It's about time that someone fought back against the fabricated political scandals that are so often aimed at liberal Democrats, and the right-wing sites like Big Hollywood that so eagerly report them. Good for Rep. Weiner! I hope his attorneys find grounds to sue. Via Raw Story:

Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner is consulting with his lawyers after it was reported that the New York congressman sent a racy photo to a female college student from Seattle via Twitter.

"We’ve retained counsel to explore the proper next steps and to advise us on what civil or criminal actions should be taken," Weiner spokesman Dave Arnold told The Daily Caller in an email. "This was a prank. We are loath to treat it as more, but we are relying on professional advice."

Weiner has claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and that, while the photo did appear on his Twitter feed, he did not send it. The photo shows a man's erect penis outlined in a pair of tight boxer briefs. The photo was first published by Andrew Breitbart'sBigGovernment.The photo was quickly deleted along with all the other photos on the congressman's yFrog account.

[...] An analysis of a screenshot of the congressman's yFrog account, which was published by BigGovernment, shows the image was manipulated, according to the progressive blog DailyKos. The screenshot was allegedly altered to make it appear that the racy photo was associated with Rep. Weiner's account.

From the genius who helped bring us the snow-billy from Wasilla, Bloody Bill Kristol thinks that Gov. Good-Hair-Secessionist Rick Perry of Texas might be a "formidable" candidate if he decides to run for president in 2012.

WALLACE: All right. Let me turn, Bill, to two people whose names were prominently mentioned this week, that they might jump into the race. One is Governor Rick Perry of Texas. The other is Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City.

What do you think, one, is the likelihood either will get in? And two, what kind of a factor do you think either of them will be?

KRISTOL: I think it's unlikely Rudy Giuliani will get in. And if he does, I think it's unlikely he'll be the nominee. That's a reason he didn't win -- I mean, presumably, he would have been a stronger candidate in 2008, when the memory of his mayoralty was fresher than now.

WALLACE: Then why is he up in New Hampshire?

KRISTOL: Because all these guys look at the field and they think, really? I mean, I have as good a career as these other people who are running. Why don't I get a shot? And it is a wide open race.

I think Governor Perry could well get in, and I have thought for months that if you came down from Mars and sort of looked at the possible Republican candidates, and you saw the governor of the second largest state in the nation with an extremely good record -- Texas has created jobs over the last 10 years while he's been governor, while the rest of the country has not -- over the last two years, I think Texas is the only state in the country perhaps that has net job creation I the private sector, and he's a Tea Party favorite.

I mean, what do you need to be the Republican nominee? You need to have a proven record, I think, and you need to be accepted to and even exciting for Tea Party activist types.

Perry checks both those boxes at once. I think Perry could be formidable if he got in.

It's a Weiner-free zone today, my friends, though I am so very tempted to ridicule the right's mouth-frothing lasciviousness.

Bark Bark Woof Woof: The Republican agenda is really about reviving the "culture wars" of the 1980s, including rolling back abortion rights.

Infidel753: Early musings on the Republican presidential race. A little sane, mostly nutty. (And here's a fun game to play.)

P.M. Carpenter: A grovelling Paul Krugman and the need for progressives to crank up the pragmatic trench-warfare of political reality.

Perrspectives: Almost ten years, 6,000 U.S. dead, and over a trillion dollars after the attacks of 9/11, it's time to pay for our wars.

Round-up by Michael J.W. Stickings of The Reaction. I'll be here all week.

Send tips to mbru@crooksandliars.com.

CNN knows full well that Sarah Palin is probably not going to run for president in 2012 and that there is no way in hell she'll survive even one GOP primary debate, but that didn't stop them from chasing her around like some celebrity with her bus tour and it didn't stop both John King and David Gergen from pretending like there's a reason to take her seriously as a contender for 2012 rather than someone who's just wanting to milk every bit of media coverage she can before she proclaims that the "lame-stream" media never gave her a real shot at the nomination.

And that didn't stop King from spending the entire first half of his show plus pondering whether Griftie-McQuitter-Snow-Billy Palin is going to possibly "shake up" the GOP primary race.

Lawrence O'Donnell already summed up very nicely why Palin is not going to run. Apparently CNN is more concerned about treating her story like some ambulance chaser would a bad car crash for ratings rather than letting their viewers know they're completely wasting their time.

The Gawker summed this up much better than Gergen did with his lame attempt to treat Palin with any credibility that she doesn't deserve -- Sarah Palin’s Bus Tour Confounds Reporters:

The Sarah Palin Grifter Bus Tour is officially underway, and it's currently spewing toxic fumes across the Washington, DC area. There are many questions surrounding this family vacation, but so few answers. People need to know.

Politico rattles off all of the places Sarah Palin has been in the last two days: On the back of a Harley. At Mount Vernon. Lurking around the National Archives. Making "unannounced visits to monuments and other landmarks." Saying stupid things to people. But she's not saying really stupid things to reporters (yet). Can you believe the gall of this woman? Is she running for president or not? Why won't she tell us? And where is she going on this tour? No itinerary? No briefings? No interviews? Even Greta Van Susteren is out of the loop. What the f**k is going on here?!

