Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

I really should read my own blog.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

White supremacy is terrorism.

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Archives for 2005

Democrats Fear Backlash

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Their anti-war statements are coming home to roost:

Strong antiwar comments in recent days by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean have opened anew a party rift over Iraq, with some lawmakers warning that the leaders’ rhetorical blasts could harm efforts to win control of Congress next year.

Several Democrats joined President Bush yesterday in rebuking Dean’s declaration to a San Antonio radio station Monday that “the idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong.”

The critics said that comment could reinforce popular perceptions that the party is weak on military matters and divert attention from the president’s growing political problems on the war and other issues. “Dean’s take on Iraq makes even less sense than the scream in Iowa: Both are uninformed and unhelpful,” said Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.), recalling Dean’s famous election-night roar after stumbling in Iowa during his 2004 presidential bid.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) and Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), the second-ranking House Democratic leader, have told colleagues that Pelosi’s recent endorsement of a speedy withdrawal, combined with her claim that more than half of House Democrats support her position, could backfire on the party, congressional sources said.

Of course they fear a backlash- running around telling the country we should immediately withdraw, that we have no chance of winning, and that we are ‘terrorizing’ innocent Iraqis generally does not engender the public with positive feelings, particularly during wartime.

They really are in a tough position- they want to oppose (they are the opposition party, after all), and some of them do actually oppose the war, but their problem is they have been so clearly political throughout the entire process that they now have no way out of their predicament. They, in essence, painted themselves into this corner, which is why you hear them making all sorts of lame attempts to extricate themselves from the mess. Each week, they trot out a new strategery. “They cherry-picked the intelligence” was followed with “Bush lied” which was followed with “I didn’t have acces to all the intel” which was followed by “I voted to authorize force, not to go to war” which was followed by “They put the vote close to the elections so I couldn’t vote my conscience” and so on and so on.

With each new excuse, my assessment of the majority of Democrats decreases, and my opinions of the true anti-war left (see Kucinich, Dennis) increases. They at least believe in something, as wrong as I think their position might be. And, quite frankly, as loathesome as I find much of the Republican party, these transparent and awkward attempts to gain politically (notwithstanding the impact on the war effort) makes me think less of the Democrats and their leadership with each passing day.

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President Bush Hates Christmas

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It is true- just ask our lunatic friends on the far right:

This month, as in every December since he took office, President Bush sent out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing 1.4 million of his close friends and supporters a happy “holiday season.”

Many people are thrilled to get a White House Christmas card, no matter what the greeting inside. But some conservative Christians are reacting as if Bush stuck coal in their stockings.

“This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture,” said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Bush “claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn’t act like one,” said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. “I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it.”

You have to read the whole thing to get the full taste of lunacy from these folks. And it is funny- their approach to everything is evident in this piece. The uncontrolled anger and rage, the sense of betrayal, the exclusivity, the inability to recognize their are others out there who might celebrate the ‘Holidays’ differently than they do, and that Bush must answer to those people as well.

And it would be also wise to keep in mind that these are the folks whose religious beliefs dictate to them that intelligent design is a scientific theory, that the goal of Middle East policy is the rapture, that stem cell research is tantamount to murder, that they should have the right to determine your end of life decisions, that they should be able to refuse to fill your prescriptions at the pharmacy, that they should have the right to dictate who you date, who you have sex with, how you have sex, and who and how you marry, as well as any number of other things. And they have had an overly active say in running the show in this administration.

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Planet of the Apes

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Maybe some of us haven’t evolved, after all:

A professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he sent e-mails deriding Christian conservatives was hospitalized Monday after what appeared to be a roadside beating.

University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said that the two men who beat him made references to the class that was to be offered for the first time this spring.

Originally called “Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies,” the course was canceled last week at Mirecki’s request.

The class was added after the Kansas State Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.

“I didn’t know them,” Mirecki said of his assailants, “but I’m sure they knew me.”

One recent e-mail from Mirecki to members of a student organization referred to religious conservatives as “fundies,” and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a “nice slap in their big fat face.” Mirecki has apologized for those comments.

