It lives

Our fiendish Socialized Health Care Death Panel was unsuccessful in putting the National Post to sleep — though in a chronic vegetative state, it remains on life support:

An Ontario judge has allowed insolvent media giant Canwest Global Communications to shuffle the money-losing National Post into a group alongside its other daily papers, which Canwest has said is the best hope of saving the daily newspaper from going under.

Judge Sarah Pepall, who is presiding over hearings into Canwest’s restructuring, on Friday allowed the company to move the National Post into the Canwest Limited Partnership – which is not among divisions of the company currently operating under creditor protection.

A lawyer for Canwest had told court earlier Friday that not only would the move allow the National Post to keep operating, it is essential to a successful restructuring of the whole company.

The NatPo might be a brainless right-wing rag, but still, I’m never happy to see a media source shut down and jobs lost no matter how scurrilous and slanted the content.   And although I’m sure that content had something to do with the NP’s failing fortunes, the “invisible hand” doesn’t ask to see your party affiliation before it gives you the finger — newspapers as a medium have been taking a beating lately.

That said, I do think it’s a little funny that, rather than let the invisible hand do it’s thing, Canwest is basically forcing its more successful products to prop up the  needy, cash-strapped NatPo –  isn’t that socialism?

The Love Life of Fruit Bats

Wild Kingdom, baby!  Here’s something I bet you didn’t know: even the lowly fruit bat likes a little fellatio to spice up its love life.

From New Scientist and NSFW (especially if your place of employment is the Bat Cave):

It’s true:  if it exists, there’s porn of it.

(h/t Shoq on twitter)

 

He’s here! He’s here!

Right here!  Here’s a picture!  Come and get him!!!

Pantingly posting as “breaking!!” the news that Dr. Carhart was at the press conference, along with  a picture (likely taken without his permission), seems to be sending a message of some kind.  I won’t speculate on what that might be, but I think it’s worth noting that Dr. Tiller was relentlessly stalked the same way.

As a sidebar, the sleazy freak who creeped up on Dr. Carhart and took his picture is Wendy Wright of “Concerned Women of America”.  Wright, a pig-ignorant Christofascist who’s dumber than a bag of brain-dead hammers, was interviewed by Richard Dawkins earlier this year. The resulting video is enough to make you want to shotgun a 26er of Everclear:

GAAHHHHH!!!

But remember: the fact that they’re intellectually-bankrupt scientific illiterates doesn’t make them any less dangerous.

Octopreggonunmom

So much for being the darling of the Forced Childbirth Movement. Check out Octomom’s Hallowe’en costume:

A pregnant nun surrounded by her kids dressed up as little devils — I think I just heard an explosion from the direction of Bill Donohue’s office.   Whoops!  Clean-up in Aisle… 666!!!

Murdered census worker update

It’s been a few weeks since there was any more news about the case of the Census worker who was killed in Kentucky last month, a crime that some feared might have been driven by anti-government sentiment.   Little information has been forthcoming about the investigation, but this week investigators  indicated that they expect a resolution fairly soon:

Police said on Tuesday that they have made considerable progress in the death investigation of part-time Census employee Bill Sparkman and are confident the case will be solved — and probably within weeks, not months.

“There will be a resolution,” said Capt. Lisa M. Rudzinski, commander of the state police post in London, which is leading the investigation. “We’re much closer than we were.”

Rudzinski said investigators are waiting for forensic-test results from the State Police Crime Lab, but she wouldn’t go into specifics except to say that the “nature of the scene and subsequent investigation” were complicated and police wanted to make sure they were certain before making an announcement.

“Complicated”:  so complicated that they still won’t confirm whether it was murder, suicide or “accident” (euphemism for autoerotic asphyxiation).  Although given the state of the body, anything other than murder seems unlikely.  Mr. Sparkman’s son also revealed that some items were stolen from his father’s truck, making suicide or accident even less likely:

… his father’s truck, which was found at the scene, had been rifled through, with his grandfather’s wedding ring, Bill Sparkman’s credit cards and a cell phone charger all stolen, making it difficult for him to believe his father committed suicide or died in an accident.

