Oof

This is probably not the best way to head into an election season:

"Come on, got any other jokes?" cracked Representative Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, when asked if Obama bargained hard in negotiations with congressional Republicans [on the debt ceiling deal].

..."There was caving this time," said Representative Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat. "Why don't you think there would be caving next time?"

...Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., an Illinois Democrat who has a close relationship with Obama, said the president made "a profound mistake" in signaling to Republicans that programs for the elderly and the poor are on the table for cutting.

"It's clear to us we're going to have to go to the mat for those people -- as we have been doing -- by ourselves and not necessarily with the support of the administration," he said, referring to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security recipients.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. does not just have "a close relationship with Obama"; he was the co-chair (and frequent hit-man) of Obama's '08 presidential campaign. It is profoundly concerning to me as a progressive, and as a voter, when an ally and colleague of Obama's like Jackson is expressing reservations about the president's commitment to defending the social safety net (even taking into consideration the Jackson family's penchant for opportunism and grudgery). Jackson is hardly a one-man choir on this subject, unfortunately.

This Herbert Hoover horseshit has got to stop. I don't want a Republican in the White House—not in the "Obama's doing Bob Dole's presidency" way but in the "one of the scary-ass extremists running for the GOP ticket" way. And I fervently believe that the only way to prevent that is for Obama to move left, not right.

If he keeps ceding ground to the Republicans, he can't complain when voters decide, "Well, hell, if he thinks Republican ideas are so fucking great, we might as well vote in a Republican." Our Democratic president needs to be the alternative.

No one cast a vote for a centrist arbitrator.

FYI

[Warning for zombie-esque allusion to violence.]

The cover of the new issue of New York magazine is terrifying. For about a dozen different reasons. Yiiiiiiiiikes.


Jon Huntsman, please don't eat my face! Or Mitt Romney's face! Or whoever's face you're intending to eat whenever that picture was taken of you making an expression that DEFINITELY says, "I am going to do some face-eating."

It is also a very stupid cover, in addition to being terrifying. The Cain and Abel of American politics? Whut? Shut up.

Olympics 2012 will be held in London, England

Next year, the Olympics 2012 will be held in London, England. Welcoming the world's biggest sports party, England began to clean.

This event will present a unique presentation of sports, culture, business, and other British excellence. 2012 Olympics will also be a symbol of dynamism and diversity of the United Kingdom.

"One more year to the 2012 London Olympics. We promise to present the extraordinary event for athletes and visitors. We will also welcome the lovers of sports and youth around the world," said British Ambassador Martin Hatfull in Jakarta, Wednesday, July 27, 2011.

On occasion, Hatfull and President of Indonesian Olympic Committee, Rita Subowo open a countdown clock to the 2012 Olympics. This marks exactly one year to the third Olympics that was held in London. Previously, London hosted the Olympics in 1908 and 1948.

"The tradition and modern creativity Britain would have fused into a fantastic experience. We are ready to host a successful Olympic Games in London, a fantastic celebration of sport," said Harfull.

Meanwhile, Rita Subowo congratulated London who is preparing for the Olympics with a maximum. "London's Olympic Preparation Committee should be congratulated on their excellent preparations for the Olympics. Good luck for London, their commitment to the Olympics was incredible," said Rita Subowo.

When asked about the target Indonesian contingent at the 2012 Olympics, Rita said, "In Beijing last, there are 24 athletes from seven branches. For London, we'll lose more than 50 athletes and seven branches. We should maintain only one gold from badminton. We will also try to win a medal from the other branches, although not easy."

Number of the Day

37%: The percentage of House votes Rep. Michele Bachmann has missed since launching her presidential bid, which is "significantly higher than the two other House members running for president."

For the record, that is the sort of issue worth raising about a candidate. As opposed to how much she's spent on hair and make-up.

OFFS

Michele Bachmann's $4,700 Hair and Makeup Bill: "Considering Rep. Michele Bachmann's crusade against government spending and her demand that America live within its means, you wouldn't figure her for a conspicuous spender. But after launching her bid for the White House, Bachmann has broken with her usual frugality and shelled out some serious cash on a stylist in what could be seen as her own John-Edwards'-$400-haircut moment. According to Bachmann's latest campaign finance filings, her campaign spent nearly $4,700 on hair and makeup in the weeks after she entered the presidential race on June 13."

Seriously, Mother Jones?

Do we really have to do this EVERY FUCKING ELECTION? Or just the elections in which women are candidates?

Ahem.

