Arizona GOP Lawmaker Wants A State Holiday To
Celebrate White People

post from ThinkProgress on 04 February 2012 09:00:04 AM. © ThinkProgress

Arizona’s unremitting campaign against its Hispanic communities has certainly reached an extreme, with the state GOP initiating a spate of radical anti-immigrant laws, banning Mexican-American and other ethnic studies, and ensuring that Spanish-speakers will never hold elected office. But one lawmaker is intent on turning the party’s xenophobic paranoia into a full-blown caricature.

Reacting to a Democratic colleagues apparently incendiary request to celebrate a Latino American day, State Rep. Cecil Ash (R) declared that he’d support the idea as long as there’s a holiday for white people too. “I’m supportive of this proposition. I just want them to assure me that when we do become in the minority you’ll have a day for us,” he said. Ash was “trying to lighten things up,” but when CBS 5 asked if he was serious about a Caucasian holiday, he offered an unequivocal “yes”:

ASH: Yes, I think it was appropriate. It was appropriate for the mood that was in the House and I think that if and when the Caucasian population becomes a minority, they may want to celebrate the accomplishments and the contributions of the Caucasian population the same way.

Watch it via CBS 5:

As CBS 5 notes, some Arizonans were supportive of the idea. “Good idea,” said one woman. “Like they have Cinco de Mayo for Mexicans. We need something for whites.”

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This week in science: stardust & moondreams

post from Daily Kos on 04 February 2012 09:00:03 AM. © Daily Kos

Phil Plait takes down Gingrich's moonbase pander and Rick Tumlinson provides a more nuance look at HuffPo which includes this snippet:

Obama did take action first though, and interestingly, Newt Gingrich and Robert Walker actually came out in support of his initiative -- for about thirty seconds -- before realizing Republicans are not supposed to support anything Obama does, and that most of those defending the socialist approach to space we have followed since Apollo were indeed Republicans... (Oops!)

I sometimes wonder if all matters of state are as complex as the space program. The deeper I dig, the more complex and counter intuitive it becomes.

A possible terrestrial planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a nearby star has been detected. The skies as seen from this world would be particularly interesting: the star it circles is but one member of a trinary star system.
Yesterday, the tech laden NASDAQ stock index finally got back to near where it was in the earliest days of the Bush administration, 11 long years ago.
The Milky Way galaxy has an evil twin? Who knew!
An article at the WaPo this week reviews some of the anti-evolution craziness coursing through far right statehouses. Check out this little piece of ledge for one example:
A bill in Virginia would make it illegal for state colleges to require a class that conflicts with a student?s religious views. Critics say that would enable a student to receive a biology degree, for example, without studying evolution if he or she objected to it.

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-stardust-moondreams

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On This Day In History February 4

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 04 February 2012 09:00:00 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow GazetteThis is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.Find the past "On This Day in History" here.February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian[...]

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ebruary-4

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Helping Responsible Homeowners

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 04 February 2012 09:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By @KYYellowDog

In the context of massive, widespread fraud on the part of banks and mortgage companies, the phrase "responsible homeowners" is as false and stigmatizing as "deserving poor" or even "good coloreds." But desperation swallows a lot of insults.

video details and more

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Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Komen's bad news,
Obama's good news

post from Daily Kos on 04 February 2012 08:15:00 AM. © Daily Kos

Visual source: Newseum

CBS News:

That means the relatively anemic job growth of Mr. Obama's first three years matters less then what happens in 2012; Silver suggests that every time the economy generates more than 150,000 jobs in a month between now and November, Mr. Obama's reelection odds go up. That's why today's news is so good for Mr. Obama: if January's numbers reflect a trend that lasts deep into the year, it's going to be awfully hard for Romney (or any Republican) to convince a majority of Americans that Mr. Obama has failed in his stewardship of the economy. And with polls showing that Americans are more concerned with the economy than any other issue - by a wide margin - Romney simply doesn't have any other argument on which to hang a viable presidential campaign.

WaPo:

Caught in a maelstrom of public reaction to its decision to cease funding Planned Parenthood, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced Friday that it would reverse course...
But officials across the organization said they were still reeling from the fallout of what many described as a public relations fiasco created by Komen?s leadership.
?I felt like we were eaten alive,? said Logan Hood, executive director of Komen?s Aspen affiliate in Colorado. ?We had no advance warning..?.?. We were sent into battle without armor.?

