Oh, yeah? what about his elementary grades?

Donald Trump's not gonna like this. Can anyone say, "photoshop?"
The birthers are going nuts.

Is The Donald in?

I really hope that Donald Trump seeks the republican nomination for president.
His serious credentials plus name and hair recognition make him an instant front-runner.
He recently wrote a letter to the New York Times in response to an article that Gail Collins wrote about his newfound birtherism.
The letter was funny enough with its numerous grammatical errors, but I just ran across this video that highlights it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U49U-nqMPyY&feature=player_embedded

while your there, check out some of the other dummy videos on the right (of course)!

Donald Trump. Newt Gingrich. Michele Bachman. and maybe Sarah Palin. This should be fun.

Briefly, back to the Newtster!!

I love this guy as much as my own senators, Randroid Paul and Mitch "Turtle Man" McConnell. Newt has now rewritten his own history on his government shutdown in 1995. In 1996, he said it was a mistake. Now, he views it in heroic proportions.
Here's the story from Talking Points Memo:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/newt-gingrichs-shutdown-journey-from-clearly-wrong-to-historic-success.php?ref=fpb

Its hard to see who will make the best GOP candidate among this rich field.

Two phrases I'd love to never hear again......

A good part of what's wrong with network news can be summarized in two words: "royal wedding."
Some time ago Brian Williams opened a story with a line that went something like, "Americans are all fascinated with the upcoming royal wedding...." Well, maybe NBC is, but I'm sure a lot of us don't really give a rat's behind about it. But it doesn't matter because as long as you tell viewers that they are, maybe they will be. Infotainment is certainly easier to cover than real news. Especially real news that your owner would rather you not cover, like the fact that GE (which owns NBC), despite making some $15 Billion last year didn't pay any US taxes! NBC News opted not to cover that story, and the fact that they didn't made it to the Washington Post in this story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/on-nbc-the-missing-story-about-parent-company-general-electric/2011/03/29/AFpRYJyB_story.html?hpid=z4

Locally, we have two words that our network affiliates love to cover, "Karen Sypher." Last night there was "breaking news" about where, and when Karen Sypher was to report to prison. I actually felt sorry for the "breaking news" reporter after he said for the third time she was to report next Tuesday to a facility in Florida. I kid you not, at least three times.
I'm guessing they love the story because of the voyeur aspect to it. And I'm beginning to think that the real victim of this story is not Rick Pitino, and its not Karen Sypher. Its the poor viewer who tunes into the local news for, well, news. Karen Sypher filing a new appeal is not news, and giving a television interview is not news.
But its what passes for news these days. Sad.

On unfair treatment

There was a story a week or so ago about Sarah Palin which I wanted to mention at the time, but didn't. As you may recall, she raised a minor stink earlier this year after the Tucson shootings and despite her previous references such as "lock and load" and using crosshairs to target political foes, didn't understand why people would think she might share some responsibility for the shooting of political (and other) figures.
And as previously reported, she was able to ascertain the real victim, herself, who had been blood libeled by the media. She pointed out that shooters bear the real responsibility for their actions and anyone who didn't understand that was a complete idiot.
Weeks later, when asked to comment on the legislative situation in Wisconsin, she said that the pro-union people should tone down their rhetoric because they would be responsible if someone got hurt. No inconsistency here.
Glenn Greenwald of Salon has a very illuminating story of similar cluelessness from those bastions of Ayn Randian beliefs, those poor Koch brothers, who feel like they have been so unfairly victimized because of their philosophy. It examines this crazy-ass, despite all evidence to the contrary, idea that Obama is an uberliberal that hates business. Its a good read.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/03/27/koch

Ladies and Gentlemen, the man who would be king

Well, President, anyway....
It was so interesting yet sad to watch John McCain shed his integrity bit by bit during the last presidential election cycle in an effort to pick up votes.
Newt Gingrich, on the other hand, has never been encumbered by integrity so its interesting and amusing to watch him say ANYTHING that he thinks might pick up a vote. Witnesseth his contradictions on American intervention in Libya via Talking Points Memo:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/newt-gingrichs-libya-shift-issue-by-issue.php

Corporations are so mistreated!

Below is a story from this morning's NYT about the governor of Maine attempting to remove some murals in the lobby of the Department of Labor. The paintings depict workers of various backgrounds engaging in their respective workings.
Conservatives want them removed because there are no pictures of, well, I guess managers, and therefore, they lack balance in their presentations.
Seriously.
Maybe they should hang portraits of some Fox News pundits.
Or, better still, what about some paintings of 1800 England during the industrial revolution where small children were used to remove objects which became stuck in huge equipment because adults were too large for the task. A picture of a 8 year old boy pulling back a bleeding stump where his arm used to be would give some balance. Too bad labor unions helped to end that practice.
Or, how about a picture of some thugs hired by Henry Ford beating factory workers at Ford's Detroit River Rouge plant in the 1930's when the workers tried to unionize?
Maybe a picture of greedy Wall Street bankers selling collateralized debt obligations to an unsuspecting public, helping to bring down the economy in 2008?
There are so many worthy counterbalances to those greedy people trying to earn an honest living.
Surely big business should be able to control not only the Department of Labor, but the images contained there as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/us/24lepage.html?emc=eta1

Are Republicans the only ones brave enough to stand up for these mistreated corporations?

here's an updated story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/24/maine-governors-decision-remove-labor-mural-letter_n_840282.html