Quotable, President Obama: BRILLIANT Slam of Anti-Woman REPUGNANTS

"This only underscores why a bunch of politicians, A MAJORITY OF WHOM ARE MEN, shouldn't be making health care decisions on behalf of women." ~ The President commenting on the STUNNING remark by wingnut Teabagger Rep. Todd Akin, challenging Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill for senator from Missouri:

"From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," said Akin of pregnancy caused by rape. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist."

A LEGITIMATE RAPE?! As opposed to — an "illegitimate rape" ...?!? What's this NEANDERTHAL RATBASTARD talking about: date rape? She was 'asking for it'? When she said 'NO' her 'signals' said 'YES'?!

Women of America, particularly you DUMBASS REPUBLICANS and so-called 'independents': WAKE UP, ALREADY, AND THROW THESE SICKO REPUBLICANS, ALL OF THEM FROM TOP OF THE TICKET TO BOTTOM, THE FUCK OUT!

P.S. — The REPUGNANT leadership is in FULL PANIC ALERT, trying to mop this up. Sen. John Cornyn, who coordinates REPUGNANT senate races has pulled $5 million in ads for Akin. GUESS WHAT, REPUGNANT SCUMBAGS, in case some SANE Republican woman is wondering where Akin got the jaw-dropping "legitimate rape" notion:

Paul Ryan, for whom Baby Jee-SUS Sean Hannity has a real Christian hardon, not only sponsored a so-called "personhood" bill but CO-SPONSORED with Rep. Akin a bill that precisely narrows the definition of rape with the specious language, "forcible rape." EXCUSE ME, YOU ANTI-WOMAN MULLAHS, BUT RAPE IS RAPE! IT.IS.FORCIBLE.BY.DEFINITION. What's next: A stoning punishment bill for women who are considered by MEN to NOT HAVE BEEN FORCIBLY RAPED?!

ONE MORE THING. Thousands of rapes go unreported in this country, because NEANDERTHALS like Romney/Ryan/Akin with their "legitimate rape" MINDSET are in positions of power and authority over women. But I have NO SYMPATHY for apolitical Repug/so-called 'independent' women who are suddenly going, "OMG!" You voted for these SCUM, ignoring their WAR ON WOMEN, lapping up the FOX lies, and that alone is a form of double victimology and mind rape.

Quotable, PIGMAN: Presidential Debate Hosts Are "Far Left Liberal Democrats"

JIM LEHRER, BOB SCHIEFFER, CANDY CROWLEY, MARTHA RADDATZ. Patent nonsense from Limbaugh, since at least two, maybe more of these Corporate Media Establishment figures are, behaviorally at least, Republicans. Shortly before he retired, JIM LEHRER showed an uncharacteristic antipathy (given the pretend image of lofty neutrality he has cultivated on his PBS corporate ass-kissing "news" hour) toward unions, being decimated in Ohio and Wisconsin; ( there's a reason PBS's only good journalism is their foreign coverage ... d'oh); BOB SCHIEFFER may be a "dinosaur" as Limbaugh puts it, but these days that's a sign of quality and integrity; CANDY CROWLEY, who Limbaugh called a “far, far left-wing liberal Democrat momma,” does recall 'Mama Cass' of the Mamas and Papas, and that's where the resemblance ends; and MARTHA RADDATZ as the ultimate BELTWAY insider who was, naturally, ANDREA MITCHELL's shadow, when both were privileged foreign correspondents for ABC and NBC, one once married to WaPo's slushy crusading editor and the other still married to the ÜBER powerful and influential objectivist jazz hornblower-cum-"economist" who fucked us all over.

Yeah, it is a ROGUES GALLERY of BELTWAY power connectivites and HACKISHNESS as Rush 'POT-belly PORK ROAST meet KETTLE' Limbaugh has insinuated. But the PIGMAN is in on the joke, ensuring a Romneyesque corporate, sanitized debate format, in which differences and conflicts are glossed over, to the extent the hosts have anything to say about it. He's only trying to influence the general tenor of the debates even more in Romney's favor, a priori, by implying there's all that much daylight between himself and the hosts, where the rubber meets the road. The ridiculous charge of not only "far" but "far far left liberal democrat" is widely held, even today given its importance to the FAKE BELTWAY NARRATIVE of misinforming Americans, which will doubtless be perpetuated in the debates. It was a canard even the simpatico but gullible Chris Matthews repeated, though we've made some modest progress disabusing him of such useful nonsense.

Correcting Lawrence on Video Cafe, when he plays the loyalty game to his colleagues, we don't begrudge him so much, just a little: "While I agree with him on why Limbaugh is doing this, I disagree with his characterization of the moderators. They're not neutral. They're corporate, inside the beltway Villagers. And I haven't watched a lot of Lehrer or Raddatz on the air, but I do catch Crowley and Schieffer on a regular basis and they're both neither fair or balanced and are always more hostile to Democrats than they are to Republicans and both are pretty useless when it comes to addressing issues or matters that actually have any real impact on most voters' lives."

MEMO TO MSM/BELTWAY MEDIA/IDIOT PUNDITOCRACY: LEMMING QUISLINGS!

BEFORE YOU START TRADING BACK-SLAPS for getting Mitt Romney to revisit his INCOME TAX disclosure issue, between quickie WANKS to pics of Paulie 'blue eyes' on your iPads (I don't see it; he looks like one UGLY, cruel slit-mouthed white boy to me, but obviously the verbal etc. masturbators think different) — HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK WE, THE PUBLIC CONSUMERS OF YOUR GARBITCH ARE?!

Do you think we really wouldn't notice (A) Mitt and Ann Romney's LEGALISTIC dodge by saying, as Mitt Romney has, incessantly, to 'TRUST ME', he's paid at least 13% all these years he's NOT DISCLOSING to the American people, which is an awfully LOW RATE as it is, and should have triggered IMMEDIATE pushback and skepticism from the Media; along with (B) THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION THAT REMAINS UNASKED: "Mr. Romney, please define your terms and be specific: When you say 'TAXES' do you mean 'FEDERAL INCOME TAXES' or 'STATE INCOME TAXES' or 'PROPERTY TAXES'  or 'LOCAL, SALES TAXES'? And why do you insist on ADDING your charitable contributions, when normal Americans report charitable contributions as DEDUCTIONS in their federal income tax returns?!

Which brings up another question (C): Define "charitable contributions," because such contributions to the MEGA-RICH, MEGA-SECRETIVE, MEGA-WEIRD Church of Latter Day Saints DO NOT APPLY!  EXAMPLE: Native Americans are a "lost tribe of Israel" — was that before or after DNA testing? — and god lives on a planet named Kolob ... YEAH, UH-HUH, RIGHT.

 And this really REALLY WEIRD pathological liar says, "TRUST ME, I'm ABOVE the tradition followed by EVERY MAJOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE for the last 40 years of releasing multiple years of federal income tax returns." Americans are supposed to be COMFORTABLE voting for this SECRETIVE WEIRDO?! Whatever people may think of President Obama, he is a KNOWN QUANTITY: He was born in Hawaii, birther FREAKS; he rescued our nation from a REPUBLICAN-CREATED economic meltdown; he presided over 24 continuous months of private sector job growth with more than 3.9 million jobs created; he RESCUED the U.S. auto industry, crown jewels of our manufacturing base as GM catapulted back to the world's no. 1 automaker, while Mitt Romney editorialized, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt"; and he killed Osama Bin Laden.

