Dinah Lord

Colorado Senator Votes No on Fiscal Cliff Deal.

Well, knock me over with a feather.

When I saw that Senator Mike Bennet D-CO had voted no on the fiscal cliff bill I thought it was because he was against raising the tax hike level to $450,000 or some other Democrat happy horseshi&.

Imagine my surprise to read that his objection centered on the fact that there was no deficit reduction associated with the deal.

Man, I NEVER saw that one coming.

via the Denver Post:

 Sen. Michael Bennet was one of only eight senators who voted against averting the fiscal cliff early this morning, saying he couldn’t support tax cuts for people making under $450,000 a year because the package didn’t have any deficit reduction.

In a middle-of-the-night statement, Bennet called Washington “the land of flickering lights” — poking fun of its penchant for doing things at the last minute. He said the Coloradans he’s met “want a plan materially reduces the deficit. This proposal does not meet that standard and does not put in place a real process to reduce the debt down the road.”

The move is an intrepid one from the perch of Democratic party leadership. Bennet runs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — a fundraising arm of the party for the 2014 Senate cycle. He just took the job last month and has vowed not to let it get in the way of his middle-of-the-road ideals and crossing the aisle reputation.

Bonus fact about the capitol building.  (Am I the only one that didn't know this?)

Within the columned tholus upon which stands the statue of Freedom, there are two lights which serve as signifiers to the people of Washington and the nation that either one or both houses of Congress are in night sessions. The white light signifies that the House of Representatives is in night session. The red light signifies that the Senate is in night session. When both white and red lights burn together, they signify that the two houses of Congress are each in night sessions or that the two houses are in joint night session.

Pakistan: The Religion of Peaceful Teacher Murderers Strikes Again

Relatives mourn aid worker slain in the January 1, 2013 attack

via The Herald:

Gunmen have killed five female teachers and two aid workers in an ambush on a van carrying workers home from their jobs at a community centre in north-west Pakistan, officials said.

The attack was another reminder of the risks to women educators and aid workers from Islamic militants who oppose their work. It happened in the same conservative province where militants shot and seriously wounded 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, an outspoken young activist for girls' education, in October.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest shooting. 

The teachers and aid workers were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an area where Islamic militants often target women and girls trying to get an education, or female teachers.

Militants in the province have blown up schools and killed female educators. They have also kidnapped and killed aid workers, viewing them as promoting a foreign agenda. Last month, nine people working on an anti-polio vaccination campaign were shot dead. Four of those shootings were in the north-west as well.

 

 

Happy 2013

Lord Have Mercy! Pregnant Galpal of OWS Bomb Boy Went Into Labor During Arrest.

Give this girl a sandwich, will ya?

Update:  It's a girl and it appears that mom and dad are both heroin junkies not terrorists.  There is no word what they were doing with 7 grams of explosives laying around their swanky, but squalid crash pad.

Original post:  This is a detail that did not come out this morning.

There's no word on whether or not we have our first OWS baby yet.  Just think.  Another potential Bill Ayres on the way!  Oh joy.

The UK Daily Mail gives us this update on their previous report- cited here.

The daughter of a prominent New York doctor went into labor and had to rushed to the hospital when she was arrested on charges of having explosives, illegal weapons and a stack of papers labeled 'The Terrorist Encyclopedia' in her New York City apartment.

Morgan Gliedman, 27, and  her boyfriend Aaron Greene, 31, an Occupy Wall Street organizer, were taken away from their home in Manhattan's pricey Greenwich Village on Saturday.

Gliedman, who was nine months pregnant, has had her arraignment postponed because she went into labor as she was being hauled away, the New York Daily News reports.

And it looks like the Occupy Wall Street warriors are: a.)  playing their "blame the cops card" and b.) parsing their words very carefully to disavow any association with these two.

via Politicker:

Occupy Wall Street doesn’t want to be associated with the young West Village couple who were allegedly busted over the weekend with a houseful of explosives, weapons and a bomb-making guide.

...

An early report from the New York Post identified Mr. Greene as an “Occupy Wall Street activist,” but this afternoon the movement’s public relations arm said there is no evidence to support links between Mr. Greene and Occupy.

“There is nothing in the news stories to support a link between OWS and the individual arrested; his name is unfamiliar to many OWS activists,” the statement posted on the Occupy Wall Street Press Relations Working Group page said. “A very large number of people came through Zuccotti Park, and there are countless Occupy-related groups nationwide, so it is very difficult to ascertain if one person participated in anything related to OWS.”

The Occupy Wall Street statement on the arrest of the young bombers described attempts to link the movement to the incident as part of an ongoing police smear campaign.

 

Wait, there's more.

via The Atlantic Wire:

Morgan Gliedman sounds like a character from Gossip Girl, if it hadn't been canceled. The 27-year-old grew up on Park Avenue as a doctor's daughter, lives in a cushy apartment in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, graduated from Dalton and NYU, and has a Harvard boyfriend — she's the stuff of New York Times wedding announcements. Except that today she's the subject of New York Post pulp for her alleged bomb-making skills.

...

The case really does have all the makings of a tabloid reporter's dream: a super-privileged mom-to-be, living in one of the cushiest neighborhoods in Manhattan, apparently devising bombs with her OWS boyfriend. What Gliedman and Greene were allegedly up to, of course, would be pretty terrifying no matter what neighborhood what they were doing it in.

