Why don't the "birthers" consider Obama to have become a citizen at conception? Most probably think that you become a person with constitutional rights at conception.

If so, remember that the Obama's were not yet married when Barack was conceived. So he was conceived by a single mom, and American citizen in the United States.

As for the predictable whining from the Right that Clinton et al compromised national security when they secured the freedom of two journalists from North Korea, at least they never gave stinger missiles to the Axis of Evil the way that Ronald Reagan did when he "negotiated with terrorists" and gave the deadly ordinace to Iran in order to free Americans held hostage.

Kathleen Parker makes an interesting observation: "Southern Republicans, it seems, have seceded from sanity."

nice line from an unexpected source.

Steve, you can't refute the birfers. Send them reality via FedEx Overnight, and they'll just refuse delivery.

You're wrong, and they're right. Shut up, that's why!

I'll tell you why Mara Liasson spoke idiotically about the "Clunkers" program in comparison to Hurricane Katrina:

She is an exasperating idiot most all of the time. Her voice makes my skin crawl -- not because it is an unpleasant voice, but because when I hear it I know something supremely inane is about to be said -- or some painfully sweet fluffy bullshit story about the supreme court is going to be told -- for what seems like an infinity of radio time --so long that it gives me both a headache and toothache.

Have I been heard? Am I understood? She is JUST PLAIN AWFUL. I am weeping now as I type... i can't go on...

* A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines got a little closer than usual to the United States this week.

Just wanted to stress that while they are nuke-powered, they do not have the capability of firing nuke weapons. They are "attack" subs in that they "attack" other subs.

* Prominent conservatives sure seem upset about President Clinton freeing Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea.

The BBC is reporting that Clinton's trip to NKor wasn't merely part of the deal to free the reporters, it was *the* deal.

Clinton and Obama and North Korea. The perfect storm for the paranoid right

And finally, "Mouthpiece Theater" is no more.
"Politics is easy. Comedy is hard."

Regarding CNN's refusal to air ads they don't sympathize with: in a court case several years ago, a pro-life couple who owned a printing business were forced by the courts to print pro-abortion literature. How does CNN get to pick and choose?

Chuck Grassley is a cancerous hemorrhoid. Believe me, we’re already paying for that!

The Republicans generally reject the use of effective diplomacy to get what we want (the release of Ling & Lee) at minimal cost (a charted jet for Bill to bring them home on). John Bolton thinks it would have been much better to jump at the opportunity to get in a pissing contest with a skunk.

* This Washington Post article is really awful. Seriously, it's horrible. -- Steve Benen

It's no worse than most of the articles in the "Race to Richmond" series have been. The main difference is that this one was, apparently (I only read the on-line version), on the front page, rather than a couple of pages in and, as such, caught the eye o more people.

WashPo *likes* "Barbie's Ken" McDonnell and is doing all it can to promote him, without being too, too, obvious about it. And, since McDonnell is running the race according to the RNC recipe book -- as a referendum on Obama, not on the two who are actually running for Governor -- WashPo is promoting *that* aspect. We're hearing more about bank bailouts than even about NoVa's traffic problems (never mind other problems "native" to Virginia) and not just from McDonnell or WashPo; that's what the entire Repub base is blathering about. And, truth to tell, I can', *entirely* blame them. I have very, very mixed feelings (to put it as politely as I can)myself, about the bailouts and, even more so, about their creators (Summers and Geithner).

I'm surprised though, that even Media Matters didn't say "boo", when the article's author presented the reason why Creigh stayed away from Obama's healthcare townhalls as if it was a flimsy -- and false -- excuse. The author accepted Politico's (false) innuendo (Deeds is avoiding Obama) without so much as a blink and MM didn't demolish that. That whole article should have been parsed, fact-checked, and torn limb-from-limb, before being put on a scrap heap. Instead, it got the generic "oooh, how awful" treatment.

Maybe CNN stands for Corporate News Network.

Nah.

Steve Benen wrote: "I have no idea why NPR's Mara Liasson would tell Fox News that the Cash for Clunkers program to Hurricane Katrina are similar."

Mara Liasson is a bought-and-paid-for Republican propagandist who works for Fox News -- which is to say, she works for the Republican Party -- who appears on NPR on a regular basis as a "political analyst", in which capacity her job is to legitimize Republican propaganda for NPR's "liberal" audience, while NEVER, EVER, EVER being identified by NPR as the Fox News employee and partisan Republican that she is.

Same thing with Juan Williams, who is even worse (e.g. calling Michelle Obama "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress").