Mitt Romney projecting again, his voters have to be MEGA-OBAMA-HATERS to cast their lot with the weird, secretive white guy.

Ever Wondered About Mitt's Wimpy Elephant Walk?

IT'S BEEN VARIOUSLY DESCRIBED HERE AS "mincingly" and he walks like "his balls are in a vise" tiptoeing through the tulips, as it were. Next time you see Mitt skip-hop onto a stage and pitter-patter waddle to the podium, think Henry Mancini's "Elephant Walk" song for the film Hatari, starring the anti-Mitt walker John Wayne:

THE 'MITT WALK' SOUNDTRACK

COULD IT BE?! ... I'M JUST SAYIN'.

WWJD

Maher: If Ryan Is The Smartest Guy In The Republican Party, Palin The Supidest Woman On Earth ...

THEN HOW COME:

Bill Maher On Paul Ryan Pick

Quotable, On Paul Ryan: Monica Crowley, Wingnut 'HO'; Maureen Dowd, Columnist

"Paul Ryan could SHARE/CHAIR my 'BUDGET COMMITTEE' anyday" ~ Monica Crowley, as she strokes Paul Ryan's gavel.

"Ryan should stop being so lovable. People who intend to hurt other people should wipe the smile off their faces." ~ Maureen Dowd.

TEAM OBAMA: THE TRUTH ABOUT MEDICARE

BRING IT ON, ROMNEY LIARS! KEEP LYING AND WE'LL KEEP TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU:

Memo To FOX And Georgia Lumberyard Owner: OH REALLY?!

RAY GASTER, A GEORGIA LUMBERYARD OWNER PUT UP A LOVELY sign addressed to President Obama at all three of his company's locations, which reads, "I built this business without gov't help. Obama can Kiss my ass." Considering Mr. Gaster is a Vietnam Vet, military service in wartime while Mitt Romney who this misguided senior will presumably be voting for was running off to Paris, France to DODGE THE DRAFT, we'll give Mr. Gaster the right to MAKE AN ASS OF HIMSELF.

Incidentally, President Obama's grandfather served in Patton's army during WWII, but not ONE of those COWARDS in the Romney Clan — past and present — has EVER served in the U.S. military ... or the Mexican army or the French Foreign Legion, so far as we could tell. This is what President Obama said, which is being demagogued to death by Rovian operatives LYING about the context of the President's words:

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help," the president said at a campaign stop last month in Roanoke, Va."There was a great teacher somewhere in your life," he continued. "Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

What EXACTLY is objectionable about this statement, right wing MORONS?! Or do you REALLY believe that if you build a business in the middle of NOWHERE as British Prime Minister David Cameron said of Mitt's Mormon capital ... "they will come?" Metaphorically speaking, of course. After Republican President Dwight Eisenhower built the GOVERNMENT INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM there was an EXPLOSION in the timely, cheap movement of goods and services, rendering far fewer locations truly isolated and boosting the growth of thousands of small businesses like Mr. Gaster's.

That "somebody else" who "made that happen" referenced by President Obama was his distant predecessor, President Eisenhower. Which only goes to show what a bunch of DUMBASSES these right wingers are when it comes to understanding the simplest historical connection to our shared American experience. So to help Mr. Gaster better understand, first, that WE, THE PEOPLE are the government; and second, that we DEPEND ON THE GOVERNMENT for all sorts of things that we simply take for granted — we have posted the RED-RIMMED FOX photo of Ray Gaster, rugged individualist AYN RAND-STYLE; followed by the SAME BLUE-RIMMED PHOTO seen through our SPECIAL 'YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT! OH REALLY?!' glasses, with ASTOUNDING results:

Right back at ya Einstein. By the way, Mr. Gaster, how are your VA Veterans benefits/healthcare working out for ya? Medicare? Social Security? You know what, Mr. Gaster … you’d make a GREAT small business owner-victim going down with all guns blazing against marauding road gangs in a futuristic Ryan-Koch brothers dystopian America for rugged individualists modeled after the Mel Gibson Road Warrior films. (See, those private police forces rarely venture outside their “Green Zones,” what hospitals remain open no longer deploy ambulances; it’s much too dangerous. Fire precincts and schools are closed for lack of funds.) Best of luck, John Galt.

MEMO TO CHRIS MATTHEWS: DON'T INSULT US WITH BOB COSTA!

THIS WINGNUT FROM THE NATIONAL REVIEW HAD THE AUDACITY to compare the JFK-LBJ ticket to Romney-Ryan, saying JFK picked LBJ for his vast legislative agenda. YES. Johnson brought to the ticket 12 years in the House (37-49), and 12 years in the Senate (49-61), in which he rose through the leadership ranks — Senate Majority Whip (51-53), Senate Minority Leader (53-55), Senate Majority Leader (55-61) — and, as chronicled by historian Robert A. Caro in Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, LBJ revolutionized the Senate majority position and his exercise of power.

Who is Paul Ryan and what has he done? The best weeping willow House Speaker John Boehner can muster is to lavish Ryan with faint praise, saying "he's not a knuckle-dragger." Wow. Now we know what Boehner REALLY thinks of the Teabagger Caucus. In 13 years as a Congressman, Ryan spent more time on his P90X workout and bulging biceps than on passing legislation. In all those years, I must REITERATE, Ryan passed TWO, COUNT 'EM, TWO bills: One, renaming post offices, and the other amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 "to modify the taxation of arrow components" (Ryan is a bow hunting enthusiast). Since 2010, Ryan has been Chairman of the House Budget Committee, passing an ideologically toxic right wing budget which guts the social safety net and KILLS Medicare by turning it into a voucher program.

Chris, two things: (1) As the OFFENSIVE Costa appearance on Hardball shows, today's National Review of Rich Lowry is nothing like the magazine founded by Bill Buckley. (2) You sat silently as Costa made an OUTRAGEOUS comparison, essentially allowing this right wing POLLUTION to permeate your little corner of sometime honest journalism and liberal opinion. Costa's ABSURD statement should have been challenged immediately. Instead, TYPICALLY, it went right over your head ON A TOPIC YOU KNOW. That's utterly shameful.

PS. — What I'd like to know is, did Ryan spend taxpayer's funds on Ayn Rand PULP FICTION to distribute to his interns and visitors?!

Memo To Mittens: STOP WHINING!!!

CNN's Soledad O'Brien BLASTS Romney Surrogate John Sununu And His GOP Lies

SCREAMING AT A GOOD LATINA LIKE SOLEDAD O'BRIEN won't get you much traction, pal. I must say, Soledad is the SINGLE bright light at CNN when it comes to solid, INDEPENDENT journalism. Forget her sweet (she is so sweet) angelic looks and voice; Soledad is not one to be rolled or trifled with by the likes of an aging, lying, right wing HACK like John Sununu.

