Michele Bachmann says “divine intervention” will cause her to win Iowa

Michele Bachmann says "divine intervention" will cause her to win miraculously the Iowa caucus. Okay, you're on, Michele. If your god doesn't come through for you, will you shut up?

Michele Bachmann told ABC News she expects to defy her dismal poll numbers with a “miraculous” result in the Iowa caucuses.

“We’re going to see an astounding result on Tuesday night — miraculous,” Bachmann told ABC News in an interview at her Iowa campaign headquarters surrounded by young supporters from her alma mater Oral Roberts University.

“We’re believing in a miracle because we know, I know, the one who gives miracles,” Bachmann said.

Congressional wealth distribution

(h/t The Daily What)

Ron Paul’s extremist views on display

Among the things Ron Paul opposes and criticizes are equal pay for women, AIDS patients, and laws protecting civil rights. And it's all in a book available for anyone to buy. (And we haven’t even brought up Paul’s little racism problem.)

In his 1987 book “Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution After 200 Years,” ominously flanked on its front cover by police in SWAT gear, Paul attempts to outline what has happened to the enforcement of the nation’s core laws and principles, and, in his view, where it has gone off track. But among the passages found in his 157-page tome, Paul takes issue with people suffering from AIDS, workers targeted by sexual harassment and the very basis of the Civil Rights Act, suggesting that using government to protect these individuals runs counter to the nation’s founding document.

The book was first released before Paul’s run for the presidency as a libertarian, then re-released again in 2007 ahead of his second shot at the nation’s highest office.

“Victims demand health care as well and scream ‘discrimination’ if insurance companies claim they have a right to refuse to issue a policy to someone already infected with the AIDS virus,” Paul wrote. “The rights of the insurance company owners are not considered, while legislation is passed forcing insurance companies to provide the insurance demanded by the victims. The individual suffering from AIDS certainly a is victim — frequently a victim of his own lifestyle — but this same individual victimizes innocent citizens by forcing them to pay for his care.”

He also wrote that the government should not have the power to demand equal pay for equal work, a core principle feminists have fought for over the course of decades.

Gingrich LOVED Romneycare

Oops. After spending this entire primary campaign season attacking Mitt Romney over Romneycare, a Gingrich memo has surfaced where he praises it.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich praised the health care law that his rival for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, signed in 2006 as governor of Massachusetts, according to a newsletter unearthed by the Wall Street Journal.

"The most exciting development of the past few weeks is what has been happening up in Massachusetts. The health bill that Governor Romney signed into law this month has tremendous potential to effect major change in the American health system," reads "Newt Notes" from Gingrich's former consulting company, the Center For Health Transformation. "We agree entirely with Governor Romney and Massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100% insurance coverage for all Americans." Gingrich's spokesman responded that the newsletter was not written by the former House speaker and it should it be read as an endorsement of the plan.

Gingrich has attacked the Massachusetts health care law as a presidential candidate. In an Oct. 18 debate, he said to Romney, "Your plan essentially is one more big-government, bureaucratic high-cost system." He added, "There's a lot of big government behind Romneycare -- not as much as Obamacare -- but a heck of a lot more than your campaign is admitting."

Big Pharma’s going to make lots of money

Big Pharma has plans to release to the consumer market over the counter an even more powerful, possibly more addictive form of hydrocodone. They'll get rich, and isn't that the only important consideration?

NEW YORK -- Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of the nation's second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.

The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them – Zogenix of San Diego – plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.

If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone. Existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.

Critics say they are especially worried about Zohydro, a timed-release drug meant for managing moderate to severe pain, because abusers could crush it to release an intense, immediate high.

Trump dumps GOP, and Gingrich & Perry fail to qualify in Virginia

Donald Trump has dumped the Republican party -- he's changed his party affiliation from GOP to Independent. I guess he wants some more attention, so he's going to pretend to be planning a third-party run, but we all know he doesn't have the money or the organization to mount any kind of presidential campaign.

Rick Perry failed to get 10,000 signatures, so he won’t be on the Republican primary ballot in Virginia. And news is breaking that Newt Gingrich has also failed to get enough signatures.

More right wing racism

More right wing racism... Hate drives them, they can't help but expose what's inside their hearts.

