Few would argue the fact that Citizens United has been a major player in the Republican primary...and many if not most would concede that none of it has been healthy ...
As if you needed another reason to not vote Romney.
Celebrity business magnate Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday, telling reporters he will not mount an independent campaign if ...
In a perfect world, the Republican contest to find a nominee to face Barack Obama would go on forever...or at least until August. You cannot attach a number to the ...
I suspect there are a ton of conservatives secretly agreeing with Begala and while it's too early in the game for Dems to get cocky, it's difficult to not smile ...
Quotes don't get much better than this one by Bob Dole.
"Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?" asked a perplexed Gingrich, to whom Dole bluntly ...
After the beating Gingrich took last night, it's hard to imagine under what scenario he can make a comeback. Florida is going to Romney and for Gingrich to regain the ...
There's a lot out there on the President's SOTU, so I'll keep my thoughts short and sweet.
The speech did what it had to do which was target liberals and independents ...
The highlights from last night's debate.
- Newt Gingrich can't wait to become president so he can revisit the early 60s and overthrow Castro in Cuba. War, baby, war.
- Santorum, who ...
It appears that the South Carolina verdict is forcing Romney to start taking Gingrich seriously.
“We’re not choosing a talk show host, we’re choosing a leader,” Romney said, saying that their ...
Mike Huckabee offers advice to Mitt Romney concerning his unreleased tax returns.
Let him [Romney] make this challenge: "I'll release my tax returns when Barack Obama releases his college transcripts and ...
Via Political Humor...
"Mitt Romney is coming under fire because even though he is a multimillionaire, he only paid 15 percent in taxes. That's not a tax, that's barely a tip." ...
Good line.
My guess is that after Romney fails to beat Obama in the general, Huntsman will be back in 2016. The most electable guy in the field and he could ...
I found this pretty funny...and accurate. It comes from a reader over at Balloon Juice.
So, let’s review. The contenders for the GOP nomination are
A vulture capitalist who believes that any ...
Lively little debate going on at one of last week's posts with Libertarianism put under the microscope.
ocLiberal:
I know I am in sketchy territory here, (start the indignant shouting now) but ...
In the contest to determine the winner of the Far-Right Politics gold medal, rack up a few more points for Newt Gingrich.
“I think an intelligent conservative wants the right federal ...
Via Political Humor...
"Congratulations to Mitt Romney. He won the New Hampshire primary last night. See, this is proof that even the multimillionaire son of a multimillionaire can beat the odds ...
Story 1:
North Korea punishing those who 'didn't display enough sadness over Kim Jong Il's death'
North Korean authorities are reportedly punishing citizens who did not display enough sadness over the death ...
In case you missed the story, Pope Benedict made headlines this week by doing what it is popes do best - putting the irrational fear of God into his followers.
The ...
Romney was asked whether questions dealing with distribution of wealth and power were a matter of jealousy or fairness.
You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class ...
Andy Martin, a noted conservative dirty trickster, put out a spot on local radio in which he pushes a “solid rumor” that fellow Senatorial aspirant, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), “is a homosexual.”
“I helped expose many of Barack Obama’s lies in 2008,” the ad goes. “Today, I am fighting for the facts about Mark Kirk. Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a ‘solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual.’ Roeser suggests that Kirk is part of a Republican Party homosexual club. Lake County Illinois Republican leader Ray True says Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals.”
“Mark Kirk should tell Republican voters the truth.”
And hopefully Republican voters will tell Andy Martin to go screw himself on voting day.
Rep. Peter King on what to do with those pesky Muslims.
I think there are situations like this where we are afraid of being accused of profiling. The fact is while the overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding people, on the other hand 100% of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims, and that is our main enemy today. So while we should not be profiling people because of their religion, at the same time we should not be bending over backwards to somehow keep them off a list.
The entire racial profiling issue is a touchy one and not unlike the torture debate. At one end are those who believe that the end justifies the means and that torture is acceptable if it saves one American life. At the other end are those who understand that the United States is a country of laws and is built, for the most part, on honor and integrity. Once torture and racial profiling become acceptable practices, what is there to prevent the country from sliding down into the same mud pit of depravity which the enemy is accused of wallowing in?
New security restrictions, added screening devices and detectors and an investigation into the security gaps which led to the Christmas day terrorist attack are all in the works. And understandably, passengers will begrudgingly accept the new measures, at least for the short term.
