Pat Robertson (Wingnut for God), Pete Hoekstra(R-MI), Chuck 'Pulling the Plug on Grandma' Grassley (R-KS), Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sarah Palin (Celebrity)…..all have something very much in common.

Rachel Maddow explains…..

Bashing Muslims is back in vogue…..not that it ever fell out of favor within the more imaginative far right winger groups. But I find it remarkable that 2 GOP Senators think al-Qaeda "sympathizers" now work for the U.S. Justice Department. AG Eric Holder found it remarkable too…and worthy of a guffaw.

Having already alienated women, blacks, and Hispanics…I guess the only group left for xenophobic Republicans to offend is the .6% of Americans who are Muslim.

Do we absolutely have to retrace the ugliness of the Joe McCarthy red scare days? Can't Republicans learn anything? Ever?
____________________

But if you can believe it……the new Muslim McCarthyism in the Republican Party is mild in comparison with the mighty moral warriors of the American evangelical kind.

The new "take it to Jesus" slogan for the evangelical nuts in America is Psalms 109.

Here's the new bumper sticker you can buy from zazzle.com…..

What would a person praying for President Obama on the basis of Psalms 109…be praying FOR?…..

8May his days be few;

may another take his place of leadership.

9May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow.

10May his children be wandering beggars;

may they be drivend from their ruined homes.

Those righteous Bible believing Christians who pray FOR Obama on the basis of Psalms 109 would be praying for him to be dead and his two young girls to be homeless, wandering beggars.

These are the same folks who call the Prince of Peace and Love their Master and Saviour.

Shucks…it's all just good funnin'…..

ABC….

For many, the slogan is just a humorous way express disapproval for President Obama. It's been tweeted and retweeted by Obama critics with messages like "too funny" and "an excellent prayer for America."

See? In the minds of evangelical followers of Jesus, it's just "too funny" to pray for Obama to be dead and for Obama's children to be homeless. Humorous.

But it's those American Muslims who are threatening our nation.

Jesus.

Obama, while visiting China, talks to imposter-news "reporter" Major Garrett of FOX….

Obama warned the United States' climbing national debt could drag the country into a "double-dip recession," though he said he's still considering additional tax incentives for businesses to reverse the rising unemployment rate.

"There may be some tax provisions that can encourage businesses to hire sooner rather than sitting on the sidelines. So we're taking a look at those," Obama told Fox News' Major Garrett.

"I think it is important, though, to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."

Digby has it right, when she says that she hopes imposter-news mischaracterized what Obama was getting at….because the national debt has very little, if anything, to do with our current economic situation.

American "news" has been spinning phony yarns for so long now that I wouldn't be the least surprised to see Village Knee Pad streetwalkers successfully convince enough Americans into believing yet another lie.

Our current recession has absoluetly NOTHING to do with the national debt doubling under the last administration. While huge national debt increases under Bush, and now Obama, are, indeed, a concern…..that debt should not be blamed in any way for our current conditions. In fact, the current near-depression conditions were created ENTIRELY by the gambling-house industries of finance, insurance and real estate. Free market greed gone wild.

If Obama actually told imposter-news "reporter" Major Garrett that a "climbing national debt could drag the country into a 'double-dip recession'"…..he's being dishonest. Obama knows better. The debt and the current recession have nothing to do with one another…..and even implying otherwise in front of imposter-news representatives is a huge political mistake.

What the country needs right now, not late next year but now, is MORE government spending to directly create jobs. Another trillion dollars is needed right now, with every dollar going to job creation instead of like the watered-down-to-mollify-dumbass-conservatives-stimulus-bill provisions passed back in February. The way to pay for that trillion is blindingly clear as well…..tax Wall Street transactions.

Wall Street is where the recession began. The recession didn't begin because the dollar crashed or China quit buying our debt. The recession began because unscrupulous money scheme connivers lost their reckless and unregulated bets to such an extent……that they all ran out of money and came to tax payers for bailouts.

As a result of banksters running out of money because they lost their reckless and unregulated bets…..money, almost overnight, became unavailable for lending to Americans in order to buy stuff…like cars, houses, etc. Massive layoffs followed. The downward cycle began. To add insult to injury…now the recession-causers are punishing consumers through reduced credit and higher interest rates and fees.

