Photo of the Day - Prince Harry at Walter Reed

Prince Harry taking time to visit wounded warriors at Walter Reed today.  Very classy.

(Photo: AP)

Here's A Really Hot Story For The Media!

While the attention of media pinheads is drawn inexorably to that nothingburger BENGHAZI!, a somewhat bigger cause for concern has essentially escaped the notice of most of our media elite:

The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported on Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.

But never fear, folks!  The media will be on this story in no time, relentlessly  edumacating the populace until there's an irresistible groundswell of ... oh, who are we kidding -- BENGHAZI!  Also breaking:  Al Gore is a fat smartypants.

We Interrupt This Blog For -- BENGHAZI !!

It's been said enough, but worth saying again, this time by CNN's David Rothkopf:

"Rep. Darrell Issa must be ruing his bad luck. The hearing he carefully orchestrated to pick at the scab of Benghazi was stepped on by the verdict in the Jodi Arias murder trial and by the story of three women held captive and brutalized for a decade in Cleveland. He was out-sensationalized and out-tawdried this week despite his own best efforts and those of his committee colleagues and staff members. [...] Nothing spoken of in the hearing suggested a cover-up by a Cabinet secretary, who instantly took personal responsibility for the attacks and swiftly appointed an independent commission led by two of the most distinguished, nonpartisan career civil servants in recent American history to investigate them. To say otherwise is more than a reach. It's an effort by the Republican Party to damage the person most likely to be the next Democratic presidential candidate."   (our emphasis)

An effort that is going to fail because, to borrow Gertrude Stein's formulation, "There is no there there."

Department of Negligent Homicide

Bidness-friendly Tex. Gov. and future Just For Men spokesman Rick "Oops" Perry thinks that gummint regulation wouldn't have prevented the devastating explosion at West, TX last month:

"Five days after an explosion at a fertilizer plant leveled a wide swath of this town, Gov. Rick Perry tried to woo Illinois business officials by trumpeting his state’s low taxes and limited regulations. Asked about the disaster, Mr. Perry responded that more government intervention and increased spending on safety inspections would not have prevented what has become one of the nation’s worst industrial accidents in decades."

This was a plant that hadn't been inspected in nearly 30 years, and that hadn't bothered to report its enormous and illegal stockpile of nitrate fertilizer (of the kind used in the Oklahoma City bombing) to the Department of Homeland Security.  With Perry and his fellow e coli / bridge collapse conservatives in charge, you can say that in Texas, "Business is Booming."

UPDATE:  Then again, "Oops" might have spoken prematurely, as Texas law enforcement officials have opened a criminal investigation into the explosion.  Yeehaw.

Weekend Song

The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album from 1966 has long been considered one of the great albums of all time.  It was the Beach Boys' musical response to the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" album, and in turn was one of the inspirations for the Beatles' masterpiece album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."  One of the often overlooked cuts on "Pet Sounds" is "Caroline, No," which features only Brian Wilson and studio musicians.  (You'll hear in the last 30 seconds or so of the song various sound effects, including dogs barking -  those would be Brian Wilson's two dogs Banana and Louie. ) Enjoy this lovely and rather languid (for the Beach Boys) song:

Just Go-mez

Gabriel "Just Go" Gomez, the Rethuglican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry is having some problems on the ethics front.  He's apparently pulled some fast ones on his taxes, by claiming a $281,500 deduction for something he wasn't allowed to do anyway.  He won't explain the scheme, which smells to high heaven.

He's also the same character that was the spokesperson for the right-wing "swiftboat" smear outfit, the so-called "Special Operations Opsec Education Fund," that attacked the President over the operation to kill bin Laden.  Just Go claimed that, although he appeared on TV as their spokesperson, he was never connected with the group.  Riiiight!  All the more reason to support Dem Rep. Ed Markey for the Senate.

How's That Republican Rebranding Coming Along? (Cont.)

Let's take a look at what's going on in Washington, DC, as the Rethugs try to "rebrand" their New Confederate/ Stupid party:

Utah Rethuglican Sen. Mike Lee has proposed an amendment to the immigration reform legislation currently being marked up.  His helpful proposal

... would allow undocumented immigrants to be lawfully employed -- but only only as domestic workers.

