We Will Bill You At A Later Date

So says the notice on the website of the United States Embassay to Lebanon:

The Department of State continues to work with the Department of Defense on a plan to help American citizens depart Lebanon. As of the morning of July 15, we are looking at how we might transport Americans to Cyprus. Once in Cyprus, Americans can then board commercial aircraft for onward travel. Commercial airlines provide the safest and most efficient repatriation options to final destinations.

The Department of State reminds American citizens that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation but does have the authority to provide repatriation loans to those in financial need. For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date. In a subsequent message, when we have specific details about the transporation arrangments, we will inform you about the costs you will incur. We will also work with commercial aircraft to ensure that they have adequate flights to help you depart Cyprus and connect to your final destination.

The Department of State continues to work around the clock and will continue to send updates as appropriate.

Welcome to Bush's America.

If you are an American citizen living in a war zone, and had no prior knowledge that a shooting war was about to start, you're on your own.

Technorati Tags: Lebanon, State Department

Oh. My. God

Our President is just like the creepy kid in school who thought was everyones friend.

Jebus.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Angela Merkel

Thought for the Day

"The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity."

--Harlan Ellison

Putting Patients Last

Why is it that Doctors can refuse to help patients on religious grounds?

For Debra Shipley, her duties as a nurse began to conflict with her Christian faith when the county health clinic where she worked near Memphis required she dispense the morning-after pill.

"I felt like my religious liberties were being violated," said Shipley, 49, of Atoka, Tenn. "I could not live with myself if it did it. I answer to God first and foremost."

I'm sorry that she personally has a problem with the morning after pill. However, it is not her job as a medical professional to lecture patients on morality issues.

I have said the same thing about pharmacists who refuse to distribute emergency contraception. If it is morally repugnant to you, get out of the business. Your job is to provide appropriate medical care (not religious medical care), and appropriate medication to treat medical issues. If you are morally opposed to treating patients for one reason or another, go find another profession.

Also, please stay away from ridiculous comparisons:

"Think about slavery," said physician William Toffler of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. "I am a blacksmith and a slave owner asks me to repair the shackles of a slave. Should I have to say, 'I can't do it but there's a blacksmith down the road who will?' "

Slavery?

So, now we are to make the intellectual leap to say that forcing a doctor who has a moral objection to treating a Muslim, to treat that patient, is the same as a blacksmith who is morally opposed to repairing the shackles of slaves, being asked to do so?

I suppose, by that logic, I am morally opposed to religion being permitted in the medical establishment, and shouldn't have to go to a Catholic hospital. Just like the slave owner was forced to live in a country with freed slaves.

Playing the Blame Game

According to Sebastian Smalley, if the rest of the world would open their eyes to George Bush's great plan, and pay alot of money for oil, then the world would be a better place:

Before things can turn a corner in the Middle East, we need the diplomatic equivalent of electric-shock therapy. We may need $100 oil to jolt the Europeans and the Chinese. We may need the Russians to be told that they can forget joining the World Trade Organization. And we're going to need something dramatic to reward India, whose response to terrorism last week was exemplary.

[...]

India's response? No reprisals, no bombings. No threat to cut off diplomatic communications with Pakistan and no massing of troops on the India-Pakistan border. Instead, the Indians tell Pakistan that a forthcoming meeting of foreign ministers must be postponed. And they seek support from the Bush administration and the United Nations to get Pakistan to clamp down on the terrorists.

[...]

There's a direct causal link between this freeloading irresponsibility and Israel's bombardment of Lebanon. The Chinese and Russians ensure every day that diplomacy is limp, and then they sound surprised when Israel chooses the military option.

Western Europeans lament the fact that the Bush administration, its energies sapped by the Iraq war, has not shown much appetite for the shuttle diplomacy that brokered the last Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire in 1996. But if France and others had not undermined sanctions on Iraq in the late 1990s, the case for the military alternative would have been weaker -- and the war might not have happened.

This is such a ridiculous premise. The situation in Israel today, is a direct result of low oil prices, France (and everything the neo-cons hate about France), and the lack of desire of these countries to talk to George Bush.

George Bush could solve the worlds problems here. After-all, Iraq is going swimmingly. Another point, if oil was selling for $100 per barrel, would Russia be harmed or helped by that?

Finally, let's be honest here. The Bush administration does not seem overly concerned about peace in the middle east. From uncritical support of Israel, to undermining negotiations everywhere (giving India nuclear technology while trying to negotiate peace with Pakistan?), the Bush administration has caused a significant portion of the problems that have lead us to this point.

However, Mallaby cannot seem to grasp that.



Technorati Tags: Israel

Please Sir, May I have Some More?

Funding for Liberal think tanks:

An alliance of nearly a hundred of the nation's wealthiest donors is roiling Democratic political circles, directing more than $50 million in the past nine months to liberal think tanks and advocacy groups in what organizers say is the first installment of a long-term campaign to compete more aggressively against conservatives.

A year after its founding, Democracy Alliance has followed up on its pledge to become a major power in the liberal movement. It has lavished millions on groups that have been willing to submit to its extensive screening process and its demands for secrecy.

These include the Center for American Progress, a think tank with an unabashed partisan edge, as well as Media Matters for America, which tracks what it sees as conservative bias in the news media. Several alliance donors are negotiating a major investment in Air America, a liberal talk-radio network.

Good.

I love to see this. I am not going to quote the next two paragraphs in the article. Because they are the "centrist Democratic groups" who fear the "liberal tilt of the group's funding decisions". And that is all you need to know. These "centrist groups" are more concerned about their own compromising existence than the success of the Democratic Party. Witness Joe Lieberman.

The fundamental strength of this group is that financial resources it brings to liberal organizations. If the DLC doesn't like it? Oh well.



As an aside, if any of these groups who have received this new funding are looking to expand, and need a politically oriented computer geek, I might just be available.

Technorati Tags: Democracy Alliance, Liberal Think Tanks

Thought for the Day

"In physics, you don't have to go around making trouble for yourself - nature does it for you."

--Frank Wilczek

Kill Them All

This seems to be the new default position of the Bush Authoritarian Cultists. Atrios points us to a couple of the eliminationists, and listening to Newt Gingrich on Meet the Press we have another who happens to be an aspiring President.

The Republicans are becoming a dangerous group. They want to kill anyone who dares to disagree. Whether it is journalists who publish embarrassing information about the Bush administration, countries who do not pledge fealty to America, or even American citizens who have the audacity to hold a different view of how things should be.

Kill them all, let God sort them out.

Welcome to the Cult of George W. Bush

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Authoritarian Cult, GOP, Newt Gingrich, Iran, North Korea

Travelling

I will be travelling for the rest of today, and most of tomorrow.

Probably no posting until Sunday.

Thought for the Day

"Crime does not pay ... as well as politics."

--Alfred E. Newman

Media Reporting

Specter's legislation, as expected, gives away the bank, when it comes to enabling Bush's domestic spying.

The real problem is in the media's reporting about the legislation.

Glenn Greenwald explains:

The media's reports on this travesty illustrate, yet again, that the single greatest problem our country faces -- the principal reason the Bush administration has been able to get away with the abuses it has perpetrated -- is because our national media is indescribably lazy, inept, dysfunctional and just plain stupid, for reasons discussed in this comment from Jao and my response.

The reporters who write on these matters literally don't understand the issues they are reporting, even though the issues are not all that complicated. Notwithstanding the fact that this bill expressly removes all limits on the President's eavesdropping powers -- and returns the state of the law regarding presidential eavesdropping to the pre-FISA era, when there were no limits on presidential eavesdropping of any kind -- Charles Babington and Peter Baker told their readers in The Washington Post -- in an article hilariously entitled: "Bush Compromises On Spying Program" -- that "the deal represented a clear retreat by Bush" and that "the accord is a reversal of Bush's position that he would not submit his program to court review."

Anyone with a basic understanding of what FISA was and of the conflicts in play could read the Specter bill and see that the last thing it does is entail "compromises" on the part of the White House. Nobody who knows how to read could read that bill and think that. At this point, I believe they don't even read the bill. It's hard to see how they could read the bill and then write that article. Instead, it seems that they just call their standard sources on each side, go with the White House-Specter assessment that this is some grand "compromise" on the ground that it is a joint view of both warring sides, and then throw in a cursory ACLU quote somewhere at the end just to be able to say that they included some opposing views. But the reporters who are writing about this - and I mean the ones writing in the pages of our country's most important newspapers - don't actually have any idea what they're talking about.

Babington is the same reporter who falsely told his readers on the front page of the Post in March that the Republican "compromise" bill from the Senate Intelligence Committee (offered in lieu of an actual investigation into the NSA program) entailed substantial Congressional oversight of the program, even though a quick reading of the actual bill would have revealed that it entailed no such oversight. Representatives from Sen. DeWine and Snowe's office apparently told him what great oversight their bill provided and so he printed as fact what he was told.

After bloggers pointed out this error, the Post, several days later, was forced to issue a correction (appended to the top of the original article). But the same thing that happened there is happening here - Republican Senators and White House representatives with a vested interest in how the story gets reported characterize the bill in a certain way, and then lazy, uninformed reporters like Babington uncritically regurgitate that version as fact in the newspaper.

The biggest complaints against the media is the largely uncritical reporting it does of not only Bush administration programs, but legislation presented by Congress that enables these egregious programs.

In the end it appears that, unless the House acts to stop this pretend oversight bill from passing, Congress will have enabled the President to do whatever he wants. Unless, of course, that is exactly what both the media, and Congress wants.

Technorati Tags: Domestic Spying

You Know Not of What You Speak

Mickey Kaus is a hack of the worst order. He pretends to know things based on his own definition of how things are or should be.

Case in point. Plano, Texas, in Kaus' eyes is not a Republican stronghold.

Anyone from Texas can tell you that is ludicrous. The mere fact that there is a movie theater in Plano that is playing Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, makes it a "Liberal city" in the mind of Kaus. By that token, the fact that there is a radio station in Austin that has Conservative talk radio hosts, makes Austin a Conservative city.

If Gore's movie being the sole determining factor as to what makes a "Liberal" or "Conservative" city, than not only is a majority of the country Conservative, Liberal's are such a small percentage of Americans (less than 10%), Bush, and the Republicans should be controlling the entire country, with no opposition.

Mickey Kaus is a fool, and an idiot.

Technorati Tags: Kaus

AKA: The Domino Theory

Dionne has a pretty decent column today about Neo-Con dreams fizzling out.

However, he calls their dream that by installing a democratic government in Iraq, causing a wave of democracy breaking out in the Middle East, "The Big Bang Theory".

However, it is not a new, or revolutionary theory, it is recycled. The same thing was believed would happen if a democracy was installed in Vietnam. Then, it was posited, with a democratic government in Vietnam, all the other Communist countries, or those leaning towards Communism would see just how great it (democracy) was, and Democracy would break out in the Far East, and spread Westward.


We saw how that turned out.

But more importantly, the last paragraph of the column is quite interesting:

By late November of this year, the United States will have been at war in Iraq for as long as we were involved in World War II. Under those circumstances, the burden of proof should not be on those who argue for changing what we're doing. It should be on those who set a failed policy in motion and keep promising, despite the evidence, that it will somehow pay off if only we "stay the course."

This is the first, of what will hopefully be many more columns/articles that take this approach.

This should also be the approach that Democrats take. It no longer is incumbent on Democrats to explain why we need change, it is incumbent on Republicans (and Joe Lieberman) to explain why "stay the course" is the most appropriate course of action.

Otherwise, we can expect to see zero change in the way the war is being conducted until Bush leaves office.



Technorati Tags: Dionne, Bush, Iraq, Big Bang Theory

What Do You Mean, Could?

Why would the media be seemingly unconcerned that the Bush administration is trying coverup just how extensive their domestic spying program is? Throw away lines like this are very disturbing to read, when they point to things like spying on political opponents.

After all, Bush's cult followers think spying on Americans, particularly if they oppose Bush is perfectly acceptable.

Technorati Tags: Domestic Spying, Bush

Bam!

Filing suit:

Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, filed suit in federal court today against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, top Presidential advisor Karl Rove and other unnamed senior White House officials, for their role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status.

A copy of the Complaint as filed in court is attached, as is a page with excerpts from the Complaint.

The suit accuses the defendants of violating the Wilsons' constitutional and other legal rights as a result of "a conspiracy among current and former high-level officials in the White House" to "discredit, punish and seek revenge against" Mr. Wilson for publicly disputing statements made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address justifying the war in Iraq.

Bring it on.

Technorati Tags: Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby

Republican Hysteria

The DCCC has a new video showing things that Republicans, and George W. Bush in particular have screwed up. This video has, among other things, images of the War in Iraq, and flag draped coffins.

Naturally, Republicans don't like this video, see RedState and others for examples.

I wonder why there would be such a reaction against this video?

John Aravosis speculates that it is because Republicans, as fair weather friends to the military, don't want to talk about the total mess that George Bush created, and they enabled. I happen to agree. As long as Democrats can be somehow painted as America-hating, anti-troop, terrorist enablers, Republicans can continue to use images from 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan with impunity. However, now that the DCCC has created a video which accurately points out just how things have turned for the worse (who can argue that nearly 3,000 soldiers dead in a war of choice, based on lies, is a good thing?), Republicans are calling foul.

It would seem to me, that the louder they crow, the more they realize that the DCCC has created a message they cannot counter.

Kind of sucks to be a Republican right now, eh?

Technorati Tags: DCCC

Republicans and Voting Rights

Republicans today, have given up all pretense of being the party for all Americans:

Both of the remaining amendments, sponsored by Georgia GOP Reps. Charlie Norwood and Lynn Westmoreland, target the VRA’s Section 5, which mandates that states with a documented history of discrimination must “pre-clear” any changes to their electoral practices with the Justice Department.

The amendments would, respectively, reconfigure the formula used to apply that section of the law — which the Georgia lawmakers have argued is outdated and unfairly targets states including their own — and establish an expedited procedure for qualified jurisdictions to “bail out” from the law’s requirements.

There is a reason that Georgia, and other states have been, and would otherwise continue to be subject to Justice Department monitoring under the Voting Rights Act. Historically, and even today, these states still do not fully protect the rights of minority voters.

It really is galling to think that in 2006 the notion of equality for all Americans is such a divisive concept. The purpose of the Voting Rights Act was to ensure, through law, that all voters would be ensured equal access to voting. However, Representatives Norwood and Westmoreland (not to mention my own Congressman John Carter) want us to believe that there is no more racial or religious discrmination in this country. No doubt these Congressmen honestly believe that they harbor no ill will towards anyone who isn't White or Christian, and they may even have their "black friend", or "Jewish friend", or anyone else they like to hold up as proof that they are "tolerant". However, reality tells us that the people who fight the hardest against guaranteeing equal rights for all though statute, aren't as tolerant of diversity as they pretend.

But, hey, the "Southern Strategy" worked once, didn't it?

Technorati Tags: VRA, Voting Rights Act, Charlie Norwood, Lynn Westmoreland, Georgia

Thought for the Day

"When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half."

--Gracie Allen

Sorry for Light Posting

Very busy day at work.

Think About It

Via The Agonist:

From 1936 to 1939 CEOs earned 82 times what the average worker made.
From 1940 to 1945 CEOs earned 66 times what the average worker made.
From 1945 to 1949 CEOs earned 49 times what the average worker made.
From 1950 to 1959 CEOs earned 47 times what the average worker made.
From 1960 to 1969 CEOs earned 39 times what the average worker made.
From 1970 to 1979 CEOS earned 40 times what the average worker made.
From 1980 to 1989 CEOs earned 69 times what the average worker made.
From 1990 to 1999 CEOs earned 187 times what the average worker made.
From 2000 to 2003 CEOs earned 367 times what the average worker made.

Think about it.

Thought for the Day

"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."

--Dorothy Nevill

The Divine Right of Kings

Long ago, in America's history, there was a war. That war was called the American Revolution. While there were a myriad of reasons the people who lived in the New World decided to declare their independence from, and ultimately fight a war against, the King of England, one of those reasons, was opposition to the "Divine Right of Kings". It was, I would say rightly, decided that the King was not alway right. The form of government that was created from this revolution specifically created a system where the leader, the President, could not claim a divine right of rule. You know, that whole Co-Equal Branches of Government thing.

On Tuesday, 12 July 2006, an attempt to subvert that fundamental American truth was made:

LEAHY: Was the President right or was he wrong?

BRABURY: It’s under the law of war –

LEAHY: Was the President right or was he wrong?

BRADBURY: The President is always right.

Now, the official position of the Executive Branch of the United States Government is that the President is always right.

Explain to me how that is different from the Divine Right of Kings?


Technorati Tags: President, Steven Bradbury, Patrick Leahy, Divine Right of Kings

Attacking Dan Rather

Since the announcement that Dan Rather would be moving to Mark Cuban's HDNet, to do a weekly news magazine, Conservatives who were crowing about their "win" by "getting Dan Rather" off the air, have now had the wind taken out of their sails.

The Washington Post, however, has been trying to provide the fan to get them moving again:

Three weeks after being shown the door by the broadcast network's news division, Rather appeared before TV critics here to discuss details of his new three-year pact with billionaire Cuban.

Rather, 74, said he was relieved to be moving from news "defined by the economics of the corporation presenting the news" to "independent journalism."

The longtime anchor, who left CBS News last month after he and management could not agree on his future role there, said that "nothing I say here is designed to be critical of CBS."

Then he came out swinging.

"CBS is a large organization . . . with a chain of command that looks like the wiring of a nuclear plant. . . . The difference [at HDNet] is that the chain of command begins and ends with me. With 'Dan Rather Reports' I have creative and editorial control."

The Post is continuing to flog the "Rather as discredited journalist figure" story when reality is that Rather is not only being given his own show, it will be in High Definition. That, I am sure, will do more to piss off the Rather haters than anything else.

We wont even get into just how fabricated the "forged memos" story was.



Technorati Tags: Dan Rather, Mark Cuban, HDNet

Screwing The Workers

From Kos we learn who got a raise in the White House and who didn't.

Those who did? "Assistant to the President" $4,200 Cost of Living adjustment, up to $165,200
Those who didn't? Secretary earning $30,000

With the salaries of White House employees up to the discrection of the President, I find it quite telling, and dare I say Republican, that the people at the top get pay raises, and the people at the bottom get squat.




Technorati Tags: White House, Salary, Raise

The Death Cult

That is the only way one can describe Right-Wing bloggers. One prominent blogger is calling for the lynching of five of the nine Supreme Court Justices, and not a single other prominent Right Wing Blogger has dared to condemn his words.

This is just the latest wish by a member of the Conservative media/blogosphere who have openly wished for a prominent member of the government, media, or indeed an entire class of people to be killed. In the Conservative movement, the killing of people who disagree with their viewpoint seems to be the desired course of action.

Where is the condemnation from those who disagree?

Indeed It Is

digby:

I would just again point out that the characterization of the "Kos Townhouse" orbit as being a group of "unbelievably crude, overheated and totally unsavvy ... activist-loudmouths" is only partially correct. (I proudly wear the labels, others may not.) But to the extent you believe it's true, keep in mind that it reflects the frustration of millions of politically active progressive citizens who have been scapegoated and derided for decades by the political insiders who now find themselves on the other end of the attack. These people are the base of the Democratic Party. If people think the party can prevail in this modern hyper-partisan era by continuing to insult its most active and ardent supporters, then have at it. But no one should be surprised then when those supporters decide to take matters into their own hands. Democracy is untidy that way.

This is the final paragraph in response to a follow up post to his column in The New Republic (TNR) by Jonathan Chait.

Just to summarize Chait's side of the issue, we (not necessarily me specifically) in left blogistan, are wrong for rejecting Joe Lieberman for Senate. His point specifically is not so much that much of the Liberal base of the Democratic Party is not supporting Lieberman, as much as it is that we are having an affect on the race.

His, and it seems the entire staff at TNR, are just now waking up to what bloggers represent. However, in Chait's mind, liberal bloggers do not speak for the party, as we use bad language, and often use invective against, not just Lieberman, but the entire DLC/TNR hierarchy. More than just rejecting what the inside-the-beltway crowd tells us, Democrats in America, what to think, we are nothing but a newspeak dictionary away from fullfledged groupthink.

What's worse, our groupthink is being directed (via telepathy?) from the secret lair of one Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (funded by George Soros?). I am sure that Markos, and digby have know idea who I am. I have met Atrios, though I don't know if he remembers me (I was wearing the Southern Metal Choppers t-shirt :waves: ).

The whole thing, which the elite punditocracy of the Liberal media cannot seem to grasp, is that we are not operating under centralized command. It just so happens that most of the Liberal bloggers are all dissatisfied with the Democratic Party elite for the same reasons. More than that, the millions of readers of Liberal blogs of all stripes, are pretty much fed up the same way as well.

I cannot really express things better than digby did, but I have to add my 2¢, as a blogger would.

Atrios calls Chait's reaction his '"kids get off the lawn" schtick', and in true groupthink fashion, I find his railings against those of us bloggers just like an old man sitting on his porch yelling at the kids to "get off the lawn".

But, what does this all mean? Why are the media elite now starting to attack the blogs? This spat with Chait and TNR is not the first, nor will it be the last. Since YearlyKOS, the media, and specifically the pundit class really must be feeling some heat from somewhere. While newspaper circulation is falling dramatically, I find it hard to believe that their (the pundits) readership numbers (online or print) have suffered too much, as those who were inclined to read their columns are still reading them, and probably they are being exposed to a wider audience via blogs (from both the left and the right). I have speculated, and others have as well, that these people are so insulated and egotistical that the thought that they are being challenged in a public forum is more than they can deal with. The very idea that the political base of the Democratic Party is no longer willing to take what they say, and accept it as a political truth, must really hurt their self-worth. There really is no other explanation. For if they were to remain true to their calling as a pundit, they would welcome the dialog, and the ability to engage in the debate they fancy they are having in the pages of the newspapers they write for.

Alas, it appears that the opposite is true. The elite pundits do not want their world views challenged in writing. They do not want their perceived roles as gatekeepers to the Washington scene challenged. The fact that politicans are listening to some bloggers, and probably a larger affront to the pundits sensibilities, going directly to the people via their own blogs, and other bloggers, must really be like fingernails on a chalkboard to them.

The pundit class is rapidly becoming obsolete. People like Jonathan Chait must be feeling some sense of it for him to lash out like he did. It is not too late for them to engage in the dialog with bloggers rather than attack. It really is unbecoming of someone who gets paid big benjis for their opinions and insight, to resort to these, almost childless attacks. The proper, and yes more difficult response would be to try and understand why we in the land of the "looney left" are so dissatisfied with Lieberman. Or, more directly, why we are so critical of people like Jonathan Chait.

Technorati Tags: digby, Chait, Lieberman, bloggers

The Sensitivity of Data Security

I have largely refrained from writing a detailed post about the data security and data theft cases we have seen lately. Primarily because I have a bad habit of using very IT specific terms, with no followup definition to explain what it is I mean for those that aren't in the IT industry, or have cause to know what VPN, IP (both kinds), IPSEC, etc. are.

When people say that computer geeks speak in another language, most of the time they are correct.

With that in mind, it is nice to see the Associated Press try to tackle explaining this issue. The article does not delve too deeply into the technical details, which is both good and bad. Good, because it keeps out the acronym hell that we in IT deal with on a daily basis, and bad because some of the terminology should be a part of lexicon for everyone who has these business concerns with data security.

Core to the article, and core to my beliefs, is that there is no justification for people to have any of this sensitive data on their laptop computer. With the availability of WiFi, and now wireless broadband via cellular networks (Verizon broadbandAccess, Sprint Mobile Broadband, and the like), the ability of anyone to establish a secure connection to their company networks to access the data they need, when they need it, is nearly limitless. As companies use, and deploy technology, particularly to their field personnel (sales, service, etc), security all too often gets shortchanged in the name of keeping costs down. Hopefully with the media exposure these breaches in data security, and data theft have been getting, security concerns will begin to get the attention they require.

Technorati Tags: Data Security, Data Theft, Mobile Computing

Thought for the Day

"A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies."

--Oscar Wilde

In a World, Where Up is Down

Bush is actually reducing the deficit:

President Bush said today a new, lower estimate of this year's federal budget deficit shows that his economic policies are working, and he declared that his plan to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is now a year ahead of schedule.

There have been more than a few articles about this "achievment" that Bush is taking credit for.

The reason the budget deficit came in below estimates, is that the deficit prediction was wildly overinflated to start with. No doubt when the administration was trying to come up with an estimate, the directive was to get the high end figure, and add 10%. That way, barring some total economic disaster, they would be guaranteed to come in below predictions.

But, reporting that would blow the "Republicans as fiscal discipliarians" meme out of the water.

Syd Barrett: RIP

End of an era:

Syd Barrett, the troubled Pink Floyd co-founder who spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, the band said Tuesday. He was 60.

A spokeswoman for the band said Barrett died several days ago, but she did not disclose the cause of death. Barrett had suffered from diabetes for years.

The surviving members of Pink Floyd - David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright - said they were "very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett's death."

"Syd was the guiding light of the early band lineup and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire," they said in a statement.

Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 with Waters, Mason and Wright, and wrote many of the band's early songs. The group's jazz-infused rock and drug-laced, multimedia "happenings" made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene. The 1967 album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" - largely written by Barrett, who also played guitar - was a commercial and critical hit.

Rest in Peace Syd.

Technorati Tags: Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett

The Test

George Bush faces a test.

It is a test on whether or not he approves of government corruption.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who indicted Scooter Libby, investigated Karl Rove, as well as working tirelessly to eliminate corruption in Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, is up for re-appointment.

How will George Bush signal his approval of corruption?

For corruption, by not re-appointing Fitzgerald, or against, by re-appointing him.



Technorati Tags: Republican, Culture of Corruption, Bush, Fitzgerald, GOP

Handicapping the Republican Primaries

Today, E.J. Dionne decides it isn't too early to start handicapping the 2008 Republican Primaries:

The coming Republican brawl reflects the fact that President Bush will leave office with no obvious heir, and Bushism as a political philosophy has yet to establish itself in the way that Reaganism did.

Moreover, the four top candidates in most polls for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination -- Sen. John McCain, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former House speaker Newt Gingrich -- all promise very different styles of leadership.

For some reason after this, Dionne decides that there has to be an obligatory Hillary paragraph or two, but they are not relevant to the article.

What is relevant is GOP 2008.

First off, I notice that there are two names notably absent from this list of candidates (maybe due to space considerations?), Senator Bill Frist, and Senator George Felix Allen. Both of these candidates have made their desire to be President known. Looking at the four candidates listed above each have their own set of problems that at the least equal Frist's and Allen's problems.

Ultimately though, it is too early to begin the horserace for the 2008 GOP nod, unless this is a sign that the GOP have already conceded 2006.

Technorati Tags: GOP, Giuliani, McCain, Romney, Gingrich, 2008, President

The Politics of National Security

There is an extension for Firefox (what you don't have it yet?) called the US Department of Homeland Insecurity Idiocy Level indicator. This extension shows the current threat level, as specified by DHS, along with a more appropriate tag (ie: Yellow is Scared).

The reason I bring this up, is that The Carpetbagger reminds us that the terror threat level has only been raised once since Bush was reelected:

Or was the old threshold a joke anyway? Let's not forget that former DHS Chief Tom Ridge explained, after leaving his post, that "there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level," which, coincidentally, happened quite a bit in 2004. Remind me, was there some kind of presidential election or something going on at the time? Something about the need for people to be afraid?

The Boston Globe noted today that the GOP is putting all of its midterm-election eggs in the national security basket. Does that mean a return to threat-level orange before November? It's tempting to think the administration would hesitate before pulling too blatant a stunt, but if desperation sinks in, I have to assume every option is on the table.

Yes, it is a shame that the Bush gang has made cynicism the norm.

If I recall, there were a couple of polls that were released just before, or just after the election in 2004 which indicated that a majority of the public were suspicious of just how the Bush administration was using this color coded system for political fear-mongering purposes. Based on the distinct lack of attention being paid to the threat level (except maybe Fox News), it only seems to reinforce that notion.

Now, as with GOP plans to use the Iraq War, and National Security as its platform for the 2006 elections, it is prudent to wonder, if magically, Al Qaeda will suddenly be "trying to influence" the election in favor of Demcorats, and there will be more "Terror Alerts", and raising the "National Threat Level" to promote more fear-mongering?

Technorati Tags: GOP, DHS, National Security, Elections, Firefox

Thought for the Day

"The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents."

--Nathaniel Borenstein

Detroying Unions Through Promotion

The Bush Administration is anti-worker.


