De-Evolution and the Loch Ness Monster in Lousiana

This one is strange – even for the conservative types deep in the Red Zone. Quite obviously it proves Darwin was wrong in that his theory was only half advanced. Not only is there evolution…There is de-evolution as in the case of these nutjobs.

Now Bobby Jindal has been listed in a number of periodicals as the latest, greatest nonwhite hope for the Republican Party. It has been a tradition in the Republican Party since Bush 1, that the VP slot was reserved for someone of no great intellectual wattage. Except in the Bush II Presidency where that was reversed. Bobbity is light years ahead of the Sno’ Ho, but the Swamp Heaux has his own set of problems – one being the historic meltdown when appointed by his party as their spokesman to give the counter-State of the Union Speech on behalf of the Reprobates. Now Bobbity has a second problem – convincing the rest of America that if by some stroke of ill wind he became President – the next move wouldn’t be converting your child’s school to a Religious Whakademia.

Nessie?

Now I’ve already discussed some of the oddities of these Charter Schools being set up in Louisiana , such as the disbelief in Boolean Math (If God had meant you to only count to 2, he would have given you only two fingers instead of two hands!), and Geometry and Trigonometry as the “Devil’s Workshop”….

But some of the cults have even reached for evidence that the fictitious Loch Ness Monster – is a “dinosaur” – disproving Evolution.

Since none of the stories about Nessy I’ve heard actually include her actually eating anyone – we have to assume that the tourism business in Scotland is about to take a leap, as the newly programmed children of Louisiana come to “swim with Nessy” in the Fjord during summer vacation. Of course Godzilla is also ample evidence of the existence of dinosaurs on earth. Jurassic Park…Indeed…

Loch Ness monster cited by US schools as evidence that evolution is myth

THOUSANDS of American school pupils are to be taught that the Loch Ness monster is real – in an attempt by religious teachers to disprove Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Pupils attending privately-run Christian schools in the southern state of Louisiana will learn from textbooks next year, which claim Scotland’s most famous mythological beast is a living creature.

The “Frilled Shark” a true prehistoric creature found only in the deep ocean

Thousands of children are to receive publicly-funded vouchers enabling them to attend the schools – which follow a strict fundamentalist curriculum.

The Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) programme teaches controversial religious beliefs, aimed at disproving evolution and proving creationism.

Youngsters will be told that if it can be proved that dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time as man, then Darwinism is fatally flawed.

Critics have slammed the content of the religious course books, labelling them “bizarre” and accusing them of promoting radical religious and political ideas.

One ACE textbook called Biology 1099, Accelerated Christian Education Inc reads: “Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence.

“Have you heard of the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland? ‘Nessie’ for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.”

Supreme Court Strikes Down Republican Feel Good Law

In 2005, in response to a guy claiming to have won the Congressional Medal of Honor, who had not – the Rethugs passed a “feel good” law banning all such future false claims. This was a perfect exercise in making a lot of noise for the plastic patriot set, making a law to punish a minuscule population instead of Minorities. Of course – folks who have never read the Constitution don’t know how it works – so as usual, the Retugs overstepped their bounds.

Supreme Court strikes down Stolen Valor Act

The Supreme Court today struck down the Stolen Valor Actthat made it illegal to falsely claim to be the recipient of military honors and decorations, SCOTUSblog.com reports.

The court found that the statute violates the First Amendment.

The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, says the law, as written, “seeks to control and suppress all false statements on this one subject in almost limitless times and settings without regard to whether the lie was made for the purpose of material gain.”

Kennedy writes that permitting the government to decree this kind of speech as a criminal offense “would endorse government authority to compile a list of subjects about which false statements are punishable.”

He notes, however, that Congress might be able to rewrite the law “to achieve the government’s objective in less burdensome ways.”

The Truth About AG Holder and “Fast an Furious”

There has been a lot of smoke and mirrors put up by Republicans about a failed ATF gun sting, code named Fast and Furious. Like everything conservatives do in this country – almost all of it is lies.

President Obama should order Attorney General Holder to arrest Darrel Issa, and his cohorts in crime for Treason.

