Daily Archives: August 17, 2011

August 17, 2011 · 9:12 PM

Karl Rove: It’s ‘Offensive’ To Say We Are A Christian Nation

Seems like Karl Rove understands the Founding Fathers’ intent to see this country as fundamentally neutral when it comes to religion.

Some would interpret their view as wanting us to accept all religions without persecution of any particular religion.  In fact, The Establishmet Clause in the First Amendment speaks to that very issue:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Think Progress

Social conservatives often insist the U.S. was founded to be a “Christian nation,” and they accuse progressives and President Obama of undermining these supposedly core values.

But leading conservative strategist Karl Rove called the notion that the U.S. is Christian “offensive” on Fox News last night. “We are based on the Judeo-Christian ethic, we derive a lot from it, but if you say we’re a Christian nation, what about the Jews, what about the Muslims, what about the non-believers?” Rove said the president, in one of his books, inaccurately quoted Rove as calling the U.S a “Christian nation,” a misquote he was clearly offended by.

Watch it:

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· 8:17 PM

David Letterman Death Threat: Jihadist Site Calls For Host’s Killing

Huffington Post

A jihadist website has issued a death threat against David Letterman, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The threat was issued after Letterman referenced Ilyas Kashmiri, an al Qaeda leader killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June, on his late night show. Letterman apparently joked about Kashmiri’s death, something that enraged a poster on the website.

According to the SITE Intelligence Group, the user called for someone to “cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever.”

Letterman, who is not Jewish, is not the first comic to receive death threats. In 2010, the creators of “South Park” were threatened after they depicted Muhammad in a bear suit.

It’s also not the first time Letterman has been a criminal target. He famously confessed to an extramarital affair after a CBS News staffer threatened to blackmail him in 2009.

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· 6:24 PM

Airman Who Said Obama’s Birth Certificate Was Forged Not AWOL, Being Discharged

It appears this is yet another birther trying to wiggle his way out of his volunteered duty to serve his country.   It also comes on the heels of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s statement about Obama not serving his country.

Someone forgot to tell Perry that being POTUS, is in fact, serving one’s country!

TPM Muckraker

Air Force Staff Sgt. Daryn J. Moran, who’s been claiming that he’s AWOL from the military in Germany because he thinks President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fake, might want to check his own paperwork.

The Air Force says Moran (who wrote his opposition to Obama is “not because he’s Black“) isn’t AWOL at all, but rather on approved leave status awaiting discharge, Scott Fontaine reportsfor Air Force Times.

“He is currently outprocessing for discharge from the Air Force which was previously approved by his commander on August 4th,” according to a statement from the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. “While we are aware of the comments that appear on various Web sites attributed to Staff Sgt. Moran, officials with United States Air Forces in Europe will not discuss nor characterize those comments.”

Moran had written in comments posted on the Blaze that he was “due to get out soon under an administrative and Honorable discharge for a ‘Personality Disorder’, because I told them homosexuality is sin.” But he chalked the discharge up to “basically paperwork” in a letter to a birther website and claimed he was due to report on Thursday and Friday of last week but didn’t show up.

In addition to his opposition to gays serving openly in the military, Moran seems to have had trouble serving alongside Muslims as well. As the Air Force Times reported, he said that he was removed from his position when a coworker complained because she “couldn’t handle” him asking a Muslim doctor in his unit about her faith.

“My conscience is violated,” he said. “I feel like I’m supporting the flag of whatever those Islamic countries are and the rainbow flag and not the red, white and blue. That’s not the kind of people I want to be associated with.”

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· 3:00 PM

Michele Bachmann’s Misleading Talking Point On Federal Pay

There’s one thing I’ve noticed about Michele Bachmann and other GOPers who lie or distort facts to fit their agenda:  They never apologize for their error.  Instead they do one of two things, double down on the lie or ignore the lie.

It’s apparent that their playbook dictates that they never admit to lying.  Bachmann and a few others are masters at this tactic.

Huffington Post

While stumping on a platform of limited government, Republican presidential contender Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has focused on the growth of federal pay under the Obama administration, saying it is representative of broader government excess.

But Bachmann’s go-to talking point on the subject is grossly misleading and obscures her own voting record on federal pay.

While on “Fox News Sunday” this past Sunday, Bachmann said, “We had one employee at the federal Department of Transportation that made $170,000 a year at the beginning of the recession.”

“We had the trillion dollar stimulus, and 18 months into the recession, we had 1,690 employees making over $170,000,” she continued. “Government has really been growing at — a lot of largesse. But people in the real world aren’t. And that’s what has to change. Government has no conformity at all with the real world.”

