GOP Clown Show

[Ninong]

Wingnuttery On Parade

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Toyota) is now questioning President Obama's elibibility to be president. What a moron! He believes all the crap Rush Limbaugh and FOX Noise put out.

"Well, his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told constituents in Cullman County. "You have to be born in America to be president."

The fact that Obama was born in Honolulu was settled a long time ago and verified by the Bush State Department. Obama posted a copy of his birth certificate on his website last summer. I even published copies of the birth announcements in the two local Honolulu papers that anyone can find using google, assuming they have one of those new-fangled computer machines and know how to get through to the Internet tubes. That's not something Tom DeLay or Ted Stevens would be familiar with.

Shelby is a consumate clown. He's also threatening to filibuster any bill authorizing bailout money for any of the three American car companies. He calls helping the American auto industry socialism. In fact, he's calling the entire American Recovery and Reinvestment Act socialism.

Money for crooked Wall Street bankers, okay. Money to save the American auto industry, socialism. Toyota is a big employer in Alabama. Where was Sen. Shelby when the Bush administration handed out $350 billion in bailout money ($150 billion to AIG alone -- the first $85 billion to AIG was before the later TARP money) to investment banks and said nothing when those banks paid billions in "performance" bonuses using bailout funds? AIG's stock closed at $0.53/share today, down from $53.00/share a year ago and $75.00/share two years ago. It's trash! Garbage! Their books are cooked beyond belief! And this is the company that we, the American taxpayers, own an 80% stake in in return for our $150 billion investment. Nobody can figure out their true total exposure to credit default swaps. It could be over a trillion bucks but nobody wants to say that publicly. P.S. -- Our 80% ownership in AIG was in exchange for the first $85 billion in bailout money we gave them before Congress approved the TARP money. As of today, March 2, 2009, we have turned over $162 billion to this one company. Unfortunately, we don't have much choice. If they were to be allowed to fail, more than a thousand other companies worldwide would go down with them.

Now Louisiana's Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal and Mississippi's Governor Haley Barbour are trying to outdo each other in rejecting federal stimulus money if it goes to help unemployed people. Jindal rejected nearly $100 million in stimulus money for Louisiana because it would require Louisiana to adopt the same guidelines for unemployment benefit eligibility that most other states have been using for years. Since employers contribute to unemployment benefits, this would mean a slight increased cost for business. Jindal said this is not the time to increase the cost of doing business, especially if it means paying more money to lazy unemployed people who don't deserve any unemployment benefits in the first place. That's one of those New Deal programs. According to Jindal and Barbour, and lunatic Alan Keyes, you're not supposed to be unemployed in the first place.

I was at the local barborshop earlier today and they had FOX Noise on the teevee machine (the rednecks all love FOX). They were playing clips of Jindal and Barbour both talking about how they're not going to accept any bailout money that doesn't involve creating new permanent jobs. That's the other wrinkle in Jindal's game plan that hasn't played out yet. Besides rejecting stimulus money that would fund temporary extended unemployment benefits to people without jobs, he's also talking about rejecting any money that would fund jobs that are not permanent jobs because those jobs would all cease to exist once the federal money ran out. So Jindal doesn't want to create any temporary jobs repairing roads, fixing schools, etc., because those wouldn't be permanent jobs and the state wouldn't be able to pick up the cost of covering all those "make-work projects" once federal funds ran out. The exact same arguments the GOP used in 1933 when they opposed the New Deal. They haven't changed a bit.

FOX also replayed a clip of lunatic Alan Keyes ranting that Barack Obama is a communist and he's turning the country into a socialist state and that's why the stock market is going down, because everybody knows that stocks will be worthless once the government takes over all the failing companies and turns us into another Cuba. Alan Keyes is an amazing piece of work. It's truly amazing that any TV network would give him airtime. And all the rednecks in the barborshop were agreeing with everything they heard on FOX Noise.

In GOP circles, especially Southern GOP circles, businesses always come ahead of employees who are out of work. Besides being opposed to broadening eligibility for unemployment benefits, Jindal is opposed to extending unemployment benefits for those whose benefits have run out because they have been unable to find a job in spite of diligently looking.

In Southern GOP circles, people who are unemployed shouldn't be receiving any benefits at all because that will just encourage them to stay home and not look for a job. There are lots of jobs out there, according to Jindal and Barbour -- good-paying minimum-wage jobs. Both Louisiana and Mississippi have no state minimum wage laws. The federal minimum wage applies for those jobs covered by the Federal Fair Labor Standard Act. It could be worse. Kansas, another Republican state, has a state minimum wage of $2.65 an hour! Everybody knows that minimum-wage laws are communist; and unions are communist, too. Just ask any Southern GOP politician. That's why BMW and Mercedes and all the Japanese manufacturers located their plants in the South. Last time I checked, not a single one of those plants was unionized yet.

Both Louisiana and Mississippi have a large number of undocumented workers working in hurricane recovery jobs. No telling how low they are being paid. They came in by the thousands when the Bush administration awarded all those no-bid contracts to those big Texas firms to clean up after Hurricane Katrina. They cleaned up alright!!! Those companies subcontracted to smaller companies, who in turn hired labor contractors to take care of supplying the labor. Republicans have always been willing to look the other way when it comes to their pals hiring illegal aliens and paying them less than prevailing local wages.

