Mocking the Right Wing Fringe and Other Fun Things

Moving

2007-08-23T17:07:00.000-04:00

This will be the last post at this site. There are plenty of people doing progressive blogging much better than I am, so as of tomorrow I am changing to a more Maine-life focus but with a decidedly blue bent.

You can find me here and if the Red Sox are your thing, I'm also still here.

Overheard Today at the Water Cooler

2007-08-22T17:46:00.000-04:00

"Face it, if liberals were not attempting to change long-held traditional values, conservatives would have nothing to oppose."

You mean the pre-emptive doctrine is a traditional conservative value? Who knew?

Revising Goals

2007-08-22T14:22:00.000-04:00

From CNN:

Nightmarish political realities in Baghdad are prompting American officials to curb their vision for democracy in Iraq. Instead, the officials now say they are willing to settle for a government that functions and can bring security.

"I would describe it as leaving an effective government behind that can provide services to its people, and security. It needs to be an effective and functioning government that is really a partner with the United States and the rest of the world in this fight against the terrorists," said Mixon, who will not be perturbed if such goals are reached without democracy.

A nonelected government in Iraq installed for the expressed purpose of providing it's benefactor, the United States of America, cover in the region. A puppet government set up in the middle of the perfect storm of the fractious, anti-American Middle East.

You think you got problems with Iran and Syria now? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

A Tale of God's Will

2007-08-19T06:48:00.000-04:00

You can read about the the making of this album here.

Comment on "The Other War"

2007-08-18T15:01:00.000-04:00

In the July 30 edition, The Nation ran a special investigation entitled, "The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness," an article which detailed brutal, gratuitous and cruel attacks on Iraqi civilians by American servicemen and women. The attacks, when perpetrated, are rarely reported, leading to a distorted perception of civilian casualties of the war; when they are reported, they are routinely dismissed as the cost of doing business by military officials. It reminds me of that scene in "Casualties of War," a film which tells the story of four soldiers who rape and murder a Vietnamese girl and the efforts of one soldier to bring them to justice. At one point, frustrated with the Army's response to his reports, PFC Eriksson (played by Michael J. Fox) physically attacks one of the perpetrators who has been threatening him for speaking out, shouting, "Nobody cares! I told everybody. I told them. You don't have to worry. You don't have to try to kill me, man. I told them, and THEY DON'T CARE!" Some things never change, apparently.

(Another great line from that film: "Everybody's acting like we can do anything and it don't matter what we do. Maybe we gotta' be extra careful because maybe it matters more than we even know.")

The article is unsparing to say the least, and an unflattering portrait of the perpetrators of these crimes-the near-diefied American soldier (or the "self-sacrificing white male patriotic hero" as described by one Nation detractor)-comes into sharp focus during these vignettes. It is not necessarily, however, an indictment of the individual servicemen that are being held up to task in this piece, but rather the policies, and bureaucracies, and take-no-prisoners idealism that define the American military that make such situations almost unavoidable, if unspeakably tragic.

Needless to say, the article received a lot of feedback. Some soldiers who were interviewed for the piece wrote to say that they were misquoted and taken out of context (two out of 50 interviewed, actually ) while others thanked the Nation for their accurate representation of their words. What was most interesting is the response from Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who bristled not at the idea that the Nation was reporting on atrocities committed by American servicepeople but that they weren't laying appropriate blame, which he places squarely at the feet of the Bush Administration. "Anyone who wants to write a serious piece about the ethical lapses of US troops should start and end the article by putting the blame where it belongs-on the politicians who sent our troops to war unprepared and without a clear mission."

This is not the first time Paul Reickhoff has made these accusations. He has been an unwavering critic of the Bush war policy. In a 2006 interview to PBS, he made the same claim-stress, poor leadership and repeated deployments are causing these outbreaks of extreme violence against Iraqi civilians. (Ironically, he also says, "I think the press has fallen asleep at the switch in many ways or has been intimated by the administration in many different ways.")

All this is likely very true, and it's hard to imagine what you yourself would do under similar circumstances. Still, it all conjures up the idiocy of Rush Limbaugh dismissing the Abu Ghraib abuses as guys just "blowing off steam" (the Limbaugh mantra of "personal accountability" ends as soon as one enters the military, apparently). Mr. Reickhoff, in his zeal to protect the soldiers (as in Rush's zeal to protect the administration), misses the point and weakens his cause. You can't tell the full story of the administration's failings in the war without telling the stories of the soldiers, even if it may not be pretty and even if some of your soldiers come out looking like little more than petty thugs. As despicable and without moral compass as George Bush may be (and he is)-these guys should never be there in the first place-there were no direct orders to anyone from the president to shoot the family dog in front of the children, deny a badly beaten man medical care and send him back to whence he came so the job could be finished, or pretend to eat the brains of a dead Iraqi man lying on the street. While that may be the result of poor planning, poor execution, and administration lies-and I know it is-part of trickle-down effect of a blustering, "Bring 'em on" and "We will get him dead or alive" is that it often inspires a specific type of personality to action-the type who is more likely to see the world in the black-and-white terms of the president and thus see all Iraqis as less-than-human "hajis" and potential terrorists ("I also know, because of that same base of knowledge, that the military has some folks in it that should never have passed the psych evaluation. Because military recruting rules have become so lax, folks that should be locked away for their own protection have instead been sicced on Iraqis" notes another Nation responder.)

The problem is when you take already troubled, angry, disaffected young people-many of whom would have been ineligible for military service on 9/10/01-and give them guns and power and no training, no oversight and no sense of accountability, it is a recipe for a disaster of epic proportions. Shooting pets and children, terrorizing families at gunpoint, and indiscriminately detaining anyone who looks suspicious is not a recipe for winning "hearts and minds," nor is it likely to contribute to a feeling that Americans are "liberators" of a foreign country, 80% of whom want us gone. It is a recipe for an endless cycle of violence, resistance, and war.

You can also read an interview here with Carmelo Mejia, a veteran who went to prison rather than return to Iraq.

You can read more about civilian casualties in Iraq here.

Dick Tells The Truth!

2007-08-17T04:27:00.000-04:00

What Changed Between 1994 and 2002?

Thanks to moveon.org for digging this up!

A Plea For Animals

2007-08-15T12:43:00.000-04:00

From my Inbox:

Dear Lisa,

Barnes & Noble, Powells and other online booksellers do not sell these magazines, but Amazon does. Get your friends to ask Amazon to stop their ridiculous fight for animal fighting.

The cruelty of animal fighting is not news to you, and I thank you for taking online action in the past against this bloodsport. But I still need your help in asking your friends to speak up, too.

The time to do this is now, because the indictment of Michael Vick has awakened the rest of the nation to the cruelty of animal fighting. But Amazon is still in the lonely position of promoting animal fighting activities. It's the only online retailer of subscriptions to animal fighting magazines in the United States!

We need as many voices as possible telling Amazon to stop -- please tell your friends and family right now how they can help.

As you know, Amazon claims that its commercial sale of cockfighting magazines like The Gamecock and The Feathered Warrior is protected by the First Amendment. But the First Amendment does not protect companies advertising illegal contraband, and that's exactly what the magazines sold by Amazon are doing. The Feathered Warrior even advertised fighting dogs from a dogfighter whose operation makes the enterprise described in the Michael Vick indictment look like a bunch of amateurs.

Please ask your friends and family to add their voices to yours in demanding that Amazon stop selling animal fighting materials.

Thank you for all you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

P.S. Get the full story on Amazon and animal fighting on our new Animal Cruelty and Fighting campaign website.

Bob Murray is More Concerned With Saving His Own Ass...

2007-08-13T16:23:00.000-04:00

...than saving his employees. And making himself a buck in the process.

The proof?

The mine in central Utah where six miners lay buried was cited 300 times since January of 2004, including 118 "significant and substantial" violations that are considered serious enough to cause injury or death;

His Galatia mine in southern Illinois counts at least 2,787 violations and more than $2.4 million in fines from the Mine Safety and Health Administration since 2005;

He flat out lied about the cause of the collapse, saying it was caused by an "earthquake" despite the assertions by seismologists that the collapse caused the tremors and the company knew about structural problems with the roof at least since March;

And then there's this, from the Washington Post last June:

A senior coal company executive on Wednesday lambasted U.S. lawmakers for proposing caps on emissions blamed for global warming, saying the Democrats were out to destroy America's coal industry.

Robert Murray, chairman, president and chief executive of Murray Energy Corp., also blasted the federal government's mine safety agency for "outrageous" new fines that he warned could put some miners out of business.

He is, of course, a huge donor to the Republican party, members of which share much of his dim view of workers' rights and safety issues, as well as his take on the environment.

Poor, put-upon, persecuted bastard.

Here's Murray in action, railing against unions and safety regs to Barbara Boxer in June.

Another One Bites the Dust

2007-08-13T07:24:00.000-04:00

Holy crap! What do they HAVE on him?

Investigative journalists, take note: Do your goddamn jobs for once and DO NOT let this story die. There is something fishy going on here. This is part of a deal.

"Spend time with my family" is the refuge of the guilty and the hunted, who have entered into agreements to leave to save their own necks.

From the Washington Post:

Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush's two national campaigns and his most prominent adviser through 6-1/2 tumultuous years in the White House, will resign at month's end and leave politics, a White House spokeswoman said this morning.

Bush plans to make a statement with Rove on the South Lawn this morning before the president departs for his ranch near Crawford, Tex. Rove, who holds the titles of deputy chief of staff and senior adviser, has been talking about finding the right time to depart for a year, colleagues said, and decided he had to either leave now or remain through the end of the presidency.

"Obviously it's a big loss to us," White House spokeswoman Dana M. Perino said this morning. "He's a great colleague, a good friend, and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed. But we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this was the right time to be giving more to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends."

Guess Who's Back? The Taliban! Fightin' in Afghanistan!

2007-08-12T19:43:00.000-04:00

Read about the failure of the Bush administration in Afghanistan here.

Can You Imagine It Here?

2007-08-12T18:33:00.000-04:00

File this under "And the world didn't come to an end!" We learned this week that Canada will have an elected member of parliament married to his same-sex partner. Canada passed a same-sex marriage law in 2005. Oh, the humanity!

Liberal MP Scott Brison is set to become the first federal politician to tie the knot in a same-sex ceremony since MPs made gay marriage the law of the land just over two years ago.

Brison, 40, will marry partner Maxime St. Pierre next Saturday in his Kings-Hants riding, a bucolic corner of Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.

He follows Ontario cabinet minister George Smitherman in smashing one of elected politics' last social taboos. Smitherman exchanged vows last week with partner Christopher Peloso at a northern Ontario resort.

Having a spouse has traditionally been considered an important asset on the hustings — but not one of the same sex.

Only in the last decade have many gay and lesbian politicians begun publicly acknowledging their sexual orientation.

Brison, a former Progressive Conservative party and Liberal party leadership hopeful, came out in 2002 and became Canada's first openly gay cabinet minister in 2004. But he's never defined his political persona around the issue and has closely guarded his private life.

In Brison's words, he is "not a gay politician, but a politician who happens to be gay."

After his engagement to St. Pierre was first reported by the Canadian Press in October 2005, Brison played down the social significance.

"I'm looking forward to the day when the idea of a gay or lesbian politician getting married is not a story at all," he said at the time.

Brison's office said Friday he was not available for an interview, and friends — some of them invited to the ceremony — were reluctant to discuss the wedding plans.

After the highly divisive debate on the same-sex marriage bill in June 2005 that saw more than two dozen Liberals join with the Conservative Opposition in voting against the legislation, Brison joked that then prime minister Paul Martin told him: "Well, after all I've been through on this Brison, you'd better get married."

Brison, in an autumn 2005 interview, made it clear he's been deeply affected by the steady reminders of young Canadians who tell him he has served as a role model, however reluctant.

"Sometimes when somebody can express something like that to you, that you've made a difference in terms of their confidence or their life — not based on something that you've really done, just by the fact that you're there — I don't think I can articulate how that makes me feel," said Brison.

Universal health care, gun control, and now married gays in high places? Sounds like my kind of place, if only winter weren't ten months long. And the right wing's new battle cry?...

Blame Canada!
Blame Canada!
Seems like everything's gone wrong
Since Canada came along...

A Second Hand Fatal Illness

2007-08-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

Of interesting note in this week's news is the disclosure by the White House that George Bush was treated for Lyme disease a year ago. However, it seems that there was a misunderstanding on the part of the major news outlets that reported the story.

The president was not diagnosed with Lyme disease; rather, he was found to be suffering from a far more common and obvious affliction, Lying disease. It was found as well in his staff and close associates, although it is unclear who gave the disease to whom, or if they were all infected independently of each other.

There is no cure except permanent removal of the carriers from office. If left untreated, it is fatal to U.S. citizens and the world at large.

A Change in Nothing

2007-08-10T17:42:00.000-04:00

From today's Portland Press Herald:

"The surge isn't working," said Susan Hudson-Wilson, 55, of
Chebeague Island. "Every kid who dies from now on, it's just –
you really want to go right to that kid's parents and apologize."

Of course, I've said all along that every person who cast a vote for George Bush needs to apologize for their part in propagating this murderous sham. To do so to the parents of dead soldiers would be as good place to start as any.

Susan Collins, as the article notes, supports "a change in mission," but not troop withdrawal, making her no different than the other Republican drones who are standing by their man.

Empty words from an empty head. Mainers who cast a vote for Collins in this upcoming election need to apologize to the parents of dead soldiers as well.

Republicans: He's a Miserable Failure, But He's Our Miserable Failure...

2007-08-10T08:17:00.000-04:00

According to a new CNN poll, George Bush's approval rating got a little better last month, going from 32% in June to 36%. According to poll analyst Keating Holland, the increase reflects Republican sentiment only, as Democrats and independents remain disdainful of the Schmuck in Chief. Hard to understand why, though, given the administration's series of victories in July...

1. The surge report card revealed an Iraqi government woefully unable to meet the simplest conditions laid out for continuing American participation in the "war effort"...