Typically, though, those BELTWAY MEDIA ratbastards at POLITICO (and CNN, too!) played only the back-and-forth shouting, but NONE OF THE POLICY RECORD-CORRECTION by Soledad, which was at the heart of their exchange. The EDITING dishonesty of the Beltway Media is breathtaking in its BRAZEN DISRESPECT for the voters. Here's the full exchange, not from the CNN site:

IT HAS BEGUN: Back-Alley Abortions In Texas As Women Look To Mexico

REGARDLESS OF WHERE ONE STANDS ON the religious morality issues surrounding abortion, the purpose of public policy regarding women's reproductive rights is to make this legal procedure, per the U.S. Supreme Court seminal Roe v.Wade decision, safe, available and rare. Instead, over the past couple of years, the rise of the Religious Right, Tea Party, and radicalization of the Republican Party bending to its extremist right wing fringe, there has been a relentless Republican assault on women's health, particularly reproductive health, in Red States like Virginia (angry women there kicked 'Gov. Vaginal Probe' from ticket consideration), Mississippi (in which the governor boasted of closing down its last abortion clinic), and Texas, which has slashed funding for Planned Parenthood, whose abortion services are only 3% of their overall women's healthcare.

Now we are seeing the first logical consequences of this brutal, retrograde, anti-woman social policy: A return, for all intents and purposes, to back-alley abortions as mostly poor Texan women with few alternatives turn to unsafe, unregulated Mexican clinics and pharmacies for services no longer provided by the state of Texas.

The women of America had better wake up to the reality of this radical right wing Republican Party and the extent to which its policies are endangering women's lives and health in very REAL ways. And they'd better realize that voting straight party (D), from top to bottom, is the ONLY rational alternative in this election cycle.

Abortion-rights advocates are concerned that a lack of awareness about clinical options in the United States — as well as a lack of funds — could lead more women to go underground and risk their health in this way. In 2011, Texas lawmakers made deep cuts in financing for family planning for low-income women. And a new law that requires a woman seeking an abortion to receive a sonogram 24 hours ahead of the procedure — that is, to make at least two visits to the abortion clinic — may be prompting some to seek alternate abortion methods.

TEA PARTY REMEDIAL ED: Did YOU know ...

THAT ROMNEY'S VEEP PICK PAUL RYAN HAS worshipped at the altar of an ATHEIST fringe philosopher as recently as April of this year?! If you read this blog you would, but not if you get your fake news and disinformation from FOX. See, now Ryan's insisting that his worship of the infamous neurotic novelist of right wing Social Darwinist ideologues, Ayn Rand, is nothing more than an urban legend because good Catholic boys would NEVER embrace the teachings of an ATHEIST. Really?!

Our favorite HOLLYWOOD SOCIALIST Lawrence O'Donnell has the video evidence primed and ready for a new Democratic ad! (MEMO To Team Obama: You'll be stupid not to use the Ryan Rand worship tapes contrasted with Ayn Rand's WEIRD appearances on 60 Minutes, Johnny Carson, and also an appearance on Donahue, when she was a doddering old witch taking full advantage of Social Security and Medicare while publicly trashing these foundational American social safety net programs. As Lawrence noted wryly, imagine how Hannity, Limbaugh, FOX & Friends would react were a Democratic Veep nominee discovered to worship an ATHEIST. They'd be running this tape in a constant 24/7 loop with appropriate inflammatory commentary. HYPOCRITES.

HERE'S LAWRENCE AND RACHEL DECONSTRUCTING PAULIE'S 'OBJECTIVIST' NECROMANCE WITH THE OLD WITCH OF THE RIGHT:

TRMS: HEY, GIRL ...

RACHEL SOUNDS totally adorable with her mysterious post-Olympic lisp ...  Should be one HOT audio segment the next time she hosts Sweet Melissa, with her (cute) funny talk! But this is about Paul Ryan's war on women meme (the DUMB American electorate knows nothing about and probably never will) and his vampiric Eddie MUNSTER policies.

PAUL RYAN'S TOXIC EXTREMISM MOST AMERICANS HAVEN'T A CLUE ABOUT

FROM THE NEW REPUBLIC, A BLAND TITLE FOR THE EXISTENTIAL HORROR STORY facing the American electorate, particularly the middle class, seniors, and the poor: "Six Things to Know About Ryan (and Romney)":

"1. Ryan really believes in ending Medicare as we know it.

2. Ryan really believes in ending Medicaid as we know it.

3. Ryan really pushed for privatization of Social Security.

4. Ryan really would decimate government funding, to the point it could no longer carry on many routine operations.

5. Ryan really does want the biggest transfer of wealth, from poor and middle class to rich, in modern U.S. history.

6. Ryan really holds an extreme position on abortion rights, even relative to other conservatives."

And why does the Beltway Media/Idiot Punditocracy continue to believe Paul Ryan is a "serious" person? Here's Jason Linkins with some answers on these BMBEs (Beltway Media Biological Entities), who observes these alien life forms (you know who you are) up close, plying his trade in the belly of the beast without having been corrupted.

When You Can't Tell Fantasy From Reality —

YOU BECOME A REPUBLICAN, BY DAY ...

BY NIGHT ...

Duchess St. Rollins' Daily Affirmation: Ryan's Dope

ISN'T THAT SPECIAL!? Consider that Paul Ryan's crowd inherited a BUDGET SURPLUS under President Clinton and IMMEDIATELY turned it into a burgeoning DEFICIT to finance two unpaid wars, tax cuts for the rich, and a partial privatization of Medicare to $10.7 trillion by 2008.

Not only that, but if these IMBECILE OBJECTIVISTS with their masturbatory Ryan posters ever bothered to study the historical record, they would discover that the last five Democratic presidents from Bill Clinton to Harry Truman all reduced public debt as a share of GDP, while the last four Republican presidents from George W. Bush to Gerald Ford (in particular, beginning with Reagan's trickle-down "voodoo economics," when tax cuts for the rich first became a right wing ideological cudgel and article of faith without any basis in fact) all presided over an explosion in our public debt.

It's not rocket science; when Republican ideologues of Paul Ryan's ilk protect their millionaire and billionaire patrons from paying their fair share in taxes, the debt increases exponentially, while the so-called "job creators" (another economic right wing myth and talking point) busily shelter their "surplus cash" in overseas tax havens, Chinese casinos, and outsourcing American jobs overseas to China and the Pacific rim nations. It's called predatory, vulture capitalism. It's how Mitt Romney made his fortune and what inspired his Ayn Rand cult worshipper Paul Ryan to fashion his extremist budget philosophy. Ryan, who went to college on the government dole, and who has been a government employee his entire professional life, having sponsored two, count 'em TWO, minor bills, one renaming post offices and the other a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 "to modify the taxation of arrow components" (Ryan is a bow hunting enthusiast), is boasting on the stump of his "record" of achievement?!

Paul Ryan's Galtian workout and cultivation of the Idiot Punditocracy, aka the  Beltway Media, coupled with the Tea Party pustulent excretions on the extremist right created the perfect storm for his political superstardom and ascension, out of whole cloth, as the ideological "ideas man" of the neo-fascist right wing. (The wingnuts' mostly male worship of Ryan is a kind of bizarre homo-erotic sideshow.)

