StupidiNews!

• India plans an ambitious launch of a Mars orbiter probe in late 2013, trying to become the first Asian country to reach the red planet.
• Chefs and foodies across the planet celebrated Julia Child's 100th birthday, as the late cooking icon was saluted by restaurants worldwide.
• Wednesday marked the day President Obama's deferment program for young undocumented immigrants went into effect, with thousands lining up in cities across the country to register.
• Facebook's stock lockup period expires today, as employees can now sell their stock on the market and many analysts warn the selloff could be sharp.
• More and more US cities and counties are turning to cameras that capture license plate numbers as "force multipliers" on stopping criminal activity, but privacy advocates are crying foul.

Last Call

And speaking of obvious efforts to disenfranchise traditional Democratic voters in swing states, a state judge in Pennsylvania has refused to block the state's bogus voter ID law that's so clearly awful that it had one GOP official crowing it would hand the state over to Romney in November.

A state judge on Wednesday refused to block Pennsylvania’s controversial voter ID law. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson’s 70-page order wasn’t yet available on the court’s website, but a docket entry noted that the law would not be enjoined.

Simpson did not rule on the case’s merits, only on whether it could be enjoined.  Opponents of the law are expected to appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.

Time's running out, of course, so the GOP is dragging their heels to kill the clock.

Opponents of the law were confident it would be overturned when the trial wrapped up in early August. The state had admitted it had no evidence of in-person voter fraud taking place in the state and did not expect in-person fraud to take place if the law wasn’t enacted.

Remember, this is a law that prevents "voter fraud" that doesn't exist...but in doing so it prevents hundreds of thousands of the poor, the elderly, urban minorities and students from voting by throwing up extra barriers.  And should Pennsylvania not be able to provide the hundreds of thousands of voter IDs it needs to send out to people who don't drive or can't afford an ID card, well that's just a shame that their votes won't count, right?  Gotta protect the vote.

Apparently it needs to be protected from Democrats.  Who knew that the GOP coming to power in the state would lead to such an obvious effort to rig elections to forever stay in power?

Oh wait.  Everybody knew.

Teabagger Threat Matrix

Keep in mind the point of open threats like this is to not only stoke the GOP base, but to remind the rest of the voters what they're in for should they choose to re-elect the President. 

A small group of protesters in Elkhart, Indiana gathered near a tea party billboard on Monday, decrying the political ad for comparing President Barack Obama to terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

The billboard, paid for by a tea party group We the People of Marshall and Fulton County, says: “The Navy Seals removed one threat to America. The voters must remove the other.”

The demonstration was organized by the Elkhart County Democrats, Occupy Elkhart activists and Indiana Senate candidate Jim Ball (D), according to The Elkhart Truth. The protesters described the billboard as “ignorant” and chastised the tea party group for “adding militaristic jingoism” to the political debate.

Sue Chilberg, a local Tea Party activist, told The Elkhart Truth that she supports the billboard because it urges voters “to do something about the very real threat of socialism.”

 "Wouldn't it be easier if Mitt Romney was in charge?  You swing voters can make all of this go away, you know..."

It's terrorism aimed at swing voters is what it is, let's be honest.  If only people would "remove the threat" of Obama, so if you voters do it, the unsaid "then one of us won't have to" remains unsaid, you see.  Bonus points for comparing him to Osama again, that was soooo 2010.

But somebody called Bush "Hitler" once, so it's all completely fair because DON'T TREAD ON ME and my rights to not have a black President, right?

Scare The Crap Out Of Grandma

It looks like 60 Plus, the pro-GOP SuperPAC outfit designed to outright lie to seniors about the Affordable Care Act (and they did a hell of a job in 2010) is back this year in Florida and Ohio, trying to turn the conversation away from Paul Ryan's Medicare cuts by scaring your grandparents about "Obamacare's death panels".  Politico's Alex Burns:

The conservative 60 Plus Association is launching ads in the Ohio and Florida Senate races today, criticizing Democratic incumbents for the Independent Payment Advisory Board set up by the Democratic-backed national health care law.

