Monthly Archives: August 2010

The Real Feminists

I swear I think the Republican Party has become a party of all id. All I hear from them anymore is what they’re afraid of (Muslims, immigrants), who they don’t like (liberals) and now what they want to hump. This video came from the Minnesota Republican party (watch the whole thing if you can, it’s about 5 min. long).

Funny thing, to me it doesn’t show what they want it to show. Some of the supposed “hot” GOP women are pretty scarily botoxed and plastic surgeried. Democrats are represented mostly by unflattering pictures of women over 60. I guess the new feminist sensibilities of the GOP lasted about 5 minutes, until they got bored.

For a palate cleanser, go read Amanda Marcotte’s “A short history of ‘feminist’ anti-feminists.”

Suggestions On What To Wear

Glen Urquhart and Michele Rollins will be debating on August 31. What should I wear? Should I wear a Miss Jamaica crown or my Nazi uniform? Decisions, decisions…

Republican congressional candidates Michele Rollins and Glen Urquhart will debate Aug. 31 on WDEL radio. Peter MacArthur will moderate the debate, which starts at 8 a.m. in Widener Law School’s Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom and will be broadcast live on WDEL (1150 AM) and streamed live on WDEL’s web site. The public is welcome to attend.

Anyone interested in a meet-up before/during/after the debate?

Tuesday’s Asshat of the Day

Without a doubt, today’s recipient deserves it for many, many things he’s said.  But Bill Colley of WGMD, the self-proclaimed “Talk of Delmarva,” has totally lost it.  He’s lost all claims to being a voice for even those who call themselves conservative in our state.  He has exposed himself as the jingoist and demagogue that he is.

During Monday’s show, Colley, or Curly as I like to call him, since he reminds me of one of the Three Stooges (and he’s as fat as his namesake), lost it.  I mean he totally lost it.  Curly was droning on about the “Ground Zero Mosque.”  He related that a friend of his sent him an email about St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed when the second tower collapsed on 9/11.  Curly’s friend went on and on about how the Park 51 Cultural Center (renamed from the Cordoba Center) “was fast-tracked for approval, yet nothing is being done to rebuild St. Nicholas.”  Well, if Curly or his “friend” would have bothered to do any research, they would have come across this – http://www.goarch.org/special/september11/stnicholaschurch/stnicholas, which is the official site of the Greek Orthodox Church in America and explains what is going on with St. Nicholas.  Curly ranted about how the government was not doing enough to help this church but was instead bending over backwards to help Muslims.  Hmmm, let’s see – a private, charitable, Islamic organization, that has Christians and Jews on its board of directors, raises money to build a community center in lower Manhattan, but Curly wants the government to pay to rebuild a church.  FAIL!

He also suggested, but didn’t outright advocate, that whoever works on the building should sabotage it by “spilling pigs blood on the door post” or by doing less than good workmanship.  “Oh, don’t be surprised if something happens to that building,” wink, wink.

But Curly wasn’t done.  He goes on about how those of us who support the building of Park 51 “don’t like our country and thought we had this (9/11 attacks) coming to us.”  His next caller compares the building of Park 51 to putting a Wal-Mart at Ground Zero (huh?) and Curly goes off on a rant about how Disney wanted to build a theme park near Manassas in 1992 and how it was opposed “because of the sensitivity issue,” and compared that proposal to the Disney cartoon Pocahontas, calling it a movie.  Curly – which part of cartoon don’t you understand?  The cartoon was not promoted as being factual.  But then again, Curly doesn’t deal in facts.

