Randi Rhodes: Weiner vs Breitbart

Wow, have you ever seen anything in your life as bizarre as that Weiner presser? Usually I’d call it anything other than a “Weiner presser,” but that seems oddly appropriate. That was tough to watch… very uncomfortable. It looked almost as uncomfortable as those briefs the Congressman was wearing in the photo. At least it now seems to be the standard procedure not to drag your poor wife up to the podium for these things. I don’t know what finally killed that practice, though I suspect it might have been the outfit that David Vitter’s poor wife wore for her moment in the spotlight. I don’t want to say that was a circus, but the only thing that could have followed Anthony Weiner would have been a bear in a tutu riding a motorcycle. And I’m pretty sure Andrew Breitbart would have tried to horn in on the bear too.

Andrew Breitbart took the mic! This isn’t a hip hop show, Andrew. It was probably a good thing for Anthony Weiner that Andrew Breitbart showed up. I’m sure the whole event was mortifying for Anthony Weiner, but as long as Andrew Breitbart is anywhere, then Breitbart is the biggest embarrassment in the room. After Weiner started talking, you could have heard a pin drop… as opposed to when Andrew Breitbart was talking—then all you could hear was a pinhead.

Wow. Now women who have exchanged salacious contacts with Anthony Weiner seem to be coming out of the woodwork. It seems that Anthony Weiner was really giving his thumbs a workout, at the very least. According to Radar Online, Wiener had numerous cyber-sex sessions with a 40-year old Las Vegas blackjack dealer. At least she was 40 years old. The same rule that applies in blackjack also applies in cyber-sex—never hit on 17!

Can Weiner retain his seat? Weiner’s district straddles Brooklyn and Queens, though we should probably avoid the term “straddles” at least for a little while. It’s always been Weiner’s ambition to be mayor of New York City anyway. Can New York City still accept Anthony Weiner? Why not? New York City is used to wieners with questionable taste.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Stephen Colbert weighs in on Weiner, Breitbart and Dem vs GOP sex scandal values…

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Thom Hartmann: "America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms," says Al Qaeda

The Republican Party is making us less safe in America. One organization has taken notice of the relentless defense of gun-rights by the Republican Party that has stripped away nearly every single effective gun control law over the last few decades - turning America into the wild west of gun ownership. And that organization is Al Qaeda. That's right - in a recently released video - an Al Qaeda spokesman encourages jihadists to purchase firearms at American gun shows and launch Mumbai style attacks around the country.

"America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms," says Al Qaeda. "You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?" AP reported that more than 200 suspected terrorists were able to buy guns with ease last year thanks to lax gun restrictions.

So given how our nation has revamped nearly every aspect of our life - from flying in airports to letting the Government spy on us - just to keep America safe from terrorists - Republicans will immediately close the gaping security threat of the terrorist gun loophole - right? I'd guess no. That's because the gun lobby will see to it that enough of our lawmakers are bought off to ignore the threat just like lobbyists like Michael Chertoff saw to it that enough lawmakers were scared silly to hand out millions in contracts for Chertoff X-ray porno scanners at our airports.

It's not about security in America any more - it's now just about corporate profits.

-Thom

(Will the Republicans lose their blinkers and close this loophole? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Naughty Weiner & Creepy Santorum

BREAKING: Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) admits to sending photos to women; says he will not resign

Rick Santorum declared his candidacy for president of the United States today, saying he is “in it to win it.” At this point, it seems anybody could win the Republican nomination, but that still doesn’t include Rick Santorum. The Republican field is weak, but for Rick Santorum to have a chance, the field would have to be even worse. Rick Santorum wouldn’t stand a chance in a field full of scarecrows.

Santorum didn’t try to dance around Paul Ryan’s plan to destroy Medicare. He stepped right in it. And now he’s going to be tracking it all over the primary election. In fact, Santorum proudly said that he’s even worse than Paul Ryan. Well, not in those exact words. Well, maybe after Rick Santorum’s campaign is stillborn, he can bring it back to his family so they can cuddle it.

Among those losers who aren’t even going to run, Sarah Palin is sticking with her version of American history, probably because in most other people’s version of American history, she’s one of the bad guys. Sarah gave an extremely garbled version of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. If Paul Revere was as off-track as Sarah Palin had been he would have ridden his horse into Boston Harbor. Palin had described Paul Revere as warning the British(!) not to touch our guns by “making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells.” I assume his horse had an NRA bumper sticker as well. Paul Revere’s ride was much different in reality. But reality is a place that Sarah Palin’s bus has never been to.

