IF YOU LISTENED TO THE GASBAGS OR READ THE WINGNUTS...

(h/t Judd Legum at Truthout)

you would think that AG Eric Holder was trampling on States rights but the truth, at least in Florida, is far different...

Florida voter purge gets pushback from elections supervisors, U.S. Justice
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 7:49 p.m. Saturday, June 2, 2012
Posted: 7:21 p.m. Friday, June 1, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — Florida elections supervisors said Friday they will discontinue a state-directed effort to remove names from county voter rolls because they believe the state data is flawed and because the U.S. Department of Justice has said the process violates federal voting laws.

The Justice Department letter and mistakes that the 67 county elections supervisors have found in the state list make the scrub undoable, said Martin County Elections Supervisor Vicki Davis, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections.

Detzner in April sent supervisors a list of more than 2,600 voters his Division of Elections had identified as potential non-citizens by matching the state's voter registration database with driver license records. Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher received 115 such names.

Supervisors were supposed to send letters to those on the list notifying them to provide proof of citizenship within 30 days or be removed from the voter rolls. But supervisors say they have found errors, including some on the list who have died, many who have become naturalized citizens since they first got their driver licenses, and others who are U.S.-born citizens -- including a 91-year-old, Brooklyn-born World War II hero who now lives in Broward County.

FOAMER LEVIN VS. THE WORLD

Jeb Bush criticizes tax extremist Grover Norquist and Levin responds by calling Jeb a RINO.   Rick Perry criticizes all the outsiders meddling in the Texas GOP Senate primary and Foamer loses it on Tea Party Perry.

I'd say Foamer is in for more frustration just within the GOP.

MURDER INC.

(h/t Mediaite)

I am referring to the United States under former Pres. George W. Bush and current Pres. Barack Obama. I never thought I would be reading that Pres. Obama had a "kill list" nor did I think authorizing the murder of an American citizen without any trial could be legal. What I found most disturbing was this item from the LA Times (h/t emptywheel):

The expanded authority, approved two years ago by the Bush administration and continued by President Obama, permits the agency to rely on what officials describe as "pattern of life" analysis, using evidence collected by surveillance cameras on the unmanned aircraft and from other sources about individuals and locations.

In the same LAT article, we find this claim:

U.S. officials say the strikes have caused fewer than 30 civilian casualties since the drone program was expanded in Pakistan, a claim that is impossible to verify since the remote and lawless tribal belt is usually off-limits to Western reporters.

How can US officials possibly know this?

ANOTHER JONAH GOLDBERG FAIL

Back in 2009, Huge Ego Hewitt thought Goldberg would be a great conservative ambassador to young voters.  Today, Jonah has renounced that hilarious vision:

Conservative editor: Young Americans ‘so frickin’ stupid’ they shouldn’t get to vote
By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, June 1, 2012 11:36 EDT
The Raw Story

Appearing in a video published online on Thursday, Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large for the neoconservative National Review Online website, explains that he believes letting 18-year-old Americans vote is a big mistake that should be taken back.

Advocating that conservatives should “literally” beat young people into political submission, Goldberg said that young voters are “so frickin’ stupid about so many things,” which is why, in his view, the system must change.

IT'S GOOD THAT THERE'S NO GOP WAR ON WOMEN

(Or so Sean Hannity assures me) because things would get really nasty:

Republican spokesman: ‘Let’s hurl some acid’ at female Democratic senators
By Eric Pfeiffer | The Ticket – 18 hrs ago
YAHOO NEWS

Jay Townsend, a campaign spokesman for Republican Rep. Nan Hayworth (NY-19) has ignited a controversy after he said, "Let's hurl some acid" at female Democratic senators. Townsend's comments (which have since been removed) were posted Thursday on a local Facebook discussion forum for New York's 19^th congressional district.