2. An NIE report that demonstrated that Al-Qaeda had grown "significantly stronger" in Pakistan over the past two years (whatever happened to that "no safe haven" declaration, George?)...

4. Woes in the mortgage market threatened to spread to other sectors, and caused real concern that the stock market would soon tank under the weight and cause a global economic crisis...

3. Robert Muellar became only the latest in a long line to out Alberto Gonzales as a lying, clownish political hack with no observable redeeming qualities.

Geez, given all that, it's hard to see why even Essenes wouldn't be jumping on the Bush approval bandwagon...what I want to know is, where were all these low-standard bearers while I was in college? I could have used their type of grade inflation...

Buck Henry Lives

2007-08-09T21:23:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm back, and I'm still here...I'm still thinking about expanding the focus of the blog, but for now, I'm here.

For those of you of a certain age, you'll probably appreciate that Buck Henry is back as a regular contributor to The Daily Show, although this time, thankfully, not playing a pedophile (remember, that sketch was from the mid-'70s, when dirty old men were just a smutty joke). Here's Buck taking on media madman Murdoch last night.

TTFN

2007-08-02T08:31:00.000-04:00

The blue state blogger is headed on vacation to another blue state, that bastion of decadence and conduit of conservative antipathy, Massachusetts-Cape Cod to be exact. When I get back, I'm considering shutting down this blog and starting a new one with a broader focus but decidedly left bent. I'll let you know where it is when I get back.

In the meantime, let's hope for peace for the people of Minneapolis, especially those who have lost loved ones in that horrible bridge tragedy yesterday.

Focus on the Hypocrites

2007-08-01T09:14:00.001-04:00

"In this time of call-ups and alerts and mobilizations and deployments, your employers are standing behind you, and so is your government. The country owes you something in return for your sacrifice"-George Bush, speaking to the Idaho National Guard, 8/24/05

Given the results of the study summarized below and printed in the 8/1/ edition of JAMA, I fully expect Focus on the Family's James Dobson and The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins to be making strong statements condemning the war's effects on military families soon and calling for more federal support of those left behind...

Any day now, in fact...

I can almost hear it from here...

Rates of neglect and abuse of the children of servicemen and women rose 42% within the family when the enlisted parent was deployed on a combat mission, according to a new study led by senior health analyst Deborah Gibbs of RTI International, a research institute in North Carolina. Previous studies have shown an association between combat-related deployments and higher levels of stress in the family, and it is this stress that is thought to play a major role in the maltreatment of children by the parent who stays home.

The current study is the first to take a comprehensive look at how deployment affects child neglect and emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Backed by funding from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the researchers harvested data from the U.S. Army Central Registry of 1,771 families worldwide with at least one instance of child neglect or abuse between Sept. 2001 and Dec. 2004, a period during which many soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. The results show that a staggering 1,858 parents had maltreated their children during that period — boys and girls in equal numbers, with an average age of 6. Nearly 10% of those parents neglected or abused their children on more than one day. The number of times a parent was deployed, however, whether once or twice, did not significantly affect the rate of maltreatment — researchers speculate that by the time of a soldier's second tour of duty, the homebound parent has developed at least few coping strategies.

-Time.com

The Wall Street Junk-al

2007-07-31T16:45:00.000-04:00

The Bancroft family finally caved to greed, and crowned Rupert Murdoch king of the Wall Street Journal. Family members earlier had stated they were reluctant to sell to Murdoch, fearful that he would turn the Journal into the Post (which is really kind of stupid-haven't they been reading their own editorial pages? The Journal already IS the Post! The editorial page of the WSJ is actually so spectacularly and predictably dishonest it's hard to see how Murdoch could do it any harm, frankly).

There's likely to be lots of groaning and hand-wringing in the journalistic community about how this signals the death of serious journalism in this country, but in reality, they've got no one to blame but themselves. By pimping themselves to outfits like the Post and Fox News, the reporters in this country have done as much to impinge journalistic credibility as William Randolph Hearst ever did. More, in fact. While Murdoch may be the general, he cannot implement the coup by himself. He needs foot soldiers. Interestingly, the reporters at the WSJ are unionized and have staged at least one walk-out protesting the sale of the WSJ to Murdoch. We'll see how many stick to their principles now that he is, in fact, their boss.)

A Medical Marvel

2007-07-30T20:56:00.001-04:00

Chief John Roberts is cooling his heels at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport tonight, after reportedly suffering a seizure while sullying our great state on vacation.

This makes Judge Roberts a bit of a medical curiosity, as seizures are a disorder of the brain, an organ the judge has previously shown no evidence of possessing.

I hear Oscar the Cat is in town for a visit, Judge...better watch your back.

Five Surgeons

2007-07-29T17:59:00.000-04:00

Five surgeons from big cities are discussing who makes the best patients to operate on.

The first surgeon, from New York, says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."

The second, from Chicago, responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded."

The third surgeon, from Dallas, says, "No, I really think librarians are the best, everything inside them is in alphabetical order."

The fourth surgeon, from Los Angeles chimes in: "You know, I like construction workers . . those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."

But the fifth surgeon, from Washington DC, shut them all up: "By far, Republicans are the easiest to operate on. There is no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable."

George Bush Accuses Poor Children of Cheating Big Insurance

2007-07-29T09:53:00.001-04:00

Next week, he takes on Michael Vick's pit bulls, accusing them of frivolous lawsuits.

Bush: No Deal On Children's Health Plan

President Says He Objects On Philosophical Grounds

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff

President Bush has rejected entreaties by his Republican allies that he compromise with Democrats on legislation to renew a popular program that provides health coverage to poor children, saying that expanding the program would enlarge the role of the federal government at the expense of private insurance.
The president said he objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan Senate proposal to boost the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. Bush has proposed $5 billion in increased funding and has threatened to veto the Senate compromise and a more costly expansion being contemplated in the House.

"I support the initial intent of the program," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post after a factory tour and a discussion on health care with small-business owners in Landover. "My concern is that when you expand eligibility . . . you're really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government."

Justice Perverted

2007-07-27T11:46:00.000-04:00

To all those who advocate the unbridled power of the federal government as the only way to stamp out threats across the globe, a cautionary tale:

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A federal judge Thursday ordered the
government to pay more than $101 million in the case of four men who spent
decades in prison for a 1965 murder they didn't commit after the FBI
withheld evidence of their innocence.

The FBI encouraged perjury, helped frame the four men and withheld for more than three decades information that could have cleared them, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said in issuing her ruling Thursday.

She called the government's argument that the FBI had no duty to get
involved in the state case "absurd."

Peter Limone, Joseph Salvati and the families of the two other
men who died in prison had sued the federal government for malicious
prosecution.

They argued that Boston FBI agents knew mob hitman Joseph
"the Animal" Barboza lied when he named the men as killers in the 1965 death
of Edward Deegan. They said Barboza was protecting a fellow FBI informant,
Vincent "Jimmy" Flemmi, who was involved. The four men convicted on
Barboza's lies were treated as "acceptable collateral damage" because the
FBI's priority at the time was taking down the Mafia, their attorneys
said.

"No lost liberty is dispensable. We have fought wars over
this principle. We are still fighting these wars," Gertner told the packed
courtroom.

And, apparently, getting the same results: bupkiss. The Mafia is still with us, and these guys sacrificed 30 years of their lives. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sell thirty years of my life for $100 million dollars.

And how many more like them are still languishing in our prisons today?

Gonzo Apparently a Con Man

2007-07-26T18:03:00.000-04:00

Robert Mueller today became the 970,000th person to call Alberto Gonzales a liar.

But Gonzales still has the confidence of the president, who is, of course, a liar himself. Tony Snow is a liar by proxy, saying that Gonzales was "speaking consistently."

Consistent with what? Advanced senile dementia? Or chronic fabulism?

Reminds me of a song...

When I'm just trying to get along
We were friends
But now it's the end of our love song...
So let's leave it alone
'Cause we can't see eye to eye
There ain't no good guys
There ain't no bad guys
There's only you and me and we just disagree

Btw, news outlets are such pussies. CNN on it's website titles the story, "FBI head apparently contradicts Gonzales." Mueller said in fact that Gonzales did indeed discuss the U.S. surveillance program with a half-dead John Ashcroft, which is exactly the opposite of what Gonzo himself testified to.

There's no "apparently" about it, CNN. Grow some stones, for Christ's sake, or the next thing I'll expect to see is "Anna Nicole Smith apparently still dead."

Mitt Deflects Responsibility Again

2007-07-23T15:17:00.000-04:00

Mitt Romney...the gift that keeps on giving. From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has a message for those who are criticizing him for recently posing next to a supporter’s controversial campaign sign: “lighten up.”

The former Massachusetts governor took heat over the weekend from one town-hall audience member for recently posing with a supporter who donned a sign saying “”No to Osama, Obama and Chelsea’s Moma.”

The sign is an obvious grouping of the two leading Democratic presidential candidates — Sens. Hillary Clinton, the mother of Chelsea Clinton, and Barack Obama — with Al Qaeda leader and 9/11 organizer Osama Bin Laden.

“I don’t look at all the signs when I’m having pictures taken,” Romney said during a town-hall meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire when pressed to apologize by one member of the audience.

The comments were captured and made available to CNN by New Hampshire Public Radio.

“I have a lot of pictures taken with people, Romney also said. “I don’t really spend all that much time looking at the signs and the T-shirts and the buttons. I don’t have anything to say about a sign somebody else was holding.”

What a fucking moron. First, we learn that he thinks it's ok to tie his dog to the top of a car speeding along the highway at 65 miles an hour, telling us that if he doesn't know how to take care of a pet, he certainly can't be trusted with the keys to the free world. Now we find out that he has no eye for detail or subtlety, can't anticipate the consequences of his actions and basically just does what people tell him to do. You don't have anything to say about it, Mitt? Maybe not, but you do have something to say about what tactics you endorse. Standing and smiling broadly with a right wing fruitcake who equates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to Osama bin Laden says a lot about your principles and priorities, whether you admit it or not (of course, we can't forget this is the same guy who effusively introduced Ann Coulter at the CPAC a couple months ago, right before she called John Edwards a faggot).

He then went on to say, “You know what? Lighten up slightly. There are a lot of jokes out there. I’m not responsible for all the signs I see.”

Bah. You are respondible for the essence of your public appearances, and how you respond to your so-called supporter's tactics...and as far as jokes go, the biggest one by far is Mitt Romney himself.

Must See Theater

2007-07-19T16:05:00.000-04:00

"No End In Sight," opening in select theaters July 27.

You can read more about it here.

Courage of Convictions?

2007-07-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

A lot of cynical pundits on both the right and left have been wondering why John Edwards has chosen to make poverty a signature point of his campaign. After all, they muse, these people don't donate any money; the majority don't even vote. Why is he wasting his time?

Maybe this is why.

Because for so long, these people have had no one to speak up for them-not even each other. Certainly not their elected officials, who cut their housing funds while making sure big oil and millionaires get fat tax breaks.

I wonder what Ann Coulter has done for the poor lately, besides call their champion a slur?

Tom Allen's Guns A-Blazing

2007-07-19T09:11:00.000-04:00

Despite Stoogan Collins' efforts to minimize the importance of Iraq to her constituents back here (how out of touch is this fool? And how little respect does she have for our intelligence?), Tom Allen has made it clear he's going to make the war front and center in his campaign. To wit:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2007

CONTACT: VALERIE MARTIN
207-774-9696

COLLINS OPPOSES LEVIN-REED ON IRAQ

PORTLAND – Susan Collins today stood by her opposition to timelines for withdrawal from Iraq although she attempted to hide behind her record with a vote for cloture on Levin-Reed today. Her vote for cloture was simply a vote to end debate, not for the legislation.

In an AP story, a Collins spokesperson said the Senator still opposes the legislation.

“Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is up for re-election next year, also voted to advance the bill. Spokesman Kevin Kelley said Collins believes the measure should be subject to a simple majority vote and not the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. Kelley said the senator still opposes the legislation.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070718/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq

Valerie Martin, campaign manager for Tom Allen for U.S. Senate, said Collins has been wrong on Iraq since the beginning, while Allen has been a consistent and staunch opponent to the war in Iraq from the outset.

“For four and a half years, Susan Collins has been wrong about Iraq and has voted consistently to continue Bush’s failed policies. For four and a half years, Susan Collins has stood by the administration instead of standing up for what is right. For the past week, Susan Collins has been talking about changing missions and has hidden behind votes for cloture. That isn’t leadership. Maine needs a Senator who consistently does what is right,” said Martin.

By contrast, Tom Allen voted against authorization for the war in 2002 and has been an outspoken critic ever since, backing his words up with actions. Just last week, Allen voted in favor of H.R. 2956, a measure requiring the President to being troop withdrawal from Iraq within 120 days, to be concluded by April 1, 2008. The measure passed in the House on July 12.

Compare the Records on Iraq:

Collins Voted For Legislation She Said She Opposed. Today, Collins voted in favor of moving forward on legislation that would begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq. Immediately after the vote Collins’ spokesman claimed that in fact, she did not support timelines. “Spokesman Kevin Kelley said Collins believes the measure should be subject to a simple majority vote and not the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. She opposes the legislation.” [HR 1585, Vote #252, 7/18/07; AP, 7/18/07]

Allen Again Voted For Timeline For Redeployment From Iraq. Last week, Allen again voted to end U.S. involvement in the Iraqi civil war. The vote mark the fifth time Allen had voted for a binding proposal to begin bringing troops home from Iraq. After the vote, Allen said, “Setting a binding timetable is the most effective way to remove American troops from Iraq. I will continue to advocate for a binding timetable so that the men and women serving so bravely in Iraq return home safely to their families.” [HRES 533, Vote #621, 7/12/07; Office of Representative Tom Allen, Press Release, 7/12/07]

Collins Said She Opposed Beginning To Withdraw Troops With 120 Days. Earlier this year, Collins said she opposed the 2007 Supplemental Funding bill for Iraq because it would begin to withdraw troops within 120 days. "Ms. Collins said she was more troubled by the requirement that the administration begin removing troops within 120 days of the legislation rather than the March 2008 deadline for having most of the military out." [New York Times, 3/28/07]

Allen Said There Was A Clear Choice Between Supporting Timetables Or Supporting Bush’s Failed Policies. Earlier this year, Allen said, “This week, the House of Representatives has a choice: either endorse the President’s open-ended commitment, or adopt a plan that demands accountability, sets a timeline for redeployment, and restores the readiness of our armed forces.” [Office of Representative Tom Allen, Press Release, 3/22/07]

Collins Voted To Authorize The War In Iraq. In October 2002, Collins voted authorize the use of force against Iraq. [Vote #237, 10/11/02]
Allen Was One of Only 133 Members To Vote Against Use Force Against Iraq. In 2002, Allen voted against allowing President Bush to use the military against Iraq [Vote #455, 10/10/02; New York Times, 10/11/02]

Collins Voted Against Withdrawing U.S. Troops. In March, Collins voted three times against setting a goal of withdrawing most American troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008, with the redeployment beginning within months.[Vote #126, 3/29/07; Vote #116, 3/27/07; Vote #75, 3/15/07]

Allen Supported Measure to Bring Our Troops Home by August 2008. In March, Allen voted for a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq by the summer of 2008. The legislation included strong benchmarks for the President to meet in Iraq. [Vote #186, 3/23/07]

Collins Wanted to “Stay the Course” In Iraq. In late 2003, Collins said, “it’s important that we hold the line in Iraq and that we stay the course…” [CNBC, 11/6/03]

Allen Has Consistently Advocated For A New Direction In Iraq. In February 2007, Allen spoke on the House floor “Recent experience shows that the U.S. must impose deadlines with consequences so that Iraqi leaders will be compelled to take responsibility. An unending U.S. military presence in Iraq creates a climate of dependency that undermines the goal of having the Iraqi Government control internal security.” [Congressman Tom Allen Floor Statement, 2/6/07]

The Server is Busy

2007-07-19T08:46:00.000-04:00

Got this from the HSUS this morning concerning their campaign to suspend Michael Vick:

"WE ARE SO SORRY! Shortly after we sent you this email earlier today, our system went down due to the high volume of communications from those outraged about this case. If our links did not work for you, we hope you will contact the NFL now. Again, our deepest apologies for the breakdown and the extra email from us today."

Nice job, people. Keep the heat on the NFL over this asshole. If you tried to hit on the links yesterday and couldn't, please do so now here!

Suspend Michael Vick!

2007-07-18T14:31:00.001-04:00

From my inbox. This shit has got to be stopped somehow.

Tell the NFL to Suspend Michael Vick!

Dear Lisa,

This dog was one of 52 pit bulls seized from Michael Vick's property.

Late yesterday, a federal grand jury indicted NFL star quarterback Michael Vick and three cohorts on felony dogfighting charges. It’s the latest disturbing news in a case that The Humane Society of the United States has assisted with since the alleged cruelties came to light in Virginia last April.

I hope you will take action today to urge the NFL to suspend Michael Vick indefinitely.

The abuses described in the 19-page indictment are almost beyond belief:

In or about March of 2003, PEACE [one of Vick’s co-defendants], after consulting with VICK about the losing female pit bull's condition, executed the losing dog by wetting the dog down with water and electrocuting the animal.

In or about April 2007, PEACE, PHILLIPS, and VICK executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions...by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

The NFL expressed “disappointment” and said yesterday that “we believe that all concerned should allow the legal process to determine the facts.”

Well, that’s just not good enough. These acts were not petty or harmless; they were nothing short of gruesome and barbaric. And there is precedent for a suspension: Other NFL players, such as Pacman Jones and Chris Henry, have been suspended while they awaited trial and before they were convicted. Please contact the NFL today and urge the league to suspend Michael Vick.

For details about the case and The HSUS’s role in assisting federal prosecutors with the investigation and the care of 52 pit bulls taken from Vick’s property, click here. And if you are able, please make a special donation today to help us care for those animals while the case is being pursued by federal authorities.

Thank you for all you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

In case you need more encouragement to do the right thing here, you can watch some video of the sordid way Michael Vick gets his jollies here.

The Right Wing Fringe is Getting VERY Nervous...

2007-07-18T10:10:00.000-04:00

You know how I can tell? Boston-based complete knee-jerk asshole Howie Carr is suddenly seeing parallels between last night's Senate Iraq all-nighter and the Chappaquiddick tragedy.

How lame. That's the best you've got, Howie? Chappaquiddick, horrific as it was, hasn't worked as a political tool for thirty-eight years despite the desperate right-wing's best efforts.

For all his blustering and posturing about the "irony" of the two events falling decades apart, Carr apparently fails to see the irony of his attack on Kennedy for his action after an accident in which a person died, and his failure to attack President Bush for his cold blooded murder of thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens. Yes, Chappaquiddick, for all the conspiracy theories surrounding it, was an accident. Iraq was a purposeful military action founded on deliberate, bald faced lies, yet I see no outraged columns by Carr denouncing the calculated sacrifice of American soldiers for a lie concocted for pure political gain.

Hypocrite Deux Fois

2007-07-17T20:57:00.000-04:00

Check out the look on Wendy Vitter's face while the most recent nominee for Hypocrite of the Century is speaking. Doesn't she look like she just threw up in her mouth a little bit?

Is it her husband, or did she just catch sight of herself in that dress? Yikes.

While the holier-than-thou senator was calling for Bill Clinton's resignation over his indiscretions, wife Wendy was making her own case for a Hypocrite of the Century award. She had this to say when asked by the Times-Picayune if she could forgive her husband if he strayed, as Bob Livingston's wife had done: "I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary [Clinton]. If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."

It's hard to tell from this angle if Sen. Vitter remains intact...or of the only thing he's been stripped of is his credibility.

A Book Plug

2007-07-16T11:04:00.000-04:00

A must-read for all sports fans with a social conscience.

"When professional athletes speak out for social justice, it's usually the sign of deeper discontent in society. Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali and Billie Jean King were exceptional individuals, but also products of social movements that shaped them and that they in turn helped shape.
The responses to Hurricane Katrina, among other recent rumblings and grumblings in our SportsWorld, writes Dave Zirin in an excerpt from his new book, demonstrates that struggle and its relation to sports is a question not of the past but of the future.
If you like this excerpt from Welcome to the Terrordome, check out the book itself. Zirin is currently in California in the middle of a series of readings. Click here for the full national schedule."

If you like what you see and want to read the book, please consider ordering from your locally owned bookstore instead of Amazon. I got mine from Nonesuch Books in South Portland.

From the Mouths of Babes

2007-07-15T09:49:00.000-04:00

So, to write this post, I'll have to admit I was, once again, watching "Meet the Press"...so sue me.

Anyway, right wing neanderthal columnist Bob Novak was on a panel discussion. Say what you want about Novak's positions-and I have-but he can't be accused of being shrewdly politically astute all the time. As such, he sometimes gives us wide open windows as to why anybody who has any kind of principles or sense of social responsibility is NOT a Republican. To wit:

"A lot of Republicans like McCarthyism."

Not that that's a great insight, but it's nice to hear it out of the mouth of a less fringe right-winger than Ann Coulter. Novak admits that the modern Republican party yearns for the days of witch hunts and smear campaigns leading to demonization leading to public hysteria which corrals power in the hands of the few, while the rest are too cowed to speak out, fearing they'll be next.

Oh...wait a minute...isn't that post 9/11 Bush administration policy...?

"Republicans are, are very pessimistic about 2008, when you talk to them off the record. They don't see how they can win this thing. And then you--they think for a minute, and only the Democratic Party, with everything in their favor, would say that, OK, this is a year either to have a woman or an African-American to break precedent, to do things the country's never done before, and it gives the Republicans hope."

Again, Novak is stating the obvious-Republicans are sexist and racist, and count on that in their "base" to win elections-but you have to think that the RNC cringed a little bit when they heard that. Your base from "Jesus Camp" may be nodding in approval, but you won't get the all-important "independent" vote admitting that sort of thing.

Michael Moore on Countdown

2007-07-13T10:45:00.001-04:00

Watch it here.

You Flatter Yourself, Joe

2007-07-13T08:38:00.000-04:00

"George Bush's approval ratings are lower than my IQ!"-Joe Scarborough this morning on his new am show on MSNBC.

Ehhh, no, Joe. They haven't quite hit single digits yet, although if he keeps up performances like this one, I suspect it's coming.

A Shocking Truth Revealed

2007-07-12T16:19:00.000-04:00

From CNN.com:

President Bush on Thursday acknowledged publicly for the first time that someone in his administration likely leaked the name of a CIA operative, although he also said he hopes the controversy over his decision to spare prison for a former White House aide has "run its course."

President Bush addresses questions during a Wednesday news conference.

"And now we're going to move on," Bush said in a White House news conference.

And in doing so, also break yet another pledge: "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration," Bush told reporters in July of 2005. Of course, we all know that identifying covert operatives is against the law, and that the perps in charge of that crime-Cheney and Rove-are still sitting pretty in the White House.

Don't make promises you're not prepared to keep, George, although you have stood by another statement you made concerning the whole mess: "If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of," you said in February of 2004, and that much is true...Scooter has been very, very well taken care of, and I'm sure he thanks you for it.

Parade of Pipsqueaks

2007-07-12T08:31:00.000-04:00

"I'm trying to be consistent and perhaps have not done a great job of that...I have tried"-Sara Taylor, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the attorney general firings.

Kyle Sampson, 37. Monica Goodling, 33. And now Sara Taylor, the former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs at the White House, who is 32.

Apparently the Bush administration could find no mature, experienced conservatives to assume positions of responsibility in their administration.

Probably because they don't exist...or when they do exist, they turn out like James Comey.

Just too big a risk.

Lucky Seven

2007-07-12T07:30:00.000-04:00

Until these Senators are prepared to vote against continued funding for the war—and none of them are now—Bush and Cheney can go on their bloody way. -Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive Magazine, July 5

We saw what happened yesterday-Mitch McConnell continues to hold the country hostage to the now-delusional George Bush, who is beginning to remind one of Dreyfus ("No crater? But I want a crater! I want wreckage, twisted metal! Something the world will not forget!") playing the organ in The Pink Panther Strikes Again. This is no longer a Bush war-this is now a fully Republican war. The Congress now has the power to hold the president accountable for this nightmarish mess, but in true partisan fashion they opt not to...and the country will remember, Mr. McConnell (the state of Maine will also remember the mind-numbing lack of leadership Susan Collins has shown on this issue).

It's time to put your money where your mouth is, guys. Defund this war.

Virile Vitter

2007-07-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

David Vitter, senator from Louisiana and stringent defender of "traditional marriage" has been caught, literally, with his pants down. His phone number was found among the voluminous records of the Washington madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey, and a New Orleans madam's charge that Vitter was a frequent guest at her house as well also puts the senator in a, um, compromising position. Monday night Vitter issued this statement: "This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible...several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and from my wife in confession and marriage counseling."

Vitter was also seen wearing a yellow bracelet with the letters WWBLD on it. He responded to reporter's questions that the letters stood for "What Would Bob Livingston Do?" Ok, I made that last part up, but don't you think it's more than a little ironic that Vitter took Livingston's House seat after Livingston stepped down over a sex scandal? And before his departure, Livingston had been chosen to succeed Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House-who was also boffing a Woman Other Than His Wife at the time? Christ, don't these Republicans ever work?

Vitter did get a lukewarm vote of approval from that other paragon of sexual fidelity, Republican front runner Rudy Guiliani, who also noted that, "Some people disappoint you." Your son couldn't agree more, Rudy.

Sen. Vitter is currently seeking spiritual advice from Jimmy Swaggert and Ted Haggard.

Ok, I made that up too. At least, I think I did.

Karl Rove Brings Down the House

2007-07-09T21:52:00.000-04:00

"I make no apologies," Rove said when an audience member asked how personally responsible he felt for the war. "It was the right thing to do. The world is better off with (Saddam Hussein) gone. We all thought he had weapons of mass destruction. The whole world did. He didn't. ...
"In the aftermath of the removal of the regime, al-Qaeda decided to make its stand in Iraq. And we have got to, in my opinion, fight 'em and beat 'em there; otherwise we are going to face them somewhere else." -Karl Rove at the Aspen Ideas Festival, July 8

Is the truth just allergic to this man? Or any sense of conscience or accountability? Or does he just lie so spectacularly and with such abandon that he can be considered certifiably insane, a danger to himself and others, the standard for being what is quaintly known in the psychiatric world as "blue-papered"-committed without consent.

Karl, they're coming to take you away, hah-hah...Yes. I think it's time. Would that it were true...

You can read a full accounting of the farce here.

Where Do You Stand, Tom?

2007-07-09T21:19:00.000-04:00

From the American Research Group, released on 7/5/07:

Question:
Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush?

45% of all adults in favor, 46% oppose, 9% unsure. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats report they are in favor of this action, as well as 50% of independents. (Republicans, as expected, are apparently waiting for Dubya to get a blow job to decide that enough is enough. If my reaction to the president is the same as most women's-and I suspect it is-they will be waiting a long, long time.)

Question:
Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney?

54% of all adults in favor, 40% opposed, 6% unsure. Seventy-six percent of Democrats and 51% of independents favor this action. Republicans must figure the chances of the veep getting a BJ are even infinitesimally smaller than some drunk, blind floozy going down on Dubya, so they're feeling pretty safe there (unless, of course, Ann Coulter decides to fulffill a fantasy...)

Nearly half the population of the republic wants the president impeached (compare that to the number who supported Clinton's impeachment, which was essentially the right wing fringe; that little gamble backfired badly, crystallized support behind Bill Clinton and cost Newt Gingrich his job) with the number growing by the day as more evidence of his criminal and duplicitous behavior emerges. The vast majority of Democrats certainly want to see the president held accountable in a criminal proceeding.

