The Vicar of Christ

I generally do not get too worked up about things theological, but lately, Der Popenfuhrer has really been pissing me off.

I have long had many quarrels with the church of Rome, and have proffered my sage advice on many an occasion:

1) Lose the dresses, start wearing pants;
2) Stop making shit up and
3) Leave the altar boys alone (does a headline like "L.A. Archdiocese to settle suits for $600 million" make you want to toss some change in the plate??)

But the pope has been on a tear lately. He seems to want to reject the progress (and in terms of this institution that still is angry about Galileo, "progress" is a very relative thing), as he embraces the Latin mass. You know, the one that asks the faithful to

pray for the conversion of Jews. Let us pray also for the Jews that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you do not refuse your mercy even to the Jews; hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness.

Thanks for that, I'm sure they are thrilled.

And then he does his "one true church" bit, where we poor Protestants "cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense.” I guess I should say thanks there, Benny, you've cleared out some Sunday mornings for me.

I just have one quick question. Jesus preached of humbling yourself, of giving your coat to one who has none, and cautioning the rich about heaven and needle's eyes and camels, etc. How would an itinerant penniless prophet feel about

and

and
Yeah, that is ministering as the vicar of Christ. I see a bunch of camels getting stuck in one nasty needle eye...

Which headline do you think the media will focus on?

And which one is more relevant to most of us?

Dow tops 13,900

Retail sales take sharp plunge in June

It's a plot! Fire up the nukes!

Brown people are trying to kill us!!1`!!:

A flood of calls overwhelmed the city on Thursday as news of a salmonella outbreak at the Taste of Chicago continued to spread...

The number of possible cases widened on Thursday to 126 people who reported becoming ill after eating at the Pars Cove Persian Cuisine booth at the festival.

OMG Persian means Iranian! The turrists have followed us over here! This must be Chertoff's gut feeling!

Punch in the launch codes, Chimpy! Git-r-done!

Just to make Schmidlap feel all warm and fuzzy...

"if you ever come down and visit the old, tired, me down there in Crawford, I will be able to say I looked in the mirror and made decisions based upon principle, not based upon politics. And that's important to me. "

Vocabulary Lessons

A "Jerusalem Artichoke" is not an artichoke (and it has nothing to do with Jerusalem!)

A Boston cream pie is not a pie

Headcheese is not a cheese

Sweetbreads are neither sweet nor bread.

"al Qaeda in Iraq" is NOT an operational wing of bin Laden's terror network.

Are we clear on this one?

It's his government

h/t Atrios

Of course not

In reality, there is no point in complaining about anything the Giggling Murderer does. It won't change my mind, or the minds of roughly anyone who reads this, since my level of blinding hatred for the chimp is high enough that going higher is irrelevant. It won't change the minds of the 26% who still support him, because they're as stupid and greedy and racist and evil as he is. The GOP has decided that, unlike when Tricky Dick was using the Constitution as a snotrag and they eventually stood up in disgust, they're too terrified of losing power (or maybe it's fear of being asked to go hunting by Shooter) that they'll band together to protect Der Chimpenfuhrer no matter what he does. The Democrats have scattered within the party a few brave souls, but not enough of a backbone to impeach a President and Vice-President who are a bigger threat to America than anyone in my lifetime.

That being said, sometimes he just pisses me off. During today's falsehoodfest about Iraq (of course the Liar in Chief is familiar with grade inflation - he went to Yale, after all), he was asked if, now that the Scooter Libby case is over and done with, he had talked to anyone who worked for him about the case, and whether he'd expressed any disappointment in any of them for a lack of morality. Well, obviously not, but if you can stand it, watch the video (thanks to Josh Marshall at TPM for this), and see the utter contempt on his face for anyone who would think that such a thing would be relevant, or even possible. He has no humanity.

Impeach.

Smackdown Time?

Well, it looks like we may have a constitutional crisis on our hands in subpoena land if the Democrats stick to their guns (good luck on that one!) The president can't have it both ways. In fact, he can't have it either way. If he was not involved in the U.S. attorney discussions, then there is no executive privilege that extends to his aides. If he was, then Congress may properly investigate what may be criminal activity (vote caging), and there is no executive privilege that extends to his aides.

Today's visit from Mr. Dictionary Man

BENCHMARK (bench-mark, n) a standard of excellence, achievement, etc., against which similar things must be measured or judged.

It appears that the Iraqi "government" will fail to meet any of the benchmarks laid out in connection with the surge. There is one major reason why this is not surprising--

THERE IS NO IRAQI GOVERNMENT!