Appearing on Fox News’ Hannity Thursday evening, Bozell talked about his usual subject of describing the “liberal bias” in the media. Angered by Chris Matthews comparing Newt Gingrich’s looks to a car bomber earlier in the week, Bozell gave Obama a not so racially friendly comparison.

“How long do you think Sean Hannity’s show would last if four times in one sentence he made a comment about the President of the United States as a skinny, ghetto crackhead?” he said. “Which by the way, Barack Obama does.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/23/right-wing-media-critic-obama-is-like-a-skinny-ghetto-crackhead/

The winners

The best thing about this payroll tax cut extension fight is that it reminded Americans it's something they have, and now they can thank Obama and Democrats for the fact that they still have it.

The biggest winners: President Obama and Harry Reid.

The biggest losers: Oh come on, we all know who.

Christmas makes ODS worse

Something about the holiday season seems to be making right wingers’ Obama Derangement Syndrome worse. How else to explain these head-scratching attacks on the president over Christmas?

Palin Makes Curious Charge Against Obamas' Holiday Card

McCain mad at Obama for Christmas shopping

Secret Service pays racist teabagger a visit

The racist Ron Paul-supporting teabagger who called for not only the president but his children to be killed has been paid a visit by the Secret Service. But he hasn't been arrested? Are you kidding me? This dangerous fanatic needs to be taken off the street.

CARSON, Calif. (KABC) -- A failed Carson City Council candidate is at the center of a Secret Service investigation after allegedly urging the assassination of President Barack Obama in a Facebook post.

Jules Manson, 48, posted a statement Sunday on his Facebook page. His post included the word, "assassinate," referred to Obama using the N-word and referred to the president's daughters as "monkey children."

The post generated a tremendous amount of controversy on the Internet and it got the attention of the Secret Service. Agents paid a visit to Manson's home on Monday.

He has since apologized for his comments, saying he was upset and frustrated with the recent passage of the Defense Authorization Act. That act does include language that some civil libertarians object to, saying it violates civil rights in this country.

Making threats against the president is a crime. Manson has not been arrested and has not been formally charged with anything as the investigation continues.

Thanks again, Republicans

Thanks to John Boehner and House Republicans, a big chunk of my paycheck and most likely yours will disappear starting in January. The completely ineffective Boehner (I predict lots of erectile dysfunction ads in his future), at the behest of his puppetmaster Eric Canter, have effectively killed the payroll tax cut extension as well as unemployment benefits.

So, thanks again, Republicans, for fucking us all over, you assholes. Hope you enjoy your long Xmas vacation.

Pat Robertson is upset again

Pat Robertson is pissed off about the Saturday Night Live sketch from last weekend that had Jesus in a locker room talking to Tim Tebow and his teammates. He calls it “ugly anti-Christian bigotry.” Of course, to people like Robertson, merely having the nerve to not accept his version of Jesus also counts as anti-Christian bigotry, but what can you do.

Robertson goes on to say,

“If this had been a Muslim country and they had done that, and had Muhammad doing that stuff, you would have found bombs being thrown off!”

“And bodies on the street!” interjected co-anchor Terry Meeuwsen. “And bodies on the street!” Robertson repeated. “And we think it’s okay.”

Robertson and Meeuwsen are saying one of two things: One, that Christianity is better than Islam because they don’t react to public criticism with bombs and bodies in the street, as some Muslims react to cartoons.

Or two, they are subtly calling for bombs and bodies in the street to stem the tide of people making fun of super holy rollers like Tim Tebow.

Which is it, Roberton and Meeuwsen? Somehow, I get a little sense that it’s the latter. (One need only read the imaginings of LaHaye and Jenkins in their end times books to get an idea of how much the bloody, torturous fate of unbelievers turns them on.)

Luckily, we live in a country that has inculcated, whether Christians like it or not, a secular approach to religion in civil law. It is only the constraints of that secular civil law that keeps the bloodier fantasies of people like Robertson and Meeuwsen in check. If they had the kind of secular power that Muslims do in some Islamic theocracies, I have no doubt we’d see mass arrests and bodies in the street if anyone dared make fun of Christianity or, horrors! – actually had the nerve to say publicly they don’t believe in their particular sky-god.

