The First Thing We Do, Let's Hate All the Gays

UPDATE:  And why not stone them to death, because "'I know what was done in the Old Testament and what was done back then was what’s just. … And I do stand for Biblical morality.'"

Read Slate, Oklahoma Tea Party Candidate Supports Stoning Gay People to Death.  

Then we can use religion to justify discrimination, bigotry, and hatred of minorities, interracial couples, bossy women, Jews, Muslims, atheists, Sikhs, and others.  (Republi-cons, please feel free to substitute your favorite epithet.)

Read The Daily Beast, Arizona’s Pro-Discrimination Law Won’t Stop With Gays.

Without fear, anger and hatred, where would the Republi-cons be.

Live Happy

From an email:

The way you live your life may be your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one:

Live it well.

Enjoy today.

Do something fun.

Be happy.

Have a great day.

Which reminds me of the following quote:

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.  -  John Lennon

Republi-CON Political Opportunism and Hypocrisy, Cont.

UPDATE V:  "Critics question whether Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should have been rescued from the Taliban in light of claims that he was both a deserter and a ballerina."

Watch The Colbert Report, Bergdghazi:

The Colbert Report
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Again, this is possibly the most brazen and disgusting political opportunism and hypocrisy I have ever heard.  Republi-cons would have preferred Bergdahl be publicly beheaded before giving any credit to Obama.

UPDATE IV:  "Rep. Richard B. Nugent (R-Fla.), a lawmaker whose three sons have served in the military, made the case of captive soldier Bowe Bergdahl a personal cause. Nugent delivered speeches about Bergdahl on the House floor. He introduced two resolutions affirming that the United States would not abandon him in Afghanistan.

What Nugent wanted, he told a crowd at a rally for Bergdahl in February, was for 'the United States to do everything possible not to leave any members of the armed forces behind.'

But now, Nugent says that — when he said 'do everything possible' — he did not actually mean everything. Now that Bergdahl is free, the Florida Republican has become a critic of the deal that freed him. . .

Nugent is one of several conservatives in Congress who have made a similar shift this week. First, they demanded that President Obama get Bergdahl back. Then, when the soldier was released, they blasted Obama for giving up too much to get him.

Those conservatives have been mocked by Democrats and cable-news talkers, who accuse them of playing politics. “It is clear they are worried his release could be seen as a victory for President Obama,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

In interviews and statements, some in the group have said they did not contradict themselves. They always wanted Bergdahl back. They expected it might take a deal with the Taliban. Indeed, the broad outlines of this deal — including the five Taliban commanders to be exchanged — had been discussed publicly since at least 2011.

But still, these conservatives say, they didn't expect the final deal would be this bad.

In February, The Washington Post reported on the revival of talks to free Bergdahl in exchange for releasing five Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into the custody of Qatar — the exact outlines of the deal that was eventually announced. When asked at the time by CNN’s Anderson Cooper about reports of such a deal, Sen. John S. McCain (R-Ariz.) said he might support an agreement for Bergdahl that included some kind of prisoner exchange.

'Obviously I’d have to know the details, but I would support ways of bringing [Bergdahl] home, and if exchange was one of them I think that would be something I think we should seriously consider,' McCain said.

But after Obama announced Saturday that he had swapped the Taliban prisoners for Bergdahl, McCain criticized the exchange as 'a mistake.' . .

Several members of Congress from both parties issued tweets celebrating Bergdahl’s return, only to delete them as the story grew murky. . .

Just after Bergdahl’s release, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) released a statement that said: 'Our prayers have been answered and we offer our thanks for the perseverance of the family and the many Idahoans who have kept this vigil. We appreciate the men and women who made this release possible.'

Five days later, Crapo expressed doubts about the exchange, telling a local news outlet: 'I believe that is a problem . . . that could potentially result in a problem for our national security.'"

Read the Washington Post, The Bergdahl boomerang: GOP lawmakers who long urged a rescue now sour on the idea. 

In other words, Republi-cons were for doing everything possible to get the POW back, before they were against doing anything to save him. 

This is possibly the most brazen and disgusting political opportunism and hypocrisy I have ever heard.  Republi-cons would have preferred Bergdahl be publicly beheaded before giving any credit to Obama.

UPDATE III:  "So the prisoner exchange in Afghanistan is 'much like' the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Libya because, in both cases, the administration did or didn’t do something and then later gave an account of why it did or didn’t do that something. Scandalous.

And this is just the beginning of the uncanny similarities. Both events happened — you’re not going to believe this — under President Obama! And in both instances, one of the people involved was — yes, you guessed it — Susan Rice! Don’t forget that Bergdahl and Benghazi both begin with the letter 'B,' and although Afghanistan is in Asia and Libya is in Africa, both continents begin with the letter 'A.' . .

A bit of idle speculation was all Obama’s critics (particularly those at Fox) needed to fire up the Benghazi scandal machine. . .

Former congressman Allen West (R-Fla.) found the two instances similar because 'there is a lot to this whole episode — like Benghazi — that we may never know.'

Luckily for West, knowledge is not a requirement. He has already declared l’affaire Bergdahl an impeachable offense."

Read the Washington Post, From Bergdahl to Benghazi, Republicans fire up the scandal machine. 

UPDATE II: How important is the Benghazi so-called scandal to the Republi-con reelection strategy?

Says Iowa Republi-con Rep. Steve King "We need to try this thing, really, in the public eye, the autopsy of Ambassador Stevens should be released to the public. That's another piece of information that's missing."

Read Slate, What House Conservatives Want From the Benghazi Committee.

UPDATE:  What ever happened to the [fill in the blank] scandal.  "It went the way of pretty much every Obama administration 'scandal,' which is that it turned out to be not nearly as scandalous as Republicans had hoped.

In fact, a clear pattern has emerged on how these scandals have unfolded, one that might be helpful to keep in mind as we start paying attention to [yet another so-called scandal]. Here’s a handy guide:

Stage 1: Worse than . . .

Stage 2: The facts show something problematic, but . . .

Stage 3: The (not so) dramatic hearings.

Stage 4: The rage at the media for not paying enough attention.

Stage 5: The last gasp."

Read the Washington Post, The five stages of GOP scandal-mongering: A reader’s guide. 

Repeat as necessary, the same or another so-called scandal, with indignation and outrage.

