A Spork in the Drawer

Bombshell

posted by gyma

I didn't bother clicking through to read the article, but at first read I thought the bombshell was that Michelle Obama dated someone other than Barack!

This is what qualifies for "news" these days.

Lucifer Over Jesus

posted by gyma

I probably should have held his one back for my Sunday post, but it was too good to wait. You may have missed the story about the woman in Florida who was running for Mayor of North Miami. She was the one who claimed she was endorsed by Jesus, which was the best reason ever for voting for her.

Well, the votes are in and, well.... let's just say that Jesus endorsement didn't count for much: all of 56 votes. To make matters worse, according to mayoral candidate, Anne Pierre, she lost to the city's openly gay former mayor -- hence the blog post title.

[More at Addicting Info]

Taking Generic Lipitor?

posted by gyma

You might want to read this story if you, or someone you care about, is taking any drug manufactured by Ranbaxy. That would include Atorvastatin (Lipitor), Fluoxetine (Prozac), Metoprolol Tartrate (Toprol XL), and most frightening of all, Midazolam HCl, the generic version of Versed, the sedative given to produce amnesia so you won't remember how awful that colonoscopy really was!

The gist of this story is that Ranbaxy, a generic drug company located in India, has just pled "guilty to seven federal criminal counts of selling adulterated drugs with the intent to defraud". And just so you know, "80% of active pharmaceutical ingredients for all U.S. drugs now come from overseas, as do 40% of finished pills and capsules."

I take Metoprolol Tartrate to control my high blood pressure, so I guess I'll have to start monitoring my BP on a more regular basis.

The Greatest Healthcare System In The World!

Health Care For A Family Of Four Now Costs More Than The Groceries To Feed Them For An Entire Year

Let's see those herring-eating Scandinavians equal this proud achievement!

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Another Reason (As If One Was Needed) To Avoid Facebook

See: Tara and Amanda.

Pages devoted to breast feeding are obscene but pages devoted to raping women are fine and dandy.

Good job, Mark Zuckerberg, on letting us know where you stand.

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Inevitable

At the rate they're going, the Republican Party will manage to find a Jew who admires Hitler.

They're.Just.That.Crazy.

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Field Guide

While meant for "birders" in the UK, this handy guide to spotting the swivel-eyed loon is useful for us colonists, as well.

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WTF Wednesday

posted by gyma

Now this creeps me out and has me rethinking the whole should I or shouldn't I swallow my gum. I guess it depends on whether you can dispose of it in a private place. And if you're crass enough to throw your butts on the ground, then you deserve what this produces!

 

Your Liberal Media

[Via watertiger.]

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Sage Advice

Bill Keller, former editor-in-chief of the ultra-leftist (dogmatic Marxist, really) New York Times, advises President Obama to get out in front of his burgeoning scandals:

The president should announce that he has told the Justice Department to appoint an independent investigator with bulldog instincts and bipartisan credibility. The list of candidates could start with Kenneth Starr, who chased down the scandals, real and imagined, of the Clinton presidency.

And if you can't trust Ken Starr and his crew to lead a fair and restrained independent investigation, who can you trust?

Keller begins his final paragraph with the words:

To quote Peggy Noonan...

The President would be a fool to ignore Keller's, and Noonan's, learned suggestions.

[Via Dr. Black.]

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In A Nutshell

Taibbi takes note of a whole mess o' bills (supported to a disturbing-but-unsurprising degree by more than a few Democrats) that would render the more-or-less toothless Dodd-Frank reforms even more toothless. Here, I think, is the takeaway:

[T]his is the key to understanding how financial lobbyists succeed in getting what it wants on the regulatory front: They never stop. It's not a war of ideas, it's a war of resources. You march up the Hill with some crazy idea about overturning a bill prohibiting bailouts of companies that engage in risky derivative trades, you get knocked down, and you march up again, then you march up again, and again...

