Hurricane Irene Slows, Loses Power

Le Gouvernor Perry Still Says Global Warming A Con Job

At Seawall, Battery Park, Staten Island, New York City, On
Sunday Morning (Photo: Michael Appelton)

Hurricane Irene has torn across the East Coast of the United States, from it's initial landfall at North Carolina on Friday, leaving a trail of wreckage as it made its way north. Nine people have died in storm-related incidents, and the cost of property damage, and overtime pay for essential service workers in at least twelve states, is likely to be high.

4 million people are without power, hundreds of flights have been rerouted or cancelled, and flooding is a serious issue. Two hundred trees were blown over in Washington D.C. alone.

Waves Crashing Into The Shoreline At Bay Shore, Long Island, NYC;
Greatest Concerns About Irene Are Heavy Rains, High Winds, And
Ocean Water Driven Inland (Photo: Charles Krupa, AP)

Meanwhile, Irene has now been classified as a Tropical Storm as it travels across the U.S. - Canadian border, after which major American news outlets will more or less ignore it.

Soon, she will be a Tropical Depression, receiving counseling and antidepressant medication, which of course is much cheaper in Canada.

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Mehr: Crazy Lady Grand TurtleBear Michele Bachmann visited the state of Florida over the weekend. In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Crazy Lady said:

She hailed the tea party as being common-sense Americans who understand government shouldn't spend more than it takes in, know they're taxed enough already and want government to abide by the Constitution.

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' "

And, in the Paper Of Record this morning, Ross Douthat scolds Americans for thinking there could ever be such a thing as a Theocracy in America. What a silly, silly thing. It is, after all, America, and everyone should grow up and be tubby and acerbic and out of touch, and make stuff up. Just like Ross.

Silly America!

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Noch Einmal, Mit Schwein: Now, Crazy Lady says she was just foolin' in her comment that god was visiting earthquakes and hurricanes upon America to wake up 'overspending politicians'. "Obviously she was saying it in jest," said Grand TurtleBear campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart.

Oh, obviously.

And, in other news, Le Governour Placard, Mssr. Perry, referred to Social Security as "a monstrous lie". Digby has videos, and worth-reading commentary:

Last week, Perry's campaign spokesperson took to the Wall Street Journal to help back Perry off the less election-friendly sections of his book, Fed Up!. That includes Perry's suggestion that Social Security is an unconstitutional scheme which should be privatized post-haste.

Over the weekend, Perry walked all that back and fired off some more fiery rhetoric about the perils of the entitlement program that most Americans do not want to see changed.

"It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people," Perry said in Iowa, mimicking his pre-presidential campaign language on the subject of Social Security.

"The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie," Perry added. "It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them."

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