Forget the Patriot Act- if you really want to know how your rights are being eroded on a daily basis, keep your eye on law enforcement desres in regards to the War on Your Neighbor War on Drugs. TalkLeft has the details.
Archives for April 2004
Joogling
OK- I will play:
It seems that the top-ranked site on Google if you search for
Which NY Times Columnist Are You?
You are William Safire! You’re ruthless and
cunning, and a conservative demigod. You used
to write speeches for Nixon. Now you write
another column on the English language which
has made you the world’s most popular
etymologist. You hate media deregulation, but
love the Bush administration. If only you
weren’t such a brilliant writer. You bastard.
Which New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Clearly, the quiz graders have not seen my daily assault on the English language.
(via TalkLeft)
Let’s Hope This Doesn’t Become a Meme
Dave Neiwert is right– this is idiotic:
Unfounded Accusations Against Presidents Should Be A Felony
There needs to be a law passed where any person who disrespects the “Office of the Presidency” by making false accusations and spreading deliberate rumors about the president, should be charged with a felony or at the very least a high misdemeanor.
Dave snarks- “Damn, if this had been the law in 1998, every Freeper on the planet — and about half of Congress — would have been behind bars.” Maybe, but we know which half of Congress would currently be heading for a term in the hoosegow if this law were in place.
WTF??!!
Glass Houses
With all of the Kos drama going on, this idiotic comment seems to not have received the sort of attention it deserves:
Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, speaking of Dr. Daniel Mongiardo, a dark-haired, dark-skinned second-generation Italian-American running against him this fall:
“I have to tell you he looks like one of Saddam Hussein’s sons… I mean before they were dead, of course…I really mean that he looks like one of Saddam’s sons, and he even dresses like them, too.”
Bunning made the remarks at a Lincoln-Reagan dinner (Abraham Lincoln couldn’t be reached for comment either on pairing his name with Reagan’s or on Bunning’s Know-Nothing comments). After word leaked out, Bunning’s campaign denied that he’d said any such thing.
But then it emerged that the event had been videotaped, and Mongiardo’s people started to demand that the Bunning folks release the tape.
I don’t think, for one minute, that Kos’s remarks are indicative of a wider Democratic position, but I do agree with the Instapundit when he stated that Kos “seems to be infested with a degree of hatred that I previously associated with the Democratic Underground and other fringe sites.”
Similarly, I do not think that all Republicans are racist- nor am I sure that this was necessarily a racist comment- but that is how it will be perceived. However, the fact that ELECTED officials from the party I belong to (more or less- I am a registered Republican and I most likely will continue to support Bush) feel comfortable even thinking this remark is somehow funny or appropriate, let alone uttering it, and worse yet, making it in front of a large crowd, having it videotaped, and then trying to lie about it, is indicative that there is still a good deal of house cleaning to be done on the right side of the aisle. I think comparing even the appearance of a political opponent to that of the Husseins is an inappropriate statement.
*** Update ***
Post edited to add coherence.
*** Update #2 ***
I am not sure what is so hard to understand about this for some people. I am not completely sure that this was indeed a racist remark, whether the racist connotation was made accidentally, intentionally, or not at all. I am pretty damn sure that this is, at the very least, an idiotic thing to say and do, as comparing anyone to those scum is offensive. It pisses me off when I see Hitler mustaches painted on Bush- how is this any different? Even if you don’t think this was racist, you have to be able to agree with me it was offensive and demonstrative of an apalling lack of judgement.
Making things worse is the behavior of Bunning’s staff. When are these people going to learn to just admit a mistake, apologize, take a hit on the airwaves for one news cycle, and then move on?
The Tired Old Refrain
Christ- what is wrong with people. Juan Cole, much celebrated in left-wing circles for his intellect, has focused his critical thinking skills on the massacre at Fallujah, and after much deep thinking, he has decided who should be blamed for the brutal murders.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Cole’s “Informed Comment” is as follows:
There is increasing evidence that the brutal attack on the American security guards in Fallujah, and the desecration of their bodies, was the work of Islamists seeking vengeance for the Israeli murder of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Leaflets found at the scene said the operation was in the name of Yassin. al-Hayat reports in its Friday edition that responsibility for the attack has been taken by a group called Phalanges of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The group said the deaths were a “gift to the Palestinian people.”
You put yourself in the shoes of an American military commander in Fallujah. He treats with the local clan leaders and Sunni clergy. He tries to get them on the side of the US. He faces hostility, but he is making some progress. And then Ariel Sharon sends US-made helicopter gunships to Gaza and has them fire missiles at people coming out of a mosque, killing 8 and wounding 24. One of the dead is a half-blind paraplegic Islamist named Sheikh Yassin. He could have easily been arrested, and had been in the 1990s. But he was incinerated in a piece of state terror instead. And all of a sudden the people of Fallujah in Iraq are pointing their fingers at the American troops and saying, ‘you did this. You gave Sharon the green light.’ And all the commander’s hard work in building bridges collapses over night. And four US security personnel are dead, and 5 US troops are dead, and the fighting flares up. Thanks, Prime Minister Sharon. Thank you very much.
I don’t even know where to start. Why is the left filled with so many smart people who don’t know anything?
I guess what Mr. Cole is really saying that an Israeli mob should kill some Russian civilians- after all, the Israeli’s have seen so many of their peopled killed with Russian made AK-47’s and former Soviet bloc explosives.