Today’s idea made of pure fail:

Pizza Ranch proprietor promises to rename his chicken salad “Santorum salad” in Rick’s honor. twitter.com/BuzzFeedBen/st…

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 2, 2012

The Iowa Caucus is now basically in a three-way tie, with Rick Santorum rising.

The Republican caucus in Iowa is headed for a photo finish, with the three leading contenders all within two points of each other.  Ron Paul is at 20%, Mitt Romney at 19%, and Rick Santorum at 18%. Rounding out the field are Newt Gingrich at 14%, Rick Perry at 10%, Michele Bachmann at 8%, Jon Huntsman at 4%, and Buddy Roemer at 2%.

Would you believe that hate group leader Pamela Geller is still having conniptions about the imminent threat of secret stealth jihad food products? She’s so upset she seems to have forgotten how to spell simple words: WE WON’T EAT HALAL MEAT, SAY MPS AND PEERS: REJECT ISLAMIC SUPREMACIST DEMANDS TO SERVE IT AT WESTMINSTER!!!!!

The Palace of Westminster has rejected demands to serve halal meat: “We won’t eat halal meat, say MPs and peers who reject demands to serve it at Westminster.”

MPs don’t want to eat halal (and understandably so), but Americans are forced to — unwittingly, of course, but forced to nonetheless, because halal meat does not have to be labeled halal if it is not being sold as halal. Pointing out this glaring violation of consumer (and non-Muslims’) rights out draws reams of scorn and derision from the Islamic supremacists and their leftist tools and puppets. Back in November the jihad-aligned media was rabid when I exposed halal tutrkeys [sic] being sold without being marked halal.

Most non-Muslims would reject eating halal if they knew the bismalla allahu akbar was said over the meat (much the way allahu akbar is wailed when infidels are being slaughtered as well).

In halal slaughter, each and every animal is offered in prayer as a sacrifice to Allah. Some imams are so lame as to play a tape recording of the prayer on the kill line as they sleep in the office. But each animal is a sacrifice to an idol. So there is no question in halal slaugther that non-muslims who find this problematic would consider it food sacrificed to idols. Again the bottom line is that without the lableing [sic], there is no way to know for sure whether the meat you are buying is halal or not.

But have no fear, America! Sure, right wingers are supposed to be opposed to unnecessary government regulations, but not when the stealth jihad is trying to infiltrate our precious Butterball tutrkeys!

Geller’s resolution for the new year is to force these jihad-loving food producers to put warning labels on their stealth shariah meats and cold cuts.

What we are asking for is that the identity of ALL of the product slaughtered halal be maintained and labeled as such. Since the halal portion of the process is the kill step, the entire carcass becomes halal. Not labeling product that was slaughtered halal as such is “false and misleading labeling.” This is one of SIOA’s initiatives in the first quarter of 2012: to make sure that halal meat is labeled halal. I will be updating shortly on our progress.

Today’s insanity break is Bon Iver’s video for their terrific song “Michicant,” from one of my albums of the year, Bon Iver.

In this clip, ABC’s Jake Tapper asks Ron Paul about a report that he believes in 9/11 conspiracy theories, and Dr. Paul goes ballistic.

Ron Paul’s angry denials should be weighed against his regular appearances on the Alex Jones radio show, since Jones is one of the loudest, most deranged 9/11 Truthers in America.

If a journalist ever wanted to follow up on this, they could also ask Ron Paul about his association with antisemitic 9/11 Truther James Jaeger.

Yesterday, filmmaker James Jaeger of the Jaeger Research Institute publicized the films SPOiLER: How A Third Party Could Win and Original Intent, which “exposes the historical march of Cultural Marxism.” Guests in the films include far-right notables including Pat Buchanan, Chuck Baldwin, Ted Baehr and Edwin Vieira. Original Intent and SPOiLER also include one notable guest: congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. In fact, Paul’s Campaign for Liberty is listed alongside the Jaeger Research Institute under the film’s “affiliations.”

Even a brief glance at Jaeger Research Institute’s “research” reveals that it is a fringe, conspiratorial organization. In 2003, the group published a column arguing that “Zionist Jews appear to control both parties” and that “the Zionist leadership betrayed the Jews of Europe during the Jewish holocaust.” Another writer for the Jaeger Research Institute wrote, “I find it hard to believe that there is no truth in any of the accusations of child murder leveled against Jews over the centuries.”

And then, there’s this 2009 video clip from WeAreChange.org, in which Ron Paul was asked why he doesn’t “come out about the truth about 9/11.”

Oddly enough, when asked the question by a friendly interviewer, his reply was much more equivocal:

Why don’t you come out about the truth about 9/11?

[Pause…]

Ron Paul: Because I can’t handle the controversy. I have the IIF, the Federal Reserve to deal with, and the IRS to deal with. Because, uh, no I just have work— too many things on my plate. Uh, because, uh, I just have too much to do.

Troofer: All right, thank you sir. Thank you very much.

Ron Paul: OK. OK.

Ron Paul has been running like a scared rabbit away from his racist newsletters, because he knows that ugly, overt racism has become political poison.

But there are some kinds of bigotry that still play well with the conservative base. Soon there will come a day when haters like Ron Paul won’t be able to get away this kind of hate speech either: Paul Defends Past Criticism Of AIDS Patients.

The Texas congressman wrote in his book, “Freedom Under Siege,” that people with sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS bear some responsibility for their condition and should not burden others with the cost of their care. 

“The individual suffering from AIDS certainly is a victim — frequently a victim of his own lifestyle — but this same individual victimizes innocent citizens by forcing them to pay for his care,” he wrote. 

Asked about the comments on “Fox News Sunday,” Paul said: “I don’t know how you can change science.” Sexually transmitted diseases are “caused by sexual activity,” he said, and “in a free society people do dumb things, but it isn’t to be placed as a burden on other people, innocent people.” 

“Why should they have to pay for the consequences?” he said. 

Paul called that idea a “socialistic attitude” and said insurance companies should determine coverage. “The market should handle this,” he said.

Homophobia is still a great way for conservative politicians to scare the base into supporting them — and so is misogyny.

Paul also defended a passage from the same book that suggested victims of sexual harassment should quit. 

“They have the right to work there or not work there,” he said, adding that federal law does not need to cover sexual harassment as violence in the workplace is already prohibited.

If you think of yourself as liberal but you support Ron Paul and his creepy libertarian fantasy politics, you should have your head examined.

As our warming planet starts another trip around the sun, happy New Year from me, Stinky Beaumont, and the lizard monitors!

Here’s an open thread to kick off 2012…

It’s the time of year when it becomes mandatory to make predictions about what will occur in the next year, so here’s mine.

Despite right wing bloggers and Fox News concocting at least one minor fake outrage per day, and at least two ridiculously overblown fake outrages per week, Barack Obama will easily win the Presidential election against Mitt Romney, 54% to 46%.

Your predictions?

A photo that succinctly sums up everything that’s wrong with today’s Republican Party, from Michele Bachmann’s campaign headquarters:

Credit: Garance Franke-Ruta