Repubs to kill tax cut for regular Americans

John Boehner promises that Republicans in the House are going back on their deal, and they'll kill the extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits that Republicans in the Senate helped pass.

Not only can Republicans not work with President Obama, House Republicans can't even work with Senate Republicans.
Apparently, tax cuts for the richest Americans are the only thing important to them. Tax cuts for you and me, not so much.

Christmas light nuttery

Ah, Christian fundamentalists! They put the fun back into fundamentalism!

Homeowners in Hudsonville, Mich., have been singled out for displaying what an anonymous letter-writer calls "pagan" lights and decorations on their properties.

On Wednesday night, residents of Vintage Drive found a letter attached to their mailboxes suggesting that anyone with Christmas lights or decorations should re-think their beliefs, because Christmas displays honor the "Pagan Sun-God" and do not pertain to the birth of Jesus, according to ABC News affiliate WZZM.

The letters start out on a friendly note, with "Hi Neighbor, you have a nice display of lights." But the self-described "love note" quickly changes tone, explaining how the "pagan tradition" of putting up lights began.

Besides speaking against holiday lights, the note claimed that the use of mistletoe, wreaths and yule-logs were in no way representative of Christmas.

Newt goes boom

Newt Gingrich's poll numbers in Iowa have gone the way of Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain -- big rise to the top, followed by a sudden plummet to the basement. Those poor, poor Republicans.

Meet Jules Manson, Ron Paul supporter

Jules Manson is a rabid Ron Paul supporter and wannabe local politician in Carson, California. He’s also a blatant racist who posted on Facebook calling President Obama a “n-gger,” his children “monkey children,” and called for the president to be assassinated.

Newt Gingrich: Fuck the Constitution

Newt Gingrich, the alleged political historian and supposed “intelligent one” in the Republican field, says fuck the Constitution.

Apparently, Newt is as faithful to the Constitution as he is to his wives.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is doubling down from Thursday’s Fox News debate on his vow to abolish federal courts if he disagreed with their decision.

According to The Hill, in a conference call with reporters, Gingrich indicated that it was in the president’s power as commander-in-chief to deem any Supreme Court ruling irrelevant if he or she in the White House disagreed.

Christians gleeful at Hitchens’ death

Some Christians are giddy with glee at the death of famed atheist author and pundit Christopher Hitchens.

Going a step further than Bob Bennett’s portrayal of Christopher Hitchens, controversial right-wing radio host Bryan Fischer thought the focus should be on where the late author’s afterlife will be spent.

“If Christopher Hitchens is in fact in hell, he’s there because God loves him,” Fischer said. “Not because God hates him, but because God loves him.”

Democratic whining

I've already seen my Twitter and Facebook feeds overwhelmed with cries of "Democrats caved again!" from my progressive friends. And I also note with some irony more than a few of them whining about Democrats "caving" had also proclaimed they were sitting out the 2010 midterm elections. Sitting out those midterms are why we have a Congress passing this crap in the first place.

Senate passage of payroll tax cut extension forces Obama to deal with Keystone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate voted on Saturday to extend a payroll tax cut for two months in legislation that also attempts to force President Barack Obama to approve construction of an oil pipeline.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed the legislation by a vote of 89-10. It is expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives next week, and if approved, will then go to Obama for his signature.

The measure also would extend long-term unemployment benefits for another two months.

Mitt vs. Newt

(h/t Think Progress)

Teabagger irony

Teabagger irony: a racist accuses Michele Bachmann of hating Muslims.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) appeared on The Tonight Show Friday evening to express how his fellow presidential candidate and House colleague Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) doesn’t have warm feelings for followers of Islam.

“She hates Muslims,” Paul said about Bachmann. “She wants to go get ‘em.”

Regarding Ron Paul's racist words, here.

Should be a GOP talking point

“If Osama bin Laden was alive, he’d call Obama a pussy too!”

Allen West

In case anyone was wondering, Allen West is still a dick.

Christopher Hitchens, RIP

Christopher Hitchens has passed away at the age of 62. He will be missed. The earth will be just a bit darker without him on it.

