Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas
Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church
Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46
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Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46 |
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Wolf Blitzer takes a break from his busy schedule starring as a sycophantic Muppet on CNN to pen a blog post as sycophantic Muppet on CNN's web site. His thesis: Rich politicians surely are noble creatures for getting out there on the campaign trail instead of enjoying their upper crust lifestyle. The pudding gets a bit richer when he erases all hope that he might somehow be talking about a real person somewhere by naming the current crop of animatronic GOP hopefuls as the specific people that he is actively admiring.
Yes, Wolf Blitzer took time out of his day to write about how gosh darned swell Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, John Huntsman, Ron Paul and Rick Perry all are. Like, as human beings. Like, by name. Words cannot express what a vacuous piece of human detritus hides behind that beard. Are we still operating under the assumption that Blitzer is a journalist?
h/t Alex Pareene @ salon.com
By Ismail Kahn, New York Times, May 23/24, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.
A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region [....]
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
The bill, which opposition parliament members termed draconian and protested by threatening to file out of a legislative session, calls for fines of up to $50,000 and up to 200 hours of community service for organizers of rallies and demonstrations that grow violent or exceed the approved number of participants.
The sanctions were approved on first reading by parliament's lower house, which is controlled by Putin's United Russia party. They mark a return by the Kremlin to a tough stance against critics after concessions during the recent election campaign [...]
Also see:
Russians back Putin, strong leadership
Washington Post, May 22, 2012
A Pew survey of 1,000 Russians found that President Vladimir Putin is well-liked by more than 70 percent of citizens, especially older adults.
Associated Press, May 21, 2012
HAVANA — It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island.
More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.
Perhaps most maddening, nobody has explained what happened to the much-ballyhooed $70 million project....
By Tamasin Ford in Monrovia, Guardian.co.uk, May 22, 2012
Husbands, not strangers or men with guns, are now the biggest threat to women in post-conflict west Africa, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) released on Tuesday.
The IRC report, Let Me Not Die Before My Time: Domestic Violence in West Africa, based on data collected over 10 years by the IRC in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, said domestic violence is the "most urgent, pervasive and significant protection issue for women in west Africa" [.....]
By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press, May 22, 2012
WASHINGTON -- Uncle Sam may not want you after all.
In sharp contrast to the peak years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Army last year took in no recruits with misconduct convictions or drug or alcohol issues, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And soldiers already serving on active duty now must meet tougher standards to stay on for further tours in uniform.
The Army is also spending hundreds of thousands of dollars less in bonuses to attract recruits or entice soldiers to remain.
It's all part of an effort to slash the size of the active duty Army from about 570,000 at the height of the Iraq war to 490,000 by 2017. The cutbacks began last year, and as of the end of March, the Army was down to less than 558,000 troops.
For a time during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army lowered its recruiting standards [....]
Just watched this abomination on last night's Daily Show. What in the hell is wrong with these people? May CNN be unceremoniously sucked into a wormhole.
In TeeVee land, rich media executives and pundits say that all the rich are noble people!!
WaPo columnist and general pundit Bernard Goldberg in 2010, in Thank God for Rich People:
I have an idea for a monument in our nation’s capital. I envision a big bronze and granite statue that would honor an entire group of Americans who are true heroes, and unsung heroes at that. It is time — no, make that long past time — to pay tribute to those this nation of ours owes a great debt; to those who give and give and give and in return get anything but our gratitude.
This is an idea whose time has finally come.
Right there, amongst the sacred national structures that honor great Americans, we need to build a shiny monument to …The Rich......
Damn. I was hoping that was satire, but it appears to be sincere(ish).
Right. They get anything but gratitude in return. As in, literally, anything. Care, planes, yachts, land, stocks, bonds, healthcare and all the political influence money can buy. However, if what they really want is gratitude, I'm sure we can work some sort of, ahem, free trade agreement.
Is there anything more repugnant than these callous, rich bastards for whom being disproportionately wealthy and powerful still isn't enough? When they talk about returning to the values of the past, are they really talking about the values of, say, ancient Egypt? Because they're really starting to sound like Pharoahs.
All hail the shiny golden gods.