"If you compare the costs of the Reagan Administration’s serial security lapses in Beirut to the costs of Benghazi, it’s clear what has really deteriorated in the intervening three decades. It’s not the security of American government personnel working abroad. It’s the behavior of American congressmen at home."

Read the The New Yorker, Ronald Reagan’s Benghazi.

Read also:

The Daily Dolt, Rumsfeld Asserts Embassy Attacks Due To "Perceived American Weakness." Wait, How Many Embassy Attacks Were There Under Bush?,

The Huffington Post, 13 Benghazis That Occurred on Bush's Watch Without a Peep from Fox News

The Huffington Post, Jon Stewart Tears Fox News Apart For Benghazi Hypocrisy, which notes the lack of Hedgehog News hysteria over "a long list of intelligence failures under the Bush administration, including a pre-9/11 report on Osama bin Laden's intentions to strike inside the U.S. and the false claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which led to the 2003 U.S. invasion", and

Media Matters, Krauthammer Whitewashes Bush's History To Bash Obama Over Embassy Attack, which includes a list of embassy attacks over the last 35 years.

See also, Republi-CON Political Opportunism and Hypocrisy.

 

The Republi-CON Media CONplex, Cont.

UPDATE V:  "Stephen Colbert is not only funnier than any cable news show—although Fox News can be unintentionally hilarious—he’s also better at informing his audience about the issues than traditional news outlets. That’s not just my opinion; it’s the conclusion of a study released Monday by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center."

Read The Daily Beast, Colbert Is Ivy League TV Compared to Fox News, which quotes a few jokes from Colbert, including this one to illustrate religious/Christian hypocrisy:

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it."

UPDATE IV:  This time it is Bush's chief speechwriter from 2001 until 2006, who has realized the harm done when the lunatics are running the asylum, or in this case, the  Republi-CON political party:

 "Among the saddest aspects of a political culture premised on the exaggeration and organization of grievances is the way policy debates get pulled into a vortex of paranoia. . .

This is the way the modern ideological market often works. It is driven by entrepreneurs of outrage, marketers of resentment, innovators in the on-time delivery of anger. Their market share does not need to be large to be influential. Several thousand calls to Congress can seem like a populist wave."

Read the Washington Post, The entrepreneurs of outrage.

UPDATE III:  Ironically, even a long-time Republi-CON nut now realizes that 'the party needs to control its nuts.'

"'Republicans don’t want careers in government and give little thought to how to get there,' she writes. 'Often they run for president only because they hope it will lead to more speaking gigs and TV appearances. That may explain why Republicans seem to attract the sort of candidate who enjoys startling people at cocktail parties with outlandish remarks. There’s a great living to be made by appealing to rubes and hotheads. Even if you lose, you’ll get a talk show.'

Two pages later: 'About half of the Republican presidential candidates in the last two election cycles would have inspired every stupid woman in America to drive to the polls, sobbing, in order to vote against them.'"

Read the Washington Post, Ann Coulter back on airwaves, reenergized by shutdown and exemplifying unhappiness of GOP.

UPDATE II:  "Sarah is selling Sarah. The former vice presidential candidate and half-term governor of Alaska is a commodity of one and a marketing machine. She has created a new politics of profit.

Palin's reanimation on the tea party stage probably means no more than the other intentions she has floated but never executed. She spent almost a year of the last presidential election cycle teasing the far right that she was going to run for president. She never did, but lots of network TV interviews and speculative articles drove up her name recognition and brand identification.

And she's not running again.

Palin is re-running the same show in her home state of Alaska by hinting that she is going to be a candidate for the U.S. Senate. She will not run though. There is too much risk of failure. She's not the near-unknown who was elected governor of Alaska and then quit 2½ years into the job. She has a profile, and she intends to use it to make money, which is one commitment she knows how to keep. Running and losing is always bad for business.

Palin is a product. Not a candidate."

Read CNN, Sarah Palin follows the Donald Trump method. 

UPDATE:  "When Senator Ted Cruz of La Mancha jumped on his trusty steed and charged the windmills, he explained: 'Everyone in America knows Obamacare is destroying the economy.' He added that accepting the Affordable Care Act would be like appeasing the Nazis.

Cruz is a smart man, and maybe this is just disingenuous demagoguery. But there’s a scarier possibility: After spending too much time in the Republican echo chamber, he may believe what he says.

In the 1990s, as conservative talk radio spread across America, liberals felt victimized. But, in retrospect, the rise of talk radio, Fox News Channel and right-wing Web sites may have done greatest harm to conservatives themselves.

The right-wing echo chamber breeds extremism, intimidates Republican moderates and misleads people into thinking that their worldview is broadly shared.

That’s the information bubble that tugs the entire Republican Party to the right . .

Research suggests that the echo chamber effect is disproportionately a problem on the right, leading inhabitants to perceive a warped reality. Many Republicans were shocked that Mitt Romney was defeated last fall because they had been assured that he would win. And a Pew survey last year found that the proportion of conservative Republicans who believe Obama is a Muslim has doubled since 2008 to 34 percent.

Then there was the time Glenn Beck aired the theory that Obama is the anti-Christ (he later said he had been joking).

The right-wing bubble makes it harder to elect Republican presidents by enforcing an ideological purity in primaries that weakens candidates in general elections. Too much time in the bubble also leaves some Republican politicians saying things that just sound nutty to independents."

Read The New York Times, Suffocating Echo Chamber.

"Regular readers know I have a love/hate relationship with the Tea Party. What I love is all the good people participating in the civic process for the first time; the determination to challenge corruption in the GOP establishment; the effort to bring civil-liberties concerns and skepticism of foreign wars back under the Republican tent; the commitment to a republic where people are free to pursue happiness as they see fit; the healthy skepticism of central planning that subverts markets with cronyism and corporatism; and alarm at our national debt.

What I hate about the Tea Party is the epistemic closure that plagues it; the unthinking embrace of obviously unqualified politicians like Herman Cain; the notion that "real American" culture is something other than pluralistic; the unseriousness about governing; its frustrating inability to distinguish between mutually beneficial compromise on one hand and betrayal of principle on the other; the veneration of hucksters like Glenn Beck and blowhards like Rush Limbaugh; the double-think that characterizes its attitude toward the safety-net; and the subset of its rank and file that expresses personal disdain for all non-conservatives even while casting themselves as disrespected victims.

