In Search of the RNC Cocktail Lounge

This Republican convention seems strangely down-at-the-mouth compared to the one in 2008, and shabbily organized compared to the last one I attended in person, in New York in 2004. No one seems to know how to navigate the various blocked-off staircases and escalators of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, a small, undistinguished hockey arena decorated everywhere with the lightning-bolt insignia of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

Up on the fifth level, by the cheap seats, is what is designated a “Prayer Room.” It is little more than an indentation in the wall, with a flimsy curtain around it, more of those oh-so-Christian lightning bolts, and a couple of very old and battered Bibles.

No one is praying or reading scripture, though. Instead, they mostly mill about, trying to find their seats, or else refreshments. One middle-aged, balding man in a raspberry-colored polo shirt demands to know where the Republican National Committee cocktail lounge is at. This baffles the unfailingly polite young ushers, and he strides off, silent wife in tow, gnawing aggressively at the end of an unlit cigar. Strangely, in an arena with thousands of people in it, I spot him three times in forty-five minutes, in increasing states of agitation as he searches for his elite watering hole.

“Like Diogenes before him,” Jack says sadly, “he searches for the last open bar.”

http://harpers.org/archive/2012/08/hbc-90008820

Bush Administration Praised Closure Of Auto Plant That Ryan Now Blames On Obama

Source: Think Progress

For proof, just ask one of the more prominent supporters of the Janesville plant shutdown — the George W. Bush Administration. The closure of the Janesville plant was part of a broader GM restructuring initiative that the then-President supported. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino even praised it as evidence GM was “adapting well:”



The White House called the announcement a sign that the auto giant was “adapting well” to market shifts.

“It’s a sign that Detroit continues to adapt and evolve and address the change in consumer tastes and attitudes. And I think that they’re adapting well,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

“And they’ll make these changes, and hopefully be able to pull themselves up out of what has been a rough several years,” she said. …

GM plans to shutter production at its Toluca, Mexico, pickup truck at the end of the year and its Oshawa, Canada plant will be closed in 2009. Plants in Moraine, Ohio and Janesville, Wisconsin, are slated for closure in 2010 “or sooner if market demand dictates,” GM said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h02VGip7lek1Z7nWSXi4VLhYpB2g

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/08/30/776711/bush-administration-gm-ryan/

Catholic Priest Excuses Abuse: "A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer."

[Interviewer]: Part of your work here at Trinity has been working with priests involved in abuse, no?

[Father Groeschel]: A little bit, yes; but you know, in those cases, they have to leave. And some of them profoundly — profoundly — penitential, horrified. People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath. But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/120830

Roseanne releases these facts: Paul Ryan Was Born In Transyvania-He Feasts On The Blood Of Children"

Oh LOL, Ann Honey, you are such a hoot

The Thrill Of It All!

GOP Fish Species Found In Mekong Delta In Vietnam

A new species of fish with a penis on its head has been identified in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.



Phallostethus cuulong is the newest member of the Phallostethidae family — small fish found in Southeast Asian waters that are distinguished primarily by the positioning of the male sexual organ.

Male phallostethids have a copulatory organ, termed the priapium, under the throat for holding or clasping onto females and fertilising their eggs internally, according to conservationists.

"We have scientifically identified a new penis-head fish in Vietnam," researcher Tran Dac Dinh from Can Tho University told AFP.

.......................

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8524401

"If Obama has so much power he can *travel back in time* to close factories-we better vote for him"

The GOP thinks being mean is macho-They are using hate to overcompensate for their teeny-tiny dicks.

The RePugniScums have plenty of ideas. They just can't talk about them.

They can't really give speeches about letting old people die or starving children die in the streets. They can't talk about starting wars all around the world so that the MIC can get richer. They can't give a speech about taking away your privacy and freedom. They can't talk about putting people in prison for holding the wrong political views. They can't give a speech about making everyone in this country obey their doG and forsake their own religious beliefs. They can't openly admit that women, in their view, are third class citizens and must have their health care determined by mean, old, ignorant white guys. The will not publicly admit that blacks should still slaves. The only 2 things they will speak about in public is their hatred of teh gays and immigrants.

That leaves them with only one thing to do. Spew hate and venom. They think being mean is macho. They are using hate to overcompensate for their teeny-tiny dicks.

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/meanness-mashup-republicans-built-it-said-i#comment-2135708

"ELUSIVE", my ass

Chico pastor elusive about meaning of "American" sign

By LARRY MITCHELL-Staff Writer
Posted: 08/30/2012 12:16:34 AM PDT





CHICO -- The sign in front of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church carried the message "Vote for the American!" last week.

What did it mean?

Tim Ruhl, the church's pastor, wouldn't say, when the Enterprise-Record asked him Monday.
"You can take it a thousand ways," he said, adding that it could mean "vote for the American way."

Some people took it to be a recommendation to vote for Mitt Romney instead of President Obama — a reference to the notion that Obama was born outside America and is not actually an American.