Meteorite Hits Russia!

Who needs fiction these days? We have a Pope resigning, a nuclear test by North Korea, a Cruise Ship adrift at sea with people trapped on board for days, and now a meteorite has crashed into Russia, blowing out windows for miles and injuring 400 people or more. Did I mention that there is amazing video of the whole thing, including the delayed sonic booms or earthquakes (or both)?

And it's not the only Meteor expected near the earth today - no, really. Another large one is expected to come so close to earth this afternoon that it will move between our planet and the communications satellites that bring us our TV signals. Scared yet?

As Yoda said, "You Will Be."

Eerie Predictions in this ABC Video from yesterday. They even mention the Tunguska Event in 1908 during which an alleged meteorite crashed into northern Russia with the force of several atomic bombs, leveling trees for hundreds of miles. *shiver*


NASA will be following the giant asteroid today in a Livecast:

...The half-hour broadcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.
At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 2:25 p.m. EST (11:25 a.m. PST/ 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface.
The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

and

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about noon EST (9 a.m. PST) and continuing through the afternoon at the following website:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

A Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

Russian Livejournal with lots of pictures and videos

BBC News

A meteor crashing in the Urals of central Russia has reportedly injured at least 400 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings.

Most of those hurt suffered minor cuts and bruises but some received head injuries, Russian media report.

A fireball was seen streaking through the sky above the city of Yekaterinburg, followed by loud bangs.

The meteor is believed to have landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in the neighbouring Chelyabinsk region.

Much of the impact was felt in the city of Chelyabinsk, some 200km (125 miles) south of Yekaterinburg.

"It suddenly became as bright as if it was day”
~ Viktor Prokofiev, Yekaterinburg resident

"We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud thundering sound," Chelyabinsk resident Sergey Hametov told AP news agency by phone.

Officials say a large meteor partially burned up in the lower atmosphere, resulting in fragments falling earthwards.

This one will make you jump ~ be forewarned! Just brace yourself

2012 - When Truth Was Stranger Than Everything

Dangling on the edge of the Fiscal Cliff like a cartoon character is a heck of a way to spend New Year's Eve. I mean, wasn't the Apocalypse last week enough?

We all need more laughs here at the end of 2012, so here you go . . .

2012 Memories ~ Good, Bad, and Amazing

source:tumblr


Wow, so much happened in 2012 that one video can't hold all of it. In fact, one post can't hold it all, so expect a few more.

The Petraeus Plot Thickens

source: paulkatcher.tumblr

Complete Overview of Story from Mother Jones

BBC News: The Cult of the American General

Jill Kelley's 911 Call requesting help for the threatening emails,
via Piers Morgan CNN Transcript

MORGAN: Right. The woman at the center of all this, this woman, Jill Kelley -- let's turn to you, Suzanne, on this. I want to play a tape. It's a 911 tape of Jill Kelley calling the Tampa police near her home to complain about people who were around the house, citing her status as apparently an honorary consul. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL KELLEY, FLORIDA SOCIAL LIAISON: You know, I don't know if by any chance -- because I'm an honorary consul general so I have inviolability so I shouldn't -- they should not be able to cross my property. I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well, but now, because that's against the law to cross my property because this is not, like, you know, it's inviolable.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: All right. No problem. I will let the officers know.

KELLEY: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Now, Suzanne, she seems to be laboring under some massive misapprehensions here. She's not entitled to any diplomatic immunity like this, right?

SUZANNE KELLY, CNN INTELLIGENCE CORRESPONDENT: No, she's not. I mean as an honorary, she's really not entitled to any of that. And -- but you know, I think we're such like -- we're looking for information into who she is and what we know about her and all of this, so this is really the first time we've heard from her in her voice and you can read into it what you want to. But no, she's not entitled to any of that.

MORGAN: I mean I'm getting the feeling watching her over the last two days, we've had the yellow dress, the pink dress, she's dressed to the nines, fully made up, looking very -- and I hate to say this, but looking like she's rather enjoying all the attention that she's receiving. We now believe, you know, if you believe what the people close to General Allen were saying, that she had contacts with all sorts of high ranking military officials.

Jonathan Turley: Jill Kelley Claims “Honorary” Diplomatic Status

Last night, while discussing the Petraeus scandal on CNN, the network played a 911 call from one of the four major figures in the scandal: Jill Kelley. The call is perfectly bizarre in which Kelley, a Florida socialite, claims “honorary diplomatic” status to get the police to stop people from walking across her lawn. The dispatcher takes listens patiently and appears to resist the temptation to tell her that he will be sending over some honorary police to protect their honorary diplomatic residence.
. . . Kelley has been described as invoking her diplomatic status previously. She was given the unpaid titled of “honorary ambassador” to CENTCOM, the Department of Defense Central Command. This gives her about the same diplomatic status as the hostess at an International House of Pancakes.

BobWoodward jokes at IFCJ dinner: "my next book will be called 50 Shades of Petraeus"
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) November 14, 2012

From Steve Portnoy at ABC News:

The Korean Embassy confirms Jill Kelley is actually an "honorary consul" of his country, as of August of this year.
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) November 13, 2012

The South Korean official who confirmed Kelley's honorary status was quite surprised that she requested "diplomatic protection" from police.
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) November 13, 2012

Here's a pic of her Mercedes // RT @londonoe: Jill Kelley's Mercedes plates: "Honorary CONSUL" bit.ly/W6glP1
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) November 13, 2012

Washington Post:

Senior law enforcement officials said that a late-night seizure on Monday of boxes of material from the North Carolina home of Paula Broadwell, a Petraeus biographer whose affair with him led to his resignation last week, marks a renewed focus by investigators on sensitive material found in her possession.

