Warmonger John (Video)

Courting the Fat Vote (Video)

It's a Good Day IIn America! (News) (Commentary)

What can I say, except "It's about time!." Is impeachment next?

From the Washington Post...

The House has approved contempt citations against two White House aides over their refusal to cooperate with an investigation into the firings of U.S. attorneys. The citations against White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers came on a 223 to 32 vote.

Most House Republicans walked off the floor in protest and refused to cast a final vote. The White House, which has refused to allow testimony from West Wing aides, condemned the House vote.

The contempt citations followed allegations that the Bush administration was injecting politics into the Justice Department by dismissing nine federal prosecutors in 2006, a controversy detailed in a number of Post stories by reporter Dan Eggen and others.

I'm Proud - Proud, I Say (News) (Commentary)

Finally - the Democrats in Congress are doing some things that I'm proud of. Stopping the new FISA bill which was eroding our consitutional rights, and then passing contempt charges against some of the reprobates in the administration. What a banner week!

But the newest on FISA - Bush threatened not to go on his trip to Africa so he could stay and fight for FISA - but on this morning's news, there he was in Africa. He didn't really mean that he'd stay behind to fight for a bill he doesn't need - he was just kidding. He's got all of the power allowed by the Constitution - and then some (I'd guess that even the FISA court is unconstituional - but that's just me speaking).

From AFP on Google - click the link to read more...

US President George W. Bush and Democratic lawmakers dug in their heels in a high-stakes showdown over a controversial wiretap law that is set to expire on Friday.

Bush warned the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Thursday that he was ready to delay his trip to Africa on Friday to ensure the bill, which he considers a crucial weapon against terrorism, passes the lower chamber.

But House Democrats have refused to rubber stamp a version of the bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday and would both make the law permanent and provide legal immunity to telecommunication firms who assist in the wiretaps, which critics say go against US privacy
laws.

Another Hypocrite (News) (Commentary)

For a while, when they controlled both the House and the Senate, the Republicans were producing a couple of perverts and/or criminals every week. Things have slowed down a bit since then, but here's a clip from an article about a new beaut. The Wonkette article has some more - and it's pretty humorous, considering the serious subject matter. Click the link to read more...

In a rare display of political hypocrisy, a longtime Republican lawmaker has resigned today after child pornography was discovered on his computer. Can you imagine such a thing? Let’s meet Maryland Delegate Robert A. McKee, 58, a 29-year state representative with a proud record of fighting sex offenders. We believe the appropriate metaphor here would be "textbook."

McKee, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, is a sponsor this year of several bills dealing with minors, including the "Child Protection from Predators Act" as well as a bill to collect DNA samples from sexual predators.

Quote on Conservatives...

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

---John Kenneth Galbraith

Daily Dose of Political Fun

Below - Every political group believes that God is with THEM, even the Nazis. Can they all be right? If they are, can it be the same God - or are there several Gods? Much to think about.

Below - Bill O'Reilly wages his own war (how can this man still be loose in society, given his strange behavior?)

Below - For those too young to remember, this cartoon utilizes and old coedy team whose names were Laurel and Hardy.

Below - Larry Criag has now had his hand slapped by Congress, but no disciplinary measures were taken.

Below - a rather sick look at Charlton Heston's famous quote - "Only from my cold, dead hands..."

Michelle Obama Not A Good Democrat (Video)

Hillary's Top Ten (Video)

Women Officials Not Allowed (News) (Commentary)

The religious right drives me crazy with their eighteenth century view of the world. I guess it is their right to believe as they do, but it seems to me that then they ought to stay off by themselves and not insult the rest of us. The following is wrong in oh, so many ways.

From Sports Illustrated via the J-Walk Blog...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas activities officials are investigating a religious school's refusal to let a female referee call a boys' high school basketball game.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.

The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.

Wonkette Is Funny on Obama (Commentary) (Humor)

Wonkette does some pretty funny posts - if you don't read them, and you run to the liberal side of politics, you really should scan their posts. This one has some adult language in it - I warn you in case you are sensitive to such stuff.

From Wonkette...

Shocking new evidence suggests all those screaming, cooing, crying women with moist panties at the Obama rallies perhaps are feeling something romantic about their beloved Barack. "They say the phenomenon is difficult to describe," AFP reports from a Maryland rally for Obama, "But once they experience it they tell their friends, sisters, mothers and daughters, and they come back for more if they can." The phenomenon, of course, is not really that difficult to describe. It’s called "having an orgasm."

Demand to Impeach (News) (Commentary)

There are others (and perhaps a lot of them) who feel as I do - Presidents and Vice-Presidents who lie and attempt to usurp powers not given to them by the Consitution of the United States should be removed from office.