One thing, at least, has been confirmed: that the murder actually took place at the site where the body was found:

A part-time census taker died at the tree in a Kentucky forest where his body was found with a rope around his neck and the word “fed” scrawled on his chest, officials said Wednesday.

And that’s it.  The secrecy around this investigation almost as weird as the crime itself, but it sounds like we’ll know the reason for it fairly soon.

(Not) coming soon to a theatre near you

How the hell did I miss this?  The teabaggers are releasing a movie!

“They were ignored… they were mocked…” Bwahaa!

Nope, you won’t be seeing this one in any of those lieberal movie theatres, it’s one of those extra-special film projects that goes straight to DVD.  It’s…

“Teabaggers – the Documentary” (or something like that):

Awesome… although I can think of a better  title for this epic profile in brain damage and body mass index.  (For that matter, I can think of better documentaries on the same topic.)

Ebay runs amok, chilling free speech, raping Constitution

Just to reiterate my update in the “Auction for Roeder” post, Ebay has announced that it won’t allow the anti-abortion terrorists’ auction:

An eBay auction planned by abortion opponents to raise money for the man accused of killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller will not be permitted, company officials said Tuesday.

“Based on the details we know about the anticipated listings, we believe these would violate our policy regarding offensive material,” the company said in a statement to The Kansas City Star. “EBay will not permit the items in question to be posted to the eBay site, and they will be removed if they are posted.”

That’s a relief, though not entirely unexpected.  Virtually every item on the block for this little online terrorist bake sale violated Ebay’s Offensive Material policy, especially the “murderabilia” and “violent felons” categories.  What was totally, boringly, stultifyingly predictable was the response of the would-be “auctioneers”, who immediately unleashed a shitstream of mindless and meaningless gibberish about free speech and the Constitution:

“They’re not only chilling the First Amendment of the Constitution, they’re raping the whole Constitution,” said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City abortion opponent and friend of Roeder.

Raping the whole Constitution!! Right, well let’s hope the Constitution doesn’t find itself pregnant as a result, because Dinwiddie would no doubt force it by any means necessary to carry the pregnancy to term.

(h/t JAB)

Maddow on Healthcare & Lieberman

Predictably, Senator Joe Lieberman (Ind-AETNA) indicated yesterday that he might block the health care reform bill with the GOP.

Just observing this debate from a safe distance is giving me a migraine… good thing I’ve got Universal Health Care.

Bizarre poll question of the Day

Check out this question on a Zogby poll taken for Fox News:

Federal Communications Commission Chief Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd wants the FCC to force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions.  Do you agree or disagree that this presents a threat to free speech?

No, really (.pdf):

This is so weird it’s hoax-ish, but thus far it appears to be legit… if real, it is very very strange indeed.

UPDATE: Mattt thinks Zogby has been “commissioned to pull teh backlash buttons, 1968-styles”.

UPDATE II (Wednesday): I’m not sure what to think about this.   Fox News apparently has nothing to do with it, and the comment “tailor made for Fox” was a bit of hyperbole that unfortunately “evolved” as the story was repeated.   A commenter suggests it’s some kind of publicity stunt, which sounds plausible.  538′s Nate Silver weighs in here.   Media Matters updates their report:

UPDATE: It seems the “good white people” phrase is taken from a statement by FCC official (and right-wing witch hunt target) Mark Lloyd. But the O’Leary/Zogby poll’s claim that Lloyd “wants the FCC to force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions” is completely false.

*face/palm*

Ebay auction for Roeder – how to stop it

It’s still unclear whether Ebay will allow the fundraiser for Scott Roeder (for terrorists, by terrorists) to go ahead.   However, their statement said that EBay “does not allow listings that promote or glorify violence, hate, racial or religious intolerance, or items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity,” so it’s not looking good for the vicious, spittle-flecked mental defectives proposing to run this thing.  Especially since the Tiller family’s lawyer will petition for any funds raised to be redirected to Victims’ Services, as per the “Son of Sam Law“.