Lee's amendment would exempt undocumented immigrants working as "cooks, waiters, butlers, housekeepers, governessess, maids, valets, baby sitters, janitors, laundresses, furnacemen, care-takers, handymen, gardeners, footmen, grooms, and chauffeurs of automobiles for family use" from prohibitions against "unlawful employment" for undocumented immigrants. [our emphasis]

You've o.k. if you cut my lawn or wash the dishes!  Es muy blanco de ustedes!

Of course, that's only one of the egregious, insulting anti-immigrant amendments offered by Senate Rethuglicans;  check 'em all out!

But they aren't the only Rethuglicans out a-courtin' the Hispanic voters, no siree!  They've got the assembled brainpower of the right-wing Heritage Foundation to help them (and it's new president, former Senator and continuing crackpot Jim "Demented" DeMint).  Heritage recently put out a pile of shit report claiming immigration reform would be unacceptably costly.  Come to find one of the report's authors has some racist highly dubious ideas about intelligence:

The Heritage Foundation’s analysis of the economic consequences of immigration reform uses absurd methodology to come to conclusions entirely at odds with the organization’s own findings in 2006. Perhaps one explanation for this incoherence is that one of the paper’s coauthors, a new hire, opposes Hispanic immigration because he thinks Latinos are stupid.

Jason Richwine joined Heritage in 2010, after finishing his PhD in Public Policy in 2009. The Washington Post’s Dylan Matthews dug up Richwine’s dissertation, which was titled “IQ And Immigration.” In it, Richwine argues that Hispanics have and will always have lower IQs than whites. Matthews summarizes:

Richwine’s dissertation asserts that there are deep-set differentials in intelligence between races. While it’s clear he thinks it is partly due to genetics — ‘the totality of the evidence suggests a genetic component to group differences in IQ’ — he argues the most important thing is that the differences in group IQs are persistent, for whatever reason. He writes, ‘No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants will have low-IQ children and grandchildren is difficult to argue against.‘

Oh, Pancho!  Oh, Cisco!  Tambien es muy blanca!

Of course, Heritage and some other right-wingers are back-pedaling from Mr. Richwine.  But, as the bill is marked up in the Senate, it's hard to ignore the inherent racism and inhumanity of the Rethuglican proposals.  They seem to be in accord with Mr. Richwine's "thesis" in more than just a casual way.

UPDATE:  Mr. Richwine is now updating up his resume.

BENGHAZI!! BENGHAZI!! Cartoons of the Day

(click to enlarge)

If you don't think it's about Hillary 2016, we have a great bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

(top,  Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; bottom, Tom Toles, Washington Post,  via GoComics.com)

More Rethug Obstruction, More Reid Empty Threats

News that the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head the Environment Protection Administration (EPA) has been threatened with another Rethuglican filibuster in the Senate should come as no surprise to anyone....except the Worst. Majority. Leader. Ever., Sen. Harry "Thin" Reid.  After dozens of judicial and executive branch nominations have been blocked or stalled by Senate Rethugs, and after filibusters are threatened on nearly every piece of legislation, Senate Dems may have to take Thin Reid aside and buck him up. The notion that if the Rethugs take control of the Senate, they will play nice and allow Dems to filibuster too is arrant nonsense.  Rethugs play ruthlessly, and so should the Dems...with or without their "leader."

(photo:  With your "leadership," you may not be leader for long.)

It's BENGHAZI!! BENGHAZI!! BENGHAZI!! Time

The worst catastrophe since 9-11, Oklahoma City bombing, Pearl Harbor  whenever, i.e. BENGHAZI!, is back in the "news," thanks to Rethuglicans who want to investigate failed policies undermine likely Dem nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.  Hearings are underway today in the House, led by Rep. Darrell "No Suh" Issa, who will yell "I'm a Christian" when the right wing teahadists come after him as an A-rab jihadist.

