JUST TO STIR THE POT

Can't we accuse the NRA of being a Maoist organization?

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." - Mao, The Little Red Book, Ch. 5, 1964

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS

Radio Station KSL in Salt Lake City will be consistent in following its new on-air policy and drop Sean "The Big Lie" Hannity's radio show! The station tries to cover this up by claiming there was another reason:

"We acknowledge the great partnership we've had with Sean Hannity and appreciate his contributions to furthering public dialogue," said Willes. "At the end of the day, we simply feel our future success and competitive advantage reside in creating unique local content, and that is our objective for developing replacement programming."

Hannity has been on KSL Newsradio since October 2001.

The Sean Hannity Show is on the air from 1 to 4 p.m. and will remain on KSL until Oct. 1.

THE "GARLOW MINUTE"...

UPDATE: The real name is "The Garlow Perspective"

is an Jeebus propaganda ad that airs several times a day on KVOI and thanx to Media Matters, I have a little more information about Jim Garlow, the Fundie loon behind it:

Garlow claimed health care reform was "anti-biblical." In a December 16, 2009, anti-health care reform "prayercast" hosted by the Family Research Council, Garlow said that the then-pending health care reform bill was "anti-biblical" and should concern "every follower of Jesus." Garlow went on to explain that he believed the legislation "violated" many of the Bible's Ten Commandments.

Here's the You Tube video:

WILL REAL VALUES DEFEAT HANNITY?

(h/t BuzzFlash)

I'll try to follow this story.

Sean Hannity vs. The Code
Salt Lake Crawler
Glen Warchol
Updated on Jun 28, 2010 01:54PM
Salt Lake Tribune

Conservative talk-radio giant Sean Hannity likely will be the latest victim of a puritanical purge lunched within LDS Church-owned media.

Insiders at KSL radio say that Hannity, even though he has a large and passionate listenership, will be gone from KSL Radio "sooner rather than later" because he doesn't meet the new values code instituted earlier this year by Deseret Media chief executive Mark Willes.

Willes' new mission statement, some might call it a creed, includes pledges like: "I seek to lift, inspire, and help others find enduring happiness" and "I promote integrity, civility, morality, and respect for all people," and "I seek to instill light and knowledge in my work." As you can imagine, Sean Hannity, who is beloved by his listeners for saying things like -- "I'll tell you who should be tortured and killed at Guantanamo -- every filthy Democrat in the U.S. Congress," has a large problem in the civility-respect area.

GOP == TEAM STUPID

On days like this, it's EASY to be a liberal!

GOP chairman: Afghan 'war of Obama's choosing'
Jul 2 02:24 PM US/Eastern
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele says Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing" and the conflict "is not something the United States has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," comments that drew an immediate rebuke from Republicans and Democrats.

"If he's such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that's the one thing you don't do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right? Because everyone who's tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed," Steele said. "And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan."

Conservative Bill Kristol, writing for The Weekly Standard, said Steele should resign.

"There are, of course, those who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, and they're certainly entitled to make their case," wrote Kristol, a consistent supporter of the Afghanistan war. "But one of them shouldn't be the chairman of the Republican Party."

LOOKS LIKE WE LIVE IN MARXIAN TIMES

(h/t Susie Madrak at Crooks & Liars)

No, I don't mean that Pres. Obama is a secret Marxist who's out to destroy Capitalism and the American Way, I mean the unemployment situation in the U.S. The main beneficiaries will be global U.S. corporations, according to this article from Bloomberg:

The 6.8 million Americans out of work for 27 weeks or longer -- a record 46 percent of all the unemployed -- are providing U.S. companies with an eager, skilled and cheap labor pool.

Falling wage pressures will help keep inflation low, contributing to lower Treasury-bond yields, according to Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The lack of wage pressure also “reinforces the case for globally exposed companies” because “there has been better cost containment in the U.S. than in some of our competitors,” said Ethan Harris, head of North America economics at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Research in New York.

CLIMATEGATE???

Not so much to this after all.

