Cliff May, idiot savant, or just idiot

Cliff May comes to the inescapable conclusion that liberals are happiest when liberals are in power.

Genius I tell you, genius



Thanks to Matt at Tapped

Bobo's World

Vandals Drain Lake at Salvation Army Camp

SCOTT DEPOT, W.Va. - Vandals drained a lake at a Salvation Army camp where hundreds of underprivileged children go canoeing and fishing every summer.

Camp Happy Valley's caretaker, David Stover, returned from vacation Saturday to find only about 2 feet of water in Lake Mary Beth, which normally is 12 to 14 feet deep.

"It was pretty sad," Stover said Tuesday, next to the muddy remains in the wooded mountains about 20 miles west of Charleston. "It's very uncalled for, very heartbreaking."

State police are investigating. Whoever drained the lake used a temporary pipeline recently installed over an earthen dam between the lake and a creek. The pipeline had been set up in case the lake needed to be drained and the dam fixed.

Stover said that the self-siphoning pipeline was used to pump an estimated 250,000 gallons of water into the creek over about 10 hours. The deluge led to the collapse of a nearby road that leads to a 45-foot climbing wall and a challenge course of cables and ropes for the youngsters.

Camp officials hope to get enough rain to fill the 25- by 60-yard lake by June 13, the start of camp. Otherwise, water could be brought in from another lake. About 900 youngsters are expected to attend the camp this summer.

Repairing the lake and the road is expected to cost at least $30,000, or about a tenth of the camp's annual budget. Stover was optimistic everything could be restored by the time camp starts.

"We'll fix it," he said. "We're not going to let some irresponsible vandals bring us down."

Lugar had the wind taken out of his sails

Senator Voinovich from Ohio, really took the wind out of Senator Lugar's sails today.

In the Senate Foreign Relations committee meeting to confirm John Bolton for UN ambassador, the entire first part of the meeting looked as if the committee was going to give a yes vote.

That is, until Senator Voinovich (R-OH) dropped this little bombshell:

"I've heard enough today that I don't feel comfortable about voting for Mr. Bolton," Ohio Sen. George Voinovich said

You could see the color in Lugar's face drain away (I watched part of it on C-Span). Recognizing what had just transpired (though totally unexpected) Senators Dodd, and Kerry pounced. Proceeding to press Lugar to either call for his vote now, which would have ended in a tie, necessitating a vote on what the tie would mean, or recess for a week or so, while the new charges against Bolton were investigated.

Lugar, flustered, lost control of the meeting, and seemed to not be aware of committee rules. Senator Biden jumped in, and keeping the pressure up on Lugar, pressed him to make a decision. Biden told him, that if there were a tie, then there would have to be another vote, however, if time were provided to adequately investigate these allegations, then people might feel better voting one way or the other. Lugar, having recognized his loss (probably trying to figure out how to explain things to Rove), decided that the recess motion might be the better option.

At that point, Senator Boxer piped up, and made it known that the State Department had been less than forthcoming on information requested for at least two weeks prior. There was no way anyone could make an informed decision without that information.

I think there are going to be some nasty phone calls from the White House tonight to Lugar's office.

I also suspect that Voinovich is in for a rough ride for a while.

Pass the popcorn.

GOP trying to deal with dissent

In a strangely fair and balanced (no really) article from AP, GOP Leaders are having a rough time coping with the sane part of their party.

From the already well known defections on the filibuster issue, and comments about Tom DeLay coming from Republicans, there is this little bit:

Only two Republicans defected in the latest vote. But according to officials who attended a closed-door meeting of the rank-and-file last week, there were murmurs of concern about the way the issue is being handled.

Rep. Dan Lungren of California, warned fellow Republicans of the risk of arrogance, Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee suggested pivoting to a new position, and Rep. Joel Hefley of Colorado, said bipartisanship was critical in ethics matters, according to these officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That was not exactly the script according to DeLay — who constantly says all charges are trumped up by Democrats, allied groups and a liberal news media — or even House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

It seems that some in the media, are actually (for a change) looking beneath the rhetoric, and finding the substance.

More please.

Foxification of your cellphone

CNET News.com is reporting (probably not new news, but first I have seen it), that FNC is going to be providing their news content to Sprint Wireless customers for $10 per month to video capable phones.

No word on an equivalent from any "liberal" counterpart.

To be honest, I think that despite the content coming from FNC, the service will be relatively popular. With the rise in use of mobile phones with increased capabilities, people, and specifically business users, are looking for content that can be quickly delivered in a mobile format.

I am one of those individuals who has a "converged" device.



Kyocera 7135

I am quite happy with the capabilities of this phone, but with more higher speed network offerings coming down the pike, this phone will probably become under powered for the content that will be available.

There are a number of very interesting phones that are being developed, and with the release of the Treo 650, the usability factor is increasing exponentially.

Though I was really looking forward to the Motorola MPx being released, but alas it has been shelved.



The news delivery mechanism that Sprint is offering (eventhough it is FNC) is really a indication of what is to come.

European cellular providers are now offering location based 411 (or whatever the equivalent is) calls. As a part of your call to directory assistance, you give your location, and you are provided the number of the closest branch of whatever it is you are looking for. You then have the option of having the number automatically programmed into your phones directory, so you don't have to call again to get the number.

Additionally you can request the number to a pizza place in your vicinity, and the numbers for all of the pizza joints will be pushed down to your phone, so you can pick and choose which one to call, without having to know the name of the place up front. If the phone is web enabled, directions from your location to the pizza place will be available as well with the push of a button.

These services are supposed to be coming to urban areas in the United States, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago in the near future, with wider rollout shortly thereafter.

Certainly there is plenty of opportunity for abuse of the system to occur, with spamming, etc. but the concept has broad support from people who like to keep up with the latest technology, and business travellers who want a lot of information available to them, with having to spend much time searching it out.

New Pope elected

I guess I am a bit late to the game.

Joseph Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI.

I am not a Catholic so it doesn't ultimately affect me too much, except for the incessant news coverage.

Especially since the American Catholic church only goes piecemeal when it comes to adherence to Catholic doctrine.

From the department of No Shit Sherlock

Wall Street Journal tells us that some news reporters are whores.

As if that was a shocker.

In November, Child magazine's Technology Editor James Oppenheim appeared on a local television show in Austin, Texas, and reviewed educational gadgets and toys. He praised "My ABC's Picture Book," a personalized photo album from Eastman Kodak Co.

"Considering what you showed me, kids' games really don't have to be violent," said the anchor for KVUE, an ABC affiliate and the No. 1-rated television station in its market.

"If...you're not careful, they will be," Mr. Oppenheim replied. "That's why I've shown you some of the best."

There was one detail the audience didn't know: Kodak paid Mr. Oppenheim to mention the photo album, according to the company and Mr. Oppenheim. Neither Mr. Oppenheim nor KVUE disclosed the relationship to viewers. During the segment, Mr. Oppenheim praised products from other companies, including: Atari Inc., Microsoft Corp., Mattel Inc., Leapfrog Enterprises Inc. and RadioShack Corp. All paid for the privilege, Mr. Oppenheim says.

One month later, Mr. Oppenheim went on NBC's "Today" show, the U.S.'s biggest national morning news program, which is part of NBC's news division. "Kodak came out with a great idea," he said to host Ann Curry, before proceeding to talk about the same product he'd been paid to discuss on KVUE. Ms. Curry called it a "nice gift for a little child." Kodak says it didn't pay for the "Today" show mention. But neither Mr. Oppenheim nor NBC disclosed the prior arrangement to tout the product on local TV.

In the "Today" segment, Mr. Oppenheim talked about products made or sold by 15 companies. Nine were former clients and eight of those had paid him for product placement on local TV during the preceding year.

In light of the Armstrong Williams debacle, and who knows how many others, it certainly appears that the process of paying "journalists" for an appropriate story (or avoiding reporting a story?) is a bit more widespread than many would like to admit.

Sometimes you have what you don't think you have

Carl Pope of the Sierra Club's blog, Taking the Initiative, finds that they have something they didn't think they had.

The Sierra Club has been fighting with the administration to get the minutes from Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force meetings. The suits had been moving in the right direction until they reached the Supreme Court, where things have stalled.

While awaiting the appeals process to proceed, people at the Sierra Club, reviewed the papers they did have. Some of the information they have been suing to obtain, they already had:

[P]erhaps we should have paid more attention to the details of the documents the Administration did release, way back in May 2001. These aren't the minutes, and they don't enable us to know whose ideas these were -- but right there in black and white it turns out the Administration told us that their energy plan would result in more dependence on Middle Eastern oil and more oil imports overall. The report, while carefully declining to call for any meaningful measures to increase vehicle fuel efficiency, renewable energy production, or overall energy efficiency, does call for two steps: opening up the energy reserves of the Persian Gulf to US investment, and increasing our "trade alliances"in order to "work for more oil production in the Western Hemisphere, Africa, the Caspian and other areas with abundant oil reserves."

There are certainly details that are probably covered in the meeting minutes, that are not covered in the released documents, but the Administration's plan for "energy independence" actually increases our dependence on foreign sources of oil.

Duplicitous, these tricksey Republicans are.

12 Steps to running the country

The Smirking Chimp points us to this post from p m carpenter's commentary.

It is Karl Rove’s 12-Step Program to Dry-Drunk Power: A Primer:

The title of this piece is not a joke. The subject of this piece is not a joke, either. What I offer here is merely a reader’s digest of Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, by James Moore and Wayne Slater.

First things first, even if a trifle fussy: Rove didn’t make Bush “presidential” as the book’s title suggests -- he made him president. That’s all. The road to becoming presidential rather than president would have had to start somewhere deep inside Bush years and years ago, and that just never happened. Too many parties; too little curiosity; way, way too much egotistical indulgence in royal entitlement to ever permit the emotional and intellectual growth incumbent on anyone aspiring to be president in the sense of the word we all grew up with.

No, Bush was simply programmed, packaged and promoted as a leader, by none other, of course, than Karl Rove. Yet after all this time there still seems to be a mystery surrounding Rove, an enduring question mark of how he managed to do so much with so little. So for those who haven’t read the book and are curious, or, especially for those wanting to run for office or wanting to help an ideological compatriot run and would like a primer on how to succeed in politics, I give you this from Rove’s career, right from the book, point by point. No joke.

I’ve numbered the brief notes I took when reading it some time ago and have added when necessary a clarifying word or two, as memory served.

1. Use surrogates to attack your opponent. Never let your guy (or yourself, if you happen to be running) rip into the other guy. Find some lackey who’s more than willing to get vicious ugly for you. Your guy will look like a disinterested prince.


2. Leak harmful information. This is pretty much your basic opposition-research stuff. But leak it; don’t announce it. And certainly it helps to develop friendly relations with journalists of a whorish bent. Devastating information on your opponent isn’t worth much if you can’t get the word out.



3. Turn rumor into fact. Better yet, start a rumor about your opponent and use the media whores with whom you’ve developed a good relationship to hammer away at whatever you’ve invented. Before long everyone will at least assume that where there’s smoke there’s fire.



4. Use well-organized 3rd-party groups to make allegations. This is closely related to #3. In short, if you can find a Swift-Boat kind of outfit to go libelous on your behalf, do it. Also see #1 – surrogates and the disinterested prince.



5. Funnel money to a 3rd-party candidate similar in ideology to your opponent’s to dilute your opponent’s vote. Self-explanatory.



6. Use ties to law enforcement to launch bogus investigations against your opponent. You’ll need to be comfortably in bed with a high-powered D.A., though, so this tactic isn’t for the chronically un-empowered. You also can’t harbor any compunctions about bankrupting an innocent person through legal expenses or even sending him to jail and destroying his family. This is rather big-league stuff, and not for the squeamish.



7. Associate your guy’s political positions with God and flag. Be creative. If needed, rewatch Animal House for inspiration, the part in which Otter defends his incredibly guilty pals before a college court in a rip-roaring burst of offended patriotism. It can be done.



8. Always position your opponent as an agent of the status quo, your guy as the candidate for change. Self-explanatory.



9. Build your messages on what the public already believes in. Closely related to #7. Don’t ever try to introduce the electorate to something unfamiliar or convince it of something new. Another angle is to play on preexisting prejudices. If the public hates freckled people, your guy hates freckled people. Always has.



10. “Explaining is losing.” This is the only direct quote I’ve lifted from the book, because it is key, absolutely critical. If your guy has to explain anything – his policies, his past, anything – then your guy is playing a losing game. Voters in general don’t want to be burdened with policy details and candidates certainly don’t want to get mired in personal explanations. Just forget explaining anything -- anything at all -- and move on. It’ll work. You’ll be amazed.



11. Use push polling. Again, this is high-powered stuff for the monied pros. Don’t call registered voters and ask if they like so-and-so’s position on something. Call and ask if they like the satanic plan your Illuminati opponent wants to shove through Congress should he get there with all his corrupt campaign cash. You get the poll results you want, and better yet, you leave the right impression of your opponent in the minds of the questioned.



12. Pick off special-interest support for your opponent. In other words, be a hypocritical flip-flopper like all get out (and don’t bother explaining it). Bush’s decision before the 2004 campaign on erecting steel tariffs is an excellent example.

So there’s your primer, in no targeted order of importance. The other side already knows all this stuff and uses it. Now get out there and do the same. This is America.

indeed.

A Cunning Return

Courtesy of Attaturk.

Blackadder is back for another series.

From the sounds of it, they will be continuing the WWI theme from Blackadder Goes Forth.

Rowan Atkinson will be Captain Edmund Blackadder.

Of course, it will take a few years before BBC America broadcasts the shows, so I will have to assume that they are just a funny.

Crybaby

Michelle Malkin: Waaaaahhh

I don't know who is the bigger crybaby.

Ann "the man" Coulter, or her wanna-be Michelle "internment for the brownskinned" Malkin over the picture of Coulter on the cover of Time Magazine.

It isn't enough that Time dedicated an entire article fawning over Coulter. The picture highlights her enormous feet, long legs, and probably makes her adams apple more pronounced.

Of course, it didn't occur to her to ask that that picture not be taken.

Crybabies, all of them.

DeLay: It's their fault

Tom Delay refuses to take responsibility for his actions.

The man has non-existent ethics, and he blames Democrats for his problems.

DeLay's overseas travel, his ties to Washington lobbyists and his hard-edged political style that prompted three admonitions from the House ethics committee last year have received intense media scrutiny. One question raised has been whether DeLay's travel was paid for by nonprofit groups or by lobbyists and private interests working through those groups.

