Video emerges of black congressman being spat on by white teabagger

Teabaggers spitting on Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. FOX's Sean Hannity tried to pretend that it didn't happen. Huffington Post now has video. It's pretty sickening. And listen to the crowd - these people are sick in the head. But they're also typical Republicans, at least the Republicans who currently run the party. If you don't do exactly as they say, even when they massively lose an election, you're a socialist dictator who must be stopped. Listen to the crowd. You wouldn't know that they controlled Congress for 14 years, and controlled the White House for 8 years, just until 14 months ago. Now it's suddenly the end of world. Drama queens. Read the rest of this post...

Sarah Palin discovers drunk-Facebooking

Paragraphs three and four are the best. This is real. Apparently, Sarah Palin is the only person in America who doesn't find troublesome the recent violent tenor of political talk by the right, and their Teabagger surrogates, directed at members of Congress. So she decided to invoke more imagery of guns and executing people to prove her point that only PC people get upset when you call a congressman a "nigger" or a "faggot," or attempt to cut the gas line to their home.

I know, she revels in attention, and poking people in the eye. But it's serious when the FBI has to give security to ten-plus members of Congress, and there are concerns about the safety of the home of the Senate Parliamentarian. Palin thinks this is a joke. That is why this woman is and always will be a blithering idiot, and a dangerous one at that.

March Madness battles rage! My family and I join millions of Americans enjoying college basketball’s finest through March Madness. Underdogs always get my vote as we watch intense competition bring out the best in these accomplished teams.

The Final Four is an intense, contested series (kind of like a heated, competitive primary election), so best of luck to all teams, and watch for this principle lived out: the team that wins is the team that wants it more.

To the teams that desire making it this far next year: Gear up! In the battle, set your sights on next season’s targets! From the shot across the bow – the first second’s tip-off – your leaders will be in the enemy’s crosshairs, so you must execute strong defensive tactics. You won’t win only playing defense, so get on offense! The crossfire is intense, so penetrate through enemy territory by bombing through the press, and use your strong weapons – your Big Guns – to drive to the hole. Shoot with accuracy; aim high and remember it takes blood, sweat and tears to win.

Focus on the goal and fight for it. If the gate is closed, go over the fence. If the fence is too high, pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, parachute in. If the other side tries to push back, your attitude should be “go for it.” Get in their faces and argue with them. (Sound familiar?!) Every possession is a battle; you’ll only win the war if you’ve picked your battles wisely. No matter how tough it gets, never retreat, instead RELOAD!

- Sarah Palin

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Rubio Admits Repealing Health Care Isn’t Realistic, But Says GOP Should Campaign On It Anyway

From ThinkProgress:

WALLACE: Mr. Rubio, now that the health care reform bill is law, would you, if you go to Washington, work to repeal it? How would you do it given the fact that Barack Obama will still be president and could veto a repeal? [...]

RUBIO: I think the first step is to repeal it. We need to win a few elections before we can get there. But we certainly need to start campaigning and talking about it.

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2000-2009 warmest decade on record

Uh oh. The flat-earth teabaggers are not going to like this. Then again, when did facts ever get in the way of a loony rant or act of violence? Read the rest of this post...

For Catholics, it's Holy Week. The message: 'The Pope should resign'

Holy Week is a big week for the Pope. He's on a worldwide stage almost every day. Benedict's role in enabling and protecting child rapists has become more widely known over the past weeks and months. And, there's increased talk of something that would never have been suggested. The Pope should quit. Here's a column from Margery Egan in today's Boston Herald:

The Pope should resign. He should offer himself up to authorities for prosecution, like the sacrificial lamb he’s supposed to represent here on earth.

Long ago he should have opened the secret church books on priestly abuse. He hasn’t. Courts finally forced that in Boston almost a decade ago and, oh, what horrors we found. Remember? The Vatican hierarchy then blamed our scandal on a decadent American culture. Now the same priestly disease has swept Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, on and on across Europe and beyond. So was all the world, from the 1950s on, just one huge, decadent Gomorrah? Or was the Catholic hierarchy, from the ’50s on, run like an international crime organization aiding and abetting child abuse, then covering up its cover-up?

A few years back, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating caused an uproar by comparing secret-keeping American bishops to La Cosa Nostra.

He was but ahead of his time.

Expect Bill "Hollywood is controlled by anal-sex loving Jews" Donohue to continue his defense of the enablers and protectors of child rapists. He's been all over the cable shows spewing and spitting about how everyone is picking on the Catholic Church. It's hard to find anyone else who'll defend the horrific behavior of the Catholic hierarchy.

On the Chris Matthews show this morning, Andrew Sullivan said Benedict has no moral authority. It's true. Even the Vatican admits there's a problem, which is a rarity:

On Saturday, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, acknowledged that the way the church responds to the abuse scandal is "crucial for its moral credibility."

He noted that most of the cases that have come to light recently occurred decades ago.

"But recognizing them, and making amends to the victims, is the price of re-establishing justice and 'purifying memories' that will let us look with renewed commitment together with humility and trust in the future," he said in a statement on Vatican Radio.

The church has had decades to make amends. It hasn't. It won't. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

The health care debate has ended in Congress, but it's alive and well on the talk shows today. The White House is sending out Jarrett and Axelrod to give the Obama perspective -- and we should get some signals about what's next. (PS to White House: We're expecting you to keep the President's promise to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell "this year.")

In what's got to be one of the most obnoxious pairings in awhile, "Face the Nation" is hosting two of the most toxic members of Congress: Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Michele Bachmann. That should generate lots of crazy.

Also, FOX is hosting a debate between its party's two candidates for Senate in Florida: Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist.

Here's the lineup. Read the rest of this post...

Town Called Malice

I still remember buying The Gift album at the record store along the river in New Hope back in the early '80s. Loved it from the start and this was one of my favorites.

How'd Earth Hour go for everyone last night? We had a few dozen candles around the room over aperitif. (Yes, we're late eaters.) After we worked through about half of the massive pot of daube that I made for dinner. Leftovers are always the best! I woke this morning to find an email from friends from Toronto who prepared an incredible dinner here in Paris for us last year on Earth Hour evening. This year instead of rabbit in a mustard sauce over lentils, they celebrated with halibut. Read the rest of this post...

More child abuse stories coming out of Italy?

The news coverage of the child rape stories in Ireland triggered victims to emerge in Germany. Now with the latest coverage of abuse in Germany and Holland, other victims in Europe are emerging including Italy. The Guardian:

"We are likely to discover that the Vatican worked even harder in Italy with bishops than elsewhere to hide cases, simply because the contact was closer and the church is so powerful in Italy," Mirabile added.

Sergio Cavaliere, an Italian lawyer who has documented 130 cases of clerical paedophilia, also believes that the Vatican's backyard could follow Ireland, the United States and Germany in producing a wave of abuse revelations. "The cases I have found are just the tip of the iceberg given the reluctance of many victims to come forward until now," said Cavaliere. "And in no single case did the local bishop alert police to the suspected abuse."

Another startling development is how recent most of the allegations are, unlike the decades-old cases in Munich and Milwaukee that Benedict was last week accused of failing to act on.

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