Climate Scientist Cleared of Altering Data
By JUSTIN GILLIS
Published: July 1, 2010
NY Times

An American scientist accused of manipulating research findings on climate science was cleared of that charge by his university on Thursday, the latest in a string of reports to find little substance in the allegations known as Climategate.

An investigative panel at Pennsylvania State University, weighing the question of whether the scientist, Michael E. Mann, had “seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting or reporting research or other scholarly activities,” declared that he had not.

Dr. Mann said he was gratified by the findings, the second report from Penn State to clear him. An earlier report had exonerated him of related charges that he suppressed or falsified data, destroyed e-mail and misused confidential information.

Two inquiries in Britain have largely exonerated the scientists there who were caught up in Climategate, though one report did offer minor criticism of statistical techniques.

DEFENDING A DEEPLY-HELD ILLUSION

I've noted before that that Baggers cling to the mythology of the purity of rural America and Prof. J.M. Bernstein describes this illusion as bad metaphysics:

Tea Party anger is, at bottom, metaphysical, not political: what has been undone by the economic crisis is the belief that each individual is metaphysically self-sufficient, that one’s very standing and being as a rational agent owes nothing to other individuals or institutions.
[...]
The great and inspiring metaphysical fantasy of independence and freedom is simply a fantasy of destruction.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST (MAYBE)

The EPA's action to get Texas refineries in compliance with the Clean Air Act will give the wingnuts something else to whine about.

EPA Overturns 16-Year-Old Texas Permit Program
EPA rejects 16-year-old Texas air permit program, leaves nation's largest refineries in limbo
By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON June 30, 2010 (AP)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday officially overturned a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program it says violates the Clean Air Act, leaving some of the country's largest refineries in a state of limbo.

The EPA's decision, announced in a statement, will force some 125 refineries and petrochemical plants to invest millions of dollars to get new permits. Many of the plants may also have to invest in updates to comply with federal regulations.

The decision did not come as a surprise to Texas or the industries. EPA regional director Al Armendariz has said for months he would disapprove the permits if Texas did not comply with the Clean Air Act.

The EPA's move on Wednesday addresses Texas' so-called flexible permits, which set a general limit on how much air pollutants an entire facility can release. The federal Clean Air Act requires state-issued permits to set limits on each of the dozens of individual production units inside a plant. The EPA says Texas' system masks pollution and makes it impossible to regulate emissions and protect public health.

Texas has been issuing the permits since 1994 even though it never received the required federal approval. The EPA made clear at least five years ago it believed the permits violated federal air laws, warning Texas and the refinery and petrochemical industry it would take action. The industry, uncomfortable with the uncertainty, sued the EPA in 2008, demanding the agency take action on this and several other programs that remained in limbo.

The EPA was under a court-ordered deadline of June 30 to either approve or disapprove the flexible permit program. On Wednesday, a federal court rejected a last minute appeal by the industry to extend the deadline.

HILARIOUS!

One corrupt firm wags finger at another corrupt firm. (h/t Gawker)

S&P Warns Rival Moody's: We Might Downgrade You
Published: Wednesday, 30 Jun 2010 | 1:17 PM ET
By: Jeff Cox
CNBC.com Staff Writer

Standard & Poor's has placed rival ratings agency Moody's on its watch list for a credit downgrade, citing dangers from financial reform legislation that could imperil S&P itself.

The primary danger cited is the threat the bill poses by making it easier for investors to sue ratings agencies for providing bad information.

NEVADA IS EVEN WORSE THAN ARIZONA

Arizona's taxes were the lowest they've been in the last 30 years but because of the Great Recession, we've had to raise the state sales tax and we may end up raising the local sales tax in Tucson.

Nevada, another free market fairy state, is in worse shape.

Nevada a bigger loser than California in economic downturn
By Dale Kasler | Sacramento Bee
Posted on Thursday, July 1, 2010

The state with the ultra-friendly business climate has surpassed Michigan for the nation's highest unemployment rate: 14 percent. Its foreclosure rate is also the nation's highest.

What's more, Nevada's budget deficit is actually worse than California's, in percentage terms.

SOCIAL JUSTICE, CONSERVATIVE STYLE

(h/t Atrios)

It's OK to pay out $30 billion for junk paper from Bear Stearns but it's not OK to lengthen unemployment benefits at a cost of $34 billion.

