Some posts just write themselves

Yes, this is real. I know it sounds like the Onion, but it's the real McCoy.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

(Crawford, Texas)

For Immediate Release August 10, 2006

Fact Sheet: National Strategy to Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy

“High-level corruption by senior government officials, or kleptocracy, is a grave and corrosive abuse of power and represents the most invidious type of public corruption. It threatens our national interest and violates our values. It impedes our efforts to promote freedom and democracy, end poverty, and combat international crime and terrorism. Kleptocracy is an obstacle to democratic progress, undermines faith in government institutions, and steals prosperity from the people. Promoting transparent, accountable governance is a critical component of our freedom agenda.

-- President George W. Bush, August 10, 2006

I'll let you read the rest below, but W is out to stop "high-level corruption by senior government officials, in order to promote transparent, accountable governance!!"

Ladies and gentlemen, the comedy stylings of George W. Bush! He's here all week, tip your servers and drive home safely!

Today, The President Unveiled His National Strategy To Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy, Pledging To Confront High-Level, Large-Scale Corruption By Public Officials And Target The Proceeds Of Their Corrupt Acts. This Strategy Is A New Component Of His Plan To Fight Corruption Around The World.

Public corruption erodes democracy, rule of law, and economic well-being by undermining public financial management and accountability, discouraging foreign investment, and stifling economic growth and sustainable development.

Ø Kleptocracy Is A Threat To The Governments And Citizens Of Both Developing And Developed Countries. Corruption by senior officials in executive, judicial, legislative, or other official positions in government can destabilize whole societies and destroy the aspirations of their people for a better way of life.

The President's National Strategy To Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy

This New National Strategy Builds On The President’s Commitment Made With The G-8 Leaders At Their Recent Summit In St. Petersburg. At the G-8 summit, President Bush committed to promote legal frameworks and a global financial system that will reduce the opportunities for kleptocracies to develop and to deny safe haven to corrupt officials, those who corrupt them, and the proceeds of corrupt activity.

Ø The Strategy Has As Its Foundation In The President’s Proclamation, Made In January 2004, To Generally Deny Entry Into The United States Of Persons Engaged In Or Benefiting From Corruption.

Ø The Strategy Advances Many Of The Objectives In The National Security Strategy By Mobilizing The International Community To Confront Large-Scale Corruption By High-Level Foreign Public Officials And Target The Fruits Of Their Ill-Gotten Gains.

Ø The Strategy Reaffirms The President’s Commitment To Ensure That Integrity And Transparency Triumph Over Corruption And Lawlessness Around The World, Expand The Circle Of Prosperity, And Extend America’s Transformational Democratic Values To All Free And Open Societies.

Specifically, The Strategy Promotes Our Objectives By Committing To:

Ø Launch A Coalition Of International Financial Centers Committed To Denying Access And Financial Safe Haven To Kleptocrats. The United States Government will enhance its work with international financial partners, in the public and private sectors, to pinpoint best practices for identifying, tracing, freezing, and recovering assets illicitly acquired through kleptocracy. The U.S. will also work bilaterally and multilaterally to immobilize kleptocratic foreign public officials using financial and economic sanctions against them and their network of cronies.

Ø Vigorously Prosecute Foreign Corruption Offenses and Seize Illicitly Acquired Assets. In its continuing efforts against bribery of foreign officials, the United States Government will expand its capacity to investigate and prosecute criminal violations associated with high-level foreign official corruption and related money laundering, as well as to seize the proceeds of such crimes.

Ø Deny Physical Safe Haven. We will work closely with international partners to identify kleptocrats and those who corrupt them, and deny such persons entry and safe haven.

Ø Strengthen Multilateral Action Against Bribery. The United States will work with international partners to more vigorously investigate and prosecute those who pay or promise to pay bribes to public officials; to strengthen multilateral and national disciplines to stop bribery of foreign public officials; and to halt bribery of foreign political parties, party officials, and candidates for office.

Ø Facilitate And Reinforce Responsible Repatriation And Use. We will also work with our partners to develop and promote mechanisms that capture and dispose of recovered assets for the benefit of the citizens of countries victimized by high-level public corruption.

Ø Target And Internationalize Enhanced Capacity. The United States will target technical assistance and focus international attention on building capacity to detect, prosecute, and recover the proceeds of high-level public corruption, while helping build strong systems to promote responsible, accountable, and honest governance.

One possible advantage

The new airport rules may tame one of the most boorish monsters out there--the carry-on hog. You know who you are, trying to stuff a suitcase that could hold a small child into the overhead bin. That is why they have those signs saying "baggage claim" all over.

While on that same topic....

NOTE: The post below is mine (Peter). The wireless network at the house is on the fritz, and Xanth (my 15-year old son) was still signed in. While I'm sure he would agree with these points, I don't want his mom to bust him for dropping the F-bomb.

The topic--Missing the Point.

America's dumbest president gets off the plane from brush-clearing and headed to a fundraiser and then back to brush-clearing to tell us that whatever happened in Britain was:

"a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

George, George, George...

First of all, we are not AT WAR. We are OCCUPYING Iraq, but we are not AT WAR (if you disagree, PLEASE 1) identify the "enemy" and 2) identify the "objective." If you can't do that, from Sun Tzu to Clausewitz, shut the fuck up)

Secondly, I can also hardly find a more laughable term than "IslamoFASCISM." Fascism suggests extreme nationalism and an identity with the corporate state. Hmm, I see no NATIONALISM given these are not nation-states, And "FASCISM?" The identification of the corporate state with the polity? Hardly here (but George--see "Halliburton.").

And of course, this has NOTHING to do with OUR FREEDOMS. It has to do with international arrogance, and yes, lessons unlearned from Viet Nam and the "fall" of the "Soviet Union."

Lessons unlearned, where should I begin?

1) Be honest with your citizenry (read Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly) Admittedly, the American electorate is not comprised of rocket scientists (DocMagoo excepted) but eventually they catch on.

2) You can't bomb people into liking you.

3) Overwhelming military force cannot change fundamental realities on the ground.

And how about INTERNATIONAL ARROGANCE?

"They" don't give a damn about our "freedoms"--honestly, I wonder if we do.

They care about OUR POLICIES. They "care" about us invading an Arab country without provocation. "They" "care" about us supporting repressive regimes in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. "They" care historically about our support of the Shah, who in terms of abusive dictators, made Hussein look like the shallow end of the pool. "They" care about our unconditional support of Israel, having pissed away our role as "honest broker." "They" care about Abu Ghrahib and Gitmo and 14-year old girls raped and killed.

But what do "they" know?

Missing the Point

Well, now we know that Darth Cheney knew of the "terror" plot when he did his rant:

The thing that’s partly disturbing about it [Lieberman's loss] is the fact that, the standpoint of our adversaries, if you will, in this conflict, and the al-Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task.

My question/observation is--doesn't this whole thing prove the administration to be absolutely WRONG in their approach to "turr?" Odds are, these British "home-grown terrorists," skepticism intact, are probably pissed at their lap dog Tony Blair and his inexplicable support of W's cowboy game. So, the "war on terror" caused it and good old-fashioned police work stopped it. The administration wants war, which causes death and destruction, and they disparage "law enforcement," which stops it.

At the Battle of Yorktown, when the British surrendered, their musicians played "The World Turned Upside Down." That ditty marked the beginning of what would become the United States of America. Perhaps we should play it again.

