1/ We open with a 14 minute video clip from Rachael Maddow, and it illustrates all sides of her persona.....her inner geek when she discusses Etch-a Sketch, her professionalism while taking Mitt Romney [a possible future President!!] apart for his constant lying, and her fearlessness in calling truth to power.
The best video journalist on the air.......
Rachel Maddow unleashed a monster of an attack on Mitt Romney during her Wednesday show, calling him a liar over and over and over again.
Romney's senior adviser Eric Ferhnstromgot into trouble on Wednesday when he said that the campaign could reset itself during the general election, "like an Etch-a-Sketch." Romney's rivals pounced, saying that the remark was prime evidence of his serial flip-flopping.
Maddow used the gaffe to take a sledgehammer to Romney.
2/ Gas prices are going up, and of course according to the Republicans it's all Obama's fault......Paul Krugman on the madness that has engulfed the race for the nomination.....
Stop, hey, what’s that sound? Actually, it’s the noise a great political party makes when it loses what’s left of its mind. And it happened — where else? — on Fox News on Sunday, when Mitt Romney bought fully into the claim that gas prices are high thanks to an Obama administration plot.
This claim isn’t just nuts; it’s a sort of craziness triple play — a lie wrapped in an absurdity swaddled in paranoia. It’s the sort of thing you used to hear only from people who also believed that fluoridated water was a Communist plot. But now the gas-price conspiracy theory has been formally endorsed by the likely Republican presidential nominee.
Before we get to the larger implications of this endorsement, let’s get the facts on gas prices straight.
First, the lie: No, President Obama did not say, as many Republicans now claim, that he wanted higher gasoline prices. He did once say that a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions would cause electricity prices to “skyrocket” — an unfortunate word choice. But saying that such a system would raise energy prices was just a factual statement, not a declaration of intent to punish American consumers. The claim that Mr. Obama wanted higher prices is a lie, pure and simple.
And it’s a lie wrapped in an absurdity, because the president of the United States doesn’t control gasoline prices, or even have much influence over those prices. Oil prices are set in a world market, and America, which accounts for only about a tenth of world production, can’t move those prices much. Indeed, the recent rise in gas prices has taken place despite rising U.S. oil production and falling imports.
Finally, there’s the paranoia, the belief that liberals in general, and Obama administration officials in particular, are trying to make driving unaffordable as part of a nefarious plot against the American way of life. And, no, I’m not exaggerating. This is what you hear even from thoroughly mainstream conservatives.
3/ An amazing 3 minute magic act....how do they do this stuff? Even the simple things like the dress color changes......
4/ A funny Gail Collins column on politics and the race for the nomination....and she only mentions Romney's dog once.....
The ONLY SIX THINGS you need to know right now about the presidential race:
1) People really like stories that promise you there are only six things they need to know about something. It gives them hope that if they just finish your list, you will leave them alone to think about other critical current event issues, or “The Hunger Games.”
2) Rick Santorum appears to be the favorite in Saturday’s Louisiana primary.
Perhaps this oil-drilling, oil-spilling state likes his position on global warming. Which is that he has never believed in it. Never. Not even when he was in college and some of his friends would go out behind the fraternity house and do a little climate science. Young Rick preferred to stay in his room and look at pictures of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“If you leave it to Nature, then Nature will do what Nature does, which is boom and bust,” he said last month at an energy summit meeting in Colorado.
I believe I speak for many Americans when I respond: bust? What’s this about a bust?
5/ When the guy stops running, put the cursor just over his head........weird.......
6/ Conservatives argue vociferously against big government taking over their lives and telling them what to do, but see no contradiction in telling women what health choices they are allowed, teling kids to worship a specific God in school and ordering drug tests if you want to keep your job with the State....
Timothy Egan from the Times with an essay titled "The Church Lady State"......
Excellent article.....
When people complain about liberal overreach they always bring up the nanny state. You know, sorting your garbage to see if a banana peel slipped in with a cellophane wrapper; energy-efficient light bulbs; neutered language in the public square to make sure no one is ever offended.
But all of the above is a mere teardrop in the Amazon compared to what your freedom-hating Republican Party has been doing across the land to restrict individual liberty.