From Democrats.com

There's a new rule on Capitol Hill: the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee can remove impeachment from the Constitution, but cannot also use telephones, Email, or fax machines, because the flood of pro-impeachment communications from outraged citizens is overwhelming each of those devices. Don't believe me? Try phoning, Emailing, or faxing John Conyers' office.

Congressman John Conyers' telephone, by many reports, rang endlessly on Monday, approximately 60 times per minute, or as fast as people could get through. The same thing appears to be happening today (Tuesday).

Democrats Grow a Pair? (News) (Commentary)

Could it be? Oh, Lord, please tell me it's so! Some of the Democrats in Congress might actually start behaving like men with a conviction! Some more behavior like this and I might actually contribute my annual 10 bucks to the party.

From the LA Times...

In a sharp rebuke to the White House, the Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would impose sweeping new restrictions on interrogation methods used by the CIA and ban a widely condemned technique known as waterboarding, in which a prisoner is made to feel he is drowning.

President Bush is expected to veto the bill, which would outlaw an array of coercive interrogation tactics that U.S. allies have denounced but the administration has said are crucial to prevent terrorist attacks.

The measure, already approved in the House, would require the CIA to abide by strict interrogation guidelines adopted by the Army after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

Bush Miscondict (News) (Commentary)

President Bush and his minions are having fun spending government moeny (i.e., your tax dollars) spreading their disinformation around the world.

From The Guardian...

The Bush administration was confronted with fresh evidence of a far-reaching clandestine campaign to influence public opinion yesterday after a third conservative commentator admitted receiving payments for championing its policies.

Michael McManus, a newspaper columnist, was paid up to $10,000 (£5,300) to praise the administration's marriage initiative, which diverts funds from welfare to marital counselling, the Los Angeles Times reported.

His fees were approved by a branch of the department of health and human services, and were funnelled through the Lewin Group, a consultancy firm.

The commentator's rightwing Marriage Savers Foundation received an additional $49,000 in government grants. Mr McManus did not disclose the payments in his columns.

Political Joke: Groundhog Day

This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union Address fell on the same day.

It is an ironic juxtaposition: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication.

The other involves a groundhog.

Daily Dose of Political Fun

Click on any image to view it larger.

Bush Has Friends (News) (Commentary)

George Bush has his friends and one of the advantages of being the President of the U.S. is that you can award your friends with lots of other people's money - tax money. His friends include the business leaders of Halliburton, KBR and Blackwater.

From the AP via Yahoo...

A Bush administration plan to crack down on contract fraud has a multibillion-dollar loophole: The proposal to force companies to report abuse of taxpayer money will not apply to work overseas, including projects to secure and rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.

Antonin Scalia: A Fun Guy (News) (Commentary)

Antonin Scalia is a real conservative now sering on the U.S. Supreme Court. If he wasn't in such a position of extreme power, he'd be funny.

From the AP via Yahoo...

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia rejected the notion that US courts have any control over the actions of American troops at Guantanamo Bay, argued that torture of terror detainees is not banned under the US Constitution and insisted that the high court has no obligation to act as a moral beacon for other nations.

"We don't pretend to be some Western Mullahs who decide what is right and wrong for the whole world," Scalia told a BBC interviewer Tuesday, defending narrow interpretation of the reach the US Constitution gives the nine justices on the country's high court.

McCainism: Bad Boys

"The president listened too much to the vice president . . . Of course, the president bears the ultimate responsibility, but he was very badly served by both the vice president and, most of all, the I secretary of defense. . . . Rumsfeld will go down in history, along with McNamara, as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history,"

---Senator John McCain (R-AZ), quoted in The Politico, January 24,2007

Daily Dose of Political Fun

Below - here we go with the Republican "intolerance of anyone who's different" again.

Below - The next step in Bush's efforts to get all Americans to love his war.

Below - Did someone say Reid pretends to be a Democrat? Not a very good disguise.

Shocking Strip Search (Video Link)

This post isn't so much about politics, but I do think it is a commentary on our times when civil liberties are being neglected and those in positions of power are forgetting that we, as a nation, should be about preserving human rights and personal dignity. It seems like this woman deserved more respect.

Link

Pat Condell: God The Psycho (Video)

Bushism - Terror

"He was a state sponsor of terror. In other words, the government had declared, 'you are a state sponsor of terror'"

---George W. Bush, on Saddam Hussein, Manhattan, Kansas, January 23,2006

Underhanded Republican (News) (Commentary)

I think that it’s amazing how brainless some of our elected officials can be. I’ll admit – Democrats can be bad – but I still think that for sheer depravity, meanness, selfishness and boneheaded underhandedness, there’s nothing like those Republicans with their “family values.”

