The Lady Speaks

Re:

2012-01-25T10:10:00.001-05:00

hello! http://208.109.196.29/moneyathome.php?ifortuneid=51jw5

Stoppin' By

2006-07-02T21:10:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to take a second to post something and keep this blog active. Last thing anyone needs is a site addy taken over by wingers and making people think I've crossed to the dark side. (It could happen...maybe...well.....it's conceivable. I guess it could only happen in a far-off distant planet where crazed BushBots have taken over all three branches of government, started a war with a non-aggressive country that was no threat, and left an entire city to drown...-oh. Uh...er....hmmm.....)

Anyway...

Be sure to come check out my new and improved blog at:

www.palady.wordpress.com

Thanks!

I've Moved!

2006-03-13T09:50:00.000-05:00

See the new set-up at

www.palady.wordpress.com

All the posts from this site have been imported, though I regret that none of the comments were. Seems Haloscan isn't transferable.

You know it's getting bad when...

2006-03-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

Even country music stars are mad as hell at King George.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, natives of Louisiana and Mississippi respectively, were "close to tears" when the questions turned to Katrina during a Nashville newsconference to promote their Soul2Soul tour.

From ABCnews:

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw -- two stars who usually stay out of politics -- blasted the Hurricane Katrina cleanup effort, with Hill calling the slow
progress in Louisiana and Mississippi "embarrassing" and "humiliating."

The country music artists -- who are natives of the storm ravaged states -- were at times close to tears, and clearly angry when the subject of Katrina came up during a news conference today.

(snip)

"When you have people dying because they're poor and black or poor and white, or because of whatever they are -- if that's a number on a political scale -- then that is the most wrong thing. That erases everything that's great about our country."

McGraw specifically criticized President Bush. "There's no reason why someone can't go down there who's supposed to be the leader of the free world … and say, 'I'm giving you a job to do and I'm not leaving here until it's done. And you're held accountable, and you're held accountable, and you're held accountable. ..."

(snip)

Hill, who grew up in Jackson, Miss., echoed those sentiments. So overwhelmed, she uncharacteristically unleashed an epithet, calling the situation, "Bull- - - -"

"It is a huge, huge problem and it's embarrassing," she said.

"I fear for our country if we can't handle our people [during] a natural disaster. And I can't stand to see it. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out point A to point B. . . . And they can't even skip from point A to point B.

You know, when Faith Hill starts calling "Bullshit" on the President, it's a sign of just how far he's sunk in public opinion since last summer. The 30-percenters are going to have a hard time with the cognitive dissonance this will cause.

Imagine their dilemma: "Faith and Tim say Bush is bad....but Bush is good...but...Tim and Faith say...." BLAM! (sound of heads exploding)

Hurricane Katrina Mississippi Louisiana Bush FEMA Country Music Tim McGraw Faith Hill

Mad King George

2006-03-09T09:55:00.000-05:00

I see this picture, and in my head I can hear certain lines from the Lion King's I Just Can't Wait to be King*, with King George singing Simba's lines:

I'm gonna be a mighty king
So enemies beware!
...
I'm brushing up on looking down
I'm working on my ROAR
...
Free to run around all day
Free to do it all my way!
...
Kings don't need advice
From little hornbills for a start
...
Oh, I just can't wait to be king!

*Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice

Bush The Lion King

Best Tea-Spewing Line This Morning

2006-03-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

Thanks Bob Geiger, for the mental image that made me spew hot tea through my nose and has made it necessary for me to change keyboards....again. (Note to self - no liquids while reading Bob or Jesus' General!)

At the massive fibathon held daily at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (also known as the White House press briefing) Press Secretary Scott McClellan danced like Patrick Swayze yesterday when asked about the new South Dakota ban on abortions.

Oh my! Just the thought of Scottie dirty-dancing his way around the White House Press Room......

Santorum 'hearts' lobbyists - again

2006-03-09T09:31:00.000-05:00

Sen. Rick Santorum - the soon-to-be-jobless Senator from my home state - has resumed his meetings with lobbyists. You know, the ones he promised in January to stop?

He's like a junkie who promises to go clean and even goes through rehab, but just can't keep away from the bad stuff.

The Washington Post says:

After saying in January that he would end his regular meetings with lobbyists, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the third-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, has continued to meet with many of the same lobbyists at the same time and on the same day of the week.

Santorum, whose ties to Washington lobbyists have been criticized by his Democratic challenger, suspended his biweekly encounters on Jan. 30. His decision came as Democrats named him as their top target in November's Senate races, and after the guilty plea of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff to charges of conspiring to corrupt public officials.

But in the month since his announcement, Santorum has held two meetings attended by the same core group of lobbyists, and has used the sessions to appeal for campaign aid, according to participants. Both of those meetings were convened at the same time as the previous meetings -- 8:30 a.m. -- on the same day of the week -- Tuesday -- and they lasted for about as long as the earlier meetings -- one hour.

*sigh* Ricky, Ricky, Ricky....if you can't help yourself, I guess the voters of Pennsylvania will have to do an intervention and permanently separate you from the big money guys. Come November Ricky, you'll be saved from those big bad lobbyists, and you might have to come home and make your kids go to school in PA. Oh, the horror!

**Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file

Pennsylvania Politics Lobbyists

I'll believe it when I see a veto

2006-03-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Headline on msnbc.com:

House Republicans defy Bush on ports deal

AP - In a congressional election-year repudiation of President Bush, a House panel dominated by Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a Dubai-owned firm from taking control of some U.S port operations. Democrats clamored for a vote in the Senate, too.

By 62-2, the House Appropriations Committee voted to bar DP World, run by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from holding leases or contracts at U.S. ports. The landslide vote was the strongest signal yet that more than three weeks of White House efforts to stunt congressional opposition to the deal have not been successful.

Are we really supposed to believe that - out of the goodness of their greedy little hearts, I suppose - the Republicans are worried about the security of this country?

These are the same people who just voted to increase the debt ceiling to a record $1.2 trillion and cut veteran's benefits. These are the same people who took lots of money from Jack Abramoff, yet claim they're working on "lobbying reform". (Heck, why not make bribery legal? Get the President to say he authorized it. No problem!)

Some of these folks are starting to sound like Democrats. Like this guy:

“One of the most vulnerable situations facing America is our ports of entry,” said Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. “Whoever’s responsible for those ports of entry should be American.”

And this one:

“This is a national security issue,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis, the chairman of the House panel, adding that the legislation would “keep America’s ports in American hands.”

Apparently the House has responded to Bush's "Trust me." with a great big "F**k you!" If only we could entertain the hope that it was the first of many, but you know as well as I do, this is just a stunt to make the incumbents look just a little better come November.

Glenn Greenwald has a great post on this: Post-Mortem on the Intelligence Committe Vote

Government Republican Dubai United Arab Emirates Ports National Security

GO Vermont!!

2006-03-08T11:58:00.000-05:00

Five Vermont towns - Newfane, Brookfield, Dummerston, Marlboro and Putney - have passed resolutions calling for Rep. Bernie Sanders (Ind.), their sole representative in the House, to file articles of impeachment against the President, according to an Associated Press report.

In five Vermont communities, a centuries-old tradition of residents gathering in town halls to conduct local business became a vehicle to send a message to Washington: Impeach the president.

An impeachment article, approved by a paper ballot 121-29 in Newfane Tuesday, calls on Vermont’s lone member of the U.S. House, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against President Bush, alleging he misled the nation into the Iraq war and engaged in illegal domestic spying.

“It absolutely affects us locally,” said Newfane select board member Dan DeWalt, who drafted the impeachment article. “It’s our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, who are dying” in the war in Iraq.

(snip)

Sanders issued a statement after the Newfane vote saying that although the Bush administration “has been a disaster for our country, and a number of actions that he has taken may very well not have been legal,” given the reality that the Republicans control the House and the Senate, “it would be impractical to talk about impeachment.”

Jim Barnett, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, said Sanders should reject the resolution: “We should not be impeaching presidents just because we disagree with them.”

We shouldn't impeach them over blowjobs either, but that's been done - thanks to a Republican Congress. So why do they have a problem impeaching one who admitted he broke the law several times and intends to continue doing so. Tell me, Mr. Barnett, what's wrong with impeaching one who has ignored and/or gutted the Constitution?

*crickets chirping*

Oh. That only applies to Democratic Presidents. Hmmm. Glad we cleared that up.

This Is What Civil War Looks Like

2006-03-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

From the Associated Press:

Gunmen in camouflage uniforms stormed the offices of a private Iraqi security company and kidnapped as many as 50 employees, police said Wednesday, as U.S. and Iraqi patrols discovered 24 bodies in various parts of the capital.

(snip)

An American military patrol found 18 of the bodies — all males — in an abandoned minibus Tuesday night on a road between two notorious mostly Sunni west Baghdad neighborhoods.

The bodies were brought to Yarmouk Hospital and lined up on stretchers for identification. Most had bruising indicating they were strangled and two were shot, said Dr. Muhanad Jawad, who initially thought they had been hanged. Police believed at least two of the men were foreign Arabs.

Police found the bodies of six more men — four of them strangled and two shot — discarded in other parts of the city.

(snip)

One bomb hidden under a parked car detonated as police from the interior minister's protection force were driving through central Baghdad, killing two officers and injuring another, police said. Four bystanders were injured in the blast. The minister was not in the convoy at the time.

Another roadside bomb hit a police patrol in north Baghdad, killing two officers and injuring four others, police said.

A third one missed an American convoy on the northern outskirts of Baghdad and killed two Iraqi boys who were selling gasoline by the roadside, police said. He estimated their age at 10 or 11.

