Beat me to it

I was gonna write about this yesterday (14, yes, 14 ribbon magnets on each side of a customer's car), but it was already done. Via 42 from Virtual Pus:

There are few things in this world that disgust me more than fake patriotism. I am getting sick and fucking tired of seeing these goddamned yellow ribbon magnets on the backs of SUVs. A simple yellow ribbon tied on a tree or a mailbox during a time of war is supposed to signify that the person displaying it has someone in harm's way in whatever bullshit war the warmongers have dragged us into.

[. . .]

Repub generosity

From AMERICAblog:

. . . Bush and Blair trumpeted a new U.S. plan to spend $674 million more on famine relief. . .

The only problem? It's completely wrong. Bush did NOT increase funding by $674 million. All he did was release money that had already been allocated by Congress. This is bad on many levels. Most casual viewers will believe what the media reported, that the US dug deep and offered up an extra $674 million to help the hungry. The truth is that the US is the most miserly of the major industrialized powers -- we give FAR less in foreign aid than every other country in the G8. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

We can spend hundreds of billions in Iraq. We can provoke a war for no damn good reason. Yet we can't do any more to help these poor people. And while we're on the subject of fucking the Africans, there's more wingnut ideaology at AMERICAblog:

What Tony "$82,000 to David Duke" [link added - F-man] Perkins of the Family Research Council conveniently doesn't tell folks is that some of the money these African churches are refusing to accept are money for people with AIDS and more.

People are literally STARVING over there according to the Washington Times of all sources, and the religious right is LAUDING them for turning down help from churches who have elected a gay man as bishop. I'm sure the parents and children who die as a result of this will be proud of Tony Perkins and the FRC for worrying more about the anti-gay agenda than a person starving to death. And note what the churches over there say about how America's religious right has let them down.

Who would Jesus starve, Tony?

[. . .]

Oh, but we're 'pro-life'.

Sweet Jesus

I started off my day there and will probably end there. Return with me once again to the Great State of Ohio. This time for sex education.

Ohio has spent $455,000 in taxpayer money to teach abstinence-until-marriage-only sex ed to students in middle school and high school. Dr. Scott Frank, a leading public health researcher at Case Western Reserve University decided to check out exactly what the kids were learning. . .

HIV can be transmitted through "tears and open-mouth kissing."

Contraceptives are to blame for mental health problems in teens.

Taking the pill will increase a girl's future chances of infertility.

Students should just "follow God's plan for purity."

Ah yes, turning out well-adjusted adults as fast as we can make 'em.

Link via Atrios.

Housekeeping

I added links to the membership of the Big Brass Alliance in the sidebar at right. All 372 of them. Check 'em out.

Update: 16:25:

Via Rook's from Liberal Oasis. A good take on the tipping point we've reached in the Downing Street scandal. W's hemming and hawing was telling.

Nothing will change

From DoD (USAF) Press Releases:

Release No. 020605
June 8, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Air Force invited the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces to visit the United States Air Force Academy to provide an outside perspective on religious respect issues there, Air Force officials announced today.

The Acting Secretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Michael L. Dominguez, asked the NCMAF team to provide their external perspectives to Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, leader of a Headquarters Air Force task force established to review policies affecting religious respect at the Academy.

[. . .]

This is so they can say they're doing something at the Air Force Academy. Nothing will come of this, mark my words, but I'm gonna be on it like a hawk. The F-man has already besieged his representatives and active-duty Air Force friends to look deeper into the sexual harassment and religious intolerance at the Academy. This is my Air Force that's broken. I'll keep you informed and tell you whom to bitch to once the report comes out.

If Watergate happened today

Jonathan Alter:

[. . .]

But imagine if Nixon were president in this era. After he completed his successful second term, I'd have to write a retrospective column like this:

President Nixon left office in 2005 having proved me and the other "nattering nabobs of negativism" wrong. We thought that his administration was sleazy but we were never able to nail him. Those of us who hoped it would end differently knew we were in trouble when former Nixon media adviser Roger Ailes banned the word "Watergate" from Fox News's coverage and went with the logo "Assault on the Presidency" instead. By that time, the American people figured both sides were just spinning, and a tie always goes to the incumbent.

[. . .]

Hat tip: Maru

O'Reilly Deep-Sixed

Normally I don't bother with stuff about that obnoxious loudmouth, but sometimes it's so good I just gotta! From Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly:

An automated message at Corporate Travel Service, Inc. didn't try to hide the fact that there was little interest in spending eight nights on boat with FOX News Channel's top personality:

"Hello and thank you for your interest in the Thomas More Law Center Cruise with
Bill O'Reilly. Unfortunately, the cruise did not have the participation that all parties anticipated. Although the guest appearance by Mr. O'Reilly and the other speakers have been canceled, the ship will still sail..."

Here's the line that made me spew coffee out of everything above my knees:

...a Caribbean fantasy week with O'Reilly.

