What's good?

Re: My post below.

Ol' Yelladog has a great post up and it's something we can (have to) push:

That title is a bit facetious, but seriously... Roxanne recently had a great thread recently titled "What's so great about America?" and I read it with great interest.

[. . .]

The belief in the struggle for justice is deeply ingrained in the American character. Look at Abbie Hoffman, Cyrstal Lee Sutton, Karen Silkwood, John Brown, W.E.B. duBois, Mitch Snyder...

Every one of these people has touched your life. The Right would prefer that we forget all of them, and fall to our knees in abject deification of Nelson Rockefeller, Prescott Bush, Donald Trump and the fat oligarchs that run the country now. It kinda bothers me that no one saw fit to mention that rowdy and rebellious streak that typifies the thorniness of the American Left of the past 100 years.

That's our legacy, folks. That's the mantle we need to pick up and teach each other. They're not going to teach it to our kids in school

[. . .]

Let's get back to our roots. Let's hold up our icons, the agitators, the ethical, and the principled, the fair, and the good. The Republicans can't match our roster, because all their guys wear suits and only care about the bottom line. The Left cares about people and we have a Murderers Row of Hall of Famers to back it up. The Dems, and those farther left, have to remind the reg'ler folks the good that has been done for the common man. Who're ya gonna believe, the Party of Parks and King or the Party of God and Money?

A ray of sunshine, perhaps...

Go read this. It'll make you feel better. By Stewart Nusbaumer.

There are times when happiness, regardless of ugly circumstances, cannot be denied. This morning is one of those times.

I won't bore you with the body of the article. It's good. Go bore yourself. You'll thank me.

So ignore the lousy weather, the political sun is shinning. Block out that pomp and pomposity on your television, that’s not America. The Bush Administration is crumbling; the dream to destroy America is imploding. The saboteurs are desperate -- their gang is locked in the cellar. Dismiss those tigers gnawing on your toes, they're only kittens. Have a drink. When the White House and Congress are recaptured, there will again be sanity in America. The agenda will again include justice. The price of Jim Beam will again be reasonable. Hallelujah. Have two drinks. The house of Bush is collapsing. The Mother of America will survive.

Lemme hear a Hallelujah!, brothers and sisters!

Do I hate Christians?

Just this kind. From John:

[. . .]

We’re seeing something very similar in the equation of attacks on the Dobsons and Santorums of the world with attacks on Christianity itself. The logical error is that the form of rigid rule-based, Pharisee Christianity practiced by Ayatollah Dobson is merely a particular manifestation (or subset) of Christianity proper. One can be at peace with a whole range of Christian interpretations and soundly reject the anti-Enlightenment, anti-woman, anti-privacy, anti-freedom, anti-science, anti-homosexuality, anti-everything-that-doesn’t-look-and-think-just-like-me version of Christianity.

Exactly. As he also notes, they've done the same thing with the war on Iraq, too. Anyone that didn't support the war, doesn't support defending America from terrorism. They've even taken it a step further so that anytime someone criticizes something our government does, it automatically means they hate America. It's the faultiest of logic, but it works.

[. . .]

Go read his post.

And shave off that silly mustache...

As we know, the vote on Bolton has been delayed indefinitely due to that rarest of occurrences, an attack of conscience by Senator Voinovich (R-OH). Imagine that!

"My conscience got me," he said after the stormy two-hour session. He said he had gone to the meeting planning to vote for Mr. Bolton, but changed his mind after hearing the case against the nominee made by Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, both Democrats.

"I wanted more information about this individual, and I didn't feel comfortable voting for him," Mr. Voinovich said.

A Republican with a conscience? How'd he get past the screening committee?

They're gonna try to make him pay. From Move America Forward (Warning! Wingnut site - ed.):

As a result, Ohio U.S. Senator George Voinovich will be the target of radio ads criticizing Senator Voinovich for his obstructionist conduct in today’s Bolton confirmation hearings.

What a bunch of assholes.

The LATimes offers both a reasoned opinion:

President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to become United Nations ambassador began as an embarrassment and is ending as a disgrace. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was right to delay a scheduled vote and resist being railroaded by the administration into approving him.

