Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Bush is a Liar and a Hypocrite (Day 2121)

George Bush has been speaking out against the Democratically controlled Congress, bashing them for overspending on everything except his war. The truth is, he is just about the biggest government spender of any President in modern times.

From McClatchy News Bureau - click the link for charts, additional information and sources.

WASHINGTON — George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he's arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ.

Is The Military Standing Up?

Even the military has had about enough of G.W. Bush and friends. The Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff is speaking out. The following is via Crooks and Liars - click the link for sources and more information.





The new chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, expressed deep concerns that the long counterinsurgency missions in Iraq and Afghanistan have so consumed the military that the Army and Marine Corps may be unprepared for a high-intensity war against a major adversary.


He rejected the counsel of those who might urge immediate attacks inside Iran to destroy nuclear installations or to stop the flow of explosives that end up as powerful roadside bombs in Iraq or Afghanistan, killing American troops.

Lies and Deceit

The White House is trying to censor us to the point of making us stupid. Thank God that we've got a history in this country that allows the free flow of information so that we discover the lies and deceit that are so prevalent in the current Administration.

From Crooks and Liars - click the link for more information as well as links to sources.

Instead, Gerberding’s prepared testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee included few details on what effects climate change could have on the spread of disease.

Loss of Liberty

Under the Bush Administration we've been losing our rights at an ever increasing rate. And nothing is stemming the tide. To paraphrase Andrew Sullivan in last week's Real Time with Bill Mahar, it is as if no one in the government ever heard Patrick Henry's famous quote, "Give me liberty, or give me death."

From Boing Boing - click the link for more and for references.

The Department of Homeland Security quietly moves closer to an invasive "Secure Flights" proposal that requires government-issued credentials for all air travelers -- and government permission for each flight! International "Advance Passenger Information System" rules were published Monday (effective February of 2008), making the U.S. version much more likely to pass.

Letterman - More Great Speeches

No Nukes - Musicians (Video)

Fox Still Daft


Stop Protesting The War!


Faulty Parties


Bumper Sticker Protest


Apology


Not So Hot


Sunday, October 28, 2007

Fast and Loose

When the Republicans don't know a fact, they make one up in such a manner as to support their hypothesis. Interestingly enough, these facts often do not get checked by the base - the base is made up of often uneducated, always easily convinced (there is no global warming?) nitwits.

Now I don't mind a good debate with a conservative if they stick to the real facts, but that is often most impossible. Have you ever argued with someone who brings up facts and statistics you've never heard of? It's nearly impossible to discuss issues because you're arguing against made-up lies that you can't overcome without research. I've been in these situations and you wind up sitting there, helpless and dumbstruck.

Here comes an example - this one brought to light because the claim was made on TV. From Crooks and Liars - click the link for more and the sources.

At the GOP debate the other night, Mike Huckabee made an odd claim.

“When our founding fathers put their signatures on the Declaration of Independence, those 56 brave people, most of whom, by the way, were clergymen, they said that we have certain inalienable rights given to us by our creator.”

“Most” of the signers were clergy? Is that true? Actually, no.

Only one of the 56 was an active clergyman, and that was John Witherspoon. Witherspoon was a Presbyterian minister and president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).

Permanent Bases In Iraq

I've talked about it before in this blog - one of the reasons Bush and Cheney wanted to invade Iraq to begin with was to set up permanent military bases which could be used to front military operations against Iran, Syria or anyone else that got in our way in the Middle East. Even Hillary has discussed the fact that, if elected, she will leave large numbers of military forces in Iraq for a decade or longer. Now Iraq has spoken out. Will we listen?

“The people of Iraq, the Parliament, the Council of Representative and the government of Iraq, all say no, big fat no, N, O, No military bases for Iraq because we believe that is in direct encroachment to our sovereignty, and we don’t need it.”

From Crooks and Liars - click the link to read more and get other links.

Don't Tell The Truth - It Can Get You Fired

President Bush and Dick Cheney control the news any way that they can - they edit the speeches of their appointees, they set up fake news conferences, and they fire anyone who steps over the line. It is amazing what is happening to our nation.

