Really hope this isn't a trend

Michele Bachmann Gets Defensive After Farting in Elevator // Current:

"SAINT PAUL, MN - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is in hot water today after reports surfaced that she farted in a crowded mall elevator and refused to apologize. Bachmann was exiting an impromptu anti-Obamacare speech at the Maplewood Mall Talbots Wednesday afternoon, when she boarded an elevator and, as one witness described, “let one go.”"

We already have The Onion.

This is stupid.

Please tell me that this isn't what we have to expect from KO in the future.

on our standing in the world

Ingrown: "The fucktardian right wing is overtly fond of accusing Obama of apologizing for America. They refuse to acknowledge the we’ve been the biggest dick on the world block for decades. We’ve literally killed millions around the world in pursuit of dominance for our corporations and the military industrial complex. Truth is, we owe an apology. We actually owe, *gasp*, reparations. If only we could see ourselves in that mirror. A mirror that is opaque for so many Americans because so many are so blissfully unaware of what we’ve been up to and so many more are so willfully ignorant."

Georgia should lead South in vehicles running on natural gas | ajc.com

Georgia should lead South in vehicles running on natural gas | ajc.com: "When gas hits $5 per gallon, I’ll have to put a padlock on my garage to keep people from taking my CNG Honda Civic. My 1999 Civic GX runs exclusively on compressed natural gas — the same stuff that heats many homes in Georgia. I believe Georgia can lead the South in making CNG a realistic alternative fuel in both trucks and cars. When it happens, there are three great possibilities we can experience."

matisyahu on Drake

Kosher beef between two rappers – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs: "'Drake is pretty good, man. He's got his thing but it's different than what I do. It's a different type of thing. As an MC, he's got me,' he told TMZ. But he adds, 'He doesn't have the reggae thing that I've got.'"

Foster's Pigford Piece

Pigford’s Harvest - Daniel Foster - National Review Online: "One unhappy night in 1992, 40-year-old Timothy Pigford, a fourth-generation black farmer having a terrible time of it trying to grow soybeans in North Carolina, sat in the living room of the house he was barely holding on to and drew up the outline of a lawsuit against the federal government. It was a decision more than 15 years in coming, ever since the first of the many times he’d been denied a USDA loan because — he was convinced — of the color of his skin. Before all was said and done, he would spend 20 years of his life trying to convince government officials, members of Congress, judges, and even the president that the USDA had ruined him even as it had given similarly situated whites the credit and support they needed to thrive as farmers. He’d go bankrupt in the process — losing his farmland, his home, and the 1990 Toyota he would put 350,000 miles on traveling up I-95 to Washington to press his case — while his relationship with his wife and two teenage sons would be stressed to the breaking point."

Conor Friedersdorf is indeed a hack

Balloon Juice » Useful Idiocy in Action: "The main thing you need to know about that defense is that, at many key points, Foster cites either Andrew Breitbart or Breitbart’s helper, Lee Stranahan, for factual evidence. He many have done independent reporting on his own, but when it comes down to the important facts, he’s citing a person Conor has acknowledged that he can’t trust. But Conor’s more than willing to pimp Breitbart’s story through an intermediary. How is that anything but useful idiocy?"

BioGas

Clean Burning, Recycled Natural Gas: "Georgia Natural Gas® (GNG) is proud to be Georgia's first and only gas marketer to obtain recycled natural gas from a landfill. We're using a waste material as a clean-burning resource for Georgia. By turning trash into gas, you might say we've found a way for the landfill to give consumers something for a change. And you can do your part, just by being our customer. Isn't that refreshing? To celebrate, GNG is offering your choice of $60 in bill credits† or a 10¢ per-therm discount for a full year† to qualified new customers."

Sexiest Jobs of 2011 Require Flair With Fraud: Susan Antilla - Bloomberg

Sexiest Jobs of 2011 Require Flair With Fraud: Susan Antilla - Bloomberg: "“This is a perfect time if you want to be a crook,” says Joseph Borg, the 16-year veteran securities regulator who runs the Alabama Securities Commission. Borg, who has seen his share of creepy wrongdoers, doesn’t mean just any kind of crook, of course. He’s talking about lawbreakers who sweet-talk investors out of their money with everything from misleading products and promises to bogus tax shelters, real estate pools and Ponzi schemes."

The GOP Hates Women

Defunding Planned Parenthood: It’s Official. The GOP Hates Women. | Angry Black Lady Chronicles: "Certainly, there are plenty socially conscious Republicans Whatevers out there. I am friends with some of them. But this GOP — this steaming pile of human entrails — is so repugnant to everything that I believe in and stand for, both intellectually and as a matter of politics, that I am no longer mincing words.