MOTUs STILL PLAYING WITH PLUTONIUM

I was astonished to find out how much JP Morgan had in the Credit-default swap Casino:

JPMorgan CIO Swaps Pricing Said to Differ From Bank
By Matthew Leising, Mary Childs and Shannon D. Harrington - May 31, 2012 10:27 AM MT
Bloomberg News

The net amount of credit-swaps protection sold by JPMorgan soared eight-fold to $97.4 billion in the three months ended March 31, Federal Reserve data show. The bank held total credit swaps contracts on $6.05 trillion, the biggest among the six- largest U.S. bank holding companies, the data show. 

LOCKHEED THE WONDER COMPANY

Lockheed has a so-so national security record. It was fined $13 million in 2000 for giving missile technology to China and it botched the computerized terrorist watch list in addition to bungling the development of the F-35.

Despite these failures, it has the nerve to criticize the Penatagon for asking for documentation:

Lockheed says Pentagon paperwork adds to overhead costs
By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON | Thu May 31, 2012 7:34pm EDT

(Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp, the biggest U.S. weapons maker, on Thursday pushed back against the Pentagon's demands for ever more cost data, saying the requests were adding to the very overhead the government wants to see lowered.

WHEN I READ THIS, I INSTANTLY THOUGHT OF JEFF KUHNER

Kuhner is a psycho who writes for the Washington Times and occasionally subs for Michael Savage, so it made sense to attribute this article to him:

Moonie Times Columnist Has Many Nuanced, Reasonable Opinions About Bikesharing
by Jim Newell
5:15 pm May 30, 2012
Wonkette

DC’s Capital Bikeshare program, for which you pay a fee to join and then ride bikes to and from docking stations across the city, is a popular thing that keeps enlisting new members and expanding. And now we can really confirm the success of this program, because a Washington Times columnist has written a pathetic, desperate screed about how bikesharing is communist, and gay, and the downfall of the West, essentially.

Let It Be Known: Moonie Times penman Charles Hurt is sick of the communist queers picking up bicycles for transportation, near his house:

It is one of the locking ports for those fat, red communal bicycles you see peddled all over town by commune enthusiasts. (Say that fast, and it sounds like you are saying “commun-ists.”)

THE INTERESTING STORY ON TED CRUZ & TEXAS

CORRECTION: Cruz got 34% of the vote, not 30%

According to radio gasbags and others, Texas is close to the conservatives' idea of a state utopia.  They also claim or imply that most of the people of Texas are true conservatives.  The recent GOP primary tells a different story: despite having the backing of FreedomWorks, Sarah Palin, Club for Growth, Mark Levin and the Tea Party Express, Ted Cruz only garnered 30% of the vote compared to 48% for Lt. Gov. Dewhurst.

WINGNUT MEDIA NOTE

As of right now, according to LexisNexis, there has been no mention of Brett Kimberlin on FAUX News. Something called "States News Service" reports that Freedom Works stands behind the wingnut bloggers Mr. Kimberlin has been annoying.

ANOTHER EASY QUESTION

Q:

“What voter is going to vote for him because he’s seen with Donald Trump?” Mr. Will asked Sunday on the ABC News program “This Week.”

A:

The rubes who think Sean Hannity is credible.

WORTH A TRY, I GUESS

Sue Wilson writes at The Brad Blog that there's a chance the FCC may require gasbag stations to give equal time to Democrats and liberals in the 60 days before an election:

There is a little known regulation at the FCC called the Zapple Doctrine, which is an offshoot of the Fairness Doctrine and of Section 315(a) of the Communications Act, which says that, in the 60 days prior to an election, if a broadcaster offers free airtime to one major party candidate, it must offer free airtime to the other major party candidate. Zapple expands this definition to include supporters of candidates.

Even if this is destined to fail, I think it's a great idea to make a fuss to raise public awareness of how terribly distorted righwing radio is on a daily basis:

We discovered that each Right Wing Talk radio station in Milwaukee is giving about 80 minutes every day to the GOP side. Out of fifteen hours of programming, that doesn't sound like much, but it would cost between $34,000 and $68,000 for supporters of Tom Barrett and the Democrats to buy that time. That's $34,000 -68,000 - every single day. 