President Obama will sign NDAA into law

Disappointing, yes. But there is some good news: at least two of the most blatant violations of the Constitution have been removed.

At one point the bill contained a provision that would have authorized the U.S. to use military force anywhere there were terrorism suspects, including within the U.S. itself. The American Civil Liberties Union described it as authorizing a “worldwide war without end.” The section was removed from the bill in July.

And fortunately, it does exempt...

... U.S. citizens from the requirement for terror suspects to be held in military custody and included language stating that the bill did not extend new authority to detain U.S. citizens.

Fox’ whipping boys

Any atheist or agnostic who’s asked to appear on Fox News or Fox Business should know they’re just there to be a whipping boy. Jesus loves them more when they beat up on a nasty atheist, doncha know.

Fox Business host Eric Bolling invited an atheist to express his views on Christmas Monday — and then promptly kicked him off the show for doing so.

Last week, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) asked the Texas town of Athens to remove a nativity scene, claiming that the display violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another.

“Even though the town is not a Christian town, many residents think it is indeed a Christian town, and that non-Christians are not welcome,” FFRF’s Dan Barker explained to Bolling Monday. “We think the nativity scene belongs on private property. … Why would the city want to exclude residents? Why would they want to put up a discriminatory and insulting image? To a lot of Americans, the nativity scene basically is an insult to human nature, that we are all doomed and damned and deserving of eternal torment…”

“I have to take exception to the way you described the nativity scene,” Bolling interrupted. “It’s not an insult, certainly not an insult to me. I’m a Christian. It’s not an insult.”

“If the town is right, that that’s just free speech as opposed to government speech, then they should not disallow us [from] putting up an anti-Christian message,” Barker replied. “By the way, why was Jesus born? To save us from our sins. What an insult that we are degraded, depraved human beings, that Jesus created a hell, a place of torture.”

“I have to stop you,” Bolling interrupted again. “This is my show. See, the name of this show isFollow the Money with Eric Bolling. I can’t allow you to talk like that on my show. You’re absolutely wrong.”

“You, sir, are denigrating the name of Jesus Christ,” he added. “I’m not going to let it happen. I’m going to say goodbye to you right now. … Bye, bye.”

Newt makes a no-adultery pledge

This will make you do a spit take: Newt Gingrich has taken a no-adultery pledge... just so he can deny gay people the right to marry, of course.

When the Iowa social conservative group The Family Leader unveiled a sweeping pledge on marriage and abortion over the summer, Newt Gingrich was one of the candidates who passed on signing it.

Now, Gingrich has answered the pledge with a lengthy written response, vowing to support a federal marriage amendment, reinstate the Mexico City policy -- and, per the stipulations of The Family Leader pledge, to be faithful to his wife:

I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others.

Fun facts about Newt Gingrich

[Click to enNewtheadensize] [h/t Daily Kos]

Rick Perry: Pray, or else!

Rick Perry wants a constitutional amendment for school prayer (never mind that kids can pray in school all they want).

Which god does Rick Perry thinks kids should pray to? I'm betting he's thinking only one, and if kids wanted to pray to a different one, he'd have a big problem with that.

GOP debate audiences are grotesque

GOP debate audiences have cheered torture, the death penalty, letting people without insurance die, as well as booing a gay American soldier currently serving in a war zone. The latest thing they love? Child labor.

Their irrational hatred of President Obama seems to be bringing the most grotesque, brutal impulses of human nature to the surface. They revel in their unthinking, animalistic and cruel drives.

The audience at Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate gave their loud seal of approval to the idea of removing restrictions on child labor.

For over a week, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) has been suggesting that poor children should be in the workforce. He has said that janitorial jobs are appropriate for children, and has lauded the idea of 5-year-olds working.

During Saturday’s debate at Drake University in Iowa, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) pointed to the child labor issue as an example of the difference between him and Gingrich.

“I think every person up here worked at a young age,” Gingrich declared. “What I suggested was kids ought to be able to work part time in schools, particularly in the poorest neighborhoods.”

“If you take one half of the New York janitors, who are paid more than the teachers. An entry-level janitor gets paid twice as much as an entry-level teacher. You take half those janitors, you could give lots of poor kids a work experience in the cafeteria, in the school library, in the front office, in a lot of different things. I’ll stand by the idea young people ought to learn how to work.”