Republicans hate women"

The GOP and the Anti-Sex League

Watching them defund Planned Parenthood has reinforced my belief that the GOP would be very much in favor of there being an organization like the Anti-Sex League

Vacation Blogging

I am about to go on my first real family type vacation in many years. Who knows, maybe I will find something to write about.

Current plan is a bit of a driving tour of

• Savannah, Ga
• St Augustine, FL
• Orlando, FL

with some time watching the space shuttle Discovery's last launch.

Any pointers on places that are "must see" in those areas would be appreciated. No, we are not going to Disney. 

Politico Commenter of the day

John Boehner: President Obama was 'elected to lead' - Jennifer Epstein - POLITICO.com: "Dear Mr. Speaker, it was YOU and YOUR PARTY who made deficit-cutting the No. 1 prioriuty (as opposed to creating jobs). Don't blame the president for NOT TAKING THE LEAD on your priority. If you and the Baggers want to cut hard-working Americans' Social Security and Medicare benefits, have at it. But don't expect Obama and the Democrats to do it for you. After all, during the national healthcare debate it was YOU and YOUR PARTY who demagogued Obama and the Dems for cutting Medicare -- and you promised to protect seniors. What happened?"

On Miley Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus says the devil and David Lynch destroyed his family | TV | Newswire | The A.V. Club: "Of course, Cyrus believes there may be a bigger monster at play here than Disney: He relates an anecdote about how the Cyrus clan—fresh from a group baptism in their wholesome hometown of Franklin, Tennessee—arrived in Hollywood and immediately came across a sign on the Los Angeles freeway that read, “ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY, ATHEISTS UNITED.” In Cyrus’ words, it was “a physical sign. It could have easily said 'You will now be attacked by Satan.' 'Entering this industry, you are now on the highway to darkness.’” As to whether he thinks that means his family is now under the crooked thumb of Old Scratch himself, Cyrus says, “I think we are right now. No doubt. There's no doubt about it,” adding, “There has always been a battle between good and evil.”"

Cavs beat Lakes - giggle

Rock Bottom: Where do the Lakers go from here? - Los Angeles Lakers Blog - ESPN Los Angeles: "But in a season already marred with more losses against sub-.500 teams than in all of 2009-10, with only two wins in eight tries against the NBA's top five squads, nothing papers over Wednesday's 104-99 loss to a Cavaliers squad that entering the game had dropped 37 of its previous 39 games, including a 55-point loss to the Lakers at Staples Center. Even the most purple and gold of Pollyannas probably were throwing shoes through their flatscreens."

On Friends and Enemies and Facebook

Why Cutting Spending Will be hard

David Sirota: Idiocracy By the Numbers: New Data Show Many Americans Have No Idea They Receive Government Benefits: "According to new data crunched by Cornell University's Suzanne Mettler, large numbers of Americans who receive benefits from government social programs nonetheless tell pollsters they 'have not used a government social program.' And when I mean large, I mean large. For example, a majority of those who have received federally subsidized student loans, 44 percent of Social Security beneficiaries and 40 percent of G.I. bill recipients say they have not used a government social program."

on marriage?

Tracy McMillan: Why You're Not Married: "The bottom line is that marriage is just a long-term opportunity to practice loving someone even when they don't deserve it. Because most of the time, your messy, farting, macaroni-and-cheese eating man will not be doing what you want him to. But as you give him love anyway -- because you have made up your mind to transform yourself into a person who is practicing being kind, deep, virtuous, truthful, giving, and most of all, accepting of your own dear self -- you will find that you will experience the very thing you wanted all along:"

A Wise Person once Said

Life is too precious to not seize the moment and tell the people who really deserve it to go fuck themselves.

The GOP Problem with the budget

Eat The Future - NYTimes.com: "The moral is clear. Republicans don’t have a mandate to cut spending; they have a mandate to repeal the laws of arithmetic"

No Ads, No applicants, wait, what?

Kentucky Employers Claim They Can't Find Workers, Must Hire Illegal Immigrants | MyFDL: "That’s why no Caucasian or African American has applied for their jobs: they aren’t advertising openings, and for a reason. . . .

What these *#%&$ employers want in the way of physical laborers are people who can’t read and won’t cost them a posting in either the local newspaper or a jobs board and ultimately won’t make any demands about hours, working conditions or a living wage out of fear of being deported. It’s the cheapskate, tightwad attitude of these employers which increases demand for illegal immigrants while Americans are out of work."