From ABC.com - click the link to read more.

Three days after Americans saw the Bush administration's counterterrorism chief say the Iraq war has likely not made the United States safer from terrorism, the official announced his resignation, citing health reasons.

Another Hypocrite

They hide behind their church or their elected position, they preach morality at us as if they have the word direct from God, then this - again...

A 33-year-old former youth minister of an Alabaster church has been charged with crossing state lines to have sex with a minor.

Donald Brent Page of Calera is accused of traveling to Memphis on Oct. 6 to meet who he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex, according to an affidavit prepared by an investigator with the Memphis FBI Crimes Against Children Task Force.



From Al.com - read more by clicking on the link.

Iran in the Sights

Bush and Cheney are really scary - far scarier than anything you'll see this Halloween. These two national leaders are paranoid, schizophrenic morons. Last week on Bill Mahar's Real Time (HBO), Bill made the comment that the US spends $600 billion annually on our military - more than the next 10 largest nations all together. And Iran isn't in those top ten right behind us. Still, Bush preaches fear of Iran as if they were an actual threat to us. As he said, "I think we can hold Charleston" if Iran tries to attack us.

The following is from CNN - click the link to read more.

If Iran continues on its current course, Cheney said the U.S. and other nations are prepared to take action. The vice president made no specific reference to military action.

"We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," he said.

At a news conference Wednesday, President Bush said suggested that if Iran obtained nuclear weapons, it could lead to a new world war.

David Letterman: Al Qaeda Needs Recruits

Rachel Maddow's Campaign Asylum: Meet the STRATEGISTS!

Cheney Goes Hunting


Soldier Recruiting Poster


Bush and the Surgeon General


Fox News New Logo?


Politicians ARE Human!


Bush Does Taxpayers


Friday, October 26, 2007

Violation of Our Rights - Again

Remember this, from the Bill of Rights, in our Constitution?

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

And then note this and tell me what is wrong with it...

According to the Washington Post: “Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005….

From Air America.

Another Gay Hypocrite

The perverts that chase kids and boys don't just hide behind the Republican Party - sometimes they hide behind the church. But we know all about that, don't we. It has been in the news a lot lately. So why do they keep it up when they know people are looking for them? They can't control it and they became religious leaders to hide their behavior in the first place.

A Vatican official suspended after being caught on a hidden camera making advances to a young man says he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview published yesterday, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico told the daily La Repubblica he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity."


From the Baltimore Sun - read more by clicking on the link.

Another Hypocritical Pervert

I can't believe that there are a lot of men in this country who are interested in having sexual contact (read that in any way you like) with boys/children. The percentage of these folks that DO want to have sexual contact in a "deviant" sort of way that are Republicans who publicly chastise others for exactly these behaviors that they themselves exhibit must be smaller still. I mean.f you were a deviant pervert, wouldn't you keep your mouth shut and back into the darkness of the night? Right? Right? Is this Right?

Then how come there are so damn many of them that come to light? What is there about these deviant idiots that has them go public protesting their very own perversions? Can you believe it? Here's another one...

Brown County GOP Chairman Donald Fleischman has resigned his post, says a spokesperson, after being accused of enticement and fondling of an underage boy, reports the Green Bay Press-Gazette Saturday.


From the Raw Story - read more by clicking on the link.

Bombing Them Into Submission

From 10/26/2007 Progress Report.

