Friday Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 11 May 2012 11:41:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

(By the way, for what it?s worth, I also posted some stuff here.)

Now if you?ll excuse me, I?ll just steal a couple of videos from Crooks and Liars; first, did you know that Thomas Friedman Is An Enormous Moustache (here)? And that, as far as the esteemed New York Times pundit is concerned, it?s entirely the fault of President Obama that he hasn?t been ?transformational? enough to rise about petty partisan politics?
Sure you did?

?and speaking of petty partisan politics, kudos to Harry Reid for calling out Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and his pals here (as I?ve said, somebody votes for this idiots, including this Mourdock clown in Indiana; sounds like he came from middle earth or something ? acts like it too a bit...I got mad at Sen. Richard Lugar over domestic issues a couple of times, but I never questioned him on foreign policy).
Now, Harry, assuming the Dems hold the Senate, are you going to follow up on what your colleagues Sens. Merkley and Udall are proposing next year? We'll see...

?and it looks like Politifact is ?mostly? stupid and ?mostly? incompetent once more ? wish I had one of their little ?truthometers? pointing straight up like a certain middle digit on my hand?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

?and tomorrow marks the 40^th anniversary of the release of ?Exile On Main St.,? which was kick-started by this little number (?Sticky Fingers? and probably ?Let It Bleed? remain my favorite recordings from these guys, however).

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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 11 May 2012 11:30:31 PM. © Crooks and Liars

enlarge Credit: Frugal Dad

From 2011, an amazing infographic on media consolidation, here. h/t Cracked. Open thread below...

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Open thread for night owls: Disconnected in a
globalized world

post from Daily Kos on 11 May 2012 11:30:05 PM. © Daily Kos

emptywheel writes:

About a month ago, I bought a pineapple from Costa Rica at Meijers. It was over 5 pounds and cost something like $1.50.
The fruit was lovely. But the price got me thinking about how pineapple has become one of those things in globalization that must be too good to be true. If they can grow, ship to Michigan, and market a 5 pound pineapple to me for just $1.50, then someone?probably multiple someones, but especially the people harvesting these heavy, spiny footballs?aren?t getting paid nearly enough to bring me my pineapple (to say nothing of the invisible subsidies shipping must include).
Pineapples used to be a $7 delicacy everywhere but the most expensive hotels but now, with globalization, they?ve become cheap and easy.
I said FRESH pineapple, dammit.
(White House.gov)Which is why, after having a great laugh at the list of demands David Petraeus makes on CIA stations around the world when he visits, I also got cranky.
Among the items:
? Fresh pineapple each night before he goes to bed (not canned)
? Sliced bananas for his cereal in the morning
? Someone to accompany him on his morning runs, and a route devised that preferably avoids crossing any streets.
? Also, he noted, the former General doesn?t open doors. ?All doors have to be open when he arrives,? the former senior CIA officer said.
It appears the war hero can?t keep up his legendary running pace if he has to cross streets like normal people (though I agree the CIA Director should be accompanied on his runs lest he end up in a gym bag somewhere). But it?s the comment one of Laura?s sources makes, that Petraeus demands that CIA personnel in places like Tblisi and Helsinki?where pineapple isn?t at the Meijers for $1.50?bring him that pineapple every day in any case that brought back my $1.50 pineapple.
It seems appropriate, I guess, that Petraeus demands what to me has become a symbol of too good to be true globalization rather than make do with whatever local fruit is available, like berries in Helsinki. We can?t have our CIA Directors interacting with the unique spots they visit in such a way that they develop an understanding of the place. Better to rely on the underpaid laborers in Costa Rica and the harried office workers at the station to ensure you have a generic, now cheapened pineapple every day.

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2003:

Condoleeza Rice says:
Rice said Iraq appeared to have had a virtually "inspections proof" system of concealing chemical and biological weapons by developing chemicals and agents that could be used for more than one purpose.
In Rice's world, pesticides in Iraq are not really pesticides, they are WMDs. Any medical drugs are not really drugs, they are WMDs. In fact, the entire nation of Iraq was one giant cauldron of WMDs -- but those wily Iraqis hid them by using them for legitimate purposes. Damn them!
Then again, as Bush said pre-war [...] :
Bush in an October 2002 speech said, "We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas. And surveillance photos reveal that the regime is rebuilding facilities that it had used to produce chemical and biological weapons."
Given that they haven't found a damn thing, it's clear Bush was LYING. Either that or our surveillance photos really suck. I tend to trust our technology. It has served us well. Bush, on the other hand, is a LIAR. So you've got to be skeptical of anything he says.
And while the US public carries on as blissful sheep, unbothered by their leader's lack of, well, truthfullness, the rest of the world isn't happy about it. US foreign policy will be a hornet's nest for some time to come. At least until a Democrat can start repairing the damage.

