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Good morning, everyone! It looks like you had fun on the 4th of July cesspool thread. Anyone feel like this?
Walt’s taking some time off from his open thread duties, so I’ll do my best to fill his big shoes…I just couldn’t resist the lolcat today. So sue me. 
Ick...
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Well, this is the most cesspool-ish photo I could find for the 4th of July. Comments? Captions? All are welcome!
As soon as I put up this cartoon, the chimps ran off. So we’re on our own at the bar again this week.
Disclaimer: If you see anyone resembling this cartoon asking to be put in charge of anything, like your car, children, state, drugs, alcohol, country, or your rights, don’t spook him. Just back up until you find a pile of shoes and pelt the shit out of him!
Lady Liberty has been closed since right after the terrorists attack on 9/11. In order to get to the top, you have to climb 354 steps. All the tickets sold out fast for the reopening.
Among the Statue of Liberty’s changes since closing: improved, higher handrails on the main staircase; an enhanced the public address system; and starting this Fourth of July, stricter limits on visitors.
Other Remodeling:
Beginning in 1982 the Statue of Liberty—with scaffolding eventually obscuring it from toes to torch—began undergoing a major restoration timed to the statue’s centennial in 1986.
The biggest 1980s change was the replacement of Liberty’s torch.
Yum...
Hey, campers*!! What’s your favorite food for the 4th of July? Recipes are encouraged, and family stories are always welcome.
*If this were camping, I wouldn’t be here. 
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A sailor found dead earlier this week at California’s Camp Pendleton was shot while standing sentry, and a fire was set in an attempt to cover up evidence, the U.S. Navy said.
The death of Seaman August Provost of Houston, Texas, is being investigated as a homicide, Capt. Matt Brown told reporters on Thursday.
A sailor was taken into custody, because of his own statement and physical evidence collected at the scene. My heartfelt condolences to the Provost family.
Read That ’30s Show by Paul Krugman
Signing the Declaration of Independence
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Keep reading →
On this date in history, three former Presidents passed away – Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1826 (This was the 50th aniversary of the signing oif the Declaration of Independence.) and James Monroe in 1831.
James Monroe
Also on this date in 1976, the United States celebrated its bicentennial.
Gov Palin
According to MSNBC, Sarah Palin will not finish her first term as the Alaska Governor. No news yet as to why.
Lt Gov Sean Parnell will be the new Governor.
Stay tuned…
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UPDATE: I just watched Palin’s speech on the teevee machine. Wow. I wonder if she’s trying to give Mark Sanford a run for his money on rambling speeches.
Palin talked about not wanting to be a “lame duck” governor, because it would cost the state lots of money and waste time, and she was going to be effecting change in some other arena. She said she loves her job, but she feels resigning is the best thing to do for the state (she’s probably more right than she knows). She made a totally lame basketball analogy, and talked about the sacrifice of the troops in Kosovo. She said people were mean to her baby, Trig, and that she asked her kids if she should resign. WTF?
Basically, this was just a long, rambling, ridiculous, and illogical resignation speech. If she has hopes of a presidential run in 2012, she’s just shot them down today. If she’s hope ing to run for the AK senate seat in 2010, she’s just shot herself in the foot. Politically, none of this makes sense.
Something else is going on, and I can’t wait to find out what it is. Hopefully, if it involves any of her children, she has the grace to keep it out of the limelight.
Conclusions? Well, without further information, I’d have to say that the Governor of Alaska just wasn’t having fun anymore — so she quit her job.
Stay classy, Palin!
UPDATE: MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports:
“Talking to people who are very close to Sarah Palin, I have been told that she has told her supporters that she is out of politics, period. She is fed up with politics. She doesn’t like her life. She feels like she has to raise her family. She’s sick of the commute from Wasilla to the capital and she really does not want to run for higher office. This is not the case where she is stepping down in order to figure the way for a presidential run. In fact, she has told some of her biggest backers in the national Republican Party that they are free to choose other candidates for 2012.” (Source, Think Progress)
No, that’s not it. Whatever it is, IT’S BIG.
UPDATE: Here’s the YouTube of Palin’s speech. If your ears start to bleed, please stop the video and seek medical attention. 
UPDATE: From The Brad Blog…
[Shannyn Moore] says Palin is “resigning as part of damage control” due to a scandal this is “not of a family nature.”
