I had thought about writing about all the incredibly outrageous things happening at the CPAC hatefest this weekend but figured it would take me more time than I wanted to spend in crazy land. No matter what they say, they do not want to conserve anything and they really seem to hate the constitution. Maybe I will work on something later this week. Besides, searching the usual news sources brought me enough outrage to fill the morning reads. Take a sip of coffee and prepare to be drop your jaw a few times.
Just when you think the Red Beanie set can’t ignore our laws and constitution any more than they already have, you find this one. A rapist priest told his victim that sexual assault is basically how god’s love feels. Watch the story from an NBC affiliate in Los Angeles and feel heartsick and mad simultaneously. Yes folks, these are the zygote zealots who are so concerned about the sanctity of sperm and egg as to hope the US government will outlaw birth control. It seems that little boys are just priestly love receptacles the way women are sperm storage units.
“Many if not all these priests have admitted to sexual abuse,” Boucher told NBC Los Angeles. “They live within a mile of 1,500 playgrounds, schools and daycare centers.”
One of the alleged victims, Dan Smith, graphically detailed his incident with a local priest when he was a child.
“He would rape me and then say this is what God’s love feels like,” Smith told Los Angeles NBC.
Boucher represents over 500 suspected victims suing the Los Angeles Archdiocese for sexual molestation. The LA Archdiocese reached a $660 million settlement with most of the victims in 2007.
But the archdiocese is being accused of a cover up by letting priests leave the country or hide in rehab until the legal deadline for prosecution runs out.
Evidently the KKK and white supremacists freely blog on Fox News. You would think that the death of pop singer Whitney Houston would give us a chance to think about drug abuse and the pressures of fame, but not loyal Fox Watchers. LGF has documented some of the most insidiously racist remarks I’ve ever seen. Fox obviously doesn’t screen for threats to the President or Haters. I won’t reprint them here but let me tell you, they are JAW Dropping.
There are almost 5000 comments posted in the thread — these are from the first few pages. Notice that the racist bastards deliberately misspell their slurs or insert random spaces, so they aren’t caught by word filters. And many of the worst comments have numerous “likes” from other commenters.
We’ve learned that hatred of women and racial and religious minorities seems to be rampant in this country. What on earth is wrong with people?
“This is an unneeded law,” [Republican state Representative Kyle Jones] said. “If I was to deny one of my employees a break, I would be in a very bad position with the company’s human resources representative. If you consider that this is a very easy law to follow in that everyone already does it, then why do we need it? Our constituents have already proven that they have enough common sense to do this on their own.”
The bill’s sponsor, state representative J.R. Hoell, argued that companies failing to provide lunch breaks would be shamed over social media, thus rendering the law unnecessary. “If they are not letting people have lunch, they could put it out though the news media, though social media. I don’t think that abusive behavior would continue, the way communications are today,” he said.
Yes, job creators should only give you the right to lunch and potty breaks if they want to. And, if you happen to get taken by the bank in mortgage fraud, Scott Walker wants your part of the settlement to help those hapless, persecuted job creators. So, you think the dribs and drabs of that big mortgage settlement are supposed to go to give homeowners some justice right? Not in Wisconsin where Scott Walker intends to put the settlement to other uses. Have they recalled him yet? Yes, it’s from Charles Pierce, so all you New Hampshire folks will just have to cross your legs harder.
But I can’t stay too man for too long because that POS act of absolution has now given us yet another reason to hate Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus now managing the Midwest subsidiary of Koch Industries that once was known as the state of Wisconsin. To hell with your folks now currently underwater in Pewaukee and Frederic and Fond du Lac and the Dells, we’re taking the mortgage-settlement money and using it for our own purposes. Funny, I heard a lot at CPAC about the economic miracle wrought in America’s dairyland by the bold leadership of the goggle-eyed homunculus, and now it turns out there’s a $25.6 million hole in the budget that he has to fill with money earmarked for the people in his state who got swindled? ‘Ees certainly a puzzlement. The Republican AG up there says, of course, that repositioning the money will “create jobs” because that’s what Republicans say these days when they’re up to serious mischief.
However, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) — whose high profile assault on workers’ rights has prompted a recall effort against him — isn’t planning to use the money to help homeowners. Under the terms of the settlement, Wisconsin is set to receive $140 million, $31.6 million of which comes directly to the state government. And Walker is planning to use $25.6 million of that money to help balance his state’s budget:
Of a $31.6 million payment coming directly to the state government, most of that money – $25.6 million – will go to help close a budget shortfall revealed in newly released state projections. [Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen], whose office said he has the legal authority over the money, made the decision in consultation with Walker.
“Just like communities and individuals have been affected, the foreclosure crisis has had an effect on the state of Wisconsin, in terms of unemployment. … This will offset that damage done to the state of Wisconsin,” Walker said.
A memo from Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau released yesterday notes “it is anticipated that Wisconsin will receive $31.6 million. Based on discussions between the Attorney General and the administration, of the amounts received by the state, $25.6 million will be deposited to the general fund as GPR-Earned in 2011-12, and the remaining $6 million will be retained by the Department of Justice to be allocated at a later date.”
A post by your friendly economist just wouldn’t be complete with the la la land, voodoo explanation of what caused the last recession by your favorite idiot Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum thinks the recession was caused by Gas Prices. A mind is a terrible thing to waste unless you never had one to begin with …
On the campaign trail in Colorado this week, however, Santorum offered an even further out there explanation for the crisis. According to the Colorado Independent, Santorum told one crowd that gasoline and oil prices rose so sharply in the build-up to the collapse that they caused Americans to default on their mortgages in droves, thereby triggering the housing crisis that is still acting as a drag on the nation’s economy:
Stressing the importance for the country to provide cheap energy to its citizens, Santorum blamed the recession not on sub-prime mortgages or the derivatives market but on spiking fuel prices.
“We went into a recession in 2008. People forget why. They thought it was a housing bubble. The housing bubble was caused because of a dramatic spike in energy prices that caused the housing bubble to burst,” Santorum told the audience. “People had to pay so much money to air condition and heat their homes or pay for gasoline that they couldn’t pay their mortgage.”
The theory that rising oil prices blew up the housing market exists only in Santorum’s mind. “All The Devils Are Here,” an inside account of the crisis written by Fortune editor and columnist Bethany McLean and New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, doesn’t mention oil or gas prices a single time. New York Times financial reporter Aaron Sorkin’s “Too Big To Fail,” another inside account, never points to oil prices as a factor in the crisis. And the official government report about the crisis, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report, mentions oil prices multiple times as a symptom of the declining economy but never blames rising prices for the collapse of the housing market.
Given the emphasis being placed by former senator Santorum and others on the importance of limiting the possibility for contraception, one wonders what his position is on this proposed amendment. Perhaps he believes that it represents too great an incursion on personal liberty, perhaps because detection of the criminal offense would be so difficult. Perhaps he adopts the argument of St. Thomas, well explicated in Robert George’ss excellent bookMaking Men Moral, that an element of pragmatism is necessary with regard to the pace of that enterprise, that one can’t move too much faster than the (sinning) population is ready for at any given time. But, obviously, this is an argument of tactics rather than of high principle, since presumably “grave moral disorders” ought to be limited as quickly as is reasonably possible, taking into account pragmatic considerations about the receptivity of the population to moral education (and potential coercion). (For what it is worth, I presume that most political liberals, in the loose rather than strict Millian sense, are willing to use state power on occasion to limit at least some “grave moral disorders” like racism or sexism even when one can’t point to an immediate victim of such conduct).