While it’s true that the number of Transportation workers making $170,000 or more a year increased after Obama took office, the boost, authorized under President George W. Bush, was caused by a modest pay raise for highly-trained employees, not a hiring spree associated with stimulus spending. What’s more, Bachmann herself voted in 2008 for a separate bill that increased federal worker pay. Bachmann’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the statistic, which she has oft-cited.

As the Washington Post reported, Bachmann’s numbers come from a 2009 USA Today article, which reads, “When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person  earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.”

The 2009 economic stimulus bill isn’t mentioned anywhere in the USA Today article, and for good reason: It has nothing to do with the pay raises Bachmann has been referring to of late. The boost in the employees making $170,000 came from a modest salary increase, most of which went to air traffic controllers, expert professionals responsible for the lives of thousands of airplane passengers each day.

Continue reading here…

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· 1:52 AM

Wednesday Blog Roll 8-17-2011

 Wisconsin Recall Election Results: Democrats Keep State Senate Seats

Herman Cain: Impeaching Obama ‘Would Be A Great Thing To Do’: Report 

Dear Limbaugh, Critics Accused You Of “Lying” With Good Reas.. 

Now S&P Downgrades Google?!? 

White House pounces on Rick Perry crack 

The GOP Has Become a Cult, And the Tax Cut Mantra is Their Jim Jones Kool-aid.. 

The Plot to Kill the Post Office…And Its Union Contracts 

Polling Shows Feingold Would Offer Biggest Challenge to Walker in Reca.. 

Ron Paul: He Who Shall Not Be Named  

Convicted reporter points finger at British tabloid’s top editors

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· 1:38 AM

Sarah Palin tour comes to abrupt halt

No surprise there.  Anyone with half a brain could have figured out her motive: attention!

Politico

After just four days on the road, Sarah Palin’s bus tour is going dormant again.

In a note posted on her Facebook page Monday, Palin said she’s headed “back to Alaska for the start of the school year.”

What’s next for the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee? “While kids crack open their school books, I look forward to continuing my own writing and research on strategies and plans to help move our country forward,” she wrote.

Palin noted that she’ll be back on the road before long — she’s scheduled to keynote a Sept. 3 tea party rally in Waukee, Iowa, near Des Moines.

Her Facebook note didn’t mention it, but she’s also scheduled to headline an Oct. 7 rally with Glenn Beck in St. Charles, Mo., according to a local conservative talk-radio station’s announcement Monday.

The leg of Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour that’s now ending lasted four days, beginning midday Friday, when Palin appeared at the Iowa State Fair — just in time for her to catch the attention of the assembled national political media mob in town for the Ames Straw Poll.

On Saturday, she visited Ronald Reagan’s childhood home in Dixon, Ill., and his nearby alma mater of Eureka College. She was in Eureka when the straw poll results were released, and NBC News asked her what she thought of the results.

“The prediction was that it would either be Ron Paul or Michele Bachmann because they spent a lot of time and energy to make sure they had delegates there who would cast those votes — so not really a surprise,” Palin told NBC, the only major news outlet following her in Illinois.

Continue reading here… 

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· 1:14 AM

Wisconsin Recall Election Results: Democrats Keep State Senate Seats

 

It’s great to see that in this recall election, the Dems succeeded!

Huffington Post 

Both of the Democratic Wisconsin state senators up for recall elections have survived.

The Democrats targeted in Tuesday’s election were among the 14 senators who fled the state in February in opposition to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal curbing public employee collective bargaining rights.

Both won in recalls against Republican challengers.

Democrats picked up two seats through the nine recalls but were unable to wrest majority Senate control away from the GOP, which now holds a narrow 17-16 majority. Before the recalls, Republicans had a 19-14 edge in the chamber.

Democratic Sen. Bob Wirch of Pleasant Prairie defeated Kenosha attorney Jonathan Steitz, and Sen. Jim Holperin of Conover beat tea party Republican Kim Simac of Eagle River.

A third Democrat won a recall election last month. Two Republicans were defeated in six recall elections last week.

Even though they remain in the minority, Democrats were savoring Tuesday’s victories.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said Democrats have “fundamentally changed the face of power in the Wisconsin Legislature” through the recalls. Even though Republicans remain in the majority, Tate said Democrats’ picking up two seats and making gains in Republican districts sets the table for big wins next year.

“It’s really hard to go five for nine and not be pleased of the progress that we made,” he said.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said in a statement that he was proud the GOP maintained its majority through the recalls. He said Tuesday’s results were a rejection of the recall process.

Continue reading here…

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· 1:03 AM

How Texas ‘Hangman’ Rick Perry is Trying To ‘Swift-Boat’ President Barack Obama

MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton speaks about Texas governor, Rick Perry’s veiled threats against Treasury Secretary, Ben Bernancke

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