A car bomb targeting another U.S. convoy in north Baghdad injured five civilian bystanders, police said. There was no immediate word of American casualties.

An Iraqi patrol saw four gunmen pull a man from the trunk of a car and shoot him to death in west Baghdad, police reported. They said the patrol tried to intercede, but the gunmen fired at them and fled.

More gunmen pulled over a school bus carrying about 25 high school girls and shot the driver in front of his terrified passengers. The wounded driver was rushed to hospital, police said.

Tell me again....why did we invade Iraq?

Oh right, I remember! WMDs and mushroom clouds. No, that's not it. Umm, to get rid of Saddam? No, I forgot we aren't using that one anymore. Was it to bring democracy? Um, no...that didn't work quite so well. To bring peace and stability to Iraq and the Middle East? Fine job we're doing so far...

Hmmm...guess I ought to call Unka Karl and Gen. Pace to get the latest "It's not a civil war." talking points.

Sounds Familiar...

2006-03-08T08:36:00.000-05:00

This sounds a lot like what they were saying about Iraq three years ago. From MSNBC News Services:

Meanwhile, the United States and its European allies said Wednesday that Iran’s intransigence over its nuclear program has left the world no choice but to ask for the Security Council to take action against the Islamic regime.

(snip)

On Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both warned of dire consequences if Iran continued its nuclear fuel enrichment, while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed that Iranian Revolutionary Guard elements had infiltrated Iraq to cause trouble.

At what point do you think Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld will start telling us that we have to act before the smoking gun is a mushroom cloud?

Iran, for its part, isn't backing down. In fact, they've issued a challenge:

Iran said on Wednesday the United States could feel “harm and pain” if the U.N. Security Council took up the issue of Tehran’s nuclear research.

“The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll,” it said in a statement obtained by Reuters on the sidelines of a U.N. nuclear watchdog board meeting in Vienna.

(snip)

Tehran also said Wednesday it would have to review its oil export policy if world pressure mounted over its disputed atomic work.

Asked whether Iran would use an “oil weapon” as the world’s fourth largest crude oil exporter, Javad Vaeedi, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Reuters: “We will not (do so now), but if the situation changes, we will have to review our oil policies.”

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, had said on Sunday that Tehran was not keen to use oil as a weapon in its escalating row with the West “but if conditions change it could affect our decision.”

He did not specify what he meant by a change in conditions.

Iran is the fourth biggest oil exporter in the world and the second largest in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. There is broad international concern that isolating Iran could drive up already high oil prices.

Which makes me worry - suppose Iran does cut its oil production, leading to an incredible increase in gasoline prices for Americans (because, like the Prez said, we're addicted to oil). Will Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld consider that an act of war, thus necessitating an American invasion of Iraq?

One which, by the way, we couldn't hope to win - especially with so many of our troops currently mired in Iraq. BushCo would need a draft to create an army large enough - and that dog won't hunt.

Cave In

2006-03-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

Is anyone surprised that the Senate Intelligence Committee chose not to investigate the President's illegal wire-tapping. Anyone? Didn't think so.

We all knew how this was going to turn out, didn't we? Sure, Olympia Snowe and Chuck Hagel and other "moderate" Republicans "said" they didn't think it was legal, and they "said" they thought it should be investigated, but we all know that Republicans lie like the rest of us breathe - it just comes naturally. Wonder how much those "moderates" were paid to vote against an investigation?

This is the email I sent Sen. Specter who "represents" Pennsylvania, along with the soon-to-be-jobless Rick Santorum.

Senator,

I cannot even find the words to express my absolute fury regarding today's vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Once again, this Republican-dominated Congress has shown itself to be no more than a rubber-stamp for George W. Bush, much like the Politburo of Soviet Russia.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has said, more or less, that whatever the White House does is fine, no matter what. The Committee has just informed the citizens of the United States that we are in fact ruled by a monarch with unlimited powers, that Congress and the Supreme Court are little more than functionaries, and that nearly 230 years of democracy has - for all intents and purposes - ended.

I have now committed myself, with countless other Americans - liberal and moderate, Democrat and Republican - to making sure that you and every other Republican incumbent are removed from office. I also commit myself to removing every spineless, gutless Democrat who has allowed this rubber-stamping to continue without speaking up, and stated as much in an email to the DCCC Chairman, Rahm Emanuel.

I want my America back, Mr. Senator, and I'm willing to fight in the Second American Revolution - if that's what it takes - to restore the Constitution as the highest law of the land.

Sincerely yours,
[PA_Lady]

Texas - Breeding Ground for Idiots?

2006-03-07T09:04:00.000-05:00

George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Scott McClellan, Alberto Gonzalez, Harriet Miers...

There's a whole lot of Texans in the current mis-administration, but I'm starting to think there must something in the air down there that turns people - mostly Republicans - into idiots.

Check out this guy that Shakespeare's Sister found: Larry Kilgore. He's running for Governor of Texas. His website says:

My first priority as governor will be to submit to Biblical law given to us by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. My job, according to 1st Peter 2:14, will be to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

On a link marked "Issues" he lists the various Biblical punishments his administration will mete out: Death for crimes of adultery, murder (including abortion), rape, 'homosexual acts', deadly negligence, and bestiality. For offenses like graffiti, porn, and strip clubs, he advocates one to forty lashes.

Surprisingly, illegal immigrants would only be subject to a minimum of 5 lashes, $3000 fine, and deportation. (You'd think he'd want the death penalty for that too, as a way to cut down on illegal border crossings.)

He also calls for Texas secession, wants all Texas troops in Iraq returned to the state (to help with the secession), will eliminate funding for public schools, health and human services, and prisons.

His website also boasts a link to a test that tells you whether or not you'll get into heaven. And if you fail, tells you why you need God. There might even be a little page that tells you what to pray to Jesus to get yourself saved, but I couldn't be bothered to look. (Yeah, yeah...I'm going to hell for that too....)

*map from http://www.aaccessmaps.com/show/map/texas_all

Cindy Sheehan arrested after protest march

2006-03-07T07:35:00.000-05:00

Is THIS how the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq should be treated???

Apparently so, if that mother is protesting the war in Iraq and part of a group trying to get the US Mission to the United Nations to accept a petition 'with more than 60,000 signatures urging the “withdrawal of all troops and all foreign fighters from Iraq.”' (...)

Women Say No to War, which helped organize the march, claimed Sheehan was physically assaulted by security officers during the arrests. Photos show officers dragging Sheehan, with her shirt yanked up. Police said the four women were arrested for criminal trespassing and resisting arrest. Read the rest here.

Photo #1 by Keith Bedford - Reuters
Photo #2 by Mary Altaffer - AP

Now, We Fight Back!

2006-03-06T16:08:00.000-05:00

From the AP: Gov. Mike Rounds signed the most restrictive ban on abortions in the United States. The law makes it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion unless the life of the mother is in immediate jeopardy. There is absolutely no exception for victims of rape or incest. NONE.

This law is meant to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood intends to fight the law in court.

There is only one abortion clinic in the entire state of South Dakota, located in Sioux Falls. Approximately 800 abortions are performed each year there, but Planned Parenthood says many women already cross state lines to reach other abortion clinics.

“This is proof-positive that Gov. Rounds cares more about politics than about the health and safety of women in South Dakota,” said Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood regional operations for Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, said in a statement Monday. “In every state, women, their families, and their doctors should be making private, personal health care decisions — not politicians.” (emphasis mine)

Rounds issued a written statement saying he expects the law will be tied up in court for years and will not take effect unless the U.S. Supreme Court upholds it.

“In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them,” Rounds said in the statement.

Gee, Governor, I bet the women of your state really appreciate knowing you don't give a shit about already living, breathing South Dakotans. What's the unemployment rate at Pine Ridge again? How many already-born children live in poverty in South Dakota?

What?? I can't hear you Governor....

Here's how YOU can contact Governor Rounds:

Send an email: sdgov@gov.state.sd.us
Phone the Governor's office: (605) 773-3212
Send a postcard: Office of the Governor, 500 E. Capitol Ave, Pierre SD 57501

Get the email addresses of SD's state senators here.
Get the email addresses of SD's state representatives here.

Help End The War On Women!

Boycott Sturgis. Boycott South Dakota.

These are the people protecting us?!

2006-03-06T09:43:00.000-05:00

From the Associated Press: The private security guards at the Department of Homeland Security are telling Congress that the Dept is barely able to protect its own headquarters.

The guards have taken their concerns to Congress, describing inadequate training, failed security tests and slow or confused reactions to bomb and biological threats.

For instance, when an envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards said they watched in amazement as superiors carried it by the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby.

The scare, caused by white powder that proved to be harmless, "stands as one glaring example" of the agency's security problems, said Derrick Daniels, one of the first guards to respond to the incident.

The agency responsible for protecting the DHS is Wackenhut Service, Inc., which has previously been criticized for its handling of protection "at nuclear facilities and transporting nuclear weapons."

Homeland Security officials say they have little control over Wackenhut's training of guards but plan to improve that with a new contract. The company defends its performance, saying the suspicious powder incident was overblown because the mail had already been irradiated.

Two senators who fielded complaints from several Wackenhut employees are asking Homeland's internal watchdog, the inspector general, to investigate.

"If the allegations brought forward by the whistleblowers are correct, they represent both a security threat and a waste of taxpayer dollars," Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote. "It would be ironic, to say the least, if DHS were unable to secure its own headquarters." (emphasis mine)

Jenn's Sunday Sermon

2006-03-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

This is the inaugural post of what I hope will be a weekly series. My goal is to take on the so-called Christians who want everyone to worship THEIR god, while simultaneously ignoring all of their Lord and Savior's teachings.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have to point out that I am not a Christian. I've no idea what to call myself, but "Zen Humanist Agnostic Wiccan Buddhist" sorta/kinda works.