This fraud of a parliament meeting under U.S. protection in the Green Zone commans no loyalty and exhibits none of the common attributes of sovereignty or statehood. It will accomplish no objectices because it cannot.

In a classic little book written many years ago, Joseph Strayer described some of those attributes of statehood. He uses the medieval example to illustrate how states spring from 1) relative permanence in space and time, 2) relatively permanent and impersonal political institutions and 3) a fundamental transfer of loyalty from tribe, sect, region or religion to the new state. Sound like Iraq?

That makes the continued use of American troops to support this illusory mirage of a government even more tragic and criminal. The frightening part is, though, that the president will continue unabated for one very simple reason.

He has nothing to lose.

He has no concerns about facing the electorate, or as so many second-term presidents experience, having their vice president preparing a presidential run. He has no further need of Congress, as his pet legislative projects, "reforming" Social Security and and immigration are so dead that they make Jacob Marley (or Bob Marley, for that matter) look perfectly sprightly by comparison. He has already reshaped the Supreme Court profoundly, so even lower court (dis)appointments that will happen in the future can be taken in stride.

His legacy, such that it is, is also firmly etched in the hardest of stone, a legacy of failure, indifference, corruption and incompetence. He now is less popular than skin rashes and open sores, and history will place him at the peak of the firmament of the gawdawdawful, joining Buchanon and Andrew Johnson as the worst of all time.

Because of this perfect storm of events, the president is no longer constrained by conventional political checks. His Libby commutation and the continued incoherent rantings about "al Qaeda" and "fighting them there" are a giant middle finger waving at us with a "you can't touch me" smirk.

But we can. Not only can we, but we must.

"The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Guess the quote

The United States has concerns about taking unilateral action in a sovereign nation without their consent.

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.Karl Rove

drmagoo and the Washington Senators

So, we're back from the east, and we did get our audience with Senators Durbin and Obama. For other Illinois folk who might be interested, it worked like this:

We called ahead to confirm that the Senate would be in session that week, and they asked us to contact them the day before the gathering to find out what room it would be scheduled in (this one was in the Dirksen Senate building). On the morning of, we were there by 8:10, passed through security, and found the room. There was a very large crowd of over 200 people there, so we went up to the front row. Some guy (we have no idea who he is, but suspect that he's an aide to one of the Senators) came by and chatted with us for a few minutes, and then we got started. They asked representative of groups visiting that day to stand and identify their group, and then Durbin went through a quick discussion of what was on the plate for the Senate (that day was the cloture vote on immigration). After that, they took questions.

Since we were in the front row, I did get a chance to ask my question (they did Q&A for about a half hour) to Senator Durbin about why he voted yes on the most recent supplemental appropriations bill.

The (paraphrased) responses:

Obama was fielding questions, and he went first: This was a very tough decision, but in the end, he couldn't trust Bush to spend the money wisely (i.e. end the war), so he voted no.

Durbin: Told a story about a vet at the Rehab Institute who he has visited a few times and was relearning how to walk after doctors told him he never would. Got rather emotional and talked about ending the war, but said that he always voted yes on funding troops in the field. Said that when the Senate came back after July 4 (today) he would lead new efforts to end the war.

I was disappointed in Durbin's response - I believe that if we cut off funding, it's not like we'd be leaving them there to die, but that we'd have to start bringing them home with the money that's already allocated. On the other hand, he is still one of the few people who voted against the war originally, and has always opposed the administration, so I won't throw him out the door. I am waiting to see what he does now, though.

Afterwards, they took pictures.

Chalk up one for me

But "in dispute?" Please.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
Published July 6, 2007*

The authenticity of a quote attributed to James Madison in a letter in the July 4 Voice of the People is in dispute.The Tribune regrets the errors.

And in this despicable corner..

We have one of the lowest forms of corner inhabitants today. Not only is she criminally stupid, but she is also also criminally dishonest. First of all, the ridiculous rant from one Mildred A. Para of Evergreen Park:

July 4 is a celebration of a people who decided to take a bold step and declare independence from an ongoing, controlling government. Our founding fathers were a small group of men whose destiny was defined in 1776. They knew the personal danger that awaited them, but they persevered.When the Constitution was written some years later, James Madison, one of the leading authors of the document, had this to say: "We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the 10 Commandments."