They want the state to follow you into the bedroom, the bathroom and beyond. They think you’re too stupid to know what to do with your own body, too ignorant to understand what your doctors tell you and too lazy to be trusted in a job without being subject to random drug testing. Your body is the government’s business.
Let’s take a tour of the church lady state to date. Our nation may soon turn its lonely eyes to Idaho, where Gov. Butch Otter could have the final say on a bill that would order women to undergo a medically unnecessary and invasive procedure before deciding to end a pregnancy.
Let’s take a tour of the church lady state to date. Our nation may soon turn its lonely eyes to Idaho, where Gov. Butch Otter could have the final say on a bill that would order women to undergo a medically unnecessary and invasive procedure before deciding to end a pregnancy.
This is the latest version of the mandatory ultrasound law, recently enacted by Virginia and Texas. But the Idaho bill, which passed the State Senate on Monday in a one-party Republican state, goes much further, and would subject many women to invasive, trans-vaginal inspections.
Idaho politicians love to go on and on about how government shouldn’t force people to do things that violate their conscience, or common sense. And for the last three years, we’ve heard Republican presidential candidates condemn the abomination of government coming between you and your doctor.
But given a chance to govern without a sanity filter, these same Republicans become Big Brother in a surgical smock.
In Idaho, almost one in five people have no health insurance. Except now the Republican Legislature wants to force you to undergo at least one medical procedure, no matter whether you have health care.
7/ One of the myths Americans hold dear is that this is the land of opportunity.....that may have been true a couple of generations ago but as Stephen Marche argues in Esquire the US has one of the most stratified class systems of any advanced country in the world......
There are some truths so hard to face, so ugly and so at odds with how we imagine the world should be, that nobody can accept them. Here's one: It is obvious that a class system has arrived in America — a recent study of the thirty-four countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that only Italy and Great Britain have less social mobility. But nobody wants to admit: If your daddy was rich, you're gonna stay rich, and if your daddy was poor, you're gonna stay poor. Every instinct in the American gut, every institution, every national symbol, runs on the idea that anybody can make it; the only limits are your own limits. Which is an amazing idea, a gift to the world — just no longer true. Culturally, and in their daily lives, Americans continue to glide through a ghostly land of opportunity they can't bear to tell themselves isn't real. It's the most dangerous lie the country tells itself
8/ A classic SNL parody of every drug ad you have ever seen......Annuale, which crams a years worth of periods into one month......warning - guys - don't watch this, it's too scary for you........
Wonderful.......
9/ I assume most readers of DDD don't watch Fox News, so you really don't see how they cover important stories and how blatantly their coverage is slanted. That's why I found this story so fascinating because 35% of the population will look at the Trayvon case thinking it's another attack on gun rights....
A good story from the Daily Beast......
As the Florida shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin makes national headlines, Fox News’s handling of the story is drawing scrutiny. Nick Summers on the network’s delayed coverage—and attempts to link it to gun control.
But as the shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin makes national headlines, Fox’s coverage is becoming a story in its own right—from its slow start behind other networks to its attempt to shift the story onto the more comfortable turf of gun control.
10/ Morgan Page with "In the Air", a good example of Gen-Y video making.....young adults, hanging out, having fun and being sexy......also quite a hypnotic song.....one of the better dance tracks ......
11/ I found this story in the Orlando Sentinel moving - it's difficult enough being a parent these days, but to be responsible for a black son is immeasurably tougher......
We heard an interview on the radio with this columnist Daryl Owens and the radio host, both with sons approaching puberty, and they spoke of having to give their sons "the talk".....not sex, but being aware of the outside world's perception of black teenagers......
We, white America, have no idea how tough it is for these kids to survive in our unfair system.....Trayvon's death is just the latest example of the prejudice in our society - Trayvon was killed for WWB.....
Every morning when I come into your room to wake you for middle school, I pause, for a moment, and marvel.
I can still see traces of that kid in the red wool cap and lumberjack coat up on my shoulders in that portrait above your bed. When I look at you, I see a boy bursting with ideas and creativity. When I look at you, I see a boy who honored his daddy's genes, shooting up tall and narrow as bamboo.