And the perfect solution:

Bolton surely can't want the job now, with the world on notice that even the Republican Senate has its misgivings about his nomination. Bush may find it hard to back down, so Bolton should do him and his country a favor and step aside. Maybe there is a consolation prize the White House could offer him. How about ambassador to France?

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!! That'd fix him! France will get over it eventually, I'm sure, and may have some serious fun with that jerk. I certainly don't want to see his petard that he'd be hoisted from! I'm very proud today to be from L.A.

"Joey Rats" Helped Bush Defeat Kerry

From AFP in Truthout:

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (aka "Joey Rats" according to Jon Stewart - ed.), the Vatican theologian who was elected Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential candidate John Kerry.

Sharply divided on the issue, the bishops decided to leave the decision on granting or denying communion to the individual priest. Kerry later received communion several times from sympathetic priests.

Nevertheless, in the November election, a majority of Catholic voters, who traditionally supported Democratic Party candidates, shifted their votes to Republican and eventual winner George W. Bush.

No wonder Bush broke tradition and went to John Paul II's funeral. He knew, as did the smart money, that Joey Rats was the prime candidate to be the capo di tutti capi of the Roman Catholic Mafia Church. He owed the new guy. Or maybe Bush wants to get some pointers on how to control a tremendous number of people by telling 'em what God wants and threatening them with everlasting damnation if they don't do it. Bush would love to be able to do that. Popes make presidents look like pikers in that department.

I fell away from the Church many years ago when I realized what a fuckin' racket it is. Possessed of untold wealth, it allows many of its sheep to starve. It conflates its own self-serving traditions with the desires of the Almighty and gets it to stick. Its blind rituals cause a lot of people to feel guilt and suffer over things that are beyond their control and aren't spiritually important anyway.

Butting into U.S. politics where it doesn't belong is one more reason I was right to drop out. The Church is a medieval organization that got the power it has during the Dark Ages and would like nothing better than to return the world to those times when it had unlimited power and the Hell with the rest of us. Pun intended.

Conscience

WASHINGTON, April 19 - A surprise last-minute defection by an Ohio Republican forced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to postpone a vote that had been scheduled for Tuesday on the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.

The chairman of the panel, Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, reluctantly agreed to put off any vote until next month to allow a review of what Democrats portrayed as troubling new accusations that cast doubt on Mr. Bolton's temperament and credibility.

[. . .]

"My conscience got me," he [Sen George Voinovich, R-OH] said after the stormy two-hour session. He said he had gone to the meeting planning to vote for Mr. Bolton, but changed his mind after hearing the case against the nominee made by Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, both Democrats.

"I wanted more information about this individual, and I didn't feel comfortable voting for him," Mr. Voinovich said. [my emphases]

[. . .]

Tell (politely, please) Senator Voinovich that you appreciate his attack of conscience and the fact he is setting an example for other Repubs to follow:

Voinovich, George - (R - OH)
524 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3353

Bolton is a certified madman and should be living in a room with rubber wallpaper, not representing this nation at the U.N. Jo says it best:

John Bolton no more deserves to be the UN Ambassador than the man-in-the-moon. M-O-O-N spells Snivelling Lackey. (apologies to Mssr. King, but what's up with all the self-referential stuff in DT VII?)...anyhow back to the latest incompetent up for promotion by the 1600 Crew (latest in a long line, no?)

[. . .]

Call, write, and email everyone you can and insist they vote against Bolton's appointment.

Update: 06:00:

Via Glen, more Repub dirty tricks in the effort to get this shithouse rat confirmed.

Public service

From Glen:

The American Family Association attests that I "took action on an AFA-sponsored poll, petition, or action alert." It's possible; but I swear that I only did it to tell them to go pound salt up their butts. (And this, my children, is how spam is born.) Nonetheless, I am now on their mailing list and I have been asked to forward this to my "family and friends." Far be it for me to refuse such a reasonable request.

[. . .]

The Party of God at work.

The Pope

This is probably the last I'll say about this. All you progressive Catholics who are optimistically waiting for reform? Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Did you actually think things would change?

Please

Get a fucking life.

Yeesh

The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

Go read the Sister.