I've always been far more sympathetic to the Tea Party's rank and file than to its elites. In my experience, an American who shows up to a community protest rally tends to be earnest and well-intentioned, whereas the ideological entertainers they tune into on the way home tend to be cynical, opportunistic hucksters who constantly misinform while selling cheap anger and gold at obscene markups. 

I've argued in many posts that right-wing media regularly and egregiously misinforms its Tea Party audiences, whose trust in talk radio and Fox News is misplaced, and called on conservatives who know better to affirm as much. As I see it, Tea Partiers would be furious if they understood the degree to which they're misled, and would manage a better movement if better served by conservative media. . .

[T]he vast majority of Americans assume the media they consume isn't regularly filled with obvious untruths. While there is media bias across the ideological spectrum, talk radio and Fox News engage in a special kind of misinformation.

The Tea Party rank and file deserves better."

Read The Atlantic, A Soldier Criticizes His Army Comrades' Tea Party Ideology. 

And see The Republi-CON Media CONplex. 

Countdown to Fools Day, Bwahahahaha!!!!

UPDATE V:   After enumerating the 64 pages of the delusions and lies, Arduini asks [beginning on page 61, presented in a different order] Pastor Truthiness aka Huckster and Con Man and Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang ould be so "consistently, comprehensively and unapologetically wrong"?

Do they beleve what they say?  If so, it "would not reflect well on their intelligence, but then again neither of them has ever demonstrated any but the most ordinary of intellectual gifts. Zullo is demonstrably one of the worst investigators in the history of the profession. And without the technological help of the Internet, Gallups would still be just an obscure southern pastor of only the 2 nd largest SBC congregation in the little town of Milton "

Is it "an expression of fundamentally racist impulse[?] This is not to say that all Birthers are racists, or more specifically that either Gallups or Zullo are racist. Certainly, there has been next to nothing in their statements, writing or actions that betray an obviously racist motivation. But they embrace enthusiastically the contention that Obama is somehow 'other.'"

Or have:

"Gallups and Zullo together have simply been engaged in a scam[?] It is a suggestion certainly worthy of consideration. “Send money” had been one of the most consistent components of their message since the earliest moments of their collaboration, and recently Mike Shoesmith has been compelled to explicitly deny that accusation. But even before the first Cold Case Posse press conference, Zullo was cashing in via an eBook published for sale on Amazon. His excuse for immediately getting his hands caught in that particular cookie jar was that the media had refused to cover the press conference, and so an alternative way to get the story out was required. This is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the eBook was actually already on sale before the first press conference had even taken place.

Cormac Herley, a computer security expert at Microsoft Research, wrote a paper in 2012 explaining why the Nigerian Email Scams are so pathetically obvious to the average person.  Using an approach called “signal theory” he mathematically analyzed the con but with an important new insight. He decided to look at the con from the perspective of the scammers rather than that of the victims. He realized that it cost them next to nothing to spam the world. But to make real money, they needed to be able to efficiently tell the difference between the 'true positives' ( those who would get sucked in deeply enough to send a significant amount of money ) and the 'false positives' ( targets who might seem like suckers at first, but who later got suspicious and bailed out early before they paid off). 'False positives' were expensive. They wasted time and resources that could have been more profitably spent on the 'true positives.'

In short, the Nigerian Email Scams are deliberately stupid specifically to filter out even those with only the tiniest bit of common sense, and to insure that those responding were already identified as complete idiots.

It is difficult to listen to a Gallups broadcast without suspecting that this is also his intent. Seriously… 'universe shattering?' 'Deeper and deeper, darker and darker?' 'Tons of  evidence is piling up,' but 'I’m not at liberty to tell you' what it is?  Scores of 'VIPs are on board,' powerful people with 'unlimited financial resources' and 'standing' to 'move this forward to congressional investigations' or 'criminal prosecutions,' but I can’t tell you who any of them are?

What rational person could listen to months of such elaborate and melodramatic gibberish and not run for the door? The argument that this has been nothing more than an elaborate grift designed to separate the most credulous and vulnerable of Birthers from their retirement checks is not without merit."

Read also, Slate, The GOP’s Grifter Problem, Why the Republican Party attracts provocateurs, faux martyrs, and grifters in droves, which notes " the energy of the conservative movement—and thus the Republican Party—is geared toward these people. If you want money and attention, you could do worse than become a conservative provocateur. Right-wing resentment—stoked by impossible promises and harnessed through donations—built a fortune for Glenn Beck, a political career for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and a burgeoning media empire for the late Andrew Breitbart. . . it's hard not to see the whole operation as a perpetual swindle."

UPDATE IV: Since shortly after Birther's Fool Day, "Frank Arduini has posted a compiled, footnoted version of his series of articles on Carl Gallups at SCRIBD", which begins:

"At the most granular level [Gallups] embraces as true every absurd Birther ‘fact’ no matter how long ago it was utterly debunked. His more comprehensive theories are simultaneously erroneous on their own and mutually contradictory when considered together. His pronouncements on the issue have progressively escalated in urgency and absurdity over the months and years, and yet the outcomes have never once changed. Every deadline he sets is missed. Every prediction he ventures ends up being wrong. Every accusation he makes proves false. Every promise he makes crumbles to ash in the mouths of his rapt Birther flock.

But only long enough for him to rinse and repeat. "

The 64 page article is a complete timeline of the delusions and lies promoted by Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang and Pastor Truthiness aka Huckster and Con Man.

On page 26, the much claimed 'universe-shattering' evidence is revealed -- a Sherrif who attended the The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) in May 2013 and a closed session "limited to 'sworn law enforcement officials' and 'congressmen' . . . to provide a 'FULL criminal disclosure' of the 'new information' that Zullo claimed to have accumulated over the year since the Posse’s first press conference:

[P]osted to his FaceBook account (with what was for him a typically casual attitude towards grammar, spelling, capitalization and syntax) that:

here’s what I was told, VIA cold case possie , 1) bozo isn’t American nor was he born in Hawaii, 2) they believe he’s Saudi , 3) their not his real parents, 4) Russia is involved, 5) it wasn’t an accident he’s president, 6) bill ayers and the weather underground are involved, 7) Kenya played a roll, Hawaii state officials did the birth certificate, he has several other names , not just the ones the public knows about, 9) he don’t exsist in the usa until the age of 5.....10) WERE ALL F*CKED "

Enjoy a good laugh at our dear Pastor!  But anybody who believes this really is a fool!!

