Weekly Roundup, August 1st-7th, 2011

By Blueberry T

Let’s begin by celebrating something pretty miraculous that happened this week. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords returned to Washington to cast her first vote since she was shot and gravely injured during the rampage by a right-wing fanatic in Tucson last January. Welcome back, Gabby – it is so inspiring to see you! Let’s not let voters forget Sarah Palin’s map with crosshairs and her violent rhetoric targeting Giffords and others. The map is still on Palin's Facebook page to this day, so obviously she has no sense of decency. Ironically, just this week Palin threatened to help unseat those who don’t hew to the Tea Party’s rigid anti-tax ideology.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Is Dominionism Taking Over Our Government?

Sunnyjane’s excellent guest post delves into the inroads that extreme Christian Dominionists have made into the halls of power in the United States. She shows how Christianity has been coopted as a political tool for theocracy, and reviews how the Republicans and fundamentalists found in each other the vehicle to power. One clear warning sign: when someone claims they are chosen by God to lead, watch out. Sunnyjane writes that “Dominionists are no longer the far-right fringe of the Republican Party. The fringe has become the core. For America, it is an unholy alliance that is currently the most serious threat to our democracy.”

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

New Photos Show Unpregnant Palin on March 26, 2008

The blogosphere is abuzz with the publication of photos of Sarah Palin looking decidedly unpregnant 3 weeks before Trig’s presentation day. A post by BAustin on IM alerted people to these images, and Gryphen, Laura Novak, Andrew Sullivan, Business Insider and PoliticalGates are publicizing them. They are taken the same day as the so-called “Nail in the Coffin” photo that Kathleen first found back in the fall of 2008. Patrick’s post provides all the background information that the research team has dug up, proving that the photos were taken a mere 23 days before Trig’s birth was announced. The post includes Lidia17’s excellent new video and lots and lots of babygate links.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Thomas Van Flein Wreaks Havoc on Palin’s Behalf

Politico reports that Sarah Palin’s lawyer and confidente Thomas Van Flein has “gone rogue” as the legislative director for Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona. What a surprise! Apparently he is working for Palin and other clients while on staff time (paid for by us taxpayers). Gosar’s former communications director Stefani Zimmerman also had choice words about his work ethic (or lack thereof). Patrick explores Gosar’s status in the GOP’s “Patriot Program,” which focuses on the freshman representatives that appear most vulnerable to challenge because their districts voted for Obama-Biden in 2008. The connections between Gosar’s office and Palin beg the question of her influence, especially in light of her recent comments about potential challenges if these representatives don’t toe the Tea Party line. The quote from Palin about Politico puts her nasty personality in full view.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Collected Wisdom About the Economy

Ennealogic has a gift for getting to the heart of the matter. Her post is a series of to-the-point mini-essays on key issues: inflation, money, unemployment, population, stock market, health care, education. Her explanations are so easy to understand – can we PLEASE get the Dems to hire her and Leadfoot to write some of their messages??!! Read the one on unemployment – it really is not rocket science – and I think you’ll agree with her that “…there you have, in a nutshell, why cutting expenses in a broadly-based economic slowdown is insane.” Enjoy the Perpetuum Jazzile video; we can accomplish so much when we are working together to good purpose.

Some Comments and Links:

EbbtideMB: I guess what bothers me is that our default position as Democrats always seem to start in a "compromising position." So we always seem to be dealing from weakness rather than strength. Part of is, I suppose, is that Dems are, for the most part, sane and the right wing is batshit crazy and don't seem to have any qualms about burning down the house with the family inside.

JCos: A real Christian worries that THEY may go to Hell. A fake christian worries that YOU may go to Hell. [Later] It's one thing to lie about being pregnant. It's another to lie about doctors trying to persuade you to abort your make believe fetus.

ProChoiceGrandma (end of an excellent longer comment on sunnyjane’s thread): Now days, if anyone begins their sentence with "I'm a good Christian", I look at them with the same suspicion as if they said they belong to Al Qaeda.

Sleuth1 has a great idea: …[to] figure out how to turn her wordfarts into a renewable energy source.

Laprofesora952: Well when everybody's done with their hissy fit they need to take a breath and get organized. It was almost as if the President was trying to give us a wink and say, "Look, my hands are tied with these knuckleheads. Give me the House back so we can finally get some real work done." I think that's the take-away from this whole fiasco; if we don't get to work this is as good as it gets.

Cackling Rad: If Trig is truly Bristol's, then she is a contemptible human being. Imagine watching your own child abused and neglected, and then happily going off to shake your butt on TV. She had some excuse when she was a 17-year-old, pregnant, dependent child. But she's almost 21 and has LOTS of money in the bank. Yet she'd rather talk trash about Levi then lift a finger to help her own firstborn.

CR later had another good point: I personally think all candidates for public office should be required to sign release forms enabling their schools to release their transcripts. They're applying for a job, and we're their prospective employers; why shouldn't we be able to see what kind of grades they received? Not to mention verify that they did, in fact, receive the degrees they claim.

Dusty17: That is exactly what they did. They created a crisis where one did not and should have never occurred just to continue their little pissing match with Pres. Obama. The entire GOP party and anyone who voted for these clowns should be deeply ashamed of themselves and they owe this entire nation an apology.

BellPeppery: Can we really listen to and trust the media about important matters like the economy and the war and the environment when they can't even spot a very, very, very obvious faked pregnancy?

Susan: While it is easy for any of us to become "mired" in glee over the missteps and mistrials of Palin, we really fail when we drop the ball at just rofl at how stupid and inept she looks, yet again. Because, as Patrick has demonstrated here, very clearly, there's a lot more going on than meets the eye. And it's devious and dangerous as hell.

Zane1 spoke for all of us about Patrick & Kathleen: Think of all the time you both put into this blog…In all honesty, there are some days I just can't deal with what is going on in this country. I come here & there is a new post up or comment or link or something that makes me feel connected. Thank you both.

Nin1963: I swear Patrick, you are the very best investigative citizen journalist on the web. Thank you for a very in-depth look at a very curious set of circumstances.

For those depressed about the debt deal: From TPM Reader RW ...Let me get this straight. The President kept revenues on the table, did not touch the sunset provisions in the Bush tax cuts, ensured that military cuts keep the GOP honest, protected Medicare by adding in only provider cuts in the trigger, made the reduction apparently enough to stave off a debt downgrade, got the debt ceiling raised, wounded Boehner by demonstrating to the world that he is controlled by the Tea Party caucus, took out the requirement that a BBA be passed and sent to the states and got the extension through 2012? What exactly is wrong with this deal? [BBT: Sorry, I lost track of who posted this.]

Sunnyjane linked to a great comment from Helen: You get what you vote for.

Annes_123 has some more screen grabs for your viewing enjoyment.

Another good article from Aljazeera:

Older_Wiser2 linked to this clip of Sen. Alan Simpson telling it like it is:

Cheeriogirl found this on Grover Norquist and this chart on The Enemies Within: the 20 most dangerous conservatives.

Zane1 linked to this brilliant clip of Colbert exposing right-wing shenanigans to suppress the vote in Wisconsin.

The Last Word from Jason Easley at politicususa: The picture of Giffords returning to the House should remind us all that as bitter as our nation’s political battles can be, there are more important things in this world than politics. Giffords’ appearance should provide hope to us all that she will be able to put that horrible day in Tucson behind her and someday return to work.

If Gabby Giffords can push on and triumph no matter what political obstacles are place in front of us, we can too.