I was raised, and married in, the local Presbyterian Church. And I'm a three-time winner of the 'Memorization Award' in Sunday School for memorizing the most verses in a year. But over the years, my questions grew and the church was never able to satisfactorily answer them. I began a journey of discovery to what I call my "patchwork" faith - little bits from here and there, this and that, that speak to me.

I do not believe in the Christian God - except as being the same Divinity worshiped by all religions. I believe Christ to be a wise man and teacher, but not Divine. Thus ends the disclosure.

Today's Sunday Sermon is on: The Least of These

When you look at many of the televangelists - James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc - you often see them preaching against homosexuality, against abortion, against sex education, against- well, common sense. And all of them spend time begging for money to "continue their ministry" or to "fight the liberals" etc.. But are their followers aware of how much of that money goes directly to their televangelist's pockets? Do you really think God said, "Pat Robertson needs a mansion in Virginia Beach."?

Christ told his followers that the greatest Commandment was to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your body, and all your soul." He said the second greatest was to "Love your neighbor as yourself."

When Christ was asked, "Who is my neighbor?" he told the story of the Good Samaritan. Samarra was an enemy of Israel, but only the Samaritan stopped to aid the injured man. Christ meant everyone was your neighbor. Short Jesus: Love everyone, no exceptions! (ironic side note: Samarra is in modern-day Iraq.)

Later in his ministry, Christ gave us the most important lesson of all. "Whatsoever you have done for the least of these, you have done likewise for me." Christ gave us, more or less, the instruction manual for getting to heaven. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give aid to the poor, the sick, the widowed, the orphaned, the imprisoned.

You see many people claiming to be Christians, but few of these are working to aid the poor.

I find it sad that a President who claims to be a Christian, who claims to be led by the Lord - who actually claims to SPEAK with God - gives tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting funding for Medicaid and Medicare, WIC, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, Veterans Benefits. Starts a war in Iraq under false pretenses, but fails to ensure soldiers are provided with body armor, fails to ensure military vehicles are properly outfitted with uparmor, fails to provide immediate assistance in the aftermath of a Class 5 hurricane - leading to the deaths of over 1300 people. And the list goes on.

I know a great many people who are not Christians, who are not religious at all, but who follow this one command. Not because it came from Christ, but because it is the right thing to do. They believe that those with more should help those with nothing.

While chatting on the board of another blog, I commented that - if there is a Heaven - I believe God (by any name) will have only one question for those arriving at the Pearly Gates:

"What have you done for 'the least of these'?"

The answer to that question will determine who gets in.

Branding Republicans

2006-03-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

Blogger Our Karl Rove has a list of easy one-line tags to slap on the Republicans.

(...) But, as Republicans have learned through experience, it's easier to re-brand your foe than yourself in politics. And, what better time to start some baseline Republican re-branding just before the races heat up for the 2006 congressional elections? (...)
Republicans -- they spend our savings and tax your children
Republicans -- they'll bug your phone and track your web searches... feel safe now?
Republicans -- if they're so good at war, why are our troops dying every week?
Republicans -- bringing America down, one blunder at a time
Republicans -- they're sure they're right, even when they're dead wrong
Republicans -- my tax cut was nice, but it's all going to heat my home and fill up my car
Republicans -- sponsored in part by Abramoff, the corrupt lobbyist
Republicans -- absolute power corrupts absolutely
Republicans -- the party of self destruction in search of weapons of mass destruction (...)

Thomas Jefferson, in his own words

2006-03-04T23:50:00.000-05:00

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law. -- letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. -- Notes on Virginia, 1782

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear. -- Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination. -- in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom

I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians. --letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State. --letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1, 1802

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. -- to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. -- letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814

What's in the water in Missouri?!

2006-03-04T22:47:00.000-05:00

If you think this is silly, you're not alone. And you're probably not living in Missouri.

Two branches of a public library in Savannah MO have moved the book "And Tango Makes Three" from its children's section to the non-fiction section. Why? Because the book is based on the true story of Roy and Silo - two male penguins who adopted an abandoned egg in the 1990s at the NYC Central Park Zoo.

It seems some parents in Savannah were concerned about the "undertones" of the book. Apparently two male penguins getting together to raise a baby penguin just screams, "HOMOSEXUAL!" At least in Missouri. Read more.

***

In other Missouri news, the state legislature wants to pass a non-binding resolution recognizing Christianity as the "majority" religion.

A Missouri House resolution stating that “voluntary prayer in public schools, religious displays on public property, and the recognition of a Christian God are not a coalition of church and state” has made it through the committee process and is scheduled for a floor vote as early as today (Thursday, March 2.)

(...)

The resolution, which is concurrent with the Senate, does not have an enacting clause, and therefore “is just a political statement about Christianity,” said Rep. John P. Burnett (D-Kansas City), a Rules Committee member who voted against passing the resolution to the full House.

The resolution states that:

“Whereas, our forefathers of this great nation of the United States recognized a Christian God and used the principles afforded to us by Him as the founding principles of our nation…

“Whereas, as elected officials we should protect the majority’s right to express their religious beliefs while showing respect for those who object…

“Now, therefore, be it resolved…that we stand with the majority of our constituents and exercise the common sense that voluntary prayer in public schools and religious displays on public property are not a coalition of church and state, but rather the justified recognition of the positive role that Christianity has played in this great nation of ours…”

Someone should send the legislators of Missouri a copy of all the writings of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and the other Founding Fathers - the majority of whom who were Deists, not Christians. They themselves made it very clear in their personal and public writings that the United States was not a country founded on Christianity.

On June 10, 1797, John Adams - signer of the Declaration of Independence and 2nd President - signed the Treaty of Tripoli. This treaty was unanimously approved by Congress - which made no objection to the following wording:

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion — as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen — and as the said States have never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. (emphasis mine)

Thomas Jefferson mentioned only a "Creator" in the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution avoids all mention of any religion. Jefferson wrote later than an attempt was made to add a reference to "Jesus Christ" in the Constitution, but that it was voted down.

Giving Christianity A Bad Name

2006-03-04T09:03:00.000-05:00

Do you think Marion "Pat" Robertson's God will give someone at the NRB a stroke? Marion "Pat" Robertson - founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network - was denied a seat on the National Religious Broadcasters' board of directors. There were 33 board seats, and 38 contenders, including our good friend Marion.

Marion's spokesperson is making nice, saying Marion was expected to step aside anyway. (Oh, really? Then why run for a seat???)

Read more here:

Saturday Miscellany

2006-03-04T07:50:00.000-05:00

CENTCOM=concern trolls?

Georgia10 at DailyKos tells us that the military has a "blog team" with one mission: Checking blogs and contacting bloggers to correct "misinformation". From the Defense Dept's website:

McNorton said the team contacts bloggers to inform the writers about any given topic that may have been posted on their site. This outreach effort enables the team to offer complete information to bloggers by inviting them to visit CENTCOM's Web site for news releases, data or imagery.

The team engages bloggers who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information. They extend a friendly invitation to all bloggers to visit the command's Web site.

(...)

Flowers is one of three people who read blogs and try to drive Internet readers to the CENTCOM Web site, where readers can learn more about operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

"We needed to do something to make people aware of the fact that we had this clearinghouse of photos and information," Flowers said. "We can get the whole story out there. We let them know we have a Web site."

Detainees' Names Released

Speaking of the US Military, the names of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay were released after a federal judge ordered the Pentagon to release the information. From the Associated Press report:

After four years of secrecy, the Pentagon handed over documents Friday that contain the names of detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The Bush administration had hidden the identities, home countries and other information about the men, who were accused of having links to the Taliban or al-Qaida. But a federal judge rejected administration arguments that releasing the identities would violate the detainees' privacy and could endanger them and their families.

(...)

In another document, a detainee identified as Abdul Hakim Bukhary denies he is a member of al-Qaida but acknowledges he traveled from his native Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan to fight U.S. forces, and says he met Osama bin Laden about 15 years ago while fighting in Russia. He praises his captors for running a good prison.

"Prisoners here are in paradise," he says. "American people are very good. Really. They give us three meals. Fruit juice and everything!" Still, he says, he wants to return to his family.

Duke Cunningham goes to prison.

Can DeLay, Frist, and the multitude of scandal-ridden Republicans be far behind? From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a decorated fighter pilot in Vietnam who admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes from two defense contractors, was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in federal prison.

Asked to put the dimensions of Cunningham's corruption in perspective, Thomas Mann, an expert on Congress at the Brookings Institution, said "we haven't seen anything like" the magnitude and duration of Cunningham's crimes since the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s. (emphasis mine)

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns imposed the sentence after prosecutors argued for the maximum 10 years and defense attorneys suggested six years because Cunningham, 64, is suffering from various physical ailments, as well as depression. The San Diego County Republican resigned from Congress after pleading guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy to commit bribery in November.

(...)

The judge recommended the prison term be served in a federal facility near Bakersfield. Burns also ordered that Cunningham pay $1.8 million in back taxes and penalties, plus $1.85 million in restitution based on the bribes he received.