$5,000 is an eminently reasonable amount of money for a woman running for national office to spend on a professional makeover. That's the same amount of money spent on just the clothes on an episode of What Not to Wear.

Do I think it's bullshit that Michele Bachmann, or any female candidate, should have to spend five grand in order to be considered presentable by the unfathomably rigid standards of our youth-, fashion-, and appearance-obsessed culture? Yes. Is that a commentary on Michele Bachmann? No.

That's a commentary on what a profoundly misogynist and body-policing garbage culture it is in which we live.

Holding an individual woman responsible for her conformance to standards created by a systemic oppression is bullshit. And that is not how feminism works.

STOP MAKING ME DEFEND MICHELE BACHMANN.

An Observation

It occurs to me that there would be far fewer obnoxious thread derails on feminist blogs (and this concept applies to all social justice spheres and intersectionalities, with the appropriate adjustments in language) If there weren't so many people who misconstrue:

"If you don't [like/respect/admire/spend time with/consider your equal/appreciate/enjoy talking to/otherwise positively engage with] any women, then you've got a misogyny problem."

to mean:

"If you don't [like/respect/admire/spend time with/consider your equal/appreciate/enjoy talking to/otherwise positively engage with] every woman, then you've got a misogyny problem."

Sometimes, that is a mistake made out of defensiveness by people steeped in unexamined privilege, the sort of reactionary deflection that's the hallmark of careless listening caused by existential panic.

But sometimes—more times, I think—it's a deliberate misconstrual used by fauxgressives who always have an exceptional hatred to offer, in order that they may be assured it's still okay to hate that lady.

All of which is a long way of saying, I estimate we're going to be playing the "Just because I hate Sarah Palin/Michele Bachmann, doesn't mean I hate ALL WOMEN" Mad-Lib around here a lot in the coming months, with people whose engagement of anti-feminist narratives to demean "individual women" suggests otherwise.

Shocking

Judd: "Addressing reports that Bachmann suffers from migraine headaches, Tim Pawlenty told reporters, 'All of the candidates I think are going to have to be able to demonstrate they can do all of the job all of the time. There's no real time off in that job.' There is speculation that the Pawlenty campaign is responsible for pushing the original story about Bachmann's migraines to the Daily Caller."

Mm-hmm.

Let us all take note that Pim Tawlenty doesn't even think he can beat Michele Bachmann on the merits.

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

[Trigger warning for disablism, misogyny.]

The Daily Caller: Stress-related condition 'incapacitates' Bachmann; heavy pill use alleged.

The headline alone is absurd. The article is about how Rep. Michele Bachmann suffers from migraines and takes an assortment of medications to prevent and/or negotiate them. Which is not unusual for people who regularly experience migraines.

The rest of the piece is no better. It's all speculation and second-hand reports and political gamespersonship disguised as concern:

Sources who spoke to The Daily Caller said they did so because they are terrified about the impact the condition could have on Bachmann's performance if she actually became president. They also worry that the issue could blow up in the general election campaign, giving President Obama an easy path to re-election.

"I'm very concerned, but you didn't hear it from me!"—An anonymous source who is for sure code-named Pim Tawlenty.

This will be a story if and when Bachmann's "performance" as a politician and/or candidate shows signs of compromise. (Other than the usual being a garbage politician and garbage candidate for the usual reasons of having a garbage ideology and garbage ethics.) At this point, it's just a hit piece that plays on institutional disablism and misogynist narratives about women crumbling under stress and their bodies (and thus their health) being public property.

I am literally incapable of wanting Michele Bachmann as my president any less than I do at this moment—and yet I still believe that judging whether whether Michele Bachmann is physically up to the job of running for and potentially serving as president is exclusively the purview of Michele Bachmann.

I'm not going to audit her choices or claim to know better what's best for Michele Bachmann than she does, despite the fact that she would not return the favor.

That's not how feminism works, and I am a feminist.

[See also: Dana Goldstein.]

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

Actual Headline: Tim Pawlenty's secret weapon: his wife, Mary.

Actual Passage from the Article:

Usually, Pawlenty explains away his wife's absence on the campaign trail with this quip about her parenting obligations back home in Eagan, Minn.: "I have two teenage daughters. One is 18 and one is 14. They both like boys and one of them drives."

The line always draws a laugh, and Pawlenty always follows up with a promise to bring Mary along next time.

Barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrf.

Fun Fact: Tim Pawlenty once said at a campaign event: "I'm very thankful for my red-hot smoking wife, the first lady of Minnesota."

I've heard that weaponizing a woman can make her red-hot and smoking.

