Keith Olbermann Announces New Show on CURRENT TV

America: "Don't Touch Medicare! Raise Taxes on the Wealthy!"

It couldn't be more clear.  

In 2 polls released this week, Americans have stated, in huge numbers, that they don't want Congress to screw with Medicare and Medicaid.  One poll reports 78% say "don't cut Medicare."  Another poll reports 80% say "no cuts to Medicare."

And the vast majority does want taxes raised slightly on those who make over $250,000. 

Yet this is the centerpiece of the budget the Regressives are trying to foist on taxpayers, so that they may give millionaires even bigger tax breaks. 

The poll above is the latest Washington Post / ABC News poll; below is the latest McClatchy poll.

Unnecessary Censorship

The latest from Jimmy Kimmel on ABC:

Colbert Explains "Pap Smears at Walgreens"

It started with Senator John Kyle (R-what else?) claiming in a speech that 90% of Planned Parenthood's resources go to abortions. Of course, that's a complete lie, as you can see in the RadioVegan blog post below from Sunday, April 10.

Then we found out, thanks to the geniuses at Fox and Friends, that there's really no need for Planned Parenthood after all.  Just go down to your local Walgreens and get a pap test right there in Aisle 3.

Republican Jackass of the Week

The Regressive republicans and Teabaggers constantly claim they're not racist.  We've seen all the racist signs and pictures at their rallies for two years now.  But last week, a little-known rightwinger named Marilyn Davenport from Orange County, California sent out emails with this picture and the caption, "Now you know why no birth certificate."

Calls for this despicable rightwinger to resign have so far been ignored.

The typical non-apology was issued:  "I'm sorry if my email offended anyone, I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth. In no way did I even consider the fact he's half black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race."

How could it possibly have occurred to her that a black man being compared to an ape is racist?  It's not like that's been done for, say, 300 years in this country.  Right?

Anytime someone refuses to say "I'm sorry for my inappropriate and racist behavior," but instead says they're sorry if my email offended anyone, they are not apologizing at all, but rather putting the blame for the offense on YOU, the viewer.

In other words, "it's not my fault that YOU were offended."

Resign and resign now.

"Coffee, Smiles, Fear and Terror"

Hard to tell this SNL parody from the real thing.   "I mean, we almost had the first government shutdown in the history of this country!  Is that true?  Uh, I just assumed."

This is What All the Fuss was About?

We know all the hand-wringing in Congress for the last two weeks over budget cuts was pure theater.  Not only did President Obama and the Democrats in Congress agree to the numbers John Boner originally requested days before the government shutdown deadline approached, they then went further and agreed to deeper cuts.

But once the numbers were met, it became about something else.  It suddenly was all about killing programs that Democrats have always supported and Regressives hated.  They demanded the defunding of Planned Parenthood, NPR and the Environmental Protection Agency.  So, in essence, the Regressives are against clean air and cancer screenings.

For the record, no government funding ever pays for abortions through Planned Parenthood, although it should, since abortion has been perfectly legal for four decades.  Rightwingers don't "approve" of taxpayer funds going toward abortions.  Too bad.  I don't approve of my tax dollars supporting illegal wars, funding military animal experiments or picking up the slack for churches getting away with tax-free status.

Nonetheless, it bears repeating: Government funding does not ever pay for abortions.  Most of what Planned Parenthood does has nothing to do with abortions.  Take a look at the graph and see that 97% of what Planned Parenthood does includes cancer screening, education and contraception.

So what was all the fuss about?  Oh yeah, theater to placate the far rightwing Regressive base and the Teabaggers.

Meredith Vieira Deserves an "F"

If you're going to be on a major television network and interview a so-called newsmaker like Donald Trump, then you had better be prepared with a few facts, be ready for the standard lies, and demand proof or evidence when wild assertions are made.

Vieira did none of the above.

Donald Trump, who is once again making believe he's running for president in order to gain national attention and prop up ratings for his NBC show, was interviewed by steamrolled over Sleepy Meredith on NBC's Today Show last week.

