« December 19, 2004 - December 25, 2004 | Main | January 02, 2005 - January 08, 2005 »
January 01, 2005
Is one of these your senator?
Biden, Bingaman, Boxer, Byrd, Clinton, Conrad, Corzine, Dodd, Dorgan, Durbin, Feingold, Harkin, Inyoue, Jeffords, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Mikulski, Nelson (FL), Jack Reed, Harry Reid, Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Stabenow, Wyden and Obama.
These are the senators that Rep. John Conyers wants to join him to contest the Ohio electors.
If one of them works for you, then contact them. All their info can be found at www.congress.org.
There has been more illegal election activity in Ohio alone than in the entire Ukraine national election. And the Ukrainians had a poison attempt, so that's saying something.
The talking heads will all tell us that the government must move forward, and the electors cannot be contested. Bullshit. The Congressional rules provide for contesting for a reason. Call your senator and get him or her on board.
And even if you don't live in Illinois, make a special plea to Senator-elect Obama. Because the people most disenfranchised in Ohio have his pigmentation.
12:44 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
December 31, 2004
Justice for sale
Hmmm... A bible valued at $19,000. A bust of President Lincoln worth $15,000. These and other sundried items are just some of the haul our US Supreme Court Justices took in as "gifts". By the way, Justice Clarence Thomas took in the biggest amount. Go figure.
It's just too much - read more here
09:20 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! And Happy New Year Bob!
09:09 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Finally!
Now that Bush was finally shamed into substantially increasing American aid to Southeast Asia; the real question now is, will the lying sack of shit actually spend it?
Read more here.
04:15 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Not so far apart
While Bush and the religious right repeat the idiot mantra that the terrorists "hate our freedoms", there's at least one thing extremist Islamic fundamentalists and extremist Christian fundamentalists can agree on: democracy is evil.
In the Islamic corner, we have:
Democracy is a Greek word meaning the rule of the people, which means that the people do what they see fit," the statement read. "This concept is considered apostasy and defies the belief in one God - Muslims' doctrine.
And,
democracy could lead to un-Islamic laws being passed, such as permitting homosexual marriage, if the majority or people agreed to it.
And in the Christian corner, we have:
Democracy hypothetically had it's beginnings in certain city-states of ancient Greece in which the whole citizenry composed the legislature except women and servants. But democracy ultimately started with satan.
And,
Well since everyone sins, and do many evil things, they shouldn't be allowed to make laws for themselves. They are only going to make sinful laws. Alas, in America, we see that to be very true. Look at all the abortion laws, anti-death penalty laws, gay "rights" laws, etc.
Jeez, maybe we can meet in the middle? Huh, fellas?
02:48 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Iraqi 'election' growing more farcical
Not only is the prospect of an Iraqi election growing thinner by the day, but we're now learning that 700 voter registration employees in Mosul have resigned (link). It gets worse: the names of candidates are being kept secret.
Of course they are. Because the elections are purely ceremonial in order for Bush to save face. What Mr. Bush fails to realize is that democracy can't simply be willed into existence. It needs to be real. This process is wholly UNreal.
Informed Comment has more.
01:29 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
URGENT ACTION ALERT
STOP FLOGGING OF WOMEN IN THE UAE
Amnesty International has posted this urgent Action Alert.
Specifically, this case revolves around two women who have been sentenced for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Their punishment, as decided by a Shari'a (Islamic Law) is to receive 150 and 100 lashes, respectively.
Read more here and lend your name for support.
12:51 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Long Term Memory Loss
Welcome back! It's time to play, Long Term Memory Loss! Okay contestants, here we go...who said,
"The President now needs to show leadership, consistently and with great clarity, from devising an exit strategy to developing favorable rules of engagement, from defining the criteria of success to detailing the timetables of operations. We have learned the hard way in this country that muddled military missions lacking clear leadership hurt our national credibility while putting our troops in harm's way."
To find out...
The answer we were looking for was... Tom Delay (AKA The BugMan), Majority Leader of the House. And what was the context? Why, Clinton's intervention in Bosnia, of course.
Write to Mr. DeLay and remind him of his quote - and how it's even more relevant today in regards to Bush's War. Bet you won't get an answer, but it'll drive him nuts anyway!
11:52 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Speaking of Cost
We've spent a paltry $35 million to help the millions of people hit by the tsunamis. It's cost $147,652,150,345 (and counting) to do things like put this 9-year old boy in the hospital. That's nearly $150 BILLION on a lie-based war.
