Gannongate revisited

Raw Story via the King:

[. . .]

Guckert [Gannon] made more than two dozen excursions to the White House when there were no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office held press gaggles aboard Air Force One—which raises questions about what Guckert was doing at the White House. On other days, the president held photo opportunities.

On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the entry or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times correlate with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert checked in but was never processed out.

In March, 2003, Guckert left the White House twice on days he had never checked in with the Secret Service. Over the next 22 months, Guckert failed to check out with the Service on fourteen days. On several of these visits, Guckert either entered or exited by a different entry/exit point than his usual one. On one of these days, no briefing was held; on another, he checked in twice but failed to check out.

[. . .]

So, he was more than just a plant. It looks like he also had a 'service contract' with someone at the White House. Gord, give that man a buttplug.

F-man=Asshole

I have my moments. Had one this week and I'd like to apologize for it. Not to go into it here, I'll let you hear it from the injured party. My apology is in comments.

Gonna leave this on top today

I know that gloating is premature, but...

Editorial in today's NYTimes:

We are not optimistic, or naïve, enough to call it a trend yet, but there have been signs that some sensible Republicans are starting to realize that the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, and the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, are vastly overreaching any plausible electoral mandate in their quest for one-party control of every aspect of government and their demands for mute party fealty.

The most striking example was in the Senate, where a few Republicans are starting to resist President Bush's latest demand for unquestioning approval of a high-level nominee who is clearly unsuitable for the job he has been given.

Mr. Bush is still sticking with Mr. Bolton and Mr. DeLay. But Republican concerns undercut his attempt to paint the criticism of both men as partisan. The fast-emerging question for him and the other Republicans is, when they will realize that nothing in the American system provides for the party that wins an election to do whatever it wants, no matter what objections are raised by the minority party or even some of its own members? The point is not lost on American voters: primal party loyalty is no substitute for effective, democratic government.

I've been predicting this for months, even though I claim no credit for thinking it up. I'm glad the media is finally commenting on the elephant they spotted in the room some time ago. Sometimes, I guess it takes being smacked upside the head with a 2x4 to get 'em to do their job. That usually works for me.

Oy!

Just going over site referrals. Imagine my surprise when I find that a Google search for the word "buttplugs" points you to the Brain. Gordon, what have you been up to?

Shameful

The Family Values team is once again showing their true colors. Chimp Co. wants to weaken Clinton's Family Leave legislation, making it harder for people to take time off from work to tend to sick family members. They want the Terri Schiavos of the land to live forever, but they don't want her family to have the time to care for her. Seems that's a burden for Big Business.

I'm so freaking tired of hearing about compassion, religion, and the Culture of Life from these Republicans when they wouldn't have given Mother Mary time off from work to tend to Jesus on the cross. They make me ill, and they ought to be ashamed.

The stench of hypocrisy 5

John at Blogenlust sees a glaring example:

Jeb Bush will be the head of the US delegation at Pope Benedict XVI's inauguration on Sunday, and by the standards of the new pope, I'd like to condemn Jeb's participation in the Holy Communion.

[. . .]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Yeesh!

A little redesign

No, not the blog, the benefits of retired military. Rob:

[. . .]

Translated...it's getting too expensive to live up to the promises we made to those who serve our nation. Time to "redesign" those promises.

[. . .]

The Bush Doctine: We'll 'support our troops' as long as they're able to pick up a rifle.

But Jesus hates queers

Via Francesca from LA Times:

PASADENA, Texas — Texas lawmakers are considering legislation that could make this the only state to ban gays and lesbians from being foster parents.

Conservatives have pledged to fight for the measure, part of a bill to revamp the state's Child Protective Services agency, despite concerns that as many as 3,000 children could be removed from their homes. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

3000 children torn away from loving homes. Shows ya how concerned the Repubs are about kids. Buncha assholes. What I've found (living in New York, I have a bunch of gay friends), is that some of the best and committed relationships are between gay couples. I know couples who've been together 20, 30, even 40 years, far more than among the hetero couples I know. Some have children, the vast majority whom have turned out bright and well-adjusted, what we'd all consider successes. Now, regardless of what it says about the marginalization of gays, it's what this will do to the children who are torn away from generally loving, nurturing families.

How can anyone say they care about children when they would willingly cause them this type of trauma? I mean, people don't become foster parents (generally) unless they want to give a child a good, stable home and lots of love. With all the child abuse we hear about occurring in the Lone Star State (Andrea Yates, and that other lady who cut off her kid's arms, and others; all 'good Christians'), why would they want to deny these children a loving home? Why would they go out of their way to hurt children in the name of God? Why would they want to reduce in size the pool of kind, caring people willing to open their home to a child who needs one? What Texas Repubs (and the lot of 'em nationally) are attempting to do is not Christian. Ladies and gents, I may be a little heathen but even I know Jesus wouldn't want that. Not the Jesus I learned about.

Thinking gives me a headache

From my dear friend (and cousin-in-law) Encino Man:

It started out innocently enough.
I began to think at parties now and then -- to loosen up.
Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.
Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

[. . .]

More Below the Fold . . .

Heh, one more

F	Flamboyant
I	Important
X	X-Rated
E	Eccentric
R	Rounded

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

I think I'm going to declare a moratorium with regard to these stupid things. At least with regard to posting 'em. Oy! Thanks, once more, to Cmdr. Sue.

Don't ask

I just got a wild hair.

Update: 21:55:

Tami's a kindred spirit.

Short, sweet, wonderful Truth

Spoken by Jayinbmore at RUFNKM:

. . . Sin is the essential mechanism to create artificial demand for the Church. Or did I misread that?

