Former presidents band together to participate in concert to raise money for victims of the numerous hurricanes.

Courtesy of CNN:

All five living former US presidents will participate in a benefit concert to raise money for hurricane relief efforts in Texas later this month, the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation announced today. 

Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter will appear at Reed Arena at Texas A&M University on October 21 for the "Deep From the Heart: The One America Appeal" concert. 

The event will also feature rock and country musicians including ALABAMA, the Gatlin Brothers, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, Sam Moore, Yolanda Adams, Cassadee Pope and Stephanie Quayle. Country music artist Lee Greenwood will emcee the event.

"The 43rd President and I, and our distinguished colleagues in this 'One America Appeal,' are very grateful to these wonderful performers -- some of them old friends, some of them new -- for giving their time and talent to help the urgent cause of hurricane recovery in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean," President George H.W. Bush said in a statement. "It's important that those affected by these devastating storms know that, even if the path to recovery feels like a road that goes on forever, we're with them for the long haul."

I have to admit when I first read this I thought they were only raising money for the folks in Texas that were victimized by the hurricanes, but a closer reading revealed that they are raising money for ALL of the hurricane victims, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Can you even believe that we are living in a time when one concert is being put on to raise money for the victims of back to back hurricanes?

And people say climate change is not real.

All I can say is that it is certainly a good thing that we have all of these ex-presidents around to provide some leadership in this area, because the idiot currently in the White House has no fucking idea what he is doing.

Barack Obama is returning to politics this fall but does not want to be "a foil" to Donald Trump. WTF?

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Former President Barack Obama will re-emerge on the national scene this fall, though Democrats expect him to do so with caution. 

One aide describes the beginning of a “delicate dance” that aims to put Obama in the Democratic fray but prevents him from remaining the face of the party. 

Aides will huddle with Obama in the coming weeks to plot out what shape the former president's fall schedule will take. Advisers close to him say that while he will play an active role in helping his party rebuild, much of his work will be behind the scenes. 

He is likely to take on fundraising, for example, something he has done for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee since leaving office. In recent months, Obama has played a larger behind-the-scenes role than was publicly known. 

The Hill reported in July that he met with DNC Chairman Tom Perez as well as lawmakers at his office to give his guidance on a number of issues. 

But advisers to the former president acknowledge he also doesn’t want to be “a foil” — as one top ally put it — for President Trump and the Republican leadership.

Well this is some bullshit right here.

Look I know that President Obama firmly believes in following the rules, but he has to understand that there ARE no rules anymore.

Yes it is considered poor form to criticize your successor, but typically your successor does not focus his entire presidency on undoing everything you accomplished during your terms in office.

Right now the Democrats do not have a strong leader to rally behind. They need Barack Obama to take back his place as the head of the party, and then perhaps help find and introduce the person who will then lead the party forward to victory. (I'm sorry, victories.)

Besides that Trump is tearing down everything that Obama spent eight years building, and if he does not stand up to protect it his legacy may be completely stripped away from him.

Sarah Palin to be sued for copyright infringement due to use of iconic 9-11 photo. Update!

Courtesy of the New York Post: 

A North Jersey newspaper company on Friday slapped Sarah Palin with a lawsuit alleging the former vice-presidential candidate and her political action committee posted copies of an iconic 9/11 photograph on their websites without permission. 

The trademark-infringement suit, filed in Manhattan federal court by North Jersey Media Group, alleges Palin posted a copyrighted photo of firefighters raising the American flag on the ruins of the World Trade Center on her PAC’s website, her official Facebook page and other web pages. 

North Jersey Media Group’s holdings include The Woodland Park, NJ-based The Record and the Herald News. The photo was taken by Thomas E. Franklin and appeared on the front page of the Sept. 12, 2001 edition of The Record. It earned him Pulitzer Prize nomination and was the focus of a CNN documentary “The Flag” that aired on Sunday. 

“North Jersey Media Group is concerned about the infringement of its photograph and people taking credit of the photo who are not entitled to,” the company’s lawyer William Dunnegan said. 

Reps for Palin’s PAC could not be reached for comment.

Whoops!

Well hey, WE tried to warn her.

Okay now watching this play out should be VERY entertaining.

