Mastermind? Really??

Who would have thought that these two things would end up in the same sentence... Sarah Palin and Mastermind.  But, nonetheless, they have.  An Alaskan, Theodore Thoma, is suing Ms. Palin for $100,000.  He claims that as Governor of Alaska, she "undertook a campaign against [Theodore] ... to punish, embarrass, discredit and silence" him, when he criticized a serious issue with traffic in the neighborhood surrounding the Governor's Mansion back in 2009. (TMZ.com)

Thoma's suit claims "Sara Palin is the mastermind of a dark conspiracy to punish" him.  Does Mr. Thoma know what "mastermind" means?

Thanks to @ElaineBoosler for pointing it out:

@ElayneBoosler Elayne Boosler

TMZ: "Palin Sued For $100k. Sarah Palin is the mastermind of .." Whoa whoa whoa!! Hold it right there buddy!

1 hour ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply

Just in case you hadn't heard...

President Obama really is a citizen.  Today, the president released his long-form birth certificate proving that he is eligible to serve as president.  But of course there are some who still want a battle.  (HuffingtonPost.com)

The obvious ones of course, Trump:  "I want to look at it, but I hope it's true. ... But he should have done it a long time ago."

Palin:  "Media: admit it, Trump forced the issue. Now, don't let the WH distract you w/the birth crt from what Bernanke says today." 


Romney:  "What President Obama should really be releasing is a jobs plan."


And there are some who still think he shouldn't be allowed to be president. WorldNetDaily senior reporter Aaron Klein with researcher Brenda J. Elliott, wrote a book about it - well before the revelation today.  He says "It is undisputed that Obama's father was not a U.S. citizen," and therefore is not a "natural born citizen." (WND.com)

However, by definition of the Fourteenth Amendment "making all persons born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction citizens of the United States," he is now a proven one.  (Wikipedia.org)


But then anything Obama does is wrong for some.  Damn, can't even get born right.

What exactly would be impartial?

So, the Prop 8 supporters are all up in arms because the judge that struck down California's gay marriage ban is actually --- a gay man.  Judge Walker, a 67-year-old Republican appointee, declared Proposition 8 to be an unconstitutional violation of gay Californian's civil rights last summer. He retired in February.  This month he told "courthouse reporters about his 10-year relationship" with a man.


Lawyers for Protect Marriage, the coalition of religious and conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8, filed a motion in San Francisco's U.S. District Court, arguing that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker should have removed himself from the case or at least disclosed his relationship status because his "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."  (CBSNews.com)


But, what would be impartial?  If a married, straight, religious or conservative judge sat on the bench for the appeal, would that be impartial?  Well, Protect Marriage probably wouldn't have a problem with it.


All asexual judges please report to the appellate court.  Thank you.

Oh so that's why they do it...

Well at least according to the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network.  Yep, good ol' Pat Robertson says that it is all the lesbians fault that the left wants legal abortions.  Somehow, abortions give lesbians an advantage.

Because you see, "if these married women don’t have children, if they abort their babies, it kinda puts them on a level playing field.”  And of course he backs this up because the far left is livid about killing babies and are creating some culture of death.  (NetworkedBlogs.com)

Not sure exactly what Pat would think if a lesbian decided not to have an abortion.  Would that mean she was going against the whole plan??

Bribery Will Get You Everywhere?

Well, that's what a church in Minnesota thinks anyway.  They are offering bribes to parishioners to get them in the pews on Easter Sunday.  Those in attendance have a chance to win a 3D television or a new Nintendo 3DS gaming system . (HuffingtonPost.com)


Finding God through 3D.  What a concept.  The pastor, Eric Dykstra, says he has "no problem bribing people with crap in order to meet Christ." But one would think, on this most holy day, that a church would be more into finding God through less sinful manners.


Even the bible tells us so:

Exodus 23:8
And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

Proverbs 17:8
A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers. 
(OpenBible.info)


Ahh, that explains it.  The one offering the bribe shall prosper.  This church is expecting 5,000 people on Easter Sunday.  Start that good ol' collection plate around and Dykstra is sure to get a good return on his investment.

Here they come to save the day!!

So the question is - is spending $14,000 the best way to help the unemployed in Central Florida?  Or perhaps the question is - how do you identify the unemployed in Central Florida?  Well, the answers would be maybe and they are wearing the red capes.


Workforce Central Florida came up with an "out-of-the-box creative campaign" to help the unemployed.  They purchased 6,000 red capes for $14,000.  It was called the "Cape-ability Challenge" and gave red capes to the jobless as a "way to boost their job-seeking prospects" and fight the villainous "Dr. Evil Unemployment."  (MotherJones.com)

Needless to say, job-seekers were a bit offended by the cape idea.  Gregory Bryant said the capes are a waste of money and that he wouldn't wear one.  Today, though, the Workforce group announced it was canning the cape idea.


Maybe they would do better with referrals from The Daily Planet.

Oh The Games People Play UPDATED

THE STATE HAS CHANGED ITS PLANS - THE KIDS GET TO PLAY (FoxNews.com)

But let's not let the kids play.  Everybody is ranting about how obese America's children are.  There are lawsuits against McDonald's for unfairly using toys to lure chilren into restaurants. Yet now, the state of New York wants to  legislate fun and maybe take away instead of promote activity for kids.


"The New York State Department of Health created the list of risky recreational activities."  This list includes such scary things as Dodgeball, Flag Football, Kickball, Red Rover, Tag (all varieties) and Wiffle Ball.  Any one of these "poses a significant risk of injury" according to lawmakers in Albany. (FoxNews.com)

So, the kids should just stay at home and play video games, or something else.  Although the risk of carpal tunnel is there.  And technically the games are not banned at camps, but they come at a play-at-your-own-risk cost.  The state then can charge camps $200 registration fees if they allow the kids to play a deadly game of Red Rover.


So, maybe it is a money issue more than a playing issue.

Divert Funding

While in a situation on the Federal Government level where money is a huge issue, House Speaker John Boehner now thinks it is ok to divert funding.  And what is compelling Boehner to divert?  Defending an unconstitutional law.


Back in February, President Obama decided that the administration "cannot defend the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman."  (HuffingtonPost.com)  He did this due to the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled that laws criminalizing homosexual conduct are unconstitutional.


Yet, Boehner now "intends to divert funding from the Justice Department to the U.S. House so Congress can defend the federal law."  He has also hired former Solicitor General Paul Clement, currently with a high-power law firm, to defend the law.  (JoeMyGod)


Interesting.  At the beginning of February, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the DOJ was under a hiring freeze and unnecessary travel had been halted.  This made DOJ workers feel the pressure of budget cuts. (MainJustice.com)  Now, Boehner wants to divert funds from the department to pay off some high priced attorney to defend an unconstitutional law.


So... The GOP was going to generate jobs?  Well, I guess creating one lawyer job is something.  But cutting employment at the DOJ can't help much.


To sign a poll against Boehner, click here:
FearlessCampaign

Who let's these states govern on their own?

It's just getting crazy.  First Florida has decided that they are above the "separation of church and state."  So, this means that they can now spend "public revenues on sectarian religious organizations."  That way, they can give money to their favorite religious organizations and take money away from other public organizations that would benefit all Floridians. (JoeMyGod)

Now, a little further west, the states are getting loonier.  In order for a person to get on the list of Presidential candidates in Arizona, either a long form birth certificate - or a penis - will need to be presented.  Yep, Arizona Republicans will accept a "circumcision certificate" as proof of U.S. citizenship.  (Pulling out your penis in front of election officials, however, will not prove citizenship.) (PhoenixNewTimes.com)

If you are a woman and don't have a long form birth certificate, you are definitely shit-out-of-luck...

Just Like a Smoke Break

That's what Stephen Colbert said last night.  And what exactly is just like a smoke break?  Well, let's go back a little.  "The Iowa Family Policy Center argues that homosexuality is as dangerous to society as secondhand smoke." (PoliticalForum.com)  And Bob Vander Plaats, the president of the social conservative group The Family Leader and former Iowa Gubernatorial candidate, agrees.

The Iowa Family Policy Center even has a seminar series to help teach that being gay is as dangerous as second-hand smoke.  (SecondHandEffects.com) They think it is time to "unpack the lies of the homosexual propaganda".  The seminar will explain how homosexuals have brain-washed the culture and how to undo the damage.


Might be interesting to see how that was done and what damage happened.  And according to Colbert - "That's right, smoking is just like being gay. That's why you always see people huddled outside work taking a 10-minute gay break." (ColbertNation.com)  Do they have a smoking/gay section?


That would explain this:  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fag - noun --Slang-- a cigarette.

Blue is for boys and pink is...

Absolutely not!  Well, at least according to the experts at Faux News.  So, when an ad for J. Crew shows president and creative director Jenna Lyons painting her son's toenails pink, controversy abounds.


"This is a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity,” psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow wrote in a FoxNews.com Health column.  Media Research Center’s Erin Brown called the ad “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children.”  (FoxNews.com)

Really?  Gender identity is completely based on colors?  According to Jenna Lyons, her son's favorite color is pink.   And this automatically makes him transgendered? 


Or is it liberal politicking?  Erin Brown says that J. Crew is just "exploiting Beckett behind the facade of liberal, transgendered identity politics."  Sure, J. Crew just wants to spread that horrible gay agenda to sell their clothes.


Wonder what the controversy would have been if the boy wore black nail polish?

A Birther, a Sideshow, a Tipper and a Law

No, they didn't walk into a bar, although parts of this could be considered a joke.  First, the Birther.  That would be Donald Trump who is sending investigators to Hawaii to find that elusive Obama birth certificate.  Senior White House adviser David Plouffe thinks that Trump's actions are merely a sideshow and he doesn't think that Trump would be hired by the American people "to do this job."  (HuffingtonPost.com)

Now, who better to gain some media spotlight then the tipper?  With her approval rating dropping 30% since 2008 and a 10% chance in a hypothetical Republican presidential primary race, Sarah Palin could use any help she can get.  She may have finally reached her tipping point.  (WashingtonPost.com)  So, why not jump on Donald's coat tails - join in on the sideshow - and offer "more power to him" for his "digging in" on the subject.  Got her air time, anyway.