“The issue of national security is still on the table,” one U.S. law enforcement official said. Both Petraeus and Broadwell have denied to investigators that he was the source of any classified information, officials said.

. . . “My immediate gut is like this is the National Enquirer,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said in an interview on CNN. “I mean, every day there is something new.”

Feinstein added that she has “many questions about the nature of the FBI investigation, how it was instituted, and we’ll be asking those.”

. . . The Allen investigation focuses on his extensive correspondence with Jill Kelley, a Tampa resident who had carved out a role as an ad-hoc social ambassador to military personnel at MacDill Air Force Base.
Kelley, 37, a close friend of Petraeus and Allen, inadvertently triggered the investigation that led to Petraeus's resignation after Allen forwarded her an anonymous e-mails he had received from someone using the handle “kelleypatrol.” The messages warned Allen to stay away from Kelley, calling her a “seductress” and suggesting that Petraeus was having an intimate relationship with her, according to a source close to Kelley.

Kelley subsequently received additional e-mails in a similar vein, sent to the account she shared with her husband. The source close to Kelley said they were sent under four anonymous names, some apparently from Internet cafes. Kelley shared the initial e-mails forwarded from Allen with a friend who is an FBI agent, and eventually turned over all the missives to the bureau, which determined that Broadwell had sent them. The subsequent FBI inquiry exposed the Broadwell-Petraeus affair.
Close associates of Allen, who is married, said the general denied that he had an affair with Kelley or that he had committed any wrongdoing in his communications with her. One said that investigators may have misconstrued platonic references to her as a “sweetheart.”
Nevertheless, the bureau turned over a mountain of documents to Pentagon officials — an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 pages, based largely on communication between Allen and Kelley — prompting Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to order an inspector general inquiry.

Senator Feinstein: Petraeus Affair Like "Peeling an Onion"

My gut reaction to the affair between General Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, his fangirlish biographer, was to ignore it and move along because it was a personal matter, but over the course of today and tonight it is morphing and changing by the hour into a curiouser and curiouser tale including more and more people. It's starting to sound and feel like a cross between Fatal Attraction and All the President's Men. Or maybe an episode of NCIS.

In fact, this post is going to be a monster just to catch up with the news.



New York Daily News: All In with Broadwell

Petraeus’ romance with Broadwell began two months after he became the nation’s top spy in September 2011, though they met years earlier, Boylan said. The steamy romance ended four months ago, said Boylan, who served as Petraeus’ spokesman in Iraq and spoke with his old boss over the weekend.
Boylan said Petraeus, 60, is “devastated” that he hurt his wife and lost “one of the best jobs he ever had” by falling for Broadwell, a married Army Reserve officer with two young sons.

~~~~~~~~


From Business Insider: Wife is Furious

As his biographer, Broadwell didn't gloss over what is by all accounts a huge factor in Petraeus' success: his wife, Holly. All In: The Education Of General David Petraeus chronicles how the couple met and fell in love.
Holly's father was the superintendent of West Point, where Petraeus went to school, and a respected military academic. Petraeus found the status of Holly's family "intoxicating," because it was in stark contrast to his own parents, a humble librarian and sea captain, Broadwell wrote.
Holly has also reportedly moved 23 times since she married Petraeus. Today, she's a director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
. . . So far, Holly has been silent on her husband's affair.
An ex-CIA spokesperson said that his wife is so angry over the affair that "furious would be an understatement."

~~~~~~~~
Via Washington Post: Petraeus Regrets

In a farewell letter last week to CIA staff members, Petraeus ­described his affair with Broadwell as behavior that is “unacceptable both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.” The statement and others from his allies in the days that followed created an impression that he had stepped down of his own volition, and out of a sense of moral obligation.
But some of his closest advisers who served with him during his last command in Iraq said Monday that Petraeus planned to stay in the job even after he acknowledged the affair to the FBI, hoping the episode would never become public. He resigned last week after being told to do so by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. on the day President Obama was reelected.

~~~~~~~~

NY Daily News: Secret Correspondent

As Washington was roiled by the scandal, new details about the affair and its aftermath emerged:
-- Petraeus and mistress Paula Broadwell used an email trick favored by terrorists and drug dealers to hide their messages to each other, storing them as drafts in an account they could both access, instead of sending traceable messages to each others’ inboxes.
-- After Broadwell was revealed to be the mystery correspondent who was sending menacing emails to comely Petraeus pal Jill Kelley, he told her to end the harassment campaign, The Washington Post reported.
-- Kelley, a social liaison for an Air Force base in Tampa, was in near-daily contact with Petraeus when he was overseeing the war in Afghanistan, though his ex-staffers say the frequent emails and instant messages were not romantic.

(From L to R) Natalie Khawam, Gen. David Petraeus, Dr. Scott Kelley, his wife Jill Kelley and Holly Petraeus, the wife of Gen. David Petraeus, watching the Gasparilla parade from the comfort of tent on the Kelleys front lawn on Jan. 30. 2010, in Tampa, Fla.

