Coming Out Smells Delicious

post from The Francis L. Holland Blog on 12 March 2012 10:00:07 PM. © The Francis L. Holland Blog

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BREAKING: Rush Limbaugh Syndicator Suspends
National Ads For Two Weeks

post from ThinkProgress on 12 March 2012 10:00:02 PM. © ThinkProgress

Radio-Info.com reports that Premiere Networks, which syndicates the Rush Limbaugh show, told its affiliate radio stations that they are suspending national advertising for two weeks. Rush Limbaugh is normally provided to afflilates for free in return for running several minutes of national advertisements provided by Premiere each hour. These ads called “barter spots.” These spots are how Premiere makes its money off of Rush Limbaugh and other shows it syndicates.

But without explaination, Premiere has supended these national advertisements for two weeks. Radio-Info.com calls the move “unusual.” The development suggests that Rush Limbaugh’s incessant sexist attacks on Sandra Fluke have caused severe damage to the show.

From the memo:

Attention Traffic Managers of Premiere News/Talk Affiliates:
We are suspending the requirement to run barter spots for two weeks, March 12th and March 19th, for our News/Talk affiliates only.
Please replace/re-traffic any Premiere barter spots immediately. Contractual requirements to run barter spots are being suspended for these two weeks only. Replace them with Lifelock and Lear Financial or a local spot of your choice.

Earlier today, ThinkProgress exclusively reported that 140 advertisers, including dozens of major national corporations, had requested their ads no longer air on Rush Limbaugh. Lifelock and Lear Financial among the only companies standing by Limbaugh.

Over the last several days much of the advertising time during the Rush Limbaugh show on his flagship station, WABC, has been filled with free public service announcements.

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http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/12/443195/breaking-rush-limbaugh-syndicato
r-suspends-national-ads-for-two-weeks/

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This Weeks GOP Primary Voters Think Obamas Muslim

post from Firedoglake on 12 March 2012 09:30:14 PM. © Firedoglake

Most of you know I could give two hoots about anybody's religion, including the lack of my own. Whatever belief system you choose, I'm cool -- as long as your belief system impinges not one iota on me.Like, ever.So a diary from me about religion might[...]

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All other ideas exhausted, Republicans continue
attack on TelePrompters

post from Daily Kos on 12 March 2012 09:15:03 PM. © Daily Kos

Ronald Reagan using a teleprompter Fraaaaaaaaaud.Dear Every Republican: Your argument is bad and you should feel bad.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum took the TelePrompter criticism to a whole new level over the weekend by declaring that ?when you run for president of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a TelePrompter,? adding: ?Because all you?re doing is reading someone else?s words to people.?

Ah, the TelePrompter attack. Good ol' Prompty. Ol' Relia-bull.

All right, so let's review. Every candidate in the race uses a TelePrompter. Every national figure who gives a national speech has, I suspect, used a TelePrompter when available. Every modern president has used TelePrompters. Ronald Reagan himself, patron saint of modern conservatism, he of the speeches that supposedly moved history, the man of steely gaze and steelier hair, relied heavily on TelePrompters to say that stuff he said. Some of the attacks on TelePrompters from the current Republican field have been uttered from behind TelePrompters. We know all that, right? Of course. So do they.

The TelePrompter attack is basically a way of calling someone dumb. Now, Rick Santorum may or may not be smart enough to realize that, before the days of the TelePrompter, people used to read speeches from these little things called notes?I hear tell that such arcane things still go on, in the bowels of the House and Senate, though I presume the ex-senator never noticed such things. Most of the great speeches of history were, well, written down (and Rick Santorum, it should be noted, did not deliver any of them). The TelePrompter is just a way to do the same thing while keeping your face towards the television cameras, right?

I have to say, none of the debate performances by Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich or Mitt-Tron has impressed me as to their off-prompter skills. We've heard Obama in debates before, too. So I'm a bit intrigued by Rick's suggestion here. Let's say we banned TelePrompters. If we're going to get to the true spirit of what Rick Santorum wants to see, extemporaneous speaking, we'd have to ban notes as well. How would that play out?

