March 31, 2004
I, Too, Was Called a Traitor By White House Operatives - (more roaring Lyons)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette :: Opinion
Everybody who questioned invading Iraq, a secular, oil-rich Arab police state, instead of fighting al-Qaida, a stateless band of religious fanatics, got it in the back: former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki, Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, Ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. All had their reputations tarnished, their honesty assailed, even their patriotism questioned. There are no facts in Bush World, only motives.
Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush2, Clarke, Bush2 again...
Gene Lyons points out who exactly was running the whole damn country on 9/11:
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette :: Opinion
On the morning of 9/11, it was Richard Clarke who ran the White House Situation Room while almost everybody else ran for bomb shelters, and Air Force One flew hither and yon until conditions were safe enough for the president to return to Washington. During the most perilous day in recent American history, Clarke and several colleagues, who had been war-gaming terrorist scenarios, drawing up disaster response protocols and warning a complacent White House that something terrible was about to happen, essentially became the U.S. government.
This is the guy Dick Cheney says was "out of the loop."
That's Bob, With an "E"
Excellent Bob Kerrey quote today:
"Once you take your hand off the Bible, you're Commander-in-Chief. You don't get a time-out. You don't get a couple of quarters off to figure out what your game plan is."
March 30, 2004
WAIT, WAIT, wait, wait...building a what?
t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | The Line
The Bush administration did ignore the threat of terrorism. It was focused on tax cuts, building a ballistic missile system<---------!!!
Wal-Mart: Not Just Union-Busting and Putting Employees on the Dole and Destroying Local Businesses - Now They Ban Videos For Being "Not Patriotic Enough"
The brilliant Patriotboy (AKA Gen. JC Christian) pops Wal-Mart one in the chin:
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I was inspired by the general to write to the Wal-Mart team myself:
Dear Wal-Mart Executive Staff:
(sharon.weber@wal-mart.com;benefitsonline@wal-mart.com;
Jay.Allen@wal-mart.com;debbie.campbell@wal-mart.com;
linda.dillman@wal-mart.com;michael.duke@wal-mart.com;
ken.eaton@wal-mart.com;jay.fitzsimmons@wal-mart.com;
michael.fung@wal-mart.com;don.harris@wal-mart.com;
jim.haworth@wal-mart.com;craig.herkert@wal-mart.com;doug.mcmillon@wal-mart.com;
john.menzer@wal-mart.com;coleman.peterson@wal-mart.com;
lee.scott@wal-mart.com;kevin.turner@wal-mart.com;
james.walker@wal-mart.com;jenifer.webb@wal-mart.com)
You ban videos if they aren't PATRIOTIC enough?
You make me want to puke.
You destroy unions.
You lower wages.
You send employees to get food stamps.
And now you're going to enforce fascist thought codes, too.
There's only one conclusion:
Wal-Mart is Un-American.
I will continue to do all I can to stop the spread of the Wal-Mart virus.
Robert Dobbs
http://ScreamingPoints.com
The Washington Times Is Owned By Rev. Moon. The Bushes Are Long-Time Friends of Moon. Here's What the Rev. Recommends For the Wedding Night:
Instructions for the 3-Day Ceremony
(3) For the Act of Love
The man, in the position of subject, lies above the woman and takes the initiative. The woman cooperates and responds to the man.(
4) Care of the Holy Handkerchief
After the act of love, both spouses should wipe their sexual areas with the Holy Handkerchief. Hang the handkerchief to dry naturally and keep them eternally. They must be kept individually labeled and should never be laundered or mixed up.
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Mmmmmmmm. Happy Anniversary! Can we see your handkerchiefs?
Like Many Pro-Lifers, John Burt Is A Child Molester - His Innovation Is Running a Home For Troubled Girls
AP Wire | 03/29/2004 | Panhandle anti-abortion activist on trial on molestation charges
An activist with ties to anti-abortion violence went on trial Monday charged with molesting a teenager at a home he ran for troubled girls and women in this Florida Panhandle city.
The trial of John Burt, 66, began with jury selection. He is accused of improperly touching and propositioning the girl last year, when she was 15.
If Clarke Is Gay, He Must Be Lying, Right?
from Atrios:
I have no idea what's "weird" about Richard Clarke's personal life, if anything, but it's interesting that the White House has apparently been shopping this information...
March 29, 2004
Stossel Smackdown (and more Foto Monday)
John Stossel had a "greatest hits" clip segment on ABC's "20/20" tonight after Baba Wawa's bootlicking of Karen Hughes.
It was disgusting, as his work usually is. But there was a great moment of TV at the end of the report: a professional wrestler he had upset early in his career smacking him to the ground with a great, meaty wallop. Stossel gets up and repeats his question - accusing wrestlers of "faking it" [can you believe it! What a genius! What an investigative reporter! Doesn't Bob Woodward need a new partner??]. The wrestler smacks him t othe ground again, harder! Ugh, it was sweet!
So, I wrote him an e-mail:
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Dear Mr. Stossel:
Tonight, at the end of another of your whiny, convoluted, hypocritical, and intellectually shallow reports, I was very gratified to see a fellow citizen expressing feelings for you that I have experienced myself for some years.
Indeed, I was so enthralled at the scenes of the professional wrassler smacking you to the ground - twice! - that I would like to recommend that you use this piece of footage every week in the introduction to your reports. I know I would tune in regularly to see such a crystalline expression of the feelings I share with millions of your viewers.
Millions of us do not think that the two most dangerous groups in our society are "government bureaucrats" and "greedy lawyers". Millions of us know that those are right-wing code words.
By "government bureaucrats" you mean to say "black people", as federal and state employees are the only African-Americans most middle and upper class whites like yourself ever have to speak to.
When you reference "greedy lawyers", you are simply shining the boots of Disney and your other corporate paymasters. A TV or radio commentator is allowed to be a conservative, and may more rarely be allowed to be a liberal, but they are never, ever allowed to be anti-corporate. The only force in our society which stands up to corporate power any more are those "greedy lawyers", who, after all, make all the money their market can bear - much like TV performers, I'd guess - and who make sure that governemt and corporate tyranny knows some bounds.
Disney wants what few regulations remain on broadcasting over the public's airwaves to be pulled up by the root. You have a personal financial interest in seeing that laws and regulations limiting the power of Disney Corporation are ignored. The only power on earth that can bring Disney to heel are the US Courts, as operated for common citizens by "greedy lawyers".
And as far as the logic of your comment on the lawyers - that poor, low-income smokers are wrongly charged for the damage they do to society - that's the kind of "personal responsibility" that other conservative commentators - those who operate on a less stealthy level than you do - would salute and applaud.
Your use of these transparent epithets is meant to cement the new, weird 33% slice of the audience that the corporate media have decided is "enough" to keep their quarterlies rising.
You are a dishonest performer, no journalist, no sociologist, and not much of an analyst. But worst of all, you distract us from the real threats to our liberty: Corporate "personhood", the criminalization of dissent, concentration of media, abdication of responsibility by journalists, and just the all-around right-wing ignorance and self-satisfaction that is the foundation of your recent career.
Please re-run your open-handed smackdown as often as you have an opportunity to do so. After sitting through the rest of your report this evening, gnashing my teeth at your delusional self-righteousness and faux-working-class sanctimony, that explosive moment brought a big, big smile to my face.