~~~~~~~~
Daily Beast Exclusive ~ Cat Fight: Paula Broadwell's Emails

The messages were . . . what the source terms “kind of cat-fight stuff.”
“More like, ‘Who do you think you are? … You parade around the base … You need to take it down a notch,’” according to the source, who was until recently at the highest levels of the intelligence community and prefers not to be identified by name.
Kelley herself seemed mystified as to what was behind the emails, much less who sent them.  “I don’t know who this person is and I don’t want to keep getting them,” she told the FBI, as recounted by the source.
When the FBI friend showed the emails to the cyber squad in the Tampa field office, her fellow agents noted that the absence of any overt threats.
. . . The squad was not even sure the case was worth pursuing, the source says.
. . . Some of the steamier messages made clear that it was an affair. The besotted Broadwell may have viewed the curvaceous Kelley as a threat. Broadwell may be able to run a six-minute mile with Petraeus, but Kelley looks like a woman who lets the guys do all the running—and in her direction.

~~~~~~~~
Wall Street Journal: FBI Agent Investigated

The FBI agent who started the case was a friend of Jill Kelley, the Tampa woman who received harassing, anonymous emails that led to the probe, according to officials. Ms. Kelley, a volunteer who organizes social events for military personnel in the Tampa area, complained in May about the emails to a friend who is an FBI agent. That agent referred it to a cyber crimes unit, which opened an investigation.

However, supervisors soon became concerned that the initial agent might have grown obsessed with the matter, and prohibited him from any role in the investigation, according to the officials.
One official said the agent in question sent shirtless photos to Ms. Kelley well before the email investigation began, and FBI officials only became aware of them some time later. Eventually, supervisors told the agent he was to have nothing to do with the case, though he never had a formal role in the investigation, the official said.

The agent, after being barred from the case, contacted a member of Congress, Washington Republican David Reichert, because he was concerned senior FBI officials were going to sweep the matter under the rug, the officials said. That information was relayed to top congressional officials, who notified FBI headquarters in Washington.

~~~~~~~~
Eric Cantor Involvement

On Saturday, Oct. 27, Cantor spoke by phone to an FBI employee who told him about an investigation, including the details about Petraeus’ affair, and said he was concerned that classified information had been compromised.
Cantor then asked his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, to inform FBI Director Robert Mueller. Because the federal government was closed Monday and Tuesday of that week because to Hurricane Sandy, Stombres did not connect with Mueller’s chief of staff until Wednesday, Oct. 31. Mueller took the information, but gave no indication whether there was an investigation, according to the aide.
The senior aide also said Cantor did not inform anyone else.
Indeed, House Speaker John Boehner did not find out about Cantor’s role in this until the story (of Cantor’s contact with the FBI) broke two days ago. Cantor believed the FBI agent was credible enough to pass on the information to Mueller, but, given that it was a single source whom he had never met, he did not believe there was a need to pass the information on to his fellow House leaders.

~~~~~~~~


New York Mag ~ Security Leak?

. . . a video has surfaced that adds fuel to the speculation about whether Petraeus shared classified information with Broadwell. While speaking on October 26 at the University of Denver, Broadwell said in response to a question about the 9/11 attack in Benghazi, “Now I don’t know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually — had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that’s still being vetted.” That sounds to some like Broadwell was referring to an unreported detail about the attack — though it's also possible that she just misunderstood something she heard on Fox News.
. . . The Washington Post reports, "Officers close to Petraeus grew concerned about her posts on Facebook, which they believed sometimes divulged sensitive operational details." According to the New York Times, when Broadwell was first interviewed by the FBI on October 21 she voluntarily turned over her computer. Agents found several classified documents during the search, but both Broadwell and Petraeus denied that he'd given her the files.

~~~~~~~~
NBC: Senator Dianne Feinstein on Andrea Mitchell Video

Via CNN

An angry Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein warned again Monday she would investigate why the FBI did not notify oversight committees about its probe into CIA Director David Petraeus after the bureau determined he was having a secret and risky extramarital affair.
"...A decision was made somewhere not to brief us, which is atypical," the California Democrat told NBC's Andrea Mitchell about how the top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees are usually briefed on key developments.
"This is certainly an operationally sensitive matter. But we weren't briefed. I don't know who made that decision."
Section 501 of the National Security Act of 1947 spells out the requirements for the executive branch to inform the congressional intelligence committees of key intelligence related activities.
"The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed on the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this title," the statute reads.
Feinstein described the unfolding scandal, which she learned first about only on Friday when Petraeus announced publicly his resignation, "like peeling an onion. Every day another peel comes off and you see a whole new dimension to this."

~~~~~~~~
Charlotte Observer: Broadwell's NC Home Searched by FBI

About eight to 10 agents brought cardboard boxes used for carrying papers and were on both floors of the home for the search, which began shortly before 9 p.m. About two dozen members of the local and national media gathered. It wasn’t immediately clear what the agents were focused on. The search ended at 1:09 a.m. Tuesday.

The agents appeared to start their search in the kitchen at the rear of the house, turning on lights as they moved into different rooms. Two hours into the search, lights appeared to be turned on in most rooms. After midnight, an agent walked out of the kitchen and retrieved boxes from a Chevy Malibu parked outside. She didn’t comment.

Just after 1 a.m., about eight FBI agents came out of the house with a half-dozen file boxes, a Dell PC, an iMac, a briefcase and a printer. The agents left at 1:09 a.m. The agents declined to comment on what they found.

~~~~~~~~
Washington Post: Probe of Petraeus Scandal Snares Commander John Allen, Head of Nato

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT — The FBI probe into the sex scandal that led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus has expanded to ensnare Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced early Tuesday.

According to a senior U.S. defense official, the FBI has uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of “potentially inappropriate” e-mails between Allen and Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old Tampa woman whose close friendship with Petraeus ultimately led to his downfall. Allen, a Marine, succeeded Petraeus as the top allied commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.

. . . Petraeus’s fall from grace shocked the CIA but especially stunned his former colleagues in the Army, where he was considered one of the most brilliant and influential commanders of his generation. Allen, a Marine, was likewise seen as an intellectual, upstanding role model who first made his mark as a general in Iraq and later earned the professional and personal confidence of Obama.