Number of the Day

Zero: The number of shits I give about what church any presidential candidate attends or does not attend.

Obviously, I am interested in their religious views, if and when those religious views intersect with their policy positions, but, beyond that, who cares.

It really doesn't tell us anything that Michele Bachmann is/was a Lutheran, even a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran.

I was raised a Lutheran, a Missouri Synod Lutheran, which is only slightly less conservative than the Wisconsin Synod, and, even though the god-belief didn't really stick, I still believe a lot of the stuff I learned there, like "Treat people the way you want to be treated," a message that doesn't seem to mean much to Rep. Bachmann.

I'm not even the only contributor here who was raised Lutheran and is still very culturally Lutheran in a lot of ways. See also: Eastsidekate and PortlyDyke.

So. Yeah.

What matters isn't what Lutheran church Bachmann does or doesn't attend, in determining her beliefs. People believe what they want to believe, irrespective of what their church doctrine is. Bachmann's behavior and policy positions inform us what her beliefs are.

Garbage.

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

This WaPo profile [trigger warning for virulent gay hatred and misogyny] of GOP presidential wannabe Michele Bachmann (R-Etchinducing) and her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann, Professional Gay-Hater, is one of the most depressing things I've ever read.

They are terrible people with miserable lives who make other people's lives a misery because of their intensely stupid and exhaustively compassionless belief system.

If they weren't such influential assholes, I'd feel sorry for them.

Number of the Day

$18.25 Million: The amount of money raised by Mitt Romney for his presidential bid in the last quarter.

While Romney, whose team now has $12.6 million cash left on hand, is in a strong position, the latest numbers were somewhat below expectations. At this point in 2007, Romney had collected $23 million despite being less established as a top tier candidate. But he's essentially competing against himself at this point: none of his rivals are expected to even crack the $10 million barrier.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has not reported her fundraising numbers yet, has been his closest rival in straw polls, but is not expected to best $18m.

As a result of the several awesome SCOTUS decisions on campaign financing since the last election, 2/3 of Romney's fundraising has come from a single super-PAC, "Restore Our Future, which can collect unlimited corporate donations and raised $12 million this quarter."

So, quite literally, corporations are buying the Republican nomination. And, at this point, they're putting their money on Mitt.

Whoooooooooops

[Trigger warning for racism.]

Texas Governor Rick Perry gets tepid response at Latino convention:

Gov. Rick Perry received a tepid response when he addressed the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials on Thursday, joking about the pronunciation of a Hispanic appointee's last name and frequently staring blankly at the audience when they failed to respond to his conservative applause lines.

...[A] joke about how perfect it was to appoint Jose Cuevas to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission because his name sounds like Jose Cuervo - a brand of tequila - fell flat. Perry struggled to regain his confidence as he described Texas as a land of opportunity.

"You have a role model you can look up to, someone who proves that any obstacle can be overcome," Perry said. "That is especially true for a Hispanic child in Texas."

Obstacles like your governor making fun of your name, you mean? Or obstacles like this:

Democratic Mayor Julian Castro derided the latest legislative session and Perry's emergency bills, as "the most anti-Latino agenda we've seen in more than a generation, without shame."

"Tepid response." Indeed.

LOL FOREVER

If When this whole presidential campaign thing doesn't work out, Newt could probably have a solid career as a stand-up comedian:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Wednesday attributed the mass resignations among his campaign staff to the fact that he is "very different" from mainstream politicians.

"Philosophically, I am very different from normal politicians, and normal consultants found that very hard to deal with," Gingrich said in a speech to the Atlanta Press Club.

"We have big ideas. I just think that's part of how you campaign. You talk to the American people about big things."

Gingrich, a former history professor in Georgia, said 13 of Ronald Reagan's aides quit during his 1980 presidential primary campaign. Reagan went on to win the nomination and the presidency.

"If I had to choose Reaganomics or 13 staffers quitting, I think for the average working American, Reaganomics was a much better deal," Gingrich said, referring to Reagan's policy of cutting taxes and reducing government regulations.

That's a tight three-minute set, right there. Get that brick wall tuckpointed, Budd Friedman, because THE KING OF COMEDY IS READY FOR OPEN MIC NIGHT!

Gingrich Campaign Implosion Continues

So, not only, in addition to his $1 million in campaign debt, does Newt Gingrich have a six-figure tab at Tiffany's, he also has another line of credit at Tiffany's between $500,000 and $1 million.

Sure. Who doesn't?

You know, I don't care how Newt Gingrich spends the money he's earned from insider trading and speaking fees from the American Family Values Children Christian Liberty Freedom Patriot Association Foundation Organization or however he's amassed his vast fortune.

