Keith talks to Dan Savage about Carrie Prejean wanna’ be Miss Beverly Hills Lauren Ashley’s statement that “God wants gays put to death”. Dan talks about how dangerous this type of over heated rhetoric is because it gives justification for others to gay bash as well and can unfortunately as we all know too well lead to violence.
Dan asks here as he did in his blog what other parts of the Bible these people would like to take literally:

The same God that allegedly scribbled out that stern warning for the gays—a God who wishes us only the best!—also condemned to death all young women who aren’t virgins on their wedding nights. So a follow-up question for Miss Beverly Hills: Are you a virgin? If not, should you be put to death? And a former Miss California—Carrie Prejean—isn’t a virgin. Should she be put to death? Would you like to cast the first stone?

American corporations used eight lobbyists for every federal lawmaker to influence the health care debate.

A new analysis by the Center for Public Integrity shows that corporate interests attempted to exert an unprecedented amount of influence in the health care debate over the past year. More than “1,750 companies and organizations hired about 4,525 lobbyists — eight for each member of Congress — to influence health reform bills in 2009.” These groups included 207 hospitals, 105 insurance companies, 85 manufacturing companies, and 745 trade, advocacy, and professional organizations. Overall, “[b]usinesses and organizations that lobbied on health reform spent more than $1.2 billion on their overall lobby efforts.” read on>> (more…)

All in the span of less than thirty seconds, Newt Gingrich manages to play the race card (saying President Obama is a Chicago thug who wants to “mug” America) and sound like a complete idiot (claiming that President Obama is like a dictator because he believes in majority rule when it comes to things like health care policy):

Well, I think that what you’re seeing is a Chicago machine politics approach that basically says, if we can run over you and mug you, then we’re going to get away with it. And I think what they don’t understand is that this is not Chicago. That the United States is not going to tolerate a group of people trying apply kind of a Hugo Chavez majoritarian rule in the Senate. I don’t it’ll happen.

het weer nu

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Reageren op ikjes. Hier kunt u reageren op het ‘ikje’ dat vandaag is gepubliceerd op de Achterpagina van het NRC Handelsblad. Op de NRC-site kan niet meer worden gereageerd op het stukje dat door de lezers zelf wordt ingezonden.
Het alternatief op drasties. Is uw ikje niet geplaatst door het NRC dan kunt u het publiceren op drasties in de categorie Trots Op Ikje. Opsturen via ‘contact us’.

Kijk dat is fijn. De banden van Spyker met de Russische maffia zijn geheel verbroken. Zie onderstaand bericht in de The Moscow Times. De Russische investeerder Vladimir Antonov heeft per 22 februari definitief zijn belang in Spyker Cars verkocht. Ook zit hij niet langer in het bestuur van Spyker Cars. De VS dreigde de overname van Saab door Spyker te blokkeren vanwege banden met de Russische maffia. Volgens de Zweedse geheime dienst Säpo zijn er sterke aanwijzingen dat Antonov betrokken is bij de georganiseerde misdaad en het witwassen van geld.
Nu hij op geen enkele manier meer betrokken is bij Spyker, is de overname van Saab door Spyker rond. Victor gefeliciteerd en succes!
Oh ja, wilt u weten waar de aandelen van Antonov zijn ondergebracht? Dat is in de holding Tenaci Capital, eigendom van Spyker-topman Victor Muller!

Vladimir Antonov Sells Spyker Interest

Stockholm, The Moscow Times - Russian investor Vladimir Antonov sold his stake in Spyker Cars and resigned as chairman as the Dutch sports-car maker completed the purchase of General Motors’ Saab unit.
Antonov no longer holds shares in Spyker as of Feb. 22, according to a regulatory filing posted Wednesday on the web site of Dutch securities regulator AFM. Antonov had owned the stock through AB Bankas Snoras and RMC Convers Group Holding, the filing said. The shares were sold to Tenaci Capital, a company controlled by Spyker CEO Victor Muller, Spyker spokesman Mike Stainton said.
Business news briefs: Spyker completes Saab purchase Detroit Free Press

typical dutch fan

Life’s mysteries: We’re really good at hockey, we’re really good on ice, so why are we rubbish at ice hockey?