Gawker: Jill Kelley Hires Big Attorney

Among the many odd, swirling facts surrounding the unfolding David Petraeus scandal: Jill Kelley, the longtime friend of the former CIA director who reportedly went to the FBI complaining of harassing emails from Petraeus' mistress Paula Broadwell, has reacted to the mess by bringing out the scandal equivalent of heavy artillery. She's hired DC superlawyer Abbe Lowell and crisis PR specialist Judy Smith—despite the fact that the FBI has concluded its investigation and there are no criminal allegations on the table.
. . . Even if Kelley simply found it prudent to keep a lawyer handy—why Lowell? It's like hiring David Boies because your friend got a speeding ticket. Lowell is the quintessential Washington power broker. He represented Clinton before the Senate during his impeachment trial. He specializes in disgraced political figures, including John Edwards. He's the kind of guy you hire when you're seriously f***ed.
Likewise, Judy Smith is one of those unique DC creatures one hires to make serious problems go away. Her clients have included Monica Lewinsky, Larry Craig, Wesley Snipes, Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, and the family of Chandra Levy.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Grover Norquist is Relevant, Why? And Romney is a Poopyhead

via gifsfln
Grover Norquist was on CBS this morning. In case you don't know who is - and there's not really any reason why you would - he's the guy who strikes fear into the right-wing members of Congress because he makes them sign a pledge to never raise taxes. In the past, if members didn't sign the Norquist Pledge, they might face the ire of angry Tea Party members back home who apparently are as controlled by Grover as the politicians themselves.

It's sick, really. This guy holds no elected office, and is basically a glorified lobbyist. Yet our tax and spend policies have been molded by his tax pledge.

CBS had him on this morning to ask him about whether Boehner should deal with Obama over taxes and the Fiscal Cliff, blah blah, and then Norah O'Donnell asked him about the election, and that brought out Grover's arrested development side - you can't make this up.

Norah O'Donnell: Why didn't people vote Obama out of office?

Norquist: You saw those ads in Ohio saying Romney gave people cancer, for months and months unanswered. You can trash an individual and get them to vote against him. Again - we had an election, there are 30 Republican governors, okay? And they're running campaigns against raising taxes, and in favor of frankly phasing out the income tax in North Carolina, in Kansas, and Oklahoma. Take a look at the states.

O'Donnell: Those are state issues. I mean, Speaker Boehner said clearly--

Norquist: Yeah, the issues are clear.

O'Donnell: Boehner - 'We're willing to accept new revenue under the right conditions.' Would you accept new revenue, and would members who have signed your no-tax pledge be allowed to accept new revenue?

Norquist: Well, of course, the pledge is to the American People, not to me. So they don't need my permission to vote a certain way. They made a commitment to the people in their states. . . .

. . .

Charlie Rose: Seems like to me you're not changing your attitude one bit.

Norquist: Well, we just had an election. And the House of Representatives was elected committed to keeping taxes low. The President was elected on the basis that he was not Romney and that Romney was a poopy-head and you should vote against Romney. And he won by two points, but he didn’t make the case for higher taxes and higher spending. He kind of sounded like the opposite.

O'Donnell: Well, I'm not sure that's what the President called Mitt Romney, Grover.

The Last Presidential Debate - WOW

source: gifwich tumblr

What a great night for President Obama! He had zingers ready and Mitt didn't get away with most of his silly flip-flops and lies.

The theme of the night was "Mitt is Old-Fashioned" and Obama pointed this out at every opportunity:

Full Transcript of the Debate on ABC News

OBAMA: Gov. Romney, I'm glad that you recognize that al Qaeda is a threat because a few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia.

The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years.

. . . Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s.

The most famous lines of the night harkened back into history, evoking WWI or the Civil War to the days of warefare with "horses and bayonets" came during a discussion of military spending. Hilarious, and the best comeback line of all time! Twitter and Tumblr went nuts for this. At my house, we laughed and cheered.



source: weneedmorehorsesandbayonets tumblr

ROMNEY: Our Navy is old -- excuse me, our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now at under 285. We're headed down to the low 200s if we go through a sequestration. That's unacceptable to me.

I want to make sure that we have the ships that are required by our Navy. Our Air Force is older and smaller than at any time since it was founded in 1947.

We've changed for the first time since FDR -- since FDR we had the -- we've always had the strategy of saying we could fight in two conflicts at once. Now we're changing to one conflict. Look, this, in my view, is the highest responsibility of the President of the United States, which is to maintain the safety of the American people.

And I will not cut our military budget by a trillion dollars, which is a combination of the budget cuts the president has, as well as the sequestration cuts. That, in my view, is making -- is making our future less certain and less secure.



source: havelogicwilltravel

OBAMA: Bob, I just need to comment on this.

. . . I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works.

You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.



via gifwich
And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we're counting slips. It's what are our capabilities. And so when I sit down with the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that also makes sure that our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home.

And that is not reflected in the kind of budget that you're putting forward because it just doesn't work.

 source: plures on tumblr

Obama also reminded Mitt of his "Romneyshambles World Tour" last summer, in which Mitt schmoozed and raised money in Israel from the likes of Sheldon Adelson. And to me, this quote is really all you need to know of the debate and the differences between Mitt and President Obama:

ROMNEY: ...Mr. President, the reason I call it an apology tour is because you went to the Middle East and you flew to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to Turkey and Iraq. And by the way, you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region, but you went to the other nations.

And by the way, they noticed that you skipped Israel. And then in those nations, and on Arabic TV, you said that America had been dismissive and derisive. You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations.

Mr. President, America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators.

OBAMA: Bob, let me -- let me respond.

If we're going to talk about trips that we've taken -- when I was a candidate for office, first trip I took was to visit our troops. And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn't take donors. I didn't attend fundraisers. I went to Yad Beshef (ph), the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable.

And then I went down to the border towns of Storok (ph), which had experienced missiles raining dowm from Hamas. And I saw families there who showed me there where missiles had come down near their children's bedrooms. And I was reminded of what that would mean if those were my kids. Which is why as president, we funded an Iron Dome program to stop those missiles.