Robert Dobbs
Associate Editor
ScreamingPoints.com
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Kerry is on his way to winning it. There is only one thing that can stop his victory: A little company called Diebold.
Diebold makes voting machines that don't provide paper ballots.
If the voting machines in your county don't provide a paper trail, then Bush has already won your county.
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remember who paid the price when Bush lied to us:
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Check out Mr. Class: He can't pass a bald black head without rubbing it.
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Republicans Think They Own Christianity (they can have it...)
pandagon.net - your fifth rental is free
Pandagon says:
If faith calls you to works, and as James says you can only judge faith by the works left in its wake - what, exactly, is wrong with saying that one of the most faith-driven presidents in history, one who finds himself driven largely based on his faith, doesn't have the body of works to back it up? If you're going to say that taxpayer money can't accomplish faith-based works, maybe someone should relay that to George at some point.
Let's just cut out all the bull from here on in - Republicans think they own Christianity, and get really, really pissed when a liberal challenges that, particularly by reading the text that defines it.
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Finally, a Sane Economic Policy - "Happy Fat Economics"
You need a family member to stay home full time just to handle the intricacies of shopping, menu-planning and preparation (gender doesn't matter, as long as the cooking skills exist). Once that happens, the work force has been reduced by a prettty substantial amount. Result? Less unemployment. Now, if I were to spend all day working away to get dinner together, you can damn well be sure that everybody better be home in time to eat it, or there will be a major problem to be dealt with. Result? Quality time spent with the family. No more of these insane workaholics at the office until 10pm.
Foto Monday
Yeah, well, what the heck. More pretty pictures.
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There's only one thing that scares me. Crop circles.
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I know it's a fantasy. Rush won't do a day. He's not a poor black man.
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Everybody ova heah say HEY-YOOOO!
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Everybody ova thay-uh say HAY-YOOO!
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The Fraud Who Squats In Al Gore's House Says Things Like "You Used To Could."
"I made a choice to defend the security of the country," he said Friday, in a speech in Albuquerque, adding: "You can't see what you think is a threat and hope it goes away. You used to could when the oceans protected us. But the lesson of September the 11th is, is when the president sees a threat we must deal with it before it comes to fruition, through death, on our own soils, for example."
Even a president who was routinely referred to as adolescent criticized this White House's adolescent attitude.
"They remind me of teenagers who got their inheritance too soon and couldn't wait to blow it," Bill Clinton said.
And this, he scoffed, is the "mature daddy party"?
Well, it's the party obsessed with daddy. That's for sure.
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Thanks, Maureen, You've been waaaaaay, way too easy on these guys for waaaaaaaay too long.
March 28, 2004
I said This Last Month - Not Even Republicans Can Kill That Fast
MSNBC - Transcript for March 28
"It's very hard when that's the game where 90 percent of the Arab people hate us. It's very hard for us to win the battle of ideas. We can arrest them. We can kill them. But as Don Rumsfeld said in the memo that leaked from the Pentagon, I'm afraid that they're generating more ideological radicals against us than we are arresting them and killing them."
Really, you should read every word...
MSNBC - Transcript for March 28
"Bush, Clinton varied little on terrorism." Would you concur with that?
MR. CLARKE: No, not really. Let's answer Dick Cheney's question: What was the Clinton administration doing and what did it fail to do? Because it failed to do some things. Thirty-five Americans over the course of eight years--35 Americans--were killed by al-Qaeda during the Clinton years. And as a result of those 35 deaths, President Clinton ordered the assassination of Osama bin Laden, breaking with years of tradition and precedent, and the assassination of his deputies, by CIA. He fired cruise missiles into a base where he thought bin Laden was going to be. He launched a series of diplomatic, intelligence, law enforcement, military steps against al-Qaeda.
Hey! You Can't Quote The Bible If It Makes Republicans Look Bad!
"The Scriptures say, what does it profit, my brother, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?" Kerry said. "When we look at what is happening in America today, were are the works of compassion?"
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry's comment "was beyond the bounds of acceptable discourse and a sad exploitation of Scripture for a political attack."
More Fine Law Enforcement
AP Wire | 03/28/2004 | It was too many appliances, not pot, that police found at Carlsbad home
"They also noticed the family had put its trash out that morning, something police say drug growers often do to hide the evidence. In the Dagys' case, however, it was trash day."
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To which all I can say is, Glad we caught that Anthrax killer guy! I mean, if we're down to busting people because they put their trash out on trash day...
Read Every Word
MSNBC - Transcript for March 28
"People on the taxpayers' rolls, dozens of people, are engaged in the campaign to destroy me, personally and professionally, because I had the temerity to suggest that the American people should consider whether or not the president had done a good job on the war on terrorism. The issue is not me. The issue is the president's job on the role on terrorism."
Richard Clarke on MTP
They Ignored Al-Quaeda To Hound the Big Dog's Penis
someone who goes by the name of "Crunchy" wrote in the Atrios comments today:
" Louis Freeh was a Rethuglican operative who turned the FBI loose on Clenis for 8 years when he could have been fighting Al Qaeda. Back then, it was more important to have 70 FBI agents stalking Clinton's every move. BTW, Freeh hated John O'Neill's guts.
That son-of-a-bitch Freeh should be put on the stand and indicted for nothing else but his blind partisan motives to bring down Clinton and his incompetance for thinking some guy's cock was a bigger threat to the country that Osama bin Laden. "
He Ignored The Warnings, Then Ignored Reality
Democratic Underground Forums - WP: Bush's Efforts to Offset Clarke Stymied
One Bush aide, who refused to be identified because the administration limits who may speak on the record, acknowledged that the White House had underestimated the political and media firestorm that Clarke would ignite. Beginning with interviews in connection with his new book and continuing with Capitol Hill testimony, Clarke said he had watched Bush repeatedly ignore warnings about al Qaeda before Sept. 11, 2001, then diverted resources from the broader war on terrorism for an attack on Iraq.
March 26, 2004
Rather Than Defending Our Country, Bush Is Directing The Smears Of Richard Clarke
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall
Bear in mind that top White House aides have told the press that the president personally initiated and is directing this campaign against Clarke. Not outside rabble-rousers, not nefarious aides operating on their own account, but the president himself. This is all his doing, according to his own staffers.
Clinton Class
"In the Vietnam era, which marked us all, most young men, including the president, the vice president and me, most of us could have gone to Vietnam and didn't go," Clinton said.
"And John Kerry said, `Send me.' "
The Very Big Stupid - (George W. Bush and Anyone Who Supports Him) + The Peter Pan People
a writer called penalcolony, who posts in the comments at Atrios, today posted this beautiful quote:
"The Very Big Stupid is a thing which breeds by eating The Future. Have you seen it? It sometimes disguises itself as a good-looking quarterly bottom line, derived by closing the R&D department."
--Frank Zappa
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Some friends of mine have been attacked by some christian supremacists. It seems a group of these delusional thugs were spreading a nauseating internet urban legend about how The Idiot Liar picked up the tab for the unfortunate kid in Crawford who drowned at a lake near the Pig Farm.
The grotesque bit of doggerel tells the true story of how the kid drowned and some Secret Service guys helped out in the too-late EMS response.
In a weird, yet typical, twist, urban legend-tellers affixed a strange addenda to the tale: that the funeral was paid for by Bush and attended by various Secret Service agents.