That statement would go unchallenged just about anywhere. The rules and regulations promoted by the Bush Administration for the past 5+ years, have largely, if not entirely, pro-management. The latest is no different:

I have this vision that because I own a dog, soon I will be legally prohibited from joining a union.

It's not quite that bad -- yet. But a series of decisions expected this summer from the Bush- appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) could destroy the existing union memberships of millions of people in the United States, and prevent any future unionization attempts by tens of millions more.

Under 1947's notorious union-busting Taft-Hartley Act, supervisors in the U.S. workforce are considered “management” and therefore have no legal right to unionize. The anticipated NLRB rulings, of three disputes collectively known as the Kentucky River cases, would allow employers in a wide array of industries to reclassify as “supervisors” any employee who has any type of oversight, no matter how fleeting, over a lower- ranked or less senior co-worker. Workers who take on apprentices. Lead men in manufacturing crews. Nurses who direct nurse aides.

And, well, I order our dog around. A lot. She seems to like it.

I have two dogs, so I wonder if I would get classified middle management?

This is yet another attempt by Bush and his corporate cronies to remove as many worker protection laws as possible. By defining anyone who has anything resembling a supervisor as management, regardless of whether they have any management authority or not, is about one thing, and one thing only. Removing Unions from the American workplace. Corporate management hates them, because they force the company to pay their employees a good wage, provide them benefits, ensure worker saftety, and provide retirement income for decades of service.

There was a time in this country, when most companies did that without labor unions. But this isn't only about screwing the worker. This is also about rewarding upper management. Encouraging, and expanding the already largest gap in pay between CEO's and the people who make their companies work.

Technorati Tags: Labor, Unions, NLRB

Repubilcan America

Where taxes are low, and fruit rots on the trees:

Millions of oranges will rot on the trees of Florida this year because a shortage of fruitpickers has been aggravated by fears about more stringent US immigration laws, local media reported yesterday.

This is what the Republican fearmongering on immigration has wraught. Farmers paying substandard wages to migrant workers who, fearing deportation, don't come to work.

The end result is crops rotting, either on the trees, or in the ground because there is not enough workers available to pick them.

Some may say, 'good'. They're illegal immigrants anyway. Others see this as an opportunity to create new jobs for Americans. Prices will go up (or government subsidies will), and every American will pay for this failed immigration policy the Republicans are pursuing. However, as I see it, the farmers will press Congress to back off on immigration, and we will return to the status quo.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Technorati Tags: Immigration, Oranges, Florida

The Maginot Line

Despite the elitist punditocracy thinking so, it's not the bloggers:

Gentlemen, it has come to my attention that your strings of pearls are being worn thin from clutching, at the intemperate and potty-mouthed "fascism" of liberal blogs. Apparently, you don't like these self-appointed kingmakers "purging" the Democratic party of anyone who doesn't toe the line, as seen most clearly in the current Senatorial primary race in Connecticut. You have picked up the whiff of intolerance and fascism behind the near-unanimous support for Ned Lamont, versus the incumbent Joe Lieberman. You think that the full-court press to elect Mr. Lamont is, apparently, almost a crime against basic human decency. And so you have started several sandbox fights with your arch-enemies, the guys (and girls) with blogs.

As you are so fond of explaining to the rabid pre-teens on the internets what is really good for them, let me explain what's good for all of you: NOT calling the exercise of democracy "fascism" or "purging." Some people with websites do not hold the reins of governmental power. They do not direct party funds. They don't run the military. They have, in other words, no actual power. What they have are opinions and some facts. Sort of like yourselves. When they advocate the election of Ned Lamont, the only ability they have to effect this is to convince people that he is a worthy candidate. Worthy of votes, donations, and word of mouth to Connecticut voters. The voters of Connecticut will decide whether they agree. This is the point you seem to be missing. If enough voters in Connecticut decide that their views will be better represented by Ned Lamont than by Joe Lieberman, he should be elected. Right? This is how democracy works. If you disagree, you are just as free as Markos, or Jane Hamsher, or Atrios, to make your argument why Joe Lieberman is the better choice.

This really is a quite simple idea. However, because the pundits who get paid their 6 figure salaries to tell us what to think, are now being challenged at every turn, they have decided to attack our (the bloggers) fire, with their vitriol.

The pundit class, have decided that the Lieberman-Lamont primary is the proverbial Maginot Line, that the netroots are not to cross. Only, just like the Germans invading France, we in blogistan (the so-called Fascists) just go around. So, in their war on words, we in blogistan, and especially left blogistan, are labeled, of all things, fascists. By the corporate owned (and government controlled, some would say) media.

Ironic, isn't it.

In the end we are reduced to the big money players in the media calling members of the American public, specifically that portion of the American public who regularly read their writings, names. And like the French in WWII, by the time the Punditocracy realizes that they are truly irrelevant, it will be too late.


Technorati Tags: Pundits

Thought for the Day

"Why does the Air Force need expensive new bombers? Have the people we've been bombing over the years been complaining?"

-George Wallace

Ah, the Suburban Life

I just wish someone would pay me enough, so that I can afford a full service landscaper.

The only thing worse than mowing the law in near 100° F temps, is having to pull weeds (and very insidious ones at that), and the native invasive grasses from your flower beds.

Ahh, suburbia.

Thought for the Day

"I look at what the phone company does and do the opposite."

--Craig Newmark

DeLay News

Faced with the prospect of being forced into running for the Congressional seat he just resigned, Tom DeLay is hinting at running a campaign:

SUGAR LAND, Texas (AP) - Former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay suggested Friday that he may not be ready for retirement just yet, a day after a federal judge ruled that his name must remain on the November ballot even though he resigned from Congress.

DeLay, who came home to Sugar Land for a previously scheduled event, also criticized U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks' ruling that the former House majority leader's name had to remain on the ballot.

"For this guy to say he can't tell where I'm going to be on Election Day, and that I am forced to be on the ballot, well, they may get exactly what they want," DeLay told supporters to raucous applause. Sparks is a Democrat appointed by Republican former President George Bush.

Later, reporters asked Delay if he now planned to run. He didn't say no.

"We have to wait and see what the 5th Circuit does on appeal," he said.

Unless the appeals fail, which, if I understand Judge Sparks ruling properly, it is likely to do, DeLay will have to do something.

Let's hope the DCCC recognizes this race for what it is, and helps Nick Lampson win.



Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay, Nick Lampson, TX-22

Even More Data Theft

By this point, you have to wonder if they are allowing this stuff to happen on purpose?

For the second time in two weeks,
Social Security numbers and other personal information of Navy personnel have been discovered on an Internet site, triggering an investigation.

The Navy said Friday that information on more than 100,000 naval and Marine Corps aviators and aircrew was on the Naval Safety Center Web site and on nearly 1,100 computer discs mailed out to naval commands.

No doubt, just like the VA laptop episode, the Navy will tell sailors that they have nothing to worry about, and there will be no credit monitoring offered.

I don't really know what to add to this. At this point, data breaches are happening every other week, and the Government does not seem to be doing anything about it. From that, what can you conclude, other than that they want it to happen.


Technorati Tags: Data Theft, Data Security, Navy

More Narrative

At what point will Democrats other than Joe Lieberman, stand up to the forming media narrative?

HARTFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - A combative debate between Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and challenger Ned Lamont has exposed Democratic Party fault lines on the Iraq war and set a harsh tone for next month's primary showdown.

Lieberman, a three-term senator and vice presidential nominee in 2000, emphasized his experience and bluntly dismissed Lamont as a political novice whose call for a timeline on withdrawing troops from Iraq was "dumb."

But Lamont, a millionaire businessman who has gained on Lieberman in the polls by portraying him as too supportive of President George W. Bush, attacked Lieberman as a knee-jerk cheerleader for the war.

I didn't see the debate between Lieberman and Lamont, but this media narrative that it is the "anti-war Democrats" versus the "pro-war Democrats" is utterly ridiculous on its face.

Particularly when 2/3rds of Americans want out of Iraq.

There are multiple facets to the Democrats view of the War in Iraq, however, except for Joe Lieberman, most, if not all Democrats believe this war has been prosecuted horribly under the "leadership" of George Bush, and his Administration.

Never mind the non-existent WMD's that the media keeps pretending was never the reason for going to war. Never mind the lies that were told about the capabilities of the Iraqi military, and what weapons it did have, and were held over all American's heads as a threat. Never mind 9/11. None of these facts are relevant to the media. The only fact that seems to be relevant, is that Lamont, and the "left-wing Internet bloggers" are "Anti-War".

However, it appears that the Democratic Party leadership, in its effort to prevent itself from being branded "Anti-War", bend over backwards, not to counter the media narrative with the truth, but to do whatever possible to distance themselves from the "Anti-War" monniker. Thus permitting the narrative to promulgate.

Gee, thanks guys.

Technorati Tags: Lieberman, Lamont, Iraq, Democrats, DNC, Media, Narrative

Facade of Political Theater

As Congressional Republicans start their farcical "We Hate Immigrant" tour of the United States (as opposed to doing something in Washington), we get provided the first, of what will, no doubt, be many moments ranging from simply ironic, to outright stupidity:

Royce said he wanted the out-of-Washington hearings so the immigration debate would not be kept secret from the public. Democrats participated, but denounced them as political theater.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat, said the hearings were political, not practical.

"Congress needs to get back to work in Washington to reach a compromise agreement on comprehensive border security and immigration reform legislation," Reyes said.

Royce wanted to get out of Washington, to put on the facade of resolving this issue, and the Democrat wanted to get Congress back to Washington to actually resolve this issue.

I keep harping on this issue, yet it is only those of us on the political left who recognize that the majority party is the most inept, ineffectual, and seemingly disorganized group of people in recent history. It is a sad, sad commentary on the state of our elected leadership.

Technorati Tags: Immigration, Republican, Laredo

Equivalence?

For the sake of argument, let us pretend that I am a somewhat popular blogger.

To continue the argument, let us say that I wrote something that pissed someone off (the reason doesn't matter for the purposes of this discussion).

With this basic premise, let us posit three different responses to this scenario.

1. Being that there is an open comment system here at Supreme Irony, make a comment refuting what I wrote, or, if that person had a blog, write a post doing the same.

2. Post my email address, with the demand that his readers email me, and say whatever.

3. Find my home address, and telephone number, and subsequently post it, with the implied message of instigating contact.

According to some people, option 1 is the least desirable. According to these same people options 2 and 3 are equivalent.

Discuss.


Update: Let me add just one more point. Some of those people who think that posting the address and telephone number of an antagonist is equal to posting their email address (which is usually available on their webpage), also find it unacceptable when they are the target of the publishing, yet cannot understand why people would be upset when they do it to others.

It's Just a Focus Group

From the "bring 'em home" coalition:

A new Gallup poll finds that roughly 2 in 3 Americans urge a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with 31% wanting this to start immediately.

Technorati Tags: Iraq

Thought for the Day

"No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself."

--Thomas Mann

I Can See Clearly Now

There has been a bit of a brouhaha on the right over the issue of posting personal information of "targets" on blogs. Unsurprisingly, internment camp supporter Michelle Malkin doesn't like receiving the hate mail, even though she directs her readers to regularly do the same.

More importantly, there are those on the Right who are beginning to see her hypocrisy for what it is, and decided that they don't like to see it in themselves.

Technorati Tags: Michelle Malkin, David Weigel

Presidential Presser

I am watching the Presidential press conference in Chicago on C-Span.

I am sorry, and this isn't just a partisan dislike for Bush. He sounds ignorant.

Maybe he is trying to sound all "down home" and folksy, but all too often it comes accross as unprepared, not knowledgable on the subjects, and just generally like he is making it all up as he is going along.

Compare and contrast this with previous Presidents and Presidential candidates.

I am not the type of person who thinks there are "qualifications" for a person to be President (beyond Constitutional qualifications), and honestly believe that any American has the right to run for President, or Congress, or any other elected office. That said, after having been President for 6 years now, he should be able to deal with these events a bit more professionally.

*sigh*

Calvin and Hobbes: Prophetic

Look at this Calvin and Hobbes comic strip from 7 July 1995, and tell me that Bill Watterson wasn't prophetic.

Technorati Tags: Calvin and Hobbes, Fundraising, Bill Watterson

Statement from Tx Democratic Party

Chairman Boyd Richie on Tom DeLay ruling:

"This is not partisan victory, but a victory for the rule of law. This case was about protecting the electoral process and preserving the U.S. Constitution, and we are extremely pleased with Judge Sparks' ruling.

Today's ruling confirmed what we have believed all along - that this attempt by the Republican Party to replace Tom DeLay on the ballot is at best a manipulation of election law and most importantly, a sham attempt to circumvent the primary process and ignore voters in the 22nd Congressional District. We felt it was important for somebody to stand up and fight against the Republican scheme to hand-pick the candidate of their choice and subvert the most fundamental aspect of popular democracy - the right of voters to pick their representatives."

Technorati Tags: Texas, Tom DeLay, Boyd Richie, TX-22

When All Else Fails

blame others:

"I think it's a sad day for the voters of the 22nd district of Texas," said Gary Gillen, the chairman of the Republican Party of Fort Bend County, which is one of the four counties in that district. "I think [the ruling] denies the voters the opportunity to select the candidate they want to vote for."

As the DCCC helpfully reminded Mr. Gillen, there was a little process, called the primaries which saw Tom DeLay chosen by the voters of Texas' 22nd Congressional District to represent them in the November general election.

This despite the fact that Tom DeLay stayed in the primary race so that he, and not the voters of TX-22 would choose the Republican candidate for the general election.

Mr. Gillen needs to assign blame where blame is deserved.

At the feet of Tom DeLay, and those who voted for him.

Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay, Gary Gillen, TX-22, TxGOP

The Deluded Life

People who work for Fox News Channel, must only watch Fox News Channel:

From the July 6 edition of Fox News Live:

COLBY: And that was, of course, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq wishing the president a happy birthday today, but also the two leaders talking about the progress that has been made in Iraq. I want to go back now to Colonel North. And the president brings up a good point. We are a nation of our word, something that North Korea clearly hasn't been, Colonel. So, why would North Korea push our buttons, so to speak, by firing off these missiles when they know -- they can see in Iraq -- when we come in, we get the job done?

Wow. Just, wow.

Technorati Tags: Jamie Colby, Fox News, North Korea, Iraq

Thought for the Day

"There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have."

--Don Herold

DeLay Woes

Via Atrios.

Federal District Court Judge Sam Sparks just ruled in favor of Texas Democrats who sought an injunction to prevent Republicans in Texas Congressional District 22 from replacing Tom DeLay on the congressional ballot.