In a message e-mailed to supporters in his suburban Houston district that was provided to The Washington Post yesterday, DeLay blamed the reports on Democrats, liberal groups and the "legion of Democrat-friendly press" who were trying to undermine Republican control of Congress. "It is abundantly clear that their fundamental strategy revolves around attacking me and working to tear down Republican leadership," he said.

DeLay said in the message, titled "What the Press Isn't Telling You" and covering about six single-spaced pages, that his overseas trips were "proper" and "properly vetted and undertaken" and that if there were any question about the source of funding for that travel, no member of Congress "should be responsible for deceptive behavior by outside organizations."

I am curious if DeLay made some comments to Karl Rove that has him in a bit of a panic.

Yesterday Rove, on CNN, pledged the undying support of the White House to DeLay.

It could also be Trent Lott who has Rove back tracking from Bush's statement placing limits on the type of friendship he an DeLay enjoy.

As a final shot at Democrats, Rove becomes as witless as DeLay and blames Democrats for DeLay being unethical.

The pigs line up at the trough

The House Republicans decided it is payback time for big oil. House Energy Bill Increases Tax Breaks.

Even George W Bush wonders about the tax cuts:

Dana M. Perino, a White House spokeswoman, would not comment on the House measure but referred to comments made by President Bush last week. "I will tell you with $55 oil we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore," Bush said in a speech to newspaper editors in Washington. "There are plenty of incentives. What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent."

Of course you would be a silly person if you expected hybrid cars or other alternative energy programs to get equal billing here.

Of course, if the bill passes the House and Senate, despite Bush's reservations (I'm still kind of wigged out that there is a tax cut Bush does not support 110%), I am sure he will sign it. After all, the deficit is not high enough as it is.

Bush, with no ideas of his own

Bush urges lawmakers to offer ideas.

After all, he has none of his own.

Despite calls for the White House to give up the goods on the details for Bush's plan. Despite Bush flip-flopping on his stance for private accounts. Despite Bush's statements that he has no plan, Bush continues the bamboozelapalooza tour. Today in South Carolina.

South Carolina is the 22nd state that the president has visited to sell the idea of Social Security reform. He said he is optimistic about the chances for meaningful change to the system.

"I am confident that members of Congress will come together to reach a permanent solution," Bush said.

Get your own ideas bub.

And the most important part of the article?

Afterward, Bush stopped at Rockaway Athletic Club in Columbia to chat with area residents and eat a $5.10 cheeseburger.

Maybe a career change is in order?

Let's be honest here. A pharmacist that does not want to carry drugs that can be legally dispensed via a prescription, need to get out of the business.

Pharmacies Balk on After-Sex Pill and Widen Fight in Many States

There are areas in this country, where there may only be one pharmacy every 50 or 100 miles. To tell a pharmacist, that they don't have to carry certain drugs, because it offends their morals, is ridiculous on its face. What other reason is there to go through pharmacy school, and take the necessary examinations to get licensed in your state, if you are going to limit what medications your customers can have?

I suppose if you are trying to force women who have unprotected sex to get pregnant, then that could be one way of going about it, as long as you keep other pharmacies from operating in your area.

I suppose you could also deny AIDS or HIV+ patients the medication they need.

Maybe you think cancer is some sort of punishment from God. Deny people the medications they need.

Ultimately, I think those pharmacists need to seriously rethink their career choice.

Republicans like indentured servitude

The Smirking Chimp gives us this article from Ed Naja about the Republicans Bankruptcy Bill.

Ed details how the Republicans in Congress have, in the words of Nancy Pelosi:

"bind hardworking Americans to credit card companies as modern indentured servants."

Well, according to Denny Hastert:

"Those who abuse the system make getting credit more expensive for everyone. Bankruptcy is for those who need help, not those who want to shift costs to other hardworking Americans."

The person who has a catastrophic injury, and rakes up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical bills, and can not work because of their injury, are abusing the system.

The individual laid off from their job, and has tried to pay their bills, yet has not been able to find a job, is abusing the system.

The veteran, who fought in Iraq, and was injured in Iraq, and can no longer work, is abusing the system.

Ladies and Gentlemen. These are Republican party core values.

If you are not wealthy you are abusing the system.
If you have a medical problem, you are abusing the system.
If you lose your job, you are abusing the system.
If you have fought in Georgie's war of choice, you are abusing the system.

The GOP's Favorite Democrat

Not Zell Miller, Joementum, or John Breaux but Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Nelson is showing his true colors, by asking Frist how high he should jump, while he is already in the air.

Nelson complains, that Senate Democrats are putting him in a tough spot, because he is from a red state.

Well, boo hoo.

I don't think that Nelson was elected as a Republican.

GOP's record first quarter, we've got work to do

The GOP hauled in a cool $32 million this quarter.

Although the DNC has not published its numbers, the GOP numbers are pretty impressive.

715,000 individual contributors with 68,200 new donors.
March totals were $10.7 million.

The RNC is not planning on sitting on those funds. They are going to start voter registration drives, and other get the party in front of the voters activities that traditionally Democrats have been good at.

The problem is that the DNC has not had equal footing dollar-wise.

I know that a lot of people have problems with the DNC, and admittedly I do to. However, it appears that Howard Dean is starting to (albeit a little late) put his stamp on the DNC. That should be a good thing, if he carries through with it.

One thing the DNC does need, however is money.

Consider throwing a few pennies their way

What kind of English do you speak?

Via Matt Yglesias:

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

35% Dixie

15% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Seeing as I have lived in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Texas it kind of makes sense. As the majority of my life has been lived below the Mason-Dixon line, I can understand why Dixie is favored over Yankee.

Though it would be more appropriate if Texan would be represented, as we speak a slightly different form of American English here.

Mr. President, are your pants on fire?

Holden at First-Draft, shows us Yet Another Bush Lie:

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I am. I expect my Cabinet Secretaries to make sure that that practice doesn't go forward. There needs to be independence. And Mr. Armstrong Williams admitted he made a mistake. And we didn't know about this in the White House, and there needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press, the administration and the press. So, no, we shouldn't be going for it.

From USA Today:

[Department of Education inspector general John] Higgins concluded that top Education Department officials, including then-Secretary Rod Paige, were guilty of “bad management” and “poor judgment” but did not violate contract law.

Higgins also found that David Dunn, a special assistant to President Bush, participated in at least four conversations about the Williams contract with Education Department officials last summer.

So, we know that Bush says the White House did not know that Armstrong Williams was being paid, yet an assistant to the President, who works in the White House, sat in on conversations with the then-Education Secretary Rod Paige about his issue.

Addtionally, it appears that the current Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, also sat in on some of those meetings.

There are lots of pants burning right now.

3 years, eh?

As the main inspiration for me doing this blog, I really need to offer Atrios my congrats. on his 3 Year Anniversary

His was the second blog I came across two years ago, or so, and I was pretty much hooked. I have read, and do read a lot of different blogs now, but Eschaton is the one I always go back to.

Here's to the past 3, and hopefully another 3.



Cheers mate!

Yowza

Chicago Tribune extracts its pound of flesh from Tom DeLay:

The problem for Republicans is that DeLay's troubles only seem to mount, and the notion that he's the victim of a Democratic Party/liberal media witch hunt just doesn't hold water. DeLay was admonished by the House Ethics Committee three times last year. That would be the Republican-controlled House Ethics Committee.

For the good of his party, DeLay needs to answer the questions that dog him about campaign contributions and lobbyist-paid trips and nepotism hires--and step aside as majority leader.

But Republican leaders have to go beyond that. They can't continue to aid the efforts by DeLay to dodge responsibility. The worst example is this: After the Ethics Committee rebuked DeLay for the third time, the GOP leadership neutered the Ethics Committee. The Republican chairman of the committee, Rep. Joel Hefley, was removed from his post over his objections, and the committee rules were changed so either party could block an investigation of a House member.

Republicans can argue that the committee chairmanship was due to rotate. But the rules change to block investigations was an incredibly blind and arrogant tactic. Don't blame DeLay for that one. Blame House Speaker Dennis Hastert for letting it happen.

It is nice to see that these newspapers are starting to wake up to the judicial threats that DeLay, Cornyn, and the far-Right Republicans has been making, but, why now?

Excluding a few instances, where were these newspapers when the comments were made? This issue has been ignored until this weekend, when bloggers have writing about it for a week or more.

Was it the tepid support from the White House that papers like the Washington Post, and New York Times have been waiting for? Was the Chicago Tribune waiting for the green light from WaPo, and NYT?

Democrats taking back the House

Ruy Teixeira has an article at Donkey Rising, from Alan Abramowitz, highlighting 7 incumbent GOP representatives who could be vulnerable next year.

David Drier (CA 6), Marilyn Musgrave (CO 4), Katherine Harris (FL 13), Henry Hyde (IL 6), Chris Chocola (IN 2), Robin Hayes (NC 8) and Jim Gerlach (PA 8).

Part of the problem is that through redistricting, there are fewer competitive seats in the House than there historically have been. But, assuming competent, well financed, and effective campaigns by Democratic challengers, could unseat these seven, and possibly a few more.

These seven are in a variety of states, and fit right in with Howard Dean's desire to run a real 50 state program, in which Democratic efforts to retake Congress and the White House cannot focus on just a few states, but must focus on the entire country.

While it is true that certain areas are unlikely to swing Democrat in 2006, however, inroads can be made, and with an effective and persistent effort, by 2008, things can change for the better.

Part of this effort must be to unseat enough Republicans in 2006, hopefully enough to swing the House back to Democrats, as well as getting some of the Senate back as well. With a strong showing in 2006, 2008 will be easier for consolidating and extending Democrats position in Congress, and possibly a return to the White House.

DeLay calls the kettle black

At the NRA meeting in Houston over the weekend, Tom DeLay condemned the rhetoric he uses.

"It is unfortunate in our electoral system, exacerbated by our adversarial media culture, that political discourse has to get so overheated that it's not just arguments, but motives are questioned," Mr. DeLay told the National Rifle Association.

and then followed up his attack on himself with this gem:

The majority leader, who has been dogged by ethics questions, opened a spirited address to the NRA annual convention by saying "when a man is in trouble or in a good fight, you want all your friends around you – preferably armed."

Ted Nugent, in DeLay's spirit of reconciliation and moderation exhorted NRA members:

"Let's next year sit here and say, 'Holy smokes, the NRA has 40 million members now,' " he said, adding that NRA members should only associate with other members. "No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member. Do that in your life."

Just lie back and enjoy it.

In a tip of the hat to former Texas Governor Clayton Williams, Bobo tells us to Just lie back and enjoy it.

Fortunately he is not talking about rape, but he is talking about this new fundamentalism that the far right is forcing down our throat.

Desparate Housewives is one of the most popular shows on television, but we are opposed to the sex on display.

We have newspaper columns about how to give a better blow job, but we don't like to give them.

We have teenage oral and anal sex on the rise, but teenagers don't want to have sex (actually Bobo says that those statistics are not on the rise).

50 Cent sings about sex, but we don't engage in that sex.

If you don't like the religious fundamentalism that is taking over this country, just lie back and enjoy it.

Democratic Governors show how bipartisanship works

The Governor of West Virginia today, demonstrated howDemocratic Governors are the best.

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- The quality of Americans' lives is improving in states with Democratic governors, and congressional leaders should follow that example to cut through partisan gridlock, West Virginia's governor said Saturday.

"When America is facing challenges like the deployment of our family members overseas; record, mounting gas prices; and skyrocketing health care costs, it is not a time for rhetoric or fighting. It is a time for leadership and action," Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin said in his party's weekly radio address.

I think it really is a case of when Republicans aren't in charge, they are willing to be conciliatory. However, once they get in charge, like in Texas, or at the national level, they are more than happy to tell their friends to fuck off.

Grey Lady wakes up

Maybe the New York Times, and the Washington post have switched from decaf to regular coffee. Editorial: Bill Frist's Religious War:

Right-wing Christian groups and the Republican politicians they bankroll have done much since the last election to impose their particular religious views on all Americans. But nothing comes close to the shameful declaration of religious war by Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, over the selection of judges for federal courts.

Senator Frist is to appear on a telecast sponsored by the Family Research Council, which styles itself a religious organization but is really just another Washington lobbying concern. The message is that the Democrats who oppose a tiny handful of President Bush's judicial nominations are conducting an assault "against people of faith." By that, Senator Frist and his allies do not mean people of all faiths, only those of their faith.

It is one thing when private groups foment this kind of intolerance. It is another thing entirely when it's done by the highest-ranking member of the United States Senate, who swore on the Bible to uphold a Constitution that forbids the imposition of religious views on Americans. Unfortunately, Senator Frist and his allies are willing to break down the rules to push through their agenda - in this case, by creating what the senator knows is a false connection between religion and the debate about judges.

Senator Frist and his backers want to take away the sole tool Democrats have for resisting the appointment of unqualified judges: the filibuster. This is not about a majority or even a significant number of Bush nominees; it's about a handful with fringe views or shaky qualifications. But Senator Frist is determined to get judges on the federal bench who are loyal to the Republican fringe and, he hopes, would accept a theocratic test on decisions.

Senator Frist has an even bigger game in mind than the current nominees: the next appointments to the Supreme Court, which the Republican conservatives view as their best chance to outlaw abortion and impose their moral code on the country.

We fully understand that a powerful branch of the Republican Party believes that the last election was won on "moral values." Even if that were true, that's a far cry from voting for one religion to dominate the entire country. President Bush owes it to Americans to stand up and say so.

So, the question now is, have the NYTimes, and WaPo switched from decaf permanently, or was this a one time deal?

Finally the Washington Post wakes up

Today's editorial in the Washington Post finally says, what many people should have been saying loudly, and publicly before today.

Frist's televised rant against the filibuster is, in part to paint Democrats as anti-Religious.

SENATE MAJORITY Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) plans to participate next weekend in a telecast sponsored by a conservative interest group that seeks to end the use of filibusters for judicial nominations. The Family Research Council bills what it terms "Justice Sunday" as "a live simulcast to engage values voters in the all-important issue of reining in our out-of-control courts." The group claims that President Bush's judicial nominees "are being blocked because they are people of faith and moral conviction" and says, "We must stop this unprecedented filibuster of people of faith."