Paul Ryan is a fraud, a phony, and a scam artist. He can be sanguine about his mission to "indict progressivism as a cancer that must be flushed out" according to his reading of Austrian economists and Russian émigré Ayn Rand, as long as he's chest-thumping in the friendly confines of the wingnut mad hatter Glenn Beck, who is positively giddy with Ryan's choice for Veep. Well, as Rachel noted, the right wing/Beltway echo chamber of unquestioning adulation of Ryan no longer obtains. I would remind Mr. Ryan that the holy trinity of progressivism includes two of our greatest presidents — Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, his Democratic cousin, FDR — and the legendary Bob LaFollette, whose family founded the Wisconsin Progressive Party. Any one of these great historic figures would have the objectivist Ryan punk for lunch. Chew him up and spit him out — on the weakness of his radical "ideas." Here's the Duchess, twisting the knife in the Galtian carcass:

But, what? Giving the wealthy MORE tax breaks even though they are raking in profits and paying the lowest tax rate they have in decades is the way to prosperity? In the 1970s about 8% of all new income went to the top 1% of earners. Now that number has tripled, yet, Ryan the Wonder Twat has all of you bumpkin-billies all worked into a lather over his horse shit budget proposal that actually increases the deficit by 2.6 TRILLION over the next 10 years. If he and Mittens are so goddamned concerned about the deficit, then why does the plan they endorse (that flip-flopping Mittens is backpedaling from now) give both of them HUGE tax breaks while INCREASING taxes for the middle class? That's right, Cletus, unless you make more than $500,000 a year, and we all know that roadkill taxidermy and homemade meth labs don't pay THAT well, you will be paying thousands more in taxes every year under the "Path to Prosperity" plan.

Do you want to know what REALLY doesn't work? Austerity, as in drastically cutting government spending and trying to pay down the deficit during a recession. Do you know how I know it doesn't work? Because Europe is crumbling right now due to their implementation of austerity measures. If you could read at higher than a 3rd grade level you might know that too.

Oh, and Ryan didn't seem real concerned about the motherfucking deficit when he was voting FOR Bush's wars and tax cuts for the wealthy. Remember how we had a budget surplus when Bush Jr. took office and when he left we were $10 TRILLION in the hole and counting? Of course you don't fucking remember because they conveniently forget to talk about any of that on that bubbling pool of dog slobber you call "Fox and Friends."

Wake up, Teabillies! Your ignorance is going to get us all relegated to serfdom and some of us aspire to more than our very own outhouse. Fuck you for being so stupid.

Team Obama Slams Ryan Choice

DAVID GREGORY NOTED, IN A RARE SMART TURN OF PHRASE FOR HIM: "PAUL RYAN IS A TARGET-RICH ENVIRONMENT."

A WEREWOLF IN THE WHITE HOUSE?

AND A VAMPIRE: THE MUNSTERS ARE COMING, THE MONSTERS ARE COMING! As the Beltway Media/Idiot Punditocracy prepares to unleash the clichés re: Paul 'Eddie Munster' Ryan's pick for Veep, as ... hmm, let me guess ... a "gamechanging" choice, the fact remains THESE IDIOTS WERE ALL WRONG, particularly the King of 'Lame' Beltway Romney Republicans, poseur Mark Halperin.

Predicting the "safe" Portman/Pawlenty (Rachel: "ZZZZ") choice (as did Lawrence-knows-best, who thinks he's smarter than his colleagues, which mostly he is with such a low bar, and actually I think Ryan nosed out T-Paw, so no huge Larry-O misread), the pathetic Halperin will strut  his wrong about everything (some by design) political prognostications on Hardball to the guy who hasn't an earthly clue who's yanking his chain, and still believes J. Edgar was a JFK ally rather than a probable traitor.

Such is the world of the Beltway, folks, where political fantasies and fantastical narratives are spun on a daily, hourly basis, the better to keep We, The People in the dark and irrelevantly stupid, and the corporate power structure overseeing both parties but mainly the GOP largely intact. Were Jefferson to be around today, surveying this scene of profane iniquity, he would say the time is ripe for revolution. He would be right.

The revolution may yet happen at the polls where and when voters cast their lot between a radical, extremist vision of government in the person of Paul Ryan and a mainstream centrist prescription in the shape of President Obama. The latter isn't fully satisfactory to progressives, but we've been on a pragmatic half-loaf diet for quite some time. Ryan's choice, however, while energizing the ONLY radical base of political extremism in America, the neo-fascist right (my term, and it's accurate, Beltway idiots!) was so troubling to SANE individuals that my 'favorite conservative', David Frum, once again reaffirmed our confidence in him by casting his lot with President Obama once he heard Ryan was the pick.

Frum offered five 'hypotheses' for the "cautious Romney" selecting Ryan:

1. 'Like many Republicans, Romney has been genuinely radicalized since 2008.' Not even close. Romney is doing what he does best: rolling like a tumbleweed whichever way the wind blows.

2. 'Romney's camp shows he's not holding his base.' YES.

3. 'The donors demand it.' Don't the SuperPac donors want to win? Wait — they're radical right wingers, like the Koch brothers. Sheldon Adelson is the 21st century's Meyer Lansky. No matter who Mitt's Veep is, Adelson thinks his Chinese mob money can buy the win.

4. 'Romney imagines he can control Ryan better as VP than as Speaker.' C'mon David, don't be silly. Romney will let Congress take care of itself and sign whatever legislation Grover Norquist orders him to. He will kiss anybody's ass to get elected. That's as far as his 'strategic' thinking goes.

5. Romney crumbles under pressure. BINGO!

I'm with David reader Tom Doran on a 'sixth hypothesis':

"The more I think about it, the more the "pick Ryan because he's the best person to sell the Ryan plan" logic makes sense to me as Romney's rationale. Not that the plan itself makes sense - it's political leprosy - but Romney's calculus here has to be that he's already heavily committed to the plan and is himself the worst possible person to present it. Paul Ryan, as documented with hair-pulling frustration by Krugman, Chait and others, has successfully managed to play down the radicalism of his proposals in the eyes of the media. He comes across as a serious, pragmatic, decent, wonkish type rather than the Randian class warrior he is, which demonstrates serious political skill. Obviously I'd like to believe that this charade would be unsustainable under the glare of a total war campaign, but if he can pull the same trick on America that he's pulled on the Beltway, this could end up being very smart." 

A very prescient analysis. Shall we be realistic, not elitist here, and reiterate that one should NEVER underestimate the stupidity of the American electorate. Their capacity for manipulation (and by that I mean the so-called, clueless 'Independents' joining the wingnuts on the right) is boundless. Republicans have designed their electoral success and destruction of America's middle class around the electorate's in extremis self-destructive tendencies to vote against their (missing) enlightened self-interest.

That's the danger. Here's the good news. Paul Ryan is an extremist ideologue who thinks, deep down, he's smarter than everybody else. He may have fooled his constituents (though not so much when they read details of his radical right wing budget), but once the people — as distinct from the Beltway Idiot Punditocracy, Halperin-Toddy-Moron Joe-Andrea-Politico-Russert-CNN, et al shameless purveyors of Romney misinformation — see Ryan savaged by good Catholics like the Franciscans and the Nuns, that gee-whiz objectivist Ryan facade will begin to crumble away.