I reported earlier this week that 60 Plus was gearing up for a fresh round of ads. The spots – shared early with POLITICO – feature singer Pat Boone saying that “a lot of promises were made regarding health care reform,” that haven’t panned out.

“The new health care law creates a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats. It’s like a Medicare IRS, with a power to cut Medicare in order to pay for new government programs,” the narrator says.

The ads close with Boone reappearing on screen: “Call Sen. Nelson. Tell him, unaccountable bureaucrats should never have the power to deny you the care you deserve.”

The ads start running today with $276,000 behind then in Florida and $232,000 behind them in Ohio.

Which is a complete fabrication, by the way.  The board can make suggestions about cutting waste and fraud, but ultimately their suggestions have to be acted upon by Congress.  It's only if Congress or the President refuses to even consider their suggestions that they can be implemented without a vote on Capitol Hill.  Otherwise, the board is effectively toothless...unlike the unelected insurance company officials who get to decide who lives and who dies every day by denying coverage.

Those are your real death panels, folks.  And Paul Ryan wants to put them back in charge of everyone's health care, including those who would be receiving Medicare in the future and cutting benefits from those receiving Medicare now by making massive cuts to Medicaid, which goes to help the most vulnerable seniors.

It's clear that the right doesn't want to talk about Paul Ryan's plan to hurt seniors.  All they can do is lie about Obamacare and hope that you once again fall for it.

omg txt contest winner

A 17-year-old has out-tapped the competition to hold onto the title of being the US's fastest texter.

Austin Weirschke from Wisconsin beat 10 other competitors at the sixth National Texting Championship held in New York.

Contestants had to do one task with their vision blocked and another with their hands behind their back.

Mr Weirschke said he planned to put the $50,000 (£32,012) prize money towards paying for his college education.

The competition - which is sponsored by LG Electronics and featured one device with a physical keyboard - put three skills to the test: accuracy, speed and dexterity.

The article actually has a lot of interesting factoids, including the many ways they test the competitors to ensure they have the champ.  They raise challenges I would have never thought to, including how to type words backwards, or while facing distractions.

I'm glad to see the winner is going to use the funds for college.  Let's face it, many wouldn't be so mature, especially the stereotypical youth who sends 500 messages a day to train for this.

Well done, sir.

Follow Up: Woman Shot In Hospital "Mercy Killing"

CLEVELAND (AP) -- John Wise watched a tear roll down his wife's face as he stood alongside her bed in the intensive care unit. She'd been unable to speak after suffering a stroke and seemed to be blinking to acknowledge him, Wise confided to a friend who had driven him to the hospital. 

The couple had been married 45 years and Wise told his friend that they had agreed long ago they didn't want to live out their years bedridden and disabled. 

So a week after Barbara Wise's stroke, investigators say, her husband fired a single round into her head. She died the next day, leading prosecutors to charge the 66-year-old man with aggravated murder Wednesday in what police suspect was a mercy killing. 

The shooting leaves authorities in a dilemma some experts say will happen with greater frequency as the baby boom generation ages - what is the appropriate punishment when a relative kills a loved one to end their suffering?

It brings up a lot of good points.  First, killing is killing.  He shot his wife, and while motive helps us understand, it doesn't change the fact that he committed murder.  She could have been crying because she wanted to live.  She may have recovered, given time.  Even if this was a mercy killing, it was premature and unfair to both of them.

But should it be murder?  That's when it gets complicated in a hurry.  It's been a while since I've taken this topic, so let me refresh my stance for new readers. I believe in supporting those who choose to go out fighting to the last breath if that is what they want to do.  I also support ending suffering in a rational, dignified and well planned way if that is what someone wants to do when facing terminal illness.  It's time we regained ownership of our lives, and  the ability to declare our end of life wishes, free of what others want to impose on us.  Our medical choices are our own.  It's time for the law to allow us to make choices and put them down to be honored, in there with allergy information and other medical standards.

