Tea Party Nation Only Welcomes Friendly Press

The Tea Party Nation has issued a press release stating they only have room for five news organizations at their upcoming convention. They certainly are determined to ensure favorable coverage with all five being on the far right:

Fox News

Breitbart.com

Townhall.com

The Wall Street Journal

World Net Daily

This also demonstrates the degree to which The Wall Street Journal has fallen. Not long ago the editorial page was as far right and dishonest as the others on this list while the news department was excellent. The news department still has not fallen to the levels of the others on the list, but its quality has fallen since Rupert Murdoch bought the paper. The Wall Street Journal, as well as Fox, have not commented yet on this honor.

Doomsday Clock Moved Back One Minute

I’m going to sleep more soundly tonight. The Doomsday Clock is being moved back one minute to six minutes to midnight. Barack Obama is partially credited for the decreased risk of nuclear annihilation:

The board said the end of a nuclear threat to the world could now be in sight.

‘We are poised to bend the arc of history toward a world free of nuclear weapons.

‘For the first time since atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, leaders of nuclear weapons states are cooperating to vastly reduce their arsenals.’

President Obama was particularly praised for causing ‘a change in the U.S government’s toward international affairs.’

‘With a more pragmatic, problem-solving approach, not only has Obama initiated new arms reduction talks with Russia, he has started negotiations with Iran to close its nuclear enrichment program,’ the board said.

Despite their positive mood, BAS co-chair Lawrence Krauss, said: ‘Even though we are encourage by recent developments, we are mindful of the fact that the Clock is ticking.’

Sarah Palin, Motivational Speaker

Sarah Palin has found yet another job besides working at Fox and writing a book of fiction to make money since quitting her job as governor. She has become a motivational speaker. Here are her five topics for speeches:

  • How to Successfully Manage and Balance Your Personal and Professional Priorities
  • How to Overcome Obstacles with Creative Solutions
  • The Secrets to Effective Decision-Making
  • How to Have Grace Under Fire
  • How to Become a Person of Influence

At least she isn’t claiming to be able to talk about actual policy matters. She is actually an expert at some of these. She has come up with a number of creative solutions (also known as telling lies) to get her out of political jams. She has certainly figured out a way to become a person with far more influence than is justified by her abilities or knowledge.

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Obama More Successful Than Bush At Cutting Government Spending

Republicans commonly spread the false meme that they are the party of fiscal responsibility while the Democrats are the party of increased government spending even though their actual records contradict this. The Washington Times provides further evidence of the falsehood of this meme by showing that Obama has been more successful than Bush in cutting spending:

President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled President George W. Bush for years.

The administration says Congress accepted at least $6.9 billion of the $11.3 billion in discretionary spending cuts Mr. Obama proposed for the current fiscal year. An analysis by The Washington Times found that Mr. Obama was victorious in getting Congress to slash 24 programs and achieved some level of success in reducing nine other programs.

Among the president’s victories are canceling the multibillion-dollar F-22 Raptor program, ending the LORAN-C radio-based ship navigation system and culling a series of low-dollar education grants. In each of those cases, Mr. Obama succeeded in eliminating programs that Mr. Bush repeatedly failed to end.

“This is a very strong beginning for the president’s efforts to shape a budget that invests in programs that work and that ends programs that don’t,” said Tom Gavin, a spokesman for the White House budget office. “The Congress has approved more than 60 percent of the president’s proposals, and that’s a high mark, that’s a strong beginning.”

By comparison, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says Mr. Bush won 40 percent of his spending cuts in fiscal 2006 and won less than 15 percent of his proposed cuts for 2007 and 2008.

Bizarre Right Wing Response to Earthquake in Haiti and Keith Olbermann’s Response

The earthquake in Haiti has brought out some real craziness from Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh. Pat Robertson attributed the earthquake to a pact with the devil:

The Rev. Pat Robertson is offering his own absurd explanation for why a quake hit Haiti: Many years ago, the island’s people “swore a pact to the devil.”

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it,” the controversial televangelist said during an interview Wednesday on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

“They were under the heel of the French…and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.'”

Robertson continued: “True story. And so the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ They kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got themselves free. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.”

Robertson went on to note that though Haiti shares the same island with the Dominican Republic, it remains desperately poor while its neighbor is “prosperous, healthy and full of resorts.”

“[Haitians] need to have a great turning to God, and out of this tragedy, I’m optimistic something good may come,” Robertson said.

Rush Limbaugh found bizarre ways to play politics and use the earthquake to attack Barack Obama.

Keith Olbermann responded: