Friday, October 15, 2010

See Eva Longoria Parker Rap in a Sexy Swimsuit

2010: The year of politicking insanely WB 'Looney Tunes' Eugene Robinson WASHINGTON POST

Okay, I want to make sure I understand. Two years ago, with the nation facing a host of complex and difficult problems, voters put a bunch of thoughtful, well-educated people in charge of the government. Now many of those same voters, unhappy and impatient, have decided that things will get better if some crazy, ignorant people are running the show? Seriously?

I thought I had come to terms with the whole Tea Party thing, I really did. I convinced myself that it could be analyzed as a political phenomenon, an expression of disaffection, a reaction to economic, social and demographic change that leaves some Americans anxious and unsettled, blah blah blah. But then came Wednesday's debate in Delaware -- featuring Christine O'Donnell, uncut and uncensored -- and all my rationalizations crumbled. This isn't politics, it's insanity.

I know that O'Donnell is likely to lose to Democrat Chris Coons. But until Election Day -- at least -- we're supposed to take her seriously as the Republican candidate for the United States Senate. Sorry, but I just can't do it anymore.

Nor can I pretend that Carl Paladino, the raging bull from Buffalo, is qualified by experience or temperament to be governor of New York.
Or that Sharron Angle, whose small-government philosophy is so extreme as to be incoherent, could possibly make a worthwhile contribution as a senator.
Or that Rich Iott, whose idea of weekend fun is putting on a Nazi SS uniform and gamboling through the woods, is remotely acceptable as a candidate for the House.

When has there been an election with so many looney tunes running under the banner of one of our major parties? It's not that they are ultraconservative, or even that some of them believe their psychic powers let them know what the Founding Fathers would have thought about, say, stem-cell research. There are radical, small-government Republicans who are also intelligent and thoughtful.
Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is an example.

It's just that there is a difference between being smart but wrong and being O'Donnell.
She wasn't as bad as she might have been in Wednesday's debate -- which is part of the problem:

Expectations were abysmally low. After all, we've learned about her sketchy past, after all the video clips of her indefensible statements, and after the first "I'm not a witch" television ad in American political history, O'Donnell could not possibly have underperformed.
But judged by any reasonable standard, she was mediocre and often ridiculous. Asked by moderator Wolf Blitzer whether she stood by her assertion that evolution is a "myth," O'Donnell said "local schools should make that decision" -- meaning, she explained, that she believes local schools should be able to teach creationism as an equally valid explanation of how we and our fellow creatures came to be.
But it's not.

If you believe at all in science and the scientific method, then you believe in evolution. And if you think it's fine to deny American schoolchildren basic knowledge that all the rest of the world's schoolchildren routinely learn, then what use could you possibly be in the Senate?
 At a time when there is widespread legitimate concern about American competitiveness in the 21st century, O'Donnell would make our educational system dumber, not smarter.
O'Donnell told Fox News recently that if she is elected, she would like to serve on the Foreign Relations Committee. One imagines that Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao did not shudder.

In Wednesday's debate, the candidate displayed her mastery of geopolitics by saying nothing remotely thoughtful or insightful about U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, except to parrot Republican talking points -- criticizing President Obama's timetable for withdrawal, insisting we have a responsibility to "finish the job" and betraying no evidence of having given the matter further thought.

Four years ago, in a failed Senate campaign, O'Donnell claimed that China had a "carefully thought-out and strategic plan to take over America" and said she knew of this via "classified information that I'm privy to." In the debate, she insisted that she had indeed received some "security briefs" while working with a humanitarian group that was planning a China trip. There are only two possibilities: She needs to be fitted for a tinfoil hat or she made the whole thing up.

I've had it. Let's be honest. If she's qualified to be a senator, I'm the king of Prussia.
Now, will somebody please warn her that she'll have trouble finding Prussia on the map?

PAQNDERING TO PORNOGRAPHERS & PERVERTS! GOP canidate for NY Gov.

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MEDIA MATTERS weekly up date on F N C

Media Matters: Saving the country, Murdoch-style
At the annual News Corp. shareholders meeting in New York this morning, CEO Rupert Murdoch was forced to answer a battery of questions from frustrated shareholders regarding the company's controversial contributions of $1 million to both the Republican Governors Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Asked to explain the reasoning behind the contributions, Murdoch said they were made "in the interest of the country and of all the shareholders ... that there be a fair amount of change in Washington."
According to Murdoch, the donations, while "unusual," had "nothing to do with the editorial policies" of News Corp.'s media properties. He also brushed off his widely reported comment that News Corp.'s donation to the RGA was a result of his friendship with former Fox News employee and current GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, calling it a "throwaway line."
However, Sir Rod Eddington, chairman of the audit committee, did tell a representative from the Nathan Cummings Foundation -- which sent a letter to the board of directors earlier this week calling for full disclosure of News Corp.'s political contributions -- that the foundation's proposal would be reviewed and that News Corp. would "act expeditiously."
Whether or not a disclosure policy is actually implemented, Murdoch made one thing clear: Shareholders will not select recipients of donations. If shareholders disagreed with directors' decisions, Murdoch said, "you have the right to vote us off the board."