But, this all might be a moot point.  It seems there is a law in the State of Hawaii that an "original document itself cannot be photocopied by anyone." (Time.com) Now, an authorized copy of the document issued by the state and complete with a raised seal has been made public, but when the Birthers want a Xerox of the damned thing... then he must be Kenyan...

They should walk into a bar...

Added Faux News Fail? (From the Huffington Post)

Budgeting Morality

Basically that is what it is coming down to.  The fight in D.C. that is going to inevitably shutdown the U.S. Government comes down to the right-wing's stance on morality.


You see, if the government does indeed shutdown, these things will not be closed or ceased:


National Parks
Federal Courts Probation Officers
Nat'l Reconnaissance Office
Veterans Affairs
IRS
Medicare & Medicaid
House Congressional Staffers (but not Congressmen)
Visa Processing
EPA
National Institute of Health
Small Business Administration
White House Visitor Center and Gift Shop (?)
(CNN.com)

And why?  "The last part is Title X," said a senior Democratic source familiar with the talks.  Title X refers to funding for Planned Parenthood's many health services for women.  (HuffingtonPost.com)

So, the right wingers are going to shutdown all of these things because they are against abortion, although Planned Parenthood does not use federal money for abortions.


Amazing.

Rewarding them for their uselessness

Amazing, really, the world we live in.  People are starving, have been in earthquakes, are unemployed and not much is being done.  But others are getting their rewards for nothing.  Like why should the Jersey Shore's Snooki get $32,000 to tell kids to 'study hard but party harder?' (Gather.com)

Or maybe, why does Charlie Sheen get millions of twitter followers and the ability to trademark his eloquent catch phrases like "Duh, Winning" to rake in even more money.  This after his "felony offenses involving moral turpitude" got him fired from Two and a Half Men. (People.com)

And then there is the teen aged mother, who received $262,000 for promoting abstinence.  Yep, that's right.  The famous pregnant teenager - Bristol Palin - got paid that huge amount of money from Candie's Foundation- a group that promotes abstinence to teenagers. (CNN.com) Heck, if you get paid that much to be a teen aged mother, maybe it is ok to forget the abstinence thing.


Why?  Good question.

Learning more than your ABC's

The legislators in California, a state that is a major purchaser of textbooks, want to make the books "fair, accurate, inclusive and respectful".  Senate Bill 48, introduced by state Sen. Mark D. Leno (D- San Francisco), would require the state’s new social study and history textbooks to include “a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.”  (LGBTQNation.com)

Some folks, obviously, are not thrilled with the idea.  A parent, and Sacramento School Board Member, Craig DeLuz thinks it is "requiring taxpayers to foot the bill to promote a lifestyle."  The intent actually was to help students be "better informed" and perhaps "more welcoming in their approach to differences among their classmates."  To stop bullying.  And who knows, the books might already include some folks who were gay, but nobody knew about it.


Now, to make things more fair, the Texas House approved a budget provision promoting "family and traditional values."  That is if a state college or university offers a "gender and sexuality center" that might promote "alternative sexual practices" then they have to promote the other stuff, too.  (DallasNews.com)

The bill's sponsor is not "treading on the rights" to support the alternative, just that they match it, dollar for dollar, with advocating heterosexual, "traditional values."    Not sure who gets to define "family and traditional values".   Sort of makes it sounds like all gays don't have families or values.

Good thing we have schools to teach us these things...

This might be inappropriate for children...

Or at least the Florida Republicans think that it is.  Recently the GOP leadership of the House told Democrats that certain Democratic members were not to discuss body parts on the House floor.  And which body parts were they Republicans afraid of?  Was it boobies or dicks?  No it was the word uterus.  (MotherJones.com)

It all started when Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, suggested that his wife "incorporate her uterus" to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions.  If her uterus was a business, there would no way that the GOP would regulate that Florida "business."


But, wait.  Mr. Randolph is not allowed to discuss body parts.  A House GOP spokeswoman explained that Randolph's comment lacked "decorum".


Basically... the Republican leadership didn't like the idea.  What would they do if she really did incorporate it?

Just pay the fat fee...

And no, that is not a typo.  It is not a "FLAT" fee that Arizonians will have to pay, but a "FAT" fee.


The wonderful Republican Gov. Jan Brewer has decided that she wants no fat people in Arizona.  She is proposing a $50 charge for the obese.  Now, only Medicaid patients would have to pay this "big-bottom dollar" and only if they fail to follow a plan for slimming down.  She also wants fees for smokers and those with a chronic disease.  (Time.com)

Jan thinks that this fat fee will fill in about $500 million in the budget.  Don't know if she has done the math, however.  2009 CDC stats show that 1.7 million people are obese in Arizona, but not all of them are on Medicaid.  So it might not hit that 500 mil total.


So in order to provide businesses with phased-in tax cuts and breaks, let's just tax the fat people.