UPDATE III:  After another show "promising universe-shattering disclosures, but providing nothing but 'any day now,'" Pastor Truthiness aka Huckster and Con Man 'threw the birther web sites under the bus', complaining of "the amount whining, complaining and false information and flat-out fabricated information that continues to spill out of the birther movement." [A great example of the pot calling the kettle black.]

Read Obama Conspiracy Theories, Gallups turns on birthers: calls them "whiners".

Soon after, "a firestorm of commentary erupted" and was then erased, but not before it was copied.

Read Obama Conspiracy Theories, Triple-scrubbing the birthers.  

Then watch What Birthers Believe, to understand the warped racist Birther thinking that "Barack Obama was intentionally conceived to become president and destroy America."

And read Obama Conspiracy Theories, CCP Universe-shattering evidence revealed, which notes:

It is common for people who believe one conspiracy theory to believe others, and as far as I am concerned, it is no stretch whatever to connect the random dots weaving Obama birtherism into the well-established traditions of the John Birch Society, theories of the International Communist Conspiracy, black helicopters and UN Agenda 21. If the world woke up to a vision of being controlled by a secret elite, where wars, disasters, and calamity were all controlled by hidden hands, where even the President of the United States was a puppet fiction, wouldn’t that truly shatter the universe?

Conspiracy theorists have a hard time coming to grips with rejection. They feel that anyone with moderate intelligence, courage, and honesty will inevitably agree with them. Perhaps this is why Mike Zullo and Carl Gallups set goal after goal involving VIPs that are getting on board, only to be unable to deliver. Perhaps they expected that meeting with a VIP equaled convincing them—but that just didn’t happen.

I hope Zullo comes out with his universe-shattering information, because it would make him even more of laughing stock, and we could all go home."

And because revealing the so-called "universe-shattering information" would make Pastor Truthiness aka Huckster and Con Man a laughing stock even to 'Gallups' gullibles', it will always be "any day now". 

UPDATE III:  For all the Birther Fools, call Pastor Truthiness aka Huckster and Con Man, and ask him to reconcile the following Bible verses with his numerous lies:

Proverbs 12:22 (KJV): “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

Proverbs 15:14 (KJV): “The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.”

And when he attempts to bolster his credibility on legal issues by claiming to that he is "a former Florida law enforcement officer", ask him why his name is not in a  database of past and present Florida law enforcement officers.

UPDATE II:  Today is the last day, or not.  Tomorrow, Birther Fool's Day, we will know who the fools are.

Bwahahahaha!!!!

UPDATE:  A radio talk show host -- a "man who got rich making multiple false claims", "promis[ing] to reveal the things 'They Don’t Want You to Know About', a clever marketing strategy that makes it seem as if The Powers That Be are suppressing information you need" and that "the government constantly [was] trying to suppress the truth, with nefarious figures involved in a vast conspiracy" -- was held in contempt of court, fined $37 million, and sentenced to 10 year in prison.

"He also claims to be a victim of this conspiracy himself, with the government trying to keep him from telling people what’s really going on", which he knows because he gets “information from a secret group . . . Of course, since they’re a secret group, he cannot reveal the identities of the people in it or much else about it.”

No, it wasn't the Pastor Truthiness aka Huckster and Con Man, or anyone else from the "Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang", at least not yet.

Read Slate, Kevin Trudeau: Quackery Promoter Jailed for Contempt, which notes that "[s]kepticism and critical thinking are tiring. They’re exhausting. The battles against pseudoscience, against the attacks on reality, against the erosion of the ability to make rational decisions…they never end. There is always more nonsense out there, more outrageous claims that fly in the face of reality. And what’s worse is how often it’s the same thing again and again."

This is a continuation of the Birther Bwahahahaha!!!!, the growing laughter at the Birther delusions.




Birther Fool's Day is the first day after the month that the universe 'shattered', as promised by the "Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang"to 'Gallups' gullibles' on 'fellatio Friday' in mid-December (the 'universe-shattering' twist was being promoted elsewhere in late November).

It is no coincidence that Birther Fool's Day is April 1st.

Try to contain your laughter, if you can.

If a Protest Happens and No One Attends . . .

The flop that was American Operation Spring, maybe 100 people attended, a reliable count is hard to find.

Read Poilticus USA, Operation American Spring Rallies a Few Hundred Lunatics at Most.

Just about 10-30 million fewer people than the 10-30 million people predicted to attend.

I'm embarrassed for WEBY and one of my classmates who sounded quite ignorant promoting the event.

Name That Medical Device

Hint:  this odd tool is still heavily used at all levels of politics.

The Tea Party Suckers

"A Washington Post analysis found that some of the top national tea party groups engaged in this year’s midterm elections have put just a tiny fraction of their money directly into boosting the candidates they’ve endorsed. . .

Out of the $37.5 million spent so far by the PACs of six major tea party organizations, less than $7 million has been devoted to directly helping candidates, according to the analysis, which was based on campaign finance data provided by the Sunlight Foundation. . .

Roughly half of the money — nearly $18 million — has gone to pay for fundraising and direct mail, largely provided by Washington-area firms. Meanwhile, tea party leaders and their family members have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, while their groups have doled out large sums for airfare, a retirement plan and even interior decorating.

The lavish spending underscores how the protest movement has gone professional, with national groups transforming themselves into multimillion-dollar organizations run by activists collecting six-figure salaries.

Three well-known groups — the Tea Party Patriots, the Tea Party Express and the Madison Project — have spent 5 percent or less of their money directly on election-related activity during this election cycle."

Read the Washington Post, Tea party PACs reap money for midterms, but spend little on candidates.

The so-called Tea Party is really just a subsidiary of the Republi-con party

Another Republi-CON CONspiracy

"A shoe-throwing incident during a speech by Hillary Clinton gives rise to conservative conspiracy theories."

Watch the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert's Bats**t Serious - Hillary Clinton Shoe-spiracy Theory:

The Colbert Report
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The Republi-CON Reagan Myth, Reagan Was a Fiscal Failure

Just ask the old Paul Rand.