Non-partisan international groups (link) estimate that we've killed over 100,000 Iraqis since the war began, nearly the same number of those killed by the tusnamis. The tsunamis killed free of charge. Our killing cost $150 billion of YOUR tax dollars. According to the outstanding site www.costofwar.com, we could have hired 2 and a half million new teachers for that $150 billion.
But instead we're putting 9-year olds in the hospital. Or in the ground.
11:27 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
How much does Jeb cost?
Much has been made on this site already about how little the U.S. cares about the victims of the tsunamis. By "cares," I mean, of course, pays. Because talk is cheap. And talk, at this point, means Colin Powell and hurricane sand-bag expert Jeb Bush.
Yes, to counter international opinion that the paltry U.S. response has been pathetic, King George is sending in his brother. That'll shut up those critics! We're not insensitive! We're compassionate! We're sending the president's brother over to sign condolence books! $35 million PLUS Jeb!
I don't know how much money it costs to fly Jeb over to Sri Lanka, but I would think that most Sri Lankas would rather have the cash.
11:12 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Iraq by the numbers; more bad news
The Houston Chronicle gives us the sobering reality of Bush's Folly:
• The U.S. military suffered at least 348 deaths in Iraq over the final four months of the year, more than in any other similar period since the invasion in March 2003.
• The number of wounded surpassed 10,000, with more than a quarter injured in the last four months as direct combat, roadside bombs and suicide attacks escalated. When President Bush declared May 1, 2003, that major combat operations were over, the number wounded stood at just 542.
• The number of attacks on U.S. and allied troops grew from an estimated 1,400 attacks in September to 1,600 in October and 1,950 in November. A year earlier, the attacks numbered 649 in September, 896 in October and 864 in November.
Have the White House and Pentagon revealed anything resembling a revised plan for the war? So far we've heard "elections", "more troops", and "Miss Beazley is missing!". We're alone in the dark.
10:38 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Torture Bad
A new memo released yesterday by the Justice Department repudiates a previous DOJ memo from August 2002 which defended (and even endorsed) torture in interrogations. The first memo was written by Alberto Gonzales, Bush's current nominee for Attorney General. His nomination hearings begin next week. You do the math.
The new memo states that...
"In light of the president's directive that the United States not engage in torture, it would not be appropriate to rely on parsing the specific intent element of the statute to approve as lawful conduct that might otherwise amount to torture."
Now that's synergy!
Read more here.
10:09 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Jim Biederman
And here comes the Christian Right
The magnitude of hate is staggering. Click "continue reading" to see a newsletter released by Reverend Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. I originally placed this on the front page, but have moved it below the fold. It's poison. Pure and simple.
Want to really puke? Check their website. Tip courtesy of Eschaton and Raw Print.
10:00 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 30, 2004
Christian Right silent over tsunamis
The Christian Right's odd silence over the tragedies that befell southeast Asia this past weekend is truly deafening. A cursury check of their websites and blogs show not a mention of the calamity. As Bill Berkowitz at Workingforchange.com points out...
In fact, there is no mention of the giant earthquake and tsunami that devastated southern Asia. There are no headlines about the dead, injured or the tremendous damage; there are no urgent appeals for donations; there are no phone numbers to call; there are no links to organizations collecting money and providing aid for the victims.
But the Christian Right continues to wage their various assualts on our democracy like extremist judicial nominees, advocating a constitutional amendment against same-sex marrage, and fighting against a women's right to choose rather than joining the world in trying to help the victims in Indonesia, Thailand and India.
Shameful and sad.
04:16 PM | Comments (7) | Posted By Jim Biederman
NY Times blasts miserly Bush
The New York Times pounded the White House today:
"The person who made that statement was very misguided and ill informed," the president said.
We beg to differ. Mr. Egeland was right on target. We hope Secretary of State Colin Powell was privately embarrassed when, two days into a catastrophic disaster that hit 12 of the world's poorer countries and will cost billions of dollars to meliorate, he held a press conference to say that America, the world's richest nation, would contribute $15 million. That's less than half of what Republicans plan to spend on the Bush inaugural festivities.
Read the whole item here. And note that it's not a columnist who wrote this. It's the paper's editorial staff.