The San Diego Union Tribune tells us some Cunningham's stuff will be auctioned on March 23rd. The proceeds will be used to reimburse the agencies that investigated Cunningham. Some of the items up for bid:

MINT WATER, C/O UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, APPROX 6,000 BTLS TOTAL, 2 BTL SAMPLE @ EG&G LOS ANGELES, CANNOT BE EXPORTED TO CANADA, MEXICO OR IRAN, CANNOT BE SENT TO FOREIGN TRADE ZONES (EXPORT ONLY), 500 CTNS
BALLPOINT PENS, HOME DEPOT CENTER, APPROX 2,500 PCS TOTAL, SAMPLE ON DISPLAY, 7 CTNS
BRACELET, 14KY, BLOCK LINK, 6 5/8" LONG X 9.2MM WIDE, W/TWO ROWS OF BLOCK LINKS ON THE OUTSIDE, CENTERED BY ROUND DIAMONDS, ALTERNATING BETWEEN 2.2MM ROUND BRILLIANTS PRONG SET & 1.2MM ROUND SINGLE CUT ILLUSION SET DIAMONDS, 30 BRILLIANTS & 29 SINGLE CUT DIAMONDS, ATW 1.45CT, K-L/I1, 18.6 DWT, 1 EA
SCOTCH, GLENFIDDICH & BALVENIE, APPROX 156 BTLS TOTAL (EXPORT ONLY), 14 CTNS
2000 FERRARI 360 MODENA, MANUAL, CHARCOAL GREY, 8 CYL, ODOMETER READS 8,427, VIN:: ZFFYU51A6Y0119986 - JUST ADDED!

You can learn more about the items up for bid here, the Treasury Department's website.

Scandals Military Cunningham Blogs Guantanamo California Republican

Run - Don't Walk - Out of South Dakota

2006-03-03T19:26:00.000-05:00

Mark Morford at sfgate.com tells all the women (and teen girls) in South Dakota to hit the road. To get out while the gettin's good.

Attention all funky sexy single intelligent women of South Dakota (assuming there are any left):

It is time. Pack it up. Strip the bed, box up the cat, load the U-Haul, call your hip friends over in Minneapolis, move out West, or East, or anywhere with a mind-set not stuck like a bloody nail in the moral coffin of 1845. Let this be your clarion call. Get the hell out,
right now.

Here is why: Your state hates you. Your state, apparently run by pallid sexless demagogic men who think they know something of God and morality but know only ignominy and the smell of sulfur and death in their nightmares, thinks you are irresponsible dumb-ass meat, unable to handle your own decisions, your own body, your sex. Your state's leaders and your Republican governor, Mike Rounds, wish to treat you like meaningless, voiceless chattel. Get out now. You already know why.

(...)

Of course, with any luck, with any sort of divine feminine intervention, with any sort of national common sense, this sickening attack on female choice will quickly go the way of "intelligent design," of the Terry Schiavo zombies, of the WMD zealots. It will dissolve and implode like the nasty moral insult it so very is. We can only hope. And of course, vote, in November.

Until then, it would behoove the final dozen or so sexually attuned, lusciously feminine women in South Dakota -- not to mention every teenage girl within a 1,000-mile radius -- to pack their bags and book their tickets outta town before they lock the gates and start the fires. I hear Canada is lovely this time of year. What are you waiting for?

Abortion War On Women Birth Control Rapists' Rights Reproductive Rights Pro-choice South Dakota

Lies and the Lying Liars

2006-03-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

Two "must read" posts by Reddhead at firedoglake.

"All Hat, No Cattle" - about George Bush and the unravelling web of lies.

It's not enough that the President lies about the big things. He lies about the little ones, too. (...)

George Bush is a product, with all sorts of fun labeling on the box -- nifty claims of "made with whole grains" and "fortified with vitamins and minerals," but what we're really looking at is a sort of candidate who, when you get down to what is really there, is a whole lot of fluff and nonsense, lots of fillers and ultra-refined crap, with a really good marketing team behind him. He sounds good when the team has everything working like a well-oiled machine, but those moments when he's off-script, off-plan, being "real" as opposed to "scripted," you get a real sense of who he is -- and in a crisis, it's not a pretty picture.

It's this pattern of behavior with this President that concerns me, the real behavior, not the spin and the projection and the tap dance that his Wurlitzer pals try to sell like so many PR folks with a wind-up Energizer bunny in their pocket -- and it ought to concern all Americans.

Faced with a crisis or some question of his leadership, his integrity, pretty much any question at all, George Bush's first response is to freeze, then huddle with his staff and come up with a media response. It's all statement, no actual leadership, no actual work. The PR blitz becomes the entire focus of this Administration -- all campaign mode, all the time, with no real concern for doing the actual work -- for really digging into the nitty gritty and governing. (emphasis mine)

All hat, no cattle. (...)

In the other, Redd discusses Murray Waas' article in the National Journal, and gives us only two choices with regard to Bush's decision to invade Iraq. And - unsurprisingly -neither instills a lot of confidence in the man who has his finger on the big red button.

Here's my conclusion after reading Murray Waas' exceptional new piece in the National Journal today: (1) the President either knew that Saddam posed no immediate threat to the United States and repeatedly lied to the American public and leaders around the world (and allowed multiple members of his Administration to lie about it as well) or (2) he doesn't bother doing his job, and had no idea what information was contained in multiple sensitive national security briefs that he was given over a long period of time, and no one in the Administration bothered to clue him in on this.

You choose.

I've wracked my brain this afternoon to come up with another alternative -- but no matter how I twist it around in my brain, it comes back to "he knew and lied" or "he doesn't bother doing his job."

The War on Women Continues

2006-03-03T06:47:00.000-05:00

Mississippi has joined South Dakota in its War on Women, with state legislators passing a Rapists' Rights Bill. Gov. Haley Barbour says he will likely sign the bill even though it provides no exceptions for rape or incest. See the AP report here, and firedoglake's reaction here.

And in Utah - a redder-than-red state - molesting fathers have more rights than the daughters they impregnate. And fetuses have more rights than the women they inhabit.

From the Salt Lake City Tribune: Incest is no exception to a father's right to know what's going on in his daughter's life.
That was the message from Utah lawmakers who refused Monday to make an exception for incest victims in a proposed law that would require parental consent and notification before a girl's abortion.

Utah wants to change its law - from requiring a physician to notify both parents, to notifying one of a minor girl's parents 24 hours before she has an abortion. The law also allows for a girl - whose pregnancy is the result of incest - to go to court to avoid parental consent, but there is no exception to the notification. Doctors are still required to report it to one or the other parent - even if she is pregnant as a result of incest.

Sadly, some of the state representatives are so feeble-minded that they don't understand why this might be a problem. One even said it's the female's fault for having sex and thus she should have to suffer the consequences.

West Jordan Republican Sen.Chris Buttars scoffed at McCoy's suggestion that the legislation might force teens to other states for abortions or into their bathrooms to attempt the procedure on themselves.

"Abortion isn't about women's rights. The rights they had were when they made the decision to have sex," Buttars said. "This is the consequences. The consequence is they should have to talk to their parents." (emphasis mine)

Apparently, even rape and incest are her fault, and she must be punished through forced childbirth.

Digby says: I find this refreshing. These Republicans admit that women give up their rights when they have sex. Good to know. And they believe a child-molesting father's parental rights are more important than the daughter he impregnated. Also good to know.

Abortion War On Women Birth Control Rapists' Rights Reproductive Rights Pro-choice South Dakota Mississippi

STRIKE!

2006-03-02T17:39:00.000-05:00

MzNicky and the Tennessee Guerilla Women are leading the charge against the War on Women.

MzNicky says: May this latest US declaration of hostility be as successful as the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, and the War on Terror have been.

In that regard, I’d like to propose that we, the majority of humans who are now equated with poverty, drugs, and terror, just go ahead and get all Lysistrata on these warriors’ asses. You remember Aristophanes’ play, the third in his “War and Peace” trilogy? The one where the women of ancient Greece decide they’ve just about had it with 20 years of warmongering and issue a moratorium on the only other thing that always seems to get the manly man’s attention?

You know what to do, girls....er- what not to do!

Birth Control War On Women Abortion Reproductive Rights Lysistrata Choice

Worst. President. Ever.

2006-03-02T08:47:00.000-05:00

"I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

Remember that? We knew it was a lie, but now, thanks to the AP, we know just how big the lie was. Crooks and Liars has the video here. Think Progress has a Katrina timeline here.

According to a report by the Associated Press , George Bush and Michael Chertoff were advised by video conference "in dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms" that "the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans’ Superdome and overwhelm rescuers".

Bush didn’t ask a single question during the final briefing [Aug 28-JK] before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: “We are fully prepared.”

(...)

Bush declared four days after the storm, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” that gushed deadly floodwaters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility — and Bush was worried too.

(...)

Mississippi begged for more attention in that same briefing.

“We know that there are tens or hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana that need to be rescued, but we would just ask you, we desperately need to get our share of assets because we’ll have people dying — not because of water coming up, but because we can’t get them medical treatment in our affected counties,” said a Mississippi state official whose name was not mentioned on the tape.

Michael Brown, the much-maligned FEMA chief, was far more aware of the dangers Katrina posed. He comes off far better in this video than does the guy actually responsible for "homeland security" or the guy who says it's his job to "protect America".

Video footage of the Aug. 28 briefing, the final one before Katrina struck, showed an intense Brown voicing concerns from the government’s disaster operation center and imploring colleagues to do whatever was necessary to help victims.

“We’re going to need everything that we can possibly muster, not only in this state and in the region, but the nation, to respond to this event,” Brown warned. He called the storm “a bad one, a big one” and implored federal agencies to cut through red tape to help people, bending rules if necessary.

Reaction from around the blogosphere: firedoglake, sans-culottes, Bob Geiger, americablog, Pacific Views, and HuffPo. Also: Reuters and the Chicago Tribune.

