Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 21 August 2012 11:30:32 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Britethorn gives us a history lesson on another Republican Senate seat gone awry.

Has the Republican Party hit rock bottom with Todd Akin? No. There's plenty of crazy left, plus, he's still in the race. 100% (2 votes) Yes. The GOP is running from Akin like he's a dead skunk. 0% (0 votes) No "rock bottom" until The Donald speaks at the RNC, my friends. 0% (0 votes) 2 votes

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http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal-aka-fran/open-thread-384

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Open thread for night owls: Weathercasters should
stop ignoring climate change

post from Daily Kos on 21 August 2012 11:30:05 PM. © Daily Kos

Open Thread for Night Owls At Grist, Daniel Souweine wonders why most weathercasters don't talk about climate change:

This week in Boston, Mass., the nation?s broadcast meteorologists will meet in their yearly conference sponsored by the American Meteorological Society (AMS). You probably don?t have it marked on your calendar, but from the point of view of the planet, it?s the most important meeting of weather reporters in history. Because the burning question in Beantown is whether weathercasters will embrace their responsibility to communicate how climate change is creating a new normal of dangerous, extreme weather.
Given the climate change-fueled storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires that have dominated the past year, global warming will undoubtedly be a ?hot? topic at this year?s conference. But, amazingly, many broadcast meteorologists remain lukewarm to the subject: The majority of weathercasters, including many with AMS certification, don?t believe that humans are causing climate change, let alone that it?s dramatically shifting our weather patterns. These meteorologists are missing the opportunity to be journalistic heroes who can inform the nation about our increasingly poisoned weather.
For those weathercasters who want education on the subject, the conference will have plenty to provide, with panels like ?Applying Climate Change to Google Earth,? ?Climate Change and Ocean Stories,? and ?Hot Topics for the Station Scientist.? But the source of the climate communication deficit is mostly not educational, it?s about politics. The ideological bent of some forecasters, and the pressures to avoid ?controversial? subjects that might affect ratings, are leading some meteorologists to ignore science when airtime arrives. That?s why the staff of Forecast the Facts will be attending the conference, carrying a message from thousands of our members: that reporting on global warming is a professional and moral responsibility. [...]
Most Americans want their meteorologists to report on climate change. According to a March 2012 Yale/George Mason survey, two out of three Americans believe that global warming is changing our weather and want to learn more. The survey also found that 58 percent of Americans [PDF] ?would be interested in learning what my favorite TV weathercaster has to say about global warming.? [...]
Thankfully, some meteorologists have already heeded these calls. WLTX Chief Meteorologist Jim Gandy of Columbia, S.C., does a weekly segment called Climate Matters, which explores how global warming is affecting the planet and his own community. KMGH-TV Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson of Denver and WBOC-TV Chief Meteorologist Dan Satterfield of Salisbury, Md., run popular blogs that contribute both breaking weather alerts and informative explanations of how humans are changing the weather. [...]
But too many meteorologists still fall far short of this ideal. If this past year has taught us anything, it?s that when meteorologists refuse to accurately report on climate change, they quite literally put their viewers at risk.

If you haven't already noticed this week's blogathon coverage of global warming issues in the diaries, check them out at Climate Change SOS.

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2011:

One of the most solid Democratic Party voting blocs we have today is composed of African-American women. That fact is not an accident and is deeply rooted in history?a history of organizing and struggle that illustrates the intersections and conflicts within the socio-political categories of race and gender.
Just as the abolition movement spawned a struggle for women's suffrage, and the civil rights movement was the impetus for both second wave feminism and LGBT rights, the historical role of black women in the context of the suffrage movement is a key to understanding the founding of black women's clubs, sororities and political organizations. That history also explains the roots of the racial contradictions of second and third wave feminism and the development of black feminism.
History repeats itself. The southern strategy the late-20th century Republican Party instituted by the forces arrayed against integration and desegregation was not the first wielding of the tool of racism to retard forces on the left. That same southern strategy was first used in the battle for women's suffrage.

Tweet of the Day:

Romney currently has 0 percent of the black vote. Which means that I've tied him. And I'm not running for president.
? @Jason_Reads via web

Tune in Monday to Friday from 9-11 AM ET for Daily Kos Radio, hosted by David Waldman a/k/a KagroX. You can listen here. Today's Kagro in the Morning show featured DemFromCT in his regular spot. Plus calls from AnotherMassachusettsLiberal and Vetwife. Hey, remember H.R. 3, the bill that once contained the phrase "forcible rape," which House Republicans were forced to drop because of the outrage? Well, Todd Akin has now "apologized," but says the word he really should have used was... that same word that was too offensive last time! Progress!