If President Obama is so foolish or "centrist" to believe that he can co-opt the TeaBagger insanity over government spending, even giving one inch by agreeing that government spending is the problem right now….then he is only setting himself up for political defeat and setting Americans up for a TeaBagger-led government in the future. I shutter at the thought.

Palin, FOX, and the TeaBaggers don't have a point when it comes to government spending……and they don't even care that they don't. The year-long wingnut nonsense about government spending, socialism, 'I want my country back', yada, yada…..is not to be taken seriously. The sole purpose of the Baggers and Co. is to return bankster-favoring Republicans back into majority government power…. the very people who helped banksters bring our country to it's knees in the first place.

Obama shouldn't attempt to triangulate with incoherent economic idiots or imposter-news "reporters"…..ever.

I've had some notes in draft form since August that I've been wanting to share….and today, thanks to Lou and Bill-o,….is the day.

First, this short video from WorldNetDaily on July 30, 2009….

"I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Luke 10:18)

When I started doing a little research, I found the Greek word for 'lightning' is 'astrape', and the Hebrew equivalent is 'Baraq,'" said YouTube contributor "ppsimmons," a self-described Christian with a theological education and many years in the ministry, who spoke to WND under condition of anonymity out of concern for members of his local church.

..[..]..

He then recalled Isaiah 14:14, where Lucifer, another name for Satan, is quoted as saying, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."

"I wondered what the word 'heights' is," said ppsimmons, "and I looked it up in the dictionary, and it's 'Bamah.'"

Thus, on the video, the announcer notes, "If spoken by a Jewish rabbi today, influenced by the poetry of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew … 'I saw Satan as Baraq Ubamah.'"

ppsimmons goes on to say this…

"I'm not proclaiming he (Obama) is the antichrist, or that I'm some kind of a Hebrew expert, but the word associations are indisputable…."

"Word associations." When it comes to America's first black president, winger-games of "word association" have broken out all over like a bad case of teenage acne. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. This is America…and an American, or group of Americans, can damn near say anything in public or private, no matter how ridiculous it might sound. For example, just consider most anything that Sarah Palin says on any given day. God bless the former 1/2 term Alaskan governor.

The casual reader might just dismiss the biblical exegesis by WorldNetDaily and ppsimmons with his Hebrew word association games…as wild-eyed, religious foolishness. But what do we do when the most popular cable teevee "news-analysis-bullsh*tting" program…The O'Reilly Factor….has a segment like this…

At first…I thought these two ass-clowns, Lou and Bill-o, were trying to be humorous. I know that when I first heard O'Reilly ask ex-CNN xenophobe, Lou Dobbs, "Barack Obama, is he the devil?"…..I laughed out loud…..but Bill-o remained grim faced, almost stoic…..so he must have been, like, Serious. Color me perplexed.

Then Lou Dobbs, fresh from getting his big "birther" ass kicked by CNN, didn't break a smile either at Bill-o's question. In his most Serious of faces (and Lou has many), Dobbs responds, "He's not the devil…..(mumble, mumble)…Afghanistan….(mumble, mumble)….1/6 of the economy….(mumble)..",….then Bill-o cuts Lou's mumbling off by rephrasing Lou's mumbling this way…

"So, you don't think he's the devil…but you think he's mismanaging the country at this point?"

Dobbs responds…"I think…..absolutely."

Saturday Night Live couldn't possibly have done any better. That's some funny stuff.

It's a close call for Dobbs…..Obama is not quite the devil yet, but "mismanaging the country"……well…..that's getting pretty close.

There's one thing I hadn't envisioned about Villager and Wingnut Media. I knew that they twisted stories and propagandized on an hourly basis…..I knew that they would come at Obama with all their Villager Little-Tykes Wingnut Weaponry…..and I knew guys like Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs were irredeemable morons of mass stupidity….

…but I confess, I never thought they would be this funny.

The richest nation in world history has a problem…

About 14.6 percent of U.S. households, equal to 49.1 million people, "had difficulty obtaining food for all their members due to a lack of resources" during 2008, up 3.5 percentage points from 2007 when 11.1 percent of households were classified as food insecure.

…anti-hunger groups pointed to the huge increase from the preceding year when 36.2 million people had trouble getting enough food….

And then this adds a certain WTF quality to any discussion about Americans and food….

Depending on which study you believe, we squander between a quarter to a half of all the food we produce. Even by the conservative estimate, that adds up to more than 100 billion pounds per year.

The Department of Agriculture calculates that Americans waste 27% of their food….

