Education

Us: PZ Myers
Wingnuts: Sam Weaver (to whom Brad R. introduces us. Thanks a lot, Brad.)

The Holidays

Happy whatever the hell you do this time of year. As a heathen myself, all I'll say is:

Peace.

Friday Cattle Dog Blogging

Princess Shayna knows how to relax.

Be it ever so crumbly

I've been saying this since we went to war in Iraq:

...

In summation, what Bush is now doing to the American people by unlawfully spying on them is clearly an impeachable offense under the U.S. Constitution. We are being ruled by a man who has no respect for our laws, the Courts or our institutions. He is a one-man wrecking crew - a menace to our society and to its revered traditions. He is also the architect of another insidious evil -- Perpetual War! Bush is as whacky in his own flakey ways as were the nutty Caligula and Nero in theirs. Unless "Emperor Bush" is stopped - impeached and jailed - by an awakened people, who have reached their tipping point, he will lead America further into the abyss. It is a place from which our Republic, founded by the gallant patriots of old, may never be able to return.

...

You're kidding, right?

You're putting out a list of accomplishments?

Great thanks: Carpetbagger Report

Surveillance

Lovely.

In search of a terrorist nuclear bomb, the federal government since 9/11 has run a far-reaching, top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques, homes, businesses, and warehouses, plus similar sites in at least five other cities, U.S. News has learned. In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program. Some participants were threatened with loss of their jobs when they questioned the legality of the operation, according to these accounts.

...

Need we say the people under surveillance were all U.S. citizens?

Hat tip: Atrios

More Ford

From the Alternate Brain Mail Bag, a reply to my email to Ford on their commitment to GLBT advertising:

Thank you for writing.

At Ford we value diversity among all of our constituents and pride ourselves on strong and clear values - respect for our customers, communities, employees, suppliers and dealers; acceptance of our differences; inclusion of different people with different perspectives; and integrity to always do the right thing. We value all people - regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and cultural or physical differences. This is a strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception. We are pleased to clear up any misperceptions and get back to doing what we do best - building the best cars and trucks in America.

Thank you again for contacting Ford.


Respectfully,
Customer Relationship Center
Ford Motor Company [my emphasis]

Headin' out...

Me 'n Mrs. G are headin' out to the coast today to go visit her family for Christmas. I think our motel has dial-up but I'm not sure, so if you don't hear from me for a coupla days don't look for ransom notes. We'll be driving back next Tuesday. We stay over an extra day to avoid the 400-mile bumper car ride that is California roads on a big holiday.

We get to go to her wingnut nephew's house for Christmas dinner. We dodged it fer a coupla years, but this year things are going a lot better for us reality-based types what with the investigations, indictments, Chimpy steppin' all over his unit and such, so it'll be OK. It's a sad thing to let that political shit get in between family, but that's the world we live in right now.

If I don't see ya, Happy Christmahanukwaanzakah or whatever.

[/crickets]

Rule of Law again. Stolen completely from my pal David:

1998: "Rule of law! Rule of law!! Rule of law!!!" (rationale for impeaching Clinton for lying about a blowjob. Um, guys, if Hillary was your wife, you'd lie too).

2005: "Whut?" (cue crickets: ree ree ree)

I think my hypocrisy meter just went *spant*.

Daschle

I was never a big fan, but we do owe him a lot. He saved our butts 4 years ago:

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"Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words 'in the United States and' after 'appropriate force' in the agreed-upon text," Daschle wrote. "This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas -- where we all understood he wanted authority to act -- but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused."

...

The Rude One Has a Contract for You

Damn, I wish I could write half as good:

The Loyal Citizen's Contract With the American Government:

"I (the undersigned) believe President George W. Bush when he says that the United States of America is fighting a 'new kind of enemy' that requires 'new thinking' about how to wage war. Therefore, as a loyal citizen of President Bush’s United States, my signature below indicates my agreement to the following:

"1. I believe wholeheartedly in the Patriot Act as initially passed by Congress in 2001, as well as the provisions of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act. Therefore, I grant the FBI access to:

"a. my library records, so it may determine if I am reading material that might designate me an enemy of the nation;

"b. my financial records, including credit reports, so it may determine if I am contributing monetarily to any governmentally proscribed activities or organizations;

"c. my medical records, so it may determine if my prescriptions, injuries, or other conditions are indicative of terrorist activity on my part;

"d. any and all other personal records including, but not limited to, my store purchases, my school records, my web browsing history, and anything else determined as a 'tangible thing' necessary to engage in a secret investigation of me.

"I agree that I do not need to be notified if my records have come under scrutiny by the FBI, and, furthermore, I agree that no warrant is needed for the FBI to engage in this examination of my personal records. Additionally, I agree that the FBI should be allowed to monitor any groups it believes may be linked to what it determines to be terrorist activity.