Small plane lands on Ga. 400 in Dawson County

Small plane lands on Ga. 400 in Dawson County | ajc.com: "Patti Adams, a witness to the incident, said the southbound plane landed on its belly in the intersection of Dawson Forest Road and Ga. 400, then slid into the grassy median. Although there was traffic at the time, there were no vehicles on Ga. 400 southbound at the time, Adams said."

On the CEO as President

Puncturing the Myth of the CEO President : Dispatches from the Culture Wars: "For starters, the president can't tell senators or representatives how to vote. When Bain Capital bought a beleaguered company, Romney and his cohorts would come in and do whatever they thought necessary to make it possible to resell the company for a huge profit in a year or two, and nobody had the power to stop them from executing their decisions. In corporate America, you follow orders or you get fired. There is no such thing as a filibuster, or a secret hold that prevents the CEO from appointing his or her own pick to a crucial position. Perhaps the single most frustrating thing that any business leader will discover very quickly after moving into the Oval Office is that on the most important issues, your power to make your will manifest is extremely limited."

I sometimes wish 9/11 truthers were right

If folks like this were right  it would make Pam Geller's head explode.

Awww Puppies and happy endings

Puppy-napping caper has tail-wagging ending | News | Lakeland News: "Orlando, Florida - Squeals of joy and plenty of ear-scratching greeted a puppy in Orlando Friday afternoon. It was the happy ending to a puppy-napping case that had Lakeland Police detectives working with dogged determination."

Via Bon the Geek over at Zandar's place

On Scientific Literacy

Over at Zandar Versus The Stupid, Bon is surprised by a poll that shows 29% of Russians believed humans and dinosaurs cohabitated.

I was not surprised since Gallup recently let us know that 40% of Americans think the same way.

Stupidity is a world wide problem

Video - Jeff Beck and Joss Stone - People Get Ready

Wherein Conor Friedersdorf wishes for a better world

The Pigford Case, And How To Talk About It - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan: "Had the federal government discriminated for years against black farmers, however, then paid them off efficiently and without fraud, the vast majority of people in the conservative movement – and most of America along with them – would've ignored the whole Pigford matter entirely."

I keep trying to stop talking about Conor but he is a smart person who keeps saying such incredibly stupid things that I can't help myself. Conor is an obviously intelligent man, well read and with a great way with words. Unfortunately he seems to live in a world that is different than the one that you and I inhabit. Could anyone that has paid attention to the way that the conservative noise machine works seriously believe the statement quoted above?

US keeping an eye on Egypt

WOMEN'S LENS - Un coup d'oeil féminin: Les Etats Unis placent les bases militaires egyptiennes sous surveillance: "Le Pentagone a place sous surveillance satellitaire toutes les bases militaires egyptiennes, a-t-on appris de sources diplomatiques au Caire."

Not really shocking

My new favorite restaurant

Hash House a go go - Twisted Farm Food - Breakfast Lunch Dinner: "BREAKFAST BRUNCH LUNCH DINNER
Crispy 18oz Indiana Hand Hammered Pork Tenderloin Benedict.
Fresh split biscuit crowned with market yellow tomato, fresh spinach, bar b' que cream, basted eggs."

John Boehner not against gay marriage!

Boehner: Obama born in U.S., but OK to think otherwise - CTV News: "Asked why he doesn't speak against such perceptions, Boehner says it's not his job to tell Americans what to think."

I guess that means he will soon come out as neutral on gay marriage, abortion rights and many other so-called wedge issues.

happy days!

Oh fuck Off

Trying to Hold Down Blue Language on a Red-Letter Day - NYTimes.com: "Commissioners also gave Lott Middle School students $5,000, which will finance an assembly featuring McKay Hatch, a California teenager who founded a nationwide No Cussing Club in 2007 as a way to get an entire expletive-loving nation to stop using profanity.

“I know children who grow up in homes where profanity is as prevalent as English,” said Merceria Ludgood, the County Commission member whose district includes Lott Middle School in this small town north of Mobile.

“The small issue is cussing,” Ms. Ludgood said. “The larger issue is civility. As a nation, we have gotten meaner.”"

Sherrod Sues Breitbart - Yay!

Sherrod Sues Breitbart For Damaged Reputation | Media Matters for America: "Blogger Andrew Breitbart has been sued by former U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod who contends her reputation was damaged by Breitbart's posting last year of an edited video.