So that's how I've used my travels, when I travel to Israel and when I travel to the region. And the -- the central question at this point is going to be: Who is going to be credible to all parties involved? And they can look at my track record, whether it's Iran sanctions, whether it's dealing with counterterrorism, whether it's supporting democracy, whether it's supporting women's rights, whether it's supporting religious minorities.

And they can say that the President of the United States and the United States of America has stood on the right side of history. And that kind of credibility is precisely why we've been able to show leadership on a wide range of issues facing the world right now.

It was quite elegant the way Obama went through a check-list of the Romnesiac's previous positions. The biggest fib of the night was Mitt trying to walk back an Op-Ed that he wrote for the New York Times titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." He tried to make it seem as if people misunderstood his position, forgetting that he put it in writing, and everyone knows there was no private money willing to bail-out the industry, so the government was their last hope. And it worked! And now he wants to take credit for what Obama did because people like himself, connected to Michigan and children of the auto-industry moguls did nothing to help a dying industry. Epic. Freakin'. Fail.

I'm a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like American cars. And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry. My plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks. It was President Bush that wrote the first checks. I disagree with that. I said they need -- these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy. And in that process, they can get government help and government guarantees, but they need to go through bankruptcy to get rid of excess cost and the debt burden that they'd -- they'd built up.

And fortunately...

(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Governor Romney, that's not what you said...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Governor Romney, you did not...
ROMNEY: You can take a look at the op-ed...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: You did not say that you would provide government help.

ROMNEY: I said that we would provide guarantees, and -- and that was what was able to allow these companies to go through bankruptcy, to come out of bankruptcy. Under no circumstances would I do anything other than to help this industry get on its feet. And the idea that has been suggested that I would liquidate the industry, of course not. Of course not.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Let's check the record.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: That's the height of silliness...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Let -- let -- let's...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: I have never said I would liquidate...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAM: ...at the record.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: ...I would liquidate the industry.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Governor, the people in Detroit don't forget.

. . . ROMNEY: ...if -- if you're...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: ...you've had the floor for a while.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: ...get someone else's.

OBAMA: The -- look, I think anybody out there can check the record. Governor Romney, you keep on trying to, you know airbrush history here. You were very clear that you would not provide, government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy. You said that they could get it in the private marketplace. That wasn't true. They would have gone through a...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: You're wrong...

By the end of the debate, Obama had eviscerated Mitt, who was stammering incoherently about things he loves, as he does when he is thrown for a loop. Incredible.

Look, I love to -- I love teachers, and I'm happy to have states and communities that want to hire teachers do that. By the way, I don't like to have the federal government start pushing its weight deeper and deeper into our schools. Let the states and localities do that. I was a governor. The federal government didn't hire our teachers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor?

ROMNEY: But I love teachers. But I want to get our private sector growing and I know how to do it.

SCHIEFFER: I think we all love teachers.

(LAUGHTER)

Flying Man Felix Baumgartner

This is truly amazing! Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier after jumping out of a balloon at the edge of the atmosphere. I don't see how he survived. It's really cool that he jumped over Roswell, New Mexico - home of the infamous "Roswell UFO Crash" and the "Extraterrestrial Highway."

My son thinks this will make a great Red Bull commercial, too, LOL.




Huffington Post Story:

ROSWELL, N.M. -- Officials say that Felix Baumgartner has become the first skydiver to break the speed of sound.
At a news conference, Brian Utley of the International Federation of Sports Aviation said Baumgartner reached a maximum speed of 833.9 mph during his jump Sunday over the New Mexico desert.
That amounts to Mach 1.24, which is faster than the speed of sound. No one has ever reached that speed wearing only a high-tech suit.
Baumgartner says that traveling faster than sound is "hard to describe because you don't feel it." With no reference points, "you don't know how fast you travel."

Bombshell ~ The Romney Tapes on Mother Jones

That Mitt Romney is going down in flames is a given now thanks to some bombshell videos that will hasten Mitt's journey to Loserville. Or should I say "Potterville."

The videos given to Mother Jones and released yesterday show Romney at a fundraiser talking about Obama and the voters in the worst possible way imaginable. He condescendingly insults not only the President, but 47% of the country. Vile. Corrupt. Self-Serving. I can think of so many descriptions.

I started out a few months ago rather liking Mitt and almost sorry that he was the butt of every joke. As time went on I found him entertaining because he was such a train-wreck of a candidate. But after last night, I loathe him in a way that makes my skin crawl. It's obvious why he and Lyin' Ayn Ryan are like father and son - no feelings for society, out for themselves, lacking empathy for anyone in trouble, and not good for our country.

There are more videos to come, so tomorrow should be interesting!!!

Mother Jones Has the Scoop

Mother Jones has obtained video of Romney at this intimate fundraiser—where he candidly discussed his campaign strategy and foreign policy ideas in stark terms he does not use in public—and has confirmed its authenticity. To protect the confidential source who provided the video, we have blurred some of the image, and we will not identify the date or location of the event, which occurred after Romney had clinched the Republican presidential nomination.
[UPDATE: After a restriction was lifted, Mother Jones reported that this fundraiser was held at the Boca Raton home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder on May 17.]

...There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

...There is a perception, 'Oh, we were born with a silver spoon, he never had to earn anything and so forth.' Frankly, I was born with a silver spoon, which is the greatest gift you can have: which is to get born in America.

..."Had he (my father) been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this."

...I have a very good team of extraordinarily experienced, highly successful consultants, a couple of people in particular who have done races around the world. I didn't realize it. These guys in the US—the Karl Rove equivalents—they do races all over the world: in Armenia, in Africa, in Israel. I mean, they work for Bibi Netanyahu in his race. So they do these races and they see which ads work, and which processes work best, and we have ideas about what we do over the course of the campaign. I'd tell them to you, but I'd have to shoot you.