* Photo - gwbushart

Bush Katrina Chertoff Heckova job Brownie levees Homeland Security FEMA

Rahm Wants Your Support....and your money

2006-03-01T18:22:00.000-05:00

Update: (3/2) Wow! I actually received a reply.

Dear [PA Lady],

Thank you for your comments and we certainly understand your frustration. We hope that over the coming weeks and months we can prove to you our commitment to a strong message, firm convictions, and a truly new vision for America. We have no problem with you wanting to wait until you see a new Democratic Party before joining our Campaign for Change; we just hope that you'll pay attention to our efforts and, if we can change your mind, that you'll join in as we attempt to take back the House next November.

Sincerely,

DCCC Action Team

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I received an email today from Rahm Emanuel, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Here's an excerpt:

Dear [PA Lady],

Nine Of The Ten Most Vulnerable House Seats Are Held By Republicans. We Can Win This November. Support Our Grassroots Campaign Today!

The Republicans' hold on Washington, D.C. is slipping and I can
feel the momentum building towards a Democratic victory this November.

The irresponsible and incompetent policies of Bush and the Rubber Stamp
Congress are placing America's future at risk ...

We have an Administration more interested in using 9/11 as a political issue than taking real steps to secure our ports and borders. We have a Congressional leadership that's afraid to ask the corporate special interests to harden potential terrorist targets like nuclear and chemical plants. The courageous men and women of our armed forces are engaged in a poorly planned war, ill equipped and poorly supplied and serving without the benefit of a clear exit strategy.

And, real American values that reward hard work, foster personal integrity and honor individual sacrifice for community and country are mocked, belittled and held in contempt by corrupt Republicans and the "greed-is-good" philosophy that rules in today's Republican-dominated Washington, D.C. (...)

Interspersed throughout were the usual pleas for money.

This was my response:

Dear Mr. Emanuel,

Where HAVE you been?? The current Congressional Democrats, with few exceptions, are as much a part of the "Rubber Stamp Congress" as the scandal-ridden Republicans!

Where were the Democrats during the Roberts nomination? During the Alito nomination, when a huge public outcry attracted the attention of 25 Senators?

Where were those spineless Congressional Democrats when the AUMF was approved? Where were they when it came to light that there weren't - and never had been - any WMDs in Iraq?

Where were they when John Murtha stood up and said it was time set a withdrawal timetable to bring our troops home? Where were they went the Republican spin machine went into overdrive, smearing this patriotic and honorable Marine?

Spineless, gutless, yellow-bellied morons. Too busy 'going along to get along' to remember their constituents.

Be afraid, Mr. Emanuel, be very afraid. It's time for a Congress that listens to its citizens WITHOUT checking to see which way the wind is blowing. A Congress that realizes it more than the president's lackey.

Like many others, I will donate directly to specific candidates that I feel represent my interests and those of other voters. Ned Lamont and Ciro Rodriguez among others.

I will not spend a single cent helping a group that has done NOTHING to help America.

Sincerely yours,
[PA Lady]

Bush 'hearts' the troops....really.

2006-03-01T14:06:00.000-05:00

From firedoglake:

The WaPo is reporting this morning that more than one in three American servicepeople report suffering from mental distress after returning from Iraq.

(snip)

This is shameful, and something that your representatives in Congress ought to hear about. And something that would make a great issue for a letter to the editor in your local newspaper or a call to a local talk radio show. Our soldiers risk their lives day in and day out -- they deserve a helluva lot better from this Administration than a deliberately underfunded system of support year after year.

We knew going into Afghanistan and Iraq that the number of injured veterans was likely to rise -- as it always does when you engage in an armed conflict. That this Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress failed to plan for this increase -- by budgeting and staffing adequately for it up front -- is dishonest and wrong. And it dishonors the veterans who put their lives and their limbs on the line for all of us. Shame on Congress and the President for failing our veterans at a time when they need us most. For shame. ...

From Wonkette:

Folks, our fighting boys need your help. Here's the email we received today from
one of them:
"Just to let you know, the US Marines have blocked access
to“Wonkette” along with numerous other sites such as personal email (i.e. Yahoo, AT&T, Hotmail, etc), blogs that don't agree with the government point of view, personal websites, and some news organizatons."

Bush Wrong, Murtha Right....again

2006-03-01T07:08:00.000-05:00

Stars and Stripes is reporting that a new Zogby poll shows 72% of US troops support withdrawal from Iraq within a year.

The survey of 944 troops, conducted in Iraq between Jan. 18 and Feb. 14, said that only 23 percent of servicemembers thought U.S. forces should stay “as long as they are needed.”

Of the 72 percent, 22 percent said troops should leave within the next six months, and 29 percent said they should withdraw “immediately.” Twenty-one percent said the U.S. military presence should end within a year; 5 percent weren’t sure.

That same survey found that 42% of the troops are unsure of their mission, and an astonishing 85% believe the Iraq invasion was retaliation for Saddam Hussein's role in 9/11.

“We were surprised by that, especially the 85 percent [figure],” Zogby said. “Clearly that is much higher than the consensus among the American public, and the public’s perception [on that topic] is much higher than the actual reality of the situation.”

In terms of current operations, 80 percent of those polled said they did not hold a negative view of all Iraqis because of the ongoing attacks against coalition military forces.

More than 43 percent of those polled said their equipment, such as Humvees, body armor and munitions, is adequate for the jobs facing them, while 30 percent said it is not.

(snip)

Of those surveyed, 75 percent have served multiple tours in Iraq, 63 percent were under 30 years old, and 75 percent were male.

What Civil War??

2006-03-01T07:03:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post is reporting that Iraqi Shiites are being evicted from their homes in predominantly Sunni neighborhoods, threatened with death if they fail to do so. Read more at msnbc.com.

Salim Rashid, 34, a Shiite laborer in an overwhelmingly Sunni Arab village 20 miles north of Baghdad, received his eviction notice Friday from a man at the door with a rocket launcher.

"It's 6 p.m.," Rashid recounted the masked man saying then, as retaliatory violence between Shiites and Sunnis exploded across wide swaths of central Iraq. "We want you out of here by 8 p.m. tomorrow. If we find you here, we will kill you."

Walking, hitchhiking and hiring cars, the Rashid clan and many of the 25 other families evicted from the town of Mishada had made their way by Tuesday to a youth center in Baghdad's heavily Shiite neighborhood of Shoula. There, other people forced from their homes were already sharing space on donated mattresses.

(snip)

Fearing the same fate, nine Shiite families in Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, were packing up Tuesday afternoon.

"Armed men left a threatening letter at my doorstep," said Hussein Mohammed Ali, loading his pickup truck.

It's The War On Women, Stupid

2006-02-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

Democratic Talking Points Oracle appears to MJS as a Schematic Drawing of a Vagina. Read the whole article here.

SDV: Whatever. Let’s review: Progessives need to talk about abortion, about birth control, and how those who are against abortion are, by and large, also against birth control, which means they don’t care about the fetus as much as they do about what a woman does with her own body.

MJS: I’m not saying you look like a…

SDV: Talk about sperm, and if we outlaw abortion, what about all that sperm that men issue that never meet an egg? Is not a half of a blastocyst also sacred? If it isn’t, and it has no moral value, but an egg does, then women are actually superior in relative moral value to a man! Women should then be deciding what men can do, and cannot do, with their penises. Make the dialogue go down these weird alleys, allow it to speed along into the absurdities that follow when we treat women’s reproductive organs as governable while men’s organs are not subject to the same controls.

MJS: So, talk bluntly, in detail—but isn’t that what anti-abortionists do when they describe late-term abortions and the violence and suffering visited upon the fetus?

SDV: Some people may not be up to speed on this, but just so you know: a woman’s body is her own. If it’s not, then your sister, your wife, your mother belong to the state. The images used that depict late-term abortions are powerful, but the same people who use those won’t look at images of children killed in Iraq, or soldiers faces blown off, so go into that disconnect and put the two together. Remember: these people are not pro-life, they’re Pro War on Women." (emphasis mine)