Instead, she's been telling people to check her website for information, which (gasp!) only comes after she's done something. Here's a thought: She's probably retiring to her bus each day, turning on the TV and laughing at everyone trying to figure out what the hell she's up to, then watching hits on her website go through the roof.

Transcript via CNN below the fold:

Continue reading »

I've been remiss in getting this posted sooner, but got sidetracked the past couple of weeks with Fundraiser Session posts and my foray into World Music last week. My friend Mig Schillace (who also plays drums for The Black Ships) sent this over right after the final mix had been done and it is nothing short of astonishing.

If I hadn't been keeping tabs on the progress of this band over the past several months, I would have been speechless after listening to this latest offering from the band. But I know how much work they put into this and the long hours spent getting this down, and it has been more than worth it. The Kurofune EP clocks in just over 20 minutes. It's an incredible journey and one I really advise you take as a whole.

The Black Ships have been getting a great word of mouth almost since their inception. They are rumored to be getting ready for a Summer tour and I hope at some point they make it to the States. Like so many of the great Visionary bands of the last fifteen years (Portishead, Massive Attack, Radiohead), The Black Ships carries on in that tradition and brings their own point of view into play. I have a feeling they will go down phenomenally well here.

They're one of the reasons I still have faith in the future of Music.

This Memorial Day, we honor the fallen, thank the families of all servicemen and women, and remember.

Open thread below....

Harold Dee Allen, my wife's grandfather, served in the Navy in Okinawa during WWII. He was one of the strongest and greatest men I've ever known, and this was his favorite song. Here's to 'Sailorman' and all of the brave others who have sacrificed for this country.

Less than a month before Korea, years before Vietnam and decades before Iraq, Memorial Day was about remembering those who served and died during the Wars previous, back to the Civil War. The Second World War had only ended less than five years before, the task of rebuilding was still going on. The upheavals and changes were new with words like "Right Of Self-Determination" and "Cold War" recent additions to the lexicon. Just sixty years ago today.

Everything was in a state of change, nobody really knew where any of it was headed. The only thing certain were fields of white crosses, evidence that sacrifice was the constant - no matter how much things changed, or how much they remained the same.

Another bipartisan erosion of our liberties, supported by the Chamber of Commerce, was stopped by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Thank God someone stands up for internet freedom:

A U.S. Senator from Oregon has once again taken a stand against his own party to defend what he sees as the inherent right to free speech on the Internet, placing a hold on a bill that could force search engines and Internet service providers to block websites deemed to be "infringing" on copyrights.

The Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act -- or "PROTECT IP" for short was part of a second attempt to pass provisions of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), which failed to clear Congress during its last session thanks to a parliamentary maneuver by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).

And once again, Wyden has stepped forward to ensure those measures do not pass.

"In December of last year I placed a hold on similar legislation, commonly called COICA, because I felt the costs of the legislation far outweighed the benefits," he said in a prepared statement. "After careful analysis of the Protect IP Act, or PIPA, I am compelled to draw the same conclusion."

"I understand and agree with the goal of the legislation, to protect intellectual property and combat commerce in counterfeit goods, but I am not willing to muzzle speech and stifle innovation and economic growth to achieve this objective," Wyden added.

Internet freedom advocates claim the proposed laws could be used to shut down websites that link to other websites that authorities claim to be carrying out infringing activities. Internet advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation said it was "no less dismayed by this most recent incarnation than we were with last year’s draft."

Yashwanth Manjunath at Alan Colmes Liberland summed up House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's hostage taking on Face the Nation very well here -- Eric Cantor Doubles Down On Using Disaster Victims As Hostages To Spending Cuts:

Last week Alan mentioned how Eric Cantor is denying emergency disaster relief funds to tornado victims in Joplin, MO unless they are first paid for with politically-motivated spending cuts. Today on CBS’ Face the Nation Cantor doubled down on using the tornado victims as political hostages for spending cuts to clean energy. He compared the situation to that of a family facing an unexpected expenditure.

"Because families don’t have unlimited money,” Cantor said. “And, really, neither does the federal government."

I could go into all of the different macroeconomic reasons why comparing the budget of the United States federal government to that of a typical American family is one of the most moronic and ignorant analogies ever made, but that is an argument for another day. The much larger issue with Cantor’s comments are the disdain and callousness he is showing towards the Joplin victims, his vile political opportunism, and worst of all, his unbearable hypocrisy. Read on...

As Murshed already pointed out here last week, the one word that immediately comes to mind for this -- heartless. While they were mourning their dead in Joplin today, Cantor's on the television still hostage taking before allowing them some help. I'm not sure how much more that party has to do to prove that they hate the working class in America, but they seem determined to make sure everyone knows it with this callousness.