Over Time with Bill Maher, April 20, 2012

A Bill Maher episode on 4/20, really? Isn't that ironic (no it isn't, Alannis, it's coincidence).

Ep. 245: April 20, 2012 - Overtime

Romney's New Gay Advisor is a Twitter Terror

GOProud bait. Image from Gay Star News.

What? Yeah, I don't know why Mitt Romney's new foreign policy spokesman has teh gay either. I'd think that would make him lose far more potential voters than he'd gain, but whatevs. What it does seem like, however, is that Richard Grenell is a stereotypical gossip queen, doesn't it?

[Excerpt]


Romney's new advisor in trouble for sexist tweeting

Mitt Romney's new foreign policy spokesperson has a Twitter history of sexist comments.
Yesterday, 20 April, Think Progress published an article on Richard Grenell's social media habits. The out gay man 'has an odd penchant for targeting the wives of male politicians and women in general on Twitter. . .'

Read more at: Gay Star News

Mitt Romney's "CookieGate"

Okay, so Mitt Romney dissed a beloved bakery's offering of delicious cookies, what's the big deal, right? Well, it's just the latest in a series of tone-deaf, boneheaded gaffes that makes Romney look out of touch. If riding in a tank or windsurfing can derail a candidate (and how dumb is that, really?), which of these gaffes will be the final straw for Romney?

"The Gay" is Not a Choice (Duh)

More than a decade ago a psychological study seemed to show that certain gay and lesbian people were capable of "changing" their sexual orientation to "straight." The rabid right--several certified hate groups, usually with "Family" in their names--latched onto this study, and used it as the basis for their anti-gay agenda. But the guy who released that study has now denounced it. He's not very happy it was used that way, and really wishes he had never released it in the first place.

So, without that study, what do these groups now base their agenda on, besides hatred?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ted Nugent is Batshit Crazy!

Mike in Raleigh (of The Stephanie Miller Show) is quickly becoming the most prolific political song satirist of the day. And this brilliant skewing of Ted Nugent's Cat Scratch Fever is one of his best ones yet.

The Young Turks: Ted Nugent, Pants Pooper

Did you know that Ted Nugent spent a week crapping and peeing himself, in order to dodge the draft during the Viet Nam War era? Yeah, he's quite a freakin' patriot.

Dick Clark Dead at 82

Image from Huffington Post

Dick Clark is one of those figures who didn't really stand out much in my life, but he was always there in the background. I've seen more than my share of New Year's Rockin' Eve over the years, not to mention the $? Thousand Dollar Pyramid, TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes and many other shows. He was known as "America's Oldest Teenager" from the 1980s forward, for his youthful, sunny appearance. So, it was sad and ironic when a stroke robbed him of that. I was glad to see him in his cameos on the New Year's shows, but it was also kind of depressing. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Clark.


[Excerpt]


Dick Clark Dead: TV Legend Dies At 82 

The 82-year-old longtime TV producer and host had been at St. John's Hospital in L.A. after undergoing an outpatient procedure on Tuesday, according to TMZ. Clark reportedly suffered the heart attack following the procedure and died on Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Why is Ted Nugent Not Getting the "Dixie Chicks" Treatment?

Image from Babble.

Back in 2003, Natalie Maines of the country band, The Dixie Chicks, said this:

"Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."

For that rather mild insult, Right-Wing World wobbled on its axis, and the Chicks were pilloried. Their albums were destroyed, venues cancelled. Certainly, the reaction was more than just a little bit overblown. Ostensibly, this was because we were a nation at war, and they'd insulted a war president! Or something.

Flash-forward to 2012. Ted Nugent, a rock music has-been, said this:

This is a right-wing hero. Image from CNN.

"If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year," Nugent said, according to a video posted on YouTube by the NRA. "If you can't go home and get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil, America-hating administration, I don't even know what you're made out of."

That's just some of what he said, and it's caused the Secret Service to stop hiring hookers and look into the Nuge's statements. But this obviously batshit crazy D-lister continues to be a right-wing hero. Are we not still a nation at war? Can the Dixie Chicks be forgiven now?

[Excerpt]

Ted Nugent to be interviewed by Secret Service

Ted Nugent, the rocker whose comments about President Barack Obama have come under scrutiny, will be interviewed by agents with the Secret Service, a U.S. official said Wednesday. The interview, scheduled for Thursday, comes amid outcry over comments Nugent made at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, which took place in St. Louis this past weekend. . .