In the race for groupie gold at these Olympic Games, the rabid, crimson-clad Canadian hockey hordes are being challenged on their home soil — and ice — by invaders in orange.
While there’s no doubt that the host fans have painted the town red, the most boisterous contingent in Vancouver has been the Creamsicle-colored speed-skating fans from the Netherlands, whose sports fans dress bonnet-to-wooden shoe in honor of their monarchy, whose current dynasty dates back to Willem van Oranje, or William of Orange.
The Dutch truly party like royalty in their Olympic pavilion, the Holland Heineken House, which is preparing to host its most raucous celebration to date when the country captures one more gold medal, its 100th in Olympic history. read on>> (more…)

yaakov kirschen - the jerusalem post

MediaMatters: Almost three months to the day since Fox News instituted its “zero tolerance for on-screen errors” policy, the following on-screen graphic was displayed during the February 22 edition of America’s Newsroom.

And the very next day.

Statenvertaling - Leviticus 20:13:
Wanneer ook een man bij een manspersoon zal gelegen hebben, met vrouwelijke bijligging, zij hebben beiden een gruwel gedaan; zij zullen zekerlijk gedood worden; hun bloed is op hen!

lauren ashley windt er geen doekjes om

Last year, Miss California Carrie Prejean endeared herself to the right wing when she answered a question about same-sex marriage by saying that she believes marriage “should be between a man and a woman.” Now, Miss Beverly Hills 2010 Lauren Ashley, who will compete in the Miss California pageant in November, has gone further. Ashley told Fox News that not only is she against same-sex marriage, but that she thinks it is divine law that gays should be put to death because “the Bible is pretty black and white“:

Carrie Prejean isn’t the only beauty queen open to expressing her objection to same-sex marriage. Miss Beverly Hills 2010 Lauren Ashley is also speaking out in support of traditional nuptials.
“The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus it says, ‘If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.’ The Bible is pretty black and white,” Ashley told Pop Tarts.
“I feel like God himself created mankind and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that’s a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life.”

Despite her strong words about homosexuality, Ashley also told Fox that she “has a lot of friends that are gay,” and that there’s “no hate between [her] and anyone.”
read on>> (more…)

het weer nu

Reageren op ikjes. Hier kunt u reageren op het ‘ikje’ dat vandaag is gepubliceerd op de Achterpagina van het NRC Handelsblad. Op de NRC-site kan niet meer worden gereageerd op het stukje dat door de lezers zelf wordt ingezonden.
Het alternatief op drasties. Is uw ikje niet geplaatst door het NRC dan kunt u het publiceren op drasties in de categorie Trots Op Ikje. Opsturen via ‘contact us’.

Het is drie uur, ik heb nog niet geluncht en sterf van de honger. In de kleine buurtsnackbar wacht ik op mijn broodje kroket. Twee Arabische jongemannen komen binnen. Ze doen een beetje zenuwachtig, smoezen wat, en komen achter me staan. Ik begin me ongemakkelijk te voelen. Als ze iets in de zin hebben, nou, dan sta ik mooi ingesloten.
Bij het: ‘Zegt u het maar’, vragen ze om een patatje oorlog.
Já hoor, denk ik, daar heb je ’t al. Nu volgt zeker: ‘Dit is een overval!!’
“Met uitjes?”
“Oh graag!… lekker!”
“Gaat u maar zitten, ik kom het zo brengen.”

Ilona

Vier jaar heeft Nederland in Irak gezeten en vervolgens vier jaar in Afghanistan. In dat laatste land zijn 21 Nederlandse doden gevallen. Lees hier wat een echte neoconservatieve Amerikaan van de Nederlandse bijdrage vindt. Anoniem! Zie ook de reactie van FJV op het ‘cheap sneer article on this board by some spineless bastard’.

