The Nightowl Newswrap

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 24 April 2012 01:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By BG & YD

Okay, where's the pink bunny with the bass drum to let us know that what we're seeing here isn't real? Tony Perkins, the far-right god-bothering wingnut at the helm of the American Family Association, is furious with the Just Born, the company that makes Mike & Ike candy because the candies are gay and he's against all same sex couples, even imaginary ones.

The timing is just a coincidence, we're sure. About midnight, as Sunday turned into Monday, George Zimmerman left the jail where he had been held since his arrest about two weeks ago after posting 150,000 bond. Monday, the Chief of Police in Sanford, whose officers botched the investigation from the beginning, resigned his post.

Jon Huntsman's going to get tarred and feathered and run out of the GOP on a rail if he keeps this up. Addressing a fundraiser at the 92nd St. Y in New York, former GOP candidate for the presidency, Ambadassador to China and Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman drew an analogy between the communist party in China and the GOP in this country. Relating how he was given an unvitation to an event in Florida after he criticized the party. "This is what they do in China on party matters if you talk off script."

We get it, we understand the necessity, but westill feel queasy contemplating this. The Hungarian national health service will stop providing the newest and most expensive treatments to diabetics who fail to follow the diets their physicians prescribe for them.

The Weeper of the House won't hold him accountable, but the NAACP will. Allen West can no longer boast that he's a member of the NAACP. They booted his ass out of the organization over his assertion that the Progressive Caucus are secret communists.

Just like Sarah Palin was no Hillary Clinton, Sarah Steelman is no Claire McCaskill. Anyone who has paid attention to Missouri politics even casually over the last decade knows that Sarah Palin wasn't an original -- Missouri already had it's own Sister Sarah of the Southern Tier, Sarah Steelman, a walking political three-strikes law: a not-too-smart MILF with a bible and a gun who is running for office because God told her to. And when asked about the sudden, ridiculous notion that the fucking Violence Against Women Act is being politicized, Steelman claimed ignorance of the nearly-two-decades-old law, seriously calling into question her competence to serve in the office she seeks.

How insane are Arizona's gun nuts? So extreme that they make Jan "Queen of Hearts" Brewer look reasonable and sane.

Why negotiate when you can massacre? "Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, has pledged not to negotiate with South Sudan amid reports of fresh air attacks on his country's southern neighbour."

Austerity pushback - and anti-Islam hate - bags its first government "Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister, and his cabinet have offered their resignation to Queen Beatrix after the collapse of a parliamentary partnership with a far-right party."

We'd say a decade is underestimating it by an order of magnitude. "Over a year after the nuclear accident triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami contaminated large swathes of land in northeastern Japan, the future of the largely agricultural area and those who have been evacuated from it remain uncertain .... According to a government report released on Sunday, it is estimated that six of the seven municipalities will have dangerous levels of radiation - above 20 millisieverts of radiation (mSv) per year - for a decade."

When the party out of power can create a nationwide strike, democracy is not dead. "A nationwide strike triggered by the disappearance of Ilyas Ali, an opposition politician, has brought much of Bangladesh to a standstill. At least two people were reportedly killed, hundreds were injured and scores were detained after clashes between police and protesters on Monday, who are demanding government action over the disappearance of Ali, a former student leader and member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)."

And finally...

Never discount the utility of a rubber chicken. "In a knitted spacesuit and tight-fitting helmet, Camilla the rubber chicken floated to the edge of space in a modified lunchbox as the sun unleashed the most intense radiation storm since 2003. ... The mascot for Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory was lofted to the stratosphere on a helium balloon that carried a payload of four cameras, a thermometer and two GPS trackers. ... The mission by students at Bishop Union high school in Bishop, California, flew on 3 March during the calm before the storm, and again a week later, when the storm was at its peak. During each flight, Camilla spent 90 minutes in the stratosphere, where temperatures fell to -60C. ... Camilla was snapped at 38,039m above California before the helium balloon popped, as planned, and fell to Earth on a parachute. The chicken and the payload were retrieved intact from a small range of mountains east of the Sierra Nevada. ... The source of the radiation storm was a sunspot called AR1429, which unleashed more than 50 solar flares in the first two weeks of March. According to Nasa, at the peak of the storm, charged particles slamming into the upper atmosphere released enough heat in three days to power New York City for two years."