The Penile State: A blog about Florida*

The Battle is Engaged

2012-01-31T07:44:00.000-05:00

What a choice we have for you, Penilestaters:

May the best four-letter white male win.

In which much is explained

2012-01-25T13:07:00.000-05:00

happy Centrist horseshit

2012-01-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

From Driftglass:

... the Right greeted the dawn of the Age of Obama with a collective scream of primal rage and terror which has not merely not diminished one decibel since the day he took the oath of office, but has actually doubled and re-doubled with his every action and every word.

It worked because while Liberals were begging the Obama Administration to take the implacable hostility and hostage-taking contempt of the Right as a serious threat to the country, the Administration chose instead to follow through on their brilliant Reasonable Centrist Plan to win the Right over by treating them like long-lost lodge brothers from whom they had become estranged over some silly, Thanksgiving dinner misunderstanding that happenedso long ago that no one could remember the details.

Chose, in other words, to ignore all those shrill Liberals who were warning them that they were walking nekkid into a Category Five wingnut wilding and heed exactly the same kind of happy Centrist horseshit advice that goofs like David Brooks, Mark Halperin and Andrew Sullivan all wallow in.

The Right, of course, could not fucking believe their luck. Crippled and bleeding from a thousand self-inflicted wounds, they were allowed to reconstituted their Party using its ugliest, most deranged, most racist elements.

Allowed to strap tri-corner hats into the pointy heads of their howling mob, stuff them into Koch Brother-funded buses which drove them off to Fox News-sponsored events and into political re-branding history.

Allowed to traffic in the worst kind of white supremacist sludge.

Allowed to lie and lie and lie and lie.

And allowed to do it all virtually unmolested by the White House and the mainstream media because nobody wanted to hurt their fee-fees by pointing out that they were completely out of their fucking minds. more....

Gold Man Suks

2012-01-02T22:21:00.002-05:00

Let's make Vin Diesel Treasury Secretary.

"Anyway, every time I read one of these rah-rah predictions, I get this feeling that I've seen this movie before. When it comes time to do Goldman, Sachs: The Movie!, I'll be bummed beyond belief if Vin Diesel doesn't get to play Jim O'Neill."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/goldmans-latest-boiler-room-stock-america-20120102#ixzz1iMUg0FaE

Penile's Own Rick Perry Clone

2011-11-29T11:37:00.001-05:00

UnFUCKINGbelievable:

This state has two royal families - this asshat and Jeb Booge.

The only question: When will Jeb jump in?

Let him eat spray

2011-11-21T20:48:00.001-05:00

http://eatspray.tumblr.com/

Let their Boehners be Swollen

2011-11-21T20:30:00.001-05:00

It's not Wall Street's fault if you can't steal what you need.

No Newt Axes!

2011-11-21T20:21:00.000-05:00

GROVER NORQUIST, Bondage Master of the RepubliGun Party

To all our RepubliGun Fiends

2011-11-19T16:25:00.001-05:00

New Wave of Rick Perry Supporters Reach Florida

2011-11-19T16:05:00.001-05:00

Today we feel the need to reassert the primacy of the PenileState. Let it never be said that Penn State's drunken football frenzy could ever come near the lunacy we see around us every day in this fair state. Or Rick Perry's Texans could come in here without getting some flak. This is all Penile all the time!

Without further ado:

'Fake doctor boosted woman's bottom with home-made implant containing cement and super glue' (and this is a picture of HIM)

Man throws potatoes at woman in Walmart

Sound Bites of the Passionate RepubliGuns

2011-11-03T22:23:00.003-04:00

"What's good is to get these goats for our computer industry."

"Ding-dong lama wannee, Jumpin' with an ice pick"

"It's a big rat with little ears and warts."

"The Adolf Hitler of Shallow"

2011-10-28T15:55:00.003-04:00

Watching Perry addressing the crowd, several questions naturally came to mind. One was, "Does he really believe this stuff?" But another one was, "Would it matter if he did?" After all, there are times in life when insanity is indistinguishable from cynicism. A man who will take money to greenlight a dangerous nuclear-waste dump that might blow up 30 years from now is not much different from the guy who doesn't balance his checkbook because he thinks Armageddon is coming before the end of the quarter. In both cases, the long view doesn't matter. Taibbi.

Mitt the Shit

2011-10-24T21:55:00.000-04:00

Can Mitt stand his own stupidity?

So you baggers think #ows should be more civil?

2011-10-14T23:29:00.003-04:00

Intelligence and Motive

2011-10-11T10:50:00.002-04:00

Ever wondered why we in the US have not enacted a general strike in recent times?

It was necessary to lay everybody off before that motivation, and the intelligence of it, came home.

Tutelage for Baggers

2011-10-11T10:35:00.000-04:00

Congrats Penilers!

2011-10-11T08:19:00.003-04:00

You're in the top 10 states of the US of Fucking A!

You are not just fat, you are obese!

Thank the media - instead of feeding your heart and mind, it fed your face and your arse!

Pants and scrotal sack on fire

2011-10-07T17:38:00.003-04:00

Brother Penilers:

Here's your Governor, Liar Rick Scott, deducting 1 million jobs from his initial promise and then lying about it:

In Florida, we practice shooting ourselves

2011-09-24T12:32:00.001-04:00

https://occupywallst.org/

Heh

2011-09-24T12:15:00.002-04:00

Heh

2011-09-24T12:15:00.001-04:00

You Go Penilers! Work on those Gun Laws!

2011-09-22T12:49:00.002-04:00

Florida second in nation in mass layoffs in August

By Marcos Restrepo | 09.22.11 | 12:35 pm

Florida had the second highest number of mass layoff actions in the nation during the month of August, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics summary released today.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics explains that “each mass layoff involved at least 50 workers from a single employer.” Florida, with 78 mass layoffs (not seasonally adjusted), came in second. California was first with 251, and New York third with 71. The good news is that the number of mass layoffs in Florida during August dropped well below June and July levels.

The Reptilian John Thomas

2011-09-21T21:51:00.004-04:00

Florida has nothing better to do than this:

Pandering to the Gun Lobby

Published: September 15, 2011

REPRINTS

How low can the Florida Legislature go in pandering to the gun lobby?

