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10/23/2009
Photos That Make Christian Conservative Brains Short Out:
Yes, the photo, of Barack Obama becoming the first American president to publicly celebrate the Hindu holiday of Diwali, is about a week old, but the reaction to it from the nutzoid right wing is as steamy fresh as a new cow pie in a Vermont meadow on an October morning.
Yesterday, the Rude Pundit received his weekly prayer job orders from the Family Research Council's Super-Duper Prayer Team. The Rude Pundit signed up for the Super-Duper Prayer Team under a nom de rude, and every Wednesday, he gets a list o' crap what needs the prayin'. This week, amidst a whole buncha prayers about stopping the homosexuals from making America friendly to, you know, homosexuals, there was this shocking news from the aptly-named Newsweek: "As the ethereal sounds of a Hindu priest's chanting of this Sanskrit prayer from ancient Hindu scripture filled the East Room, President Obama lit the ceremonial White House diya --and he used this Sanskrit word for lamp ... Never before had a sitting U.S. President personally celebrated the Diwali holiday..."
Aw, motherfuck. And here we thought he was Muslim. This is gonna require some prayer. And here's what the Super-Duper Prayer Team was told to intone to the right god: "May God open the eyes of our President and the American people to understand the cost of diminishing the God of our Fathers and our nation's Christian heritage, while honoring foreign gods and promoting other religions and rituals. May God protect us from confusion to come if our leaders begin to promote a pantheon of gods."
Now, you might think, "Umm, wasn't Jesus from, like, the Middle East? Doesn't that make him, like, a 'foreign god'?" Sorry, there, gal or dude with your little thinkin' head. "God" is an American God, motherfuckers, and he is Christian, whether he likes it or not.
As usual with our prayerturbation orders, we're given a bunch of bible verses to inspire us. Here, among the usual Ten Commandments and shit, we get 1 Kings 2-11. That describes how King Solomon was led astray from Big American God by several of his women. See, the very verses mentioned tell us, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. How the hell are we supposed to get past that to even think about praying?
For other fun, there's also this snark from the Washington Times: "America's minority religions certainly are getting a nice reception at the White House these days." And plenty of blogs and forums lost their shit over the lighting of a lamp.
This is not an endorsement of such things. Indeed, there should be no public ceremonies of any faith at the White House. But it's always a wonder what sets off the right, from the smallest gestures. You know who liked it? India. You know who organized it? Kal Penn. Goddamn, is there nothing Kumar can't do?
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/
_______flatline________
Thanks so much for the laugh. Much appreciated and needed!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/1...
Barack and Michelle know they make some pretty babies! LOL
The Obama family is so beautiful. The girls do look like models and Malia is stunning and she's still a little girl.
Barack and Michelle gonna have their hands FULL!!!
The President simply has the gun to impress upon the young men that there will be no robust pubic option, and that he will pull the trigger mechanism when neccesary.
Women Hate the GOP
by BooMan
Fri Oct 23rd, 2009 at 11:11:20 AM EST
In his ongoing battle to prove himself more popular than cervical cancer in the hearts of women, House Minority Leader John Boehner had a major win this week, moving up a point to eight percent approval (tying him with Mitch McConnell). However, Independents give him a mere five percent rating. So, one in twenty Independents approve of the job that John Boehner is doing. By contrast, 56% of Independents give the president the thumbs-up. And 26% approve of the job both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are doing. The parties are not very popular, but women are now approving the Congressional Democrats' performance by a narrow 46%-45% margin. Their approval of the Republicans? 10%-77%.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/10/23/1...
by BooMan
Fri Oct 23rd, 2009 at 01:21:33 PM EST
If you've been patiently waiting for the president to show his hand and start openly pushing for the public option, your moment has come:
As questions swirl about the number of votes in the House for several versions of the public option, varying in strength, Deputy White House Secretary Bill Burton said that President Barack Obama is working on votes in the Senate.
"I will say that the President continues to think that the public option is the best way to achieve choice and competition, and that's what he's working towards," Burton said during a gaggle on Air Force One this morning.
"We're working on getting health care reform done, and in order to do that, obviously you're going to need some votes in the United States Senate to move it forward, and that's what we're working on," Burton added.