When my friend pointed out to the huge list of christian supremacists that the story was fake (
One typical response:
"Our President is a man of great character and I'm sick of people trying to discredit his character and the character of our current administration. He was the first president I ever saw weep over the death of American's caused by terrorist......terrorist that should have been dealt with by former administrations. We have no choice but to deal with terrorism now. This is for your freedom and my freedom and the freedom of other nations. Yes people have died.....but people also died so that you could have your freedom of speech. I took offense to your comments and I'm not sure I even who you are. I'm open to listen to your reasons why you've chosen to speak of our President this way. Also, keep in mind...if the story of the little boy is false...President Bush didn't write it or have it written but I do believe he would have paid for a funeral of a neighbor if he knew there was a need. Those are just my thoughts. Thanks!
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This cat says he's open to listening to the reasons why we've chosen to speak of his president this way.
I've been begging them ever since they told me about it:
LET ME AT 'EM.
I want them to send me the mailing list. I have many ideas for such a discussion. I think it boils down to this:
The problems in this country all run from one strange urge that many people have. Lots of people in this country, notably a large majority of the christian supremacists, think that if they just believe in something hard enough, then it will come to be. It starts with little things like Bush paying for a funeral, or Christ rising from the dead - but it's at the root of all the problems in the world today.
I don't want to show all of my hand right now, I have a long series of examples of this situation, and the connection between Faith In Things That Don't Exist, the ascendent power of religious fundamentalists around the world, and the bankrupting of our treasury by the plutocrats who control these deluded masses.
I want to ask them again, let me see that list.
And let me take this opportunity to ask all of my readers - do you get weird, right-wing internet circle-jerk e-mails? Send me a few, and include some of the e-mail addresss therein.
I won't mention how I found them, and I'll work my way in slow and stealthy, until I am trusted enough, and until I can get in close enough, to plunge the dagger of logic and reason deep into the beast's heart at the critical moment.
I won't be setting out to convert any of them to vote for Kerry. That seems like too much to ask. But I do believe I can discourage a few of them enough that they won't be moved to go out and vote for Bush. And every person I can keep from voting for Bush amplifies my vote for Kerry, multiplies it.
And that is a good thing.
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I loved Oliver Willis' caption for this photo:
THE COMMITTEE TO SAVE THE WORLD
Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid
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March 25, 2004
"We tried hard but that doesn't matter because we failed..."
Make sure to scroll UP when you get there and read all of Oliver Willis on "September 12th".
Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid
Let me take this opportunity to remember that thing Clarke said:
"We tried hard but that doesn't matter because we failed and for that failure I would ask, once all the facts are out, for your understanding and for your forgiveness."
Who's the man in this picture?
Genital Piercings Now Illegal in Georgia - If You're a Woman
AccessNorthGa.com - Your Online Local Newspaper
"Genital piercings for women were banned by the Georgia House Wednesday as lawmakers considered a bill outlining punishments for female genital mutilation.
The bill would make such mutilation punishable by two to 20 years in prison. It makes no exception for people who give consent to have the procedure performed on their daughters out of religious or cultural custom.
An amendment adopted without objection added "piercing" to the list of things that may not be done to female genitals. Even adult women would not be allowed to get the procedure. The bill eventually passed 160-0, with no debate.
Amendment sponsor Rep. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, was slack-jawed when told after the vote that some adults seek the piercings.
"What? I've never seen such a thing," Heath said. "I, uh, I wouldn't approve of anyone doing it. I don't think that's an appropriate thing to be doing."
The ban applies only to women, not men. The bill has already been approved by the Senate but now must return to that chamber because of the piercing amendment. Both chambers of the Legislature must agree on a single version of a bill before it can go to the governor for final approval."
March 24, 2004
Protest Songs Are Back: The John Kasper Band Rocks the (White) House
www.garageband.com : song profile for Conspiracy of Silence by The John Kasper Band
The president seems to have dangerous thoughts in his head
His war-minded handlers are pushing him over the edge
Protecting the interests of all their industrial friends
The sins of the father repeating all over again...
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It's tough being a songwriter/rocker. I been there. Keep up the good fight, guys.
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www.garageband.com : song profile for We're the Enemy by The John Kasper Band
We pledge allegiance to corporate greed
We will kill for the right to control all the oil that we need
We will reap what we sow yes an eye for an eye
Will you think that it's right when it's your child that dies?
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We might have an early Foto Friday this week...
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Everybody should go to BartCop.com and read it all, every day.
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...lest we forget in whose names we fight evil every day...This fall, it's Kerry...or Revolution...
SP
March 23, 2004
A Self-Obsessed Megalomaniac Squats In Al Gore's House
Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid
...the Bush White House assumes that everyone who works for them is part of a personal loyalty network, rather than part of the government. And that their first loyalty is to Bush rather than to the people. When you cross that line or violate that trust, they get very upset.
They Can't Lead, So They Just Destroy People
Yahoo! News - Analysis: Iraq Charges Against Bush Begin to Mount
The administration response has usually been to try to destroy the reputations of its critics. It suggested O'Neill had illegally used classified documents and said he was motivated by sour grapes after having been forced to resign from the Cabinet. A Treasury probe has cleared him of misusing documents.
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"This administration has shown a tremendous ability to demonize its opponents. But at some point, people start to ask themselves, could all these people be pathological liars? At some point, they can't all be liars," said Democratic consultant Michael Goldman.
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March 21, 2004
Those Evil, Godless Martian Chronicles
WSBTV.com - Education - Christians Try To Censor Georgia School's Reading List
Some Christian parents in Georgia want a bevy of books removed from their local schools' reading list.
Three parents with the group Crusaders for Christ told members of the Bartow County Board of Education that several books are too offensive for students to be reading.
The group's leader, the Rev. Dwight Holcomb, told board members, "You're going to answer to God Almighty for your decision."
Among the books the Crusaders for Christ want banned are "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury and "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.
"Driving While Black" a Greater Threat to US Than Terrorism, Ashcroft Decided
Newsweek has learned that in the months before 9/11, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called "Catcher's Mitt" to monitor Al Qaeda suspects in the United States, after a federal judge severely chastised the FBI for improperly seeking permission to wiretap terrorists. During the Bush administration's first few months in office, Attorney General John Ashcroft downgraded terrorism as a priority, choosing to place more emphasis on drug trafficking and gun violence, report Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff and Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas in the March 29 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 22).
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We here at ScreamingPoints would like to strongly emphasize just what happened there with Ashcroft. Like the rest of the Bushites, he wanted to ignore terrorism. But what did he want to focus on instead?
"Drug trafficking and gun violence."
What exactly are "drug trafficking and gun violence" code words for? For most people, they sound like normal enough concerns for an attorney general. But for the secret, Confederate, wild-eyed right wing base which this administration is constantly, carefully tending, those words evoke an explicit, visually-accessible promise:
"We're going to pull over every black male we see driving a car, at any time, anywhere in the United States."
The only disruption 9/11 caused in this agenda for Ashcroft was that it put the sand-Nwords ahead of the homies on his to-do list.
SP
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Jesus, Darrell Waltrip, and Me.
Atrios at Eschaton put up a link to a NASCAR-related website where the guy was asking people to vote in a poll on whether or not the pre-game activities at NASCAR events was getting too pro-war and militaristic. I wrote the guy an e-mail:
Hey, Jayski.
You provide a fine service. Your website is great. I am a big NASCAR fan, I was born and raised in Indianapolis, so I have motor oil in my genetic structure.
