those people, I think, quickly, and convince them, ‘Look, I’m not trying to end the things you need. I am trying to save the things you need.’ The Democrats are going to say that he’s shark. He has to say that he’s the lifeboat.”

Yes Peggy, he has to convince the proles that cutting their Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and eliminating food stamps and Pell Grants is good for them.  He's saving them from having to be anything other than dirt poor.  What a relief!

Nooners is of course completely clueless, but she's one of the many Villagers who pulled the wool over the eyes of millions of voters and got the GOP back into power.  She's clearly in the Romney/Ryan corner and will use her place on TV and in the papers to lie for him.

But remember, the "liberal media" is in the tank for Obama.

The Battle Both Sides Wanted

Reince Priebus now saying that President Obama has "blood on his hands" on Medicare cuts.

RNC Chair Reince Priebus hit on the GOP talking point that it’s President Obama, not Paul Ryan, who is destroying Medicare in an interview on “Meet the Press.”

“If [any] person in this entire debate has blood on their hands in regard to Medicare, it’s Barack Obama,” Priebus said. “He is the one that’s destroying Medicare. We are the ones that are offering solutions… ”

PS, you know who else has those same "cuts" (which are actually reductions in future spending growth projections?)  Paul Ryan.

With Paul Ryan as his vice presidential nominee, Mitt Romney’s central argument pushing back against critics of the House budget chief’s Medicare plan is that President Obama cut deep into Medicare under the Affordable Care Act. But Ryan’s plan includes the same cuts, which don’t target beneficiaries.

“Unlike the current president, who has cut Medicare funding by $700 billion, we will preserve and protect Medicare and Social Security,” Romney said Saturday while introducing Ryan.

The trouble with this argument — made frequently by Republicans, including Ryan himself — is that Republicans have voted overwhelmingly for Ryan’s own budget which sustains the Medicare cuts in “Obamacare.” Conservatives argue that Ryan’s plan, unlike the Affordable Care Act, doesn’t use the Medicare savings to fund additional spending.

Talking points circulated by the Romney campaign Saturday similarly instruct surrogates to make the “Obama cut Medicare” argument to blunt voters’ fears over Ryan’s Medicare plan.

The Ryan Plan, now the Romney/Ryan Plan literally makes the same exact reductions and Republicans voted overwhelmingly for those reductions.  But of course Priebus doesn't mention that.

I wonder why.  Oh yes, because he's a scuzzy liar.

And where's Mitt's tax returns?

John Daly Gives 'Em The Finger

John Daly has an endorsement deal with Sonoma-based Loudmouth Golf, which explains the wild, colorful pants he wears on the course. Daly is taking his attire into another realm for today’s second round of the PGA Championship in Kiawah Island, S.C.

Daly will be wearing pants designed to increase awareness and fund research to find a cure for prostate cancer. As a Loudmouth spokeswoman put it, “John’s pants are splashed with brightly colorful fingers to represent the early detection prostate cancer screening procedure for men. It’s a humorous spin to raise awareness on a very serious examination that few men like to talk about. John is wearing the pants to show his support to raise awareness for prostate cancer.”

You can click here to read the full article and check out the pants.  They are actually pretty funny, and not at all offensive (as someone will surely try to say).

Daly has always had a sense of humor, why not use it for a good cause?

Sketchy Teen Attacks Artist

CUMMINGTON — A 14-year-old male faces multiple charges after he allegedly snuck into a Swift River Road home in Cummington and beat a nationally known illustrator with a shovel.

Jane Dyer, an award-winning children's book illustrator whose work has appeared in New York Times best-sellers, continues to recover from the July 26 attack, which left her with blunt-force injuries and a wound to her head requiring about five surgical staples that were removed Monday afternoon.

The teen, who was quickly arrested by Cummington police, allegedly entered the Dyers' Cummington home about 5:30 p.m. July 26. When Dyer discovered him, she said, he struck her in the back of the head with a shovel.

The teen continued to beat her while she lay on the floor trying to deflect the attack and call for help, she said.

The youth then ran off and was apprehended by Cummington police about 30 minutes later, based in part on a description she provided, Dyer said.

I sat on this for a couple of days, hoping to discover the reason for the attack.  If there is one, they are keeping it quiet.

I'm really surprised by the violence of the crime.  It seems very personal, very full of hate.  Dyer is recovering and will be fine, with the exception of a little scarring (five surgical staples = big ouch).

Medi-Raid And Medi-Careless

JM Ashby pulls up the House Democrats' report on what the Ryan budget plan means you'll be losing should these assclowns end up in the White House.  Here's the breakdown for the Cincy Metro area:

The Republican proposal would have even greater impacts on individuals in the Cincinnati metro area age 54 and younger who are not currently enrolled in Medicare. It would:

• Deny 3.5 million individuals age 54 and younger in the region access to Medicare’s guaranteed benefits.

• Increase the out-of-pocket costs of health coverage by over $6,000 per year in 2022 and by almost $12,000 per year in 2032 for the 772,000 individuals in the region who are between the ages of 44 and 54.

• Require the 772,000 individuals in the metro area between the ages of 44 and 54 to save an additional $180 billion for their retirement – an average of $180,000 to $287,000 per individual – to pay for the increased cost of health coverage over their lifetimes. Younger residents of the metro area will have to save even higher amounts to cover their additional medical costs.

• Raise the Medicare eligibility age by at least one year to age 66 or more for 428,000 individuals in the district who are age 44 to 49 and by two years to age 67 for 2.7 million individuals in the district who are age 43 or younger.

Be sure to check out the map to see what benefits you will be losing under GOP control where you live.  Do you think that President Romney will veto the Ryan budget plan in 2013 when the Tea Party puts it on his desk?  If you're under 50, do you think Romney/Ryan gives a good goddamn about you?  They can win on just the Boomers and the seniors, and they plan on it.

By the way, do you know who has the closest voting record to Paul Ryan in the House?  I'll give you a guess.  Nate Silver runs the numbers.

Politics 101 suggests that you play toward the center of the electorate. Although this rule has more frequently been violated when it comes to vice-presidential picks, there is evidence that presidential candidates who have more “extreme” ideologies (closer to the left wing or the right wing than the electoral center) underperform relative to the economic fundamentals.

Various statistical measures of Mr. Ryan peg him as being quite conservative. Based on his Congressional voting record, for instance, the statistical system DW-Nominate evaluates him as being roughly as conservative as Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

In fact, Nate finds that Paul Ryan is the most partisan veep candidate in modern American history.

He's more of an ideologue than Dick Cheney.  Let that sink in when you say "But Romney will govern as a moderate."  Bullshit.

It's your funeral.  You won't be able to afford the healthcare to prevent it, and you won't be able to afford the funeral, either.  New tag:  Robot/Zombie '12.