NPR's Morning Edition has become unlistenable. It's not only Liasson and Williams either -- virtually every report about every political or policy issue focuses on what "Republican lawmakers" have to say about it, and they have taken to running soundbites from Fox News Sunday as part of their "news" reports.

And when they aren't busily regurgitating Republican talking points and recycling Fox News spin, their anchors natter and jabber away about inane drivel.

I listen to Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac at 6:35AM, and the local station's weather forecast, and turn it off.

Regarding CNN's refusal to air ads they don't sympathize with: in a court case several years ago, a pro-life couple who owned a printing business were forced by the courts to print pro-abortion literature. How does CNN get to pick and choose?

I suspect it might have something to do with Time-Warner having a bigger budget to hire lawyers than the pro-life couple at issue.

Kathleen Parker makes an interesting observation: "Southern Republicans, it seems, have seceded from sanity."

She, and people like her, have been enabling this retreat from sanity for YEARS.

So to hell with her.

RE: I have no idea why NPR's Mara Liasson would tell Fox News that the Cash for Clunkers program to Hurricane Katrina are similar.

I have an idea - during the Bush years, the quality of NPR's journalism went noticeably down hill. NPR is still better than any other news radio - but even they succumbed to the "Balanced = Objective" fallacy.

And don't forget, that hack Juan Williams was on NPR before he signed in blood with Rupert and Fox.

I second SA's takedown of Fox hack Mara Liasson in particular and of NPR in general.

I was about to post but found that SA had beaten me to it and as usual, did a very accurate and thorough job.

Well done!

Just wanted to stress that while they are nuke-powered, they do not have the capability of firing nuke weapons.

Well, except that that isn't true. They were Akula-class boats that can carry, for land attack, submarine launched cruise missiles with 200 kiloton nuclear warheads and a 3,000km range.

They are "attack" subs in that they "attack" other subs.

Modern attack submarines usually have land attack capability; the US attack subs (Los Angeles, Seawolf, and Virginia classes) have similar capabilities using Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can also carry nuclear warheads.

They don't carry long range "strategic" nuclear missiles, but then when you are within 200 miles (~320 km) of the coast, 3,000 km is plenty of range.

"NPR's Morning Edition has become unlistenable."

Anyone ever noticed how freakin' right-wing their MarketPlace show is?

And during 2002/2003, they really became National Pentagon Radio. Of course, the entire US media did also, but I didn't expect it as much from NPR, and their boosterism had a distinct quality. In-depth, anti-Arab propaganda.

As for the queen of birthers, Orly Taitz, it's interesting that she says she married a man she hardly knew.

Wonder why ICE haven't looked into this!

15 megapixel classic of the day...

LBJ signing Medicare Bill almost exactly 44 years ago.
With H.Humphrey, Lady Bird, Harry and Bess.

Eyes on the prize please.
Eyes on the prize...

Speaking of Medicare's recent birthday...

Did I just miss seeing posts featuring Congressman Anthony Weiner's brilliant "Put up or shut up" healthcare challenge to Republicans?

Probably. But even if I did, it deserves a viral repeat:

This is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Anyone ever noticed how freakin' right-wing their MarketPlace show is?

Yep. As soon as David Brancaccio left, it made a sharp turn to the right and never stopped turning. Why are their "commentators" always from the frickin' Cato Institute?

Re: Kathleen Parker It seems that they are driving all the republicans with brains out of the party. She used to be the party line doll who I could not stand...she sure has changed her tune. You really should read the letters very insightful especially gtennant about half way down - one of the best rebuttals to the foolishness being spouted by the repugs I have read.

@ SecularAnimist You sure are right about NPR in the morning - I had to endure John Kyl (Arizon acceptor of millions in HMO and Big Pharma bribes)tell me the other day why health reform was not a good idea , with no rebuttal from anyone. Bullshit!

I don't listen to the radio (any more than I watch TV; prefer to read my news), so don't know what the story on the "Market Place is", but... Isn't "Market" and "Republican screech" synonymous?

In the "open thread" vein...

I tried to leave a comment on my Senator's (Warner) FaceBook Wall and they wanted my cellphone number; supposedly, to confirm I'm for real. I don't give that number to anyone except family and, even they know not to call -- my phone is off, unless I initiate a call and I have no idea how to retrieve left messages, so never check for those.

So, I gave them my landline number, instead. They said to send them the confirmation number they sent to it. Of course, I couldn't, since my landline phone doesn't take confirmation numbers (and my ansaphone is unplugged, anyway). Makes me wonder... what if I didn't have a cellphone at all? It costs me $45 a month to keep the account; can everyone afford it?

It used to be that we said: "I think, therefore I am"(cogito, ergo sum). Now, the motto seems to have morphed into: "I don't have a cellphone, therefore I am not"...