With that, the Republican audience erupted with applause.

The lawlessness of right wingers and teabaggers

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau  was created constitutionally by an act of Congress, constitutionally signed into law by a constitutionally elected president, and yet the teabaggers and right wingers don't care about any of that. The only thing they care about it stopping Obama. 

Teabagger Representative Mike Lee of Utah says he purposely stood in the way of confirming Richard Cordray to lead the new CFPB because he doesn’t want the agency to exist.

I have met Mr. Cordray, and my decision to oppose his confirmation by the Senate has nothing to do with his qualifications. Rather, I feel it is my duty to oppose his confirmation as part of my opposition to the creation of CFPB itself. [...] Confirming any director for this bureau would be tantamount to agreeing that we need a uniquely powerful super-agency that is not even designed to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis. Until the CFPB is reformed, I will not support it in any way.

Oops

Seen on Twitter

Seen on Twitter:

Rick Perry says he's not ashamed to be a Christian. He credits his success to the Father, the Son, and the... uh... it's... uh...

click.

FRANTIC FEMALE CALLER: "Hello, 911? Please send help, someone's trying to break into my house! He's screaming that he wants to rape and kill me! Help!"

911: "Calm down. And let me check your files."

ON HOLD

911: "Ma'am, can I have a valid credit card number?"

FRANTIC FEMALE CALLER: "Please help me! Um, it's, um, let me see, OH GOD!! Um, Visa, 5314-298475-2255.... PLEASE HELP ME!"

911: "I'm sorry ma'am, but according to our records, the person at the number you're calling from has their credit card ending in 2525, not 2255."

FRANTIC FEMALE CALLER: "OH MY GOD! HE'S ALMOST INSIDE! LOOK, THAT'S GOT TO BE A MISTAKE, SOMEONE COPIED THE CREDIT CARD NUMBER DOWN WRONG! I'VE PAID ALL MY POLICE PROTECTION RACKET FEES ON THAT CREDIT CARD!"

911: "Sorry, ma'am. If you really cared about your safety, you would have called us to double check we got all your information right. It's your own fault. Look, I'm sending cops but only to make sure the rapist doesn't break into anyone else's house. But you'll have to deal with him on your own. You should have cared more about your own safety. It's all your fault."

click.

Clinton’s stealth campaign

Here's a great article from Politicususa worth a few minutes of your time… It explains Bill Clinton's subtle stealth campaign to make GOP primary voters extremely nervous about their two frontrunners, by praising Romneycare and some of Newt Gingrich's ideas (that he's had to flip flop on). Bill Clinton: a political master at work.

When Clinton was asked about Gingrich’s claim that Obama is the food stamp president he answered, “Newt can turn a phrase. He says Obama is ‘the food stamp president. I want to be the paycheck president.’ It’s a great line. And the problem with great lines is sometimes they stop you from thinking.”

Clinton was asked whether Gingrich would be the nominee and president, and he answered, “I don’t know. I don’t know enough about their deal. I think Romney. I think the best thing Romney did in Massachusetts was the health care plan, and there’s a big article on it yesterday which pointed out inflation and health care costs have gone up less in Massachusetts than in the country as a whole since they adopted it. They cover everybody. Life expectancy is longer, the health indexes are better in Massachuettes, so now he’s sort of got to disavow it to get the nomination.”

Later President Clinton praised Newt Gingrich’s position on immigration, “Gingrich will come up with. He has some really good ideas. You know he was the one Republican who didn’t just melt in the tank on this immigration issue in the last debate. He had the best idea. Then the next day comes out and says he wants to be able to fire all the federal judges when they make decisions he doesn’t like. Wouldn’t we all, but I mean that’s not the Constitution.”

It is not a coincidence that former President Clinton has been using his media appearances to promote his new book to bring up the policy positions of the two GOP frontrunners that make Republican primary voters the most nervous. Clinton’s long answer on the virtues of RomneyCare is the last thing that the Romney campaign wanted to hear on a national morning television show.