Mr. Frist is not responsible for the rhetoric of others. But it will be a distressing new low in the debased debate over judges if the Senate leader appears at an event predicated on slander, unless he makes clear that he does not condone such slander. Whatever one says about the aggressive Democratic use of the filibuster -- which we do not support -- it simply is not motivated by anti-religious sentiment. There are people of faith and goodwill on both sides of the issue. If he attends, Mr. Frist should make clear that he knows as much.

That DeLay shouldn't be threatening judges:

Clarity from the majority leader is particularly important now, because the past few weeks have seen an aggressiveness in conservative attacks on the judiciary that cumulatively takes one's breath away. First it was House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) swearing revenge on the judges responsible for the Terri Schiavo case. Mr. DeLay apologized last week for saying "something in an inartful way." But the problem with Mr. DeLay's remarks was not the manner of his speech but its substance. In ostensibly apologizing, he did not back off his insistence that Congress should restrain the courts, perhaps by restricting their jurisdiction, and he did not forswear impeachment as a remedy for judicial decisions with which he disagrees.

Cornyn shouldn't be excusing violence against judges:

Then there's Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who posited "some connection" between recent violence against judges and "the perception in some quarters" that "judges are making political decisions." Mr. Cornyn later insisted that he was not condoning violence against the judiciary and conceded that he knew of no "evidence whatsoever linking recent acts of courthouse violence to the various controversial rulings."

Rep. Todd Tiahrt shouldn't be lecturing judges on what their job is:

One GOP representative even inserted his disagreement with federal court decisions into the appropriations process. In subcommittee hearings on the budget for the courts last week, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) lectured a judge and two Supreme Court justices on his disagreement with recent court decisions -- implying some link to the budgetary matters under discussion. "You know, we don't ask much from the courts. We just pay the bills," he told Julia Smith Gibbons, a federal appeals court judge. "The one time that we did ask something from the courts, a simple judicial review of the facts of a case, we were ignored. . . ."

And in summation, Republicans have crossed the line:

Criticism of court decisions is a welcome, indeed essential, part of American legal culture. But there exist red lines beyond which legislators cannot go without threatening judicial independence. One of those, traditionally, was the norm of treating judicial nominees with respect and not extorting ideological concessions from them; both parties and their affiliated interest groups have participated eagerly in tearing down this protection. Some Republicans are beginning to gnaw at other key pillars on which an independent judiciary stands, such as the ability of judges to render difficult decisions without facing personal retribution, budgetary retaliation or diminution of the jurisdiction of the courts to hear important questions. Responsible politicians should stand against this trend.

In essence, the Washington Post, finally wakes up to what the bloggers on the Left have been railing about for the past couple of weeks.

Despite the fact that the WaPo's editorial position is that they do not support the use of the filibuster by Democrats (I guess it is ok when used by Republicans), finally they stand up and make it known that Frist, Delay, Cornyn, et al, are actually trying to do real damage to the independent judiciary.

To which I ask, what took you so long?

Religion, filibusters, and partial truth.

CNN tries to relay information about Frist's anti-Democratic religious campaign by ignoring the religious aspect of his campaign.

The article even goes so far as to mention that he will be saying how the filibuster is being used against people of faith, but neglects to mention the fact that he will be doing this inside of a church, during a program that will be broadcast across a satellite network used by churches.

The face of evil:

When the news is bad, stop reporting it

Because the Bush Administration is inept at dealing with the terrorist threat, the State Department decided to eliminateits annual report on international terrorism.

Terrorist attacks had reached an all time high in 2004, and most likely 2005 was shaping up to be even worse. Because the Bush administration wants us to think they have things under control, when it is obvious they don't, they eliminate one report that would expose just how inept their handling of international terrorism has been.

Obfuscation, yet another option in the Bush toolbox.

Frist's intolerance

Today the Boston Globe takes a pot shot at Bill Frist.

The complaints are ones we know about. Support for Tom DeLay, Taking to the airwaves next week to link Democrats to anti-Religious forces. It is clear that the agenda of the Republicans in Congress is finally starting to sink in with certain segments of the MSM.

What has taken them so long, and when will the rest of the MSM wake up to it?

Firefox, new version 1.0.3

If you haven't already heard, there is a rather serious security issue with Firefox. It has been fixed in the latest version which is now available.

1.0.3

John Cornyn replies

A number of Texas residents and bloggers received via email a reply from John Cornyn addressing his remarks in the Senate about excusing violence against judges. In case anyone was wondering here is the text of his reply:

Dear Mr. XXXX:

Thank you for contacting me about the federal judiciary. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this important matter.

As a former Texas Supreme Court Justice and Texas Attorney General, I believe Americans are best served by a federal judiciary that functions at full capacity and upholds the highest standard. Federal judges are appointed for life; thus it is imperative that nominees demonstrate a record of wise judgment and proven legal ability. Additionally, jurists must not legislate from the bench nor color their rulings with personal ideology. I believe that such requirements will ensure the preservation of our Constitution and safeguard the principles that we hold dear.

As you know, I delivered a speech from the Senate floor on Monday, April 4, 2005, reiterating my position. A full transcript of those remarks, which shed light on several decisions of the United States Supreme Court, is available on my official website: http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/releases.cfm.

As a former judge, a number of my close personal friends still serve on the bench today, and I am outraged by recent acts of courthouse violence. I certainly hope that no one will misconstrue my remarks of April 4 to mean anything to the contrary. Considered in context, I don’t think a reasonable listener or reader could.

There is no possible justification for courthouse violence. Indeed, I met with a federal judge in Texas just this past week to ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect our judges and courthouse personnel against further acts of violence. I personally know judges and their families who have been victims of violence and have grieved with those families.

But I want to make one thing clear: I'm not aware of any evidence whatsoever linking recent acts of courthouse violence to the various controversial rulings that have captured the nation’s attention in recent years.

My point was, and is, simply this: We should all be concerned that the judiciary is losing the respect that it needs to serve the American people well. We should all want judges to interpret the law fairly—not impose their own personal views on the nation. We should all want to fix our broken judicial confirmation process. And we should all be disturbed by overheated rhetoric about the judiciary, from both sides of the aisle. I regret that my remarks have been taken out of context to create a wrong impression about my position, and that they have possibly been construed to contribute to the problem rather than to a solution.

Our judiciary must not be politicized. Rhetoric about the judiciary and about judicial nominees must be toned down. And our broken judicial confirmation process must be fixed, once and for all.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent the interests of Texans in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.


Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN





517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

Bush Lied? You don't say!

The Left Coaster points out yet another Bush lie.

This time on the Armstrong Williams brouhaha.

Documents that show Bush close friend, and Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings knew that Armstrong Williams was getting paid.

Based on their relationship, extending back to Bush's governorship, it is unlikely that this was kept from him.

Seeing as the investigation in to the Armstrong Williams is being stonewalled, I wonder if there are some more facts that will be coming out soon, that will make this seem kind of small fish.

Dennis Hastert supports corruption

Hastert defends DeLay

With everything stacking up against DeLay, the Speaker of the House says he supports DeLay.

It will be nice to hear him trying to extricate himself from this mess.

Unsurprisingly, AFL-CIO is opposed to Senate asbestos bill

With the Asbestos Trust Fund bill wending its way through Congress, the AFL-CIO weighs in against the bill.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The AFL-CIO labor group said on Friday that a U.S. Senate plan to create a $140 billion asbestos compensation fund has "a number of serious deficiencies that must be corrected" despite improvements over previous drafts.

The deficiencies included eliminating compensation for many lung cancer victims without letting them document asbestos exposure through CT scans, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said in a statement.

Still, the draft has improvements like increases in awards for some categories of asbestos disease, and the umbrella labor organization continued to support the establishment of a fund to pay asbestos claims, he said.

"We will continue to work with senators to attempt to resolve these important issues," Sweeney said.

This bill is part of a package of protecting companies like Halliburton who have an enormous liability due to asbestos litigation, much of which is in the cours right now.

On the surface, it has the goal of ensuring that everyone entitled to compensation from these companies due to illness, injury or death caused by asbestos, when you start to lift the covers a bit, you begin to see it for what it is.

There will be people who are sick, or had loved ones die from exposure, who will not be able to collect, for one obscure reason or another. Awards will be lower (and probably not adequate enough) to properly compensate the families of the individuals affected.

Insurance companies are opposed to this bill, because they feel that companies with smaller liabilities are being forced to pony up larger amounts of cash than they might otherwise have to.

Additionally, the fund will have to be voluntary, and whether or not these companies are released from future liability will have to be worked out.

All of these issues are contributing to opposition to this bill. I want this bill to fail to protect the people who were exposed, and are either going through treatment for mesothelioma, or have died from it, from the companies who were responsible for the exposure.

These companies are ultimately going to have to pay up. All this trust fund will accomplish will be to ensure that the compensation is not adequate.

Harry Reid Speaks out

From Atrios:

I am disappointed that in an attempt to hide what the debate is really about, Senator Frist would exploit religion like this. Religion to me is a very personal thing. I have been a religious man all my adult life. My wife and I have lived our lives and raised our children according to the morals and values taught by the faith to which we prescribe. No one has the right to judge mine or anyone else’s personal commitment to faith and religion.

God isn’t partisan.

As His children, he does ask us to do our very best and treat each other with kindness. Republicans have crossed a line today. America is better than this and Republicans need to remember that. This is a democracy, not a theocracy. We are people of faith, and in many ways are doing God’s work. But we represent all Americans, regardless of religion. Our founding fathers had the superior vision to separate Church and State in our democracy. It is a fundamental principle that has allowed our great, diverse nation to grow and flourish peacefully. Blurring the line between Church and State erodes our Constitution, and our democracy. It is a blatant abuse of power. Participating in something designed to incite divisiveness and encourage contention is unacceptable. I would hope that Sen. Frist will rise above something so beyond the pale.

ADL speaks out about Frist

Statement:

NEW YORK, April 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Deeply troubled by reports that Senator Bill Frist will appear in a telecast organized by conservative Christian groups that portrays the filibustering of judicial nominees as "against people of faith," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged Dr. Frist to reconsider his participation in the telecast, stating that: "Whatever one's views may be on this or any other issue, playing the 'religious' card is as unacceptable as playing the race card."

In a strongly worded letter to the Senate majority leader, Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National director, said he was "deeply troubled" by Dr. Frist's decision to appear in the "Justice Sunday" telecast on April 24. The program's message, "...is deeply flawed and a dangerous affront to fundamental principles of American democracy," Foxman said.

"The heated debate regarding the status of the filibuster in the United States Senate is a quintessentially political contest, not a religious struggle," Foxman said. "Nor should it be portrayed as such. Whatever one's views may be on this or any other issue, playing the 'religious' card is as unacceptable as playing the race card."

Organized by the Family Research Council, the "Justice Sunday" telecast will be aired on Christian television and radio networks and stations and will be broadcast over the Internet.

Offshoring the federal government

Corporate America has embraced offshoring ostensibly to save a few bucks. Now, it appears that US Government agencies are doing the same, starting with Voice of America.

The Voice of America, working with ever-tightening budgets, is planning a little outsourcing itself -- to Communist China -- to save some taxpayer dollars.

I wonder what other federal agencies will relocate to China?

Finger pointing begins

Due to the example that President Bush set, by blaming everyone but himself for mistakes about the Iraq war, Education Secretary Margret Spellings follows suit.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senior Education Department officials showed poor judgment in hiring conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to promote agency programs, a department investigation found Friday.

I cannot say I am surprised to see the blame being placed elsewhere. After all, as the head of the agency, Ms. Spellings is actually not obligated to accept responsibility for the activities that occur in her agency. Just like Dear Leader not having to accept responsibility for anything that happens in his government.

Step One of saving face

Because Bush is incapabable of admitting any mistakes, the White House decided to pull a fast one on the ever vigilant MSM: White House talks flexibility on accounts.

Recognizing that even Republicans are balking at Bush's private account plan, the Associate Press plays the patsy in the latest Administration flip-flop.

KIRTLAND, Ohio (AP) -- The White House signaled Friday it may compromise on how private retirement accounts would be created as part of a Social Security overhaul. President Bush kept pushing for major changes.

"We're not going to get into ruling anything in or out," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said as Bush traveled here for a Social Security speech.

And because the White House cannot be honest, they had to blame Democrats, rather than their own party, who have indicated that they are not blindly following Dear Leader.

McClellan portrayed the private accounts as an idea the president has floated, and he contrasted that with many Democrats' opposition.

"Unfortunately, we have too many Democratic leaders who are simply saying what they're against and ruling things out," he said.

As the White House continues to change its position on Social Security privatization, and the MSM continues to misrepresent the changes, expect more smoke and mirrors.

The White House has thus far refused to put out any written details as to exactly what Bush's private accounts would have amounted to, but we can tell from this article, that they have recognized that round one is lost, and are altering their message to reflect that.

And the MSM is helping them cover up the change.

Yet another congressman against DeLay

As the Good Ship GOP continues along, another Congressional Republican has pulled out his fork in anticipation of Goose a la DeLay:

Washington - Rep. Tom Tancredo says it is "probably not the worst idea" for embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to step down while he deals with ethics allegations.

Stepping into a swirling Washington controversy, the Littleton Republican said he doesn't think the current accusations of impropriety against DeLay amount to much. But Tancredo said that from a political perspective, DeLay has handled the ethics issue "stupidly."

"I don't think we should try to oust him," he said in an interview Thursday at the Capitol. "Right now, I would not encourage him to leave. If he chose to resign as majority leader until these matters are resolved, that's probably not the worst idea."

There are still some DeLay holdouts, but it is clear that DeLay is done (for the time being, seeing as Trent Lott, and Newt Gingrich are making a comeback), however, the longer this goes on, the stronger the urge to boot him out will grow.

Pull up a chair, it is almost dinner time.

As if we need more proof CNN sucks

Atrios points us to this NPR segment on CNN and their role in providing the government propaganda and the Senate's attempt to stop it

A spokesperson for CNN recently adopted a technique more fitting for some of the dodgy companies it covers -- dissembling in the hope that unwelcome questions would melt away.

This winter, there was a flood of stories about the widespread use of "video news releases" -- sent out by government agencies -- that were designed to mimic actual news stories. They were broadcast on many local TV news programs.

When asked about the practice, the nation's media critic in chief – that would be one George W. Bush – defended it, saying that the stations ran the pieces voluntarily. But local news directors said they thought they were real. Why? Because they came from a division of CNN.

