Wednesday, November 30

You can't make stuff like this up.

It's not enough that Donald Rumsfeld thinks we can deal with the insurgency in Iraq by renaming it.

Now, we're transplanting American values into Iraq--by cloning the Washington press corps. But we're going them one better (every once in a while a Washington reporter stumbles on something interesting--can't have that). We're actually having our military people write stories, hiring an expensive consultant to translate them into Arabic, and paying newspapers to run them.

Now, that's just more of the same for the Bush League, but here's what I find hopeful: we've managed to inculcate American values so much that one editor said that if he had known the stories had originated with the US military, he would have "charged much, much more".

Isn't that heartwarming?

Monday, November 28

Randy "Duke" Cunningham Pleads Guilty

There's a lot of history behind the guilty plea from Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The guy has been selling knives with the congressional seal for personal profit. The guy has done numerous bad deals (bad for the country-- not for him or the contractors) with defense contractors.

This is someone who willingly and knowlingly participated in serious crimes and deserves serious jail time.

Now let's see if we can get it for Delay, Frist and Rove as well.

Sunday, November 27

Domestic Surveillance

In this Washington Post Article, Walter Pincus let's us know just how deep we are into it all.

The answer: we are completely screwed:
The Pentagon has pushed legislation on Capitol Hill that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence.

Saturday, November 26

Teacher investigated for liberalism in quizhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

In Bennington, VT, a teacher is being investigated for some of his quiz questions:
...the school superintendent whose district includes Mount Anthony Union High School has labeled "inappropriate" and "irresponsible" an English teacher's use of liberal statements in a vocabulary quiz.

"I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes," said one question on a quiz...
Now here's the thing: I don't think that's an appropriate question. I think teachers should feel free to express their political views, as long as they don't coerce their students about views of their own. But I also think that this is a manufactured issue, and that for CNN to have picked it up is ridiculous. This is an internal matter, and I have seen teachers do this sort of thing (interject their own opinion into quiz material) in a lot of classes I've taken over the years. It's not a specifically liberal or conservative thing to do, and I don't think we really want to go down the road of pre-approving all material which comes from a teacher with a strong political viewpoint.

Friday, November 25

Someone wants to tax hybrids, because...

From the Associated Press, regarding proposals to make up for funding deficits in the highway bill:
Proposals for the longer term could be more controversial. One is that owners of hybrids and other alternative fuel vehicles pay a vehicle fee, the argument being that drivers should bear their fair share to fill the potholes and fix the bridges, regardless of how much or what kind of fuel they use.

Good plan. Let's discourage the sort of vehicles which don't rely as heavily on the oil companies and their record profits as the other vehicles.

Al Jazeera and Bush's "Joke"

Yousri Fouda, in a transcript from Democracy Now, re: Bush having to be talked out of bombing Al Jazerrra:
..I just wonder, in light of what happened recently... how many people would have been recruited into the mindset of al-Qaeda because of something like this? I'm talking about mainstream Arabs and Muslims, and even decent human beings, wherever they come from, when they hear about something like this. So we have been hearing a lot about people in our part of the world, ‘They hate America and Americans.’ Well, they might do this, but they used to hate Americans for what they do, not for what they are. Now, with something like this, I wouldn't be surprised that Americans will be hated for what they are.

Thursday, November 24

The Darwin Exhibition Frightening off Corporate Sponsors

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

From the United Kingdom's News Telegraph:

While the Darwin exhibition has been unable to find a business backer - unlike previous exhibitions at the museum - the Creationist Museum near Cincinatti, Ohio, which takes literally the Bible's account of creation, has recently raised $7 million in donations.

Wednesday, November 23

"We Have Lost Our Way as a Party"

Lindsey Graham, quoted in this Associated Press article:
If we really want to do well in 2006, we need to have fiscal discipline like Republicans campaigned on," he said. "We have lost our way as a party. Our base is deflated and taxpayers don't see any difference between us and the Democrats.

Tuesday, November 22

If you weren't paying attention today...

Some headlines:

Vatican says active gays not welcome in priesthood (which is news because...?)

Far right group to use Macy's parade to spread antigay message: Focus on the Family will be handing out "stress balls" (which are 85% less gay than they sound) at the parade with a web site telling us we can change our sexual orientation.

Fox News Won't Show Ad Opposing Alito apparently because now Fox is pretending to care about honesty.

Cheney to Headline DeLay GOP Fundraiser; no comment necessary.

Legislator Said to Dispute Schmidt Comments, which is a nice way of saying that not only did Schmidt attack Murtha on the floor of Congress but she did so by making up big fat lies.

And finally, Newspaper probe points to wrongful Texas execution, but hey, why worry about making mistakes when you're killing people?

Bush Wanted to Bomb Al-Jazerra?

I didn't think I could have a lower opinion of this administration. Then I heard about this monstrosity.