Email SD State Representatives

2006-02-27T12:02:00.000-05:00

South Dakota State Representatives

Jamie Boomgarden rep.boomgarden@state.sd.us
Jim Bradford rep.bradford@state.sd.us
Thomas J. Brunner rep.brunner@state.sd.us
Michael Buckingham rep.buckingham@state.sd.us
Joni M. Cutler rep.cutler@state.sd.us
Justin J. Davis rep.davis@state.sd.us
Thomas J. Deadrick rep. deadrick@state.sd.us
H. Paul Dennert rep.dennert@state.sd.us
Joel D. Dykstra rep.dykstra@state.sd.us
Burt Elliott rep.elliott@state.sd.us
Bob Faehn rep.faehn@state.sd.us
Larry Frost rep.frost@state.sd.us
Art Fryslie rep.fryslie@state.sd.us
Cooper Garnos rep.garnos@state.sd.us
David B. Gassman rep.gassman@state.sd.us
Margaret V. Gillespie rep.gillespie@state.sd.us
Mary Glenski rep.glenski@state.sd.us
Thomas J. Glover rep.glover@state.sd.us
Tom Hackl rep.hackl@state.sd.us
Pat Haley rep.haley@state.sd.us
Clayton Halverson rep.halverson@state.sd.us
Alan Hanks rep.hanks@state.sd.us
Dale Hargens rep.hargens@state.sd.us
Jeffrey K. Haverly rep.haverly@state.sd.us
Phyllis M. Heineman rep.heineman@state.sd.us
Thomas Hennies rep.hennies@state.sd.us
Thomas R. Hills rep.hills@state.sd.us
Gordon K. Howie rep.howie@state.sd.us
Jean M. Hunhoff rep.hunhoff@state.sd.us
Roger W. Hunt rep.hunt@state.sd.us
Barry Jensen rep.jensen@state.sd.us
Gary Jerke rep.jerke@state.sd.us
Ted A. Klaudt rep.klaudt@state.sd.us
Al Koistinen rep.koistinen@state.sd.us
Elizabeth Kraus rep.kraus@state.sd.us
Shantel Krebs rep.krebs@state.sd.us
Michael W. Kroger rep.kroger@state.sd.us
Gerald F. Lange rep.lange@state.sd.us
Alice McCoy rep.mccoy@state.sd.us
Ed McLaughlin rep.mclaughlin@state.sd.us
Matthew Michels rep.michels@state.sd.us
Kathy Miles rep.miles@state.sd.us
Casey Murschel rep.murschel@state.sd.us
Paul Nelson rep.nelson@state.sd.us
Al Novstrup rep.novstrup@state.sd.us
Sean M. O'Brien rep.obrien@state.sd.us
Ryan P. Olson rep.olson@state.sd.us
Gordon R. Pederson rep.pederson@state.sd.us
Deb Peters rep.peters@state.sd.us
J.E. "Jim" Putnam rep.putnam@state.sd.us
Val Rausch rep.rausch@state.sd.us
Tim Rave rep.rave@state.sd.us
Larry Rhoden rep.rhoden@state.sd.us
Elaine Roberts rep.roberts@state.sd.us
Tim Rounds rep.rounds@state.sd.us
Donna Schafer rep.schafer@state.sd.us
Lou Sebert rep.sebert@state.sd.us
David Sigdestad rep.sigdestad@state.sd.us
Steve Street rep.street@state.sd.us
Bill Thompson rep.thompson@state.sd.us
Larry Tidemann rep.tidemann@state.sd.us
R. Shawn Tornow rep.tornow@state.sd.us
Charles M. Turbiville rep.turbiville@state.sd.us
Paul Valandra rep.valandra@state.sd.us
Don Van Etten rep.vanetten@state.sd.us
Bill Van Gerpen rep.vangerpen@state.sd.us
Thomas J. Van Norman rep.vannorman@state.sd.us
Mike Vehle rep.vehle@state.sd.us
Keri K. Weems rep.weems@state.sd.us
Hal G. Wick rep.wick@state.sd.us
Mark K. Willadsen rep.willadsen@state.sd.us

Email SD State Senators

2006-02-27T11:24:00.000-05:00

According to the SD Legislative Research Council's website, one can send email directly to each State Senator and Representative by using the following: sen.lastname@state.sd.us or rep.lastname@state.sd.us. The problem I've found is that there are two senators with the same last name - Sutton - and I've no clue how the LRC differentiates between the two. But here's the list I made up using that information and a list of names.

Let these folks know that a boycott of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will have a strong negative impact on businesses in South Dakota - and in turn will mean a drop in state sales tax revenues.

South Dakota State Senators

Gene Abdallah - sen.abdallah@state.sd.us
Stanford M. Adelstein - sen.adelstein@state.sd.us
Jerry Apa - sen.apa@state.sd.us
Julie Bartling - sen.bartling@state.sd.us
Eric H. Bogue - sen.bogue@state.sd.us
Mike Broderick - sen.broderick@state.sd.us
Thomas A. Dempster - sen.dempster@state.sd.us
Jay Duenwald - sen.duenwald@state.sd.us
J.P. Duniphan sen.duniphan@state.sd.us
William F. Earley sen.earley@state.sd.us
Jason M. Gant sen.gant@state.sd.us
Bob Gray sen.gray@state.sd.us
Brock L. Greenfield sen.greenfield@state.sd.us
Tom Hansen sen.hansen@state.sd.us
Gary D. Hanson sen.hanson@state.sd.us
Jim Hundstad sen.hundstad@state.sd.us
Dick Kelly sen.kelly@state.sd.us
Frank J. Kloucek sen.kloucek@state.sd.us
Dave Knudson sen.knudsen@state.sd.us
Gil Koetzle sen.koetzle@state.sd.us
Clarence Kooistra sen.kooistra@state.sd.us
John Koskan sen.koskan@state.sd.us
Jim Lintz sen.lintz@state.sd.us
Royal "Mac" McCracken sen.mccracken@state.sd.us
Kenneth McNenny sen.mcnenny@state.sd.us
Garry A. Moore sen.moore@state.sd.us
William M. Napoli sen.napoli@state.sd.us
Ben Nesselhuf sen.nesselhuf@state.sd.us
Ed Olson sen.olson@state.sd.us
Jim Peterson sen.peterson@state.sd.us
Lee Schoenbeck sen.schoenbeck@state.sd.us
Orville B. Smidt sen.smidt@state.sd.us
Dan Sutton sen.sutton@state.sd.us
Theresa B. Two Bulls sen.twobulls@state.sd.us

Duane Sutton - ??

With luck, I'll have the Reps list posted soon.

Boycott: Sturgis

2006-02-27T09:27:00.000-05:00

Update: (11:00a) Email address for Gov. Rounds: sdgov@gov.state.sd.us

Update: (10:15a) I just learned that Gov. Rounds is up for re-election this year...

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Republican Sen. Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls said, "This bill ends up being cold, indifferent and as hostile as any great prairie blizzard that this state has ever seen.''

(snip)

Republican Sen. Stan Adelstein of Rapid City had tried to amend the bill to include an exception for abortions for victims of rape. The amendment lost 14-21.

“To require a woman who has been savaged to carry the brutal attack result is a continued savagery unworthy of South Dakota,” he said.

(snip)

House Bill 1215 seeks to make abortion a felony but wouldn't allow charges to be filed against a doctor who performed the procedure during an attempt to save the life of a pregnant woman. (emphasis mine)

This isn’t just a women’s issue. In the end, this is about the rights of each individual to make medical decisions without government interference. Whether it is about abortion or choosing to end life support, the decision is best left to those directly affected.

But, knowing politicians - the almighty dollar speaks louder than any logical argument. So, be sure to point out that, should this boycott succeed, Sturgis will see a 10-15% drop in attendence. A loss of 50,000 attendees and the potential loss of $35 million dollars just might make them sit up and pay attention.

You can contact the SD legislators by email here. It’s an awkward system, and takes time to get through the list. (Sorry!) Be sure to refer to House Bill 1215 when calling or emailing.

Be polite and courteous. Kill them with kindness, as my mother always says.

I’ll be working to find direct email addresses, so we can send bulk mailings (that BCC feature is very handy!) I’ll also be trying to find phone numbers.

Also, contact Governor Mike Rounds.
Send an email: Go to http://www.state.sd.us/governor/ and click the link.
Phone: (605) 773-3212
Send a postcard: Office of the Governor, 500 E. Capitol Ave, Pierre SD 57501

Calling All Bikers II

2006-02-26T18:10:00.000-05:00

Let's get the ball rolling:

Contact Gov. Mike Rounds and let him know how you'll show your displeasure if he signs this abortion bill. Make it clear that we will boycott all products, goods, and services originating in his state, and boycotting all events held within it - including the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Make it clear that a 10% drop in attendence at Sturgis is a loss of fifty thousand attendees, and also a potential loss of $35 million dollars for businesses in and around Sturgis. (50K attendees x $100 per day, per person x 7 days)

Here's how you can contact Governor Rounds:

Send an email: Go to http://www.state.sd.us/governor/ and click the link.

Phone the Governor's office: (605) 773-3212

Send a postcard: Office of the Governor, 500 E. Capitol Ave, Pierre SD 57501

Please be calm and courteous when contacting Mr. Rounds' office.

Calling All Bikers

2006-02-26T16:20:00.000-05:00

Bikers are a unique group. On one hand, they’re very strong on law and order, patriotism, and doing what’s right. On the other, they’re strong advocates for personal freedom and against government intrusions. Looked down on by the ‘establishment-types’ as “long-haired, tattooed freaks”, but also scorned by the liberals as low-class rednecks, bikers are a class unto themselves.

Now, it’s time to call on them, all of them, to do what’s right. Not just for themselves, but for all Americans. For every person who is tired of being told what to do and how to do it. It’s time to boycott South Dakota.

Many of you are wondering what’s worth boycotting in SD, but the bikers know.

One word.

Sturgis.

This year is the 60th Anniversary Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Bike Week is Aug 7-13, 2006, and over half a million people are expected to attend.

But not this year. This year, I’m calling on all bikers to boycott Sturgis, as well as all national sponsors of the Rally - Harley-Davidson, Coca-Cola, Jack Daniels, Snap-On Tools, and Budweiser, to name a few.

I’m calling this boycott to protest the SD legislature’s recent passage of a law banning all abortions with the sole exception being when the mother’s life is in immediate danger.

My goal is a 10% drop in attendence - approximately 50,000 people choosing to spend their money somewhere else. Assuming a miserly $100 spent per person, that’s $5 million dollars that will be lost from businesses in South Dakota. At $100 per person per day - food, lodgings, fuel, snacks, souveniers - we’re talking about a loss of $35 million dollars.

This isn’t just about abortion. This is about unwanted, unwarranted government intrusion into our personal lives. Just as many bikers don’t want their government forcing them to wear helmets, we women don’t want our government forcing us to give birth.

Until the legislature of South Dakota begins to recognize the rights of its citizens to make their own decisions, then South Dakota is dead to those of us in the other 49 states.