The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal

A Fortune investigation reveals that the ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. How the world came to believe just the opposite is a tale of rivalry, murder, and political bloodlust.

In the annals of impossible assignments, Dave Voth’s ranked high. In 2009 the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives promoted Voth to lead Phoenix Group VII, one of seven new ATF groups along the Southwest border tasked with stopping guns from being trafficked into Mexico’s vicious drug war.

Some call it the “parade of ants”; others the “river of iron.” The Mexican government has estimated that 2,000 weapons are smuggled daily from the U.S. into Mexico. The ATF is hobbled in its effort to stop this flow. No federal statute outlaws firearms trafficking, so agents must build cases using a patchwork of often toothless laws. For six years, due to Beltway politics, the bureau has gone without permanent leadership, neutered in its fight for funding and authority. The National Rifle Association has so successfully opposed a comprehensive electronic database of gun sales that the ATF’s congressional appropriation explicitly prohibits establishing one.

Obama Deals Body Blow to Congressional Republican Kangaroo “Court”

Look like Republican Congressman Darrel Issa’s Kangaroo trial of Attorney General Eric Holder just got derailed.

In a move that hopefully signals the development of a backbone in the Obama Administration, President Obama has exerted “Executive Privilege” for the first time in his Presidency. The fact that he had to do so to derail Issa’s Kangaroo “trial” of AG Eric Holder says more about Republican racism and political vendettas than legality. Post the 2008 Election with a Democrat Majority in Congress, Democrats cut a deal with the Devil not to pursue the illicit, illegal, and treasonous crimes of Bush, Cheney, and their accomplices – including Mr Issa, in an attempt to tone down the political acrimony which had brought the country to its knees during the Clinton investigations, and enabled 911. The deal further saved the country from the embarrassment of having a former President, Vice President, and senior Cabinet Ministers placed in Orange Jumpsuits to spend long terms in prison.

Like the parable about the Scorpion and the Frog, the only thing you can expect from a starving rabid dog when you try and feed him is to get bit.

I hope this is a sign that President Obama is willing to wield that proverbial 2 x 4 in his second term.

Obama Executive Privilege Asserted Over Fast And Furious Documents

President Barack Obama has asserted executive privilege in response to requests made by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who has embarked on a controversial investigation into the Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program.

The invocation of executive privilege allows the president to defy requests and subpoenas by members of the legislative and judicial branches for information the White House deems sensitive. Obama’s decision will allow him to refuse to provide certain documents pertaining to the Fast and Furious program.

The Oversight Committee has threatened to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, and Issa had scheduled a vote on the matter for Wednesday morning. A committee aide told Reuters that Issa would proceed with the contempt vote even after Obama’s action. Issa later declared that the decision to assert executive privilege “falls short of any reason to delay today’s proceedings.”

Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole addressed Issa in a letter on Wednesday morning.

“We regret that we have arrived at this point, after the many steps we have taken to address the Committee’s concerns and to accommodate the Committee’s legitimate oversight interests regarding Operation Fast and Furious,” he wrote. “Although we are deeply disappointed that the Committee appears intent on proceeding with a contempt vote, the Department remains willing to work with the Committee to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of the outstanding issues.”

Holder, who met with Issa Tuesday in an attempt to reach an agreement on how many and which documents related to Fast and Furious he would turn over, had formally written Obama requesting that he exercise executive privilege…(A copy of that letter is here)

In an email to The Huffington Post, an administration official noted that former President George W. Bush asserted executive privilege six times, while former President Bill Clinton did it 14 times. This is the first time Obama has exercised this authority. The Republican National Committee was quick to point out Wednesday that then-candidate Obama criticized Bush for using the practice in 2007…

ANOTHER Tea Bigot!

The Tea Party seems to have collapsed on its own success. After geting elected in a number of places, they both proved that they are as loonie tunes as Demo0crats had accused them of being…

And there is no level they won’t stoop to – even destroying the country – to destroy President Obama.

One of the reasons they hate AG Eric Holder so much – is, so far, the FBI has been very good at catching Tea Party compatriots BEFORE they commit murder and mayhem. Like these folks in Michigan, these Republicans in Florida, these faithful in Alaska, these congregants in Georgia, and this group of faithful citizens trying to make poison gas in Florida…

I guess the “bomb throwing” Anarchists, who would normally be relegated to the left don’t count because, after all –  they are closet Libertarians.

