Hopefully the IRS heard this and someone decides that a closer look at Mr Varney’s income tax returns from the last decade is in order. Perhaps someone at the INS might want to check to make sure Varney’s paperwork is all in order. If Mary Smith’s comment that he’s not a citizen is correct, he could still be deported.

If the man thinks he’s “been screwed,” just let him have to deal with “special attention” from IRS and INS employees whose memories may be especially sharp when they return to full work.

Perhaps Mr Pascrell should’ve told Hannity, “I’ll take your bet just as soon as you fulfill YOUR waterboard pledge that you offered to do for charity. How long ago was that, Mr Hannity?”

“So, nice to have had you on the show, Rep Pascrell. Up next, watch as I pull a new song-and-dance routine to distract everyone from being reminded about my oh-so-brave chickenhawkery.

“CUT TO COMMERCIAL NOW, YOU SORRY PLEBEIAN CREW!!!!”

^Now, THAT would’ve been a very interesting show.

My guess is that O’Reilly needs to declare the IRS to be a “dangerous failure” because, every April 15th, millions of Americans can NOT get through to the IRS phone and website helplines because, well for some inexplicable reason, the lines are busy and very few can get through.

Of course, if the right-wing hadn’t been doing its best to stop Obamacare and causing the “mainstream” media to cover that, instead of devoting time to how the ACA should work and explaining what people should expect on Day One. The first day of ANYTHING is going to see problems, especially when people haven’t been properly informed. (Several years ago, for instance, during my state’s “sales tax holiday*,” I went to a certain “big-box” retailer to get a new computer. BUT, I didn’t realize that the store had set up a system where a customer wanting a computer needed to call the store and set up an appointment so that when they got to the store, they’d have a “personal assistant” to help them get the desired computer. I only found this out when I went to the computers and several store employees approached me wanting to know if I’d set up an appointment. I asked if it was really necessary since I pretty much knew what I was looking for. They said it wasn’t but the one that I wanted might not be in stock; of course, that was absurd since the stores either had enough of the models in stock or they didn’t since no one was going to know what computer they wanted until they checked the models available.)

*And on the subject of “sales tax holidays,” most retailers were completely overwhelmed the very first time they were set up. You had all sorts of specific requirements and limitations as to what items were eligible and what weren’t. And the retailers, especially at smaller stores, were faced with having to reset cash registers for 1-3 days so that regular taxable merchandise could now be rung up without tax being calculated. And in some states, cities were allowed to opt out so the state tax wasn’t included but the city tax was. And yet……the sales tax holidays were successful enough (in the long run) that most states have continued participating and very few people (retailers or shoppers) have the same problems they faced when the program first started.

“There is only one document, Josephus’ “Testimonium Flavianam,” which is a contemporary description of the crucifixion of Christ."

It should be noted that “contemporary” is a very flexible term when writing about Josephus and any of his commentaries on Jesus. As most Biblical historians set the date of the Crucifixion sometime between 25CE and 35CE (this presumes the account that Jesus was crucified at or around the age of 33; the dates of Jesus’s birth range from an early date of 7BCE to a late date of 2CE), and Josephus was born in 37CE, it would have been VERY difficult for Josephus to write a truly contemporary account. In fact, the only work in which Josephus makes a mention of Jesus is in “Antiquities of the Jews,” which dates from about 93 or 94CE—roughly 60 years AFTER Jesus’s ministry and crucifixion.

What is more likely is that Josephus was relying on a number of stories that were being passed around by the early communities of Christians (the Passion narrative was in fairly wide circulation by the middle of the 1st century CE and many of Paul’s letters were being sent around the same time) and he included some of what he’d heard in much the same way that Longfellow wrote “Paul Revere’s Ride” (the ride took place in 1775, the poem was written in 1860; while Paul Revere DID ride to warn of the impending British attack, much of the rest of the poem is historically inaccurate but most people know the poem’s account far better than the reality).

Also, Josephus isn’t really a good, unbiased reporter. Much of “Antiquities” is aimed at a Greek (and even Roman) audience, trying to put Jewish history in a frame that credits Abraham with teaching science to the Egyptians and describing most of the great Bible heroes (like David and Solomon, even Moses) as examples of Plato’s idealized “philosopher-king.” It would be like having Thomas Sowell writing a book where all the great African-American anti-slavery and later civil rights leaders should be held up as paragons of modern GOP conservative ideology. It would go over well with FoxNoise and the right-wing noise machine but would raise holy hell with most real historians over the absurdity of the premise.

Cruz feinted, saying that the press will “always …repeat the White House’s talking points.”

Yeah. That must be why the NBC Nightly News last night (10/1) had Chuck Todd interviewing two TEABAGGERS and no Democrats (much less the President) about the shutdown and why they supported the shutdown. Because the “press” just repeats the WH talking points. (And not the least bit like how FoxNoise always repeats GOP/teabagger talking points.)

It must also be why, on Monday night, NBC’s medical correspondent, Nancy Snyderman, showed an “interview” with HHS Secretary Sibelius that looked incredibly doctored. Snyderman would ask a fairly lengthy question and Sibelius would get one sentence (and you could just about see how her response was cut off before she could go into any detail). What was worse about this “interview” was the fact that there was no on-air direction to “go to the website for the full interview” (a common practice for most other stories). The basic gist of the “interview” was that Sibelius and the HHS were solely responsible for “all the confusion” about the ACA. Interesting how Dr Snyderman didn’t consider that the media (including herself and her own network) might have had some culpability since they were pretty lax in giving any real coverage about what the ACA would and wouldn’t do, especially in the week leading up to the ACA’s going into full effect.

Cruz is just looking for another scapegoat to cover his own pathetic ass. As for O’Reilly, I’m not giving him any points here. If his guest had been a Democrat pulling the same kind of shenanigans to lead the Dems into shutting down the government, you just know that O’Reilly wouldn’t have, as Ellen wrote, “put it on the press.” A Dem would’ve been skewered and given a verbal lashing—even if O’Reilly didn’t have any real personal dislike for the person (as he allegedly has towards Cruz).

Ellen, sorry but you proved just how well Will will (sorry about that bizarre bit of assonance—it wasn’t intended) fit in with FoxNoise.

“For example, in January 2012, Will announced that Mitt Romney’s big problem is his “Romneyness” and his failure to connect with Americans. . . .On the other hand, Will was right there with Fox Newsies in predicting a Romney landslide last November."

In just 10 months, Will went from “Romney’s got a problem” to “Romney will win.” I’m afraid I have to disagree with you on Will’s standing as an ideologue. The man can be an ideologue with the best of them when it suits his purposes. He’s really little different from Rand Paul in that.

Well, Seannie Poo, what do you expect? The President, most likely, prefers to speak with GROWN-UPS rather than the whiny, snot-nosed punks masking as the GOP leadership.

With the current batch of GOPers, an old adage comes to mind: “Children should be seen and not heard.”

I guess Toddles isn’t aware that some people actually get refunds after being audited. These people will be hurt by the shutdown.

I’m not really sure what’s supposed to be the outrageous part of O’Reilly’s comment: His usual anti-Obama rhetoric or the fact that he actually BLAMES Dubya running up “colossal debt after 9/11.”

Wasn’t the right-wing’s view (and O’Reilly’s) in the immediate post-9/11 era that debt wasn’t all that important? Or is it just the fact that the US wasn’t the recipient of all that luscious Iraqi oil (that was supposed to pay for the Iraq part of the war) that’s got O’Reilly a bit off the “approved” right-wing script regarding the “post-9/11 debt?”

“We’ve long reported on West’s unhinged rhetoric which Fox News has either whitewashed,. . . .”

Even though the term is entirely appropriate, it just struck me as particularly hilarious for this situation.

O’Reilly can only “be a man” when it comes to talking about young women and how only he knows what’s best for them.

Otherwise, he’s a tired old wimp who couldn’t last 2 rounds against the first week’s castoff of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” (And I’m NOT talking about dressing in drag. I mean real, honest-to-goodness fisticuffs.)

Wow. Either someone was quick on the edits following my comment or someone was in the process of editing as I posted.

Domenica, aside from the airman, what do you want to bet that NONE of the people involved with this story have ever served in the military?

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin…….don’t you see the flaw in your reasoning? All the cases you mentioned were “mass killings” or “mass murders.” None of them were “acts of terror.”

Granted, the above was written with a great deal of snark but, unfortunately, it does seem to fit the right-wing (and FoxNoise, especially) viewpoint when it comes to Islam. These overprivileged asshats don’t recognize what really constitutes terrorism: When put in its most simple form, Almost ANYTHING can be effectively described as “terrorism.” As Wiki’s article on “terrorism” states, in the opening paragraph,

“Terrorism is the systematic use of violent terror as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no legally binding, criminal law definition. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror); are perpetrated for a religious, political, or ideological goal; and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).”

However, there are cases where there’s no real “religious, political or ideological goal” and certain actions can be said to “terrorize” communities.

And did you notice that Palin didn’t mention a single idea for the “better health care coverage” she claimed to prefer?

^This, this, this. A thousand time this. If ONLY these MFing GOPers would take just 30 seconds and suggest what they will replace the “evil Obamacare” with before pulling their latest effort stunt to “defund” Obamacare, then I’d be willing to give them a listen.