This weekend Palin said “You know what? I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere.” Well I guess if she can re-write the history of things that happened over 200 years ago, she can re-write the history of things that happened a couple of days ago. Then Sarah went on to expand on her original story of Paul Revere. What she essentially did was to take a narrative that she had completely wrong, and add some more incorrect details. Palin claimed that Paul Revere warned the British “You are not gonna beat our own well-armed uh, persons, uh, individual private militia that we have.” OK… is something technically not incorrect if it’s impossible to understand? “Listen my children, and you shall hear… Sarah Palin’s story of Paul Revere.” Yes, children—listen politely, but don’t believe a word she says.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

NRA, you’re doin’ a heckuva job! US born Al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn has released a video encouraging terrorists to take advantage of America’s gun-show loophole…

Thom Hartmann: Was Fox News a news bubble for angry white men?

Is Jon Stewart single-handedly bringing down Fox News? According to the recent Nielsen ratings - the Daily Show averaged 2.3 million viewers - a 19% increase in the month of May alone - and a number that beats every single show on Fox except O'Reilly. But O'Reilly's hold on the top may not last long either. His viewership dropped 9% last month - along with most of the other shows on Fox - especially Glenn Beck's show that saw its ratings plummet 17%. Overall - Fox viewership is down 10%.

Fox had a Faux news bubble for angry white guys with their rants on guns, gays, and the war on Christmas. But now - those same angry white viewers are thinking about economic issues as they lose their jobs and homes - and Faux news' only solution is tax cuts for billionaires like Murdoch.

So even though the Daily Show is primarily a comedy show - as Jon Stewart himself often admits - more people are getting their news from Comedy Central than from Fox so-called News. It's a sad commentary on the state of American media when the battle for news dominance is between a right-wing propaganda outlet and a comedy channel.

-Thom

(What do you think will happen to Fox? Tell us here.)

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Randi Rhodes: Edwards' Gift To Weiner

It's Friday, ya bastids! John Edwards was indicted today, and I’m sure nobody was happier about that than Anthony Weiner. Now Anthony Weiner’s penis will get a much needed break—something that John Edwards’ penis should probably have taken. This indictment puts a new spin on John Edwards’ much-repeated rags to riches story. Now his story may end up being that of the son of a simple mill worker who went on to become a convict. That’s not quite as inspirational. A grand jury has been looking into whether money given to support Edwards’ mistress by Edwards’ supporters should have been considered campaign donations. Hey John, you should have taken a cue from John Ensign—get the money for your mistress from your parents. Prosecutors say Edwards improperly accepted over $900,000 in an effort to conceal facts that could have damaged his White House bid. Hey, if you’re spending almost a million dollars to hide things that would damage your White House bid, maybe you shouldn’t be making a White House bid. It’s always the cover up. John Edwards would have been better off taking his mistress with him on the campaign trail. Oh that’s right—he did that! Edwards defense would be that the money shouldn’t be considered a campaign donation. It was simply a cash gift to help keep his cancer-stricken wife from finding out about his mistress and their baby. That is not the best defense I’ve e ver heard. The jobs report for last month was not good, or as Republicans refer to it, “good.” Private employment rose by 83,000, which is evidently not a lot, though there are 83,000 people who are probably pretty satisfied with it. Government jobs decreased by 29,000. Remember, back in February, Speaker John Boehner said that if budget-slashing causes job losses, then “ so be it.” Well, judging from the latest jobs numbers, it be so. “So be it!” I would say that was the merlot talking, but there’s just as much of a chance that it was John Boehner’s natural indifference to other people’s suffering that was talking. Sarah Palin’s bus tour keeps happening, like herpes, or a bedbug infestation. While in Gettysburg earlier in the week, Sarah Palin stopped into a Walmart… because that’s what you do in Gettysburg. I guess all those savings remind a person of how the Union was saved at Gettysburg. Establishment Republicans are annoyed at Palin for sucking so much oxygen out of the real campaign coverage. And everybody else is annoyed at Palin for sucking so much, period. >;>> MORE

Thom Hartmann: Let's try something that's been proven to work before...a New Deal

You need to know this. New job numbers highlight a slowing economic recovery. 54,000 jobs were created last month - the 15th straight month of job creation. The jobless rate stands at 9.1%. But 54,000 fell way short of what economists projected - about 165,000 jobs. It's also the slowest job growth in 8 months. And considering that 200,000 jobs need to be created each month just to keep up with population growth - our nation is still falling behind.

