For some reason, a whole bunch of newsy items have grabbed my attention today. Some might be covered in the show; some might not be covered. But, since I'm "in charge" here, I'm going to share anyway - SO THERE! :D
I know this story will get a segment; we are officially into the triple digits for the length of time the Deepwater Horizon horrors have been with us - 100 days. And, a "BP Squad" is s...l...o...w...l...y putting together a criminal probe into what happened. Said probe damn well better include some murder or negligent homicide charges; I'm sure the 11 families of the workers who were killed would appreciate that.
Now - impeached Gov. Potty Mouth's fate is or will soon be in the hands of "we, the people" - well, a dozen citizens of Illinois to be exact. I just LOVE the defense's "case!" For all intents & purposes, Little Roddy has terrible people skills & judgement - HA! Maybe - just maybe, and I might be going out on a limb here, he shouldn't have chosen a career in POLITICS!
The state of MA is gearing up to send the electoral college the way of the dodo & Crystal Pepsi. I've got no problem with that. How 'bout y'all?
Let's get "historical." On this date in 2006, Mel Gibson launched an anti-Semitic tirade as he was arrested in Malibu, CA for driving drunk; Gibson later apologized and was sentenced to probation and alcohol treatment. Yea, THAT worked out well - NOT!
Exactly a year ago today, there was both wonderful & sadly infuriating news stories; let's do the oogy one first. Anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder pleaded not guilty in Wichita, KS to killing late-term abortion provider George Tiller. Roeder was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. And, don't forget, boys & girls, BillO holds absolutely no responsibility whatsoever for what happened to Dr. Tiller. *&^%$#@! On the flip side, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court despite the "best" efforts of THIS GUY; just replace "Kagan" with "Sotomayor." ;D
Let's Countdown!
#5 "Arizona Immigration" AKA "Razing Arizona" AKA "Law & Border" - Things in SB 1070 land are about to get more interesting. The most odious part of the law was struck down today by a US District Judge Susan Bolton; the other parts (including requiring legal immigrants to carry their documentation papers with them at all times & efforts to punish businesses that knowingly hire undocumented workers) are good to go. Barring a lack of racist xenophobes up the appellate ladder, this law will probably end up in front of SCOTUS because the appeals will keep going. I now open the F.O.O. betting parlor to bets on who the first "person" will be to ask Justice Sonia Sotomayor to recuse herself from the case when it gets there. ;D Judge Bolton better get herself some protection if she doesn’t have it already. Senator Kookie Kyl was the one who recommended to President Clinton that she’d make a fine judge?! Damn, I love the smell of irony in the evening; it smells like...
People in Mexico City in front of the US embassy were happy. Gov. Jan Bat$hit Brewer called today’s ruling "...a bump in the road." Honey, YOU ARE A BUMP IN THE ROAD, and you need to be paved over. Rep. Raul Grijalva has lifted his call for an economic boycott. So, what’ll happen when some, again, racist xenophobic judge down the line says that all of SB 1070 is just hunky & dory? I’m willing to be dollars to doughnuts that Russell Pearce has a few like – minded judges up his sleeve of his white robe.
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County returns. Not a damn thing will change shortly after midnight tonight as far as his law enforcement or any law enforcement officers in that state could already do as far as the detention of possibly undocumented workers. Sheriff Dupnik says his county’s business under the enforcement of currently – existing federal immigration law is booming, thank you very much. He also expressed his curiosity concerning what made SB 1070 "necessary" in the first place. Well, racist xenophobe Russell Pearce and GOBP politicians in your state who are petrified of being primaried in August by someone more bat$hit than they are would be an excellent place to start! Another part of Judge Bolton’s ruling said, in effect, that SB 1070 was trying to strong – arm the federal government into reorganizing their budgetary & other priorities according to what Arizona (or the people behind SB 1070) wanted. I will also go out on a limb & predict that if this law gets as far as SCOTUS, and Elena Kagan is on SCOTUS at the time, she will be on the side that says SB 1070 is unconstitutional. Based on all the reading I’ve done about her, I can predict this outcome with 90% confidence. Sheriff Dupnik reminded us all of one very important fact; SB 1070 does exactly jack $hit in the area of "border security!" I’ve read the thing, and he’s absolutely correct. Gov. Brewer has updated her "fund raising efforts" in light of today’s decision?! Wow... she must’ve had some inclination that today’s decision would go down the way it did. Rep. Luis Gutierrez should be a happy man tonight; he also believes that called – for boycotts can go away. Again, I think they’re being a little too quick on the uptake. Rep. Gutierrez mentioned the 4 million or so children who are legal residents of this country because they were born here, but their parents are undocumented. If Russell Pearce has his way, he’ll change that part of the Constitution, too – IDIOT!
