Now the Gray Lady Is . . . SATAN!?

The Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, fired back at the growing controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI’s inaction in the face of a generations-old sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Holy See to its very core leading into Good Friday and Easter weekend by -- blaming the media. The target of the Vatican’s ire is none other than my favorite newspaper, the venerable New York Times, a.k.a. the Gray Lady. Rather than addressing the truth, the Vatican has decided to manage the crisis with the oldest losing ploy in the world: spin and blame the messenger. Evidently, the Vatican has made a calculation that the best defense to its generational sexual abuse scandal is not a mea cupa followed by internal soul-searching that leads to meaningful reforms of the priesthood, but to attack the media, particularly the Times, for its sharp criticism of the Pope.

Ever the butt of good-natured jokes, from Rolling Stone (“All the News that Fits”) to Jon Stewart, it’s not as if the the Times has butted heads with Titans before (the Pentagon Papers) and lost. The Vatican cannot win this particular fight and should have realized the futility of attacking arguably the world’s most influential newspaper. The fact that the Pope’s apologists have chosen to attack the Times' reporters and columnists by name, in a veiled attempt at intimidation, will not work in a secular world of excommunication-resistant laws.


In a resentful riposte to the Times, Cardinal William J. Levada, current prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, singled out for discredit the reporting of Times senior columnist Laurie Goodstein and others: “I do not have time to deal with the Times’s subsequent almost daily articles by Rachel Donadio and others, much less with Maureen Dowd’s silly parroting of Goodstein’s 'disturbing report.'” Without getting into the weeds of the Times’ excellent reporting, the central question boils down to this: When did Pope Benedict, then-Cardinal Ratzinger, know about the sexual abuse by Fr. Lawrence Murphy, the Milwaukee priest who abused some 200 deaf children in an archdiocesan school from 1950 to 1974, and what did he do about it? It’s not that complicated.

The Vatican’s fiercest critic, Christopher Hitchens of Vanity Fair, fired a shot across the bow when he wrote:

This grisly little man is not above or outside the law. He is the titular head of a small state. We know more and more of the names of the children who were victims and of the pederasts who were his pets. This is a crime under any law (as well as a sin), and crime demands not sickly private ceremonies of “repentance,” or faux compensation by means of church-financed payoffs, but justice and punishment.

In response to the growing criticism the Church has now doubled down and gone Medieval. Noted Italian exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, says the press criticism is “prompted by the devil.” Really? And who is the patron saint of pedophiles? Fr. Armoth may be well advised to redirect his unusual skills to exorcising the cancer of pedophile sexual abuse from the Catholic Church, because, as they say, denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. This crime is so heinous that the slightest hint of a coverup will be catastrophic for the Church. It is time the Vatican came clean. Enough is enough.

Michael Steele Has Been Awfully QUIET This Week

Where is the RNC’s gift that keeps on giving to Democrats? Ever since Bondagegate slithered onto the national scene this week, the usually media happy Chairman Steele has been conspicuous by his absence from any place a microphone or camera may be present.

Is he busy massaging GOP assets at CLUB VOYEUR? Has he been abducted by aliens, or did Tony Perkins’ warriors for Christ drag Steele off to an undisclosed location for an intervention that may last till November? Still, the chances of him voluntarily falling on his sword by Friday are next to nil; he likes his perks too much, he told Perkins. Private jets, lavish hotel suites, bondage parties . . . Oh, and that fundraising thing, not so good.

Sister Sarah, Dominatrix, RNC Bondage: The GOP’s Black Leather Fetish

Was Sarah Palin’s bizarre sartorial faux pas at a McCain rally merely an accident of her execrable taste in clothing? Or was it a calculated choice of campy wear to spark synapses in the wingnuts’ reptilian fascist brains? Sarah Palin has proven her ability to wring every last government dole dollar from her adoring Teabagger fans, but fashion plate she is not. So when she hopped onto the stage to Gramps McCain’s frozen smile sporting a black leather biker jacket, the first thing that came to mind was “WTF?!”

Sister Sarah is as déclassé as can be, but this is over the top, even for her. The right wing’s subliminal sartorial messenger struck a decidedly kinky or fascist, pose, depending on which way one looked at it. Or both. Consider how often the right wing has linked Palin with the BDSM scene as a dominant fantasy. Just Google “Palin dominatrix” and you’ll get about two million hits. Prominent wingers have been queueing up for the kinky pleasures of being her sex slaves. At the risk of tossing your meal (NSFM), who could ever forget the revolting ejaculations of National Review’s Rich Lowry:

“I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.”