Tom Allen, who is asking for our support is his effort to unseat Stoogan Collins (who has apparently just awakened from a five-year coma and decided that, hey! Maybe the war is important after all!) has not come out with a strong statement in support of impeachment of either the president or vice president. While this in and of itself is not enough to sway my support of him-yeah, right, like I'm going to vote for that sniveling lapdog Lieberman suck up Collins-I think he needs to be reminded where his supporters stand on this issue and make his position transparent. I wrote and told him exactly that. You can reach him at:

rep.tomallen@mail.house.gov

or via his Portland offices at 774-5019.

Quote of the Year

2007-07-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

"I'm busy teaching my students all about the Constitution (and) wondering if we'll ever get anybody here who actually reads it"-Bill Greenberg, a high school teacher from Arizona, at the White House during a field trip to Washington with his students.

(Kudos for your bluntness, Bill, especially in light of the fact that Arizona's a red state...hope you still have a job!)

A Call for Resignation

2007-07-08T12:26:00.000-04:00

If you haven't seen this, it will bring tears to your eyes...especially the gut-wrenching laundry list of accusations of how this president has turned our country into a cesspool of political fear and cronyism:

I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.

I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.

I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.

I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors.

I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but to stifle dissent.

I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.

I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.

I accuse you of handing part of this Republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.

And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice.

You can see the rest of the commentary here:

By all accounts, most people agree with you, Keith. Thank you for being our voice.

Hey! He Called Us Traitors!

2007-07-08T09:19:00.000-04:00

Byron York, neocon lapdog and White House correspondent for the ideological toilet paper known as "The National Review," wrote an opinion piece that was reprinted in the Washington Post last Friday. As is typical with the crap that eminates from this entity, there was plenty to take issue with, but my eye fell and I paused at this particular sentence more than halfway through the article:

Many conservatives are still hopping mad over the president's description of the bill's opponents as people who "don't want to do what's right for America."

Huh. Well, imagine that!

Apparently, Mr. York didn't quite catch the irony of that statement-if he did, I'm sure he never would have so casually inserted those lines in the middle of that paragraph. As is my wont, I sat down and sent him an email (I sent a similar letter to the editors of the Post), which began with the quote above and continued:

"Amazing. I'm sure that was a real eye-opener for the group that has been told
they are the only Americans that matter since 2000. Doesn't feel very good, does
it? To those people I would say, welcome to the world we on the left have lived
in for the past seven years. If you're not 100% with him then you're
100% against him, and there's no room for discussion. Once people have
been told they are not good Americans, the chances that you're going to get them
back you on anything is pretty slim, so perhaps this became the jumping off
point for Republicans to start breaking in earnest with the president on Iraq?
Maybe they thought, he thinks we're anti-American anyway, so to hell with him. I
can tell you from experience that's a powerful motivator.

Although this is clearly not a new tactic in this administration's arsenal, in
this case it seems more like friendly fire instead of an enemy
strike. Being essentially called a traitor by your president hurts, no
matter what side of the aisle you're on, and it's not ever true. What I'd
really like to know is where was all the outrage from conservatives when the
president was saying EXACTLY the same thing about those of us who were opposed
to the invasion of Iraq-and other various neocon undertakings-as far back as
2002, before anti-Bush sentiment was fashionable?

Lisa Keenan"

An Unbiased Opinion?

2007-07-07T08:09:00.000-04:00

Ok, I was watching a sports talk show the other day, where they were discussing the aforementioned George Bush at Washington Nationals game. One of the panelists, a prominent journalist, mentioned that perhaps Mr. Bush should take over as commissioner of baseball when his term is finished as he is such a devotee of the game. It's a guy I usually like, and I immediately fired off this tongue in cheek email to him:

"George Bush as commissioner??? Sweet tapdancing Jesus! Thanks to this country's destruction by that arrogant, overbearing, lying f*ck, baseball is practically the only thing we have left to enjoy, and you want him to take over that, too???? He'd probably send the White Sox in to invade the Cubs during interleague play! Are you seriously trying to destroy MLB???

What were you thinking when you said that?????

Lisa Keenan"

Within minutes, I got this reply:

"I was thinking-and this is ----------, private citizen talking, not ----------, reporter-that this country would have been a helluva lot better off if Bud [Selig, current baseball commissioner] had stepped aside years ago and allowed Bush to become commissioner, where by definition he could not have wreaked as much damage as he has caused in his current capacity."

Touche, my friend. Excellent point.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

2007-07-06T16:16:00.000-04:00

Yes, and many happy returns for ol' Dubya, who turns 61 today. Reports say he is celebrating at Camp David with the first lady.

Our gift to him? The lowest approval ratings in a generation. Awwww, isn't that nice?

Meanwhile, the Pentagon reports that two more soldiers were killed in Iraq on Wednesday, our country's birthday, bringing the number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war to 3,580. In a display of public grief and solidarity, the president went to a Washington Nationals game on Thursday and munched on chicken fingers and nachos with rich people. Hmmm, I wonder if any of those 3,580 dead shared your love of baseball, George? Even if they didn't, I imagine most of them would at least liked to have seen their 61st birthday...

Ahhh, Iraq, the president's most enduring present to us. The gift that keeps on giving.

So, happy birthday, George. May you be constantly haunted by the ghosts of those you have denied the same privilege.

(btw, Turn Maine Blue has a great post up reporting Stoogan Collins' breathtaking flip-flop in her opinion about how Mainers view the Iraq issue. Please, people. I beg of you. Get this idiot out of office!)

Impeach Dick Cheney

2007-07-06T16:08:00.000-04:00

More at impeachcheney.org

Fantasy Busted

2007-07-06T10:17:00.000-04:00

The Fantasy:

"Our troops will have a well-defined mission: to help Iraqis clear and secure neighborhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs."

"Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences: In earlier operations, Iraqi and American forces cleared many neighborhoods of terrorists and insurgents, but when our forces moved on to other targets, the killers returned. This time, we'll have the force levels we need to hold the areas that have been cleared."

"To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November. To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis. To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion of its own money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects that will create new jobs. To empower local leaders, Iraqis plan to hold provincial elections later this year. And to allow more Iraqis to re-enter their nation's political life, the government will reform de-Baathification laws, and establish a fair process for considering amendments to Iraq's constitution."

The Reality:

Increased troop presence in Baghdad has not led to an increase in security in the area, and has only driven the insurgents out to other provinces, like Anbar and Diyala, where American casulaties are high and the surge is essentially a nonfactor.

The Iraqi forces are nowhere near prepared to assume defense of their own country.

The Iraqi government is unable to keep up any part of it's end of the bargain. Kermit and Fozzie could do a more credible job. What good is a puppet government that won't dance when you pull the strings?

Pete Dominici, apparently on break from trying to bulldoze US attorneys into filing fraudulent charges against political opponents, becomes the latest johnny-come-lately GOP weasel to blast the president on Iraq. Thanks a pantload, Pete. Where were you when we needed you? Oh, I remember: you were on the phone with David Iglesias...

Where's the Justice?

2007-07-02T18:56:00.001-04:00

Paris Hilton had to go to jail...in fact, she was sent back to jail after they let her out. And she didn't even have a cushy right-wing think-tank job waiting for her after she was finally sprung.

What makes Scooter Libby any better than Paris Hilton? Except that he knows where all the president's bodies are buried, and George was frantic to keep his mouth shut.

Sheesh. Even Nixon didn't commute the sentences his law breaking associates.

A Classic Song of Battle Revisited

2007-07-01T18:43:00.000-04:00

From my inbox...

Battle Hymn of the Republicans
(to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic)

Mine Eyes have seen the bungling of that stumbling moron Bush;
He has blathered all the drivel that the neo-cons can push;
He has lost all sight of reason 'cause his head is up his tush;
The Doofus marches on.

I have heard him butcher syntax like a kindergarten fool;
There is warranted suspicion that he never went to school;
Should we fault him for the policies -- or is he just their tool?
The lies keep piling on.

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
His wreckage will live on.

I have seen him cut the taxes of the billionaires' lone heir;
As he spends another zillion on an aircraft carrier;
Let the smokestacks keep polluting -- do we really need clean air?
The surplus is now gone.

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Your safety net is gone!

Now he's got a mighty hankerin' to bomb a prostrate state;
Though the whole world knows its crazy -- and the U.N. says to wait;
When he doesn't have the evidence, "We must prevaricate."
Diplomacy is done!

Oh, a trumped-up war is excellent; we have no moral bounds;
Should the reasons be disputed, we'll just make up other grounds;
Enraging several billions -- to his brainlessness redounds;
The Doofus marches on!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
THIS...DOO...FUS...MAR...CHES...ON

I Bet the Feeling was Mutual

2007-06-29T17:21:00.000-04:00

Brownback harbored ‘hatred’ of Clintons

Brownback writes he once hated the Clintons until realized those thoughts were ‘wrong.’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sam Brownback says he harbored a “hatred” of Bill and Hillary Clinton until he experienced a religious awakening in the mid-1990s.

Brownback, a Republican presidential hopeful, details in a new book how the change in outlook led him to make a stunning apology to Hillary Clinton a few years later during a Senate prayer breakfast.

“I was considering what I should say when I confronted all the anger that I held for the Clintons,” the Kansas senator writes in the book, “From Power to Purpose: A Remarkable Journey of Faith and Compassion.”

“I thought, I hate them for what they are doing to the country and I feel justified in hating them for it,” he writes.

But Brownback says he realized there is never justification for hating someone regardless of what their actions.

He told the prayer breakfast audience that he used to have a “hatred for Bill and Hillary” because of their politics. He spotted Sen. Clinton in the crowd and, speaking directly to her, said he “realized that those thoughts of hatred were wrong. I apologized to her for them. I don’t know what she thought, but I believe it made a difference.”

Religion permeates nearly every corner of Brownback’s book, written with Jim Nelson Black and officially slated for release July 3. His soul searching began in 1995, hastened by two dramatic events in his personal life. His marriage was in real trouble — he was “on track” to getting divorced — as he devoted all his energy to the conservative agenda that fueled the Republican takeover of the House in 1994.

Even more traumatic was his 1995 bout with cancer and surgery to remove malignant melanoma from his right side. Brownback says he finally found peace when he resolved to devote himself to God.

Nurses Like Mike

2007-06-28T17:22:00.001-04:00

Knowing that more influential players like big for profit insurance giants and even physicians weren't going to challenge the country to rethink the way healthcare is delivered in this country, nurses have taken the lead in ensuring that Michael Moore's "Sicko" has the backing of a credible group of healthcare providers who are sick and tired of business as usual. I personally have LONG said that we don't necessarily need socialized medicine in this country, but at the very least we should operate in a nonprofit system. I'm proud of my fellow nurses, and plan to go see the movie with a fellow nurse, Kathy, later on this week.

Here's Mike and some nurses at a rally in California:

Here in Portland, "Sicko" is playing at the Nickelodeon on Temple Street. Here's the trailer for the movie:

Animal abuse by Mitt

2007-06-28T06:47:00.000-04:00

Another reason not to vote for Mitt Romney, as if you needed one. What a completely stupid fuck, and the Globe is even stupider for not picking up on the implications of the story. If you can't be trusted to properly care for your dog, how in hell can you be trusted with nukes and armed forces?

Romney's Cruel Canine Vacation
Wednesday, Jun. 27, 2007 By ANA MARIE COX

The reporter intended the anecdote that opened part four of the Boston Globe's profile of Mitt Romney to illustrate, as the story said, "emotion-free crisis management": Father deals with minor — but gross — incident during a 1983 family vacation, and saves the day. But the details of the event are more than unseemly — they may, in fact, be illegal.

The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the Romney station wagon. How it got there: Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus's rather visceral protest.

Massachusetts's animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal "in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried thereon." An officer for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded to a description of the situation saying "it's definitely something I'd want to check out." The officer, Nadia Branca, declined to give a definitive opinion on whether Romney broke the law but did note that it's against state law to have a dog in an open bed of a pick-up truck, and "if the dog was being carried in a way that endangers it, that would be illegal." And while it appears that the statute of limitations has probably passed, Stacey Wolf, attorney and legislative director for the ASPCA, said "even if it turns out to not be against the law at the time, in the district, we'd hope that people would use common sense...Any manner of transporting a dog that places the animal in serious danger is something that we'd think is inappropriate...I can't speak to the accuracy of the case, but it raises concerns about the judgment used in this particular situation."

Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was less circumspect. PETA does not have a position on Romney's candidacy per se, but Newkirk called the incident "a lesson in cruelty that was ... wrong for [his children] to witness...Thinking of the wind, the weather, the speed, the vulnerability, the isolation on the roof, it is commonsense that any dog who's under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels: that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured." Romney, of course, has expressed support for the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques when it comes to terrorists; his campaign did not return repeated calls and emails about the treatment of his dog.

As organizer of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, Romney came under fire from some animal welfare groups for including a rodeo exhibition as part of the Games' festivities. At the time, he told protesters, "We are working hard to make this as safe a rodeo for cowboys and animals as is humanly possible."

UPDATE 6/29/07: Mitt's response:

“He scrambled up there every time we went on trips, got in all by himself and enjoyed it,” Romney said of the Irish Setter.

Romney also conceded any endorsement of his candidacy by the group was unlikely.

“PETA has not been my fan over the years. PETA was after me for having a rodeo at the Olympics,” he said in reference to his role as chief executive of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. “PETA was unhappy when I went quail hunting in Georgia, and they’re not happy that my dog likes fresh air.”

(Yeah, Mitt. I like fresh air, too, but not while tied down going 60 miles per hour. What's more ignorant, folks-abusing the pet in the first place or defending it over 20 years later? With all the flip-flopping Mitt has done in the past few months, you'd think this would be an obvious one to change your position on. But even if he had, you couldn't trust that he was sincere about it, now, could you?
Massachusetts, this toad was your governor? You elected him to the position? You should be ashamed of yourselves.)