It will, no doubt, be a bit awkward for one of the debate moderators to raise the issue of masturbation after Newt so eloquently denounced all mainstream journalists for expressing any interest in his views of adultery and “open marriage.” But enquiring minds surely want to know more about former senator Santorum and masturbation, especially if one of the two “great” political parties is seriously thinking of foisting him on the nation as its candidate for the oval office and the power to veto legislation and issue administrative rules–not to mention nominating people to the federal judiciary–that comes with it. No one really cares what former governor Romney says because nobody believes that he is trustworthy with regard to anything other than the desire to limit his own taxes (and, of course, satisfy, and beat out, his father by becoming President). But Santorum is different. He actually believes things and seems to read theology.
My question of the day is how far back in time do these guys want to travel? What on earth is next? As far as I can see, all these things wouldn’t stand up in court. Something tells me however, that’s exactly what these guys want because rather than see their obvious problems passing constitutional muster, they can scream “Judicial OVERRREAAACHHHH”. What a bunch of maroons …. too bad we can’t ship them up there to the moon colony with Newt and Calista. Meanwhile, as they say in the Star War Series, May diVorce be with you!!!
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When I volunteered to live-blog the awards shows this year, I could never have imagined I would be writing this round-up in memoriam of Whitney Houston for Grammy night. Via Spin Magazine, Whitney Houston’s Four-Decade History at the Grammy Awards:
Click to go to Spin Mag... Whitney Houston at her first Grammy Awards in 1986. (Photo: Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images)
On February 25, 1986, a 22-year-old Whitney Houston made her first appearance at the Grammy Awards. She’d picked up three nominations for her debut album, 1985’s Whitney Houston, and “Saving All My Love for You” beat tracks by Madonna, Tina Turner, Pat Benatar, and Linda Ronstadt to win Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She took the stage that night in a ruffled red dress with a wall of hair sprayed to attention atop her head, and blew the doors off the Shrine Auditorium as her mother, Cissy Houston, cheered her on. One of our generation’s hugest voices made a stunning debut at Music’s Biggest Night.
It wasn’t scandalous by tabloid standards, but it was a rebellious act for the young women at the Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a small all-girls Catholic high school in New Jersey. Whitney Houston, class of 1981, sometimes wore mismatched socks and rolled up her sleeves.
The mischievous gospel singer would then push the maroon-colored dress code just a bit further. She would “roll up her little skirt, just a little bit above the knees, and wouldn’t care if she got a detention,” said Dr. Maria Pane, who lives in Lutherville and sat next to Houston in high school home room.
A day after the 48-year-old Houston’s unexpected death on Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif., left the music world in mourning, Pane fondly recalled her old school days in Caldwell, N.J., and the unpretentious Houston, whom she described as an “ordinary high school girl, just like all of us.”
1979: Whitney juggled singing with her studies at a Catholic girls school in New Jersey Getty 1979: Whitney spent her teen years accompanying mum Cissy on nightclub tours, occasionally joining her on stage Getty
Secondly–before I turn this over to the comment section for some Grammy live-blogging/OPEN thread–I’d like to leave you with Whitney’s Grammy debut in 1986…
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The discussion about the birth control pill fiasco has boggled my mind. I’ll explain the title toward the end, but let me start with my bogglement. There are whole swathes of blogland who feel that so long as the pills are available, it’s all good. They don’t see a problem with the fact that, as Charles Pierce puts it:
The Church has claimed — and the president has tacitly accepted — the right to deny even its employees of other faiths the health-care services of which it doesn’t approve on strictly doctrinal grounds. That is not an issue of “religious liberty.” That’s the enshrinement of religious thuggery in the secular law.
That’s also a remarkable departure in a country founded on the separation of church and state, a country where as recently as twenty years ago even the most conservative of Supreme Court justices asserted that religious practices cannot conflict with the law of the land. Dakinikat quoted a few days ago:
The free exercise [of religion] clause and its meaning is well established. There is very little ambiguity about what it is and what it is not.
