This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
I got this quote from Daily Kos BlogThe Administration's response to my speech illustrates perfectly the need for a special counsel to review the legality of the NSA wiretapping program. The Attorney General is making a political defense of the President without even
addressing the substantive legal questions that have so troubled millions of Americans in both political parties.
There are two problems with the Attorney General's effort to focus attention on the past instead of the present administration's behavior. First, as others have thoroughly documented, his charges are factually wrong. Both before and after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was amended in 1995, the Clinton/Gore Administration complied fully and completely with the terms of the law.
Second, the Attorney General's attempt to cite a previous
administration's activity as precedent for theirs -- even though factually wrong -- ironically demonstrates another reason why we must be so vigilant about their brazen disregard for the law. If unchecked, their behavior would serve as a precedent to encourage future residents to claim these same powers, which many legal experts in both parties believe are clearly illegal.The issue, simply put, is that for more than four years, the executive branch has been wiretapping many thousands of American citizens without warrants in direct contradiction of American law. It is clearly wrong and disrespectful to the American people to allow a close political associate of the president to be in charge of reviewing serious charges against him.
The country needs a full and independent investigation into the facts and legality of the present Administration's program.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - In the anxious months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the National Security Agency began sending a steady stream of telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and names to the F.B.I. in search of terrorists. The stream soon became a flood, requiring hundreds of agents to check out thousands of tips a month. But virtually all of them, current and former officials say, led to dead ends or innocent Americans. (New York Times)
I don’t know how true it is, but I recently read that Papa (George H. W. Bush) isn’t speaking to his son (President George W. Bush) very much, but that George and his Mommy are still close. Do you suppose Papa is upset with what Jr. is doing to the country? Hmmm…
President “W” is slashing at the Bill of Rights again. In recent days he has spoken out against debate over the war that doesn’t have his approval. Does he have such a tight grip on the Congress and the Courts that he can actually make this claim stick? It’s a little freighting.
President Bush can argue all he wants to about the reasons for this war, but so far there is no new Democracy in Iraq (a great new Theocracy is building, but no true Democracy). There are no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. There is no greater peace in Iraq than before the war. The one great truth - his pals in the oil business are getting so rich that even the Republican Congress is embarrassed. Why are so many Americans blind to this man’s deceit?
This poster from the 2004 Presidential election reflects the Bush (and Rove and Cheney) method for winning any argument. Raise an issue (in this case "strength" in time of war), then distract the viewer from the issues by insulting your opponents. Many studies have shown that people's belief systems are influenced when they first hear a statement and then are immediately distracted from any review of the issue. Understanding the truth requires a deeper study of the issues - something simple-minded Dubya probably isn't very capable of doing.
With right-wing theocrats now nearly in complete control of the federal government, one can't help but wonder just how many of our freedoms will have to be curtailed before the pendulim swings back. It always has. I wonder if it will be in our lifetime?
For most liberals, Ann Coulter is the demon from Hell. This photo reflects her soul shining through the plastic veneer of her outer shell.
I don't think the government can have it both ways. From CNN comes the story:
"PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- Fetuses do not count as passengers when it comes to determining who may drive in the carpool lane, a judge has ruled.
Candace Dickinson was fined $367 for improper use of a carpool lane, but contended her unborn child qualified to use the lane. Motorists who use the lanes normally must carry at least one passenger during weekday rush hours."
But if this is the case, then the Phoenix city officials are arguing that the fetus is not a viable human being, but the right-wingnuts in this country would argue that a fetus is a human being from the moment it is conceived. Does this mean that they are conceding a woman's right to an abortion? Hmmm - it makes you think!
'No nudity for sex' 09/01/2006 14:56 - (SA)
Cairo - An Egyptian cleric's controversial fatwa claiming that nudity during sexual intercourse invalidates a marriage has uncovered a rift among Islamic scholars. According to the religious edict issued by Rashad Hassan Khalil, a former dean of Al-Azhar University's faculty of Sharia (or Islamic law), "being completely naked during the act of coitus annuls the marriage".
Click here for full story...
Ministers Say They Blessed
Seats Ahead of Alito Hearing
By JUNE KRONHOLZ
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 5, 2006 7:20 p.m.
WASHINGTON -- Insisting that God "certainly needs to be involved" in the Supreme Court confirmation process, three Christian ministers today blessed the doors of the hearing room where Senate Judiciary Committee members will begin considering the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito on Monday.
Capitol Hill police barred them from entering the room to continue what they called a consecration service. But in a bit of one-upsmanship, the three announced that they had let themselves in a day earlier, touching holy oil to the seats where Judge Alito, the senators, witnesses, Senate staffers and the press will sit, and praying for each of the 13 committee members by name.
Click here to link to article.
Here is a link to a great interview of Bill O'Reilly on the Letterman show. Letterman tells O'Reilly that he thinks 60% of what O'Reilly says is crap.(1/3/2006)
From CBC News: Toyota to build 100,000 vehicles per year in Woodstock, Ont., starting 2008
Ontario workers are well-trained. That simple explanation was cited as a main reason why Toyota turned its back on hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies offered from several American states in favour of building a second Ontario plant.
What about U.S. workers?
Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.
He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.