But it wouldn’t hurt to let Ebay feel a little of your righteous wrath until they issue a more definitive statement.  In case you missed the link in my previous post, via Roeder Watch, here’s how you can tell Ebay how you feel about terrorists raising funds on their site:

Email:  ebayinc@ebay.com  and  press@ebay.com

Phone:  1-800-322-9266 and 1-888-749-3229  (7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Pacific time, Monday through Friday)

Every little bit, eh?

UPDATE: Victory.  (h/t JAB)

Maddow on Terrorist Auction

Rachel Maddow discusses the fetus fetishists’ planned Ebay fundraiser for Scott Roeder, and interviews the Tiller family’s lawyer.  It turns out that even if Ebay doesn’t block the auction, any funds raised will legally be directed to Victims’ Services.  Which just goes to show, for the umpteenth time, how terminally fucking stupid these deranged creeps really are.

But never mind the nutcases running the auction:  who are the brain-damaged freaks doing the bidding?   Maybe that guy you passed on your way to work this morning, the one with the “Choose Life” license plates.  I’ve seen a graphic on some Canadian anti-choice blogs that’s similar to the “David & Goliath” picture being auctioned — but it quickly disappeared when Dr. Tiller was killed.

The poison is a lot more pervasive in the anti-abortion movement than they’d have us believe.

Who let the fetus fetishists into Law & Order’s scriptwriting department?

I’ve always found the show “Law & Order” to be fairly evenhanded in its treatment of so-called “ripped from the headlines” stories, but the latest one is a nauseating exception to the rule.  On Friday, the once-proud crime drama humiliated itself and viciously desecrated the memory of Dr. George Tiller with a storyline based on his murder and told with a sickeningly anti-choice bias.

The episode starts with the doctor’s murder, you guessed it, at his church, but quickly devolves from crime story to abortion story.  Almost every deranged anti-abortion talking point can be found in the episode — ie. comparing anti-choicers to the civil rights movement — with little or no pro-choice rebuttal.  And there were many rebuttals the two pro-choicers in the episode could have given, but instead they say little, hanging their heads in shame and tacit agreement with the anti-choicers (who, the episode seems to forget, are the ones defending a murderer).

But the real low point in the show is during the court proceedings.   A nurse who quit the murdered doctor’s clinic exposes the doctor as a scissor-wielding baby-killer who commits infanticide on newborns, according to nothing but her own anecdotal evidence.   Then another late-term abortion provider takes the stand and reveals himself to be a wicked baby-killing monster with a thirst for fetal blood so intense that he’ll stop at nothing to quench it.  When asked what he’d do if abortion was illegal, he snarls “”Even if the politicians bow to the hypocrites and fools, it won’t stop us!”   Right.  And none of this shits on the memory of a courageous doctor who paid the ultimate price for helping women.

Anti-choicers fighting a ‘civil rights battle’, pro-choicers doubting their position,  evil baby-killing doctors… everything important was there, from an anti-choice point of view.  Everything, tellingly, except the women who seek out late-term abortion care.   These are their stories.

(This Law & Order episode, “Dignity”, can be viewed in its entirety here.)

What next, bake sale for bin Laden?

Mmmm, Jailhouse Cheesecake!  This and other fine institutional fare will be featured in an anti-abortion shooter’s recipe book, which is among the “unique” items anti-choice whackjobs plan to flog on Ebay in a fundraiser for their boy Scott:

An Army of God manual. A prison cookbook compiled by a woman doing time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons. An autographed bullhorn.

These are among the items that abortion foes plan to auction on eBay and other Web sites in a fundraiser for Scott Roeder, the Kansas City man charged with killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.

“This is unique,” said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who will sign the bullhorn. “Nobody’s ever done this before. The goal is that everybody makes money for Scott Roeder’s defense.”