Ground Zero Indeed

Stolen from a friend:

"For Ned Lamont to say what's happening in Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror shows how ill prepared he is to be a U.S. senator," [Lieberman spokesman Dan] Gerstein said. "Iraq, right now, is ground zero in terms of terrorist activity."

This was said AFTER homegrown terrorists in London were foiled. Ground zero for terrorist activity is in Iraq? Tell that to London.

Go jump in a woodchipper, Mr. Gerstein.

Headlines you can't resist

Teen arrested after mom found in freezer

Here's the story, but the headline works for me.

This just in!

Breaking News!

We here at The Thinker-Entertainment Tonight want to share these exclusive photos with you. We brought you the first picture of the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes baby as a newborn just moments after birth:

But we understand that there has been some controversy about the "TomKitten," as she has not been seen publicly, and some have even wondered if she actually exists, given her father's Scientology connection. Rest assured, we have photos, and you can see that Suri is beautiful and completely normal. Enjoy!

From Vice President Vader

The thing that’s partly disturbing about it [Lieberman's loss] is the fact that, the standpoint of our adversaries, if you will, in this conflict, and the al Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task.

Over under on the time it takes the MSM to blame Ned Lamont for the UK airplane bombing plot?

Fox News, you're on the clock.

Well, it IS true...

Separated at birth? (voice more than looks)

You have to be of a certain age, but if you can remember, just take














and replace him with the dad from Alf















Shamelessly stolen from Jim Ward's impression on the Stephanie Miller Show.

From the "Missing the point" files

What We Stand For

Administration Seeks to Weaken War Crimes Law
Changes would end risk of prosecution for political appointees, CIA officers
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post

The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a war crimes law that would eliminate the risk of prosecution for political appointees, CIA officers and former military personnel for humiliating or degrading war prisoners, according to U.S. officials and a copy of the amendments. Officials say the amendments would alter a U.S. law passed in the mid-1990s that criminalized violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties governing military conduct in wartime.


Call me crazy, but to me it seems that a better way to avoid prosecutions as war criminals is NOT TO COMMIT WAR CRIMES??

The administration has never gotten it. Let's accept just for a moment for the sake of discussion their laughable premise that these, um, "measures" are necessary to win the "war" on "turr." What is the ultimate result? Our personnel will suffer, take that to the bank. They fail to understand the whole point of international law, and it is a very simple one. WE should respect its norms so that we have a cogent, legitimate basis for asking others to do the same when necessary for our benefit. It boils down to credibility, and sadly, that pot has long since boiled dry.

There was a fever over the land. A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all, there was fear. Fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbors, and fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that - can you understand what Hitler meant to us. Because he said to us: 'Lift your heads! Be proud to be German! There are devils among us. Communists, Liberals, Jews, Gypsies! Once these devils will be destroyed, your misery will be destroyed.' It was the old, old story of the sacrifical lamb. What about those of us who knew better? We who knew the words were lies and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part? Because we loved our country! What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights?

Dr. Ernst Janning from Judgment at Nuremberg

In the film, Judge Haywood responds:

But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men - even able and extraordinary men - can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget....There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the "protection" of the country. Of "survival". The answer to that is, survival as what? A country isn't a rock, and it isn't an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world - let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for, justice, truth and the value of a single human being!

Letters to IL Senators about Lieberman

Dear Senator Durbin (and Obama):

Mine will only be one of a chorus of voices that will likely inundate your office within the coming days.

Within the last several months, I have increased my activism through contributions to Democratic candidates at both the Senate and House levels. I have contributed to incumbents as well as upstart challengers looking to advance the Democratic agenda and take our country back from those who have mismanaged, embarrassed and otherwise ruined our reputation at home and abroad.

As I watched events unfold tonight in Connecticut, particularly with Senator Lieberman abandoning the party in the wake of his loss to Ned Lamont, I must ask that you and your fellow Democratic Senate colleagues congratulate and support the Democratic nominee put forth by the voters of Connecticut, Ned Lamont.

We are all sad to lose colleagues with whom we work. I recently lost an election for a position on a board for an Association in my industry. I congratulated the winning candidate and wished him the best while still finding other ways to stay involved. Senator Lieberman should NOT put forth his candidacy as an Independent. The current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue thought that what HE had was a "mandate to spend political capital" and that hasn't exactly worked out so well, either.

I work for a family owned business that my father started nearly thirty years ago. When employees would give us two weeks notice that they were departing, more often than not my father would just go to the warehouse, get a box and tell people to pack up their belongings and go. His philosophy is to this day that if someone has decided that they don't want to be part of our team anymore, they have broken a trust and really hold further place within our organization.

The same applies for Senator Lieberman. His outright lies during his speech this evening, his snark about what happened with his website today (which proves to be of his OWN doing) and the continued denigration of the party, its members and apparatus, should serve as a message to all Democrats that he's only in it for himself.

Joe Lieberman is now persona non grata as far as I am concerned within the party. He should not benefit from party fundraising efforts nor from campaign assistance from other Democrats. I hope that you feel the same in this matter as I do.

Sincerely,

Weasel

Lieberman loses primary

Will run as an independent

Lieberman to voters - Go Cheney yourself!

CT-Senate Update

Results Page

10:54 pm EDT 93.85% of Precincts Reporting

Lamont, Ned 134,942 51.65
Lieberman, Joe 126,330 48.35

10:12 pm EDT 81.28% of Precincts Reporting

Lamont, Ned 116,387 51.71
Lieberman, Joe 108,683 48.29

9:52 pm EDT 71.79% of Precincts Reporting

Lamont, Ned 100,425 51.61
Lieberman, Joe 94,148 48.39

9:47 pm EDT 64.71% of Precincts Reporting

Lamont, Ned 89,814 51.60
Lieberman, Joe 84,231 48.40

9:33 pm EDT 50.27% of Precincts Reporting

Lamont, Ned 70,444 52.13
Lieberman, Joe 64,700 47.87

9:22 pm EDT - 38.37% of precincts reporting

Lamont, Ned 61,449 53.62
Lieberman, Joe 53,159 46.38

8:58 pm EDT

Lamont, Ned 25,969 57.79%
Lieberman, Joe 18,968 42.21%

8:40 pm EDT
Connecticut
U.S. Senate
Democrat
Candidate Votes Percent Winner
Ned Lamont 6,814 60%
Joe Lieberman 4,586 40%
Precincts Reporting - 29 out of 0 - 4%

CT-Senate may be a taste of November...

If anybody has any time today (and hell knows I don't but I'm getting caught up in the moment), you really should be watching events unfold in Connecticut. Ned Lamont, who came from nowhere to give Bush kisser Joe Lieberman a real fight is locked in a neck and neck battle.

Joe's campaign website went down (www.joe2006.com) and they're blaming Lamont's supporters for a denial of service attack on the server. There are some really damn bright people at Dailykos and MyDD disproving and fighting it as best as they can right now.

The media is once again portraying Joe as the victim...Joe isn't the victim; he's been the one on the assault by being the guy who supports the President on Iraq, wouldn't help in blocking the Alito nomination and in general, giving away the farm and our way of life.

Bugger him, bugger his incumbent ilk and go, Ned, go.

Presidenting for Dummies

"You know, I hear people say, well, civil war this, civil war that. The Iraqi people decided against civil war when they went to the ballot box. "

Let's see, there, George, I have a couple of things for you.

