A Michele Bachmann-Alabama link

In the latest Rolling Stone, author Matt Taibbi makes an Alabama connection to Republican/Tea Party Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann. He writes about a small law school where she studied...

Regent was unabashed in its desire that its graduates enter government and become "change agents" who would help bring the law more in line with "eternal principles of justice," i.e., biblical morality. To that end, Bachmann was mentored by a crackpot Christian extremist professor named John Eidsmoe, a frequent contributor to John Birch Society publications who once opined that he could imagine Jesus carrying an M16 and who spent considerable space in one of his books musing about the feasibility of criminalizing blasphemy.

                       Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone on Michele Bachmann's legal education.



John Eidsmoe live in Pike Road, just outside Montgomery and has been involved in any number of Alabama institutions, like being employed at one point by The Alabama Supreme Court during the days of Roy Moore.

He attended Maxwell Air War College, and was a guest at least twice that I recall on "For The Record" back in the day. He used to teach at the law school at Faulkner University (where George W. Bush will speak for a fundraiser later in the year. Tickets are $200). He currently on the staff of a primarily online unaccredited law school called Oak Brook College.

Must See Nixonland TV

By J. Thomas Duffy


John Cook, over on Gawker, has a bombshell, of sorts, having unearthed documents from the Nixon Library that has Roger Ailes laying out the blueprint for Faux News, decades ahead of time.



Roger Ailes’ Secret Nixon-Era Blueprint for Fox News

Republican media strategist Roger Ailes launched Fox News Channel in 1996, ostensibly as a "fair and balanced" counterpoint to what he regarded as the liberal establishment media. But according to a remarkable document buried deep within the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, the intellectual forerunner for Fox News was a nakedly partisan 1970 plot by Ailes and other Nixon aides to circumvent the "prejudices of network news" and deliver "pro-administration" stories to heartland television viewers.

No doubt, with the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds of Nixonland, the corpulent liar didn't need the pikers, he just had to bid his time, and launch his own lie factory, were he was The King, and could listen to his lies bounce around, echoing all over the Right Wing Freak Show.


Go read Cook's post, it's overflowing with juicy tidbits



Bonus Riffs


The Ailes Files


Eric Hananoki - CRUISE SHIP CONFESSION: Top Fox News Executive Admits Lying On-Air About Obama


Eric Boehlert - FOX NEWS INSIDER: “Stuff Is Just Made Up”


The New Fox News Tagline


Cross posted on The Garlic: All The Cloves Fit To Peel

It takes one to know one

By J. Thomas Duffy

As The Nation's Chris Hayes so perfectly put it: "Just when you think the news cycle can't get any stupider, Mark Halperin publishes a book."

This quote comes from Glenn Greenwald, talking about Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's new book, Game Change, back in 2010.


This was post-campaign, where Halperin openly inserted himself into the Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain Campaign, giving McCain advise on how to beat Obama, of which the advice was openly racist.


Such so, that we wrote, in 'Some More Donuts, There, Mr. Halperin?' here on The Garlic, that;

About the only thing missing for Time Magazine's Mark Halperin, during his appearance yesterday on 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos', was having "McCain 08" tattooed on his forehead, and the Dead Campaign Express bus parked on set, behind him.

 


So, opening up the World Wide Web today, we were not, necessarily, surprised to see that Halperin, appearing on "The Morning Joke"program, called President Obama "a dick", which, naturally, has kicked up a dust storm of backlash, and hand-wringing.


Let's turn to Crooks and Liars for the replay;

Scarborough set Halperin up by asking him about yesterday's press conference where President Barack Obama "scolded" Republicans for not raising the debt ceiling.


"Are we on the seven-second delay?" Halperin asked.


"Yeah, sure," Scarborough said. "Come on. Take a chance."


"I thought he was kind of a dick yesterday," Halperin announced with smile.

Ha ... Ha ... Ha ...


Isn't that Mark Halperin a witty felllow ...


No, not really.


Merely staying true-to-form.


Steve Benen, over on 'The Washington Monthly' nails it;

If you can watch the video, note how Halperin, ostensibly one of the nation’s most influential pundits, was smiling, with a smug satisfaction. It wasn’t a word he just blurted out in the heat of a larger discussion — Halperin thought about it, asked about whether the broadcast was on a seven-second delay, and then took his shot.