Texas Democrats argued that the U.S. Constitution, not State law, defines eligibility to serve in the U.S. Congress. Judge Sparks agreed.

More details from The Houston Chronicle:

A federal judge ruled today that Republicans cannot replace former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on the ballot for the 22nd Congressional District race.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, a Republican appointee, ruled that DeLay must appear on the Nov. 7 ballot as the GOP nominee for the congressional seat that DeLay abandoned last month. Sparks ruling was confirmed by Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Amber Moon.

Details of Sparks ruling were not immediately available.

Sparks ruling halts the process of replacing DeLay on the ballot, but the GOP is expected to appeal the decision to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

If the Republicans lose on appeal, DeLay will have to decide whether to campaign for an office from which he already has resigned.

It looks like DeLay will be the candidate on the ballot.

Nick Lampson is the Demcratic candidate for DeLay's seat, and he will need help.

This seat was going to be a tough one to win. DeLay was confident he would win, so this district has a higher representation of Democrats than it had previously, post redistricting. This is a real opportunity for a Democrat in a fairly conservative district.

If you can, volunteer, or donate.

Nick Lampson (TX-22)	$

Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay, Nick Lampson, TX-22, Texas, Elections, 2006, Judge Sam Sparks

Coulter the Plagarizer?

In a followup to the allegations of plagarism in Ann Coulters writings, Justin Rood at TPMmuckraker.com spoke with the individual who did the analysis for the NY Post:

It didn't take long to find evidence of plagiarism, Barrie said. "After we found three in the book, we called it quits. I think we found four of her syndicated columns that had problems." But the task proved draining, he said -- on himself, not his technology. "After combing through Ann Coulter for a while, it doesn't take long before you want to call it quits. I want to prove the technology, but I don't want to make my eyes bleed."

Barrie confirmed that Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes Coulter's columns to over 100 newspapers around the country, called him twice yesterday. UPS' Kathie Kerr had told me yesterday that they want to review a copy of Barries "report" before making a comment.

Oops.


Technorati Tags: Ann Coulter, NY Post, Plagarism

Coulter the Hunted?

Wow, what a difference a day makes.

TPMmuckraker contacted Universal Press Syndicates about the alleged plagerism that Ann Coulter perpetrated in her latest book Godless, and numerous columns she penned.

At first, UPS demurred, saying she needed to answer these charges herself. Now, things have changed and they are asking to see the documented evidence of her plagarism.

Who'd a thunk it.

Technorati Tags: Universal Press Syndicates, Ann Coulter, Plagarism

Republican Pre-9/11 Mindset

Included spying on Americans:

The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.''

Seven months before.

So when Cheney and others asserted that if they had domestic spying before 9/11, they could have caught the hijackers?

Apparently not.

It would seem that George Bush did not, as he asserted, order this program in response to 9/11.


Technorati Tags: Domestic Spying

American Civil War II?

Billmon makes the case that one could be possible

Talk of disunion and civil war may seem like hyperbole. I'm sure it would certainly seem so to the vast majority of Americans who don't think much about politics or culture and just want to get on with their lives. I'm sure most Spaniards felt the same way in the summer of 1936, just as most Americans did in the winter of 1860.

But the historical truth is that civil wars aren't made by vast majorities, but by enraged and fearful minorities. Looking at America's traditionalists and the modernists today, I see plenty of rage and fear, most, though hardly all, of it eminating from the authoritarian right. For now, these primal passions are still being contained within the boundaries of the conventional political process. But that process -- essentially a system for brokering the demands of competing interest groups -- isn't designed to handle the stresses of a full-blown culture war.

Compared to most countries, America has been very lucky so far -- those kind of passions have only erupted in massive bloodshed once (well, twice if you count the original revolution.) By definition, however, something that has already happened is no longer impossible. It's easy for newspaper columnists to fantasize about disunited states, but only madmen would actually try to make them so. Unfortunately, the madmen are out there. It's up to the rest of us to keep them under control.

Is any of this possible? Go read the entire post, and judge for yourself.

However, this is something I have pondered for many years. Years ago what colored my thoughts about this, was that I am a child of New England. While I lived for a number of years in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, I primarily was raised in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. While central Pennsylvania has gained the nickname Pennsyltucky, people in central Pennsylvania don't really fancy themselves part of the "Old South", and wouldn't desire to become a part of the Confederacy. My beliefs towards the "Old South", and the Civil War were colored by US history as taught from the perspective of the Yankees who defeated Johnny Reb.

Today, after having lived a third of my life in Texas, I have a different perspective. Not one colored by the "I'm a Yankee living in the South" any longer. I have in-laws whose own family history is entwined with the Confederacy. Old southern families who were slave owners, and fought the "Yankee Invaders". I also have learned a bit about how US history is taught in the south. It sometimes reinforces the Civil War as the "War of Northern Aggression", though not to the degree that my Father-in-Law was taught in the 50's.

So what does this have to do with the prospect of another "War between the states"? Directly, nothing. Indirectly, however, it has a lot of influence. Today we are witnessing the beginnings of a culture war, not unlike what billmon described as the beginnings of the Spanish Civil War. This culture war is being stoked by extremists on both sides, however, from the far right we are getting rhetoric that is trying to paint Liberals, and particularly Liberals from the Northeast, as Godless heathens, not too dissimilar from al-Qaeda.

Islamic fundamentalism has given the Authoritarian Right a convenient target to direct, not only their ire, but drive comparisons (however specious) of Liberals. These "traditionalists", as billmon calls them, are trying to create an environment of ultra-nationalist beliefs, where USA above all is the only acceptable level of patriotism. Beyond that there are a host of social issues that these same people are trying to drive. From abortion to gay rights, from religion to social safety nets to racial equality, these social conservatives are pushing for an agenda that creates an "us versus them" tension that gets built on repeatedly until we see a situation such as in Delaware.

As extremists who are driving this cultural division, and trying to deepen the rift between those who oppose cultural assimilation, and those who promote it, get their "successes", they can build on them, and create more tension.

The outstanding question, then becomes: will there be a backlash against these extremists?

And more importantly, how will that backlash manifest itself?

Violence is the easy route.

The harder route will be to convince people that they are being manipulated into these extreme positions by the leaders of the movement.

I personally advocate taking the hard route. I don't want to see Civil War II.

Net Neutrality Action

If Congress follows through with the Commerce Committee's recommendation to eliminate network neutrality from the Internet, Google promises to act:

Google warned on Tuesday it will not hesitate to file anti-trust complaints in the United States if high-speed Internet providers abuse the market power they could receive from U.S. legislators.

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee last week approved sweeping communications reform legislation that would make it easier for telephone companies like AT&T to offer subscription television to consumers.

But it narrowly rejected attempts by some lawmakers to strengthen safeguards on Internet service, which had pitted high-speed Internet, or broadband, providers such as AT&T against Internet content companies like Google.

The battle centred on whether broadband providers can charge more to carry unaffiliated content or to guarantee service quality, an issue called Net neutrality.

"If the legislators ... insist on neutrality, we will be happy. If they do not put it in, we will be less happy but then we will have to wait and see whether or not there actually is any abuse," Vint Cerf, a Google vice-president and one of the pioneers of the Internet, told a news conference in Bulgaria.

"If we are not successful in our arguments ... then we will simply have to wait until something bad happens and then we will make known our case to the Department of Justice's anti-trust division," he said on Tuesday.

I would hope that other companies who have a stake in this fight, will be willing to join with Google to prevent companies like AT&T from killing the Internet.

Technorati Tags: Net Neutrality, Google

Thought for the Day

"The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory."

--Paul Fix

Sense of Entitlement

Joe Lieberman continues to defend the sense of entitlement he thinks he has as Senator from Connecticut, and backtracks at the same time:

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman tried to reassert his commitment to the Democratic Party today, after announcing on Monday that he would run independently for reelection if he loses the state Democratic primary next month.

"I have one goal, and it is to be the Democratic nominee and win this primary," Mr. Lieberman said after an Independence Day parade in this eastern Connecticut town, where he marched with a few dozen people, drawing both cheers of support and shouts of opposition.

[...]

"He's going for two bites at the apple," said George Jepsen, the immediate past chairman of the State Democratic Party, who recently endorsed Mr. Lamont. "It violates people's fundamental sense of fairness."

But in his announcement, Senator Lieberman described the primary as an incomplete reflection of voter will, hinting that he feared a strong turnout from the impassioned supporters of Mr. Lamont.

"If 30 percent of the Democrats come out and vote, that's about 210,000 people," Mr. Lieberman said. "That means 105,000 plus one will win the primary. There's 2 million voters, registered voters, in the state of Connecticut. That would mean that 5 percent of the registered voters would have the opportunity to decide whether I continue to be Connecticut's senator or not."

Party primaries are designed so that the party can decide who will represent the party in the general election. Any of the candidates may think they are the best candidate, however, in the end it is not the candidates choice. It is the voters choice.

If Lieberman is worried that he doesn't have enough support within the Democratic Party of Connecticut, he has a couple of options.

Either figure out why and change, or leave the party. He cannot have it both ways. Just because he says he is a Democrat, doesn't mean that he will automatically gain the support of Democrats. Neither is he entitled to be Senator. That is for the party members who participate in a contested Primary to decide.



Technorati Tags: Lieberman, Lamont, Connecticut

Ethnic Cleansing in America

The General takes on Jew Hater Nedd Kareiva.

I am sure that Nedd Kareiva would like to hear from you.

Just be polite, after all, if Jews are offending his sensibilities, then I am sure that naughty language would cause apoplexy. And that wouldn't be civil.

Technorati Tags: Nedd Kareiva, Stop The ACLU, Delaware, Indian River

The Last Refuge of the Defeated

David Horowitz hurls invective:

The main security concern in my mind in writing the piece was not al-Qaeda but deranged cranks whipped into a frenzy by the reckless hatred directed at the Bush Administration by the left from Michael Moore and Huffington Post to Ted Kennedy and Al Gore. Anyone remember John Muhammad, the DC sniper? So far as we know, he a lone individual ginned up on the passions of the times. For those who don't catch my meaning, consider this email I received today, one among many that I receive virtually every day:

Horowitz has been roundly beaten about the head and shoulders on this issue. Knowing that his suggestion that the taking of a picture of Rumsfeld's house constitutes a security risk so grave as to warrant the execution of the photographer (particularly when the photographer was given permission by the homeowner to take the picture) is idiotic, and based on the response from the Right Wing Froth Machine™, beyond the pale. Horowitz had to resort to the last refuge of the Right, flail. Compare the Left to, not Hitler this time, but the DC sniper, John Allen Muhammad.

At least Horowitz is being "intellectually honest" with himself. His argument is lost. He lost so badly, and his inability to admit his error, prevents him from being gracious and retracting or apologizing for inciting even more eliminationist fantasies from his Right Wing bretheren.

Glenn Greenwald has more. Apparently even the "rational" Michelle Malkin is taking the position that even though Rumsfeld himself gave permission for the photograph to be used, it is even more proof of a "moonbat" conspiracy.

It goes on and on, and the Right have obviously decided that attacking the media, as traitors to America, and specifically the New York Times as the leader of the pack, is a winning strategy.

To me, it represents a frightening turn of events. The Right, and specifically the Republican Authoritarian Cultists who worship at the feet of George W. Bush, are hostile to the very foundations of our country. Those who criticize Dear Leader are traitors to the cause. They deserve nothing less than execution. Where have we heard this before?

As the Right get more and more unhinged in the denunciations of anyone who dares to stand up to George W. Bush: Cult Hero, I fear that many of these people are going to move from rhetoric to action. While, people like Michelle Malkin, John Hindraker, and Red State may want that, and will probably enjoy seeing those "moonbats get what they deserve", one has to wonder what has caused these people to fall off the deep end like this?

This brings me to one thing that has been really bothering me for the past few months. And particularly today, the day 230 years ago, when a group of people decided that they did not want to be subject to a king. One who claimed that he was above the law. One who claimed that he was granted "a special privilege" by God to rule over man. One who felt it was his duty to " invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

230 year ago today, the leaders of what would become the most powerful country in the world, decided that they did not want to be a part of a society who ruled by a leader worshipped as a God. They did not want a leader who demanded that all his subjects not cross him. They declared OUR independence from the king. And a few years later, 1789, created the document, and government that would lead America from being colonies of the British crown, to being the United States of America.

Today, however, we are seeing a reversal. In the United States we have a group of people who have descended to cult worship of a President. A cult worship so strong that they are willing to openly wish for the death of their own countrymen and countrywomen who dare to oppose this particular President. In years past, these cult members were relegated to the sidelines. Not today. They are the mainstream. They are the opinion shapers of the Republican Party. These people have, themselves, a minor cult following. There are people who hang on their every word, just waiting for the call to action. These people, are the true anti-Americans.

These people are the ones who talk about “giving up freedoms, to protect freedoms”. These are the very people Ben Franklin was talking about when warning those who would sacrifice Liberty for Security. These people do not want the America we have today. From removing the right of women to make their own medical decisions, to codifying discrimination in the Constitution, these people claim to be the strongest defenders of the “American way of life”, when in fact, they are the ones who would take away those freedoms, given the opportunity.

If I could have my way, or were able to launch a run for President of the United States, or were able to consult with a campaigh, I would stress protecting those freedoms the Republican Party would be so happy to take away from Americans. The adversarial relationship that the Government is supposed to have with the media, would not be threatened, like the Republicans are so willing to do. I would make it my mission to restore the greatness that is the United States of America.

We are witnessing a very disturbing turn of events. I just hope that it is (very) temporary, and we are not witnessing the death of American democracy. Unless Congress acts to remove this President from office, we are stuck with him for another two years. I shudder to think the damage he, and his cult followers could inflict.



Technorati Tags: David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin, John Hindraker, Red State, Glenn Glennwald, Authoritarian Cultists, July 4th, Independence Day, Donald Rumsfeld

Lamont Responds to Lieberman's Stunt

From LamontBlog:

Today, Joe Lieberman cut-and-ran from the Democratic party on the slowest news day of the summer.

In announcing he would run as a petitioning candidate in November if he loses on August 8th, he has clearly stated he is no longer a member of the Democratic party. The only thing he is concerned about right now is his own desperate attempt to hold on to power.

Members of a party abide by primary results. There is no such thing as an "petitioning Democrat." If there was, Joe could accept the Republican endorsement and run as a "Republican Democrat."

