There’s actually lots I’d like to blog about today, but I’m very busy.
One of Sully’s stunt stand-ins has an interesting back-and-forth with Ezra Klein about a Broder piece on Reagan from back in the day.
Dave Weigel finds a good Stu Rothenberg piece pointing out the absurdity of a recent Rasmussen poll. FWIW, I can’t hate Stu Rothenberg in general since the other guy who runs his site, Nathan Gonzales, is really good about answering reader email.
burnspbesq
Hazmat crews have been called to the IRS service center in Ogden, Utah. KSL-TV has footage on it’s website of people being removed on gurneys. HuffPo is all over the story.
As a former IRS employee, I’d really like to borrow AsianGrrl’s rusty farm implement and use it on a whole bunch of wingnut demagogues right about now. This is terrorism, and the whole lot of wingnut talk-radio idiots should be indicted for providing material support.
Face
Can we also note that apparently, unless the info’s been hyped (good possibility), some jackass(es) sent the IRS in Utah some nasty shit.
I, for one, await Steve King’s proclamation on how this is an acceptable response to Obama’s brand-spanking-new Marxist IRS tax-collecting policies.
jrg
Potential tragedy involving government employees. Hysterical blogosphere jumps at the chance to tar political opponents. Story at 11.
Martin
@burnspbesq: Don’t get ahead of yourself. We had a local school go through something similar – turns out it was a bad chemical combo from a spill in a janitorial closet.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
I say we wait and see what turns out here.
Mark S.
Let’s not jump to conclusions. We won’t know if this was terrorism until a Muslim is suspected of it.
ellaesther
@Mark S.: Ok, that just cracked me the hell up.
demo woman
ABC tried to interview Bunning today about his block on the unemployment bill. Our local ABC news covered it and I’ll watch CBS News tonight to see if they cover it.
ellaesther
Boing Boing links to a piece by Clifford Stoll in Newsweek circa 1995 entitled “The Internet? Bah!”
This is my favorite passage:
But then again, Stoll also says this:
Wellllll….
jeffreyw
Waiting dinner on Mrs J to get back from the shelter, she’s temping as asst for the vet, full day of surgeries today. When they found that she was the go to girl on nail clipping the position fell into her lap. Heh..”clipping”..get it?
Pasquinade
Brooklyn prosecutors on Monday cleared ACORN of criminal wrongdoing after a four-month probe that began when undercover conservative activists filmed workers giving what appeared to be illegal advice on how to hide money.
While the video by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles seemed to show three ACORN workers advising a prostitute how to hide ill-gotten gains, the unedited version was not as clear, according to a law enforcement source.
“They edited the tape to meet their agenda,” said the source.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/03/01/2010-03-01_bklyn_acorn_cleared_over_giving_illegal_advice_on_how_to_hide_money_from_prostit.html#ixzz0gy1bBHFt
TooManyJens
I am shocked, shocked …
Oh, fuck it.
Mark S.
@Pasquinade:
I don’t understand why this story isn’t getting more airplay. If Michael Moore had been found to have done the same thing O’Keefe did, I would imagine FOX would spend the next six months covering it exclusively, with breaks only for the assassination of the President and nuclear war.
Tax Analyst
Yeah, who could have imagined?
kay
@Mark S.:
I don’t understand it either. I rant on this, but it is outrageous that so many news organizations played that tape without any inquiry into whether it was edited.
This is an ethical issue, and it isn’t fuzzy. News organizations smeared those private individuals, based on tape submitted by two people who announced they had a political agenda.
You can’t alter up a photograph in any way and place it in a newspaper, without revealing to the reader that it was altered.
But they can blindly played edited tape?
Did the New York Times reporters who covered this faux scandal watch the tape? Did they verify that it was even somewhat accurate?
I don’t get it. Imagine what you could do to people with nationally aired edited tape?
Corner Stone
I am having sushi tonight for dinner and there’s nothing any of you can do about it.
Ash Can
@demo woman: You mean the ABC guy who Bunning kicked out of the elevator, then flipped the bird at?
Martin
@Mark S.: Well, Michael Moore IS fat…
arguingwithsignposts
Lady Smudge returns home! checking out the drapes, the countertops. You know the drill.
Svensker
@jeffreyw:
Read this as “tempting ass for the vet”. I’m sorry.
Ash Can
Every time I see her, I’m amazed at how pretty her eyes are. What a striking color.
kay
@Mark S.:
They don’t treat Michael Moore film as news. They did that here. They presented that tape as if it was an accurate depiction of what transpired. That’s the reason the Brooklyn DA initiated an investigation. He thought it was factual. A depiction of a criminal act. He thought that because that’s how it was presented. As fact.
Media, including print media, misled their viewers and their readers.
They showed them an altered picture.
Michael
Tommy Tancredo departs the wingnut reservation, says that Palin unfit for the Presidency.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/01/tancredo-palin-not-fit-for-the-presidency/
Let the hilarity commence.
Svensker
Need advice —
My 81-year-old MIL, who doesn’t drive at night and who just recently moved in with us, is not back from a shopping trip she left on 3 hours ago. She, of course, left her cell phone on the kitchen counter. It is now dark outside.