And since Feb. 26, when I look at you, I see Trayvon Martin.
You've heard about Trayvon. He's the 17-year-old up from Miami to visit family in a gated Sanford community who was killed by a citizens-watch volunteer after a sketchy confrontation. The gunman's a guy named George Zimmerman, a wannabe Barney Fife.
The boy died with a package of Skittles in his pocket.
Why? Son, I'd love to tell you there was some justification, but I can't. Seems Zimmerman thought Trayvon was up to no good. That he looked suspicious.
Well, it's true Trayvon wore a hoodie. Perhaps Zimmerman thought he had spotted the Unabomber. Likely, something else stoked his misgiving. Though the hood shrouded Trayvon's face, it appears Zimmerman glimpsed all he needed: blackness.
Nearly 12 years ago, you entered the world, along with my hopes and aspirations for you. One of my greatest hopes was that this day never would come. The day that generations of black parents have dreaded because it meant innocence lost.
12/ Very good Daily Show video report from John Oliver, who looks at why the US has stopped funding UNESCO and how other countries, like Gabon [Gabon?], have stepped up with contributions......
I know, it sounds dweeby, but if you like satire and clever humour you'll really like this.......two segments, 5 minutes and 6 minutes......
13/ Republicans and specifically Texas's war on women's rights have been headlines for weeks, but here is a story how the new Texas laws on abortion affected a middle class woman with a foetus that was deformed, and the humiliation she had to go through to have her pregnancy terminated.
This is real life folks......what do you do - have the flawed baby and ruin your financial life and probably your marriage, or sadly terminate?
Texas wants to make this painful decision for you - have the baby and then cope with it with on your own, because they have also cut a lot of the programs that help parents like this....
Halfway through my pregnancy, I learned that my baby was ill. Profoundly so. My doctor gave us the news kindly, but still, my husband and I weren’t prepared. Just a few minutes earlier, we’d been smiling giddily at fellow expectant parents as we waited for the doctor to see us. In a sonography room smelling faintly of lemongrass, I’d just had gel rubbed on my stomach, just seen blots on the screen become tiny hands. For a brief, exultant moment, we’d seen our son—a brother for our 2-year-old girl.
Yet now my doctor was looking grim and, with chair pulled close, was speaking of alarming things. “I’m worried about your baby’s head shape,” she said. “I want you to see a specialist—now.”
My husband looked angry, and maybe I did too, but it was astonishment more than anger. Ours was a profound disbelief that something so bad might happen to people who think themselves charmed. We already had one healthy child and had expected good fortune to give us two.
Instead, before I’d even known I was pregnant, a molecular flaw had determined that our son’s brain, spine and legs wouldn’t develop correctly. If he were to make it to term—something our doctor couldn’t guarantee—he’d need a lifetime of medical care. From the moment he was born, my doctor told us, our son would suffer greatly.
14/ And continuing the theme of stupidity, Rick Santorum wants to get rid of porn on the internet, so here is an example of Rick-approved porn......Jimmy Kimmel, 2 minutes.....
15/ We're about to do it again - there is a bill going through Congress called the J.O.B.S. bill that will dismantle many of the corporate safeguards for investors and consumers, leaving the large companies freer to hide and mislead the markets.
This, amazingly enough, has bi-partisan support and is a measure how desperate this President is not to appear anti-business. This also shows, yet again, how the oligarchy owns and operates Washington, both parties, lock stock and barrel......
Here we go again. Once again the 'bipartisan' consensus in Washington, fueled by an intoxicating brew of conventional wisdom laced with campaign cash, has repealed some of those 'cumbersome regulations' that do nothing of value -- nothing, that is, except prevent catastrophes. There will be celebrating on both sides of the aisle when the President signs this bill.
And when disaster strikes a few years from now, as it inevitably will, they'll all say "Nobody could have seen it coming." Plus ça change, plus c'est la même crap.Creationism can't disprove the theory of evolution - but a little time in Washington will make you think twice.