Not to be outdone, wingnut pansy Jonah Goldberg injected his own Freudian version of “Jonah’s Complaint:”

“First, let me just get it out of the way: I think she is a tremendously sexy woman. How this will effect the race, I have no idea, but it’s just got to. It’s not an issue of glamour so much as a kind of Paglian chthonic sexual power. Set in that context, her unabashed embrace of her fecundity and motherhood as a kind of qualification makes a lot of sense…Palin exudes sexual confidence and maternal authority…It makes a lot of men uncomfortable, but that’s because it’s the kind of female power they are most often subject to, and most often fail to successfully resist. I spent much of my life taking orders from women a lot like Sarah Palin — women like my mother and my Iowa public school teachers…When a woman like Sarah Palin says “jump,” I am inclined to deferentially inquire into the requirements of this jump.”

Sorry. I should have warned you to have barf bags at the ready, even if only for dry heaves. I know you were excited, Jonah: It’s “affect” and not “effect.” These panting bloviations aside, Sarah Palin has become the object of black leather fascist fantasies of reptilian wingnut males, a festishist's dream come true, as well as of the women who see in Palin a real “role” model of how to behave around their men-folk.

Fashionista website STYLEITE missed the forest for the trees when, instead of focusing on the politics (OK, it’s not their thing), said “we want to take a moment and ask Sarah, who on earth told you to wear that jacket?” All those Rich Lowry and Jonah Goldberg Palin wankers out there, that’s who! STYLEITE continued, “Palin’s zipper biker jacket that she paired with a chandelier earring and her token librarian glasses seemed highly inappropriate and, frankly, ugly.” Well yeah, but her target Teabagger/fascist audience isn’t exactly fashion-conscious.

Face it. Conservatives have problems with women, particularly strong women. They are uncomfortable with women’s growing professional assertiveness. Conservatives were bypassed by the feminist movement, which they regard as a liberal plot to emasculate them. Conservatives pay lip service to what they will derisively sneer as “politically correct” conduct between the sexes, which compels them to treat women as equals (but really not so equal) under the law. Until they exit their regulated environments with OSHA regulations and watchdog HR departments and go home to their bunkers, trailers, and suburban enclaves, before heading out to the Teabagger rally, perchance to catch a glimpse of Sarah Palin, where they get to be themselves.


Come to think of it, the GOP elites have had a disturbing flirtation of late with the Party high life and BDSM master-slave sexual inclinations. RNC Chairman Michael Steele is traveling in style: private jet and lavish hotels, and a $2,000 tab charged to the RNC for a GOP party animal’s excellent adventure at a BDSM lesbian bondage theme strip club in West Hollywood. Niiice. Call it the Palindrome: Black leather biker gear for the GOP’s biggest draw, dominatrix Sarah Palin.

Finally there’s David Ito, the career L.A. SEC supervisor who was surfing porn at the office for more than 1,800 times over a 17-day period on his government issue computer at the height of the GW Bush economic collapse. To date, porn warrior Ito has not been disciplined for literally jerking off your 401k. In fact, he received a promotion. Clearly, the SEC is not up to the task of its enhanced responsibilities enforcing expanded financial services regulations. Not as long as Ito, well . . . you know.

Go, family values. Get thee to a nunnery. Oh wait, that’s not safe either. Okay, vote for the Tea “Party” candidate. Democrats are loving the three-way split. Um . . . not ménage-a-trois.

When Vice Presidents Curse: There IS a Difference

Healthcare Toon Time

This One's for You, Ted

Today, after voting for the Reconciliation healthcare reform bill, the Senate observed a minute of silence in memory of Senator Edward Kennedy, who championed healthcare reform and made it the cause of his life.

This Is How Conservative Think Tanks Treat Heretics

You know how conservatives always talk a good game about liberal intellectuals stifling the free exchange of ideas in so-called “elite” institutions such as universities, think tanks, and research organizations? It was practically an article of faith in conservative circles that the big bad liberal “elites” literally censored conservative “free thinking.” This is, of course, absolute hogwash.

Anyway, the proof is in the puddding. Enter David Frum, whose incisive criticism of fellow conservatives made him “a high-profile critic of Republican legislative leaders.” At least that’s what Arthur C. Brooks, president of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, said to Mr. Frum over lunch, before asking him to stay on as a non-salaried fellow at the Institute. That’s like the boss telling an employee, “You’re such a valued worker that I’ll have to ask you to work for free!”

Naturally, Mr. Frum refused. And he was forced out. We trust that Brooks picked up the lunch tab.

