Last Call

Shorter Netanyahu to President Obama:  "Yeah, you know that speech you made on Sunday?  Yeah, cram it where the sun don't shine."

A day after being urged by the US president to allow more time for sanctions against Tehran to bite before resorting to military action, Mr Netanyahu said Israel would remain "master of its fate".

"Israel must have the ability always to defend itself by itself against any threat," Mr Netanyahu said. "When it comes to Israel's security, Israel has the right, the sovereign right, to make its own decisions".

The two leaders met on Monday for critical talks at the White House aimed at agreeing a common stance towards Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme and alleged plan to develop a nuclear weapon.

While Mr Obama has said he will "not hesitate to use force" if required to stop Iran developing the Bomb, the White House is anxious to avoid a confrontation, particularly during his re-election campaign.

Israeli officials have indicated they may strike this year unless the US threatens action to prevent Tehran having the capability to develop a weapon, rather than waiting for signs that development has begun. 

This does not fill me with hope that the Israelis are going to wait until after the election.  Not at all.  hell, they may not wait until next month the way Bibi is going here.  The only question is now what the President's response will be.  His speech on Sunday sounded very much like he wasn't going to back action against Iran unless it was "necessary".  The problem is politically, if Israel does attack, it becomes "necessary" immediately.  Congress will see to that.

This may actually be out of the President's hands.  I pray that's not the case.  But Bibi's response here was clearly to Congress, not the President.

Also note that Israel and Iran aren't too far apart on rhetoric:  Iran says its nuclear program is a sovereign issue as well.  That's not a good sign.

Your Daily Geekery

This.



Enjoy.

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

Rick Santorum keeps it classy ahead of today's vote.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum compared the Obama administration to a drug dealer who wants to get Americans hooked on entitlement programs to expand his power.

Santorum said the president's health care law in a new addictive drug.

"That's how they see you, as people, to get hooked like a drug dealer, someone to become dependent on them and once that happens, they got you," Santorum said during a speech to several hundred people at Grace Church late Sunday. "America is changed forever. No country that has socialized medicine has ever gone back the other way, no country that has lost its freedom has ever regained it."

You're all ghetto junkies, you people who want dialysis and colon cancer screenings and heart medication.  Real Americans wouldn't need medicine.  Pretty soon we're going to get to the point where sick people themselves are downcast in the eyes of the Lord and need to be "let go" so that the rest of us don't have our freedoms curtailed.  America was sooooo much better before one of them became President.  Now look at us!

Either that or Santorum's going to slip and use the n-word.  I prefer the latter, at least it would be Santorum actually saying what's on his tiny, warped little mind.

Nice jobs speech, by the way.  Asshole.

Ancient Relics Stolen

As a writer and lover of history, I am always looking for ways to tie history and real events together.  Writers have a bag of tricks for when they get stuck, usually bringing in religion for an touch of the mystical, stolen relics that can be combined for some greater purpose, and a conspiracy that brings them all in.  You don't have to look any further than The DaVinci Code for an example.

It was kind of strange to read about some of the recent thefts from churches all around.  Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral has held the heart of St. Laurence O'Toole, the patron saint of Ireland.  Saturday it was noticed missing, though nobody can give a good estimate of when it was taken.

Pieces of the cross that Jesus was crucified on were stolen, found and returned, with no arrests.  Other relics have been taken, and not all are recovered.

Is this coincidence?  It seems strange that all of a sudden these items are targeted.  In a time when money is tight, sentimental value would seem uncertain.  Unless, of course, someone very wealthy was bankrolling the movement towards some ultimate goal.  The fiction writer in me is hooked, I confess.

A Special Place In Hell

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A 3-year-old girl from America's northernmost community died and her younger sister suffered hypothermia after their mother and the mother's boyfriend left them in a locked bedroom with a window open to a temperature of minus 30 degrees to air out the room because the girls wet their beds, authorities said.

The mother, 28-year-old elementary teacher Esther G. Edwards-Gust, was apparently on the lam Saturday, a day after she and 29-year-old Richard Tilden Jr. were indicted in the child's death. Tilden was in custody.