Joe has also clearly stated he thinks he will lose the primary on August 8th. His internal polls must look even worse than I thought.

Just like when Joe ran for Vice President and Senate at the same time in 2000 - meaning that if he and Gore had won, Democrats would have lost a senate seat to a Republican appointment - he is again putting his own career and self-interest ahead of his constitutents and his party (or now ex-party).

In addition, Joe has just created a world of shit for his supposed friends Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Chris Dodd, Diane Farrell, Joe Courtney, and Chris Murphy. I wonder what they all think of this.

This is how he treats his friends. This is how he treats his party. On the slowest news day of the summer.

These are the actions of a very weak candidate, and a selfish and cowardly man.

What a sorry sight to see an 18-year incumbent senator running scared from a little primary challenge like this. No backbone. No courage. No integrity.

And not a Democrat anymore, either.

I don't really have anything to add to this.

Joe Lieberman has decided that him being in the Senate is more important than the Democratic Party. How will Chuck Schumer react?

He has promised to support Lieberman through the Primary (after hinting that the DSCC will support Lieberman, win or lose). Schumer is unwilling to say if the DSCC will support Ned Lamont if he wins the Primary.

If Joe Lieberman, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and the rest of the Democratic Party establishment were truly concerned about obtaining a Democratic Majority in the Senate this November, they should be pressing Lieberman to get out of the Democratic Party now, and throw their support behind Lamont.

Let me use this opportunity to encourage people to support their local Democratic Party candidate for Congress, and help through financial contributions, or volunteering your time.

Technorati Tags: Lieberman, Lamont

Lieberman to Jump Ship

Accoring to Atrios, Joe Lieberman is going to continue to run in the Democratic Primary in Connecticut, but collect signatures for a petition to run as an independent should he lose the primary.

There is a reason that Lieberman is Bush's favorite Democrat. However, I don't think that this will translate into Republican support in the general election for Lieberman. This will most likely drive most Republican Party supporters, who would otherwise support Lieberman, are now going to support the Republican challenger. This maneuver by Lieberman, sets up the possiblity of a reliably Democratic state turning Republican, if he splits enough Democratic Party support.

Because it is all about Joe.

Technorati Tags: Lieberman, Lamont

Thought for the Day

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true."

--James Branch Cabell

"Ironically, photos were taken with Secretary Rumsfeld's permission."

This is in reference to one of the things that I was blabbering on about last night.

It appears that Saturday, the New York Times did a puff piece on a town on Maryland's eastern shore (where I would love to be able to live), where Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney have vacation homes. While, according to the Right Wing Froth Machine™ this was treasonous enough, the NYT crossed the line by including a photo of Rumsfeld's house.

Glenn Greenwald took the appropriate course of action and contacted the photographer and writer of this article.

The above quote was the response from the photographer.

I expect that we will see a full apology from Michelle Malkin, John Hindraker, Red State, David Horowitz, and the other members of the Right Wing Froth Machine™ who published the personal details of the photographer, Linda Spillers, and the author, Peter Kilborn. After all, it is the Right who are full of integrity, and value their credibility so much, that they would never dare to leave this sort of thing hanging out there. Right?

Technorati Tags: Don Rumsfeld, Michelle Malkin, John Hindraker, Red State, David Horowitz, NYT, Linda Spillers, Peter Kilborn

Wow, I am Tired.

Of more than one thing.

I just got back from my whirlwind tour of East Texas. Barring a serious downpour that conspired to add 60 minutes to my drive, all went well.

I was reviewing what I missed over the weekend. I'm too tired to link to this stuff tonight, but it apparently has been the talk of blogistan.

It is enough to make me just not care anymore. The media are simultaneously courting the right wing, while the right wing threatens it with treason, and apparently execution by citizens rather than trial by jury. Which brings up the point that I have made, that many in the media are scared to make. Right blogistan is anti-democratic (small 'd' democratic). They are opposed to the very fundamental beliefs of the founding fathers, particularly when it comes to the freedoms America has to offer.

It is fair to say, that when someone on the Right, blabbers on about "freedoms" that are being fought to be protected, that same person, would be just as happy to not have those freedoms.

Apparently we have Gwen Ifill who will lie about her performance during the 2004 Vice Presidential debate. Ana Marie Cox who will say anything about left blogistan to sell books, and get people to think she is "serious". I don't even want to get into the whole Kos/Jerome Armstrong thing, which at this point, is more fiction circulating than truth.

Just one last thing on the incessant threats that the Right lob against the media. We have reached the point where the media is, itself dying. The NY Times publishes an article about tracking finances through the SWIFT network. The President, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Vice President, etc., etc., etc., all talk about the federal governments ability to track finances of suspected terrorists through the SWIFT network.

However, it is the media, and not the President who is violating National Security?
It is the media, and not the President, who should be brought up on criminal charges?
It is the media, and not the President, who is guilty of endangering Americans?

For those who cannot seem to understand the basics. The monitoring of financial transactions through the SWIFT network, IS NOT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. The NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, The LA Times, and others did NOT reveal ANYTHING that was a secret.

Now that we have that out of the way, let us think about what the Right REALLY wants when it talks about shutting down our ostensibly independent press. The First Amendment of the US Constitution is obviously too American.

And this is what I am really tired over. The Right is trying to take away American's freedoms, the media asks itself that question of whether it is too free, and those of us who question George W. Bush, Cult Hero, are traitors.

It makes me want to give up.

Thought for the Day

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."

--Alfred Hitchcock

Travel Day

Off to pick kids up from summer camp.

Don't know if there will be any posting before Sunday.

Superman Returns

Were someone to ask me "is Superman Returns is a good movie", my answer would have to be, hell yeah.

Technorati Tags: Superman Returns

Republican Score Card

Want to know how you are harming American soldiers?

August J. Pollak has the rundown.

Protecting our Daughters

At the beginning of June, the FDA approved a new vaccine developed specifically to prevent cervical cancer. Today, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issued an recommendation that all girls aged 11 and 12, and possibly as early as 9 be routinely vaccinated:

Taking up a sensitive issue among religious conservatives, an influential government advisory panel Thursday recommended that 11- and 12-year-old girls be routinely vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also said the shots can be started for girls as young as 9, at the discretion of their doctors.

The committee's recommendations usually are accepted by federal health officials, and influence insurance coverage for vaccination

The human papilloma virus (HPV) has been determined to be responsible for various types of cancers of the reproductive system in women. This vaccine presents the first, in what is hoped to be many, vaccines against cancer. Currently there are trials underway to determine the affect on boys. HPV has been linked to some cancers in males, and if affective against this virus, should be recommended for boys of the same age group.

Fortunately the Family Research Council decided, wisely, not to make a big stink over this one. Particularly since HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that estimates put potential infections at 50% plus of sexually active females.

Chalk one up for the good guys (or girls, as it were).

Technorati Tags: HPV, Gardasil, FDA

Note to Congress: Don't Do It.

Don't give Bush his legislation

President Bush said Thursday he will "conform with the findings" of the Supreme Court that strongly limit his power to conduct military tribunals for suspected terrorists imprisoned at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Bush made his comments during an appearance with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The court's ruling was released while the two leaders were meeting, and the president said he had not been able to review the decision fully.

"To the extent there is latitude to work with the Congress to determine whether or not the military tribunals will be an avenue in which to give people their day in court, we will do so," Bush said.

The moment Congress gives him a piece of legislation on this issue, he will put on a signing statement about how he intends to interpret the law how ever he wishes.

Technorati Tags: Gitmo, SCOTUS, Bush, Congress

Thought for the Day

"I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light."

--Isaac Newton

VA Laptop Recovered and More

Via Computerworld :

A missing laptop and hard disk containing personal data on over 26.5 million veterans has been recovered, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Jim Nicholson announced this morning.

"The investigation continues to see whether or not this information has been compromised in any way," or whether copies of the data have been made, Nicholson said just before a scheduled hearing before the House Commitee on Veterans Affairs.

Nicholson's announcement appeared to catch those at the hearing completely by surprise and the start of the hearing was briefly delayed.

The laptop theft touched off a firestorm among veterans and government officials angered that the data, which included personal information on active-duty military personnel as well as veterans, had been compromised.

It was not immediately clear how the laptop and hard disk were recovered.

And via The Carpetbagger we learn that in order to fund credit fraud monitoring for the millions of veterans, and active duty military personnel whose credit may be compromised due to this theft, the Bush administration is going to rob Peter to pay Paul:

Two Senate Democrats on Wednesday criticized a White House plan to cut money intended for food stamps, student loans and farmers to pay for credit monitoring for veterans whose personal and financial data was stolen last month.

"The Bush-Cheney administration has no qualms about coming up here and twisting our arms for funding for Iraq, but when it comes to needs here at home for veterans and other ordinary Americans, it's rob Peter to pay Paul," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont.

How typical of Bush.

He screws up, and then he punishes other people not involved to pay for the screw up.



Technorati Tags: Bush, Veterans, Data Theft, Laptop

Well, You Knew This Had To Happen, Eventually

Supreme Court rules Bush overstepped his legal limits:

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The ruling, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies, was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, who said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and Geneva conventions.

The case focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden. Hamdan, 36, has spent four years in the U.S. prison in Cuba. He faces a single count of conspiring against U.S. citizens from 1996 to November 2001.

Cue up the Right Wing Froth Machine™ ...

now

Technorati Tags: Gitmo, SCOTUS, Tribunals

CNN Hurting GOP?

According to Bill Frist it is:

O'Brien defended CNN, "We are covering but I think there is -- a lot of what you say there -- Americans are not hearing that particular message. As the majority leader, isn't that part of your job?"

Frist replied, "Well, you know, it's part of my job and your job and your whole coming into this was, again, saying [from] Harry Reid that we are spending all of our time on marriage -- which is important. That we're spending all of the time on flag without mentioning what we've done of the floor for six weeks. Iraq, the war on terror, making you safer... where's your coverage of that? What you do is concentrate on things that are spun to you from the other side of the aisle and that's why that message doesn't get out."

Now that is a bit telling.

It is not only Bill Frist's job to spin Republican talking points, it is also CNN's job to do so.

Truth in advertising, I tell you.

Technorati Tags: CNN, Bill Frist

What Do You Mean, You're Out of Beer?

English fans draining Germany dry:

England fans are drinking Germany dry.

Breweries warned that beer could run out before the final due to demand.

In Nuremberg fans drank 1.2 millions pints of beer during the Trinidad game reports The Sun.

Stuttgart landlords said an extra 900,000 pints were sunk last weekend as 60,000 fans celebrated England's win over Ecuador.

In Cologne - where England drew with Sweden - pubs ran out of bottles and barrels.

Wow.


Thanks to Shakespeare's Sister for the link.

Technorati Tags: World Cup, Germany, Beer

Thought for the Day

"There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval."

--George Santayana

In a World Where Up is Down

And Republican shills stump for bigger government, we inhabit Glenn Beck's world:

BECK: Everybody always thinks if you're in the press, you just -- you have to believe that the government is evil, don't you think? I think that's the first thing in Journalism 101 they teach you -- the government is evil and you must take them down at all costs. Or, how is it that they all have that attitude? That's what I'd like to know. That's, you know -- that's the number-one thing on the declaration of principles that I would like to see The New York Times print. Because, you know, we're always saying, "Aw, they don't understand us." Well, I don't understand them. I don't know who these people are.

How can you be fighting for the same things that Al Qaeda wants, you know? Can you imagine -- can you imagine The New York Times coming out and saying "Hey, the ovens aren't so bad," back in World War II? Can you imagine that? I don't know; sure, there are some Jews in there, but I bet they might make some good pizzas in there too. What are you -- what? The New York Times is just -- I don't get it. I don't understand it. Except that I really truly believe that they believe that we're a bad nation, or at least our government is bad and has always been bad. "You know, we've been passing out those smallpox blankets to Indians."

Now, the statement about the NY Times stumping for the extermination of the Jews, is his normal reprehensible stuff, that CNN seems to think is acceptable discourse for todays cable news outlets and their personalities.

The first paragraph is what I find interesting.

According to Beck, the "Liberal" NY Times think government is evil. Or that is what Journalism 101 teaches you.

I am sure that when Bill Clinton was President, he was championing the cause of government. Right?

I am sure that during the David Koresh episode, he was out defending the "Jack-Booted Thugs" of the ATF and FBI. Right?

I am sure that during the Elian Gonzales episode, he was defending the right of those same "Jack-Booted Thugs" to take Elian back to his father in Cuba. Right?

Afterall, today, Beck is championing the same "Jack-Booted Thugs" snooping into your personal life. Listening to your phone call, examining your bank transactions.

Technorati Tags: Glenn Beck, NY Times, CNN, SWIFT, Domestic Spying

Texas and Redistricting

The Supreme Court ruled on the Texas Redistricting case:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of the Republican-boosting Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay but threw out part, saying some of the new boundaries failed to protect minority voting rights.

The fractured decision was a small victory for Democratic and minority groups who accused Republicans of an unconstitutional power grab in drawing boundaries that booted four Democratic incumbents from office.

CNN was spinning this wildly as a "win" for Republicans, but it is not. Although the Court ruled that states can redistrict as often as they wish, they did rule that Texas violated the voting rights of minorities. This was one of the key claims in the redistricting fight.

With Southern Republicans holding up renewal of the Voting Rights Act, and my idiot congressman John Carter pretending that there is racial harmony in Texas, the ruling from the SCOTUS effectively invalidates their entire reasoning for wanting to seek an end to the VRA, and keeping the current Texas district map.

Technorati Tags: Texas, Redistricting, Supreme Court, SCOTUS, Voting Rights Act, John Carter

Perpetuating Stereotypes

It is one thing when Republicans do it towards Democrats. But, when a prominent Democrat does it towards other Democrats, you get a collective WTF?

So, Mr. Obama,

Let me just add to what Matt Stoller, and Atrios said.

Stop perpetuating the stereotype that Democrats are anti-religion. If you feel it is necessary to attack Democrats on this false stereotype, fine. Just don't be surprised when Republicans use your own words to attack you, or Democrats all across the country. Don't be surprised if tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of voters across the country believe you, and vote Republican, because they don't want Democrats snuffing out religion in this country.

Love,

David (Austin Tx).

P.S. I know I am not one of your constituents, however, I do actually want to see Democrats win.