Here we are, surrounded by still-smoldering financial wreckage, and almost everyone in Washington is falling over themselves to repeat exactly the same kinds of actions that got us into this mess. Last time around it was the repeal of Glass-Steagall, introduced by Republican Sen. Phil Gramm and enthusiastically signed by President Clinton in the presence of Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
This time it's the deceptively named "JOBS Act," introduced by the far-right Republicans in Congress and passed overwhelmingly by members of both parties. The President indicated his eagerness to sign the bill early on. Once again basic protections for investors, including individuals and families, are being recklessly overturned in a deregulating frenzy. Some of those protections were enacted in the wake of the Enron scandal, in which sociopathically unscrupulous business people conducted a hoax that ruined thousands of families and deprived many of their life's savings.
We haven't learned a damn thing.
16/ There is a phrase "hoist with your own petard", which means "chickens coming home to roost" etc. etc., which is why the irony for Louisiana's Governor, Bobby Jindal, having slashed state budgets for infrastructure is now facing problems caused by climate change........and there's no money.....
Help, federal gumment.....but there's no money there either......
Sometimes you stumble on a case where politics, ideology, and reality collide in a way that provides you with a strikingly clear view of the contradictions that threaten America today.
This morning’s Washington Post described a situation in the state of Louisiana where a global trend—climate change—is leading to a situation—rising sea levels—that YOYO (you’re-on-your-own) economics can’t solve.
Sea levels have been rising in Louisiana and they’re threatening to washout a highway that’s a supply route for – wait for it – oil and gas:
Highway 1, unprotected by levees, connects critical oil and gas resources in booming Port Fourchon to the rest of the nation...Local residents and business leaders are demanding that the federal government help pay to rebuild and elevate the remaining section of Highway 1, adding two miles to span the levees. Federal officials have provided scientific and technical expertise but will not contribute funding unless the state pledges to complete the road.Louisiana says it doesn’t have the money.
So there’s the second problem. Officials in a state with an aggressive tax-cutting governor – Bobby Jindal can boast of having pushed through the largest tax cuts in the state’s history – one who consistently inveighs against government spending, are "demanding" the Feds send money.
You may remember Gov. Jindal, a Republican, created a bit of a stir a few years back. Tagged to respond to President Obama’s first State of the Union address, in 2009, Jindal argued that the Feds shouldn’t be spending money on the monitoring of volcanoes by the U.S. Geological Survey. Instead, Jindal zinged, "what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."
The tactic here is to inveigh against spending cuts against anything that sounds silly to people — though of course monitoring volcanoes actually sounds like something you’d want your government to do – until you actually need federal help. Then demand it.
But what if isn’t there? Virtually all of the federal budget cuts legislated in the last year or so – and there’s been about $2 trillion of them – have come from what’s called the discretionary side of the budget, the non-entitlement part that's appropriated each year to fund the agencies and yes, to provide "grants-in-aid" to states.
17/ And speaking of climate change that of course doesn't exist if you are a Republican Presidential candidate, a heat wave has engulfed most of the country in March, shattering all records.....it's like we never had a winter.....
And yet our relatives in Oregon said it snowed for four straight nights in Portland this week, with the snow melting in the day.....
Extreme weather is here to stay, and remember - "you may not believe in climate change, but climate change believes in you"......
"It is remarkable enough to watch longstanding all-time record temps be threatened . . . but the total scope (duration and intensity) of this warm spell is something that has [been] historic and [is] unlikely to be matched in our liftetime,” read an NWS forecast discussion on Tuesday.