"[W]hen he stumped for his father in 2008 and again when ran for Senate in 2010, Paul often referred to the grand old man of the GOP with a touch of disappointment and criticism. And he routinely made an assertion that might seem like blasphemy to many Republicans: President Jimmy Carter had a better record on fiscal discipline than Reagan."

Read Mother Jones, Rand Paul Says Jimmy Carter Was Better on the Budget Than Ronald Reagan. 

The story include numerous video excerpts.  

The Republi-CON Common Core Circus

UPDATE:  "Of course, the Republican about-face on Common Core is only one of many such moves during the Obama presidency. An array of issues enjoyed GOP support until the president agreed with them, including payroll tax breaks for individuals, clean debt-ceiling increases, and immigration reform policies like the DREAM Act.

This near-senseless reaction is just one part of a growing tribalism that’s consumed the whole of conservative politics. It doesn’t matter the issue: If liberals are for it, then—for a large portion of the right—that means it is time to be against it.

Take light bulbs. In 2007, Congress approved—and President Bush signed—strict efficiency standards for incandescent light bulbs. The practical impact was to make 100-watt bulbs obsolete: an inconvenience, but not a huge imposition. In any case, the rule wouldn’t take effect for a few years, giving homes and businesses a chance to adjust.

Industry groups grumbled, but there wasn’t any outrage. That changed in 2011, after a Tea Party–fueled Republican Party took the House of Representatives in a landslide victory over the Democratic Party. This coincided with the implementation of the efficiency standards, and the result was a caterwaul of right-wing rage."

Read Slate, Conservative Tribalism.

"We are pretty familiar with this story: A perfectly sensible if slightly boring idea is walking down the street. Suddenly, the ideological circus descends, burying the sensible idea in hysterical claims and fevered accusations. . .

About seven years ago, it was widely acknowledged that state education standards were a complete mess. Huge numbers of students were graduating from high school unprepared either for college work or modern employment. A student who was rated “proficient” in one state would be rated 'below basic' in another. About 14 states had pretty good standards, according to studies at the time, but the rest had standards that were verbose, lax or wildly confusing.

The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers set out to draft clearer, consistent and more rigorous standards. Remember, school standards are not curricula. They do not determine what students read or how teachers should teach. They are the goals for what students should know at the end of each grade.

This was a state-led effort, supported by employers and financed by private foundations. This was not a federal effort, though the Obama administration did encourage states to embrace the new standards. . .

But this makes no difference when the circus comes to town."

Read The New York Times, When the Circus Descends.

Obama the Thrifty

UPDATE III:  "The basics are straightforward and unambiguous: The Congressional Budget Office yesterday reported that the federal budget deficit will fall to 2.8 percent of GDP this year, almost one-third below what it was in 2013.

As a percent of GDP, not only will that be the lowest deficit since 2007, the drop from 9.8 percent in 2009 to 2.8 percent in 2014 is the largest five-year reduction in federal red ink since the end of World War 2, that is, in almost 70 years.

Read Forbes, Why No One Is Celebrating The Much-Lower Deficit.

UPDATE II:  Read the Washington Post, Think Obama’s a huge spender? Then you need to see these two charts.  The article includes this chart:

So tell me again, which party is the real big spender?

  

UPDATE:  "[I]f you want to see government responding to economic hard times with the “tax and spend” policies conservatives always denounce, you should look to the Reagan era — not the Obama years. . .

As many economists have pointed out, America is currently suffering from a classic case of debt deflation: all across the economy people are trying to pay down debt by slashing spending, but, in so doing, they are causing a depression that makes their debt problems even worse. This is exactly the situation in which government spending should temporarily rise to offset the slump in private spending and give the private sector time to repair its finances. Yet that’s not happening.

The point, then, is that we’d be in much better shape if we were following Reagan-style Keynesianism. Reagan may have preached small government, but in practice he presided over a lot of spending growth — and right now that’s exactly what America needs."

Read The New York Times, Reagan Was a Keynesian. 

"Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.

As would-be president Mitt Romney tells it: “I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno.”

Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an “inferno” of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children’s future. Even Democrats seem to think it’s true.

But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.

Even hapless Herbert Hoover managed to increase spending more than Obama has. . .

Over Obama’s four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%."

Read Market Watch, Obama spending binge never happened, which includes these two graphs:

What Great Event Happened on April 8, 1815, 199 Years Ago?

No, not Napoleon's final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo (which was fought on June 18, 1815). 

Read Slate, The Volcano That Changed the Course of History. 

The Republi-CON 'Russia Invaded Ukraine Because Obama is Weak' Myth

UPDATE:  "Compare what the Obama administration has managed to organize in the wake of this latest Russian aggression to the Bush administration’s response to Putin’s actions in Georgia in 2008. That was a blatant invasion. Moscow sent in tanks and heavy artillery; hundreds were killed, nearly 200,000 displaced. Yet the response was essentially nothing. This time, it has been much more serious. Some of this difference is in the nature of the stakes, but it might also have to do with the fact that the Obama administration has taken pains to present Russia’s actions in a broader context and get other countries to see them as such.

You can see a similar pattern with Iran. The Bush administration largely pressured that country bilaterally. The Obama administration was able to get much more effective pressure because it presented Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to global norms of nonproliferation, persuaded the other major powers to support sanctions, enacted them through the United Nations and thus ensured that they were comprehensive and tight. This is what leadership looks like in the 21st century."

Read the Washington Post, Obama’s 21st-century power politics.  

"In August 2008, Vladimir Putin invaded the Republic of Georgia while George W. Bush was President of the United States. Where were the 'weakness' complaints from Republicans? Well, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer — who has said that in the Ukraine situation Obama's 'inaction created a vacuum' and who derided the President's statements on Ukraine as 'weak' — said of the Georgia invasion back in 2008, 'Well, obviously it's beyond our control. The Russians are advancing. There is nothing that will stop them.'

Conservative Heritage Foundation national security staffer Peter Brookes exuded a similar calm in 2008: 'There's no easy answer; there's only tough choices... Russia is a tough nut to crack.' Apparently when a Democrat is president the situation is much simpler. Last Friday, Brookes explained that the Russian invasion of Crimea is proof that 'this administration's policy toward Russia has been a failure.' Hmmm....