Related in News

Florida Forces Towns to Pull Local Laws Limiting Guns(September 11, 2011)
Times Topic: Gun Control

Citizens might have thought the answer came earlier this year when doctors were banned from inquiring about guns in the household as a factor in their patients’ welfare. A federal judge has blocked that, finding that a doctor’s free speech hardly violates the Second Amendment. Now local officials must deal with another gun lobby outrage. They are scrambling to meet an Oct. 1 deadline by which they must scrap all local gun control laws.

Florida Forces Towns to Pull Local Laws Limiting Guns

Palm Beach County does away with firearms rules

Florida's high unemployment rate among worst

. . . Wait a second - that's actually a real issue...

This is the state that wants to heavily influence the next presidential election?

There can only be one explanation:

My Word: Non-native reptiles deserve a place

David Icke can be completely full of shit about the rest of the world, but his reptilian visions are dead on when it comes to the

Penile State.

BRAVO PENILERS!

2011-09-15T21:23:00.003-04:00

If there ever were a constituency that ought to have some say in how Florida operates, you'd think it would be the aging and aging rapidly, along with the already aged and the near dead.

But check this out

#44 in long term care in the nation, Florida is.

Truly wonderful how states manage to fuck the very people they are supposed to serve.

You go, Rick Scott! You go, Tallahassee! You go, state Reps!

Candidate Flowchart: Asshat Contingent

2011-09-08T10:50:00.002-04:00

How do Republicans get to be Republicans?

2011-09-04T23:44:00.006-04:00

Greed, stupidity, and sucking up to social strongfolks, according to this piece by Mike Lofgren, a former Republican staffer.

To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it may have come as a shock that the Republican Party is so full of lunatics.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

It is the apocalyptic frame of reference of fundamentalists, their belief in an imminent Armageddon, that psychologically conditions them to steer this country into conflict, not only on foreign fields (some evangelicals thought Saddam was the Antichrist and therefore a suitable target for cruise missiles), but also in the realm of domestic political controversy.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

If you think Paul Ryan and his Ayn Rand-worshipping colleagues aren't after your Social Security and Medicare, I am here to disabuse you of your naiveté.[5] They will move heaven and earth to force through tax cuts that will so starve the government of revenue that they will be "forced" to make "hard choices" - and that doesn't mean repealing those very same tax cuts, it means cutting the benefits for which you worked.

UnCut FuckButts

2011-09-01T18:04:00.004-04:00

Pure RipOff:

http://www.uncut2dollar.com/

Preying upon elderly with senile pitch (buy $8 for only $48!)

Compleat and utter nonsense from Ohio - almost as dumb as Baggers.

BBB calls UnFucked2$Bullshit.com "misleading"! Bold and Vigilant!

Uncut two dollah
Uncut two dollar
Uncut 2 dollar
Uncut2dollar
Uncutsuckbutt
Uncuttewdolor
Uncuttablestcravenvileness

What an Uncut great nancyboy site!

http://www.uncut2dollar.com/
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http://www.uncut2dollar.com/
http://www.uncut2dollar.com/
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Man I know, 81, sent $200, didn't even receive his fucking $2 sheet of buttfucks. You get UnCutButtFucked for free!

Let's hear it for UNCutOHIO

When is your ambition bigger than your arse?

2011-07-20T23:03:00.003-04:00

SARASOTA: Vern Buchanan up shite's creek?

A former business partner has accused U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan in new court documents of ordering a plan to violate federal election laws and threatening “consequences” if the scheme became public.

In the documents, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Buchanan’s former business partner Sam Kazran stated for the first time that he has evidence — voicemails, emails, canceled bank checks and a list of witnesses — to support his claims that Buchanan masterminded a plan to funnel money from his workers into his campaign, with his dealership reimbursing them.

http://htpolitics.com/2011/07/20/ex-business-partner-claims-buchanan-ordered-plan-to-violate-election-laws/

Scott and Koch with your Poverty?

2011-07-04T13:20:00.003-04:00

In Seminole County, near Orlando, Fla., so many kids have lost their homes that school busses now stop at dozens of cheap motels where families crowd into rooms, living week to week.

American families have been falling out of the middle class in record numbers. The combination of lost jobs and millions of foreclosures means a lot of folks are homeless and hungry for the first time in their lives. more

Florida, Land of Slavery

2011-06-28T19:42:00.004-04:00

Listen to this interview with a guy who bothered to look at why Florida tomatoes are like tasteless rocks, and under those rocks found slaves.

Naples! Listen up - this is your land - the land of Rick Scott - living off slaves.

Where on those god-fearing Teapippies on this? Fleeing to hell ahead of their DOOM?

Have a great Conquistador Celebration, Mr. and Ms. Asshat Penilstaters!

More here.

Teaglodytes find someone even dumber than Trump

2011-05-28T09:36:00.003-04:00

It ain't easy, but when it comes to finding the bigger asshat,
US folk are better than anyone in the world at one-upmanship.

The david brooksie meme

2011-05-23T22:49:00.003-04:00

h/t to Driftglass, whose image this is:

b

Trumping the Asshats

2011-05-01T18:51:00.005-04:00

Click here.:

Mr. and Mrs. Penilestate go to the beach

2011-04-25T11:01:00.000-04:00

Tea Bag, Anyone?

2011-04-18T23:19:00.002-04:00

Quiet Eloquence

2011-04-18T10:52:00.000-04:00

A Rally

2011-04-16T14:18:00.016-04:00

It was a Tax Day Rally in Florida, held by teapartymanatee.org

So I attended, with a couple of friends, a tea party meeting in Bradenton. Here's a report on it from the press, followed by a few observations of yrs truly:

http://sarasota.patch.com/articles/local-tea-partiers-call-for-freedom-from-debt

It was like an old church revival meeting, combined with a neighborhood fundraiser, combined with a small business card exchange, combined with a political campaign rally, combined with an ancestral worship service.

The dominant interwoven image used by nearly every speaker: fire.

None of which quite captures the odd "spirit" of the small crowd (I estimated about 150, dwindling to 80 after a couple of hours) that seemed both bored, easily aroused to vitriol, and capable of vigorously believing anything the numerous people taking turns at the podium had to say.

In some particular:

1. The MC for this circus was a guy who's an AM talk show host who calls himself "Captain America:"

The Captain

2. Evangelical fervor:

One guy, a Vice Pres. of Tea Party Manatee named Steve Vernon, got the crowd going simply by telling them to shout out their immediate feelings about a series of names:

Obama - Pelosi - Harry Reid - all brought boos, excoriations, execrations. Then, a few TP faves brought raves and cheers, culminating in RICK SCOTT - who is clearly the idol of this party.

