• Big Fiscal Phonies: Here’s the story: For some time now Mr. Christie has been touting what he calls the “Jersey comeback.” Even before his latest outburst, it was hard to see what he was talking about: yes, there have been some job gains in the McMansion State since Mr. Christie took office, but they have lagged gains both in the nation as a whole and in New York and Connecticut, the obvious points of comparison. Yet Mr. Christie has been adamant that New Jersey is on the way back, and that this makes room for, you guessed it, tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy. Last week reality hit: David Rosen, the state’s independent, nonpartisan budget analyst, told legislators that the state faces a $1.3 billion shortfall. How did the governor respond? First, by attacking the messenger. According to Mr. Christie, Mr. Rosen — a veteran public servant whose office usually makes more accurate budget forecasts than the state’s governor — is “the Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers.” Civility! [nytimes/PAUL KRUGMAN/27 May 2012]
• The Obama Administration Supports the Troops In Deed as Well as Word
• Remarks by the President Commemorating Memorial Day: I cannot begin to fully understand your loss. As a father, I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to hear that knock on the door and learn that your worst fears have come true. But as Commander-In-Chief, I can tell you that sending our troops into harm’s way is the most wrenching decision that I have to make. I can promise you I will never do so unless it’s absolutely necessary, and that when we do, we must give our troops a clear mission and the full support of a grateful nation. [whitehouse/28 May 2012]
• Romney HAS a post-Bain record. Let’s look at it.
• Mitt Romney Doesn’t (heart) Massachusetts: There’s an old saying that “you can’t go home again.” Especially if you’re Mitt Romney and home is Massachusetts. After all, Governor Romney ended his tenure with a dismal 34 percent approval rating and now trails President Obama by as much as 20 points in his own state. Worse still, Romney launched his perpetual quest for the presidency by mocking Massachusetts to woo conservative Republican primary voters. And most damning of all, Massachusetts Mitt has betrayed his fellow Bay State residents by renouncing almost every pledge he made to them, including his signature health care reform law. [crooksandliars/Jon Perr/28 May 2012]
• THE VETTING: Mitt Romney Is A War Mongering Draft-Dodger: Like many Republican hypocrites, Romney is a chickenhawk who advocates the glory of battle only for other people’s sons. As for his own family, he once responded to a question concerning why none of his five boys were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan by saying that “one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected.” That’s a typically Romulan statement that illustrates what an elitist he is, who considers himself exempt from the rules by which the rest of the peasant hordes must abide. …Bonus Bit: In further vetting of Romney, Buzzfeed discovered an old news item about a visit Romney made to a veteran’s homeless shelter in Massachusetts in 1994, during his losing campaign for the senate against Ted Kennedy. Before leaving Romney asked the shelter’s director what the biggest problem at the shelter was. The director said that it was getting enough milk on the meager allowances the shelter received from the state. Romney responded, “Well, maybe you can teach the vets to milk cows.” Good one, Mitt. And maybe they can just eat cake. The Breitbrats have already posted an item complaining about Milk-Gate. [newscorpse/Mark/28 May 2012]
• Simpson tells GOP: ‘For heaven’s sake, Norquist can’t murder you’: Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson (R) offered another colorful perspective from his cantankerous mind Sunday morning, urging Congressional Republicans once again to not be scared of anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist’s pledge of never raising any tax. “For heaven’s sake, you have Grover Norquist wandering the earth in his white robes saying that if you raise taxes one penny, he’ll defeat you,” Simpson said on Fareed Zakaria GPS. “He can’t murder you. He can’t burn your house. The only thing he can do to you, as an elected official, is defeat you for reelection. And if that means more to you than your country when we need patriots to come out in a situation when we’re in extremity, you shouldn’t even be in Congress.” [rawstory/Andrew Jones/27 May 2012]
• Koch foots the bill for the “grassroots”: who needs govt. when you have a billionaire paying for your every need?
• US Pentagon has plans for military strike on Iran: Panetta: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the Pentagon has readied plans to carry out a military strike on Iran if diplomacy fails in the dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. …”One of the things that we do at the Defense Department is plan. And we have – we have plans to be able to implement any contingency we have to in order to defend ourselves,” Panetta stated. He asserted that the international community is united on the issue but expressed hope the dispute could be resolved “diplomatically.” [presstv/28 May 2012]
• Anti-abortion group drafting legislation to limit women’s right to choose: Limits on the legal right to abortion are sweeping through legislatures across the United States, from moves to require women seeking abortion to undergo intrusive ultrasounds, to the defunding of Planned Parenthood, America’s largest family planning provider. Behind the raft of bills and regulations is one group with an aggressive approach: a non-profit, anti-abortion group called Americans United for Life. [guardian.co.uk/Karen McVeigh/25 May 2012]
• New Orleans Women’s Clinic Becomes Latest Target Of Arson Attacks
• Radioactive bluefin tuna from Japan found in U.S. waters: For the first time, scientists have discovered that tuna contaminated by last year’s radiation leak from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have crossed the Pacific Ocean into U.S. waters, according to the Associated Press. Scientists have been startled to discover the radioactive fish some 6,000 miles from their place of origin, the first time that large, migrating fish have been shown to carry contaminants over such a great distance. [rawstory/David Ferguson/28 May 2012]
• Police: Miami cannibal was overdosing on new, super-potent LSD: Disturbing new details have emerged about an incident in Miami, Florida in which police shot and killed a man who was tearing off and eating another man’s face. According to Miami’s WSVN, the victim, who is believed to be homeless, lost 75 percent of his face in the attack and is in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Police claim that the dead man was overdosing on a new, powerful form of Lysergic Acid Diethlymide, the hallucinogen commonly known as LSD.
Eyewitness Larry Vega was bicycling on the MacArthur parkway on Saturday afternoon when he saw the two naked men locked in a grisly struggle. The scene, he said, was like something from a horror movie.
“And the guy was like tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, ‘Get off!’” Vega said, “You know it’s like the guy just kept eating the other guy away like ripping his skin.”
Vega flagged down a police officer, who ordered the attacker to let his victim go. The attacker ignored him, but when the officer jumped the concrete divider and shouted, Vega said, “the guy just stood his head up like that with a piece of flesh in his mouth and growled.”
The officer opened fire, striking the suspect, who barely paused as he continued to rip away the homeless man’s face. The officer fired several more times until the attacker was dead. [rawstory/David Ferguson/28 May 2012]
F.D.Brightly
After Memorial Day [Shorter Question Everything]
• Big Fiscal Phonies: Here’s the story: For some time now Mr. Christie has been touting what he calls the “Jersey comeback.” Even before his latest outburst, it was hard to see what he was talking about: yes, there have been some job gains in the McMansion State since Mr. Christie took office, but they have lagged gains both in the nation as a whole and in New York and Connecticut, the obvious points of comparison. Yet Mr. Christie has been adamant that New Jersey is on the way back, and that this makes room for, you guessed it, tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy. Last week reality hit: David Rosen, the state’s independent, nonpartisan budget analyst, told legislators that the state faces a $1.3 billion shortfall. How did the governor respond? First, by attacking the messenger. According to Mr. Christie, Mr. Rosen — a veteran public servant whose office usually makes more accurate budget forecasts than the state’s governor — is “the Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers.” Civility! [nytimes/PAUL KRUGMAN/27 May 2012]
• The Obama Administration Supports the Troops In Deed as Well as Word
• Remarks by the President Commemorating Memorial Day: I cannot begin to fully understand your loss. As a father, I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to hear that knock on the door and learn that your worst fears have come true. But as Commander-In-Chief, I can tell you that sending our troops into harm’s way is the most wrenching decision that I have to make. I can promise you I will never do so unless it’s absolutely necessary, and that when we do, we must give our troops a clear mission and the full support of a grateful nation. [whitehouse/28 May 2012]
• Romney HAS a post-Bain record. Let’s look at it.