...my own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see—without actually doing anything—we'll actually get a boost in the economy. If the president gets reelected, I don't know what will happen. I can—I can never predict what the markets will do. Sometimes it does the exact opposite of what I would have expected. But my own view is that if we get a "Taxageddon," as they call it, January 1st, with this president, and with a Congress that can't work together, it's—it really is frightening.

Obama Campaign Response

“It’s shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as ‘victims,’ entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives,” Jim Messina, Obama for America campaign manager, said in a statement. “It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.”

Mitt Romney wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy. As the governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work.
~ Statement from Romney Spokesperson Gail Gitcho


Mitt's Lame Apology

"Well, um, It's not elegantly stated let me put it that way I'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question and I'm sure I can state it more clearly in a more effective way than I did in a setting like that and so I'm sure ill point that out as time goes on."

Full Transcript Here

Sublime Truth from Rick Santorum: GOP is Party of Stupid

Pic from Whovian on Democratic Underground
In a sublime moment of probably unintentional clarity and funniness, Rick Santorum looked out over the Tea Party crowd at the Values Voter Summit and earnestly called them "stupid" and "uneducated." But that's okay - they don't need those elite brainiacs in their party telling them what to do. According to Santorum that's the job of the church.

Somehow this is both an epic fail and an epic win. Truth is good - hearing a conservative speak the truth, priceless.

We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country. We will never have the elite smart people on our side, because they believe they should have the power to tell you what to do. So our colleges and universities, they’re not going to be on our side.

The conservative movement will always be – and that’s why we founded Patriot Voices – the basic premise of America and American values will always be sustained through two institutions, the church and the family. (Applause.)

And so economic conservatism - libertarian types can say, oh, well, we don’t want to talk about the social issues. Without the church and the family, there is no conservative movement. There is no basic values in America in force, and there is no future for our country. (Applause.)

So it is our job in this election, it is our job, to go out and make a difference. It is our job to go out and talk to fellow believers. And I don’t mean Christians. I mean fellow believers in the American creed, fellow believers in those basic principles that built our country.

Full Transcript of Santorum's Speech on Politico

Bizarre Anti-Islam Film Made by Coptic Christian Check-Kiter

I'm speechless. This is such a strange story, and gets stranger by the minute . . .

This morning the Middle East continues to be a hotbed of violence and our our embassies are under threat in Yemen and elsewhere.

Chanting "death to America," hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen's capital and burned the American flag on Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East.
. . . The spreading violence comes as outrage grows over a movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that mocked Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The amateurish video was produced in the U.S. and excerpted on YouTube.
U.S. officials also were investigating whether the rampage in Libya was actually planned to coincide with the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

It was widely reported yesterday that the person who made the controversial film was an Israeli Jew named "Sam Bacile," but that turns out to have been an alias. He is neither Israeli nor a Jew, but an Egyptian Coptic-Christian connected to extremist protest groups in California.

I'm exhausted just writing that. Imagine if I was a real journalist instead of a mere blogger. This story gets more complicated every time I visit the internet.

Anyway, the guy's real moniker is "Nakoula Basseley Nakoula," and he has several other aliases, which we know because he was convicted of a check-fraud scam.

From Atlanticwire: What We've Learned

Nakoula and Bacile are probably the same person. A cell phone number the AP used to speak to someone claiming to be Bacile traced back to the same location they met Nakoula. According to court papers, Nakoula has a number of aliases, including, "Nicola Bacily, Erwin Salameh and others." Jimmy Israel thinks they're the same person, too. He says when he asked Bacile for a legal name for registration with the Screen Actors Guild, Bacile said the name Bacile gave him was "Abnob Nakoula Basseley." He was also around 55, the same age the AP gives Nakoula.

If they are the same person, Nakoula's online activity likely violates a previous court order. The AP discovered Nakoula is currently not allowed to go on the internet or use a computer without approval from a parole officer:

Nakoula, who talked guardedly about his role, pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

Hollywood Reporter Says:

Nakoula, who talked guardedly about his role, pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.
The Youtube account, "Sam Bacile," which was used to publish excerpts of the provocative movie in July, was posting comments online as recently as Tuesday.
The person who identified himself as Bacile and described himself as the film's writer and director told the AP on Tuesday that he has gone into hiding. But doubts rose about the man's identity amid a flurry of false claims about his background and role in the purported film.

Huff Post Story:

Nakoula told the AP that he was a Coptic Christian and said the film's director supported the concerns of Christian Copts about their treatment by Muslims.
. . . Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., who burned Qurans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, said he spoke with the movie's director on the phone Wednesday and prayed for him. He said he has not met the filmmaker in person, but the man contacted him a few weeks ago about promoting the movie.
"I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name," Jones said. "I just talked to him on the phone. He is definitely in hiding and does not reveal his identity. He was quite honestly fairly shook up concerning the events and what is happening. A lot of people are not supporting him."

Duh - I wonder why not? He is only connected to every Anti-Islamic cuckoo in the U.S. and must be a racist to create such a horrible piece of useless crap. If a Quran-burning preacher knows you (or any kind of book-burner for that matter), chances are you might cause some trouble in the world.

From Gawker: Actress Says Original Film Wasn't About Islam

Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress from Bakersfield, Calif., has a small role in the Muhammed movie as a woman whose young daughter is given to Muhammed to marry. But in a phone interview this afternoon, Garcia told us she had no idea she was participating in an offensive spoof on the life of Muhammed when she answered a casting call through an agency last summer and got the part.

The script she was given was titled simply Desert Warriors.

"It was going to be a film based on how things were 2,000 years ago," Garcia said. "It wasn't based on anything to do with religion, it was just on how things were run in Egypt. There wasn't anything about Muhammed or Muslims or anything."