96 billion pounds of food – or 27% of the 356 billion pounds of edible food available – is wasted each year in the U.S. according to the U.S, Department of Agriculture.

What's worse…..it costs us $1 billion per year to dispose of all the food we waste.

The U.S. is often referred to as the "last best hope" for the world, or something similar. If that's true, then world hope must be in decline.

A Balloon-juice blogger describes, accurately I think, how far American society has declined when it comes to our "collective" concern over issues like hunger….

It’s easy to romanticize the past, of course. But I distinctly remember that 20 years ago, things like sudden increases in the number of people going hungry were considered important issues. Nowadays to even muse about whether this is something we can do something about as a society marks you as an unserious hippie.

Briefly….over the last 30 years wealth in America has moved into the hands of fewer and fewer Americans. At the same time that more and more wealth has been accumulated by fewer and fewer Americans, taxes have been reduced to the lowest levels of my lifetime on those doing the accumulating.

Village-whore-media, since 1980, have been banging the rotted Reagan drum nightly insisting that "government is the problem." Add to that distortion the often repeated, "we just can't raise taxes on the rich, we must stay competitive" horsesh*t…..say it over and over again on national teevee…..and the results become predictable.

If all that is not bad enough….in the last 12 years or so…..conservatives in America have made a pastime out of attacking victims. Conservative coverage of Hurricane Katrina, for example, highlighted this new…"you deserve what you get", ugliness.

Most likely the significant increase in the number of Americans short on food will be used as yet another excuse to bash the poor and vulnerable and argue AGAINST any more government assistance to people in trouble. I'm sure that the argument will include variations of, "we just can't afford to spend any more money right now…..and, anyway, we're not socialists."

After all….that's what the Villagers, the Republicans and most conservatives are telling us about health care reform……aren't they?

What difference would it make to Villagers and conservatives if poor, vulnerable Americans died from malnutrition/starvation….or…lack of health insurance?

Wouldn't conservative, always-help-the-wealthiest, Americans…..and the Villagers who speak for them….tell the rest of us that if Americans aren't eating, just as they aren't buying health care insurance,…..it's their own fault because they aren't working hard enough?

Well…wouldn't they?

Why would major "news" outfits, like ABC, CNN or FOX, invite Rudy Giuliani to come to their Sunday shows, yesterday, and answer questions about the Obama administration's decision to try five 9-11 conspirators in New York City?

What possible information, what opinions, could Giuliani hold in his freaky little head that might justify ABC, CNN and FOX's invite? Rudy holds no office, hasn't been mayor of New York for quite some time, and made a national embarassment out of himself with his "noun, verb and 9-11" presidential primary campaign in 2008….the campaign he strategized so brilliantly by running in only one state, Florida.

Giuliani's appearance as some kind of "expert opinionator" about 9-11, of course, is laughable. Rudy Giuliani, on 9-11, was shrewd enough to get himself in front of the cameras,…but that's the extent of his knowledge or expertise on terrorism.

Rudy's recommendation to George W. Bush of Bernard Kerik to be Homeland Security Director is all one needs to know about Rudy's judgment. Kerik was convicted of a felony just a few days ago and sentenced to prison.

But there he was….Mr. 9-11….on ABC, CNN and FOX yesterday…..the slumped-back freak, in all his freakish glory, criticizing President Obama's decision to hold trials of terrorists in New York City.

"It's an unnecessary advantage to give to the terrorists," Giuliani said on CNN's State of the Union. "I don't know why you want to give terrorists advantages. And secondly, it's an unnecessary risk to the city of New York, which already has any number of risks."

The same guy who said that…also said this in 2006 about trying 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussauoi in federal court .

Several news show hosts called Giuliani out on some apparent hypocrisy — in 2006, he praised the civilian trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, saying he was "in awe of our system" and that we "are a nation of law."

For federal court trials until he was against them.

But think about what Mr. Noun & Verb & 9-11 said yesterday on CNN. If we bring the five 9-11 conspirators to trial in New York City, we are giving the "terrorists" an "unnecessary advantage." Trying those five in New York City federal court is putting New York under "unnecessary risk."

Bringing international anarchist criminals to justice following the template of American law, is giving "unnecessary advantage" to Islamic radicals. In other words,….according to Giuliani…we must forsake our own laws and history of following those laws, because if we follow American law and order, we will give extremists the "advantage."

WTF?

