Year: 2009

PA Newspaper Runs Ad Calling for Obama’s Assassination, Apologizes

Posted on by TL

A Pennsylvania newspaper ran an ad apparently calling for the assassination of President Barack Obama, according to Editor and Publisher:

The publisher of a Pennsylvania newspaper that ran a classified ad appearing to call for the assassination of President Barack Obama said it was “unfortunate” the ad made it into the paper. He also said it drew dozens of phone calls to the paper and a likely visit from federal officials.

Publisher John Elchert of the Times-Observer in Warren also told E&P the ad — slated to run for three days — was stopped after appearing once Thursday. “It is unfortunate that it got past our classified people,” he said. “My first call [Thursday] was to the police chief and I believe his protocol is to contact the Secret Service.”

The ad stated: “May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley & Kennedy!” All four of those presidents, of course, were assassinated in office. Elchert said when the ad was taken, the staffer who took it “did not make the connection of what tied those presidents together.”

The paper ran an editor’s note Friday that stated:

“An errant classified ‘personal’ ad which appeared in Thursday’s Times Observer has drawn the attention of law enforcement officials.

“A person from Warren placed the ad, which apparently alludes to the wish that President Obama meet an untimely end by linking him with four assassinated presidents. The ad representative didn’t make the connection among the four other presidents mentioned and mistakenly allowed the ad to run.

“Upon realizing the mistake early Thursday morning, the ad was immediately discontinued and the identity of the person who placed the ad was turned over to Warren City Police as per newspaper policy. The local police department forwarded the information to federal authorities, as per department policy.

“The Times Observer apologizes for the oversight.”

Wow.

Did you ever think you’d have to use that stuff they taught you in American History?  Might be a good time to review.

Mancow Expected Fight from Olbermann, Found Respect

Posted on by TL

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I admit I don’t know much about Mancow.

Although I live in the Chicagoland area, I’m not much into talk radio outside WCPT.  Having learned more about Mancow in recent days, I understand that some consider him very conservative.  He says he’s Libertarian.

I can tell you now that I have a ton of respect for him now.

Matthew Erich “Mancow” Muller agreed to be waterboarded, for real.  As we all know now, Mancow lasted less than six seconds.  In his appearance on tonight’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Mancow said the word “drowning” is not a strong enough description of what we call waterboarding.  Mancow, who did drown when he was young, said waterboarding is worse.

Amazing.

It seemed to me — and I could be wrong — that Mancow was expecting Olbermann to say something outrageous.  Indeed, if they had met on any other day, under any other circumstance, Mancow and Olbermann would both be in rare form, very animated, and, no doubt, entertaining.  But tonight, while they met as peers, Olbermann seemed genuinely awestruck with Muller.

Muller said he had chest pains for two days after this episode.  He said no one should have to go through this.

Watch the video above and make up your own mind.

Let’s grow away from waterboarding and torture as a nation and talk about real policy issues.

Mr. Erich “Mancow” Muller, sir, I take my hat off to you.  You did this nation a service. You did us all a service.

Obama Taps Sotomayor for Supreme Court

Posted on by TL

sonia-sotomayor-supreme-courtNumerous news sources are reporting that President Barack Obama has chosen federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. She will become the first Hispanic in history to wear the robes of a Supreme Court justice.

From the Sun-Times:

If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, would succeed retiring Justice David Souter. Two officials described Obama’s decision on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

Administration officials say Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years. A formal announcement was expected at midmorning. Obama had said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy — the ability to understand the troubles of everyday Americans.

Turning Left will carry the president’s full statement when he announces Sotomayor’s appointment.

Susan Boyle’s ‘Memory’ Draws Cheers, Tears

Posted on by TL

Her voice a bit tentative at times, Susan Boyle finds her stride in ‘Memory’ from Cats, and lifts us up once again.

According to the Sun-Times, Telephone voters picked her as the best of the night’s eight performers, so she will sing again in the contest’s final on Saturday.

Enjoy the video.

Sing, Susan. Sing.

Newt Gingrich Hates the Constitution and America

Posted on by TL

Newt Gingrich was never a successful politician.  As a talking head, he gets by.  After his failed Contract with America, Gingrich continued to point fingers, cough up empty theoretical neo-con rhetoric, and a bizarre plan to save America called American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF, or ass whiff, for short).

This morning, I watched Gingrich attempt to debate Sen. Dick Durbin on NBC’s Meet the Press.  David Gregory left every false claim by Gingrich go unchallenged.  We’ll leave that to our friends at Media Matters.

Here’s what I notice about Gingrich: the man hates the United States Constitution.

This week I started singing the Preamble to the Constitution, a la School House Rock.  Remember this?

Here it is:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Justice: the first value established.  Justice.

Gingrich wants to toss out justice, keep Gitmo, hold Prisoners of War forever, without trial, without charges. Gingrich wants the United States to continue to run gulags. The United States Constitution is too much for Gingrich, too fair.

Make no mistake, Newt Gingrich hates the United States Constition and the United States of America.  Newt Gingrich wants to continue the Bush-Cheney doctring of shredding the Constitution.

The Founding Fathers were not fools.  Gingrich is.

Gov. Quinn Honors Fallen Soldiers Throughout the Year

Posted on by TL

I have to say, I’m impressed with Governor Quinn.  Not sure how successful he’ll be convincing the Illinois Legislature to pass his budget.  Frankly, bumping up the income tax is long overdue.  If there is any fairness in taxes, the income tax comes closest.