Travelers on incoming international flights said that during the final hour, attendants removed blankets, banned opening overhead bins, and told passengers to stay in their seats with their hands in plain sight.
So what do the actual numbers say? Nate Silver takes a look.
Over the past decade, there have been, by my count, six attempted terrorist incidents on board a commercial airliner than landed in or departed from the United States: the four planes that were hijacked on 9/11, the shoe bomber incident in December 2001, and the NWA flight 253 incident on Christmas.
[...]
Over the past decade, according to BTS, there have been 99,320,309 commercial airline departures that either originated or landed within the United States. Dividing by six, we get one terrorist incident per 16,553,385 departures.
These departures flew a collective 69,415,786,000 miles. That means there has been one terrorist incident per 11,569,297,667 mles flown. This distance is equivalent to 1,459,664 trips around the diameter of the Earth, 24,218 round trips to the Moon, or two round trips to Neptune.
There were a total of 674 passengers, not counting crew or the terrorists themselves, on the flights on which these incidents occurred. By contrast, there have been 7,015,630,000 passenger enplanements over the past decade. Therefore, the odds of being on given departure which is the subject of a terrorist incident have been 1 in 10,408,947 over the past decade. By contrast, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about 1 in 500,000. This means that you could board 20 flights per year and still be less likely to be the subject of an attempted terrorist attack than to be struck by lightning.
I wonder how many will find the numbers comforting.
Yes, I’m quite aware of the civil unrest in Iran today as protesters risked their lives in pursuit of democracy. And we’ll certainly discuss the Christmas day terrorist attack which conservatives have wasted no time in politicizing. It just won’t be today. Still not back in full politics mode.
And with that intro, let me share with you one of my all-time favorite jokes. I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan so this one has special appeal for me.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of red, they lay down for the night and went to sleep.
Some hours later Holmes woke up, nudged his faithful friend and said, “Watson, I want you to look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
Watson said, “I see millions and millions of stars.”
Sherlock said, “And what does that tell you?”
After a minute or so of pondering Watson said, “Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Metereologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day today. What does it tell you?”
Holmes was silent for about 30 seconds and said, “Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!”
One more.
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, “My friend is dead! What can I do?”.
The operator says, “Calm down. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.”
There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says “OK, now what?”
Last one. I promise.
One day a man drove by a farm and saw a three-legged pig. He went up to the farmer and said, “Excuse me sir, but why does that pig only have 3 legs?”
“Well,” said the farmer, “that there pig is very special. One time the house caught on fire while me, my wife and 2 kids were sleeping. That pig smashed through the front door, bolted up the stairs, jumped on the bed, grabbed me by my collar, dragged me out of the bedroom, down the stairs and outside. Then he went back in and did the same for the wife and kids. He saved our lives.”
“That’s amazing sir but why does that pig only have three legs?” said the man.
“Then there was that time the pig saw a big storm coming and we didn’t. The pig ran into the house and dragged us out to the storm cellar. If it weren’t for that pig we would all be dead.”
“But still, that doesn’t explain why the pig only has 3 legs.”
“And I remember the time my youngest son was drownin’ in the lake but I was too far away to hear him scream. The pig came running towards me and led me to where he was.”
“Well, that is a miracle but how come that pig only has 3 legs?” the man said quite annoyed at this point.
“Well,” said the farmer, “with a pig that special… it wouldn’t be right to eat him all at once.”
There you go. Top three jokes you’re ever going to hear!
When Republicans lie as they do and purposely misinform and distort the truth (e.g. death panels), they know exactly what they’re doing. They’re talking to simpletons like Bunny from Parsons, Kansas. Bunny called in to C-SPAN to let them know how she felt about the health care bill in the Senate.
“I have taken my Christmas wreath off my house. I have taken all the lights down. This is supposed to be a nation under God, and it isn’t. They absolutely have ruined Christmas.”
“And I would like to see every light in the nation go out, especially in the White House.”
And why does Bunny feel as she does? TPM…
She also explains that members of Congress are sullying “God’s holiday for the birth of his son” and that she opposes the bill so fiercely because its death panel provisions will unleash a “genocide”on seniors.
Is there any possible way to reason with people like this? There is nothing that would ever convince Bunny and others like her that there are no death panels. She’s heard it from Limbaugh and Beck and Bachmann and Palin and for many conservatives, a good lie trumps truth any day.
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