Indefinite Detention? But I Have Soccer Practice at 4: U.S. Politics 2012

It would be so cool if Obama actually wore a hipster fedora.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cqSebcIcKxQ/TPp6MQoYYHI/AAAAAAAABOU/24XGjN-WgQE/s1600/Fly-Guy-600x300.jpg

http://superhumanoids.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/obama_youth_04.jpg

This was posted on the Rush L. thread but thought I'd post it here also:

The GOP’s top megaphone viciously attacked law student and women’s health advocate Sandra Fluke on air.

First he called her a “slut” and a “prostitute.” Then added, “So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives ... We want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

he wants to watch them purchase contraceptives?

The pill, condoms, they're all the same.

viagra...

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/virginia-court-rejects-climate-skeptics-demand-for-records/

The Virginia Supreme Court today ruled that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a climate change skeptic, may not use a Virginia fraud law to obtain from the University of Virginia the private communication records of a professor formerly employed there with an expertise on climate change (who Cuchinelli believes used fraudulent data).

The ACLU of Virginia had filed an amicus brief with the high court arguing that the constitutionally-protected right of academic freedom should prevent Cuccinelli from obtaining the records.

The professor is Michael Mann, an extremely prominent researcher who has been under constant attack ever since he put out the infamous "hockey stick" graph:

http://i40.tinypic.com/20rzep.gif

deniers tried to tear him down (via specious attacks on ethics, character, and underlying research) because the graph is so striking and it (rightfully) scares out of some people. since republicans are so desperate to discredit him, he's been the subject of several investigations - 3 in the U.K., 2 by Penn State, the EPA, the NOAA IG - all of which have found that the allegations against him and his research are unfounded. Anyway, Cuccinelli's attack is just the latest in a series, and I'm sure there will be more.

Just wanted to add a little context because if you only see a tidbit like that and then don't think about it again the rest of the day, the brain works in such a way that the only thing you might remember is "climate researcher...possible fraud...but court won't allow access to records...", when the key thing you should be remembering imo is "celebrated, important climate researcher...deniers /fossil fuel industry / gop out to attack science again, failing yet again...what a bunch of assholes"

I assume Mann's a bajillionaire now, he must really be raking it in with this hoax amirite

i have to admit that mann's hoax goldmine is how i get my own funding as well, along with everyone else that tries to mitigate climate change. BONANZA

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2012/03/detroit_is_the_real_flyover_co.html

Want to bulldoze a stable African-American business district in Detroit for an interstate? The answer: Absolutely, spare no expense! Want to improve Detroit’s public transportation decimated by 50 years of bad federal policy? The answer comes back: WE’RE TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY AND SOMETHING ABOUT THE BLACKS!

The ALL CAPS are intentional because heartland Americans paying AOL bills with their Social Security checks are biologically incapable of discussing politics in lower case on the Internet.

The truth is places like Detroit, New Orleans, and Baltimore are the real flyover country. They are ignored and dismissed as a national burden, while Washington enables rural communities that have long-ago outlived their economic viability.

So you will have to forgive me, Mr. Santorum, if I have no sympathy left for America’s rustics. They already took my money and left my city for dead.

otm

Jerry Brown asks Moonie Times reporter if he is, in fact, a Moonie

Reporter: Gov. Brown, you’ve gotten criticism that you’ve ceded…
Brown: I’ve gotten criticism? Only from the Washington Times…

Reporter: I understand that you’ve gotten some criticism that you’ve ceded way too much to the unions.

Brown: Give me an example.

Reporter: As far as the education, teachers unions, and just as far as some of the contracts that have been negotiated, that you could be making the same mistake that you made in your last administration...

Brown: Which one was that?

Reporter: … Back in the day.  

Brown: When California had a $6-billion surplus and was leading America, if not the world, in many different fields?

Reporter: Well, right now it’s going bankrupt.

Brown: That’s untrue. I’ve reduced the deficit that was left to me by a Republican governor from $26 billion to $9 billion and I have a plan to reduce it to zero.

Reporter: So you’re saying that the reason that California is going bankrupt is...

Brown: No, that’s not true. We’re going far. I mean, we’re doing quite well.

Duran: You need to ask a question that’s based on the truth.

Brown (to Duran): You don’t have to argue with her…

Duran: No, S&P just upgraded to positive. That’s not bankrupt.

Reporter: No, actually, because when Reagan came in later on, things actually changed.

Brown: No, Reagan came before me. Reagan came after my father and then I came after Reagan.

Reporter: And then you actually lost your term thereafter, no?

Brown: No, I’m the only Democratic governor in history to serve three terms. In fact only two governors have ever served a third term.

Reporter: So why is it then, that we’re seeing from the bankruptcy though...

Duran: There is no bankruptcy. That’s a lie. You’re lying.

Brown: California has a $2-trillion economy.

Reporter: Why am I a liar?

Brown: Last year… Are you a Moonie by any chance?

Reporter: Sir…

Duran: And your facts are totally wrong. I can prove it to you.

Brown: Because your incisiveness is kind of suspect. Anyway. California, the economy is doing better, it’s coming back. The private economy added $90 billion, and that feeds into the public sector as well. There are deficits because there’s been excesses in the last decade, brought on principally by the mortgage bubble and breakdown. And we’re now cleaning up after that mess. It does take a while to do that. I’d say we’re on a very positive course. Not as rapid as I would like, but the trajectory is all in the right direction.

Reporter: Thank you, sir.