Tweet of the Day:

It's funny how Sarah Palin accused all of us of forcing Bristol into the spotlight when we can't seem to get Bristol to shut up.
? @aravosis via Tweetbot for iOS

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.

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-owls-Disconnected-in-a-globalized-world

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Late Night FDL: From the Department of Dropped
Masks

post from Firedoglake on 11 May 2012 11:00:43 PM. © Firedoglake

I don't know how much of a coincidence this is. But it is interesting to me that just about the same time as we learn the cruelty of Mitt Romney's adult life was preceded by teenage cruelty, a video surfaces with Wisconsin governor Scott Walker[...]

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Merkel defies reality with hard line support for
austerity

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 11 May 2012 11:00:32 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

German Chancellor Angela Merkel still doesn't even realize that she cost Germany and Europe even more money by dragging out the Greek bailout negotiations. Now she wants to deny reality yet again by making the outrageously false claim that chopping spending (rather than increasing spending) will somehow solve the crisis. Not possible. What part of the collapsing eurozone is Merkel...

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ith-hard-line.html

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C&L's Late Night Music Club with Blue Oyster Cult

post from Crooks and Liars on 11 May 2012 11:00:24 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Genre: Rock and RollTitle: Don't Fear the ReaperArtist: Blue Oyster Cult

Because I can already tell that this weekend needs more cowbell!

(Don't Fear) The Reaper

Price: $1.29 (As of 05/11/12 12:51 pm details)

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Occupy Austin OccuQueers Cant Wait

post from Firedoglake on 11 May 2012 10:25:09 PM. © Firedoglake

Yesterday was the second action which the Occupy Austin OccuQueers took in support of the Executive Nondiscrimination Act. At our first action, we delivered pens and a letter to the Obama For America headquarters in a silent protest.[...]

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The LiberalOasis Radio Show: Special Gay Marriage
Reax Stabby Five Edition

post from LiberalOasis : The Blog on 11 May 2012 10:00:40 PM. © LiberalOasis : The Blog

Traci Olsen honors President Obama's historic statement with an all gay marriage reaction Stabby Five. Plus, why the right won't benefit from any backlash, why the left shouldn't take this as reason to plot more confrontations with the President, and how this is the latest example of the President's nuanced vision of effective social change.

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

Or you can simply listen below.

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iPad games for cats

I'm not sure I would want to run the risk of either of my cats damaging my iPad, if I ever bought one. Poor little Buckwheat is trying to find something under the iPad when patting on the screen doesn't help. It's not exactly catching a mouse or a bird but it is some activity. According to this USA Today "article" (that closely resembles ad placement for Nestle-Purina) they've had over 500,000...

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l

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Chris Matthews and Barney Frank Grill Tony
Perkins Over His Views on Homosexuality and Gay Marriage

As I noted when Piers Morgan had Tony Perkins on his show on CNN this week, if someone is going to allow Tony Perkins on the air, they should be pointing out that his organization, the Family Research Council, has been labelled a hate group and why and not be allowing him to spew hatred towards the gay community unchallenged. This Thursday, Hardball's Chris Matthews did not point out the fact that his group has been labelled a hate group, but this interview was definitely a step in the right direction if he's going to be allowed on the air.

Here's more on that from Media Matters: MSNBC?s Chris Matthews Demonstrates How To Handle Tony Perkins On Television:

During the May 10 edition of MSNBC?s Hardball, host Chris Matthews invited Tony Perkins ? president of the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council (FRC) ? and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) to discuss the issues of same-sex marriage and adoption.
Perkins? presence on MSNBC isn?t surprising ? the hate group leader has become a regular guest on the network over the past several months, and has typically been treated as a credible, uncontroversial political figure, especially on Hardball.
On Thursday, however, things were different.
For nearly 15 minutes, Matthews, with the help of Frank, grilled Perkins on his views on homosexuality, marriage equality, and same-sex parenting. Matthews challenged Perkins? anti-gay misinformation, held him accountable for past statements, and demonstrated how out-of-the-mainstream his extreme positions really are.
This is exactly the kind of interview that major news outlets should be conducting when dealing with someone like Perkins.

I'll second that. It was nice to see him put on the defensive for once instead of just being allowed to spew his bigoted talking points like he usually gets away with. This March, Matthews was confronted by the group Faithful America about legitimizing the likes of Perkins with the type of softball interviews we've seen from Matthews with him previously. It looks like maybe their talk with him did some good.