Suicide bombers carry out violent acts which kill civilians in order to scare the host country's government into CHANGING the way they live and carry out their system of government.

Rudy Giuliani says the U.S. must not rely on the U.S. legal system to try the five conspirators, the same system Rudy praised in the trial of Moussauoi,…..because if we follow our own legal system and precedence…..we'll be giving the extremists, "unnecessary advantage."

Rudy is now too scared of the U.S. justice system to trust it. That's no small detail.

Not only has Giuliani given up on the U.S. justice system's ability to adjudicate crimes and lock away criminals…he's, apparently, given up on New York City's ability to protect it's citizens too. Trying suspects of a horrific crime in one of our cities is now putting that city's residents under "unnecessary risk."

I guess that means that from now on if a significantly horrible enough crime is committed inside the U.S….we can no longer trust our court system to deal with it. Rudy, by making these statements, is announcing his agreement with Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden has said America needs to change it's system of government and that Americans have become "soft." Rudy Giuliani agrees.

Giuliani, as I mentioned, is a freak. The question naturally arises….why would what Rudy has to say be significant to Americans? I can't answer that question. I keep coming up with, "it isn't." CNN, ABC and FOX believe otherwise. The Villagers, don't forget, are very, very Serious.

One last backhand……if we try criminals in federal courts, find them guilty and execute or imprison them…..then, according to Rudy, we're playing Aladdin to those who wage "Islamic war against us"……

"Since when are we in the business of granting the wishes of terrorists?"

You know what I'm thinking?…..I'm thinking that Rudy Giuliani is full of sh*t.

Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb on AG Eric Holder's announcement that five of the 9-11 plotters will be tried in New York federal court…..

Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts.

..[..]..

And we must be especially careful with any decisions to bring onto American soil any of those prisoners who remain a threat to our country but whose cases have been adjudged as inappropriate for trial at all. They do not belong in our country, they do not belong in our courts, and they do not belong in our prisons.

House representative Jim Moran (D-Va)….has a different take….

"They (Republicans, neo-cons, wingnuts) see this as an opportunity to demagogue," he said. "They will seize on any opportunity to do that, and that means they'll even take a stand that's un-American."

"It's un-American to hold anyone indefinitely without trial," Moran added. "It's against our principles as a nation."

"Opportunity to demagogue? Yep…like this….

Of all the mindless memes that non-reality-based adherents blare out like zombie pod people…..this one about "American soil" is the most ignorant. That's saying something….because the extreme right TeaBagger-FOX-Beck-Rush Group LLC….says a whole bunch of ignorant stuff on an hourly basis.

Giuliani is a discredited authoritarian moron, so it's easy to dismiss his grandstanding gibberish. But Rudy represents the FOX-BeckerHead position…so it will be the most prominent, because whatever FOX-Beckerheads spout is to be taken very Seriously by the Village. And, as the 9-12'ers and Rupert Murdoch have made clear, all wingnut-media decisions are for the purpose of "destroying Obama."

Remember, the only Job One there is for Republicans, Teabaggers, Drug Addicts on the Radio and myriad Wingnut Zoo Animals….is to bring about, as South Carolina cracker-senator Jim DeMint said…."Obama's Waterloo."

Now the analysis.

Senator Jim Webb is mistaken when he compares Japanese pilots during WW2 with 9-11 hijackers. Japanese pilots were operating under the authority of the Japanese Emperor. Japanese pilots during WW2 represented a country, a nation of people who declared war against America with the Pearl Harbor attack. WW2 was a war of nations. The militaries of the Axis powers were ordered by their nation's leaders to wage war on Allied nations.

9-11 Islamic hijackers represented who, exactly? A tiny international band of stateless anarchist criminals. No state or country sponsored the 9-11 hijackers. 9-11 hijackers did not act on the orders of a state dictator, politician, leader, or representative. Bin Laden's al-Qaeda carried out acts of violence for THEMSELVES….no one else.

Islamic extremists are seeking to make a symbolic "political statement" with their acts of violence. The entire point of killing others while killing yourself is to shock others into believing they are not safe. Japanese pilots who dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor were not making a "political statement"……they were beginning a monumental war of one nation against another. Japanese pilots were seeking to defeat the U.S. military, and thus America, the nation. Japanese pilots were not just trying to shock U.S citizens…..there was nothing symbolic about Pearl Harbor.