I wouldn't usually think of addressing the points in this e-mail to a NASCAR or racing enthusiast like yourself. I don't go around looking for fights in this world.
But since you brought it up with today's poll question, I wanted to make a few quick points:
1. My tax dollars pay for those jet fighters that fly over the NASCAR races. How come jet fighters don't fly over rock concerts? Jazz festivals? The New York City Marathon? The AIDS charity walk? The Breast Cancer Awareness March? If America is invaded, will these jets only defend cities with names like Talladega and Rockingham?
2. FOX broadcasts the Christian religious invocation that NASCAR sponsors before racing events. It does not show prayers before basketball games. It does not feature prayers before Track and Field events. I've never seen them cover the prayers before baseball games. Are atheist drivers covered by these NASCAR-sanctioned Christian prayers? Are there any Jewish drivers? Any Muslim drivers? (Well, okay, I know the answer to that one). My point is not that there should be Affirmative Action in Racing - God forbid! - but simply that NASCAR and Fox simply assume that no non-Christian should be aknowledged or even mentioned at their events. Granted, there may not be a Hindu in any of the 125,000 seats at the track today. But it seems pretty obvious that they're not fully welcome there, either.
3. Fox had a feature last week - maybe it's every week - where they were asking a driver a quick series of A or B questions. Most were pretty goofy - Beatles or Stones? Paper or Plastic? Boxers of Briefs? But then they ask, "Republican or Democrat?" Now, that question might not be as provocative if asked among random people on the street, or people at an NFL game, or people at the NCAA championships. After all, it's a 50-50 country. But amongst the all-white, mostly Southern drivers, how many of them - if they were in fact a Democrat - could afford to admit it to the fans of NASCAR? However, if they were Republicans (as the driver I saw was), they'd no doubt say it loud and proud, since this would re-inforce their connection to the Southern white male Republican fans. A Democrat would be pressured to say something like "Oh, I'm not too into politics" even if he usually voted straight Democrat. Likewise, a driver who never votes and who knows nothing about politics, but who knows which side his bread is buttered on would say, "I'm a Republican".
Because of this, Fox's inclusion of the question is intended to promote one party over the other. On NASCAR's dime.
These things bother an agnostic, Democratic taxpaying NASCAR fan like myself. Nobody from NASCAR or Fox or the racing world has ever asked me about these topics, and I'm sure they never will again. I doubt your website will bring up these kind of sociological/media control issues again, because you'll probably get a lot of feedback today that makes you feel uncomfortable.
But I encourage you to do so, because it will be better for the sport of racing if it becomes more widely popular, and is not the exclusive property of Christian, white, male Southerners.
I'd also suggest that it will have a better chance to break out of this cultural straitjacket when it's not on Fox. As you may know, Fox is wholly owned and operated by an Australian pornographer by the name of Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch enforces a well-known pro-corporate, anti-democratic (small "d", the concept, not the party) bias in all of his many, many media outlets. It's in his simple financial interests to marginalize anyone who doubts the invasion of Iraq was helpful in battling terrorism, for example. It's in his personal financial interest to empower those who would elect politicians who regulation of the public airways. He will make more money if Republicans gain even greater power.
We deserve better.
The devotion of American racing fans to the greatest sport in the world is stronger than the greed of a few un-American rich guys, who play a simplistic, jingoistic game of images and prejudices to gain financial and political power. We'll still be here after the Murdochs of this world are gone, and we'll still be here as the country's political situation evolves. NASCAR and Fox should not be allowed to ghetto-ize our sport in such a way that millions and millions of Americans are shunned and made unwelcome by this eminently populist attraction.
Thanks for giving me an outlet for these comments. I am sure my opinions are of absolutely no interest to NASCAR, Fox, or any of the other fans of your site. You may delete me now!
Robert Dobbs
www.ScreamingPoints.com
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He wrote me back:
>From: "Jayski"
>To: "Robert Dobbs"
>Subject: Re: Indianapolis Native Gripes About NASCAR/Fox Jingoism
>Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 15:52:57 -0500
>
>Thanks for the comments, hardly getting any email on this, don't
>care if I do or not, I wholly support the military display and
>love seeing them, no email is gonna change that.
>
>I only posted it as it was interesting, and I would post a
>followup if one is found.
>
>Jay
So, I wrote him back again:
Jayski:
Thanks for your reply. The funny thing is - I like the military displays, too! I think they're cool. I love jets and fighters and I especially love when they fly a B-2 Stealth bomber over. That's cool stuff.
My point was simply this; I don't know if it's in NASCAR's best interest to present itself as having a particular "official" political position, and I think that Fox is using the sport's natural patriotic and religious trappings in a way that will alienate some potential fans. I also think that Fox is taking advantage of NASCAR in this way to promote a particular political party, and I don't like our elections being influenced by foreigners.
But again, none of these issues matter to race fans on race day.
Thanks again for your fine website.
Robert Dobbs
Bush Was Warned, But Decided to Go Jogging Instead of Stopping 9/11
Clarke relates, "I began saying, 'We have to deal with bin Laden; we have to deal with al Qaeda.'
Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, said, 'No, no, no. We don't have to deal with al Qaeda. Why are we talking about that little guy? We have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the United States.'"
And I said, 'Paul, there hasn't been any Iraqi terrorism against the United States in eight years!' And I turned to the deputy director of the CIA and said, 'Isn't that right?' And he said, 'Yeah, that's right. There is no Iraqi terrorism against the United States."
Clarke went on to add, "There's absolutely no evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda, ever." When Stahl pointed out that some administration officials say it's still an open issue, Clarke responded, "Well, they'll say that until hell freezes over."
By June 2001, there still hadn't been a Cabinet-level meeting on terrorism, even though U.S. intelligence was picking up an unprecedented level of ominous chatter. The CIA director warned the White House, Clarke points out. "George Tenet was saying to the White House, saying to the president - because he briefed him every morning - a major al Qaeda attack is going to happen against the United States somewhere in the world in the weeks and months ahead. He said that in June, July, August.
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March 20, 2004
Bush actually LIED lied, not just "was misled"
TOMPAINE.com - Willful Ignorance
A year ago—March 17, 2003, to be exact—George W. Bush addressed the nation and the world. He gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to get out town or face a U.S. military invasion. To defend the war to come, Bush declared, "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraqi regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." There was nothing ambiguous here: "leaves no doubt".
(snip)
In essence, Bush was saying we know what we are doing and we know it is absolutely unavoidable.
That was not true.
March 19, 2004
At Last, Another Cool President
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Here's a great quote from the fantastic Mark Morford, of sfgate.com :
Be grateful BushCo's ratings are slipping lower than an SUV's mpg rating, and there is only one year left until he joins his father as one of those embarrassing historical footnotes, a jagged scar on the heart of a wary America that other countries point to in years to come and say wow that's a nasty scar where'd you get that, and we reply, George W. Bush, and they go, oh my God, that's right. So sorry. -Mark Morford
You Vote For Bush Or You're A Terrorist
Op-Ed Columnist: Taken for a Ride
"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." So George Bush declared on Sept. 20, 2001. But what was he saying? Surely he didn't mean that everyone was obliged to support all of his policies, that if you opposed him on anything you were aiding terrorists.
Now we know that he meant just that."