At the very least, you can sign a petition to the FCC urging equal time.

MITTENS & THE DONALD

Mittens took this escape hatch to distance himself from The Bloviating Ignoramus:

When pressed by reporters on his campaign plane, Romney on Monday shrugged off Trump’s renewed birther theories.

“You know, I don’t agree with all the people who support me, and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney said. “But I need to get to 50.1 percent or more and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

I don't think this will satisfy the Bagger Purists nor should it please Hannity because it potentially removes the Bill Ayers arrow from his quiver.

J. P. MORGAN SCREWS UP ROYALLY...

but still gets new customers. Isn't this a sign of market failure?

RIM hires bankers to review its bleak options, plans job cuts
By Julianne Pepitone and David Goldman
@CNNMoneyTech May 29, 2012: 5:58 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Research in Motion took another step Tuesday toward radically reshaping or selling off the company. The BlackBerry maker hired JPMorgan and RBC Capital to "review" its strategic options.

REMEMBER WARD CHURCHILL BRETT KIMBERLIN?

Well, one of the wingnut bloggers took him to court AND THE WINGNUT BLOGGER WENT TO JAIL!!!

From The Mahablog:

Remember I was saying that Brett Kimberlin had filed a request for a peace order against a rightie blogger named Aaron Walker? And the hearing on the request was this morning? Well, RS McCain reports that after the hearing the judge had Walker arrested.

Entire rightie blogosphere to go batshit postal in 5 … 4… 3 … 2… 1 …

DAMN - SLOTS BENNETT IS OLD!!!

Pic from NTS MediaOnline...

A LITTLE AZ POLITICS

Jesse Kelly was the Bagger candidate who came within 4,000 or so votes of defeating Gabby Giffords in 2010.  This summer, he's running to fill her remaining term and has backed off publicly from some of the Bagger extremism.  As the Arizona Republic put it, " He's done a lot to dispel his 2010 image as the tea party bomb thrower. "

I suspect this is another indication that we have passed Peak Baggerism.

QUIETER? YES!

Mike Huckabee has a smoother style than Fats, Foamer or The Baby Jesus but he lies just as much as they do and he's just as much a drama queen.

WHAT'S UP WITH CONSERVATIVES AND SEX?

I've noted before their Puritanical attitudes toward human sexuality and on this POLITICO thread about Chris Hayes' remarks, I was astounded at the number of posters who accused Hayes of being somehow well short of their idea of masculinity.

UPDATE: Ann Coulter makes my point crystal clear:

In response to Up host Chris Hayes‘ viral musings on the word “heroes,” conservative commentator and exploding fireworks factory Ann Coulter tweeted “Chris Hayes ‘Uncomfortable’ Calling Fallen Military ‘Heroes’ – Marines respond by protecting his right to menstruate.”

SOME THOUGHTS ON HEROISM

I read William H. Prescott's classic work History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) maybe 20 years ago and I thought that Hernan Cortes and his fighters were heroic because of their enormous numerical and logistical disadavantages.  That doesn't mean that I condone the terrible suffering inflicted by the Spaniards on the native population because I am only taking a narrow, almost individual view of the events. On that level, I think I'm justified in calling the conquerors heroic and I believe my stance here is similar to the one former Pres. Reagan took on May 6, 1985, when he laid a wreath at the Bitburg military cemetary for German soldiers killed in WW II:

Reagan Joins Kohl in Brief Memorial at Bitburg Graves
By BERNARD WEINRAUB, Special to the New York Times
Published: May 6, 1985
BITBURG, West Germany, May 5 — President Reagan presided over a wreath-laying today at the base of a brick cemetery tower looming over the graves of nearly 2,000 German soldiers, including 49 SS troops.

The visit, which was made at the insistence of Mr. Kohl, was overwhelmingly opposed by both houses of Congress, Jewish organizations, veterans' groups and others.

As Mr. Reagan left Bonn this morning for Bergen-Belsen, officials disclosed that the President and Mr. Kohl would be joined at Bitburg by two prominent retired American and German military officers.