Also let it serve as a reminder that accidents happen.  Pianos fall from skies, drunks drive at all times of day. If end of life decisions are important to you, handle it now.  Don't just tell people what you want and hang the burden on them.  Write it down, get it taken care of so the people who love you most aren't torn.

This is so sad from so many angles.

Epic Presidential Shinkuu Hadoken Win

So, this happened.



See, Orange Julius?  He's doing something about the drought.   By SHOWING THE SUN WHO'S BOSS.

Unleash Joe Biden, Chain Of Fools Edition

Vice President Joe Biden made an unfortunate choice of words on Tuesday.

A defiant Vice President Joe Biden is denouncing Republican criticism over his remarks to southern Virginia voters that presidential challenger Mitt Romney would put them "back in chains" but concedes he meant to use different words.

The campaign flap began after Biden told supporters in Danville, Va., that the Republican ticket wanted to "unchain Wall Street." He then added: "They're going to put y'all back in chains."

Biden, speaking later in Wytheville, says he had meant to use the term "unshackled."

But he did not apologize and mocked the Romney campaign for showing outrage.

Nor should he, considering Rick Santorum and Allen West beat him to the punch months ago. 

Rick Santorum invoked chains last summer to warned Iowa voters that health care reform would lull citizens into government dependency. “They will put you in chains called ‘Obamacare,’ and you will never break away,” Santorum said.

Florida Rep. Allen West went a step further, likening Obama’s programs to slavery. “He does not want you to have the self-esteem of getting up and earning and having that title of American,” West said in July. “He’d rather you be his slave.”

The difference:  Joe Biden is man enough to admit he could have used a different phrase.  Keep that in mind.

StupidiNews!

• Wildfires in Washington state have scorched 28,000 acres and 60 homes as firefighters try to contain the blaze.
• The Secret Service is investigating a burned cat staked to an Obama campaign sign in a Minneapolis park as a possible threat.
• Retiring Blue Dog Dem Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California is now resigning immediately, citing both personal issues and the House's recess for all but a few weeks between now and Election Day.
• Hong-Kong based Standard Chartered has settled with the State of New York for $340 million over violation of Iranian sanctions, but the company still faces federal probes.
• With its software upgrade complete, the Mars Curiosity rover is now beaming back panoramic views of the red planet as it explores the surface of Mars.

Last Call

Since I’m feeling kinda floaty today anyway, I’ll warn you about getting out of the boat into Jennifer Rubin country.  Do not go there, brave traveler.  It is a silly place.

The latest media obsession (or is it an Obama campaign talking point?) is to demand Mitt Romney explain how his budget and entitlement ideas differ from those Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). When he declines, the media screams, “Evasion!” 

Why on earth would Romney answer that, and, more important, does anyone care? If the media is really interested in a compare and contrast exercise they can do their own analysis or ask some staffers. Romney, of course, is running at the top of the ticket, and both Romney and Ryan are running on Romney’s agenda. All Romney need do is explain what HE is for and how that differs from the president’s plans. Is there any voter who will decide to vote for or against Romney because of deviations from the plan his VP has proposed? That would be a first.

The media might have a point if Ryan had criticized Romney’s plans or if his own plans were vastly different from Romney’s. But in basic framework there is no difference between the two. They both want to lower tax rates and expand the base. Both Ryan and Romney want to block grant and reform Medicaid. Both favor a premium-support plan for Medicare. In short, they are in sync on every significant fiscal issue, and Ryan has agreed to be Romney’s VP.

I don’t even have to say anything at this point, she is the tautology of terribadness, the existential essence of ERHMAGERD, the dao of derp.