Buy beef and pork from other states, get credit cards from a company other than Citicorp, don't buy a Gateway computer, take vacations in more female-friendly states.

I’m hoping to spread the word around the blogosphere and create a movement similar to what we saw during the Alito hearings. When you realize that a concentrated, organized effort of only FIVE DAYS convinced 25 Senators to vote ‘no’ on cloture, you begin to see the extremely serious effect we can have with nearly 5 months to plan, organize, and protest.

Boycott all goods, all services, and all events originating in South Dakota.

Correction: This year marks the 66th Anniversary of the Rally - not the 60th.

It's My Birthday!

2006-01-31T20:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I have some health issues that are taking up a lot of time and energy.

As my mother would say, it's the 8th anniversary of my 29th birthday, and for the first time in my memory - we did not get any snow. Not a bit. A few flakes this morning while at a local restaurant with my mom, brothers, baby sister, and nephew for my birthday breakfast, but they melted as soon as they hit the ground.

This doesn't seem like a big deal, but for a person whose birthday is a source for running jokes about blizzards and wrecked cars - at least among family - this is kind of depressing. I was born in the middle of a blizzard after my mother went into labor 7 weeks early. At the height of the storm, I announced my intentions of arriving early. My father immediately loaded Mom up and they headed out in his Caddy. They made it maybe 500 feet before the Caddy went into a slide and then into a ditch. Dad hiked to my uncle's home a few hundred yards away. Uncle Bill immediately set out in his Jeep with Mom and Dad, but slid and hit a tree. Thankfully they were only going about 10 mph - if that. He tried again in my Aunt JoAnne's car, only to slide into a snowbank...in his own driveway. That's three cars down! All told 7 vehicles were wrecked in the attempt to get Mom to the hospital. Dad tried calling PennDOT to clear and salt the hill road, but PennDOT - apparently having heard the "My wife's in labor" excuse before - refused. I am probably the only child responsible for wrecking 7 vehicles before birth. (Dad's insurance co. paid the claims, then promptly dropped them.)

My mother was finally driven - in a 57 Chevy - to the wrong hospital, but at that point, she figured "any port in a storm". After that, Mom says, she told God, "I will have as many children as you see fit to send me, but please! No more winter babies!" Apparently God heard - my sisters have May and June birthdays, and my brothers were both born in September - 4 years and 6 days apart.

Once at the hospital, showing the stubbornness for which I'm often acclaimed, I apparently decided the horror of all those slides and accidents was too much. My mother spent 42 hours in labor. (And loves me anyway!)

Anyway, ever since then, I have had snow on my birthday. Mostly, there were blizzards (usually if I had a party planned) but there were also a couple of ice storms. In high school, people used to plan on not having school on either my birthday or Feb 1st - and they were never disappointed, except for the year the two days fell on a weekend.

I hate snow and/or cold weather for the most part, but I often tell people I like snow on two days - Christmas and my birthday. To not have snow on my birthday is kind of like God forgetting to get me a present.

And makes me believe global warming is becoming an even more serious situation than I first thought.

Read This!

2006-01-06T16:53:00.000-05:00

Fabulous post by Reddhedd entitled "A Question of Doing What's Right" at firedoglake. You have to scroll down a bit to find it, but it's well worth the effort. And then, once you've read it, get off your butt and start working for a better future for all working Americans!

Excerpt:

"CEOs for some of the major corporations in this country make obscene amounts of money, all the while, in a lot of cases, running the company into the ground and then taking off on their golden parachute ride -- leaving behind the folks who are living on the margins on their $7 an hour (and that's a great salary for a whole huge group of people in this country, let me tell you) to pick the pieces out of all those broken promises.

We need a voice for those people. John Edwards picked up this theme in the last election cycle during the primaries -- with his Two Americas -- and I would love to see that discussion continued into 2006. People who make $7 an hour (or less) can't afford to hire Jack Abramoff to represent their interests to the big shots in Washington. They generally aren't in any sort of union -- which would at least give them a possibility of an organized voice of some sort (although these days, that certainly isn't assured). They have no big money voice to back them up in Washington.

These are the folks that Democrats used to be able to depend on for a vote -- because the party spent time working on issues that lifted up the least of our nation, to give them a shot at the American dream, just like everyone else." (emphasis mine)

Yet Another Wal-mart Story

2006-01-06T16:21:00.000-05:00

Wal-mart says, "Screw the hungry."

Wal-mart Stores, Inc. announced today it is ending charity food donations from all of its Wal-marts, SuperCenters, and Sam's Clubs. Fearing a potential lawsuit from a homeless, starving person, Walmart says it will no longer donate nearly-expired and expired food to local groups feeding the hungry. Instead, they'll be throwing it away.

"If they were giving it away somewhere else that wouldn't be so bad, but the fact is, it's going into the garbage," said Owen Foley of the St. Vincent de Paul Food Locker at Presentation Church in Sacramento. "I mean, there's a big need."

Disgusting.

Quote of the Day

2006-01-06T09:53:00.000-05:00

The motto stated a lie. If this nation has ever trusted in God, that time has gone by; for nearly half a century almost its entire trust has been in the Republican party and the dollar -- mainly the dollar. I recognize that I am only making an assertion and furnishing no proof; I am sorry, but this is a habit of mine; sorry also that I am not alone in it; everybody seems to have this disease. -- Mark Twain*

The more things change....

*(in Bernard DeVoto, ed., Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940), quoted from Barbara Schmidt, ed., "Mark Twain Quotations, Newspaper Collections, & Related Resources")

In The News

2006-01-06T09:17:00.000-05:00

Pat Robertson claims Sharon's stroke was a divine punishment from God
Let's see, Pat has called for an assassination, threatened a small PA town, and now says God causes strokes (and probably other bad things). Hmmm.

To quote Mark Twain: "If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be -- a Christian." -- Notebook

11 Soldiers Die In Iraq
Deadliest day since December 1st brings the US military death toll to 2,194. But hey, we're turning the corner...last throes....growing democracy. Really.

Delay's Non-Profit Under Investigation
The Texas prosecutor has widened the investigation of Tom Delay to include his US Family Network.

Doctor Says Mine Survivor Is Not Comatose
Randal McCloy is receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatments at Allegany General Hospital, where he is listed in "stable but critical" condition. Doctors say he is showing signs that suggest it is not a coma.

Today's WH Press Briefing

2006-01-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

A couple reporters called "bullshit" - though in ways ever so polite. Helen Thomas of the AP got in a couple good shots.

Q On Iran -- well, they were follow-up, the other was follow-up -- when will the U.S. give up on diplomacy on Iran, and what other options are there? Are these threats to be --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think I just touched on it. Iran needs to abide by the agreements that it has made and needs to fully comply with its international obligations. The actions and statements that the regime is making only serve to further isolate the regime in Iran from the rest of the international community. We have serious concerns about their pursuit of nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program. They have a long history of concealment and a long history of failing to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And Secretary Rice talked earlier today about this very matter, as well, and she made it clear that if it becomes clear the negotiations have run their course, then we have the votes at the International Atomic Energy Agency to go to the Security Council, to refer the matter to the Security Council. There is a resolution that is sitting there, and the votes are there to refer the matter.

Remember, the last meeting they had, they called on Iran again to come back to negotiations and act in good faith. We continue to support the efforts of the European-3 to resolve this diplomatically, but Iran's most recent actions and statements only show that they are continuing to pursue a course that isolates it from the rest of the world.

This is a matter of trust. They have shown in the past they cannot be trusted, and that's why these negotiations are so important.

Q You said that threats need to be confronted. If Iran doesn't listen to the Security Council, what options are left?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President has talked about this in the past, and we've talked about it in the past. We continue to support the efforts of the European-3 to resolve this in a diplomatic way. But if the negotiations come to an end and it becomes clear, then the Security Council is something that the international community is prepared to refer the matter to.

Q Scott, some of what you're saying sounds an awful lot like the preamble to Iraq.

MR. McCLELLAN: No.

Q So how long do they have?

(snip)

Q (Helen Thomas-AP) Does the President think that 120 people dying in Iraq, after we're nearly three years into this war, is tolerable?

MR. McCLELLAN: The Iraqi people, Helen, have shown time and time again that they want to live in freedom. I think it's important to look at what took place in December. There are terrorists and Saddam loyalists --

Q Why are we there? Why are we killing people there?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- there are terrorists and Saddam loyalists -- because we're transforming the Middle East, and that will help us lay the foundations of peace for generations to come.

Q -- didn't ask you to do that, their country.

MR. McCLELLAN: We were attacked on September 11th and --

Q We were not attacked by Iraqis.

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think we ever said we were. But what we learned on that day was that this is not a law enforcement war we're engaged in. This is a war about the safety and security of the American people. It's not a law enforcement matter. It's a war. We are a nation at war. And this is a comprehensive effort that we're taking. We're not ignoring threats. We are confronting threats before it's too late. And that's what this President will --

Q You had none from Iraq.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- that's what this President will continue to do because he knows his most important responsibility is protecting the American people. And spreading democracy in the broader Middle East is vital to our own nation's --

Q Don't do it by attacking an innocent country.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- vital to our own nation's security. And the Iraqi people have shown they are deeply appreciative of the efforts that we have undertaken to remove a regime that was a threat and a destabilizing force in a dangerous region of the world. And we are going to change a troubled region for the better, and it will help lay the foundations of peace for generations to come.

