Nevada GOP Senate Candidate Sharron Angle Promoted Idea Of Armed Insurrection

The more we hear about the far-right tea party candidates, the more bizarre it gets.  Harry Reid’s opponent, Sharron Angle, floated the idea of an armed insurrection “if Congress keeps going the way it is” during a radio interview with Lars Larson.  Larson asked where she stands on Second Amendment issues.  Her reply (via Greg Sargent):

You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it’s good for a country to have a revolution …

Seattle Police Officer Punches 17-Year-Old Girl In Face During Stop For Jaywalking

Police claim that women seen jaywalking were being “verbally antagonistic” toward a police officer who asked her and her friends to come toward his patrol car.

One of the women, later identified as a 19 year old, began to walk away from the scene despite the officer’s instructions, prompting the officer to walk over to her and escort her back to his patrol car.

The girl then “began to tense up her arm, and pull away from the officer while yelling at him,” investigators said. The officer told the girl to place her hands on his patrol car, …

So, Just How Much Oil Are We Talking About?

by Thomas Wellborn

In an effort to facilitate more transparency between the public and the oil industry, a person claiming to be an oil industry insider, and known only as “dougr” in posting circles, has been lending his alleged (and arguably compelling) expertise on numerous forums dedicated to uncovering as much information and analysis as possibly regarding the Deepwater oil spill.  The following synopsis is both damning and frightening.  (h/t The Oil Drum)

I used to cover the energy business (oil, gas and alternative) here in Texas, and the few experts in the oil field — including geologists, chemists, …

What Do You Want Obama To Say Tonight?

The president gives his first prime-time Oval Office speech tonight. Is this the moment to turn the tide on finally moving forward on climate change and energy legislation? And is he going to be blamed for using a disaster to push an agenda? Greg Sargent rounds up the speculation.

Minority Whip Eric …

California Man Attacked For Being Muslim

A man wearing a black cap and carrying a Koran was struck down on a Sunnyvale, CA street, and public safety officials believe it was because he is Muslim.

He might be the third victim in Santa Clara County this year to fall victim to a reported anti-Muslim crime, according to the county’s Office of Human Relations. Last year there were none.

“They asked him if he was Jewish, and when he said, “No, I’m a Muslim,’ they told him that was worse, you must be a terrorist,” said Capt. Dave Verbrugge, a Sunnyvale Public Safety Department spokesman.

The …

World Still Has 12 Million Slaves

A new report from the State Department shows that there are 12 million people worldwide who are victims of “trafficking in persons” – in other words, slaves.

“Countries that once denied the existence of human trafficking now work to identify victims and help them overcome the trauma of modern slavery, as well as hold responsible those who enslave others,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a letter accompanying the report.

But there’s still much work ahead, the report says. The State Department estimates that only 0.4 percent of all modern slavery victims were identified last year. Human …

BP Operator Says Calls Fall On Deaf Ears

A phone operator (code-named “Janice”) says calls to the BP phone center are ignored.

Janice told 11 News she’s one of 100 operators at the BP Call Center in West Houston. They answer phones from the hotline number designated for the Vessel of Opportunity Program and for cleanup ideas.

“We take all your information and then we have nothing to give them, nothing to give them,” said Janice.

Janice said calls about the oil disaster are non-stop and that operators are just warm bodies on the other end of the phone.

“We’re a diversion to stop them from really …

On Monday’s Radio Show…

• Vic Rawl, the losing candidate in the strange South Carolina Senate primary, tells Alan why he’s protesting the election results.

• Should America talk to its enemies? Alan explains why he shares the view of George W. Bush’s Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker.

• Alan speaks with writer Christopher Hitchens about his fascinating new memoir, Hitch-22.…

Harry Reid Opponent Would Privatize Social Security, Medicare, And Departmenet Of Veterans Affairs

More information is coming out about the radical views of Sharron Angle, the tea party candidate who is opposing Harry Reid for Senate.  Greg Sargent links to an NPR interview from May 19 where Angle says it’s proper that the Veterans Affairs isn’t covering her father if we’re headed toward a privatized system, which she endorses.

ANGLE: He’s 87 years old and has Parkinson’s and we have to pay more and more for his healthcare. I know he pays over 800 dollars a month in prescription drugs that we can’t get through his VA nor through Medicare — they …

Former U.S. Ambassador To Iraq Ryan Crocker: We Need To Talk With The Taliban

Ryan Crocker, our former ambassador to Iraq, said on C-SPAN how important it is for us to talk to the Taliban.

HOST: So you’re ok with the idea of us talking to the Taliban for instance in Afghanistan?

CROCKER: I’m very much ok with it because again this doesn’t mean making concessions or conferring recognition or anything else any more than it did when we talked to insurgent elements in Iraq. You can’t really affect your adversary’s thinking and you can’t build up your own knowledge base about your adversary if you’re existing in total isolation to him.…

Alabama Tea Party Candidate For Congress In Ad: “Gather Your Armies”

Rick Barber, in a run-off with Martha Roby in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District for the right to run against freshman Democrat Bobby Bright, has a new ad out with images of pistols, calling for impeachment of President Obama, and featuring a founding father warning to “gather your armies” against the IRS. Barber denies that his his ad is intended to incite.

Barber: “…And I would impeach him, and if that’s not enough–some of you men owned taverns. Sam, you were a brewer, Mr. President a distiller. You know how tough it is to run a small business without a …