More than 800 American stations pay that division -- which is called CNN Newsource -- to send them stories from CNN and its affiliates. But that's not all CNN Newsource does. Many public relations firms also pay it to distribute "video news releases" from their clients -- including the U.S. government. (Several competitors have similar deals.)

So CNN Newsource had more than one kind of client here. When preparing a story on the subject last month for NPR, I asked CNN, How big a side business is this? A CNN spokesman said there was no way to know how many video news releases were distributed by CNN in the typical week or month or year. It was impossible to tell, he said.

The "video news releases" weren't a major source of revenue for CNN, he explained, in genial tones meant to inspire confidence. They only generated modest fees. Naturally, the size of those fees couldn't be divulged. He also said CNN put tough safeguards in place when the issue first surfaced last year. Each public relations firm now had to sign a contract for every "video news release" saying each spot would make clear who paid for it.

Here's a pretty precise paraphrase of the conversation that ensued:

NPR: So, these guys at the PR firms actually have to sign a contract for every video news release you distribute through CNN Newsource?

CNN Guy: Yes.

NPR: And they pay you some nominal fee for each. It's not done through petty cash -- you guys send them bills, right?

CNN Guy: Sure.

NPR: So why can't you march down to accounting or your legal department and have someone pull those bills and contracts? Just count how many invoices and contracts there are. Wouldn't that instantly tell you precisely how many video news releases CNN Newsource had distributed?

CNN Guy:

NPR: Hello? Hello? You there?

There was a looooooong pause. I invited him – then and several times subsequently – to reconcile his responses. No further explanation followed.

Just how lame does CNN have to get before they recognize just how bad it is?

Tax exempt church engages in political activism

In a follow on to the Frist/FRC national simulcast against Democrats, Doug over at The American Street wants to know why these organizations are able to maintain their tax-exempt status.

This has gone beyond simple preaching against certain values that Democrats are perceived to be for or against, to outright political activism against Democrats.

Senator Frist, and FRC are using Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky in Frist's campaign against Democrats. The skyangel2 satellite network that is being used by the FRC to broadcast this campaign against Democrats is jeapordizing the tax-exempt classification of the churches who subscribe.

Doug has two questions for Senator Frist:

Senator Frist, as a strict-constructionist, do you believe in the separation of church and state, and will you do everything in your power to maintain this important distinction? Or will you use innocent, God-fearing churches to maliciously advance your political agenda while compromising their nonprofit status?

Frist claims Democrats filibustering Christians

The New York Times report that The Family Research Council is going nuclear on Democrats.

On 24 April there will be a telecast called Justice Sunday: Stop the Filibuster Against People of Faith, which is being characterized as a "filibuster against faith" by Democrats.

Senator Bill Frist is going to be a part of this slavo against Democrats.

From the FRC website:

The Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, is committed to returning Constitutional order to the Senate by requiring an up-or-down vote on these nominees. To do this, he urgently needs the help of every "values voter." Without doubt, this will be the most important vote cast in the United States Senate in this term. If this effort fails, the best we can hope for are likely to be mediocre judges who meet the approval of Ted Kennedy, Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It seems to me that Frist really wants an all out political war to occur over the filibuster. By linking Democrats opposition to Republicans killing off the filibuster, to an attack on faith, Frist apparently wants the religious fight to escalate as well.

This needs to be disseminated widely, as widely as possible.

Tillman probe

Army Completes New Probe of Tillman Death.

At the request of various people, the US Army did an investigation to determine whether or not they held back information about the death of Pat Tillman.

However, the Army is going to hold back on reporting the findings. In fact, they are just not going to release them.

Does anyone see the irony here?

Tom Friedman, where have you been?

In a bizzare editorial, Tom Friedman wants to know why Christian Fundamentalism is on the rise, science spending is down, broadband deployment is down, and basically the United States is falling behind the rest of the world in most areas.

Tom, where the fuck have you been for the past 6 years?

It's noon at the OK Corral

Frist begins to reach for his gun.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is all but certain to press for a rule change that would ban filibusters of judicial nominations in the next few weeks, despite misgivings by some of his fellow Republicans and a possible Democratic backlash that could paralyze the chamber, close associates said yesterday.

Frist supposedly is setting himself up for a run at the White House in 2008. This move would probably ensure he will not succeed.

Between fantasy and reality, lies stupidity

IN an otherwise rational article about Congress taking up the issue of Pharmacists who refuse to dispense medications due to moral qualms, we are given this gem from Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life:

Brauer told Reuters she believes doctors will eventually begin ordering women to abort disabled children, or refuse to treat them after birth.

"They'll force women to kill their children ... It will be like China. It's the next logical step," she told Reuters.

Yeah, that is exactly what will happen.

As a saving grace to this article, we have this:

"Nobody has a right to come between any person and their doctor," Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat and co-sponsor, said Thursday. "Today they might not fill prescriptions for birth control pills. Tomorrow it could be painkillers for a cancer patient. Next year it could be medicine that prolongs the life of a person with AIDS or some other terminal disease."

I've said it before, and I will say it again. If you are a Pharmacist, and have moral issues with dispensing prescribed emergency contraception, resign. You do not belong in the pharmacy.

Because Republicans are afraid

Because Tom DeLay has Republican House members wrapped around his little pinky, House Republicans accept sodomizing from Tom DeLay.

It is quite clear, despite certain Republicans desire to separate themselves from the ethically challenged Tom DeLay, in general, the rest of the Republican party has decided that being ethical is optional.

George W. Bush flip flopped and decided that the ethically challenged Representative was the type of person he wants in congress.

As more evidence of Delay's lack of ethics, and honesty is exposed, we find that the far-right wing of the Republican embraces this new found sense of dirty-dealing that has been the hallmark of Tom Delay's congressional career. It is truly a shame, that the party that promised to "restore the integrity" of Congress and the White House, lacks said integrity in so many ways.

No more gov't propaganda as news?

Say it isn't so!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate passed a measure Thursday that would stop government agencies from using taxpayer funds to disguise video press releases as real news, putting the brakes on a product Democrats call propaganda.

Senate voted 98 to 0 to attach the measure to an emergency spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan military operations.

Normally I am opposed to this type of method of getting bills passed. However, with Bush's lap dogs so prevalent in the House this may be the only way of getting this measure passed.

Naturally, Bush is opposed:

President Bush cautioned that some responsibility for full disclosure rests with news outlets.

"It's deceptive to the American people if it's not disclosed," Bush told the American Society of Newspaper Editors on Thursday. "But it's incumbent upon people who use them to say, 'This news clip was produced by the federal government.'"

After all, when people know it is propaganda, they don't get suckered as easily.

Amtrak derailed?

Bush sent his plan to eliminate Amtrak to congress today.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration on Thursday sent Congress its plan to turn Amtrak into a private operator, with a federal-state partnership supporting a railroad that would focus on running trains and would not maintain tracks or stations.

The plan is to offload management of the rails and stations from Amtrak, and give it to the states to manage. The states are given the option of maintaining the rails and stations, or privatizing said maintanence. Or even opting out of Amtrak service altogether and going with a private operator.

The plan also calls for the federal government to pay for half of the cost of whatever the states plan requires.

Sen. Jon Corzine, who has urged the administration to fully fund Amtrak, said the measure is just the administration's way of dismantling Amtrak.

"This latest gimmick by the president - to claim fiscal discipline by lowering numbers and shifting the cost burdens to states and communities - is ill-fated, ill-conceived and just plain wrong," said Corzine, D-N.J.

Ultimately this is just part of Bush's plan to eliminate Amtrak, and ultimately passenger rail service altogether.

After all, when he was running for Governor of Texas, he had no idea that there was even Amtrak service available in Texas, and questioned why anyone would want to ride on a train when air travel is available.

Lone Democrat stands up to Bush EPA nominee

The other Senator from Delaware, Thomas Carper, blocked Bush's EPA nominee, Stephen Johnson.

It seems that Carper, and a couple of other Senators (Jeffords and Chafee) have been trying to get information from the EPA regarding studies done modeling the effects of Bush's Clear Skies plan, and plans put forth by Jeffords, and Carper with Chafee.

The EPA has been less than forthcoming with the information, and so to prod the Bush administration and the EPA to cough up the requested info, Carper put a hold on the vote.

This was not done to block Johnson's confirmation, but to spur the EPA to give it up.

Carper said he believes Johnson, a career EPA employee for about 25 years and the first person with a science background to be nominated to lead the agency, would make a good administrator if the White House doesn't interfere with him politically. (emphasis mine)

There is the big question. Is Johnson going to toe the line? Which line is it that he is going to toe?

This should get the information that the Bush administration does not want us to know about regarding their Clear Skies plan, and how it stacks up to alternative plans, already being evaluated.

I suspect that the skies won't look so clear when the data is presented.

Finally some sense

Ariz. Gov. Nixes Contraception Refusals

PHOENIX (AP) -- Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have allowed pharmacists to refuse to provide abortion-related medications if doing so conflicts with their moral or religious beliefs.

Napolitano, who supports abortion rights, said in her veto letter to lawmakers that pharmacies and other health care providers "have no right to interfere with the lawful personal medical decisions made by patients and their doctors."

The bill would have permitted pharmacies and hospitals to refuse to dispense drugs "prescribed to accomplish an abortion and emergency contraception based on a moral or religious objection." Emergency contraception, or the morning-after pill, reduces a woman's chance of becoming pregnant within 72 hours of intercourse by preventing ovulation or fertilization and interfering with implantation of a fertilized egg into the uterus.

Finally, someone steps up and addresses the elephant in the room.

On the other hand, the issue in Illinois is still in doubt.

Also Wednesday, two Illinois pharmacists sued Gov. Rod Blagojevich for ordering them to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception even if it violates their religious beliefs.

The debate there, is whether or not Pharmacists are covered by the Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which allows medial professionals to not perform a medical procedure they are morally opposed to.

If a Pharmacist is morally opposed to dispensing some drugs, then they need to rethink their choice of profession.

DeLay: I'm sorry you feel that way

Tom DeLay today apologized, not for what he said, but how he said it.

Since it appears that the Good Ship GOP is extending the plank for Tom to walk off, he is trying to sound contrite.

However, it is at best a disingenous plea for contrition.

It sounds like Tom's goose is cooked. However, at this point we don't know how much longer until the timer pops.

The forks are out, we are just waiting for the time to stick them in.

Wal-Mart Leaves Bitter Chill

Wal-Mart Leaves Bitter Chill (washingtonpost.com)

It is hardly surprising that Wal-Mart is anti-Union. However, the lengths that Wal-Mart will go, to prevent unionization is disgraceful.

From closing the store in Jonquiere, Quebec when it voted to unionize, to closing the meat department in a store in Texas when it voted to unionize, Wal-Mart is making it clear that it does not really value its workers.

Wal-Mart already destroys local small businesses when it moves into a new town. It is willing to put a store on a Hawaiian burial ground, and build right next to Aztec pyramids. Wal-Mart's "concern" for workers, and the towns its stores are in, are really nothing more than a illusion. A front to distract people from their overriding goal of money, money, and more money.

What ever happened to the company that Sam Walton built? Not that the company was a good corporate citizen under his leadership, but as compared to the way the company operates today, it was far and away a better company.

At least, under Sam Walton's leadership, Wal-Mart would purchase goods made in the United States. Today it wont even do that if it can help it.

Rick Santorum hearts Wal-Mart

Attytood: Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Wal-Mart)

This explains Santorum's minimum wage increase proposal from early March.

Wally World supported it because of the minimum wage regulation changes, and the overtime changes that were a part of the bill.

Fortunately that bill died, but since Wally World gives Santorum use of their corporate jet, and plenty of money to his campaign and Santorum's PAC: America's Foundation

Reason #253 to defeat Santorum in the next election cycle.

Who does Jack Abramoff own?

Jack in the House

Jack Abramoff owns more than just Tom DeLay.

Fallout from Sesame Street Shakeup Continues

With Cookie Monster going on a diet, more fallout from Sesame Street.

Oscar the Grouch is going to be moved into a halfway house, a new character named Noah will be introduced, who will be providing lessons to children about the bible, and the great flood.

However, the most dramatic, and for some traumatic, change will be that best friends, Bert and Ernie will get separate rooms.

I don't know who is running the Children's Television Workshop these days, but the thought of having Bert and Ernie in different rooms, Oscar out of his trashcan and Cookie Monster eating fruits and vegetables just sickens me.

I and my children grew up on Sesame Street, those characters are institutions of childhood education. These people do not have the best interest of Sesame Street at heart. They are selfish, and ultimately just trying to kill Sesame Street to get it out of their lives. Are any of these people involved with other programs on the side? I demand immediate action!


I demand that Congress and the President intervene in this matter, and put a stop to the corruption of my childhood memories by these interlopers.



Thanks to the ever vigilant Russell D'Arby at the Agonist for bringing this outrage to our attention.

;)

LA Times justifies Tom DeLay's corruption

In an effort to put a positive spin on Tom DeLay's corruption, the Los Angeles Times does a bit of "how can it be so bad if others do it to?" reporting.

Thank jebus the Los Angeles Times is there to tell us that what Tom DeLay does is OK because others do it too.

Everything else Tom DeLay does is excused, because when it comes to paying family members large sums from campaign funds, although questionable, is acceptable because others do it too.

I have to ask the writers at the Los Angeles Times if they would jump off the Golden Gate Bridge because others were doing it too?

In fairness, the writers do point out that it is wrong, and even manages to get quotes from a couple of people who think it is wrong. However, the bulk of the article just shows who else is paying family members for campaign work.

Paris Hilton more important then average citizens

After all, when you have millions of dollars at your disposal, Republicans want to be your bitch.

Rather than tackle the real problems that exist in the United States, Republicans would rather give yet another tax break to the ultra weathy.

Tax day is nearly here, and what better way to show your concern for the taxpayers of America than by giving a tax break to less than 1% of people who die in a year.

Republicans, enriching the wealthy, one tax break at a time.

Refreshing, candid, unvarnished, Preacher

Baptist Deacon speaks out.

Such candid, frank, unvarnished truth from the Baptist Church:

Hey ass hole [sic]. Tom Delay happens to be my congresman [sic] and I am happy with the job he does for me and my district. Why don’t you get the F@&* out of our district and leave us alone. Better yet, come speak to me personally and I will show you what I think of you.

Kevin Cole
Pealrand [sic], TX
[Cell Phone # Redacted]

It is friends like this, that make Tom Delay such a lovable character.

Courtesy of Americablog.