01:49 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Tsunami relief and the 'War on Terror'
Mr. Bush's reaction to the tsunamis in the Indian Ocean has turned out to be quite an indicator for his true motives in the "War on Terror". The devastation in the Asian countries has the very real potential of spawning new generations of terrorists: some unhappy with the wealthy west's slow and inadequate reaction, others by simple osmosis -- terror cells, already active in that region, recruiting youth from the shambles of their former homes.
Are George W. Bush and the neocons interested in stopping terrorists before they're created, or would they rather act with force only after terrorists are trained and indoctrinated? It's the classic conflict between "peace and compassion now" or "war and death later". And we're all familiar with Bush's significantly greater aptitude for "bring 'em on" sound-bytes, and his ineptitude for compassionate empathy (whenever he attempts it, it's usually riddled with gaffes -- ie. "putting food on their families").
But are they truly brazen enough to enter the Indian Ocean crisis with one hand tied behind their collective back; while potential new generations of terrorists wait beneath the stacks of bodies? We only need to watch our government's reaction in the coming months to discover the answer.
Mr. Bush, meanwhile, is still on vacation. We've read this script before and it didn't end with "happily ever after".
01:14 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
George and Osama: Endless Love
George W. Bush loves Osama bin Laden. Big, sloppy, hearts in the notebook margins man-love.
Osama began the courtship by giving Bush a big gift in 2001: huge approval ratings and the support of the world. So charmed and smitten was Bush that, in return, he let Osama escape when he could've killed or captured him in Afghanistan. Letting a murderer go is the type of sacrifice only a man in love would make -- especially when the same man executed 152 murderers and retarded people in Texas.
But it doesn't end there. One of the places Osama longed for, but couldn't attain, was Iraq. So Bush invaded Iraq and staged a successful coup d'etat against Saddam Hussein.
As a glorious 'thank you' bouquet, Osama released a videotape and gave Bush another four years in office. Osama likes presents, and his meal ticket was in danger of going away.
Now that Saddam is gone, Osama has moved into Iraq. And he's making taped announcements that he's in charge now (note Bush's willingness to respond). Very few gifts represent a more generous display of love than George W. Bush giving the gift of an entire nation to his long-distance lover. A gift rivaled only by Osama giving Bush a second term, political capital, and a legacy.
It's sweet and selfless, their love, when you really stop to think about it. And by "sweet and selfless" I mean twisted, bloody, and criminal.
11:00 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
More Mad Cow
Hours after the U.S. re-opens the border with Canada for meat shipments, Canada announces that it discovered a new case of Mad Cow in it's livestock.
Read it here.
10:55 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Neocon flashback: Irvine's 'Wag the Dog'
One of the founders of the neocon movement, Reed Irvine, died last month. Those of you who have read "Republican Noise Machine" are familiar with the name. Shortly after Spiro Agnew's 1969 speech blasting a so-called "liberal media", Irvine became a conservative media watchdog and was instrumental in furthering the myth outlined by Agnew with a new organization called "Accuracy in Media".
In 1999, Irvine wrote an op-ed item blasting President Clinton for bombing an encampment held by Osama bin Laden:
Osama bin Laden’s camp in Afghanistan consisted of shacks and tents, hardly a fit target for a missile that costs nearly a million dollars per copy. These targets were chosen and approved by a very few people who had limited or incorrect information. The missiles were launched more to divert the attention of the public in the U.S. from the Clinton sex scandal than to seriously hurt possible terrorists.
That opinion was widely parrotted. If the neocons hadn't been so captivated by President Clinton's pants, who knows where we'd be right now.
10:54 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Arkansas judge kills anti-gay law
An Arkansas judge has struck down a law in that state prohibiting foster children from living in homes where gay adults reside. The AP reports that County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox ruled:
the regulation seeks to regulate "public morality" - something the board was not given the authority to do.
And despite misinformation spread by Leviticus dittoheads, the reality remains...
Fox cited the testimony of sociologists and psychologists that gay people can be as loving and caring foster parents as heterosexuals, and that the children of gay adoptive parents can be as well-adjusted as those raised by heterosexual couples.
Expect the response from right-wing politicians and the Stay-Puft Falwell to be the usual, "Nuh-uhhhh!"
10:20 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 29, 2004
Priorities of a 'compassionate' leader
11:18 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
VIDEO: "Comedy"
While Faramir and his men are sent to die in an impossible conflict, Lord Denethor indulges himself from the safety of his castle. Click to watch.
Double-click the window to play.
(QUICKTIME, 11mb. If you don't see anything,
right click or CTRL-click here to download.)