(snip)
"But the bigger point is this: in the Bush vision, it was never legitimate to challenge any piece of the administration's policy on Iraq. Before the war, it was your patriotic duty to trust the president's assertions about the case for war. Once we went in and those assertions proved utterly false, it became your patriotic duty to support the troops — a phrase that, to the administration, always means supporting the president. At no point has it been legitimate to hold Mr. Bush accountable. And that's the way he wants it. "
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Speaking as someone who opposed the war, hard, all along, I can personally attest to this last bit.
We have to make sure no Republican is ever elected to a public office, ever again.
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More Foto Friday
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Here's some fine, brave Americans who died for George's lies.
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March 18, 2004
It's Foto Friday!
These are some of the dead men, women, and children, their blood spilled to work out George W. Bush's Oedipal problems.
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State Department Official Continues Use of Strange HomoErotic Imagery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "There's a good deal, I think, of interest in Iraq for seeing the tyrant finally brought to his knees," he said.
The Usually-Dainty Josh Almost Cusses...
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: March 14, 2004 - March 20, 2004 Archives
Again and again I read -- or hear directly from administration supporters -- this excuse that any questioning of the administration's record in foreign affairs, or Iraq, or even on other matters is just a deplorable focusing on the past, a distraction, when the nation faces grave challenges which we need to focus on solving.
This is more than just simple buck-passing. It is a sort of through-the-looking-glass version of how problem-solving and accountability are supposed to work.
It also has the perverse benefit of allowing the scope of the administration's failures to become reasons for not discussing those failures -- a sort of self-reinforcing anti-accountability causality loop, with all manner of moral hazards built in.We've created such a mess that we don't have the time or the luxury to start second-guessing how badly we screwed things up!
I've always been strict about keeping four-letter words off this site. So I apologize for the graphic nature of this analogy. But this is like I come back to my office to find my new employee has taken a crap right on my desk.Puzzledly and not happy, I say, "What, umm ... what happened here?"
To which he replies, "There you go again, always focusing on the past, how this or that could have been done differently, when what's really important is the future, how we deal with this and other challenges we're going to face."
To which I would reply, "No. The future is exactly what I'm thinking about. And that's why you're fired. Because in the future I can't afford to have anyone working here who craps on my desk, and then when I confront them about it all they can do is dodge responsibility with moronic excuses and try to put the blame on me for asking what the hell is going on."
Hmmm...that's a familiar-sounding prescription...
Then she asked Letterman: "Do you think I'm like wacky and stuff ?" Before appealing: "Is that against the law?"
Love is charged with possession of the painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone. <====
The Idiot Liar Bush Says: Fags Aren's Citizens
Washington, D.C.) Gay and lesbians in the entire federal workforce have had their job protections officially removed by the office of Special Counsel.
March 16, 2004
Smart People Know Iraq Has Nothing To Do With The War On Religious Fundamentalism
Juan Cole Knows It:
Juan Cole * Informed Comment *
First of all, the Iraq war had nothing to do with the battle against al-Qaeda. Nothing whatsoever. Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and others were pressing for a war against Iraq in the 1990s before al-Qaeda had even become much of a threat to the US (certainly, they do not bring it up in their writings of the period). There is no evidence for any significant collaboration between the secular socialist Arab nationalist dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the neo-Caliphate hyper-Sunni fundamentalist movement of al-Qaeda.
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LiberalOasis knows it:
The Sunday Talkshow Breakdown
A weekly feature of LiberalOasis
(posted Mar. 15 1:30 AM ET)
LiberalOasis: Archives For The Week of March 14, 2004
One Year Later: No WMDs!
The entire Bush foreign policy team was sent to cover all five shows yesterday.
This was probably an attempt to shift the national focus away from the economy, and also to push a positive message on Iraq, as this week begins several days of “One Year Later” coverage.
(The war started March 20, the Saddam statue was toppled April 9).
But what’s glaringly obvious one year later is that there are no WMDs.
And it’s just too easy a target for the media to let it go.
And try as the Bushies might, the more they try to bob and weave this, the more pathetic they look:
On Fox News Sunday:
CHRIS WALLACE: …did you feel some responsibility for giving the world bad information?
COLIN POWELL: I don't know that I — I wasn't giving the world bad information. I was giving the world the information that we had at the time we had it.
On NBC's Meet The Press:
TIM RUSSERT: …leading up to the war, the rhetoric of the administration was much different than Saddam could be a threat or he has weapons programs.
The president said he was, "a unique and urgent threat."
It was, "a unique urgency," "a grave threat."
You and the president both talked about the mushroom cloud.
Scott McClellan, deputy press secretary, said it's "an imminent threat."
Ari Fleischer, the press secretary, said, "absolutely," it was an imminent threat.
In hindsight, looking back, it was not an imminent or urgent threat.
CONDI RICE: I think what the president said in his State of the Union...is that we cannot wait until it becomes imminent.
And on CBS’ Face The Nation:
BOB SCHIEFFER: You're saying that nobody in the administration said that [“immediate threat”].
DONALD RUMSFELD: I can't speak for…everybody in the administration and say nobody said that.
SCHIEFFER: Vice president didn't say that? The –
RUMSFELD: …if you have any citations, I'd like to see 'em.
TOM FRIEDMAN: We have one here.
It says:
“Some have argued that the” -- this is you speaking -- “that the nuclear threat from Iraq is not imminent, that Saddam is at least five to seven years away from having nuclear weapons. I would not be so certain.”
RUMSFELD: And. And --
FRIEDMAN: It was close to imminent.
RUMSFELD: Well, I've tried to be precise, and I've tried to be accurate…
FRIEDMAN: “No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world and the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.”
RUMSFELD: Mm-hmm.
My view of the situation was that he had -- we believe, the best intelligence that we had and other countries had and that we believed -- and we still do not know. We will know.
This is the conundrum for the Bushies.
They want to tilt to playing field to national security, and away from the economy, rightly thinking that’s better political ground for them.
But when they do, the “credibility gap” questions keep coming, because they refuse to take responsibility for their misleading statements.
Schieffer threw at Rummy this advice from David Kay, the former head of the post-war WMD hunt.
The president should say, "We were simply mistaken and we're determined to find out why."
Kay noted American credibility won’t be restored until this happens.
The pro-war Kay was not trying to humiliate the Bushies. He was trying to help them.
(That’s probably why he made the comments to a British paper, so to minimize their distribution in the US, but still give a kick in the ass to the Administration.)
But since they’re not listening to him, they’re being humiliated.
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from Juan Cole’s blo :
Instead of dealing with this growing and world-wide threat, the Bush administration cynically took advantage of the American public's anger and fear after September 11 and channeled it against the regime of Saddam Hussein, which had had nothing to do with September 11 and which never could be involved in such a terrorist operation on American soil because its high officers knew exactly the retribution that would be visited on them.
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The initial outlay for the war against Iraq was $66 billion. Then Bush came back and asked for another $87 billion. He will ask for a similar amount again after the November election if he is reelected. It is outrageous that Congress allows him to postpone this request instead of being held accountable for it. The Iraq adventure is likely to have cost the US nearly $250 billion by next year this time. The US is no safer now than it was before the Iraq war, since Iraq did not have any weapons that could hit US soil and would not have risked using them even if it did.
Let me repeat that. Maybe $1.3 billion for Afghanistan. $250 billion for Iraq. Bin Laden and his supporters are in Afghanistan. What is wrong with this picture?