I was worried that I couldn't get a chemical hard-on for Passover

Viagra ruled kosher for Passover

Pfizer, satisfying everyones needs.

Promoting conservation Republican style

Higher fuel mileage? Not today says House.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A House committee on Wednesday voted against requiring U.S. automakers to ratchet up fuel efficiency to a fleet average of 33 miles per gallon by 2014 from the current 27.5 mpg for passenger cars.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 36 to 10 against the proposal to raise federal mileage requirements, which was offered as an amendment to a broad energy bill.

Guess who said the following:

"People are driving around in big cars, because they like them, because they feel safe"

If you named some Republican, you lose.

If you named John Dingell (D-Mi) you win.

As part of the bill, everyones favorite, ethically challenged congressman is pushing for a waiver that would exempt major oil companies (however, no small oil companies) from lawsuits over MTBE pollution.

Of course the article goes on to cite the discredited notion that only small cars can be fuel efficient (what else would you expect from the MSM today). A real plan for reducing mideast oil dependence that does not include increasing fuel milage standards is stupid. It does nothing to address the actual problem.

However, there is nothing new about that.

Agathidium bushi Miller and Wheeler

Slime Mold Beetles Get Politically Prominent Names.

Agathidium bushi Miller and Wheeler
Agathidium cheneyi Miller and Wheeler
Agathidium rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler

Slime-mold beetles.

Appropriate.

Judicial Black Helicopters

Josh Marshall brings us the tasty morsel from the whackjobs who are waging their war on the judicial branch:

At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the court's spending request, Representative Todd Tiahrt, Republican of Kansas, veered from the budget issues to press Justice Kennedy.

"Lately we've had rulings that seem to go beyond the rule of law" and that reflect "outside influence," the congressman told the justice. He pointed to a Supreme Court decision last month barring the execution of those who were juveniles when they committed their crimes. That decision, which was written by Justice Kennedy and which cited international treaties and practices abroad, appeared to reflect "pressure put on by the United Nations and other agencies," Mr. Tiahrt said.

Mr. Tiarht said the court was "not interpreting the Constitution and laws that govern America anymore," and added that his views were shared by people "across the United States."

Justice Kennedy, appearing unruffled, replied mildly that disagreements over the meaning of the Constitution were "a very important part of democratic dialogue." He added, "This give and take is very healthy."

Josh makes the point that we are not debating individual rulings by the federal judiciary, but the rule of law itself.

The anti-judiciary brigade appears to be genuinely interested in either dismantling the court system entirely, or making the judicial branch subservient to the whim of the legislative branch.

One has to wonder if they are opposed to the form of government we have altogether?

Did he wake up with a horse head in his bed?

Congressman Joe Wilson fellates Tom Delay

I thought this did not happen?

With approval for drilling in ANWR, Republicans assured the American people that drilling for oil was clean, and environmentally compatable.

Explain this

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - An estimated 1.4 million cubic feet of natural gas and an unknown quantity of crude oil spewed from a leak in a pipeline at the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope, state environmental regulators said on Tuesday.

The resulting mist of crude oil coated an area nearly a mile long and averaged about 300 feet wide, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said in a statement.

Field operator BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. discovered and reported the leak, the state agency said. BP was trying to calculate the amount of oil spilled.

The leak came from a failed weld in a pipe that carries natural gas for injection into a well.

BP immediately shut down production at the affected drill site to control the situation, said company spokesman Andrew Van Chau. Production at the site, typically 10,000 barrels per day, resumed late in the afternoon.

The cleanup will be conducted "as long as it takes," Van Chau said.

Prudhoe Bay is Alaska's biggest oil field. Along with operator BP, major field owners are ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil.

A day late, and a dollar short

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), recognizing that Bush's plan (that's not really a plan) is soon to be dead in the water, Asked Bush to put up.

Now, if only he would have added, "or shut up".

Especially since some Republicans, most notably Charles Grassley(R-Ia), have said that the Presiden't plan (that's not really a plan) isn't likely to get through committee as thus far proposed (although not written down anywhere).

As we all know, the more Bush talks about his plan (that's not really a plan), the less people like about it. As more Republicans come out and demand something concrete that they can talk about, the more likely this idea of privatizing Social Security will fall by the wayside.

And that can only be a Good Thing™

When in doubt blame Democrats

Tom DeLay, probably recognizing that his goose is nearly cooked, hatched a plan to deflect criticism of his lack of ethics and integrity by asking his peers to blame Democrats.

Because DeLay would rather place blame, than confront the fact that he lacks anything in him that would compel him to do the right thing, he cannot stand up for himself. He needs others to prop up his self worth, and even worse, he needs to tell others to do it.

How sad.

Your Job vs. Your Conscience

Courtesy of Body and Soul

Bobo's World

Oy veh!

OKEECHOBEE, Florida (AP) -- A woman was arrested for allegedly forcing her 12-year-old daughter into prostitution and trading a 14-year-old daughter for a car.

Supporting our veterans

Republicans in the Senate reject a spending hike for VA hospitals proposal from Senate Democrats.

Republicans claim that there is no need to increase spending on VA hospitals because there is no crisis.

Actually, there probably is not one today, as the VA hospital system is one of the best in the country. However, when the Iraq war ends (assuming it does), and those soldiers in the Army today, either leave when their commitment expires, or retire from the military, there is going to be an increase in requested services.

From medical care due to injuries incurred in Iraq, to psychological services for PTSD, and other psychological issues arising from an individuals presence in the theater of battle, the VA is going to have an influx of new patients that are not currently anticipated at current funding levels.

Republicans either are too dense to see that, or the support the troops rhetoric from the Right, is just rhetoric without substance.

I thought electronic ballots were the future?

Miami-Dade studies switch to paper ballots.

Three years after spending $24.5 million to install a controversial touch-screen voting system, Miami-Dade County elections officials have been asked to study scrapping the system in favor of paper-based balloting.

The request from County Manager George Burgess follows the recent resignation of Elections Supervisor Constance Kaplan and the revelation that hundreds of votes in recent elections hadn't been counted.

In a memo, Burgess asked new elections chief Lester Sola to assess whether optical scanners, which count votes marked on ''bubble sheets,'' would deliver more accurate results. Burgess also wants information on how much a switch would cost -- and how much it might save in the long run.

Kind of puts the 2002 and 2004 results in perspective?

I wonder how Dear Leader celebrated this achievment?

Venezuelan Officials Mark Coup Anniversary

If I recall correctly, George W. Bush committed one of his biggest faux pax by congratulating the new government of Venezuela just as Chavez was retaking power from the failed coup. Oops, sorry about supporting the overthrow of your government.

I am sure that Dear Leader and his supreme council are having a good ole chuckle over that one.

How about the varnished truth

John Negroponte promised to deliver the unvarnished truth if confirmed as National Intelligence Director.

His previous history of looking the other way, notwithstanding, delivering the "Unvarnished Truth" is what causes problems.

The purpose of intelligence analysts is to analyze the incoming data, sift the wheat from the chaff and provide an analysis.

In essence the "varnished truth" (keying in on the truth part)

So, perhaps Negroponte is not the best choice, as he doesn't really understand what the intelligence community is supposed to do?

Kristof both right and wrong (but only this time)

I will leave it to Jesse to lay it out, as he has done it better than I could.

Amazingly, Kristof has achieved a rare feat - he's both completely right and completely wrong. The media are widely perceived as arrogant, out of touch and untrustworthy. And these two paragraphs are exactly why.

Only a "journalist" could look at two reporters breaking the law and claiming a legal privilege to which they are in no way entitled and declare that it happened because people hate reporters. No. No no no no no. Nein! Ja? Nein!

Do we have a real press?

For if we did, then these 12 questions would be asked (or would have been asked before now) of our President.

Were the alerts politically motivated, generating fear, knowing that the US electorate historically rallies behind a President when they’re fearful? There have been no terror alerts since November 14th’s downgrade - nearly 5 months.

That’s just question number one that our corporate media has not asked about or investigated. I have a longer list. If our Fourth Estate wishes to regain its standing as a critical information outlet fulfilling its role as a brake on the propaganda of an elitist and imperialist federal government, instead of serving as its parrot, these are the questions they have to ask (the title says there’s a dozen, but there’s more, within a dozen topic areas.)

2) Where are the leaders of Al Qaida? Has Bin Laden been given an exemption because of his family’s ties to the Saudi royal family?

3) How much of Afghanistan is actually a functioning democracy? And how are women and children being treated there, now?

4) How is it that the Shia majority in Iraq represents 60% of the populace, that the second largest group - the Sunnis - barely participated in the election there, yet the Shias didn’t obtain a 50% majority? Was the election rigged to deny majority power to the Shias, so the US could continue to influence the outcome of the government-building process through proxies like the Kurds?

5) Our intelligence agencies have been faulted for their deficiencies ever since the 9/11 attacks. In fact, the bipartisan Hart-Rudman Commission pointed to the deficiencies months and years before 9/11. Yet repeated investigations continue to display glaring deficiencies in our intel corps, long after major restructuring was begun. Is anyone in our government ever going to be held accountable for these deficiencies and will they ever be corrected?

6) How many Iraqi civilians have been killed since March 2003 as a result of our invasion of Iraq?

7) When will the rest of the videos of Abu Ghraib be released to the public? What reason is there to continue hiding them from us?

8) How can you explain $9 billion of our tax dollars ‘missing’ in Iraq?

And, domestically:

9) Ever since the ‘culture of life’ concept has been promoted by this administration, we’ve been treated to repetitive stories and photos of dying and dead people. The federal government intruded on a family matter with the Schiavos and Schindlers. Much hoopla was raised about the death of John Paul II, with numerous extensions of protocol violated (flags ordered to half-staff, the president attending his funeral, etc). If the ‘culture of life’ requires that we confront the reality of death in such bold and dramatic ways, why does the ban remain on photographs of coffins of dead soldiers returning from Iraq?

10) By staking out the defense of Tom Delay as “it may be unethical but no-one’s proven he broke the law yet”, aren’t you creating a ‘culture of corruption’?

11) The easiest first step to correcting the long term deficiency in the funding of Social Security is to require that the wealthiest start paying Social Security taxes on all their earned income, like the rest of us do. The easiest first step to alleviate the growing cost of Medicare is to permit the federal government to utilize bulk purchasing of medicines to lower the cost of prescriptions. Why are these two easiest answers not being utilized?

12) It’s been almost 9 years since a mostly Republican Congress has raised the minimum wage. Considering the tens of thousands that have flowed to the richest in America through tax policy changes, and especially with gas and oil prices raising costs of everything transported, when are the poorest workers in America going to get a break?

Here is a start.

Will the MSM act?

Assault on womens sports

In a follow-on to my earlier post about whistleblower protections in Title IX violations, The Nation covers the Bush administrations attempted gutting of Title IX regulations.

Bush administration proposals included various methods of bypassing regulations that require proportional funding of mens and womens athletics through the encouragement of private funding directed only towards men's programs. Or, even more dubious, through the use of bogus, or questionable email surveys that, ostensibly, provide the illusion of equality between men's and women's sports.

Fortunately due to public outrage, Bush was forced into backing off of his policy changes.

There's an irony here: George W. Bush is a sports nut. He has appeared on the cover of Runner's World, is a former owner of the Texas Rangers and he lifts weights and bikes in a gym. Adding to the irony, First Lady Laura Bush recently returned from her trip to Afghanistan highlighting the drive to secure womens' rights in that long-suffering nation.

Apparently, real-life experiences are no match for the anti-democratic ideology that has dominated policy decisions in the Bush White House. Title IX, a cornerstone of the struggle for gender equality, must be defended.

Pets and military deployment

There seems to be an overlooked problem to the deployment, and extended deployments of our military. In Hinesville, Ga. the animal shelter is beyond capacity, because of animals abandoned or dropped off due to the deployment of soldiers from Fort Stewart.

From single soldiers who cannot find a friend or family member to care for their animal, to spouses who either can no longer afford to care for the pet, or are moving in with other family members, because of their husband or wife being deployed, the animal shelter in Hinesville is beyond capacity.

I am sure that this is not an isolated case, soldiers are just like anyone else, and have pets.

There is a group who attempts to find foster homes for pets of deployed service members:

Military Pets Foster Project

As well as other groups who are trying to adopt out these animals, rather than have them put to sleep in animal shelters such as:

Liberty Humane Shelter

Southern Comfort Animal Rescue

Probably more than the holiday drop offs, this is a period at animal shelters near military installations, when they are at capacity. If you are looking for a pet, you can contact these organizations for assistance locating an animal you want. Of course there is always your local animal shelters.

What kind of a nanny state do we want?

Amy Sullivan over at Political Animal yesterday quotes an op-ed from Dan Gerstein at the Wall Street Journal where Democrats need to be mindful of people's complaints of what they see on television, among other things.

What ever happened to the notion of responsibility?

What ever happened to the view that "if you don't like what you see on TV, turn the damn thing off?"

Amy seems to interpret this as Democrats refusing to criticize, or attempt to regulate Hollywood, but happy to "bash" business.

What?

Since when is regulation "bashing"?
Since when do Democrats believe in legislating morality?

If you don't like what you see on TV, turn the damn thing off!

If people are uncomfortable with sex, don't talk about it. If you don't want to hear what Paris Hilton has to say, don't listen.

To ban these people from television, just because someone somewhere might be offended is to enter into the realm of censorship. Is this the type of country we want to live in, where everyone has to be mindful of offending someone, somewhere? Essentially engaging in self-censorship to the point of prudishness?

We live in a time where an individual can have as many as 200 or more television stations available to them at any time. Have thousands of radio stations available to them over the internet. Have thousands of books, hundreds of newspapers to chose from, and just as many magazines.

Why do we have to become what we loathe?


Matthew Yglesias seems to think this is some sort of desire to see more Joe Lieberman like faux posturing to gain street cred with the religious voting blocs, while not actually doing anything about what ever perceived problem we are supposed to be railing againt.

The problem with that, is that Holy Joe is rapidly becoming Holy Joke, if he is not already there.

The problem isn't the message. The problem is the way Democrats are being defined by Republicans. We don't have to become what the Republicans say. We have to take control of the message. Democrats need to step up and cry "Bullshit" whenever Republicans claim that Democrats are promoting porn on television, or whatever made up "outrage of the day" is thrown this way.

When the Republicans make their "culture of life" comparisons, Democrats need to be asking about the death penalty.

When we hear about abortion, ask about child care, health care, and the Republicans ignoring children after they are born.

And so on, and so on.

As long as Democrats adopt these milquetoast attitudes, Democrats will remain the minority party.

As the Republican world turns

Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is the latest to jump ship on DeLay.

Seeing as DeLay has threatened Republicans by promising to withold funding, and political assistance if they do not support him, the 2006 midterm is shaping up to be quite the contest.

Do as I say, not as I do

In an act of Hubris that requires the capitalization, Rumsfeld today, tells the Iraqi leaders:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a surprise visit, warned Iraq's new leaders on Tuesday against political purges and cronyism that could spark "lack of confidence or corruption in government."

This coming from a member of the administration who redifined cronyism.

This is nice

American Prospect Online:

Did you notice this one? A Gallup-CNN-USA Today poll at the end of last week found that 50 percent of American adults now believe that the Bush administration “deliberately misled” them about why we had to go to war in Iraq. It seems fair to say that the average respondent will have understood that “deliberately misled” is a polite way of saying the word “lie”; so, in sum, every other American adult believes the president and his apparatchiks lied us into war.

How about that.

Almost a majority of Americans belive that the President lied to get us into war.

I think that 60+% of Americans felt that what Bill Clinton did, did not warrant the millions of dollars spent investigating him, yet congress still impeached.

IOKIYAR?

Andy Rooney may be old ...

but he can still spar with the best of them.

Andy Rooney Takes Stand at Fraud Trial

The gist of the trial being that Andy Rooney, and others, signed a contract to give a speech. He was supposed to get paid more than $20,000 for it. Didn't get paid, sued.

During questioning:

When defense lawyer Kerry Lawrence asked Rooney how he found Walker's address, Rooney said he didn't remember, but, "As an old reporter, we have a few secrets, and the first thing is we try the phone book."

Apparently he also started questioning the defense attorney, and had to be told by the judge that witnesses are not supposed to question the lawyers.

Georgie goes to a funeral

And Clear Skies cleared the skies

Today Anti-U.N. nominee to the U.N. John Bolton, vows that he will work to strengthen U.N.

Much like Bush promised to clean up the air, by allowing more pollution, or protecting forests by allowing increased logging, or leaving no child behind, by not funding schools.

So, like saving Social Security by killing it, Bolton will strengthen the United Nations by continuing his personal philosophy (supported by Bush) of trying to undermine the U.N. at every turn.

Go Big Dog

Clinton says he'll give $10M to AIDS fight

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton announced Monday that his foundation will donate $10 million to expand treatment for children with AIDS in the developing world.

The new initiative will deliver AIDS drugs, known as antiretroviral treatment, or ART, and technical assistance for an estimated 10,000 children in at least 10 nations by the end of the year.

The pediatric AIDS medication will be made available at half the normal cost, with the help of India-based drug company Cipla.

The foundation's initiative makes AIDS drugs available for as little as $140 a year, so "treatment and care is now available and more affordable in the developing world," Clinton said.

How about Bush pony up some more money to demonstrate his "culture of life"?

19 May, 2005

Star Wars Ep III

New trailer released.

I just hope the movie is as good as the trailers.

Bolton fight continues

Senator Biden keeps up with his habit of saying the right things (even if he doesn't do the right thing all the time).

Leading the Democratic charge against John Bolton's confirmation, Biden made good statements, and asked some tough (maybe) questions in the committee hearings.

The question is, will he, and other Democrats remain faithful in their opposition to Bolton?

However, according to BusyBusyBusy Holy Joe is being lumped in with the Pro-Bolton crowd by a new Republican group called (unoriginally enough) Move America Forward.

I wonder who is putting funds up for this group?

I also notice that this group lumped Ollie North in with Reagan, Bolton, and Lieberman as the pro-American champions.

Makes me think ole Ollie coughed up a few benji's for this.

Call me 'da bomb'

Thanks to Body and Soul for helping me find my true Unitarian Jihad name:

Brother Atom Bomb of Reasoned Discussion.

You can get yours here

Want to know who the Unitarian Jihad are?

Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about them

Spam and missing the point

The headline of this article:

Internet users more accepting of spam

And the content don't jibe (as if that is a suprise).

According to the study cited:

Fifty-three percent of adult e-mail users in the United States now say they trust e-mail less because of spam, down from 62 percent a year ago and about the same as a June 2003 Pew survey.

This is supposed to indicate that we (internet users) are more accepting of spam.

With the proliferation of spam filtering tools many people have been able to cut down on the amount of spam they see, thus are not really aware of how much spam there is floating about. I get between 30 and 90 spam messages a day, but the spam filter at work, and at home are pretty effective at filtering the crap out.

A quick google of the author of the article Anick Jesdanun and email turns up a bit of articles which seem to be informative, but when examined, seem to favor spammers, and corporations rather than the end user.

I wonder what this person's connection is to these companies, that want us (the internet user) to accept spam?

EPA: Bring out your babies, bring out your babies; update

Unsuprisingly the EPA decided to cancel its pesticide study.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday canceled a controversial study using children to measure the effect of pesticides after Democrats said they would block Senate confirmation of the agency's new head.

Stephen Johnson, as EPA's acting administrator, ordered an end to the planned study, a reversal from the agency's position just a day earlier when it said it would await the advice of outside scientific experts.

From the department of protecting pork

Apparently in the Bush Administration, predicting the weather is not important.

The agency that has served as America's weatherman for more than a century struggles with seeming disinterest in Washington, budgets that don't keep pace with mandated salary increases and dozens of sophisticated private competitors pushing hard to limit the weather service's role.

But within the weather service, budget problems hold the greatest threat, potentially damaging the agency's ability to perform its most important job – protecting life and property by providing early, accurate warnings of severe weather, particularly tornadoes.

"According to an internal NWS document obtained by the National Weather Service Employees Organization, 'The reductions in the fiscal year 2005 budget for the National Weather Service will have critical impact on its vital life-saving mission,' " said Richard Hirn, the employee organization's general counsel and lobbyist.

"'These impacts will be felt throughout the nation by deterioration in NWS performance measures,' " the document stated – notably tornado warning lead times and detection, Mr. Hirn said.

In places like Tornado Alley, and along the southern coast, and gulf coast where hurricanes are prevalent, the NWS has provided key information that have allowed people enough warning to dangerous weather events to save lives.

Why does the Bush administration feel that this is an essential service?
I wonder what pork-barrel programs are protected while this essential service is being cut?

Interesting weekend

I go off for the weekend to partake in the culture of the automobile (particularly one brand from Germany), and I come home to find that Tom Dèlay is being pushed off the plank of the Good Ship GOP.

Ass-rocket and his buddies at Powerline have decided to drop their homoerotic nomes de plume

Wolf Leslie Blitzer gets suitably dressed down for implying that Liberals cannot, a good Catholic make (even though Leslie is too much of an asshat to recognized what had happened).

Ohio is banking its state's economic condition rare coins

Tom Dèlay's buddy Jack Abramoff, like Dick Cheney, supported Apartheid

The theocrats are still advocating overthrowing the judicial branch of our government, and advocating violence against judges.

And, as if this is any surprise, Jonah Goldberg is up to his usual idiocy.

All while I sit out in the sun with a bunch of people who like the same car I like, and are willing to drive long distances to hang out with like-minded people.

Oh, kill me now!

Atrocrious does not even begin to encompass this video

Off for the weekend

I am headed to Dallas for a couple of days of relaxation.

There probably won't be another post until Sunday afternoon.

Until then, your moment of zen:

Tom Dèlay throws a temper tantrum

2-year old toddler, Tommy Dèlay, got very upset at the adults who were trying to teach him how things work in America.

He stomped around the room, with his bottle in one hand, and clutching his teddy bear yelling:

"Judicial independence does not equal judicial supremacy," Mr. DeLay said in a videotaped speech delivered to a conservative conference in Washington entitled "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith."

When it was pointed out to Tommy what the constitution says about the judiciary, its place in the American form of Government, the little tyke screamed:

"The failure is to a great degree Congress's," Mr. DeLay said. "The response of the legislative branch has mostly been to complain. There is another way, ladies and gentlemen, and that is to reassert our constitutional authority over the courts."

As the adults tried to take charge of the situation, and mete out some punishment to the little boy, Tommy threw his bottle at them as a distraction, and bolted for the door yelling:

"I believe the judiciary branch of our government has overstepped its authority on countless occasions, overturning and in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people," he said. "Legislatures for too long have in effect washed our hands on controversial issues from abortion to religious expression to racial prejudice, leaving them to judges who we then excoriate for legislating from the bench. This era of constitutional cowardice must end."

As little Tommy went to hide behind the legs of some of his friends, the adults decided it was best to ignore his little tantrum.

Bad Tommy.

Finally people catching on to the IOU comment

Only 4 days after the Social Security Event in West Virginia, where President Bush called the "full faith and credit" of the United States, worth nothing more than the piece of paper on which bond purchases are recorded.

The New York Times published an editorial (unsigned) today:

Imagine this: On his next trip to Japan, President Bush visits the vault at the Bank of Japan, where that country's $712 billion in United States government bonds is stored. There, as the cameras roll, he announces that the bonds, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, are, in fact, worthless i.o.u.'s. He does the same thing when he visits China and so on around the world, until he has personally repudiated the entire $2 trillion of United States debt held by foreigners.

Mr. Bush rehearsed just that act on Tuesday, when he visited the office of the federal Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va. He posed next to a file cabinet that holds the $1.7 trillion in Treasury securities that make up the Social Security trust fund. He tossed off a comment to the effect that the bonds were not "real assets." Later, in a speech at a nearby university, he said: "There is no trust fund. Just i.o.u.'s that I saw firsthand."

Social Security takes in more money than it needs to pay current beneficiaries, and the excess is invested in the Treasury securities that Mr. Bush was discussing. They carry the same legal and political obligations as all other forms of Treasury debt, every penny of which has always been paid in full and on time.

In his speech, Mr. Bush went on to acknowledge that future generations would have to make good on the debt. But the intended meaning of the photo-op was clear. In the hope of persuading people to privatize Social Security - a move that would only add to the growing debt burden for future generations - Mr. Bush wants Americans to believe that the trust fund is a joke. But if the trust fund is a joke, so is the full faith and credit of the United States.

Fortunately, the governments, institutions and individuals who hold United States debt can tell a publicity stunt from a policy statement. Still, casting aspersions on a basic obligation of the United States government is insulting and irresponsible.

It only took 4 days for the NYTimes to get upset about it.

How stupid can you get

From the world of stupid people, courtesy of The Baltimore Sun:

A tale of customer service, justice and currency as funny as a $2 bill

Michael Olesker
March 8, 2005

PUT YOURSELF in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.

For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.

Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.

Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he's handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.

Have a nice day, Mike.

"Humiliating," the 57-year old Bolesta was saying now. "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole -- and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."

What we have here, besides humiliation, is a sense of caution resulting in screw-ups all around.

"When I bought the stereo player," Bolesta explains, "the technician said it'd fit perfectly into my son's dashboard. But it didn't. So they called back and said they had another model that would fit perfectly, and it was cheaper. We got a $67 refund, which was fine. As long as it fit, that's all.

"So we go back and pay for it, and they tell us to go around front with our receipt and pick up the difference in the cost. I ask about installation charges. They said, 'No installation charge, because of the mix-up. Our mistake, no charge.' Swell.

"But then, the next day, I get a call at home. They're telling me, 'If you don't come in and pay the installation fee, we're calling the police.' Jeez, where did we go from them admitting a mistake to suddenly calling the police? So I say, 'Fine, I'll be in tomorrow.' But, overnight, I'm starting to steam a little. It's not the money -- it's the threat. So I thought, I'll count out a few $2 bills."

He has lots and lots of them.

With his Capital City Student Tours, he arranges class trips for school kids around the country traveling to large East Coast cities, including Baltimore. He's been doing this for the last 18 years. He makes all the arrangements: hotels, meals, entertainment. And it's part of his schtick that, when Bolesta hands out meal money to students, he does it in $2 bills, which he picks up from his regular bank, Sun Trust.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"

At Best Buy, they may have perceived the protest -- but did not sense the comic aspect of 57 $2 bills.

"I'm just here to pay the bill," Bolesta says he told a cashier. "She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money. Like she's doing me a favor."

He remembers the cashier marking each bill with a pen. Then other store personnel began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

A Best Buy manager refused comment last week. But, according to a Baltimore County police arrest report, suspicions were roused when an employee noticed some smearing of ink. So the cops were called in. One officer noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

"I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank,'" Bolesta says. "I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was then taken to the county police lockup in Cockeysville, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called in.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Finally, Secret Service agent Leigh Turner arrived, examined the bills and said they were legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

This will be important news to all concerned.

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

The other day, one of Bolesta's sons needed a few bucks. Bolesta pulled out his wallet and "whipped out a couple of $2 bills. But my son turned away. He said he doesn't want 'em any more."

He's seen where such money can lead.

Copyright © 2005, The Baltimore Sun

Mainstream Media: Fools or Idiots?

Despite Senator Mel Martinez (R-Fl) legal assistant, admitting to writing the Republican Memo stating that the Terri Schiavo case was a great political issue for Republicans, and tough for Democrats, the MSM continues to peddle the Democrats wrote the lie.

As Media Matters for America demonstrates, the far right are the ones who get the MSM to report stories.

David Niewert of origins in his essay, entitled "Rush, Newspeak and Fascism: An Exegesis", people like Hinderaker, Rush Limbaugh, the Freepers, et al, in their own ways influence the MSM into reporting stories in a certain manner.

The time line above, laid out by Media Matters, makes it clear that the MSM is a tool of the far right.

The question is, are they being manipulated by accident or by choice?

Travelling today

Today I am on the road.

So, to anyone who may be inclined to comment, consider this an open thread.


Be back this evening.

Crap News Network

Do you believe House Majority Leader Tom Delay is the victim of a campaign by the “liberal” media to embarrass him?

This stupidity brought to you courtesy of Lou Dobbs and the Crap News Network.

A full days crap every 30 minutes, brought to you by America's Fiber Producers.
Ensuring regular crap 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

What did Willie Nelson do to you?

Willie Nelson Turnpike hits roadblock

Willie Nelson Turnpike? Not so fast.

Legislation to name the Texas 130 turnpike from Georgetown to Creedmoor after the man who put Austin music on the map cleared its first committee today. But it lost more than 18 miles in the process, and there were signs that some Republicans might not be so comfortable honoring the well-known Democrat.