Todays video - the latest toy from Japan - Airswimmers
Todays Afghan joke
The Afghan QuarterbackThe coach had put together the perfect team for the Detroit Lions. Theonly thing that was missing was a good quarterback. He had scouted allthe colleges and even the Canadian and European Leagues, but hecouldn't find a ringer who could ensure a Super Bowl win.Then one night while watching CNN he saw a war-zone scene inAfghanistan .. In one corner of the background, he spotted a youngAfghan Muslim soldier with a truly incredible arm. He threw ahand-grenade straight into a 15th story window 100 yards away.KABOOM!He threw another hand-grenade 75 yards away, right into a chimney.KA-BLOOEY!Then he threw another at a passing car going 90 mph.BULLS-EYE!"I've got to get this guy!" coach said to himself. "He has the perfectarm!"So, he brings him to the States and teaches him the great game offootball. And the Lions go on to win the Super Bowl.The young Afghan is hailed as the great hero of football, and when thecoach asks him what he wants, all the young man wants is to call hismother."Mom," he says into the phone, "I just won the Super Bowl!""I don't want to talk to you," the old Muslim woman says. "You are notmy son!""I don't think you understand, Mother," the young man pleads. "I've wonthe greatest sporting event in the world. I'm here among thousands ofmy adoring fans.""No! Let me tell you!" his mother retorts. "At this very moment, thereare gunshots all around us. The neighborhood is a pile of rubble. Yourtwo brothers were beaten within an inch of their lives last week, and Ihave to keep your sister in the house so she doesn't get raped!" Theold lady pauses, and then tearfully says,"I will never forgive you for making us move to Detroit !"
Todays pilot jokes
Actual exchanges between pilots and control towers:
Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!"Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"
Tower: "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 Degrees."
From an unknown aircraft waiting in a very long takeoff queue: "I'm very bored!"
Unknown aircraft: "I said I was very bored, not stupid!"
O'Hare Approach Control to a 747: "United 329 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock, three miles, Eastbound."United 329: "Approach, I've always wanted to say this...I've got the little Fokker in sight."
A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked, "What was your last known position?"
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."
A DC-10 had come in a little hot and thus had an exceedingly long roll out after touching down. San Jose Tower noted: "American 751, make a hard right turn at the end of the runway, if you are able. If you are not able, take the Guadeloupe exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport."
A Pan Am 727 flight, waiting for start clearance in Munich , overheard the following: Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war!"
Tower: "Eastern 702, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on frequency 124.7"
Eastern 702: "Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure. By the way, after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway."
Tower: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff behind Eastern 702, contact Departure on frequency 124.7 Did you copy that report from Eastern 702?"Continental 635: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern... we've already notified our caterers."
One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the active runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee. Some quick-witted comedian in the DC-8 crew got on the radio and said,"What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?"
The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206.Speedbird 206: " Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway."Groun d: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-seven."
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"Speedbird 206 (cooly): "Yes . . . twice in 1944, but it was dark -- and I didn't land!"
While taxiing at London 's Airport, the crew of a US Air flight departing for Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727.An irate female ground controller lashed out at the US Air crew, screaming: "US Air 2771, where the hell are you going? I told you to turn right onto Charlie taxiway! You turned right on Delta! Stop right there. I know it's difficult for you to tell the difference between C and D, but get it right!"Continuing her rage to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting hysterically: "God! Now you've screwed everything up! It'll take forever to sort this out! You stay right there and don't move till I tell you to! You can expect progressive taxi instructions in about half an hour, and I want you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you and how I tell you! You got that, US Air 2771?""Yes, ma'am," the humbled crew responded.Naturally, the ground control communications frequency fell terribly silent after the verbal bashing of US Air 2771. Nobody wanted to chance engaging the irate ground controller in her current state of mind. Tension in every cockpit out around Gatwick was definitely running high. Just then an unknown pilot broke the silence and keyed his microphone, asking: "Wasn't I married to you once?"
Todays pharmaceutical joke
All drugs have two names, a trade name and generic name. Example, the trade name is Tylenol and its generic name is Acetaminophen... Aleve is also called Naproxen.
Amoxil is also called Amoxicillin & Advil is also called Ibuprofen.
The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra. After careful consideration by a team of government experts, it recently announced that it has settled on the generic name of Mycoxafloppin.
Also considered were Mycoxafailin, Mydixadrupin, Mydixarizin, Dixafix, and of course, Ibepokin.
Pfizer Corp. announced today that Viagra will soon be available in liquid form, and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer.
It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one.
Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and gives new meaning to the names of 'cocktails', highballs' & just a good old-fashioned 'stiff drink'. Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name: MOUNT & DO.
Thought for the day: More money is being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research.
By 2020, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs & huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.
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