Coretta Scott King: Dead at 78

It seems somehow symbolic that her death coincides with putting Samuel Alito onto the Supreme Court.

Let's Draw a Comparison, Shall We?

Take a look at this article, which states that:

Hundreds of officers and health care professionals have been discharged in the past 10 years under the Pentagon's policy on gays, a loss that while relatively small in numbers involves troops who are expensive for the military to educate and train.

The 350 or so affected are a tiny fraction of the 1.4 million members of the uniformed services and about 3.5 percent of the more than 10,000 people discharged under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy since its inception in 1994.

But many were military school graduates or service members who went to medical school at the taxpayers' expense — troops not as easily replaced by a nation at war that is struggling to fill its enlistment quotas.

Now let's look at this one:

Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.

So here is the question: how much longer can this administration pretend that it cares about our troops? Is it worth getting rid of thousands of soldiers for no valid reason in order to satisfy bigots? Does this complete and utter idiocy do anything but damage the military?

Belafante on Blitzer

Check out this transcript of Belfante on the situation room. Notice the part where Blitzer tries to accuse Belafante of blaming Jews for the holocaust.

I think Blitzer is losing his mind.

[...]
BELAFONTE: Well, Mr. Blitzer, let me say this to you, perhaps, just perhaps had the Jews of Germany and people spoken out much earlier and had resisted the tyranny that was on the horizon, perhaps we would never have had...

BLITZER: Well, wait a minute, wait a minute, are you blaming the Jews of Germany for what Hitler did to them?
[...]

Gay Families Celebrating Easter? The Horrors!

MSNBC has this report, which talks about how same-sex couples are trying to sign up to be part of the White House Easter Egg Roll:

Three months before the annual Easter egg roll at the White House, the usually festive event is already taking on a divisive edge because of plans by gay- and lesbian-led families to turn out en masse in hopes of raising their public profile.

This has, apparently, made some right-wingnuts angry:

On conservative chat rooms, some critics of Family Pride suggested the White House could make the egg roll an invitation-only event, as it did in 2003 when attendance was limited to military families. Other critics said conservatives should mobilize to outnumber gay families at the egg roll.

My favorite part of that paragraph is the last sentence. Let's see it again: "Other critics said conservatives should mobilize to outnumber gay families at the egg roll."

Is this a challenge of some sort? Outnumbering gay families? That's sure to show them!

Will it somehow demonstrate that gay families are, in fact, a minority?

Perhaps it's just their way of demonstrating their hatred without actually calling anyone "queer."

Thomas, Scalia & Roberts: Activist Judges

There is no logical fashion to interpret the Federal Controlled Substances in the fashion that Ashcroft interpreted it. This was pure fabrication on Ashcroft's part. Thomas, Scalia and Roberts, however, chose to try to create a law out of nothing in today's Supreme Court decision.

This is why we know that this nonsense about "Activist Judges" is exactly that: nonsense. Complete and utter crap.

Ah, those late night production sessions

Not a spoof!

At least this sorry episode produces one smile.

Forecast: Pathetic and Inept, with Occasional Flurries of Competence

Watching the Alito hearings is just disappointing. Even when they have a good question, Democrats can't seem to get it together enough to make the point in a way that the public can understand.

So we're really down to the question of whether they can pull something out of their hat that they can use to justify a filibuster against Alito's confirmation, and even though, to me, they have every possible reason to filibuster him, they're not selling it right and some key (read: old-time) Democrats are abdicating their responsibilities on it. (this is one reason I've suppored a supermajority requirement for federal judiciary confirmations: not 50%, but 60%; with such a requirement, Bush would be forced to listen to Democrats, even as a minority party).

Alito's going to help overturn Roe v. Wade, not through a single vote, but through a slow series of whittling away at it, whch has been the plan all along. The intelligent anti-choice folks know that this is the only way to achieve it without losing at the ballot box.

I like seeing what Reid's been doing with respect to Delay and corruption in Congress, but that pales in comparason to the Supreme Court we're about to get. If the Democrats don't make this about wiretapping and Alito's history of deference to the executive branch, we're all screwed.

Someone's had too much coffee

Remember that very powerful bomb that was planted in a Starbuck's restroom by a terrorist the other day? They had to evacuate neighbors from their apartments?

Police initially said the device found in the store's bathroom Monday was powerful enough to seriously injure or kill someone if it had exploded. Police evacuated about 100 people from the Starbucks and apartments above it.

Turns out the "terrorist" was a homeless man and the "powerful bomb" was a flashlight with dead batteries.

I get being nervous about terrorism. I really do. But whatever happened to probable cause? Come on - flipping out over a flashlight? Making announcements to the press about the power of a bomb when you haven't yet verified that it even is a bomb? Is it still September 12?

If you're worried about bombs in coffee shops, then please be vigilant. Please be safe. But please don't be ridiculous!