I’ll say it anyway.  Jennifer Rubin is so shamefully awful a shill for Romney, that if his programming included the advanced neural algorithms to approximate embarrassment he’d have to sit her down and let her cry on his synthetic pauldrons for a while until he had to flush his cache.  It actually causes physical pain for me to contemplate how bad the other employees of the Post have to feel when they read Rubin’s whiny, adolescent crap.  Why somebody in charge up there hasn’t told her “look, you’re pretty much the worst political pundit on the planet, and we would actually gain readership on a sustained basis if we fired you just from the intensity of the euphoria generated by your terminated employment” I have no idea, other than I guess they like what she writes.  That thought alone could rip apart suns.

Here’s another thought.  The Romney camp should just hire her.  They really, really do deserve each other, and she can go on pundit shows and say “Why should Mitt Romney have to answer that question?  Who cares?” because why should our media do anything that mitt Romney doesn’t like?  Why should they ask questions when everyone knows the purpose of the media is to crap out talking points like owl pellets and nod seriously?  Heck, then she could get paid in energon cubes or whatever Romneybot runs on these days and we could all be really happy far, far away from the both of them.

Dark Money Days

A new Pro Publica investigation finds that Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and the Koch Brothers' Americans For Prosperity have already spent $60 million in ads targeting President Obama, burying spending by both parties' outside SuperPACs and dwarfing both political parties' internal PACs.  Democrats in particular are getting destroyed by this unprecedented level of spending by these "dark money" groups, which thanks to Congress, don't have to disclose donors and can take unlimited money from those donors.

Crossroads GPS, or Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, is the brainchild of GOP strategist Karl Rove, and spent an estimated $41.7 million. Americans for Prosperity, credited with helping launch the Tea Party movement, is backed in part by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, and spent an estimated $18.2 million.

Campaign-finance reform advocates say the spending by the two organizations highlights the role anonymous money is playing in this election, which will be the most expensive in history.

"First of all, it shows how much desire there is for secrecy among huge donors who want to be able to spend money to influence this election without leaving any fingerprints," said Fred Wertheimer, who runs Democracy 21, a watchdog group. "Secondly, it shows that so far, there is an enormous advantage being played in this election by just two groups that are exercising undue influence in the elections."
In an email, Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for Crossroads GPS, defended the group's work. Wertheimer's concern reflected partisan bias, he charged.

"Liberal partisans are attacking conservative nonprofits for doing the same things that environmentalist groups, anti war groups, and labor groups have been doing for years without a single complaint," Collegio wrote.

Americans for Prosperity did not respond to a phone call or an email.

Conservative social-welfare nonprofits have spent about $70 million on TV ads in the election cycle so far, compared to just $1.6 million by liberal groups, CMAG data shows. 

Unlimited millions to buy the election?  Republicans have it.  They have enough money to put the Robot/Zombie '12 ticket in the White House, and all they would need is three more Senators, and the Republic is gone.  Of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations.  They'll have enough money to run as many ads as they want, and as the election draws near, you won't be able to avoid them.

Until we get a Congress that will overturn Citizens United with a Constitutional amendment, corporations will forever own our political process and our politicians.

Civil Rights, Uncivil Wrongs

So which is more important, one person's religious freedom of creed, or another person's civil rights, when they come into opposition?  The town of Big Sandy, Texas is about to find out.

A Hawkins man is claiming his civil rights and religious freedom were violated earlier this year when a black man sacked his groceries and a Big Sandy grocery store owner banned the customer from the business.

DeWitt R. Thomas filed a federal lawsuit in July against Keith Langston, owner of Two Rivers Grocery & Market.

According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Thomas entered the market on March 5 to buy food.

He stated in a nine-page, hand-written lawsuit that he told the grocery sacker, a black man, “Wait a minute, don’t touch my groceries. I can’t have someone negroidal touch my food. It’s against my creed.”

Thomas claimed the cashier was “perplexed” by his request and yelled at him to take his items and leave.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Thomas said, “It’s pretty simple. They treated me really bad because I told them it was against my creed.”

Now, so far at least in the last 50 years or so, the courts have been pretty damn clear that a person's civil rights beats racist "religious freedom to be racist" baloney when you openly claim you have the religious freedom to violate another person's civil rights.

