A bill to raise the debt ceiling and cut federal spending limits passed the Senate just after noon Tuesday, and is now headed to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. (Aug. 2)
Continue reading …MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday mourned the “absolutely dreadful” behavior of journalists and politicians who have compared Tea Party Republicans to “terrorists,” among other things. But as NewsBusters previously reported , the “Morning Joe” co-host repeatedly ignored such transgressions when they occurred on his own show. [Video follows page break] “Everyone's been calling Republicans terrorists and Nazis and fascists and Stalin and Hitler,” noted Scarborough, who went on to issue a blanket condemnation of the “mainstream media,” even though he has a history of sitting idly by while his guests employ vitriolic language to denigrate conservatives. The trend dates back to at least July 6 , when Newsweek editor Tina Brown smeared congressional Republicans as “suicide bombers” for not supporting tax hikes in a deficit-reduction deal. Moments earlier, co-host Willie Geist had remarked that conservatives were “holding the hostage.” While Scarborough was not on the set that morning, he has still yet to directly criticize Brown for the insult and co-host Mika Brzezinski, who was present at the time, did not object to the comparison. On July 27 , even though House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) claimed House Republicans “want to shoot every bullet they have at the president,” none of the “Morning Joe” co-hosts protested against the House Minority Whip's choice of words. Two days later , disgraced former Obama car czar Steve Rattner got away with asserting the Tea Party was engaging in “economic terrorism” over the debt ceiling: You know, the problem with this is it's like a form of economic terrorism. I imagine these Tea Party guys are like strapped with dynamite, standing in the middle of Times Square at rush hour and saying, 'either you do it my way, or we're going to blow you up, ourselves up, and the whole country up with us.' So you tell me how those kinds of standoffs end. Aside from failing to practice the civility he preaches, Scarborough on August 2 complimented Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for displaying a “profile in courage” with his handling of the debt-limit debate. “I got to say, profiles in courage, Harry Reid, coming out very quickly, supporting a bill he did not like,” gushed Scarborough, omitting the fact that Reid, as Senate majority leader, hasn't proposed, let alone passed, a budget in over 800 days. A transcript of the segment can be found below: MSNBC “Morning Joe” August 2, 2011 JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let me ask you this question because, and I hate to say this, because everyone's been calling Republicans terrorists and Nazis and fascists and Stalin and Hitler and all the things that – I mean, the mainstream media is just, no seriously. And actually, I guess Joe Biden, did Joe Biden call? WILLIE GEIST, co-host: He denies it. JOHN HEILEMANN, New Yorker: He's denying that he said it. SCARBOROUGH: Four Democrats said he did call Republicans terrorists. I certainly hope that's not the case. That would be dreadful for the Vice President of the United States to be saying that, absolutely dreadful. So with that precursor, let me just ask this question: if you're a Republican in the House, how do you vote against this bill? How can you vote against, listen, I just said it doesn't cut that much. But you're running the country. I think every one of those Republicans that voted against the bill, and let's start with Michele Bachmann, need to go out on the campaign trail and explain to us the economics of allowing the United States of America to default on its debt obligations, which were racked up, in large part, over the past decade under Republican leadership. I got to say, profiles in courage, Harry Reid, coming out very quickly, supporting a bill he did not like. As many House Democrats voting for this as voted against it. I mean, if I'm sitting there taking note as a small government conservative, that the Democrats are acting like grownups, I got to say there have got to be some independent voters out there that notice the same thing. –Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
Continue reading …After years on the circus stage, animals including an Olympic bear are found crammed in small cages outside St. Petersburg, Russia. Animal rights activists say the conditions are terrible. The circus says the animals are cared for. (Aug. 2)
Continue reading …Click here to view this media I think Chris Matthews has finally had a belly-full of these TeaBirchers who’ve been taking the government hostage trying to get their balanced budget jammed through the legislature or at least force all of them to vote on it. They’ve been claiming — as FreedomWorks’ Matt Kibbe did here — that it would be acceptable to take us past the August 3rd deadline on default. Matthews railed on Kibbe for pretending that would be in any way a responsible way for members of Congress to act and blasted Kibbe and the so-called “tea party” House members that are beholden to his group and others as incapable of governing. After watching the last few interviews Matthews has had with tea partiers, I think Matthews (like a lot of us) is genuinely angry and tired of these people’s games. Tried of them threatening to burn the whole place down if they don’t get their way. Sadly unlike his cohort Rachel Maddow, he still paints them as being remotely grass roots instead of pointing out who’s funding them as Rachel has . He also still allows his viewers the impression that this is some genuine third party movement instead of a Republican re-branding effort to try to distance themselves from George W. Bush.
Continue reading …Sick, poor and desperate Indonesians have been lying down on train rails to give themselves electric track “therapy,” despite warnings from authorities. (Aug. 2)
Continue reading …Sick, poor and desperate Indonesians have been lying down on train rails to give themselves electric track “therapy,” despite warnings from authorities. (Aug. 2)
Continue reading …(YouTube link) Pinball gets a new twist when you play on the street, with people as the balls and bumpers! This stop-motion video is from the 2011 Animation Block Party Film Festival in New York City. -via The Daily What Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Neatorama Discovery Date : 02/08/2011 14:45 Number of articles : 3
Continue reading …British recording artist Natalia Kills talks about being signed by will.i.am’s label and tackling the darker side of pop music. (Aug. 2)
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