Politics
oracknows | October 2, 2008Given that über-quackery booster Mike Adams decided to compare "Western medicine" to the subprime mortgage mess, I wondered what the real cause of this financial meltdown was. Leave it to our friends in the right wing blogosphere and media to find the real culprit: The Community Reinvestment Act. That's right...
...it's all the poor people's fault!
gregladen | October 2, 2008This video shows Sarah Palin "on the supreme court." Well, actually is goes beyond that. It shows her MORE on the supreme court. Well, really, it's just Palin More On the Supreme court. Ok, actually it's Sarah Palin Moron, Supreme Court. That's it...
And now I give you Sarah Palin. Moron. On the Supreme Court:
I think she might be just a little bit dumber than Michell Bachmann. Hard to say.
h/t: Brayton
oracknows | October 2, 2008After having posted about Jenny McCarthy, my brain hurt so much from the neuron-apoptosing idiocy that she always delivers that I decided I needed to move on to something that wouldn't assault my reason and quite so much. So I headed on over to that uber-repository of quackery and paranoid conspiracy theories, Mike Adam's Natural News.
It's true. Jenny is so dumb that Mike Adams looks intelligent by comparison, and that's saying a lot. Well, not really. In actuality, they're both black holes of negative intelligence, sucking all knowledge and science out of whatever environment self they land…
pharyngula | October 1, 2008Today is the day we all dread, the day of the vice-presidential debates. We know Sarah Palin is incompetent and not fit for office, but the question is…will she manage to pull off the spunky/cute routine and win over the superficial morons of the country despite her Bush-like anti-intellectualism and lack of curiosity, even if she does execute a few major flubs? Will Biden throw away a victory by looking pretentious? We shall find out this evening.
Until then, warm up with these amusing links to the ongoing Chronicles of Palin.
Ron Numbers on Palin's creationism
Palin needs the word "new…
gregladen | October 1, 2008Whenever I think of Michell Bachmann OR Sarah Palin (like there's a difference) ... after I'm done throwing up a little in my mouth, I think of this song by Frank Zappa...
That is not really the recommended version, but it will do. The pure lyrics:
A fine little girl
She waits for me
She's as plastic
As she can be
She paints her face
With plastic goo
And wrecks her hair
With some shampoo
Take a day
And walk around
Watch the nazis
Run your town
Then go home
And check yourself
You think we're singing
'Bout someone else . . . but you're
Me see a neon
Moon above
I searched for years
I found…
clock | October 1, 2008Chapel Hill, NC - September 24, 2008 - Mac McCorkle, Political Consultant for Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue and 2008 Democratic Nominee for Governor, will be speaking on behalf of the Lt. Governor on October 6, 2008 at Town Hall Grill in Chapel Hill as part of the Village Voice political forum.
Town Hall Grill, located in Southern Village in Chapel Hill, N.C., launched the bipartisan community issues forum, "The Village Voice," in June and has featured political candidates William (BJ) Lawson, Republican candidate for U.S. House District 4 and Ellie Kinnaird, six-term NC State Senator,…
gregladen | October 1, 2008
If you have facebook, an excellent series of photographs of the Republican National Convention has been posted there by regular blog reader and CPF Analiese Miller.
HERE
This is a must see.
pharyngula | September 30, 2008We're worried about the current financial crisis — in fact, the whole world is concerned. Most of us have simple explanations for the mess we're in right now, such as excessive deregulation, lenders raking in short term profit at the expense of long term stability, a weakening economy, and the misrule of George W. Bush and his gang of Rethuglican cronies, but we're missing the real root cause: it was the gays. Some big flaming homo flaunting his ungodly desires one time too many finally tipped God over into a big snit, and as we all know, God's aim sucks, so when he tossed that lightning bolt…
gregladen | September 30, 2008Happy New Year!
I was a good little atheist today, and made a reasonably convincing argument that Bill Maher has NOT gone too far in trashing religion. After all, no one expected the Spanish Inquisition. Or at least, the elderly Jewish and Catholic people were nodding as I was ranting about it, so I think they were agreeing with me.
Dinner included conversation among an investment banker, an S&L officer, a couple of corporate lawyers, and so on, and the general consensus is that something must happen in the way of a bailout. The US Senate, it turns out, has a plan they will try…
gregladen | September 30, 2008Here's a poll you may be interested in.