The thing to understand about Paul Ryan is that, first and foremost, he is an ideologue. And, as with every ideology ever conceived, its practical application from paper to concrete and rarefied pseudo-academic Ayn Rand cultism (from which Andrea Mitchell's husband Alan Greenspan emerged to become a leading protagonist in the economic savaging of the middle class, I should add) is a house of Tarot cards built on a foundation of lies. Mitt Romney is counting on Paul Ryan to fool the people the same way he has wowed the Beltway Media groupies.

Paul Ryan doesn't respond well to those who don't give him anything but googly-eyed adulation (expected from Chuckles and Russert, for instance) but some really tough moral pushback from, say, the Catholic Nuns is bound to unnerve him. His speech today was flat and uninspiring. And his most hypocritical line was this: "My dad died when I was young, and he was a good and decent man who said: "Son you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution."

How ironic. Back when Paul Ryan's dad died he took advantage of Social Security survivor benefits, at 16, to put himself through college. And we don't begrudge him that. Once part of the solution, bettering himself through the social compact we all share, Paul Ryan has become part of the problem, seeking to gut for succeeding generations the very same socialist program — not Ayn Rand, who was a notorious hypocrite in this regard, and not Atlas Shrugged — that placed him where he is today: One step away from the presidency.

Sandra Fluke, SUPERSTAR!

IS SHE AWESOME OR WHAT!!! FIRST SHE SLICED THE PIGMAN INTO CUTLETS FOR THE KOCH BROTHERS cannibalistic bacchanal (with a few zingers here for the PORCINE ZOMBIE — he's the last to realize he's dead), now she's got her sights set on squeezing Mitt's grape-sized balls into a, well you know ... Mitt's already trembling with fear and fixin' to hide behind Ann's skirts.

REPEALING OBAMACARE WILL KILL PEOPLE: BIG EDDIE WEIGHS IN

IT SEEMS THE WINGNUTS/REPUBLICANS ARE WHINING BIG-TIME OVER THE HARD-HITTING OBAMA SuperPac Ad featuring a worker whose wife died of cancer after he lost health insurance as a result of Bain closing his plant. Michael Kinsley writes:

"It is uncontested that lack of insurance is what killed this woman. And this is hardly a unique situation. It is statistically certain that, in our absurd current healthcare system, layoffs will cause people to lose their insurance, and it is statistically certain that losing insurance will cost some of them their lives. This puts the Republican nightmare scenarios about "death panels" in the healthcare debate two years ago in some perspective. Romney has promised to stop implementation of the Obama healthcare reform on "Day One" of his administration, and to kill it by legislation as soon as possible thereafter. So even if he isn't responsible for the death of Ranae Soptic, he will be responsible for future deaths, if he is elected — and this time with malice aforethought."

Call it what you will. The AWFUL TRUTH is that Republican policies aimed at denying health care to people where it exists (see Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, here and here) and Mitt Romney's BLOODTHIRSTY vow to repeal Obamacare on "day one" have resulted and will result in people dying. I call it mass murder. What do wingnuts and Republicans call it: "Fiscal responsibility," "tax cuts for the 'job creators'," or "thinning out the herd?"

DAILY CALLER CREATES FREE OBAMA CAMPAIGN AD!

FOLKS, THIS IS ONLY ONE OF MANY REASONS THE DAILY CALLER IS OUR FAVORITE WINGNUT RAG! The Foster Friess-Tucker Carlson frat house is so COLLECTIVELY and INDIVIDUALLY STOOPID they don't even realize what a positive endorsement of the President's policies and re-election Maryland's impressive and awesome First Lady just gave us in a ready-made FREE campaign commercial, courtesy of the Daily Caller. Thank you very much.

See, the DC's MO is well-known by now. They will attend events, pressers, conferences, etc. held or attended by Democrats and progressives, and try to trip somebody up in a 'WINGNUT-AMYGDALA OMG-CUE THE 'TA-DA' SOUND!' moment with a sound bite they can isolate for one more out-of-context Romney LIE. In this instance, the breathless DC headline is, Md. first lady, "I don't know why anybody needs an AK-47." (YAWN.)

I hate to keep repeating myself with these DUMBASSES, really exceptionally STUPID people, but their point is ... exactly WHAT? The President is already on record that we should restore the assault weapons ban, which is something most reasonable Americans, including many NRA members, agree with. Meanwhile, watch as Maryland's First Lady takes batting practice off the POOR SAP DC Reporter (someone's got to employ these people) hitting one out-of-the-park homer after another:

Team USA Wins GOLD In Women's Soccer: Can Anyone Say Dynasty?

AMERICAN DOMINANCE IN THE WOMEN'S GAME IS COMPLETE: FOUR GOLD MEDALS, THREE IN A ROW. When the women take the pitch, America is SOCCER COUNTRY, and that's no small feat in a sports-obsessed nation that is still reluctant to embrace the game.

 Not so at Wembley Stadium, one of the cathedrals of international football. Abby Wambagh knows her soccer history well; one British commenter noted she was trying very hard to make her mark at Wembley with a goal. Consider the stadium was packed to the rafters, with 83,000 paying fans and nearly 90,000 total, present.

Pretty impressive. And a worthy stage for the show put on by Team USA. Not that Japan played poorly. They hit their marks, they attacked and pressured the American defense, even scoring one goal on one of those mad scrambles in front of Hope Solo. Who, by the way, isn't only the Muse among others, but my pick for game MVP. I know, it probably went to Carli Lloyd for her two goals — that's the way these things work — but Hope made three critical and outstanding saves which secured gold for Team USA. Here's one of them:

The other was an acrobatic (they were all acrobatic and reflexive) fingertip deflection that bounced off the top wood, a ball that was going in. But the most outstanding, game-saving Solo save came as the U.S. clung to its tenuous 2-1 lead and Japan pressured with numbers. Soccer games have more dramatic highs and lows than other high-scoring sports, which is precisely the allure of this game. Suffice it to say that a 2-1 lead is a very nerve-wracking proposition. You could see it on the faces of the fans in the stands.

So that was the backdrop. Suddenly a tired American defender on the right side of her field had a momentary lapse in concentration allowing a Japanese striker to steal the ball. With the defense exposed and no defenders in the neighborhood, the Japanese striker invaded Hope's box, at an angle, perfectly profiled to make the kill. She had the luxury of picking her corner. She picked the far corner, to Hope's left and drilled a low shot with plenty of pace. Hope reacted.

One commenter said Solo guessed right but I don't think so. She's an outstanding instinctive keeper who reacts to a ball's trajectory as well as any goalkeeper I've seen. Like they say in baseball, it was a "bang-bang play." As the ball headed for the low far corner post, for the viewers following its inexorable flight to the net, the play slows down. Suddenly, there's this flash of green and we see Hope in flight, intercepting the ball like a Patriot Missile, deflecting it safely out of harm's way.