#4 "Day 100" AKA "100 Days" AKA "Night of Heroism" AKA "Health Fair for All" - An EPA whistleblower has come out to accuse that organization or helping BP/BS to "downplay" the impact of the use of the dispersants. HA! Lawrence even mentioned the Post article that I linked to above; I am on it every once in awhile! ;D The role of the MMS is especially being looked at by the "BP squad." BP/BS also admitted yesterday that they are under an SEC investigation as well; well, they’re just making friends with EVERYBODY! The number of beach closures hasn’t gone down even though it looks like the oil may have stopped flowing from the Deepwater Horizon site. Hugh Kaufman is the whistleblower {insert standing "o" here}, and he’s with us tonight. He began the segment by coming right out & saying that the dispersants being used in clean – up efforts are TOXIC. So much for that dish soap analogy, huh? I mean, I’m not gonna go downstairs & down some shots of my dish soap, but doing that won’t kill me; now, if I did so with the dispersants being used, yep, I’d be pushing up daisies damn quick. The dispersants used were only used to cover – up the actual volume of oil that was in the Gulf. Mr. Kaufman doesn’t think dispersants should’ve been used at all. Accurate monitoring of the air around & waters in the Gulf are a must from here on out. Yea, good luck with that.
Lawrence, again, is taking time to remember those workers who died on Deepwater Horizon, those workers who were injured, and those who tried to rescue them. He’s the only one continuing to focus our attention to this vital part of this horrible story. Kirk Peterson was one of the first members of the Coast Guard on the scene 100 days ago. Mr. Peterson loaded survivors onto rescue baskets in the dead of night with only the flames of Deepwater Horizon to light the way. Of course, he doesn’t want to be singled out. Don’t forget about the upcoming free clinics that we helped raise funds for! WE SPARKIN’ ROCK!
#3 " –Republican- Tea Party" AKA "The Tea in GOP" - In a rare instance of "official Dem" organization & near – chutzpah, ad campaigns ahead of the November elections are ready to go to link the GOBP with the tea baggers as one big happy tea baggin’ family! The current crop of the GOBP isn’t ready to go out on a 1994 "Contract with America" limb, so the Dems are doing it for them. How ‘bout that ad? Scary music & everything! ;D OK, the scary music got a little old. How ‘bout just a little "Tea for Two" or something like that?
Rep. Elijah Cummings is here tonight to talk about the ad – welcome! Sorry, I bailed on the segment because it didn’t seem like it was offering a whole lot of new information.
** John Mantooth is in a run – off election after yesterday’s primary. I guess his daughter really better come up with one wing – dinger of an ad now! **
*** AND, I’m bailing on the Jersey Shore shtick, too. I’ve never watched it & have barely heard of it. If any of y’all have comments, feel free to post them. ***
#1 "Myth Wasilla" - OK – my "usual suspect" better get a screen capture of St. Sarah from Wasilla’s most recent wardrobe update! Too...damn...FUNNY – that will really get Rich Lowry riled up! Most of the rest of the country seems to subscribe what Keith & the rest of us have been saying for months & months & MONTHS.
An endorsement from Grandma ExGov TurkeyLover hasn’t been all moose jerky & shootin’ wolves from helicopters! The woman wanting Senator Greg’s Senate seat in NH best take a look at the Public Policy Polling numbers. 51% of NH responders indicated they are less likely to vote for anyone getting an endorsement from "that woman." The NH Union Leader took the endorsement out with yesterday’s garbage:
...New Hampshire voters are rarely impressed by what outsiders have to say... Gov. Palin isn’t making these endorsements because, as she claims, she has spent time in New Hampshire...
Hell, before now, she probably didn’t know NH even existed because she couldn’t see it from her damn house! Across the country, according to an NBC/WSJ poll, an endorsement from St. Sarah from Wasilla would have a negative impact. Uh – oh! Pirate Rupert owns the WSJ, and "that woman" works for him, too; THAT had to be an uncomfortable result to report – AWKWARD!!! ;D Greg Sargent is the one who brought us the "stellar" endorsement numbers. Like she cares about pesky poll results; she’s laughing all the way to the bank. Greg’s not even sure she’ll run in 2012; Lawrence doesn’t think she will.