Another guy, Eddie Adams Jr., was the sole black - not just sole black speaker, but sole black - at the gathering. He's a conservative AM radio talk show host, and his topic was jobs and the economy. His analysis went basically:

"This is a godly country" (crowd happy)

"A godly country!" (crowd happier - but, because there are no blacks, there is a fatal shortage of "yeah"s "say it"s "praise the Lord!"s and foot stomps.)

"This is the only country on earth that figured out that if you help others it allow us to win!"

"We have a great governor" (YEAHHHHHH!)

"The government doesn't make jobs - people make jobs" (YEAH!)
"The Pet Rock!" (YEAH!)
"That's called Capitalism!" (huzzahs)

3. Dignitaries

A svelte blonde is called out from the podium, identified as an aide to Vern Buchanan, Republican Rep. from Sarasota -- Ford Dealer, All-Around Rich Fellow. She's sitting with a guy who looks like a somewhat less crinkled version of Neil Young if Neil Young were a Tea Party eminence grise and a pundit.

Robin Steublen is called forth and identified as a founder. One who was there at the beginning, way back in 2009. I happen to have known Steublen when he was a verbally outspoken lawn maintenance guy in Punta Gorda trying to run for County Commission back in, like, 1996.

His big thing this evening was "E-verify" - a means of making sure illegal aliens are detected and evicted.

Steublen also advanced the idea that the Tea Party don't need no stinckin' Republicans:

"The RNC thinks we are irrelevant!"

4. Don Baldouf, candidate for something or other:

"States can nullify anything"

A fine point of Constitutional law:

"Feb. 3, 1913 was a turning point in Amurikan History - do you know why? Congress passed the Income Tax - the 16th amendment - It's unconstitutional."

States' Rights is big with the Tea party:

- just create a board of Governors, nullify the 16th Amendment, and say to Iowa, "Florida won't pay for your corn crop storm damage!" etc.

5. Crissie, a founder of 13 Patriots, a Sarasota organization, says fiscal matters matter most, but social things aren't unimportant. We have voters who are ignorant and immoral - they know nothing about Capitalism! They're Athiests!

Crissie invited us to a film called "Agenda: Grinding America Down"

Trailer starts with Reagan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH8LkIqu1c8

6. A Young Republican ("I'm Young!") named Bryan Tupper ("a rising star" according to Capt. America) said we need to stop "the Obama Machine." He tweets here.

"I was actually in favor of the government shutting down."

Rising Star

On Facebook:

BeeSure Financial Services
Administrative assistant, Marketing · Feb 2011 to present ·Bradenton, Florida
Basically, I help out around the office and help with the marketing of the business.

7. Paul Galvano, former State Rep., revealed that our tax dollars are being taken by the government.

"We're tired of it" he said, in his best Network imitation. The crowd, having heard this so much it is numb, valiantly tried to rouse itself to care.

"I served on Gov. Scott's transition team"

his closer:

"Frankly, I choose freedom."

8. Robin DiSabatino, Manatee County Commissioner,dist. 4:

"We have to light a fire" (another school board member was introduced as "a little firebrand.")

Small businesses got named in great numbers.

"We've got a railroad!"

9. Dr. Julio Gonzalez MD

Obamacare - sucks.

10. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater

The Big Gun.

There's a yellow flag over there with a snake on it - you see it? That's a rattlesnake - it has keen eyes - and in 1776 etc. 13 rattles "Don't tread on me"

Ben Franklin, Geo. Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams - yep, all Tea Partiers.

Good storyteller - wonderful, absolutely apocryphal story of small biz guy teaching him the truths of Tea.

Debt exceeds 90% of GDP - "Fall of moral strength"

Start brushfires - we're starting 'em

The only book on display:

UNDERDOGMA

http://www.under-dogma.com/

By Michael Prell

“Michael Prell skillfully exposes how our misplaced emphasis to cheer on the underdogs, especially in the international community, will erode America’s status not only as a superpower, but also as the greatest nation in the world. A must read for anyone who believes in maintaining America’s presence as a global leader."
- Congresswoman MICHELE BACHMANN, (R, MN-6), leader of the Tea Party Caucus

“Underdogma is the Rosetta Stone for our time’s most portentous puzzle: Why do so many in this country — including some in leadership positions — abhor our national greatness and seek to diminish it at every turn? Michael Prell has ‘broken the code,’ and in so doing made an invaluable contribution to preserving and strengthening American exceptionalism.” - FRANK GAFFNEY, Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy, Ronald Reagan’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy

“Clever, accurate, droll and timely: The meek shall inherit contrariness.” - JOHN BATCHELOR, nationally-syndicated radio host

Florida land of penile uteruses

2011-04-06T14:26:00.003-04:00

Florida House Republicans have introduced at least 18 bills aimed at restricting women's control over their own uteruses— more

Faces of Penility

2011-04-03T10:03:00.002-04:00

Rick Scott's policies favor his family business?
Jones burns Koran.

Actual News Photo of the Present Governor of Florida, Rick Scott

2011-03-23T14:13:00.001-04:00

Be very afraid.

Source: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/state_news/032311-gov.-scott-overwhelmed-by-first-facebook-town-hall

Find an anti-Rick Gathering to Swell

2011-03-07T17:19:00.002-05:00

Oh the places you'll go: Locations around the Penile State.

Take a Ride with Rick

2011-03-02T06:57:00.002-05:00

On the Oxy Express:

EnlargeJoe Raedle/Getty Images

A pharmacy manager counts out the correct number of pills to fill a prescription in Miami.

text size A A A

March 2, 2011

Florida is the epicenter of a prescription drug abuse epidemic. Each day in communities from Jacksonville to Fort Lauderdale, thousands of doses of powerful narcotics like oxycodone are dispensed in pain clinics — storefront operations also called "pill mills."

When he started at the Broward County Sheriff's department 30 years ago, Al Lamberti says, the department was raiding crack houses and busting junkies.

"Nowadays, the drug dealers are working out of strip malls," he says.

Lamberti heads the sheriff's office in a county that includes Fort Lauderdale. It's a city that has become a destination, not just for spring breakers, but also for addicts and drug traffickers.

"We have more pain clinics than McDonald's," he says. "They're taking their toll."

...

Florida does have a prescription drug database. After years of lobbying by law enforcement, the state legislature passed a bill last session to create one. It just didn't provide money to pay for it. A private foundation stepped in and began raising funds for the database.

