Bill O’Reilly: “I have more power than anybody other than the president, in the sense that I can get things changed, quickly. I don’t have to go through the legislative process; I don’t have to do any of that. I can just bring it to the people, and say, look, this has gotta be dealt with.” [Daily Beast]

In case you missed the latest asshat hatred action to come out of Virginia, heeeeeeeere’s Pat!

A caller to Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” Ponzi scheme television show called to ask the Good Reverend for his thoughts about a “friend” of his:

[The caller] said that a friend had begun dating other women while his wife lies seriously ill with Alzheimer’s, and justifies it by saying that “his wife, as he knows her, is gone.”

Robertson said he agrees with the man: “What he says basically is correct. I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”

His co-host pressed Robertson about whether that violates the marriage vows. Robertson responded that Alzheimer’s “is a kind of death” and added, “I certainly wouldn’t put a guilt trip on you” for choosing divorce in such a scenario.

I’m sure this threat to the sanctity of marriage is somehow the fault of the gheyz, Messicans, abortionists, and feminazis.

[LAT, h/t Mistress Cynica]

Are we done with bulging underwear yet? Because something like this would make us drop a load on the spot:

The state director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity offered no apologies today for papering homes in Detroit’s Delray district Monday with fake eviction notices.

Bearing the words “Eviction Notice” in large type, the bogus notices told homeowners their properties could be taken by the Michigan Department of Transportation to make way for the New International Trade Crossing bridge project. The NITC is the subject of debate in Lansing, and Americans for Prosperity is lobbying heavily against it.

“It was meant to startle people,” Scott Hagerstrom, the group’s state director, said today. “We really wanted people to take notice. This is the time that their opinions need to be heard. We wanted people to read it.”

Please direct your angry mob to the AFP Michigan office at 222 W. Genesee Street, 2nd Floor, Lansing. Tell them you just want to startle them.

Conservative group: Fake eviction notices were ‘meant to startle people’ [Detroit Free Press]

That 9/11 first-responders bill that finally passed last winter? There’s a catch:

The tens of thousands of cops, firefighters, construction workers and others who survived the worst terrorist assault in U.S. history and risked their lives in its wake will soon be informed that their names must be run through the FBI’s terrorism watch list.

Credit goes to Florida GOP congresscritter Cliff Stearns, who tacked on the provision last May:

“This amendment was adopted in the full Energy and Commerce Committee without opposition and it merely requires that the names of those receiving health benefits be cross-checked with the terrorist watch list to ensure that no terrorists get these benefits,” Stearns said.

Additional credit goes to the Demrats who let the amendment pass during a voice vote.

9/11 Responders To Be Warned They Will Be Screened By FBI’s Terrorism Watch List [HuffPo]

Read more »

Let us begin by acknowledging that burning books isn’t a particularly Enlightened thing to do. Nor is it practically effective: Where centuries ago you might stand a chance of torching an entire print run, today your chances of removing the suspect document from existence are practically nil.

Any residual value a book-burning has today is totally symbolic: You’re making a statement. And what that statement amounts to is usually this: I am the kind of person who burns books.

Which we think adequately describes Terry Jones of Florida.

Terry Jones burned a book a few weeks ago. As it happens, that book was the Koran.

And by now, you probably know the rest of the story.

It can be argued that Terry Jones set off a chain of events that culminated in the murders of twenty-one innocent people (so far) in Afghanistan. It can be argued that Terry Jones is responsible for those murders. If Terry Jones hadn’t burned that book, those twenty-one people would still be alive.

The first and third of those statements are true.

But they don’t demonstrate the second.

Read more »

The horrific gang rape of an 11-year-old girl by 18 men and boys in East Texas recently made news not only for the unspeakable act of violence but also because of the clumsy reporting by the New York Times.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before this crime was exploited by politicians. According to the Broward Palm Beach New Times, during a Florida Legislature subcommittee hearing on HB 61, the “sagging pants bill,” which includes dress code regulations for public school children, GOP Rep. Kathleen Passidomo shared this insight with the subcommittee:

There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gang-raped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed up like a 21-year-old prostitute. And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it’s incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn’t happen to our students.

Read more »

“A nearly unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects even hurtful speech about public issues and upheld the right of a fringe church to protest near military funerals.” [WaPo]