The second bit of "demagogic" nonsense-hype by American wingnuts only seeking Obama's demise by foolishly arguing we can't try 9-11 masterminds on "American soil"….is the, "they're too dangerous" to be housed in New York prisons…nonsense. There's no question the 9-11 plot was sinister and evil, but the five radical Islamic masterminds to be tried in New York federal court ain't squat compared to the most vicious, brutal, bloodthirsty deviants we currently have safely locked away in federal prisons, including, by the way, over 100 Islamic "terrorists."

To take the position that these five are too dangerous to bring onto "American soil" is, at best, a wingnut admission that America is weak, vulnerable, unsure of it's power and that the Constitution and set of laws which guide us are, somehow, deficient.

The final point I want to make is over the stupid claim that if we try 9-11 conspirators in New York…then New York will automatically become the focus of new terrorist attacks. Besides being another admission that America is just too weak or vulnerable to protect itself….this ignorant meme, meant only to diminish Obama's leadership, ignores the fact that America currently occupies two Muslim countries with some 200,000 U.S. soldiers. Daily, we are killing Afghani citizens. Also ignored is the fact that the American military has killed, at the very minimum, some 128,000 Iraqi citizens in our war of imperialistic aggression. 4 million Iraqis were displaced.

What more incentive would a Muslim crazy need to "focus" their extremist bile on the U.S.?

Here are the facts. George W. Bush, though he did not act on it, stated clearly that he would like to see Guantanomo closed. But Bush was a Republican president with very low approval ratings. In comes a popular Democratic President Obama who agrees with Bush's view of closing Guantanomo. If Obama succeeds in closing Guantanomo…..well, you know the wingnut drill….then America "fails."

The ignorant and disingenuous blatherings about not trying 9-11 conspirators on "American soil" is for the sole purpose of seeing Obama "fail."

Not that complicated.

First it was Rev. Wright…then Bill Ayers….with all the accompanying non-biased, and Pulitzer-Prize-caliber reporting. Then came the "Hillary Clinton was cheated," narrative suggesting (wrongly) that she had more primary votes than Barak Obama. All this was followed by "Obama's only a celebrity like Paris." Then came the "how can Obama overcome his problem with white voters?" question.

Sarah Palin's entry brought with it the "palling around with terrorists", "Obama is a Marxist", "real Americans in real America", and "Obama is not sufficiently patriotic." All accusations that had to be deeply plumbed for there wingnut wisdom.

Immediately following Obama's election, it became full metal jacket Blago. Obama is from Illinois, (via Kenya) Emmanuel is from Illinois, Blagojevich was governor of Illinois….ipso facto, weeks and weeks were spent "informing" us about an Illinois governor who did what every American elected official does….traded on his influence.

In January came Rush's "hope he fails" comedy routine….and a Serious search to unpack the deep profundity in that statement. The stimulus "discussion" gave opportunity for corporate-whore media to entertain (on a 2-1 basis over Democrats) the thoughts and demagoguing of Republicans and conservatives on the Sunday morning "news" programs. Despite having his electoral ass kicked, and despite the fact that McCain now plays an insignificant role in a 40 GOP'er Senate, John McCain recorded his 14th appearance on the Sunday morning "news" shows recently.

Ordering that Guantanomo would be closed brought with it such an unhinged response from dishonest neo-conservatives and their obedient knee-jerk children that the thought of dangerous criminals being held on "American soil" became the most imminent national threat. Terrorists in American prisons?….How can we ever be safe?

And then it really started to get crazy. March brought with it the TeaParty Blitz….and the long awaited return of Dick Cheney to national corporate-whore media…..this time with mini-me-Dick, daughter Liz, out spreading the "torture love" doctrine of Father Dick. Neither holds public office, Father Dick is hated by most Americans….but there they were, "news" program after "news" program, telling us to be very, very afraid if America stops torturing. You see, the Dicks are Serious.

Don't forget the marvelously patriotic and sensible "birther" movement still championed by over half of Republicans and the recently released CNN xenophobe, Lou Dobbs….and naturally, all of the AM radio talkers and FOX.

The summer of 2009 may just be referred to in the history books as the "Summer of Incoherence"….as BeckerHeads, TeaBaggers, and Townhall Buster-Uppers, some carrying loaded weapons, saturated the "news" with their sour grapes of discontent with a black Democratic president intent on destroying America and replacing it with (take your pick)….socialism, communism Maoism, Stalinism, or Nazism……all conveniently interchangeable at a moment's notice. Desperate cries of, "I want my country back", echoed repeatedly through the TeaBags.