Non-Flash link

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/2zYHqwmpvrU/-Open-thread-for-night
-owls-Weathercasters-should-stop-ignoring-climate-change

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Tuesday Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 21 August 2012 11:17:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

(Maybe back to the congressional countdown tomorrow, or the day after ? not sure yet.)

Meanwhile, the numbers don?t lie, people, no matter how much the punditocracy tries to spin them (and I?m not talking about Krugman)?

?but when you need up-to-the-minute reporting on the Repug National Convention coming up in Tampa, that means it?s time for America?s Finest News Source?

Tampa Bay Gay Prostitutes Gearing Up For Flood Of Closeted Republicans

?in the humor department, though, let?s remember a real pro; RIP Phyllis Diller (And how many of you out there knew that she was also a classical pianist? Show of hands)?

?and somehow I missed the passing of one-hit wonder Scott McKenzie, but what a hit it was (hat tip to Crooks and Liars for the last two vids).

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2012/08/tuesday-stuff_21.html

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Preach It, Brother, Preach!

post from Talking Points Memo on 21 August 2012 11:01:06 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Todd Akin tweets to the masses, says he won't let the liberal media force him out of the race. I apologized but the liberal media is trying to make me drop out. Please stand w/ me tonight by signing my petition at akin.org/still-standing— Todd[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/JKJDKCf56k8/preach_it_broth
er_preach.php

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Late Night: Wine and Mega-Church Clash in
Temeculas Vineyards

post from Firedoglake on 21 August 2012 11:00:54 PM. © Firedoglake

It's evangelicals versus wineries in a Southern California battle for land use, as churches seek to alter the environment of Temecula's American Viticultural Area. An AVA is a designated wine grape-growing region, as defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/5wviPGcR1Nk/

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Pat Robertson rushes to Akin's defense

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 21 August 2012 11:00:44 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

I love this. So now we have Robertson. Bryan Fischer of the officially-designated hate group American Family Association, and Tony Perkins of the officially-designated hate group Family Research Council.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/vTlypDAluLg/pat-robertson-rushes-to
-akins-defense.html

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Akin isn't a glitch, he's a feature of the GOP

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 21 August 2012 11:00:44 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

You may recall that GOP Cong. Akin is running for the US Senate from Missouri, and recently made some quite incendiary comments about rape and abortion. Here's that from Marketwatch: Akin, a Missouri congressman who is challenging Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, said on Sunday that pregnancy caused by rape is ?really rare,? and that in the case of ?legitimate rape,? women?s bodies have ?ways...

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/QTw8XGipm9c/akin-isnt-glitch-hes-fe
ature-of-gop.html

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With Bobby Hendricks

post from Crooks and Liars on 21 August 2012 11:00:00 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Title: PsychoArtist: Bobby Hendricks

Know any songs about crazy?

psycho / too good to be true 45 rpm single

Artist: BOBBY HENDRICKS

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http://crooksandliars.com/jared-shade-reynolds/cls-late-night-music-club-114

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Kirk Cameron Defends Todd Akin: 'I Respect Him'

Click here to view this media

Christian conservative actor and activist Kirk Cameron on Tuesday offered praise for a Republican Senate candidate who recently said that women were less likely to get pregnant through "legitimate" rape.

During an interview on CNN, host Soledad O'Brien asked Cameron if Rep. Todd Akin should give up his bid for the Senate after telling KTVI that ?the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,? referring to pregnancy as a result of so-called "legitimate rape."

"You know, I would encourage people to sit down and watch the video," Cameron advised "You know, he clearly is a pro-life advocate, and for that, I respect him."

"He said that he misspoke and that he mis-phrased something, and he apologized," the actor-turn-evangelist added. "I'm the kind of person that believes that I would like to be evaluated by my entire career and my entire life, not two words that I would misspeak and then later apologize for. So, he's in a tough spot."

Amid calls from Republicans for him to quit the race, Akin admitted on Tuesday that he had "made a couple of serious mistakes," but insisted that he was "not a quitter."

The congressman has until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to step aside. After that, a court order would be required to remove his name from the ballot.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/david/kirk-cameron-defends-todd-akin-i-respect-him

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TS Isaac given 2% chance of causing Tampa
evacuation

Is 2% a really small chance, or are we up to a small chance?

TD 9 (now TS Isaac) is a threat to affect Tampa during the Republican National Convention, August 27 - 30. I blogged about the climatological chances of a hurricane causing an evacuation of Tampa during the convention in a post last week, putting the odds at 0.2%. The odds in the current situation are higher, probably near 2%. It would take a "perfect storm" sort of conditions to all fall in place to bring TD 9 to the doorstep of Tampa as a hurricane during the convention, but that is one of the possibilities the models have been suggesting could happen.