IRAQ -- FOUR-FOLD INCREASE OF U.S. MILITARY AIR STRIKES IN IRAQ UNDERMINES COUNTERINSURGENCY STRATEGY:

Earlier this week, USA Today reported that "the U.S. military has increased airstrikes in Iraq four-fold this year, reflecting a steep escalation in combat operations aimed at al-Qaeda and other militants." The increased use of air strikes, which often occurs in densely-populated areas, has been condemned by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq. Though October "has seen the smallest number of Americans killed in Iraq than any other month since March 2006," the trade off for "greater safety for our ground troops" through the increased use of air strikes means an increase in "local hostility." Such an increase in hostility undermines the counterinsurgency strategy of Gen. David Petraeus. As the U.S. Army's field manual on counterinsurgency, which Petraeus co-authored, states, "an air strike can cause collateral damage that turns people against the host-nation government and provides insurgents with a major propaganda victory." Max Bergmann of the National Security Network notes that "all this talk about a new counter-insurgency strategy -- adopting less kinetic approaches, emphasizing the security of Iraqis, the need for U.S. Soldiers to take more risk and operate under stricter rules of engagement, etc., etc. - seems really hollow if at the same time, we are lobbing four times as many bombs from the air than we were before."


Fred Thompson: The Next Ronald Reagan

Penn And Teller on Free Speech (Video)

Cast The RIGHT Vote


Ann Coulter Shines


Chertoff's Gut Feelings


The UN on Iran


Gore Wins Nobel


Great Banner


Thursday, October 25, 2007

But, Of Course...Bush Is President

No ideas allowed which do not meet the president's conceptions. And the President has only 2 conceptions: 1 - the world is ruled by an unseen creature living somewhere in the skies above us who has warped visions of what humans should do with the intelligence they have, and; 2 - Corporations and rich people should have all of the money in the world.

This is exactly what we've come to expect from the Bush administration: Contraception Foe Named to Contraception Post.

The Department of Health and Human Services appointed Susan Orr - who has spoken out against contraception - to a post responsible for U.S. contraception programs. Orr, who will be acting deputy assistant secretary for population affairs, has been directing child welfare programs in another branch of HHS. Prior to joining the Bush administration, Orr was senior director for marriage and family at the Family Research Council, a conservative group that favors abstinence-only education and opposes federal money for contraception.



From the J-Walk Blog - read more here.

Bozone - The Republican Element


The Rich Are Getting Richer

The richest one percent of Americans earned a postwar record of 21.2 percent of all income in 2005, up from 19 percent a year earlier, reflecting a widening income disparity among different classes in the nation, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing new Internal Revenue Service data.

The data showed that the fortunes of the bottom 50 percent of Americans are worsening, with that group earning 12.8 percent of all income in 2005, down from 13.4 percent the year before, the paper said. Read more…

From Reuters via Yahoo via Crooks and Liars

To All Whiny-Assed Liberals

It's not about being right - it's about being tough.


Vouchers Fail

Educational voucher systems have NEVER been about providing better educational programs for children. They have always been about privatizing education so that taxes could be cut, more of the cost of education could be placed on parents, and the wealthy could stop paying taxes into a system that helped poor people. Congress has been messing with a voucher system in DC for several years now and the first report on the success of the program has just been released. It's like almost all of the other voucher systems that have been implemented. They're getting failing grades.

A voucher program designed to send low-income children in the District to better-performing private schools has allowed some students to take classes in unsuitable learning environments and from teachers without bachelor's degrees, according to a government report.

The shortcomings are detailed in a draft prepared by the Government Accountability Office about the $12.9 million D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. The GAO said the program lacks financial controls and has failed to check whether the participating schools were accredited.


From the Washington Post (read more here) via Crooks and Liars (read more here).

Scientific Censorship


Blackwater is Part of the Problem

You are paying for this nonsense with no-bid contracts and no oversight. Our military is broken and we're trying to repair it with a mercenary army. Ronald Reagan must surely be smiling in his grave. Next step - hiring out our representatives (small r - includes President, Congress and the Judiciary). Oh - wait a minute - isn't that what the lobbyists are doing? Paying off our representatives? Hmmm...

The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was confirmed by the head of another private security company.


From Daily Kos - read more by clicking on the link.

Obama V. Hillary

Seymour Hersh: Bush's Case For Hitting Iran Has Shifted

Democrat Bashing

Hillary is leading in the polls, so the bashing is picking up speed.

A REAL Republican (Video)

Not Just Mad Cow!