So simple, a wonderful blueprint for individual happiness and success. This was the engine that propelled America to become the beacon of liberty throughout the world. Our culture has now lost this sense of the moral code due, in part, to the loud voices that declare separation of church and state. And what has been the result of that slogan? Just listen to and read the headlines day after day, and to all the other sordid stories and TV programs in between.

Yes, folks, the reason we have societal problems today is because we have not quite completely embraced theocracy. The stupidity is bad enough, but Mildred, let me cue you in on a little secret. MADISON NEVER SAID ANY SUCH THING. It is in none of his papers, letters, accounts of his remarks or mentioned in any scholarly biography. It was made up out of whole cloth by the religious right freakshow, and it's been out there as a fraud for a long time (nice editorial work, Tribune staff.). Any high school senior in honors U.S. history would know it is bogus, as it is COMPLETELY out of character for Madison.

But then again, I doubt Mildred was in honors classes. Oh Mildred..

Justice? Who serves more time?

Some Georges never change

Here are some of the abuses charged by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

Jefferson concluded, as should we:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

The British, they get it

From an editorial in today's Financial Times written by Gideon Rachman (maybe subs. required):

Ever since the Tube bombings of July 7 2005, we have been warned that further attacks are inevitable. Given the grisly array of possibilities - dirty bombs, truck bombs, even nuclear terrorism - the startling incompetence of the recent attacks has come as something of a relief. Setting yourself on fire and then punching a policeman, while shouting "Allah", is about as low-tech as it gets.

My brother-in-law observed, quite correctly, that while American coverage of what happened in Britain has been wall to wall, floor to ceiling, can't go ten feet without somebody asking, "Could a terrorist drive a flaming car through the window of my local Hallmark store and deprive me of the opportunity to purchase collectible holiday ornaments?" (Yes)

There was a great diary on Daily Kos to that effect the day of the incident. A car with gasoline, propane and nails isn't dangerous. A car with nails and, I dunno, Semtex or some other true explosive, now THAT is dangerous. And the fact that Britain hasn't had one for a while and the US hasn't had one for a while, either, despite the ever-widening reach of Skeletor and his band of merry men seems to point to something working somewhere.

A lot can happen in two weeks

On June 21, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a federal appeals court properly found that a sentence for false statements that fell within the federal sentencing guidelines was presumptively reasonable. Less than a fortnight later, the president calls the sentence of I. Lewis Libby, within the same guidelines, for the same crime, to be excessive.

Today's dictionary entry:

Rule of law (n) Government by law : adherence to due process of law

Happy Independence Day!

On this date, July 2, in 1776, the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. On that date, the Continental Congress adopted the resolution put forth by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.''

John Adams thought that this anniversary should be the one celebrated. However, we observe the day that the congress adopted the written DECLARATION, not the act of declaring independence itself (the document would not be signed until much later)

Below is what John Adams wrote to his wife. In his honor, you all have my permission to take the day off..

"The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

RIP

Brown v. Board of Education

Born 1954

Died 2007

Remarkable--even for him

Even for someone as pathetic as George Bush, yesterday's speech was amazing. In a rather short address, he mentioned "al-Qaeda" almost 30 times. I know it is the new stategery to re-frighten the stupid, but I would think that even the mouthbreathers would get it by now. This one is comically absurd:

Now we're in a new and unprecedented war against violent Islamic extremists. This is an ideological conflict we face against murderers and killers who try to impose their will. These are the people that attacked us on September the 11th and killed nearly 3,000 people. The stakes are high, and once again, we have had to change our strategic thinking. The major battleground in this war is Iraq.

I don't expect dittoheads to understand that "al Qaeda in Iraq" and Zarqawi had no operational connection to Osama bin Laden, or to know that Iraqis are different from Saudis, but can something this basic be so hard to grasp?

Or try this one on for size:

Anbar is a largely Sunni province that accounts for nearly a third of Iraqi territory. It's a big place. Anbar stretches from the outskirts of Baghdad to Iraq's borders with Jordan and Syria. It was al Qaeda's chief base of operations in Iraq. Remember, when I mention al Qaeda, they're the ones who attacked the United States of America and killed nearly 3,000 people on September the 11th, 2001.

"See, if I say it enough, maybe they'll believe me!"

Think of great presidential oratory..the better angels of our nature..the only thing we have to fear...ask not what uour country can do for you..nut that all pales in comparison to "According to a captured document -- in other words, according to something that we captured from al Qaeda ." Then we have the clincher, "one reason it is different is that the Iraqis are beginning to understand that al Qaeda is the main enemy for Shia, Sunni, and Kurds alike."

Oh good God.