P.P.S. Although I am not one of the Evangelical Christians, you are obviously trying to court, I, as do most Democrats, recognize that Christians, including even Evangelical Christians do represent a significant number of voters, and their votes, along with the votes of every other American, are valuable. Apparently, I, unlike you, recognize that not every Christian voter is an Evangelical Christian voter, and Democrats are not, as you seem to be implying, anti-Christian zealots.



Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Democrat, Christian, Evangelical

Falling off the Deep End

Congressional Republicans really have lost it this time. After the NY Times published information about the anti-terrorist banking program (which George Bush has talked about many times since 9/11), Republicans and right-wing blogistan, all across the country had a collective hissy-fit. Today, their hissy-fit reached heretofore unknown heights when Republican House members announced their intention to introduce a resolution to condemn the NY Times for their story.

Let's think about this for a moment. Our sheepish press exercises some independence, and publishes a story about how the President is authorizing the federal government to spy on Americans. After 9/11 the President said that he will track the finances of suspected terrorists to track them down.

Republicans think that even though the President announced is intentions publicly, it is a secret, and they want to punish the news media for revealing this.

This is not about the media revealing "state secrets". This is about Republicans trying to eliminate the independent media.

This is how Fascist Governments get started.

Technorati Tags: GOP, NY Times, SWIFT, The Hill, Fascism

Fixing One of My Pet Peeves

Red light runners:

Texas cities have been given the legal green light to install cameras at traffic signals on state intersections.

The ruling from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott came in response to an inquiry from the Texas Department of Transportation about the agency's authority to enforce traffic laws.

Abbott said the transportation department can permit local municipalities to install and operate the cameras.

I have had more close calls than I care to count, and have known many people who have been hit by people running red lights.

I understand the problems people have with the cameras, and to some degree sympathize with those reasons. However, and I don't know if this is particularly endemic to Texas, but alot of people run red lights here.

And I hate it.

More of This

Yesterday, in my longish post about unions, and what Democrats need to do to speak to working-class Americans, one thing I said needed to be done was for Democrats to speak up.

Like this:

"Congress is going to have earn its raise by putting American workers first: A raise for workers before a raise for Congress," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

This is a start. By tying the Congressional raise to the minimum wage issue, Republicans will be backed into the corner of having to explain why they deserve a raise, when Americans making less than the average hourly raise don't deserve to have the minimum wage raised.

This is just the beginning. There are a host of issues that relate to working-class Americans that are being ignored or undermined by Republican policies. Democrats need to step up and address them. Not only do they need to be addressed in Washington, but the message needs to be taken out of Washington, and to the people. We are in an election year. One in which Democrats can reverse Republican gains, and hopefully regain a congressional majority. However, pontificating from on high in Washington DC is a sure way to ensure the message gets lost.

So, more of this hardline stance on things like the minimum wage.

Update: Was scanning through the RSS feeds in Bloglines. CNN captioned this article as:

Dems threaten to block their own pay raise

They are saying this as if it is a bad thing. Much like the tone of the coverage of Warren Buffet's philanthropic gift. Last night, the tone of the news was "why would a rich guy offer to help the poor?"


Technorati Tags: Harry Reid, Minimum Wage, 2006, Elections

But I Thought Gore is a Serial Liar?

An Inconvient Truth, verdict? truthful:

The nation's top climate scientists are giving "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warming, five stars for accuracy.

The former vice president's movie — replete with the prospect of a flooded New York City, an inundated Florida, more and nastier hurricanes, worsening droughts, retreating glaciers and disappearing ice sheets — mostly got the science right, said all 19 climate scientists who had seen the movie or read the book and answered questions from The Associated Press.

Oh, we can't have that, can we?

Al Gore telling the truth?

Technorati Tags: Al Gore, An Inconvient Truth

Accepting Responsibility

Wow, this is refreshing. A member of the Bush administration accepting responsibility for their mistake:

"Unfortunately, a very bad thing happened," Nicholson told a House Appropriations subcommittee. "I am outraged by it and the slow response of some of my otherwise very good subordinates. But I am the responsible person, and it is to me that you are entitled to look."

This entire episode has been a debacle. From how this was allowed to happen, to the pathetically slow response, to the blasé manner in which the VA owned up to its responsibilities, this is a microcosom of the entire Bush administration.

Except for the part where the head of the agency accepts responsibility for the cock-up.

Technorati Tags: VA, Data Security, Data Theft, Jim Nicholson

Froomkin

Why wont they answer the question?:

But not once has the White House definitively answered this question: How are any of these disclosures actually impairing the pursuit of terrorists?

How anyone can honestly say, that the revelation that the White House has authorized spying on Americans, is detrimental to tracking terrorists, is beyond me.

Any criminal with half a brain knows that their phones and/or finances are going to be scrutinized. Since the Bush administration wont answer the question about how they are being impaired, we have to assume that the programs aren't working as advertised. Unless the actual purpose of the programs is to build up a database of information on every American citizen.

If that's the case, then the Administration needs to come clean, and explain to all Americans why.

Technorati Tags: Froomkin, Domestic Spying

From the Department of Why?

Comes two articles that cancel each other out.

First, Bush Urges Senate to Pass Line-Item Veto

Second, Bush Ignores Laws He Inks, Vexing Congress

Out of one side of Bush's mouth he asks Congress to give him the ability to veto provisions in laws he doesn't like. Out of the other side he ignores laws he doesn't like.

I am torn on the line-item veto authority that Presidents repeatedly ask for. If used judiciously it can be a good thing. Eliminating alot of pork from spending bills. However, who believes for a moment that the President will use it thusly?

The whole signing statement issue, which Bush loves to use, in his mind gives him the ability to ignore and/or reinterpret laws however he sees fit. So what's the point in asking for the line-item veto, when he feels it is his obligation to do what he wants anyway?

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Line-item Veto, Signing Statements

Thought for the Day

Today's Thought for the Day is directed specifically at Joe Lieberman:

"Anybody can win unless there happens to be a second entry."

--George Ade

Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge ...

say no more:

The withdrawal of 20,000-40,000 U.S. troops from Iraq this fall would greatly help Republican chances in the November election, Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) said at a fundraiser Thursday at the National Rifle Association.

Souder acknowledged in his remarks that the war in Iraq has dampened support for Republican candidates but added that withdrawing 30,000 troops could have a big impact, said Martin Green, Souder’s spokesman.

The congressman said it would amount to an “‘October Surprise’ in its effect, although he dismissed the idea that a U.S. troop withdrawal would begin for domestic political reasons.

That's right. The peculiar timing of the withdrawl plan, which is remarkably similar to the Democrats plan, but different because it was written by a non-Democrat, shouldn't be perceived as a political ploy, despite the fact that it, you know, is.



Thanks to Josh Marshall for the link.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, October Surprise, Mark Souder, The Hill

More Domestic Spying

This time on a student protest at SUNY Albany by the Pentagon.

I am sure that the radical right will say it is justified. After all, this was a protest against the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy the military has. We cannot have teh ghey infiltrate the military.

There has never been a decorated Soldier, Sailor, or Marine who was gay. Right?

Technorati Tags: Pentagon, Domestic Spying, SUNY Albany, DADT

I Double-Dog Dare You!

I'm with Wolcott on this one:

What a gummy uproar. One so loud and ferocious that there almost has to be some follow-through, otherwise you are going to have one frustrated batch of highly indignants. They want the administration to show the Times and the rest of the press who's boss. The neocon contingent is already dismayed with the tiptoeing around Iran's nuclear program, with Ledeen and Perle lodging protests. If the pushback against the Times peters out, if the posse disbands shortly after mounting up, the White House is going to look weak in the bugged-out eyes of its mutant defenders. It'll be interesting to see if the controversy builds or fades over the next few days, and whether or not the Times-bashers will be compelled to call their own bluff. In the meantime, whatever one thinks of the Times's performance leading up to Iraq and the Judith Miller debacle, the ugly threatmongering and barking ("For the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous”) of Peter King shouldn't go unchallenged.

If you haven't figured out what this is about, it is about the reporting of the Government snooping into your finances to see if you are a terrorist.

Now is put up or shut up time. Bush, Cheney, Snow, and his allies in Congress are all up in arms about the NY Times. The hate-filled Conservative blogosphere is breathing fire demanding that the Bush Administration do something to the NY Times. The more severe the better.

So, let's see if the Bush administration, and specifically George Bush has the cojones to withstand the vilification from his Right Wing base if he fails to act. Let's see if Rep. Peter King has the intestinal fortitude to get the Justice Department to act against the NY Times.

From the Right, the time for political posturing is over. Will Bush act?

Technorati Tags: NY Times, James Wolcott, George Bush

Poor, Poor Tom DeLay

In Texas there is pretty much only one rule when it comes to accepting campaign contributions. It is a very simple rule. Thou shalt not collect campaign contributions from corporations.

Well, now we have another rule, when it comes to running for elected office in Texas, that Tom DeLay cannot seem to abide by. Residency.

It seems that poor old Tom may not be able to get his name removed from the Texas ballot, so that another (non-tainted) Republican can run in his stead. Texas election law is very vague, however, the one thing that is not vague, is the US Constitution when it comes to election law.

According to the Constitution, your state of residence only matters after you have been elected to office. Not before. Since Tom DeLay has been a Texas resident all these long years, and was elected to Congress as a Texan, a Texan he shall remain until after the November election, in which case, as a Virginia resident he will be unable to serve, were he to win.

None of this has been finalized by the court, but the judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, seems to believe in that line of reasoning. In the end, we could have disgrace, and resigned Congressman Tom DeLay squaring off against his opponent Nick Lampson.

Fun, fun, fun.

Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay, Texas, Virginia

The River of Incompetence ...

... runs deep and wide:

A hotel owner in Sugar Land, Tex., has been charged with submitting $232,000 in bills for phantom victims. And roughly 1,100 prison inmates across the Gulf Coast apparently collected more than $10 million in rental and disaster-relief assistance.

There are the bureaucrats who ordered nearly half a billion dollars worth of mobile homes that are still empty, and renovations for a shelter at a former Alabama Army base that cost about $416,000 per evacuee.

[...]

Two other men, Mitchell Kendrix of Memphis and Paul Nelson of Lisbon, Me., have pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme in Mississippi in which Mr. Kendrix, a representative for the Army Corps of Engineers, took $100 bribes in exchange for approving phantom loads of hurricane debris from Mr. Nelson.

[...]

Congressional investigators, meanwhile, have referred another 7,000 cases of possible fraud to prosecutors, including more than 1,000 prison inmates who collected more than $12 million in federal aid, much of it in the form of rental assistance.

As the headline of the article calls it, the waste and fraud is "Breathtaking".

Thank you, George W. Bush, for making incompetence acceptable again.

Technorati Tags: FEMA

Out of Touch, or Tone Deaf?

Kevin Drum has an interesting question, which I would like to see answered properly:

Everyone at the table seemed to agree that the Democratic Party was out of touch with the working class in America, broadly defined. Why? Because Dem leaders are a bunch of college-educated elites who make a lot of money and don't really identify with the problems of people who make $30,000 a year.

OK, fine. Let's suppose that's true. But the Democratic Party in the 30s and 40s was mostly headed by Harvard-educated rich guys, and they seemed to do pretty well on working class issues. FDR wasn't exactly a prole, after all. So what's the difference?

The answer Kevin received was 'Unions'.

Kevin is right in saying that labor unions had a very powerful position within the Democratic Party. I grew up in that environment, as my grandfather was involved in unions, and held leadership positions in the AFL-CIO, as well as other international union organizations in Washington. Growing up in that environment, I got to see, first hand, how the labor movement was a positive force for working class Americans. I also was witness to the fall of the labor movement through the late 70's and 80's.

Why the labor movement faltered, and does not have the same impact today, that it had through the 60's before its decline, particularly in the 80's when the decline became precipitous, is that the Democratic party became, not just entrenched with its comfortable leaders. It really began with the Democratic party allowing the Republican Party to marginalize organized labor.

In many union organizations, people who aligned themselves with the Socialist movement, and in some cases the Communist movement became easy targets for the "Red Scare" Republicans. These charges of Communist sympathizers in organized labor began to scare people off. Many Democrats were afraid of being tarred with that overly broad brush. Jump forward to the 1980's, and Reagan's strong stance against the USSR, and the Democrats inability (or maybe unwillingness) to adequately counter the Communist sympathizer charges that stuck to members of the labor movement really began to hurt.

This lack of an effective counter created the situation in which Reagan was able to enact some tough anti-union laws, reduced enforcement (or actively undermined, in some cases), and businesses were able to set about preventing workers from organizing in the workplace. Jump forward again to the 1990's and we have NAFTA, and globalization shifting our manufacturing base (strong union representation) offshore, as well as the rise in the IT industry.

The problem with the IT industry and its workers, is that many tend towards the Libertarian (or so they think) bent. The late 1990's, 2000 - 2002 were ripe for the picking (and probably still are to some extent, today), as far as organizing collectively goes. IT personnel were being forced into working extremely long hours (80 hour work weeks were more common than not), and pay and benefits were being eschewed for stock options, most of which never materialized into anything beyond the value of the paper they were printed on. However, because there were a few examples of people who hit the big time (Mark Cuban, et al), the thought of giving up the chance of becoming a dot-com billionaire held more sway, than the thought of having a secure job with good benefits, and reasonable pay.

Now with offshoring of IT jobs a permanent fixture of the future of IT in America, the prospect of a company such as Microsoft, or Dell, or IBM having to contend with their staff organizing into a union, is slim. The ease by which IT companies, and non-IT companies with large IT staff, can shift stuff offshore at the threat of employees demanding collective bargaining rights is nullified, even before they can start.

What is left is the service industry. While unions such as the SEIU have made significant strides in signing up new members, and expanding their operations, some have charged that these new unions are too management friendly. Maybe it reflects the current economic environment. More likely it reflects a weakness in the Democratic Party.

We don't have high profile Democratic Party representatives stumping for union priorities. The best we get is legislation to increase the minimum wage. Instead of hitting the airwaves, and the roadways going to the electorate to champion this cause, and generate grassroots support, the Democrats hope that the media will cover the story. They did, and they portrayed it as a "Democratic Party election-year issue".

To be honest, from where I am sitting, that is what it looked like. Where is the organized campaign, where are the Senators and Representatives out stumping for this issue?

Is the Democratic Party truly out of touch with the American working class?

Looks like it.

So what should the Democratic Party do?

That depends on what the leadership wants. Do they want to become representative of the working-class again? Or are they happy abdicating that group of people.