Well, it might have done an even better job at revealing George W. Bush as a barely literate man-child, so that'd be a plus. It would have devastated the Reagan legacy: Everything Reagan was, he owed to the public persona crafted by his pre-written speeches. So there's definitely some upsides there. On the downsides, much of the job of president is to convey information tersely and (cough) hopefully accurately to the public, so having that done professionally isn't exactly a bad thing. You wouldn't hire a plumber who showed up without a wrench, saying "my grandpappy before me used his teeth, and I'll die doing the same."

But mostly I'm intrigued by the thought of politicians defending themselves extemporaneously or near-extemporaneously, and you know what? We're getting that now, in the debates. We'll be getting that again later in the year between Obama and whoever (Mitt) the Republicans pick as their eventual (Mitt) candidate. We don't have to speculate as to how it will look, because we'll be getting a front row seat soon enough. Place your bets, Rick, place your bets.

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sted-Republicans-continue-attack-on-TelePrompters

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Romney: Brokered Convention Would Signal Doom For
GOP

post from Crooks and Liars on 12 March 2012 09:00:53 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Romney: Brokered Convention Would Signal Doom For GOP

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Mitt Romney has a big problem. Between Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, he may not be able to capture enough delegates to seal the nomination after the primaries end. To that end, Santorum's delegate counter put out a memo (PDF) outlining the pathway to a brokered convention. It's a two-pronged approach, involving a similar strategy to Ron Paul's, which is to be involved in the election of delegates at state conventions.

The Daily Beast explains:

"The state conventions will ultimately determine the outcome of this race," wrote John Yob, who was hired by Santorum this month to oversee his delegate operation.
Yob, who was deputy political director for Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, wrote a more than 2,000 word memo to lay out the Santorum campaign's view that time is on their side, rather than running out. The Santorum campaign first released the memo to Politico's Mike Allen early Monday morning.
Yob's messaging memo is intended in some part to relieve any pressure on Santorum to win both Mississippi and Alabama's primaries on Tuesday. But Yob's memo also lays out a case for how the process of electing delegates to the national convention in Tampa, Fla., this August could reduce the lead Romney currently has in the race to reach the magic number: 1,144.

The whole Republican primary race has been a study in mixed narratives. We hear over and over again from Republicans about how a protracted primary did not hurt Barack Obama in 2008, since he went on to win the election. I disagree. The divisions that existed after that primary battle exist today. They are, in my opinion, part of the reason the 2010 midterms were such a disaster.

But even if you disagree with me and think it was a good thing for Democrats to have gone through that battle, there are distinct differences between the Republicans of 2012 and Democrats of 2008. For starters, Democrats did not get as personal with each other. Yes, Hillary's campaign originated the smear points that still exist in today's politics -- Bill Ayers, the "madrassa" accusation, and others. But fundamentally, the two candidates were in agreement on policy, with very little daylight between them, even with regard to Iraq. The same is not true of the current GOP field. Also, Obama stayed far away from using Bill Clinton's womanizing ways to hit Hillary. If he had done that, I think the Democratic party would have lost and likely would not have recovered from it.

The remaining Republicans divide sharply into three camps. There is the Magic Morph Romney camp, where he morphs into whatever he needs to be that day without regard to the past, present or future. There is the Nasty Newt camp, where he just oozes nastiness and unwarranted certitude with every lie that comes out of his mouth, and focuses most on fiscal conservatism. Finally, there's the Sanctimonious Santorum camp, where women are chattel to be used as wedges against his opponents, where he praises Jesus while stomping on those Jesus ministered to, and where the only thing thing that matters is absolute fealty to God, guns and bitterness.