Inge Marler, Arkansas Tea Party Leader, Makes Racist Joke At Event

Tea Party leaders in Arkansas are on the defensive after a board member of a Tea Party group in the Ozarks made a racist joke at a rally over the weekend drawing laughs from the audience.

The Baxter Bulletin in north-central Arkansas reported that Inge Marler made the comments at the annual rally of the Ozark Tea Party. The remarks, which suggested that African-Americans are on welfare, were condemned by Tea Party leaders in the state. The Bulletin reported that the condemnation came after they contacted the Tea Party for comment.

The Bulletin reports that Marler, who told the newspaper she would stop using the joke, said the following as an ice-breaker in her speech:

“A black kid asks his mom, ‘Mama, what’s a democracy?’

‘Well, son, that be when white folks work every day so us po’ folks can get all our benefits.’

‘But mama, don’t the white folk get mad about that?’

‘They sho do, son. They sho do. And that’s called racism.”

Audio of the speech can be heard here.

 The remarks come as national Tea Party leaders have denied accusations that their followers are racist.

Earlier this week, former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) wrote a column for theBaltimore Sun arguing that the racism charge is being used by progressives seeking to discredit the Tea Party. The NAACP has voted to criticize what it believes are racist elements within the Tea Party.

Holder Does a Smackdown on Republican Moron

Seems the only black man Republicans hate worse than President Obama is Attorney General Eric Holder…

They probably ought to stick to picking on Obama, who can’t or won’t fight back…

Because picking on Holder is rapidly becoming a losing proposition. And then there is the case of the same type of operation being conducted by the ATF under the Bushit called “Wide Receiver”…

To which not a single Republican objected.

GOP Senator Cornyn demands AG Holder resign, Holder gives epic smack-down response

Yesterday, during his ninth appearance before Congress regarding the “Fast and Furious” debacle (read more about that HERE), SenatorJohn Cornyn, Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Attorney General Eric Holder to resign, saying he hoped President Obama would replace him.

Cornyn: In short, you’ve violated the public trust in my view and, by failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office.

It’s more with sorrow than regret, than with anger, that I would say that you leave me no alternative but to join those who call upon you to resign your office.

Americans deserve an attorney general who will be honest with them. They deserve an attorney general who will uphold the basic standards of politiical independence and accountabilty. You’ve proven time and time again, sadly, that you are unwilling to do so. The American people deserve better. They deserve an attorney general who is accountable and independent. They deserve an attorney general who puts justice before politics.

It’s my sincere hope that President Obama will replace you with someone who is up to that challenge.

[Chairman Patrick Leahy offers a few remarks of support for Holder and then allows him to respond.]

Holder: With all due respect, senator, there is so much that is factually wrong with the premises that you started your statement with, it’s almost breathtaking in its inaccuracy, but, I’ll simply leave it at that.

You know, we want to talk about Fast and Furious, this is, I guess, what, the ninth time?— [turning to an aide who nods "yes"]—this is now the ninth time that I have answered questions before a congressional committee about “Fast and Furious.”

If you want to talk about Fast and Furious, I’m the attorney general that put an end to the misguided tactics that were used in Fast and Furious. An attorney general whom I suppose you would hold in higher regard was briefed on these kinds of tactics in an operation called “Wide Receiver” and did nothing to stop them. Nothing. Three hundred guns, at least, “walked” in that instance.

I’m also the attorney general who called on an inspector general to look into this matter, to investigate this matter. I’m also the attorney general who made personnel changes at ATF and in the U.S. Attorneys office that was involved, have overseen the changes of processes and procedures within ATF to make sure that this doesn’t happen ever again.

So I don’t have any intention of resigning. I heard the White House press officer say yesterday that the president has absolute confidence in me. I don’t have any reason to believe that in fact is not the case.