Here’s where it gets good, for this is when Curly lost any shred of decency he had left.  A caller named Collins was next on the line.  Now mind you, Curly’s M.O. is to ask the caller’s name and where they’re from.  When Collins gave his name, Curly lets out with a “oh, this ought to be good.”  Collins starts by saying that, using Curly’s “logic,” Catholic churches shouldn’t be built anywhere near kids because of pedophile priests and what they’ve done to kids. Curly, of course, rejects that.  Collins then asks him why he hates the First Amendment, stating that Islam is a “recognized” religion.  This sets Curly off.  Screaming at the top of his lungs, Curly shouts “Why don’t you just shut up pal!” before hanging up the phone.  “Why is it that I have to put up with you pimply-faced pukes day in and day out, you self-loathing liberals?  Why do you run down the flag and our traditions?  Go over to taxpayer supported communist radio NPR if you don’t like what I have to say. You and your kind are going to ruin this country and get the rest of us killed.”  He then went into some nonsensical rant about how Mayans used to sacrifice men and how that was once a “recognized religion,” I guess before the Europeans came over and brought everyone the love, joy and peace of the mother church – at the end of a gun muzzle.

Yes, Curly, those of us who are progressives, yea liberals, are planning and hoping that our country gets destroyed.  You rant about how we hate our country and trample on our traditions.  Which traditions are those, fat boy?  Did you ever wear the uniform?  I doubt it.  I did and I volunteered to do it!  Shaun Fink had it right (no pun intended) when he told you that the endless name calling by both sides, but especially on the right, showed a lack of leadership for the conservative movement in Delaware.  And by telling you this truth, you “fire” him.

If you don’t believe any of this, go to the WGMD website and you can listen to Curly’s entire show from yesterday.  Pay attention to the 4:00 PM hour.

My friend, Collins, wrote this on Curly’s blog page at WGMD and I use it with his permission:

“Bill, we are not at war with Islam. You go on about our liberties, but want to deny these liberties to anyone who does not think like you, agree with you and walk in lock step behind your banner of 2nd Amendment gun rights and child molesting catholic religious beliefs. You claim to be a patriot, but your words betray you. You only want to support the rights that you like & only in regards to people that are like you. Your xenophobic view will tear our country apart faster than anything that the Muslim extremist (sic) could ever do. Your hate filled diatribes are the fuel that lead to church burnings and killing of people out of fear. Your inability to have an intelligent and honest discussion with someone of differing views only high-lights the weakness of your argument & character.  You try to defend catholicism, but hide from the evil they allowed to exist & fostered. You ignore the deaths that the catholic church (sic) caused & even celebrated.

Please let us know when you are willing to have an honest & reasoned discussion.”

Alas, dear Collins, that day will never come, because an asshat like Curly has been drinking too much of the poisoned kool-aid that was first concocted by Father Coughlin in the 1930’s, then perfected by Joe McCarthy in the 1950’s, and finally reformulated by Beck-Palin-Limbaugh-O’Liely in the last few years.  And don’t misinterpret this, Billy Boy – even with your vile, ugly, hate, you don’t compare with the aforementioned fanatics.  You’re a mediocre version, stuck at a small radio station, in a county you’re so desperately trying to flee for greener pastures, and a bigger pay check.

Curly Joe Colley, you’re our asshat of the day!

Tuesday Open Thread

Welcome to your Tuesday open thread. Try not to hurt someone.

Good for New Jersey.

Gov. Chris Christie today made it illegal for state laws or rules to identify anyone with a developmental or intellectual disability as “mentally retarded” by signing legislation sought by people who have felt belittled by the term.

Christie said he regretted people had to wait so long to get the bill passed, and said he was proud to have signed it. “This is making sure each citizen in our state is treated with the respect they deserve … It’s their government, too,’’ he said.
The 81-page bill includes the citations in state law and regulations that have to be changed, including: “mentally retarded,” “physically handicapped,” “feeble-minded,’’ and “physically or mentally defective.” The law also applies to language involving people with mental illness, such as “the insane,” the “mentally deficient,” and “the mentally ill.”

“Words matter – it’s that simple,’’ said Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), one of the bill’s sponsors and the father of a daughter with a developmental disability. “We have a community of productive, hard-working citizens…The ‘R’ word should mean respect.”

The legislation (S1982) passed in June.

This is a bill that’s long past due as far as I’m concerned. This is one issue where I agree with Sarah Palin (before she undermined herself by not criticizing Rush Limbaugh’s use of the word as “satire” anyway) – let’s not belittle developmentally disabled people.