But that’s an argument for another time.

Today, I was  impressed to learn that Governor Quinn has attended funerals for all 30 Illinois soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past year.

Remember when we were criticizing President George Bush because he had not attended a single funeral for a fallen soldier?  His record remains unblemished.  Bush never attended any funerals.

I suppose there was stress enough sending young men and women to their deaths.  Now, the former president is relaxing, says it’s liberating to be out of office.

Liberating for us as well.

Another digression.  Back to Governor Quinn.

From the Sun-Times:

As the Memorial Day parade was set to kick off, Quinn stood with Mayor Daley in Daley Plaza handing out Gold Star banners to families of the 30 Illinois soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past year. Quinn has attended every funeral.

“I know all of them,” Quinn said. “Those funerals are heartbreaking days. We have one coming up Tuesday. We had one last Monday.”

But the state needs to also be concerned about the veterans returning from service. To best help them lawmakers need to fix the state’s broken funding systems, he said.

“Some . . . men and women coming back form Iraq need post-traumatic stress disorder help and counseling,” Quinn said. “We have a wonderful program, a national model. We can’t kick that program off to the side of the road because we don’t have money for it.”

I give the guy credit for showing up, standing in to honor the fallen, again and again and again.  Quinn puts his money where his mouth is.  That counts for something.

Sunday’s Chicago Tribune asks if Quinn can close the deal.  Can he pass his budget?

Two months after Gov. Pat Quinn proposed a $26 billion public works plan, he called top lawmakers into his office and asked them to give him a few projects in the massive bill that he could call his own.

The legislature’s top four leaders, including the fellow Democrats who control the House and Senate, turned down most of his suggestions.

The quiet scene in the governor’s office last Tuesday demonstrates perhaps the most important political dynamic in state government these days: Quinn’s struggle to harness the power of his new position and the willingness of wily legislative bosses to take the lead.

Lawmakers and others with a stake in Statehouse politics cheered Quinn’s call for a new level of cooperation when he replaced the divisive Rod Blagojevich in January. But now they are questioning the untested governor’s ability to engage in the nitty-gritty of legislative dealmaking — in short, to be a closer.

So far, it looks like legislators aren’t giving an inch.  The governor needs learn to play the Springfield game.

With a week left before the General Assembly adjourns for the summer, friend and foe alike say the governor has not taken charge on his signature issues — a dramatic call to close a $12 billion budget gap with a 50 percent increase in the income tax and a blue-ribbon plan to reform state government after the Blagojevich scandal.

They question why he hasn’t lobbied harder in the Capitol for his tax plan and say that members of his special reform panel often have had to fend for themselves on ethics recommendations.

“I would like to see a lot more vigor. I think [ethics reform] should be his issue. This should be the issue he owns,” Cynthia Canary, the director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said, noting Quinn’s long activist history as a self-styled reformer.

“A lot more vigor?” So the governor needs to dance for the legislature?

No, I don’t get it either.  Springfield must be a political minefield, that place where dreams go to die.

How many funerals of fallen soldiers have legislators attended over the past year?  Perhaps that’s not a fair quesiton, but Quinn showing up at funerals shows me that he’s grounded.  A brush with reality might be good for some legislators.

OUTRAGE Targets Closeted Pols Who Campaign, Vote Against Gay Community

Posted on by TL

From Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) comes OUTRAGE, a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians with appalling gay rights voting records who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to. Boldly revealing the hidden lives of some of the United States’ most powerful policymakers, OUTRAGE takes a comprehensive look at the harm they’ve inflicted on millions of Americans, and examines the media’s complicity in keeping their secrets.

With analysis from prominent members of the gay community such as Congressman Barney Frank, former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey, activist Larry Kramer, radio personality Michelangelo Signorile, and openly gay congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (Representative, Wisconsin 2nd district), OUTRAGE probes deeply into the psychology of this double lifestyle, the ethics of outing closeted politicians, the double standards that the media upholds in its coverage of the sex lives of gay public figures, and much more.

Source: http://www.outragethemovie.com/

Learn more about OUTRAGE on Facebook.

Texas Mayor Resigns for Gay Illegal Immigrant Lover

Posted on by TL

Some day, things like this will not be news.

But it’s news today.

From The Houston Chronicle:

It was, simply put, the most stunning abdication since King Edward VIII in 1936 gave up the British throne for Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American socialite.

Only two weeks after being elected to serve his fourth term, Mayor J.W. Lown of San Angelo submitted his resignation letter Tuesday from an undisclosed location in Mexico.

No, being mayor of San Angelo is not exactly the same as being the King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India, but the reason for Lown’s abdication is the same as Edward’s.

Love.

What made it stunning wasn’t the status of Lown’s office, which pays $600 a year, but the status of his lover.

Lown fell for an illegal Mexican immigrant.

A man.

Lown told the San Angelo Standard-Times he had fallen for the man in March, after he had already filed for re-election. The man came to the U.S. five years ago to study at Angelo State University.

It was unclear whether he had a student visa, but if he did it apparently had expired.

No word on the man’s party affiliation.  According to the Chronicle, it wouldn’t matter if Lown went to Iowa and married his partner by proxy. The federal government doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages for immigration purposes.

So it goes.