Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 16 May 2012 11:30:27 PM. © Crooks and Liars

enlarge Credit: #TheInternetSucksToday

Open Thread below...

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Open thread for night owls: The newest birther
conspiracy

post from Daily Kos on 16 May 2012 11:30:05 PM. © Daily Kos

Open Thread for Night Owls Talking Points Memo:

?Dreams From My Real Father,? a 97-minute film narrated by an Obama impersonator, weaves the narrative that Obama?s grandfather wasn?t a furniture salesman but an undercover CIA agent who convinced Barack Obama Sr. to marry his teenage daughter to hide the fact that she was impregnated by a 55-year-old communist named Frank Marshall Davis. [...]
The film has been favorably reviewed by WND?s Jerome R. Corsi, who wrote an entire book arguing that Obama?s birth certificate is a fake and that he was really born in Kenya and ineligible to be president of the United States.

Of course, both conspiracies cannot simultaneously be true (for that matter, not even one of them can be true, given the readily available evidence, but setting that aside for a moment, etc). It is a bit odd, however, that now "secret Muslim Kenyan" is no longer the go-to conspiracy theory for some people. No, "secret Muslim Kenyan" is what the government wants you to think. In reality, Barack Obama was the offspring of a communist, his grandpa was an undercover CIA agent and he was quickly shuttled off to Bill Ayers for proper indoctrination into how to someday be a secret communist president posing instead as a secret Muslim Kenyan president. Oh, and all of this took place so that, many decades later, children could stay on their parents' health insurance a bit longer. I think.

This does, however, nix the whole notion of Barack Obama not being a citizen, so not all birthers are as quick to endorse it as Jerome Corsi. Jerome Corsi, after all, would endorse the notion that Barack Obama was a space alien brought here to help Hitler take over France but that the time-traveling plotters involved got their timing wrong by 70 years or so, so long as it made Jerome Corsi a few bucks to say it. Orly Taitz, for one, is not amused:

WND and Corsi, wrote Taitz, are ?trying to kill the case by making up an American citizen father for Obama.?

Conflicting conspiracy theories? Which one to believe? That one over there has America's Dumbest Sheriff endorsing it, but this one comes with a film narrated by an Obama impersonator. If that isn't evidence, what is?

On the other hand, why would you even go with the "Obama's father was really an elderly secret communist" angle? Is this a new schism between people who are more afraid of a black president and those who are more afraid of a communist one? Was the original conspiracy just getting too cluttered, just like any other long running franchise, so that a reboot was needed in order to wedge all the new, most fashionable ideas in? I have no idea. I had some previous notion that perhaps Corsi would, for his newest trick, announce that Barack Obama was in fact fathered by bad kerning, and as a typographical-American should be removed from office on that basis. It hardly matters what the conspiracy is, so long as you provide it with a decent narrator.

Hearing about things like this (and how very, very prevalent they are, when it comes to politics, science, or anything else that somebody, somewhere, finds personally objectionable), the only conclusion one can come to is that humankind is, for all our preening, made up of some damn stupid individuals?and that our ancestors are unbelievably damn lucky to have managed to form governments or civilizations at all, given what they had to work with.

I can't imagine how many of our primate ancestors made the very early discovery that fire equals good, only to have their heads caved in by fellow primates convinced that were certain fire was a plot by the primate devil and/or the primate Illuminati. How many thousands of years went by before the whole "let's use fire to keep warm" or "hey, let's cook this damn meat to make it less putrid" thing took off to the point where the vaguely bipedal practitioners didn't just get torn to bits for suggesting the idea? That is impressive enough, but then to have gone on to develop bronze, or cement, or Nintendo systems?now that took some true miracles. No, the astonishing thing about civilization is that it can withstand such a very large percentage of crackpots, during any given era, who are bent on knocking down the whole thing because it conflicts with their own personal motivations or notions of which particular bogeymen are waiting behind which particular corners.

What was I talking about? Oh, I was saying how miraculous it was that human civilization can actually exist, given the omnipresence of such profound dunderheads as Jerome Corsi, Orly Taitz, et al. Yeah, that. I don't know why I can no longer hear the name "Jerome Corsi" without thinking of world-shattering, civilization-crumbling stupidity, but it just pops into my head, every single damn time.