Fox News: "simply unstoppable"

Murdoch may not agree with everything that's said on Fox News or know who exactly is advertising on Beck these days, but there is one thing he does know: Fox News is "simply unstoppable."
In his letter to shareholders this year, Murdoch wrote: "The Cable Network Programming segment was again our biggest growth driver. In 2010, operating income increased 37% over the prior year to a record $2.3 billion. All major networks showed impressive growth and, in the U.S., the FOX News Channel is simply unstoppable. FNC led the increase in affiliate revenue growth and outperformed CNN, MSNBC and CNBC combined in total viewers, for both prime time and total day categories."
In 2010, Fox News' revenues increased 23 percent from 2009.
Now, admittedly, 2009 was a rough year for News Corp. Overall, the company's revenues decreased 8 percent, and according to Murdoch, it was "among the most challenging in our Company's 56-year history."
Yet there was a bright spot. In 2009, Fox News' revenues increased 26 percent from 2008.
In 2008, Fox News' revenues increased 21 percent from 2007.
In 2007, Fox News' revenues increased 19 percent from 2006.
In 2006, Fox News' revenues increased 13 percent from 2005.
In 2005, Fox News' revenues increased 20 percent from 2004.
You get the picture. Rupert Murdoch is cashing in big on hate and lies.

Beck's big Chamber bailout

This week, Fox News host Glenn Beck joined News Corp. as a major backer of the Chamber of Commerce: Beck's call for donations to the Chamber on the October 14 edition of his radio show earned him on-air praise from the group's top brass and drove so much traffic to the Chamber's contribution website that it crashed.
Apparently an adherent of the view that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," so-called populist warrior Beck implored his audience to fork over their hard-earned cash to corporate darling Chamber of Commerce, "just because the Obama administration hates them."
(The White House's request that the Chamber disclose its anonymous campaign donors evidently qualifies as "hating" them.)
"I don't agree with everything the Chamber does," Beck said, citing the Chamber's pro-immigration reform position, but that hardly hampered his newfound solidarity.
Any reservations anti-TARP, anti-stimulus Beck may have had about the pro-TARP, pro-stimulus Chamber were tossed aside. Declaring the Chamber "our parents, our grandparents -- they are us," Beck ponied up $10,000 and told his listeners, "I would like to make this the biggest fundraising day in the Chamber's history."
Bruce Josten, the Chamber's executive vice president for government affairs, even went on Beck's show that day to thank Beck personally for his efforts. "Glenn, just so you know, as a result of you," Josten said, "[our website has had] the single highest contribution we've ever received for an entire day, and that's just for the first hour."
Indeed, a Chamber official later told Politico: "I don't have exact numbers, because money is continuing to pour in. It even crashed our servers. The phones blew up today -- people were calling all day long. Bottom line: Today was the single largest day of online fundraising that we have ever had in the history of the Chamber."

Rupert Murdoch's other speech

Murdoch gave another speech in New York this week. Two days before he spoke to News Corp. shareholders, he stood before the Anti-Defamation League and said: "Today it seems that the most virulent strains" of anti-Semitism "come from the left."
There was no acknowledgment that his own Fox News personalities have a history of promoting anti-Semitic sources and mainstreaming people who have associations with anti-Semitic groups.
Last week, we pointed out that "[o]ver the past few months, several anti-Semitic authors and theories have popped up in Glenn Beck's TV and radio monologues, and Beck's audience of millions is, unwittingly or not, being exposed to some of the most hateful rhetoric of the last century."
And according to the Anti-Defamation League, Beck historian and frequent Glenn Beck guest David Barton has spoken at events hosted by the Christian Identity movement, which "asserts that Jews are 'the synagogue of Satan'; that Blacks and other people of color are subhuman; and that northern European whites and their American descendants are the 'chosen people' of scriptural prophesy."
That's Murdoch's Fox News: simply unstoppable.

New blood test is good news, possible bad news for football

On the front page of Friday's USA Today  appears a story that could be very good news for football players. 

And very bad news for the sport.

The Army has discovered a blood test that reveals mild traumatic brain injury or concussion, via the presence of "unique proteins that spill into the blood stream from damaged brain cells."
"This is huge," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff USA Today.

And indeed it is.  If the test works, blood tests can be used to conclusively diagnose players who have had concussions -- at every level of the sport.

Insurance Company Says Baby's Medical Claims Were Held Up by Coding Error, Not Pre-Existing Condition As Mom Was Told

'GMA' Gets Answers: Newborn Baby With Pre-Existing Condition?

She's heartbroken because she has endured what no mother should have to endure. While pregnant with twins, she lost one of them at 30 weeks. The other baby, Kinsleigh, was born with serious heart problems.