“Unique”, um, yeah.  Dimwittie’s bullhorn is very unique and special indeed, because she was the first person convicted under the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinics) back in 1995, and forbidden to use her Bullhorn of Godly Fetus-Fetishizing Righteousness within 500 feet of any clinic in Missouri.

Along with Dinwiddie, Dave Leach, organizer of the auction, was also interviewed for this story.  What the article didn’t mention is that both of these people are signatories of the Army of God’s “Defensive Action Statement“, which declares that the murder of abortion providers is Justifiable Homicide.  Among the other anti-choice luminaries who signed the statement are Paul Hill, Donald Spitz and Michael Bray.  So these aren’t just your average everyday fetus fetishists;  they’re  violent, brain-damaged scum who are, at the very least, enablers and supporters of domestic terrorism.   In fact, if the people who signed that “defensive action statement” were middle-eastern rather than whitebread middle-American, we’d be calling it a “fatwa” and the people who signed it a “cell”.

But never mind that.  The auction supposedly launches November 1st.  It’s being discussed on the Ebay forums and complaints have probably already started rolling in, so it remains to be seen if it will even make the cut with Ebay.  If it does, I suppose someone who doesn’t mind forfeiting their Ebay account for a good cause could always start the bidding at $100,000,000.   Ya think!??

(h/t Birth Pangs, Dammit Janet)

For our own good

Knock knock. 

Who’s there?

The Anti-Smoking Enforcement Agency — open the door or we’ll open it for you:

At today’s General Committee Meeting for the regional municipality of Peel, public health officials will present councillors with a report urging government to barge into the bedrooms (and kitchens and bathrooms and foyers) of residents of condo and apartment buildings. In the document, Peel’s commissioner of health services and medical officer of health explain that they want the Ontario government to expand the Smoke Free Ontario Act, which currently bans smoking in enclosed public spaces and workplaces, so that it would also ban smoking in these private (or so we thought) residences.

That’s right. Big Brother just invited himself into your home.

Peel Public Health is arguing that this kind of intervention is necessary to protect apartment and condo dwellers from the “negative health effects and nuisance associated with second-hand smoke,” primarily the result of the fumes from a neighbour’s cigar or cigarette drifting through a shared building’s ventilation system or poorly insulated walls into another tenant’s own space.

If someone in the next apartment is smoking and it’s bothersome, how about knocking on their door and telling them?  They may be more receptive than you think.  Failing that, have the landlord get some air filters or whatever — anything but invite the Nannies in to make sure nobody is smoking (or doing anything ELSE they don’t approve of).  I *get it* that some people don’t care for smoking (neither do I), but this is an outrageous invasion of privacy.

Peel Public Health has done us a favour in one way, though. We tend to assume that all suggestions coming from those said to be looking out for our health must be benign, if not outright beneficial. Now we’ve been reminded that they’re not. They sometimes, for the sake of an amorphous greater good, threaten the crucial details that make our lives our own.

You got that right.

We’ve come a long way, baby…

… sort of.  Maybe.  Or maybe not?

Salon’s Broadsheet points out something interesting that happens when you google “bad fathering” — the ever-helpful Googles automatically inquire if you meant to search for “bad mothering“.  I just tried it and got:

I’m not suggesting there’s a hidden culture of misogyny on the internet (where it exists, it’s usually right out there in the open), and obviously Google searches have more to do with algorithms, most common searches and assorted mathematical weirdness that’s way over my pretty little head.  But I couldn’t help wondering why there might be 189,000 hits for “bad fathering” and a whopping 845,000 for “bad mothering”.  Hmm.

Fox News, distilled

Is it any wonder the White House is reluctant to treat these assholes as if they were a real news source?   9 months of distilled Fox “News” bullshit:

SHRIEEEK!  The country is ending!  The family is ending!  Socialism!  Marxism!  Maoism!  Pedophiles!  SHRIEEEEEEEEK!   Good grief.