And in terms of, you know, what is it that we have turned over to Congress in this regard, let’s put something on the record here. … We have collected data from 240 custodians, we have processed millions of electronic records, looked at over 140,000 documents, turned over 7,600 pages. Over the course of 46 separate productions, we have made available people from the department at the highest levels to be interviewed.

And I’ve also said, indicated, I guess, earlier in my testimony, to the extent that all of that is not enough to satisfy the concerns that have been raised in the House committee, I am willing to sit down and talk about the provision of more materials. I have sent letters in that regard, the deputy attorney general has sent letters in that regard, and have not had responses. Which leads me to believe that the desire here is not for an accommodation but for a political point-making. And that is the kind of thing that, you know, you and and your side, I guess, have the ability to do if that’s what you want to do. It is the kind of thing that I think turns people off about Washington. While we have very serious problems, we still have this political gamesmanship.

Cornyn: The problem we have is that you won’t allow Congress to do its job when it comes to oversight and you thwart a legitimate investigation into programs like Fast and Furious.

Southern Baptists Punish Racist Hayta

Well…At least someone in these here United States has the courage to stand up to the anti-Christian haytas and bigots!

The Southern Baptist Church, the largest evangelical denomination in the country – decided that it had heard enough racist moron talk – and lowered the proverbial boom…

From the Southern Baptist Covenant -

We further engage to watch over one another with brotherly love, to remember each other in prayer, to aid each other in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech, to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

Southern Baptists reprimand top official over Trayvon Martin remarks

The country’s largest evangelical Christian denomination on Friday announced it is reprimanding one of its top officials over comments he made regarding the Trayvon Martin case, pledging to cancel the official’s national radio show.

The trustee committee of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission announced two reprimands on Friday for Richard Land, who leads public policy efforts for the Southern Baptists, according to the official press arm.

The first reprimand was for remarks Land – one of the country’s most powerful evangelical leaders – made about the Martin case. The second was because Land lifted some remarks from another source on his radio show without using attribution.

The commission will move to terminate Land’s radio program, “Richard Land Live!” because of the controversy, the Baptist Press reported.

In March, Land spoke of African-American activists and the Rev. Al Sharpton as “racial ambulance chasers” in the Martin case, in which the 17-year-old was shot to death in Florida by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

“When there is violence it’s going to be Jesse Jackson’s fault,” Land said on his show, according to the Religion News Service. “It’s going to be Al Sharpton’s fault. It’s going to be Louis Farrakhan’s fault, and to a certain degree it’s going to be President Obama’s fault.”

On Friday, the trustee executive committee said in a statement that Land’s comments were “very hurtful and offensive to the Trayvon Martin family and too many in the African-American community, including hundreds of thousands of African-American Southern Baptists.”

“Damage was done to the state of race relations in the Southern Baptist Convention,” the statement said.

The Religion News Service reported that many of Land’s remarks about the Martin case were lifted from a March column in the Washington Times.

“As a Christian, a minister of the Gospel of our Lord, and as President of the ERLC, Dr. Land should have conformed to a higher standard,” the statement from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said.

The statement went on to say that “plagiarism occurred because of Land’s carelessness and poor judgment.”

In announcing the planned termination of Land’s radio program, the committee said “the content and purpose” of the program are “not congruent with the mission of the ERLC.”

In a statement to the Baptist Press, Land – who earlier apologized for his comments – said he believes in “trustee oversight and governance” and that “this whole process was conducted in a Christian manner by Christian gentlemen.”

 Too bad Mr Land isn’t one of those Christian gentlemen.

Of Donalds…Duck and Trump

“I do not understand the cost-benefit here. The costs are clear. The benefits, what voter’s going to vote for him because he’s seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious, it seems to me. Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics,” said George Will on ABC This Week(Source: Mediaite)

Beginning to think that The Donald got the idea for that massive combover he wears…

From Donald Duck. Although it looks more like that worn by that other cartoon Duck…Daffy.

Daffy is brought to us by Looney Tunes…

Which seems a perfect name for The Donald’s venture into Birtherism.

I mean – even Huey, Dewey, and Louie know that one is bull.