Bang-bang, and a gold medal save. One of the women on this American squad noted with a mixture of pride and humor that after their epic win over Canada, a young boy said, "when I grow up I want to be a soccer player on the women's team." It sounds almost apocryphal, yet so true. This team sparked a familiar something in young kids' imaginations. We all know what it is. We've all had that feeling (boys, at least) relating, for the first time, to playing a game, picking our sport.

Like it or not, sports traditionalists, soccer is part of American culture. Next up: reviving the women's professional league.

THE KING IS IN BRITAIN TO CHEER HIS TROOPS ON

KING PELÉ, THE GREATEST FOOTBALL PLAYER OF ALL TIME, arrived in Britain to collect an Honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh University for his "significant contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes, as well as his sporting achievements — including winning the World Cup three times with Brazil, as well as being named FIFA’s player of the century and the International Olympic Committee’s athlete of the century."

Said Edinburgh University's Principal, Sir Timothy O'Shea: "Pelé is one of the foremost sporting figures of our age, who is the epitome of sporting brilliance and élan, excellence, dignity, and fair play, as well as an inspiration." He concluded: "It is said Pelé was the most talented football player the world has ever seen. We agree."

As any monarch worth his crown, Pelé had words of wisdom and inspiration for his young countrymen, about to embark on the quest for the only honor that has eluded the most storied football franchise in the history of the game: the Olympic gold medal. "Brazil is seen as a country that has everything to be important to the future of Humankind. Therefore, we must unite to truly be the start of a better world."

The King Trailing Smiles. Posing With UK Gold Medal Rower K. Grainger, The Spry 71 Years Young Pelé Doesn't Look A Day Over 50.

Of Saturday's match against Mexico, which beat Brazil in a friendly at Cowboys Stadium in June, Pelé refused to place responsibility on young Neymar's shoulders to decide the game: "We have other great players, and I hope that the team plays well enough to take this medal." He did advise Neymar to vacate his left wing position, where he can be isolated by hard tight marking, and play more centrally to impose his skills to their fullest.

The King lamented not having had the opportunity to play in the Olympics:

“Always when people tell me that Brazil doesn’t have the gold medal in the Olympics, I say: ‘Yes, I started to play at 17 in the World Cup. I became professional and the professional could not play in the Olympics, so I never played in the Olympics.’ I hope now that I am here I can get the gold medal I never got. I want to go back to Brazil with the only medal we never got.”

But he was philosophical. "We're here to suffer. When you're on the pitch you don't suffer as much, because you try to run, engage in combat. Off the field, watching, kicking the fence and the chair, the suffering is very great." Then the King was gracious to a fault: “The most important thing for me is not to disappoint those who love me and admire me.”

Musical Break: A Lady Alex Treat!

CONFIRMING HER EXQUISITE TASTE IN MUSIC, Lady Alex played this song as soundtrack for a segment tonight on her very excellent guest-hosting of Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell Lady Alex, and how can you ever go wrong with Jack White? (I hope they get rid of that hideous lame NOW muzak (sounds like the soundtrack for a plumbing commercial) and return to original music. Just sayin'.

Here's Chris Matthews Before A Little 'Birdie' Named Steve Capus Whispered In His Ear

GEE, I'M REALLY POSITIVELY MORTIFIED NOW ... CHECK OUT THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER STATS. Be supportive of Chris, you say? HELL NO! We've gotta hold his feet to the fire, otherwise he can FLIP TO HIS PEERAGE GROUP before I'm halfway done eating my Philly Cheesesteak. But I'll say this much: Chris knows I don't really mean it, it just feels good to curse him out and vent WHEN HE DESERVES IT. There's always Lady Alex to whisper how much she "adores" him ... So it all evens out. KUDOS to HARDBALL for trying to even the Media bias scales, at least for an hour each day. (P.S. — My guess is to get "Andrea Mitchell Reports" numbers simply flip the "Hardball" ones.)

MEMO TO CHRIS MATTHEWS: "RESPECT" IS EARNED

GIVE US ONE REASON TO "RESPECT" A LYING RATBASTARD LIKE MITT ROMNEY AND THE RIGHT WING OBAMA HATERS AND FASCISTS WHO WILL BE VOTING FOR HIM. NICE TRY, CHRIS, BUT WE'RE WAAAAAAY PAST THAT.

LET'S JUST SAY IT AND SAY IT: REPUBLICANS ARE AMERICA'S BIGGEST MASS MURDERERS

PRIORITIES USA HAS RELEASED A HARD-HITTING AD with THE TRUTH Republicans CAN'T HANDLE: Their Health Care Policies KILL PEOPLE. Believe it or not, it's no use trying to avoid the truth. Here's the proof. And here.  So-called "conservatives" are in deep denial — a psychological protective mechanism that masks a much deeper pathology than simply choosing from an ideological menu. They cling to their guns with an irrational fear of their own government, and resist rational gun control measures over unnatural, irrational fear of the "other."

There's science behind this; so right wingers reject science. They construct elaborate support mechanisms and a parallel reality in which DENIAL is the order of the day. Think about it. How can these people go to work every day, look themselves in the mirror, without constructing a parallel reality that rejects facts, science, and the truth? This Priorities USA ad simply puts a HUMAN FACE on the mass killing being perpetrated by Republican policies — on women's health; health insurance coverage; and banning assault weapons, among other RATIONAL, CIVILIZED AND LIFE-AFFIRMING DEMOCRATIC REFORMS REPUBLICANS HAVE VOWED TO KILL (POLICIES THAT, YES, KILL PEOPLE). So what are the wingnuts getting all in a lather and frothing at the mouth about? I know I know — It's their natural state.

Better Than Mud Wrestling?!

IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING WHY WOMEN'S WATER POLO IS GAINING POPULARITY ... Check out this
shot of an underwater breast exposure, courtesy of NBC's Olympic coverage: (Where's the
Al Michaels spot commentary? That right wing sleaze would be perfect for it.)

 

YOUR INIMITABLE "LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS" AT WORK

READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE. OH CHRIS (MATTHEWS), ABOUT THIS CHART: NOTICE how high on the NEGATIVE OBAMA coverage your SUSAN "gives it to us straight" PAGE friend, USA Today's Washington Bureau Chief, stands. How about those "liberal" standards, The New York Times and WaPo? Your hometown Philadelphia Inquirer? And the Media frauds and shysters still wonder why we hold them in such contempt?! I know I know, they make us stupid and gullible, until someone comes along (to mix my metaphors) and rips the scab off their corporate political games to reveal the men and women behind the curtain. And those other charts would be more benign, were the "positive" (trans: reposting Romney LIES and press releases) coverage not so skewed in Romney's favor. (Not to mention critical coverage of House and Senate candidates, given the Democratic Party's SCOTUS-Citizens United secret billionaire/corporate funding disadvantage.)

Speaking of The MSM/Beltway Media: Here's The Duchess (Turning Her Wrath On The 4th Estate)

AND REAFFIRMING A POORLY-KEPT SECRET BEHIND ALL THE BELTWAY (HALPERIN) SMIRKS of MSNBC "analysts." The Duchess SLAM of the hapless wingnut who posted this toon serves as a DOUBLE-SLAM of their not-so-secret collaborators outside the "fair and balanced" FOX universe:

Lady Alex Shows The Color of Her Grace

LADY ALEX EMERGED FROM HER SINISTER HALPERIN HYPNOTIC TRANCE to guest-host The Last Word (Without) Lawrence, sporting trimmed locks and a healthier rapport with the non-Beltway truth. She even ventured to speak it, saying Romney had lied. But Lawrence is an oasis where the truth can be spoken without equivocation or corporate right wing agendas.