Judge Bars Oklahoma Slutshaming Law

Awww, too bad, Lila Rose!  Your sick, psychotic dreams of “abortion in the public square” won’t be realized for a while yet.

In Oklahoma, a law that combines a medieval punishment mentality with 21st century technology and authoritarian bullying has momentarily been stopped in its knuckledragging tracks:

While Californians mull whether a fetus is a person, a state judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of a new Oklahoma law that would require doctors to report detailed information about abortion patients, which would then be posted online.

The law, passed by a solid majority of the Oklahoma Legislature, would require physicians to report such information as age, marital status, race, number of children, education level and the mother’s relationship to the father. It would also require the reason for the abortion, the cost and the type of payment used. Names of patients would not be included in information that would be posted online by the state’s health department, but abortion rights advocates say because Oklahoma is such a small state it would not be difficult to identify some patients. Abortion rights advocates say the law would violate the privacy of patients and is an attempt to dissuade women from seeking abortions.

Since the state government ostensibly needed this data for “research purposes”, does this mean the “research project” has been shitcanned?  Nice try, but it’s obvious to anyone with a functional brainstem that the threat of having such private personal details made available to the public — online, no less — is a hamhanded attempt to intimidate and shame women who have abortions.  Intimidation and shaming: the hallmark of the Taliban and its Christofascist imitators.

Cheney blathers, Maddow eviscerates

Dick Cheney, again:  it’s hard to believe anyone still listens to this vicious old prick as he furiously tries to salvage his obscene, blood-spattered legacy.   But on Wednesday night he was mouthing off again at an awards dinner put on by a bunch of his bloodthirsty buddies, and madness was on the menu.  Rachel Maddow and her guest, Ret. Major-General Paul Eaton, comment:

“Enhanced interrogation techniques” — torture, Dick.  Say it, you’ll feel better.

Teabagger Queen goes rogue

Butter! Salt!  Popcorn, we need popcorn! 

A congressional race in New York’s 23rd District has sparked some interest lately because it took a turn for the weird when the far right decided it didn’t approve of the GOP’s candidate, a moderate, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage (ie. “capable of winning”) Republican named Dede Scozzafava.  Instead, the teabagger wing endorsed conservative independent Doug Hoffman, and has been urging conservatives to vote for him over Scozzafava.  (Hoffman was also endorsed by the Family Research Council, so that tells you how much batshit is piled up on the floor of his cave.)

For reasons that are a total mystery to me since she’s no longer even in politics, the teabaggers have been waiting anxiously for Sarah Palin’s endorsement, which came tonight when she announced (via Facebook, of course) her support for their nut guy Hoffman:

Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday endorsed Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman over Dede Scozzafava, the Republican Party’s choice, in the special election for New York’s 23rd congressional district.  [...]

Scozzafava has been plagued throughout her campaign by grassroots conservative activists who have questioned her credentials, and Palin is the latest in a slew of prominent national conservatives who have weighed in for Hoffman.

I wonder if the GOP is learning a lesson here about what happens when you pander to a psychotic base with ideological tunnel vision.  It doesn’t matter that it might be politically expedient to have a moderate candidate in this district;  Teabag Nation seems to believe that people who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket last year will suddenly do a 180 and vote for a Family Research Council-certified ultraconservative nutbar.  And even if Hoffman is beaten like a gong, it probably won’t faze them.

If this is the harbinger of a third political party then it must be true that the US doesn’t know Canada exists most of the time, or they’d already know how that might work out.

(Image swiped from DU, text added)

Teabaggers hurting the GOP

What–!?  Nooooo, really??  Say it ain’t so, Olby!

And to think the Teabaggers think their movement is popular enough that they’re considering starting their own party to “take back their country”.

Sin and depravity: double-header of decadence in Denver

Last weekend at the Westin Hotel in Denver Colorado, the National Abortion Federation held a memorial honouring Dr. George Tiller, who you’ll recall was murdered in his church by a crazed anti-abortion terrorist.  Mrs. Jeanne Tiller was presented with a posthumous award by the 200 abortion providers in attendance.  (“Ewww,” squealed Nurse Stanek, sounding a lot like Randall Terry, “their hands!“   Yes yes, hands drenched in blood, mass murderer, we know the drill.)