Read more at: CNN

North Carolina Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment is Mean

Image from source, TPM

In my ongoing theme, Republicans are just freaking mean, comes this story. I know the source is a week old, but it really does point out what I'm saying. North Carolina has a amendment to their state constitution up for a vote that doesn't just ban same-sex marriage (something already in NC law), it undoes and prevents every other type of domestic partnership.

Why? Please tell me, besides meanness, why? Come on, you "small government" conservatives! Admit it, you just like being mean.

[Excerpt]


Beyond Gay Marriage: North Carolina Amendment Carries Massive Implications


When North Carolina holds an election on May 8, voters won’t merely be deciding the fate of same-sex marriage in the state; they will be voting on an amendment with implications that could affect gay and straight couples alike. . . 

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Gay Marriage Shouldn't be Allowed Because There Aren't Enough of Them?

A few points:

- Where same-sex marriages are legal, there has been no measurable effect on any other marriage.
- The number of people affected by civil rights laws should have no bearing on the legality of their rights. Whether it's .001% or 10%, their rights are important.
- Civil rights should never be up to public vote.
- Stock photos of happy hetero families prove nothing.
- Census measurements of gay people are never going to be conclusive, as long as some gay people feel the need to hide their identities.
- And on and on. . .

Found at: Joe.My.God.

Georgia Passes Drug Testing for Welfare

Eric Cantor has nothing to do with this story, but sort
of epitomizes the "meanness" I'm talking about.

I've been saying for a long time--at least as long as the life of this blog--that one of the most prominent aspects of conservative/Republican policies is meanness. There seems to be a competition between Republican legislators to see who can be the meanest. Vaginal probes. Voter restrictions. Stand your ground. Often, they have very reasonable sounding justifications for their policies. Which is understandable, since they are focus tested and word sculpted by think tanks, ALEC and Frank Luntz within an inch of their being.

But Voter ID laws didn't arise from public outcry or the specter of voter fraud. They were engineered to limit certain segments of the voting public from voting. Vaginal probes aren't necessary medically or for any other reasons. They're mandated to shame women who'd dare go through a (legal) abortion. And these "drug tests for welfare" laws have nothing to do with the actual percentage of recipients who are drug users. It's another shaming technique. It's mean. You think we'd have learned our lesson from the Tom DeLay/Karl Rove/Dick Cheney era of politics, that Republicans given power are just f***ing mean.

[Excerpt]


Georgia signs welfare drug-testing bill into law

Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal has signed House Bill 861 into law, a controversial measure which will require drug testing of all applicants for public assistance, according to the Associated Press. The Social Responsibility and Accountability Act was passed by the state’s deliberative bodies in votes that broke down along party lines, then signed by Governor Deal on Monday night. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Nuge the Stooge: Ted Nugent is Himself, Attracts Secret Service Attention

Rusty, Mittens and the Nuge. Image from TPM.

No, this isn't anything to do with the Secret Service's HookerGate. . . this has to do with has-been rocker Ted Nugent shooting off his pie-hole, and inciting attention from the President's bodyguards. And it's about time, too. Remember back in 2008 when he made all kinds of gun "jokes" about then Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton? That was glossed over by the Nuge's "friend," Sean Hannity, who has still not disavowed that.

This still only boils down to entertainment/infotainment figures. But why is it that Hillary Rosen's stupid statement ricocheted across the news cycle, even though she's just a CNN commentator? Rosen sounded bitchy. Nugent sounds dangerous.

[Excerpt]

Team Romney Gives Ted Nugent The Rush Limbaugh Treatment

. . .On Tuesday, Democrats highlighted comments made by conservative shock rocker Ted Nugent at the NRA convention over the weekend, briefly forcing the general election campaign into yet another disavowal-off. The Romney campaign played along, but with minimal effort — it blamed both sides for Nugent’s comments, with language nearly identical to its blame-both-sides statement on offensive comments made by Rush Limbaugh earlier this year. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Come On! Arrested Development News

Image from source, HuffPo

I watched Arrested Development back when it was on FOX originally. But I think I kind of lost track of it before it was prematurely cancelled. I was thankful when Netflix added all three seasons, so that I could marathon them. It turned out I'd seen a lot of them. . .maybe most of them. But full immersion was far better than my standard half-hearted divided TV attention. AD is nothing short of brilliant. Its cancellation was thus a crime, and inevitable. But fortunately for fans, it wasn't the end.