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008:

Reading coverage of the presidential race, I think perhaps I may be the one of the few remaining people on the planet that remember that George W. Bush ran for the presidency, in 2000, on a theme of being a bipartisan who would "change the tone" in Washington.
This was dutifully reported by, well, everyone. We were told that George W. Bush was terribly bipartisan as governor of Texas. Republican cronies were marched up in front of the cameras to tell us that he was great at working across the aisle, blah blah blah.
Coupled with these constant assertions of bipartisanship and CEO acumen was the campaign theme of "compassionate" conservatism: conservatism tempered with sympathy for the poor, and the sick, and the elderly, and minorities, and schoolchildren, and all those other groups of Americans that conservatism normally couldn't be bothered with (after all, they own very little stock), so all his handlers and speechwriters needed to make up a new word for Bush's supposed new brand of conservatism, to sort of cram the notion of basic human empathy and decentness into it somewhere. This, too, was roundly applauded by reporters and pundits in spite of absolutely no actual evidence that anyone anywhere meant a word of it, and considerable evidence that they did not.

Tweet of the Day:

When Herman Cain's endorsement is worth more than the endorsement of the last Republican president, all you can do is sabotage the economy.
— @LOLGOP via TweetDeck

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.

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-owls-The-newest-birther-conspiracy

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Late Night: Zimmerman Medical Report Released

post from Firedoglake on 16 May 2012 11:00:49 PM. © Firedoglake

George Zimmerman sought medical treatment at a family clinic the day after he shot Trayvon Martin.According to the medical report, which was part of the court file made public yesterday, he requested the appointment to obtain a medical clearance to[...]

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With Chuck Brown

post from Crooks and Liars on 16 May 2012 11:00:43 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Title: Bustin' LooseArtist: Chuck Brown

R.I.P. 'Godfather of Go Go'.

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High fructose corn syrup might make you stupid

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 16 May 2012 11:00:32 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

Sugar is related to a lot of health issues and now scientists are saying it's bad for the brain as well. It's something that many of us enjoy so cutting back is not easy, but probably a good idea. As they say, moderation is generally the key.Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists who published a study Tuesday showing how a steady diet of...

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Unions Back Obamas Stand for Marriage Equality

post from Everyday Citizen on 16 May 2012 10:36:44 PM. © Everyday Citizen

Cross-posted from Talking Union AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee and Sec.-Treas.[...]

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Austerity Everywhere: Fiscal Drags Coming Out of,
Prolonging Great Recession

post from Firedoglake on 16 May 2012 10:15:45 PM. © Firedoglake

Austerity has clear negative consequences for Greece, but one of the major problems in that country is an inability to collect taxes. That's why all the austerity measures to "increase taxes" in Greece, without setting up or funding a new tax[...]

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Rush Limbaugh Inducted into Hall of Famous
Missourians Behind Locked Doors

post from Crooks and Liars on 16 May 2012 10:00:39 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Rush Limbaugh Inducted into Hall of Famous Missourians Behind Locked Doors

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Missouri Republicans decided to shame and embarrass our state yesterday with the induction of Rush Limbaugh into the Hall of Famous Missourians: Doors Locked, Dems Banned As Missouri Honors Limbaugh:

Rush Limbaugh was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians yesterday, but the whole affair seemed strangely cloaked in secrecy.
The AM talker was ushered into an invite-only ceremony that took place behind closed doors inside the State Capitol's House chambers, "which were locked and guarded by armed members of the Missouri Highway Patrol while the ceremony took place," according to the Kansas City Star. Democratic lawmakers were banned from the induction.
A bust of Limbaugh, a Cape Girardeau native, was unveiled at the Hall of Fame ceremony. But for the first time in memory the chamber galleries were closed to the public. And the Republican Speaker of the Missouri House, Steve Tilley, who selected Limbaugh for the honor, gave the media just twenty minutes notice before the event took place.
The hush-hush nature of the event, which more closely resembled a clandestine political event than a feel-good acknowledgement, likely stemmed from the extraordinary controversy the selection sparked. Owing to Limbaugh's growing toxicity outside the narrow confines of right-wing talk radio, the backlash to the Missouri announcement was swift and fierce, coming as it did directly on the heels of Limbaugh's searing Sandra Fluke controversy.
The local chapter of the National Organization of Women sent hundreds of rolls of toilet paper to Tilley's office as part of its "Flush Rush" campaign. The state's Democratic governor and U.S. senator both denounced the choice of Limbaugh, and more than 35,000 people signed a petition condemning the decision to add Limbaugh's bust to a collection that includes Missourians Harry Truman and Mark Twain.
Despite the protests, the induction took place on Monday. In secret. It turns out using government employees (i.e. law enforcement) to keep the public at bay while the taxpayers' (Republican) representatives honored a talk show host wasn't the only bout of irony that hovered over the Limbaugh event.