Coultergeist Does Canada, Gets That "Deer in the Headlights Look" (Is Back for More)

Lesson No. 1, boys and girls: Fox News progeny must stay close to home; taking side trips to educated countries, like Canada, is bad for your health.

Lesson No. 2: When you make it a career to make stuff up (Palin, Coultergeist, Malkin, O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Rove, Morris, Carlson, Limbaugh) in the network that rewards lies-per-seconds records, it's not a good career move to be interviewed by someone who actually knows their facts and isn't afraid to embarass you.

Believe it or not, I felt sorry for the Coultergeist. Even Freakazoids have feelings!

Johnny Come Lately and the Right’s Twisted Vision of America and Hatred for President Obama

Finally, four days after repeated instances of violence and vandalism erupted against the home of one lawmaker’s brother and regional offices of House Democratic members who voted for healthcare reform, after phoned, mailed, shouted, faxed, signage death threats were made against individual House Democrats, after angry protesters hurled vitriol and racist invective against legends of the civil rights struggles John Lewis and James Clyburn, after homophobic epithets were screamed at Barney Frank and xenophobic language shouted at a Latino House Democrat, after an African American House member was spat on by a rabid Teabagger egged on by sign-waving Republicans outside, after Texas Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer yelled “baby killer!” from the House floor at Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, who then received multiple death threats –- and after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Democratic Whip James Clyburn emerged from their Caucus meeting with Congressional security to denounce the incidents of violence, the climate of incivility, and report on the widespread threats –-

Only then did . . .

House Republican Leader John Boehner, with Eric Cantor, see fit to condemn the violence:

“I know many Americans are angry over this health care bill, and that Washington Democrats just aren't listening. But, as I've said, violence and threats are unacceptable. That's not the American way. We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change. Call your Congressman, go out and register people to vote, go volunteer on a political campaign, make your voice heard -- but let's do it the right way.”

Democrats are not satisfied with the late Republican condemnation of violence, including a severed gas line in the home of Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello’s brother, who has four children. His address was posted online by the Teabaggers. The FBI is investigating. This is the result of a widespread campaign of lies, smears, and misinformation by a recklessly irresponsible (yes, it is an oxymoron) wingnut right:

• 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist. The belief that Obama is a “domestic enemy” is widely held—a sign of trouble yet to come.

• 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim;

• 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was “not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president;”

• 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did;”

• 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama “may be the Antichrist.”

There is a name for this -- the “Obama Derangement Syndrome,” defined as the “pathological hatred of the President posing as patriotism has infected the Republican Party” from the violent fringes of its Teabagger storm troops. This hatred has now expanded to encompass all of the Democratic Party. This is a short list of those who bear direct responsibility for the incidents of violence, vandalism, and now as Rep. Bart Stupak affirmed, “domestic terrorism:”

• Teabaggers (rebels without a clue, many packing heat);

• Republicans who incited this violence with lies and misinformation, and never condemned the racism, the Hitler signs, the gun signs, the Nazi concentration camp signs right in front of their faces;

• Dick Armey, leader of the astro-turf FreedomWorks Teabaggers;

• Michelle Bachmann, who called for an investigation of “un-American” Democratic members of Congress;

• Sarah Palin with her “death panels” lie, crosshair icons to “target” Democratic legislators, and incendiary language “LOAD UP;”

• Texas Gov. Rick Perry talking up “tyranny” and secessionism;

• Birthers and their campaign to delegitimize President Obama;

• Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, Fox “News,” Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, right wing hate radio, Bill O’Reilly, Karl Rove, Dick Morris, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Gretchen Carlson -- the entire wingnut anti-Obama propaganda machine;

• Joe Wilson, for calling the President a liar, breaking a longstanding tradition of civility in the well of the House, and then raising money off of it;

• Frank Luntz, a modern Joseph Goebbells, the GOP propaganda minister;
  

• RNC and Michael Steel for turning a blind eye to its worst excesses; and on and on and on.

As one Ohio Democratic Congressman who was targeted by the Republicans’ storm troopers said of a careless remark by John Boehner after confronting him: “Words and actions have consequences.” Indeed they do. You cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater. Ever.

Texas Textbooks Become Campaign Issue Where they Belong, Unfortunately

Bill White, the Democratic candidate for governor in Texas, has called on Governor Rick Perry to ask (can the governor order them to?) the State Board of Re-Education to send the politicized right wing social studies curriculum they recently voted on back to committee. How this will help Mr. White politically in a predominantly red state is unclear, but by making it a campaign issue the Democratic candidate elevates its profile nationally. This is one of those issues that the more people -- parents, educators, voters -- become aware of the more concerned they become. And the more difficult it becomes for Governor Perry to try to defend the ultra-conservative political bias being injected into an educational curriculum.