This isn’t the first time that Clinton has helped to shape the Republican primary. He heaped praise on Newt Gingrich during an interview with Newsmax. President Clinton is engaging in a very subtle stealth campaign to help Republican voters select their nominee. GOP primary voters still loathe the Clintons, so the former President’s praise of RomneyCare only serves to confirm their suspicious about the true nature and depth of Mitt Romney’s conservatism.

Every time Clinton brings up and praises RomneyCare he is tossing another shovel full of dirt on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

What we are watching is a master at work. Former President Clinton understands how to use the media, and the fact that when he talks the press is going to listen.

President Clinton, in finest Machiavellian fashion, is doing all that he can to make sure that Newt Gingrich is the Republican nominee, and President Obama wins a second term.

Woman who attacked Obamacare apologizes

A woman who attacked Obamacare has apologized after her breast cancer diagnosis and she began to benefit from the president's health care reform.

Today in a L.A. Times op-ed, a woman who was so upset with President Obama for having "let down the struggling middle class" that she switched her registration from Democrat to Independent and altered her Obama bumpers sticker to read "Got Nope" is apologizing to the President. She says that while she was angered by Obama's plan, she's suddenly come to appreciate it, now that she's benefitting from it personally.

Two years ago, Spike Dolomite Ward and her husband had to choose between paying their mortgage or keeping their health insurance. They kept the house, and now at 49 Ward has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She didn't know how she'd afford months of expensive treatment, until he discovered the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, which is part of Obama's healthcare plan. Now she's publicly "outed" herself in the hopes that she can teach ObamaCare opponents that the uninsured aren't just lazy freeloaders. She writes:

What I want people to understand is that, if this could happen to us, it could happen to anybody. If you are fortunate enough to still be employed and have insurance through your employers, you may feel insulated from the sufferings of people like me right now. But things can change abruptly. If you still have a good job with insurance, that doesn't mean that you're better than me, more deserving than me or smarter than me. It just means that you are luckier. And access to healthcare shouldn't depend on luck.

Obama’s speech in Kansas

President Obama gave a speech in Kansas today that was one of the best, one of the most populist speeches I have ever heard. If this is a preview of his campaign, not only will he easily win re-election, he may lead the way for the Democrats to retake control of Congress.

You can read the whole speech here, but nothing beats seeing it.

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

Newt fires back at Nancy, Nancy has the last laugh

Newt fired back at Nancy, saying that if she released any dirty info on him she got from the ethics investigation, Nancy should be arrested because it's against the law. (Funny how Newt, who lost the Speakership because of his law-breaking is suddenly embracing the law.)

But Newt got a nasty surprise -- the ethics investigation files are public knowledge. Nancy can release whatever info she wants.

Killing Jews and atheists in the name of Jesus… for fun.

A video game in which a Christian militia must convert or kill Jews and atheists in a post-apocalyptic Manhattan is due to hit the shelves in major retail stores just in time for Christmas, the time of year in which Christians purport to honor the birth of the so-called “prince of peace.”

Kinda makes you want to rush out and accept Jesus as your personal lord and savior, doesn’t it?

 EDITED TO ADD: Just checked the date of the original article -- apparently this is from 2006. Still... nauseating!

A video game about a Christian militia slaughtering Jewish and atheist New Yorkers who won't be converted in the name of a particular brand of Christianity will be on the shelves of more than 10,000 American retailers in time for the Christmas season, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, GameStop, EB Games, CompUSA, Amazon.com, Costco and numerous others. The video game is a spinoff of the wildly successful collaborative novels about "the rapture" by conservative fundamentalist minister Tim Lahaye and the guy who used to write the dialogue for the Gil Thorpe comic strip, Jerry Jenkins.

In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, kids will assume the role of a member of a "Christian" gang wandering the streets of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan, killing or converting as many Jews, Atheists, and other unsavory types in the employ of the Anti-Christ as possible to get to the next level. If the heathen won't convert, the character can kill them. The company is offering a free demonstration model to churches. "We see it as a beacon of light that could shine in the dark world of video games," said Jerome Mikulich, "director of outreach ministries" for the company. "The most important thing is that it helps kids realize there is power in the spirit world, and that by praying they can endure and get through their real-life situations." Praying, and putting a shotgun in the mouth of Jews. Just like all those chapters in the gospel where Jesus preaches that the way to salvation is busting a cap into the ass of those who won't convert.