Even with a toll road.

Texas 130, under construction now and scheduled to open in 2007, will be 49 miles long. And state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos' Senate Bill 802 as filed would have named the entire length for Nelson.

But when Barrientos, an Austin Democrat, unveiled the bill to the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee today, he said that Republican Sens. Steve Ogden and Jeff Wentworth told him they didn't want the parts of the road in their districts to carry Nelson's name.

That trimmed about 17 miles off the north end in Williamson County, represented by Ogden who hails from Bryan-College Station, and the southerly mile-and-a-half in the small piece of Travis County in San Antonian Wentworth's bailiwick.

Thus foreshortened, the bill cleared the committee on a 7-0 vote, with Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, present but not voting. Wentworth, who had to leave for another committee, tried to leave a "no" vote in writing, but that requires unanimous consent of the committee and Barrientos torpedoed it.

Some senators indicated later the bill might have trouble mustering the 21 votes — two-thirds of the Senate — needed to come up for passage.

The Senate has 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats.

Asked about their reservations about Nelson, Ogden said he doesn't favor naming roads after people who are still alive. Wentworth, meanwhile, made it clear he has several concerns.

"Let's be candid: This is a political deal," Wentworth said, "(Nelson) was out there having fund raisers, raising money for (Democratic presidential hopeful) Dennis Kucinich against President Bush, and that was just last year."

Wentworth said he has a general leaning as well against naming roads for living people. He was in the Senate and Ogden in the House when the Legislature in 1995 and 1997 named roads for the first President Bush and former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, both of them very much alive.

"To compare a former president of the United States with a country singer, surely that's self-explanatory," Wentworth said.

The Legislature, in that same 1995 bill where it honored Bentsen, named a road in Brazoria County after Nolan Ryan, at that point only just retired from his baseball career. Ryan, a Republican, has never served as president of the United States.

Of course, Nelson didn't strike out 5,714 major-league hitters. On the other hand, Ryan has no gold records or duets with Julio Iglesias.

But Ryan, unlike Nelson, also hasn't had any trouble with the IRS or brushes with the law over marijuana. To Wentworth, at least, Nelson's past matters.

"All of that figures into it, from my standpoint," Wentworth said. "He's not exactly a role model."

Nelson was in Ireland, according to Barrientos, and unable to comment on all of this. But Barrientos said he had talked with the singer about the possible renaming and that Nelson "was kind of shy, even a little bashful about it. He said it would be an honor."

Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, chairman of the transportation committee, had a question about that conversation.

"Did you happen to mention to him that it was a toll road being named?"

What is wrong with Willie?

Uhhh, Wha?

Officials ask why Iraq details surface now

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The CIA and members of Congress said they want to know how a presidential commission unearthed details on intelligence failures about Iraq's prewar weapons programs that previous investigations missed.

Of particular interest is information that emerged in last week's report about how doubts were handled regarding a leading source on Saddam Hussein's alleged mobile biological weapons labs - an Iraqi scientist who defected to Germany, code named "Curveball."

Uh, maybe because someone (Bush, perchance) didn't want you to know?

Perchance, because you didn't want to know?

Mr. Pot, I want you to meet Mr. Kettle

WaPo: Rumsfeld Criticizes Spain for Venezuela Weapons Sale

MIAMI (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized Spain for selling military vessels and planes to Venezuela, amid growing U.S. concerns about Venezuela's intentions in the region, a U.S. newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Pakistan Times: Bush Tells India: US will sell F-16 Jets to Pakistan

CRAWFORD, Texas (US): President Bush agreed onPakistan Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly in formation during a Pakistan National Day ceremony in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 23, 2005. Friday to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in a major policy shift rewarding a key ally in the war on terrorism and angering its nuclear neighbor, India.

Bush, on vacation at his Crawford, Texas ranch, called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at 1345 GMT on Friday and "explained his decision to move forward on the sale," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Singh expressed "great disappointment," according to a spokesman in New Delhi, though U.S. officials said Bush signaled a willingness to sell sophisticated fighters to India if it chooses to buy them in future.

EPA: Bring out your babies, bring out your babies

From Atrios:

BOXER SHOCKED BY EPA NOMINEE’S FAILURE TO CONDEMN

PROGRAM TO TEST PESTICIDES ON CHILDREN

Washington, D.C.– During a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) was shocked and disappointed by EPA Administrator Nominee Stephen Johnson’s failure to condemn a pending EPA program to test pesticides on children.

The program, the Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study, or CHEERS, would pay the parent of a baby up to $970 if they expose their child to household pesticides and other toxins over a two-year period. The parents are also given a camcorder, which they can keep, to tape the child’s activities and reactions.

Boxer said, “The idea that the Administration would pay parents to expose their children to toxins is absolutely reprehensible. Further the fact that EPA told parents there was no risk to participating in the study is unconscionable.”

The EPA, National Academy of Sciences, and American Public Health Association have all stated that children are especially vulnerable to pesticides. Pesticides can cause cancer and adversely affect a child’s neurological, reproductive, respiratory, immune, and endocrine systems, even at low levels.

The program, which is sponsored primarily by the EPA, is also sponsored by the American Chemistry Council, which reportedly agreed to give the EPA $2 million to conduct the study.

Johnson said that the program had not been cancelled, and he made no commitment to do so.

Boxer said, “The moral and ethical issues surrounding this program are overwhelming, and Mr. Johnson’s failure to outright condemn the CHEERS program and cancel it is unacceptable.”

If you are interested in signing your child up for this program, the EPA Cheers program page will keep you up to date.

More Tom Dèlay trouble

Sean-Paul at The Agonist has compiled a couple of more links exposing even more Tom Dèlay activites.

In addition, there will be a full page ad running in the Washington Times attacking Señor BugMan.

New James Bond announced?

As a long time Bond fan, I was excited when Pierce Brosnan was tapped for the role of 007. Now that he has been sacked, the search for a new Bond started.

There is a rumor that Daniel Craig has been tapped as the next 007.

But, There is another rumor that Brosnan is being tapped by Sony (who, I guess now owns the Bond franchise), for the next film, Casino Royale, Ian Fleming's first Bond novel.

However, from Pierce Brosnan's official website we are offered this, dated 1 February 2005:

I would like to thank all of you who have supported me over the last year or so in regard to my playing Bond. It was a decade of my life that I will always hold dear to my heart and a time that will never be forgotten. And you dear friends stood by me throughout. Many, many thanks! But everything comes to an end, and one must accept this decision which cannot be dealt with in any other way but with some kind of grace and knowledge that I did the job to the best of my ability.

So which is it?

There have been others recommended as potential Bond actors:

Ewan McGregor
Hugh Jackman
Jude Law
Eric Bana
Clive Owen
Colin Farrell

The intrigue builds.

Bill Nye: The Subversive Guy?

PunditGuy labels Bill Nye an enemy of the state.

Not necessarily because he actually might be a liberal, indoctrinating our children.
Now his new show The Eyes of Nye is trying to brainwash unsuspecting adults with


wait for it ...






Science.


Off with his head!

British elections season starts

From The Guardian Unlimited:




I get that Tony Blair's campaign is riding on the back of someone.

I assume that the Tories are flogging a dead horse.

I don't known who the third person is, or what the flames shooting out her ass is supposed to represent.

Can someone fill me in on everything this cartoon is supposed to represent, as I have not been keeping up with this election or who is running against Blair.

Some honest reporting on Social Security

Accounts Could Replace Soc. Sec. Checks:

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Future high-wage earners could see their traditional Social Security checks replaced by the proceeds of the personal investment accounts proposed by President Bush, according to a report by the nonpartisan research agency used by Congress.

The traditional checks would disappear as the result of two factors: the cut in benefits the president has proposed for all people who open private accounts, and a change that would diminish checks by linking their growth to prices instead of wages, an option the president has said he would consider.

Both trends would have the effect of eliminating the Social Security check for a hypothetical group: someone born next year who goes on to a career as what Social Security considers a 'scaled high earner,' which this year is a person with annual average earnings of $56,091."

Predictably the White House dismissed this revelation.

Seeing that Bush still hasn't actually proposed a plan, many assumptions have to be made based on statements from Bush and the White House. So for them to state that anyone is inaccurate in their predictions of what Bush's SS proposal will result in, is nothing but hot air.

If the White House would just reveal, in detail, exactly how it is that Bush plans to privatize Social Security, then these preditions can be based in fact.

SF regulating blogging? Not likely

Chris Nolan: Pajamas: 1, Politicos: 2

Much like I thought, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors recognized the bloggers are exempted from these elections regulations.

The battle in Canada on the other hand, still rages on.

Congress rewards incompetence

Congress Awards Itself Congressional Medal Of Honor

WASHINGTON, DC—In recognition of its "service above and beyond the call of duty in the legislative field," Congress awarded itself the Congressional Medal of Honor Monday.

"We've done a very good job this past year," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) said. "After passing H.R. 682 through the Senate, we realized the 109th U.S. Congress had done something that would benefit the entire country. We felt it was time we officially recognize our accomplishments."

Added DeLay: "I will treasure this medal as long I live."

The Congressional Medal of Honor, created in 1861 to recognize soldiers who distinguish themselves in battle, is the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. government.

Although the medal is traditionally reserved for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, a bill signed into law last month allows Congress to award the medal to "national legislative bodies charged with the responsibility of making the laws that govern the nation," as well.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) was among the congressmen who approved the bill in an overwhelming majority.

"The Medal of Honor is a reward for extraordinary bravery and dedicated service on behalf of our great country," said Allard, his medal gleaming on his chest. "It is an honor reserved for that rarest of men: the hero."

Before Monday's ceremony, only 3,459 individuals had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Some Americans—including the family of Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, who received a Congressional Medal of Honor last week—have suggested that awarding the medal to 535 people at once diminishes its prestige.

"How does honoring more people cheapen the medal?" DeLay asked. "I'm honored to be counted among so many other brave and patriotic Americans, past and present."

While officially awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for "exemplary service in the drafting of H.R. 682," Congress also recognized itself for "general excellence in the field of legislation in America," as well.

"Congress members may not put themselves into physical danger to take a crucial enemy outpost," Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said. "But Congress works very long hours every week to improve the lives of all Americans, and that's heroic in its own right. I'm proud to be a U.S. senator, and I'm honored that Congress has chosen to recognize my achievements on the congressional floor."

Many members of Congress reported it was difficult to choose between the Army, Navy, and Air Force medals of honor.

"It was a time of solemn reflection and careful choosing," DeLay said. "Personally, I would've loved to have a Marine medal of honor, because my favorite uncle was a Marine, but there's no such thing. Oh well."

Pince Rainier of Monaco has died

I am sure that the management at CNN and the other networks are having orgasmic thoughts.

First Terri Schiavo, then it was a competition between the Pope and Jerry Falwell. Jerry Falwell got better, but they got the Papal passing. And now, in the lull between the Pope's death and the funeral, Prince Rainier dies.

As a fan of Formula One I have always watched the Monaco Grand Prix and tried to figure out how I could afford to go

Part of the ritual of the Monaco Grand Prix was the presentation of the trophy to the top 3 finishers by Prince Rainier himself.



He was not able to attend in 2004 due to health concerns, and his son, Albert stepped in to perform his duties.

I will never get to see, in person, the man who married Grace Kelly.



Rest in peace.

Maryland to Wal-Mart: You suck

As if we didn't already know that.

A bill is wending its way through the Maryland Assembly that will require Wal-Mart to boost spending on health care for its employees.

Lawmakers said they did not set out to target only Wal-Mart when they drafted a bill requiring organizations with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits -- or put the money directly into the state's health program for the poor

Good for them.

Wal-Mart is trying to put a shine on the turd that is Wal-Mart. Maryland still sees it as a turd.

I just wish everyone would see Wal-Mart for the stinking turd that they are, and stop playing with it.

Cornyn tries to recant

John Cornyn thinks that if he talks around the issue enough, we will be hypnotized into thinking that what he actually said, was meaningless.


< from the senate floor >

Blah, blah, blah.
I didn't mean it like it sounded.
Blah, blah blah.

</from the senate floor >

Courtesy of Oliver Willis

John Cornyn, George Wallace, and praise

I am a bit late on reporting this, but have been reading about it all day. As it turns out, a schoolmate of Senator John Cornyn remembers a time, when Cornyn was a George Wallace supporter.

Cornyn spoke of being in favor of Wallace's States Rights stance.

Nothing about supporting racism, but states rights has always been considered a racist codeword.

Can't say I am surprised.

I would like to see John Cornyn become a private citizen in Texas, real soon.

Tom Dèlay: waaaa those meanies

Tom Dèlay (hey, isn't that French?) cries like a baby, while being skewered by his own party, and Democrats: The Orange County Register

Cry baby.

Gay Marriage: Kansas: No; Connecticut: Maybe

Not really unexpected but disappointing nonetheless.

However, Connecticut probably will recognize civil unions for same sex couples.

Richard Morrison Interview

Unfortunately I was not able to attend this conference call (nor will I be able to attend the followup call) but bubba @ Southpaw was.

Morrison was able to garner 42% of the vote in 2004 against Tom Delay. With Delay getting drowned by his own feces, it is looking like the reign of The Hammer may be coming to an end.

Richard Morrison will need some assistance fighting the Delay machine, or whomever his annointed successor will be.

Send some coin his way, if you can.

Don't delay Delay going back to Texas

Atrios has
1
2
3
4
5

posts on just how deep the shit with Tom Delay is getting.

Off the Kuff has even more.

I am just enjoying the show, and getting my chair pulled up to the ropes to watch The Hammer fall.

Pass the popcorn

Texas Democratic Party responds to John Cornyn

From the Texas Democratic Party:

Tuesday, April 5, 2005

The Honorable John Cornyn
United State senate
Address
Washington, DC ZIP
Via Fax: 202-XXX-XXXX

Dear Senator Cornyn:

Like many Texans, I was appalled at your comments regarding the judiciary and the insinuation that it may be complicit in the wave of courthouse violence that threatens our communities and our system of justice.

I had hoped at first that your words were careless and the reporting of them somehow taken out of context. Unfortunately, it now appears that what you said was nothing but a calculated appeal to the most extreme elements of your political party.

Senator, you are an attorney who has served on the Texas Supreme Court and, as Attorney General, in the position of the state's chief law enforcement official. You are not just a political hack like your friend, Majority Leader Tom DeLay. You are expected to hold to a higher standard. You failed miserably in this instance.