Job creation is being hampered by a double-dip in the housing market - as home prices fell to a 9-year-low last month - with 28% of all home sales today resulting from foreclosures. And, nearly a quarter of all homeowners are "underwater" on their mortgage. Looks like George W. Bush's plan of bailing out the banks in 2008 and just sitting back and hoping that money trickles down to everyone else didn't work - just like it NEVER works. So let's try something different to reboot our economy. Let's try something that's been proven to work before...a New Deal. With bridges and roads collapsing - our energy infrastructure outdates - and a growing need for new schools and hospitals - let's put American back to work building up our nation again.

Never in the history of the world has a country achieved prosperity through budget cuts and low taxes. It's time to invest money - and grow our way out of this recession.

-Thom

(What's stopping us? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Weiner Fatigue

OK, this Anthony Weiner story has dragged out a lot longer than anyone ever anticipated. People are running out of Weiner jokes—that’s how long it is. Get it? How long it is? What do you want? It’s been five days. Really, if we knew this would go on this long, we would have rationed the Weiner jokes. We would have just used as much as we needed to. That’s what they say Milton Berle did. When telling jokes, I mean. I’ll give Congressman Weiner a lot of credit. I think this is the longest I’ve seen someone go through a bizarre scandal like this without making something that everybody calls a “rambling statement.” Not that Anthony Weiner is making a lot of sense. Weiner says that he definitely did not send the photo, but he won’t say that the photo is not of him, or at least, of part of him. Weiner doesn’t know if that’s him in the picture? How is that possible? I always thought that those things were like snowflakes—no two are exactly the same. Maybe they meant they were like snowflakes in the sense that they tend to melt when things heat up. Check out this clip—it’s Donald Trump on Anthony Weiner’s penis. Okay, wait, that didn’t come out quite right. I should say this next clip is Donald Trump talking about Anthony Weiner’s penis. According to Trump, Anthony Weiner “obviously knows it’s him” in the picture. Odd, Trump is so quick to announce that a picture of a penis is Anthony Weiner, yet he refused to accept President Obama’s birth certificate. I’m surprised he didn’t insist on seeing the long form version. Donald says that Anthony Weiner’s handling of the situation was “lying or incompetent.” But really Donald, if you’re saying that the picture is definitely of Anthony Weiner, is there an incorrect way to handle your own penis? I assume Donald Trump thinks he would have handled Anthony Weiner’ s penis a lot better. I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know it shouldn’t be so hard to just say “that is definitely not my penis.” It’s something every woman has heard at some point… usually on a crowded elevator. >>> MORE

Thom Hartmann: Budget cuts kill people - a man drowned yesterday - as firefighters and first responder just watched from shore

More unfortunate news of how irresponsible budget cuts kill people. A man drowned yesterday - as firefighters and first responder just watched from shore. The firefighters couldn't help the man because they didn't have training or cold-water gear thanks to budget cuts back in 2009. Earlier this year - deadly fires were sparked in Chicago and New York with first responders showing up late also because of budget cuts. So as our nation is learning these painful lessons - guess what Republicans in the House of Representatives are doing?

Cutting funding for first responders!

The House Appropriations Committee stripped $1 billion in funding for first responders last month in another heavy-handed attempt at starving the government and lopping off its security arms. After all - if you get rid of the police - then you can hand security off to private corporations like Blackwater that can make a huge profit patrolling our streets like they do in Baghdad and did in New Orleans.

-Thom

(What do you think can be done? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Losers & Weiners

Donald Trump and Sarah Palin got together yesterday for a, uh, well… can you have a meeting of the minds when there aren’t any minds involved? The two dined together at Famous Famiglia pizza at 50th and Broadway, in Times Square. There are certainly better places to eat, but not a lot that are any more conspicuous. I guess the problem with most places that have excellent food is that they tend to try and give their clients as much privacy as possible. And Donald Trump and Sarah Palin want as little privacy as possible, thank you very much. Famous Famiglia, Sarah? Come on. At least Famous Ray’s has good bad pizza. I guess they just don’t have enough windows for all the press to take pictures through. Today Palin is scheduled to go to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… keep that phony from Alaska, though.” Michele Bachmann is saying “I’ve had that calling” from God to run for president. I’m sure you did, Michele. Millions of Democrats have been fervently praying that you would. Though, for your sake, you should make sure that the call was really from God. It could be Satan setting you up. Do you have Spiritual Caller ID? In the course of her career, Michele Bachmann said that God called her to marry her husband, to go to law school, to become a tax attorney, and to run for Congress. Calling? It sounds like God has Michele Bachmann on speed dial. No wonder the world is in such a mess—God is spending all of his time on Michele Bachmann. Nothing new and definitive on the Anthony Weiner Twitter saga. Or, to take full advantage of the “Weiner joke” potential here, we’re not getting any more of a grip on the Weiner thing. If you’ve seen the picture in question, you know that we’re talking about a substantial package. But it’s important to remember that Andrew Breitbart is still the biggest dick involved in this story. Conservative bloggers are praying that this supposed scandal turns out to be true. The conservative blogosphere is more excited than… well, than the guy in the photo. Guys, please! Don’t get too excited! Try thinking about baseball. >>> MORE