“In 1878, the Supreme Court was first called to interpret the extent of the Free Exercise Clause in Reynolds v. United States, as related to the prosecution of polygamy under federal law. The Supreme Court upheld Reynolds’ conviction for bigamy, deciding that to do otherwise would provide constitutional protection for a gamut of religious beliefs, including those as extreme as human sacrifice.”(1)
The Court stated that “Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious beliefs and opinions, they may with practices.”
“[I]n 2000, the EEOC ruled that employers who failed to include birth control coverage in their prescription healthcare plans were in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That’s because the Civil Rights Act forbids discrimination on the basis of sex. The EEOC allowed no exceptions for religious institutions.
What the Obama Administration has done now is to basically reverse that. They’ve said, “You know what? Never mind. That clause in the Civil Rights Act about discrimination on the basis of sex? Forget it.”
So, yes, the pills will still be there for women who need them. But not because the government says women have the same right as everybody else to make their own decisions about their own health care.
The pills are still there, but not because you have a right to them. It’s because nobody has taken them away yet.
Losing your rights is not a win. Getting birth control pills by the grace of Obama is not a win. Unless you mean a win for him. Now this is something that’s his to bestow … or for those bogeyman Republicans to take away. Or, given Obama’s past actions in non-election years, his to bargain away.
That is why rights are important. Having rights means people who violate them can be held accountable. Receiving dispensations means constantly asking (begging?) for what you need, and tough luck when you don’t get it.
We’ve seen that movie play out in abortion rights. Riverdaughter summarizes:
The same thing happened with abortion. It was merely a few workarounds, a few inconveniences. If you really need an abortion, it will still be there for you. You just need to assuage the consciences of a few religious people. That’s how it started. But how has it ended? In some states, there is only a single provider and women have to risk losing their jobs to get an abortion. It’s no longer just a few workarounds. Now, it’s a major ordeal.
And that progression happened because for too many people it wasn’t about the right to decide your own medical procedures. So long as they still had some kind of escape from forced pregnancy, it was just too difficult to argue about rights. The result is that here we are. Too many people are just glad they can still get birth control pills. Arguing about rights is divisive, difficult, aids and abets Republicans (see above, re “bogeyman”), and time-consuming. And it’s physically nauseating to realize that you’re not a human being in other people’s, including the President’s, mind.
Because the subhuman status of women is an unavoidable consequence of not acknowledging their right to make their own medical decisions. It’s a logical consequence of putting a religion, any belief, ahead of the civil rights of citizens, any citizens.
While our eyes and fury were directed on the birth-control-is-evil crowd and the ludicrous threats of the National Razor coming to a town near
This is Eric Cantor
you, the insider trading bill wended its merry way through Congress. Only a provision in the Senate version of STOCK [Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act] was stripped from the House version. The bill will return to the Senate, and then most likely go into conference committee to iron out differences.
The deletion of the provision is curious since it would have required Washington insiders, those who sell political intelligence to corporate America [financial institutions], to register in advance like any lobbyist, thereby making their identities and purpose transparent.
One senator reacted to the provision’s removal this way:
It’s astonishing and extremely disappointing that the House would fulfill Wall Street’s wishes by killing this provision. The Senate clearly voted to try to shed light on an industry that’s behind the scenes. If the Senate language is too broad, as opponents say, why not propose a solution instead of scrapping the provision altogether? I hope to see a vehicle for meaningful transparency through a House-Senate conference or other means. If Congress delays action, the political intelligence industry will stay in the shadows, just the way Wall Street likes it.
That would be a Democrat complaining, right?
Wrong.
That would be Republican Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa protesting House member Eric Cantor for removing the provision [Grassley’s add on], ultimately making the bill substantially weaker than it could have been.
And ‘political intelligence industry?’ Sounds like something straight out of an Ian Fleming novel. Turns out this shadowy practice is a $100 million industry, employing 2000 people who sneak around Congress to pick up investment tips for Wall Street.