A quote:

The Daily Mirror reported that Bush spoke of targeting Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met Blair at the White House on April 16, 2004. The Bush administration has regularly accused Al-Jazeera of being nothing more than a mouthpiece for anti-American sentiments.

I am so far beyond disgusted. Sometimes I can find humor in some of the complete and utter idiocy I hear from these people.

This is so far beyond acceptable. We so need to get rid of these clowns.

From a few months back, but in relation to due process...

This American Life is probably my favorite show on the radio [sorry Rachel, but you're definitely next :-)].

A few months ago, they had an episode called The Arms Trader (real audo format). Here's the summary:
The U.S. government spent two years on a sting operation, trapping an Indian man named Hemant Lakhani whom they suspected of being an illegal arms dealer. It's one of the few cases that has gone to trial in the War on Terror, and one the Justice Department has pointed to as one of their big successes. In the end, they got Lakhani, red-handed, delivering a missile to a terrorist in New Jersey. The only problem was, nothing in the sting was what it appeared to be. Including the missile.
There is no terrorist involved in this story: just a pathetic man who did something incredibly stupid. No plot was foiled. No risk was averted. A salesman got duped into badly attempting to commit a crime.

But hey, it looks good on paper.

Simple News Roundup

Today's links:

From November 17th Pentagon admits White Phosphorous as a Weapon and today THE US MEDIA IS IGNORING THE FACT THAT the Pentagon ITSELF classifies it as a chemical weapon.

A methodist church just apologized for anti-gay rulings

And, apparently, having to spend some time with a gay man can make you mentally ill.

Monday, November 21

"Liberty" Counsel

Maybe the first lawsuit should be against those in the religous right who insist that it's illegal to pray in school. Fake martyrs do not amuse me.

Curveball

Check out this L. A. Times Story on how easily Curveball was able to sucker those looking for a reason to go to war.

In Today's News...

From AP:
The House agreed to reinstate sales of mining lands at cheap prices as part of its budget cut plan approved Friday, a move that could transfer into private hands up to 20 million acres of public lands on Western ranges, national forests and even national parks.
North America's largest Jewish group decided to go on the record opposing Alito.

Biden figured out which way the wind was blowing and decided that maybe, after all, it might be okay to Filibuster Alito.

Porter Goss insists that the CIA's methods are unique but not torture.

And, finally, Michael Scanlon, a partner of Abramoff, has just been charged with "conspiring to defraud American Indian tribes of millions of dollars in a scheme that lavished trips, sports tickets and campaign donations on a member of Congress."

There's other stuff about Iraq in there, too, but really, we all know where that's going (insert flushing sound here).

The Pathway to Eugenics

I love the questions raised by Sophiny in the Eugenics article.

It seems to me that we're in a real bind here. I think that science and scientific discovery is important, but if we don't grow in wisdom as we move forward with science, that's a bit of a problem. Right now we, as a culture, seem to be rejecting both science and wisdom.

Sunday, November 20

And in other news...


Jewish Leader Blasts 'Religious Right'
... in which we discover that there are (who knew?) major religous figures who do not agree with the wingnut branch of the Republican party.

Thanks to Americablog for catching this one.

And while I'm thinking about it...

I should mention that I think that the Republicans have completely lost their ability to strategize. They are reacting out of complete and utter fear at this point, and it's going to be their own destruction.

I have never been a fan of the Republican party, but I remember when it wasn't under control of the Randall Terry wing.

I never thought I'd say this, but this gang makes me miss Ronald Reagan.

My Oh My...

I do declare: it looks as though our congress just had a meltdown.

Some key moments
[...]
"To cut and run would invite terrorism into our backyards, and no one wants to see troops fighting terrorism on American soil," Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Friday night after the House, as planned, rejected a GOP-written resolution for immediate withdrawal.
[...]
"Congress in strong, bipartisan fashion rejected the call to cut and run," White House spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling with Bush in Asia, said a statement. Earlier Friday, the president called an immediate troop withdrawal "a recipe for disaster."
Now here's the thing: Murtha never called for an "immediate troop withdrawl" of any sort.

More:

Republicans hoped to place Democrats in an unappealing position — either supporting a withdrawal that critics said would be precipitous or opposing it and angering voters who want an end to the conflict. They also hoped the vote could restore GOP momentum on an issue — the war — that has seen plummeting public support in recent weeks.

Democrats said it was a sham and quickly decided to vote against the resolution in an attempt to drain it of significance.

Pelosi is right-- this was a disgraceful attempt to deal with a serious issue.

What the AP doesn't note, by the way, in this exchange:
"He asked me to send Congress a message — stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message — that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," Schmidt said. Murtha is a 37-year Marine veteran and ranking Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee.

Democrats booed and shouted her down — causing the House to come to a standstill.

Is that Schmidt's own caucus surrounded her to shut her up as well. At least some of them understood that what she was doing hurt them a lot more than it did Murtha.