These groups are not reconcilable. Not even close. While Newt is out there calling for immediate withdrawals from Afghanistan (aligning with Ron Paul), Mitt is telling anyone who will listen that no change should be made, and if anything, we should ramp it up, and Santorum uses the tragic shooting of 16 Afghans to blame Obama for botching a "winnable" war while likely secretly celebrating the death of Muslims, all of whom are extremists to him.

So Mitt Romney might smile nervously and declare with all certainty that he will win the nomination because anything less than that would "signal the doom" of the Republican Party, but the fact is, that doom might be closer than he thinks. Even if Romney is the nominee, a polarized and divided party will not rally around him, even if he does choose an ultra-conservative running mate.

Later in this interview with Cavuto (not in the above clip), Romney declares outright that Santorum would never be his running mate because he's really far more liberal than Romney. This is the reality of the Republican primary race. It's not really clear what a Republican is anymore, beyond someone who hates President Obama. At some point they're going to have to be for something instead of just against the President. Even Barack Obama knew that.

Transcript follows:

CAVUTO: Rick Santorum on tomorrow's contest was telling folks today, you know, I'm actually doing far better in the delegate count than the media gives me credit. Given the apportioned voting, I have substantially more delegates than you're being told and this isn't a runaway for Mitt Romney. I'm paraphrasing here. What do you make of that?
ROMNEY: Well, the Republican National Committee puts the delegate count out. Each of the campaigns can put their own delegate count out, he can put his own delegate count out if he wants to showing it state by state, but look, we've got a very substantial lead. Rick Santorum's campaign put a memo out I think today talking about how they could go to a brokered convention and think they could swing some delegates to go from committed to uncommitted, maybe supporting him.
Look, if we go all the way to a convention, we would be -- we would signaling our doom in terms of replacing President Obama. We need to select someone to become our nominee, get that person nominated and get focused on President Obama and get him out of the White House.
CAVUTO: I think what he was saying, Governor, and I could have this sentiment wrong. We've tried to call his office on this. I think he's saying that the momentum would be his by that point. In other words, you would probably have the lead, I guess by his math, you wouldn't have locked down the 1144 delegates you need to be the nominee, the momentum would be with him, wavering delegates would opt in. You don't envision that?
ROMNEY: No, we haven't seen that happen so far. We won Michigan, Arizona, Ohio, and of course, a little earlier, Florida, New Hampshire. These are important states that make a real difference.
I mean, everybody has a scenario where they could become the nominee. That's fine but that's why we have a primary process and so far we have two, two and a half times as many delegates as he has and millions more votes than he has. And you know, that's the nature of the political process and if he is able to pull off a political miracle, so be it. He'll be the nominee.
But you know, we have a selection process, we're in the middle of it, I'm leading strongly, I'm going to continue to lead it, you're going to see me getting the delegates I need to become the nominee, and we sure as heck are not going to go to a convention, all the way to the end of August to select a nominee and have campaigns working during a convention.
Why, can you imagine anything that would be a bigger gift to Barack Obama than us not having a nominee until the end of August? That's just not going to happen.

I wouldn't count on it, Mittens. It's probably a bad idea to call yourself the Anointed One right now. After all, you're blowing through money at a record pace and haven't managed to close the deal. It ain't over until the 1144 sing.

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http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/romney-brokered-convention-would-signal-doo

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How Did That Happen

post from Kmareka.com on 12 March 2012 09:00:26 PM. © Kmareka.com

The windmills seemed to appear overnight. Mary, Kmareka’s Environmental Science consultant, says they are going to supply 85% of the electricity for the Fields Point waste treatment plant.

They’re pretty amazing, especially looking down the streets named after states on Allen’s Ave. They loom over the triple deckers, but screened by trees, they may not be so visible when the leaves come in.

How did something so big sneak up on us?

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http://kmareka.com/2012/03/12/how-did-that-happen/

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Say, where's Charlie (And other illustrated
meditations on celebrity)

post from DownWithTyranny! on 12 March 2012 09:00:19 PM. © DownWithTyranny!