Yesterday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of the Prop 8 decision in California pending an expedited appeal (until at least December 6). Significantly, cited in the court orders was that the appellants must show they have standing to ask for appeal of the decision:

Three things:

First, and drastically most importantly, the Court granted the stay. Consequently the thousands of couples who were waiting for the day of equality will have to wait at least a few more months until December.

Second, the Court wants this case to be resolved quickly. Appellants’ opening brief is due in just a month and the hearing will happen on December 6th. This is lightning quick for a Federal Court of Appeals, and it’s a very good sign. The Court understands that this case is important, and it doesn’t want it to linger.

Third, the Court specifically orders the Prop 8 proponents to show why this case should not be dismissed for lack of standing. Here’s a discussion of the standing issue. This is very good news for us. It shows that the Court has serious doubts about whether the Appellants have standing. Even better, the Court is expressing an opinion that its inclination is that the case should be dismissed. That being said, the panel that issued this Order (the motions panel) is not the same panel that will hear that case on the merits. The merits panel will be selected shortly before December 6th and we don’t know the three judges who will be on the merits panel. But this is a very good sign that the appeal could be dismissed on the ground of standing alone.

Unfortunately that means some couples in California will still have to wait. You can go to the Prop 8 Trial Tracker for up to the minute information on the case.

Urquhart Claims To Lead Rollins

Heh, several days after I posted my analysis of the PPP numbers for Republicans the NJ jumps on board (of course ignoring DL):

Glen Urquhart, billing himself as the choice of true conservatives, found comfort in a poll released last week on a liberal blog — the Daily Kos. That poll, done by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, showed that Urquhart would fare just about as well as Michele Rollins — the GOP’s endorsed candidate — against Carney.

The article says Rollins doubts this poll. That’s probably why she’s unleashing her campaign ads now. I missed this one, Urquhart has an internal poll giving him a 5-7 point lead over Rollins.

So last Thursday, in his New Castle County campaign headquarters — the Newark home of John Stabley — he released results of a survey his campaign paid for that showed him leading Rollins by 5 to 7 percentage points in the primary. It showed, he said, that he can beat Rollins statewide, not just in Sussex County, by appealing to the Judeo-Christian values he says most Americans share.

Apparently Urquhart’s poll was a push poll.

Urquhart’s pollster — ccAdvertising — said it sent its questions by a voice-activated phone system to more than 16,000 Republican households. The full results of the survey were not released — much of it was meant for marketing purposes only, campaign staffers said — but several pointed questions were asked depending on whether the respondent favored Urquhart or Rollins.

The questions referred to donations Rollins made to now-Vice President Joe Biden during one of his re-election campaigns for the U.S. Senate and another to a political action committee (The Wish List) supporting female Republican candidates who would defend abortion as a woman’s choice. Calling her pro-abortion and “Heiress Rollins,” the questions linked Rollins to millions in bank bailout money while she was a director for Wilmington Trust Co., and said she made millions in the gambling industry.

Rollins response is also pretty amusing.

The questions made many people hang up the phone, Rollins said Monday.

Of course, Rollins hasn’t released any kind of internal polling showing she’s ahead. I find it hard to believe that with her warchest she doesn’t have any polling numbers. Rollins also seems pretty defensive in the article (go read to see her answers about donating to Joe Biden and her position on abortion), which still leaves the impression that Rollins is on the ropes and the Urquhart is surging.

Over on Glen Urquhart’s campaign website (LOL, Michele Rollins’s website is the first Google hit when you look for Urquhart on Google) he has a press release on the poll.

The statewide survey of registered Delaware Republican voters assessed the views of Republicans planning to vote in the September 14th Primary Election and had 16,803 participants.

You have to be kidding, 16K participants? Wow. I’d say that’s statistically significant if true. Anyway…

Brian McAllister of ccAdvertising stated, “In the race for Congress in Delaware, among registered Republicans, Glen Urquhart polls at 38.96%, a 7.01% lead over establishment candidate Michele Rollins, who polls at 31.95%. The undecided’s, who will determine the winner of this race, stand at 29.09%.”