[Ninong]

I'm kinda glad the Goppies have chosen Jindal to be the face of the new GOP. He's even more conservative than the old GOP and he believes in exorcism. What more could we ask for?

:eek3:


P.S. -- He also believes that rape victims, regardless of their age, should be forced to bear the child of their rapist. No exceptions. Period. Absolutely no exceptions. No abortions. Period. You can't get much more Goppy than that.

If "Bobby" Jindal and Ricky Santorum had their way, your 11-yr-old daughter who happened to be raped by a burglar, would be forced to carry the pregnancy to term. That's the Goppy way!

He recently (last summer) signed a law here that encourages teachers to discuss materials in their classrooms that might challenge evolution. The new law guarantees that teachers who challenge evolution cannot be punished in any way. You might remember that two decades ago the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that would have required teaching Cretin Science if evolution was being taught. Of course, most schools down here didn't dare teach evolution in the first place. But if they did, they were required to give equal time to Cretin Science. They can't do that now, so the Louisiana legislature passed a law saying that it's okay if they want to discuss materials (like the crap from the Discovery Institute) that question evolution. Jindal loved that bill. He signed it in a heartbeat.

I'm waiting for Jindal to ask the schools to include the topic of exorcism in their science classes. "Bobby" has personal experience with exorcism.

"Bobby" Jindal is a clever politician. Unfortunately for him, his politics have been shaped by an area of the country that is not living in the same century as the rest of the country. Jindal, having earlier adopted the Americanized name of "Bobby," decided to change his religion during his senior year in high school. That was about the same time as he was deciding he wanted to seek a political career. It wasn't enough just to ask people to call you "Bobby" instead of Piyush, you would have to change your religion, too, if you wanted to run for office in Louisiana. So "Bobby," who was raised in the Hindu faith, became a Roman Catholic, the predominant religion in Southern Louisiana.

"Bobby" didn't take his new religion lightly. No, siree. He went whole hog. The whole nine yards. Compared to "Bobby" Jindal, Mel Gibson is a liberal Catholic. "Bobby" has even personally participated in an exorcism. The demon-possessed person was a female classmate.

He also authored an article for a Catholic journal while he was still in college that is extremely critical of the Protestant Reformation. Jindal had quite a bit to say about the various Protestant reformers. If you quote him on any of that he will say that you are taking things out of context.

[Ninong]

President Obama sounded like FDR; Gov. Jindal sounded like Herbert Hoover

"Bobby" Jindal told us tonight that Louisiana didn't need any stinkin' help from "bureaucrats" during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He mocked the federal government's response to that disaster and said that the people of Louisiana were better off taking care of themselves. He failed to mention that it was the Republican administration of George W. Bush that was in the White House at the time. In effect, Jindal ridiculed a Republican administration. He said Louisiana can do without federal help.

No wonder he turned down $100 million in federal money for unemployment benefits for Louisiana's unemployed citizens. Jindal says they don't need no stinkin' unemployment benefits.

"Bobby" Jindal is a piece of work alright. I'm glad the entire nation got a chance to see him in action. Once he got past the part about coming over here as a 4-1/2 month-old fetus, the rest was downhill. He played up the part about the hardworking immigrant parents who had trouble finding a job; his mother being 4-1/2 months pregnant with him; the part about the extreme poverty in India; the part about his father telling him how great America is because the supermarket shelves are always full.

Jindal's parents were both college graduates when they came here. They came over on student visas so that his father could attend graduate school at LSU. His father became a civil engineer and his mother earned a doctorate in nuclear physics. "Bobby" Jindal is an honors graduate from Brown University (public policy and biology) and a Rhodes Scholar with a masters degree in political science from the University of Oxford. Jindal's wife is just shy of a Ph.D. herself.

And what did "Bobby" learn from his life experiences? He learned that the federal government cannot be counted on to do anything at all. We should deregulate businesses and reduce their taxes. We should especially reduce the regulation of the banks and petroleum industry. Especially the petroleum industry (his biggest contributors!). And we should do more offshore drilling. Lots more!

We should reduce taxes to next to nothing and let the people take care of themselves. Except that we should spend even more money on national defense. Money for health care? Not so much. Money for unemployements benefits? Not so much.

"Bobby" wants to fix the mess the Bush administration got us into by doing more of the same. Especially more drilling. Lots more drilling.

Bottom line: "Bobby" Jindal sucked!

[Ninong]

Pres. Obama Said We Must Find a Cure for Cancer

"Bobby" Jindal already has a cure for cancer. It's called exorcism. :eek3:

That's right boys and girls, in an essay Jindal wrote in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, a serious right-wing Catholic journal, Jindal narrated a bizarre story of a personal encounter with a demon, in which he participated in an exorcism with a group of college friends. And not only did they cast out the supernatural spirit that had possessed his friend, Jindal wrote that he believes that their ritual may well have cured her cancer.

Here's a picture of the demon that Jindal says he exorcised, while curing cancer at the same time:



I did not make that crap up. That's the picture of the devil that Jindal used in his 1994 article. He not only drove out the devil, he also cured her of cancer.