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Republicans Waffle


Novak: Craig An Embarrassment

Math on Faith


It's All Made Up

This is from the J-Walk Blog - and there's more - click the link to read it all...

The story of the scribes and Pharisees bringing a woman caught in the act of adultery (where was the man?) before Jesus to see whether he will obey the law of Moses and agree that she should be stoned is a familiar one. It contains one of the Bible's most memorable sayings, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (8:7). The entire passage is, unfortunately, an interpolation. It is not in the oldest manuscripts we have of the gospel of John. It was evidently added by a later scribe during the copying process.

And what I find interesting even about this - the assumption that there's really anything special about the "oldest manuscripts" of the Bible - it is ALL written and interpolated by men from stories passed down for generations in the spoken stories of the day.

Briggs Loves His Mythical Creature


A Christian Nation?

Followers of my blog know that I hold organized religion as quackery - it is based on myth and fantasy no deeper than that of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Still, our politicians preach gospel as if it was the beating heart of our democracy. Recently John McCain told a reporter that “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.” But that simply isn't so - our founding fathers came here to escape religious persecution and those who wrote the constitution wrote it in such a manner as to prohibit the persecution of those wishing to avoid a religion forced upon them.

The following is from a good (from my perspective) editorial in the New York Times. In order to read the rest of it, you may need to register (free).

The kingdom Jesus preached was radical. Not only are nations irrelevant, but families are, too: he instructs those who would be his disciples to give up all they have and all those they know to follow Him.

The only acknowledgment of God in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated “in the year of our Lord 1787.” Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith. The Connecticut ratifying convention debated rewriting the preamble to take note of God’s authority, but the effort failed.

Raising Money For Big Oil







Wonkette has the ability to relate a good news story and twist in a bit of humor (irony, sarcasm). You can read more of this by clicking on the link.

As has happened so many times throughout history, a powerful military force has decided to act on its own, ignoring the feeble government supposedly in charge of its troops — and this time, that weak, rotten power is Washington! The Marines are planning to leave Iraq, the New York Times reported today, but they haven’t bothered to tell the American government and its ostensible boss of the military, placeholder Secretary of Defense Robert “I wish I was back at Texas A&M” Gates.


Barrack - The Super Hero


War News

This is interesting stuff about our war technology - read more at Y-Net.

After Israeli missile strike on Syria confirmed by both sides, the question remains – how did Israel's non-stealth jets infiltrate Syrian airspace undetected? US aerospace experts tell Aviation Week magazine that Israel used new US-developed technology that lets users invade and manipulate enemy communication networks

The President's New Dance


Sunday, October 21, 2007

Warped Understanding Of Science


Tall Drink Of Water

President's Plan For Iran (Video)

Where We're Headed




We Love Israel


Another Bush Administration Crook?

Corruption, lying, torture, and whoring - just some of the fun crimes Bush appointees have involved themselves in. The following is from ABC News - click on the link to read more...

A Bush administration cabinet secretary is facing multiple federal investigations about whether he lied to Congress when he vowed he never intervened in contracting awards at his department, according to a new report.

Government Out of Control

The Bush Administration is out of control - they think that they are more important than our freedoms and our rights and they are leading us down the path to totalitarianism. If our next President does not put things back into perspective, this nation is bound to become something we will never recognize. From Rocky Mountain News - click the link to read more...

The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.

Vitter's Family Values


Gonzales Changes The Law


Fred Thompson Campaign Dying?

Fred Thompson doesn't seem to be the savior for the Republican Party yet - he's faltering in the polls, looks like a doddering old fool in the debates and does not seem to have the appeal to conservatives that was anticipated. The following is from NRO - click the link to read more.

It hasn't gotten much comment yet, but in his interview on Fox last night, Fred Thompson rather emphatically told Focus on the Family chief James Dobson to take a hike. Host Sean Hannity asked Thompson about Dobson, who has attacked Thompson and made it clear he would not support a Thompson candidacy.

Science Needs To Be Elevated

I post the following mostly because of how the commentary is such a sad statement about the Bush Administration. How have we come to this?