You did know that the "Iraqi people" voted EXACTLY along sectarian lines, reflecting the same ideological, religious and ethnic divisions underlying today's violence?

You do realize that the Iraqi "government" has just about the same amount of power, legitimacy and sovereignty as does the Homecoming Court at Crawford High?

And would you please let the "elections" (the elections you never wanted, by the way) go? I heard you were taking a couple of books on Lincoln to camp to the "Western White House" with you. You might want to read the part where it was the absolutely constitutional, legal and democratic election of Mr. Lincoln that prompted South Carolina to reject federal authority, leading to, you know--CIVIL WAR.

Sectarian Strife Re-enactors

Would you like warlords with that?

While the Bushites whistle their happy tune completely divorced from reality, Middle East Fuckup Version 1.0 is getting far worse in a big hurry. As "sectarian violence" escalates (so does that mean that those guys who wear Union and Confederate uniforms in staged battles and campsites are "Sectarian Violence re-enactors?"), it is also metastasizing into something far worse. Time correspondent Aparism Ghosh has a cover story this week entitled Life in Hell: A Baghdad Diary.

I haven't read it yet, but I just heard him interviewed and he said that even the relative "stability" of the Shi'a militia-controlled south is turning to violence as the various militias are fighting to establish Afghani warlord-style supremacy.

Something is on the march, and it is NOT freedom.

Schmidlap, you're right on this one

I am a firm believer that stupidity should be painful, and I enjoy in particular mocking the stupid who voluntarily publicly display their mental shortcomings through their comical letters to the editor, accompanied by my favorite "Go sit in corner, dumbass" graphic:

But as the wise Schmidlap said, "[h]owever, there are flavors of stupid out there that are anything but funny. They are dangerous, hateful, vile, and destructive. A cute picture and caption doesn't cut it as a response."

Here is such a case that reeks with repulsiveness, courtesy of Nancy Michalica of Clarendon Hills, Illinois.

Mel: Big deal. Madonna: Who cares?

Why is it that so many are so concerned with the comments a drunken movie star makes while Madonna prances around the world wearing a crown of thorns perched upon a mirrored cross and no one bats an eye? Go figure.

For starters, Nancy, Madonna has received significant public criticism for her routine (otherwise, how would a brain wizard like you have heard about it?)

But Nancy, if you can't tell the difference between a miserable miscreant spewing soul-poisoning hatred and a PERFORMER singing a song while (perhaps tastelessly to some) trying to draw attention to the AIDS epidemic, you really shouldn't be living among decent people.

I also don't recall Madonna abusing the police and endangering innocent people by driving 85 mph while impaired in a residential area. Nancy, wake up and get a clue. No, skip that. Forget the clue, just go straight to hell--via Schmidlap's woodchipper:.

Hypotheticals

On ABC's This Week With George Stephanopolous, Secretary of State Rice referred to civil war in Iraq as a "hypothetical." She added that "I'm not going to deal with a hypothetical and that's what this is. This is a hypothetical. Because I think what General Abizaid was saying -- and the tense is very important here. He said -- he didn't say they're sliding to civil war. He said that, yes, the sectarian violence is as bad as he's ever seen it. But he made very clear that we have the forces and, he believes, the plan to prevent any slide to civil war."

Below is a photo from her appearance on the show:

One more quote

From the article below:

Beyond that, Israel and its friends in the United States should seriously reconsider their alliances not only with the neocons, but also with the Christian Right. The largest "pro-Israel" lobby day during this crisis was mobilized by Pastor John Hagee and his Christians United For Israel, a believer in Armageddon with all its implications for a rather particular end to the Jewish story. This is just asking to become the mother of all dumb, self-defeating and morally abhorrent alliances.

Gee, ya think? You do realize that these people ONLY want to bring the world to an end, and anticpate that their Jewish friends will have a cooling dip in the eternity of the Lake of Fire? Are these the kind of people you want as your "friends?"

Scurrilous rumor center

Things that make you go hmmm......

Crawford, Texas:

Denver, Colorado (after a solo vacation to Alaska):

A Great Quote

From an Israeli publication, on the dangers of dancing the Neocon Tango:

Israel does have enemies, interests and security imperatives, but there is no logic in the country volunteering itself for the frontline of an ideologically misguided and avoidable war of civilizations.

Another reason we shouldn't drill in ANWR

Aside from it not being anything other than a boon for the oil companies. From CNN:

BP shuts largest U.S. oil field due to damaged pipeline

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In a blow to drivers already struggling with high gasoline prices, BP was forced to shut off about 8 percent of the nation's oil supply after discovering "unexpectedly severe corrosion" in the Alaskan pipeline.

BP announced early Monday that the pipeline problems had caused it to begin the first shutdown ever in the biggest oilfield in the United States, Alaska's Prudhoe Bay.
...
Oil analyst Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover, said shutting down an oil field is an expensive and risky step that is only taken in extreme circumstances. He said that suggests the 400,000 barrels a day produced in Prudhoe Bay could be shut off for some time to come.
...And the funny part
Beutel said he expects about a 5 cent a gallon rise in gasoline futures due to the pipeline problems.

So futures will go up 5 cents. How much do you expect we'll see at the pump? A quarter? It went up 20 cents this week for no apparent reason.

The outage will cut global daily oil output by about half a percent, putting more strain on an already tight market. Beutel said he believed the news in Alaska was outweighing even new threats out of Iran to shut production there if that country is hit with United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program.

"This is almost all Alaska," he said about Monday's price hikes. "It doesn't look like something that will have a quick fix or can be ignored by the markets. I think it's going to be measured in weeks, not days, and it could drag on for months."

And now with our jihad weather, Donald Rumsfeld

"Does the violence [in Afghanistan] tend to be up during the summer, in the spring, summer and fall months? Yes it does. And it tends to decline during the winter period. Does that represent failed policy? I don’t know. I would say not."

Because of course, the Taliban winters in Anguilla. They used to jihad off-season in St. Barts, but that is SO last year.

If

So I turned on "This Week" this morning, and the guest is the US Secretary of Making Things Worse, Condaleeza Rice. George Stephanopolous asked her if, as Congress has asked about (Republicans no less), Iraq does become embroiled in a civil war (BTW, if??), Bush would pull US troops out. It seems clear that much of Congress does not want the troops to stay there if there is a civil war.

Rice's response is that the question is a hypothetical (it contains the word if, after all), and she won't answer hypotheticals.

This is the same administration that has adopted Dick Cheney's 1% Solution, where if (there's that word again) there's a 1% chance that someone could be planning an attack on the US, we have to act pre-emptively and attack first. So we'll invade foreign countries based on a 1% fear, but knowing that Iraq is undergoing the worst sectarian violence since we've been there, where the chance of civil war has to be much greater than 1%, Secretary of Horrible Diplomacy Rice can't even discuss what we might do if it did break out.

Of course, we know this government never plans ahead, so maybe they really don't know.

Go jump in a woodchipper, Mr. President

I'm browsing the online world this morning, and I come across this post by Schmidlap, who recounts the truly tragic story of the Lindner family, and the sole surviving member, forced to live in a world where he hears things like "You have to trust that God had a higher purpose for them in heaven" from his neighbor.