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There is not and cannot be such a thing as a "war on terror." Terror is a tactic. There can be a global counter-insurgency struggle against al-Qaeda and kindred organizations. But a large part of such a struggle must be to deny al-Qaeda recruitment tools and propaganda victories. The way the Bush administration pursued the war against Iraq, as a superpower-led act of Nietzschean will to power, simply made it look in the Middle East as though al-Qaeda had been right. Biin Laden's message was that Middle Easterners are being colonized and occupied by the United States.
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more from Juan Cole’s blog:
Afghanistan's poppy cultivation is expanding and the drug trade is creating opportunities for narco-terrorism. The Afghanistan GDP is $5 billion a year; $2 bn. of that comes from poppy cultivation for heroin production.
(snip)
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Tom Tomorrow gets a letter from Spain:
There were massive demonstrations, with several million people in them, against the involvement of Spain in the war. In despite of this, José María Aznar government went to war with Bush and Blair. Many people went home thinking "this guy is involving us in a madmen's war that we don't want and will provoke bloody consequences". If Islamics blew the trains, it was a strong confirmation of this position, something that could only focus anger against Aznar's Government.
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All of the above links were found by Atrios.
The excerpts were chosen by me.
(http://atrios.blogspot.com/)
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zbdent, posting at DU, writes this nice point:
the Repubs, Bush, and Powell were amusing for calling on Kerry to name names, when Bush didn't name all the members of the "coalition of the willing", Novak won't name who told him CIA information, and Cheney has defied several court orders demanding that he name names.
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March 14, 2004
Hey, You Anti-Marriage Scum: America Was Not Founded By Christians (or For Them)
Nothing makes me sicker than someone proposing public policy because their invisible friend told them to.
So when Anti-Marriage bigots march around my town saying this is a Christian Nation, I just point them to this web page:
The Founding Fathers on Religion | Religion vs. Morality
One Homeland Security Photo Op Per Month
And once again, W goes running for skirts to hide behind (read down until you find Karen Hughes).
Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.
Bush and Saddam Share a Fine Italian Shoemaker ($1200 a Pop!)
Ananova - Bush and Saddam turn out to be sole mates
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(with thanks to def rimjob at Atrios' comments section)
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And here's the great clip - W on Letterman - it's Bush in a Nutshell:
(cut and paste this URL into your browser for the Real clip)
http://www.shortfatguy.com/bush.rm
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March 13, 2004
5 New Kerry Images
The man is like Kryptonite to Stupid:
Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid
There are many of us who didn't support or like George Bush but were willing to back him in the fight against terrorism since 9.11 happened. Maybe I was a dupe, but I believed George Bush when he said we were going to fight a war against terrorism wherever they hid, wherever they had support. George Bush was supposed to lead this country as commander in chief, keep us safe from those who would kill us simply because of their radically idiotic beliefs. But in the three years since September 11th, 2001 - I've seen George Bush coddle terrorist-sponsoring Saudi politicians, censor congressional evidence that reflected badly on the Saudis, humiliate America in the United Nations, divert resources from finding Bin Laden and dismantling Al Qaeda by invading Iraq - who had no connection to Al Qaeda, present false evidence for war in Iraq, send troops into Iraq without adequate protection, have no plan in place for post-Saddam Iraq, inadequately fund first-line terror responders, and repeatedly call Democrats, dissenters, and other patriotic Americans allies of terrorism.
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March 12, 2004
Newsflash: Limbaugh Full of Crap
tomflocco.com - Two 9-11 Widows Respond to Rush Limbaugh Attacks
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There Is No Detail Too Small For Bush To Lie About
Atrios found this fine story about how Bush, like Dennis Miller, has to pay people to look like they are enthusiastically listening to him as he's babbling:
"I understand him a little bit English," said Nubia Guzman, a packer who said she earns $7.50 an hour after four years on a job that Bush had described in his speech as evidence of the success of his tax cutting economic policies. She has no health coverage.
What did you like about him? she was asked.
"He nice," she said.
March 10, 2004
Bush's Reckless Indifference on Terrorism
From corrente, filling in for Atrios:
corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy & the Farmer
Are post-state terrorists groups the number one priority? NOT! Iraq is.Is nation building in the failed states where post-state terrorists collect a priority? NOT! Afghanistan's now run by warlords.Since all it would take would be one container on a cargo ship, is safeguarding the ports a top priority? NOT!How about loose nukes? Are we making the program to buy up the Russian ones a priority? NOT! How about guarding Iraqi nuclear sites during the invasion? NOT! How about Pakistan? NOT! Looks like we traded one guy—.OBL, by October 2004—to Musharraf in exchange for letting them off the hook on an entire loose nukes program. And don't get me started on North Korea.
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Unbelieveable. I just heard Bush in Ohio today, and in criticizing Kerry, he said that old Democrat method of "tax and spend" won't work any more.
Um, so does that mean he thinks cutting taxes and increasing spending makes more sense than texing and spending?
Who's really the irresponsible one - one who says he will raise taxes, and spend some of the money, or the one who says he will cut the taxes on the rich, gutting revenues, then increases spending insanely, and vetoes NOT ONE spending bill that comes his way - from a congress led by the party he leads?!
My new description of GW Bush:
Credibility: Zero
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March 09, 2004
George Bush - King Waffler
Tom Tomorrow found it at The Daily Kos:
This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow: March 07, 2004 - March 13, 2004 Archives
Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he's for it. * Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he's for it. * Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he's for it. * Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he's for it. * Bush is against nation building; then he's for it. * Bush is against deficits; then he's for them. * Bush is for free trade; then he's for tariffs on steel; then he's against them again. * Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State. * Bush is for states right to decide on gay marriage, then he is for changing the constitution. * Bush first says he'll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn't. * Bush first says that 'help is on the way' to the military ... then he cuts benefits * Bush-"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. Bush-"I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care. * Bush claims to be in favor of the environment and then secretly starts drilling on Padre Island. * Bush talks about helping education and increases mandates while cutting funding. * Bush first says the U.S. won't negotiate with North Korea. Now he will * Bush goes to Bob Jones University. Then say's he shouldn't have. * Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq. Later Bush announced he would not call for a vote * Bush said the "mission accomplished" banner was put up by the sailors. Bush later admits it was his advance team. * Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US. Bush after meeting with Pres. Fox, he's against it.
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A couple of Senator Clinton's best lines from the Gridiron Dinner the other night:
• "In the Clinton administration, we used to say in eight years, we've added more than 22 million new jobs. . . . You guys could say: 'Since 1993, our country has created 19 million new jobs.'"
• "I actually saw the vice president as we were walking in," she said. "I was getting out of my car. . . . he was getting out of Justice Scalia's."
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Marriage - It's the Bible's Way...And the "One-Shoe" Rule...
The Presidential Prayer Team is currently urging us to: "Pray for the
President as he seeks wisdom on how to legally codify the definition of
marriage. Pray that it will be according to Biblical principles. With
any forces insisting on variant definitions of marriage, pray that
God's Word and His standards will be honored by our government."
Any religious person believes prayer should be balanced by action. So
here, in support of the Prayer Team's admirable goals, is a proposed
Constitutional Amendment to codify marriage based on biblical
principles:
A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one
man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)
B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines, in
addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron
11:21)
C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin.
If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)
D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden.
