Stand Out Story of the Week

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Knuckle Draggers

While showing enthusiasm for such nut-job inanities as redefining freedom of religion Talibangellically to enable health care providers to deny care based on their prejudices ~

Gov. Grendel Jindal and the GOP say NO to health care solutions

At the start of the current legislative session, Gov. Bobby Jindal called for bipartisanship and “Louisiana solutions.” Yet [June 9th] at the Capitol, the Jindal administration tried three different maneuvers to kill HB 889, the Louisiana Healthier Families Act. The Louisiana Healthier Families Act would reduce our youth smoking rate and generate upwards of $127 million a year for health care – and it enjoys bipartisan support in the Legislature.

That hasn’t stopped Gov. Jindal and Louisiana Republican Party chairman Roger Villere from opposing the bill at every turn, despite offering no alternatives.

“Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Republican Party march lockstep with the national GOP’s “party of no” approach – no new ideas, no leadership and no solutions,” says Chris Whittington, chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “At a time when Louisiana faces the challenge of serious budget cuts to health care, why is Gov. Jindal so opposed to an open debate and vote on legislation that would reduce teen smoking and secure funding to offset cuts in health care?”

A recent poll done by the Mellman Group shows about three out of four Louisianans support the Louisiana Healthier Families Act. (That included 72 percent of both Democrats and Republicans and 67 percent of independents supporting the proposal.) Today, The Advocate newspaper ran an editorial urging the Legislature to support the Louisiana Healthier Families Act.

h/t to Louisiana Democratic Party

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

---

My Thoughts, Exactly

Really, Right-wing?

"Homosexualizing"?

Guest Blog by: Waymon Hudson

President of FightOutLoud.org, blogging from Bilerico Project

It's not the first time I've seen it, but for some reason it jumped out at me in a recent press release I was reading from some nutty, fundie, right-wing group (insert some combination of "America" "Traditional" and "Family" and you'll get the name of the group- they're all the same to me at this point):

We must stop their efforts to homosexualize the troops.

Really? "Homosexualize"? When did a sexual orientation become a verb? I guess I shouldn't expect too much from groups that can't spell "marriage" in their TV commercials, but come on...

I've made my dislike for the word "homosexual" very clear. I think it is the new, acceptable form of "faggot" and it always makes me angry. I'm sure that played into why the word jumped out at me.

That and the fact that it sounds completely ludicrous and made up.

Words like this feed into the idea that sexual orientation is something that is mutable. If you can "homosexualize" others and institutions, then it must be a choice. It's a not-so-subtle swipe at gay people, meant to breed fear of a subversive, militaristic, "gay agenda" that is seeping into the lives of God-fearing Americans.

I'm sure some brilliant fundie will soon turn the word into an adverb: "Homosexually." Hmmm, can we use it in a sentence? "The man walks very homosexually."

Wait, that's probably been said about me. But I digress...

These lazy buzzwords for the right are simply meant to invoke guttural reactions about "otherness." Someone different from you, and therefore dangerous, is going to invade your lives and beloved institutions, SO BEWARE! It's a desperate need to invoke fear about the LGBT community so they can excuse their small-minded bigotry and lack of logic.

And raise funds to line their pockets.

So continue to make up words to explain being on the wrong side of equality, fairness, and justice, right-wingers. While you're wrapped up in your hate, I'll be off to do some more homosexualizing...

Lifted entirely from our friends @Crooks & Liars

Joe Scarborough:

Unhinged Torture Apologist

By Heather Tuesday May 19, 2009 10:00am

DOWNLOADS: (777)

PLAYS: (1631)

I think Joe Scarborough is attempting to make his show almost as unwatchable as Fox News. First he decides to attack Jesse Ventura for his comments on The View:

SCARBOROUGH: Perhaps Jesse should stop smoking whatever Jesse's been smoking and keep his mouth shut about things he knows absolutely nothing about. This is a guy who, by the way -- I must continue to say this -- that got paid two million dollars by this network, did one show and sucked so bad that they sent him back to Minnesota and said "we never want to see you again."

I wish I was that bad. Perhaps I am. Maybe they'll fire me and I'll take my money and go to Florida. [...] Seriously, that's the sort of stupidity -- it's just -- it should seriously be a crime to be that dumb and on TV. [mocking Jesse's voice] We only waterboard Muslims. Oh God.

Let's bring in Rudy Giuliani. Former Republican mayor of New York City, former presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani. This seems like a great place to start. [begin douchey sarcastic voice] Why is it that people like Jesse Ventura are so concerned about how we treat people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? Why is that?

h/t to Bob Cesca for the transcript and apparently he was as disgusted after watching this as I was. I'll let him take it from here.

Jesse Ventura was a Navy Seal who survived the SERE program and served in Vietnam. He "knows nothing" about torture and war, Joe? And you do? That's rich.

As for your question to Giuliani, Jesse is worried about torturing people like KSM because it endangers our soldiers.

Scarborough then goes into an angry tirade when Carlos Watson dares to suggest that waterboarding doesn't work.

SCARBOROUGH: I’ve got to stop you right there. How do you dare come on this set and say that’s [waterboarding] not effective? That’s just not the truth! And if you have any evidence that it is not effective, let me know right now!

We're not the only ones who noticed Scarborough's angry defense of torture this morning.

Think Progress has taken up Scarborough’s challenge, with this comprehensive document explaining why Bush’s enhanced interrogation tactics were a failure.

Where Bible-Based Homophobia Leads

Click on the image for an enlarged, readable view
of this quaint little poster appearing in opposition
to a recent visit to a California campus by
the nefarious FredFiends of Westboro Baptist.

Count the Double Entendres in Teabaggin Piece

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

See, Know Evil : Gay Republicans Split

Queerty.com headlines this schism:

Gay Conservatives Split

and h/t to Joe.My.God for this heads up

about next wave of oxy morons.

New Conservative Gay Organization Forms

If you thought the Log Cabin Republicans were too progressive, now there's an even wing-ier group for gay conservatives. Via Bruce Carroll at Gay Patriot:

I am thrilled to help announce the birth of a new national gay conservative organization, GOProud. As long-time readers know I have been very critical of the national Log Cabin Republicans for many years. Their left-of-center positions on important issues have bothered me as LCR has continually sucked the teet of the Gay Leftist agenda. LCR’s silence and unwillingness to stand up and be vocal on true gay conservative issues (outing of Republican staffers, increasing threat of gays being selectively aborted, peril gays face by Islamic extremists) has been mind-boggling. And LCR’s continued obsession in trashing Republicans, yet letting Democrats get a pass on their gay-related hypocrisies, has been infruriating. Many of you, friends and critics alike, have told me if I wasn’t happy with LCR to do something about it. I have tried shining light on the organization from GayPatriot.org. But many of us felt more had to be done. So I’m proud to announce my involvement as a board member of this new organization. Many more details will follow and I will be sure to let you know how to get involved. For now, please go to GOProud.org and sign up.

Ben Smith at Politico reports:

A dissident faction of gay conservatives is launching a rival group to the traditional voice of gay Republicans: the Log Cabin Republicans. GOPROUD, the new 527 group, will launch next week, according to a media advisory. The contact given for the group is Christopher Barron, a former Log Cabin political director who broke with the group. "Essentially, there's no voice for gay Republicans or gay conservatives in particular in D.C. right now. Log Cabin has been completely and totally absent here in D.C. for months and months," Barron said. "It has simply moved way too far to the left and is basically indistinguishable from any other gay left organization."

It's easy to dismiss these guys as a tiny, inconsequential group of self-hating loons, but expect them to become a favorite go-to whenever wingnuts are looking for cracks on LGBT issues. "Aha! See! Even GOProud is against hate crimes protections for you people!" Check out Gay Patriot's post from Friday: "Gay Rights Laws Limit Our Freedom."

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Bill O'rally Is Still an Idiot Clown

Example # 1 He equates labor unions with radical socialism

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Time for this Arrogant Ass to Go

GOP senator flips out at airline, sets off security alarm

H/T to Têtard for this from Raw Story:

The Republican senator who found himself on a DC madam's client list is drawing new attention over "impulse control."
After missing a flight last Thursday from Washington to New Orleans,
Louisiana Sen. David Vitter opened an armed security door and went off on a United Airlines employee, according to a report filed Wednesday by (paid-restricted) Roll Call.

The door sounded a security alarm.

Vitter had arrived at the gate for a flight from Dulles Airport, only to find that the door had been closed twenty minutes prior to departure.

After setting off the security alarm, the Louisiana senator proceeded to dress down an airline employee who told him entering the restricted area was forbidden. He invoked his standing as a senator, delivering a "do-you-know-who-I-am" tirade, the paper said.

The airline worker then announced he was going to summon security.

"Vitter, according to the witness, remained defiant, yelling that the employee could call the police if he wanted to and their supervisors, who, presumably, might be more impressed with his Senators pin," the paper's Heard on the Hill column noted. "But after talking a huffy big game, (ain't that his modus operandi) Vitter apparently thought better of pushing the confrontation any further. When the gate attendant left to find a security guard, Vitter turned tail and simply fled the scene."

The paper joked that Vitter, 47, had joined the "mile-low club," and said that there's a "proud tradition" of US lawmakers devolving into temper tantrums at airports.

Reached for comment by Roll Call, Vitter's spokeperson did not dispute the incident.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Part 1 in a Series, "Jindal, what's up with That?"

Jindal Signals Louisiana May Not Take Stimulus Money

by Brian Montopoli of CBS news

(CBS)

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, has suggested his state may not be interested in all of the roughly $4 billion allotted to it in the economic stimulus package to be signed by President Obama today.

"We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars," Jindal said, according to CBS affiliate WWLTV.

Jindal is scheduled to give the response to the president’s not-exactly-a-state-of-the-union address next Tuesday.

Louisiana reportedly faces a possible $2 billion budget shortfall next year. It has been allocated $538,575,876 for infrastructure spending in the stimulus package, and the White House predicts the bill will create 50,000 jobs in the state.

As WWLTV notes, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has said he’ll take any money that Louisiana turns down.

Seems to Crapaud that Jindal's hesitancy stems from what the bulk of Louisiana's $3.8 Billion share of the stimulus is designated: Medicaid, not a favorite of any conservatives. You know--those people--and all that.

According to WWL, "Included in the $3.8 billion: $1.7 billion for the state's Medicaid program, $587 million for public education, $455 million for road and bridge repair and $130 million in flexible dollars to help offset budget cuts. "

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

THE FINAL DAY OF BUSH TORTURE

AND GO §*&%œµ¢♂¿ (Saddleback)*YOURSELF, DUBYA

*Definition "Saddlebacking"----the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities. 'After attending the Purity Ball, Heather and Bill saddlebacked all night because she's saving herself for marriage.'

Even the Talibangelicals and Christianists kick him in the arse on his way out the door. View another surprising screed HERE.

Here's your farewell song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phyrx3VuwcM


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////