ACORN became, overnight, one of America's most dangerous domestic enemies. Amateur wingnut videographers, working with FOX, stung those primarily-black-employee-run Acorn offices in a daring and patriotic commando raid to save us all…..I guess from signing up more black voters. "Breaking News" ensued.

"Killing grandma", "death panels", (another 1/2 term Governor Palin gem), "death books for veterans", "Obama will take away your Medicare",…filled the late summer and early fall, with yet more incoherent TeaParties and 9-12'er events, led by America's brilliant new Paul Revere, Glenn Beck…and of course, FOX. No one is sure how many Baggers turned out on Beckerhead day. Somewhere between 60,000…..and 2 million. No way to know.

Now we're being flooded with "Obama and the Democrats are sneaking in tax-payer abortions", "Obama is 'dithering' on Afghanistan", and the recent election (which added a new Democrat to the House) is a "sign that Americans are rejecting Obama's leadership," "Obama and the Democrats (after 10 months) are in deep trouble."

This past week has brought with it the "Ft. Hood massacre is the first terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9-11," proving, I'm sure, that without the Dick's torture, we are all doomed. Calls for renewing "investigations" into American Muslims and Muslim groups are rampant.

Obama left today on an Asian-countries tour….and dollars to donuts….I bet we'll get to hear all about how Obama had to get out of D.C. to avoid all the "controversies" he's created. Just more "dithering."

Now….it could just be me….but it sure as hell seems like corporate-whore media has joined with conservative and GOP wingnuts in "creating reality" for the last year and a half. An anti-Obama-and-the-Democrats narrative template has been placed overtop of ALL events since the beginning of last year.

Or maybe not. Like I said….it could just be me.

In the decade from 1994 through 2004, the amount of money spent on pet food, pet supplies, veterinary visits, medicines, live animals and services, more than doubled from $17 billion to $34.2 billion,……. In 2005 alone $36.3 billion was spent.

According to an August 6th 2007 issue of Business Week magazine, we spend 41 billion dollars on our pets annually.

Cable tv…..Americans spent $51 billion on cable teevee in 2008.

The video gaming industry is projected to post revenues of $57 billion in 2009.

Gross revenues from legalized gambling reached a record-high $78.6 billion in 2003.

Americans spend approximately $228 billion per year of "disposable income" on the four above industry's products. Products, which, at best, we call entertainment.

Yet, according to conservatives and Republicans, America cannot afford universal health coverage for it's citizenry. Americans, if you listen to conservatives and Republicans, can afford to spend over $228 billion per year on entertaining themselves with adolescent foolishness….but they can't afford to pay $100 billion per year for universal health care coverage.

Here are some more products that Americans, apparently, can afford….

Starbucks…

At the end of Starbucks fiscal year (September 2007), the company has grossed $9.4 billion.

Movie Theaters $9.5 billion in ticket receipts.

Cosmetic surgery $12-18 billion

Professional sports revenue…..$16 billion.

Failing to prioritize the expenditure of one's resources is the mark of adolescence. And that's, really, all America is…..an adolescent nation. During the last 8 years, under the adolescent leadership of George W. Bush and fiscally conservative Republicans in Congress, 1 trillion dollars was spent on wars of adventurism and occupation, and another 1 1/2 trillion dollars of the Treasury's revenues was given back in tax cuts, the majority of which, benefitted the wealthiest.

That's 2 1/2 trillion dollars totally wasted. That much money would have paid for the next 25 years of the Democrat's proposed universal health care reform. 25 years. But see?….like when we were teenagers….it's just so much more fun and thrilling to blow that much money and have nothing to show for it afterwards. You know, the thrill of the moment…just like Mission Accomplished.

Congress is currently being held hostage by conservative adolescents from both parties…..silly juveniles like Evan Byah, Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, and all 40 of the Senate Republicans. Curiously, those are the same people who had no problem, whatsoever, in recklessly voting in favor of throwing away $2 1/2 trillion from America's Treasury during the fearless, clusterf*ck-rave-party-leadership of The Decider and his Dick.

That's just how adolescents act though….isn't it? While Americans are blowing over $200 billion every year on silly and non-productive personal entertainment…..the government which represents those Americans…..voted consistently to blow $2 1/2 trillion on adolescent-minded, non-productive, yet politically entertaining, joyrides of destruction.