Bandwagoners

2007-06-27T06:24:00.000-04:00

If Richard Lugar were a Red Sox fan, I'd expect him to be wearing a pink cap and asking who Rod Beck was. Check this out, from Monday...

Lugar wasn't the only one to have a change of heart-Pete Voinovich of Ohio also threw his hat in the anti-war ring yesterday. Now, that's all good, really. Nothing is going to happen to change course in Iraq until Republicans decide that enough is enough. But what irks me is that Lugar is probably following the numbers more than his heart (although he does seem to be one of the precious few Republicans left standing with a modicum of principle, he is more conservative than he's lead you to believe). A new poll out shows Republican support for the war dropping like a stone-38% of Republicans now say they oppose the war, and 42% think it's time to start bringing at least some troops home, and those numbers are only likely to rise. While Lugar himself is not up for reelection in 2008, he's well aware than over 20 of his Republican peers are, and is using his position as the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations to allow the rest of them to fall in line. This is a coordinated effort by Republican leadership to try to some way end around George Bush and save their party, and who better to stick their toe in the rebel waters than Dick Lugar? It projects the image to other worried Republicans of, if Dick Lugar says it's wrong, well, then, I won't be going too far out on a limb if I say the same thing...and maybe it will help my re-election chances, especially considering the president has an approval rating under thirty percent...

Sincere? Maybe. Calculated, definitely. One notes that Stoogan Collins has not had the fortitude to speak out on this, nor is she likely to (Tom Allen, on the other hand, has been all over the place, noting he was against the war before it was cool to be against the war.)

One only wishes this had all happened five years earlier. Where were all you Republican anti-war bandwagoners then, when you might actually have done some good?

You can read Lugar's entire speech here.

Why Do I Bother...

2007-06-24T09:17:00.000-04:00

...watching "Meet the Press?" There is never anybody on there anymore to promote discussion and dialogue-it's always just to promote an agenda, which MTP surely knows and apparently doesn't care as long as it generates an audience.

Today is a good case in point-the issue is the illegal immigration bill, and who does MTP showcase? No one other than that xenophobic, anti-semitic fascist Pat Buchanan, whose hatred of all things foreign and dark is well documented and who could be expected to add nothing of substance to the debate other than his well worn racist dogma, ie, "If we do not get control of our borders, by 2050 Americans of European descent will be a minority in the nation their ancestors created and built [with a lot of help from some unwilling Africans, which Pat doesn't mention, ever]. No nation has ever undergone so radical a demographic transformation and survived." It's clearly not about national survival with Pat. It's about keeping whites (specifically, white men) in the majority, which keeps them in power. Why does no one in the national media-much less that ass-kissing Tim Russert-ever challenge him on this? Why not call a spade a spade? Are they all afraid of him?

In other words, since we know what Buchanan is going to say (Punishment! Dehumanization! White nationalism!), and it's not going to be seriously challenged, why put him on except to fan the flames?

Pathetic, Tim. And I'm even more pathetic for tuning in. I won't make that mistake again.

(Sent as an email to Meet the Press)

A Neocon Bubble Burst

2007-06-23T18:14:00.000-04:00

The right wing fringe's capacity for spin is remarkable, although it does have it's limits-nobody but Dick Cheney is claiming now that the war in Iraq has had tremendous successes. It's an unmitigated disaster and to say anything different is to risk ridicule and scorn, a la...well...Dick Cheney.

So what's a right wing pundit to do, as those of us on the left sit with our arms crossed, toe tapping, "I told you so" on our lips, waiting for an apology? Will these guys accept acountability and call out the administration for the tragic consequences of their criminal actions?

Of course not. We got a hint of what was to come when billo pronounced that he "never wanted to hear about Sunnis and Shiites again." It's not Dubya's fault that we're stuck in the Muslim Vietnam...it's the fault of the people themselves. Not only do they hate our freedom...they don't even want our freedom, not even for themselves. It's not Dubya and Cheney's fault the war went sour so quickly. It's the Middle Eastern Way.

If you don't believe me, just ask right wing neanderthal par excellence Jonah Goldberg, who floated such a hypothesis in the NRO this week that was, of course, reprinted in the right wing fringe rag Portland Press Herald yesterday. Goldberg asks a legitimate question that, well, we really should have asked five years ago before we went in and upended all the chairs over there:

"But what if the Arab world just isn’t interested in our path?"

For some reason, it seems that Goldberg is actually floored by this proposition. It's typical American neocon arrogance to think that the rest of the world wants to be just like us and, like Jonah Goldberg, they are shocked to learn that isn't the case. It's not that hard a concept to grasp. Even Americans don't want to be like other Americans of a different region usually. But practically that means also that encouraging democracy in places where everybody hates you is a dicey undertaking for U.S. interests. Maybe the local people elect those who...well...have an anti-American agenda? Who are vowing to blow us off the face of the earth? Another thing the Bushies didn't think of before they went in and upset the apple cart. I don't know why this is so stunning to the right wingers, except that they are natural bigots and xenophobes who took no time to educate themselves about Muslim priorities before deciding that simply ousting a dictator is all they needed to do.

Maybe if we asked the Muslim world earlier what they would like their world to look like, we wouldn't now be asking, why don't they want to be us?

Stay Tuned!

2007-06-21T19:01:00.001-04:00

Bush administration close to shutting down Guantanamo; White House meeting Friday
By Associated Press
Thursday, June 21, 2007 - Updated: 05:25 PM EST

The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility and move the terror suspects there to military prisons elsewhere, The Associated Press has learned.

President Bush’s national security and legal advisers are expected to discuss the move at the White House on Friday and, for the first time, it appears a consensus is developing, senior administration officials said Thursday.

The advisers will consider a proposal to shut the center and transfer detainees to one or more Defense Department facilities, including the maximum security military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where they could face trial, said the officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal deliberations.

UPDATE/EDIT: The White House announced that "there will be no meeting" today about Gitmo after the above was leaked to the press. If I had a Hummer, what do you think I'd do with it at this point? I'd bet it that that leak came from Dick Cheney's office, that's what I'd do. And I'd win.

No Tissue Death, Just Soldier Death

2007-06-21T07:14:00.000-04:00

Once again, by vetoing the most recent effort to promote stem cell research-and thus hope for millions of Americans suffering from diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's-George Bush proves he is not interested in doing the will of the people. Most studies, including the one showcased in this CNN report, indicate that between 60-70% of Americans approve of the use of embryonic stem cells for research purposes. When asked what they thought should be done with the embryos they think they are saving which are just destined for the dustbin anyway, the right wing fringe has no answer, and doesn't care to manufacture one. This is the most purely political issue on their docket, as none of these blastocytes has any hope of finding a hospitable womb).

Then the Republicans in Congress will prove that they also are not interested in the will of their constituents by failing to provide the votes to override the president's veto-are you listening, Stoogan Collins?

Of course, when you consider that the president and Republicans have willfully ignored the people's will in Iraq-where they don't mind the loss of life of thousands of Americans and tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands of Iraqis, it makes the all-out effort to save a few pieces of tissue even more hypocritical.

Mike Gravel is Throwing a Rock and Running for President

2007-06-19T19:12:00.000-04:00

I know this space is rented to mock the right wing fringe, but I'm making an exception here...Mike Gravel is, shall we say, unpolished, but I like him, and for some reason this video makes me laugh hysterically:

He's also got another one out where he throws branches into a fire and then watches it burn for over seven minutes.

Mike says that nobody over 30 understands these videos (that explains my reaction to them, I guess-Mike himself is pushing 80). Check out some of the comments posted as well. They're as funny as the videos.

The Puppies Will Thank You

2007-06-19T15:57:00.000-04:00

More good news from my Inbox:

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for signing the pledge to stop puppy mills! I'm writing today to tell you about a groundbreaking class action lawsuit filed yesterday on behalf of members of The Humane Society of the United States against a notorious Florida puppy mill dog dealer.

This lawsuit is the latest step in a multi-year legal battle by The HSUS against a company called Wizard of Claws and its owners in response to widespread reports that this store routinely sells sick and dying puppy mill puppies to unsuspecting customers.

The suit underscores Rule #1 when looking for a new pet: Don't buy unless you see first-hand where the pet came from.

The suit -- filed in Broward County Circuit Court on behalf of more than 100 Wizard of Claws' former customers -- is based on numerous consumer complaints about Wizard of Claws misleading customers and selling unhealthy puppy mill puppies in blatant violation of Florida law. The suit claims that puppies purchased in their stores had serious genetic defects or fell sick or died within days of purchase, and that the retailer refused to either reimburse customers or pay expensive veterinary bills.

The purpose of this class action suit is to prevent Wizard of Claws from selling puppy mill puppies to unsuspecting buyers. And we want to send a powerful signal to other pet stores and Internet retailers that business as usual cannot continue.

With your help, we can advance our fight to stop puppy mills. As The HSUS prepares to battle in court, here are some actions you can take right now:

If you are thinking of bringing a new dog into the family, or know someone who is, request a free copy of our puppy buyer's guide for information on how to find reputable breeders, shelters, and rescue groups.

Download one of our Stop Puppy Mills campaign badges or banners to your own MySpace or Facebook page, blog, or website.

Download Puppy Mill Cruelty flyers and post them or give them out at your neighborhood dog park, to engage fellow dog owners and help spread the word. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: SEE SIDEBAR!)

The puppy mill industry will continue to thrive as long as consumers are kept in the dark about the tactics and conditions employed to mass produce purebred puppies and designer dogs. With your help, we'll shed light on the cruelty of puppy mills and put this brutal industry out of business.

Thank you for your commitment to stopping puppy mills and for all that you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

Mitt Leads the Pack

2007-06-18T10:18:00.000-04:00

LOL at Republican primary voters. Man, if they nominate this pandering loser-and I really, really hope they do-they have shot their load for the next generation for accusing ANYBODY of flip-flopping. John Kerry voted for it before he voted against it? Don't wanna hear it, dude.

It also just goes to show how gullible the average right-winger is. Of COOOOUUUUURSE he came upon all those position flips honestly...it had nothing to DO with the Jesus freak takeover of the GOP! So, go for it, guys. The rest of the country can see right through him, but whatever floats your boat...

Oh, and you want to know a right wing response I heard recently, when someone was complaining about Mitt's flips on issues of choice, stem cell research, everything else? "Well, look at Hillary. Let’s not forget she grew up in Illinois, lived in Arkansas but was a lifelong NY Yankees fan when it was convenient."

Let's see...switching team allegiances for votes vs switching entire life philosophies for votes. Yeah, I guess that just about evens out on the hypocrite scale, don't you?

A Fiscal Change of Heart?

2007-06-17T09:44:00.000-04:00

This is rich. George Bush, the Deficit President, bitching about fiscal irresponsibility? The man who dishonestly convinced the lemmings that he could responsibly trim the fat, take care of priorities and still cut taxes with all that saved money?

And fight a war on the cheap, all at the same time?

Are there people who are actually going to believe this sudden attack of fiscal conservatism? Yes, probably Elizabeth Hasselback will, but as for the rest of us, like you said yourself, George...

Global Warming is Good for Africa?

2007-06-15T16:57:00.000-04:00

I'll never understand the right wing fringe's antipathy to anything that might work to conserve the resources of the planet and extend our existence on it a little longer (note to all anticonservationists: the earth will still be here, no matter what we do to it, and long after we're gone. It's the survival of our own species we have to worry about) but I suspect it's not unlike a white supremacist's view of nonwhites-since the human race is obviously vastly superior to the dirt and trees and animals around, we should have the unbridled right to do anything we goddamn well please with all of it, be it stripmining, dogfighting, or nuclear proliferation. It's really illustrated in this CNN article, where the dickwad landowner says,"Eagles don't pay taxes; I pay taxes...I'm paying taxes, and I can't do anything with the property." Because he pays taxes, the land is "his," (never mind that the land is about five billion years older than he is) and he should be able to do whatever he wants with it. He's not going to be around to see the results of his destruction in 50 years, so what does he care? I can guarantee you, this guy is a card-carrying member of the NRA and thinks we're fighting the terrorists over there so they don't fight us over here.

So, all that brings me, finally, to my point: M.D. Harmon, neocon asshat over at the Portland Press, who never had an original thought in his life but has made a minor name for himself regurgitating the corrupted, unexamined talking points of others (think Richard Perle on much smaller scale), puts forth an interesting theory in today's PH op-ed: Opposition to efforts to reverse global warming is no longer the province of Exxon Mobil and it's pocketed corporatocrats in politics. No, now activities that produce global warming must be protected because it's GOOD FOR THE POOR. The naked attempt to protect corporate interests while appealing to liberal sensibilities is so pathetic and hilarious that it's almost not infuriating. Almost.

As typical of Harmon (and again, he's a little behind the eight ball here-the DDT story is at least several years old, and in terms of global warming the National Review has been trumpeting a similar line of thought since the IPCC report), this article is filled with such complete and utter bullshit that it's hard to know where to begin. First, he perpetuates the tired myth that environmentalist opposition to the use of DDT is the primary force behind an increase in malaria deaths in poverty-stricken nations. Ehhh, no, Peg. The Nation did a fantastic job of exposing that conservative holy grail a few months ago, and the magazine's conclusions are backed up by a major review of the malaria situation in Africa, which notes that it is primarily political apathy that has worsened the problem. However, in typical conservative fashion, Harmon has chosen the path of least resistance and most dire consequences as the best solution. If he's so concerned about the spread of malaria, why not just do a column advocating the eradication of poverty and self-interested tyranny in Africa? Well, because that wouldn't serve stockholder interests, now, would it? Who ever got rich helping poor people? But Harmon's point isn't about malaria or DDT, which I'm sure he couldn't care less about. What he really wants to do is exploit that issue for political advantage to warn us about the evils of trying to reduce global warming:

"But this cautionary tale about unintended consequences has continuing relevance in a time when some powerful forces insist that the world can abandon fossil fuels, reverting to a simpler, more primitive age."