I BET YOU WON'T HEAR THIS ON FAUX NEWS

Given what I know of McChrystal's handling of the JSOC, I think this is appropriate.

White House to let McChrystal retire with 4 stars
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 30, 2010 2:30 a.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama has agreed to waive a Pentagon rule and let outgoing Gen. Stanley McChrystal retire at his full four-star rank, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.

While the general is short of the time needed to retire at his current pay grade, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would ensure he keeps his rank as he steps down.

A senior Pentagon official told CNN that he would have to have held his rank for three years before qualifying for full retirement benefits -- but Obama is waiving that requirement because of McChrystal's many years of "honorable service," the official said.

A CONSERVATIVE ECONOMIST SLAMS THE GOP

That's not at all the point of Allan Meltzer's op-ed in the WSJ but that's what he wrote when he attacked the tax cuts that were part of last year's stimulus bill:

One piece financed temporary tax cuts. This was a mistake, and ignores the role of expectations in the economy. Economic theory predicts that temporary tax cuts have little effect on spending. Unless tax cuts are expected to last, consumers save the proceeds and pay down debt. Experience with past temporary tax reductions, as in the Carter and first Bush presidencies, confirms this outcome.

These cuts were included to get GOP votes in the Senate.

WAH WAH "THE JONES ACT"

The wingers have been screaming about Pres. Obama not lifting the Jones Act to allow foreign vessels to help clean up BP's huge oil spill in the Gulf but as is often the case, there's nothing to the charge.

GOP's false talking point: Jones Act blocks Gulf help

By William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, June 30, 2010

WASHINGTON — From former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to Arizona Sen. John McCain to junior members of the House of Representatives, conservative Republicans have accused President Barack Obama of failing to do all he can to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill because he hasn't waived a U.S. maritime law called the Jones Act.

Armey and the other Republican critics are wrong. Maritime law experts, government officials and independent researchers say that the claim is false. The Jones Act isn't an impediment at all, they say, and it hasn't blocked anything.

"Totally not true," said Mark Ruge, counsel to the Maritime Cabotage Task Force, a coalition of U.S. shipbuilders, operators and labor unions. "It is simply an urban myth that the Jones Act is the problem."

In a news briefing last week, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said he'd received "no requests for Jones Act waivers" from foreign vessels or countries. "If the vessels are operating outside state waters, which is three miles and beyond, they don't require a waiver," he said.

FactCheck.org, a nonprofit website operated by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, analyzed claims that failure to waive the Jones Act is blocking foreign-flagged vessels from assisting in the Gulf. It concluded last week that "In reality, the Jones Act has yet to be an issue in the response efforts."

The Deepwater Horizon response team reported in a news release June 15 that 15 foreign-flagged ships were participating in the oil spill cleanup, FactCheck.org said. "None of them needed a waiver because the Jones Act does not apply," it said.

TRUST & CONFIDENCE

We are often informed of the "trust" or "confidence" of consumers, investors or businesses have in The Market but how can there be any left after all the scandals since 2000?

ARE RADIO ADVERTISERS PAYING ANY ATTENTION?

Glenn Beck routinely warns us about the looming economic collapse, which is great for his Gold Line plugs but not so good for General Steel because it's ad portrays an economy that's going to make a full recovery.

WHO SUPPORTS THE TROOPS?

(h/t Steve Benen)

The GOP senators don't because they objected to a bill submitted by Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Wash.) that would "expand assistance for homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children and would increase funding and extend federal grant programs to address the unique challenges faced by these veterans."

Sen. Coburn (R-OKLA) was concerned about the funding but didn't offer a way to provide it.

LITTLE MISS DOPEY STRIKES AGAIN

Sarah Palin once again gets that facts wrong:

Goofs mar Palin's Reagan college tribute, legal fund appeal

Following in others' grand tradition of demonstrating gaps in knowledge while addressing a university, Sarah Palin told a crowd at a fundraiser at California State University in Stanislaus last weekend that Ronald Reagan, personal hero and inspiration, was a California college graduate. She told the cheering crowd: "This is Reagan country, and perhaps it was destiny that the man who went to California's Eureka College would become so woven within and interlinked to the Golden State."