So, when you hear the oh-so-very-serious-and-solemn warnings by the usual conservative suspects in the next few weeks…..repeatedly telling us that America simply can't afford health care reform, can't afford to extend health insurance to all it's citizens…..keep this in mind…..you're listening to pimply-faced, petulant adolescents who would rather enjoy the thrill of smoking political pot while driving the country's car 100 miles per hour….than studying hard to pass the nation's very difficult exam.

I suppose the reason Tea Party-Party (now official !) members, FOX, and the usual wingnut suspects have become so energized over the Ft. Hood mass murder story is because they think this story is another way to smear, slander and weaken President Obama and bash those 'politically correct' liberals…..in order to patriotically strengthen the nation, I'm sure.

Immediately, wingers began blaming Obama for the Muslim shooter being in the Army….and resorted to unhinged accusations of political correctness to explain why the killing took place.

Here's material from the Washington Post piece that King linked to, mocked, and then, distorted beyond recognition in his most recent post about the Ft. Hood mass killer, Hasan…

Aulaqi (former Falls Church, VA, imam) responded to Hasan at least twice, according to Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee.

"For me, the number of times that this guy tried to reach out to the imam was significant," Hoekstra said. "Al-Qaeda and radical jihadists use the Internet to spread radical jihadism. . . . So how much of [Hasan's] lashing out is a result of . . . his access to radical messages on the Internet and the ability to interact?

"I believe that the responses from Aulaqi were maybe pretty innocent," Hoekstra continued. "But the very fact that he's sent e-mail . . . to this guy and got responses would be quite a concern to me."

The FBI determined that the e-mails did not warrant an investigation, according to the law enforcement official. Investigators said Hasan's e-mails were consistent with the topic of his academic research and involved some social chatter and religious discourse.

Hoekstra and others are raising questions about whether government agencies paid sufficient attention to warning signs about Hasan.

Hoekstra (R-MI) is a well-known nut, but even he said the imam's two e-mail responses to Hasan, "were maybe pretty innocent."

About the Falls Church mosque and it's former imam….

At Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, where Aulaqi was an imam, mosque leaders denounced his statements.

"This was a really disgraceful statement from a blog of our former short-lived Imam Aulaqi," the mosque's outreach director, Johari Abdul-Malik, said Monday. "Aulaqi wasn't angry like that when he was here with us. He changed after he left, after 9/11. He became a different imam."

King uses this misleading ABC line….

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda,

…which King distorts into this…

According to ABC News, the FBI knew Nidal M. Hasan, the Fort Hood terrorist jihadist cuddly bunny had been trying to contact Al Qaeda several months ago

…and this…

I assume it's not standard operating procedure for a U.S. Army Major, a psychiatrist, to be trying to contact Al Qaeda, even if he is merely a cuddly bunny.

….but ABC said cuddly bunny was trying to contact "people" in Al Qaeda, as in, more than one.

Setting aside the "cuddly bunny" nonsense……King, like other knee jerk responders to the Ft. Hood tragedy, and like mainstream media who couldn't even get the basic facts correct in the first 24 hours of the breaking story, doesn't want to hear what the FBI or military says about Hasan.

There is no evidence that Hasan was trying to contact al-Qaeda. Hasan did contact his former Virginia mosque imam.

This is what King said about those e-mails….

The FBI said it never delved into cuddly bunny's communiques with Al-Awlaki because there was no indication that cuddly bunny was planning any violence.

Here's what the Post article said about those e-mails….'

Investigators said Hasan's e-mails were consistent with the topic of his academic research and involved some social chatter and religious discourse.

The word "delved", I suppose, can mean whatever King wants it to mean. I'm not sure how the FBI could have determined those e-mails were "consistent with..academic research…social chatter and religious discourse"….if, you know, they hadn't "delved" into those e-mails.

King….

Not only did the military and FBI fail to connect the dots here, but judging from the comments to my last post, liberals don't even want to admit there are any dots to connect (unlike the runup to 9/11). Even President Obama said we shouldn't leap to any conclusions…

Which seems to mean that King thinks, we SHOULD jump to conclusions.

I guess King intutitively knows more than the FBI, liberals bearing the unvarnished facts, and President Obama. He must. He went on to issue his own final verdict….

"cuddly bunny is a jihadist terrorist,"

Tell me the truth…. how can you argue with that?