. . .According to Garica, her three days on set last July were unremarkable. The film's mysterious pseudonymous writer and director, "Sam Bacile," has claimed to be an Israeli real estate mogul. But Garcia said Bacile told her he was Egyptian on set. Bacile had white hair and spoke Arabic to a number of "dark-skinned" men who hung around the set, she said. (A Bacile associate also told The Atlantic he wasn't Israeli or Jewish.)
"He was just really mellow. He was just sitting there and he wanted certain points to be made."
Once, Garcia said, Bacile wanted a girl that "Master George" (aka Muhammed) was to sleep with to look seven years old, instead of 10, to heighten the outrage. But his Assistant Directors protested, saying that was too young.

Stupid Trailer:

Mitt's Epic Fail Over Foreign Policy

A picture really is worth a thousand words. This pic from AP photographer Charles Dharapak probably deserves a Pulitzer Prize for capturing the self-satisfied smirk of a candidate who just made a complete fool of himself but has so little self-awareness that he thinks he has won a huge victory. It's Mitt Romney believing he is Ronald Reagan when really he is Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

PHOTO: Mitt Romney leaves podium after speaking about U.S. consulate killings in Benghazi, Libya via @ap twitter.com/CharlesDharapa…

— Charles Dharapak (@CharlesDharapak) September 12, 2012

Romney grabbed a hornet's nest when he tried to use a volatile situation in Libya for political purchase last night right at the time that our Ambassador to that country was being murdered. Yes, Romney and his minions are that craven. His weird idea that Obama is "apologizing for America" makes no sense anyway, but to layer it on top of an American death on foreign soil is simply a jerkface thing to do.

That Romney decided it was wise to throw down on foreign policy when 9/11 was barely over is unforgivable. That he decided to do it at all has probably put the nail in the coffin for his chances at the Presidency, mainly because his own party is so disgusted with him now that they probably won't vote for him.

My quote collection: Romney's Desperate Grab for Attention

The New Yorker: Timeline of Romney's "Libya Surprise"

Talking Points Memo: The Sequence of Events

Mitt's Smirking Disaster by Jed Lewison

BuzzFeed: Foreign Policy Experts Voice Disbelief

Politico: Hillary Clinton's Remarks

Mitt Romney ~ Upstaged by a Chair

First there was all this anticipation of a "mystery guest" arriving at the Republican National Convention, then there was lots of interest when it was found to be Clint Eastwood. What would he say? Did he bring a cool film with him, as he did at the Super Bowl? Would he say something memorable?

*snort* OMG - did he ever! Dirty Harry came out on stage in Tampa and proceeded to discuss politics with an empty chair where he imagined an invisible President Obama.

No, I am not making this up. The tumultuous skit with the chair even created a furor on both Twitter and Tumblr, and I assume Facebook as well, as people who had been almost asleep after 100 boring speeches woke up and started making chair art.

And two new hashtags were invented: #eastwooding and #invisibleobama

What all this means is that no one was really paying much attention to Rubio's or Romney's speeches which followed Eastwood, even though they were supposed to be the highlights of the evening. It almost . . . almost . . . makes me feel sorry for Mitt. He has the stupidest team in politics and I think that's undisputed now.


Even people who love Clint Eastwood, movies, imaginary friends, and actors in general found the whole thing downright bizarre. Famous film critic Roger Ebert Tweeted:

Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic. He didn't need to do this to himself. It's unworthy of him.
— Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago) August 31, 2012

TV sitcom legend Bob Newhart joked that Eastwood was stealing his bit of talking to imaginary people on the phone:

I heard that Clint Eastwood was channeling me at the RNC. My lawyers and I are drafting our lawsuit... #RNC #ClintEastwood #rnc2012 #GOP2012
— Bob Newhart (@BobNewhart) August 31, 2012

Rachel Maddow was rendered almost speechless with shock in a classic Live TN moment:


    And Barack Obama responded with a Tweet of his own that is destined to be remembered forever as an epic one-liner:

This seat's taken. OFA.BO/c2gbfi, twitter.com/BarackObama/st… — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 31, 2012

And look at the other beauties from Tumblr and Twitter ~ this will go on for days and days because the variations are endless. Expect a plethora of chair jokes next week in Charlotte. Poor Mitt.


eatbloganddie.com/        jseeder11.tumblr.com    
amajor7.tumblr.com         G**DAMN IT #EASTWOOD! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO COOK TONIGHT! #Eastwooding #RNC #DNC #political #politics #Republican #Democrat #Putos.  teardropfromnyc on Instagram
    crocktees.tumblr.com

Mitt Boards Cayman Yacht for Fundraiser

Cayman Islands Civil Ensign Flag
You just can't make this up. While New Orleans is being inundated by water from Hurricane Isaac on the anniversary of Katrina's devastation, Mitt Romney and company over in Tampa at the RNC decided it would be wise to have a fundraiser on a yacht. Yes, a yacht - the symbol of fabulous wealth. Oh, but not just any yacht will do. This one is a "Super Yacht" that is registered in . . . wait for it . . . the Cayman Islands.

From ABC News, Who Broke the Story

The floating party, hosted by a Florida developer on his yacht "Cracker Bay," was one of a dozen exclusive events meant to nurture those who have raised more than $1 million for Romney's bid.

"I think it's ironic they do this aboard a yacht that doesn't even pay its taxes," said a woman who lives aboard a much smaller boat moored at the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina.

. . . The Cracker Bay is owned by Gary Morse, developer of the Villages retirement community. Companies controlled by Morse gave nearly $1 million to the pro-Romney Restore Our Future superPAC. Registered in the Caymans, and flying a version of the Caymans' "civil ensign" or merchant flag, the Cracker Bay has an impressive art collection and can seat 30 for dinner.