There's just one problem here: Reagan went to Eureka College in Illinois from 1928 to 1932, the Alaska Dispatch reports. He didn't move to California until five years after his graduation. There's no Eureka College in California (though there's a town of Eureka that has a College of the Redwoods nearby).

NO, IT'S NOT MERELY A "PROCEDURAL HURDLE"

It's a FILIBUSTER! Why can't the Establishment Media get this right?

Democrats return to drawing board on Wall Street bill

Rachelle Younglai and Kevin Drawbaugh
WASHINGTON
Tue Jun 29, 2010 2:16pm EDT

(Reuters) - Democrats on Tuesday considered stripping out a controversial tax from their landmark financial-reform bill in order to win the swing votes needed to pass it in Congress.

But Democrats are now two votes short of the 60 needed to clear a Republican procedural hurdle in the Senate.

I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF

Pres. Obama's achievements so far and this Steve Benen post was a lot of help:

Expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research

Lily Ledbetter Law - equal pay for equal work

The Stimulus Bill - kept us out of another Great Depression

Expanded health insurance for children

Hate Crimes Act - to help honor the memory of Matthew Shepard

New global non-proliferation initiative

Overhaul of the student loan program, resulting in lower interest rates

New nuclear arms treaty with Russia

Health Care Reform

Wall Street Reform

OOH, THIS IS GOING TO HURT

Peter Beinart may have driven a stake through the heart of movement conservatism:

Decades later, liberals and conservatives still disagree about whether Reagan's reforms changed America for good or ill. What they don't disagree about is the fact that they fundamentally changed America. Those changes made Reagan one of the most consequential presidents in American history. Eighteen months in, it's a good bet that historians will say the same about Barack Obama.

CONS ARE STILL LIVING IN THE PAST

(h/t Atrios and Alicublog)

Ronald Reagan has been out of office for almost 22 years, an entire generation ago, but wingers like Hannity still genuflect in his honor. One sign of the impotence of the Noise Machine is the fact that most people under 30 don't much care about St. Ronnie and what he supposedly stands for. This is a reflection of a more general problem the conservatives and the GOP have - they just aren't very attractive to younger people and even conservative wunderkind Jonathan Krohn admits it:

“The Republican Party has done a horrible job for decades of reaching out to young people,” Krohn said. “It really has been the party of old white men."

A HUNCH CONFIRMED AGAIN

For years I've thought that wingnuts just repeat talking points they get from Sean or Rush without having any understanding of the words. This was confirmed again today on this POLITICO thread about Elena Kagan where I asked a winger to define "negative liberties" and explain to us why he thought they were unconstitutional.

CONSERVATIVES AND AFGHANISTAN

I've heard right-wing radio host Billy Cunnigham, one of Hannity's pals, call for unconditional withdrawal from Afghanistan many times and I think that means even the half-wits are getting it.

The newest one is a GOP senator from Georgia:

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) warned that Afghanistan is no longer primarily a military problem, and raised the prospect of a “very ugly victory.”

“This is not a conventional war,” Chambliss said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“There are political issues that are probably the most difficult that we’ve encountered probably any place we’ve been in,” he said, calling Hamid Karzai’s administration “the most corrupt government we’ve ever dealt with from a conflict standpoint.”

“We could win militarily and still have a very ugly victory.” Chambliss concluded.

TRANSCENDENTAL HYPOCRISY

Fats Limbaugh just accused the Administration of being too pessimistic about the economy!

THIS SEEMS LIKE GREAT NEWS...

On This Week, CIA Director Leon Panetta announced what appears to be terrific news:

“I think the estimate on the number of Al Qaeda is actually relatively small,” Panetta said. “At most, we’re looking at 50 to 100, maybe less. It’s in that vicinity. There’s no question that the main location of Al Qaeda is in the tribal areas of Pakistan.”

That sounds great until you recall that there were 100 or fewer at the beginning of last December, so in almost 8 months, there's been NO CHANGE.