Meanwhile, back in Iraq, our troops are fainting and vomiting because they cannot get enough water.
Dick and Rush, the masters of hate, deception and lies don't care about the troops. They have no clue about such suffering because both begged to be bailed out of military service during a mandatory draft.
Former aide to Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson knows all about draft evading Cheney. Wilkerson tells Cheney to shut up and go away.
10:19: Senator Leahy: this is one of most important hearings Judiciary Committee this year. OLC wrote predetermined and premeditated legal opinions that authorized torture. That OLC so misused its authority is one of the fundamental breakdowns in the rule of law. Leahy describes the latest memos' horrors. Leahy cites American exceptionalism and hypocrisy: we would never permit these techniques against Americans. Cites idea that president is above the law. In this country no one is above the law. Leahy still wants a "bipartisan commission." Two weeks ago, Leahy says, he invited Judge Jay Bybee to come testify. Leahy "wishes" he would. (Doesn't this committee have the power of subpoena and the power of inherent contempt?)
He had some great lines throughout the speech, and ends with strong remarks for the newspaper industry.
Comedian Wanda Sykes was the one with the real zingers, though -- including a total and utter demolition of Rush Limbaugh. I've posted over five minutes of highlights from her below the fold. Our thanks to DailyKosTV for the clips and the ability to embed them on our site.
Shane Murphy, second-in-command aboard the ship seized by Somali pirates this month, is happy to be home. But he's not happy to be sharing turf with land-lubber Rush Limbaugh, who politicized the pirate affair by referring to the pirates as "black teenagers."
It feels great to be home," said Murphy in an interview with WCBV in Boston. "It feels like everyone around here has my back, with the exception of Rush Limbaugh, who is trying to make this into a race issue...that's disgusting."
Limbaugh made the remark to suggest why President obama might have appeared preoccupied at church on the day of the operation to rescue the ship's captain, who was taken hostage by the pirates until Navy SEAL snipers shot them in a daring rescue effort.
"He was worried about the order he had given to wipe out three teenagers on the high seas," Limbaugh said. "Black Muslim teenagers."
"You gotta get with us or against us here, Rush," Murphy said. "The president did the right thing...It's a war.... It's about good versus evil. And what you said is evil. It's hate speech. I won't tolerate it."
I don't have the bandwidth to deal with the idiocy of Rush Limbaugh on a daily basis. But just remember -- Limbaugh, and his supporters are the folks that Rick Perry is pandering to on a daily basis. They are the people that decide who runs our state...until we make them irrelevant by winning statewide.
How do Austinites feel about Conservative Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh moving to Austin, TX?
According to the Austin American-Statesman, Sun., April 12th, 09':
Gov. Rick Perry told the Dallas Morning News that he plans to invite the controversial radio host to move to Texas. Limbaugh has said he's looking for a new second home - he wants to leave New York, where he lives when he's not in Palm Beach, Fl., and he has mentioned Texas as a possibility.
Gov. Rick Perry went on to tell the Dallas Morning News:
I think Austin would be an awesome place for Rush Limbaugh. You know, keep Austin weird.
My Take: I'm on the fence about this. Being a radio talk show host myself, I respect Rush for his talent and the incredible market he has won over his 20+ year career. Having him in Austin, TX might make for some interesting discussions and debates. I welcome that. And overall, I don't take him too serious. I consider Rush to be mostly info-tainment and a lot more bark than bite lately. But since I don't agree with him on most of his policies or the way he goes about attacking others that he doesn't agree with, I'm concerned that his polarizing influence and his do-almost-anything-to-win behavior will hurt a city that has already lost most of its soul.
My favorite Rush quote (great comic relief) "Consensus is the absence of leadership".
In October of last year, I also remember Rush saying that Obama is endorsed by terrorists. Classic Rush!
Lately we have been hearing a lot of squawking and screeching emanating from the conservative right wing about a revolution.
This is rather perplexing given that we recently had an election in which the elected President won rather substantially without the need for voter caging, voter suppression, election fraud, recounts, recount shut downs, lawsuits and the Supreme Court. Nor was it necessary to bring in the likes of a Swift Boat attack machine and a corrupted Secretary of State (R-OH) to deliver a win in a razor thin, close election.
And despite all of the problems we face in these dire and stressful times the President's approval ratings remain in the 60's. Today it is at 67%. Today an ABC/Washington Post poll also reveals 65% trust President Obama to handle relations with Muslim nations.
So, what is the problem? Why is a revolution necessary now?
Markos Moulitsas ("Kos") founder of Daily Kos recently observed that his two year old daughter had reached a Republican stage in her development because the majority her vocabulary consisted of two words: "NO!" and "MINE!"
Indeed. At least Markos understands that his two year old will grow out of her stubborn and selfish phase.
But those of us who live in Republican run states do not have the luxury of believing in or hoping for the evolution of maturity where our childlike NO! and MINE! lawmakers are concerned.
According to a source cited over at Daily Kos Kay Bailey Hutchison will not give up her U.S. Senate seat while running for governor.
Please pour yourselves a little glass of your preferred beverage of relaxation, get out the popcorn, if you like, sit back and enjoy the show.
First, the ground rules: Jackass awards are not exclusive to the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh or propagandists for right wing and conservative thought. A jackass is viewed as one who is either arrogant or stupid enough to believe he/she can get away with fooling, lying to and/or willfully misleading others. In other words, any person who holds a position of influence whether one is a politician, elected official, community, or business leader, and this includes all media pundits, anchors and spokespersons for all of the above, who arrogantly or stupidly insults the intelligence of those they do, or hope to influence, is a jackass.
