"Let the bombing commence in the name of Jesus"

In an article about the fastest growing segment of American religion...the non-religious -- there is still this part:

"Even with these recent changes the American religious commitments are incredibly stronger than in most other advanced countries in the world," Putnam says. "The average American is slightly more religious than the average Iranian, so we are a very religious country even today."

Compare and Contrast

Colin Powell makes the obvious statement that there is a vein of intolerance in the modern GOP and we get tweets like this:

Go ahead and look at twitter with the hash tag #ColinPowell and you'll find a shitload of similar in about five seconds. Which is remarkably similar to this, after Tina Fey mildly made fun of Taylor Swift:

13 years old, or just as well be.

Whoops

The International Monetary Fund apologizes for any inconvenience:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released research today suggesting that it had significantly underestimated the damage European austerity would do to EU growth rates.

So things have gotten worse because of those austerity policies. But as you know by now, the only viable solution for the damage that has been caused by austerity is...more austerity.

(Reuters) - The worst of the euro zone debt crisis may be over, but governments must not let up on reforms or budget cuts if they want to put the turmoil firmly behind them, the EU's top economic official said on Friday.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Coincidence, I think not

I see what you are up to HuffPo:

Look just sodomize each other with your AK-15

Because it is clear the fellatio isn't working.

An organized "armed-community" in Idaho (naturally).

Wow.

Co-de-dunce-ency.

The Official Joe Scarborough, "I'm sorry that you made me hurt you baby, but it's only because I love you so much" apology.

As off-putting as it sounds.

Unleash *Rim Shot*

Lacks two wet suits but more horrifying just the same:

Lisa Biron, 43, formerly a lawyer for the vehemently anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom, has been found guilty in a court of law of for a variety of child pornography offenses. She is facing a minimum of 25 years in prison.

It took a jury of Lisa Biron's peers less than one hour to convict of her of all charges. The evidence, according to Salon.com, against Biron was damning. It included video she took herself of her 14-year-old daughter having sex with adult men, and a video of Biron forcing herself sexually onto her daughter.

For more and more of these anti-gay bigots it is projection as much as prejudice.

To the surprise of no one, not a straight shooter

Who could have anticipated Wayne LaPierre would unleash a right-wing trope that turns out to be a lie? Oh, yeah, everyone.

The 1938 law signed by Hitler that LaPierre mentions in his book basically does the opposite of what he says it did. “The 1938 revisions completely deregulated the acquisition and transfer of rifles and shotguns, as well as ammunition,” Harcourt wrote. Meanwhile, many more categories of people, including Nazi party members, were exempted from gun ownership regulations altogether, while the legal age of purchase was lowered from 20 to 18, and permit lengths were extended from one year to three years.

I'm sure this will cause Wayne to stop lying and take up something healthier, like actual masturbation. Or not.

In his book, America Disarmed: Inside the U.N. & Obama's Scheme to Destroy the Second Amendment, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre likened the United Nations Small Arms and Light Weapons Destruction Day, held on July 9, 2001, to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels' order that books authored by Jews be publicly burned. LaPierre then suggested that the burning of guns could "help set the stage for mass executions of gun owners" just as Goebbels' order precipitated the mass killing of Jews.

Thanks for keeping it crazy, Wayne. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

They have deprived us of our favorite jokes!!!

The truly disturbing part of all the litany of disturbing garbage that emanates from the pieholes of Trump and Hannity is the clear implication that "political correctness" has deprived them of all the jokes they want to make about a black guy being an ape.

Dear Packers

As I am sure you can see now, facing Joe Webb last week was actually NOT good preparation for facing a quarterback who can both run...and pass.

Perhaps you are simply too dumb

To handle tasks beyond respiration and chewing?

James Yeager, the CEO of Tactical Response, has a new video up. The new line: Hey, I’m really sorry about threatening to kill people. I didn’t mean it. Can I please have my gun carry permit back? 