The question is: Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States?
And so far the answer is "Yes" by a small margin. This poll is at PBS. Here.
gregladen | September 30, 2008Not long ago, Minnesota was moved to the "undecided column" by many pollsters. Well, in the words of the great Inspector Clouseau, "Nit Iny Meour".....
In Minnesota, Barack Obama has opened an eight-point lead over John McCain.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Minnesota voters finds Obama attracting 52% of the vote while McCain earns 44% (Demographic Crosstabs available for Premium Members.)
Last month, Obama's lead was down to four percentage points. Two months ago, the Democrat had a twelve point advantage.
source
Hat tip SZ
oracknows | September 30, 2008After all the recent blogging about John McCain's health and whether his melanoma will recur or his left ptosis is anything other than from benign causes, probably relating to aging, you just know I couldn't pass this story up:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- If John McCain is elected and goes on to win a second term, there's as much as a one-in-four chance America could see its first woman president -- Sarah Palin.
It's actuarial math.
The odds highly favor either McCain or Barack Obama completing a first term in good health. After that, McCain's odds still are still fairly solid, but his chances of…
pharyngula | September 30, 2008Another interesting blog that has been around for some time is Charles Stross's — you ought to check it out, and the comments are often informative too. One in particular was brought to my attention — it's a comment made in response to another fellow, Dan, who is something of an American triumphalist, seeing us spiraling upward, ever upward, into glory and a bold Star Trekian future of wealth and prosperity and technology. Maclaren wrote an antidote, which I include below. I don't agree with it entirely — we aren't quite as bad off as it says right now, although I can see his word-portrait as…
gregladen | September 30, 2008This is from Robert Reich's blog:
Prediction: A scaled-down bill will be enacted by the end of the week. It will provide the Treasury with a first installment of $150 billion. Treasury can use it to back Wall Street's bad debts with lend no-interest loans of up to two years, until the housing market rebounds. Or to invest in Wall Street houses directly, in exchange for stocks and stock warrants. There will be strict oversight. Congressional leaders will promise further installments, but with conditions calling for limits on salaries and relief to distressed homeowners.
Some or perhaps most of…
pharyngula | September 30, 2008Our campus has an alternative right-wing rag of a newspaper called the Counterweight, funded who knows how, that throws up horrible little articles that usually sound like the kind of thing that would make Karl Rove and Dick Cheney chortle. They interviewed me recently — yes, I speak politely to even the most conservative students on campus — for a pair of opinion articles of the battling 'he was right'/'he was evil' variety, all on the desecration controversy. You can read them both online. The student who was taking my side framed it as an issue of opposition to political correctness,…
drorzel | September 30, 2008The House Republicans blame their failure to pass the bailout bill on Mean Nancy Pelosi, and Barney Frank lets them have it:
The key bit, for those who don't want to watch YouTube: "[T]hink about this. 'Somebody hurt my feelings, so I will punish the country.' That's hardly plausible. And there are 12 Republican members who were ready to stand up for the economic interest of America, but not if anybody insulted them. I'll make an offer. Give me those 12 people's names and I will go talk uncharacteristically nicely to them and tell them what wonderful people they are and maybe they'll now…
gregladen | September 30, 2008Michael Moore's critique of the bailout recently mailed around the intertubes includes this list of problems:
1. The bailout bill had NO enforcement provisions for the so-called oversight group that was going to monitor Wall Street's spending of the $700 billion;
2. It had NO penalties, fines or imprisonment for any executive who might steal any of the people's money;
3. It did NOTHING to force banks and lenders to rewrite people's mortgages to avoid foreclosures -- this bill would not have stopped ONE foreclosure!;
4. It had NO teeth anywhere in the entire piece of legislation, using…
terrasig | September 29, 2008My apologies, dear readers, for having little time to write proper natural products content.
I just got home and was watching Olbermann with the Family Pharmboy where clips from Tina Fey's faux Katie Couric interview were mashed up with Sarah Palin's actual one. (See Orac for the SNL clips).
Pharmboy: I wish Tina Fey were the Republican VP pick.
PharmGirl: I think Tina Fey should have been the Republican candidate.
P.S. I would donate to the McCain campaign if they let Sheril Kirshenbaum debate Sarah Palin.