In further exploration of the issues, the survey determined that 69.11% of respondents who do not intend to vote for Glen Urquhart would be more likely to trust Glen Urquhart over Michele Rollins on the issue of life; 65.61% would be more likely to trust Glen Urquhart over Michele Rollins to cut taxes and spending in Washington; and 73.54% would be more likely to vote for Glen Urquhart over Michele Rollins knowing that he is political outsider, small businessman and champion of Delaware’s family values.

Urquharts press release cites 2 polls, the other poll is none other than the PPP Poll:

The second poll by the Democrat polling company Public Policy Polling shows Rollins and Urquhart in a virtual tie when considering the opinion of a cross-section of Democrat, Republican and Independent Delaware voters at 32% – 30% respectively, with a margin of error of 4%.

*raised eyebrow* I’d like to see how that analysis was done.

Anyway, this sure does bring up some interesting dynamics for the general election. Until now Rollins-Castle and Urquhart-O’Donnell have been seen as “teams.” I had always assumed that Urquhart was trying to ride a bit on O’Donnell’s coattails since she’s better known because of her previous runs for office. That situation may be reversed. O’Donnell may be better known still, but she definitely wants his voters to come out and vote for her as well.

Castle, on the other hand, has to be a little nervous about sharing the top of the ticket with Glen “liberals are Nazis” Urquhart since Castle needs Democratic support to win his election. I’ll bet Urquhart has said critical things of Castle in the past as well. Would Castle and Urquhart be able to campaign together in a unity ticket?

Monday’s Asshats of the Day

It was a gorgeous weekend down here in LSD.  Too many tourons, but hey, they help our local small businesses.  If they could only just leave their money and not drive on the roads, it would be perfect.  Now on to more serious matters.

Today’s award is a bipartisan award and it was too easy.  Newt Gingrich and Harry Reid.  Yeah, a notorious adulterer and the current Senate majority leader both decided to open their yaps about the “Ground Zero Mosque.”

Here’s a link from the Washington Post which shows exactly where the cultural center is going to be – www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/08/16/GR2010081603346.html.

So, first up, we have Newt, calling the planners behind the cultural center “radical Islamists” and comparing them to Nazis.  Of course he did this on FAUX News.  Maybe Glen Urquhart wrote his talking points for him.

Then Harry Reid decided to swallow his balls and had his spokesman issue the following statement:  “The First Amendment protects freedom of religion.  Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else.”

He added: “If the Republicans are being sincere, they would help us pass this long overdue bill to help the first responders whose health and livelihoods have been devastated because of their bravery on 9/11, rather than continuing to block this much-needed legislation.”

So, obviously Reid, who has totally taken control of the race in Nevada and has painted his opponent as Nevada’s version of Christine O’Donnell (without the money problems) decided he need to run to the right on something.  And then he ties the cultural center in with a first responders bill?  I call FAIL!

Newt just needs to go away.  Seriously, his time and come and gone, and he should go chase another man’s wife, which he’s pretty good at.  And Senator Reid, when you find your balls again, hold on to them.  Being a eunuch disqualifies you from continuing as the majority leader.

I always thought we were at war with Al-Qeada and the Talliban, not Islam.

Pallin’ Around With Chavez

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is one the rightwing’s favorite boogiemen. So, guess who dumped a bunch of Venezuelan oil stock before announcing their political run? If you guessed multi-millionaire government welfare queen Michele Rollins, you’d be right!

A wealthy Republican running for Delaware’s at-large House seat dumped a large investment in Venezuela’s state-run oil company as she was readying paperwork during her run for Congress.

Michele Rollins owned a bond worth between $250,000 and $500,000 in Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the megalithic oil entity controlled by Hugo Chavez’s government. She sold the asset, earning between $50,000 and $100,000, as she was preparing financial disclosure forms to run for Congress, according to her campaign.

I’m so glad Michele Rollins is dedicated to her core principles – making as much money for herself as possible.

Monday Open Thread

Welcome to your Monday open thread. The floor is yours, be sure to sweep and mop.