He acts like he had NO IDEA making a web video in which he threatens to start killing people is beyond a simple misunderstanding.

Waaa-waaah

Oh dear, dear, dear -- and yet awesome:

The head of firearms training company who took to YouTube and Facebook this week to threaten a murderous response to any attempt on the Obama administration's part to "ban assault rifles and impose stricter gun control" has had his handgun carry permit suspended by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security for presenting "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public."

And they'll "hug" those "guns" even harder now

Progress:

Americans who believe being gay is a sin are no longer the majority — not even half — a shift a Southern Baptist-affiliated research group pins on President Barack Obama’s changed opinion of gay marriage.

A November survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, found 37 percent of Americans polled said “yes” when asked if homosexual behavior is a sin.

Forty-five percent said no. Seventeen percent didn’t know.

That’s a major change from LifeWay’s September 2011 survey, when 44 percent said homosexuality was a sin, 43 percent said no and 13 percent didn’t know.

Time for Republicans to throw more money away.

Some wonders never cease, also not wonders

Fresh off portraying Obama as Hitler and Stalin combined, the gun fetishists thought it would classy with a series of "K"s to do this just before the inauguration.

A new coalition of gun rights and conservative groups has proclaimed January 19, 2013, “Gun Appreciation Day” — the group, calling themselves GAD, has begun urging Americans nationwide to show their support for gun ownership by turning out en masse at gun stores, ranges, and shows from coast to coast.

Sick.

Even sicker, the thing that really causes gun sales to surge is a mass shooting...these nuts should just cut out the misdirection and openly endorse those.

The Price of Fame

And who paid it.

(Reuters) - The late British TV presenter Jimmy Savile physically abused hundreds of people over six decades, according to a police-led report on Friday which said he carried out attacks at the BBC and at hospitals where he did voluntary work.
Of his victims, 73 percent were under 18 and 82 percent were female. The oldest was 47 and the youngest just 8.
"Savile's offending footprint was vast, predatory and opportunistic," Commander Peter Spindler told reporters.
Savile, one of the BBC's biggest stars of the 1970s and 80s received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth for charity work. He died in 2011, aged 84, a year before allegations about his abusive behaviour emerged in a TV documentary.
Friday's report said he had committed 214 criminal offences including 34 rapes or serious sexual assaults across the country.

And

 "It is now clear that Savile was hiding in plain sight and using his celebrity status and fund-raising activity to gain uncontrolled access to vulnerable people across six decades," the report said.

Hey, I just remembered

I'm a lawyer AND I'm in Iowa these folks have a hell of a case under Iowa Code Chapter 91A.

To "nit"wit:

Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN), former presidential candidate and a leader of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives in Washington, has yet to pay some of her Iowa presidential campaign staff after one year and in spite of the fact that over $2,000,000* sits in bank accounts at her disposal.

...

 Dr. Peter Waldron, Bachmann for President National Field Coordinator, explained it this way, "Recently Mr. Pollack demanded that each unpaid staff member sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann's campaign in Iowa. In fact, Mr. Pollack insists that each staffer not speak to law enforcement and/or lawyers without first speaking with Mrs. Bachmann's attorneys."

 I'm sure "God" told her to screw 'em.

Funny how that works too

Speaking of money, if you take a bit more of it from the rich folks who have been screwing over the rest of the public, it is amazing what you can do with a budget deficit -- oh, and tossing out the Republicans probably helped.

Gov. Jerry Brown took office two years ago promising that he had the know-how and the fiscal prudence to guide the state out of its financial crisis, and on Thursday he delivered a budget without a deficit.

It's the first time since 2007 that leaders at the Capitol haven't had a deficit to contend with and the first time since the late 1990s that the outlook over future years shows surpluses instead of deficits.

"Money works how?"

Who is really surprised that FoxNews has no fucking clue as to how money works?

Golly, which person do you think should listen to?