Skank Central

As we all know, Time magazine, which I have subscribed to for over thirty years and my family for thirty years before that, finally took leave of its senses and made Ann Coulter, the exemplar of white trash and all that is currently wrong with the American media, its cover girl (shudder). Hitler, OK. Idi Amin, fine. Manson, sure. Bush, well, everybody fucks up. Howsomever, this one takes the cake.

Cursor has thoughtfully provided a page with links to quite a few folks who have something to say about Time's losing its mind and putting that ____ (nasty four-letter word that I don't like to use; rhymes with "blunt") on the cover. Go read. Fun.

Update: Go read Wolcott on this subject. Scroll down a little.

ToDay's DeLay Part II

Damn, this DeLay shit's comin' fast and furious. It's getting hard to keep up. I fuckin' love it! I hope to be the first to bring you the tar-and-feather conclusion sooner rather than later, but for now here's Molly Ivins:

Tom DeLay, of all people, recently issued a fatwa on the need for good manners, a concept so bizarre there is no appropriate comparison. Let's reserve it as a future simile: "... as weird as the time Tom DeLay gave us all a lecture on manners."

In his new role as the Emily Post of politics, DeLay informed us, "It is unfortunate in our electoral system, exacerbated by our adversarial media culture, that political discourse has to get so overheated, that it's not just arguments, but motives are questioned." Did someone question his motive in taking an all-expenses-paid vacation from a lobbyist?

This would be the same Tom DeLay who said, "Screw the Senate," when he learned Bob Dole had cut a deal with Clinton to end the government shutdown caused by Newt Gingrich.

"We're in charge. We don't have to negotiate with the Senate." Same as above.

There is much more from DeLay that is unprintable in a newspaper. For some rich samples, try "The Hammer" by Lou DuBose, my sometime writing partner.

As to DeLay's claim of a vast left-wing conspiracy out to destroy the conservative movement, nonsense. I like conservatives. They're opposed to all questionable adventures abroad and for fiscal prudence and responsibility. It's right-wing nuts I can't stand.

Never thought I'd say this, but Amen to that. A good old-fashioned asshole conservative would look pretty good right about now.

Who's Yer Daddy?

Ratzinger got elected Pope. Finally. OK, media, on to the next clusterfuck.

Damn, I hope he doesn't like to take pictures of celebrities: he'd be a Pope-a-ratzi. That was too easy.

Maybe Half Vast

Go see Tom Tomorrow on the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Since I'm about done with The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman, I thought it was apropos. It feels good to belong on the correct side.

ToDay's DeLay

This is from an article by Hendik Hertzberg in the New Yorker. It's about the "DeLay must stay" movement which both Democrats and Republicans buy into, albeit for way different reasons. Read, you'll see. Anyway, the last coupla paragraphs all by themselves were worth reading just for one sentence by DeLay which I have emphasized.

[..]

But when asked who is to blame for “activist judges,” he was jaw-droppingly candid:

"I blame Congress over the last fifty to a hundred years for not standing up and taking its responsibility given to it by the Constitution. The reason the judiciary has been able to impose a separation of church and state that’s nowhere in the Constitution is that Congress didn’t stop them. The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn’t stop them. The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn’t stop them."


So there you have it, the DeLay agenda: no separation of church and state, no judicial review, no right to privacy. Next to this, the President’s effort to repeal the New Deal social contract by phasing out Social Security is the mewing of a kitten. DeLay may stay or DeLay may go. But the real danger is not DeLay himself. It’s DeLay’s agenda. It’s his vision. It’s his “values.”

I think DeLay should stay in D.C. Hanging from a lamppost. Now.

ANWR FUBAR

Or at least it's on its way to FUBAR.

George Bush is a decisive man of action. The fact that he has been 100% wrong doesn't even break his stride.

[. . .]

Go read Granny. I swear, Chimpy & Co better be held accountable for all the shit they've fucked up when they get out of office . . . maybe before. As Michael Jackson should go to Folsom, Bush and his administration should be making big ones into little ones at Leavenworth. Motherfuckers.

Well said

I missed Lambert Strether while I was gone. (No, TCF, it wasn't the Betty Ford Clinic. Remember, reality is just a crutch for people who can't handle drugs.):

[. . .]