This is such a strange story. The Virology Journal published, then retracted an article that postulated the Bible documented the first case of human influenza.

When such studies appear in peer-reviewed medical journals, they are expected to be grounded in good evidence, science, and valid research methodologies. Yet the Virology Journal recently published a paper, ”Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time,” which examines a Biblical miracle attributed to Jesus.

It begins with the following abstract: “The Bible describes the case of a woman with high fever cured by our Lord Jesus Christ. Based on the information provided by the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, the diagnosis and the possible etiology of the febrile illness is discussed. If the postulation is indeed correct, the woman with fever in the Bible is among one of the very early description of human influenza disease….”

That is, the study’s authors diagnosed the woman Jesus treated as having had influenza. Had the researchers examined some newly found document, mummified body, or other forensic evidence, that would be one thing. But using the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke in the New King James version of the Bible as the entire data set made “Virology Journal” look like “Mad” magazine or “The Onion.”

Just three weeks later, the journal retracted the paper and apologized for publishing it.

It’s a complete breakdown of the peer review system in this case. This type of incident is something that can kill a journal.

Some Republicans are breaking with the Gingrich/Palin wing of the party to denounce the fear-mongering over the Islamic center in New York:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has claimed that the new Islamic center project “would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum.” Referencing that quote, Scarborough expressed angry disdain at Gingrich’s intolerance. “I don’t know where to begin,” Scarborough said. “To suggest that someone trying to build a tolerance center for moderate Muslims in New York is the equivalent of killing six million Jews is stunning to me.”

McKinnon then chimed in, arguing that the debate surrounding the Cordoba House project is contrary to his party’s principles. “We may get our membership [by the GOP] revoked,” McKinnon joked. “Screw ‘em,” Scarborough responded. McKinnon then said that the GOP’s stance is “reinforcing al Qaeda’s message”:

McKINNON: Usually Republicans are forthright in defending the Constitution. And here we are, reinforcing al Qaeda’s message that we’re at war with Muslims. So we’ve got this issue; then we’ve got the 14th Amendment issue, where Republicans are saying you’re not welcome here, when we were the architects of the 14th Amendment. So, I see a bad pattern where we’re headed as a Republican Party.

McKinnon said he believed President Obama has “done the right thing in stepping forward at this time on this issue.” He added, “Tolerance means tolerating things you don’t like, especially when you don’t like them. … I respect the President for making this move.”

I wish some Republicans that are actually in office right now would speak up. Shall I continue to hold my breath?

The Logic of the Delaware GOP Purge

I don’t know how many of you have been following Delaware Tomorrow but there’s been a bout of nastiness there. The blogger who goes by the pseudonym “Wanda Maximoff” has left to form her own blog.

A few weeks back, Wanda asked me if he/she could come on the blog as a contributor. Knowing him/her from a past life, I agreed. Wanda then brought up the work he/she was doing on Christine O’Donnell. I reviewed it and said that it was fine to post so long as Wanda documented his/her claims. If he/she would do that, I’d stand behind it. And I’m confident that Wanda has met that burden, so I continue to support that effort 100%. Especially since no proof whatsoever has been offered to refute the documented claims in Wanda’s posts.

You can find all the posts about Christine O’Donnell at the new site called Delaware Republican Record. Wanda Maximoff has done some really excellent work exposing Christine O’Donnell and I hope she continues to do so.

Someone explain to me the logic of purging voices on the right by other voices on the right? I know the national GOP is turning from the big tent to the pup tent by why do they think it’s going to work in Delaware? Turning themselves into a small, irrelevant socially conservative party in the state gains them what exactly? Why is shutting down longtime Republicans Dave Burris and Michael Stafford because of perennial loser Christine O’Donnell a good idea in their minds?

Also, hahahahahahaha (link from Delaware Republican Record):

When Republican candidate Christine O’Donnell’s office was contacted for a comment on the proposals, her press aide, Yates Walker, hung up the phone.

re: lobbying proposals from both Mike Castle and Chris Coons