• Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    A Year Of Spending Cuts and Tax Hikes Has Worsened The Recession… In Greece, Anyway

    For a second there, I thought she was talking about the US economy, which is in the terlet thanks to the Bush tax CUTS and the continuing War on Women and Children, reducing aid to poor families. Taxes. It seems whether you cut them or hike them, they cause problems for everybody. A year of spending cuts and tax hikes has worsened the recession, now in its third year. The unemployment rate among young people is around 40 percent. via Greek Economic Dilemma Evolves Into Political Crisis : NPR.

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Say It Ain’t So, Teabagger Joe

    My Congressman is Rep. Joe Walsh, and he’s having a bad week. First he makes this obnoxious and cluelessly racist statement about why Obama got elected – due to “white guilt” and the ability to sound smart and educated… And then he goes on to insult American Jews who aren’t supportive enough of the State of Israel. Oy. first the Obama gaffe, then a later post with the reaction from smart, educated American Jews. “Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there’s nothing racist about this. It is…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Comment is free | O’Lielly Lies, Savage Savaged, Hannity Ho-Hum

    How our right-wing talkers are explained to the British by one of the Guardian’s columnists: don’t miss the bit where Michael Savage, banned from travel to Britain, whines about Obama’s ecstatic reception in Ireland. I liked this bit where BillO grouses that FOXNews don’t get no respect. It is understandable why O’Reilly would be concerned about losing advertisers in light of the recent cancellation of his colleague Glenn Beck’s show. Though no official reason was given for the programme’s cancellation, it is widely speculated that the loss of revenue resulting from the Stopbeck campaign’s call for an advertiser boycott had…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    British Far Right, Defeated At Polls, Resorts To Street Thuggery

    Can we expect this even if our own ultra-right is marginalized and defeated in elections? Somehow I think our racist wackos skew older, and less physically able to carry out coordinated attacks. But dang, they could sure cause traffic jams and hog all the sidewalks with their RVs and scooters. Far-right activists have attacked trade union meetings and anti-racist groups in the past month in what campaigners and politicians say is an escalating campaign of intimidation and violence. In the latest incident, a 20-strong group hurled concrete pillars, glass and rocks at a meeting on multiculturalism organised by Labour councillors…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Episcopal - Politics, Schmolitics

    Notoriously Ignored Blog Pfalz Prophets Goes After Bigot Maggie Gallagher

    My friend Pfalz Prophets has been blogging a bit lately on human rights issues for GLTB persons, and this post does not deserve to be notoriously ignored. Disclaimer: I have sung in church with PP, and attest to his musicianship and scholarly chops. I discovered a new hate group the other day, the National Organization for Marriage, thanks to my signing up with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Maggie Gallagher, the chairman of the group, issued a standard press release, to which I responded with this e-mail:”It has come to my attention that you are conducting a nationwide campaign opposing…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Sen. Durbin Takes On James OKeefe | @RepJoeWalsh needs schooling

    NPR may be in a defensive crouch, but at least one Democratic lawmaker is publicly pushing back against James OKeefes war on public broadcasting: Sen. Dick Durbin D-IL.Durbin took to the Senate floor on Monday to mount a defense of NPR and PBS and attack OKeefes credibility. Noting that previous OKeefe tapes have been found to be misleadingly edited, including his footage of ACORN in which he posed as a pimp, Durbin said that the same tactics were being used to go after NPR. He cited a widely circulated analysis by Glenn Becks website, The Blaze, as evidence.”Mr. OKeefe appears…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Pro-Life Means… Pro Breast Cancer? Pro-STD? Anti-Contraception?

    Heeding the call for JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, the repugnant Republican bullies vote to defund Planned Parenthood. Because we all need more UN-planned parenthood, more sexually transmitted diseases, more breast cancer going undetected, and more forced pregnancies. Meanwhile, these same jerkwads will soon be voting to cut benefits for poor children – the babies must be birthed, but after that parents, and poor women who won’t have easy access to contraception, are on their own. How do Republicans sleep at night, the hypocrites? Thank GOD I had my tubes tied years ago. Young women, if it weren’t for the Democratic Senate…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Army protecting #Egypt protesters from police video: Watching and listening

    Earlier today a reporter for the The Daily News Egypt captured footage of Cairo protesters taking shelter behind and among armored vehicles of the army. Who were they were sheltering from? The Egyptian police. The chant has the same cadence as “The people, united, can never be defeated.” I’ve also heard a Spanish version. via Army protecting Egypt protesters from police video – CSMonitor.com.

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Surveying The Old Rugged Crosshairs

    If they’d only gone with the cute dartboard graphic… but that doesn’t go with “Don’t retreat, Instead – RELOAD.” Crosshairs it is! Just like those roadside surveyors use, and not like gunsights at all, not one bit. Also, too, maybe: subliminal Christian symbolism can’t hurt. A ‘SURVEYOR’S SYMBOL’?…. On March 22, the day before the Affordable Care Act became law, former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin (R) published a list of House Democrats with crosshairs, like that of a rifle scope, over their districts. A day later, she sent a message to “commonsense conservatives” and “lovers of America” — it read,…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Mini-Posts - Politics, Schmolitics

    Can we lose the gun metaphors? Legal concealed carry worked out SO well in Arizona

    BUDA, Texas — Talk about the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. Some members of the Capitol press corps took a 10-hour concealed handgun safety and shooting class this week – an exercise less about getting a weapon than getting into the Capitol. Visitors now must pass through metal detectors, virtually guaranteeing delays. But there’s an express lane for people with a concealed handgun permit. The theory, apparently, is that people licensed to pack heat have undergone a thorough background check and can be waved right through. via Straight-shooting press corps members get CHL permits for express access to Texas Capitol…