Little boy puts Michele Bachmann in her place

Make sure to turn on the captions. The story about the encounter is here.

Fox News leeches off taxpayers

While Fox News complains about schoolteachers actually earning a salary, here's something they probably won't be doing any reports on -- Taxpayers are paying for special police protection for Fox News!

When Occupy Wall Street protesters marched past media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s posh 5th Avenue penthouse during the “Millionaires March” on October 11, they were accompanied by a “very light police presence” according to a reporter at the scene. But down at Rupert’s News Corp. headquarters on Sixth Ave.–which has never been a terrorist or protest target of any significance–the media empire is guarded by a 24-hour-a-day New York Police Department security detail seven days a week, a patrol that one security expert estimated costs the city at least half a million dollars a year.

No other news network gets comparable NYPD protection, although a police department spokesman suggested in an email to the Daily Beast that they did. As best we could decipher a rationale for this extraordinary sentry at the gates of the Fox empire, it appears to be fueled by the security obsession of Fox News chief Roger Ailes.

The Daily Beast has observed at least two, and up to three officers patrolling the News Corp. plaza with one or two police cars stationed in front of the 45-story building on a regular basis. A security guard inside the lobby of the News Corp. building said that the police presence out front “has nothing to do with Fox News,” and is there simply because it’s a “high-profile” area. Yet cops who spoke with The Daily Beast said that they are posted at the site to protect Fox News as part of a counterterrorism initiative. Most officers explained that Fox News is a sensitive location, and one even referred to it as a “political” network. Some ex-Fox News employees attribute the patrol to the “paranoia” of Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes.

Nancy Pelosi is ready for Newt Gingrich

It sounds like Nancy Pelosi would LOVE it if Newt Gingrich winds up being the GOP nominee. She sounds like she’s holding on to some juicy stuff about the intrepid serial adulterer and corruption-magnet.

She may get her wish. Newt’s stomping on the “inevitable” Mitt Romney in many state polls.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that she knows "a lot" about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich because she served on the ethics committee that investigated him, according to an interview with Talking Points Memo published Monday.

"One of these days we'll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich," she said. "I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff."

She also said she liked Rep. Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) quote on Gingrich. Frank said last week, "I did not think I had lived a good enough life to be rewarded by Newt Gingrich being the Republican nominee."

The ethics committee investigation, Pelosi said, was so sensitive that she once asked her husband to leave the bedroom at 3 a.m. so she could talk privately on the phone.

"He is such a hypocrite," she said of Gingrich in a 1997 San Francisco Chronicle interview after the ethics committee had finished its work on the case. Gingrich was sanctioned $300,000 following the investigation. However, Pelosi wanted him to be censured. "I think if a person loved the House of Representatives, if he loved his party, he would step aside," she said.

Conservative principles

Pop quiz for the Republican candidates

Which one of you said this?

"Sometimes the pundits and the newspapers and the TV commentators love to talk about how America is slipping and America is in decline. That's not what you feel when you're in Asia. They're looking to us for leadership. They know that America is great not just because we're powerful, but also because we have a set of values that the world admires. We don't just think about what's good for us, but we're also thinking about what's good for the world. That's what makes us special. That's what makes us exceptional."

The cowardice of the liar, Col. Michael D. Steele

Herman Cain “suspended” his campaign today. Suspending means he can still raise money, and we all know that’s the primary reason he was in this thing in the first place. No doubt he can hardly wait to start his new Fox News gig, which I’m sure will be announced by next week.

Col. Michael D. Steele, the idiot who introduced him, had some interesting comments. He spoke of being accused of hate speech, just because he says he’s an American. Excuse me, Col. Steele, but I challenge you to present one bit of evidence of anyone saying that claiming to be an American is hate speech. You made that up because you’re a liar, plain and simple.

Steele also raised the old canard of “apologizing for America,” hinting that Obama and liberals apologize for America. No, Col. Steele, you’re lying again.

He also said, “No matter what Obama says, I think America is still number one!” Again, Col. Steele, you bald-faced liar, I challenge you to present one bit of evidence of where the president has ever said America was not number one.