(Gen24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)
E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the
constitution of any state, nor any state or federal law, shall be
construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)
F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the
widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does
not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe. (Gen. 38:6-10;
Deut 25:5-10)
Also there are a few other issues I'd like to see our government
address:
1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a
pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They
claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in
her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is
how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and
female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend
of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can
you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus
35:2. passage clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally
obligated to kill him myself?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than
homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees'
of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I
have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading
glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room
here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by
Lev.19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes
me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two
different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing
garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester
blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really
necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town
together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to
death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with
their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
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(many thanks to Merle and those intrepid researchers out there who found all this stuff)
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Spreading Fascism and Totalitarianism? It's just a Family Tradition...
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March 06, 2004
Not Even The King Of All Media Can Withstand Bush's Christian Crusade
FMQB: Radio Industry News, Music Industry Updates, Arbitron Ratings, Music News
"My days here are numbered because I dared to speak out against the Bush administration and say that the religious agenda of George W. Bush concerning stem cell research and gay marriage is wrong," Stern continued. "And that what he is doing with the FCC is pushing this religious agenda. And also the fact that the guy takes more vacation than any President ever. It's time for him to leave. Having said that pushed me off the air in six markets."
He Molests The Dead
Atrios at Eschaton ( Eschaton) finds this excellent Breslin piece on Bush's new ads, which include tangy 'n' tasty details about Rudy for those of us outside New York City.
Newsday.com: He molests the dead
" He made the trade center his private cathedral. Police commanders were terrified of letting you in. There was only Rudy, who flew his stars, Oprah and the like, down to see it. Now he says a Bush ad is "appropriate."
That's Giuliani's word. As the mayor, he had a detective driving one of his girl friends out of the Gracie Mansion driveway while another detective was arriving with another girl friend and was waved off to prevent a domestic riot.
All the while upstairs there were his wife. and children.
Giuliani then showed appropriate behavior by walking in a parade on Fifth Avenue with his girl friend and all the while his children could sit and watch him on television.
How marvelous! It was appropriate to humiliate his children, and now it is appropriate to molest the dead.
Giuliani also had a flunkey, Bernard Kerik, rush on television and say, so earnestly, that the Bush commerical was appropriate. Kerik was a Giuliani campaign chauffeur who became police commissioner. How marvelous!"
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March 05, 2004
Are You Too Stupid To Vote? Bush Is Counting On That.
From Salon.com:
Allan Lichtman, who conducted a study on the disenfranchisement of black voters in 2000 in Florida for the United States Commission on Civil Rights, warns in an essay on the History News Network Web site that we could easily have another Florida debacle this year."Al Gore lost Florida's presidential vote because electoral officials tossed into the trashcan as invalid more than one out of every ten ballots cast by African-Americans throughout the state. In some counties, nearly 25 percent of ballots cast by blacks were set aside as invalid. In contrast, officials rejected less than one out of every fifty ballots cast by whites statewide. If black ballots had been rejected at the same minimal rate as white ballots, more than 50,000 additional black votes would have been counted in Florida's presidential election. Given that more than 90 percent of blacks favored Gore over Bush, Gore would have won Florida by at least 40,000 votes," he writes.
All-Art Friday - Election 2004 Battle Art, Plus Carrot-Butt
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Let's go to the charts:
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So, Tom Delay's pet poodle "Coach" Denny Hastert had to knuckle under and let the 9-11 Commission around the White House's stonewall. Still, he stays on the White House Xmas card list for another year since he publicly wiped out his own last shred of dignity by making such a naked stab at a cover-up.
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We are sad to hear about General Aschcroft's problems.
No, really.
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The next president of the United States:
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This is some art from a year ago from Salon. At the time, it made me sick because it felt so accurate. Now, it seems...dated.
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In honor of the Winter of Love in San Francisco, 2004:
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Peace and Prosperity were so...Cool.
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Ha! Pre-Hillbilly Junkie fame!
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Support the troops. Vote for the hero, not the guy who ran like a bunny on 9/11.
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Nice smile, huh? Captain Hampton here is the first female American combat pilot to die in Iraq, helping to work out W's Oedipal problems.
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It seems to me like they're not using these stupid "keyword" backdrops as often as they used to. Maybe the glaring contrasts between promise and delivery was getting too sharp.
Anyway, in one of the new commercials getting play this week, the shot of W in front of one of the new-style "Big-Word" backdrops has his head blocking the "K" in WORKING, making it look a lot like what he is surely doing in front of that backdrop - W(h)ORING.
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As always, no disrespect meant for whores.
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And since the corporate-owned networks can't show bodies arriving at Dover Air Base, two a day, we in the blogosphere will continue to pitch in for our failed media:
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Kerry's last hurdle: Diebold.
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He said he would produce 360,000 jobs a month. Whoops.
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Is it fair to judge a man by his dog?
Is it fair to hate a man because of his dog?
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This one isn't political, really, it just gives me the creeps. And it has a cowboy hat. Like BUSH!
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Does this look like a well-regulated militia to you?
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"One weekend a month , My Ass!"
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When it comes to global warming: we need more research, they say.
When it comes to a missile defense which will stop nothing and which will cost billions and billions and billions of dollars - never mind all that pesky science. If we believe we need it, we will need it!
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What's up in Texas?
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Burn the land, boil the sea, they can't take the sky from me...
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March 04, 2004
Certainty is No Virtue When You're Always Wrong
Confidence Man - The case for Bush is the case against him. By William Saletan
He's too preoccupied with principle to understand that principle isn't enough. Watching the stars instead of the road, he has wrecked the budget and the war on terror. Now he's heading for the Constitution. It's time to pull him over and take away the keys.
March 03, 2004
Bush, the Scholar: "People Are Poor Because They Are Lazy"
Atrios found this fine report, full of chilling economic detail:
excerpt:
"At Harvard Business School, thirty years ago, George Bush was a student of mine. I still vividly remember him. In my class, he declared that "people are poor because they are lazy." He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare, and public schools. To him, the antitrust watch dog, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange Commission were unnecessary hindrances to "free market competition." To him, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was "socialism." Recently, President Bush's Federal Appeals Court Nominee, California's Supreme Court Justice Janice Brown, repeated the same broadside at her Senate hearing. She knew that her pronouncement would please President Bush and Karl Rove and their Senators. President Bush and his brain, Karl Rove, are leading a radical revolution of destroying all the democratic political, social, judiciary, and economic institutions that both Democrats and moderate Republicans had built together since Roosevelt's New Deal."
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Don't forget: Ken Lay got your Social Security money - and he gave it to Bush - who will spend it on TV ads to convince you he knows his ass from a hole in the ground.
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Kerry, the Hope of the World (?!?) [props to WhiskeyBar]
Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | The hope of the world
excerpt:
"Nothing in world politics would make more difference to the rest of us than a change in the White House.The free world has never had a stronger interest in the result of a US election than it has in the defeat of Mr Bush. Senator Kerry carries the hopes not just of millions of Americans but of millions of British well-wishers, not to mention those of nations throughout Europe and the world. "
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from busybusybusy.com, a Powell Democracy haiku:
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WorkingForChange-Four wars and a cloud of dust
David Corn of The Nation magazine developed a wonderful metaphor for this experience. It goes like this: Two kids are playing, and one says, "I'm gonna take this stick and whack that hornets' nest."
Second kid says, "Don't hit the hornets' nest."
"I will."
"Don't hit the hornets' nest."
"Will so."
"Don't hit the hornets' nest."