Ok, so that's complete horseshit right off the bat, and blows any further argument completely out of the water. There is no one I know of-not even Al Gore-advocating a total ban on the use of fossil fuels. But since that's typical Harmon blowhardism, you just automatically overlook it, and then look for some examples of how he thinks working to reduce the carbon footprint will give us an equivalent of a global malaria epidemic. He offers us...nothing. He shoots his whole wad on a list of ominous and cherry picked half-truths, and then offers absolutely nothing by way of comparison to what is supposedly his point about what is sure to be the ghastly effects of fighting global warming, given the supposedly ghastly effects of fighting carcinogens. It's like writing a book about Magic Johnson and spending the first 9/10ths of the book on Larry Bird. "That will not come without great social and economic costs -- that will fall most heavily, as the DDT ban did, on the world's poorest people and nations," he warns us gravely, and then...he just drops it, leaving us, he hopes, to imagine the worst. He certainly gives us no inkling about how he thinks this epic catastrophe will strike the poorest of the poor...who are also, by the way, the ones who are suffering most mightily from the effects of global warming-and, unlike what Harmon offers us in his write up, we have concrete proof of that.

What's most interesting here, though, is not the weak argument itself-that is easily debunked and dismissed-but the right's attempts to frame the argument in humanistic terms. With the fringe's beloved president nearly universally detested by all but the most hard core authoritarianists, they have to try a new tactic, I suppose. It's as if they're trying to say, look, we're not just about the money, we're about the poor, too-we really really are!
Well, when I see an M.D. Harmon article-or a Jonah Goldberg or a Rich Lowry article-that takes to task the forces and circumstances that perpetuate the miseries of the poor and the apathies of the parasites that thrive off them (including the fossil fuel producers), I might take their attacks of conscience a little more seriously. Until then, they're just right wing wolves in sheep's clothing.

Must See TV

2007-06-15T16:42:00.000-04:00

Tony Snow, Liar Secretary, outed by Jon Stewart last night:

If the People Will Lead, Will the Leaders Follow?

2007-06-15T08:11:00.000-04:00

I love these stories-they're another good indication that there are stirrings of life in the republic, that perhaps the people are slowly regaining the ability to lead after nearly three decades of being brutally whipped into submission by politicians and bloodless corporate hacks. If little bitty Arrowsic, ME-symbolic of the small town average American that the Bushies insist they are looking after-is willing to take this step, can the rest of the union be far behind? Portland, are you listening?

Tiny town takes a stand against Iraq war

Arrowsic votes 71-17 for a resolution to bring the troops home, but an observer calls it just 'a priceless historical anecdote.'

June 15, 2007

— By DENNIS HOEY
Staff Writer

ARROWSIC — There were no signs proclaiming victory. The town office, as it is on most days, was closed.

It was business as usual on the day after Arrowsic became the first community in Maine to endorse a resolution calling on President Bush and Congress to immediately stop all war funding and bring the troops home from Iraq.

Town Clerk Heather Baker said the measure was adopted at Wednesday night's annual town meeting, with 71 residents voting in support and 17 opposed to the resolution.

A petition filed by residents got the resolution on the town meeting warrant, Baker said.

The resolution recognizes the men and women serving in Iraq and their sacrifices, but says the war is taking funds away from basic services at home such as health care and education.

"If there is any question about whether or not this issue is appropriate for our town meeting and discussion at the local level, we only need to consider that if $450 billion is being spent by our country on Iraq, that's $450 billion that is not being spent here at home," said Paul Schlein, the resolution's principal supporter.

Schlein said Arrowsic joins about 300 other communities across the nation that have adopted similar anti-war resolutions.

Town officials said they will send a letter to President Bush and to Congress, explaining the decision.

"I felt it was an opportunity for the people to send a message to the federal government," said Sukey Heard, a selectwoman who voted to place the resolution on the warrant. "But I doubt very much it will change anyone's mind."

Christian Potholm, a Bowdoin College government professor, political author and pollster, said the president won't pay any attention to Arrowsic's stance.

But, he added, "It's a priceless historical anecdote. For the last 30 years I have always referred to Arrowsic as the 'Peoples Republic of Maine.' The town always seems to vote in reverse. If I want to know what is not going to happen in the rest of the state, I turn to Arrowsic."

MaryEllen FitzGerald, president of Critical Insights, a Portland polling firm, said she is not surprised by Arrowsic's support for the resolution. A poll of 600 Maine households in April produced similar results.

She said that poll showed that 73 percent of those surveyed disapproved of the way President Bush was handling the war in Iraq. Only 22 percent supported the president's troop surge.

"We have been finding there is very little support in Maine for any aspect of the war," FitzGerald said.

An AP-Ipsos poll released on June 7 reflects widespread discontent with how President Bush is handling the war, with just 28 percent of those surveyed saying they were satisfied.

Baker, Arrowsic's town clerk, opened Town Hall for a few minutes on Thursday to check voting records at the request of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

Baker said the town has 396 registered voters: 162 Democrats, 80 Republicans, 137 unenrolled and 17 Green Party members.

The town office is open only on Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings.

When Baker opened the doors and passers-by noticed that cars were parked in the lot, residents stopped to talk about the vote. There's no post office, general store or other natural meeting spot in this tiny midcoast town surrounded by rivers.

Like many Arrowsic residents, Andreas Von Huene works out of his home. Von Huene, a sculptor and engineer, lived in the Middle East for several years. He supported the resolution.

"I think the war is wrong," Von Huene said.

He said there is little hope the United States can change the situation in Iraq. "Our cultures are close enough that we think we understand one another, but we don't. We are different in some very subtle ways."

Jeremy Blaiklock, a 37-year-old landscaper who is the town's animal control officer, voted in support of the resolution.

"The war in Iraq was a bad idea," Blaiklock said. "I supported the resolution .because every message we can send to our government is important. It may be a drop in the bucket, but if the American people send enough drops, some day the bucket might overflow."

"I voted for the resolution because I feel the war in Iraq is immoral," said Roger Heard, who is chairman of Arrowsic's Planning Board and a volunteer firefighter. "But I also think the vote is a reflection of what is going on in the country."

Mercer Blanchard made a motion to take no action on the war resolution. His effort failed by a vote of 63-31.

"My motion had nothing to do with the resolution or the war issues. I just didn't feel it was relevant to the town's business. This was the wrong place to address it," Blanchard said.

Schlein said the war is putting financial pressure on small towns to raise taxes.

"The war in Iraq underlies and undermines everything we do in this country," Schlein added.

Remind me...

2007-06-11T18:43:00.000-04:00

...never to set foot in Albania (I don't know why I'd ever have to go there, but still!) The entire country must be on crack, or perhaps they've mistaken George Bush for Boy George? In any event, it's hard to reconcile this reception with the man we all love to hate. I can't understand a word the reporter is saying, but the unadulterated joy on these people's faces says a lot, mostly that they just don't know what's going on.

ImpeachMaine Event

2007-06-10T13:25:00.000-04:00

From the Inbox...I actually think I can make this one. Anyone want to go with me?

This can be the pivotal event that galvanizes impeachment for all of New England if not the whole Northeastern U.S.

Join us!!

President Bush will be "entertaining" President Vladamir Putin in Kennebunkport, Maine on July 1st and 2nd. Join hundreds - perhaps thousands - of Americans who will greet President Bush in Kennebunkport on July 1 with an impeachment message.

Citizens Summit Rally and Impeachment March
July 1st starting at 1:00 pm
at the Village Green in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Since Putin will be in Kennebunkport we can count on hoards of INTERNATIONAL PRESS, the WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORP and national and local media to be present.
We want to turn out big numbers for this!!
From all over the Northeastern U.S. !!

The theme is TROOPS OUT NOW**BUSH OUT NOW and the Impeachment folks will be really coming out strong for this. Groups and individuals are encouraged to bring banners, flags, signs and noisemakers, as well as water and snacks.

RALLY will begin at 1:00pm but we will have music before the rally.

Keynote speakers include:

· David Swanson, founder of "After Downing Street"

· John Kaminski, President of Maine Lawyers for Democracy

· Melida and Carlos Arredondo , a military family who lost their son Carlos in Iraq on August 25, 2005

· Iraq & Afghanistan War Veterans and many others.

Music by Pat Scanlon and Band, Hannah Marris and others.

After the rally we will march up Ocean Avenue to the BUSH compound at Walker's Point.

"We are marching to demand the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for not only death and destruction in the Middle East but in America as well. From Katrina to the mutilation of our Constitution, the evisceration of habeas corpus, torture and the warrantless surveillance of American Citizens, Bush needs to be held accountable, especially when he is in our backyard!" --Jamilla El-Shafei, event organizer for the Kennebunk PEACE Department

For detailed information about this event, including directions, transportation options to Kennebunkport and camping alternatives, go to http://www.maineimpeach.org/Events.html

For more information contact Jamilla at jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com.

This event is organized by the Kennebunk PEACE Department, Maine Lawyers for Democracy and the Maine Campaign to IMPEACH (www.MaineImpeach.org ).

www.MaineImpeach.org

Preparing a Pardon

2007-06-10T09:37:00.001-04:00

Ok, you can file this one under, "You seem smart. What is it about this that you don't get?"

In the LA Times on Friday, reprinted in the MST today, a supposed U.S. pardon attorney and obvious political tin ear named Margaret Colgate Love published this article which attempts to make the point that a pardon to Scooter Libby would not be such a big deal, and that, correctly used, the president could manage to extend some olive branches to the public along with Scooter's "get out of jail free" card. Reading the article, it sounds perfectly reasonable.

Well, I guess Margaret must've just fallen off the turnip truck, because she obviously has no inkling what this case means or represents beyond the bland recital of facts in her article. This is not Bill Clinton pardoning Mark Rich, or even Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon. No, think more along the lines of George H.W. Bush pardoning Casper Weinberger and five other Iran-Contra figures. Except the Libby case is even worse, because, as egregious and political as those pardons were, there was nothing to indicate that Bush I himself broke any laws or ordered anyone to break any laws during Iran-Contra. The Valerie Plame case, in which the name of a covert operative was illegally leaked as part of a political hatchet job, leads directly back to Cheney, Rove, and ultimately the president himself. In other words, Bush II is guilty of complicity in the same crime that ultimately led to the conviction if Scooter Libby and at any other time in our history would have led to the resignations/prosecutions/convictions of the veep and the presidential "advisor."

In other words, George Bush pardoning Scooter Libby would be somewhat akin, as noted by Randi Rhoades a few weeks earlier, to Tony Soprano pardoning Paulie Walnuts, although a more apt comparison would be Richard Nixon pardoning Haldeman, Erhlichman, Mitchell, and Dean. (new version: Gonzales, Condi Rice, Cheney, and Rove?) It would be immoral and obstructionist, and illegal when the president's role in this finally comes out.

But it won't, because to shut him up, King George will pardon him...and then, in true Soprano style, maybe whack him.

A Surprisingly High Number?

2007-06-09T18:35:00.001-04:00

King George's poll numbers are on the way down again. Most Americans are unhappy with everything about this administration, which in and of itself is not surprising, if you've been paying any attention AT ALL. However, this little tidbit did surprise me: "Only a quarter of those initially identifying themselves as independents expressed satisfaction with the president, about equaling his low with them reached in February. Eight percent of Democrats gave him their approval."

Eight percent of Democrats approve of George Bush's performance? I don't know eight people total who approve of the fool, much less 8% of all Democrats. How can that be? They must all be around 100 years old and voted for Strom Thurmond back in the day.

There are NO self-respecting Democrats who approve of George Bush.

The Only Bigger Pussy Than Roger Clemens...

2007-06-09T18:14:00.000-04:00

...is George Bush. See, Clemens was afraid of facing the Boston Red Sox in his much-anticipated comeback, so he faked an injury to be sure he would face a pathetic team (the Pirates) that was easy for even the Yankees to beat.

Well, George Bush has done the same thing. In a move sure to piss off his far-right fringe supporters, and saying essentially, "I'm a-skeered to face those Democrats," Bush end-arounded what was sure to be an embarrassing public spectacle by pulling the renomination of Gen. Peter Pace as Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because of the speculation that someone might ask him some questions about the war in Iraq. What a fucking coward! I'm no fan of Pace, but Bush throwing him under the bus because the president didn't want a public dissection of the Iraq catastrophe is really beyond the pale of shirking accountability, even for this group. "I am disappointed that circumstances make this kind of a decision necessary," Bob Gates said, when announcing the 180-turn on Pace's nomination. What he neglected to mention, however, is that it is this administration's overwhelming intransigence and criminal disregard for the law that allowed those circumstances to propagate.

Let's hope the next one doesn't have such a tin ear, although I don't hold out much hope.

Amazon Defends Animal Fighting and Breaks Law

2007-06-07T11:54:00.000-04:00

In my Inbox from the HSUS...I've been planning to blog about Michael Vick soon because this really, really pisses me off.

Incredibly, Amazon Defends Animal Fighting!

Dear Lisa,

For at least two years, online retailer Amazon has been infamously -- and incorrectly -- touting its "right" to sell materials promoting illegal animal fighting, blatantly peddling dogfighting videos as well as cockfighting magazines like The Gamecock and The Feathered Warrior. These materials are not only offensive because of the cruelty they glorify, but their shipment is also a felony under the recently-enacted Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act. The company's decision to defy the new federal law against the reprehensible practices of dogfighting and cockfighting is reckless.

Amazon is falsely claiming its commercial sale of animal fighting publications is protected by the First Amendment. But these cockfighting magazines are selling fighting birds and cockfighting weapons, and those activities are explicitly outlawed under the new federal law! Amazon even says it is within its rights to sell dogfighting videos -- a practice forbidden under two separate federal laws. The First Amendment does not protect companies from selling illegal contraband, and that's exactly what Amazon is doing.