EnlargeCliff Owen/AP

Florida Gov. Rick Scott says he is opposed to a prescription drug database because it is an invasion of privacy.

But recently, Gov. Rick Scott has come out foursquare against it. Scott hasn't said much about why he wants to kill it. When pressed at a recent news conference, he said: "I believe it's an invasion of privacy and...it appears that the money's been wasted."

Lamberti recently joined a dozen federal, state and local law enforcement officials at a news conference held to announce a major crackdown on Florida's pill mills. It was a series of busts, from Palm Beach to Miami, that included more than 20 arrests and the seizure of more than $22 million in cash, exotic cars and real estate.

It came from the swamp

2011-02-22T19:30:00.002-05:00

The squamous GUV probably had no legal authority to sell the people's planes:

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/02/jds-new-letter-to-rick-scott-show-me-your-legal-authority.html

Can someone please send him back to his bayou?

Generations of Macks Insist on being Illiterate!

2011-02-16T14:25:00.003-05:00

Representative Connie Mack of Florida plans to propose an amendment to Congress that would eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

http://don411.com/don411/blogs/entry/Representative-Connie-Mack-of-Florida-plans-to-propose-an-amendment-to-Congress-that-would-eliminate-the-National-Endowment-for-the-Arts-NEA-

Dude, read a book, broaden your torpid mind.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!

2011-02-15T20:12:00.003-05:00

-- love my Serfs - rare, medium, or Wal-Mart well done!

Gov. Scott: Don't Pimp My Ride

2011-02-12T13:58:00.009-05:00

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott on Friday authorized the sale of two state airplanes to out-of-state bidders for a total of nearly $3.7 million, fulfilling a campaign promise. StPeteTimes

Dear Governor Scott:

We understand your fatal attraction for billionaire perks, but you must understand: Florida, the Penile State, is not your personal Bunga Bunga room.

You are selling the public's airplanes and plan to ride around in your own, keeping your travel records secret while on state business.

This is like telling Florida: "My mistress doesn't need to drive, I'll send my chauffeur." Or, "Now you little girl just sit and look sweet while Sugar Daddy takes care of all your pretty little needs."

The public sector is not your private harlot, Governor Scott. Do not sell what we own, since after we toss you on your ear in 4 years (or before), we'll elect other folks, hopefully non-billionaires, who might occasionally do state business that could use a state plane.

While we're at it, don't sell our schools, our teachers, our community leaders, or our water, air, or underwater rights.

In fact, don't sell us, period. If we wanted to pimp our planes, we wouldn't need your teaparty illogic to do it.

At least it's not Bangladesh

2011-01-19T21:32:00.003-05:00

Florida, Netherlands of USia:

Nearly half of homeowners in Florida had mortgages that were underwater in the third quarter, according to CoreLogic.

Reptile Solace and Reinvigoration

2011-01-06T15:54:00.004-05:00

Who's Dreaming Gov. Scott?

2011-01-04T13:04:00.015-05:00

In his inaugural address today, newly installed Florida Gov. Rick Scott said "dreams are the stuff Florida is made of." He also fervently expressed his desire to remove every shred of regulatory oversight that he says hampers the private sector.

Below are some facts about fraud in Florida. Who is dreaming?

Florida Ranks No. 1 Nationally in Mortgage Fraud
Recent figures reveal that Florida ranks first in the nation as it relates to those whose mortgages are seriously delinquent. But that is not the only dubious distinction where Florida tops the nation. Now, reports indicate that Florida can also claim first place in the number of mortgage frauds.

Expect major new busts in fighting $2.5 billion Florida fraud rings
South Florida easily ranks number one when it comes to healthcare fraud in the U.S., which is why the two are holding the first of several meetings across the nation right here.

Tampa Ranks First in Auto Insurance Fraud
Wondering where the highest cases of auto insurance fraud have occurred in the past year? Look no further than Tampa, Fla. According to the Tampa Police Department, the city is number one for fraudulent auto insurance claims.

Special Agent Ellen Wilcox
Florida ranks first in the nation in mortgage fraud, and the Florida legislature has passed stringent legislation facilitating the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of mortgage fraud.

Florida Ranks Third for Identity Theft
The State Attorney’s Office says the latest statistics show Florida moving up on the list of states with high rates of identity theft.

Miami clinic owners arrested in PIP fraud sweep
The Florida Division of Insurance Fraud made more than 830 insurance fraud-related arrests in the last fiscal year.
According to a recent National Insurance Crime Bureau report, Florida leads the nation in staged accidents. In the first half of last year, Florida had 631 staged accidents.

Identity Theft Information In Florida: Don't Be A Victim!
Florida ranked 6th in identity theft rating in the entire United states. The most common locations of these thefts are Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale.

New Report Ranks Florida Number One for Mortgage Fraud

Florida AG Likens Mortgage Fraud to "State of Emergency"
Florida ranked second in the nation for mortgage fraud activity during 2008, after ranking first during 2006 and 2007, according to recent data released by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute, or MARI.

10 busted for auto insurance fraud; you're paying for it
Tampa, Florida -- The Tampa Bay area has earned a claim to fame we'd rather not have, ranking first in the state when it comes to staged auto crashes and second in the country behind Brooklyn, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Fraud Friendly Florida
"Retirees in Florida are losing their homes to foreclosure, not because they didn't pay their bills as required, but because the laws of Florida leave them unprotected."

Florida Land of Exploitation

2010-12-28T23:05:00.001-05:00

Not exactly tourism down Miami way:

Robo-Signers r Us

2010-12-13T12:49:00.002-05:00

A Big Robosigning Firm Just Opened Themselves Up To Public Scrutiny

Hail Miami, leading edge of worstness

2010-12-10T21:39:00.002-05:00

Let us count the ways:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=miami+worst+in+nation

STATE FARM: WE FUCK YOU VERY MUCH

2010-12-06T20:12:00.003-05:00

Florida, Penile State extraordinaire, penetrated by the sharpsters at State Farm. See brilliant piece in the Herald Tribune.

How State Farm cashed in on a crisis

Through DaVinci, State Farm quietly continues to collect money from thousands of former customers who were told their homes were too risky to insure. MORE

One question the article does not address: Where were the "regulators?" Does the PENILE STATE actually have regulators? What do they do? How do they do it? With what budget? etc.

