Whoa, Mustang Ranch!
In Nevada Harry Reid’s an institution.
Now he’s offering a problem-less solution:
If the state wants image-mending,
It’s got to stop giving “happy endings,”
And put an end to legal prostitution.
Month: February 2011
Verbatim
I’ve had a life which, on occasion, has had problems. I believe in a forgiving God, and the American people will have to decide whether that their primary concern. If the primary concern of the American people is my past, my candidacy would be irrelevant. If the primary concern of the American people is the future … that’s a debate I’ll be happy to have with your candidate or any other candidate if I decide to run.
— Serial philanderer Newt Gingrich, at a forum in Pennsylvania where he was asked if he was a hypocrite for espousing moral values and opposing gay rights while “you’ve also been married three times and admitted to having an affair with your current wife while you were still married to your second.”
Death Penalty for Right-Wing Activist in Child Murder
In a unanimous decision, a jury in Tucson handed down the death sentence yesterday for right-wing anti-immigrant vigilante Shawna Forde — founder of Minuteman American Defense, an offshoot of the national Minuteman movement — who was found guilty last week in the double murder of Brisenia Flores, age nine, and her father, Raul, 29. (See photo, right.) The father and daughter were killed — and Gina Gonzales, their wife and mother, respectively, was seriously wounded — in the early hours of May 30, 2009, when Forde and an alleged accomplice, Jason Bush, posing as uniformed authorities, entered their trailer home in remote Arivaca, Ariz., searching for drugs.
Brisenia, who had gone to bed on the sofa that night to be with her new puppy, slept through the commotion at first and may have missed Jason Bush telling her father, “Don’t take this personal, but this bullet has your name on it,” before shooting him six times.
Awakened by the gunfire, the little girl watched in horror as Bush allegedly shot her mother in the shoulder and leg. Gonzales fell to the floor and feigned death.
“Why did you shoot my mom?” Brisenia asked Bush. He didn’t answer. Instead, he slowly reloaded and then placed the barrel of the gun against her cheek.
“Please don’t shoot me,” Brisenia begged him. Unmoved, Bush shot her in the face two times. With the killing out of the way, Forde and Bush got to business. They tore the home apart, searching for drugs, money and jewelery.
After the killers left, Gina managed to call 911, but as she was speaking with the operator, Shawna Forde returned, found Gina alive and called for Bush.
By the time the gunman entered the house, Gonzales had retrieved her husband’s gun. She opened fire. Forde was unscathed but Bush later showed up at an emergency room seeking treatment for a bullet wound. Later, when they were arrested, Shawna Forde had Gina Gonzales’ wedding ring and other jewelry in her possession.
Prosecutors believe Forde and Bush had been hired by Albert Robert Gaxiola, a local drug dealer, to raid Raul Flores, a rival dealer, steal his wares and kill him and his family. They believe Forde intended to use proceeds from the hit to fund her right-wing anti-immigrant activities.
For what it’s worth, both Raul Flores and his daughter were U.S.-born American citizens.
Bush and Gaxiola face trial later this year.
Tea Bagger Protest Sign in Wisconsin: No Show Dems ‘Your Fired’
Tea partyists’ misspelled signs like this one from a Donald Trump fan are the gift that keeps on giving. This one is especially good because teachers are among the public employee union members tea baggers are attacking.
Poll: Wisconsin Voters Heavily Favor Public Employees, Protesters
Respondents heard a list of people and groups involved in the controversy and were asked, for each one, if they agreed “with the positions they are taking in the current situation in the state capitol.” The results presented in the following chart prepared by the pollsters show large majorities agreeing with “public employees” (67 percent), “protestors at the state capitol” (62 percent) and “unions” (59 percent) but far fewer agreeing with “Republicans in the Legislature” (48 percent) or Scott Walker (43 percent agree and 53 percent disagree).
Most Americans Think U.S. Should Lead the World
Two-Thirds
Of Americans believe the U.S. should play either the leading or a major role in solving international problems. However, 32% now say the U.S. should be a minor player or not involved at all, up from 23% in 2009.
Electric Brain Stimulation Works!
3x
Research subjects who received electrical stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes of the brain were 3 times more likely to come up with fresh insight needed to solve a difficult problem than people in a control group, according to researchers at University of Sydney. Scientists envision a future when noninvasive brain stimulation is employed to solve problems that have evaded traditional cognitive approaches.
Why Don’t Republicans Know the Difference Between Pandering and Condoning Violence?
If I’ve got to measure everything I say, I mean, I’m not going to be politically correct. That was a joke. This was an audience for this. This is a Catholic Church.
— Mike Hogan, Duval County Florida Tax Collector and Jacksonville mayoral candidate. Hogan was referring to his comments in a public forum that Roe v. Wade was “an awful decision by an awful court” and that he would not personally bomb an abortion clinic, “but it may cross my mind.”
Republicans Desperately Want You to Believe The Stimulus Failed, But Facts Tell a Different Story
GOP House leader John Boehner and other Republicans insist stimulus spending was a waste. But did the Recovery act fail?
NO. According to the Economic Policy Institute:
The Recovery Act was enacted at a time when the private economy was contracting by more than a 6 percent annual rate and losing more than 750,000 jobs a month. In the first full quarter after its enactment, the Recovery Act had cut average monthly private job losses by more than a third and slowed the economic contraction to a -0.7 percent annual rate… EPI analysis shows that by the end of 2010 the Recovery Act had created or saved 3 million to 4 million jobs, and up to 5 million full-time equivalent jobs. It had also boosted gross domestic product by up to $560 billion and reduced the unemployment rate up to 1.8 percentage points.
The Recovery Act was enacted at a time when the private economy was contracting by more than a 6 percent annual rate and losing more than 750,000 jobs a month. In the first full quarter after its enactment, the Recovery Act had cut average monthly private job losses by more than a third and slowed the economic contraction to a -0.7 percent annual rate… EPI analysis shows that by the end of 2010 the Recovery Act had created or saved 3 million to 4 million jobs, and up to 5 million full-time equivalent jobs. It had also boosted gross domestic product by up to $560 billion and reduced the unemployment rate up to 1.8 percentage points.