I can't top that! I wouldn't even try.

More on this at News Hounds, whose motto is "We watch FOX so you don't have to".

NYT & WaPo on the Herb

The New York Times has an Editorial and an Op-Ed today on SCOTUS' decision on medical marijuana.

The Washington Post chimes in on the Court's real motive.

Daily DSM

John deconstructs the Chimp's statement yesterday on the Downing Street Minutes:

. . . The hardest things I do as the President is to try to comfort families who've lost a loved one in combat. It's the last option that the President must have - . . .

JRH:

Dear media fucknuts -

. . . I have been of the opinion that you in the media are pretty fucking lazy these days, but the lack of interest in this story makes me rethink that, perhaps you're just in the pocket of the administration. That's pretty fucking sad. . . .

Two must-reads.

Update: 14:55:

I have more on this at Pourquoi Pas. And while you're there, check out this awesome post by colleague Youngfox.

The faces of the fallen go unseen as the screams of bomb-torn children go unheard.

What I don't get

Is why the people of Ohio (not all) are so pro-Republican. Ohio is one of the states that has been screwed regularly by Bush policy, yet it's a bastion of wingnut ideaology.

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation admitted today that it lost $215 million in a high-risk fund that few people knew about.

The bureau had invested $355 million with a Pittsburgh investment firm, MDL Capital Management, beginning in 1998.

But last year, after diverting $225 million into a fund that works like a hedge fund, the fund lost $215 million. Although the bureau has known about the loss since last year, Gov. Bob Taft was notified about it today.

[. . .]

How much dry-fucking can one group of people take before they come to their senses?

Link via Atrios

Pot Shot from Frisco

Even though the Supremes have ruled against the moral value of compassion for the suffering of our fellow man, there may be one more round in the magazine, the last bullet, so to speak. Read this editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Next week, Congress will vote on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment that would prevent the Justice Department from spending money on arresting or prosecuting medical-marijuana patients in states that have declared the use legal.

That must be some other Rohrabacher than California's. Oh well, even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while.

If enacted, the law would offer a temporary solution to a growing conflict between federal laws prohibiting the cultivation, possession or distribution of marijuana, and states where voters have approved the medical use of cannabis.

"As long as we can allow these patients to use their medicine without fear of prosecution, that would be good enough for us," said Robert Raich, Angel Raich's husband and attorney. "This amendment would, at least, take care of that for one fiscal year."

"In its decision, the Supreme Court made it clear that the ball is now in Congress' court,'' said Angel Raich. "I hope for myself, my children and for other patients out there that our congressional leaders put compassion first."

Until that law is passed, let's start by urging California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein to support the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment.

You know what to do if you care about this. Your congresscritters' addresses can be found at the top left of The Brain. Fixer made it easy for you.

You're gonna hurl

Check this out:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Buried in the 700-plus page energy bill currently under debate in the U.S. Senate is a provision that provides hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal loan guarantees for a power project apparently to be built by four former Enron executives . . . [my emphasis]

Un-be-lievable.

Hat tip: Jill @ Skippy's

So? . . . revisited . . . again

Raw Story via the King:

Kennedy becomes the first senator to raise the issue in the Senate, after earlier reports that Massachusetts' junior senator, John Kerry, would speak about the minutes in Washington.

[. . .]

So after all the bluster by Kerry, he wormed out of an issue again. Good on Teddy for putting it out there though.

"The contents of the Downing Street Minutes confirm that the Bush Administration was determined to go to war in Iraq, regardless of whether there was any credible justification for doing so. The Administration distorted and misrepresented the intelligence in its attempt to link Saddam Hussein with the terrorists of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden, and with weapons of mass destruction that Iraq did not have."

Update: 19:25:

More on Kerry's bungling from TBogg:

[. . .]

Jesus, they had additional substantive evidence that the Swift Boat Liars were full of shit and refused to release it. The incompetent way that matter was handled knows no bounds.

[. . .]

Zealotry

Some snapshots of religious zeal in the US: there are churches in Texas where 20,000 worshippers pray every Sunday; Alabama's most senior judge was dismissed for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from his court; the re-election of George Bush returned with the support of thousands of evangelicals lured to the polls by local laws banning homosexual marriage.

[. . .]

Despite the separation of church and state being enshrined in the US constitution, more than 40 per cent of US citizens said religious leaders should use their influence to try to sway policy-makers. In France, by contrast, 85 per cent of people said they opposed such "activism" by the clergy.

[. . .]

But the US appears to be exceptional among industrialised nations because of the numbers who believe religion should influence policy-makers. [Link] [my emphases]

[. . .]

So tell me how this idealogy differs from the Taliban or the Ayatollahs in Iran. We cannot let these people complete their takeover. We have to win in '06. One house of Congress at the least. And pray Rhenquist stays alive until next Christmas.