Starting in the 1990's the media began lumping groups of voters together. Southern voters, Values voters, Soccer moms, Safety moms, NASCAR dads, etc. It is my belief that these groupings successfully divided the electorate, and particularly the working-class electorate along lines that harmed Democrats.

While there is a traditional resistance to organized labor in the South, and the Southwest there has been a migration of workers from the parts of the country that have been traditionally favorable to organized labor to these areas. There are people in the South and Southwest who are amenable to a resurgence in the labor movement. This presents an opportunity for the Democratic Party to reestablish its connection to working-class Americans.

Will Democrats act?

The Republican Party remains faithful in its opposition to organized labor, so there is no fear of Republicans co-opting this issue from Democrats. However, by no means does that mean these individuals will jump on the Democratic Party bandwagon. Particularly if the Democrats don't start speaking to them. What will likely happen, and what is happening today, is that national union organizations will begin to split their loyalties, or start to support a third party. While the possibility of a third party is attractive, and probably desirable, it will be disastrous to the Democratic Party. It will allow the Republican Party to continue to strengthen, and consolidate its power, possibly for a generation or more.

I know I am not the first person to think along these lines, nor will I be the last. What needs to happen, and happen soon, if the Democrats don't want to lose this vital support (what of it is left), is to start speaking to REAL working-class issues. Job security, benefits, retirement, and wages. These are the issues that are largely absent from the national discourse.

Elections are largely won on domestic issues. Republicans have telegraphed their intention to run on the Iraq war, and its attendant issues, all the while ignoring the domestic problems we are faced with today. The Religious Right have begun to make it clear that their pet issues (gay marriage, abortion, etc.) are getting short shrift from the Republican Party. They are basing their support on these (although reprehensible) domestic issues. Americans care about domestic issues, and foreign policy issues, while important, are not make or break issues. The make or break issues are these other things that are being ignored by politicians, and the media, yet affect Americans directly.

This all ties back to the media narrative that is being developed. Democrats have the opportunity to turn the debate back to domestic issues, but only if they take strong, vocal stands. Political grandstanding in Washington D.C. on the minimum wage issue only works, if it is followed by taking the word to the streets. Going to the people, and telling them directly, what is at stake will make the difference.

When Joe Biden said to Wolf Blitzer:

BLITZER: All right. You want to respond to the vice president, Senator Biden?

BIDEN: No, I don't want to respond to him. He's at 20 percent in the polls. No one listens to him. He has no credibility. It's ridiculous.

That is how all Democrats need to respond to, not only Cheney, but Bush whose popularity is mired below 40%, and dropping.

Then, the debate can shift. Then, Democrats can start speaking to the issues that Democrats should be promoting.

Then, and only then, will the perception that the Democratic Party is out of touch with the working-class American, be reversed.

Technorati Tags: Organized Labor, Unions, Democratic Party

Yet Another Data Security Breach

Were the consequence not so serious, it would be pure comedy.

28,000 Sailors personal information appears on a website.

The data contained in 5 spreadsheets contained names, birth dates, and Social Security Numbers of the sailors.

How this data ended up on a public website, no one knows.

How many breaches of data security have to happen before the Government really begins to take this stuff seriously? They say they are, but again, and again we hear of laptops being stolen, data appearing on websites, and other breaches of security.

It is as if the utter incompetence of the Bush administration is contagious.

Technorati Tags: Data Security, Navy

Thought for the Day

"Never fight an inanimate object."

--P. J. O'Rourke

Thought for the Day

"Never fight an inanimate object."

--P. J. O'Rourke

Prosecution or Persecution?

I have a lot of problems with the NY Times, and its coverage of the Bush administration. From Judith Miller's fantastical reporting of WMD's, to the shameless cheerleading for the war in Iraq. However, I feel The Times has been trying to redeem itself somewhat (only just) with the reporting of the domestic spying activities of the Bush administration.

The latest outrage from the Right is over the revelation in The Times of the SWIFT program which tracks banking activities of Americans.

The reaction from the Right has been predictable. NY Times is destroying America's ability to track and capture terrorists, and if innocent American citizens get caught up in the program, well, if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, has written a letter that explains The Times reasoning for exposing this latest intrusion into Americans privacy:

It's an unusual and powerful thing, this freedom that our founders gave to the press. Who are the editors of The New York Times (or the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and other publications that also ran the banking story) to disregard the wishes of the President and his appointees? And yet the people who invented this country saw an aggressive, independent press as a protective measure against the abuse of power in a democracy, and an essential ingredient for self-government. They rejected the idea that it is wise, or patriotic, to always take the President at his word, or to surrender to the government important decisions about what to publish.

While it would be nice if The Times, and other news media around the country took this idea a bit more seriously all the time, the few instances where the news media exercised its independence has turned up some rather egregious abuses of power.

And predictably, when the media exercises its independence, its the Conservatives who unquestioningly accept what fearless leader George W. Bush tells them is necessary (even, it seems, flushing democracy down the toilet), react as good little soldiers:

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee urged the Bush administration Sunday to seek criminal charges against The New York Times for reporting on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace terrorists.

Rep. Peter King blasted the newspaper's decision last week to report that the Treasury Department was working with the CIA to examine messages within a massive international database of money-transfer records.

"I am asking the Attorney General to begin an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times -- the reporters, the editors and the publisher," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. "We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous."

Mind you, this is the same group of Republicans who, until 9/11/2001 thought the government was intruding too much into the private lives of Americans. The same group of Republicans who challenged Bill Clinton on every action he did to try and stop Al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden, with "Wag the Dog" charges.

Today, we are witnessing a reversal of roles. The Liberals were once the party of Government intrusion, and were the ones who were trying to subvert democracy by interfering in peoples lives. Liberals were the ones who where trying to dictate to Americans how they should live, and be willing to give up their privacy for the sake of America. Conservatives were the strong advocates of privacy, and keeping Government out of our bedrooms, personal, and financial lives.

No more. Conservatives today are the ones who advocate spying on Americans. Conservatives today are the ones who advocate the Federal Government listening in on your phone calls. Tracking your banking transactions. And yes, even your bedroom activities.

Liberals are the ones who are expressing outrage at the trashing of the Constitution. The document that defined America. That created the freedoms the Conservatives used to value.

(Never mind that this is how it always was, but perceptions are hard to change)

So, I challenge the news media all across the country to wake up, and recognize that their very independence, the foundation of a strong and valuable "fourth branch" of government, has been eroded, almost to the point of extinction. More importantly, when people like Republican Representative Peter King say that you should be criminally charged for exposing these abuses of power, don't run away. Stand up. As the saying (over used, and cliche at this point) goes:

"The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

--Finley Peter Dunne

Technorati Tags: Peter King, SWIFT, NY Times, Bill Keller, Domestic Spying

This is Just Pathetic

It is also very meta.

Just to recap what has been roiling the blogsphere this past week.

The New Republic, an ostensibly "Liberal" publication, through one of its "journalists", Jason Zengerle, wrote a piece that purports to expose the deep, dark underbelly of the Liberal blogosphere. Apparently, everyone who blogs from the left, is under mind control, or financial control, or being blackmailed by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga.

This secret information was revealed to Zengerle via three anonymous sources, who have access to a mailing list called "townhouse". I'm not a member, and didn't know anything about this "townhouse" list until a few days ago. One of the emails which was purported to be "evidence" of Markos' control, was from Steve Gilliard who maintain The News Blog.

Only that email was a fabrication.

Enough for background, that is probably all you need (or want to) know.

The truly pathetic part, aside from watching The New Republic hammer the last nails into its own coffin of credibility, was that Zengerle, knowing he had been burned by his source(s), offers a tepid "clarification", and refuses to identify who it was that embarrased him, and his employer.

Then, David Brooks writes a childish anti-blogging column, attacking Liberal bloggers, and pretending the Conservative blogosphere doesn't exist. And, No. I will not link to the opinion pages, because I wont pay their fee to read David Brooks. I think they should pay me.



Technorati Tags: David Brooks, Jason Zengerle, New Republic

Thought for the Day

"There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president."

--Kurt Vonnegut

A Little Hard Truth

No doubt there will be lots of criticism from Republicans about how the anti-American "Jew" York Times hates Republicans. However, it is nice to see the NY Times address the issue of Chickenhawks in Congress:

REPRESENTATIVE Patrick McHenry, a 30-year-old Republican from North Carolina, rose during the recent debate over Iraq in Congress and declared that the struggle against "Islamic extremists" was his generation's great challenge. Unlike the "white flag" crowd on the left, he vowed, he would not shrink from the fight.

That was a little too much for Representative John Murtha, the senior Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, an ex-marine and Vietnam vet and also — in the current debate — a leading advocate of a speedy withdrawal of the troops.

"It is easy to stay in an air-conditioned office and say, 'I am going to stay the course,' " he said, angrily, after Mr. McHenry, who never served in the military, was finished. "It is the troops that are doing the fighting, not the members of Congress that are doing the fighting."

The issue of chickenhawks is a big one. Because Republicans like Patrick McHenry really fancy themselves as being a warrior in this "global struggle". They think that by making speeches, or in the case of rightwing bloggers, by posting with steely resolve to "see this thing through to the end", that they are sacrificing something.

The reality is, that we have a significant portion of our military in a combat theater, Republicans want to leave them there indefinitely. The President is asking for tax cuts, as expenditures for the war are spiraling out of control.

Not a single sacrifice has been asked of Americans. And then, when someone dares to open their mouth and point out this contradiction, war without sacrifice, these chickenhawks tell us that they are anti-American. That they are the traitors to America. They they are the ones who hate the military.

I am one of those people who get labeled that way. I oppose the war, don't believe we should have gone in the first place. I believe that as long as the military is there, Americans should be demanding tax increases to pay for this effort. Americans should be making sacrifices. Most importantly, and unlike Patrick McHenry, I served in the Army. Not during war time, as I finished my time in the Army before the first Gulf War, however I volunteered to serve.

Is serving in the military a prerequisite to anything? No, not really. However the lofy rhetoric that Republicans like to use, about their "steely resolve", and their "grim determination" to "stay the course", belies the fact that they have no idea what are demanding of our military men and women.

Technorati Tags: Patrick McHenry, John Murtha, Chickenhawk, 101st Fighting Keyboardists, Iraq

Fostering Ignorance

The Christian Right has a real problem with people reading books that aren't the Bible, Purpose Driven Life, or some other drivel.

Case in point, the latest attempt by the Christian Right to ban books:

The author of what has been described as the definitive dictionary of slang is gobsmacked, gutted, throwing up bunches, honked, hipped, and jacked like a cock-maggot in a sink-hole. A North Carolina school district has banned the dictionary under pressure from one of a growing number of conservative Christian groups using the internet to encourage school book bans across the US.

This book is just one of five books that have been challenged in North Carolina.

The Cassell Dictionay of Slang
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Junie B Jones and Some Sneaky, Peaky Spying by Barbara Park
Reluctantly Alice by Phyllis Reynolds
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

Junie B. Jones? What, praytell, could be wrong with Junie B. Jones? Never mind the rest of these books.

The mission statement of the group who is pushing this censorship Called2Action, states:

Comprised of a diverse group of like-minded people, Called2Action exists to empower ordinary people to become effective in the defense of our shared family and social values, and remain true to the Judeo-Christian foundation of our great state and country."

However, it appears that censorship is a part of this "Judeo-Christian foundation of our great state and country".



Technorati Tags: Dictionary of Slang, Called2Action, Religious Right, Censorship

Immigrant Concentration Camps

This is a suggestion that should warm the cockles of Michelle Malkins heart:

A Republican gubernatorial candidate's call for creation of a forced labor camp for illegal immigrants drew rebukes Friday from two GOP lawmakers, who labeled it a low point in the immigration debate.

Don Goldwater, nephew of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, caused an international stir this week when EFE, a Mexican news service, quoted him as saying he wanted to hold undocumented immigrants in camps to use them "as labor in the construction of a wall and to clean the areas of the Arizona desert that they're polluting."

The article described Goldwater's plan as a "concentration camp" for migrants.

I am sure that Malkin will help him name these camps.

Technorati Tags: Don+Goldwater, Arizona, Immigration, Michelle Malkin

Thought for the Day

"We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything."

--Thomas A. Edison

Not Praising the Liars

The big thing yesterday, was a bit of stupidity from Washingpost Columnist Richard Morin, in which he whines like a little baby about Jon Stewart.

Matt Stoller translates the whining for us into a meaningful sentiment:

Ok, so let's be clear with what Morin is fretting about. He thinks that the Daily Show doesn't make younger viewers feel good enough about politicians and media figures. It's not enough that Daily Show viewers are better informed than any other media consumer, that young people voted in record numbers, that, and that the choice in 2004 for President presented young people with two wildly unappealing old white men. No, it's all about young people not feeling good enough about the people who routinely lie to them.

Young people have very negative feelings about politics, and rightfully so. And they're voting anyway. That's amazing. I suppose what Morin doesn't like is that the Daily Show punctures the media's sense of self-importance (of which Morin displays an amply large amount), and that young people are watching Stewart instead of reading Morin.

Big surprise there.

Yep, that about sums it up.


Technorati Tags: Jon Stewart, Richard Morin

I'ts About Time

VA offers credit monitoring:

The Department of Veteran Affairs said yesterday that it will offer free credit monitoring for a year to the millions of veterans and military personnel whose personal information was stolen last month. The department said the plan will safeguard the credit records of those affected and provide them with peace of mind.

This entire episode was so mishandled, including the misrepresntation of just how many individuals were affected by this data theft. The fact that the Bush Administration at first refused to offer any sort of credit protection, and the fact that it took the threat of a class action lawsuit to spur the VA into action, is inexcusable.



Technorati Tags: Veterans Administration, Data Theft

Reluctantly I Have to Agree ...

Well, not so reluctantly, but The Washington Post editorial board must be stoned:

The illogic begins with the fact that Guantanamo now is, by far, the most comfortable and legally accountable detention facility maintained by the United States for foreign prisoners.

Yeah, I would like to see Fred Hiatt spend an indefinite amount of time there, with no hope for release, and see just how "comfortable" it is. And the "legally accountable" part?

Woah, whatever it is Hiatt and Co. are smoking, give me some.

The US is holding people that it knows to be innocent of anything, yet refuses to let them go. There's your legal accountability.

And to think, this paper was once vying with the NY Times for the status of "paper of record". Now neither one deserves anything resembling that title.

Technorati Tags: Gitmo

Thought for the Day

"Only exceptionally rational men can afford to be absurd."