"2. I believe that the President of the United States has the power to mitigate any and all laws passed by the Congress and that he has such power granted to him by his status as Commander-in-Chief in the Constitution as well as the 2001 Authorization of Military Force, passed by the Congress, which states that the President can use 'all necessary and appropriate force' in prosecution of the war. Therefore, I grant the United States government the following powers:

"a. that the National Security Agency, under the direction of the President, may tap my phone lines and intercept my e-mail without warrant or FISA oversight;

"b. that the President may hold me or other detainees without access to the legal system for a period of time determined by the President or his agents;

"c. that the President may authorize physical force against me or other individual detainees in order to gain intelligence and that he may define whether such physical force may be called 'torture':

"d. that the President may set aside any and all laws he sees as hindering the gathering of intelligence and prevention of terrorist acts for a period as time determined by the President, including, but not limited to, rights to political protest.

"I agree that the Judicial and Legislative branch should be allowed no oversight of these activities, and that such oversight merely emboldens the terrorists. I also agree that virtually all of these activities may be conducted in complete secrecy and that revelation of these activities amount to treasonous behavior on the part of those who reveal these activities to the press and the citizenry.

"3. Finally, this document is my statement that I believe the President of the United States and the entire executive branch, as well as all departments and agencies involved, as well as all of its personnel, will treat these powers I have granted them with utmost respect. I believe that these powers will not be abused, nor will any of the information I have given them permission to examine be misinterpreted. However, should such abuse or misinterpretation occur, I agree that such actions are mere errors and no one should be subject to investigation, arrest, or employment action as a result.

"My consent freely given,
"(Your signature)"

Surprise, fraidy cats!

...

Our Dear Leader is famous for this stunt as well, of course. Remember when he payed a "surprise visit" that Thanksgiving after 'Mission Accomplished' to boost the morale of the troops who were still being blown up on a daily basis by staging a self-serving photo-op with a plastic turkey? And speaking of plastic turkeys, what about Mother Condoleezza? She's really good at these surprise visits too!

My, goodness. Have you ever seen a bigger pack of fraidy cats? Should mommy go with you today?

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The wonderful Neil Shakespeare.

Snotty's replacement

One of the reasons I love Bob Geiger is he dislikes Snot McClellan as much as I do.

And while you're at Bob's, read how Scott Ritter gives Christopher Hitchens a wedgie.

Failure of the Year

Guess who?

Thanks to Ol' Froth.

Air Ops

Mr. H finds a piece that sounds chilling.

Spirituality

If you haven't been to Dr. Forbush, you should pay him a visit.

Trivializing Terror

Kevin Drum writes on the administration playing fuck-fuck with the court system in the Jose Padilla case, and the 4th Circuit's lack of amusement about it.

In other words, if the government's own actions make it clear that they consider the war on terror to be little more than a game designed to expand presidential power, how can they expect anyone else to take it seriously either?

A must read, not very long.

This'll make ya gag...

The Fauquier Times-Democrat catches Linda Tripp gobblin' some sausage instead of Monica Lewinsky.

Unanswer Man

Again the WaPo, with a pretty good piece on White House court jester press shill Scotty McLellan.

Scott McClellan Is the President's Spokesman, Which Doesn't Leave Him Much to Say

When briefings get tense, McClellan's voice can become robotic, as if he's a hostage reading a statement. His body language can betray unease: He starts blinking rapidly and he clenches his shoulders as an interrogator unfurls a question.

"There's no question the dynamic of the briefing room has changed with live TV," says senior White House aide Dan Bartlett, who also works closely with McClellan. "When you have live cameras rolling, it makes for an even more stressful working environment. You're talking about difficult issues, and mistakes get compounded."

Oh, I'm sure it was much easier in all-print days gone by: you only had to lie to a few guys who were in on the joke instead of millions of people who don't think official lies are a damn bit funny.

"We've come to understand that no matter how we slice and dice something, Scott's going to stick to the recipe," says Ken Herman, White House correspondent for Cox News Service. "I can't think of any topic where on the sixth or seventh iteration of a question we get something different from the original answer. By somebody's measure, that's the definition of doing the job well. Certainly not ours."

As with most people who do regular televised battle with McClellan, Herman says McClellan is a nice guy, polite and friendly off-camera. "He seems to have the right temperament to be a punching bag," Herman says.

"Who knows, maybe he goes home at night and kicks his dog?"

That's the Bush way, all right: take it out on the defenseless. And then lie about it.

"They couldn't dream one up."

This is getting better and better. From the WaPo:

The presiding judge of a secret court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases is arranging a classified briefing for her fellow judges to address their concerns about the legality of President Bush's domestic spying program, according to several intelligence and government sources.

One government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration complained bitterly that the FISA process demanded too much: to name a target and give a reason to spy on it.

"For FISA, they had to put down a written justification for the wiretap," said the official. "They couldn't dream one up."

Obeying the law "demands too much"? Ha! Tell that to the Judge the next time you're in court and watch what happens!