[snip]


There are a couple of angles to keep in mind here. The first is that Halperin’s credibility as an objective observer of political events has long been dubious, at best, but this morning’s little stunt should remove all doubt. In candor, I don’t much care that Halperin sides with the right over the left, and takes cheap shots at Democrats. I care that Halperin is presented to the public as a neutral, even-handed expert, when that’s plainly not the case.


To this extent, the “dick” comment only helps bring an end to a thin pretense.


The other point that’s worth remembering is the larger dynamic. Forget Halperin’s choice of words, and instead consider the argument he and his “Morning Joe” colleagues were pressing. They were annoyed, apparently, because President Obama wasn’t docile and conciliatory during his press conference. He showed some backbone, and this seems to have troubled the political establishment to no end.


If the president stays cool, he’s an emotionless Mr. Spock. If the president shows some fire in the belly, he’s “a dick.”

Maybe, Halperin was secretly auditioning for a job with Faux News.


Halperin was long been a dick, as Benen put it Halperin’s credibility as an objective observer of political events has long been dubious, and he as long been a sycophant for the PartyofNoicans.


From our "Assforwards, For Mark Halperin";

It's a wonder that Time Magazine's Mark Halperin doesn't have, permanently, the imprint of ass on his face, for his obsequious kissing (and, often, at times, firmly planted up) the PartyofNoican's behinds.

Check his cheeks, and puckered lips, today, there should be a fresh imprint.


 


Bonus Riffs


Alex Pareene:  Mark Halperin comes up with great excuse to fire Mark Halperin


Steve M:  I THINK MARK HALPERIN IS FINALLY GOING TO GET WINGNUTTIA TO GIVE HIM A TUMBLE


DougJ in Damascus:  The mask slips


Scarecrow:  Breaking! Supreme Court Rules 9-0 It’s Okay to Call Mark Halperin an Adolescent “Dick”

Cross posted on The Garlic: All The Cloves Fit To Peel

A Rose from Oklahoma

buon giorno

(Italian for Good Morning!)

http://www.mycupoftea777.etsy.com/

Today I will be finishing up

The Language of Flowers:

Flower of the Month -

the Rose.

The State Flower of Oklahoma is the teacup rose.

Rosa odorata (Andr.) Sweet

It was adopted in April, 2004.

It was developed as a hybrid tea rose in 1964

by Herbert C Swim and O.L. Weeks,

at the Oklahoma State University.

Dottie Weissenberger says she's been working to have the rose

named the state flower since she helped plant 500 of them

at the state Capitol more than 40 years ago!

The Oklahoma hybrid tea rose is a deep crimson representing

the blood shed when the Five Civilized Tribes were moved to Oklahoma (referred to as OK from now on).

http://www.lilygene.etsy.com/

Many of the web sites that are not being currently updated

list the Indian Blanket as the state flower.

The Indian Blanket - Gaillardia pulchella

is now officially listed as Oklahoma's Official Wild Flower.

Indian blanket, Gaillardia pulchella

Another mix up is the difference between

a State Flower

a State Wild Flower

and a State Floral Emblem!

The Oklahoma official State Floral Emblem is mistletoe:

mistletoe

The state quarter issued for Oklahoma shows

the incorrect State Flower as Indian Blanket!

It was issued in 2008, four years after the hybrid tea rose had been voted in as the state flower!

Somebody made a big 'oops' there!

I love the paper cuts found at

http://www.papercutting.blogspot.com/

But again, they list the OK state flower as mistletoe.

Wrong.

As long as you know you are showing the

state floral emblem - the mistletoe, this is a beautiful cutting.

hybrid tea rose

Oklahoma is derived from the Choctaw words:

"okla" - red

"homma" - people

The state was formed in November, 1907 by

a combination of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory

of the Five Civilized Tribes:

Cherokee

Chickasaw

Choctaw

Creek

Seminole

c.1909

hybrid tea rose

Roses are ancient symbols of love and beauty.

The rose was sacred to a number of goddesses

including Isis, Venus and Aphrodite,

and is often used as a symbol of the Virgin Mary.

a lovely beaded red tea rose from

http://www.angelfire.com/

A map showing where the state of OK is in the USA.

From Liana's blog here is a beautiful June birthday dress:

Here is Grace, one of the dolls that fits it.

Next is a lovely green princess gown, with pink roses:

and Sylvia, one of the paper dolls that will fit it.

Oklahoma tea rose

Hybrid tea roses are the favorite rose for much of the history of modern roses.

Hybrid teas were initially created by hybridizing

Hybrid perpetuals with tea roses, in the late 1800's.

'La France' was created in 1867 and is universally acknowledged as the first indication of a new class of roses.

from Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' Broadway show

Browsing around the web, I found this great blog about making broken china into stepping stones.

I hope you enjoy it too:

http://thriftshopromantic.blogspot.com/2007/05/grout-look-or-how-broken-china-mosaics.html

If you are copying and pasting the address,

be sure to get both lines!

and yes....I have wanted to do a broken china stepping stone

for some time!

Guess I better go buy some more paper towels...

for sale by bosculglasses.com

Some famous people born in OK:

Chester Gould, creator of the comic strip 'Dick Tracy'

Maria Tallchief, joined with the newly formed

     New York City Center Ballet

Will Rogers, humorist, stage/film/radio actor, author columnist, 

     and Presidential Candidate on the Anti-Bunk Ticket, 1928

Mickey Mantle, voted American League Most Valuable Player 3

     times (1956, 1957, 1962); elected baseball's Hall of Fame, 1974

Jim Thorpe, This guy as a very long bio, so here are just a few

     highlights: voted 1950 Greatest Athlete of the Century by

     Associated Press;won 2 gold medals in Olympics 1912, but were

     taken away by a technicality - in 1984 the International Olympic

     Committee returned the gold medals to Thorpe's family; 1st

     President 1920 of American Professional Association; helped

     found National Football League 1922;

and after retiring, he became a Western movie actor, and spoke on behalf of Native American education!

State flag

More fun rose trivia:

Portland, Oregon counts "City of Roses" among its nicknames.

     It holds an annual Rose Festival.



The rose is the national flower of England and the United States,

as well as being the symbol of:

     English Rugby,

     the Rugby Football Union;

     provincial flower of Yorkshire - the white rose

     and Lancashire - the red rose (both in England);

     and the provincial flower of Alberta (Canada)

Roses are so important that the word means pink or red in a variety of languages (such as Romance languages, Greek and Polish)

Well, frankly I'm about 'rosed' out!

Lefton green heritage hand painted porcelain tea cup,

for sale at http://www.misstiques.etsy.com/

pink roses chintz mosaic tiles from http://www.mountainmoonmosaics.etsy.com/

They have a very good selection of pre-cut mosaic tiles.

A coloring page done in the stained glass style -

courtesy Dover Publications

Let's finish up with a great vintage song sheet cover:

c.1918



ciao!

inkspired

dominoes@myinkspired.com - give me some feedback!

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/ - shop my store!

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/ - share the fun!

Governor Chris Christie should run for President, New Jersey doesn't want him anymore

By Richard K. Barry

I really dislike New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie. There is just something about the smugness of the man that drives me crazy. He's a shill for big business and the wealthy, he has no use for working people and yet he tries hard to put himself across as an "everyman," standing up for the average taxpayer. On top of that, he's a bully. Yeah, quite the guy.

As you might imagine, I was not at all troubled by news today of a poll reported by Bloomberg indicating that:

more than half of New Jersey resident's say they wouldn't back Governor Christie for a second term, disapproving of his choices on a range of policy and personal issues, from killing a commuter tunnel to using a state-police helicopter to attend his son's baseball game.

An absolutely delicious part of the poll was the finding that:

Teachers, whose union Christie has targeted on tenure, pay and benefits, received a far higher favorable rating, 76 percent, than the first term Republican. His favorable rating was 43 percent, according to a Bloomberg New Jersey poll conducted June 20-23.

The poll found that 58 percent of New Jersey residents disagree with Christie's decision not to extend a surcharge on the state's highest earning taxpayers and that 65 percent oppose eduction spending reductions. 68 percent said they believe that Christie stands with the business community compared to 22 percent who said that he sides with "ordinary New Jerseyans."

You get the drift.

As I wrote yesterday in a discussion about the poor approval rating of Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott, the 2012 federal elections aren't just going to be a plebiscite on how well Obama is managing the economy. They will also be a plebiscite on the alternative that Republicans have to offer. Increasingly, it would seem that the newly elected class of GOP governors, with their executive authority, are giving people a pretty good idea of what they could expect from a Republican president, Senate and House. So far, it looks like voters might have concerns about that outcome.

Great to see Christie get a boot in the ass.

(Cross-posted to Lippmann's Ghost.)

Can Michele Bachmann outrun her own mouth? Doubtful

By Richard K. Barry

Roll Call reported today that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is using Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn) presidential campaign to "fundraise, rally activists and mobilize supporters online."

Roll Call has learned the DSCC bought sponsored Google ads that

appear when viewers conduct various searches that include Bachmann's name. Clicking on the ad sends viewers to a petitiion page on the DSCC website that reads, "It's simple - Michele Bachmann is too extreme for America."

Search terms that trigger the ads include Bachmann's name, variations of her name - including misspellings - search terms to coincide with her presidential announcement this week and anything about her platform and key issues such as abortion. Other terms included are "John Wayne" and "lies."

The campaign wonk in me loves to see things like this - simple but clever organizing tools.

I also think that Bachmann will scare the hell out of not only true progressives but also independents once they fully understand what this woman is all about. At some level it appears that Bachmann gets this as she is currently working hard to soften the impact of the some of the crazier shit she has had to say over the past little while. Or, as a headline at TPM refered to it: "Michele Bachmann's Big Presidential Campaign Walkbacks."

Evan McMorris-Santoro wrote today:

Rep. Michele Bachmann is a firebreather. It's a significant part of her charm. But as polls show her to be a serious candidate in the Iowa caucuses - and, therefore, the race for the nomination - Bachmann's been up on TV rounding off some sharp edges.

No longer is President Obama "un-American," as Bachmann said in 2008. Nor is eliminating the minimum wage the top priority it was back in 2005. As she steps into the national spotlight - with the help of big-time campaign strategist Ed Rollins - Bachmann is presenting a kinder, gentler face.

As I wrote a few days ago, she is even moderating her typically homophobic views on gay marriage by talking about states' rights and how New York had the right to sanction gay marriage under the the 10th Amendment.

All of this is to say that she is going to try to reinvent herself as a more reasonable person, though I strongly suspect it's too late for that. I also think that the good folks at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee understand this point very well. Looks like they've got a strategy. It's called the truth.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

Why Europeans Are Better Americans Than We Are

 

By Carl

 

In Europe, the government fears the people:

Britain's biggest police force faced a staffing crisis today after 95 per cent of its 999 call handlers failed to turn up for work because of the national strike. [...]

It comes as hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have begun to strike across the country, closing or disrupting schools, colleges, courts, Government offices and job centres.

Port and airports are being affected, causing travel chaos for holidaymakers trying to head abroad. Anyone arriving in the UK today is likely to be among those facing long queues.

The impact of the strike began to be felt as early as last night as border control staff refused to turn up for work.

Early indications this morning were that the estimate of 750,000 strikers could prove to be accurate and some union officials said they expected "the best supported strike we have ever seen".

"National strike." What a lovely, progressive sentiment. Imagine, a government that listens to its people and when it stops listening to its people, it suffers a strike. And while some people complain, because so many of them end up on the picket lines, they all comprehend the reasons for the strike and support it.

 

*sigh*

 

We're Americans, yet we behave like scared little children, cowering about as the Corporatocracy eats our lunches, takes our retirement funds and pays us pennies for our sweat. We are satisfied for the crumbs that Scrooge will drop off his tables and we'll ravage each other in a fight for those scraps, when there are enough of us to stand up on our feet and take the feast for ourselves, our families, and our communities.

 

We let the Corporatocracy dictate the national dialogue, right up to where they've bought our courts to nod in unison, "Yes, your money entitles you to speak as if you were born here."

 

From now on, I want to see the long form birth certificate of any corporation that buys air time on any news program. "I got mine, go get your own," is simply not an option, and I say that as someone who actually does have his and wants his fellow Americans to get theirs too, and I don't give a rat's ass if that means they end up with more than me. I have enough...well, nearly, but I won't starve...and it's goddamned about time that people who work hard in this country ought not to live in terror of an automobile accident or a slip on an icy sidewalk.

 

It's goddamned about time that people in this country ought to be guaranteed more than a paycheck today. "Right-to-work" is a Newspeak of the most odious kind. The small percentage who would abuse the process of a union hearing are small potatoes compared to the tens of millions of people who would be protected like the millions of unions members already are, a number that's dwindling faster than the GOP chances in 2012.

 

It doesn't take much, you know. All it takes is a small act of defiance each day. It doesn't even have to be overt: just don't buy a product unless it has a union label on it. Don't shop at Starbucks for coffee, no matter how "fair trade" they tell you their coffee is or how cute the barista might be. Buy it from the guy who owns the corner coffee shop, the guy who probably quit a crappy job like yours to take his chances on his own. That kind of behavior ought to be encouraged and supported.

 

Educate someone. Educate ANYone, even the asshat down the block who's all Glenn Becked. You don't have to change his mind. All you have to do is plant a seed, a seed that will germinate when he wakes up one morning and realizes what a raw deal he's got from his corporate overlords.

 

It happened to David Brock! If it can happen to Brock, one of the most odious right wing minions ever, it can happen with your neighbor.

 

The American Revolution was not a populist idea. It was not a popular idea. But it was the right idea and it came at the right time, and it came after centuries of men and women waking up and realizing they could be responsible for their own governance. And if you don't think we don't face a royalist foe now in Corporate America, you haven't thought things through well. They own our "Parliament," not just our House of Lords (the Senate) but the Commons (Representatives). They own the courts. Hell, they probably own the churches too!

 

How much do you want the economic royalists to determine the direction of your life?

 

This weekend, we celebrate the Fourth of July: the 135th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Indepence which said with one voice that this nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, would no longer tolerate a royal class dictating our lives for us.

 

It's time we returned that favor.  

 

(crossposted to Simply Left Behind)

 

The Illz "Illzsential- The Essential Illz Collection" [MIXTAPE]

WM40A: Ep#81 "Varietizing your Creativity as an Artist" pt.2

Special Guest: Laws
Topic:
- Nerd Rap is in
- Rapper can be Real now
- Mixing variety with Creativity
- ALbums vs Mixtapes
- J Cole's Career?
- Why J Cole is like Jae Millz
- Artists Development is Dead
- We Need that Stellar Shit!
- Laws is not a Douchebag

Feature Tracks:
Intro: Laws "Audio Savior"
Laws "Must Be Wrong"/"Its My Honor" ft. Cyhi Da Prynce
Rapsody "Angel" ft. Laws
Laws "Not Coming Down"
Outro: Actual Proof "Super Genius"

http://wheresmy40acres.com

WM40A: Ep#80 "The Laws of Hip Hop" pt.1

Special Guest: Laws
Topic:
- Interview with Laws
- Working with the JUSTICE League
- Beanie Sigel Recants Apology
- We Need the Music
- Free Free's Ass
- The Big Sean Hype
- PlankMan
- Why We Like Kreayshawn
- HoodBeckys

Feature Tracks:
Intro: Laws "Momma Miss America"
Laws "Fly"
Laws "Knockin at the Door"
Laws " Hold You Down" ft. Big K.R.I.T. & Emilio Rojas
Laws "Number One"
Outro: Laws "Dear Boy"

http://wheresmy40acres.com

Too Strange for Words

     If someone wrote this scenario as a novel, the editors would say no way! No one will ever believe it!

    On the same day former Governor Riley falls off a motorcycle and breaks bones in Alaska, former Chief Justice Roy Moore falls off a horse and suffers similar injuries here in Alabama.

    Throw in Sue Bell Cobb announcing today that she's leaving her job as Supreme Court Chief Justice early and I just have to wonder if someone pulling some weird strings.

     Should Governor Bentley appoint Moore to his old job, broken bones and all?

     What's Drayton Nabers up to these days?

Fresh Apple Muffins

hi!

Kate Greenaway illustration

Today's blog is kinda' late in the day,

so I thought I would just share a recipe,

a picture or two, and be brief.

If that's possible,

for me!

Fresh Apple Muffins

from "Nothin' but Muffins" cookbook

written by Cyndi Duncan and Georgie Patrick

winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award

from Publishers Marketing Association

nope, I don't know what that is!! but it's on the front cover!

3/4 Cup buttermilk

3/4 Cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

1/4 Cup shortening, melted and cooled

2 Cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

1 Cup apples, finely chopped

1/4 Cup raisins, optional

1/4 Cup nuts, optional

1. Preheat oven to 400'. Grease muffin cups

2. Beat egg in small bowl. Add milk and shortening.

3. Measure and mix dry ingredients in large bowl.

4. Add egg mixture and stir just until moistened.

5. Fold in apples, raisins and nuts, as desired.

6. Fill each cup 2/3 full.

7. Bake at 400' for 20 - 25 minutes.

8. Makes 12 muffins.



http://www.fleurbonheur.etsy.com/

Here are two vintage folk boy and folk girl transfers.

Their flowers aren't really specific,

so make them any color you want!

a vintage 1920 French postcard

a flower mandala, courtesy of Dover Books

That's it for now.

Tomorrow we will be finishing up

the Flower of the month for June -

the Rose.

Here we come, Oklahoma!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com