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday she would sign an executive order rescinding President Bush's restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The presidential candidate also said she would bar political appointees from altering or removing scientific conclusions from government research without a legitimate reason for doing so.

"The Bush administration has declared war on science," the New York senator said. "When I am president, scientific integrity will not be the exception it will be the rule."


From the Associated Press - read more by clicking on the link.

Tasteless Pandering


9/11 Patriotism and Worship

Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich Meet With Volunteers

Conservatives - Back To The Good Old Days


Still Can't Add

Things still don't quite add up for our beleaguered President.


Friday, October 19, 2007

The Worl Has Changed

Is this true? I should verify, but I'm too lazy. It's interesting any way.


Wake Up


Libby Freed


Their Only Argument

The right-wingers can't find many facts to argue in Michael Moore's documentaries, so they turn to personal attacks. I personally find some of the best humor in personal attacks.


Not Too Bright




Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Shays Loves Prince (Video)

The Par-Tay Party


Republican Numbers Shrinking

Some folks are coming to their senses...

Read more at Daily Kos (and there is quite a bit more)...

More reaction from around the web to the assholes who think stalking a 12-year-old and his brain-damaged sister is what "politics" is all about: John Cole, now a former Republican thanks to this
incident:

If you look through this family’s dossier, it appears they are doing everything Republicans say they should be doing- hell, their story is almost what you would consider a checklist for good, red-blooded American Republican voters: they own their own business, they pay their taxes, they are still in a committed relationship and are raising their kids, they eschewed public education and are doing what they have to do to get them into Private schools, they are part of the American dream of home ownership that Republicans have been pointing to in the past two administrations as proof of the health of the economy, and so on.

In short, they are a white, lower-middle-class, committed family, who is doing EVERYTHING the GOP Kultur Kops would have you believe people should be doing. They aren’t gay. They aren’t divorced. They didn’t abort their children. They aren’t drug addicts or welfare queens. They are property owners, entrepeneurs, taxpayers, and hard-working Americans. I bet nine times out of ten in past elections, if you handed this resume to a pollster, they would think you were discussing the prototypical Republican
voter. Hell, the only thing missing from this equation is membership to a church and an irrational fear of Muslims and you HAVE the prototypical Bush voter [...]

I simply can not believe this is what the Republican party has become. I just can’t. It just makes me sick to think all those years of supporting this party, and this is what it has become. Even if you don’t like the S-Chip expansion, it is hard to deny what Republicans are- a bunch of bitter, nasty, petty, snarling, sneering, vicious thugs, peering through people’s windows so they can make fun of their misfortune.

I’m registering Independent tomorrow.

Immigration Legislation Impact


Economic Realism?

Our economy is, as economist John Mauldin often expresses it, in a "muddle-through" state. The stock market is doing quite well resulting in huge profits for most of the wealthy folks in this country. But the economy for the middle and lower classes is poor - the number of families covered by health insurance is shrinking; the number of workers covered by fixed retirement plans is shrinking; minimum wage is stagnant - even the newest increases do not keep it steady against the cost of living increases; savings rates are stagnant; home prices are falling and the number of foreclosures is rising.

But the Republican have an answer - from Crooks and Liars...

The WaPo’s Steven Pearlstein had the spot-on response to yesterday’s debate for the Republican presidential field:

To hear it from the Republican presidential hopefuls, the only way for the party to win back the trust of voters on economic issues is to start telling the truth.

Well, fellas, what are you waiting for?

Instead, for two hours yesterday, the nine white men who would be president were each peddling the Big Lie that the only way to ensure economic growth is by cutting all the taxes ever created — and when you’re finished with that, cutting them some more….

It is becoming clear, not just from this and previous debates but also from their speeches and position papers, that the leading Republican candidates aren’t serious about economic issues.

Global Warming

Romney's Real Record (Video)

Suicide Soldier

Fred Thompson - Trouble With Campaign (Video)

Our Nation's Leader (Right or Left?)