Blitzer to Trump: You Look ‘Ridiculous’ on This Birther Stuff

Mitt Romney must be thrilled: On the night he is to clinch the GOP nomination, Donald Trump is stealing some of the thunder with his birther conspiracies, notes the Los Angeles Times. Just hours before Trump was to host a fundraiser in Vegas with the candidate himself, Trump went on CNN and argued with Wolf Blitzer about President Obama’s citizenship.

One highlight of the exchange, in which Trump accused Blitzer and the mainstream media of protecting the president from the birther allegations:

• Blitzer: ”Donald, Donald, you’re beginning to sound a little ridiculous, I have to tell you.”
• Trump: “No, I think you are, Wolf. Let me tell you something. I think you sound ridiculous.”

Earlier in the day, Trump pushed his view that Obama hasn’t proved he is American-born on CNBC, notes Talking Points Memo.

The New Jim Crow – The Conservative “Race War”

The present blooming fantasy of white victimization has roots in the peculiar violent institutions of the 19th-century American South. In the distant mirror of history, it’s easy to spot the irony and the guilt: even before the Civil War began, whites worried that their slaves would rise up and repay their masters in kind — filch the fruit of their labor, rape them, and beat them, sometimes to death. As soon as the balance of power shifted and news of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse circulated throughout the former slave states, those fears ran amok. 

A common recruiting method of white supremacist groups is to play on their potential member’s percieved “victimization” by minorities. Ergo – that they are failures in life because black/brown/yellow/green folks were “given” jobs or opportunity over them because of race. As I have said before the conservative side of the American political spectrum has absorbed a lot of ideas from the racist right, and mainstreamed them into conservative mantra and consciousness.

The narrative is pretty much laid out in the video below -

One of the most flagrant results of this was the perversion of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division under the Bushit Administration as a vehicle to track down and prosecute incidences of “reverse discrimination. That is, discrimination against whites by minorities. The problem being that after 8 years and spending hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money…

Only one verifiable case was ever found by said lawyers. This despite over 13,000 cases of classical discrimination being filed a year by minorities.

Reality and logic play no part in this from a group of folks who believe the presence of two, self styled “Black Panthers” at a Pennsylvania polling place during the 2008 Presidential Election was enough to sway voters across the country to vote for a black man – and that such constituted a “massive” level of voting fraud…

Despite consistent and massive efforts by Republicans in 2000 and 2004 for limit minority voting though denying the availability of voting machines, and “erasing” large number of minority voters from the rolls in Florida based on “faulty” data.

The right wing’s “racial services machine” though the “7 Sisters”, a group of right wing foundations which pour hundreds of millions of dollars a year into conservative think tanks and causes – supports this sort of racial narrative to the tune of an estimated $100 million a year. These groups have funded the publication of books by folks such as Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray “The Bell Curve”, Sowell’s contributions to  Townhall, WorldNetDaily,OneNewsNow and the Jewish World Review,  Dinesh D’Souza whose book “The End of Racism“ oddly enough inadvertently makes the case for racism’s continued existence, and Jared Taylor’s “The Color of Crime” using faulty logic and fake statistics to make the case for black on white crime. Fox News advances these narratives though such commentators as Sean Hannity, and as of late Bill O’Reilly.

Black conservatives are well funded to support the narrative that whites are under attack by “Speakers Bureaus” such as Project 21, and trusty, safe black conservatives like Sowell, whose recent article fully supported the existence of a “war” by black folks against white folks based on anecdotal evidence…

The problem being, just like the “New Black Panther Party” (having nothing to do with the original Black Panthers and consisting of perhaps 50 members nationwide) controversy, and the “Reverse Discrimination Controversy” – there is no statistical evidence to support that in any way that whites are being targeted by roving gangs of black or brown folks attacking white folks in any numbers beyond random.

Conversely – spending $100 million a year in investing in racist narratives…

Totally deconstructs the idea that racism is no longer a factor in American life.

The “white victimization” industry promoted by right wing media, and their well paid quasi scientific cohorts has very real consequences.