Now, I'm fortunate in that most of the truly religious people I know aren't nuts. They're fascinating people to know and great people to spend time with. In a moment like this, they would believe that Mr. Lindner's family was in heaven, but they would also understand the utter agony he'd be going through, and know that platitudes would be insulting at best.

There is, however, a group of people who really does believe that "good Christians" go to heaven when they die, but that is somehow a goal - not heaven, death. And if they can help bring about the end times for all of us, they're doing God's work. They even track how close we are to Armageddon, in their twisted little minds.

I understand belief. I understand faith. But that's just mind-boggling - that they believe so strongly in this amazing afterlife that they would be happy to see this world come to an end, and all life in the universe that we've ever known, just to meet their God. Now, a decent human being, even one who believed in God and heaven, would say "Well, God created this world, and this life for me, and if I don't live it the best I can, and follow the rules he set down on how to treat other people the best I can, I'm insulting God, and that's wrong."

But these people aren't decent, not in the way they treat others. And they have a leader. Not James "Dog-kicker" Dobson. Not Jerry "Teletubby" Falwell. Their President, and sadly mine as well, George W. Bush.

From the Nieman Watchdog, published by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University

Bush, who says he reads the Bible daily, acknowledges his fundamentalist beliefs. Biblical and Middle East scholar Karen Armstrong writes in The Guardian, "Whatever Bush's personal beliefs, the ideology of the Christian right is both familiar and congenial to him. This strange amalgam of ideas can perhaps throw light on the behavior of a president who, it is said, believes God chose him to lead the world toward Rapture, who has little interest in social reform, and whose selective concern for life issues has now inspired him to veto important scientific research.

"It explains his unconditional support for Israel, his willingness to use 'Jewish End-Time warriors' to fulfill a vision of his own, arguably against Israel's best interest, and to see Syria and Iran...as entirely responsible for the unfolding tragedy."
...
As she notes, Bush and his administration not only rely on Christian fundamentalists, he espouses many of their ideals, including their belief that "the second coming of Christ is at hand" but Christ cannot return unless, "in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, the Jews are in possession of the Holy Land."
...
Political scientist Kevin Phillips, in his book "American Theocracy," says the Republican Party has become the "vehicle for religious policymaking and eventual erosion" of the separation of church and state. He estimates that 55 percent of Bush voters in 2004 believed in the coming of Armageddon and cheered American involvement in Iraq, one of the world's "evils," in Bush's apocalyptic view.

Writing for the Nation in May, Phillips said, "The last arena of theological influence, almost as important as sex, birth and mortality, involves American foreign policy, bringing us to the connections among the 'war on terror,' the Rapture, the end of times, Armageddon and the thinly disguised U.S. crusade against radical Islam...In the months before George W. Bush sent U.S. troops into Iraq, his inspirational reading each morning was a book of sermons by a Scottish preacher accompanying troops about to march on Jerusalem."

Think about that some more. Our national policy is being influenced by the idea that Israel needs to be in possession of the holy land so that Jesus can return? Humanitarian efforts be damned - we need to make sure that Armaggedon can arrive soon. Now, I'm not a biblical scholar, but I have read the book, and I seem to recall at least some of the teachings having to do with helping others, especially the poor and oppressed.

But why should we help poor people if the world's coming to an end? If they're good Christians, they'll go to heaven.

But why should we worry about global warming or the environment if the world's coming to an end? (Remember James Watt, Secretary of the Interior under Reagan? "After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.") These people truly believe that since the end times will come, how we treat the earth doesn't matter.

Why, indeed, should we care about human lives (Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Darfur, Stem Cells), if the world's coming to an end? Again, I'm not a biblical scholar, but I think Jesus would have an answer:

Go Jump Into A Wood Chipper, Mr. President.

I didn't know I was gay...

Army Dismisses Gay Arabic Linguist

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified......On Dec. 2, investigators formally interviewed Copas and asked if he understood the military's policy on homosexuals, if he had any close acquaintances who were gay, and if he was involved in community theater. He answered affirmatively.

Delusional

From Donald Rumsfeld:

"If we left Iraq prematurely, the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East. And if we left the Middle East, they'd order us and all those who don't share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines."

So Don is now the modern-day Charles Martel, making Europe's last stand against the "Mohamedans" at the Battle of Tours in 732--or perhaps just a delusional, embittered old man.

But anyway--DOES TALK LIKE THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

Betcha the Shrub leaves today even though Tony didn't

From CNN.com this morning:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair will delay the start of his holiday to work on a U.N. deal for a cease-fire in Lebanon, his office says.

While there are those on that side of the pond who accuse him of being Drinky's be-zatch (and they might well be right) and continuing heat pours down on him, at least even the gesture of propriety seems to be in order.

Tony won't leave for vacation until something gets settled. W won't come back from vacation, even in the face of a national disaster.

We may think what we may about the Brits (and the rest of the planet) but let's face it, the world understands, I dunno...the world. Meanwhile, we've got Condi flapping around the globe in her plane like Steve fucking Fossett racking up miles and catching up on this year's hottest inflight movie releases.

For whatever reason yesterday, I was thinking what a rebuke it would be if the UN decided to up and take their HQ and put it someplace else like, Dubai. Or Paris. Or Hong Kong. Shanghai. Cities that are growing and represent a diverse opinion but moreover, an understanding of what happens globally and the fact that whether we want to throw up our silly little walls being guarded by the Minutemen militia because we gotta keep "them" out and "us" protected.

Take the lens caps off the binoculars, W. There's a big bad world out there.

Desperate

Desperate (des·per·ate--adj) Having lost all hope; reckless or violent because of despair; undertaken out of extreme urgency or as a last resort

Now, see it in action.

First, read Doc's post below:

And then take a gander at this from Talking Points Memo:

GOP Donors Funded Entire PA Green Party Drive
By Paul Kiel - August 2, 2006, 4:00 PM

OK, we've done it. We've nailed it down: Every single contributor to the Pennsylvania Green Party Senate candidate is actually a conservative -- except for the candidate himself.

The Luzerne County Green Party raised $66,000 in the month of June in order to fund a voter signature drive. The Philly Inquirer reported yesterday that $40,000 came from supporters of Rick Santorum's campaign (or their housemates). Also yesterday, we confirmed that another $15,000 came from GOP donors and conservatives. Only three contributions, totaling $11,000, remained as possible legit donations. Today, I confirmed that those came from GOP sources.

I think he got all of that one...

From The Onion...

Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self

August 2, 2006 | Issue 42•31

WASHINGTON, DC—In a decisive 1–0 decision Monday, President Bush voted to grant the president the constitutional power to grant himself additional powers.

"As president, I strongly believe that my first duty as president is to support and serve the president," Bush said during a televised address from the East Room of the White House shortly after signing his executive order. "I promise the American people that I will not abuse this new power, unless it becomes necessary to grant myself the power to do so at a later time."

Read it all. This one's something special.

Lyrics II

Political Science
Randy Newman

No one likes us
I don't know why.
We may not be perfect
But heaven knows we try.
But all around even our old friends put us down.
Let's drop the big one and see what happens.

We give them money
But are they grateful?
No they're spiteful
And they're hateful.
They don't respect us so let's surprise them;
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them.

Now Asia's crowded
And Europe's too old.
Africa's far too hot,
And Canada's too cold.
And South America stole our name.
Let's drop the big one; there'll be no one left to blame us.