But this is Texas, and this jackass is literally making a federal case over it.  And so we have a case now where one person is claiming his religious freedom of creed is being violated by having a black person bag his groceries.   The more you think about this, the more obvious that it becomes that if religious freedom has its limits, and must, or one could conceivably violate any law and claim persecution under religious beliefs.

But there are a number of Republicans who have openly said that the Civil Rights Act needs to be abolished, and that civil rights simply don't exist.  Would this become the test case to do so?  That's what worries me.  It would have three votes in SCOTUS almost assuredly, if not four, to void the entire law.  Remember, the conservatives on the court had no problem completely annihilating the Affordable Care Act because of what they proclaimed was a legal technicality, and John Roberts basically saved the law out of not being the man who rolled back the clock.

I don't know if he has another one of those in him, either.  So yeah, as moronic as this sounds, the SCOTUS conservatives would find a way to ignore precedent and side with Mr. Negroid Touchin' Ma Groceries here if it meant the end of the Civil Rights Act.

Keep an eye on this case.

License To Fail

INDIANAPOLIS -- A central Indiana judge has granted a preliminary injunction restoring driving privileges for a woman whose license was suspended in June for not having autoinsurance even though she didn't own a car to drive. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana said the ruling in Marion County could have an impact on others who also have had their licenses suspended.

What brought this about, they do not say.  But this is a perfect example of government fail.  You don't need insurance to have a license to drive a car, so how was this system ever put in place?  It seems the judge couldn't just point to a common sense document and end the case, so this must be on the books somewhere.

Fail.

New Series Highlights Rapes In Military

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The enormous obstacles and emotional torment that a female solider confronts in reporting a sexual assault in the military are the focus of the three-part Web series "Lauren" debuting Monday on YouTube's new channel WIGS, which focuses on drama for women. 

Featuring "Flashdance" star Jennifer Beals and Troian Bellisario, "Lauren" gives a close-up look at the challenges women service members face in trying to find justice after being raped. It's a problem that military leaders have given unprecedented attention to this year.

Thousand of women reported being raped last year, according to the article and other sources.  There were wide ranges in figures, and the numbers soar higher when even modest estimates are given for unreported rapes.  The most conservative number I found was 2,400.  That's still way too many, and a lowball figure to boot.

Women want to fight to defend their country.  They deserve the same respect as men, and safeguards against men who would do them harm on downtime.  It will always be a problem,  but improvements in policy and attitude could go a long way towards bringing the numbers down and ensuring justice and fair treatment for victims.

They're willing to die for us.  Supporting them is the least we can do.

STOCK-ing Up For The Recess

The House has time to not pass jobs, but it does have time for its little feel-good STOCK Act, which of course actually does the opposite of what House Republicans says it does.  And as usual, the devil is in the details that differ from the Senate version which also sailed through last week.

The House on Thursday joined the Senate in overwhelmingly approving a congressional insider-trading ban.

Now the question is whether the two chambers can make a deal — or whether they’ll find a way to stall over details and prevent a bill from reaching President Barack Obama’s desk.

Both measures passed overwhelmingly — 417-2 in the House and 96-3 in the Senate last week — but the bills differ in some respects.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) had released several changes to the STOCK Act earlier this week that broadened the bill’s disclosure requirements and insider-trading ban to the executive branch and ensured that lawmakers convicted of a crime couldn’t collect their pensions.

It also puts in place tougher rules on public officials participating in initial public offerings.

But the bill also scrapped a provision that would have required so-called political intelligence firms to disclose their activities much like lobbyists already do – much to the dismay of Democrats who favored tougher rules on the industry.

Cantor knows how this game works.  He wants to sting Obama, but let the lobbyists continue to be able to play their little games.  Even Chuck Grassley wanted this in, but Cantor dropped his public intelligence amendment like a hot potato.  Hey, Peepaw Chuck, Tea Party doesn't give a damn about FREEDOM and LIBERTY and DON'T TREAD ON ME.  They work for the lobbyists.  All Republicans do.

Whether they want to or not.