I'm so glad the rest of the country is getting to see the new face of the Republican party.

[zhenya]

Pres. Obama Said We Must Find a Cure for Cancer

"Bobby" Jindal already has a cure for cancer. It's called exorcism. :eek3:

That's right boys and girls, in an essay Jindal wrote in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, a serious right-wing Catholic journal, Jindal narrated a bizarre story of a personal encounter with a demon, in which he participated in an exorcism with a group of college friends. And not only did they cast out the supernatural spirit that had possessed his friend, Jindal wrote that he believes that their ritual may well have cured her cancer.

Here's a picture of the demon that Jindal says he exorcised, while curing cancer at the same time:



I did not make that crap up. That's the picture of the devil that Jindal used in his 1994 article. He not only drove out the devil, he also cured her of cancer.

I'm so glad the rest of the country is getting to see the new face of the Republican party.

I wonder what he was smoking in 1994? Depending on the drug of choice the picture surely would change...

You scaring me again, Ninong... I thought we put all the demons away this November. :eek3:

[schrocat]

no freaking way...


It's like a zombie movie...THEY JUST KEEP COMING!

[Ninong]

"Bobby" Bombed!

Even conservative Republican pundits agree that Jindal's Republican Response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress was an unmitigated disaster. That is, everyone except the Pontifex Maximus of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh. Rush absolutely adores Jindal. Rush may have given him some suggestions for his disaster of a speech.

Remember the anecdote about "Bobby" and Sheriff Harry Lee confronting "bureaucrats" sent down by the evil Bush FEMA? You know, the part where "Bobby" says he was right there with Harry Lee when Lee challenged the "bureaucrats" who wanted to see proof of insurance and registration before allowing private boat owners to participate in the rescue of people stranded on rooftops.

Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us.

Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina -- we have our doubts.

Let me tell you a story.

During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office, I'd never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: "Well, I'm the Sheriff and if you don't like it you can come and arrest me!" I asked him: "Sheriff, what's got you so mad?" He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go, when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, "Sheriff, that's ridiculous." And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: "Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!" Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and go start rescuing people.

Looks like "Bobby" made that up. According to all available records of his whereabouts in the days following Katrina, "Bobby" was in Baton Rouge. Kenner, where "Bobby" lived at the time, was under mandatory evacuation orders and much of it was under water.

According to press reports down here, "Bobby" was never on the ground (or water) with Harry Lee. "Bobby" flew over the area! We can't ask Harry Lee because he's dead. Everyone else says "Bobby" made that up.

Many people down here are furious that "Bobby" threw out that gratituous line about "at any given time, half of Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment." They consider that an attack on the state's reputation, such as it is. He forgot to mention that a certain GOP senator (hint: his initials are David Vitter) was under investigation for hanky-panky with hookers in D.C. and New Orleans.

Remember "Bobby" telling us that the stimulus bill includes billions of dollars for a high-speed rail line "between Disneyland and Las Vegas?" He made that up. It NOT in the bill.

It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.

The new cars would be electric cars. It's intended as a way to spur innovative new technology. "Magnetic levitation" is a new technology that holds a lot of promise but there is nothing in the stimulus about a "line from Las Vegas to Disneyland" and "magnetic levitation" is not mentioned once. "Bobby" made that up.

The bill includes billions of dollars for high speed rail and Republicans suspect that Sen. Harry Reid may try to get some of that funding for a high-speed rail line between L.A. and Las Vegas but that's not in the bill. The corridor between L.A. and Las Vegas is very heavily travelled and a high-speed rail line would make sense. It's also very likely that a high-speed rail line will be built in Rep. John Boehner's Ohio district. He's the GOP minority leader in the House. High-speed rail lines will probably be built in the Mid-West and Florida besides areas on the West Coast.

Remember when "Bobby" complained about millions of dollars for "volcano monitoring?" The USGS said today that they desperately need more funding -- after years of the Bush administration cutting their budgets -- in order to monitor active volcanoes that could errupt and kill lots of people, sort of like Mount St. Helens.

And virtually all Republicans are furious that "Bobby" reminded the American people that Hurricane Katrina was not exactly the Bush administration's finest hour. "Bobby" must have forgotten that he was speaking to a national audience. He's used to attacking FEMA down here because FEMA is despised down here because of incredible incompetence and billions of dollars in fraud and waste -- like paying $2500 to no-bid out-of-state contractors for two hours labor to put a blue tarp on a roof when local contractors would have done it for $300. The blue tarps were provided free by FEMA. So FEMA paid $2500 just for the labor to put a tarp over a hole in your roof. Or ordering mobile homes converted to temporary classrooms from Alaksa for $80,000 each when they were available in Mississippi for $25,000 less.

All of the GOP talking heads agreed today that Jindal's performance was a disaster, except for Rush. Rush is furious that anyone would attack Jindal "on a matter of style," as Rush puts it.

"Bobby" is unavailable for comment. His office said that he and his family are on vacation in Disneyworld. Next thing you know, "Bobby" will want a high-speed rail line between Baton Rouge and Orlando. Hey, "Bobby," have a nice time down there in fantasyland.

P.S. -- "Bobby" is Jindal's nickname. It's not his name. It does not appear on his Louisiana driver's license. His real name is Piyush, pronounced PEE-yush -- a lot like his speech, which was PEE-yewww.