“The governor would not be able to continue her job when it comes out,” she told me on the phone just now, before adding: “Why would Mark Sanford not resign, but Sarah Palin did? Her family didn’t even know about the resignation until they were standing with her by the lake” when she made her announcement.
Wow.
On this date in 1863, General George Pickett led his division in a futile assault against the Northern lines in what was the terminating event in the Battle of Gettysburg. This is from The Library of Congress about that day and other events that occurred on this date.
When the CBO scored a very incomplete health care proposal and concluded that it would cost a trillion dollars over 10 years and leave more than 30 million Americans uninsured, the Right jumped on it as proof positive that the Adminstration’s plan was wasteful spending that would fail to address the root problem.
Now, the CBO has scored the HELP bill (which contains a public insurance option and pay-or-play mandates for employers), and concluded that it will cost $600 billion over ten years and cover 97% of Americans, which is exactly in line with that for which the Obama adminstration was looking.
Two weeks ago, the CBO was one of the most important voices in the health care debate. Anyone care to guess whether the Republicans will still tout their findings now that the bill includes a public option and a pay-or-play mandate, which both greatly reduce the cost of the program? Somehow I doubt it.
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Hi, fellow critters. It’s been quite a while. As a native South Carolinian, I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time to talk about the scandal surrounding our “governor,” Mark Sanford. The first thing that should be addressed is the fact that even before news of his affair with an Argentian broke, Sanford was a terribly ineffective governor. He has few allies in his own party, and his veteos have been overturned a staggering 198 times since he took office (note: that figure is likely higher now, as the post linked to above was written nearly four months ago).
I’m not of the opinion that his affair with Ms. Chapur has any relevance to his effectiveness as governor. But going AWOL for five days while leaving absolutely no one in charge, and tacking on a trip to Argentina at the tax payer’s expense merely so he could visit his “soul mate,” amounts to gross negligence and a total dereliction of duty. I don’t think anyone needs to be convinced of that, and truthfully, that’s not what this post is about.
What I’d like to address is the statement Lindsey Graham made on Meet the Press last weekend:
If Mark can reconcile with Jenny, and that’s not going to be easy, that he can finish his last eighteen months.
I’ll note firstly that there’s wiggle room in this statement as to whether Graham is referring to his personal opinion of what Sanford must do in order for Graham to support Sanford remaining South Carolina’s governor, or whether he’s referring to what the people of South Carolina will require for them to see him as a legitimate governor. But living here as long as I have, I’d suspect Graham meant the former. But what does Sanford’s ability to hold his marriage together have to do with his abilities as governor? Nothing.
It’s interesting to me that Graham had nothing to say about the total abdication of authority Sanford engaged in when he left the country without telling anyone where he was going, and the lack of admonishment over the governor’s misuse of tax payer funds. I believe this speaks volumes to the bizarre moral reckoning of the modern Republican party. Failing your public is acceptable, but failing your wife is not? The Right’s continued obsession with sex and infidelity, especially in light of our current economic woes, reflects their misplaced priorities. South Carolina has the third highest unemployment rate in the nation (standing at 12.1 percent as of May), the governor is one of the least effective in the nation, a point made clear by the staggering number of times his own party has overturned his vetoes, and yet, Graham’s concern — a concern which he projects onto the whole of the South Carolina population — is whether his marriage is stable. A poll conducted by Survey USA; however, indicates that South Carolinians overwhelmingly believe the governor should resign (60-34).
Is Sen. Graham really so out of touch with his own constituents?
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David Schuster, covering for Keith Olbermann on Countdown last night, talked with Senator Bernie Sanders about the Republicans threat to block the vote on fixing health care.
They discussed how Democrats now have the numbers to get past the filibuster (with Al Franken being seated), and asked if the Dems would do what it takes to block the Republican obstructionist filibustering so they could have an up or down vote on all the important issues coming down the pike – especially on healthcare reform.
Glenn Beck had CIA analyst Michael Scheuer on as a guest to his show on Fox where they discussed ‘national security’. This guy actually said “The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States. Only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government protect them.”
WTF!?!? What other news channel (being generous here..) could have on a person calling for an attack on America resulting in massive destruction and deaths to Americans, and spin it as a positive thing… What AMERICAN would hope for the deaths of thousands if not millions of other Americans and consider that good for the country? Seriously.. Through the looking glass…
Jon Stewart, discussing having watched this segment on his own TV at home – and becoming totally enraged – ended this clip with “Hey, is there any way you can yell loud enough into your TV at home for the people inside in to hear you?”
I know just what he means.