"Investigators say that substance is Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine (HMTD), which was one of the components in the explosives to be used by Ahmed Ressam, the 'millennium bomber' who planned to bomb LAX on New Year's Eve in 1999," ...  Here's what an explosion of five grams of HMTD reportedly looks like:

 

Iran: Ahmadinejad Speaks Out Against Forced Islamic Values

Say Wha-a-a?  Did he get dehydrated from the flu, faint and fall, suffer a concussion and then develop a blood clot?  Good grief.  It's like the boy ain't right in the head or something.

via France24;

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again spoken out against the use of pressure to impose Islamic values on people, especially university candidates, media reported on Monday.

"You cannot impose things by issuing decrees and directives - a choice imposed by force has no value whatsoever," Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Sunday.

"In some universities, female students are forced to wear the chador [covering the whole body, leaving only the face exposed], but the way they are forced to wear it... it is better not worn since it becomes worthless," he said.

He also criticised criteria on the selection of university candidates, citing the case of a student denied university admittance in the 1980s because he had shaved.

Being unshaven in Iran is a sign that you are a good Muslim.

Ahmadinejad also mentioned another case of a girl refused a university place because she had "talked to a boy in the street and had her headscarf back an inch," thereby showing her hair.

He said that after he intervened in both cases they were granted places.

Ahmadinejad also denounced some of the questions posed to candidates during interviews for government jobs.

"We have asked people if they drank alcohol or have illicit sexual relations. This is an insult and goes against religion," he said.

Ahmadinejad, whose second and final presidential term ends in 2013, has repeatedly drawn the ire of ultra-conservative religious figures in the Islamic republic by advocating a more liberal view of Islam, criticising in particular the use of force to compel women to cover their hair.

 

Tunisia: Silence! There Is No Happy New Year in Islam!

 

Well, then let me be the first to wish a very happy KAFIR new year to you, good sir.  

May your goats be silky and may you meet your 72 virgin/raisins in 2013. Cheers!

via France 24:

A preacher from the hardline Salafist movement that has achieved growing prominence in Tunisia since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings told Tunisians on Monday that the exchange of New Year's greetings was un-Islamic.

"Sharing the feast days of the infidel or even sending them greetings to mark them is a big sin," Sheikh Beshir Ben Hassine said in sermon posted on Facebook.

"Wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy New Year is forbidden by Islam," the preacher added.

 

Hillary Clot Watch - An Update

If you stopped by earlier today you know I was wondering where Hillary's doctors were and why they weren't being more forthcoming about Secretary of State's condition.

I was also concerned that there were no reports of Bill or Chelsea being at the Secretary's bedside.

I am happy to report that we have an update on the situation and both of my concerns have FINALLY been addressed. 

via the NY Daily News:

Clinton's doctors confirmed on Monday that the clot is on her brain, as opposed to her leg as some had speculated. 

"In the course of a routine follow-up MRI on Sunday, the scan revealed that a right transverse sinus venous thrombosis had formed," said Dr. Lisa Bardack and Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi in a release by the State Department. "This is a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear. It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage."  

 

The statement went on to say that her medical team is using blood thinners to dissolve the clot and that she is making "excellent progress." They also expressed confidence she will make a "full recovery." 

 

"She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff," the release said. 

And about her loving family?  Bill is still a no-see-um, but Chelsea has been spotted - looking anguished...

An anguished-looking Chelsea Clinton was seen leaving the Manhattan hospital on Monday where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is receiving emergency treatment for a blood clot on her brain. 

...

 

Chelsea, however, looked shaken as she emerged from a side entrance of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, bundled up against the cold in a black down coat and red scarf. 

The unsmiling former first daughter clutched a cellphone in one hand as she spoke with a furrowed brow. 

She did not respond to a question shouted by a Daily News reporter about her mother’s condition. Instead, she turned and went back inside the hospital.  

 

Judge Halts Obamacare Contraception Mandate For Domino Pizza Entity

A small victory but we'll take it.

via the Associated Mess:

A federal judge has ruled a property management company owned by the founder of Domino's Pizza doesn't have to immediately implement mandatory contraception coverage in the health care law.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff ruled Sunday in favor of Tom Monaghan and his Domino's Farms Corp., near Ann Arbor. Monaghan, a devout Roman Catholic, says contraception isn't health care but a "gravely immoral" practice.

Zatkoff granted Monaghan's emergency motion for a temporary restraining order until a final decision is made in the case. The mandate would have taken effect Tuesday.

The government says the contraception mandate benefits women's health and removes financial barriers. There are about a dozen similar lawsuits pending nationwide.

Monaghan sold most of his controlling stake in Domino's Pizza in 1998 to private equity company Bain Capital.

 

 

It's Official: We've Crashed The Debt Ceiling and the Cliff is Looming

via WaPo's Post Politics:

As promised, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday night formally notified Congress that the United States has reached its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling.

In a letter to lawmakers, Geithner wrote that the government will take extraordinary measures to extend the deadline by which Congress must act to raise the borrowing limit. The Treasury Department noted earlier this month that while the roughly $200 billion in additional headroom would ordinarily last about two months, the uncertainty surrounding taxes and spending policies as a result of the fiscal cliff talks means it’s currently not possible to calculate the actual deadline.

Squeeee!

The Top Five Islamo-Hating Republicans to Watch in 2013

The foreign policy genuises over at Alternet finally met in Alex's mom's basement and have come up with their Top Five Islam Bashing Republicans to Watch in 2013.  

And you know what?  I love every single one of them and I especially love how they get the top minds over there at Alternet all cray-cray and shi&.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the top five American patriots to watch in 2013. Hover over their names to get a flavor of Alternet's projectile frothing at the keyboard.  Click on their names to send them an email (or donation) congratulating them on receiving this honor.

God love 'em.

 

1.) Michelle Bachmann

 

2.) Peter King

 

3.) Mike McCaul

 

4.) Louie Gohmert

5.) Trent Franks