[Ninong]

"Bobby" Jindal Lied!

Let me tell you a story fairytale.

During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office, I'd never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: "Well, I'm the Sheriff and if you don't like it you can come and arrest me!" I asked him: "Sheriff, what's got you so mad?" He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go, when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, "Sheriff, that's ridiculous." And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: "Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!" Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and go start rescuing people.

Here's what we know for fact:

On August 29, 2005, the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall, "Bobby" Jindal was out of the country on a foreign trip.

His family had evacuated their home in Kenner to safer quarters in Baton Rouge. When Jindal returned, he went straight to Baton Rouge. The Baton Rouge airport was open, the New Orleans airport was closed for a long time.

Sheriff Harry Lee told Larry King a week or so after Katrina:

"Those boats were not allowed to get into the water when they were needed and I just found out about seven days later one of the reason boats couldn't get in was they didn't have enough life preservers and some of them didn't have proof of insurance. And I'm sure that there's a FEMA regulation that says that. But when a storm of this magnitude hits, you throw those regulations out the window and you do what you have to do and start saving lives."

We now know that Sheriff Lee himself didn't even learn about the incident until a week after it happened.

So this part right here:

"Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!" Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and go start rescuing people.

That was a complete fabrication. A lie! "Bobby" simply made it up out of thin air. He was not in Harry Lee's office when Harry Lee received a phone call telling him that FEMA "bureaucrats" were holding up private rescue boats because of lack of life preservers or proof of registration and that's exactly what Jindal tried to imply in his little fairytale. Jindal's chief of staff is now trying to claim that this was a conversation that Jindal overheard Harry Lee having a few days after the fact. The latest version is that Jindal was present when Harry Lee was telling someone else about this over the phone, not when Harry Lee supposedly received the original phone call. They're in a hole but they just keep on digging.

Late today, Gov. Jindal's office released a video tape of a campaign appearance where Sheriff Lee endorsed Jindal for governor. During that appearance Sheriff Lee praises Jindal for "being in my office the day after Katrina to offer his help." What does that have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing! It has nothing to do with the fairytale that "Bobby" Jindal told on national teevee.

Jindal did not offer himself to be arrested during Katrina, or anytime after Katrina. That was a lie! Jindal was not with Sheriff Lee when the FEMA bureaucrats were delaying the private boats because Sheriff Lee didn't hear about it until a week later, according to Sheriff Lee himself.

This fairytale was all part of "Bobby" Jindal's Howdy Doody act on national teevee with a Circus of Fun for Everyone! "Bobby" Jindal is a clown!

[Ninong]

It's Howdy Doody Time (Cont'd.)

Hello, boys and girls, I'm "Bobby" Jindal, and it's Howdy Doody Time.

It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.

Something called?

Surely "Bobby" knows what volcano monitoring is, right? He can't be that stupid? Everybody down here thinks he's a genius.

Of course "Bobby" knows what volcano monitoring is. That was just part of his little Goppy act to appeal to their dumb-as-dirt followers. "Bobby" is just used to talking that way in front of Goppy audiences. He probably figured they would get a chuckle out of "magnetic levitation," too.

[Ninong]

It's Howdy Doody Time (Cont'd.):

What About Jindal Wasting Louisiana's Money?

Instead of worrying about "something called volcano monitoring," "Bobby" Jindal should be worried about how much it's going to cost the state of Louisiana to defend their ridiculous new pro-Cretin Science law that he was so eager to sign last summer.

Louisiana tried this before, remember? The U.S. Supreme Court smacked them upside the head and told them to cut it out two decades ago. They had passed a law requiring that Cretin Science be taught in any science classroom where evolution was being taught. George W. Bush still supports that idea.

Anyway, the Cretinists can't require the teaching of Cretin Science, so what they have done is passed a bill that allows "open and objective discussion of... evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning." All the subjects the Cretinists despise. The new law specifically states that teachers are encouraged to present opposing views on those topics and that no teachers can be punished in any way for expressing views that are different from what's in the textbooks the "bureaucrats" wrote. Okay, so it doesn't say anything about "bureaucrats" but that's only because they were afraid it would sound too much like FEMA.

It states that authorities "shall allow ... open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning."

This new law is very similar to the one the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in a 7-2 decision (Rehnquist and Scalia were the two dissenting votes) more than 21 years ago. It held that "teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to school children might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction."

Now, instead of mandating the teaching of Cretin Science, the law "Bobby" Jindal signed in June 2008, "allows" teachers to "discuss" their objections to evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning." For example, teachers are encouraged to discuss the Adam and Eve theory of the origins of life. And the Great Flood theory for the formation of the Grand Canyon just a few thousand years ago. And they may use whatever materials they wish to further such "open and objective discussion." And none of this is to be construed as religious instruction. Absolutely not! It says so right there in the law. No religious instruction, just "open and objective discussion" of the reasons why the textbooks are wrong on evolution, global warming, etc.

