Marine gets “less than honorable discharge” for being dishonorable toward the President

Ummm, you can’t be in the military if you refuse to take orders from your duly-elected Commander-in-Chief, even if he is black.  Glad the heroes of SEAL Team 6 and the vast majority of our men and women in uniform don’t share these views:

Washington (CNN) — A Marine who used his Facebook page to criticize President Barack Obama has been discharged, a Marine Corps spokesman said Wednesday.

Sgt. Gary Stein was given an “other-than-honorable” discharge, said Capt. Brian Block, a spokesman for the Marines.

Among other comments posted to his Facebook page, Stein called Obama a liar and suggested he would not follow some orders issued by the president.

An other-than-honorable discharge is given to a Marine who commits a “serious offense” that significantly differs from conduct expected of a Marine, the Corps said.

via Marine discharged over online Obama comments – CNN.com.

RIP Levon Helm

His signature song:

When you think about it, this is an utterly amazing photo…

President Obama sitting in the bus Rosa Parks sat in on the day she was arrested:

Bacon Jerky

Why has no one thought of this before?

Bacon Jerky | Uncrate.

Why the NRA pushes ‘Stand Your Ground’

Michael Bloomberg tells the truth about the NRA (E.J. Dionne column):

“In reality,” Bloomberg said in a speech before the National Press Club last week, “the NRA’s leaders weren’t interested in public safety. They were interested in promoting a culture where people take the law into their own hands and face no consequences for it. Let’s call that by its real name: vigilantism.”

Dionne:

We do not need statutes that encourage citizens to assume that feeling threatened is reason enough to shoot another human being. And legislatures that just rubber stamp laws written by national lobbying groups turn the whole idea of “states’ rights” into an empty and laughable slogan.

Why the NRA pushes ‘Stand Your Ground’ – The Washington Post.

Tell us more about Romney’s ‘private’ views

Romney is one of two things:

1) The severely conservative Tea Party ideologue who wants to end Planned Parenthood and birth control coverage, or

2) A political opportunist of breathtaking proportion running the most cynical presidential campaign we’ve ever seen.  There really aren’t many shades of gray here:

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece on Thursday, the veteran conservative journalist Fred Barnes offered Mitt Romney some advice for improving his campaign, including the sensible (and one might also say humane) suggestion that on immigration, the presumptive nominee “would be wise to move away from his harsh position in the primaries.”

Then Barnes included this fascinating sentence: “According to a Romney adviser, his private view of immigration isn’t as anti-immigrant as he often sounded.”

What exactly does that mean? Does it mean Romney said things that he doesn’t really believe? What are we supposed to make of a candidate who takes certain public positions to court one group of voters — and then tries to reassure an entirely different group of voters by leaking the fact that he doesn’t really believe what he said to win votes from the first group? How many other “private” positions does Romney hold that we don’t know about?

via Tell us more about Romney’s ‘private’ views – PostPartisan – The Washington Post.

New in Netflix: the original “The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3”

Walter Mathau leads an all-star cast.  Vastly superior to the remake, great 70s period piece.

Affidavit says Zimmerman ‘profiled’ Martin

No shit.

Sanford, Florida (CNN) — An affidavit of probable cause in Florida’s case against George Zimmerman for the shooting death of an unarmed 17-year-old says that the neighborhood watch volunteer “profiled” the victim, Trayvon Martin, and disregarded a police dispatcher’s request that he await the arrival of police.

Affidavit says Zimmerman ‘profiled’ Martin – CNN.com.

Zimmerman speaks…and he is full of shit.

George Zimmerman has emerged from hiding to – what else – raise money with a new website.  Here’s his statement:

“On Sunday February 26th, I was involved in a life altering event which led me to become the subject of intense media coverage. As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately, my entire life. This website’s sole purpose is to ensure my supporters they are receiving my full attention without any intermediaries.”

“Life altering event.”  “LIFE ALTERING EVENT?!?!” Let that sink in. Zimmerman is whining about his life being altered. Trayvon Martin’s life was taken. A life apparently not even worth mentioning in Zimmerman’s pathetic, narcissistic pander to his racist supporters who hack highway signs to defame the actual victim with racial slurs.

And then there’s this.  Zimmerman’s website features a photo of a spray-painted message, “Long Live Zimmerman.” Either Zimmerman doesn’t know, or doesn’t care, that this graffiti was in fact racist vandalism perpetrated against the black cultural center at Ohio State University. 

Truly odious. 

Link: Zimmerman speaks, raises funds on new website – CNN.com

Krugman nails it.

The Gullible Center – NYTimes.com

So, can we talk about the Paul Ryan phenomenon?

And yes, I mean the phenomenon, not the man. Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committeeand the principal author of the last two Congressional Republican budget proposals, isn’t especially interesting. He’s a garden-variety modern G.O.P. extremist, an Ayn Rand devotee who believes that the answer to all problems is to cut taxes on the rich and slash benefits for the poor and middle class.

No, what’s interesting is the cult that has grown up around Mr. Ryan — and in particular the way self-proclaimed centrists elevated him into an icon of fiscal responsibility, and even now can’t seem to let go of their fantasy.