2010-11-21T20:22:00.002-05:00

"Rocket Docket" courts set up in Florida to expedite the process of dirtbag lenders are kicking people out of their homes without having to provide any real evidence that the banks own the note or that the homeowners are delinquent, according to Matt Taibbi:

The bank's new set of papers also traces ownership of the loan from the original lender, Novastar, to JP Morgan and then to Bank of New York. The bank, in other words, is trying to push through a completely new set of documents in its attempts to foreclose on Kowalski's clients.
There's only one problem: The dates of the transfers are completely fucked. More.

2010-11-21T20:22:00.001-05:00

The bank's new set of papers also traces ownership of the loan from the original lender, Novastar, to JP Morgan and then to Bank of New York. The bank, in other words, is trying to push through a completely new set of documents in its attempts to foreclose on Kowalski's clients.
There's only one problem: The dates of the transfers are completely fucked. More.

More Penile State Genius

2010-11-19T21:59:00.001-05:00

Man Tied to Housing Scheme Arrested for Grand Theft

Investigators say McNair is running a business called Homes for Americans that finds houses in foreclosure and leases them to unsuspecting victims. These victims pay a membership fee to his company and pay monies to McNair to lease property that he does not own. See more here.

Penile Freedom

2010-11-19T09:46:00.000-05:00

mysuncoast ABC 7 News Sarasota

63 small dogs abandoned on rural Florida road shar.es/XnQMu

3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Election Night Fun

2010-11-02T20:45:00.003-04:00

Go here and pick Fiona, and have her say, in Italian:

questi tea party republicani sono stronzi

at least somebody's still talking sense...

Bring it on, Tea Party

2010-10-04T19:05:00.003-04:00

Your hardcore Dixieland fans in the Penile State want you so baaaad!

Your local bank.. er, burglar.

2010-10-04T18:53:00.001-04:00

`
It is illegal for any bank representative to enter a property if they have not yet retaken it at a foreclosure sale, especially if there is any sign the home is occupied, foreclosure experts say.

The process of banks hiring people to break into homes, even when occupied, is just the latest oddity of the messy foreclosure crisis in Florida.

Some property owners are reporting the break-ins to law enforcement as burglaries. Yet investigators consider the disputes a civil matter because the contractors do not display criminal intent.

That essentially leaves the property owners without recourse.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101004/ARTICLE/10041051/2416/NEWS?p=1&tc=pg

Baggers bagged by Oligarchic Corporate State

2010-09-30T00:10:00.002-04:00

In the Tea Party narrative, victory at the polls means a new American revolution, one that will "take our country back" from everyone they disapprove of. But what they don't realize is, there's a catch: This is America, and we have an entrenched oligarchical system in place that insulates us all from any meaningful political change. The Tea Party today is being pitched in the media as this great threat to the GOP; in reality, the Tea Party is the GOP.

Vast forests have already been sacrificed to the public debate about the Tea Party: what it is, what it means, where it's going. But after lengthy study of the phenomenon, I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of shit. All of them.

READ the whole fucking thing and weep tears of laughter.

Let's hear it for Rick Scott

2010-09-25T20:42:00.005-04:00

Would anyone have any objections if we stipulate that he's a scumbag? (That's our interpretation - not necessarily that of the sender of the message that follows)

Republican Rick Scott announced two policy proposals if he is elected. One is to allow Citizen's Insurance to raise rates to encourage more private companies to get back into the Florida's insurance market. He believes that if we raise the rates of 1.2 million Florida households, more private insurance companies will be interested in coming back to Florida. This plan will allow insurance companies to raise rates without almost any limits or regulations (details here).

His second plan is to save money by gutting the prison budget by a billion dollars. Law enforcement, prison, and union officials warn that a billion dollar cut would force some prisons to close and some dangerous inmates to be released. Scott wants to model our prison system after Texas. This coming from the Scott who touts he will add 700,000 jobs to Florida's economy when he is actually planning to cut thousands of jobs. (details here)

As if this is not enough, HCA and the lobbyists for US Sugar Corp are hosting a fundraiser for Rick Scott at Yankee Stadium on Sunday at the Yankees-Red Sox game. Yes, the same HCA that was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud under Scott's watch. And yes, the same US Sugar Corp that poured millions in ads trashing Rick Scott during the primary. All this fundraising for Rick Scott who was on TV every twenty minutes during the primary calling himself the "outsider" who could be counted on not to take lobbying money. Hah! (details here)

Business Weak

2010-09-25T16:26:00.004-04:00

Read the BW story about premature foreclosures:

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Attorneys general in three U.S. states are investigating foreclosures at Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit after the lender said it would halt some evictions following a discovery of faulty documentation.

Then read this:

Penile State is Number One

2010-09-21T11:32:00.007-04:00

At Powerball:

Florida Stiffs: #47

2010-09-21T11:17:00.002-04:00

Trends and Highlights for Civic Engagement in Florida:

In Florida, 3 million adults volunteered with an organization (20.9%) - ranking them at number 47 among the 50 states and Washington, DC.
1.1 million residents in Florida worked with neighbors to fix a community problem (7.2%).
45.9 percent of Florida residents donated money, assets, or property with a combined value of more than $25 to charitable or religious organizations.
58.7 percent of residents in Florida voted in the 2008 Presidential election- ranking them at number 31 among the 50 states and Washington, DC.
The first two bullets average data from 2007 to 2009; the third bullet averages data from 2008 to 2009; and the last bullet on voting reflects single year data from 2008.
Please visit the glossary at www.serve.gov/civic for more information on the terms listed within this profile.

Been there, done that, Mr. Jones?

2010-09-09T10:58:00.002-04:00

Never Underestimate the Insanity of Floridians

2010-09-06T08:20:00.005-04:00

Dateline Gainesville, FL - home of UF, prestigious bastion of learning:

We met with the Fire Marshal and agreed to all their stipulations. There was no legal reason to turn us down. It was strictly a political move. We will on 9/11 still burn Korans. Dunceworld Outreach Center

Breaking Stupidity...

Dunceworld embeds a video of hard-to-beat loonytunity:

Weimar Election Parallel Strikes Penile State

2010-08-25T07:41:00.005-04:00

Florida Land of Ersatz Genius.

The German federal election, March 1933 in the Weimar Republic was held on 5 March 1933. Thanks to the success of the Nazi Party and its allies in the poll, its leader and Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, was able to pass the Enabling Act, which effectively gave him the power of a dictator.

The Nazis performed best in Eastern Germany.