These cases are similar to the hue and cry raised over the “Central Park Jogger” case in the 90′s – where gangs of black youth, supposedly “wilding” were convicted of the brutal beating and rape of a woman jogging in Central Park. The tragedy of the victim was compounded by the fact that the courts convicted 5 innocent kids of the crime, adding additional victims to the carnage - who had been convicted largely due to the media hype, and assumption of guilt by the media and police who beat “confessions” out of the youths…

And of course, most recently the Trayvon Martin murder.

In Conservative Media, A “Race War” Rages

It was near midnight on April 14 when the Chevy Cavalier carrying Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami rolled to a stop at a red light in Norfolk, Va. As the pair waited, one of a crowd of teenagers on the sidewalk threw a rock at the passenger seat window, prompting Forster to get out of the car and confront the aggressor.

That’s when the beating began.

How Do You Make Our Schools Smarter… By Dumbing Down Our Elected Officials?

A favorite Republican whipping post is our “failing” educational system”…

The problem being that many of the Republicans who most vociferously shout about American Educational shortcomings…

Have benefited so little from their experience  in a learning environment.

I mean, if the first step to building a strong house is to dig a good foundation…

Then you best better hire a builder with more than a passing familiarity with a shovel.

Didn’t do so great on that last vocabulary test? That’s OK, there’s a place in Congress for you. The current class of congressmembers speaks at a 10.6 grade level—down almost a full grade from 2005′s 11.5 grade level on the Flesch-Kincaid scale. According to a political scientist at the Sunlight Foundation, the open government group that ran the numbers, one reason for the decline is the influx of new members who were elected in 2010, many of them with Tea Party support. “Particularly among the newest members of Congress, as you move out from the center and toward either end of the political spectrum, the grade level goes down, and that pattern is particularly pronounced on the right,” he says. In easier-to-understand terms: All of the 10 members who speak at the lowest grade levels are Republicans, and nearly all are freshmen.

Sophomoric? Members Of Congress Talk Like 10th-Graders, Analysis Shows

It turns out that the sophistication of congressional speech-making is on the decline, according to the open government group the Sunlight Foundation. Since 2005, the average grade level at which members of Congress speak has fallen by almost a full grade.

Making The Grade

The Sunlight Foundation analyzed the Congressional Record and found that Congress’ ranking on the Flesch-Kincaid scale — which evaluates readability — has dropped a grade level in recent years.

Every word members of Congress say on the floor of the House or Senate is documented in the Congressional Record. The Sunlight Foundation took the entire Congressional Record dating back to the 1990s and plugged it into a searchable database.

Lee Drutman, a political scientist at Sunlight, took all those speeches and ran them through an algorithm to determine the grade level of congressional discourse.

“We just kind of did it for fun, and I was kind of shocked when I plotted that data and I saw that, oh my God, there’s been a real drop-off in the last several years,” he says.

In 2005, Congress spoke at an 11.5 grade level on the Flesch-Kincaid scale. Now, it’s 10.6. In other words, Congress dropped from talking like juniors to talking like sophomores.

Of the 10 members speaking at the lowest grade level, all but two are freshmen, and every one is a Republican. For the record, though, Drutman isn’t passing judgment about whether speaking at a lower grade level is a good thing or a bad thing.

South Carolina Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney ranks the very lowest, with a grade level of 7.94.

American Zombies – Cadillacs and Conservatives

Cadillac had a problem about 10 years ago when it’s marketing folks finally came to the realization their buyers were dying off…

Literally.

Cadillac’s market appeal was to folks over 60 who had grown up with large American style cars, a shrinking demographic. Younger folks who had been weaned on smaller, typically foreign cars preferred the smaller size and handling characteristics of foreign luxury makes, versus the bloated floating gunboat handling common to America cars. They were much more likely to gravitate to Acura, Lexus, or Mercedes than to buy a “hog”.

The CTS was designed to attract younger buyers with style, handling, and performance competitive with foreign Luxury brands.

In response to the realization that their market was literally dying out – the company went on a crash campaign to attract younger buyers by introducing models like the CTX whose handling and performance characteristics were more in line with their foreign competitors.  Now – the company didn’t really have a change of heart as the Brobdingnagian gas guzzler SUV line proved – and their clinging to the 60′s era American maxim that more cubic inches and horsepower makes up for all design shortcomings…

But – they at least (grudgingly) are making an effort.