Swallow first

My friend was watching a mutual friend's cat while he was on vacation. Before he left, he warned that the cat was old (21 years old), and not doing so hot. He suspected that he was ready to die. Sure enough, the cat died on the last day of vacation. My friend asked me how he should tell him. I gave him these options to break the news.

[. . .]

Here.

Contest . . . of sorts

Tell me where these come from:

FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

If someone doesn't get it, I'll tell ya after dinner.

Better yet, I'll give the first correct answer a signed copy of one of my books [my choice] to use as a doorstop.

Update: 16:15:

And the winner is The Chemist!

I do believe that's the RepublicanContract with America.

Hey, they were close!

P.S. I couldn't even type that with a straight face. Sigh...why does no one call them on these things?

Something else heavy and long-winded will be on it's way presently.

The NOW Show on DeLay

Here's a transcript.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: NOW on PBS...

The ethical questions dogging Majority Leader Tom DeLay continue to grow. Have his favors to lobbyists led him from family values to supporting virtual slavery?

REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R-CT): My instinct, my gut, tells me there'll be more because Tom is constantly pushing that ethical limit to the extreme

I put my printer on the case. I'll read it in the bathtub. I'll be pretty pink 'n shriveled when I get done with this one. Or maybe I'll just watch the video again...

More on DSM

From The Nation:

We have also made contact with several other members of Congress, and we believe that it will not be long before a group in Congress officially calls for an ROI.

Unfortunately, as most Nation readers know, the Downing Street Minutes have only been a story in the rest of the world, especially in Britain. In the United States it is taking much longer for the mainstream to pick up on it, and the issue is still being treated far less seriously than the seriousness of the charges warrant.

Fortunately, the blogosphere has found this new proof of George W. Bush's "misleadership" much more compelling than the mainstream press has; writers like Apian have posted incisive diaries on www.dailykos.com/, which regularly covers the story, as has Georgia10 and her friends, who founded the wonderful site www.downingstreetmemo.com/.

Despite a slow start, the Downing Street Minutes may have a long life expectancy, and the Misleader of the Pack may yet have to confront the truth.

This thing is gaining speed like an overloaded poultry truck, but when it finally gets up to speed there'll be no stoppin' it (you get my brilliant reference to the brakes on most farm trucks if you've ever driven one!). Oh, Bush'll duck and dodge like he always does, but when it runs his ass over, he'll know he was hit by a truck and there'll be chickenshit and feathers everywhere! We'll enjoy omelettes made out of the rest.

The Noose May Be Tightening All Over D.C....

My favorite Texas babe, Molly Ivins, is on the job. Via Working For Change. Go read this one, sports fans.

A jaw-dropping article in The Texas Observer shows that two lobbying clients of Jack Abramoff paid $25,000 to Grover Norquist's group for a lunch date and meeting with President George W. Bush in May 2001. Abramoff brought the Indian chiefs to the White house at the request of Norquist, a leading "movement conservative" in Washington. In addition, Abramoff obtained $2.5 million in contributions from the Indians for a nonprofit foundation run by his wife and himself.

Norquist, Abramoff and Karl Rove have worked together for 30 years, since they were national leaders of the College Republicans. Norquist, DeLay and Abramoff are all key players in the "the K Street Project" to turn the Washington lobby corps into an arm of the Republican Party.

The Observer was too tasteful to crack any jokes about how forgettable a meeting with this Great White Father (my emphasis) might be. Dubose reports: "According to a source close to the tribal majority, Chairman Poncho recently 'revisited that issue' of his visit to the White House. He had previously denied it because he thought he was responding to press inquiries that implied he had a one-on-one meeting with Bush. He now recalls that he did in fact go to the White House on May 9, 2001. ... That meeting lasted for about 15 minutes and was not a one-on-one meeting. ... Abramoff was at the meeting."

According to the new version, Bush made some general comments about Indian policy but did not discuss Indian gaming. Abramoff billed the Coushatta $25,000 for the meeting. ...

Abramoff set up a meeting with Bush prior to swindling the livin' shit out of his tribal clients in cahoots with DeLay? Sounds like it! O, Dance of Joy!

I doubt there is a more important story in this country today. All reporters who want to be the next Woodward and Bernstein should follow Dubose and Martin to the local ends of this story

On the domestic front, this could be right up there with the Downing Street Memo. It's not nearly as serious, of course, but it'll do if it helps link Bush to DeLay and some of his "high crimes and misdemeanors". More grist for the mill.

I wonder how many o' them pencilnecks'll fit in one noose? Maybe if we had a real strong rope...

Also, good article in the Texas Observer about DeLay's big night.

Update

Fum da Sistah (A little Noo Yawk for ya, Froggy):

Congressman Conyers is up to 145,000 signatures on his letter to President Bush. If you still haven't signed the letter, head on over - and encourage everyone you know to show their support by signing, too.

[. . .]

If ya ain't signed . . . don't make me come to your house.