As if to demonstrate the kind of demonization that inspired the murder of the  honouree, shrieking brain-damaged godbags from “American Right to Life” converged on the event and greeted the attendees, including the grieving widow, with fetus porn and feverish, spittle-flecked sermons:

Stay KKKlassy, fetus fetishists!

The outrageous outrage boiled over when they discovered a simultaneous event at the hotel, sponsored by the Matthew Shepard Foundation: abortion and homosexuality,  the Exactor of Iniquity.  ARTL swooningly describes the “Vortex of Evil”:

Carloads of abortionists arrived just as flamboyant homosexuals emerged from their vehicles. Alongside foul-mouthed prancing drag queens, the abortionists filed into a lobby that smelled sickeningly sweet from overly-perfumed men. Pro-lifers reminded them all that they should turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and for salvation, otherwise, “the real global warming is coming, the lake of fire.” A heartfelt message of repentance and salvation was preached to all.

Yeah, I just bet — the same kind of “heartfelt message” that resulted in the deaths of both Tiller and Shepard.

Then again, American Right to Life aren’t your ordinary everyday fetus fetishizers.  ARTL is so extreme that they’ve been disowned by National Right to Life, which as you can see, is fairly extreme itself.  ARTL is so extreme that they consider Focus on the Family to be wimps and frauds who aren’t sufficiently anti-abortion.  In other words, they’re about one step up the scum-ridden ladder of anti-choice extremism from the Army of God, who openly advocate the murder of abortion providers.  ARTL hasn’t crossed that Rubicon (yet) but apparently they realize their followers might, as they’ve devised an ingenious online “Vigilantism Worksheet” to help them figure out when it’s justifiable to deliver their heartful message with a high-powered rifle.

Wow

In Maine, where in spite of being signed into law last spring, the fight for marriage equality still goes on, a moving and personal speech of support given by a WWII veteran before the law was passed:

Maybe it’s just my Canadian naivety showing, but as with the Prop8 travesty, it never fails to amaze and disgust me that the hatemongers would devote the resources to challenge an equality law and push it to a ballot referendum.  The majority deciding on the rights of the minority?  What a sick concept.

(via andrew sullivan)

Palin linked in

It’s hard out there for a Quitbull.

The employment situation must be looking a little grim for Sarah Palin — she’s joined thousands of other online job seekers on “LinkedIn”:

Sarah Palin has posted her resume on LinkedIn, asking for “job inquiries.”

On the site Monday morning, she lists five jobs and one degree, from the University of Idaho. There are also 500+ connections and a hopeful note: she’s also interested in “getting back in touch.”

Yes, really.

And why not?  Her book’s already in the price war bargain bin and her chances of landing a future leadership role with the GOP appear to be slim to none.  Maybe she can get a job as The Teabagger Queen.  Also.

Olbermann

In the “Worst Person in the World” from October 15, Olbermann highlights a fine vintage of brain-damage, bigotry and sleazy pondscum:

These people have become virtually unparodyable.

Oy

The barking mad and burning stupid strikes again:

Two South Carolina County Republican Party chairmen stepped up to rebut criticism of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in a newspaper editorial Sunday. But their defense of the senator might be overshadowed by their use of an anti-Semitic stereotype to praise him.

After a Democratic state senator wrote in The State that DeMint didn’t bring enough money back home, Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer responded that he was just looking after the nation’s pennies — like a Jew would.

It takes a special kind of cognitive dissonance to be so kneejerk in the defense of Israel that even the mildest and most reasonable criticism of Israeli government policy is considered “antisemitism”,  and yet be perfectly comfortable with remarks that play into the most vile antisemitic stereotypes.

And these meshugeneh shmucks wonder why they have so much trouble attracting Jewish voters?