The New York Times reports today Breitbart was served with the lawsuit at CPAC Saturday. Sherrod contends in the suit that a video clip he posted last year 'has damaged her reputation and prevented her from continuing her work"

Ottawa SuperEx Cancelled for this Summer

Ottawa SuperEx Cancelled for this Summer: "Directors of the Ottawa SuperEx have cancelled this year's event because they could not find a suitable location in time. The Ex was bumped out of Lansdowne Park after last year's show because of redevelopment plans for Lansdowne. Then the Ottawa South location proved too expensive because it lacks infrastructure services. The board says it hopes to resume the new fair in 2012."

On banishing e-readers from cafes

Some Cafes Bar the Door to Kindles and iPads - NYTimes.com: "As for the fancy tech-unfriendly cafes that shut out writers and readers like infidels in Ottoman times, maybe they should just style themselves as restaurants, with tablecloths, silverware and full service. If you have to bus your own table, history teaches, you’re in a cafe — and you can read and write what you want."

Bilibot - my new hobby upcoming?

About The Bilibot Project | The Bilibot Project: "The only problem is, most people who want robots don't know where to start, or what to get. Bilibot (from the German word 'billig', or cheap) aims to address this problem. Using all open source software, a Bilibot consists of:
* the cheapest, most powerful computer we can put together
* a robotic base, like a Roomba, or the iRobot create
* a Kinect sensor
* mounting hardware to put it all together
* the ROS Robotic Operating system, with research contributions from roboticists all over the world!"

A Krugman commenter gets it right

Structural Impediment - NYTimes.com: "The solution to people like Prosser is not to replace them with people who are more committed to putting reserves in banks or raising an imaginary inflation target, but to bypass them and increase demand with fiscal policy, or to invent some new instrument of monetary policy which actually does increase demand."

Bill O'Reilly and Scientific Knowledge - the Sequel

Speechless

“Reasonable” People — The League of Ordinary Gentlemen:

"Likewise, I do not see how it is the mark of an inherently unreasonable person to trust his interpretation of a holy book over the product of the scientific method. Faith is experienced, and it is experienced personally in different ways by different people of different religions. The scientific method, for the most part, is not experienced in recognizable ways by many people. Would only someone who is inherently unreasonable trust their faith as actually experienced by them over a product of the scientific method?"

I think that this shows the problem with a particular kind of mindset. I am glad that the author calls it laziness because that is precisely what it is.

Yglesias Gets this just right

Yglesias » Tyranny Response Team: "And more to the point, it would have been overwhelmingly counterproductive for Egyptian protestors to take up arms and start trying to go head to head with the state’s security forces. Everyone would have gotten killed and the chances for a happy outcome would be much bleaker than they are today."

Zoe Pollock gets it wrong

Sim City Moms Stay Home - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan: "Monica Potts comes to terms with the latent conservative within her when she plays video games:"

This is her latent oligarch that she describes, it is somewhat different than being a conservative.

Can someone explain to me how conservatism and being a greedy asshole became synonymous? They don't even bother with the concept of noblesse oblige anymore. It is all "I have mine, now go fuck yourself".

Interesting phone call

Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community: "The officials said the hardest of those conversations came on Tuesday, Feb. 1, barely an hour after Mr. Mubarak announced he would not run for president again. In Mr. Obama’s view, Mr. Mubarak still had not gone far enough. Describing the conversation, one senior official quoted Mr. Obama as telling the Egyptian president, “It is time to present to the people of Egypt its next government.” He added, “The future of your country is at stake.”

Mr. Mubarak replied, “Let’s talk in the next three or four days.” He added, “And when we talk, you will find that I was right.” The two men never talked again."

Single-wing Politics

Single-wing Politics : Lawyers, Guns & Money:

"This Bob Herbert column makes a number of points that seem, to anyone ever-so slightly to the left of, say, Barack Obama, unexceptionable to the point of banality. That’s not a criticism: as Orwell remarked, “sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.” Pointing out that the United States has become an unapologetic plutocracy, in which The Money Party buys whatever legislation it favors and orders a well-compensated hit on any initiative it dislikes, is an example of fulfilling that obligation."

via whiskey Fire

Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus:

"Although the tree octopus is not officially listed on the Endangered Species List, we feel that it should be added since its numbers are at a critically low level for its breeding needs. The reasons for this dire situation include: decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water which it needs for spawning; predation by foreign species such as house cats; and booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle and sasquatch. What few that make it to the Canal are further hampered in their reproduction by the growing problem of pollution from farming and residential run-off. Unless immediate action is taken to protect this species and its habitat, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus will be but a memory."

This is very important, although not for the reason that you might think