[Excerpt]

Mitch Hurwitz Talks Arrested Development 2.0


Doubters to the left: The Arrested Development reunion took another step toward reality on Tuesday when creator Mitch Hurwitz and several members of the cast appeared onstage together at a Netflix-sponsored event in Las Vegas. Speaking on the floor of the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos confirmed that all ten episodes of Arrested's long-awaited fourth season will premiere together on a single day sometime next year. Hurwitz also confirmed that production is set to begin this summer, but he also dropped a new nugget of information about what form the Arrested revival will take. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Bob Beckel Drops the F-Bomb on Sean Hannity's Show

You can see it was just bottled up
in there. Image from Wonkette.

It was a matter of time until one of the FOX "News" token liberals snapped. And if you had to guess, you'd certainly guess it would happen on Hannity, right? I mean of all the doofus, slack-jawed, oafish commentators, Sean Hannity is surely the top (bottom?). He'd drive any liberal--even a FOX "News" liberal--up the wall.


[Excerpt]


Fox News Token Liberal’s F-Bomb Terrifies Sean Hannity

Do you know this guy Bob Beckel, the Fox News Liberal Who Isn’t Juan Williams? Usually his job is to go on Glenn Beck replacement The Five and have Dana Perino scratch his eyeballs out, while C. Montgomery Burns, The Joker, and, who else, Ashley Todd, maybe, cackle at the horror. But he also moonlights as, well, the Token Liberal on Sean Hannity’s program, and last night he said the only decent thing that’s ever been said on that show: “If you say that Head Start is a failure, you don’t know what the FUCK you’re talking about. . .”

Read more at: Wonkette 

Senate Filibusters "Buffett Rule" Despite Broad Support

I think this is something of a new trend. Surely, Congress is not bound by public opinion on all legislation. That would be chaos. But it is odd, when bills like the one to remove Big Oil subsidies fails, even though it has massive support. Or this week's "Buffett Rule" which is just about as popular. The issue has more to do with hyper partisanship, and the now standard over-use of the filibuster in the Senate. In a world where 60 votes are needed to pass anything (and where there are always a couple of wavering Democrats), nothing passes, unless it's something extraordinary. And when you throw in the insanity of a Republican supplication to conservative toady Grover Norquist to never, ever, ever, ever, ever raise taxes, it's just that much worse. Stupid.

Here's the deal, Republicans: you have now set the standard on filibusters. If you take the Senate (shudder), do you expect Democrats to forget that tactic? You need sixty solid votes--no Susan Collinses or Olympia Snowes or Scott Browns--from now on. Stupid.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mike in Raleigh (Again!): Bain Made You a Rich Man

At the risk of turning my blog into a blatant rip-off of The Stephanie Miller Show (shut up, that's not what it already was), here's another Mike in Raleigh work of genius. In addition to Mike's talent, these things just seem to lend themselves perfectly to parody, don't they? Baby You're a Rich Man by the Beatles might be a natural for Willard Mitt Romney, but who knew it was this perfect?

Mike in Raleigh: GOP and Say!

Surely, when you were a kid you had a See 'n Say, a toy with a big knob in the middle? You'd turn the dial, point it to a cow, pull the string, and get "The cow goes, 'moooooo!" Now, just imagine you filled that sucker up with the GOP primary candidates. You get the idea.

Quote of the Day: The Rude Pundit on Dick Cheney

"In Brief: Dick Cheney Is Still Alive and Talking, For Some Reason"

--The Rude Pundit


And nothing more really needs to be said. But of course he did, and of course, it's good. Read more at: RudePundit.blogspot.com

Blast from the Past: Loverboy

Image found at EIL.com

A bit of a blogging break this past weekend. 'Scuze me, I've been busy! Now, on with the show. . .

Yes, last week was part one in my Blast from the Past "ABBA Gold," but I wanted something different from that this week. We'll pick up with ABBA in a week or two. For some reason, the group Loverboy was on my mind. I think I must have heard a couple of their songs close together this week, and it just stuck out in my mind. I firmly believe that the group became famous for primarily two reasons: lead singer Mike Reno was cute, and that ass in the red leather pants on the album cover. Certainly, that's what people remember. But along the way, they had some pretty great tunes. However hopelessly mired in the 1980s they are.

And that's about it for Loverboy. They had a couple of other middling hits, but even some of these didn't reach the upper reaches of the charts. But they were fun for what they were. And I loved those leather pants. Happy Monday, everybody!

Over Time with Bill Maher, April 13, 2012

Ep. 244: April 13, 2012 - Overtime