Instead of teaching actual science in science class, teachers will now be allowed to introduce all sorts of crackpot "theories" about the origins of life and the age of the universe. They're now "allowed" to tell children that the Grand Canyon was formed just a few thousand years ago in Noah's Flood, that evolution is just a theory and that the Bible is the Word of God, so who you gonna believe? Blah, blah, blah... The poor kids won't learn anything.

Instead of "Bobby" complaing about how much the federal government is spending, the rest of the country should be complaining about why Louisiana gets back $1.78 for every $1.00 paid in federal taxes. Louisiana is a welfare state. We get back a lot more from the federal government than what we contribute in taxes. That's because we're dead last or next to last in virtually every category.

Remember, none of this is to be construed as religious instruction, just open and objective discussion. It says so right there in the new law.

And now they're worried in Baton Rouge about how they're going to close a $1 billion budget gap. A measly $1 billion. California just passed a budget that closes a $42 billion budget gap. Louisiana relies heavily on oil and gas severance taxes and they're tied to the price of oil and gas. Last July when oil was $147/bbl, the state was rolling in dough. Now, not so much.

This new pro-Cretin Science bill is going to be fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It's a complete waste of money, unlike something called volcano monitoring.

[Ninong]

"Allows" vs. "Mandates"

There was absolutely no reason for the new law "Bobby" Jindal signed in June 2008 allowing "open and objective discussion" in the classroom. Open and objective discussion have always been allowed at the university level but encouraging teachers in elementary school to "discuss" with the children whatever crackpot ideas they may have learned from the Discovery Institute does not constitute education. It's child abuse.

What about at the high school level? Teachers should teach children to think objectively and reason for themselves. Oh, wait a minute. I see a problem right there. The Cretinists don't believe in reason. Reason = bad. Faith = good. "Don't think, just believe." It says exactly that as you enter that new $27 million Cretin Science "museum" that opened in 2007 somewhere in Kentucky.

This new Louisiana law says specifically that teachers are encouraged to present opposing views on evolution, global warming, etc., for discussion in the science classroom and that doing so cannot be construed as favoring one religion over another or as religious instruction of any kind. Teachers may offer alternative theories, such as the one about the universe being created in six days just 6,000 years ago instead of 14 billion years ago like it says in the science textbook.

The new law would call that "open and objective discussion" of the various theories about the origin of the universe.

Here are a few of the "science" textbooks teachers would be allowed to bring into their elementary classrooms to discuss with children as alternate theories to evolution.

P.S. -- There are at least two sure votes on the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold this new Louisiana law. Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are in the bag already. Scalia voted in 1987 to uphold the previous law that would have mandated the teaching of Cretin Science in science class whenever evolution was taught.

The current Court is majority Catholic. Whenever we lose a case like this on a 5-4 decision, the five in the majority are always the five Catholics. Anthony Kennedy is always the swing vote. Whenever a close vote goes 5-4 against the so-called conservative social issues, it's because Kennedy went with the sane members of the Court.

The current Court, loosely according to their extremism on social issues:

Antonin Scalia, Catholic, age 72.
Clarence Thomas, Catholic, age 60.
Samuel Alito, Catholic, age 58.
John Roberts, Catholic, age 54.
Anthony Kennedy, Catholic, age 72.
David Souter, Episcopalian, age 69.
Stephen Breyer, Jewish, age 70.
John Paul Stevens, Protestant, age 88.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jewish, age 75.

Only Breyer and Ginsburg are Democrats. The other seven are Republicans nominated by Republican presidents, including one of the most liberal members of the Court, John Paul Stevens.

The two most liberal members of the Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens, are very likely to step down during President Obama's first term. Stevens turns 89 on April 20 and Ginsburg turns 76 on March 15. In addition, Ginsburg is recovering from pancreatic cancer surgery learlier this month.

[Ninong]

What Would Jesus Do?

Braindead, immoral, "Pro-Life," Colorado Republican Christian conservative state Senator David Schultheis says that children of sluts must die! Because, obviously, that's what Jesus would want, right?

Colorado is debating a proposed new law that would mandate HIV testing for pregnant women in an effort to identify women who are HIV positive early enough to do something to prevent the spread of the disease to their child. However, Sen. Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) says that's not the Christian "Pro-Life" way. Why? Because the child deserves to contract AIDS so that the child will suffer and die from the disease and thus punish the mother for her sinful ways.

What? You can't be serious? You made that up, right? I think you have really gone too far this time, Ninong. You keep picking on the "Pro-Life" movement just because you don't support their position that 11-year-old rape victims must be forced to bear the child of their rapist. For some reason, you seem to think that's immoral, but what do you know! You probably voted for that commie Barack Hussein Obama.

Here is what Sen. Schultheis said on the floor of the Colorado state senate in opposition to the proposed bill that would mandate HIV testing of pregnant women in an effort to identify HIV carriers early in the pregnancy in order to do something to prevent the unborn child from contracting the disease.

This stems from sexual promiscuity for the most part and I just can't go there. We do things continually to remove the consequences of poor behavior, unacceptable behavior, quite frankly. I'm not convinced that part of the role of government should be to protect individuals from the negative consequences of their actions.... What I'm hoping is that yes, that [child] may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby and when they grow up, [and] the mother will begin to feel guilt as a result of that. The family will see the negative consequences of that promiscuity and it may make a number of people over the coming years.. begin to realize that there are negative consequences and maybe they should adjust their behavior. We can't keep people from being raped. We can't keep people from shooting each other. We can't keep people from jumping off bridges. People drink and drive, and they crash and kill people. Poor behavior has its consequences...