Which puts them far ahead of Republicans, who are facing the same market issue. Their market is white, male in their 60′s and 70′s and dying off. Not soon enough for many of us – but thank God for small favors. Their counter approach seems to be to turn their believers into Zombies – a technology which worked with some success in creating the Tea Party. Unfortunately the technical difficulty of retainng live, functioning brain cells is still beyond their reach – resulting in even bigger problems.

Case in point -

GOP problem: ‘Their voters are white, aging and dying off’

When presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney appears before Latino small-business owners in Washington on Wednesday, he’ll address a group whose explosive birth rates foreshadow a seismic political shift in GOP strongholds in the Deep South and Southwest.

“The Republicans’ problem is their voters are white, aging and dying off,” said David Bositis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, who studies minority political engagement.

“There will come a time when they suffer catastrophic losses with the realization of the population changes.”

Republican Hosts Cross Burning as Campaign Event

Just in case you thought things like this don’t happen in America anymore…

Shaun Winkler, White Supremacist Idaho Sheriff Candidate, Hosts Cross Burning Event

Grand Wizard Republican

Shaun Winkler, a white supremacist in Idaho running as a Republican for Bonner County sheriff, is defending his recent cross burning ceremony, after having invited members of the media to attend the event last week.

“Mainstream society looks at cross lighting as a symbol of hate, but it predates the Klan by hundreds of years,” Winkler told the Bonner County Daily Bee. “We look at it more as a religious symbol.”

Winkler went on to claim the ritual has Scottish roots dating back hundreds of years, but his status as a Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard and his candid admissions of racial and religious prejudice suggest that the decision to burn the cross may take inspiration from a more recent and ugly practice.

“Most people don’t know that we don’t just oppose the Jews and the negroes,” he said, according to the Daily Bee. “We also oppose sexual predators and drugs of any kind.”

While Winkler has claimed that he wouldn’t allow his personal beliefs to guide the way he would act as sheriff, his position on sexual predators is admittedly more severe.

Don’t Hurt Him, Charles!

I can’r see any way possible this election turns up positive for Republicans. I mean – they have pissed off just about everyone in America except white males over 50.

They pissed off the majority of women with their War on Women – 51% of the vote…

They pissed off black folks, who weren’t going to vote for them anyway – 13% of the vote…

They pissed off Hispanics, of who Cubans are the last Republican holdouts – 15% of the vote…

Not to mention pissing off, and trying to screw serially – teachers, unions, federal and state workers, and poor people…

They have several Governors and a dozen or more State Representatives under recall by their local constituencies…

They have voted against or filibustered every single effort to move the country out of a recession – they created.

If the Rethuglys get 35% of the total vote this year – I would ask for a recount, as they have hacked the voting machines…

Again.

Barkley to Romney: ‘We’re going to beat you like a drum’

According to always-outspoken Charles Barkley, Mitt Romney’s “going down” in November’s presidential election.

The former pro-basketball star and NBA hall-of-famer turned hoops-analyst made the comments Sunday night during the airing of a playoff game between the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks.

Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and his wife Ann were at game, which was held at Boston’s TD Garden. A picture of them in the crowd was shown on TNT, which along with CNN is part of Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting division.

“We are going to beat you like a drum in November. But don’t take it personally. I like you. You seem like a nice guy. But you’re going down bro,” Barkley said on the TNT broadcast, after seeing Romney in the crowd.

Barkley, a former Republican who switched his party affiliation to Democrat, has previously spoken out about the race for the White House. In December, he described the GOP presidential candidates as “idiots” for their criticism of the president.

Barkley twice weighed runs for the governor’s office in his home state of Alabama, but never took the plunge into campaign politics.

The Death of America – Conservatism

This one from Author E.L. Doctorow. An apt description of what conservatives and conservative have done to America…

It wasn't a foreign enemy that destroyed America..

Unexceptionalism: A Primer

TO achieve unexceptionalism, the political ideal that would render the United States indistinguishable from the impoverished, traditionally undemocratic, brutal or catatonic countries of the world, do the following:

PHASE ONE

If you’re a justice of the Supreme Court, ignore the first sacrament of a democracy and suspend the counting of ballots in a presidential election. Appoint the candidate of your choice as president.