Dogs and chickens suffer grievous injuries in animal fights produced for depraved fun and shameful profit. Even if you have previously contacted the company, please ask Amazon right now to stop selling animal fighting materials. And let your friends and family know how they can help, too.
Thank you for all you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

P.S. Get the full story on Amazon and animal fighting on our website.

BOYCOTT 870AM IN PORTLAND!!!

2007-06-05T16:47:00.000-04:00

So, I go to turn on Air America a couple of days ago, and what do I hear? Sports talk. Freakin' sports talk, which you can hear on every other station on the AM dial. What the fuck is going on? So, I flip the dial trying to find the station, and come up with...nothing. Then I find out this:

Portland station drops Air America
Portland (ME) Press-Herald 6/1/07 | Ray Routhier

PORTLAND — Air America Radio, the liberal talk network, has gone off the air in Portland.

WLVP (870 AM) dropped Air America at 6 a.m. Friday and replaced it with the national sports network ESPN Radio.

Nassau Broadcasting, owners of WLVP, decided to drop Air America because of significant changes at the network recently, said Patrick Collins, senior vice president for Nassau Broadcasting in Maine.

Collins said the changes, included the departure of Air America’s star personality, Al Franken. By Friday afternoon, Collins said he had gotten a couple dozen phone calls from people protesting the change.

Besides the national programming of ESPN Radio, Collins said 870 AM will also broadcast local high school sports, beginning with football in the fall.

Oh, for Christ's sake. The company tried to do the same thing a few years ago, but made it's intentions known a few weeks before the change, and people howled in protest. This time, in an attempt to end-around that type of bad press, Nassau Broadcasting decided to pull a Robert Irsay on us and sneak it off in the wee hours, before anyone figured out what was going on. What chickenshits. How does this change serve the listening audience in any way, or contribute to the public discourse? There must be fifteen sports talk channels anyone in Portland with decent reception can get on their AM dial, including WEEI out of Boston. Not to mention those with satellite radio...not to mention that as I was flipping channels frantically trying to figure out what happened to Thom and Randi, I was treated to brief moments of the following conversations (I have no idea what the shows were or who the host was, it was heard in passing but it makes my point):

"Yes, America is a land of immigrants, but back then there was no talk of the multi-cultural garbage that we hear now. Those people coming in then assimilated..."

"What people just don't understand is that this war is not just a war in Iraq, but part of the much larger terror war, and Al-Qaeda is just waiting to see how long we'll hang in there before making another move. What we really need to do is bring all our military force to bear if we are interested in preserving our way of life."

Just in randomly flipping the dial, I was treated to not one but two ignorant right-wing rants, with nothing now to balance it. Portland is one of the most pathetic media markets in the country, what with "Radio for Men" 970 AM and all. For years, there was nothing to listen to in this town except NPR, and I guess that's the way it is again.

Fuck it. I'm going to XM.

Asylum Street Spankers Video

2007-06-04T18:13:00.000-04:00

This has been floating around a few months so you may already have seen it, but it's one of my all-time favorites.

Barack Gets It

2007-06-04T11:14:00.000-04:00

Just another reason to love this guy...he has his priorities straight...

Obama sorry for interrupting Yankees-Sox

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, knows he had stiff competition for attention in New Hampshire Sunday night. He told supporters as he showed up at a viewing party following the debate, “I don’t want to interrupt the Yankee-Red Sox game.”

The crowd chanted “we are part of something great” as a smiling Obama arrived at Murphy’s Tap Room. He shook hands and met supporters for about 15 minutes before saying he had to catch a plane.

He didn’t directly mention his performance in the debate but said, “I hope you are as energized as I am.”

– CNN Political Desk Managing Editor Steve Brusk

Fifty More Years in Iraq?

2007-06-01T15:23:00.000-04:00

George Bush wants us to stay in Iraq for 50 more years. Fabulous. Already the surge is failing, and the president wants to commit us to 45 more years of roadside bombings and body bags. Why doesn't he just infect the whole country with HIV? The end result will be the same.

Reminds me of a song...

The problem is all inside your head, George said to me
The answer is easy when your IQ's only three
I don't know why it's something no one else can see
We must spend fifty more years in Iraq

He said it's always been my habit to be wrong
But this time I'm not talking from the inside of a bong
And I'll repeat myself, and I hope you'll go along
We must spend fifty more years in Iraq
Fifty more years in Iraq

You're gonna go back, Jack
Don't make any plans, Stan
Except to deploy, Roy
(We'll never get free)
Just don't make a fuss, Gus
I hope you don't see much
Of the IEDs, Lee
(We'll never get free)

George said, I know this plan must really seem insane
And I'm throwing a harpoon into the GOP's campaign
I said George, you're nuts; and you never will explain
About the fifty years!

He said I'm working on the strategy tonight
And I believe that in the morning you will surely see I'm right
And then he smirked, and I realized that we're in for a fight
Or we'll get fifty more years in Iraq
Fifty more years in Iraq

You're gonna go back, Jack
Don't make any plans, Stan
Except to deploy, Roy
(We'll never get free)
Just don't make a fuss, Gus
I hope you don't see much
Of the IEDs, Lee
(We'll never get free)

You're gonna go back, Jack
Don't make any plans, Stan
Except to deploy, Roy
(We'll never get free)
Just don't make a fuss, Gus
I hope you don't see much
Of the IEDs, Lee
(We'll never get free)

Air America Retools

2007-05-27T09:58:00.000-04:00

FYI, courtesy of my inbox:

Dear EmailNation Subscriber,

For the past two months, new management at the liberal talk radio network Air America Radio has been working hard to re-launch a great idea -- talk radio for progressives that's informative, opinionated and entertaining.

Starting this week, the network has rolled out a new line-up, a redesigned website and a lively new blogger, Nancy Scola, who is posting many times each day. For this re-launch, Air America hosts have also interviewed some thirty leading political and public figures, including John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Eliot Spitzer, Michael Bloomberg, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Gloria Steinem and Ralph Nader.

Featured in the reinvigorated line-up are new weekday programs The Lionel Show, This is America with Jon Elliot and the Air Americans hosted by Mark Riley and featuring roving contributors Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, David Bender and RadioNation's Laura Flanders, among others. The weekend line-up will receive a dose of fresh voices with five new programs, including the new RadioNation with Laura Flanders.

A new weekly one-hour program broadcast each Sunday at 1:00 est, RadioNation with Laura Flanders features Nation writers, editors and authors discussing the most pressing political, social and cultural issues of our time. This Sunday tune in to hear conversations with Katrina vanden Heuvel on Iraq and Alberto Gonzalez, David Corn on the Democratic presidential contenders, Betsy Reed and Gabriel Thompson on the immigration debate and Liza Featherstone and Pete Montalbano on the efforts of Starbucks' workers to form a union.

Air America Radio is broadcast on 64 stations nationwide and on XM satellite and can be heard via live Internet streaming on www.airamericaradio.com.

Rosie's Reward

2007-05-26T15:17:00.000-04:00

From FOX News...how delicious.

Rosie O'Donnell Already Has Offers From NBC and CBS

"Rosie O'Donnell is walking away from "The View" the undisputed winner of what has been a nightmare situation for ABC. Rosie already has had offers from NBC and CBS for daytime shows to counter "The View," sources say.

Not only that, Rosie can pretty much write her own ticket, whether it's a no-holds-barred show on HBO or a syndicated program similar to her previous hit talk show.

What's clear, though, is that O'Donnell is leaving a leaking, if not sinking, ship at "The View." And don't believe rumors that Roseanne Barr will succeed her at the desk next fall. If you thought Barbara Walters had trouble tolerating O'Donnell, believe me, a few weeks of Roseanne would send her over the edge."

I don't feel sorry for Walters. She knew exactly what she was getting when she signed Rosie on.

The buzz I've heard is that CBS is offering Rosie $20 million and a slot opposite "The View." My mother thinks that braindead Hasselback is the next one to go, and that she's weedling for a job on Fox herself. She and her stubborn "Al Qaeda was in Iraq" mantra would fit in perfectly over there.

If you're one of the five people in the country who hasn't seen the O'Donnell-Hasselback confrontation, you can view it here. Normally, I'm a little skeptical of these types of onstage dramatics, but, speaking as someone who has had her share of angry faceoffs, the two here don't have the look of people who are kidding around. They both look really pissed off. I'm not a huge Rosie fan always-she's been known to play a little fast and loose with the facts-but good for her for standing up for herself. She may be a loudmouth, but she'e not a terrorist.

I wish some of these spineless Democratic leaders would take a cue from her.

Boehner's Blubbering

2007-05-26T09:49:00.001-04:00

If this doesn't make you go running for the bathroom with your hand over your mouth, then you must have been the contestant on Fear Factor who ate worms without complaint. What is the matter with this idiot?

All that would be well and good if Boehner weren't such a hypocrite, if those tears actually translated into action towards changing policy instead of inertia. His ongoing support of Bush war policy has just added to the ongoing body count of Americans whose deaths can be directly tied to 9/11-officially 2,750 on the day itself, and then thousands more as a result of post-9/11 American war policy. The figures from http://antiwar.com show that 3,444 Americans have been killed in Iraq (694 more than died on 9/11, the latest just yesterday, including more than 3300 killed since "Mission Accomplished"). By his actions, it appears that Mr. Boehner believes that the best way to "keep Americans secure" is to just feed the insurgents a steady diet of them.

As far as coming to Congress to "do something," well, it's hard to argue with him there. By looking at his overall record, however, it appears that what John Blubber went to Congress to do was to destroy the middle class, subsidize the oil industry, support wholesale torture and line the pockets of his wealthy donors.

BTW, John, shedding tears is what destroyed the Muskie candidacy in 1972. Maybe the good voters of the state of Ohio will take the hint...

Add Witness Tampering to the List...

2007-05-24T05:33:00.000-04:00

From CNN:

"Goodling said Gonzales "laid out his general recollection" of the firings of several U.S. attorneys during a March meeting before she left. At the time, she was aware that she was likely to have to testify about the controversy, and "I didn't know if it was maybe appropriate for us to talk about that at that point."

She said Gonzales told her, "Let me tell you what I can remember," and "laid out his general recollection" of the process leading up to the firings -- that he believed they had all been dismissed for performance-based reasons.

"Then he asked me if he thought, if I had any reaction to his iteration," Goodling said.

"I just did not know if it was a conversation that we should be having, and so I just didn't say anything," she added."

For someone who would have you believe she "didn't know" she was breaking the law when it comes to her hiring practices-she admits she took political affiliations into strong consideration but insists she didn't mean to-she's smart enough to know when to save her own neck. Pleads the 5th, evades her boss...

She's a principled criminal, apparently. Only breaks he law when it serves her own political interests, and turns like a rat when it doesn't.

She's Monica "The Bull" Goodling.

Fuzzy Logic

2007-05-23T20:17:00.000-04:00

George Bush, apparently emboldened by the recent spinelessness of the Democratic Congress, again tried to justify the Iraq war by pointing to a recently declassified report saying, among other things, that Osama Bin Laden thought about sending top Al Qaeda lieutenants to Iraq to set up a base from which to launch attacks in the United States.

In 2005. TWO YEARS after we attacked Iraq, and OPENED THE FLOODGATES TO TERRORISTS OF ALL STRIPES TO MIGRATE THERE.

Ah, the law of unintended consequences, eh, George? Depose Saddam, and Bin Laden feels perfectly safe to do business there. Two years later, you get to use that as a compelling reason why we should be there, when the whole scenario is ALL YOUR FAULT TO BEGIN WITH!

What a stupid fuck. So is anybody who is still defending this fool.

Makes me want to eat glass.

The Godfather Part IV

2007-05-23T16:30:00.001-04:00

What did we ever do before YouTube? (I know...we all had lives...)

Monica's Truth

2007-05-23T11:18:00.000-04:00

Monica Goodling, another braindead DOJ lackey (it would be great to find someone at that department who at least had a pulse, wouldn't it? Reminds you of "Dawn of the Dead"), is testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee as I write. David Margolis, a DOJ attorney, in transcripts released notes that as the controversy hit closer to home for the partisan crone, "She proceeded for the next, it seemed like forever, but it was probably only about 30 or 45 minutes, to bawl her eyes out and say, 'All I ever wanted to do was serve this president and this administration and this department."

And that, folks, tells the story of the whole problem with this administration. Monica, neocon stooge that she is, wanted to serve the president first, then the administration, by making the department as partisan as it could possibly be. I don't see "country" or "America's best interests" anywhere in there. I certainly don't see any concern for the American citizen.

It's all about the protecting the party, as any good fascist will tell you.

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

2007-05-22T15:53:00.000-04:00

You know what? Republicans are right, sometimes, and one of the things they are most right about is the fact that Democrats have no backbone. At least, Democratic politicians don't. First, they knuckled under and capitulated to George Bush's War of Choice; in a way, that was understandable-although not forgivable-as the majority of the sheep collectively known as the American public was clamoring for blood against what they had been disingenuously led to believe was the brains behind 9/11. Democrats bowed to the pressure of their constituencies although it's clear that most of them knew the foundation that was being laid was on quicksand.

Now? The president's approval rating stands at less than 30%; support for the war is nonexistent except amongst the right wing fringe. The president has vetoed one spending bill with a timeline for withdrawal that the majority of those polled felt he should have signed. The Democratic leadership then allowed that little fiasco to be framed by the White House in terms of "cutting off support for the troops" instead of the demand for accountability the public was now asking for. George Bush was again allowed to look resolute and strong-granted, in the face of a disaster, but the one thing this president is very good at is making it appear that he has some idea of how he wants things to go, the very personification of the old saying, "Do something-even if it's wrong!" The Democrats? Well, what the hell do they really want, anyway?