[. . .]

The Right Wing knows it too.

Your tax dollars . . . never mind

DemVet isn't surprised:

[. . .]

Imagine that. CheneyBurton overbilling 42% of their contract amount. Well, being connected has always paid off. Literally. I guess that all that you know, math and accounting and stuff could be some kind of objectively pro-terrarist™ "fuzzy" liberal-think made up to embarras the gawd-fearin' 1600 Crew.

[. . .]

Hey, it ain't their money, is it now?

Handcuffs?

Morrigan asks a question about the litttle 5 year old girl in Florida who was handcuffed by police. Go answer it.

Responsibility and Culpability

Via Today in Iraq from WaPo:

An Army inspector general's report has cleared senior Army officers of wrongdoing in the abuse of military prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere, government officials familiar with the findings said yesterday.

The only Army general officer recommended for punishment for the failures that led to abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison and other facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan is Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski, who was in charge of U.S. prison facilities in Iraq as commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade in late 2003 and early 2004. Several sources said Karpinski is expected to receive an administrative reprimand for dereliction of duty. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Not excusing them, but only the grunts get jail time? What about the 'private contractors'? What about the officers? Yup, a few 'bad apples'. None of this would have happened unless the officers let it happen.

Filibuster

Pudentilla sums it up nicely:

[. . .]

As Senator Leahy has noted, Republicans wouldn’t be able to use filibusters to block democratic economic legislation, health care reform, bills to protect unions from corporate use of scabs as they did in 1993 and 1994.

[. . .]

Even that brownnose McCain knows the Democrats will be in power again one day (I hope). If the Repubs succeed with the 'nuclear option', I hope the Dems fuck their asses until they choke when we have the majority again. What goes around, comes around, assholes.

Surprises

From our little troll:

(New York-WABC, April 22, 2005) — We told you yesterday the mayor is launching a $3 million program to reduce unintended pregnancies by pushing emergency contraception.

[. . .]

The two pills of Plan B run $30 at a drugstore. The mayor has just announced that they will be free to any girl or woman of reproductive age at city clinics and hospitals.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg: "Ninety-thousand abortions is an outrage. We should recognize this as a problem."

Kelli Conlin, NARAL Pro-Choice NY: "People use it - they say 'whew' - saved the day for me and now I'm going to be more responsible."

[. . .]

No matter what side you're on the numbers are pretty amazing. Every single year in the city there are 215,000 pregnancies and 60 percent of them are unintentional and result in 90,000 abortions.

[. . .]

I am very pro-choice, but I'm not a big fan of abortion, especially as a treatment for chronic pregnancy. What bothers me more than seeing 90,000 abortions is 90,000 unwanted children born with two strikes against them. Take a ride up to Attica, Sing Sing, or Rikers Island and see the wreckage of our society.

Now, we have our own wingnut assholes here in New York. To wit:

[. . .]

Michael Long, NY State Conservative Party Chairman: "I don't think that's what tax dollars should be used for.

Michael Long with the Conservative Party says there are simply other ways to deal with the problem.

Michael Long: "If you make a mistake you have to be accountable and you have to understand the fact that you have an obligation - that's a human being."

[. . .]

You know, it's one thing being held accountable for your mistakes. You speed, get a ticket, you steal, get arrested, fuck up at work, you get fired, but do you really think it's a good thing to hold a young girl accountable for having sex (think about that) by forcing her to birth a child she doesn't want? Should the life of a newborn be used as an ankle bracelet to hold its mother accountable? The mother and child are both losers if the wingnuts get their way. A baby should be born into the loving arms of parents who want it, not as a ball and chain for a teenage girl.

My hat's off to the little dwarf on this one. It seems like a good compromise between Right and Left without penalizing an infant for being born to a disinterested mother. The New York Conservative Party and its Chairman should shut the fuck up, buncha assholes. 90,000 kids won't be aborted and only a few cells will be flushed from the mother's body only hours after fertilization, even before the fertilized zygote begins to grow. I don't mind paying for this, unlike some of the other fool shit they shake me down for, and I certainly wouldn't mind paying for free contraception for anyone who wants it.

Like I said, every so often Mayor Bloomberg does something smart and he should be commended. This is one of those times. Now, if only he could get the trains to run regularly . . .

Killin' Time

I've been taking these silly quizzes for an hour. Addicting, it is. Some of 'em are so far off it's comical, others nail you to the wall. Some are just dumb. Some are so flattering you know people will think you jimmied it yourself. F'rinstance:

It's Not Sex. It's ... : Gord and Fixer are back, ladies! Drop the drape and trot out fer a lineup. These guys are hornier'n a five peckered goat! Supermen, they are! Rich an' good-lookin' too!

Get your own Sex Name

Of course, I would never do anything like that, now would I? Now that might produce some real creative fun. A colossal waste of time. And my point is?

A whole lot more bullshit

You Are 55% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Pretty close.

Update: 18:15:

I'm doing these with the Mrs. next to me. I took this one and her first words were, 'they know you'.

You May Be a Bit Schizotypal ...

A bit odd and socially isolated. You couldn't care less of what others think. And some of your beliefs are a little weird. Like that time you thought you were Jesus.

What Personality Disorder Are You?

Even More Bullshit

Slow news days are fun. Enjoy 'em while ya can.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

10% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

That site's got a lot of silly tests.

Update: I went and took The Amazing Meganame Generator. I won't bore you with the details, but I wanted to share this one:

Your punk rock band name is The Happy Dildo

Holy crap.