LOL

The reporter tangled with the wrong moonbeam, I guess...

lol. kinda love Jerry, even tho there has been a lot of harsh shit in his budgets (kinda unavoidable when you can't raise taxes)

Reporter: No, actually, because when Reagan came in later on, things actually changed.
(HAH GOTCHA)

Brown: No, Reagan came before me. Reagan came after my father and then I came after Reagan.

(FFFFFUUUUUUUUU...OKAY OKAY UHHHHMM)
Reporter: And then you actually lost your term thereafter, no?

Brown: No, I’m the only Democratic governor in history to serve three terms. In fact only two governors have ever served a third term.

(WHAT THE FUCK? THREE TERMS? ABORT! Aaaaand EJECT)
Reporter: So why is it then, that we’re seeing from the bankruptcy though...

have a feeling reporter was referring to Reagan presidency and then got confused by Brown referring to Reagan's terms as governor

but perhaps that's being charitable

I think you're right. But the reporter still comes off looking like he/she brought a knife to a gun fight, lol

and a butter knife at that

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/holder-expected-to-explain-rationale-for-targeting-us-citizens-abroad/2012/03/04/gIQACz41qR_story.html?hpid=z2

Greenwald will probably be responding to this for a week or more

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/03/my-forecast-barack-obama-will-be-reelected-and-he-wont-do-much

lol no way he's totally gonna be really liberal in his second term!!

Do rightwingers using that as a scare technique even believe that?

that's really hard to say

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/judges_apology_over_racist_obama_email_honestly_i_dont_know_what_else_i_can_do.php?ref=fpblg

Is this more sincere than Rush's apology?

is anyone thinking that he DID have someone else to blame, or that he WAS blaming someone else?

so, what can you tell me about angus king

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/05/democrats_suddenly_have_a_maine_headache/singleton/

Holder gave his speech this afternoon regarding targeting killing of Americans. Probably not enough detail to satisfy ACLU who want the authorizing memo

that authorization memo is gonna have to come out in open court at some point

OH NOES Rush dropped from his station in Hawaii!

mahalo

Among those condemning Limbaugh on Monday was radio host Don Imus, who lost his radio and TV jobs in 2007 for making insulting remarks about a women’s college basketball team. Said Imus on his morning program: “He owns a Gulfstream 4. Get on it, go to Washington, take her to lunch and say, ‘Look, I’m sorry I said this stuff,’ and never do it again, period. Now, he’s an insincere pig, pill-popping pinhead.”

lol smell blood in the water do ya Don

does rush really own a gulfstream 4??

he owns a 550. "with a color blended specifically for Mr. Limbaugh called Rush Gold"

http://www.werushdaily.com/page/eib-one-in-pictures

He was dropped by a station in Massachusetts as well btw.

so, what can you tell me about angus king

as long as Republican doesn't win the seat - and bring with them all the party allegiances that entails - I don't think there's much to worry about. The vote-splitting thing between King and a Dem nominee would obviously be bad news.

thanks for the update on maine politics shakey mo

lol

yr welcome

that authorization memo is gonna have to come out in open court at some point

― be scientific, douchebag (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, March 5, 2012

You think the ACLU can win on this? I can see courts letting them keep it/them secret. Today, the Washington Post is calling for the White House to release them

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-time-to-release-the-drone-memos/2012/03/05/gIQA7jVXtR_story.html

Greenwald weighs in, of course on Holder's speech, in a lengthy piece. http://www.salon.com/2012/03/06/attorney_general_holder_defends_execution_without_charges/singleton/

Charles Pierce, writing about Holder’s speech, described this best: “a monumental pile of crap that should embarrass every Democrat who ever said an unkind word about John Yoo.”

haha. A classic Greenwald-going-ham post.

You think the ACLU can win on this? I can see courts letting them keep it/them secret.

yeah I think eventually the ACLU will win. it may take a long time (ie decades) tho

there's an imperialist logic to this thing that hasn't been remarked upon much recently, to my knowledge. the phrase 'the world is a battlefield,' said either in favor or against these assassinations and their justification--everybody knows that's not really the whole world. there are not going to be hellfire attacks on islamists in, say, france or thailand or eastern europe or south america. the whole thing rests on there being countries whose own legal and physical powers are so weak that the raw assertion of american power can be seen entirely as an "american" constitutional problem.

consider the sentence "american citizen killed by CIA in yemen;" it's the "american citizen" part that's getting so much attention, but i wonder if "in yemen" isn't really the justification. "come on, the guy went to yemen, he's off the map, what difference does it make?" if you joined al-qaeda but stayed within the geography of the connected world (stayed out of SW asia or the horn of africa basically) you aren't going to have a missile dropped on you. snatched off the street with local cooperation, sure.

i'm tired as fucc so maybe this doesn't make any sense.

press: romney has called you america's most feckless prez since carter. is there anything you'd like to say to him?
b.o.: *pause* "good luck tonight"
*laughter*

ballertime.jpg

ron wyden on holder:

http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=eaf00c44-d49b-4984-a211-fdb375460a1d

For example, the government should explain exactly how much evidence the President needs in order to decide that a particular American is part of a terrorist group. It is also unclear to me whether individual Americans must be given the opportunity to surrender before lethal force is used against them. And I’m particularly concerned that the geographic boundaries of this authority have not been clearly laid out. Based on what I’ve heard so far, I can’t tell whether or not the Justice Department’s legal arguments would allow the President to order intelligence agencies to kill an American inside the United States.

gets at the geographical element i was trying to think about

only if citizen was someplace completely inaccessible, like wyoming.