If you can’t present one bit of evidence to back up these smears, Col. Steele, you’re not only a liar, you are a coward, and you have soiled the uniform of the United States military. You have no honor and no integrity whatsoever. Regardless of whatever “war hero” status you had before, you’ve defecated on it, just as you defiled the honor and integrity of the military, especially with the vile smears you repeated today.

In short, you’re a typical right wing blowhard. No wonder you supported Herman Cain.

This must be a dream

I must be in a coma and having some sort of dream. There's no way Donald Trump is seriously moderating a presidential debate. Unless it's a Saturday Night Live sketch.

On the other hand, this whole Republican farce feels like some kind of fever dream. How else do you explain that the current favorite of religious right wingers hates poor people, is a serial adulterer who shut down the government because his pride was hurt, and who had to be KICKED OUT of the Speakership?

Newt says poor kids are just lazy

Gotta love Newt's new-found Christian charity. He says the children of poor families are just lazy.

"Are there no prisons? And the union work houses, are they still in operation?"

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), now seemingly the Republican party’s new frontrunner for their presidential nomination, took rhetorical aim on Thursday at an all new threat to America’s economy, one that’s been with us all along: lazy children of poor families.

Speaking to a crowd in Iowa yesterday, Gingrich for the second time in recent weeks called for child labor laws to be repealed.

“Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday,” he insisted. “They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash, unless it is illegal.”

Herman Cain to make big announcement Saturday

Herman Cain will make a "major campaign announcement" on Saturday. With his supporters and funding evaporating, I think it's obvious what the announcement will be. And with his wife apparently unaware of Cain's "friendship" with Ginger White, not to mention the pattern of sexual behavior on Cain's part, I don't think any of us will be surprised.

Unless Cain is crazy.

Good economic news makes right wingers sad

The jobless rate has dropped to a two and a half year low. Right wingers are PISSED. They can’t stand good news like this because they hate Obama more than they love the country.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 120,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, and the jobless rate dropped to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009, from 9.0 percent in October.

It was the biggest monthly decline since January. While part of the decrease was due to people leaving the labor force, the household survey from which the department calculates the unemployment rate also showed solid gains in employment.

"The economy is continuing to head in the right direction," said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York. "However, the ultimate test of the sustainability of the recovery is for the economy to create a sufficient number of jobs to sustain a consumer-led rebound in activity."

A few more of our rights die every day

The Senate has passed a bill that would allow for the indefinite detention of Americans without trial or hearing. President Obama has vowed to veto it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate voted on Thursday to broaden the armed forces’ powers over suspected militants, requiring that foreigners allied with al Qaeda be held in military custody even if they are captured in the United States.

The White House has threatened to veto the provisions. Members of President Barack Obama’s national security team argued that U.S. officials should keep the option of prosecuting suspected militants in civilian as well as military courts — and deciding this case by case.

Teabaggery in England

A BBC host says of striking workers, "Execute them in front of their families." Looks like plenty of good old American right wing teabaggery in Britain as well.

The BBC has apologized after one their most popular hosts called to have striking public workers killed “in front of their families.”

Labor unions claimed Wednesday that as many as two million public workers joined a strike over cuts in pension rights as part of an austerity program by the British government.

In an interview on BBC’s The One Show Wednesday, Jeremy Clarkson, host of BBC’s Top Gear, was asked about the strikes that had affected “schools, hospitals, airports, even driving tests.”

“Frankly, I’d have them all shot!” Clarkson exclaimed.

“I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families. I mean how dare they go on strike when they’ve got these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed while the rest of us have to work for a living?”

Support for teabaggers continues to fall

It’s hard out there for a teabagger.

WASHINGTON — Support for the conservative Tea Party is slipping across America, even in areas that a year ago swept the movement’s first lawmakers to power in a devastating blow for Democrats, a new poll says.

And in a worrying sign for Republicans ahead of the November 2012 elections, the mainstream party’s image has fallen more dramatically in Tea Party districts than around the country as a whole, the Pew Research Center found in a survey released Tuesday.

The poll, conducted from November 9-14, found that 27 percent of Americans say they disagree with the fledgling Tea Party movement, while only 20 percent agree with its conservative agenda of lower taxes and smaller government.