Watch the actual White House "Bush talks to his dog" and "Rove decorates the tree" video here.
05:21 PM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Pat Buchanan joins anti-war voices
Pat Buchanan's December 27th column reads as if someone from our side hacked his computer and ghost-wrote his latest missive.
Check these quotes:
What is our mission now? When did it change? With 1,300 dead and nearly 10,000 wounded, why are we still at war with these people?
And...
But why should Americans have to die for democracy in a nation that has never known it?
AND...
Exactly how much more blood and money is [Bush] willing to plunge into a war for democracy in Iraq, and at what point must he decide – as LBJ and Nixon did in Vietnam – that the cost to America is so great that we must get out and risk the awful consequences of a mistaken war that we should never have launched?
He even made the Vietnam analogy! Make no mistake, Buchanan is a demon. His past work is a litany of hate-speech; he stumped for Bush on television at every turn and, as a result, is partially responsible for this war. But is this indicative of Bush's friends abandoning him? Will there be a movement in the Republican party to back away from the White House? Stay tuned.
But most importantly, the Democrats need to stand their ground in opposing Bush. Don't cave. Don't capitulate.
09:21 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
My Pet Goat II: Still Missing
Where is Mr. Bush? On vacation, clearing brush, talking goo-goo talk with Barney the dog, mopping up Jenna's egg nog puke. Or is he reading "My Pet Goat"? As the death toll in the Indian Ocean tsunami crisis nears 100,000, he's, again, the invisible man.
He's unable to express empathy, yet he's most comfortable ticking off war-hawk sloganeering, so his lack of response isn't surprising. But it's another example of how we're stuck with a piss-poor chief executive, and we're seemingly powerless to wash his embarrassing stink from our skin.
The Washington Post notes that President Clinton has been more visible in the crisis than Bush. So the only statement from the White House has been to backhand Clinton:
"The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.'"
Shame on you, Mr. Bush! And even though he'll crawl out from under his ridiculous Stetson hat this morning to make a statement, you can bet it'll be stacatto, uncomfortable, uninspiring, and too late.
08:39 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
More on Concerned Women For America
As mentioned before on this blog, this group is really severe. In addition to their boycott of companies that they feel are gay friendly, the group also...
...opposes hate crime legislation too, because it says making attacks on gays a special crime suggests the government approves of homosexuality.
Wow! These are real freaks we're dealing with. Add to the fact that the founder of the group is the wife of Christian author (and nutcase) Tim LaHaye and you've got a real scary brew bubbling.
Read more here.
12:22 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Jim Biederman
December 28, 2004
Weird Tucker Carlson tsunami interview
From last night's "News Night with Aaron Brown" with guest host Tucker Carlson:
CARLSON: Imagine now being awakened from sleep by a sound at the door, the sound in this case being the Indian Ocean. John Austin awoke from a dream to just such a nightmare and remarkably, amazingly is still with us to tell the story. He joins us now by phone from Phuket. Mr. Austin, are you there? What happened?
JOHN AUSTIN, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (by telephone): Hello.
CARLSON: Yes, hi. Mr. Austin, tell us where were you when the wave hit and what happened to you after?
AUSTIN: Yes, John Austin here.
CARLSON: Mr. Austin, tell us where were you when the wave hit?
AUSTIN: Are you speaking to me?
CARLSON: Yes, I am.
AUSTIN: John Austin.
CARLSON: John Austin, the very same.
AUSTIN: I need to know if you're speaking to me or someone else. There's a lot of garble on the phone.
CARLSON: Speaking to you, Mr. Austin, and asking you where were you Sunday morning when the wave hit Phuket?
AUSTIN: OK. Well, I came back from my room. I was staying at a rather posh (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hotel. I was there last year but this year I was on the first floor. It was the last floor they had which is the ground floor actually and the pool was right in front of my room. And I had woken up with several hours sleep and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and so forth and turned on Discovery and was watching some program with Adolf Hitler and how he survived 27 assassination attempts...
That's what the CNN transcript says, but a Wonkette operative reported the following actual transcript of this last passage:
AUSTIN: Oh, hi. Well, I'd been drinking the night before so I was a little bit groggy from it and I turned on the Discovery Channel and started watching a thing about Hitler and how there were twenty seven assassination attempts about him when I...
CARLSON: Mr. Austin, unfortunately we're having difficult with our connection from Thailand. I hope we can get back to you later in the show.