Children of HIV mothers deserve to die! Because that's what Jesus wants. Just ask Sen. Dave Schultheis, conservative Christian and the moral voice of the Goppies in Colorado Springs, world headquarters of the Christian fundamentalist movement.

Although unwilling to publicly discuss the issue, some Republicans privately expressed dismay, fearing the comments may hurt their party's image.

Hey, you bunch of GOP wussies! Silence equals consent!!!

[Ninong]

CPAC

Comedian Rush Limbaugh, Pontifex Maximus of today's Republican party, gave the valedictorian speech at CPAC yesterday and repeated what he said on FOX Noise a couple of days earlier: "Of course I want Obama to fail."

[Ninong]

GOP Clown Show, Hypocrisy Dept.

Louisiana to seek New Orleans-Baton Rouge passenger rail line from federal stimulus pot that Jindal called wasteful

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's transportation department plans to request federal dollars for a New Orleans to Baton Rouge passenger rail service from the same pot of railroad money in the president's economic stimulus package that Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized as unnecessary pork on national television Tuesday night.

The high-speed rail line, a topic of discussion for years, would require $110 million to upgrade existing freight lines and terminals to handle a passenger train operation, said Mark Lambert, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

Jindal on Tuesday delivered the official Republican Party response to President Barack Obama's address to Congress. He criticized the stimulus package passed by the Democratic-majority in Congress and the president and noted examples of projects that he found objectionable.

"While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending," Jindal said. "It includes ... $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a 'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland."

The $8 billion pot is for high-speed rail and inter-city passenger rail service projects. The Federal Railroad Administration will make decisions about which grant applications to approve but has not yet released the rules and requirements that will determine the awards process. Emphasis will be placed on projects that are near ready for implementation so that the stimulus money can hit the streets soon.

Jindal oversees the state transportation department and appointed its secretary.

You can read the rest here.

As I posted previously, there is nothing in the stimulus bill about a high-speed rail line between Disneyland or L.A. and Las Vegas, and the words "magnetic levitation" do not appear anywhere. However, a high-speed rail line between L.A. and Las Vegas makes sense and "magnetic levitation" is the newest technology for high-speed rail.

Jindal threw that crap into his cute little sing-song speech because he had nothing substantive to attack and it gets laughs from the GOP hicks who usually make up his audience.

Jindal rejected $100 million in expanded unemployment benefits for Louisiana's unemployed residents, many of whom no doubt have children who desperately need that helping hand, but Jindal is more than willing to take $110 million for a high-speed rail line between Baton Rouge and New Orleans even after calling it "wasteful spending" less than a week ago.

Jindal is a clown!

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CPAC

Comedian Rush Limbaugh, Pontifex Maximus of today's Republican party, gave the valedictorian speech at CPAC yesterday and repeated what he said on FOX Noise a couple of days earlier: "Of course I want Obama to fail."

Uh, oh! RNC Chairman Michael Steele thinks he's actually running the RNC just because he has the title of chairman. He had the nerve to call comedian Rush Limbaugh a comedian! On national teevee! This is gonna get good!

After Steele came to his senses, he immediately begged the comedian for forgiveness but he has not yet been granted absolution. He probably has to do public penance first.

WASHINGTON - Two days after calling conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh a mere "entertainer" with an "incendiary" talk show, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele apologized and acknowledged him as a "national conservative leader."

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"Bobby" Jindal Just Putting on a Show for Boss Limbaugh

The media down here is ripping Jindal for putting on a show to appease Boss Limbaugh and ensure his endorsement for the 2012 Goppy nomination for president. If a state's governor rejects any or all of the stimulus package, that state's legislature can override the governor's decision by a simple majority vote.

Jindal's much publicized rejection of nearly $100 million in expanded unemployment benefits for Louisiana's unemployed citizens will almost certainly be overridden by the state legislature. Jindal is just putting on a show to prove how batsh!t crazy he is in an effort to retain the love and affection of the wingnut wing of the Goppy party.

State Certifications

When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law on February 17, 2009, it marked the beginning of a 45-day window for each state to claim the funds allocated to it by the act.

In order to receive funds from the ARRA, governors have 45 days to certify that they will first of all "request and use" funds from the ARRA and second of all use them to create jobs and promote economic growth.

If a governor does not accept funds allocated to his or her state before that window expires, the state's legislature then has the option of certifying those two conditions itself.

Check out the list below to see which states have accepted funds and examine the certifications they have submitted. This list will expand as more states issue their responses, so check back often.

P.S. -- Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a former chairman of the RNC, has publicly announced that he will reject the $54 million in enhanced unemployment benefits that Mississippi is in line to receive in the stimulus package. Like "Bobby" Jindal, Barbour objects to having to change Mississippi's current rules to bring them in line with what most of the other states have been offering for years.

The Obama administration is offering the same level of benefits to all of the states, which would require some of the more backward states to update their laws to expand eligibility. This federal money covers a 27-month period. It's a temporary boost to help the unemployed. There is nothing in the stimulus package that requires the states to continue the expanded benefits beyond the 27-month period. They are allowed to phase it out when the federal money runs out.