Back in August I wrote about the totally dishonest attempt by congressional representatives to discriminate against reproductive-age women by singling out the medical procedure of abortion as the only medical procedure banned from any "health exchange" insurance policies coming out of the Obama-led health care reform legislation.

Last night, the following House Democrats joined with GOP women's-rights bashers voting to forbid abortion coverage, and abortion coverage only, from all federally subsidized health insurance policies…..

OH-1,… Driehaus, Steve; OH-6,…. Wilson, Charles; OH-9,… Kaptur, Marcy; OH-16,… Boccieri, John; OH-17,…. Ryan, Timothy;…. OH-18 Space, Zachary.

Before last night's vote took place, Digby had this to say…

I suspect that the leadership decided that abortion was the least important thing they could throw to the slavering Blue Dogs to take home as a victory over the liberals in this debate. And they had to find a hippie to punch to make the thing acceptable to the villagers, so they decided to punch the desperate pregnant girl. She's used to it.

Since the Republicans have made themselves irrelevant with their obstructionism the Democrats have decided that in order to further the president's edict to change the tone and further bipartisanship they will just have to compromise with themselves.
Democrats everywhere will now be able to brag about furthering the Godly cause of forced pregnancy, while having also voted to pass health care.

Exactly.

Last night's House vote approving health care reform legislation passed by 220-215…just barely. And that was after a woman's legal right to a medical abortion was isolated as the only medical procedure unworthy of coverage by a subsidized national health care plan.

Those, you know, hyper-liberal Democrats in the House, approved by a 240-194 margin, Bart Stupak's (D-MI) amendment, which will….

"…..explicitly bar the public plan from covering the procedure. The amendment, approved 240 to 194, with 64 Democrats in favor, also would prohibit people who received insurance subsidies from purchasing private plans that covered abortion."

But wait…there's more…..

"The amendment would bar the new government insurance plan from covering abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother is in danger. The Democrats' original legislation would have allowed the government plan to cover abortions, if the Health and Human Services secretary decided it should."

See?….If a female was forced against her will to have sex, or was dominated to have sex by a family member,…..then government money will be permitted to be used to cover an abortion, should that female become pregnant. Or if the female might die as a result of pregnancy. But, by god, if the female consented to the sex, you know, enjoyed it….then, no way can tax dollars subsidizing health care exchanges be used to pay for an abortion.

This is as clear a case of anti-female, anti-sex, discrimination as we've seen since the dreadful Hyde Amendment.

The American forced pregnancy lobby now has a clear path forward. Having successfully restricted government subsidy money from paying for health insurance which includes specific medical procedures for women…and only those procedures……it seems obvious that a new floodgate of hateful discrimination will follow.

If it's the case that tax dollars cannot go to pay for health care insurance, either public or private, unless the American woman impregnated did not enjoy the sex….then wouldn't it also follow that any tax dollars….ANY TAX DOLLARS….could not be used to pay for an abortion, or health insurance which included coverage for abortion?

Wouldn't that mean that all federal employees, and independent contractors working for the federal government, could not pay for an abortion with their tax-payer-paid wages? Still tax dollars..right?Furthermore….wouldn't it also follow that all federal employees and independent contractors, you know, whose wages are paid with tax dollars, would also be prohibited from spending those tax-payer-paid wages on health insurance which included coverage for abortions?

Shouldn't a woman who got pregnant, and, you know, enjoyed the sex….who also happened to work for the federal government…and who wanted to exercise her legal right to choose…..shouldn't she have to document where the money will come from to pay for an abortion? Her wages come from the federal government…..that means that she only receives tax dollars….and as we now see, tax dollars CAN NEVER be used to pay for abortion AND tax dollars can never be used to pay for health insurance that includes abortion procedures (unless the sex was forced.)

Finally, as long as the Stupak amendment voters are being ridiculous….why not go all the way? Cash money is printed by the federal government and is processed by banks regulated by that same federal government. Since the federal government cannot, in any way, be involved in any aspect of payment for an abortion or insurance that might cover abortion…..doesn't the blindingly stupid Stupak amendment set the precedent that abortion can no longer be paid for…at all (unless the sex was forced)?

Perhaps women who wish to exercise their legal right in America will have to resort to bartering with their reproductive doctors,….perhaps baked-goods, or seamstress work…..in order to pay for their right to choose.

That's if…you know….they enjoyed the sex.