This is what happens when a group of right wing extremists ram through the Texas Board of Re-Education a political and ideological document masquerading as a social studies curriculum. It has become clear from the controversy surrounding the rewriting of history by commission (there is no “wall of separation” of church and state) and omission (Thomas Jefferson) among many other offenses, e.g. against the contributions of non-whites to our nation’s history, that the Board is seriously dysfunctional, a national disgrace and international laughingstock. A Board member who opposed the changes, said they amounted to a “whitewash.” As if education isn’t enough of a problem the Board’s actions, unchalleged, will do the most damage precisely to the education of children who would rely on these biased and deeply flawed textbooks.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that two of the right wing Board members were voted out, as the public became aware of what was going on, yet will remain to cast a final vote on the changes in May, after a comment period. They have no intention of recusing themselves, and will be voting for final adoption of the changes as lame ducks. This, by itself, is a fatal flaw in the system since it is clear that at least two votes will be cast by defeated Board members who were in effect fired from office by the voters for making these changes.

The more the public becomes aware of this issue nationally, because it has national implications as Texas standards are widely adopted by other states, the greater the public alarm and pressure to reverse, or at least limit these changes to Texas.

Hey Boehner, Teabaggers, TAKE THIS! YES, WE CAN.

Vice President Biden: “This is a BIG fucking DEAL!”

Author of Republicans' “Waterloo” has Plan B: Repeal the Bill

Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, seeks to revive his “Waterloo” prediction -– “it’s Waterloo all right: ours,” wrote conservative David Frum -– by introducing a bill to repeal healthcare reform. DeMint, not the brightest bulb in a party populated by dimwits and troglodytes, is infamous for his trenchant prediction that healthcare reform would be President Obama’s Waterloo and “break” him.

Extending the Napoleonic metaphor to its logical conclusion, DeMint seems determined to fate the GOP to “exile” in the Isle of St. Helena with another volcanic blunder of Mount St. Helens proportions for Republicans. As any fifth-grade civics student outside Texas could tell DeMint, even if the Republicans succeeded in their repeal scheme the President would veto it.

Good luck, Senator DeMint, getting enough votes to override:

• A prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions;

• Insurance for 32 million uninsured Americans;

• A prohibition on dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

• Closing the prescription drug donut hole for seniors;

• Tax credits for small businesses to purchase coverage;

• Eliminating lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

• Requiring plans to cover an enrollee's dependent children until age 26;

• Preventive care services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

• Internal and external appeals process for consumers to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

• Premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures;

• Public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs;

• Enhanced fraud, waste, and abuse screening;

• Medicare expansion to underserved rural areas;

• Medical loss ratio of 85 percent or more for Blue Cross/Blue Shield to take advantage of IRS tax benefits;

• Better early retiree health benefits for persons aged 55-64 to reduce coverage costs;

• Better consumer information on the Net;

• A two-year temporary credit to encourage investment in new therapies for the prevention and treatment of illnesses.

Democrats will be “deelighted!”-- to borrow Teddy Roosevelt’s effusive expression of optimism -- to stand in opposition to the Republicans’ Dickensian plans. T.R. was the first president to propose universal healthcare, and he never backed down from a good fight. Democrats head into the November mid-term elections with the historic accomplishment of healthcare reform -- the missing third leg (after Social Security and Medicare) in the Democratic Party’s great progressive platform, as President Obama said, “after a century of striving,” with the winds of change at our backs.

Healthcare reform is now the law of the land.

Healthcare Roundup: From Teabagger Viciousness to Democrats Making History, Again

Besides the filthy racist signs, there was this incitement to violence and treason (see sign below). Hopefully, the FBI and Secret Service are investigating and questioning these Teabaggers. Free speech doesn’t mean yelling fire in a crowded theater.

As if the treasonous and violent signs weren’t enough there were the racial slurs hurled at African American Congressmen John Lewis, a legend of the civil rights struggles, and James Clyburn, another being spat upon, shouting "faggot" at Barney Frank, and “go back to Mexico!” at a Latino Congressman.

Is there any rational person in this nation who would find such behavior acceptable? How about the Republican “rep” as an effective opposition party (joke) what’s left of it, with GOP Reps. egging these lunatics on and then saying, oh it's just a few bad apples, as they head into the November mid-term elections?