You cannot make this stuff up!
I am a weasel
In any case, it was Eric Cantor who tabled the original effort to suspend insider trading back in December. Also removed was a bipartisan amendment by Senators Patrick Leahy [D VT] and John Cornyn [R TX] made to crack down on officials ‘self-dealing,’ that is, enriching themselves through their positions.
The question is: why the not-so-clever foot dragging on this bill, something that makes perfect sense to the American public? Why ditch Grassley’s provision or the Leahy/Cronyn amendment, which would have added additional teeth?
As in, make it better.
According to initial comments, Cantor claimed the language too broad and the additional provisions ‘needed more study.’ Seems to me the study-until-we-drop reason was cited back in December.
But Cantor did add a touch of his own that would restrict legislators from participating or benefiting from IPOs. This addition quickly became tagged the ‘Pelosi provision,’ inspired by the suggestion that Pelosi’s husband had taken advantage of insider information when he bought into a VISA public offering, making a tidy profit [230% increase, by some accounts]. Pelosi has denied this accusation, insisting that her husband’s buys were directed by a traditional Wells Fargo broker.
Wish my broker was that good!
I am a happy weasel
Cheap political tricks and posturing happen all too frequently but why would Cantor be so adamant in weakening a bill the public and a surprising number of Congressional members favor?
Republic Report suggests we look at Cantor’s history, specifically the issue of mortgage cram down in 2009.
Eric Cantor led the Republican refusal to consider the mortgage cramdown proposals in 2009, a measure that would have permitted homeowners to negotiate lower interest rates and avoid foreclosure. However, what was not common knowledge [see Open Secrets. org] was that Cantor’s personal wealth was heavily involved in the mortgage industry itself. From RR:
Cantor invested in several mortgage banks, and owned a portion of a Cantor-family run mortgage company. According to Cantor’s 2009 personal disclosure, Cantor owned up to a $500,000 share of a mortgage company called TrustMor run by his brother.
While Cantor blocked a fix to the foreclosure crisis, his wife Diane Cantor served as the managing director of a bank with a high foreclosure rate. Diane Cantor at the time worked as a managing director to New York Private Bank & Trust, a major mortgage bank and TARP recipient. SNL Financial reported that Cantor’s bank was among the top three banks in the mortgage business “with thegreatest percentage of family loans in the foreclosure process.
There was also the dustup during the debt ceiling debate last year when a revealed fund Cantor was invested in, stood to make a sizeable profit if the US actually defaulted on its debt. If the country tanked, Cantor stood to win.
Such loyalty!
Personally, I liked Cantor’s chest thumping after wicked storms savaged the South and East Coast last spring [my house and property suffered nearly $20,000 in damages with 1600+lbs of debris dragged from the front and back yard]. For his Tea Party audience, Cantor tried bucking disaster relief until expenses [like unemployment checks and food stamps] were cut elsewhere. But then amazingly, Cantor made a sharp pivot and complained FEMA was far too slow in addressing damage relief in his own Virginia district.
Consistency is a beautiful thing!
So, we have the Pelosi Provision and the Cantor Cartwheel, anything to stall a DC scrub down, the disinfectant treatment that the American public demands [at the very minimum] from their representatives–abiding by the laws, standards and a sense of ‘doing the right thing.’ You know, those principles that presumably apply to everyone.
BTW, the Sunlight Foundation has provided the House/Cantor Version of the STOCK bill with edits [strikeouts] included. Most instructive!
Don’t you love the Internet??? Bet Cartwheel Cantor doesn’t.
I am a warrior weasel
And though I would have nominated Eric Cantor for Sellout of the Week, Republic Report has chosen President Obama, primarily based on his recent decision to embrace Super PAC money [though I suspect we could all come up with other examples]. However, the President opened himself up to this chastising because he warned about unlimited campaign spending in 2008:
Let me be clear — this isn’t just about ending the failed policies of the Bush years; it’s about ending the failed system in Washington that produces those policies. For far too long, through both Democratic and Republican administrations, Washington has allowed Wall Street to use lobbyists and campaign contributions to rig the system and get its way, no matter what it costs ordinary Americans.