Jindal and Barbour are both refusing the federal money on the grounds that it would be an added tax on businesses AFTER the federal money ran out if their states chose to continue the expanded benefits.

Mississippi's state House didn't even wait for Barbour to officially reject the money. They passed a resolution Wednesday by a 69-52 vote declaring that they will accept ALL federal money available to their state. Not a single Republican voted for it. The Mississippi state Senate has not yet taken up the measure.

Politicos in Louisiana say that if Jindal rejects any of the stimulus money, the state legislature will vote to overrule his dumbass decision. Jindal knows this. He's just putting on a show for Boss Limbaugh.

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Wingnuttery On Parade

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Toyota) is now questioning President Obama's elibibility to be president. What a moron! He believes all the crap Rush Limbaugh and FOX Noise put out.

"Well, his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told constituents in Cullman County. "You have to be born in America to be president."

The fact that Obama was born in Honolulu was settled a long time ago and verified by the Bush State Department. Obama posted a copy of his birth certificate on his website last summer. I even published copies of the birth announcements in the two local Honolulu papers that anyone can find using google, assuming they have one of those new-fangled computer machines and know how to get through to the Internet tubes. That's not something Tom DeLay or Ted Stevens would be familiar with.

Shelby is a consumate clown.

Sen. Shelby isn't going to like this:

Judge assails cases doubting Obama's citizenship

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit questioning President Barack Obama's citizenship, lambasting the case as a waste of the court's time and suggesting the plaintiff's attorney may have to compensate the president's lawyer.

In an argument popular on the Internet and taken seriously practically nowhere else, Obama's critics argue he is ineligible to be president because he is not a "natural-born citizen" as the Constitution requires.

In response last summer, Obama's campaign posted his Hawaiian birth certificate on its Web site. But the lawsuit argues it is a fake and that Obama was actually born in his father's homeland of Kenya, even though Hawaiian officials have said the document is authentic.

"This case, if it were allowed to proceed, would deserve mention in one of those books that seek to prove that the law is foolish or that America has too many lawyers with not enough to do," U.S. District Judge James Robertson said in his written opinion.

The lawsuit didn't even use Obama's legal name but called him "Barry Soetoro," the name he went by while attending elementary school in Indonesia. It's one of many that has been filed claiming Obama is ineligible to serve as president.

Robertson ordered plaintiff's attorney John Hemenway of Colorado Springs, Colo., to show why he hasn't violated court rules barring frivolous and harassing cases and shouldn't have to pay Obama's attorney, Bob Bauer, for his time arguing that the case should be thrown out.

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GOP Clown Car Rollin' Right Along

Sen. John McCain, failed Goppy candidate for president, is ranting and raving and huffing and puffing over the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that President Obama signed today. McCain says that Obama should have vetoed the bill because it contains earmarks and, according to McCain, Obama "campaigned on a promise to end earmarks." Hmmm...

Is that what I have to look forward to in another year and a half? McCain is only a year and a half older than me and his memory is already shot!

It was McCain who campaigned on a promise to "end earmarks." Obama campaigned on a promise to "work with Congress to reform the earmark process."

McCain is freaking out about earmarks that are included in the spending bill. These earmarks are not additional spending, they're simply provisions put in the bill by members of both houses of Congress directing that certain funds be directed to pet projects back home. The earmarks this year are less than in years past, representing only about 1.5% of the total bill.

You would think that with all the screaming the Goppies are doing over this that it's the Democrats who put all those earmarks in there. Not so. The Goppies are responsible for 40% of the earmarks, which is about right since they are about 40% of the membership of Congress. Here's where it gets really good. Twenty-five of the 28 Senators who voted against the bill are Republicans and together they had hundreds of millions of dollars of earmarks in the bill. They knew the bill was passing. They just voted against it for campaign purposes.

This is the last spending bill of the Bush administration, the one that was supposed to be passed no later than September 2008. It couldn't be passed last year because the Democrats and Republicans couldn't agree.

Speaking of the GOP Clown Car...

Anybody know when the big Alaska wedding is supposed to take place? You know, the one between Bristol Palin-Johnston and her babby daddy?

Yes, that's right, Bristol was using the name Bristol Palin-Johnston on her FaceBook page. And Levi has the name Bristol tattooed on his ring finger. Awww, how sweet!

I hope the wedding wasn't delayed just because Levi's mom was busted for peddling 'hillbilly heroin' (OxyContin). Oh, that's right, it was her arrest that was delayed. Something about an election.

I just googled around looking for news of the wedding and instead of wedding bells, I found this item about "White Trash." Okay, so it's a tabloid, but if it is true, then I guess it means that Bristol's last name will no longer be hyphenated and Levi will be looking for a cheap tattoo-removal service.

GOP family values are so confusing. Does this mean that Bristol is now officially an "unwed mother" as well as a "high-school dropout?" The Goppies have been denying this for months.

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It's Official

Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, is now officially an unwed mother. Levi Johnston confirmed to ABC News in an ambush video that he and Bristol have split -- "...me not being mature enough, or somethin'."

