Weekend Open Thread

Welcome to your weekend open thread. It’s a beautiful weekend and I hope you’re enjoying whether you’re at work or at play. Anything on your mind?

I’d never thought I’d write something like this, but go read this extensive analysis of the deceptive editing of the O’Keefe “sting” of NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller at Glenn Beck’s website The Blaze. You won’t be sorry. It’s a sad world when Glenn Beck’s crew is doing something that NPR won’t do – defend NPR employees.

You’ll just shake your head in amazement at this next story. I’m sure you’re not surprised to learn that far right legislators are just taking orders from other organizations and don’t know what the heck they are doing. Case in point – Tennessee state Senator Mae Beavers has introduced a “birther bill” in Tennessee but has no idea what it means.

It’s a far-fetched goal, and it turns out that Beavers, who recently discussed her bill on Reality Check, a radio show devoted to debunking birther legislation, still has some research to do. From the transcript:

RC: What are the specific requirements in the bill?

MB: That they have to have the long form birth certificate.

RC: What is the long form birth certificate?

MB: Now, you’re asking me to get into a lot of things that I haven’t really looked into yet.

The host then asked the obvious follow-up: why put a term into the bill, if you don’t know what it means? Beavers responded, “Well, we are following some of the bills that have been filed in lots of other states, and you know how it is, you file your bill and, you know, you prepare before you go to committee.”

File first, understand later?

Beavers went on to state more clearly, “I’m not entirely sure what long form means.” She seemed genuinely surprised by the news that not all states even print long-form birth certificates anymore. “I only know about Tennessee,” she explained. As for her motives for introducing the bill, Beavers didn’t declare herself as an outright birther, but she noted, “I think people have raised questions about [Obama’s birth] enough to make everybody wonder.” Although the state of Hawaii has produced a certificate of live birth for Obama that has been been widely distributed, Beavers said proof of Obama’s citizenship must have gotten buried in her inbox: “I get emails all the time with things in them, you know; I can’t honestly tell you that I read all of them, because I get so many.”

It’s odd to hear all these so-called experts in birth certificates who at the same time know nothing about birth certificates or different state requirements. Quick survey: how many of you have a long-form, hospital-issued birth certificate? I certainly don’t. I only have the certificate issued by the state in which I was born. It was good enough to get a U.S. passport.

Schadenfreude-alicious. A Wisconsin state senator, one of the Republicans up for recall has an angry soon-to-be-ex-wife.

Recall target, Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), talks a good game about family values.

But protesters outside the Hopper house this week in Fond du Lac were met by his wife who reportedly came out and told them: Hopper no longer lives there, but with his 25-year-old mistress in Madison.

Update: Two sources in Fond du Lac close to the recall effort say the Hopper maid has signed the legal-sized recall sheet. The maid reportedly said it’s likely Hopper’s soon-to-be-ex wife will also sign the recall petition.

Oh my. Apparently the mistress is a lobbyist for a right wing organization.