Kid hits the hornets' nest, all the hornets fly out and start stinging, kid turns and says: "Now you have to help me deal with all these hornets. It would be irresponsible and disloyal if you didn't."
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Meanwhile, the Winter of Love continues in San Francisco:
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And what the heck is going on in Austin? Has Governor Goodhair really been schtupping his Lt. Gov? And Perry was "under" Bush back in the day.
Somebody's gotta tell me: Is Bush gay? This whole Constitutional Amendment thing is just a way to convince his Dad (and the evil Barb) that he's a man's man?
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They stood in line overnight, in the pouring rain, in the nasty San Francisco cold - just to get the chance to be an American, with full rights and responsibilities, just like the rest of us.
If you're against this, you're Anti-Marriage.
You're Anti-Love.
This is family. And community. And commitment.
This is a good thing.
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Ted Rall on the Return of some Bad People, thanks to Bush:
Yahoo! News - NEW BOSS, WORSE THAN THE OLD BOSS
"Tearing a page from the playbook of the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites)--Republican justices ran out the clock in Bush v. Gore, deliberating four days so that there wouldn't be sufficient time to complete the Florida ballot recount--the Bush Administration refused Aristide's frantic requests to send U.S. troops to restore order to Haiti. "There is, frankly, no enthusiasm right now for sending in military or police forces to put down the violence that we are seeing," said Colin Powell (news - web sites). But hours after Aristide left for Africa--"kidnapped," according to Congresswoman Maxine Waters, by American commandos--the marines were on their way."
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Aristide won 92% of the vote in a clean election.
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Why they had to crush Aristide
"An exhaustive and convincing report by the International Coalition of Independent Observers concluded that "fair and peaceful elections were held" in 2000, and by the standard of the presidential elections held in the US that same year they were positively exemplary."
"...Worst of all, he remained indelibly associated with what's left of a genuine popular movement for political and economic empowerment. For this reason alone, it was essential that he not only be forced from office but utterly discredited in the eyes of his people and the world. As Noam Chomsky has said, the "threat of a good example" solicits measures of retaliation that bear no relation to the strategic or economic importance of the country in question. This is why the leaders of the world have joined together to crush a democracy in the name of democracy. "
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You may hear Theragesic Salesman and White House spokesman Sean Hannity say that the most evil thing Democrats have done is to (gasp) *politicize the war on terror*.
Well, next time he says that, someone should phone the little puke up and read them this story:
from the Associated Press:
Bush Ads Use World Trade Center Imagery
WASHINGTON - With a huge $10.5 million downpayment, President Bush's re-election committee rolled out its first campaign commercials on Wednesday, using images of the destroyed World Trade Center to claim "steady leadership in times of change."
"What sees us through tough times? Freedom, faith, families, and sacrifice," says one commercial, as clips roll of the Sept. 11, 2001, wreckage, a flag being raised, children saying the Pledge of Allegiance, parishioners at a church, parents with a new baby and firefighters appear.
The campaign had said it would not use Sept. 11, 2001, for political reasons, yet footage from the aftermath of the terrorists attacks is shown in the ads.
Campaign manager Ken Mehlman said the day was a defining moment that led to Bush's accomplishments, including passage of the Patriot Act and the war in Afghanistan that eliminated the Taliban rule. "These are important parts of this administration's record," he said.
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Bush's Coup d'Etat Paid For By Cocaine
It's odd. Hannity goes on and on about how Saddam had to be overthrown because he was a torturer.
But now he will certainly back Bush's invasion and coup d'etat in Haiti. Does Sean know that the rebels include the Duvaliers? Can Sean pronounce Duvalier? Does Sean know that the rebels include members of the Tonton Macoutes? Can Sean pronounce Tonton Macoutes? The Tonton Macoutes not only torture and dismember folks they don't like - they also eat them!
Mmmmmm.
The Bush Foreign Policy In Action.
The Australian: Haiti rebels 'backed by drug money' [March 04, 2004]
Philippe is under investigation for alleged drug-trafficking, it has emerged, raising suspicion that his overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide was financed by cocaine money.
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County will license gay nuptials
"It's a matter of civil rights," Naito said. "As soon as we got a strong written opinion, we felt then that we couldn't deny people their basic civil rights. I do think we'll receive criticism, but from how I see it, it doesn't matter. We're really required to do this under the constitution."Cruz said the county has not only a legal obligation but also a moral one. "I see no reason why gays and lesbians shouldn't have the same access to the same rights, responsibilities and privileges that my husband and I do."
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March 02, 2004
We Will Never Get Over The Death of Democracy
MediaChannel.org - A Global Network of More Than 1,000 Media Issues Groups
==>175,000 votes went uncounted in Florida<==
They Don't Even Bump Into The Truth Any More
Getting fakery down to a science
You'd like to think the nation's leaders have at least a nodding acquaintance with truth, but Mr. Bush and his bunch cross the street to avoid running into the truth, so they never need to nod.
"It's Such a Rush. It's Like Heroin"
Hmm. Christian Crusader Paul Cameron makes it sound sooooooo goooooood. Oh, wait, is he arguing for or against gay sex?
One thing that Phelps has in common with the Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition and ex gay ministries like Exodus is that they all refer to the work of Dr. Paul Cameron, founder of the Family Research Institute and ISIS, the institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality. Cameron, 59, a former psychologist based in Colorado Springs, issues a stream of data often used by anti-gay activists: that gays are far more likely than straights to molest children, that gays are more likely to commit crimes as mundane as tax evasion or shoplifting, and so on. “We’re kind of the wellspring of most of the statistics about the gay lifestyle.” Cameron says. Cameron, who in the 1980s called for quarantining gays to prevent the spread of AIDS, has been attacked not only by gay-rights groups but also by psychologists, psychiatrists and sociologists, who have engaged in decades long war with Cameron. Like many of his allies, Cameron believes that, if left unchecked, homosexuality will destroy America like God did Sodom. “Untrammeled homosexuality can take over and destroy a social system,” says Cameron. “If you isolate sexuality as something solely for one’s own personal amusement, and all you want is the most satisfying orgasm you can get- and that is what homosexuality seems to be-then homosexuality seems too powerful to resist. The evidence is that men do a better job on men and women on women, if all you are looking for is orgasm.” So powerful is the allure of gays, Cameron believes, that if society approves that gay people, more and more heterosexuals will be inexorably drawn into homosexuality. “I’m convinced that lesbians are particularly good seducers,” says Cameron. “People in homosexuality are incredibly evangelical,” he adds, sounding evangelical himself. “It’s pure sexuality. It’s almost like pure heroin. It’s such a rush. They are committed in almost a religious way. And they’ll take enormous risks, do anything.” He says that for married men and women, gay sex would be irresistible. “Martial sex tends toward the boring end,” he points out. “Generally, it doesn’t deliver the kind of sheer sexual pleasure that homosexual sex does” So, Cameron believes, within a few generations homosexuality would be come the dominant form of sexual behavior.
March 01, 2004
President Ashcroft
Now the evil Senator Cornyn of Texas wants to change the line of succession so that cabinet members would follow the pres and veep rather than members of Congress.
That's a really stupid idea, because congresscritters at minimum have to earn *some* votes. Cabinet members have a constituency of one. If that argument doesn't slow down supporters of this idea, we can always end debate on this topic by saying two words:
President Ashcroft.
Here's the link:
HoustonChronicle.com - Cornyn bill rearranges presidential succession
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