A jackass is also one who refuses to accept or lies about certain realities such as:
The simplest explanation for why America's reality got so distorted is the economic imbalance that Barack Obama now wants to remedy with policies that his critics deride as "socialist" ("fascist" can't be far behind): the obscene widening of income inequality between the very rich and everyone else since the 1970s. "There is something wrong when we allow the playing field to be tilted so far in the favor of so few," the president said in his budget message. He was calling for fundamental fairness, not class warfare. America hasn't seen such gaping inequality since the Gilded Age and 1920s boom that preceded the Great Depression.
This inequity was compounded by Bush tax policy and by lawmakers and regulators of both parties who enabled and protected the banking scam artists who fled with their bonuses and left us holding the toxic remains. The fantasy of easy money at the top of the economic pyramid trickled down to the masses, who piled up debt by leveraging their homes much as their '20s predecessors once floated stock purchases "on margin." Our culture, meanwhile, painted halos over celebrity C.E.O.'s, turning the fundamentalist gospel of the market into a national religion that further accelerated the country's wholesale flight from reality.
Finally, a jackass is also one who wants to revert to the same old failed and stupid policies that got us into this economic meltdown in the first place.
Big John Cornyn has sent out a petition declaring "outrage" that sensible patriotic people would denounce the leader of the Grand Ole' Party, Rush Limbaugh, for hoping that President Obama and our country fails.
You can read the text of the letter Cornyn sent out by clicking here.
I find it truly amazing and downright pathetic how quick Republicans are bowing before the feet of their leader, Rush Limbaugh. It is truly an indictment on how out of touch, and frankly, out of control the Republican Party really is.
Having said that, why isn't this "outrage" directed at people like Rush Limbaugh instead of in support of him? Texans are demanding action and are in need of real leadership and real economic relief. Just today it was announced that the unemployment rate in Texas jumped to 6.4% and over 75,000 jobs were lost in January of this year. Cornyn's good friend Rick Perry has waffled back and forth on whether or not to utilize some, all, or none of the economic stimulus that President Obama and the majority of congress have provided to the states for relief. Much of those funds would help states maintain unemployment benefits, which would empower state governments to help their citizens to weather this economic storm. I'm sure that over 75,000 newly unemployed Texans would appreciate a little "outrage" at the fact that any American would hope for the failure of not only our country, but the Lone Star State as well.
Cornyn, Perry, and Limbaugh would much rather see our state, our country, and the American people fail versus taking action and delivering real economic relief at a time when it is needed most. Direct your "outrage" to Senator Cornyn that he chooses to defend a Party ideologue who wants our country, and our state, to fail. Let Senator Cornyn know that defending Rush Limbaugh doesn't help Texas to weather this economic storm. Let Big John know that Rush Limbaugh doesn't speak for you.
Local Austin Right-Wing Hate Radio DJ Adopts Sen. Joseph McCarthy Language.
No longer is the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy's language used only by the major hate-radio DJ's like Rush Limbaugh. This past weekend, Austin's local Right-Wing hack DJ on 590AM KLBJ Radio, Kenny Rahmeyer, began referring to the Democratic Party as "The Democrat Party".
According to "The Columbia Guide to Standard American English", "The Proper noun is the name of a major American political party, the Democratic Party. Democrat as an adjective is still sometimes used by some twentieth-century Republicans as a campaign tool but was used with particular virulence by the late Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy..."
It's unfortunate that Kenny and other hate-radio DJ's from 590AM KLBJ hog the microphone with unbalanced and unfair language. I'm on a mission to bring back REAL fairness and REAL balance to radio! These are limited air-waves and we deserve REAL fair and REAL balanced reporting.
You may call Kenny Rahmeyer's station at 512-836-0590 and help him with the proper use of English, i.e "Democratic Party" or email the hate-radio star at Kenny@590klbj.com, or Kenny's producer at Mark@590klbj.com. They'd like to hear our feedback. While you're at it, also ask 590KLBJ Radio why they insist on keeping the station name KLBJ while spending most of their day bashing the Democratic Party over the air!
Using the LBJ name for an anti-Democratic station is the highest of all insults to the LBJ Family and everything LBJ did for Austin, for Texas, and for our country! If they want to spend all day bashing the Democratic party on our airwaves, they should change their station laters from "KLBJ" to "HATE" and call it "unfair and unbalanced".
Best,
David Kobierowski
Winner: Best Radio/Talk News Host 2008, Austin Chronicle
Rush Limbaugh and Clear Channel Communications Lowry Mays, who is McCaul's father-in-law, will host a fundraiser for Mike McCaul in San Antonio next month.
The McCaul campaign is doing its pathetic best to distance McCaul from Limbaugh even though the hate-filled commentator will be raising money for the congressman.
Jack Ladd, McCaul’s campaign spokesman, said, “Just because Rush Limbaugh is attending a fundraiser for Michael doesn’t mean they agree on every issue and we believe Michael’s voting record speaks for itself.”
Asked to name an issue on which they disagree, Ladd repeated, “I think Michael’s voting record speaks for itself.”
Mike McCaul's record does speak for itself. He puts the special interests above the people's interests and continues the pay-to-play politics he learned from Tom DeLay.