The test will come when Alex returns, squeezed by relentless peer pressure from Republican Lite Moron Joe (where the corruption of Lady Alex may have begun) to corporate Beltway propagandists Chuckles Toddy, GOP suck-up Luke 'The Force Is Not With Me' Russert, and the Grande Dame of the Washington Establishment, Andrea Mitchell, whose studio is the site of a perennial parade of 'OAMs' — permanent campsite of the corporate pro-Romney GOP Establishment, 'Occupy Andrea Mitchell' regulars Reince Priebus, Haley Barbour, John Sununu, Nicole Wallace, Kevin Madden, Vin Weber, et al. And how can we forget the High Priest of the Beltway Media, David Gregory, a one-man truth-shattering wrecking ball.

It's a remarkable thing, how, in this Olympic-sized absence of corporate conservative Beltway Media filters (above), the truth will spontaneously break out in vibrant colors and a clearing fog. As the song goes, "I can see clearly now, the rain has gone." I liken it to the passing of a destructive hurricane, when the air is crisp and clean for the briefest of moments, and the cause of the destruction of our capacity to process decisively important political news is revealed in sharp relief as the Beltway Media veil is lifted. Sadly, we can hardly savor it for long before the nightmarish status quo ante returns after Sunday's Closing Ceremonies. (Do you suppose this unfiltering process of spontaneous truth outbreak, writ large, is why some pine for the Olympics never to end?)

But still, the moment is instructive to compare how much clearer the truth becomes absent these conservative corporate filters. Which begs the question, "why then submit to their relentless ratings-driven propaganda and misinformation?" Because they feed us the crumbs, an occasional kernel of the truth or a liberal point of view to compel the misguided to the misconception that these kernels are indispensable to our overall understanding of the truth. They're not, of course. But one thing the political TV Machine is extra good at is luring us into their web of deceit.

But I was speaking of Lady Alex. She closed with a fine commentary the other night. When the air was crisp and she grasped the truth vibrating with the awful color of hate.

BIG EDDIE BACK IN THE SADDLE! TALKS OLYMPICS ...

AND HE'S DIGGIN' VOLLEYBALL! Eddie doesn't know the first thing about it, but like any open-minded sports fan he appreciates the skill, "dexterity" (we call it finesse), power and defense, watching a two-man Brazil team beat Poland in beach volleyball. I know why Eddie liked it; the big guy for Brazil, Alison, is a scrappy bearded redhead power hitter. If there were an All-Madden beach volleyball team, Alison would definitely be on it! They're in the gold medal final.

Alison, BIG EDDIE Lookalike (sort of, maybe 30 years ago) Doing His Thing.

The American women's teams (1 and 3) will play for the gold, as favored Brazil came up short and was relegated to playing for bronze. But on the hard court, it was ALL Cardiac Girls: Defending Olympic champions Brazil beat back SIX (count 'em, SIX) match points from a tough, sneaky-dangerous Russian team, before finally putting them away in a THRILLING five-setter. It turned into a battle of wills, and should never have been this close.

The Ladies Done Good When It Counted, Though! 

 The men's football final is a Latin classic: Brazil v. Mexico. All in all, it was a good day for Brazil, with every volleyball and football team in action advancing to medal contention.

Gunslinger: Leandro Damião Notches 2 More Goals To His 

Tournament-Leading 6 As Brazil Cruises Past S. Korea, 3-0.

Finally, a personal note of solidarity to a GOOD GUY: we're keeping Ed and his wife, Wendy, in our thoughts as she battles cancer. Hang in there, Big Eddie. For what it's worth, we're totally confident Wendy will beat this disease.

TRMS: BEST INTRO TEASE EVER — REID RAGE!

"HARRY REID, ACTING OUT IN A WAY THAT IS UNCHARACTERISTIC FOR HIM, AND  THAT SEEMS TO HAVE UNNERVED THE ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY. THAT'S COMING UP." (Video to come ASAP.) I just LOVE "REID RAGE." Rachel has outdone herself! I've gotta say this: I can't get enough of this new Harry Reid incarnation. As the TRMS graphic shows, Harry getting in touch with, and releasing, his inner Hulk is unnervingly awesome. Keep it going, Harry, we're LOVIN' IT!

 

USA WOMEN HEAD TO SOCCER FINAL, IN EPIC MATCH

WITH A STORYBOOK NARRATIVE OF ITS OWN: It's a rematch of the 2008 Women's World Cup final against Japan, the winners, and a chance for redemption. The USA 4-3 win over Canada in OT was one of those games for the ages. It was almost not fair to the Canadians, especially to their splendid goal scoring machine, Christine Sinclair. But at its essence, it's simply a cruel game sometimes, in that the Canadians made three critical errors resulting in two American goals.

Every team makes mistakes from which, however, they have a better chance of recovery than against this opportunistic and merciless USA team. The American players just keep coming at you and make their own opportunities. There's a word for that: character.

Let's take a look at Canada's errors:

1. The main player here and one of the stars of the game with two goals, Megan Rapinoe, is the awesome natural old-school winger with the slashing speed to get behind defenses, and that wickedly precise right foot. Rapinoe's equalizer, with the U.S. down 1-0, came from a corner kick on the left wing swung it in with a right-footed service, a wicked seeing-eye curveball laced with plenty of English that found net through bodies and legs inside the near post.

But here's the thing. There is a reason most teams plant a defender on the near post to cover corner kicks, while the goalkeeper covers the far post along with defenders zoning in the neighborhood. The reason is to guard against precisely the kind of goal Rapinoe scored with her sinful inswinger. In fact, it's Soccer 101 Fundamentals, so much so that I'd be very surprised if Rapinoe's goal doesn't end up on soccer training videos teaching how not to defend corner kicks.

Curiously, corner kick goals, rare for their skill and beauty, are known in South American soccer parlance as "Olympic goals." Why? Well, the story goes that in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics the first South American teams, Uruguay and Argentina, entered the competition. Uruguay won back-to-back Olympic soccer titles. Its great rival Argentina beat Uruguay, fresh from their triumph in the Paris 1924 Olympics, by 2-1, one of the goals a direct corner kick.

The Argentines immediately dubbed it their "Olympic goal" to exact a measure of satisfaction from the Olympic champions. Not that it worked as Uruguay went on to repeat in 1928. But the name stuck. (It's just one in the myriad storied history of the greatest sport on Earth, which now has a new chapter written by Megan Rapinoe and her teammates.)

2. The Canadian goalkeeper should never have allowed herself to be called for holding the ball beyond the alloted six seconds. Most referees consider this a technical infraction and issue a warning before actually awarding the opposing team an indirect free kick at the site of the infraction. That's what the added time at the end is all about. But the way a goalkeeper avoids this is to put the ball on the ground and maintain possession as long as an opponent doesn't charge to challenge and force her to kick it away. There are ways within the rules to while away the time "making wax" as they say south of the border.