Dems favor Meek, Rabid Reps lick Rick

2010-08-24T22:23:00.002-04:00

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41423.html

Razing Arizona

2010-08-12T14:23:00.001-04:00

Asshat says Penilestate will shame Arizona into screwing illegals even more bigger.

Wreck Scott

2010-08-12T13:59:00.002-04:00

Way to go Rick! From the Florida Independent:

Rick Scott health care company accused of overbilling Medicare

Two weeks before Florida’s primary, new allegations of improper Medicare billing by Solantic, a health care company co-founded by Rick Scott, have surfaced, in addition to charges made by former Solantic doctors that their names and licenses were used without their consent. Within hours of being pressed for answers by The Florida Independent, Solantic officials and Scott held hastily arranged press conferences Tuesday to rebut the charges. more...

Red Alert from Red State Bonehead

2010-07-30T13:19:00.003-04:00

Creative Loafing offers a helpful perspective on Rich Swier and his minions.

The stage is set for the day’s main event. Dr. Richard Swier, editor of local conservative blog Red County, will have his chance to appeal the decision of a district advisory committee that denied his “request for reconsideration of instructional material,” a formal complaint originally filed on April 25. Swier sought to have the textbook World History: Patterns of Interaction removed from the school curriculum, believing that it unfairly favors the religion of Islam over Christianity. more...

Dengue, Dispersants, and the Creeps who protect us

2010-07-21T21:32:00.006-04:00

Florida Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA and Army Experiments

Wednesday 21 July 2010
by: H.P. Albarelli Jr. and Zoe Martell, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

With little fanfare on July 13, Florida officials released the findings of a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study conducted recently in the Key West area revealing that about 10 percent, or 1,000 people, of the coastal town's population are infected with the dengue fever virus.

In the early 1950s, Fort Detrick, in partnership with the CIA, launched a multi-million dollar research program under which dengue fever and several addition exotic diseases were studied for use in offensive biological warfare attacks.

... three sites in Florida, Key West, Panama City and Avon Park, as well as two other locations in central Florida, were used for experiments with mosquito-borne dengue fever and other biological substances.

The experiments in Avon Park, about 170 miles from Miami, were covertly conducted in a low-income African-American neighborhood that contained several newly constructed public housing projects. CIA documents related to its top-secret Project MK/NAOMI clearly indicate that the mosquitoes used in Avon Park were the Aedes aegypti type. Specially equipped aircraft, in one of the larger experiments, released 600,000 mosquitoes over the area. In one of the Avon Park experiments, about 150,000 mosquitoes were dropped in paper bags designed to open upon impact with the ground. Each bag held about 1,000 insects. Besides dengue, some of the mosquitoes were also carrying yellow fever.

Your insurer is regulated by assholes

2010-04-19T14:37:00.003-04:00

So when my insurance co. is faced with claims for my home, or those of my neighbors, what if it doesn't have the money?

Which, according to the Herald Tribune, is likely to be the case. The fine story by Paige St. John says:

Eager to replace national carriers fleeing the state and to reduce government-sponsored coverage, regulators have bet Florida's future on companies they know are shaky. They allowed at least four insurers on the verge of failure to write policies through most of 2009, the Herald-Tribune found.

If my insurer goes broke, will it mortgage its headquarters, auction its desks and cars and jets and fax machines, to come up with the cash for its customers to repair their homes?

If not, they should not be in business. Indeed, they should be in jail.

Why are insurance companies, which essentially are ponzi-style bank schemes, not re-organized to represent the people whose needs they are supposed to be serving?

Reporklicans and hypocrites to boot

2010-02-17T19:53:00.000-05:00

At least 116 Republican governors, senators, and representatives have spent the past year railing against the Recovery Act, while simultaneously requesting funds to create jobs in their districts and taking credit for projects at ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

As the independent PolitiFact put it, they're trying "have their cake... and vote against it too." They know the Recovery Act is creating jobs, but they think attacking it will bring them victory in the 2010 elections.

Not so fast. We're preparing to meet every hypocritical attack with press conferences in states across the nation and a rapid-response program to fact check every lie. But we need your help to make it happen.

Please donate $5 or more today to support our campaign against Recovery Act hypocrisy.

Today is the anniversary of the President signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that has saved or created at least 2 million jobs, cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, and made loans to over 42,000 small businesses. And as a former governor, I can tell you it also provided critical relief for state governments facing record budget shortfalls.

But don't take it from me. Listen to Rep. Joe Wilson, who told the Department of Agriculture that the money he was seeking "would provide jobs and investment" for his South Carolina district. Or take it from Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty, who balanced his state budget with the same funds he's so often attacked on TV.

Even the GOP leadership that went all out to kill the bill has gotten into the game -- Sen. Mitch McConnell has bragged about funding for a military project in Kentucky, while Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor sought funds for a high-speed rail project in Virginia to create jobs.

President Obama has made it clear he knows that we're not out of the woods yet, and he's focused on creating jobs. Honesty with the American people is one of the obligations of leadership.

In stark contrast, Republicans are engaged in a hypocritical campaign of attacks -- and they're proving what we've said all along: Their opposition is about politics, pure and simple.

We're going to prove that it's not winning politics -- but we need your support to expose their hypocrisy:

https://my.democrats.org/hypocrisy

Fight the merger

2009-12-03T12:57:00.002-05:00

Comcast's pack of sleazy wolves are not what this nation needs to rebuild some semblance of open, public, communication. Take action now to stop this disaster - or, if the folks in power have no scruples, then make sure they can't say they allowed this to go forward in blind ignorance of the facts:

"Crist may have just handed the election to Rubio"

2009-10-28T11:49:00.003-04:00

Florida Governor Crist claims he had no idea President Obama was visiting his state

The thunderous crashing sound off in the distance is Crist’s Senate candidacy hitting the ground in a million tiny pieces while his Senate opponent Marco Rubio phones in an order for a ‘Thank You’ basket to send Charlie’s way....

The Problem With Charlie is now one of accountability, credibility, and truthfulness. more...

And if Gov. weren't intent on proving he's a total asshat already:

The public option has Crist riled

You can take the Asshat out of Florida...

2009-10-22T11:08:00.001-04:00

St. Petersburg Times: Newest senator takes low road

Published Wednesday, October 21, 2009

In just six weeks, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux has succumbed to Washington. In his initial floor speech, LeMieux opted for partisan rhetoric over honest debate about the growing federal deficit. Florida's junior senator squandered a golden opportunity to use the bully pulpit he'll command for just 16 months.