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

First off, you can click on it to enlarge it. And then if you're just crazy wild to hobnob -- excuse me, make that to exchange ideas -- with prominent thinkers like Emilio E, here's the link. (But admit it, the thinker you really want to, er, exchange ideas with is his brother, Marty S's idiot son Charlie. Am I right?) -- Ken

CHARLIE'S PROBABLY GOT IT ALL WORKED OUT

CELEBRITY APPLIED TO OTHER WALKS OF LIFE

ROZ CHAST ISN'T TARGETING CELEBS, BUT HER
VISION OF CRIME & PUNISHMENT CAN BE ADAPTED

#

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http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2012/03/say-where.html

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The Unheartlandishlyhuedization of the Church

The feminization of the church has troubled patriots for years. Now, we're facing an even greater threat, the unheartlandishlyhuedization of our faith. James at the Thinking Housewife writes:

My local ?ecumenical? church (which I do not attend) recently sent out a newsletter with a photo in the top left corner of two black children apparently swimming in a lake in Africa. The newsletter did not pertain to children, or Africa, in any way. It advertised a ?healthy eating? seminar. Apparently they simply think that black children embody the apotheosis of Christian goodness, and therefore should decorate all their publications. The ?what we believe? section of the Church website mentions ?diverse? or ?diversity? in almost every sentence.

God damned diversity is ruinin' everything.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/daKDW/~3/i1tfKH-kqME/unheartlandishlyhued
ization-of-church.html

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Daily Kos Elections Polling Wrap: GOP's Deep
South primaries looking like a tossup Tuesday

While there hasn't been a ton of polling out of Alabama and Mississippi in advance of tomorrow's "Deep South" primaries, what we have seen over the past few days points to a potential coin flip on Tuesday night.

Interestingly, it looks like national polls of the GOP primary point to a similarly tight circumstance. Gallup's tracker, inexplicably, is tightening again, and two new national polls see a four-point race, with Santorum leading in one of those polls.

On the general election front, it was a quiet Monday, though a national poll did give a little cover to Rasmussen's sudden surge for the GOP.

GOP PRIMARY POLLS:

NATIONAL (ABC/Washington Post): Romney 33, Santorum 29, Gingrich 14, Paul 12
NATIONAL (CBS News): Santorum 34, Romney 30, Gingrich 13, Paul 8
NATIONAL (Gallup Tracking): Romney 34, Santorum 25, Gingrich 15, Paul 12
ALABAMA (American Research Group): Gingrich 34, Romney 31, Santorum 24, Paul 6
ALABAMA (PPP): Romney 31, Gingrich 30, Santorum 29, Paul 8
ILLINOIS (Chicago Tribune/Market Shares): Romney 35, Santorum 31, Gingrich 12, Paul 7
MISSISSIPPI (American Research Group): Romney 34, Gingrich 32, Santorum 22, Paul 8
MISSISSIPPI (PPP): Gingrich 33, Romney 31, Santorum 27, Paul 7

GENERAL ELECTION TRIAL HEATS:

NATIONAL (ABC/Washington Post): Romney d. Obama (49-47); Obama d. Santorum (49-46)
NATIONAL (CBS/New York Times): Obama d. Romney (47-44); Obama d. Santorum (48-44); Obama d. Paul (49-39); Obama d. Gingrich (52-38)
NATIONAL (Rasmussen): Romney d. Obama (46-43); Obama d. Paul (42-41); Obama d. Santorum (46-43); Obama d. Gingrich (46-40)

A thought or two about tomorrow ? and beyond ? after the jump.

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/KIPuyDNdehY/-Daily-Kos-Elections-P
olling-Wrap-GOP-s-Deep-South-primaries-looking-like-a-tossup-Tuesday

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More Bank Failures

Since I last posted on bank failures, several weeks ago, there’ve been several more. New City[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WheresTheOutrage/~3/1-rAX7MJcYU/

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