But, as with so much else, the GOPers are very good at talking, but not so much at doing. These boneheads should take a page (and bear in mind, I’m writing this as a liberal who wouldn’t elect a GOPer for dogcatcher, even if he were running completely unopposed) from the GOP “Class of ’94” who took over the House (and Senate) with their little “Contract with America.” If those GOPers had run under a “jobs, jobs, jobs” program (as so many did in 2010), those GOPers would have—within 90 days—brought forth some sort of jobs plan, whether successful or not; our current batch, however, didn’t bring a single jobs plan to the House floor in their entire two years (they were far more concerned with cutting social programs and defunding Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act). Of course, there was a big difference between the GOP Class of ‘94 and the GOP Class of 2010: the 1994 GOPers actually believed that government, while bloated, was still vital for many aspects of American life; the current crop doesn’t believe government is needed (ironically while happily taking $175K salaries from that despised government while doing their best to destroy it*).

*It’s just too bad that these GOPers have learned the wrong business lesson. While talking about running government like a corporation (the very idea is laughable), who knew they were talking about the type of corporation that gets run into the ground by its CEO, who is then fired but not before he (or she) walks away with a 7-or 8-figure severance package, not counting “bonuses” and special benefits?

Aria, I think you forgot to include gays, lesbians and transgendered people among those victimized by White christians. (Little c was deliberate. These folks may claim to follow Christ, but it’s not the guy who hung around with tax collectors, prostitutes, fishermen and forgave a fellow criminal during the Crucifixion. Their Christ is some blue-eyed white guy in a picture hanging on the wall—and about as likely to represent the real Jesus as Jay-Z and Beyonce in a biopic of Sonny and Cher.)

Cavuto suck-up point: “You’re the longest-serving Governor of either party in the country,”

Yeah, Neil. That’s because Texas currently doesn’t have any sort of built-in term limits for its Governor. Almost every other state limits its Governor from serving more than 2 terms or from serving consecutive terms.

Cavuto suck-up point: “You had a job growth record,"

Yeah, Neil. Now go look at the average annual salary of all those jobs. From what I’ve read about the “Texas Job Miracle,” more than half of those jobs were MINIMUM-WAGE PAYING JOBS. And, of those that paid more, the overwhelming majority pay less than $12/hour. Plus, almost all those jobs come without benefits.

Now for some Perry corrections:

“put a flat tax into place, open that XL Pipeline out of Canada and create all of these energy jobs in America.”

Okay, Ricky. Care to tell us which departments get cut after that “flat tax” goes into place? You couldn’t even remember which three departments YOU wanted to abolish during your last run for the GOP nomination. With a flat tax, you’re going to have to abolish a whole lot more than just three. But which ones get spared? And as to the “all of these energy jobs” point, just how many “energy jobs” are we talking? I haven’t heard any number that would really make the pipeline worthwhile. The “hundreds of thousands” that I’ve heard bandied about are mostly SHORT-TERM jobs (the construction and related jobs that, once the pipeline is built, all go away). I’ve heard that (should the pipeline be built) the TOTAL number of jobs provided will be far less than 50,000. And how many states does the pipeline pass through? 50,000 more-or-less permanent jobs spread over 6, 8, a dozen states? Yep. That’s going to drive down the unemployment rate.

“but over the next 15-18 months, I’m going to be pushing this conversation across America that we have 50 laboratories of innovation. Don’t you think it makes sense that those states compete against each other? And it’s not a zero sum game.”

Excuse me? We need a little more detail about the “50 laboratories of innovation.” States ALREADY compete against each other luring businesses. Isn’t that part of the reason you tout the low/no taxes to businesses when some company’s thinking about setting up shop in your state? Isn’t that why states offer tax incentives and tax breaks to filmmakers who film “Hollywood” movies in their states? Isn’t that why car manufacturers are told “We’ll pay to build your plant for you and you won’t have to pay any utility or property taxes for the next 20 years” by state economic boards looking to lure in the companies? And yes, Rick. It IS a “zero-sum game.” When a car manufacturer (for instance) announces it’s looking to open ONE new plant that will hire 500 people and it’s scouting the country, you have 50 states competing for that plant. But, the manufacturer is only opening ONE plant—not 50, not 10, not 5, not even 2. Just ONE. So it gets “bids” from the states, and it announces it’s narrowed down the choices to 5 states. Those 5 states then begin competing to offer the most alluring package (note, it’s only “alluring” to the company—not what’s in the best interest of the people living in the area). And, after the final decision is made, you’re left with four states whose proposals are made public and the people get outraged that the state was willing to spend millions of dollars to get a company that was only going to hire 500 people with a $10 million annual payroll and the state and local community wouldn’t be making a penny off the company through taxes (for a couple of decades, potentially). Or, let’s put this in terms that a Southern governor of a state with many prominent college and national football teams could understand: When you have a winner and you have a loser, that’s a ZERO-SUM GAME, regardless of the final score (the score only reflects the margin of victory).