But I do suspect that someone who has multiple lines of credit at Tiffany's worth more than many US voters will earn in their lifetimes is probably not the right person for the job of president at a time when there's a 15.8% unemployment rate.

Number of the Day

$1 million: The reported amount of debt carried by the presidential campaign of Newt Gingrich, whose fundraising advisers resigned today.

"Newt 2012 continues its reorganization and alignment as a grassroots driven, substantive, solutions-oriented campaign," a spokesman, R.C. Hammond, told The Associated Press, adding that the campaign is "as committed as ever."

Whoooooooooooooooops! That is a very bad idea!

[H/T to everyone in the multiverse, and my thanks to each and every one of you!]

Quote of the Day

"I don't, in any way, doubt that there are those who don't feel like progress has been made fast enough. I have no doubt that there are people with particular issues of concern who feel that way. But, at the end of the day, I believe that people are going to be fully engaged when this next election comes, because they'll understand exactly what the stakes are."—David Axelrod, former White House senior adviser, who served as chief strategist for Obama's 2008 campaign and will presumably serve in a similar role in the 2012 campaign.

Looks like the Extortion Fairy is getting busy early this election!

Huntsman Is In

Republican Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah and former ambassador to China, is officially throwing his hat into the blah blah and will call for "broad and bold" changes to tax laws and blah blah and energy independence blah and job creation blahbitty-blah and "hard decisions" fart.

Mark Burnett to Bring “The Bible” Documentary to The History Channel

Big things are happening at The History Channel.

Reality show producer Mark Burnett is developing a new ten hour series about the Bible to air in 2013.

The series will set out to detail the Bible’s stories about Noah's ark, the exodus, the acts of the disciples, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and others.

History Channel President Nancy Dubuc told The Hollywood Reporter,

"This is probably the most important book in mankind, regardless of your beliefs or religious affiliation. This series will bring the historical stories of the Bible to life for a new generation. We spend a lot of time talking about this book, and probably not enough time knowing what's in it.”

Venturing into the world of religion is not new territory for THC, but instead of an investigative approach this series will strive to simply tell the Bible’s stories as we know them.

THC currently has a fair amount of religious fodder including The Naked Archaeologist, The Real Face of Jesus, and Pharaoh’s Lost Treasure, and others. Their series Ancient Almanac has covered topics ranging from King David to Joshua and the walls of Jericho.

But is it wise to let a reality show producer run with this project?

Who is this Mark Burnet guy anyway?

Well, we all know who he is even if we don’t recognize the name.

Burnet is the infamous Executive Producer of such shows as Survivor, Sarah Palin's Alaska, Bully Beatdown, The Contender, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and The Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump.

Add this to the fact that The History Channel already has an impressive portfolio of conspiracy theory type shows dealing with UFO’s, secrets of the Free Masons, the holy grail, secret societies, and black holes - it makes you wonder if Burnett and THC will be able to stay objective.

THC also airs a series by Brad Meltzer called “Decoded” that explores conspiracies with shows titled The President’s Secret Codes, 2012 Apocalypse, Secrets of the Dollar Bill, Apocalypse in Georgia, Secret Societies, Mystic Symbols of the Statue of Liberty, Inside the Illuminati, and his most controversial show attempting to explain the “Bohemian Grove” conspiracy.

We’re not saying it can’t be done, but we’re a little unsure whether Burnett and the History Channel will be able to tell the Bible’s stories without being drawn into the dark mystic unknowns that have made these conspiracy shows so popular.

After all, we don’t think there was a tribal council to vote out the bad Kings of Judea, or some Executive telling a poor carpenter “Your Fired”.

But we’re willing to see what they bring us in 2013 before we pass judgment and call out for the hell fire and burning brimstone to silence the blasphemers.

But in the meantime check out this video, this is the type of crap Burnett will be up against…

Watch Brad Meltzer talk about his Bohemian Grove show for The History Channel


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Hoax - Attack on Earth in Feb 2011

There are predictions that in the month of february 2011 aliens will attack the earth. Well well well. My questions is to nasa, usa, uk , china and many other super power nations scientists and physicists that if this is the case then they should have attacked us a long time back. i mean they are so superior than us. more advance than us. i am sure we live in stone age if compared to them. then why they have to wait.

i guess its a big hoax like many other things. like y2k bug was a hoax as nothing happened to computers. so i am sure this attack thing is also a hoax.

Nothing is going to happen. Just chill.

Read this: Karan Johar Swings