No, but seriously, folks—Doesn't Bush remind you of one of those guys you read about in The Metro? The kind who claims you can make money at home in your pajamas if you just follow his few easy steps? And take his course or buy his software? "I'm President Bush! And I'm known for my bold and daring challenges!"

[. . .]

I watched President Dicknose on TV yesterday. If he were selling cars, he'd be out of business in a week. Bush couldn't sell ice water in Hell when it comes to Social Security 'refrorm'. Bush's last bold challenge was Iraq, and even the Jesus-freaks see how he's fucked that beond recognition, though they'll never admit it. 'Hey, kill other peoples' kids, but you ain't fucking up my Social Security.'

And, regarding Bush's falling job approval ratings, how come all these fucking people are waking up now? 51% of you voted for this asshole last Novenmber. Did you actually think he'd get better, you idiots?

A few things

Lance Armstrong: Armstrong says he'll retire after Tour de France. Good, let somebody else win, you nutless wonder. I'm sick of seeing your ass. Way to go with Cheryl Crowe though.

Tom DeLay: DeLay ducks ethics controversy in NRA speech. I used to be an NRA member. I used to be a Republican too. As far as I'm concerned, both of them have gotten away with far too much for far too long. DeLay is the epitome of what has happened to the Republican Party over the past twenty-five years and the NRA has turned into a distorted, perverted caricature of itself. Both of them should go the way of the dinosaur.

The Pope: No white smoke yet. Yeesh! See Lance Armstrong above. I'm sick of hearing about the fucking Pope. Maybe, if the Catholic Church ever found itself in the same century as the rest of the fucking world, I could get on the bandwagon. But when you have celibate men giving advice on marriage and relationships, when you have a problem with Africans using condoms to halt the spread of AIDS that's killing them by the millions, when you preach abstinence over birth control, you're irrelevant and out of touch in my book. Shut the fuck up about the Cardinals and get off my fucking TV.

Michael Jackson: Just fucking die, please. Anything so you get OFF my fucking TV, you mutant fuck. I hope they put you in General Population in Folsom and some big, hung-like-a-horse brother makes you his wife. You know how they love white women.

Now I feel a lot better.

Innocent Victims

The victims of Bush's bullshit war in Iraq are not always human.

Via DemVet:

HINESVILLE, Ga. - The 32 dogs look up with sad eyes or wag their tails as animal control officer Linda Cordry walks the row of chain-link cages toward a door concealing a gas chamber. "These guys are mine," Cordry says with weary resignation. "These are basically on Death Row."

Liberty County Animal Control and the humane shelter that shares its small cinderblock building have been crammed to capacity with dogs and cats since Army troops from neighboring Fort Stewart deployed to Iraq. Both agencies say it's no coincidence.

"I would say 95 percent of these animals come from military homes," says Beate Hall, who runs the humane shelter where dozens of soldiers and Army spouses began dumping pets during the holidays.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have prompted national efforts to alert deploying soldiers to alternatives to abandoning animals when they leave for war. But the hundreds of unwanted pets turning up in this southeast Georgia military town indicate many aren't getting the message.

[. . .]

If you can, try and help your local shelter one way or another. Our furry pals can't vote, so keep them in mind when you do.

Update: 15:45:

New York State has a pretty cool way to support pet education and show it:



50% of the annual fee goes to Animal Population Control Fund. New Yorkers, find out about other good causes you can support this way by clicking here.

Jesus-freak, hypocrite bastids

Roll Call (Sub Only) via Kos:

[. . .]

Sources say the Senator [Mel Martinez, R-FL] does not plan to make any more staff changes beyond that of Martinez's counsel, Brian Darling, who left the office. Darling belatedly admitted circulating a memo that urged Republicans to get involved in the Terri Schiavo case, in part because it could yield political benefits. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Aren't these the pious Christians? Aren't these the kind, caring, doing all they can to protect life Christains? Don't give me this peace, love, and goodwill to men shit when the only reason you're in it is for the political payoff. After what these Jesus-freaks put that poor woman through, Jeb and the lot of them should be swinging from the end of a rope. These people have no souls, that's what Jesus would say, you motherfuckers.