We'll save Australia;
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo.
We'll build an all-American amusement park there;
They've got surfing, too.

Well, boom goes London,
And boom Paris.
More room for you
And more room for me.
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town.
Oh, how peaceful it'll be;
We'll set everybody free;
You'll have Japanese kimonos, baby,
There'll be Italian shoes for me.
They all hate us anyhow,
So let's drop the big one now.
Let's drop the big one now.

Lyrics of the Week

Oooo you cannot reach me now,
Oooo no matter how you try.
Goodbye cruel world, it's over.
Walk on by.

Sitting in a bunker,
Here behind my wall,
Waiting for the worms to come. ( worms to come. )
In perfect isolation,
Here behind my wall,
Waiting for the worms to come. ( worms to come. )

Waiting, to cut out the deadwood.
Waiting, to clean up the city.
Waiting, to follow the worms.
Waiting, to put on a black shirt.
Waiting, to weed out the weaklings.
Waiting, to smash in their windows and kick in their doors.
Waiting, for the final solution to strengthen the strain.
Waiting, to follow the worms.
Waiting, to turn on the showers and fire the ovens.
Waiting, for the queers and the coons and the reds and the jews.
Waiting, to follow the worms.

Would you like to see britannia,
Rule again, my friend?
All you have to do is follow the worms.
Would you like to send our colored cousins,
Home again, my friend?
All you need to do is follow the worms.

-- Roger Waters

Insert your own caption

Iran, Syria--who cares?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Want me to start? My message is, give up your nuclear weapon and your nuclear weapon ambitions. That's my message to Syria--I mean, to Iran. And my message to Syria is, become an active participant in the neighborhood for peace.

Neighborhood? Who are you, Mr. Rogers? Are they "folks" too?

From the White House page--at least they don't edit the stupidity.

Meanwhile, back in Frostbite Falls

Bombings, shootings kill 61 in Iraq

By Ahmed Rasheed and Aseel Kami

Bombings and shootings killed up to 61 people in Iraq on Tuesday, including at least 26 soldiers, undermining the government's attempts to show it can suppress unremitting violence.

A roadside bomb attack on a bus filled with Iraqi troops on a road between Tikrit and Baiji, north of Baghdad, killed at least 23, the army said. In the northwestern town of Tal Afar, a car bomb killed three more Iraqi soldiers and wounded four, police said.

A British soldier was killed in a mortar attack on an army base in the southern city of Basra, a British military spokesman said. In Baghdad, a suicide bomber in a car targeted soldiers collecting their salaries from a bank, killing at least 10 people, including an elderly woman, police said. State television put the toll at 14.

Thanks Tony

I'm feeling nostalgic lately (perhaps it is the impending end of civilization as we know it that is bringing it on). Here is the wit and wisdom of Antonin Scalia, from the preliminary ruling granting the cert petition in Bush v. Gore:

The counting of votes that are of questionable legality does in my view threaten irreparable harm to petitioner, and to the country, by casting a cloud upon what he claims to be the legitimacy of his election. Count first, and rule upon legality afterwards, is not a recipe for producing election results that have the public acceptance democratic stability requires.

I sure am glad the Bush administration doesn't have a cloud on its legitimacy, aren't you?

And don't even get me started on "irreparable harm to...the country."

The Embargo is a Success!

After only 47 years, the US government's policy towards Cuba and the communist regime of Fidel Castro has finally borne fruit. At 79 years old, Castro has succumbed to stress and is undergoing surgery. While he recuperates, he has turned power over, back to the people, in the form of his often-overlooked brother.

Raul Castro, 75, is the first vice president of the country and designated successor to his brother. He also assumes control over the armed forces and leadership of the Communist Party, according to the statement.

Green Party continues to be a puppet of the GOP

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Thanks to the generosity of GOP donors, a Green Party candidate is expected to make it onto the ballot in Pennsylvania's Senate race and siphon votes from Democratic front-runner Bob Casey in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.
...
Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, making his first bid for statewide elective office, acknowledged Monday that Republican contributors probably supplied most of the $100,000 that he said he spent gathering signatures to qualify for the Nov. 7 ballot.
...
"I have friends in all political parties. It's just that my Republican friends are more confident about standing with me than my Democratic friends. And as a group, my Republican friends are a little better off," he said in a telephone interview.

So, what's the lesson in all this? Green Party candidates are solely driven by ego, and are dumb as a box of people who still support W. You're taking money from Republicans and votes from Democrats. You're not going to win, Mr. Romanelli. Hope that GOP hand shoved up your backside feels good.

President Has Annual Physical

(AP) President Bush had his first scheduled physical after turning 60 today at Bethesda Naval Hospital. The president's doctors declared him to be "dumb as a bag of hammers bordering on bat-fucking crazy--dangerous, man, he's just damned dangerous!"

They just don't get it

Howard Dean says "the Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite. We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion dollars bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe Israel doesn't have the right to defend itself and to refuse to condemn Hezbollah." Sen Dick Durbin also criticized the prime minister for not renouncing Hezbollah.

Gentlemen, you just don't get it.

Dean was in Palm Beach gladhanding in a critical state, trying to rally the base, but he, along with Durbin, made a huge miscalculation. First of all, the prime minister's government cannot even control the Iraqi capital. He is a Shi'a Muslim in a country dominated by Shi'a Muslims, and Hezbollah is a Shi'a movement. It would be political, and perhaps actual suicide for Maliki to have dramatically denounced the group. That is even more true if it appeared he was caving in to U.S. pressure, where he would return to find himself as either the puppet

or the harem eunuch

--take your pick.

We also have to remember that Hezbollah is not just a group of "terrorists." The group combines elements of a Shi'a religious party, a local political structure and a Lebanese national movement. We do a real disservice to reasoned discourse by blindly lumping them in simply as "terrorists." They have the support of hundreds of thousands of people and are a force to be reckoned with. Once again we see U.S. policymakers stumbling around in a situation they just don't understand.

Hard picture to look at

More memories

While on the topic of misty water-colored memories, I would like for you to think back. First to the roller coaster of emotions from November 2000 and then on to that December, that dark cold night when the Supreme Court issued its incomprehensible and indefensible Bush v. Gore opinion. How did you feel those nights? I was horrified, but could find some small solace in the notion of "how bad could it really be?" Sure, I thought, we'll get a few wingnuts on the federal bench, some environmental rules will be rolled back and the rich will get their cut, but I never imagined this. Not in my wildest nightmare did I anticipate how much permanent damage to the country and the world could be inflicted by one administration.

What about you?

(p.s. I would really like to have a chat--insert "Louisville Slugger" here--with Ralph Nader right about now)

Misty watercolored memories..

"Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed."

From the "Emergency Decree" drafted by Adolf Hitler in February 1933 after the Reichstag fire.

Conspiracy Corner

Wayne Madsen's blog is an interesting read. He has quite a few tinfoil hats in his closet, and can really be rather far out there. He did give us juicy bits like a W-Condi sexual affair and Tony Blair's sexual attraction to the president (finally an explanation for the PMs bizarre slavish lapdog behavior!) . While I have no interest in who the president is sleeping with, I do care who he screws, and according to Madsen, it just may be the whole world.

July 22/23, 2006 -- The Israeli invasion of Lebanon was planned between top Israeli officials and members of the Bush administration. On June 17 and 18, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Likud Knesset member Natan Sharansky met with Vice President Dick Cheney at the American Enterprise Institute conference in Beaver Creek, Colorado. There, the impending Israeli invasions of both Gaza and Lebanon were discussed. After receiving Cheney's full backing for the invasion of Gaza and Lebanon, Netanyahu flew back to Israel and participated in a special "Ex-Prime Ministers" meeting, in which he conveyed the Bush administration's support for the carrying out of the "Clean Break" policy--the trashing of all past Middle East peace accords, including Oslo. Present at the meeting, in addition to Netanyahu, were current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres.

Of course, the (vice) presidential objective is a showdown with Iran.

Crazy? Look at it this way--would you put it past them?

Maliki's souvenier T-shirt

The Baseball Hall of Fame--and Idiot Voters

I love baseball. I love Cub baseball (as does wink wink Doc Magoo--ya think?)

and

I have always wanted to go to Cooperstown.

But--I am angered by some of the idiots who hold the ballots for baseball's Valhalla.

Idiot in point, Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune.

He wrote this week that

"I never voted for [Bruce] Sutter, who failed to make the Hall until his 13th try. To me, his stats didn't stack up with those who threw thousands more innings."

Hello McFly--he was playing a DIFFERENT POSITION from starters with those "thousands more innings???

He adds that "Sammy Sosa strongly believes he is a legitimate Hall of Famer. He thinks Mark McGwire is one also.Me too. I intend to vote for both unless a day comes when I know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that these guys did what so many accuse them of having done."

Say the words, Mike. STEROIDS. ILLEGAL DRUGS. CHEATING.

Mike, take a glance at these photos. Notice any differences?

That buffoon has no business voting for the Hall of Fame.

We'll trade you $2.10 for a few million

Wow, what a deal. The working poor would get an extra $2.10 an hour under the House bill and the super rich get $5 million free from any estate taxes. Such a deal.

Gather 'round, boys and girls, it's DUMBASS time!

Mary Williams Stone of Wilmette, Illinois, COME ON DOWN!

Bush and Science

President Bush has been categorized as "anti-science" because of his veto of additional stem cell funding. In fact he demonstrates a greater grasp of scientific advances than his critics have when he rejects arguments in favor of funding "possible," "theoretical" or "potential" benefits from cannibalizing the smallest members of our species, whom "science" has proven beyond a doubt are fully capable of growing into developed, healthy adults.

Mary Williams Stone:

Collateral Damage?

Interesting piece in Salon (you have to watch a dumb ad to read the whole thing, but no registration)

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/28/hezbollah/

...Throughout this now 16-day-old war, Israeli planes high above civilian areas make decisions on what to bomb. They send huge bombs capable of killing things for hundreds of meters around their targets, and then blame the inevitable civilian deaths -- the Lebanese government says 600 civilians have been killed so far -- on "terrorists" who callously use the civilian infrastructure for protection.

But this claim is almost always false. My own reporting and that of other journalists reveals that in fact Hezbollah fighters -- as opposed to the much more numerous Hezbollah political members, and the vastly more numerous Hezbollah sympathizers -- avoid civilians. Much smarter and better trained than the PLO and Hamas fighters, they know that if they mingle with civilians, they will sooner or later be betrayed by collaborators -- as so many Palestinian militants have been....

Browsing through my iTunes

I ran across this song, which always bears another listen. Thanks to Eric Idle, who shows that he hasn't lost the golden touch. (Warning: NSFW)

Bad economy. Worse writing.

From USAToday.com:

Economic growth slowed abruptly during the second quarter to less than half the pace seen at the beginning of the year, while a key gauge of inflation accelerated, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Gross domestic product grew at a 2.5% annual rate in the April-June quarter, well below Wall Street analysts' forecasts for 3% and less than half the robust 5.6% rate registered in the first quarter. Slower consumer spending, especially on costly durable goods like new cars, was a key reason for slower expansion.

At the same time, an inflation gauge favored by the Federal Reserve — a measure of personal consumption expenditure prices minus food and energy — rose at a 2.9% rate in the second quarter, well ahead of the first quarter's 2.1%. Department officials said it was the fastest rate of increase for the gauge in nearly a dozen years, since the third quarter of 1994 when it jumped at a 3.2% rate.

So, the economy grew by less than expected, and inflation was up more than expected. Let's cut some taxes!

Now, for the extra-special writing: The 2.5% pace was the slowest since a 1.8% growth rate in final quarter of 2005, when the economy was suffering fallout from the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes.

The slowest since the final quarter of 2005. Which was two quarters ago. That's like saying "It's hotter today on any day since Wednesday."

Jeebus.

____________________________________

Dry paint

Maureen Dowd on W: That's what is so frustrating about watching him deal - or not deal - with Iraq and Lebanon. There's almost nothing to watch.

It's not even like watching paint dry, since that, too, is a passage from one state to another. It's like watching dry paint.

The text of the bill

This is the bill that Arlen Specter has told us that will be introduced to Congress regarding Presidential signing statements.

Title: To regulate the judicial use of presidential signing statements in the interpretation of Acts of Congress.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Presidential Signing Statements Act of 2006”.

Continued here, thanks to Talking Points Memo

America should be held back a grade

We obviously don't get it:

Harris Poll: Half of Americans Still Believe Iraq Had WMD

Despite several years of official and press reports to the contrary, a new Harris poll finds that half of adult Americans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) when the United States invaded the country in 2003. This is actually up from 36% last year, a Harris poll finds. The polling company itself called this "surprising" -- considering that no WMD were ever found and U.S. inspectors have confirmed the non-existence of active weapons.

In early summer, there were reports that 500 shells once containing mustard or sarin gas nerve agents were found buried long ago in Iraq but they were judged by experts and military officials as decrepit and useless by 2003.

In another finding wildly diverging from most expert opinion and media reports, Harris found that 64% said Saddam Hussein had "strong links" with al-Qaeda, up from 62% in October 2004.

From Editor and Publisher.

I love you too, sweetums

Condi and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert share an intimate look.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

No, NOT him. I was referring to her:









Isn't it remarkable that Condi, Rummy and even Chimpy have to make "surprise" visits out of the country? Gee, I wonder why. It wouldn't have anything to do with the rest of the world HATING us, would it?

More

More troops in Baghdad now.

30k UN troops in Lebanon?

Someone better make some more coffins.

Now, I don't know what any of that means, but it sounds bad

So please, don't tell me what I know, or don't know; I know the law! - Lt. Daniel Kaffee, A Few Good Men

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's penchant for writing exceptions to laws he has just signed violates the Constitution, an American Bar Association task force says in a report highly critical of the practice.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Arlen Specter, said yesterday that he is ``seriously considering" filing legislation to give Congress legal standing to sue President Bush over his use of signing statements to reserve the right to bypass laws.

What's the point of a cease-fire?

That's the position of the Bush Administration. They want Hezbollah destroyed, and they're perfectly willing to let Israel do it, and damned be the innocent. Of course, they say that they don't want innocent lives lost, so let me offer this one bit of information - the point of a cease-fire would be, I do believe, so that Lebanon could perhaps attempt to do what you're asking (expel Hezbollah) without more people getting killed. Now, that would take skillful diplomacy, and might not work, but hell, at least people could flee without bombs dropping on their heads. And if it doesn't work, and there's 10 months of non-violence before more war, well, that's 10 months where no one got killed. I would think that would have value to someone who espoused supporting a culture of life.

Shadows

First of all, I am returning to academia this fall, teaching a couple of sections of U.S. history at the local college. Pity the youth of America!

While dusting off the bookshelf to get ready for the fall (I haven't taught since 1998), I came across an oldie but a goody--Viet Nam and the United States by Hans Morgenthau that I picked off the used shelf 25 years ago. Dr. M died in 1980. This monograph was published in 1965, and is an amazing time capsule, as he wrote this without knowing what happened in Viet Nam--or today. Dr. Morgenthau wrote that

we have consistently confounded the shadow of national power with its substance, the prestige of the nation with the actuality of its power, ephemeral public relations with the stability of the national prestige, the prestige of the policy-makers with the prestige of the nation.

1965--the more things change....

Who said what?

"The U.S. occupation is butcher's work under the slogan of democracy and human rights and justice."

Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

It sure is a cute little house...

Check out this adorable little cottage:

This is what $400,000 buys you.

FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.

This little house sits on a 90' by 60' lot around the corner from me. I live about 40 miles north of Chicago, and admittedly it is a nice spot to live. It is a suburb that was an actual town before urban sprawl, with a real sense of community, great schools and a cute little downtown with local shops and restaurants--but this is insane.

Tiny houses with huge mortgages, kids leaving college $100,000+ in debt, credit cards maxed out across the country, the inflationary ripple effect of gas prices starting to show up in everything we buy from strawberries to replacement windows all at the same time that the president is treating the treasury like his personal trust fund. Some people may look at the picture above and see a cute little house. I look at it and see impending disaster.

The anti-intellectual right

One of the things that the neocons have done that frustrates us so much is demonize knowledge. Experts, especially educated ones, are "ivory tower liberals" or elitists, and their goal is to prevent you from having the freedom to think what you want, regardless of the validity of their arguments. The upshot of this is that in a debate between a total moron and a true expert in a field, all the moron has to do to win is call the expert some names, deride them for being out of touch with "normal citizens", and make them appear different to other total morons. Suddenly, the person who could have been the teacher becomes an outcast, and nothing else they say has any merit. The right has worked very hard on this, because they know they lose many arguments on fact, and they're more interested in winning than in truth. And the person with knowledge is left standing there saying "But, I have evidence..." and hearing "Elitist! Trying to tell me what I believe isn't right. How dare you insult me and my family that way!"

Case in point, one vulgar, offensive, obnoxious, blowhard. Rush Limbaugh, from Media Matters (Warning - reading this may cause your head to explode. If that happens, go lie down quietly somewhere and dream of better things.):

This -- the -- I think we need to re-examine this whole term "scientist." You know, there are certain things in our culture that are never questioned. They have instant credibility. If a scientist says anything, [gasp] it's gotta be true. Scientists have this aura. Another one is law enforcement: "Sources close to the investigation say." They're never doubted. Law enforcement is always believed. It's never questioned, particularly by the media, and by most of us. And this is not a political bias; it's just the way it is.

It is why global warming has become a scientific thing, because nobody can question science. Why, scientists, smarter than everybody else. And science is science. Science is not politics -- well, it's absolutely BS. Science is all about politics, and science has been so wrong about so many things. They're not infallible, and this is the context of Fumento's piece, because there is so much demagoguery about embryonic stem cells and how they're the only ones that will provide miraculous cures for all of these dreaded diseases that wipe us out.

It's obvious, of course, that Rush either knows nothing about science or is pretending not to know for effect. There is a reason that science and scientists hold the place they do in our society, and it's not that they're perfect beings, incapable of error. It's that the process that science goes through (you know, the scientific method...) is one that minimizes partiality to a significant degree, rewards evidence, and allows ideas that are found to be wrong to be replaced by better ideas. We live in a world where science has changed everything we do - the places we live, the things we use, the food we eat, the way we heal when sick - everything. Cars. Computers. Plastic. Vaccines. It's not just technology, it's the process by which we understand the natural world.

(I'm not going to comment on the law enforcement thing. Apparently, he's just having drug-induced flashbacks.)

So, the word of a scientist, or more importantly, the scientific community, should carry more weight than the opinion of, say, a radio talk-show host. These are people who have investigated some phenomena, tested hypotheses, thrown out bad ones, developed better theories, and challenged each other on weaknesses in their research. I wonder what would happen to Rush if everything he said had to be peer-reviewed before it could be aired. Are scientists wrong sometimes? Of course. At any point in time, does every scientist agree 100% on complex issues? Of course not. (To the right, remember, any disagreement in their "opposition" means that the entire opposing argument is invalid.) But does the work of scientists overall tend towards producing ideas of merit and utility? Unequivocally, yes. Given enough time, the politics in science (as in all human endeavors) will fall away, and often with alacrity, once the right ideas come to light.

Now, Rush, global warming hasn't "become" a scientific thing. That's how one studies processes in our atmosphere. We could just go to Hudson Bay, say "Damn, it's cold," and declare that global warming isn't a reality. We could kneel down before an altar and say "Oh mighty lords, give us a sign if we should concern ourselves with anything bad." However, we learned a very long time ago that sacrificing a goat didn't make it rain, and this thing called science was developed to help us understand the world around us. I'll say this simply, so hopefully you can understand it - Global Warming is a scientific thing because (here's the tricky part) scientists are the ones studying it.

Unfortunately, people will continue listening to and believing this idiocy, and Incurious George and his followers will continue marching down the road to oblivion.

US to Israel - "Kill 'em all!"

Actual headline: "U.S. won't push for immediate cease-fire"

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also participated in the Oval Office meeting before making a surprise visit to Lebanon on Monday in a show of support for that country's weakened democracy, which is struggling to contain the fighting between the Hezbollah militia and Israel.

"We all want to urgently end the fighting. We have absolutely the same goal," Rice told reporters traveling with her.

I think if we all had the same goal, then the position of the administration wouldn't be to let them keep fighting.

A White House spokeswoman, Eryn Witcher, would not comment on the Saudi proposal. She said Bush and the Saudis have "shared goals of helping the people of Lebanon and restoring sovereignty of the government of Lebanon and building stronger Lebanese armed forces."

I thought that the Lebanese people had elected members of Hezbollah to the government. How is that not sovereign? Oh, I forgot, we only like sovereignity when they elect people of whom we approve.

Are you...

RAPTURE READY???????????

Everyone, get out your rapture helmets!

Why won't the sick people just die?

Found on bartcop, although I can't read the original blogspot address.

How many boxes of baking soda would you need?

I bet the ice cream tasted funny...

MADISON, Wis. - A man convicted of keeping his dead mother in a freezer for years so he could keep collecting her Social Security checks avoided federal prison during his sentencing Wednesday.

Heck of a day for headline writers

Bush acknowledges racism still exists

In other news, Bush also announced that water is wet, the Cubs suck, and flowers are pretty.

From the "Duh" File

Sometimes all it takes is a headline:

GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq

Gosh, I wonder what tipped them off?

The Culture of Life Part II

With regard to the "pro-life" president, I just have one question. How many deaths can be directly attributed to this administration? Those killed in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, those allowed to die in Katrina's wake and so many others Just how many have died in this "culture of life?"

The Culture of Life

I shamelessly stole this concept from Schmidlap, but the Republicans, the "party of life" want to protect this:

yet they want MORE of this:


and don't care about this:

To life!