There's another aspect to this Republican hypocrisy. McCain recently called Obama 'the most naïve president in history' because of his foreign policy tactics. And yet it was George W. Bush who famously said, upon meeting Putin, 'I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy, and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul.' Did Republicans find him 'weak'? 'Naïve'?

Contrast this with Obama, who, against considerable odds, wrangled Russia into a constructive role on Iran sanctions, Syrian chemical weapons removal and a new START treaty. It is not merely laughable to call this President, who has unfortunately expanded the use of drone warfare and who also ordered the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, 'weak.' It is also self-destructive to our national interest, since absent any substantive disagreements, it reveals only national disunity in the face of a global crisis."

Read CNN, GOP's hypocrisy on Ukraine hurts America. 

Morning Joe for President?

UPDATE IV:  Another trial balloon:  "The MSNBC host has Beltway buzz for his flirtation with the 2016 presidential race. Republican primary voters may be a different story."

Read The Atlantic, Joe Scarborough for President? Sure, Why Not?

UPDATE III:  “The hot buzz from No Labels circles is the TV host is ‘mulling’ a bid. He can't win, but it'd be funny to watch.”

Read Salon, Run, Joe, run! Why a Scarborough presidential run would be doomed and amazing.   

UPDATE II:  Another divorce for Morning Joe.  

Read the Washington Post, TMZ, Quiet Divorce ... After 12-Year Marriage. 

One divorce might have been explainable, but now after two there will never be a President Joe.  But don't shed too many tears, his current gig pays $99,038/week.

UPDATE: The Draft Morning Joe movement appears to have started back in June with The Daily Beast, Joe Scarborough Can Save the GOP.

And the talk continues on Politico, David Petraeus, Joe Scarborough eyed for '12.

Sometimes a political hack, Scarborough can be independent, calling them like he see them, regardless of party politics.

Will it be Scarborough v. Obama in 2012? One "fresh, aggressive voice for Democrats and a watchdog of the Republican Party" New Yorker thinks it would be an interesting race.

Read The Ostroy Report, President Scarborough? "Morning Joe" Would Be a Viable Threat To Obama in 2012.

How about Scarborough/Palin or Palin/Scarborough?

BTW, what do Joe and Sarah have in common? (Hint, think Mel Marinez.)


P.S.

I predict that Morning Joe doesn't run because he's got a good gig and he doesn't want to explain why he resigned from Congress. Too bad because lord knows that the Republi-con party needs some help and he might be just the person to reform a party awash in grievance, self-pity, resentment, and anger.

All Joe has to say to resurrect his political career is that he didn't like the person that he became in Washington D.C., but that he has matured and is ready to try again.

The Republi-CON "America's Got the Greatest Health Care System in the World' Myth

The Daily Show visits "a place with shockingly poor health care conditions, they're still reeling from the loss of a civil war, a quarter of the young people are living in poverty, they have high rates of cancer, heart disease."  

Responds a regular Hedgehog News commentator: "This is how bad it could get, sure, if we keep going down the path of more government control, less innovation.  I don't know if we could be that place unless great catastrophe happens to this country."  

Unfortunately for him, it is that bad already.

Watch the Daily Show, Third World Health Care - Knoxville, Tennessee Edition:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

From Upworthy, Watch 15 Magically Awkward Seconds Roll By While A Man Panics After Accidentally Insulting America: "At 4:00 is the most awkward 15 seconds I've seen in quite some time."

Bwahahahaha!!!!

UPDATE X:  Thank to RC Radio Blog, there is a timeline of some of the many claims and promises made by the "Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang" to 'Gallups' gullibles' on 'fellatio Friday', read MCSO Cold Case Posse Timeline.  

And as Obama Conspiracy Theories summarizes: 

"One year ago today, Zullo and his posse said through Carl Gallups, 'We will be gaining an audience with some VIPs from around the nation… we have some attorney generals and some congressmen who have said that they would perhaps speak with us; and one congressman in particular WANTS to meet with us….'

And all through this time we’ve seen 'person of interest,' 'enormous,' 'block buster,' 'definite plan of action,' 'full steam ahead,' 'there will be new revelations,' ' this isn’t speculation any more,' 'breathtaking,' 'indisputable proof,' 'you won’t believe the bombshells,' 'explosive evidence,' 'shocker,' '[Arpaio] will do something after the election,' and 'surprises are coming.' In January 2013 we learned that due to unfortunate circumstances, the Cold Case Posse turned to the far-superior 'Plan B.' With plan B 'full steam ahead' we learn about 'absolute forensic verification' and that they are in 'total law enforcement perspective' mode again with a 'definitive plan of action now in the works,' 'gaining audience with some VIP’s,' 'powerful things could begin happening,' 'possible that something monumental will occur,' 'real progress over the next several months (this was a year ago),' 'undeniable evidence,' and last April, 'the investigation is over.' With the completion of the investigation, Zullo concluded, 'we’re in the driver’s seat.' Then, 'information breaking' about VIP’s, 'hopefully by mid-summer (last summer),' 'light at the end of the tunnel,' 'possibly mid–summer,' 'three to six month window is still very plausible,' 'the evidence is mounting up,' and 'it will be universe shattering.'

And here we are two years later with none of this having come to pass. The VIP’s never materialized, what arguments that were released were shot down, and the Reed Hayes report remains unreleased. For the past two years we have seen nothing but publicity and promises from the Cold Case Posse. It’s pretty pathetic."

The so-called Pastor is just another huckster and con man. 

UPDATE IX:  Tomorrow begins the month the universe will 'shatter', as promised by the "Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang"to 'Gallups' gullibles' on 'fellatio Friday' in mid-December (the 'universe-shattering' twist was being promoted elsewhere in late November).

From Obama Conspiracy Theories, Birther apocalypse:

In less than 24 hours it will be the month of March, when Mike Zullo and Carl Gallups will strap on their swords, Obot Cleaver and Fogbow Basher, hitch up their boots, and come for the Obots. Leading their birther army, they will slash and burn everything that crosses their path, and no supporter of Obama shall escape retribution as birthers shatter the universe in their righteous fury.

Any day now.