Maybe it's time for Gov. Palin to rethink Alaska's abstinence-only sex-education program? It "is not realistic at all" according to unwed teenage mother Bristol, speaking from experience.

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John McCain's New Position on AIG

Remember back in September when the Bush administration announced that the Fed was giving $85 billion to AIG in return for an 80% stake in the company in order to prevent a collapse of the worldwide financial system? We talked about that in that GOP Candidates thread.

Anyway, Sen. John McCain immediately announced that he was against such a bailout. After all, as everyone knew, the fundamentals of our economy were strong, right? I mean, everybody did know that, right? Not just John McCain and Sarah Palin, right?

The very next day, around 11 a.m. to be exact, Sen. McCain reversed course completely and announced that he had changed his mind on the AIG bailout after it had been explained to him what would happen had AIG been allowed to fail.

So McCain was against the bailout of AIG before he was for it. Now he's against it again.

This is what McCain twittered today: "Guess what? No bailout for AIG = no bonuses for greedy execs."

Mitch McConnell was another one ranting and raving on his soap box today saying that he hopes President Obama will do something to prevent such egregious abuse of the taxpayers' money in the future.

What? Am I hearing this right? All these Republicans ranting and raving about the AIG bailout???

It was in September 2008, during the reign of King Dubya the Incoherent, that the Federal Reserve advanced $85 billion to AIG with absolutely no input from Congress. In return, they we received 80% of the stock in AIG but the Fed attached no strings whatsoever and even went so far as to say that they were not interested in any seats on the board and would have no input into how the company managed its business. They could have attached provisions to that first $85 billion saying no multi-million dollar "retention" bonuses for greedy execs who nearly brought the world's financial system to a screetching halt, but they didn't. That wouldn't have been the Republican way of doing things. Regulation = bad, no regulation = good. Remember?

Then later Congress passed a $700+ billion bailout allegedly to purchase toxic mortgages from the banks to free up assets and allow them to make new loans. Funny thing about the first $350 billion of that bailout money. The Bush administration's treasury department, which originally demanded no oversight or review of their actions whatsoever, unilaterally changed the way the money would be used. Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said the Treasury had decided that buying bad mortgage paper was not the best use of the money. Simply giving the money to the banks was a much better way to go. With absolutely no strings, of course! Because that's the Republican way.

So what did the banks do with that $350 billion? Some of them bought other smaller banks. Some of them simply saved the money for a rainy day. Some of them paid new bonuses to their execs or treated them to massages at Southern California spas. Very little of that money ended up being used to make new loans to consumers. Because the Republicans don't like telling companies what to do. The banks, thinking nothing had changed and that it was still a totally unregulated environment, did exactly as they pleased. In fact, many of the largest banks began raising fees and interest rates on bank credit cards as a way of thanking the American public for bailing them out.

So now, just as we are getting ready to advance another $30 billion to AIG (I think that's their fourth bailout), we learn that AIG is awarding $165 million in "retention" bonuses to the execs running their financial services division in London. These are the same clowns who insured more than $3 trillion in credit default swaps and other esoteric derivatives that they invented out of thin air to enable encourage the banks to make bad loans. After all, why worry about whether the loans will go bad or not if you can bundle them and AIG will write insurance to cover your losses, if any.

AIG says they have no choice. The bonuses were written into employee contracts a year ago. If the government had not extended the first $85 billion to AIG (which I think was absolutely necessary), AIG would have been forced into bankruptcy and the financial services division's employees, greedy execs and all, would be out of jobs.

We finally learned what happened to most of that original $85 billion just a couple of days ago. Approximately $12 billion went to SocGen (Societe Generale), the huge French bank, another $12 billion went to Deutsche Bank (the gigantic German bank), still another $12+ billion went to Goldman Sachs, and on and on. I know that Bank of America received several billion, as did Merrill Lynch. Don't forget that Merrill Lynch handed out $3 billion in bonuses to their execs just days before they were taken over by BofA on January 1st. That's because AIG owed those banks that much to make good on losses that AIG had insured. Rememvber, AIG insured more than $3 trillion face value of CRAP! The same AIG that just reported a $62 billion fourth quarter loss. The same AIG whose entire net worth was much less than 10% of the face value of the insurance they issued. I'm talking about just the exotic derivatives, not regular life insurance products. AIG is also on the hook for an unbelievable amount of regular life insurance products. They are, by far, the world's largest insurance company.

AIG was the largest insurance company in the world. Then they decided to get really greedy. Why not invent new ways to insure stuff? Let's think of some new products that don't even exist right now, okay? Hey, why not insure all those crappy sub-prime mortgages so that the banks can move them and make new crappy sub-prime mortages. And everybody will pay us premiums on all of this stuff every time a crappy mortgage bundle changes hands. And, we will never lose money, because, as everyone knows, the real estate market always goes up, never down.

So now AIG is paying $165 million in "retention" bonuses to retain the same idiots who invented the credit default swaps that ruined the company. Because they don't want to lose such valuable employees. What?

The only thing more ridiculous than that is all the righteous indignation from the Goppies right now. What a bunch of hypocrites! It was the failure of the incompetent Bush administration that got us into this mess in the first place. And that monumental incompetence continuted all the way up until noon, Jan. 20, 2009.