From The Brad Blog…

Here's Washington state GOP Party chairman Luke Esser --- he who unilaterally stopped counted votes from Saturday's Republican Caucus at 87%, once McCain finally took the lead from Huckabee by just 250 votes --- from his earlier days as an aspiring vote-suppressor...

"Like any sport worth its salt, in politics you have adversaries, opponents, enemies. Our enemies are loudmouth leftists and shiftless deadbeats. To win the election, we have to keep as many of these people away from the polls as possible."

Some Days I Just Can't Stand It (News) (Commentary)

Do you suppose that the drugs Republicans are allowed to take are somehow better than the drugs the rest of us get? I mean, how else could they maintain their blind allegiance to President Bush? And on top of that, this morning on CNN I watched in horror as I realized that Mike Huckabee is still getting a lot of votes in the Republican primary, especially in rural areas of the south (Virginia, yesterday). I had always assumed that humans were actually smarter than a rat’s behind, but I’m no longer so sure.

The following is what started me on this thread today - a quote from former Attorney General John Ashcroft – from the Saint Louis Post…

"The president of the United States has been among the most respectful of all leaders ever engaged in the responsibility of fighting for freedom,'' Ashcroft said, and has been "most respectful in terms of respecting the civil liberties and rights of individuals while engaged in the important task of fighting for freedom."

Political Factoid: Rove's View

At a meeting of the Republican National Committee on January 22, 2002, Karl Rove explained the administration strategy for using Americans' fear of terrorism as a political tool by saying, "We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America."

Daily Dose of Political Fun

McCain - Flip-Flopping Republican (Video)

Great Senatorial Campaign Ad (Video)

Great Senatorial Campaign Ad (Video)

Hucakbee - Preacher-in-Chief? (News) (Commentary)

Given my political persuasion, Mike Huckabee is a scary guy to be running for President of the U.S. Obviously there are a lot of folks out there who disagree – they want this nation to become the United States of Jesus - they keep voting for Mike Huckabee. Recently Huckabee has been making more and more comments about turning this into an intolerant religious state – a country for Christians only.

Here’s a bit from CBS news…

LYNCHBURG, VA. -- "I always cringe when I hear people talk about throwing away the vote when they vote their conscience," Mike Huckabee told reporters today. "That's what voting is - voting is voting with your conscience, it's voting with your convictions."

Earlier, he spoke at Thomas Road Baptist Church, the pulpit of the late Dr. Jerry Falwell. Lacing together the relationship between religion and state, he delivered a short speech about how moral clarity decreases the need for more government and more law.

"Frankly, we really don't need a lot of law if we are people of morality," he said to the congregation of over 7,000. "There are only ten basic laws that we need. If you think about it, the Ten Commandments cover it all."

"The reason law gets more complicated is because we try to figure out clever ways around those ten," he said to applause.

In case you don't remember the ten commandments, I've posted them below as they appear in the Book of Exodus. There is another version in the Bible, but they are pretty close in content. (The numbers in this passage refer to verses in the Bible, not to the commandment numbers.)

2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
3 Do not have any other gods before Me.
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,
6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
8 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
9 For six days you shall labour and do all your work.
10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work-you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 You shall not murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
17 You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

And to summarize, here's a quick list...

Now, let's review what Huckabee is proposing for the law of the land.

The first four commandments all involve the God you MUST worship - by the law of Hucakbee you MUST worship Him. And check out the "graven image" thing - there go your statues of the Virgin Mary and all of the other saints - against the law. And saying the words "God damn it" would become a Federal crime worth about 30-years in prison. Saying "Jesus Christ" will mean another 20 years.

There is now water underneath the earth, not molten rock and gas. Just sayin'.

Work, shopping ... recreation on Sunday? Gone. Jews worshipping on Saturday? Gone. Wars? Gone (no killing). Study of evolution? Gone. Envious of your neighbors big-screen TV? A year in jail. Tell a lie? Off to the hoosegow - wait - does this include politicans who tell lies as well?

But the good news? Slavery is okay.

Do you think Mike Hucakee has even read the Ten Commandments?

There are a lot of idiots in this country.

Bush - Hey, Big Spender (News)

Ever since the Democrats have won a majority in Congress, President Bush has suddenly begun to act like a Conservative - trying to stop earmarks in Congress which would reward districts controlled by Democratic legislators with federal funding for local projects. When the Republicans controlled the legislature, he never said a word about it - and the Republicans spent a whole lot more on this pork than are the Democrats.

Now, even as he barks at the Democrats, it has been discovered that Bush himself has built a boatload of pork into his three trillion dollar budget - and he's buried it deep in fine print.