While Rome burns...

The world is on the verge of global conflagration, and what is occupying the House of Representatives? THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said America was a nation of God-given inalienable rights and that's why the country is in a war against "radical Islamists." Democrats wouldn't want to "cut and run" in Iraq, he said, "if they understood the importance of those basic principles and that inalienable rights are impossible without a recognition of God and that's why the pledge bill is important and not irrelevant or trivial."

How must we look to the rest of the world? Our president is a neck-massaging simpleton, our foreign policy is in chaos, the government's attitude toward science would cause Clarence Darrow to say that Dayton, Tennessee wasn't all that bad and while the world burns, Congress fiddles with the Pledge of Allegiance.

What a country.

We're making progress...

U.N.: 14,000 Iraqis killed in 2006
Holy city bomb kills 45; Armed robbers hit Baghdad bank

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- More than 14,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq in the first half of this year, an ominous figure reflecting the fact that "killings, kidnappings and torture remain widespread" in the war-torn country, a United Nations report says.
Killings of civilians are on "an upward trend," with more than 5,800 deaths and more than 5,700 injuries reported in May and June alone, it says.

Oh my God.

It always happens at the wrong time....

I've mentioned before that I am a huge fan of the Stephanie Miller Show and have on many occasions almost fallen off the treadmill listening to voice guy Jim Ward. He does a killer Kim Jong Il (K to the J to the I.L. in the hizzouse!) but the show was on vacation the week that North Korea did its missile misfires. What a missed opportunity!

And now we have the "president" feeling up the German chancellor, and do you think Rachel Dratch and SNL would like a crack at this??

The look on her face says it all

War...what is it good for?

I've had this post kicking around in my head for quite a while about the obvious point that the "global war on terror" just does not exist. The "war" is regularly tossed around as a justification for eroding freedom of the press and civil liberties, stifling political opposition and an excuse for lining the pockets of every defense contractor in the western hemisphere at a time when the "war" itself is absolutely illusory.

I have previously stated that we are not "at war" in Iraq, that the war is over and we are now an occupation force. I also noted that in terms of successful occupations, history is not on our side (insert "The Phillippines" here), but I've never really fleshed out the second part.

Luckily I don't have to--Joshua Holland does a tremendous job with this question over at Alternet. Read it, well worth your time.

Bad Touching

By our, ehem, President.

Thanks to Crooks and Liars.

Watch the video. It's creepy.

Ladies and gentlemen, the leader of the "free" world

From Yahoo News:

Bush expresses amazement that it will take some leaders as many as eight hours to fly home — about the same time it will take Air Force One with Bush aboard to return to Washington.

"You eight hours? Me, too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country," Bush said, at one point telling a waiter he wanted Diet Coke. "Takes him eight hours to fly home. Russia's big and so is China. Yeah Blair, what're you doing? Are you leaving?'

The Pride of My Alma Mater

Dan Quayle took time out from participating in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Stateline, Nev., on Friday to attend John Mellencamp's concert only to run into a political statement. He then made a statement of his own by walking out during Mellencamp's rendition of ``Walk Tall.'' Before launching into the song, Mellencamp told the Harveys casino crowd, in effect, that it was dedicated to everyone hurt by policies of the current Bush administration. Link

Way to go Dan, thanks for that. By the way, kudos to John Mellencamp.

Handbasket, I have Hell on Line 1

Tsunami kills 47 69 86 in Indonesia; toll climbing
Witness says wave roared ashore in west Java; India issues warning

MSNBC News Services

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A 6-foot-high tsunami crashed into beach resorts and fishing villages along Indonesia’s Java island Monday, killing at least 47 people, leaving scores missing and sending thousands fleeing to higher ground in terror, witnesses and officials said.

For a laugh mid-Apocalypse

This "poll" has been circulating around the Internets, and it is damned funny.

Here's a sample:

President Bush appears to be losing support among a key group of voters who had hitherto stood firmly with the president even as his poll numbers among other groups fell dramatically. A new Gallup poll shows that, for the first time, Bush’s approval rating has fallen below 50% among total fucking morons, and now stands at 44%.......

“We’ve taken the total fucking moron vote for granted,” says Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), “and now we’re paying for it. We’ve let the Democrats control the debate lately, and they’ve dragged discourse back into the realm of complex, nuanced issues. So your average total fucking moron turns on his TV and sees his Republican Congressman arguing about Constitutional law or the complexities of state formation in the Middle East, and he tunes out. He wants to hear comforting, pandering, flattering bromides and he doesn’t want to hear a logical argument more complex than what you’d find on a bumper sticker.”

What Time is it?

While on the subject of Time Magazine, that same cover story contained an absolutely jaw-dropping statement. Try this one on for size:

"It may be too soon to say whether history will look kindly on the U.S.'s decision to invade Iraq, as Bush and his aides insist will happen."

Too soon? Looking kindly on this never-ending NIGHTMARE? Other than blood-gorged defense contractors and Fox news sheeple, who would EVER "look kindly" on this mess? Please.

Our President used a bad word on an open mike...anybody carrying it live?

From CNN:

...Bush: See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over...

So, if any of our press was covering it live for some reason, AND they happened to be running the feed, what are the chances that there will be a) letters from the Family Research Council condemning expletives on television (none) or b) that the lilly-livered knuckleheads at the FCC will issue fines for carrying Our Fearless Leader's feelings live and in person?

It's a flea on an elephant's backside, it's a non-story, but in the spirit of Rethuglicans making non-stories stories, then I think turnabout is fair play.

Cognitive Dissonance

Image: Last week, Time Magazine's cover story was entitled "The End of Cowboy Diplomacy." The story described how "the shift under way in Bush's foreign policy is bigger and more seismic than a change of wardrobe or a modulation of tone," and added that "the swaggering Commander in Chief who embodied the doctrine's aspirations has modulated himself too. At a press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in May, Bush swore off the Wild West rhetoric of getting enemies "dead or alive"

Reality: "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over."

Yup, there's subtle, nuanced, coherent diplomacy for you.

Alex, may I have hypocrisy for $200 please?

Valedictorian Wingnut Sues School

"A high school valedictorian whose microphone was cut off as she gave an address referring to Jesus Christ has filed a lawsuit against school officials, claiming her rights to religious freedom and free speech were trampled." (link)

Oh there are so many things here. First of all, of course, this was a PUBLIC high school, where proselytizing is just not appropriate. And then her comments were WAAAY beyond the "I'd like to thank God and my agent" nonsense you often here after sporting events that is annoying yet inconsequential. Brittany (of course) shared that "God's love is so great that he gave his only son up [this is when the school killed the mike] to an excruciating death on a cross so his blood would cover all our shortcomings and provide for us a way to heaven in accepting this grace."

Obviously that is far beyond what would be acceptable at a public school function. But beyond that, little Brit had PROMISED the school to stick to a vetted [editor's note: insert 'sane' here] version of the speech but just bubbled that "In my heart I couldn't say the edited version because it wasn't what I wanted to say...I wanted to say why I was successful, it involved Jesus Christ for me, period." So apparently, according to Brittany, Jesus endorses lying to your school.

And finally, of course we have a whackjob organization supporting her, The Rutherford Institute. I can only hope that in this instance, her case isn't being presented by the bane of our existence, according to conservatives, the dreaded...

TRIAL LAWYER!!!