With each successive attempt, you peel off a few more Committee members in the House, slowly but surely weakening resolve. And while you're attacking on the legislative front, you also file a series of lawsuits that tie up the process by targeting reforms in court, and then you also send armies of lobbyists to sit in the laps of regulators during the rule-making process, so that key new laws (like the Volcker rule, designed to separate risky trading from federally-insured depository banking) are either written in reams of industry-friendly language, or delayed altogether.

They have the money and the people and the time to simply wear everyone down. Imagine if these corporations put as much energy into actually helping the country and its people. Alas, you'll have to settle for merely imagining it.

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The Power Of Rationalization

Behold:

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), who opposed emergency disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy and called the bill a “slush fund,” suggested he’ll support legislation to provide similar assistance to victims of the tornado in Moore, Okla., provided it’s tailored narrowly enough to prevent federal dollars from being appropriated to other states.

Gimme mine and fuck the rest of you moochers!

And:

Inhofe’s Oklahoma colleague, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) says he’ll fight to make sure Oklahoma disaster relief is offset.

Here's what the Senate Dems should (but won't) do: introduce legislation to appropriate however much money and offer no offsets whatsoever. Let Coburn vote against the bill. And let him go seek votes in Moore the next time he's up for reëlection. (Chances are he'd vote for it then whine about mean Democrats, of course.)

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ADDED: You will laugh until you stop: "'It is crass for critics to play disaster aid politics when first responders are pulling victims from the rubble,' [Coburn's] office said in a memo to reporters."

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Now You've Done It, Senate Republicans!

Majority Leader Harry Reid is threatening to reform the filibuster!

I've no doubt Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is curled up in a fetal position in a corner of his caucus' cloakroom in abject fear of Harry's mighty reform fist!*

*Does not resemble actual Harry Reid.

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Wrong

Robert Gibbs aside, MoDo hasn't been writing the same column for the last eight years, it's more like she's been writing the same column for the last fifteen years. Dowd thought that Al Gore and John Kerry were limp-wristed girly men as well.

MoDo has...issues.

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Cripes

Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee


Best of luck to everyone down there.

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ADDED: Sen. Tom Coburn: Others must suffer to appease my ideology (see also: Ol' Froth).

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Reminder

Many of our friends on the right are rock-stupid. Take the P-G's Ruth Ann Baker Daily:

...the mainstream media's complete lack of interest in the [Obama's] hard-left ideology...

Okay.

...our … European-style socialism...

Okay.

...in this new crop of scandals, the voters can see the consequences of leftist thought.

Okay.

...save Benghazi for 2016.

Okay.

Granted, Ruth Ann may not be rock-stupid (she is, of course) but merely so insulated inside an ideological cocoon that reality - the reality the normal people experience - has become a thoroughly alien concept.

But, of course, she's still rock-stupid, regardless.

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How It Works

The Koch Bros. can even strangle public television.

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Because It's Sunday

posted by gyma

What's for brunch? How about grilled cheesus?

Only $39.99 -- better hurry before they're all gone!

Saturday Palate Cleanser

This is what you want:

That is what you got.

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Well...

If this doesn't result in Obama's impeachment and removal from office nothing will.

The abuse of power is mind-boggling and certainly unprecedented.

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This One's For Spork, Wherever He Is

posted by gyma

From the NY Daily News -- I thought they still had editors!

@juankaglez via Twitter

After loosing a bet, Juan Carlos Gonzalez got an image of actor David Hasselhoff's face tattooed on his behind. (<-- this is the photo caption)

Laugh Or Cry?

posted by gyma

I thought Silvio Berlusconi was creepy *before* I read this, but it's just hard to believe the power this man wielded for 9 years.

From TPM:

Silvio Berlusconi’s private disco featured women dressed not just as sexy nuns and nurses but also as President Barack Obama [....]

Hmmm, what fetish is being served by women dressed as Obama?!