The headline you never thought you'd see: "Man gets drunk, watches Hitler documentary, witnesses tsunami".
UPDATE: The Wonkette Operative noted above is actually Blog Supplement and the transcript/scoop was originally posted there. Apologies to Hbee.
06:14 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush's shrinkage and some history
George W. Bush's current job approval rating is somewhere in the range of 49% (Fox, for example, shows him at 48%). The buzz is that he'll go into his second inaugural with the lowest job approval of any two-term president in the 80 years of presidential polling.
Richard Nixon, just after his re-election in 1972, held the weight of a collapsing Vietnam fiasco along with early rumblings over something called "Watergate". His job approval numbers in this same late December period, however, were at a respectable 59% and didn't drop below 49% until April 1973 when Watergate broke for real.
In terms of "popular" two-termers, Ronald Reagan held a 59% approval rating in this period. President Clinton was even better in late December 1996 when CNN showed him at 64% and Gallup just one point lower than Reagan at 58%. Eisenhower bested them all with a 75%, then again Ike never once dipped below 51%.
Nixon eventually found himself with a 24% after America discovered what this guy was all about. It's a shame that American voters tend to see the light only after it's too late. Will the "too late" this time around be a pathetic (yet bloodless) cover-up like Watergate or a far more deadly trespass?
02:13 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Pooty Poot pokes U.S. elections
This flew way under the media radar yesterday. Then again, the U.S. media's radar is made of papier mache, a 9-volt battery, and shoelaces. Russian President Pooty Poot* as reported in the Australia Sunday Morning Herald:
"Do you think that the electoral system in the United States is without flaws?" Mr Putin said on Thursday. "Need I remind you of how their elections were held in the United States?"
*George W. Bush's actual nickname for Putin.
02:12 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Open your Bush playbook to page 2003
First noted by Josh Marshall at TPM, the Boston Globe is now discussing the startling similarities between Bush's build up to Iraq and his build up to Social Security privatization. The Globe:
Much as the Iraq war was preceded by speeches designed to show Hussein in the most threatening light, the Bush economic summit seemed designed to dominate a slow news week with the idea that failing to deal with Social Security now will hurt the national economy.
Now that the strategy is clear, and the process from the same outline, we know what to expect. In the chronology, we're right around the 2003 State of the Union in which Bush rolled out his list of grievances against Saddam. (The 2002 SotU was the "Axis of Evil" speech, which in the playbook is the equivalent to his post-election press conference list of Social Security privatization, tort reform, and tax reform.) Damn. This is like "21". We've been handed the answers ahead of time. If we can't win this one, why the hell are we playing?
01:33 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush: $15 million to tsunami relief
I'm not inclined to politicize such a large scale disaster, but an initial U.S. pledge of $15 million for disaster relief (link) for the Indian Ocean nations seems remarkably weak, no? With so much money being pumped into a war machine in that region and elsewhere, wouldn't it make sense for the U.S. government to show the world how truly generous we can be with a massive humanitarian campaign?
Imagine George W. Bush appearing in prime time speaking about an aggressive and unprecedented U.S. effort to rebuild and rescue; sending a message around the globe that America is as generous with bread and shelter as we are with 'Daisy Cutter' bombs and 'Dead or Alive' rhetoric.
But Mr. Bush... is on vacation.
Instead, we give you, the people of Sri Lanka, Colin Powell and $15 million.
09:09 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 27, 2004
A mandate?
So Bush feels that his slim margin election victory gives him a mandate that represents the "will of the people". Problem is that the issues the American people think are important have nothing to do with the evil that Bush is up to.
In fact, in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, social security was sixth on the list of the most "extremely important" issues - far behind the War in Iraq and Healthcare costs - neither of which Bush seems to know what to do about or care much about. Of course, Bush's favorite issues - specifically abortion and same-sex marrage are a the very bottom of the list.
He's really in touch with America, isn't he?
09:02 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Jim Biederman
Ohio election suits filed; media naps
Ohio Secretary of State and all around weasel, Ken Blackwell, filed a lawsuit today to prevent him from answering to legal challenges to the Ohio vote. The Guardian:
Blackwell, in a court filing, says he's not required to be interviewed by lawyers as a high-ranking public official, and accused the voters challenging the results of "frivolous conduct" and abusive and unnecessary requests of elections officials around the state.