--Allan Goldfein

It's Not Necessarily What You Say ...

but definitely what you don't say that matters:

Phone service provider AT&T announced Thursday a privacy policy overhaul that removes a key reference from its previous policy, which had said the company "does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from private files without the members' authorization..."

This from the company who cooperated the most with the Bush Administration on spying on Americans.

Technorati Tags: AT&T, Domestic Spying, Privacy

Let's Get It On

I know that many people, both Republican and Democrat, were hoping that Carole 4-Names, and Kinky Friedman wouldn't qualify for November's Gubernatorial election; However, today the Texas Secretary of State certified their petitions for the race this November:

It's official. The Texas governor's race got crowded and quirky with the confirmation that independent candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn will be on the November ballot.

Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams made the announcement Thursday, setting up a historic election with the two independents, Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Democrat Chris Bell and Libertarian James Werner.

Friedman, a joke-cracking musician and writer, and Strayhorn, the state comptroller who calls herself "one tough grandma," each will try to become the first independent elected Texas governor since Sam Houston in 1859.

It's still early, but with Rick Perry's support hovering between 32% and 40%, it is highly likely that there will be a run off. With whom, remains to be seen.

The Democratic Candidate Chris Bell, is going to need some support, so volunteer if you can, and if you can toss some money his way, I'm sure he could use it.

Technorati Tags: Texas, Chris Bell, TX-Gov

The Predictability of the Dense

In response to the NY Times uncovering, yet another domestic spying program run by the Bush administration, the hate-filled right jerks reflexively.

Hugh Hewitt

AJStrata

Clay Waters

And on, and on, and on.

They all say the same thing, from Michelle Malkin down to the Conservative you never heard of.

Bill Keller is the anti-Christ, and all Liberals hate America.

However, to the Right, spying on Americans is a proud American tradition. So how dare the NY Times reveal to Americans that their government is spying on them.

Technorati Tags: Domestic Spying, NY Times

Even More Data Theft

At what point will the US Government wake up to the problem of data theft?

The government agency charged with fighting identity theft said Thursday it had lost two government laptops containing sensitive personal data, the latest in a series of breaches encompassing millions of people.

Why is this personal information being carried around by people who cannot seem to do something so basic as watch their laptop?


Technorati Tags: Data Theft, Government

Thought for the Day

"I am a Marxist--of the Groucho tendency."

--Anonymous, French slogan

The Anti-Blogging Media

Last week I posted about the media's fascination with blogging being over.

Today, courtesy of Peter Daou we are pointed to the latest grenade lobbed by the "dean" of Washington punditry:

Judging from the amount of publicity they gleaned, the liberal bloggers who gathered in Las Vegas recently for the first annual YearlyKos convention represent the cutting edge of thinking in the Democratic Party.

But the blogs I have scanned are heavier on vituperation of President Bush and other targets than on creative thought.

First, I am curious whose blogs Broder perused, but that is beside the point. The point that Daou has made, which I have heartily endorsed, is that the Beltway Pundit class is feeling the heat that blogging has brought to bear.

No longer are they secure in their cocoons, where they can control the public debate about the goings on in Washington. In response, people like Broder, who cannot come to grips with the fact that there are people who don't hang on his every typewritten word anymore, launch vituperative attacks on these people.

I have no illusion that bloggers will change the state of Washington, however, and this is particular to the liberal side of the blogosphere, bloggers are gaining an important voice in the debate.

As a footnote to that point, Chris Bowers at MyDD.com links to a very interesting Nielsen//NetRatings report that shows "in the single month of July 2005, Kos attracted 4.8 million separate visitors". Think about that for a moment. 4.8 million separate visitors.

I don't know what the accuracy of Nielsen's counting is, however, even if it is 10% or 20% too high, we are still talking about a significant portion of the Democratic party base. And that is just to one site.

So, while people like David Broder attack the progressive blogosphere as being "hate filled anti-Bush partisan wingnuts", the truth is that, we who read, write, and participate in the blogosphere are representative of something much greater.


Technorati Tags: David Broder, Peter Daou, Blogging

Perpetual War

As we have all witnessed over the past days and weeks, the Republicans, enabled by our "media elite" have been pushing the notion that Democrats are advocating a "cut and run" strategy for Iraq, and the GWOT.

I have been frustrated in my attempt to come up with a way to counter that argument. Paul Waldman has spelled out a pretty effective way for Democrats to counter that argument:

So how do they [Democrats] get on offense? Simple: make it about Bush and the Republicans. When a reporter asks you, "The Republicans say you want to cut and run, what's your response?", do not - DO NOT - repeat the phrase "cut and run" in your answer. The answer should be about the Republicans, not about you: "The Republicans want to stay in Iraq forever. We want to figure out how we can redeploy our forces. While our troops are fighting and dying every day, Republicans tell us that everything in Iraq is going great. What planet are they living on? Do they have a plan to end our involvement there, or do they think our children and grandchildren should be dodging IEDs in Tal Afar, too?" Make it about THEM. Put THEM on the defensive. And when the reporter says, "Democrats are divided on this. How will you win in November if you're divided?", DON'T TAKE THE BAIT. Don't talk about how the plan you favor differs from other Democratic plans. Talk about the Republicans, for God's sake.

The problem that Democrats have had on this issue (and really, countering Republicans in general for the past 5 years) is that they refuse to go on the offensive.

To some degree, the media has been perpetuating the Republican gotcha game, but Democrats have fallen into that trap, time and time again.

Here is the perfect opportunity to get ahead of the game. The public is not happy, and Democrats need to start speaking to this general dissatisfaction with Bush, Republicans, and the Iraq War. By highlighting the fact that Republicans want perpetual war (or at least until a future President gains the courage to withdraw from Iraq comes along), Democrats can paint the true picture. The Iraq war is not about winning the war on terror. The situation in Iraq is not getting better, at best we have reached a stalemate, at worst it is deteriorating at an uncontrollable pace. Yet, OBL is still on the loose.

The Republican plan is perpetual war.

Use it. Please.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Republican, Democrat, Paul Waldman

The Sad, Pathetic State of the Media

They will report on the fevered delusional conspiracies of just about anyone:

Americans mistakenly worried the United Nations is plotting to take away their guns on July 4 — U.S. Independence Day — are flooding the world body with angry letters and postcards, the chairman of a U.N. conference on the illegal small arms trade said on Wednesday.

“I myself have received over 100,000 letters from the U.S. public, criticizing me personally, saying, ‘You are having this conference on the 4th of July, you are not going to get our guns on that day,’” said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka’s U.N. ambassador.

[...]

The campaign is largely the work of the U.S. National Rifle Association, whose executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, warns on an NRA Web site (http://www.stopungunban.org/) of a July 4 plot “to finalize a U.N. treaty that would strip all citizens of all nations of their right to self-protection.”

[...]

LaPierre, who also uses the site to pitch his new book, “The Global War on Your Guns,” asks NRA members to send letters to Kariyawasam and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that “the American people will never let you take away the rights that our 4th of July holiday represents.”

The group also asks members to write to John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, urging him to “ensure the defeat of this treaty.” Bolton’s office confirmed he had received tens of thousands of cards from concerned Americans.

Not coincidentally the news of this "plot" was spoon fed to the media by none other than Wayne LaPierre, President of the NRA.



Technorati Tags: UN, NRA, Wayne LaPierre

Playing Politics with War

I'm not telling anyone here anything they shouldn't already know.

To the Republican Party, the war in Iraq, and the death of American military members is merely election year politics. As long as there are elections, Republicans will be "downright giddy" (Dana Bash, CNN, 22 June 2006) about the debate over the war in Iraq.

Anyone who is "downright giddy", like the Republicans are, about war, is a sick and twisted individual. Which is why, as long as Republicans hold a majority in Congress and/or the White House, we will have a war in Iraq. Bush does not have the courage to withdraw, and the Republican Party wants its election issue.

To top it all off, Eric Boehlert notes, the press is attacking Democrats for bringing up the issue. We have entered a twilight zone kind of situation here, where Republicans want to use the disasterous war in Iraq and the President's inept running of the war as a positive election year issue. The media, all too willing to go along with Republicans, attack Democrats for wanting to discuss the issue, and maybe, just maybe, get someone competent running the show.

It is as if the Republican Party and the media want America to fail.



Technorati Tags: Iraq, Bush, GOP

Thought for the Day

"I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks."

--Totie Fields

You Can't Handle the Truth!

Liberal bloggers banned from Kentucky government.

It really is a sad state of affairs when the "small government" elected Republicans intrude into peoples lives.

Technorati Tags: Kentucky, Bluegrassreport.org

Froomkin Refreshes the Media's Memory

They seem to have forgotten where Safavian worked:

You wouldn't know it from the coverage of David H. Safavian's conviction yesterday for lying and obstructing justice, but some of his criminal activity actually took place while he was working at the White House.

Safavian managed to avoid being frog-marched out of the White House by resigning three days before his arrest.

As has been par for the course, the media doesn't want to link this Republican corruption to the White House.

Now, if we can only get an honest report about how many times Abramoff visited the White House ...

Technorati Tags: Froomkin, Safavian, Abramoff, White House

"National Security Issues"

That will no doubt be the Adminstrations reason for refusing to turn over NSA requests to telecom companies.

When you have a President who has such contempt for the rule of law that George Bush has, why Congress thinks he will comply with their demands escapes logic.

I guess it doesn't hurt to ask though.

Technorati Tags: NSA, George Bush, Domestic Spying, Congress

Teenagers

Eric Boehlert accurately diagnoses what is wrong with ABC's The Note:

The first thing you notice about The Note is that it sounds like it's written by high school students. Smart high school students--really smart students, even--but nevertheless teenagers who crack themselves up with their wit, rely on hard-to-decipher references to up their hip insider quotient, and have a penchant for words like "ginormous" and multiple exclamation points. Cutesy, creepy, and relentlessly effusive towards the media elite, The Note confirms the old adage that life really is like high school, with The Note filling the role of cheerleader-meets-yearbook editor, keeping tabs on where the cool kids are eating lunch, what they're wearing, and who's having the big party this weekend.

The saddest part about this tone that The Note takes, is that the "media elite" read this thing. Daily.


Thanks to Peter Daou for the link.

Technorati Tags: The Note, ABC News, Eric Boehlert

A Good Question

An Agonist reader asks a very good question:

“Is it just me, or have Administration officials expressed significantly more public angst and concern over a missile launch this week than they did over a prospective nuclear test last May? Condi made a general statement last year essentially trying to call Kim Il Jong's bluff, saying that the U.S. had sufficient deterrent capability to handle any North Korean nuclear arsenal. Why are we so much more public this time around with our concern, and having the President call his Six Party Counterparts? What is worse -- a missile test, or a nuclear test announcing North Korea's formal entry into the nuclear club?”

But is it just something going on in North Korea?

Is there something else that the Bush administration is trying to turn our attention from? Iraq is heading towards the shitter. Iran is going nowhere. Immigration reform is dead. Gay Marriage is dead.

What are they trying to distract us from?

Technorati Tags: North Korea, Distraction

Excuse Me, If I Don't Believe This.

I thought we already captured and tried the 20th 9/11 hijacker.

Or is this going to be like the "al Qaeda number 3", which has been captured and/or killed a hundred times already?

Republican Culture of Corruption

Gays Marrying: Bad

Republican Corruption: Good

Technorati Tags: Republican, Culture of Corruption

The Secrets of Spying

NSA has apparently been operating in the heart of the AT&T backbone.

Just as a point of definition. The Internet "backbone" is the main data trunks in which the vast majority of telephone or Internet traffic may travel. Think your spinal column, only on a nationwide, or even worldwide scale.

If this is true, the NSA had access to literally all data traffic travelling everywhere in the country.

If that's not domestic spying, I don't know what is.

Technorati Tags: NSA, AT&T, Domestic Spying

The Do Nothing Congress

Republicans apparently have made a decision, that the business they were elected to do is unimportant:

In a defeat for
President Bush, Republican congressional leaders said Tuesday that broad immigration legislation is all but doomed for the year, a victim of election-year concerns in the House and conservatives' implacable opposition to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

[...]

Some officials added that Republicans have begun discussing a pre-election strategy for seizing the political high ground on an issue that so far has served to highlight divisions within the party. Among the possibilities, these officials said, are holding votes in the House or Senate this fall on additional measures to secure the borders, or on legislation that would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving
Social Security payments or other government benefits.

That's right.

Playing political games is faaaarrrrr more important then, you know, working.

Technorati Tags: Republicans

Uhh, Greg?

I'm with Atrios on this one.

Haven't you been paying attention to any of the media over the past 10 years or so?

Technorati Tags: John Kerry, NY Times, GOP, Propaganda

Global Warming and Liberal Fear

Dennis Prager so has us pegged.

You are all shaking in your boots. Right?


Technorati Tags: Dennis Prager

Indictment Party

Hot on the heels of the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Mary Matalin wants to celebrate in style:

Conservative political strategist Mary Matalin will host a reception Tuesday night at her home in Alexandria to help augment the defense fund of indicted Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby according to an invitation read to RAW STORY.

Barbara Comstock, a spokesman for Libby's fund, declined to comment. No one answered the phone at the RSVP line. Libby has been indicted for obstruction of justice and other charges in connection with the CIA leak investigation.

If you want to go hang out at the home of Conservative political strategist Mary Matalin, and her Democratic Strategist husband James Carville, it will cost you $500.

So, come one, come all. Celebrate the indictment of the man who participated in the outing of a covert CIA agent who was tracking the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

James Carville will thank you for it.

Technorati Tags: Scooter Libby, Mary Matalin, James Carville

Thought for the Day

"If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything."

--Bill Lyon

The Implication of Net Neutrality

Degraded service:

Shaw Communications and its Canada-based cable MSO subsidiary have filed a series of court documents that aim to "set to record straight" regarding a "Quality of Service Enhancement" package being offered to Vonage customers and customers of other third-party VoIP services that leverage the public Internet.

The documents, filed in the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary, note that Shaw's IP-based phone service is offered over the operator's QoS-enabled, managed network, while Vonage's service travels the public Internet and is open to packet delays and other "inherent limitations."

This is just one example of how net neutrality affects the consumer. Vonage's voice over IP (VOIP) service has been called out by Verizon, and AT&T as one of many services that should be forced to pay for a different level of access, and customers of Vonage are being asked to pay for a different level of access.

This is what we can expect if network neutrality falls.

Technorati Tags: Net Neutrality