That was then, this is now.
Did you know that one of the collective nouns used to describe a group of weasels is . . . SNEAK. How perfect is that?
We are all well-heeled weasels
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The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.
You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.
Her death is of unknown causes at this time.
peej
Carissa
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
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skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Monday Reads: Lots of Outrage to Pass Around
Posted: February 13, 2012 | Author: dakinikat | Filed under: morning reads | Tags: New Hampshire removes labor laws, pedophila priesthood, racist Fox comments, Santorum and voodoo economics, Scott Walk steals mortgage settlement money | 56 CommentsI had thought about writing about all the incredibly outrageous things happening at the CPAC hatefest this weekend but figured it would take me more time than I wanted to spend in crazy land. No matter what they say, they do not want to conserve anything and they really seem to hate the constitution. Maybe I will work on something later this week. Besides, searching the usual news sources brought me enough outrage to fill the morning reads. Take a sip of coffee and prepare to be drop your jaw a few times.
Just when you think the Red Beanie set can’t ignore our laws and constitution any more than they already have, you find this one. A rapist priest told his victim that sexual assault is basically how god’s love feels. Watch the story from an NBC affiliate in Los Angeles and feel heartsick and mad simultaneously. Yes folks, these are the zygote zealots who are so concerned about the sanctity of sperm and egg as to hope the US government will outlaw birth control. It seems that little boys are just priestly love receptacles the way women are sperm storage units.
Evidently the KKK and white supremacists freely blog on Fox News. You would think that the death of pop singer Whitney Houston would give us a chance to think about drug abuse and the pressures of fame, but not loyal Fox Watchers. LGF has documented some of the most insidiously racist remarks I’ve ever seen. Fox obviously doesn’t screen for threats to the President or Haters. I won’t reprint them here but let me tell you, they are JAW Dropping.
We’ve learned that hatred of women and racial and religious minorities seems to be rampant in this country. What on earth is wrong with people?
If you live in New Hampshire, I hope you don’t work and need to eat. Think all those labor laws giving you time to eat and go to the bathroom are reasonable and unlikely to disappear? Think again. Just hold it in and starve if these Republicans get their law passed.
Yes, job creators should only give you the right to lunch and potty breaks if they want to. And, if you happen to get taken by the bank in mortgage fraud, Scott Walker wants your part of the settlement to help those hapless, persecuted job creators. So, you think the dribs and drabs of that big mortgage settlement are supposed to go to give homeowners some justice right? Not in Wisconsin where Scott Walker intends to put the settlement to other uses. Have they recalled him yet? Yes, it’s from Charles Pierce, so all you New Hampshire folks will just have to cross your legs harder.
Think Progress has the less glib explanation.
A post by your friendly economist just wouldn’t be complete with the la la land, voodoo explanation of what caused the last recession by your favorite idiot Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum thinks the recession was caused by Gas Prices. A mind is a terrible thing to waste unless you never had one to begin with …
I would say that the man just says what ever dribbles from the top of his mind if I thought he had one. So enough of serious economic issues. What exactly does Rick Santorum think of masturbation? Does he make certain that every sacred sperm winds up in the Santorum approved location?
My question of the day is how far back in time do these guys want to travel? What on earth is next? As far as I can see, all these things wouldn’t stand up in court. Something tells me however, that’s exactly what these guys want because rather than see their obvious problems passing constitutional muster, they can scream “Judicial OVERRREAAACHHHH”. What a bunch of maroons …. too bad we can’t ship them up there to the moon colony with Newt and Calista. Meanwhile, as they say in the Star War Series, May diVorce be with you!!!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
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