She brought up the laughable, frequently debunked "birther" nonsense yet again, as if it's still 2008, which led to Trump claiming Obama's grandmother stated she was present in Kenya when he was born.  Fact is, she's not his grandmother. She's his grandfather's second wife.  And she wasn't even part of the family almost 50 years ago when he was born.  And, while speaking through a translator, when it was mistakenly said that she was there, she and her family members corrected themselves several times.  But don't let the facts get in the way when you're spewing lies to whip up the far rightwing birther crowd and bring attention to yourself and your TV show, right Donald?

Why Meredith didn't clear up this already established lie is a mystery.

Trump is not sure President Obama was born here.  I'm not sure that thing on his head was born here.

The Donald also claimed he has several "people" investigating this alleged birth certificate mystery and said "I can't believe what they're finding". At which point anybody else but Vieira would have naturally asked, "Oh yeah?  What have you found?" 

She said nothing.

When asked if he was running for president, he hemmed and hawed and claimed he couldn't answer that.  Such nonsense.  This is an elaborate publicity stunt, just as it was before.

Trump claims he's a great businessman, he's "so very smart and has common sense."  And yet several of his casinos have gone bankrupt.  How is it possible for a casino to lose money?  A casino! Where the house controls everything!

The embarrassingly amateurish interview can be seen here.



Following Trump's interview was a guest appearance by Bill Cosby.  It took Bill to put it all in perspective.

"Oh, please, with Donald Trump. Take him home with you.  He's full of it."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Unnecessary Censorship

Big fan of Letterman... but Jimmy Kimmel's "unnecessary censorship" is always hilarious.  See if you don't laugh at one or two of these short clips.  My favorite is Regis. 

UK Ready to Ban Circuses from Using Wild Animals

Add the United Kingdom to the list that, so far, includes

• Bolivia
• Greece
• Croatia
• Singapore
• Austria
• Israel
• Costa Rica
• India
• Finland
• Portugal
  
• Sweden

"Opinion polls in the UK show an overwhelming majority of people are in favor of the ban of wild animals in traveling circuses," says the article from the Examiner (read it here).

When will the US ban these disgusting displays of exploitation?

"Refudiate" Her Use of "Squirmish"

The Foreign-Owned, Saudi-Financed Fox Channel's star news analyst makes up yet another word. Jon Stewart from Comedy Central shows the clip:

Palm Trees in Wisconsin

A month of peaceful protests from over 100,000 pro-union workers in Wisconsin didn't sit well with the anti-union management at the Foreign-Owned, Saudi-Financed Fox Channel. Nope. What they wanted was footage showing angry, hostile crowds. So while talking about the Wisconsin protests, they decided to show footage from some other protest that had nothing to do with Wisconsin. Notice the palm trees in the background.


Savvy protesters decided to mock the phony news channel by actually bringing plastic palm trees to some of their demonstrations:
Comedy Central's Colbert Report and msnbc's Chris Matthews caught the lie and had some fun with it:

Newt Running Yet Again?!

The disgraced former Speaker of the House, who had to resign in shame amidst a half million dollars of ethics violations, and who was cheating on his second wife with what would become his third wife, while leading the charge against President Clinton for a similar personal matter, is making the usual noises about running for president again. This political cartoon is from the South Florida Sun Sentinel's Chan Lowe.

Unemployment Falls to a 2-Year Low

from msnbc.com:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy posted a second straight month of solid gains in March as the nation’s jobless rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent, marking a decisive shift in the labor market that should help to underpin the economic recovery.

Businesses created 216,000 jobs last month, according to the Labor Department’s latest employment report, after adding 192,000 jobs in February. The past two months mark the fastest two-month pace of job creation since before the recession began. Factories, retailers, education, health care and an array of professional and financial services expanded payrolls.

Another month of brisk hiring provided the latest sign that the economy is strengthening nearly two years after the recession ended.Click on graph to enlarge. The low point at the center of the graph marks the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration.