‘I Don’t Recall Our Founding Fathers Using Teleprompters’
On last night’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart talks Tea Party.
‘You Can’t Resort to Childish Attacks as Hominem as they are Nauseum’ (Video)
On Thursday night’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart took Keith Olbermann to task for being a blowhard, and it was awesome.
The Daily Show’s ‘Decade in Review’ (Video)
Remember the year 2000? Neither do I. Fortunately, your friends at The Daily Show have made it possible to relive the painful past—in all its attention-deficit glory.
And after you’re thoroughly worn out by year one, you can inflict upon yourself recaps of the rest of the painful decade; as an added bonus, you can also watch Jon Stewart slowly get old.
Halloweening It Without Jeopardizing Your Indie Cred (An O&B How-To)
Call it Halloween, call it the day after Devil’s Night (if you’re a fan of The Crow), call it the day before All Saints Day (that’s for all you Catholics out there), or just call it a pain in the ass. Like it or not, it’s time to dress up. Whether fun or a chore, it’s more important than it seems, and wearing the wrong costume can be disastrous. The right costume, however, will not only get you through the night unscathed, but it could also do wonders for upping your rep. Most important, not wearing a costume is not really an option. You’ll be viewed as Halloween’s equivalent to Scrooge. Going to a Halloween party sans costume is like not dancing to a band that moves you. Don’t be a dick. Wear a costume. Dance. (more…)
Westboro Baptist Church Plans 29 Anti-Gay/Jewish/Military Protests in San Diego (Links)
California: America’s first failed state? The state that was once held up as the epitome of the boundless opportunities of America has collapsed. Westboro Baptist Church planning 29 anti-gay/Jewish/military protests in San Diego The Kansas-based church known for its anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-military protests is planning four days of demonstrations at 29 locations in San Diego County next week. Happy birthday, War in Afghanistan (photos) Violence in Afghanistan has reached its most intense of the eight-year-old war despite record levels of U.S. and NATO troops being sent to fight the Taliban. War: Bipartisanship Republicans can get behind Up until now President Obama has been unable to round up any Republican backing for his major initiatives. Finally, though, it appears that the GOP will come to his rescue—because he doesn’t have enough backing within his own party. Earth feels ‘massive relief’ that Obama is in office “What’s really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States for 2009.” Census Bureau: U.S. lost ground on every major economic measurement under Bush Thursday’s annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau’s principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes the books on the economic record of George W. Bush. They tortured a man they knew to be innocent We now know that torturing a human being to get proof that he deserved to be tortured was not just a theoretical fear of mine. It happened. Bob Dole: now or never on health care If the reform proves popular, then the GOP will forever be tarred as the party that refused to help more people get health insurance or to tackle healthcare costs. Dick Cheney’s daughter to bring another ‘innocent child’ into her ‘lesbianic home’ The right-wing base loves Dick and Liz, but it dislikes the way Mary Cheney is gay and having children with her life partner. Texas gov. Perry acts to derail wrongful execution hearing Texas Gov. Rick Perry has shaken up a state commission looking into whether a man was wrongly executed in 2004. Life without parole for minors: cruel and unusual? The United States Supreme court will soon weigh in, and the question will be an early test of whether Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a former prosecutor, will align herself with the court’s tough-on-crime conservatives or join with its liberals to strike down prison policies perceived as going too far. Raines: Safire’s ‘rigid’ GOP loyalty contrasted with his openness to new information Bill Safire’s “rigid loyalty to the Republican Party stood in contrast to his intellectual habits, which were liberal in the old-fashioned sense of being comprehensive and open to new information,” writes Howell Raines. Glenn Beck uses Vaporub to get the “tears” flowing Now we see how Glenn Beck gets himself properly weepy for the cameras: a little Vicks Vaporub. He also can’t explain what he meant by ‘white culture’ Er, well, oh, er… Bill Gates has fifty thousand million dollars It’s that time of the year again when Forbes publishes their annual list of the 400 richest Americans, and the rest of us look at the billions they own, dream away for a minute or two, and then get back to reality, remembering we’ve forgotten to pay our cell phone bill.
Obama Wins I’m-Not-George-W.-Bush Prize
President Obama, the liberal media announced this morning, has won the Nobel Peace Prize®.
The third sitting president to receive the award, Obama is honored by the bestowal and, frankly, a little relieved. “I am honored by the bestowal and, frankly, a little relieved. Maybe now people will forget that I couldn’t bring the 2016 Olympics to the United States,” the president probably said. “Also, it’s great to get the recognition because I was worried that I wasn’t really doing anything. Clearly, that can’t be true. They don’t just give these things out for political reasons to show predecessors just how much the international community didn’t like them.” (more…)
The Upside of Terror
A teenage 9/12 attendee and prospective member of Future School Shooters of America.