And Jared Daniel Dent is ready, saying on Februaury 27:  "Come on march. 3 more days, come on sheriff Joe, Mike Zullo, and CCP release the findings. Come on America Snap out of the trance, strap up your boots and get outside and kick some Obot . Stop letting Obama loving democrats trendy's walk all over you, um up, look me up on face book, Im in VA, and I dont give a about a morally bankrupt society of zombies threatening me or mine, because I walk the walk, There only one man in that mob destined to take you out and you are destined to take him out , You go through the mob to meet him and cut down all others like blades of grass until you cross and the take meet your fate, Im sure you men and women could take out at least 20 obots apiece.."

I wonder if he and others will ask for refunds on April 1.

UPDATE VIII:   The "Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang" denies writing the letter to the Delusional Dentist, but the comments are informative none the less.

Read Obama Conspiracy Theories, Gallups, Taitz talk: Glass half full, or half wrong?

Also check out Obama Conspiracy Theories, The debunker's guide to Obama conspiracy theories.

UPDATE VII: Now the "Sheriff Joe’s Scooby Doo gang" claim to have "the most incredible, universe-shattering thing you’ve ever heard!", which will finally be disclosed on March 19.  So the Delusional Dentist has been asked to "stand down with regard to your ongoing court cases, which appear to have already run their course, you must admit. I cannot overstate the importance that your cooperation will bring to the disclosure of this essential information."

In response the Delusional Dentist said:"there were multiple promises from Mr. Gallops and Mr. Zullo before, everyone expected a criminal case against Obama to be officially submitted by Sheriff Arpaio to the DA, AG, US Attorney and Judiciary Committee of Congress before the election, it did not happen, even though Sheriff Arpaio had according to his own admission a 100% evidence of Obama using fabricated IDs. I do not know what earth shattering announcement you are planning to make next month, on March 19. Even if you make some announcement, it is just that, an announcement."

Read http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/?p=446381. 

A big difference between the the huckster and his con man and the Delusional Dentist is that she allows and responds to comments, which include:

They want the "stand down because they’re not getting as many donations as they used to.  And nothing earth shattering is coming out in March or April or May or June or July…"

"They have had PLENTY of time and chances to reveal anything that they might have. They have nothing!!!"

If they indeed have something bigger than the BC and the SSN, why would it matter if you continued what you are doings?"

"Zullo and Arpaio have been saying this chit for months and have revealed nothing.If they had anything why are they with holding it until march 19. They are simply using it to to get all the money they can.I live in Alabama and about 3 months I began getting mails from Arpaio wanting money."

"[I]t makes no sense to do what they ask, no sense to voluntarily dismiss ongoing cases".

"I thought Obama was the world’s number one liar, but this guy Gallups is awfully close. What the hell is he raving and ranting about and if it’s so earth shattering why wait until March 19th? He sounds like some ancient seer reading an animal’s entrails and predicting a cosmic event on a certain day."

"I have been waiting to see how Zullo and co were going to weasel out of their promise to deliver universe shattering information in March.  They know full well that Dr. Taitz is not going to drop anything and when they do not release any information (because they have none), they will blame it on Orly Taitz and claim that Taitz is the hold up and that if it were not for her and her cases they would be able to release the Universe Shattering information that would have brought down the Obama Presidency. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP !!!!!"

"The sheriff, Zullo, and the minister are trying out for late nite TV comedy show of their own!!! Ha, Ha, Ha,"

"Zullo,Gallups and Sheriff Joe have their fans so caught up in their con for donations that they will believe anything that they say without explanation and they know it. Look we are talking about people who every three or four months say that they have devastating information that will bring down Obama but just can not reveal it at this time. They then chose an arbitrary date a few months from the announcement that they have information that they will reveal the information. When the date comes, they then make up an excuse why they can not release the information along with a request for more donations and a promise to release information even more devastating than the information that they promised but failed to release the last time and then when the new date comes they start the same con all over again. This has been going on ever since they became involved in the Birther issue and I see no end in sight to it."

Read also Wonkette, Here Is Your Birther Slap Fight, Starring Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Minions And Super-Heroine Orly Taitz, which stated: "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod WHAT COULD IT BE? We want to be shocked and awed and emasculated and universe-shattered by your news. Tell us, Reverend Carl!"

Comments for this article include:

"I am 1,000,000% certain that these jerks are 10,000,000% batshit insane."

"Trouble in paradise- looks like the circle jerk is running low on KY and everybody is getting rubbed a little raw".

"I'd be worried about this universe-shattering news, on account of I live in a universe, but it's painfully obvious it's nowhere near the universe these nincompoops inhabit, so I say rock on."

"This looks very bad for Obama's 2016 reelection chances."

"This Rev Gallups fellow writes in a way that we would, to mock him with satirical hyperbolic versions of wingnut communiqué. Is he... using our weapons against us?"

"I knew it! OBAMA IS AN ET, and a socialist/communist/nazi ET planted by the UN as part of Agenda 21. It all fits together."

"Proof that Obama is a lizard person!! I always knew it was true! All Hail our new overlords, the Lizard People!!!"

They had zero chance before, but the new evidence will change that by 10,000%"

You know you've got a problem when you've lost credibility with other birthers!

UPDATE VI:  Still waitin' for that 'universe-shattering twist' in the Obama birth certificate probe, first predicted and promised to 'Gallups' gullibles' on 'fellatio Friday' in mid-December (the 'universe-shattering' twist was being promoted elsewhere in late November) by the huckster and his con man.  

In the meantime:

"Seeing hidden connections and causes is a key element of conspiracy thinking. But that logic is a common fallacy with a Latin name: post hoc ergo propter hoc (Latin for "after this, therefore because of it"). Because the human mind seeks connections, people often mis-attribute causes, thinking that "B happened after A did, so A must have caused B." It makes sense, and it’s often true, but not always. It’s like saying 'roosters crow before the sun rises, so the roosters must have made the sun rise.'

Taken in extreme, this type of thinking can result in clinical paranoia. The 'Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,' the so-called bible of psychiatry, notes that in paranoid disorders 'The persecutory delusions may be simple or elaborate and usually involve a single theme or series of connected themes, such as being conspired against, cheated, spied upon, followed, poisoned or drugged, maliciously maligned, harassed, or obstructed in the pursuit of long-term goals. Small slights may be exaggerated and become the focus of a delusional system…. Common associated features include resentment and anger, which may lead to violence.'"

Remind you of anyone?

Read Discovery News, Why Conspiracy Theories Provoke Violence.