Again, we know how a lot of these things turn out, so be skeptical, for now.

(h/t- Several emailers)

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My Nomination for DKOS Guest Blogger

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Kos is throwing out the old, and bringing in the new:

It’s that time of the year. Time for the existing guest bloggers to ride off into the sunset and make way for a new batch. This will be the fourth year of the site, and already the site has a storied list of alumni:

Year one: Billmon, Steve Gilliard, RonK, Steve Soto

Year two: DemFromCT, DHinMI, Meteor Blades, Theoria, Trapper John

Year three: Armando, DavidNYC, Hunter, Kid Oakland, Plutonium Page

Year four: ???

This is where you guys come in. I make all final determinations, but every single one of the alumni listed above was recommended by the community. My choices will come from the people you recommend.

I nominate Cindy Sheehan, whose uplifting rhetoric and lilting prose put a smile on my face every time she posts.

In all seriousness, there is someone over there whose name is escaping me (Darksyde, maybe?) who does great posts on environmental and science-related issues. I wouldn’t mind seeing him/her front page every day. I don’t think I am the target audience, though.

And no, I could not make it a week without feeding my Sheehan obsession.

*** Update ***

Yeah. It is Darksyde.

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The CIA in Italy

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This is great:

In March 2003, the Italian national anti-terrorism police received an urgent message from the CIA about a radical Islamic cleric who had mysteriously vanished from Milan a few weeks before. The CIA reported that it had reliable information that the cleric, the target of an Italian criminal investigation, had fled to an unknown location in the Balkans.

In fact, according to Italian court documents and interviews with investigators, the CIA’s tip was a deliberate lie, part of a ruse designed to stymie efforts by the Italian anti-terrorism police to track down the cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, an Egyptian refugee known as Abu Omar.

***

“The kidnapping of Abu Omar was not only a serious crime against Italian sovereignty and human rights, but it also seriously damaged counterterrorism efforts in Italy and Europe,” said Armando Spataro, the lead prosecutor in Milan. “In fact, if Abu Omar had not been kidnapped, he would now be in prison, subject to a regular trial, and we would have probably identified his other accomplices.”

Spataro declined to comment on any specifics of the investigation because the case is pending in the Italian courts. The CIA declined to comment.

Make of it what you will.

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Everything That is Wrong With the Modern Republican Party

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This post from my friends at Red State is a snapshot of everything that is wrong with the current Republican party:

John McCain is a fool. He is also a charlatan. He is convinced that the world would be better off if everyone agreed with him and has set about to make it so. When McCain was accurately criticized by third party interest groups, he set about restricting the first amendment. Now, because he was a prisoner of war who was tortured, he has decided to take moral high ground on how the United States treats enemy terrorists, though the United States does not torture terrorists. Nonetheless, McCain has chosen to believe terrorists in captivity and reporters bent on destroying the war effort than the military personnel who are keeping us safe.

John McCain is attempting to add to the appropriations process a provision that would prohibit the United States from doing to captured terrorists those things we are prohibited from doing to American citizens under the 5th, 8th, or 14th amendments to the United States Constitution. We will, in effect, be giving constitutional protections to enemy terrorists who, when given the opportunity, slowly saw off the heads (graphic violence) of captured Americans.

McCain wants to take the high ground. He also wants favorable media attention. The media has been trumpeting unproven stories for some time now that accuse the United States of torturing captured terrorists. Most of the so called “torture” is not torture. In fact, many of the techniques our military uses are designed to wear down the ideologically hardened terrorists who will not talk and have been trained to endure multiple forms of harassment and abuse.

The post then goes on to show graphic pictures of what terrorists want to do to innocents, as if that ‘proves’ anything.

I carry no real torch for McCain, as he lost me a long time ago with McCain-Feingold. But to reduce McCain’s opposition to government sanctioned torture (yes, Blanton, even to ‘captured terrorists’) to a desire to receive favorable press attention is obscene.

And that isn’t even taking into account the rest of the trope offered up in the post.

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