• Mitt Romney Doesn’t (heart) Massachusetts: There’s an old saying that “you can’t go home again.” Especially if you’re Mitt Romney and home is Massachusetts. After all, Governor Romney ended his tenure with a dismal 34 percent approval rating and now trails President Obama by as much as 20 points in his own state. Worse still, Romney launched his perpetual quest for the presidency by mocking Massachusetts to woo conservative Republican primary voters. And most damning of all, Massachusetts Mitt has betrayed his fellow Bay State residents by renouncing almost every pledge he made to them, including his signature health care reform law. [crooksandliars/Jon Perr/28 May 2012]
• THE VETTING: Mitt Romney Is A War Mongering Draft-Dodger: Like many Republican hypocrites, Romney is a chickenhawk who advocates the glory of battle only for other people’s sons. As for his own family, he once responded to a question concerning why none of his five boys were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan by saying that “one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected.” That’s a typically Romulan statement that illustrates what an elitist he is, who considers himself exempt from the rules by which the rest of the peasant hordes must abide. …Bonus Bit: In further vetting of Romney, Buzzfeed discovered an old news item about a visit Romney made to a veteran’s homeless shelter in Massachusetts in 1994, during his losing campaign for the senate against Ted Kennedy. Before leaving Romney asked the shelter’s director what the biggest problem at the shelter was. The director said that it was getting enough milk on the meager allowances the shelter received from the state. Romney responded, “Well, maybe you can teach the vets to milk cows.” Good one, Mitt. And maybe they can just eat cake. The Breitbrats have already posted an item complaining about Milk-Gate. [newscorpse/Mark/28 May 2012]
• Simpson tells GOP: ‘For heaven’s sake, Norquist can’t murder you’: Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson (R) offered another colorful perspective from his cantankerous mind Sunday morning, urging Congressional Republicans once again to not be scared of anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist’s pledge of never raising any tax. “For heaven’s sake, you have Grover Norquist wandering the earth in his white robes saying that if you raise taxes one penny, he’ll defeat you,” Simpson said on Fareed Zakaria GPS. “He can’t murder you. He can’t burn your house. The only thing he can do to you, as an elected official, is defeat you for reelection. And if that means more to you than your country when we need patriots to come out in a situation when we’re in extremity, you shouldn’t even be in Congress.” [rawstory/Andrew Jones/27 May 2012]
• Koch foots the bill for the “grassroots”: who needs govt. when you have a billionaire paying for your every need?
• US Pentagon has plans for military strike on Iran: Panetta: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the Pentagon has readied plans to carry out a military strike on Iran if diplomacy fails in the dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. …”One of the things that we do at the Defense Department is plan. And we have – we have plans to be able to implement any contingency we have to in order to defend ourselves,” Panetta stated. He asserted that the international community is united on the issue but expressed hope the dispute could be resolved “diplomatically.” [presstv/28 May 2012]
• Anti-abortion group drafting legislation to limit women’s right to choose: Limits on the legal right to abortion are sweeping through legislatures across the United States, from moves to require women seeking abortion to undergo intrusive ultrasounds, to the defunding of Planned Parenthood, America’s largest family planning provider. Behind the raft of bills and regulations is one group with an aggressive approach: a non-profit, anti-abortion group called Americans United for Life. [guardian.co.uk/Karen McVeigh/25 May 2012]
• New Orleans Women’s Clinic Becomes Latest Target Of Arson Attacks
• Radioactive bluefin tuna from Japan found in U.S. waters: For the first time, scientists have discovered that tuna contaminated by last year’s radiation leak from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have crossed the Pacific Ocean into U.S. waters, according to the Associated Press. Scientists have been startled to discover the radioactive fish some 6,000 miles from their place of origin, the first time that large, migrating fish have been shown to carry contaminants over such a great distance. [rawstory/David Ferguson/28 May 2012]
• Police: Miami cannibal was overdosing on new, super-potent LSD: Disturbing new details have emerged about an incident in Miami, Florida in which police shot and killed a man who was tearing off and eating another man’s face. According to Miami’s WSVN, the victim, who is believed to be homeless, lost 75 percent of his face in the attack and is in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Police claim that the dead man was overdosing on a new, powerful form of Lysergic Acid Diethlymide, the hallucinogen commonly known as LSD.
Eyewitness Larry Vega was bicycling on the MacArthur parkway on Saturday afternoon when he saw the two naked men locked in a grisly struggle. The scene, he said, was like something from a horror movie.
“And the guy was like tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, ‘Get off!’” Vega said, “You know it’s like the guy just kept eating the other guy away like ripping his skin.”
Vega flagged down a police officer, who ordered the attacker to let his victim go. The attacker ignored him, but when the officer jumped the concrete divider and shouted, Vega said, “the guy just stood his head up like that with a piece of flesh in his mouth and growled.”
The officer opened fire, striking the suspect, who barely paused as he continued to rip away the homeless man’s face. The officer fired several more times until the attacker was dead. [rawstory/David Ferguson/28 May 2012]