If you’re the newly anointed president, react to a terrorist attack by invading a nonterrorist country. Despite the loss or disablement of untold numbers of lives, manage your war so that its results will be indeterminate.

Using the state of war as justification, order secret surveillance of American citizens, data mine their phone calls and e-mail, make business, medical and public library records available to government agencies, perform illegal warrantless searches of homes and offices.

Take to torturing terrorism suspects, here or abroad, in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. Unilaterally abrogate the Convention Against Torture as well as the Geneva Conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners of war. Commit to indeterminate detention without trial those you decide are enemies. For good measure, trust that legislative supporters will eventually apply this policy as well to American citizens.

Suspend progressive taxation so that the wealthiest pay less proportionately than the middle class. See to it that the wealth of the country accumulates to a small fraction of the population so that the gap between rich and poor widens exponentially.

By cutting taxes and raising wartime expenditures, deplete the national treasury so that Congress and state and municipal legislatures cut back on domestic services, ensuring that there will be less money for the education of the young, for government health programs, for the care of veterans, for the maintenance of roads and bridges, for free public libraries, and so forth.

Deregulate the banking industry so as to create a severe recession in which enormous numbers of people lose their homes and jobs.

Before you leave office add to the Supreme Court justices like the ones who awarded you the presidency.

PHASE TWO

If you’re one of the conservative majority of a refurbished Supreme Court, rule that corporations, no less than human beings, have the right under the First Amendment to express their political point of view. To come to this judgment, do not acknowledge that corporations lack the range of feelings or values that define what it is to be human. That humans can act against their own interest, whereas corporations cannot act otherwise than in their own interest. That the corporation’s only purpose is to produce wealth, regardless of social consequences.

This decision of the court will ensure tremendous infusions of corporate money into the political process and lead to the election in national and state legislatures of majorities of de facto corporate lobbyists.

PHASE THREE

Given corporate control of legislative bodies, enact laws to the benefit of corporate interests. For example, those laws sponsored by weapons manufacturers wherein people may carry concealed weapons and shoot and kill anyone by whom they feel threatened.

Give the running of state prisons over to private corporations whose profits increase with the increase in inmate populations. See to it that a majority of prisoners are African-American.

When possible, treat immigrants as criminals.

Deplete and underfinance a viable system of free public schools and give the education of children over to private for-profit corporations.

Make college education unaffordable.

Inject religious precepts into public policy so as to control women’s bodies.

Enact laws prohibiting collective bargaining. Portray trade unions as un-American.

Enact laws restricting the voting rights of possibly unruly constituencies.

Propagandize against scientific facts that would affect corporate profits. Portray global warming as a conspiracy of scientists.

Having subverted the Constitution and enervated the nation with these measures,  portray the federal government as unwieldy, bumbling and shot through with elitist liberals.  Create mental states of maladaptive populism among the citizenry to support this view.

PHASE FOUR

If you’re a justice of the Supreme Court, decide that the police of any and all cities and towns and villages have the absolute authority to strip-search any person whom they, for whatever reason, put under arrest.

With this ruling, the reduction of America to unexceptionalism is complete.

Santorum – Stuck on Stupid

Santorum: Calif. Schools Don’t Teach US History

Rick Santorum continued hisverbal assault on higher education today by accusing California universities of failing to “even teach an American history course.” The GOP candidate slammed UC universities during a speech in Wisconsin, Mediaite reports, saying that “I think it’s seven or eight” schools that neglect US history: “Just to tell you how bad it’s gotten in this country, where we’re trying to disconnect the American people from the roots of who we are, so they have an understanding of what America should be.”

But a University of California rep emailedThinkProgress to say that all UC undergraduate programs require US history credits. According to Mediaite, only the San Francisco campus fails to offer US history courses—because it’s a medical school. Perhaps Santorum is on a roll after calling President Obama “a snob” for wanting “everybody in America to go to college.” He’s not alone among Republicans, however: Mitt Romney has taken a whack at higher education by pooh-poohing the notion of student aid.