You can read the rest of Eric's take down of Limbaugh and the Missouri Republicans at the link above. Video is from local affiliate KMOV's reporting on the event.

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Not everyone has a ground to stand on in Florida.
And Rodney King style justice in Texas.

It looks like yet another one of you Florida Negroes have come up empty in an attempt to seek shelter under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. Sorry, these laws aren't meant for everybody. (Not even abused Negro women. NRA where are you?) In A-merry-ca, you Negroes are the threat. These laws were meant to protect certain people from you folks.

"A Florida judge on Monday ruled that an elderly black man charged in the shooting death of his neighbor can't use the Stand Your Ground defense, the second time in a week that the controversial law at the center of the Trayvon Martin case failed to provide cover to a defendant.

Monday's ruling dealt with the manslaughter case against Trevor Dooley, who has admitted to shooting his neighbor, David James, in 2010 after a verbal dispute over a teenager's right to skateboard on a local basketball court turned physical. (James was defending the kid's right to skate, fwiw.)An ABC News affiliate in Tampa explains that Dooley?who had a concealed weapons? permit?maintains that he only shot James after he became aggressive and threatened him. But a circuit judge ruled Monday that the evidence suggests that it was not until Dooley "reached for and pulled out his weapon?indicating an intent to escalate from an argument to violence?that Mr. James exerted and used physical force against Defendant." You can read more on that case over at ABC Action News and TBO.com." (h/t Nancy Lockhart) (Source)

I don't even know why they have "Stand Your Ground" type laws in places like Texas. They truly do not need them. White folks in Texas have the police force to put a beat down on you Negroes when you get out of line, and just like in the days of the Citizens' Council, they make sure that the po po walks after administering their form of justice.

"Even though a security camera showed Houston, Texas, police officers stomping and kicking then-15-year-old burglar Chad Holley (pictured below), jurors unfortunately decided Wednesday afternoon that the first officer on trial for the beating, Andrew Blomberg (pictured left), is not guilty of official oppression, according to the Associated Press.

On the videotape, Holley is seen laying face down on the ground, while several officers kick and stomp him. Still, Blomberg testified that Holley was resisting arrest ? and while it may have looked as though he was abusing the teen ? he was actually using his foot to move Holley?s arm.

Even Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. testified that he believed that Blomberg assaulted the teen.
The Associated Press reports:

Prosecutors told jurors that Blomberg kicked the teenager several times and Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. testified that he believed Blomberg kicked and stomped on the teen.

Not surprisingly, the all-White jurors still came to the decision that Blomberg was not guilty of abusing Holley. If Blomberg was found guilty of his misdemeanor charge, he would have faced up to a year in prison. Three other police officers will stand trial for the offense. Relieved that he had gotten off, Blomberg contemplated whether he would consider going back in to law enforcement:

?This is the only thing I?ve ever wanted to do in my entire life,? Blomberg said referring to being a police officer. ?And I?m just glad this part is finally over.? [Source]

Yes, I am sure you are. Next time just watch for the video camera.

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http://field-negro.blogspot.com/2012/05/not-everyone-has-ground-to-stand-on-in.ht
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Bush to publish a book on economic strategies for
growth

Yes, I think that's called "Do the complete opposite of what George W. Bush did from 2000-2008." For those who don't remember, the Bush administration averaged 20,000 new jobs per month during his term in office. According to mathematicians that would be 111,000 fewer jobs per month than during the Obama administration.Bush's ability to ignore his own failed economic policies ought to be...