Do I start calling the hospitals?
My first experience in dealing with elder-care.
demo woman
@Ash Can: The local Atlanta news did not cover the bird but did mention the hold up and then interviewed local folks about how it would affect them. Nothing on the local CBS news though.
Mark S.
@Svensker:
This may be a dumb question, but do you know what stores she was going to?
I’m pretty sure the cops won’t do anything unless she’s been missing for 48 hours.
Ash Can
@Svensker: If there’s an actual night-driving restriction on her driver’s license, I’d suggest alerting the police first. I imagine they’d be interested if someone was on the road who shouldn’t be. They could look for her and help her home if they found her. Other than that, I’m not sure.
gbear
The state legislature fails to override Tim Pawlenty’s nine-iron to the head of poor sick people in MN. A bill that initially passed in the legislature by a vote of 125 to 9!
And the Rev. Grant Stevensen ot St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in St. Paul tells Tim Pawlenty to just STFU!! about God. The reverend’s audio clip says exactly what needed to be said to fucking rat-face Tim Pawlenty (apologies to AsiangrllMN for the theft).
If I say anything more I would be condoning violence so I’ll just hit send now. Fucking asshole.
Annie
@arguingwithsignposts:
Toooo cute. I was waiting all day to see Lady Smudge’s return. She seems to have survived the kittie condo, but looks really, really happy to be home.
Don’t worry. She will just torture you for a few days, until she gets her revenge :=)))
jacy
@Corner Stone:
Dammit — we’re having leftover pork roast, and not even a decent bottle of wine to go with it. Pah.
kay
@Svensker:
I’d call the local police. Tell them she’s unfamiliar with the area (if that’s true: you said she just moved there) describe the car and ask them to look for it. She may have got “turned around” as my oldster says. He used to get disoriented with a new route. He no longer drives at all, but he’s older than yours.
Police are out and about, and I think they’ll look for the car. They will here.
Give them your cell phone number and go look yourself.
Mnemosyne
@arguingwithsignposts:
Smudgie!
We have a houseguest right now: Charlotte’s sister came back to stay with us for a couple of weeks because her new owner is having surgery that requires some kitten-free recovery time. Right now, Olive is spending her time wandering around the house hissing at everything that moves (and some things that don’t) while Annie and Charlotte entertain themselves by sneaking up behind her and going “Boo!”
Poor Keaton looks exhausted already and I can’t really blame him.
Annie
@Svensker:
If you know what stores she went to, and if someone is at home to answer the telephone in case she calls, I would go out and look for her. She may not be able to find your house, and could possibly go back to the stores and wait.
If she is not at the stores, I would call the police, just to alert them to look out for her car. Then, again if someone is at home, I would drive different routes from the stores.
JD Rhoades
@Ash Can:
ABC cut the flipping of the bird and edited the story to make it look like Bunning was Mr. Smith gone to Washington.
AAAAAAAUGH!
AnotherBruce
@Mark S.:
Since these are private individuals, I wonder if they could sue certain media sources. Such as Fox News for instance.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Svensker:
I hope your MIL is safe and sound and turns up soon. Good luck.
Svensker
To all who answered, thanks. She made it home — had got a bit lost in the dark (I don’t want to think about that too much) and was a little shook up, but safe. Hopefully, she’ll get home before dark from now on.
Annie
@Mnemosyne:
LOL….I love the image of Olive having a “hissy” fit…
Annie
@Svensker:
Discuss with her a Plan B if she gets lost…It will make both of you feel better….
bemused
@gbear:
Good for the Reverend! More MN ministers should do the same. Pawlenty is contemptible. Speaking of God in one breath & throwing the needy out on their asses in the next breath.
Corner Stone
@Annie: The morning after pill? How would that have helped in this situation?
Corner Stone
@bemused:
I read this as throwing the “nerdy” out on their asses.
And I started looking around surreptitiously.
Martin
@kay: This.
bemused
@Corner Stone:
lol. Sometimes when very tired I will start misreading words resulting in some hilarious mental images.
Hal
So I’m reading this Liberal NYT article about how vulnerable Barbara Boxer is in her upcoming Senate Seat, and; I’m not seeing it.
Carly Fiorina is hugely unpopular, and the only other “evidence” the article really presents is quotes from a Republican. Having lived in CA, Boxer is always vulnerable, until the Repub candidate is chosen, and then she glides to victory.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/us/politics/02senate.html?hp
Mnemosyne
@Hal:
For some reason, the Republicans are always convinced that Boxer is vulnerable and are always confused when they get their asses handed to them yet again in November.
Feinstein is genuinely vulnerable to a primary challenge because she’s swung so far to the right, but not Boxer.
Ecks
Unsurprising summary:
Dan Rather: Forced to retire after releasing a report based on a document that may, just possibly, MIGHT have been a forgery, but we can’t tell, which suggested that GWB was irresponsible as a member of the guard. Claim highly plausible because rest of historical evidence backs up that GWB was, in fact, irresponsible as a member of the guard.
Fox: Untouched and still in business after creating a fire storm of controversy based on documents now proven in court to have been edited, by a known political operative, for partisan political reasons.
Rather: Lost all credibility
Fox: IOKIYAR