It's far more than a few bad apples, and it goes without saying that the Republicans have a moral responsibility to condemn this ugliness in the harshest of terms, just as the leaders of the so-called “Tea Party” movement do. 
Not that it’s going to happen. The new Republican “robo-call” might as well be a generic apology. Like the one issued today by Texas (is anybody surprised?) Congressman Randy Neugebauer after yelling “baby killer!” at Congressman Bart Stupak from the cesspool that has become the Republican side of the aisle in Congress.

I’ve seen four-legged basement claiming racehorses, non-winners for life, that are a classier bunch than these “Tea Party” animals and their Republican acolytes.

The Republican rhetoric got ever more outrageous as their frustration and desperation mounted. One congressman defended the Teabaggers’ conduct by claiming the healthcare bill would take us on a path to totalitarianism. Ayn Rand Objectivist Paul Ryan (pictured below) said the bill is a “fiscal Frankenstein,” (noo, he is) and wacko Marsha Blackburn said the bill, which expands the private marketplace for the insurance companies, means “dependency on the federal government and the death of freedom.” Right. The United States remains the only country in the world in which for-profit insurance companies deliver healthcare. They’ll be regulated, but their profit margin will hardly be affected.

Finally, kudos to Nancy Pelosi, whose place is secure in history beyond being the first woman Speaker of the House, but also, more importantly, one of the greatest Speakers in the history of Congress. Love her or hate her, no one will ever doubt her incredible results-oriented leadership style after Sunday’s historic vote. In a splendid symbolic move, Speaker Pelosi and the entire House Democratic leadership proudly walked the Teabagger gauntlet to demonstrate they would not be intimidated by the viciousness of the clueless haters.

This is only a beginning, but a good beginning -– a foundation to be built upon. It’s a proud day to be a Democrat. Once again, we’re on the right side of history, and Republicans are on the outside looking in, with envy, anger, and that loser’s hangdog expression.

Quotable: David Frum

“Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s. ... So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.”

David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush

I agree with Mr. Frum. He is an astute enough student of history and politics to have realized the Republicans were playing a dangerous ideological all-or-nothing game with the President. By vowing to oppose every initiative of the President’s, even those in which common ground could be found; by whipping up their angry fringe, the Teabaggers, which in my view they and the punditocracy have grossly overestimated; and by playing infantile process games of obstruction, the Republicans gambled everything on Jim DeMint’s catchy but recklessly self-destructive prediction of President Obama’s “Waterloo” -- and lost.

Deal with it, Republicans. And try cutting the Teabaggers loose. You stoked that ugly flame; now you own it. David Frum may be a minority of one -- or three -- in the GOP.

The President's Victory Lap

Runner-Up: THE VICTORY TWEET

Tweet of the Day: LIFE ON PLANET EARTH AFTER HOUSE PASSES HEALTHCARE REFORM

This just about sums up the Republican/FOX Democratic DOOM/Apocalypse after the Democratic House of Representatives passes the healthcare reform bill, Don’t ya think!

Alternate nightmare: Red sun rising, red dawn, red sky . . . blue state, flying monkeys everywhere?

THE CLOSER

What a tour de force. This was, for me, the most moving speech I have seen President Obama deliver. Like Lincoln, the President appealed to the better angels of our nature, and reminded the people’s representatives why they first got into politics starting out, and most of all, why they became Democrats. Because, he said, there was a moment “I realized if I wasn't willing to step up and be true to the things I believe in, then the system wouldn't change.”

The President continued:

“Something inspired you to get involved, and something inspired you to be a Democrat instead of running as a Republican. Because somewhere deep in your heart you said to yourself, I believe in an America in which we don't just look out for ourselves, that we don't just tell people you're on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community, and we are willing to look out for one another, and help people who are vulnerable, and help people who are down on their luck, and give them a pathway to success, and give them a ladder into the middle class.”

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

For the first time in his presidency, President Obama clearly and eloquently articulated why we are Democrats, and not Republicans. Party identification matters, and the Democratic Party was reminded of its roots as the party of the people and of transformational social legislation: Social Security, Civil Rights, and Medicare. While outside the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party screamed ugly epithets at Democratic lawmakers and spat on one black Congressman, inside the halls of Congress the Democratic Congress found its voice anew, inspired by a young president from Illinois who was, himself, inspired by a great Republican president of another era.

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, has always been among President Obama’s favorites:

“I am not bound to win, but I'm bound to be true.

I’m not bound to succeed, but I’m bound to live up to what light I have.”

Cracking the Whip on Wavering Democrats