Now if ONLY we can get Ashton Kutcher and Martin Luther King Jr's family to follow suit.

Update: Yep ABC News does have it. And some added detail:

The lawsuit asks the court to stop SarahPAC from using the picture. It also seeks damages.

Oooh, damages! Methinks I see another money bomb being drummed up by the Sea O'Pee coming soon.

Sarah Palin keeps right on using her Naughty Monkey Pumps to kick that repeal Obamacare dead horse. "Get up damn you, we're losing!" Update!

Courtesy of the Wasilla Wendigo's Facebook page.

I assume that Palin spent all day yesterday trying to find a picture of her with some union members to provide some cover for yesterday's hateful fact free diatribe. 

By the way somebody has already pointed out that you can tell that the photo was reversed by the phone number on the banner behind her.

Apparently they wanted to get her "good" side.

Yeah I've met her. Her only good side is when she is outside and all of the windows and doors are locked to keep her that way.

Update: For those wondering, it appears the picture is real.

 However I am not at ALL sure any of those people are actual union members.

I warned you Noam. Now you have to suffer the indignity of being used to raise money for Sarah Palin.

Going from the world's top public intellectual to a pawn for Sarah Palin has to be the ultimate in humiliation.

As for Palin well the reason that she is so desperately pimping ANY mention of her name by celebrities, and pseudo celebrities, is to make up for the incredible loss in income that she suffered when she renegotiated her contract with Fox News.

Reports are that the one time darling of the Right Wing, and once popular pit bull for Fox News, had to crawl back to Roger Ailes with her tail between her stick thin legs and accept an offer that was only a quarter of what it had been receiving before.

This courtesy of TV Newser:

Megyn Kelly‘s new deal is estimated to be worth $6 million a year, twice what Hoda Kotb draws, and more than three times as much as ABC’s Josh Elliott. Ann Curry is still one of the highest-paid reporters at NBC, drawing $5 million a year, while Sarah Palin‘s new FNC contract is believed to be in the $250,000 range. 

From a cool one million a year to a paltry $250,000. Oh how the once mighty have fallen.

So is it any wonder that Palin is desperately trying to regain relevance? Even if that means connecting her name to liberal icons and, "shudder." celebrities?

And not to beat a dead horse, but once again I have to wonder if, like Ashton Kutcher, Chomsky can sue SarahPAC for using his image to fund raise without permission?

I mean not that he would get much if he did, but it's the principle of the thing. 

(H/T to Politicususa)

Michele Bachmann believes that the 911 and Benghazi attacks were due to God's "hand of judgement" while the rest of the GOP sees Benghazi as a fundraising opportunity.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

On Wednesday, Religious Right activists and members of Congress gathered together for a prayer event held in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol called "Washington: A Man of Prayer." 

Among the speakers was Rep. Michele Bachmann, who used the opportunity to promote the 9/11 prayer event being organized by Birther-king Joseph Farah, saying that "it is no secret that our nation may very well be experiencing the hand of judgment" and declaring that both the original 9/11 attack and the attack in Benghazi on 9/11 of last year were God's judgment.

Here is the text of what she said just in case you cannot believe your ears:

It’s no secret that our nation may very well be experiencing the hand of judgment. It’s no secret that we all are concerned that our nation may be in a time of decline. If that is in fact so, what is the answer? The answer is what we are doing here today: humbling ourselves before an almighty God, crying out to an almighty God, saying not of ourselves but you, would you save us oh God? We repent of our sins, we turn away from them, we seek you, we seek your ways. That’s something that we’re doing today, that we did on the National Day of Prayer, it’s something that we have chosen to do as well on another landmark day later this year on September 11. Our nation has seen judgment not once but twice on September 11. That’s why we’re going to have ‘9/11 Pray’ on that day. Is there anything better that we can do on that day rather than to humble ourselves and to pray to an almighty God?

Wow! That is an especially disturbing form of crazy!

Yes it is "no secret that our nation may very well be experiencing the hand of judgment" IF you are a crazy person that is! And as for humbling ourselves and praying to God to keep us safe on the anniversary of 911, I think a far more reasonable approach might be to heighten our awareness on those days and beef up our security at our consulates. Or is that Satan's way of keeping us safe?