In Tallahassee, LeMieux, Gov. Charlie Crist's former chief of staff, was credited with helping the governor's populist appeal. But Wednesday, he sacrificed candor in a predictable play to a partisan constituency. He reasonably equated Congress to a family who recklessly relies on credit cards to pay the bills. But he implied the runaway spending stems from Democratic control, ignoring that it began under President George W. Bush.

LeMieux really lost the high ground when he bragged that Crist and the Florida Legislature have cut spending by nearly 10 percent, or $7 billion, to balance the budget. LeMieux's omission: This year's state budget was balanced only because of $5 billion in federal stimulus dollars and $2.2 billion in new taxes and fees. Florida didn't live within its means. In fact, it was more like the spoiled offspring of a wealthy family who called Mom or Dad for a bailout.

Congress needs to make some hard choices, which would include both reducing spending and raising taxes, to address the deficit. But LeMieux did nothing to advance that cause. He lambasted congressional spending after building a career in Florida accepting its largesse. He bemoaned both the current health care system and Democratic reform plans, but offered no solution of his own. He championed further tax cuts but criticized potential cuts to Medicare, thereby defending an entitlement that is among the main drivers of the deficit. LeMieux can't have it both ways. He can't work for solutions and join the partisan fighting that does neither America nor Florida in particular any good.

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1045859.ece

Dented equipment ready to fail in Sarasota

2009-10-19T13:06:00.002-04:00

Via the Brad Blog:

The November 3rd Election Day is nearing, so naturally the words "glitch," "hiccup," "snafu," and "snag" are back in the headlines, instead of the word "failure," which would be the appropriate one to use in such cases.
Today, it's our old friends in Sarasota, under the continuing and now-legendarily failed direction of Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent and her latest failed voting system, this one an optical-scan system made by Diebold, featured in the Charlotte Sun's"Scanning glitch in vote machine test": more...

Yes, but how many were elected representatives?

2009-10-17T15:33:00.001-04:00

Feds: 223 Gang Arrests in Florida

Saturday, October 17, 2009

WASHINGTON — U.S. immigration authorities say 223 gang members and associates were arrested in Florida in the last fiscal year.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Operation Community Shield led to 1,785 arrests in 89 cities nationwide. The arrests were made between Oct. 1, 2008, and Sept. 30.

The 223 gang members and associates arrested in Florida faced charges of attempted murder, robbery, and various drug and weapons charges.

In Operation Community Shield, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies share information and resources to arrest, prosecute and imprison or deport gang members.

Florida immigration officials say the operation has helped dismantle or disrupt numerous gang and drug trafficking organizations. Link.

Teabaggers Stupify Even Republicans

2009-10-16T12:23:00.005-04:00

In Florida, Republican leaders were elated when popular Florida Gov. Charlie Crist agreed to run for the Senate. He has adopted policies such as an aggressive approach to global warming that appeal even to Democrats. Those very policies infuriated conservatives, as did Mr. Crist's decision to campaign with President Barack Obama on behalf of the president's $787 billion stimulus package.
"He was Judas to the Republican Party in the state of Florida and across the country," says Robin Stublen, 53, of Punta Gorda, co-state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, a loose national coalition. "He sold us out for 13 pieces of gold."
A spokesman for Mr. Crist said the governor made sure stimulus dollars went to items important to Florida voters.
Mr. Crist has drawn a primary challenge from Marco Rubio, a former Florida House speaker, who is aggressively seeking tea-party members' support. #

Another distinction for Florida

2009-10-15T06:55:00.004-04:00

A recent string of arrests of public officials in Florida has led Gov. Charlie Crist to ask for a special grand jury. It will examine whether Florida has, as the governor suggests, a "culture of corruption." Link.

"It's obvious to me that something's wrong," said Crist, who noted he has removed 30 officials from their jobs since becoming governor in January 2007. "Fundamental problems within the system ... may be in fact cultivating a culture of corruption."

A similar effort a decade ago by former Gov. Jeb Bush to toughen laws that would make it easier to ferret out public corruption was largely rejected by Florida's Republican-dominated Legislature.

Crist's decision to have the high court impanel a statewide grand jury comes just two weeks after one of his top campaign contributors, Dr. Alan Mendelsohn of Hollywood, surrendered to the FBI on charges he ran a multimillion-dollar fraudulent fund raising and lobbying operation.

Three prominent politicians in Florida's second-most populous county, Democrat-controlled Broward County, were arrested last month on federal corruption charges, accused of accepting thousands of dollars in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen seeking illegal favors.

Crist issued executive orders suspending Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion - who just hours before his arrest voted on the county's annual budget in a late-night meeting - and county school board member Beverly Gallagher from office pending the outcome of the case.

The third person arrested, former Miramar city commissioner Fitzroy Salesman had lost his bid for re-election earlier this year. More...

A case that gathered far more publicity statewide involved former House Speaker Ray Sansom, a Destin Republican who was forced from his post in February after a state grand jury indicted him for perjury and official misconduct. The latter charge was recently dismissed.

Republicans have a Health Care Plan

2009-10-13T08:20:00.004-04:00

The next time you get Vern's frugging "Poll"

2009-10-05T22:07:00.003-04:00

Consider the context in which Vern Buchanan offers his kneejerk questions:

Surveys designed to persuade rather than survey are a common though dirty tactic in the political arena, the text equivalent of telephone push-polls. The sending of polls for fundraising purposes is also widely considered unethical, a practice known as "frugging" -- fundraising under the guise of research. In August, the RNC suggested in a similarly formatted "Future of American Health Care Survey" that "GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system." Following on outcry from Democrats, a Republican Party spokesperson called that survey "inartfully worded."

More context

Another near first-place triumph for Penile State

2009-10-05T11:54:00.002-04:00

Florida has the second-lowest rate of health insurance for people younger than 65 in the country, trailing only Texas, a new U.S. Census survey shows. Excluding Medicare-eligible senior citizens, one in four Floridians lives without any form of medical coverage. Link.