Meanwhile, John Kerry filed his suit (link) today:
A) To preserve all ballots and voting machines pertaining to the Yost matter for investigation and analysis; and B) To make available for sworn deposition testimony a technician for Triad Systems, the company that produced and maintained many of the voting machines used in the Ohio election.
The media... still napping.
09:01 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush on poverty: "What's a 'poverty'?"
CNN had this cheery holiday report for the era of George W. Bush, Compassionate Conservative:
According to the most recent Census Bureau statistics, nearly 36 million Americans lived in poverty in 2003, an increase of 1.3 million from 2002. And since 2000, 4.4 million more people in this country are living in poverty.
36 million. That means that one in every eight American citizens lives in poverty. It gets worse:
Fear and hunger walk hand in hand with poverty, and last year 12.6 million American households -- 11.2 percent of all American homes -- were afraid they might not be able to put enough food on the table, according to the Census Bureau. That's up more than 1.6 million households from the year 2000.
Bill Hicks once said that instead of developing missiles which can fire into air ducts, the government should use the same technology to fire food into the mouths of starving people.
Of these [12.6 million] families, 3.9 million said that one or more members of the family actually went hungry last year -- an 18.2 percent increase from 2000.
How does this jive with the GOP talking point of "traditional family values"? Stop the gays! Stop the stem cell research! Don't let John Kerry defend us with spitballs! But let millions of Americans starve. When will Mr. Bush stand up on a pile cardboard boxes with a megaphone and declare a war on poverty? "Starvation will hear from all of us soon!"
12:34 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Do Bush's "neighbors" include evildoers?
George W. Bush's Christmas message:
Christmastime reminds each of us that we have a duty to our fellow citizens, that we are called to love our neighbor just as we would like to be loved ourselves.
Unless, of course, our neighbors have dark skin and a different religion; or if they love people of the same sex; or if they've been raped and want an abortion; or if they dissent against their government.
10:30 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Yushchenko, democracy wins
When there's organized, strategic protest and worldwide attention, there's nothing that can't be done. Yushchenko has a lot of work ahead of him, but The Cause is strong. The only question remains, while we export democracy elsewhere, is there any left to go around here?
10:18 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Josh Marshall: Bushies in "lying phase"
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo brought up a typically insightful comparison between the Bushes' build up to the Iraq War and their current PR campaign for privatizing Social Security. It's an "ah-ha!" moment:
...we're now in the lying and fear-mongering phase of the campaign, which would be followed of course by a later phase in which a specific policy remedy is brought forward, nominally meant to address the fake problem.
Building on that thought, I think we can expect Bush to make some progress and pass some legislation through Congress on this front. Then, of course, we'll learn that there wasn't a problem after all (we know there isn't, but). Meanwhile, we'll have racked up 2 trillion dollars in debt and ushered in an economic collapse. Bush will claim everything is peachy. And in '06 or '08, the Republicans will run on the "fact" that they "saved Social Security" and the Democrats will only make things worse. Have we read this script before?
Read Marshall's entire piece here, along with his continuing coverage of the "War on Social Security".
09:45 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Santorum: evolution up for debate
Only in Bush's America would the issue of evolution de-evolve to the level of "controversial public debate". Senator Rick Santorum, who recently was caught bilking a Pittsburgh area school district out of hundreds of thousands of dollars (link), believes that it's imperative for teachers to allow for debate over Darwin's Theory of Evolution, while incorporating the idea of "intelligent design". Read his Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial here.
...the theory of intelligent design claims that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as random mutation and natural selection, and it makes scientific arguments to back that up.
Intelligent design is a teaser trailer: a first small step to the complete erosion of scientific theory and a return to creationist dogma. The right may deny it again and again, but make no mistake: it's happening.
Their plan is simple. First, cast doubt about evolution. Second, introduce "Creationism Lite" (intelligent design) and mandate it under the guise of "academic freedom" (if that's the case, let's teach students about all the flaws of the Bible as well). Third, drop evolution entirely. Fourth... enjoy.
Meanwhile, Santorum is up for re-election in '06 (write to him and ask him not to run again). Make no mistake, Santorum is definitely the face of the enemy. Especially since, as Newsweek is foreshadowing, he may also have his sights set on 2008. God help us.
UPDATE: Read this right-wing strategy analysis about intelligent design as a wedge issue. According to the report, we're definitely in Phase I.