But Barnes is angry because her insurance company, Aetna, held up paying thousands of dollars in medical charges. The reason? The insurance company said the newborn might have been suffering from a pre-existing condition.
"I don't know how something could be pre-existing in a baby, so it was very shocking to me to see something like that," Barnes told "Good Morning America." "It's a slap in the face. Her medical bills are the last thing I should be worrying about. I should know that my baby is being taken care of."
"Under Aetna's own definition, in order to deny for pre-existing condition, there has to be medical advice or care that was rendered or given," Barnes' attorney, Tom Caldwell, said. "And in this case, of course, that would be real hard, given the fact the baby was still in the womb."
Barnes said she called Aetna hoping for a resolution.
Related
"It's like you're talking to somebody who is reading from a script," Barnes said. "They don't have answers for you based on what you're telling them."
Finally, Barnes contacted "GMA." We called the insurance company in September and they claim that the pre-existing condition hold up was a simple coding error and have been paying back Barnes' claims since July. But Barnes said that no one ever told her that and it wasn't until "GMA" got involved that all the costs were finally paid this week.
"It is my personal belief that they will -- they do this to you, expecting you not to follow up with it," she said. "And I'm sure most people don't."
Consumer expert Deann Friedholm said what Barnes experienced is not uncommon.
"It really might be a clerical error, but let's face it, it is in the company's interest to not pay bills. The fewer bills they pay, the better their bottom line is," Friedholm said.
Kinsleigh still needs heart operations, but those Aetna said they'll be paying for. Even so, Barnes said she'll never forget the nightmare that Aetna put her and her family through.
Following the "GMA" investigation, Aetna apologized to Barnes.

Joy Behar, Bill O'Reilly continue debate after 'The View'

 


By Emile Wamsteker, for USA TODAY
After yesterday morning's walkout on The View, Joy Behar had more to say about Bill O'Reilly.

Right after the show, PopEater's Rob Shuter caught up with Behar, who was surprised the tiff was making headlines. "Really, is anyone talking about it? He's an idiot. I just couldn't sit there any longer and listen to him."
On her Headline News show later, Behar re-capped O'Reilly's "pinhead moment" and said she and Whoopi Goldberg left the stage beccause, "I thought he was saying something that I construe as hate speech, frankly."
Her guest was former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, who called O'Reilly "a spineless puke." But Ventura didn't totally disagree with him. "I don't consider it hate speech, if it's truly the truth." He appeared on The Joy Behar Show to promote his new show about conspiracy theories, and he believes that 9/11 may have been a conspiracy.

Bill O'Reilly also commented on The View's "fiery debate" during his "Talking Points Memo" on The O'Reilly Factor last night.
He said, "I am not in the business of sugar coating harsh realities. ... I enjoy jousting with The View ladies because, with the exception of Elisabeth Hasselbeck, they don't see it my way. I loved that exposition today. Didn't you? "

As FORREST GUMP said "STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES" In this poor economy I DON'T think 'real' people did this!?

GLENN BECK urged listeners to his radio show yesterday to donate to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after Obama accused the group of funding campaigns with "foreign money," and the floodgates opened.

 A Chamber official e-mailed: "I don't have exact numbers, because money is continuing to pour in. It even crashed our servers.

The phones blew up today - people were calling all day long. Bottom line: Today was the single largest day of online fundraising that we have ever had in the history of the Chamber."

Hospital May Let Miners Go Sunday

After 69 days underground, all 33 rescued miners could be discharged from hospital by Sunday, following just two or three days of medical observation.

 All of them reportedly came through the ordeal in relatively good health and those who had to be treated for eye or respiratory conditions have responded well.
 From his hospital bed, the shift foreman of the team, Luis Urzua, also gave his first interview since being freed.
 Among other things, he discussed how decisions were made more than 2,000 feet beneath the surface. "Everything was voted on," he said. "We were 33 men, so 16 plus one was a majority."

One thing that never came to a vote, however, was the possibility of cannibalism. "At that moment no one talked about it," another miner said. "But once [help came] it became a topic of joking, but only once it was over, once they found us."

Read it at CNN

I Always KNEW IT! McCain spent too much time as POW & and is too OLD to be elected to anything!

Ex-General Dishes on McCain, Clinton, Gore, Rummy

Retired Army General Hugh Shelton chatted with The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove about his new memoir, Without Hesitation, "a dishy, take-no-prisoners account of his tour as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," according to Grove.

In the tome, Shelton takes aim at several popular politicians, including
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who he says has "a screw loose";
Donald Rumsfeld, who is a stubborn and deceptive politician; and
Al Gore, who, according to Grove, "comes off as a supercilious grandstander."
Shelton added he's relieved McCain wasn't elected president, is "comfortable" with Obama.

 Shelton voiced his support for Clinton's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy regarding gays in the military: "I happen to believe that it has been in place for 17 years and it has served our nation and our military well."

Read it at The Daily Beast