Sadly for Rethug credibility (snicker hee hee), Rethug Sen. and devotee of the Aqua Buddha "Ayn" Rand Paul gave up the game when he declared about former Secretary Clinton that:

“I think her dereliction of duty and her lack of leadership should preclude her from holding any office.”

Hmmm.  Since she's not currently holding any office...ahh, 2016.  It's all about 2016 and her possible candidacy for the President.  Got it.

BONUS:  Here's the incomparable Stephen Colbert on the manufactured "scandal."
  

Mid-Week Raindrops Song

Lifehouse is a alternative rock band from L.A., who have had success in the past 10-plus years.  Since most of the east coast has been dodging raindrops for the past couple of days, why not feature their most recent tune?  Here they are, featuring Britain's lovely Natasha Bedingfield.  Enjoy.

Gaucho Mark Will Be Hiking To DC

Proving that you can fool some of the people all of the time, disgraced former Governor and intercontinental hiker Mark "Gaucho Mark" Sanford won the special election for the 1st Congressional District in South Crackerland Carolina.  Apparently having an "R" by your name on the ballot there means you can have a bag of dog poo as your candidate and still get elected. Congressional Rethuglicans won't be terribly happy to see their new colleague.  Gaucho Mark brings with him the whole cloud of misbehavior, not only the marital scandal itself, but the use of State time and money to carry out his affair in Argentina a few years ago.  Then there's the trespassing compliant his ex-wife filed. He's one weird gaucho.

Of course, what's embarrassing for the Rethugs is gold for late night comedians (can't wait to see how Stephen Colbert handles his sister's defeat at the hands of this jerk).  Questions are already being raised about whether Gaucho Mark will be appointed to the <cough> Foreign Affairs committee.  Bwahaha.

(photo- click to enlarge:  Gaucho Mark gazes at his mistress/fiance after winning the Rethug nomination in April.  That's his son, Bolton, right behind him, looking distressed that his father brought his mistress along.  Classy.)

Fear and Loathing, NRA Style

From No More Mister Nice Blog, the gun nuts are "America's controlling, abusive boyfriend":

So let's see: We've got this guy going looking to pumping more guns into cities he doesn't live in. You've got the 3D gun guy openly seeking the day when people can download the blueprint for a printable gun and thus thwart all gun control laws. You've got the guy who promised to lead an illegal open-carry march from Virginia into Washington, D.C., this coming Fourth of July, daring the authorities to stop him (although that guy seems to be wimping out). You've got states endeavoring to nullify federal gun laws (even before they're passed) and local officials threatening not to enforce state gun laws. And you have a number of towns mandating gun ownership.

And from Jon Stewart, we see the cancers underlying all of this sickness, on display at the NRA convention:
                       

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Today's Dispatch From The Stupid Party

We remember former Missouri Rethuglican candidate Todd "My Ass Is" Akin's moronic comments about "legitimate rape" that likely cost him the 2012 Missouri Senate election.  The comments were so offensive and ignorant (characteristics of much Rethuglican talk for years) that even Willard "Corporations Are People" Romney had to publically disavow them.

But now, we have the president of the California Republican Assembly, Celeste "I Flunked Sex Ed" Greig, voted out of office for echoing Akin's bizarre thinking that women who are raped can't get pregnant because the body is "traumatized" and shuts down conception.  The bubble that these morons live in is apparently so impervious to reality that they have no clue that what they're saying is utter nonsense.  So they keep saying it.

Limpballs' Continuing Woes

Media Matters reports that porcine hate radio gasbag Rush Limpballs may be dropped by Cumulus Media, which carries his daily hatefest over 40 of their stations including WABC in New York City.  The reason?  Dwindling advertising revenue, as major advertisers refuse to air their ads on his despicable program.

Starting with his vile attack on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke last year, Limpballs has driven away advertisers who don't want their brands associated with his inflammatory hate speech.  Other media groups, like Dial Global, are losing advertising money by not being able to place ads on Limpballs' program.  His demographic is also declining, with younger, more affluent listeners shunning the far right poo-flinger in favor of more tolerant fare on topics from marriage equality to immigration policy.  Should have happened years ago.

(photo:  Advertisers aren't feeding at his trough these days)