12:01 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 26, 2004
Women's group blasts "gay" companies
Put this in the "What the hell did they do to you?" file. A right-wing women's group is calling for a campaign against Subaru for advertising in The Advocate and "supporting the gay community". Their message is clear: if you're a tolerant and enlightened company, prepare to feel the wrath of the right!
You know you're a persecuted people when corporations are forbidden to appeal to you as a consumer under pain of boycott.
Look at what they said about Avis:
Not to be outdone, Avis, the rental car agency, purchased a two-page, inside cover ad in the January/February OutTraveler, a companion edition to Out magazine. The ad shows a man with his arms around another man, kissing him on the cheek.
Are these people in sixth grade, for Pete's sake? "Two men kissing on the cheek is ICKY ICKY COOTIES!"
Give the "Concerned Women for America" a call at (202)488-7000 and tell them, "Gay people deserve equal rights, and that includes being victims of corporate marketing just like the rest of us."
06:30 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Rummy: Pennsylvania plane shot down?
Donald Rumsfeld at Camp Victory in Iraq:
And I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten -- indeed the word "terrorized" is just that.
Since when was the Pennsylvania plane "shot down"? Full transcript of CNN report. Tip courtesy of MichaelMoore.com.
06:07 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush V. Governors
An impressive, bipartisan association of Governors are rallying to stand up to Bush's horrendous Medicaid cuts (Bubble Boy's route to lowering his obscene and reckless deficit). In today's NY Times, perhaps a glimpse of the real America that the real Bush hates - a compassionate country.
01:55 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Jim Biederman
The Passion of the Michael Moore
The Democratic leadership, strangely following the lead of Republican pundits, have made a New Years resolution: publicly bludgeon Michael Moore. Senator Joe Lieberman appeared on the December 24 edition of Hannity & Colmes and blasted Michael Moore as an extremist and definitely not representative of where the Democratic Party needs to go in the next four years.
Though Lieberman is much more inclined to acquiesce to Republicans than he is to appeal to the progressive base of his party, he's really doing nothing but parroting the GOP post-election spin: "You losers should marginalize Michael Moore if you ever want to win!"
Ironic posture from the party of Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, and G. Gordon Liddy, no? Yet the comparison to these shmendricks is unfair to Moore.
MOORE...
1) Unlike the pundits listed above who are operatives for the Republicans, Moore is by no means an operative for the Democratic Party. His politics are self-admittedly non-partisan. He's blasted President Clinton for bombing Iraq during the '90s, and he's routinely criticized the Democrats for being inactive, soft, and silent.
2) He's a muckraker in the style of Studs Terkel and Ralph Nader, packaged in the wrappings of a skilled and effective filmmaker.
3) He ripped George W. Bush and the Iraq War because BOTH are just plain wrong -- not because he’s a puppet of the Democrats who, by the way, followed the lead of Moore and Howard Dean in criticizing Bush, not the other way around. The Democrats definitely did not set the bar on this front.
4) Had the last four years transpired under an equally dubious, incompetent, and suspicious Democratic president, it's a safe bet Michael Moore would've made the same movie.
5) Michael Moore, while fashioning his arguments in the same persuasive style as an effective debater, is grounded in well-researched information. Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and the like play solely on the visceral emotions of their slow-witted, easily-led, dittohead fans and have been proven to repeatedly lie. Very few GOP pundits ever cite respected source material and rely on rants rather than documentation. Even though Moore has been known to rant, he's always grounded in research.
So the idea of the Democratic Party backing away from Michael Moore is a false argument implying Moore was an avowed operative in the first place. Michael Moore never intended to couple himself with the institutional Democrats in the first place. He's wholly independent, and primarily a filmmaker. On the other hand, the Democrats would do well to take some notes from Moore's style and technique.
Yet Moore arguably did more for rallying Democrats to vote and speak out against Bush than the party machine accomplished on its own. Fair-weather friends, political parties are. So because John Kerry "lost" in November, they're slowly backing away, turning, and bolting. Had Kerry won, however, Moore would have been lauded as a hero by the Democrats and, with faint-praise, as a "savior of an ailing Democratic Party" by the Republicans. Instead, the Democratic Party, like a battered spouse, is caving in to the Republican spin and ditto-ing the post-election crucifixion of Michael Moore.
So the alternative, we can deduce, is to go back to the capitulating, centrist, fire-brand dynamism* of Joe Lieberman style Democratic politics. You know... because it was so effective on its own, before an "extremist" like Michael Moore screwed things up.
*Joke.
10:15 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