America has never had a shortage of quirky subcultures, especially in the political realm. Our vast country is littered with trash of all kinds, whether it be the Afterbirthers or those zany Libertarians—who, once they no longer receive public utilities, will be fertilizing the tree of liberty with the contents of their candle lit outhouses. For a sampling of the entire American landfill, look no further than the 9-12 Project:
The 9-12 Project is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the values and principles of the greatest nation ever created.
I know nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, but surely there are more illustrious days in our history than the one where we were too rocked with fear and despair to focus on anything but our immediate survival. (more…)
Poll: 73% of Doctors Across all Disciplines Support Public Health Care Option
May the bogeymen of Socialism be damned. According to a comprehensive new study,
A large majority of doctors say there should be a public option…nearly three-quarters of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options.
Additionally, 63 percent of doctors say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance, the same position held by U.S. President Barack Obama and many Democrats. Another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they’d like to see a single-payer health care system—something that many of Obama’s Republican opponents have billed as equivalent to Marxist Socialism.
The study was conducted by Dr. Salomeh Keyhani and Dr. Alex Federman, both internists and researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, by mail and by phone, of 2,130 doctors. They surveyed them from June right up to early September. (via NPR)
Reason Number 325 Why I’ll Never Move to Texas (Links)
Krugman on the Need For Bipartisanship ‘What people usually mean [is that] you ought to get the center. We ought to get…the middle twenty Senators to agree on something. The middle twenty Senators are now all Democrats. The Republican party is now a rump on the right.’ Charles Grassley, Coward We should not ignore the sheer personal cowardice of many politicians. Town Hall Gun-Toters Thirsty for the ‘Blood of Tyrants’ The gun-toting protester in New Hampshire used the same Jefferson quote as Timothy McVeigh when he committed his act of mass murder. Did Rifle-Toting Protesters Help or Hurt Gun Rights? New laws are allowing more Americans to carry guns in public. But are gun-carrying protesters going too far? Complaint Over Doctor Who Posted Inkblot Test The doctor, James Heilman, defended his decision to publicize the images on Wikipedia and demystify the secretive Rorschach test. Seattle Times Editor: Bloggers Should Watch What They Say Ryan Blethen says that only trained journalists fully understand the difference between fact and opinion and the use of ‘red flag words.’ Reason Number 325 Why I’ll Never Move to Texas This fall, a 2007 Texas law goes into effect, having all public schools, under mandate, teaching the Bible
The Guns Are Out, the Risks Are Real (Links)
Cheney: We Didn’t Go Far Enough Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney believes that the Bush Administration’s policies should have been pushed much further. Whores on Terror The documentation of “sexual humiliation,” sodomy, and other forms of “enhanced interrogation” conducted by U.S. personnel are too extensive to be denied or pawned off on a couple of redneck privates. Ten of Obama’s Health-Care Missteps What the White House did wrong, in no particular order. Obama Isn’t Saying the Right Thing He should be saying, “Stop lying.” At Health Care Events, Guns Are Out, and the Risks Are Real It’s not enough for conservatives to repudiate violence, as some are belatedly beginning to do. Krugman: Extreme Opponents of Health Care Unappeasable “What they hate is the whole idea of any kind of health reform and more broadly what they hate is the whole idea of Democrats actually holding the White House.” In Alaska, Palin Leaves Behind Mismanaged Health Care System—Hundreds Die Waiting For Care The situation is so bad that the federal government has forbidden Alaska from signing up new people; no other state in the nation is under such a moratorium. A Case of Affinity Fraud The peddlers of anti-progressive lies are managing to convince a certain kind of American—white, socially conservative, etc.—that the hate-mongers are people like them; and, even more important, that progressives are Those People, people not like them. Them Versus Us By 1900, the U.S. had become more diverse and densely populated, with an industrial economy dominated by large corporations, and it had became abundantly clear that government power was necessary to regulate the marketplace, provide a safety net for the poor and elderly, and protect the environment. O’Reilly gloats that Fox’s ratings are due to its ‘fair and balanced’ approach You know how when someone says, “Now, I’m not trying to be a jerk, but…”, you can be certain that what will follow is them being a jerk. Ironic Divorce Protector of traditional marriage Doug Manchester is leaving his wife of 43 years.
Pastor Urges His Flock to Bring Guns to Church (Links)
An Incoherent Truth On health care, the conservative Democrats can’t extract major concessions on the shape of health care reform without dooming the whole project. What’s Cost Got to Do With It? Costs have skewed the debate on health care much like they have the debate on climate change—as if business-as-usual on either of them will be magically cost-free. Bush Officials: Where Are They Now? A guide to who’s cashing in. A Day of Reckoning for Bush’s ‘Torture’ Lawyers Eric Holder must decide whether to pursue Bush administration lawyers and one sitting federal judge who set the legal stage for officially sanctioned torture and other degrading practices that violated fundamental principles of international law. Barack Obama is More Likely Than Bush to Get Things Right We have a fox in the Oval Office, and he has replaced a hedgehog. U.S. Guns Fuel Canada And Mexico Crimes, UK Gun Crime Remains Rare Guns smuggled from the US arm criminals in Canada and Mexico, contributing to a higher murder rate in Canada and more intense drug crime conflict near the Mexican border, according to a study. Gun Flow South is a Crisis for Two Nations A report says the U.S. failure to curb smuggling has strengthened drug cartels. Pastor Urges His Flock to Bring Guns to Church In Louisville, Kentucky, Ken Pagano’s congregation is a sign that American gun culture is thriving despite, or perhaps because of, President Obama. Winning the Ultimate Battle: How Humans Could End War Optimists called the first world war “the war to end all wars.” She Broke the G.O.P. and Now She Owns It As the Republicans’ lone charismatic performer, Sarah Palin has come to represent a dwindling white nonurban America that is aflame with grievances. Robert McNamara in Context Should the Vietnam-era secretary of defense be remembered as a public servant, hawk, technocrat, hero, or all of the above? Assassination: A Brief History Governments can bomb faceless troops of enemy conscripts with impunity, but are questioned closely about bombing photographable individuals. Numbers numb; identity humanizes. That’s the general rule. Does Religion Have a Monopoly on ‘Enchantment’? Weber linked rationalisation with ‘the disenchantment of the world,’ but is it fair to equate the lack of religion to an absence of magic and mystery? The Bachmann Comic So how is the new comic book about our favorite House GOP backbencher, Michele Bachmann (R-MN)?
Breaking: Obama Not a “Fan” of God on Facebook
An O&B reader tipped us off to a news item that will no doubt dominate the airwaves for weeks, if not years, to come; it’s likely to even surpass the recent Michael Jackson Corpse-stravaganza in newsworthiness. Yes, something dreadful this way comes, and we’re proud to be the website to unleash it. So shocking is this development that it will surely result in the collapse of America’s moral center, leading to the paralysis of our folksy extremities. But such a revelation is necessary, even if it crushes this country’s spirit and buries the American Dream under a mound of rubble and cloud of asbestos, never to be resurrected by so many diligent Christian heroes. (more…)
I Was a Marine Sniper (Links)
Leader of Minuteman Militia Group Arrested for Murder & Robbery Raul Flores, 29, and his daughter, Brisenia, 9, were killed when the group forced their way into the home. Who Is to Blame for the Next Attack? Republicans in Congress have no plausible economic, health care or energy policies to counter the president’s; the only card they have left to play is 9/11. I Was a Marine Sniper I’d like to say [that I went to Iraq because it had to do with patriotism], but no…I just wanted to fucking kill people. Door to Door as Missionaries, Then as Salesmen A security company is employing Mormons with experience cold-calling for their faith. Is That Blog Review Really a Paid Ad? The FTC Wants You to Know Even though reviews published on blogs are often assumed to be word-of-mouth rants or raves, writers often get paid with free samples, gift certificates, and cash—or even (in some instances) the loan of a $30,000 Ford Flex for a year. Facebook May “Undo” Twitter-like Homepage Remember the uproar over the latest Facebook re-design? Enjoy the Free Hulu While You Still Can Speaking at a recent event, newly-installed NewsCorp officer Jonathan Miller said he envisions a future where at least some of the content on the video site is available only to paid subscribers. TV Crews Flee Hollywood for…Hoboken? A first-of-its-kind study confirms that a key part of the TV industry – pilot production – is moving to other states, costing California millions. Blacks Abandon San Francisco No U.S. city has seen a more rapid decline of its African-American population. Stealing the Iranian Election Top pieces of evidence that the Iranian national election was stolen. The “Bomb Iran” Contingent’s Newfound Concern for the Iranian People Much of the same faction now claiming such concern for the welfare of the Iranian people are the same people who have long advocated a military attack that would result in the slaughter of many of those very same citizens. The Harlem That Was Photographs of New York’s most interesting neighborhood in its most neglected age.
Is the California Constitution Too Easy to Amend? (Links)
Is the California Constitution Too Easy to Amend? Even if there is no clearly right answer, there still may be some pretty clearly wrong answers. The California system falls into the latter category. The Age of Disorganization The era of U.S. hegemony could be followed by a period of chaotic “nonpolarity” instead. What’s a Liberal Justice Now? When talking about the Supreme Court, Barack Obama has resisted the familiar ideological categories that have defined our judicial battles for the past several decades. Cheney Prepares the Twinkie Defense Why, after spending eight years as both the most powerful and most reclusive vice president in White House history, has Dick Cheney suddenly fallen in love with the media? After the Gold Rush Make no mistake, the neoliberal era is over—but at what cost? How To Become an Accidental Conservative Jan Fleischhauer describes his childhood in a typical West German liberal family, with parents who wouldn’t let him eat oranges because they were grown in countries ruled by dictators, and his coming out as a late conservative. Iran May Not Want The Bomb And other unexpected truths. The Media’s Lost Generation How do you get ahead in an industry that can’t see its own future? Newspaper Runs Obama Assassination Ad A Pennsylvania newspaper published an advertisement on Thursday calling for the assassination of President Obama. Wikipedia to Church of Scientology: You’re Banned! The Web’s stuggle with Scientology has been well-documented. 5 Terrifying Bastardizations of the Wikipedia Model The fact that Wikipedia lets anybody edit just isn’t enough for some people. Facebook User Drops $70.50 Lawsuit In short, if you get a virus from clicking a link on Facebook, they’re not responsible…even if you lose $70 worth of friends.
California Voters Exercise Their Power–and That’s the Problem (Links)
California Voters Exercise Their Power–and That’s the Problem Residents relish their role in the lawmaking process, but they share the blame for the state’s severe dysfunction. ‘Hyperlocal’ Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers If your local newspaper shuts down, what will take the place of its coverage? Law Students Teach Scalia About Privacy and the Web Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was not amused when he became the subject of a law professor’s classroom assignment on how much private information on individuals is available online. Nothing To (S)Coff At Why the two biggest U.S. tobacco companies are fighting each other. Boy Scouts Train in Post-9/11 Law Enforcement Methods Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor. Cheney’s Outspokenness Correlated to Potential Book Deal The former vice president’s blitz of appearances have made him a leading conservative voice as he shops his memoirs. Fact-Checking Cheney McClatchy has turned in another commendable example of skeptical political reporting. Dick Just Wants To Be Loved Cheney’s attempts at public redemption have a logical root in his Cold War experience. Accused Palin Hacker Says Stolen E-Mails Were Public Record A surprise legal maneuver by the defense in the Sarah Palin hacking case could undermine key charges carrying the stiffest potential penalties. Why Republicans Make the Rest of Us Miserable When They Lose Out of power, they’re bigger babies than Democrats. Here’s why. If Gay Marriage Isn’t a Big Deal Anymore, Maybe The Religious Right Isn’t Either If a state legalizes gay marriage and nobody notices, can gay people still get married? What if four states do it in six weeks? Right Wing Talk Show Host Gets Waterboarded, Says It’s Absolutely Torture ‘It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke…It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture…They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’
Larry on Larry – An Interview With the King
Larry King, godfather of the softball question, published an autobiography earlier this week, called My Remarkable Journey. In the book, King finally answers all of the softball questions that have plagued our minds since he took to the airwaves in 1913.
By promising King that we’d model our interview after his “promote, don’t go for the throat” style, we were able to sit down with the inexplicably popular TV star. (more…)
Welcome to Your Quarterlife Crisis (Links)
Man Arrested For Taking Photo of Open ATM “I took the picture because I’m fascinated by the insides of things that we don’t normally get to see…That was when Officer GE Abed spun me around and put handcuffs on me.” Wikipedia Art: Vandalism or Performance Art? The plan was to write a new article, titled Wikipedia Art that was wholly devoted to the fact that the page had been created—an article that was completely meta and self-referential. ‘NewsHour’ on PBS to Get Makeover The move is designed to bring the show more fully into the digital era, give it a livelier look and nudge it, however slowly, toward the day when its longtime anchor decides to retire. Did Blackwater Contractors Attempt to Hide Evidence of a Massacre in Iraq? Private security contractor Xe (formerly Blackwater USA) has fallen on hard times. Welcome to Your Quarterlife Crisis Unrelenting indecision, isolation, confusion and anxiety about working, relationships and direction is reported by people in their mid-twenties to early thirties who are usually urban, middle class and well-educated.