Look Minnesota you might think you have free reign to tease us Alaskans about Sarah Palin, but no. not as long as you have THAT whack-a-doodle as a Representative you don't.

Well at least not ALL of the GOP is made up of crazy fundamentalists. No the rest of the GOP is made up of opportunistic assholes that see the four deaths at Benghazi as a great opportunity to do a little fundraising:

The National Republican Congressional Committee is the GOP body that helps elect Republicans to the House of Representatives. And the NRCC is now running an election fundraiser based on their Benghazi conspiracy theories.

 So there you have it folks. Your choice of Republicans these days seem to be mostly made up of the batshit crazy or the cynically conspiratorial.

Gotta love America.

First pictures of Sarah Palin at the Terri Schiavo fundraiser are coming in. Update!

The first reports are that the crowd is somewhat underwhelming. Which is fine, because so is the speaker.

I kid you not that Palin just said this in her speech: "God does not drive parked cars." Well good to know she wrote her own speech for a change.

I was actually unaware that God was a licensed driver in ANY type of motor vehicle.

I gotta read the Bible more often! You miss so much!

Update: More from our in house spies; "We are not to play God and snuff out the life that He's created."

Says the woman with the famous Wite-Out pregnancy termination.

Update 2: Palin's appearance is also, as to be expected, drawing some negative press:

Nonetheless, despite the serious and heartfelt concerns of people involved in the Schiavo case, and despite Palin’s oft-stated concern for the disabled due to the condition of her youngest child, the inclusion of Palin as the keynote speaker and a $25,000-a-session fundraising ploy seems to take away from the substantive issues that merit thoughtful discussion and debate.

You know if you make a living off of grifting using the memory of your dead daughter, perhaps you don't want to draw attention to it by hiring the Queen of the Grifters to give a speech and allowing her to pimp herself out afterwards for $25,000 a "visit."

Just saying.

Update 3: I think someone scared her wig. It looks like it has its back up.

NOTHING ruffles this President's feathers.

During a speech at a recent fundraiser there is a slight problem with the lights. Check out how the coolest man in the room handles it

Click image to watch video

Did not even miss a beat!

I have to say that I am SO looking forward to watching Mitt Romney, the man whose face turns purple whenever he is called on the carpet, deal with THIS guy in a debate.

It is going to be a bloodbath.

Arizona Governor, and plantation owner in a past life, Jan Brewer is ACTUALLY raising money using the image of her disrespectful finger wagging at our President.

From Phoenix New Times:

For a lot of Arizonans, the photo taken last week of Governor Jan Brewer sticking her finger in the face of President Barack Obama was humiliating. If you're like us, you spent the past several days explaining to out-of-state friends that not everyone in Arizona is a classless sand-billy -- despite the state's dopey governor. 

Jan, however, seems quite proud of her lack of poise while welcoming the president to the "Colt Single-Action Army Revolver State" -- as we predicted, the governor already is politicizing the photo and using it to raise money. 

Here is the text that Miss Daisy is using to play the victim and convince the racists around the country to send her money in order to soothe her ruffled feathers and cure her of the vapors after that uppity black man done got right up in her face and refused to accept his station in life.

Friends, 

I need your help! 

When I met President Obama this week, I really wasn't pointing at him. I was telling him, "You have ONE more year!" The President needs to be reminded that he is the President of the FEDERAL REPUBLIC and not a KING lording over state governors. 

While I wanted to talk to him about jobs, our economy and visiting our border, President Obama criticized my book, Scorpions for Breakfast, and then walked away from me. 

We deserve results over rhetoric, but this is a President who had the audacity to sue me and Arizona in my efforts to protect our country from illegal immigration! 

Donate today to Jan PAC and help me stop President Obama in 2012 and others like him who are taking our country down the wrong path. 

Click Here to donate!

So now her version is that she was telling the President of the United States, a guest in her state, that he has only "one more year" in office. And yet she is claiming that SHE was the one that "felt a little bit threatened?" (By the way, unless you have been living under a rock, you probably know that her version of the incident is a complete fabrication.)

What is with these horrible disrespectful old bitches in the Republican party?

From Ann Coulter, to Sarah Palin, and Jan Brewer, I swear these women have the darkest, most hateful hearts I have ever seen!

Come on Arizona!  Kick her ass to the curb!