This person:

James Yeager -- CEO of Tactical Response, a Tennessee-based company that specializes in firearms and tactical training -- said the White House could spark a civil war if it issues an executive order on gun control. And Yeager said he would be "glad to fire the first shot."

"I'm not fucking putting up with this," he said in a video message posted Wednesday. "I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people."

Or this person:

A high school teacher and a campus supervisor talked a student into surrendering after he opened fire in a classroom, wounding a classmate at a school in California's southern San Joaquin Valley on Thursday morning, police said.

But they weren't good guys ... with guns?

Personally, I'll pass on the guy another sheet to the wind of insanity from Alex Jones, thank you very much.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Unleash the "Nobody could have anticipated" macro

Who could have foreseen that a group calling itself "Fix the Debt" is actually a front group dedicated to the idea that poor and middle class people should suffer because the groups only purpose is to keep rich people's taxes low?

As usual "nobody" only means those involved in television "journalism"?

Oh everything is fine

No health care reform (or gun control) necessary at all...

Americans ranked last (or first, depending on how you look at it) in infant mortality, injury and homicide rates, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, drug abuse, obesity and diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, and disabilities. But don't worry, we managed all this while spending $8,600 a year per person on healthcare, which is more than twice as much Britain, France and Sweden, "even with their universal healthcare systems."

It is always amazing to me that the health care debate came from such ignorance, I suppose it shouldn't.   But all those folks under 65 complaining about their taxes, don't seem to have any desire to notice that their health insurance premiums are disgusting.  Maybe, just maybe, in return for paying say $3,000 a year more in taxes, you pay $5,000 less a year in health insurance premiums AND get better care.

But noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Stewardship...google it

Ladies and Gentlemen, a sterling representative of the Democratic Party:

State Sen. Dick Saslaw does not mince words about his support for uranium mining. A Northern Virginia Democrat who is also the Senate minority leader, Saslaw says burying the radioactive byproduct known as tailings underground should be a solution to environmental concerns. And he says he can’t be concerned about what might happen 100 [years] from now.

Yes, after all Mr. Saslaw will not be here, so why worry about it.

He then ended the interview and went home and filled his lamps with whale oil.

 It's folks like Mr. Saslaw, of course, that undoubtedly don't notice the environment around him collapsing because in the past the same logic applied...except, unlike many of them, he has a chance to be fully informed yet refuses to care.

Awesome.

How about we bury those radioactive tailings in your backyard then, Saslaw?
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Transition

When does the transition for conservatives come from denying global warming to saying regulation isn't needed because it will impede the free market's opportunities to maximize profit from mass starvation?

Just want to know, because we won't see them held accountable for being wrong.

"And THAT'S what the Dominican Republic is for!"

Traveling Viagra for Brains:

Rush Limbaugh: Marriage Equality Is Helping To ‘Normalize Pedophilia’

That sort of stuff is for sex tourism only.

Just another isolated instance (of a horrifying trend)

Time for another round of ... hey the artic is opening up for oil exploration articles in the Wall Street Journal.

The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.2 degrees above normal and a full degree higher than the previous warmest year recorded -- 1998 -- NOAA said in its report Tuesday. All 48 states in the contiguous U.S. had above-average annual temperatures last year, including 19 that broke annual records, from Connecticut through Utah.

Another record year here and around the globe.

Each year since 2001 has been among the warmest on record worldwide

Damn you Al Gore.

The temperature forecast for next Monday by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology is so unprecedented - over 52C - that it has had to add a new colour to the top of its scale, a suitably incandescent purple.

Yeah, but where are the real world effects?

A record-breaking heatwave and high winds across south-eastern Australia have produced some of the worst fire conditions seen in the country, with blazes destroying thousands of hectares of land (video) and threatening properties, but – so far – sparing lives.

' I guess it's a nightmarish balance to last year's biblical flooding. But on to serious issues... [cross-posted at Firedoglake]