Re: Clinton's visit to North Korea:
People like John Bolton are always worried about "legitimizing" Kim Jong Il. It's not possible, though. Only KJI and right wingers believe KJI can gain legitimacy simply by appearing across a table from Clinton (or our diplomats in nuclear weapons talks). KJI's excuse for believing this is that he's an insane megalomaniac. Anyway, nobody respects him or believes anything his regime says. He can be manipulated because he doesn't grasp that this situation is his fault, and not an injustice or grave and universal misunderstanding. Who sees KJI as more legitimate today? He does, and his state media will say as much. So what?

from the awful WaPo article: Deeds has declined to take firm stands, commending the administration's intentions to limit greenhouse gas emissions and expand health care but objecting generally to actions that would strain small businesses and families. He has also accused McDonnell of focusing too heavily on federal issues, declaring in a recent debate that "I'm not running for Congress." And he skipped two health-care town halls hosted by Obama in Virginia in recent weeks, saying it would be inappropriate to mix campaigning with White House policy initiatives.

If Obama's policies had majority support in Virginia, don't you think that Deeds would have Obama come with him to, oh perhaps a new factory that benefited from the stimulus package (as Obama has done in Indiana), instead of refusing to be "tied" to Obama?

And Cleland was just as idiotic when she voted for Obama (expecting great and rapid change) as she is now when she is disappointed. The unrealistic expectations of Obama supporters was one of the themes of campaign coverage last fall, and Cleland was by no means alone.

It drives Republicans to apoplexy to see Bill Clinton spend any time in the limelight.

They also don't do nuance (expecially John Bolton) so they don't understand that diplomacy for humanitarian purposes isn't the same as diplomacy for strategic purposes.

And if speaking to someone validates them, then Obama speaking to Republicans means that they legitimize him. Perhaps their base wouldn't appreciate this? No?

"The People's Mob" is now a group on Facebook. (As linked to my homepage by a conservative friend.)

Their description:
"The Democrat National Committee, far left bloggers, lobbyist and special interest groups have all gone on the attack over authentic American dissent. Apparently, these groups are not happy about the fact that the entire country doesn't agree with them.

If advocating free speech, peaceful dissent, individual liberty and fiscal responsibility makes us a mob... we'll take the label.

Welcome to the new official Facebook Group for "The People's Mob"... a grassroots coalition of free-market activists."

There's probably hundreds of these groups, but don't you think they could pick a better name? Usually things that begin with "The People's" are things like "Republic of China" or "Republic of [North] Korea."

Not to mention that peaceful dissent apparently involves shouting down everyone at a public meeting...

Minor quibble: Marketplace is produced by PRI (Public Radio International),not NPR (National Public Radio).

ars android hemisphere computer capacity

Why aren't Democrats pushing back on the crazy Republican rhetoric? Two easy pushbacks:

REPUBLICANS WANT TO END MEDICARE!
Republicans say Obamacare is socialized (government run) medicine and socialized medicine is bad. Well, Medicare is socialized (government run) medicine. Obvious conclusion: Republicans think Medicare is bad and want to take Medicare away from seniors.

(that's a much more honest and logically consistent conclusion to draw than, say, Republican claims that 'Obamacare' will euthanize senior citizens).

Run with it. I would love to see any Republicans have to try defend medicare for seniors while opposing medicare-like programs for others.

And wouldn't this be an angle for Democrats to actually sell a public option? They can ask America to choose:

MEDICARE FOR EVERYONE OR MEDICARE FOR NO ONE.

.
Where do I sign up for these republican parties? They sound so fun. I've always been attracted to older women. I find Alzheimer's kinda HOT! I even have fake AARP ID. And pictures of Demi Moore & Bill Clinton in my wallet. This week's Top Oldsters In The News.
.

Can we all please stop watching CNN, they have sold out to the repubs, I cannot imagine they would pass up the cash for airing a health care ad, if no-one watches, the ratings go down and just maybe they get the message.

CNN is doing a "grade the president" thing on their website-- www.cnn.com/reportcard--unsurprisingly the grades set for Obama, Biden, Hillary, Senate, Congress and healthcare reform are all being dragged down by a lot of "F"s. Guess the site is being passed around all the rightwing we-hate-everything sites.

It's totally unscientific and bs, however, they're going to talk about it all damn day. So if you have a minute go and add your 2 cents.

Bolton is still smarting from Kim Jung Ill's accurate assessment of him as "scum of the earth".

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I renewed my WaPo for 66 cents an issue last week.

I shouldn't be questioning whether I got a bargain or not.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, WaPo?