That's because their leadership, including their board and their CEO, led them off a cliff. They can and should all be fired, but Komen's brand is already ruined.

Bay Area News Group:

Some of the sharpest criticism came from participants in Komen's benefit walks.
"I feel Susan G. Komen acted foolishly and hastily, and maybe they didn't realize the power of the Internet," said Teresa Tirado, of Castro Valley, whose eldest daughter has raised funds for the organization in its Walk for the Cure.
"It's almost like Occupy Susan G. Komen," she said.

LA Times:

Komen founder and chief executive Nancy Brinker insisted Friday that the foundation's new rules preventing grants to groups that were subject to government investigations had not been designed to target Planned Parenthood and had nothing to do with its role as an abortion provider. "We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics ? anyone's politics," Brinker said in a statement.
By then, a key officer at its Dallas headquarters had resigned, and others in the group's local affiliates had threatened to follow suit if the decision was not reversed. Members of Congress admonished the foundation for playing politics with women's health. Irate women denounced Komen on the Internet and pledged to boycott its upcoming "Race for the Cure" events, which raise several million dollars each year.
The situation has been a "total embarrassment" for Komen, said Tom Madden, chief executive of TransMedia Group, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based public relations and crisis management company. "I can't believe an organization like Komen wasn't aware of what was going on."

The LA Times story suggests that keeping affiliates in the dark was a strategy, not a consequence. Another reason the CEO and board need to be fired.

Gail Collins:

This week we had a huge political fight about breast cancer. Clearly, we have now hit the point where there?s nothing that can?t be divided into red-state-blue-state.
Nothing. The other day I saw a blog called ?I Dig My Garden? that had a forum on whether Republicans could truly love gardening. And there was a little dust-up in Albany over politicization of a local pet blog, which had featured a discussion on Mitt Romney?s driving to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car.
But breast cancer would seem like the last thing to go. Everybody hates cancer and everybody likes breasts ? infants, adults, women, men. Really, it?s America?s most popular body part.

Charles Blow on Romney:

This has nothing to do with context. This has everything to do with a caviar candidate?s inability to relate to a chicken-soup citizenry... Romney is not only cold and clumsy, he?s disastrously out of touch, and when talking about real people, out of sorts. If only he had a heart, and if only that heart was connected to his brain.

Kathleen Parker runs the table from trite to just plain awful in trying to make the case that freedom to discriminate is an inalienable right of the Komen Foundation and the Catholic Church, and those who disagree are practicing "ideological purity." And of course, it's all Planned Parenthood's fault for trying to impose its pro-choice way on poor, innocent victims like Komen.

And just when you think the tea party couldn't get any nuttier, the NY Times reports:

Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.

There's no compromising with lunatics. Just sayin'.

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und-up:-Komens-bad-news,-Obamas-good-news

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Pull Up a Chair

post from Firedoglake on 04 February 2012 08:00:29 AM. © Firedoglake

I say let our imaginations as well as our fondnesses for some regular comfort food just step forth in the comments and set a Splendid Table. With all the creativity here at the Lake, with pure imagination with no ingredient constraints, along with what[...]

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The LiberalOasis Radio Show: Not Very Concerned
Edition

post from LiberalOasis : The Blog on 04 February 2012 08:00:23 AM. © LiberalOasis : The Blog

Why Romney's dismissal of the poor is a talking point, not a misstatement. Why Susan G. Komen may not recover. How President Obama is mixing faith and politics, and respecting separation of church and state. With Traci Olsen and the Stabby Five.

You can download the podcast at these links: (iTunes / XML feed / MP3).

Or you can simply listen below.

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http://www.liberaloasis.com/2012/02/the_liberaloasis_radio_show_no_5.php

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Bloggingheads: In The Tank Edition

The latest Bloggingheads.tv show featuring Matt Lewis and me is up, with discussing how next week's CPAC crowd will respond to the presidential candidates, will Romney run right or run center in the general and why are Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, and Jennifer Rubin in the tank for Romney. Watch it below.

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http://www.liberaloasis.com/2012/02/bloggingheads_in_the_tank_edit.php

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Dash of Dan: Super Bowl Bars

Pretzels? Check. Caramel? Check. Chocolate? Check. Peanuts? Check. I have devised the ultimate super bowl bar. It takes all the fan favorites and familiars, and meshes them together in the ultimate bar. Touchdown! Recipe: 2 1/4 sticks unsalted[...]

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