The two were Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, 90 years old, who led the 82d Airborne Division in Europe and later fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and Lieut. Gen. Johannes Steinhoff, 71, a World War II flying ace who later rose to the highest ranks of the West German Air Force. After the brief ceremony at the military cemetery, the two men shook hands.

I'm sure Pres. Reagan had no intention of honoring the SS soldiers, just as I am sure that the level of analysis is crucial when using the words "hero", "heroism" and "heroic." On an individual level, a German soldier could be correctly described as heroic without necessarily implying that the cause he fought for was just.

Using the same logic, back in the late 60s & early 70s, I thought it was wrong to denigrate Americans who had served in Vietnam. I disagree with Pres. Obama about calling the treatment of Vietnam Vets a "national shame" because the war itself was the real national shame.

There are additional issues that I glided past which makes determinations of heroism even more difficult. For example, I think we should distinguish between someone who was forced into service by the draft and someone who volunteered. We should also distinguish between victims, such as this incident:

WAR IN THE GULF: Scud Attack; Scud Missile Hits a U.S. Barracks, Killing 27
By R. W. APPLE Jr., Special to The New York Times
Published: February 26, 1991
In the most devastating Iraqi stroke of the Persian Gulf war, an Iraqi missile demolished a barracks housing more than 100 American troops on Monday night, killing 27 and wounding 98, the American military command in Riyadh said early today.

and real heroes, such as this man:

Modest Gulf War Hero Receives Silver Star : Military: A Navy corpsman from Camp Pendleton ran through a mortar barrage to aid wounded Marines.
March 22, 1992|H. G. REZA | LA TIMES STAFF WRITER

Navy corpsman Anthony Martin shakes his head in disbelief when talking about that day during the Persian Gulf War when he became a military hero.

Earlier this month, Maj. Gen. Mike Myatt, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, pinned on Martin's chest a Silver Star for "conspicuous gallantry" for his actions 13 months ago during an Iraqi mortar barrage.

As 82-millimeter mortar rounds exploded around him, the Milwaukee, Wis., native repeatedly ran to the rescue of wounded Marines. He is the only Navy corpsman to be awarded the Silver Star for bravery in Operation Desert Storm.

NOT DULCE ET DECORUM EST

(Go here for explanation of title)

Chris Hayes said something that will get the wingers all riled up:

“I feel… uncomfortable, about the word because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. Um, and, I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that’s fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers, and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I’m wrong about that.”

In the context of a botched war in Afghanistan and an immoral one in Iraq, Hayes is justified in being just a bit sick of the incessant military worship by conservatives in America, often used to bash liberals for not being patriotic. Last night, Billy Cunningham got in the 1st licks on Hayes and I suspect because Drudge and other wackos picked up on the story, we'll be hearing more about this in the next few days.

ONE REASON MICROSOFT MADE MEDIOCRE OPERATING SYSTEMS

It has a financial incentive to get consumers & businesses to upgrade every few years.  This plan didn't work out so will with windows XP, however, because XP wasn't mediocre.

Aged Windows XP costs 5x more to manage than Windows 7
As XP's life wanes, Microsoft talks dollars to get businesses to ditch 11-year-old OS
Gregg Keizer
May 25, 2012 (Computerworld)

Microsoft yesterday added ammunition to its increasingly aggressive battle to get users off the nearly-11-year-old Windows XP by citing a company-sponsored report that claims annual support costs for the older OS are more than five times that of Windows 7.

According to IDC, an amazing 42% of the Windows "commercial" installed base, or anything other than consumers' home machines, was Window XP, making Microsoft's job of moving everyone off the old OS by its April 2014 retirement nearly impossible.

GEORGE WILL ISN'T ALWAYS WRONG

This weekend on ABC News, he called Donald Trump a "bloviating ignoramus" and he was correct.  Of course, the same description also applies to Fats Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenda Beck, Billy Cunningham, Bill O'Reilly and a host of other conservative gasbags. 

So, when will GW let the hammer down on those clowns?