From the NY Times (free subscription may be required to view)...

President Bush often denounces the propensity of Congress to earmark money for pet projects. But in his new budget, Mr. Bush has requested money for thousands of similar projects.

He asked for money to build fish hatcheries, eradicate agricultural pests, conduct research, pave highways, dredge harbors and perform many other specific local tasks.

The details are buried deep in the president’s budget, just as most Congressional earmarks are buried in obscure committee reports that accompany spending bills.

McCain Selling Out Already (News)

You can tell an awful lot by their willingness to compromise their reputations and their principals for cash. And no one can do it better than a Republican.

From the Huffington Post...

Karl Rove last week announced that he had given $2300 to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Asked over the weekend about the donation, McCain said he has always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics," and specifically refused to condemn Rove's hyper-partisan campaign tactics (including his smears against McCain in the 2000 South Carolina race).

Quote of the Day

Our 'neoconservatives' are neither new nor conservative, but old as Bablyon and evil as Hell.

---Edward Abbey

Daily Dose of Political Fun

Republicans take aim (below).

You can't argue with this (below).

Huckabee Girl - President of Heaven (Video)

Who's The Liberal? (Video)

Congressional Democrats Are a Real Disappointment

While I (and about 200 million other Americans) are not happy with the way our nation has been run under President Bush, I'm also not very happy with the way my own Democrats have run the Congress. I have expressed my displeasure this year, for the first time in many years, by not paying my dues to the National Democratic Party, nor have I donated any of my paltry earnings (and I am NOT a big donor) to any of the candidates. If the Republicans block just about any legislation they want to up in Washington, why don't the damn Democrats block funding for the war, or block FISA until they get the language they want? Shame on them.

The following is from Rolling Stone...

Quietly, while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been inspiring Democrats everywhere with their rolling bitchfest, congressional superduo Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have completed one of the most awesome political collapses since Neville Chamberlain. At long last, the Democratic leaders of Congress have publicly surrendered on the Iraq War, just one year after being swept into power with a firm mandate to end it.

Solidifying his reputation as one of the biggest pussies in U.S. political history, Reid explained his decision to refocus his party's energies on topics other than ending the war by saying he just couldn't fit Iraq into his busy schedule. "We have the presidential election," Reid said recently. "Our time is really squeezed."

Bush's Bad Appointments (Redux)

George Bush has made his appointments to many important positions based on loyalty to party (Republican) and himself for so long that many now just think of it as the way to get things done in Washington. Unfortunately, many of his appointees are incompetent in their positions at best and malicious and self-serving at worst.

From ABC News ...

In a confidential memo, a long-time Republican operative who has served in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for the past year says the State Department's efforts in Iraq are so poorly managed they "would be considered willfully negligent if not criminal" if done in the private sector.

"We have brought to Iraq the worst of America -- our bureaucrats," writes Manuel Miranda in the memo, which was addressed to U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and cc'd to "ALCON" or "all concerned" at the State Department.

New Arms Race

President Bush has advocated a very aggressive foreign policy ever since 9/11/2001 and it has not had a positive effect on the world view of the U.S. We are seen as war mongers in many parts of the world - and President Bush's new budget raises the bar on military spending again - even if you exclude the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think we can get a new president soon enough.

Now this, from the BBC ...

Russia's President Vladimir Putin says the world is engaged in a new arms race and Nato is failing to accommodate Russia's concerns.

In a nationally-televised speech, he condemned Nato's expansion and the US plan to include Poland and the Czech Republic in a missile defence shield.

Bushism - Recognizing Incompetence

"Well, we all make mistakes. I've been known to mangle a syl-lab'-ble or two myself, you know."

---George W. Bush October 11,2000

Political and Religious Funny Stuff

The Robber-Barons Congregate.

John McCain is Dr. Strangelove (Video)

Uncle Jay Explains the News: Stimulus

Campaigns Cost Ooodles of Dollars

Financing a political campaign must be a trick. Mitt Romeny spent something near $40 million of his own money and Hillary Clinton recently loaned her own campaign $5 million. Then there's this from the The Washington Post...

Republican campaign operatives call it the Gramm-o-meter, the money a candidate spends per delegate won, in honor of Phil Gramm, the former Texas senator who spent $25 million and won just 10 delegates, or $2.5 million per, in 1996.

By Republican strategist Alex Vogel's calculation, Mitt Romney is giving Gramm a run for his money. The former Massachusetts governor has spent $1.16 million per delegate, a rate that would cost him $1.33 billion to win the nomination.

By contrast, Mike Huckabee's campaign has been the height of efficiency. Delegates haven't yet been officially apportioned, but roughly speaking, each $1 million spent by Huckabee has won him 20
delegates.