3. Once the free kick was awarded, the defenders on the wall, or blocking the opponent's shot must be keenly aware, and trained, to avoid a hand ball penalty being awarded to the other team. Basically, you must be prepared to give up your body, sans the hands and arms or elbows, otherwise stay the hell out of the red zone. The penalty awarded Team USA, compounding the indirect free kick, was totally avoidable by Canada.

Canada played a gallant match under relentless pressure from Team USA. The statistics tell the story: 18-9 shots, 12-4 corner kicks, and 54%-46% ball possession in favor of Team USA. Errors, as described here, are seldom self-inflicted. The best team won, in a game for the ages in the greatest sport on Earth, as delighted American fans, late to the game, are suddenly discovering.

TEA PARTY REMEDIAL ED: Gather Round, Kiddies, For A WHIPLASHING From The Duchess!

OH, AND THOSE POP-POP-POPPIN' SOUNDS AREN'T THEIR ASSAULT WEAPONS GOING OFF; IT'S the sound of WIDDLE WINGNUT BRAINS spontaneously EXPLODING!?!

DUCHESS ST. ROLLINS' DAILY AFFIRMATION: GOOD FOR THE LIBERAL SOUL

IF THEY WEREN'T SO DESTRUCTIVE, these pathetic wingnut clowns would be a howl. (They still are; HA!)

Quotable: Sandra Day O'Connor, History's SCOTUS Villain

SHE CAST THE DECIDING VOTE ON Bush v. Gore, yet remains to this day in DEEP DENIAL. Can you blame her? Former Supreme Court Justice O'Connor will forever be defined as one of the great villains of American jurisprudence, the so-called "swing vote" who cast the deciding vote AGAINST the Democratic process and IN FAVOR of her POLITICAL BIAS.

It's as simple as that. The die was cast for a Supreme Court Latin American-style extra-constitutional PUTSCH the moment O'Connor was overheard badmouthing Gore, saying she counldn't "stand the idea of that man" as president:

But to the liberal clerks it was all over. The brother of a Ginsburg clerk, who covered legal affairs for The Wall Street Journal, had learned that the paper would soon report how, at a party on Election Night, O'Connor was overheard expressing her dismay over Gore's apparent victory. Once that information became public, the liberal clerks felt, O'Connor would have to step aside. When, on the night before the Court convened, she sent out a sealed memo to each of her colleagues, those clerks hoped this had actually come to pass. In fact, she was merely stating that she, too, felt the Florida Supreme Court had improperly usurped the state legislature's power.

Was O'Connor asked during her CBS interview about this particular episode which goes directly to personal bias and, when made public, should have prompted her recusal? It's a rhetorical question; the MSM/Beltway Media really think we're this STUPID and forgetful. OF COURSE THE QUESTION WASN'T ASKED. Instead, O'Connor kept denying her responsibility — "I don't see how you can say anybody was the deciding vote. They all counted." — claiming she has no regrets (DENIAL is a strong defense mechanism for the knowingly guilty of malfeasance and malpractice of the highest order): "No, I mean it was a tough deal; i[t] was a closely fought election; and it's no fun to be part of a group of decision makers that has to decide which side the ball is going to fall on."

Let's set the record straight on Sandra Day O'Connor's craven and unethical conduct: This was NOT about deciding for candidate A over candidate B. THIS WAS ABOUT ORDERING THE END — BY JUDICIAL FIAT — OF A LEGALLY ESTABLISHED STATE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS FOR DECIDING CLOSE ELECTIONS WITH A RECOUNT, AFFIRMED BY THE STATE'S HIGHEST COURT.

THIS WAS AN EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL COUP D'ETAT BY THE SUPREME COURT AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.

MEANWHILE, BACK ON EARTH ...

ANOTHER HATE CRIME TERRORISTIC SHOOTING IN THE WILD WEST UNCIVILIZED NATION that harbors more firearms than people, freely supplies and arms international drug cartels, criminals, terrorists, and right wing homicidal haters like the gunman who committed another slaughter at a Sikh temple, and whose preferred presidential candidate of the uncivilized crazies proudly trumpets taking existing healthcare away from women and denying it to more than 30 million of our fellow citizens.

Amazingly, one psycho wingnut noted that more people are gunned down every day in Chicago than were killed at the Sikh temple. Exactly right. So what's your point, bloodthirsty right wing ratbastard — since the victims and perpetrators are mostly people of color, they don't count?!

The right wing neo-fascist traitors are to blame for this continuing carnage and gun madness: the Tea Party, right wing radio — specifically Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, Noory, Jones, and their legion of sicko bigoted imitators — FOX, the Republican Party (all of it!), the MSM/Beltway Media (you know who you are), the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, the right wing Supreme Court, and the entire panoply of profoundly un-American extremists on the fascist right.

We must ask ourselves: what country is this, that can produce such a scientific and technological marvel as the Curiosity-Mars mission, yet is incapable of recognizing and accepting the science of Global Warming. A country whose right wing opposition traitors pursue a policy of inflicting DELIBERATE harm to our economic recovery for political gain.

what kind of country is this?!

TOUCHDOWN! MARS CURIOSITY LANDS ON MARS!

FOLLOW CURIOSITY'S FIRST STEPS ON THE MARTIAN SURFACE ON NASA TV. This is better than Sci-Fi, folks; this is REAL! CURIOSITY Tweeted the first pictures of its new home. Here we are looking at its shadow. The signal is strong, all systems are GO! WELL DONE, GUYS, WELL DONE! Stay tuned to NASA.gov to follow developments. Below the front and back (Discovery's shadow) pictures is the NASA simulation of the highly complex robotically activated autonomous guided landing sequence.

Quotable: Robert Gibbs, "Romney Can Go To Kinko's ... I'll Send Him The Nickels."

THE PRESIDENT'S FORMER PRESS SECRETARY, ROBERT GIBBS, WEIGHS IN ON THE HARRY REID-MITT ROMNEY DUST-UP:

“We could put this to rest tomorrow. Mitt Romney can go to Kinko's, photocopy his tax returns. There are several hundred pages. He could hand them out to people like CNN and to reporters all over the country, and we wouldn't talk about this tomorrow. We wouldn't say, 'Is he paying taxes? What's he paying?' The whole world would know what loopholes he's taking advantage of.”

Being generous with tightwad peanut balls Romney, Gibbs offered to foot the bill for the photocopies: “I'll send him the nickels. I think it's a nickel a page.”

DUCHESS ST. ROLLINS' DAILY AFFIRMATION

IN WHICH A WINGNUT TEABAGGER ASSWIPE GETS HIS NOSE RUBBED IN COW DUNG: 

THE THINKER KEEPS ON ROLLIN' AT THE SPA!

AS I'VE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG, CREAM RISES TO THE TOP! Here's THE THINKER notching another win at the cradle of summertime racing, SARATOGA RACETRACK, "The Spa," at Saratoga Springs, NY. THE THINKER continues his inexorable march through the Allowance conditions toward Stakes company. JUST REMEMBER, FOLKS: ALWAYS BET ON THE THINKER!