Thom Hartmann: The war Ronald Reagan started against the working class is a resounding success today

Who's screwed? Minimum wage workers. The minimum wage is no longer enough to meet a person's minimum needs in Michigan according to a new report. The organization - Wider Opportunities for Women - published the report and it finds that a single Michigan resident needs to make more than 12 bucks an hour just to house - clothe - and feed him or herself. The minimum wage in Michigan is well short of that marker - just $7.40. But when you throw children into the equation - the picture is even grimmer.

A mother with two children needs to make about $24 dollars an hour to meet their basic needs - that's more than three times higher than minimum wage, and that's working a 40-hour week. That means each and every month - someone who's trying to raise their kids on minimum wage has to forego dinner - or rent - or electricity - or a new pair of shoes just to get by in America - the richest nation on the planet. I guess Republicans will argue they just need to get a credit card.

Looks like the war Ronald Reagan started against the working class 30 years ago is a resounding success today.

-Thom

Has the war been won? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Stealing Thunder

Did you have a nice Memorial Day Weekend? Sarah Palin spent the weekend that’s supposed to be dedicated to remembering the sacrifice of others desperately trying to get people to remember her. Palin launched a bus tour of the Northeast that she called the “One Nation Tour,” probably because calling it the “Look At Me Tour” would be too obvious. Lady Gaga’s tours are less of an exercise in ego. At least Lady Gaga entertains people in the process. On the other hand, I don’t want to give Sarah Palin ideas by comparing her to Lady Gaga. It was bad enough seeing Sarah in the biker get-up. I don’t want to see her in a suit made out of meat. Palin’s bus tour is kind of like Charlie Sheen’s big tour, except Charlie Sheen has trouble with substances, and Sarah Palin has trouble with lack of substance. As the bus tour unfolded, Palin’s travel itinerary was unclear and confused. But then why should it be any different from Sarah Palin herself? Today Palin is in Gettysburg, PA, or as Michele Bachmann refers to it, the place where Paul Revere defeated the Nazis. Yesterday Sarah Palin showed up at the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally for veterans. I guess Rolling Thunder is the place to go if you want to steal somebody’s thunder. Palin breezed into the rally clad in black leather with a black Harley Davidson helmet, and shades. Did you ever notice that the only thing this woman ever seems prepared for is a photo-op? When asked if the rest of the tour would be as loud as the motorcycle rally Sarah yelled “It would be a blast if they were this loud, if they smelled this good. I love that smell of the emissions” ( video). Well, now we know her stand on greenhouse gasses: she loves ‘em! That’s something to keep in mind if she ever comes out with a line of perfume. “You smell like a parking garage. Are you wearing ‘Eau de Palin’?” Over the weekend a lewd photograph was sent from liberal Congressman Anthony Weiner’s Twitter account to a 21-year old girl on the west coast. My theory is that Congressman Weiner’s account got hacked… by a Republican Congressman. OK, I’m kidding. No Republicans in Congress have enough tech savvy to pull that off. All I know is, if somebody wants to prove that this is Congressman Weiner’s penis, they’re going to have to make it stand up in court! >>> MORE

Thom Hartmann: You Need to Know This - Germany is Dropping Nuclear Power

You Need to Know This - Germany is Dropping Nuclear Power

You need to know this. Germany is dropping nuclear power. Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans yesterday to close down every single nuclear plant in the country by 2022 - that's 17 reactors in all. Germany has the fourth largest economy in the world - and the largest economy in Europe and generates about 25% of its electricity from nuclear power - just like we do in the United States.

But already, Germany has shut down 7 reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster and is now committed to doubling its renewable energy output by 2022 also. Germany will join Italy as the only two nations in the G8 that have ditched nuclear power. Currently - the renewable energy sector in Germany employs nearly 400,000 people.

Since the United States still has no plans to drop nuclear power and switch to renewables - and hasn't had a long-term energy plan since Reagan - let Germany serve as an example of how a nation can transform itself when its government isn't completely captured by special interests.

-Thom