The couple shared a home with Edwards-Gust's 1- and 3-year-old daughters in the Inupiat Eskimo community of Barrow.

Police say the two girls last month were trapped overnight in their bedroom with a window open to temperatures that dropped to 30 degrees below zero. Both children were diagnosed with extreme hypothermia and flown to an Anchorage hospital, where the 3-year-old died.

It's hard to feel sorry for either of the parents, who should never be allowed to be near a child again.  The complete lack of understanding for what is normal for children that age is scary, but nobody could possibly explain how leaving children exposed to below-zero temperatures sounded like a good idea at the time.  No amount of alcohol can account for that.

Excuse me, I'm going to go hug my nieces and nephews now, and be glad they were born to our family instead of people like this.

Still think we should force everyone to risk pregnancy?

Super Bomber Man Ultra

US Attorney General Eric Holder explained in detail Monday the legal and Constitutional rationale behind the targeting killing of Anwar al-Awlaki.  Adam Serwer:

Speaking to students and faculty at Northwestern University law school, Attorney General Eric Holder laid out in greater detail than ever before the legal theory behind the administration's belief that it can kill American citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial. In the 5,000-word speech, the nation's top law enforcement official directly confronted critics who allege that the targeted killing of American citizens violates the Constitution.

"'Due process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security." Holder said. "The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process."

Who decides when an American citizen has had enough due process and the Hellfire missile fairy pays them a visit? Presumably the group of top national security officials—that, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, decides who is targetable and forwards its findings to the president, who gives final approval.

There won't be any drone strikes in Denver any time soon. But you might want to be careful when traveling abroad, because Holder made it clear that there are no geographical limits in the fight against Al Qaeda. "Neither Congress nor our federal courts has limited the geographic scope of our ability to use force to the current conflict in Afghanistan," Holder said. "We are at war with a stateless enemy, prone to shifting operations from country to country."

Holder is basing this authority on the AUMF for Afghanistan from Congress in 2001, which authorized appropriate and necessary force to bring the perpetrators of 9/11 to justice.  But it was also Congress who said that the President could not close Gitmo, and that the President had to defer to military tribunals for captured suspects as well.  I'm not happy with Holder's interpretation, but President Obama is not alone in the blame for the policy, either.

And the fact of the matter is 5 out of six Americans back the Obama administration's use of drones in Afghanistan against terrorists.  That drops to 4 out of six when the target is a US citizen abroad who may be a terror suspect, still an overwhelming majority.   Considering how tired Americans are of ground troops, armed drones seem to be a much more preferable way to deal with terrorists, frankly.

So when 3 out of 3 branches of the federal government approve of this, it's going to happen.

Pinhead Wizards

Well, if Tom Jensen's poll numbers are to be believed (and PPP has been pretty much spot on in the past with a good track record) then Stupor Tuesday it could be a long, long day for the forces of Romnevibility(tm).

The news is good for Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and bad for Rick Santorum in PPP's final polls of the three biggest Super Tuesday states.

In Ohio Romney leads with 37% to 36% for Santorum, 15% for Gingrich, and 11% for Ron Paul.

In Tennessee Santorum leads with 34% to 29% for Romney, 27% for Gingrich, and 8% for Paul.

In Georgia Gingrich leads with 47% to 24% for Romney, 19% for Santorum, and 8% for Paul.

A week ago Santorum had a huge lead in Tennessee, a decent sized one in Ohio, and seemed like he had a good chance for second in Georgia. Now he's barely holding on in Tennessee, ever so slightly behind in Ohio, and seems doomed for third in Georgia.

Romney's fortunes have swung the other direction. What was looking like a runner up finish in Ohio is looking more like a win with each passing day. He has an outside chance at pulling off an upset win in Tennessee. And it looks like he'll finish a solid second in Georgia.

The news for Gingrich is good too. It's been expected he would win Georgia, but it looks now like he could even hit the 50% mark. And he's pulled within striking distance of Santorum and Romney in Tennessee.

We're at a tipping point. A Gingrich win in Georgia with him getting over 50% keeps him in the game, as does a Santorum win in Tennessee (especially if Romney slips into 3rd there.)  Should Slick Rick pull off a win in Ohio to boot, all balls will be locked for multiball and the chaos will truly begin, as Tuesday will only make the national GOP picture even more messy.

If on the other hand Romney can win Ohio and surprise in the Volunteer State, Romnevitability(tm) will rise.  It could go either way at this point.  Me, I'm rooting for multiball, then for the table to break and the balls to go flying everywhere.  Maybe knock over a few bystanders, roll out into the street, cause hipsters to ironically fall.  Yeah, the kind of multiball that makes the local news and forces some local reporter to schlep out to where they still have pinball machines and pizza by the slice with "cheese" and do a report with a straight face with the chyron underneath reading "BIZARRE PINBALL ACCIDENT DOWNTOWN INJURES FOUR.".  I'm all for that.  Let's go with that.  Yeah.

Also, what Doug said.

StupidiNews!

• Voters in ten states take to the primary polls in Super Tuesday, which could go a long way towards deciding the GOP nomination.
• A female veterans group is calling for the Armed Forces Radio Network to drop Rush Limbaugh after his comments last week on Sandra Fluke.
• In Mexico, Vice President Joe Biden dismissed calls by some in the country to legalize drugs to help stop Mexico's drug cartels.
• Rich commodities speculators are buying and holding gasoline tankers in anticipation of record global fuel prices this summer.
• National security firm Stratfor could be taking legal action against WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange for hacked emails, according to an Australian source.

Last Call

And Ohio's Gov. Kasich does a complete 180 on federal tornado aid:

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Monday reconsidered his rejection of federal help in tornado-stricken communities and asked federal inspectors to assess the damage as soon as possible.

A team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to arrive Tuesday in Clermont County to survey the storm damage and determine whether the region qualifies for financial or logistical assistance.


“Hopefully we can get a quick answer from the federal inspectors on what additional resources might be available to help people begin recovering,” Kasich said.


The decision to invite the inspectors came two days after Kasich said he would not seek immediate federal disaster relief because he was confident Ohio could handle the crisis.


Rob Nichols, a spokesman for the governor, said the decision to invite FEMA was made after Kasich reviewed the findings of state emergency management officials and developed “a firm understanding of the problem.” Nichols said Kasich had never ruled out asking for federal help but wanted to wait until state inspectors had done their own assessment.

I'm sure the public outcry had nothing to do with it, either.   Time to total reversal:  less than 48 hours.  his spokesman went from "We're thrilled we don't need federal help" to "we never ruled it out."  Ohio, Gov. Kasich thinks you're just plain stupid.

It's great that Clermont County is getting help.  It should have never been in doubt.

That's A Mighty Cool Glitch You Have There

Thought it is likely a glitch caused by a flash of lightning, a guy on tour took a really neat picture that shows what looks like a light beam coming from the sky to the top of a Mayan pyramid, or that the pyramid is sending a beam into the sky.

Those who enjoy the Mayan conspiracy will get a kick out of these, otherwise it's just a cool picture that was worth sharing.

Mercy, Merci

A Frenchman is pissed at Google.  And pissed at his flowers.

Oh, that's on his flowers.

The man's name hasn't been released, but he is suing for damages after a human-operated street view car captured him peeing outside.  He has been recognized, and feels he is the laughingstock of his hometown.  He is asking for 10,000 euros (a little over $13,000 in US dollars) for his pain and suffering.

Sorry, pal.  If you pee outside, you give up any expectation of privacy.  Any jogger, driver or passerby could have seen that image, and if he did it in sight of a car that is his problem.  The person and equipment that caught him wasn't aiming for him, he was a background in a nature shot.  It just turned out to be a lot more "natural" than intended.

Better luck, try again next time.

Oops! In New Capsule Form

A CVS pharmacy in New Jersey made a little mistake and sent out a dangerous cancer drug in place of flouride.  They were pretty glib in their response, so much so that I almost wonder if their publicist doesn't work weekends.

The drug's side effects include blood clots and stroke, and the dosage would be devastating to a young child.  The official statement mentions human error and processes,  but doesn't indicate a lot of remorse or mention how many families may have been affected.

What will be interesting to know is how this happened so many times.  There are many safeguards to prevent just this type of mistake, what allowed this to occur over an extended period of time will likely be devastating to one of the largest pharmacy chains in the country.

May I Offer You A Cool, Refreshing Glass Of Get Over Yourself?

A New York woman has filed a lawsuit against her former Roman Catholic college in Boston, claiming administrators didn't do enough to help her when she complained that her roommate was having too much sex in their dorm room.

Lindsay Blankmeyer said in a federal lawsuit that she suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder before she enrolled at Stonehill College, but was driven into a suicidal depression after school officials wouldn't give her reasonable housing alternatives to get her away from her roommate at the school in Easton, Mass.

In the lawsuit, Blankmeyer says the college offered her two options, one was moving to another dorm where she would live in a room that was previously used as a study lounge and was a "small cubicle-like space." The other option was to move to a dorm with a reputation as a "party dorm" to live with a girl Blankmeyer did not know.

In other words, typical college behavior and two options offered to an unhappy roommate. Instead of learning a little flexibility and tolerance, Blankmeyer said she was driven to suicidal depression over her exposure to a young woman's sex life with her boyfriend. Please note, not multiple boyfriends, or girls, or combination. Yeah, that's why you went crazy, sweetheart. It's not you, it's everybody else in the world who needs to adjust.

A party dorm? Heaven forbid! Why couldn't they just change others to conform to what Blankmeyer wanted? Would that be so hard?

America never promised youth a life without discomfort or compromise. It promises liberty and choice. Perhaps someone so uptight that they were driven to suicidal depression over a little sex belongs in a private dwelling. However, I don't believe the school or anyone else is obligated to pay for that.

Pyrrhic Vic--Erm, Defeat

Republicans are fighting the battle for primary votes and losing the general election even as we speak.

As another round of voting takes place this week in the Republican presidential race – with 11 states holding Super Tuesday contests – a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that the combative and heavily scrutinized primary season so far has damaged the party and its candidates.

Four in 10 of all adults say the GOP nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the Republican Party, versus just slightly more than one in 10 with a more favorable opinion.

Additionally, when asked to describe the GOP nominating battle in a word or phrase, nearly 70 percent of respondents – including six in 10 independents and even more than half of Republicans – answered with a negative comment.

Some examples of these negative comments from Republicans: "Unenthusiastic," "discouraged," "lesser of two evils," "painful," "disappointed," "poor choices," "concerned," "underwhelmed,” “uninspiring” and “depressed.”

And perhaps most significantly, the GOP primary process has taken a toll on the Republican presidential candidates, including front-runner Mitt Romney, who is seen more unfavorably and whose standing with independents remains underwater.

And yes, I'm aware that a complete Romney Super Tuesday victory in Ohio and the other states that forces Santorum and Gingrich out of the race would give him an eternity to polish his turd of an image ahead of November.  Hell, even a brokered convention in August would still leave Romney 90 days or so to go full Sensible Centrist.  He will have to.

But that's also operating in a vacuum and assuming that Team Obama won't do anything with their war chest either.  Mitt Romney has already pulled the pin on several gaffe grenades and you can bet his tone-deaf stupidity will be served up on a daily basis once we get to this fall.

The longer the primary season goes, the deeper the hole Romney will be in (and yes, this means I think he eventually prevails as the nominee for now.)  Let the chaos continue.

The Play's The Thing, And All The World's A-Staged

Via Tbogg, we find that the WORLD-DESTROYING EXCLUSIVE that Andrew Breitbart's Big Whatever site was working on before Breitbart's death last week was...Barack Obama went to a play.

In 1998, a small Chicago theater company staged a play titled The Love Song of Saul Alinsky, dedicated to the life and politics of the radical community organizer whose methods Obama had practiced and taught on Chicago’s South Side.

Obama was not only in the audience, but also took the stage after one performance, participating in a panel discussion that was advertised in the poster for the play.

No really, that's it.   That's the whole bloody thing.  A play about Saul Alinsky some 24 years ago.  This is the way Breitbart's world ends, not with a story, but a clown horn.  Honk honk awooga.

By the way, if you'd like to know more about Saul Alinsky and what he really said, the ABLC crew has been discussing his work on a book chat over the last several weeks, and PDFs of his work are available there.

StupidiNews!

• Syrian rebels are in disarray and retreat after their defeat in Homs as the al-Assad regime's crackdown has turned into a deadly nationwide rout.
• Russia's Vladimir Putin won 64% of the national vote to win re-election as President Sunday, despite calls of widespread voting corruption by rivals.
• Mitt Romney's quest for the White House has cost him and his backers some $200 million over seven years, including nearly $45 million of Romney's own fortune.
• British grocery giant Tesco, the country's largest private employer, says it will create 20,000 new jobs in the UK as it struggles to win back customers.
• PC developer Valve could be working on a game console along with its partners in its Steam game distribution platform.

Last Call

And with folks around here in the Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana tri-state area still cleaning up from Friday's tornadoes, Ron Paul tells each and every one of the victims to go to hell and rot.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, stood by his libertarian beliefs on Sunday, saying that victims of the violent storms and tornadoes that have battered a band of states in the South and Midwest in recent days should not be given emergency financial aid from the federal government.

"There is no such thing as federal money," Paul said, on CNN’s State of the Union. "Federal money is just what they steal from the states and steal from you and me."

"The people who live in tornado alley, just as I live in hurricane alley, they should have insurance," Paul said.

Ron Paul isn't running to be President of the United States.  He's running to replace it with the Hunger Games.  Let the districts fight among themselves and may the odds ever be in your favor.  Isn't it nice to know that if a tornado rips through where you live, Ron Paul won't lift a finger because the other 305,000,000 of us shouldn't have to help?  It's your fault you happened to be where the tornado was, so screw you and your family and your neighborhood.  Move to a better state.

But you see, Ron Paul isn't the only one.  Gov. John Kasich feels the exact same way about his state.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said thanks but no thanks to immediate federal disaster relief Saturday, even as governors in Indiana and Kentucky welcomed the help.

Kasich did not rule out asking for assistance later, but his decision means tornado-ravaged towns in Ohio will not get federal aid now and are not eligible at this time for potentially millions of dollars in payments and loans.

The governor said Ohio can respond to the crisis without federal help and he would not ask federal authorities to declare the region a disaster area.

“I believe that we can handle this,” Kasich said while visiting a shelter for storm victims at New Richmond High School. “We’ll have down here all the assets of the state.”

Can anyone ever recall a governor turning down disaster aid for multiple tornadoes?  That would be a first.  Of course, there's another first in the White House right now, which most likely explains this first too.

Needless to say, donating to the Cincy Red Cross is much more necessary now.  Donate here.

The American way, indeed.

Stupor Tuesday

Romney and Santorum are effectively tied going into Tuesday's Ohio primary.  Both men need a win here, plain and simple.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has surged into a dead heat with Rick Santorum in the Ohio primary, setting up a cliffhanger race on Tuesday, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday.

The former Massachusetts governor and former senator from Pennsylvania are tied with 32 percent support from likely voters in the Ohio Republican primary, the most important of the 10 state nominating contests on "Super Tuesday" this week.

After his victory in Saturday's Washington state caucuses, Romney is gaining momentum going into Tuesday after trailing Santorum in recent polls in Ohio.

"This race could really go either way between now and Tuesday," said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson.

"If Mitt Romney is able to close this out and win this race, that gives him a leg up in going all the way to the convention and winning the Republican nomination."

And if he doesn't win? Then things get real interesting. The most important thing that happens after Super Tuesday of course is that I firmly believe people will start asking Newt Gingrich to quit. That would help Santorum more than Romney, and pretty much everyone knows it. Things would be much different now if Gingrich had dropped out of the race back when Jon Huntsman did.

Likewise, Gingrich staying in the race helps Romney, at least for now.  We'll see where things fall out on Wednesday morning.

Of course, the real news is that President Obama would beat Mitt Romney by 12 points in Ohio and Santorum by 14.  Keep in mind Republicans have never won the White House without winning Ohio.

StupidiLeak

All those programs for the elderly that are failing are affecting an ever-growing number of citizens.  There are dozens of examples of programs from little local aid to Medicaid that are dying or working at lower capcacity.  While the "corporations are people too" bullshit is the GOP's best defense for their priorities, real people are going without.

People like Fannie Wilson.

Fannie is 69-year-old Texan who got sick and had a hard streak of luck.  Her finances were so tight that when she sprung a leak and could not afford to fix it, she turned her own water off and lived that way for six long years.  She didn't stay at home often, and her house was full of jugs that of water she collected from other places.  She took the occasional bath at a friend or relative's house.  Six years she went without running water.  Millions of people live in that "one small disaster away from bankruptcy" state, and when the inevitable small disaster happens this is the result.

Wilson got help and now has running water.  She can enjoy a drink in the middle of the night, and flush her toilet with wild abandon.  She was nearly evicted from her home because it is illegal to live in a residence without running water (that whole necessary for life thing being the primary reason).  Thank goodness a small charity was able to help her fix the leak and restore the service.

I hope we all think of Fannie when we hear arguments that we have to slash services for citizens at the expense of big business.  Most of us will likely find ourselves there someday.

Bumping Uglies

Yeah, I knew you'd look.

Pamela Haag reminds us that this whole war on women isn't completely about health care.  It's also about sex, plain and simple.  We have several good examples of cysts and hormonal conditions that the Pill helps with, but there is also the fact that as adults, women and men alike should be able to conduct their sex lives as they see fit, and enjoy protection from unwanted babies.  Haag reminds us that there are healthy couples in committed relationships who want to enjoy sex without introducing a child into the world.  She's completely right, and while I see the issue as a combination of sexual freedom and medical need, she addresses a valid and relatively quiet point: we enjoy sex and we should be able to enjoy it on our terms.

Sex.

Why that gets those old righteous farts whipped into a frenzy isn't hard to understand.  What is scary is that with a teeny bit of encouragement how far it went, and how fast.  As Zandar pointed out, states are removing choices for women without apology.  This has been going on for a while, but the recent snowball of stupidity is alarming.

It's women who ultimately pay the price for this ego and hypocrisy.  The fathers may or may not have to pay child support, but they won't have to raise a child they never asked for.  They won't have near the social stigma associated with not wanting a child.  They won't have to know what it feels like to have their rights to their body decided by a panel of strangers.  Many women wouldn't put a child up for adoption or have an abortion if they became pregnant, which is why they use birth control in the first place.  Imagine having to give up your child because you know it would likely give them a better life.  How many mothers who couldn't afford simple contraception are going to find themselves in that situation?

The only reason the GOP is giving are their "values" and implying that the "other" people don't deserve equal treatment.  They vote against fair pay for women, but expect women to support babies or live a sexless life to satisfy the moral values of someone they will never meet.  It's not just about discounts on birth control. It's about medical rights, fair treatment and recognition under law, and ending a double standard that women can work as hard as men but are not worthy of the same freedoms and choices.  Just quoting their beliefs and holding us hostage to their ideals isn't enough.  Where is the discussion about the legality and the ethics as applied to all of the citizens?  While we are discussing religion and throwing insults, the real argument is being neglected.  The underlying concept of equality and silly notions like Constitutional checks and balances are ignored while Rush calls women sluts.

What would happen if a female candidate called them on their stupidity?  Can you imagine a woman saying she opposed Viagra, that if God wanted you to have a boner you would have a boner, and that it is offensive for us to see your trouser mouse jump every time there's a breeze?  To have such dirty thoughts that led to an erection is an offense to our religious freedom, and we want you to explain to our satisfaction why you think you should have condoms, otherwise they triple in price.  Any child you had a role in creating will be yours to raise, and how you plan to work full-time and raise a child is your problem, not ours.  We have no plans to help you once you have the child, because you were a slut and brought this on yourself.  Now go make me a sammich.