And who was there? ABC News was turned away at the door, but someone took video inside of John Cornyn of Texas thanking the corporate sponsors of the even: Blue Cross/Blue Shield, AFLAC, and AT&T. Roy Blunt of Missouri fled in a private vehicle as a reporter tried to ask him about schmoozing with lobbyists. But dare we get too judgmental here, reporter Brian Ross points out that "it's all completely legal with our country's non-existent laws for political donations."

Romney Blows Dog Whistle for Rush and Trump

Here's Mitt Romney today doing his best dog whistle. Now that Romney has gone crazy-ass Birther, will the Republicans still rant about how "discourteous" Obama is to them?


Huffington Post

Speaking about his Michigan roots, he said, "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised."

The joke was received with hearty applause by the audience. . . .




. . . The Obama campaign quickly responded, with spokesman Ben LaBolt saying that Romney was embracing the most extreme elements in the conservative movement.

"Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them," he said. "It's one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio, and Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney's decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America."

Romney adviser Kevin Madden played down the joke, saying Romney was "only referencing that Michigan, where he is campaigning today, is the state where he himself was born and raised."

Rush Limbaugh was so happy he took a break from blaming Obama for Hurricane Isaac:

Media Matters

LIMBAUGH: Mitt Romney and Ryan, drawing a huge crowd in Michigan. And get this.

ROMNEY [audio clip]: I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born. No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.

LIMBAUGH: Right on, right on, right on.

Romney Tries to Hide from Akin

Mitt can run but he can't really hid from todd Akin.

Some people on Twitter call the Repub ticket Romney-Akin-Ryan, and they have a point. Akin and Ryan are pretty much identical in their ideology, and they are in tune with the abortion plank of the official Party Platform. Avoiding questions from the media is not going

TPM: Romney Forbids Questions About Akin

Denver TV reporter Shaun Boyd wanted to ask Mitt Romney about Todd Akin and the abortion controversy roiling the GOP Thursday. But the Romney campaign refused.
In a broadcast on Thursday, Boyd revealed the Romney campaign’s demand that she not ask about Akin. The Obama campaign quickly posted the video online and sent it to reporters.
. . . “I wanted to get the interview with him because I have other issues I want to talk to him about,” she said. “So the fact that he doesn’t want to talk about this says something in and of itself. In some ways this speaks for itself even without asking the question.”

The Romney campaign told TPM that asking for stipulations for interviews is not standard practice.
“This is not how we operate,” a campaign official said. “The matter is being addressed.”

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The Republican Gender Gap of Doom

Fantastic segment tonight from Rachel Maddow on MSNBC discussing the history and major players in the anti-abortion movement which led to the strange view held by Todd Akins that there is never any pregnancy from rape. It's shocking that most of the guys are white men, shocking that they have molded public policy and law based on this anti-scientific idea, and shocking that nearly every Republican candidate in the primaries seemed to share this belief (or said they did to placate the Tea Party).

Most shocking of all: Paul Ryan is one of them and has always been proud of it, until now, when he has to move towards the center with Mitt Romney. Of course, now that Akins has turned the light of day onto this subject, chances have gone way up that Ryan will be asked some difficult questions about his past beliefs. Does he think there are different types of rape? Does he think women can't conceive from rape? What about incest? He thought this was never going to come up in the debates or anywhere, but now he will have to face the music.

Why would the Republican women ever put up with this Cro-Magnon attitude towards rape? I've known plenty of conservative women who are nurses and teachers and smart ladies. They know how the human body works, and certainly how a woman's body works. I guess for them, the "sacred life of the fetus" is more important that the soul of a woman who is put through the mill after a rape with no one to believe her or help her. They muster empathy for the cells in the womb, but no empathy for the people already born. Note: I don't consider myself to be "pro-abortion," but the lack of empathy for women in difficult situations or in fear for their lives is sickening to me.

It reminds me of Sarah Palin when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, refusing to let the town pay for rape kits for victims.

It's true: USA Today: In 2000, Palin's Town Billed Rape Victims

In 2000, Alaska lawmakers learned that rural police agencies had been billing rape victims or their insurance companies $500 to $1,200 for the costs of the forensic medical examinations used to gather evidence. They quickly passed a law prohibiting the practice.
According to the sponsor, Democrat Eric Croft, the law was aimed in part at Wasilla, where now-Gov. Sarah Palin was mayor
. . . It is not known how many rape victims in Wasilla were required to pay for some or all of the medical exams, but a legislative staffer who worked on the bill for Croft said it happened. "It was more than a couple of cases, and it was standard practice in Wasilla," Peggy Wilcox said, who now works for the Alaska Public Employees Association. "If you were raped in Wasilla, this was going to happen to you."
. . . In 2000, there were 497 rapes reported in Alaska, FBI statistics show. That's a rate of 79.3 per 100,000 residents, the highest in the nation.

. . . Congress in 2005 passed a law requiring states to provide rape exams free of charge or reimburse victims for the costs, says Knecht, whose group supported the provision.
"The reason we passed the legislation was that we saw it was prevalent enough to be a pretty considerable problem," Knecht says. "There are no other victims of crime that end up being billed for evidence collection."

No. Words.

Here's the main idea these Teapublicans believe : if you get pregnant, you must have wanted to have sex after all, and cooperated so the "juices would flow" and insemination occured, and therefore - no rape! How they justify this in terms of incest, I have no idea, except that it is cruel and unusual. Why we are having to discuss this on a national level in the 21st century is almost too scary to contemplate.

From Rachel Maddow:
"This is a moment of instability in Republican politics. They're going to have to figure out which way to go on this. The Republican Party let this strand of strange politics grow within its midst. They let it become mainstream Republicanism. And now the Republican Party is witnessing the country recoiling from what the Party has become."

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