UPDATE V:  Still waitin' for that 'universe-shattering twist' in the Obama birth certificate probe, first predicted and promised to 'Gallups' gullibles' on 'fellatio Friday' in mid-December by the huckster and his con man.  

Don't hold your breath.

In the meantime, "[a]nother multi-million-dollar bill comes due this year for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's reckless antics in Maricopa County, Arizona. And that's why more taxpayers may finally be asking: Who keeps voting for this guy, anyway?"

Read The Atlantic, As 2014 Begins, Toll Rises for "The Most Expensive Sheriff in America".

UPDATE IV:  It's been a while since I heard Zullo on "'fellatio Friday', [where] Zullo joins Gallups to fawn over each other and grift birther bucks from Gallups' gullible audience."

Quote from The Many Lies of Mike Zullo and Carl Gallups.

Grift means to make money "dishonestly, as in a swindle." I'll let you look up that other word if you don't know what it means.

Couldn't have said it better. 

UPDATE III:  More challenges: The Many Lies of Mike Zullo and Carl Gallups is now a Facebook page.

And "Gallups blusters that he challenges Obots, and then turns off the microphone when they call him. He’s afraid."

 

UPDATE II:  After years of empty promises, some birthers are catching on to the "I Know Something You Don't Know" con.

Comments during the last week of June 2013 include:

Gallups "told us nothing new today, except that he is in touch with Zullo every day, every single day, for God only knows what reason. . . No one questioned the evidence at the Sheriff's conference, according to Gallups - I'm questioning it, because Gallups and Zullo refuse to tell anyone any details. All they do is rail on and on - yet release no data to the public."

"How can the public and Congress give full and really enthusiastic support to Zullo and the CCP when they tease us by not releasing the 'juicy' details that they've uncovered. Why are they holding back on the 90% not released? . . My advice to Zullo and the CCP is this: Lay it on us now and let the cards fall where they may. This is not the time to be playing 'I've Got A Secret'. "
"Gallups has made this about him. . . stringing it out to an uncertain date in the future makes people infuriated. I'll still give Zullo the benefit of the doubt, but as far as I'm concerned Gallups is a clown."

"Listening to Gallups is like hearing a giddy teenager talking about their first date. He's so excited to have a real person like Zullo on his show that he's verbally orgasmic."

"Whoever Mike is, the guy who did the interview, did a nice job - he let Gallups talk. That's something Gallups never allows his guests as he prattles."

"Carl Gallups is so full of shit his eyes must be brown. . . Just about every video he puts out it is always 'BREAKING' 'STUNNING REVELATIONS' 'NEW REVELATIONS' . . . Get over yourself Gallups! "

" I hate to say it, but he reminds me a mix of a side-show barker and a used car salesman."

I warned you before of the cult that is Carl, AKA C Squared.

(Although he proclaims differently, was C Squared ever a law enforcement officer in Florida?  Not according to the Sarasota Harld-Tribune.)

As for the alleged interview with the CONgressman, aren't you "tired of being played for a fool." And don't "be surprised if Stockman never does the interview." (FYI, the station has a special line for VIPs to call, the CONgressman wouldn't be given the announced call-in number.)

Remember: "if you're in the con game and you don't know who the mark is … you're the mark."

UPDATE:  As Vincent Bugliosi explains in his book on the JFK assassination, "Reclaiming History":

"The conspiracy community regularly seizes on one slip of the tongue, misunderstanding, or slight discrepancy to defeat 20 pieces of solid evidence; accepts one witness of theirs, even if he or she is a provable nut, as being far more credible than 10 normal witnesses on the other side; treats rumours, even questions, as the equivalent of proof; leaps from the most minuscule of discoveries to the grandest of conclusions; and insists that the failure to explain everything perfectly negates all that is explained."

That's the reaction to Pastor Truthiness' (formerly known as Pastor Poppins') interview last week with "[f]ormer police investigator Don Jeffrey, who investigated reports of Obama having multiple security-security numbers for Mike Zullo, finds that none of the multiple numbers reported by other birther investigators, tie back to President Obama personally."

Read Obama Conspiracy Theories, Social-security number allegations undermined by Cold Case Posse investigator.

The so-called Pastor is just another huckster and con man.  He and the other birthers have "made promise after promise that they haven't kept, they presented some evidence that was faked, their 'experts' tell stories that contradict each other from press conference to press conference, they refuse to testify under oath and blow off subpoenas, and they never actually do anything but seek media attention."

And the angry old "closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned" white men continue their "offensive, polarizing rhetoric".  

On This Valentine's Day 2014 It Is Worth Noting That Love Conquers All, Finally Even Republi-CON Hatred

"'We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn't that what marriage is? ... I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry. Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the ‘wrong kind of person’ for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. ... I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.' — Mildred Loving, 'Loving for All'

Last night, only days after hearing oral arguments in the case, a Virginia federal judge struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage, writing unequivocally that “[t]radition is revered in the Commonwealth, and often rightly so. However, tradition alone cannot justify denying same-sex couples the right to marry any more than it could justify Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage.” The judge opened her opinion with the quote, above, from Mildred Loving, the plaintiff in the 1967 challenge to Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage. She thus joined a unanimous and ever-expanding collection of federal judges who have chosen to answer the question left up in the air by the Supreme Court last Spring: Did the Windsor decision—striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act—pretty much strike down gay-marriage bans as well?"

Read Slate, It’s Over: Gay Marriage Can’t Lose in the Courts. 

The Rational Valentine

"This Valentine’s Day, show your affection through economics. Signal how much your mate means to you through a carefully thought out and personalized gift. Then make your mate even happier by investing in yourself. Finally, stop and appreciate your partner – 'The One' may not exist, but that doesn’t mean your partner is not 'A Really Good One.'"

Read The New York Times, How to Be a Better Valentine, Through Economics. 

A Perfect Match, What Modern Dating and Financial Transactions Have in Common

Repost:

"Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a match, Find me a find, catch me a catch."

Hope this doesn't spoil your day of love.

Read the Washington Post, Why online dating services are like financial markets (and not just because you might get lucky).

And even if you haven't found your perfect match this Valentine's Day, take heart.  "Given some pretty strong metaphysical assumptions, you might [already] have a partner!"

Read the Washington Post, Everyone has a date this Valentine’s Day. Just maybe not in this world.