If Democrats had uttered the same words you did, your ultra-partisan allies would certainly have fallen all over themselves to accuse them of "inciting violence" and attempting to bully the judiciary into reflecting their political will.

Others might point out the hypocrisy of simultaneously taking decisions out of the hands of "activist judges" while limiting the ability of juries to award damages in civil cases.

But that is not my purpose today. I am simply writing to ask you, in the strongest possible terms, to clarify your remarks in the interest of protecting our individual judges and our judiciary as a whole from violence at the hands of anyone who might misconstrue your message.

Sincerely,


CHARLES E. SOECHTING
Chairman, Texas Democratic Party

Go get 'em

Who is (or isn't) on the bandwagon

John at AMERICAblog wants to know if any Liberal groups/organizations made their thoughts known on the "Senator Cornyn understands why crazies kill judges" issue.

So far the list is pretty pathetic.

Only 3 as of this posting:

- National Jewish Democratic Council (established group)
- Center for American Progress (a new group)
- Democracy for America (a new group)

If any of you know of any, let me or John know. I will pass any info along.

If you know of any who haven't, let them know that they are letting liberals down with their silence on this issue.

The future of navel gazing blogging

CNET News.com does a somewhat interesting article on blogging.

It pretty much follows the same formula that all of the other articles on blogging have.

The MSM is afraid of blogging

Are blogger journalists?

First Amendment considerations

Rathergate (and its attendant misrepresentations)

The fall of Trent Lott from majority leader (this one doesn't get much mention elsewhere)

Apple lawsuit

The article then goes off into corporate blogging but doesn't cover the issue of who owns the data when you blog for a company (hint: the company)

But, unlike when MSNBC, CNN, et al do articles on blogging, this one does not have the hysterical, or anti-blogging tone that the others have.

Could be better, but could be a whole lot worse.

Bush questions the Full Faith and Credit of the United States

Bush, continuing the bamboozlapalooza questions the ability of the US to pay its obligations:

"But that's not the way it works," Bush said. "There is no trust `fund' - just IOUs that I saw firsthand," Bush said.

Earlier, Susan Chapman of the Office of Public Debt Accounting had shown Bush an ivory four-drawer filing cabinet with numeric locks. "This is it," she said.

"This is what exists," Bush said, illustrating his point that the promise of future Social Security benefits are simply stashed in a file.

Chapman opened the second drawer and pulled out a white notebook filled with pseudo Treasury securities - pieces of paper that offer physical evidence of $1.7 trillion in treasury bonds that make up the trust fund.

Why does Bush think that the US cannot pay its obligation? Is the IOU not worth the paper it is written on?

What does his lack of confidence in the US's ability to pay treasury notes say to those foreign investors who hold billions of dollars in treasury notes?

Asbestos Litigation, this won't end well.

Asbestos Trust fund bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Tuesday he was confident a bill setting up a national fund to pay a flood of asbestos claims would be on the Senate floor soon, despite insurers' calls to try to resolve the problem in the courts.

"I am confident we will have a bill, a bipartisan bill, that centers on a trust fund, on the floor of the Senate in the not too distant future," Frist, a Tennessee Republican, told reporters in a briefing on the Senate floor.

He said he was not discouraged that some insurance companies had written again to complain about Sen. Arlen Specter's draft bill. Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, wants to take asbestos claims out of court and pay them from a $140 billion trust funded by business and insurers.

Insurance companies, and their client companies, ultimately are trying to get out of paying asbestos claims, and thus far the Bush administration has been sympathetic to their cause. However, the courts have not been so accomodating.

Ultimately the purpose of this trust fund bill, sponsored by Specter, is most likely twofold.

First, part of it would be to try and spread the liability to all of the companies involved. Seeing as the companies are unwilling to admit any level of culpability, it is a no brainer that they would be opposed to it on those grounds.

Second, would be to, hopefully, ensure that everyone who is eligible to receive compensation from these claims, would receive something.

The question, in my mind, has nothing to do with the liability of the company or insurer, but that the claimant actually receive compensation they are due, because of the asbestos claims.

Democrats, including the committee's ranking member, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, are worried the fund may run out of money and may not adequately compensate some victims.

GOP breakdown?

Liberal Oasis writes about an increasing concern amongst Republicans, that their actions may be actually detrimental to their party cohesivness.

WaPo has an article which lays out some of the problems. The public's negative reaction to the Schiavo mess, Tom Delay's ethical issues, and their Godfather-like demand that Republicans support Delay, or expect no support in their upcoming elections from the party. The Bolton nomination is another area where there is considerable concern amongst some Republican party faithful.

Tie all of these in with the horrible comment from Senator Cornyn, excusing violence against judges, and you have a series of seemingly unrelated events which, in their totality are causing heartburn in some circles.

The best part (as far as I am concerned) is that there is a new coordination in the Senate and in the House (but it appears not between the two) to stay on message and launch well timed, and well executed responses to these things as they occur.

If we could see some coordination between the Senate and the House on these types of events, we may see some real movement away from the right-wing of the Republican party.

Cornyn anti-judge video

Think Progress has the video of Senator Cornyn making his statement excusing violence against judges.

Contact John Cornyn’s office:
Tel: 202-224-2934
Fax: 202-228-2856

This attack on the third branch of our government by Republicans is exposing a frightening trend.

The "rule of law" that the Republicans claim to want to uphold is only valid in cases where their ideology is the rule.

Unchecked power seems to be their goal.

Judges pose "mortal danger"

John at AMERICAblog is keeping up with things regarding this new anti-judiciary tact the Republicans are taking.

After Senator Cornyn's statement excusing the actions of those who kill judges, there is a conference in which Delay, Senators Brownback and Coburn, and many others of the wingnut variety, claim that the judiciary is waging a war on faith.

The only thing I can get from the main page, is that this is a call to arms against the judicial branch of the United States.

It is almost as if these people want violence to acheive their goals.

Compare and Contrast:

From AP:

TOMBSTONE, Ariz. (AP) -- Volunteers who have converged on the Mexican border to watch for illegal immigrants are disrupting U.S. Border Patrol operations by unwittingly tripping sensors that alert agents to possible intruders, agency officials complained Monday.

Scores of participants in the Minuteman Project began assembling late last week and clusters of volunteers began regular patrols Monday, in an exercise some law enforcement authorities and civil rights groups fear will result in vigilante violence. Many of the volunteers were recruited over the Internet, and some planned to be armed.

Over the past few days, they have set off sensors, forcing agents to respond to false alarms, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jose Maheda.

From Reuters:

NOGALES, Mexico (Reuters) - Self-styled militia members in Arizona said on Monday they had already helped apprehend 19 illegal migrants at the start of monthlong border patrols that have raised fears of violence.

Organizers of hundreds of "Minuteman" volunteers, whose efforts are opposed by U.S. authorities, said 18 migrants crossing from Mexico were arrested on Sunday after a local rancher reported them to volunteers near the town of Palominas, a few miles north of the border.

"The volunteers are under instructions not to intercept any migrants themselves, and they called the sighting into U.S. Border Patrol agents who came and detained the group," project spokesman Mike McGarry told Reuters.

Gee, I wonder who is stretching the truth here.

San Francisco May Regulate Blogging

I saw this article: San Francisco May Regulate Blogging earlier today. I honestly don't think too much will come of it, but it certainly is worth paying attention to.

The San Francisco city council may think that they can regulate blogging as regulated political activity, but unless the blogger falls under some already specified rule WRT connections between a campaign and the blogger, I would be hard pressed to see how this type of regulation can stand up to a challenge.

I certainly can see value in requiring a candidate and/or a blogger to disclose a relationship, as Kos did during his time with the Dean campaign. However, if I have no connection with a campaign, other than acting as a fundraiser, how am I any different than the dinners candidates use to raise funds?

I am sure that some legal minds will chime in (somewhere, probably not here), on how far San Francisco can go, but I don't think it will be too far, in the grand scheme.

John Cornyn, resign now!

John over a Americablog catches one of my Senator's making a truly atrocious statement.

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN: "I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence." [Senate Floor, 4/4/05]

It is the height of irresponsibility for a United States Senator to be excusing the actions of judge killers.

I wonder what other crimes John Cornyn is going to provide an excuse for?

Go here to contact Cornyn's office, and ask why justifying the actions of criminals is acceptable.


John Conyers office releases a statement:

...

First, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, made the outrageous statement, and apparent threat, that "the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior." When given repeated opportunities to disavow the interpretation of his comments as a threat or incitement to violence, DeLay has repeatedly declined to do so.

Tonight, my staff showed me a quote from Senator John Cornyn (found on Americablog) that speaks for itself: "And finally, I – I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news. And I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in -- engage in violence. Certainly without any justification but a concern that I have that I wanted to share."

This apparent effort to rationalize violence against judges is deplorable. On its face, while it contains doubletalk that simultaneously offers a justification for such violence and then claims not to, the fundamental core of the statement seems to be that judges have somehow brought this violence on themselves. This also carries an implicit threat: that if judges do not do what the far right wants them to do (thus becoming the "judicial activists" the far right claims to deplore), the violence may well continue.

If this is what Senator Cornyn meant to say, it is outrageous, irresponsible and unbecoming of our leaders. To be sure, I have disagreed with many, many court rulings. (For example, Bush v. Gore may well be the single greatest example of judicial activism we have seen in our lifetime.) But there is no excuse, no excuse, for a Member of Congress to take our discourse to this ugly and dangerous extreme

...

NewsMax predicts the apocalypse

NewsMax, wading into its usual territory, gives us the timetable for the apocalypse.

Apparently the next pope is the penultimate Papacy.

John Paul II. The 110th is "De Labore Solis" (Of the Solar Eclipse, or From the Toil of the Sun). The corresponding pope was John Paul II (1978-2005). John Paul II was born on May 8, 1920 during an eclipse of the sun. Like the sun, he came out of the East (Poland). Like the sun, he visited countries all around the globe.

Today the final two prophecies are yet to be fulfilled:

The 111th prophecy is "Gloria Olivae" (The Glory of the Olive). The meaning of the olive is unclear. The Order of Saint Benedict – not St. Malachy – has claimed that this pope will come from its ranks and Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its final fight against evil.

The 112th prophecy says, "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Petrus Romanus (Peter the Roman), who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.

Ugh.

Glenn Reynolds, inanity personified, and the Pope

Max has a pretty good dissection of what he calls prix fixe Catholics and the American version (otherwise known as Cafeteria Catholics). As a non-religious person, Max's points mirror my belief WRT religion. For those that are, what I call, rationally religious, the teachings of the Church, whether Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, etc.,

Why talk about the Encyclicals? Unlike some on the left, I've never bought the narrow, dismissive view of religion as some unbelievable fairy tale. Religious doctrine is philosophy, it's politics, it's literature, it's about the Meaning of Life. It's not about some bearded dude in the sky that can't exist because you've never seen him.(emphasis mine)

Religion has been perverted by many on the right as a war on Liberalism, or a war on non-believers. It is perceived by many on the left as a method of brainwashing the masses.

There are, what I would consider a majority, of people who call themselves religious who do not share the extremist views, or the rigidity of thought, of the Religious Right. Those individuals need to be spoken to on a level that is not dismissive of their religious beliefs as many on the left are want to do.

On the Pope specifically, we have this inanity from Glenn Reynolds:

Most inane comment so far was Glenn Reynolds (shocking, I know) -- "Ordinary Poles 2, German intellectuals 0." Intellectuals. The swine. It happens that the Pope was an intellectual -- a professor of philosophy -- and Reynolds is a professor. One of these days I need to cook up a post to explain how in modern jingoist discourse, "intellectual" and "cultural elite" refer to the Jews. But that has nothing to do with Karol Wojtyla.

A makeover for Wally World?

CNN is reporting that Wal-Mart is trying to remake its image (as if this is new news).

Does anyone actually think that this is nothing more than just trying to put lipstick on this pig?

It is nice to see that the AFL-CIO is beginning to take on Wal-Mart. Up until now, any attempt at organizing has been on a local level, without the real visible support that Wal-Mart workers will need to see to get behind this movement.

It is also nice to read about some companies (albeit large chains, and not small businesses) who are able to resist the borg like assimilation that Wal-Mart has been waging.

One of the companies is my Grocer HEB. If other companies (even small companies) start looking at some of the things these companies have been able to do to stay in front of the Wal-Mart onslaught, they can begin to break the juggernaught.

First, and most obvious, trying to compete with Wal-Mart on price should be a non-starter. Where these other companies succeed against Wal-Mart is on selection (especially Best Buy), quality, and service to the customer.

Many small businesses are able to provide some of these, but think that they have to compete with Wal-Mart on price. There are more people than retailers think there are, who will pay a little more money for a product, if the service and the quality are there that Wal-Mart does not provide.

When Wal-Mart enters a community, many businesses fail, there is no doubt about that. But, those businesses that survive are stronger, and ultimately are the ones who will draw customers away from Wal-Mart, and will over the longer term, help communities rebound, and re-open small businesses which can compete with Wal-Mart on a local scale.

Revenge of the Bush

Agitprop finds this quick time video based on the Star Wars EP-III trailer.

It is easy to guess which side is the Republic, and which is the Empire.

The comparison of the US as the Republic, and the NeoCons as the Empire is a very interesting one.

Formula One: Final Results Edition - Bahrain

Pos:	Start Pos:	Driver:	Team:
1	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault
2	3	Jarno Trulli	Toyota
3	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
4	6	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota
5	8	Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes
6	5	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW
7	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas
8	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing
9	15	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
10	17	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota
11	16	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas
12	20	Patrick Friesacher	Minardi-Cosworth
13	19	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth
DNF	11	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda
DNF	13	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda
DNF	4	Nick Heidfeld	Williams-BMW
DNF	2	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
DNF	10	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault
DNF	18	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota
DNF	7	Christian Klien	Red Bull Racing

Ayatollah DeLay

Courtesy of Chris at Americablog:

Crap News Network

Just torturing myself with some Papal Death Watch this Saturday morning.

I have an entire afternoon planned of crawfish and beer, so I will more than make up for this crap fest.

Bill Hemmer, cue card reader extraordinaire is on the verge of tears. Real or forced I cannot really tell. He just read some statement from someone in which from the rapturous look on his face, and tremble in his voice, was obviously someone he thinks is important.


Between this, and now the remote diagnosis provided by Sanjay Gupta, we have re-entered the theater of the absurd that was the Terri Schiavo deathwatch.
<