**

This is one of those "repeat the same words over and over in different ways to cover the fact that you're saying nothing of substance" quotes of Scotty's:

Q Scott, you said some of the members of the Cabinet Hall of Fame who met with the President this morning had suggestions on how to go forward. Did any of them challenge the President or have any questions about the wisdom of the overall strategy to date?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think there's a common commitment within that room to succeed in Iraq. Everybody in that room understands the importance of succeeding. And I think everybody in that room would say the same publicly. It's important that we succeed in Iraq. Sure, there are differences of opinions. The President talked about that in his remarks. There were some that didn't support the decision that he made to go into Iraq. Presidents have to make tough decisions and he's fully aware of the decisions that he makes and the consequences of those decisions --

Was Christiane Amanpour Wire-Tapped?

2006-01-05T07:48:00.000-05:00

In an interview with James Risen - the man who broke the story on the illegal NSA wiretapping - Andrea Mitchell asks if he'd heard or knew anything about CNN's Christiane Amanpour being wiretapped. He responds that he hadn't heard that. Now, the fascinating thing is that NBC changed it's transcript of the interview after it had already posted it. Americablog has both transcripts.

So, I have a few unanswered questions. Were journalists wiretapped? How many, and which ones? Why did Andrea Mitchell bring up Amanpour - a rival network's correspondent? And, if Amanpour was indeed wiretapped, why her?

Yes, reporters were most likely tapped - especially those who have questioned or criticized the administration and its policies - in order to keep tabs on who they were talking to, the type of information they were getting, and what they were telling their superiors.

A few frightening thoughts spring to mind, though, when it comes to Christiane Amanpour. One is they were after her husband's conversations. James Rubin was a spokesman for the State Dept from 1997-2000 and a foreign policy advisor to John Kerry and General Wesley Clark.

The second is, if anyone was going to get an interview with Osama Bin Laden or one of his lieutenants, it would be her. She's just that good. And I'm sure she's been trying to score something like that. Who wouldn't? So, it's possible that the NSA was listening in on the off-chance than one of OBL's henchmen would give her a shout-out.

The third is that it might have had some connection to the fact that Amanpour is the daughter of Iranians who fled Iran during the 1979 revolution. (Although from the age of eleven, she was a student at boarding schools in Britain.)

One point to remember amidst all the speculation: If this proves to be true, the gov't could say it was completely legal, as Christiane most likely has contacts within the Al-Qaida network, and she and her husband live in London.

Update: Attytood and Americablog have more.

You're kidding, right?

2006-01-05T07:38:00.000-05:00

Former Steeler and Hall of Famer Lynn Swann announced his candidacy in Pittsburgh. Swann joins three other Republicans in the race for the nomination.

Persons Of Interest, a documentary

2006-01-04T13:43:00.000-05:00

Jesus' General is a must read today! He talks about some of those in the documentary, "Persons of Interest" who, because they were Middle Eastern and/or Muslim, were arrested, detained, disappeared, deported, etc. shortly after 9/11. It's especially saddening and infuriating when read in context with the lyrics of Lee Greenwood's song "God Bless the USA".

"If tomorrow all the things were gone I'd worked for all my life,
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife,
I'd thank my lucky stars to be living here today,
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away. "

Now, tell me again....it's the terrorists who want to take away our freedoms, who want to destroy the things that "make America great"?!

These days, I guess the flag only stands for freedom if you're white, Christian, and Republican.

Learn more about Persons of Interest

WE ARE........PENN STATE!!

2006-01-04T13:04:00.000-05:00

Nittany Lions Beat Florida Seminoles 26-23 in Triple OT

Letterman v. O'Reilly

2006-01-04T10:40:00.000-05:00

Letterman made some great points. O'Reilly looked like he was sitting on an anthill.

From News Busters

Displaying a hostility to President Bush and the Iraq war similar to that expressed by Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart, on Tuesday’s Late Show David Letterman went further than I’ve ever heard him in revealing his derision for President Bush’s decision to launch the Iraq war and contempt for anyone who dares to criticize Cindy Sheehan.

Letterman normally tries to make the guest look as good and entertaining as possible. But he greeted FNC’s Bill O’Reilly with disdain. When O’Reilly urged an end to tagging Bush as a “liar,” scolded Cindy Sheehan for calling the insurgents “freedom fighters” and urged people to be “very careful with what we say" in disparaging others, Letterman took him to task: "Well, and you should be very careful with what you say also." Letterman demanded: "How can you possibly take exception with the motivation and the position of someone like Cindy Sheehan?" And he tried to discredit O’Reilly’s contention: “Have you lost family members in armed conflict?" When O'Reilly conceded that "no, I have not," Letterman castigated him: "Well, then you can hardly speak for her, can you?" "

Read the article: http://newsbusters.org/node/3454

Crooks and Liars has the video.

News You Should Know

2006-01-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

12 WV Miners Dead, 1 Survivor
" TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - In a stunning and heartbreaking reversal, mining officials told family members early Wednesday that 12 of the 13 trapped coal miners initially thought to have survived a mine explosion had died.

The devastating news came more than three hours after Gov. Joe Manchin announced he had been told 12 of the miners survived the disaster. " -- AP

GOP Leaders Running Scared
"With a House Republican committee chairman implicated in the criminal case and the highest echelons of the Republican Party increasingly vulnerable to charges, GOP leaders moved yesterday to distance themselves from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and prepare to combat a growing corruption scandal." -- Washington Post

32 Mourners Killed By Suicide Bomber
" BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber killed 32 mourners and injured dozens at a funeral for the nephew of a Shiite politician, one of several attacks Wednesday across Iraq that killed a total of 52 people, making it the deadliest day since the Dec. 15 elections." -- AP

Some Thoughts

2006-01-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

Before the DNC starts throwing candidates at us, they need to listen to the average Democrats instead of to the paid voices that to tell them what to think and when to think it. The possible candidates might want to pay attention as well.

Having suffered through the last election, I've made up a list of what I don't want in Democratic candidate.

I don't want John Kerry to run again. Although I supported him in 2004, one of the major turn-offs for me was that he never got MAD. He seemed complacent and uninterested. More than once, I waited for some righteous anger over the Rovian spin on his war-time service, his protesting of Vietnam, his voting record. I wanted him to stand up and ask, "How dare you?!" It never happened.

I don't want Hillary Clinton to run. Yes, I love HRC, and I really wish she could become President because she'd really show those "boys" in DC a thing or two. However...we have to be realistic. Hillary is not the person who can unite the Democratic party and draw in the independents and undecided voters. You either love Hillary or you hate her - and that's just the Democrats. Republicans can barely say her name without convulsing and foaming at the mouth.

A Hillary campaign would shatter the Democratic party and allow the Republicans four additional years to destroy whatever's left of America.

I don't want another multi-multi-millionaire. Another turn-off of Kerry's was that he seemed out of touch. He wasn't "one of us". He might empathize, on an intellectual level, with the single mother struggling to provide the basics, the factory worker trying to put his children through college, the senior citizen choosing between food and medicine, but he had no experience with those struggles himself. He didn't seem to really feel their pain.

If I, as a lifelong Democrat, couldn't enthusiastically support my party's candidate, what undecided voter would? In 2004, we weren't voting for Kerry so much as we were voting against Bush.

I don't want another liberal. Let's face it - Kerry was a liberal. I disagreed with a good many of his positions before he became a candidate, and I was annoyed by how he tried to slide over to the moderate side. He wasn't - and had never been - a moderate, and he turned off a good many independents and undecideds. Yes, the Republicans shifted public perception of the political spectrum so that liberal became a dirty word. Now, anything even slightly left of center is considered "liberal" these days. We need a progressive, moderate Democrat.

Part of the task ahead is to start showing Americans that being a Democrat does not equal being a liberal. That is going to be a huge and incredibly difficult job thanks in part to the Republican spin-and-smear tactics. The problem then is the same problem now - no "voice". The Republicans, for all they irritate us, know how to make themselves heard. We need to start talking over them, above them and around them.

Politics is like a football game - there's a time for defensive maneuvers, but the points are scored on offense. (*hat tip to Patt for explaining football to me!)

Now is the time for the Democratic leadership to stand up and take the offense. Get out there and explain that Democrats come in wide variety - from ultra-liberal to conservative - but that certain principles are held by all members. Then name them: responsible government, environmental protection, national security, lowering unemployment, raising people out of poverty, civil liberties for all Americans - to name just a few. Beat it home until even the most red of the red states understands what we truly stand for - even if they don't agree.

Get the American people to understand wild-eyed liberals are a small (and beloved) part of our party, just as gun-toting white supremecists are a small (and slightly loved) part of the Republican party.

I don't want a wishy-washy candidate. Democrats - ALL Democrats - need to get publicly angry. Furious. Fist-pounding fighting mad. They need to say, loudly and proudly, "No more!" No more Republican corruption, no more Republicans making back-room deals, no more Republicans playing pork-barrel politics, no more secret add-ons to legislation already approved by the House/Senate, no more of pandering. No more playing nice with the MSM. No more timid pipsqueaks who can't adequately defend their positions against Republican talking points.
Democrats must take the offensive now.

For far too long, we played the role of conciliator, and it has gained us precisely nothing. Instead, it gave the Republicans another club to whack us over the head with whenever they're caught in a vise - "But the Democrats voted for it too...."

And damned few Democrats have had the spine to stand up and say, "I voted for _________ because I mistakenly believed the White House could be trusted to give us complete information, not the bits and pieces they wanted us to see. Had I had full and complete information, my vote would have been much different."

If we want to win in '06 and '08, we're going to need a few things - like a Democrat with a moderate record. One with guts who can stand up, get pissed and say, "I have had enough, and I hope you have too!" One that most Democrats can support whole-heartedly. (One who hasn't taken money from lobbyists would be a bonus.)

In other words - we need a miracle.