This is really the first time that anyone in the administration has admitted that they are pursuing a public option. It comes at a critical time. This morning, Nancy Pelosi called an emergency meeting of the Democratic caucus to gauge support for a 'robust public option' tied to Medicare reimbursement rates. It appears that she is close but not yet at the level of support she will need to pass the preferred plan. Part of the problem is that the Senate is progressing on getting 60 votes for cloture on a bill with a public option, but they are not going to be able to pass a 'robust' public option. House centrists are hedging, thinking that it is a risky prospect to vote for a bill that is more 'liberal' than what will eventually pass through Congress.
Pelosi wants the stronger bill to give her strength in her negotiations with the Senate. But, she is understandably meeting some rather fierce resistance. It's not a coincidence that the White House chose this exact moment to announce that they are fighting for a public option in the Senate bill. They are also probably pushing back against a Politico report that Obama prefers to appease Olympia Snowe and go with a trigger.
I thought that the administration might wait to go all-in on a public option until after the Senate passed their bill. But it looks like they've decided that Congress needs a little push now in order to get the cloture votes in the Senate and, perhaps, the robust option in the House.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/10/23/1...
But, POTUS has aged so much already. You can tell the burden of the office has sunk deep into him...It's not just the hair either, but the eyes...During the campaign, his eyes had this levity about them but that's gone now. The seriousness of the job has gotten in him and its obvious he's staying up nights trying to figure out how to do his job well. But that is good. That means he takes the job seriously and that's what the American people elected him to do. I can't image John McCain making it a year with all the issues he'd have.
But once again, beautiful family.
Three unions in Chicago have turned themselves into knots over whom installs green roofs in Chicago; roofers or landscapers or $30 vs $16. Too many of the government programs become co-opted by unions when the work was not slated for them or subject to cost overuns because of BaconDavis(a wonderful holdover from the days of segregation). It makes you wonder if half of Van Jones was a problem w/ the unions. He was very clear that he wanted the under and unemployed to be trained to do the work.
UCF facing $3M sneaker dilemma
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A fight over the shoes Michael Jordan's son will wear at the University of Central Florida could cost the school financially.
Freshman guard Marcus Jordan is refusing to wear shoes made by adidas, the brand the university has a contract with for all its sports. He says he will only wear his father's Nike Air Jordan shoes because it holds special meaning to his family.
Full Story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=458...
-The coach should tell young Mr. Jordan that either he wears the adidas, or he doesn't play...period.
Maybe he can then find special meaning...being a spectator.
Fox News has, as my colleague Jason Linkins so effectively wrote earlier this week, well and truly left the fold of legitimate news outlets. The evidence is exhaustive. If you actually watch the network, it's not a close question. Indeed, as Josh Marshall writes, "as a product the straight news is almost more the stuff of parody than the talk shows which are at least more or less straightforward about what they are."
Pretending that Fox News is fair and balanced only serves the right wing, in the same way that it only served the Bush administration when traditional-media reporters pretended Bush didn't have a credibility problem -- and didn't call him out for his lies -- for fear of appearing partisan. It's self-muzzling, plain and simple.
Ten Most Egregious Fox News Distortions
From TPM:
Adding to the Fox News v. White House feud today is a dust-up over an interview with pay czar Ken Feinberg. Turns out, it was a sort of miscommunication, but the White House adds that if they had left Fox out it would be a case of "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
The version Fox has pushed all day is that the network was excluded from an interview roundtable with Feinberg yesterday, and that bureau chiefs from ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN came to Fox's defense.
TPMDC dug into it, and here's what happened.
Feinberg did a pen and pad with reporters to brief them on cutting executive compensation. TV correspondents, as they do with everything, asked to get the comments on camera. Treasury officials agreed and made a list of the networks who asked (Fox was not among them).
But logistically, all of the cameras could not get set up in time or with ease for the Feinberg interview, so they opted for a round robin where the networks use one pool camera. Treasury called the White House pool crew and gave them the list of the networks who'd asked for the interview.
The network pool crew noticed Fox wasn't on the list, was told that they hadn't asked and the crew said they needed to be included. Treasury called the White House and asked top Obama adviser Anita Dunn. Dunn said yes and Fox's Major Garrett was among the correspondents to interview Feinberg last night.
Simple as that, we're told, and the networks don't want to be seen as heroes for Fox.