Bye-bye, Charlie

2009-09-30T11:48:00.001-04:00

Watching Charlie on CNN push his Cover Florida health plan was hysterical. In two years, the program has signed up a grand total of 4,000 people. Like everything else, Charlie got it passed in the Legislature, grabbed some headlines, and abandoned it until dusting it off for a political campaign. If this is the answer to the nation's health care woes, it's time to bring on the death panels.
"Cover Florida is an oxymoran,'' says Beckey Cherney, president and CEO of the Central Florida Healthcare Coalition. "If you held it up as a national model, it would be what you would not do.'' link

Now this

2009-09-27T12:56:00.000-04:00

Florida Stars of Tomorrow - make that Yesterday

2009-09-24T10:44:00.001-04:00

Broward County Commissioner and Vice Mayor Josephus Eggelletion, 60, was charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to help launder more than $900,000 through a Bahamas bank account from what the undercover FBI agents told him was an investment fraud scheme. For his efforts, he was paid more than $23,000.
A county school board member, 51-year-old Beverly Gallagher, is accused of accepting $12,500 - some stuffed in official board of education envelopes - to help steer school business toward FBI agents posing as representatives of glass and construction companies.
The third political figure charged, former Miramar city commissioner Fitzroy Salesman, 52, is accused of taking $3,340 from undercover agents pretending to seek contracts to replace a gymnasium floor and build a park gazebo. Earlier this year, Salesman was convicted of a misdemeanor charge after drawing a pistol in a grocery store during an argument with another shopper.
FBI corruption probe nets 3 Fla. politicians

SW Penile a Ponzi Haven???? Who Knew???

2009-09-20T20:56:00.005-04:00

Someone call Vern Buchanan!

Although, it's not exactly a secret that developers, real estate con artists, lawyers, title co's, health insurers, bankers, builders, home insurers and a whole lot more have run every imaginable con known to man in Southwest Florida -- pretty well known, in fact, except apparently to Pollick at the Herald Tribune who unloads his mega-revelation upon his readers as if we poor innocents had never heard of Mr. Ponzi and his sunshine fans and emulators.

Art Nadel might be bogus, but he was good at it. The Herald Tribune's excited yawp, with its feckless question:

Has the
Gulf Coast become a Ponzi haven?

falls several megatons short of helpful in showing us how Florida become the penile pyramid scheme it is today. Here at the Penile state, we've long had a tag: "Ponzi Capital of the World." Thanks, HT, for nuthin'.

Pricks, Clueless Pricks, and Seriously Stupid Pricks

2009-09-15T19:12:00.010-04:00

I overheard the president call McCain’s plan “a stunt.” Dana Perino said the negotiations were nearly over, and suddenly he was going to swoop in and muck things up? The president’s political adviser, Barry Jackson, was blunt, calling McCain a “stupid prick.”

His audience was a gold curtain next to a large portrait of George Washington.

I suggested that we also apologize to the former Soviet Union and retroactively concede the Cold War.

As events turned more surreal and staff members played the spin game with each other, I asked myself daily, What more can go wrong? The answer, of course, would be practically everything.

More...

Hilarious Horseshit: Wingnuts Need No Reality in their Crowd Estimates

2009-09-15T10:36:00.005-04:00

From Ben Dimero of Media Matters:

Eric Boehlert's latest column tracks the lie that 2 million protesters showed up at the 9/12 protests this weekend. All in all, it is a perfect microcosm of the way the conservative blogosphere functions. Facts? Who needs 'em.

Boehlert: Michelle Malkin and the anatomy of the 2 million protester lie

The exaggerations about crowd size certainly aren't restricted to the blogosphere--

Citing a university he can't remember, Beck now claims 1.7 million attended 9-12 protests

Beck, Limbaugh run wild with estimates on size of 9/12 protests

Interviewing Malkin, Dobbs claims number of 9-12 protesters in Washington "reached well over a million"

If you need anything, feel free to get in touch.

Thanks.

- Ben

Full Column:

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200909140039

Michelle Malkin and the anatomy of the 2 million protester lie

September 14, 2009 7:19 pm ET - by Eric Boehlert

Blame it on a tweet.

It turns out that's what kicked off the right-wing blogosphere's comically inept misinformation campaign last weekend to try to swell the size of Saturday's anti-Obama protest in the nation's capital, to jack the crowd size up to the wildly inflated -- and erroneous -- number of 2 million people.

Nice try.

According to estimates provided by the Washington, D.C., fire department, Malkin and friends were only off by 1,930,000 people. In other words, Malkin, citing fictitious press... more...

Sarasota Wants You, Joey

2009-09-12T16:18:00.005-04:00

Apparently if Addison Graves "Joe" Wilson Sr. lived in Sarasota he'd be making the money, not Rob Miller, his opponent:

Vern Buchanan, who held the "town meeting," doesn't need the money.

Fair question

2009-09-11T11:33:00.002-04:00

If the national Republican hierarchy couldn't keep U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., from blurting out, "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's Wednesday address to Congress, what hope does a lowly county chairman have in maintaining decorum during a protest? Eric Ernst

HEY JOE

2009-09-11T00:15:00.003-04:00

RTFM

2009-09-10T10:36:00.004-04:00

Especially for asshats of the Libertarian Persuasion:

Transcript

Famed Asshat Maneuver

2009-09-09T21:29:00.009-04:00

Update: Joe Wilson is your pre-existing condition.

Congressman Wilson is widely known as the voice who shouted "you lie" during President Obama's address to the joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009 regarding Healthcare reform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wilson_(U.S._politician)

Read and kindly apply your f***ing brains

2009-09-09T20:23:00.001-04:00

Text Of President Obama’s Speech To Joint Session Of Congress On Health Care Reform 9/9/09

Sept. 11 Town Meeting with Vern Buchanan

2009-09-08T23:48:00.003-04:00

Date:	09/11/2009, 5:30 - 7 pm
Title:	Vern Buchanan Town Hall Meeting (Sarasota)
Theme/Notes:	To discuss health care, jobs, and the economy in Sarasota
Details:	The Congressman will meet with constituents to discuss health care, jobs and the economy in Sarasota. Please RSVP by calling the Buchanan Sarasota office at 941-951-6643.
Location:	Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall located at 777 N. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota
Cost/Donation:	Free - RSVP at phone below.
Info-Phone:	941-951-6643
Info-URL:	(link supplied by Buchanan did not work)

Treasonable socialist propaganda. Call the Asshat Brigade.

2009-09-08T12:25:00.001-04:00

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Sarasota is like everyplace else: Undereducated

2009-09-08T12:12:00.002-04:00

Health Care Public Option Vigil in Sarasota, Florida Brings Out Hundreds of Supporters

... One anti-reform protester held a sign with the controversial image of Obama depicted as The Joker. Messages against the public option were mixed, ranging from "Give me liberty, not debt" to "Socialism" to "Get a Job" with lots of mentions of "Obamacare" ...