Taliban Defeat The Dutch

February 23, 2010: …The enemy is encouraged by the recent Dutch decision to withdraw its 2,000 troops from Afghanistan. The Taliban deliberately targeted the Dutch because they knew that the leftist parties in Holland were eager to get out of Afghanistan. The leftist parties in the West are more likely to be sympathetic with Islamic radicals and prefer a policy of no military intervention. The Islamic radicals play on this, with some success, at every opportunity. Australian, Canadian, German and British leftists are now pressuring their governments to withdraw, the implication being that the Americans will take care of it or, if the Americans pull out, it won’t really be a problem that military forces can do anything for. whole story here

FJV: The guy who wrote this is an ungrateful bastard.
The Dutch govt. extended their stay once and assured everyone they would not extend their stay beyond 2010. Recent requests by the US made one govt. party in spite of those earlier assurances try to extend our presence beyond 2010.
The left party said: “That was not the deal we agreed on” so the coalition fell apart and we get elections this year.
The US asked favors from the Dutch to the point of having a govt. coalition fall apart.
And now we get some cheap sneer article on this board by some spineless bastard without a name under the article.
A GREAT WAY TO TREAT YOUR ALLIES WHO HAD THEIR SONS BLEED AND DIE ALONGSIDE OF YOU IN AFGHANISTAN.
Maybe the next time we will be better off telling you to f#$k off when you ask for help.
Because it sure as hell isn’t appreciated.

blkfoot: You’re right.
I agree with you FJV. read on>> (more…)

Sven Kramer’s long- time coach is taking full responsibility for the Dutch super star’s skating mistake which cost Kramer the gold medal in the 10,000 meter final today.
“I am furious,” Kramer said after the race.
Kramer made what looked like an amateurish mistake when he failed to switch lanes just about at the halfway point of the race, and was thus disqualified. Kramer’s coach, Gerard Kemkers, was devastated and took responsibility for the gaffe.
“It was my mistake, my responsibility,” said Kemkers, who has coached the world champion and world record holder for the last five years. read on>> (more…)

by rj matson - the st. louis post dispatch

Tax is the price of civilisation!
The statement by Steve King shows that this Republican is not a civilised person.
And he is not the only one in that party.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) attempted to justify last week’s suicide attack on an IRS office in Texas. While acknowledging the attack was “sad,” King argued, “by the same token,” it was justified because if the IRS is abolished, “it’s going to be a happy day for America.” Today, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) took to the House floor to condemn King’s comment, noting that one of victims of the attack was a Vietnam veteran from his district:

CLYBURN: But, Mr. Speaker, I rise also to ask my colleagues as they think about recent events involving the Texas federal building where the IRS building was — exploded by an airplane and one of our colleagues has now called the act of terrorism a noble act.
The fact of the matter is that the gentleman that lost his life in that building, Vernon Hunter, was from Orangeburg, South Carolina, that I proudly represent in this body. He spent two tours in Vietnam and was about the business of carrying out his duties and responsibilities to this great country of ours. If anybody is a hero it is this victim. And I find it appalling that a member of this body would call his death a noble happening.

Vernon Hunter’s son told local reporters that he was distraught that “some people are trying to make [attacker Joe Stack] out to be a hero, a patriot.” “My dad served two terms in Vietnam. This guy never served at all. My dad wasn’t responsible for his tax problems,” Ken Hunter said. (HT: Iowa Independent)

Volgens de meeste journalisten bij Newsweek kan een Amerikaan per definitie geen terrorist zijn, dat stelt Glenn Greenwald vast. Dus bijvoorbeeld een Amerikaan die een abortus-dokter vermoordt om andere dokters zo bang te maken dat ze er mee stoppen, is geen terrorist.

Inside the mind of Newsweek on “terrorism”

On so many levels, this is one of the most stunningly revealing things I’ve read in quite some time. As I documented last week, the media’s reluctance to describe IRS attacker Joe Stack as a “terrorist” reveals that this term has little to do with the act itself and everything to do with the demographic attributes of the actor: namely, in the American political lexicon, “Terrorists” are Muslims who dislike the U.S., while Americans — especially ones who are white and non-Muslim — cannot, by definition, qualify. Anyone who has doubts about that or who thought my argument was hyperbole should click on that link, which will direct you to an internal discussion among Newsweek editors and writers over their reluctance to use the term “Terrorist” to describe Stack and who they believe qualifies instead. read on>> (more…)

“Wall Street bonuses were up 17 percent to over $20 billion in 2009, the year taxpayers bailed out the financial sector after its meltdown,” according to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. “Total compensation at the largest securities firms grew beyond that figure” and profits could exceed “an unprecedented $55 billion last year,” nearly three times Wall Street’s record increase.