The Angry Man, the Droll, the Perv (Links)
Ronald Reagan: A Vengeful, Score-Settling, Hard Left Ideologue? How severely has our political spectrum shifted in the last two decades? The Banality of Bush White House Evil Torture was a tool in the campaign to exploit 9/11 so that fearful Americans would support a war that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. Orwell on Law Scholarship In the quest to adopt a simpler and more direct style in legal discussion, lawyers could learn a lot from Orwell. Op-Ed Art That Was Rejected by NYT Editors Milton Glaser drew an alien for a Valentine’s Day manuscript in 1996, but an editor determined that its beak “looked like a taboo human part.” Human Landscapes From Above (Photos) Photographer Jason Hawkes has been carrying his Nikon D3 aboard helicopters around the world, hanging out the doorway and capturing landscapes—most somehow affected by humans—below. What Kind of Web Commenter Are You? The Angry Man? The Droll? The Perv?
99 Days of Obama
On April 29, Barack Obama turns 100. Presidents sure do grow up fast. In many ways, the first 100 days are the most important time in a president’s career, perhaps due to the lopsided attention and arbitrary, question-begging importance bestowed upon them.
If you’re looking for 100-days coverage, you’re in the wrong place. Maybe Maury Povich is covering it, along with CNN, Fox, and Time. We at Owl and Bear would like to remember Obama in his double digits. 100 represents pre-millennial, base-ten, pre-hope/change thinking and is therefore hogwash. 99 is a progressive base-eleven-in-intervals-of-nine thought system, which is very now.
Plus, who knows what tomorrow may bring? (more…)
You, Hannity, Levin are all Brainwashed and You Know It (Links)
Rush Limbaugh Gets Pwned by Caller: ‘You, Hannity, Hewitt, and Levin are all brainwashed and you know it.’ Southern California Is For Suckers: Behind our house was a towering tree, just loaded with bees. The Fall of Newspapers, Rise of The Daily Me: There’s pretty good evidence that we generally don’t want good information—but rather information that confirms our prejudices. Annals of Unfortunate Spellcheck Accidents: The caption described a photograph illustrating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ General Conference, and it referred to the group’s “Quorum of Twelve Apostates” rather than ‘Apostles.’ First Amendment Will Face Difficult Trials: ‘Bad Phoenix Cops’ blogger Jeff Pataky’s home was raided by ten Phoenix police officers last month. Remember When TV News Was a No-Cry Zone? Todays new emotional media is a hybrid beast: Phil Donahue meets Charles Coughlin. Sarah Palin vs. Levi Johnston: ‘Bristol’s focus will remain on raising Tripp, completing her education, and advocating abstinence.’
Bill’O & Newt: Messing With Your Drug Life (Links)
Former CNN Anchor Moves to The Onion: In yet another sign that the line between real news and fake news is getting thinner, one of CNN’s main anchors during the 1980s and 1990s, Bobbie Battista, has taken a step through the looking glass and can now be seen anchoring reports online for ONN, The Onion News Network. ‘Sexting’ Hysteria Falsely Branded Educator as Child Pornographer: It was an incident that began innocently enough, but nearly ruined the life and three-decade career of a veteran high school teacher and administrator. Why are Gun Sales Up? First quarter results show that Sturm Ruger (RGR) stock is up 102% and Smith & Wesson (SWHC) stock is up 165%. Bill’O, Newt, Propose Forced Drug Testing for All Americans: O’Reilly: Now, they have no drug problem in Singapore at all, number one, because they hang drug dealers—they execute them.
Have We Been Overlooking Our Home-Grown Terrorists?
Is the strange domestic terrorism case from Maine a part of a larger trend of increasingly violent expressions coming from the American far right since Barack Obama’s election? Rachel Maddow weighed in on this recently:
Should this guy have been [caught] before he died? And, post-9/11, have we focused too much on stopping Bin Laden again at the expense of potentially stopping the next Timothy McVeigh?
The Maine incident is only the latest in a long string of cases of serious domestic terrorism emerging from the extremist Right since 9/11. others. (more…)
Greenwald: We Need More Public Anger
Greenwald:
Matt Taibbi’s new Rolling Stone article perfectly summarizes what the AIG scandal reveals about our political and economic system, and should be read in full. In sum: financial elites own the Government and both political parties. Their money drowns Washington and their lobbyists control it. They used that ownership of Government to abolish decades-old legal and regulatory protections which previously constrained what they could do. In the lawless environment which they literally purchased from our political leaders, they were able to pillage and pilfer and steal without limit. And even now that everything has come crashing down, they continue to dictate what the Government’s response is, to ensure that they—the prime authors of the disaster—are the prime beneficiaries, at the public’s expense, of the “solutions,” solutions which preserve their ill-gotten gains and heighten even further their power and influence.
