Stories to Watch: 9/25/11
Yet another shorty. Deal with it. Now here’s the news…
Occupy Wall Street protests take a dark turn as police begin seemingly spontaneous mass arrests. Widespread reports of excessive force characterize the independent reporting from the scene and although mainstream sources also acknowledge the violence, they don’t seem to go beyond reporting press releases.
Herman Cain wins a meaningless Florida beauty contest, while Mittens takes the pageant crown in Michigan.
Ann Althouse simply doesn’t understand why people get upset over the death penalty, but not life imprisonment. I pays to remind people that she’s a Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin. You’d expect her to be bright enough to understand the difference between life and death.
Also in fun with the death penalty news; NYT’s Ross Douthat argues that Troy Davis was kind of lucky there’s a death penalty.
Finally, one of those news items you really don’t know which way to take; Saudi Arabia will allow women to vote and run for office. Of course, that doesn’t mean all that much in a sham democracy.
Stories to Watch: 9/22/11
It’s cool and dark and it looks like it’s going to rain, but I’m jonesing for brats, so I’m firing up the grill. I dare the weather to turn on me. Now here’s the news…
Rick Perry is caught on film being a secret Muslim terr’ist from Kenya plotting to overthrow the United States though communism. You wonder if that’ll hurt him in the big debate tonight.
Bill Clinton speaks about the Troy Davis execution. Encapsulated, if you’re in such a hurry to execute that you can’t even be bothered to look a DNA evidence, you’re doing it wrong. It’s kind of important to be absolutely certain you’ve got the right guy.
John Boehner pretends that people in his caucus listen to him.
More evidence that Rick Perry’s “Texas miracle” hurts more than helps; the vast, vast majority of all those jobs created in Texas went to undocumented immigrants.
Letting the conservative victim card cool off for a moment, Republican Rep. Joe Walsh plays the race card instead.
Rick Perry’s Florida campaign co-chair thinks gays cause tornadoes. Remember, human-caused global warming is a ridiculous notion, but crazy-assed BS like this is serious thinking.
Deranged hobo Sarah Palin asks people if they have any spare change.
Finally, Mittens takes to twitter to prove he eats sandwiches. You think I’m kidding. I’m not.
Horrifying and a typical neocon, false meme for drama. Sad, but true, lethal injection will be the murder weapon.
~g
If y’all get a chance, head on over to Twitter and tell Ann Coulter what a disgusting, heartless piece of shit she is. I don’t care what your political affiliation is, asking for someone “flame broiled” is horrifying.
This is just her typical “Lookit me! I’m so offensive and controversial and outrageous!” schtick. She’s hoping to be rewarded for being a troll, so please don’t feed. Her 15 minutes are pretty much up. No need to prolong them.
SCOTUS considering Troy Davis’ case
We do not have an official stay. The execution is delayed to allow the US Supreme Court to deliberate. Watch coverage here.
Stories to Watch: 9/21/11
Not much to report from the home front. Just a gray, cool, boring day. Now here’s the news…
The reaction to GOP leaders’ letter to Ben Bernanke, asking him to stop trying to help the economy, is generating decidedly unmixed reactions from people who know about monetary policy. Mark Thoma says the letter “crosses a line that shouldn’t be crossed,” Robert Reich says, “Whatever shred of doubt you may have harbored about the determination of congressional Republicans to keep the economy in the dumps through Election Day should now be gone,” Steve Collender says, “now that the GOP has made it all but impossible for fiscal policy to be used to improve they economy, they want to make sure that the only other tool the government has at its disposal — monetary policy — isn’t used either,” and Sen. Dick Durbin says, “Republican congressional leaders are telling the Federal Reserve, we believe for the first time in history, that they should not provide in this economy a vehicle for expansion by lowering interest rates. That to me is wrong-headed.”
Only far-right bloggers are praising the move, which should tell you all you need to know about just how boneheaded and wrong the whole thing is.
Federal Reserve to GOP leadership: “Fuck you.”
Rightwing blogs have been making a lot of this and, for once, it’s actually pretty funny; President Obama really knows how to screw up a group photo.
The United States formally opposes Palestinian statehood. This is kind of dumb, since a “two state solution” necessarily requires two states.
The New York Times calls the scheduled exection of Troy Davis a “grievous wrong,” as attorney’s for Davis make a last minute appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
On the subject of capital punishment and SCOTUS, the high court stopped a second Texas execution this week. Rick Perry’s faith in his state’s system of justice seems sadly misplaced. As is anyone’s faith in a form of punishment where mistakes can never be corrected after the fact.
Sarah Palin continues to dicktease the media.
Finally, Mittens Romney and Rick Perry were once partners in crime.
I'm asking for a favor, Tumblr
In repsonse to aatombomb’s and approachingsignificance’s post about Troy Davis, I propose we DO SOMETHING about it that takes 30 seconds.
We’ve all seen Tumblr do some amazing things ranging from donating thousands of dollars to friends in need, raising tens of thousands for countries who faced disaster to finding a place for friends to live, finding them a job or just giving moral support everyday. I’m not asking for money, but how about signing a petition that may save an innocent man from the death penalty?
From the Innocence Project:
Davis was convicted almost exclusively on the basis of eyewitness identification testimony, which has been shown through DNA exonerations and thousands of academic studies to be unreliable. Seven of the nine witnesses who testified at his trial have since recanted and strong evidence points to another person as the real perpetrator in the case.
The only man that can stop the execution scheduled for tonight, September 21 at 7pm, is GA District Attorney Chisolm and he needs to hear from us asap. And so does Mr. Davis.
Sign here. Reblog. Thanks.
It seems to be getting a lot of traffic, so be patient and let it load.
Stories to Watch: 9/20/11
The zucchini pancakes were great, but I had to make a whole passel to use one zucchini up. So now I have a literal pile of leftover pancakes in my fridge. This is what’s known as “a problem you want to have.” Now here’s the news…
Today in pot-calls-kettle-black news: Rick Santorum — who once argued that same sex marriage would lead inevitably to man-on-dog sex — claims Rick Perry “ignores reality for ideology.” Bonus fun: the argument’s about a border fence and Perry’s right. Rick’s also really pissed at Google, because he’s a clown and doesn’t know how the internet works.
Speaking of Rick Perry, Public Policy Polling reports he has “an under water approval rating in Texas and he’s leading Barack Obama by a smaller margin than John McCain won the state by in 2008.” It’s probably because they’re angry at all his sponging off the state.
The Georgia Parole Board denies clemency to Troy Davis, despite the fact that many witnesses to the crime he’s accused of committing have recanted, saying they were coerced by police into giving false statements, and nine people have signed affidavits identifying someone else as the shooter by name. The ACLU called the clemency hearing “a sham.”
Screw the Blue Dogs.
Eric Holder says the Obama administration is still going to try to close Gitmo before election day.
Texas Rep. Wayne Christian both spills the beans and demonstrates just how poorly Republicans understand simple English. In talking about the GOP’s attempts to shut down Planned Parenthood, Christian says, “Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything, that’s what family planning is supposed to be about.” That’s right, Christian’s idea of “family planning” is “Surprise, you’re pregnant!”
Occupy Wall Street has some pretty disturbing video of cops roughing up protesters.
Finally, Michele Bachmann visits a traffic-signal plant in Iowa — one that “thrives on government-funded road projects like those Obama has promoted” — to bitch about how much government spending has hurt the plant. Because she’s smart like that.