So today, instead of proving that they can actually stand for something, Democrats announced that Speaker Pelosi "will present a plan to House Democrats for a war funding bill that won't include a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq but will feature benchmarks with consequences." Consequences? That's the biggest joke of all, as the bill apparently grants Bush full authority to waive those consequences as he sees fit. So essentially, the Democratic leadership is giving King George the "blank check" they swore they wouldn't, to do whatever the hell he wants with no accountability whatsoever. Different Congress, same results. And still no end in sight for the utter disaster that is the Iraq war.

This is not about just Iraq, either. The Democrats also have yet to act with any authority or conviction on the issue of Alberto Gonzales and the politization of the Justice Department, despite the almost-daily revelations of the politically driven, ethically challenged and sometimes blatantly criminal activities that have taken place since 2001. Even the trepidous Washington Post declared James Comey's testimony on the recklessness of the Bush administration's conduct towards the NSA "an account of Bush administration lawlessness so shocking it would have been unbelievable coming from a less reputable source." And yet, Congress does-nothing. Bends over and takes it. There's more than ample evidence that this situation needs to be taken out of the president's hands and dealt with, and yet so far no one has made even a meek move towards impeachment, much less a daring one. It raises images of the Bush administration stalling on global warming because it needed "more study" while glaciers were boiling and penguins dropping dead in their tracks.

But my winner of the Gutless of the Week award goes to Jimmy Carter, a man I have long admired if not always agreed with. He wins for his weaselly comments on "Today," in which he said he wasn't calling the Bush administration "the worst in history," just worse than Nixon. For one, that doesn't even pass the straight face test-were you saying that Nixon was the worst in history prior to that, or that the tape was doctored? For another, Jimmy, no one was arguing with you. You were right the first time, but allowed yourself to be cowed because of the criticism that "good" presidents don't snipe at one another. That may have been true a decade ago, but the rules got totally revamped when this bunch came to town. Say what you mean, Jimmy, and mean what you say. Like when you wrote "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." That's all we ask.

Whoops. I forgot. You backed away from that strong stance, too...

But, back to Congress. It's infuriating. I'm not sure what these guys think they were elected to do, but clearly the American public is 'way ahead of them on this issue and on the Iraq War. I'm hoping there is some method to this madness, some grand "master plan" that will feveal itself in the next days or weeks, but as of now, I'm not too optimistic.

Dubya's Tribute to a Fallen Friend

2007-05-21T17:43:00.000-04:00

Tony Blair, poster boy for ambitious sycophants everywhere, recently announced his resignation in disgrace-the once-popular PM of the UK reduced to little more than a poor man's neocon. Very sad (I actually can't wait to read his memoirs). Here is a very moving tribute to the closeness shared by Tony and his mentor, King George. I promise it'll bring a tear to your eye...

There are some pretty creative people out there.

A New Blog

2007-05-21T16:56:00.000-04:00

As well as being a dedicated progressive, I also try to be an advocate for animals. I'm a member of the HSUS and our local shelter, the Animal Refuge League, where I also do some volunteer work and have fostered animals. Here's some proof of a couple of my success stories. All these mothers and babies were adopted out successfully!

So I thought I'd let everyone know that the HSUS has launched a new blog, designed to let it's readers hear daily about progress made by the organization in such important and diverse areas as factory farming, fur, puppy mills, and many more. There's also endless opportunities to get involved and stay engaged.

If you love animals like I do, come and join the conversation!

Hold Onto Your Hats...

2007-05-18T08:07:00.000-04:00

...'cuz Michael Moore is back.

"Sicko" Is Completed and We're Off to Cannes!

May 17, 2007

Friends,

It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there.

My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes. That is what I have done and, as you may have noticed if you are a recipient of my infrequent Internet letters, I have been very silent about what I've been up to. In part, that's because I was working very hard to complete the film. But my silence was also because I knew that the health care industry -- an industry which makes up more than 15 percent of our GDP -- was not going to like much of what they were going to see in this movie and I thought it best not to upset them any sooner than need be.

Well, going quietly to Cannes, I guess, was not to be. For some strange reason, on May 2nd the Bush administration initiated an action against me over how I obtained some of the content they believe is in my film. As none of them have actually seen the film (or so I hope!), they decided, unlike with "Fahrenheit 9/11," not to wait until the film was out of the gate and too far down the road to begin their attack.

Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, launched an investigation of a trip I took to Cuba to film scenes for the movie. These scenes involve a group of 9/11 rescue workers who are suffering from illnesses obtained from working down at Ground Zero. They have received little or no help with their health care from the government. I do not want to give away what actually happens in the movie because I don't want to spoil it for you (although I'm sure you'll hear much about it after it unspools Saturday). Plus, our lawyers have advised me to say little at this point, as the film goes somewhere far scarier than "Cuba." Rest assured of one thing: no laws were broken. All I've done is violate the modern-day rule of journalism that says, "ask no questions of those in power or your luncheon privileges will be revoked."

This preemptive action taken by the Bush administration on the eve of the "Sicko" premiere in Cannes led our attorneys to fear for the safety of our film, noting that Secretary Paulson may try to claim that the content of the movie was obtained through a violation of the trade embargo that our country has against Cuba and the travel laws that prohibit average citizens of our free country from traveling to Cuba. (The law does not prohibit anyone from exercising their first amendment right of a free press and documentaries are protected works of journalism.)

I was floored when our lawyers told me this. "Are you saying they might actually confiscate our movie?" "Yes," was the answer. "These days, anything is possible. Even if there is just a 20 percent chance the government would seize our movie before Cannes, does anyone want to take that risk?"

Certainly not. So there we were last week, spiriting a duplicate master negative out of the country just so no one from the government would take it from us. (Seriously, I can't believe I just typed those words! Did I mention that I'm an American, and this is America and NO ONE should ever have to say they had to do such a thing?)

I mean, folks, I have just about had it. Investigating ME because I'm trying to help some 9/11 rescue workers our government has abandoned? Once again, up is down and black is white. There are only two people in need of an investigation and a trial, and the desire for this across America is so widespread you don't even need to see the one's smirk or hear the other's sneer to know who I am talking about.

But no, I'm the one who now has to hire lawyers and sneak my documentary out of the country just so people can see a friggin' movie. I mean, it's just a movie! What on earth could I have placed on celluloid that would require such a nonsensical action against me?

Ok. Scratch that.

Well, I'm on my way to Cannes right now, a copy of the movie in my bag. Don't feel too bad for me, I'll be in the south of France for a week! But then it's back to the U.S. for a number of premieres and benefits and then, finally, a chance for all of you to see this film that I have made. Circle June 29th on your calendar because that's when it opens in theaters everywhere across the country and Canada (for the rest of the world, it opens in the fall).

I can't wait for you to see it.

Yours,

Michael Moore

P.S. I will write more about what happens from Cannes. Stay tuned on my website, MichaelMoore.com

A Change in Strategy?

2007-05-17T14:20:00.000-04:00

George Bush seems to agree that the departure of Paul Wolfowitz is inevitable, given that Wolfowitz abused his position to get promotions and raises for his girlfriend. "We want it over, one way or the other," said a senior administration official, who added that the White House was merely reacting to the "reality" of Wolfowitz's shriveling support on the bank board. "If you can't win, you can't win."

Well, I'm glad the administration has made it's philosophy clear. So, about that little matter in Iraq, George...

Impeachable Crimes and other News

2007-05-17T11:21:00.000-04:00

This is an important segment on Keith last night. Sorry about the commercials, but I really think people need to watch it and understand how perverse and criminal this administration is and always has been. Clearly Jonathan Turley is fed up with the fact that this Congress keeps letting Gonzo-and, by extension, George Bush-timidly get away with this shit, and quite frankly so am I. To view the segment, you can click here.

In other news, Al Gore admits he may yet launch a bid for president, which will undoubtedly kick hungry liberals everywhere into overdrive. Can you imagine a Gore/Obama ticket? Unbeatable. Yeah, I know Barack says he won't accept a VP nomination, but that's usually a smart thing to say when you're running for the top spot on the ticket. Once the nomination was decided, my guess is, if duty called, he would serve. Just like Harry Truman, that most reluctant of VP candidates.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

2007-05-15T20:13:00.000-04:00

Jerry Falwell died today, and the world is a better place because of it. I'm not even going to pretend to be respectful to the memory of one of the most evil men who ever walked the earth (for a review of how evil, you can read Max Blumenthal's article here.) I'm just glad he's dead.

I wonder what his first thoughts were when he woke up and found himself in hell. Do you think he was surprised? I don't, really. I think he knew exactly what he was-a divisive manipulator, a hypocrite of the highest order who exploited the fears and prejudices of the weak and stupid in a single minded quest for power. My guess is that he didn't even believe in "God," except as a pawn in his quest to divide and conquer. Hell is just the price he figured he had to pay for mind control and the earthly wealth and power that went with it.

Do you think he'll have an epiphany while burning in the flames of damnation, ala Jacob Marley? Can't you just see him dragging his big ole chain around, trying to spare, say, Pat Robertson from suffering the same fate? Just imagine them in this classic scene...

FALWELL TO ROBERTSON: "It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men! If it goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death! It is doomed to wander through the world! Oh, woe is me! And witness what it cannot share but MIGHT HAVE SHARED on Earth and turned to happiness!"

ROBERTSON: "But it is only that you were a good man of business, Jerry."

FALWELL: "BUSINESS? Mankind was my business! Their common welfare was my business!"

I can't see it happening, though. For one, Jacob Marley was a much better man than Jerry Falwell, because at least he made his money legitimately, not be villifying and demonizing those who were different than he. Marley could not have cared less if two guys were fucking each other in the ass five feet from him as long as they paid their debts on time. For another, Scrooge was capable of reclamation; there's nothing of a human being left in Pat Robertson.

So, good riddance, Jerry. May you rest in eternal agony and damnation worthy of a man of your stature.

MaineImpeach.org Rally Notice

2007-05-15T03:06:00.000-04:00

FYI...I'm going to be in Philadelphia this weekend so can't make the rally, but I hope you can!!!

MaineImpeach.org
14 May 2007

MaineImpeach.org has surpassed our first goal!

And Dennis Kucinich is joining us to celebrate! You come too !!

10,000 Mainers - including you - have signed onto the Maine Impeachment petition !

Thank you!
But we want even more names. So please contact one or two more friends, and get them on-line to add their names supporting impeachment at

www.MaineImpeach.org

Next we'll deliver these thousands of names to our Congressmen and to the Maine Legislature to push impeachment forward ! This will require phone calls and messages to our Maine politicians from all of you. We'll be in touch to make that happen.

In the meantime -

Join Congressman Dennis Kucinich in Portland this Saturday - TO TALK IMPEACHMENT of Bush and Cheney !!

Congressman Kucinich had the courage to introduce Impeachment Legislation into Congress! Now he will be in Maine to get our help and move it ahead!

Dennis will be in Portland Saturday afternoon, May 19 at 4:30 PM to inform Mainers about Impeachment status and prospects and to make Impeachment happen. Please join us.

We need a big crowd to tell Dennis that Mainers are serious about impeachment and behind him on making it happen!

Time: Saturday, May 19 at 4:30 to 6:00 PM
Place: The Woodfords Club, 179 Woodfords Street, Portland, Maine

All Maine people with strong opinions about impeachment should be there.

Travel Directions: The Woodfords Club is located in the Back Bay section of Portland near Woodford's Corner - the intersection of Forest Avenue, Ocean Ave., Woodford St., and Deering Avenue. To get there, take exit 6B off of Interstate 295, follow Forest Avenue 1.2 miles (6 traffic lights) to the north. At the sixth traffic light, which is Woodford's Corner, turn left onto Woodford St., and the building is at #179 Woodfords Street.

This event is sponsored by the Maine Campaign to Impeach.

_______________________________________________________________

Note -- Right after this impeachment rally, at 6:00 PM (May 19), Congressman Kucinich will be the Keynote Speaker at the Maine People's Alliance Rising Tide Dinner at the Woodford's Congregational Church, just down the street from the Woodfords Club.

Tickets are required for the dinner. Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased by phoning Maine People's Alliance at 207-797-0967 or order tickets online at www.mainepeoplesalliance.org

We hope to see you in Portland on Saturday !!

Deborah, John, Gary and the other folks at MaineImpeach.org

The Well's Run Dry

2007-05-14T16:55:00.000-04:00

Hobnobbing with the president just isn't the thrill it used to be. Just ask the donors attending the annual GOP gala on Thursday, which took in over one-third less for the Republicans than the same event did last year. When you look at who the current head of the GOP is and the pathetic group wanting to take over for him, you can't blame the party faithful for holding onto their wallets. For those who actually did show up, they probably just had a bad day and felt like flushing $1500 down the toilet.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush helped raise $10.5 million for the national Republican Party at its annual gala on Thursday night, the smallest take in years for the event that came only months after the GOP lost control of both houses of Congress.

The Republican National Committee's spring fundraising gala hosted by the president raised $17 million last year, $15 million in 2005 and $14 million in 2003. When Bush was seeking re-election to the White House in 2004, the dinner brought in a record $38.5 million.

Bush defended his policies on the Iraq war, to a friendly reception, but didn't directly criticize Democrats, despite tussles with them over a war spending bill.

Shortly after Bush left the dinner, on Capitol Hill the House voted, largely along party lines, to pay for military operations in Iraq on an installment plan, defying Bush's threat to veto it in a test of wills over the unpopular war. The measure now goes to the Senate.

The cocktail reception drew about 800 people to the cavernous DC Armory, where they dined standing up on tenderloin sandwiches, crabcakes, vegetables and hummus. The ticket price was $1,500 a person, though many donated more.

The president put a positive spin on the night, saying donors would help return Washington to domination by the GOP, both in the White House and on Capitol Hill.

"I believe we're the party of the entrepreneur. I believe we're the party of the doer, the dreamer, the people that work," Bush said. "I believe that we're the party of low taxes. And I know we're the party of strong national defense to protect the United States of America."

The latest fundraising filings for the parties, released in April, showed that national Democrats have nearly eliminated Republicans' traditional fundraising advantage. (Compare fundraising by candidate and party)

The Republican National Committee and its House and Senate committees barely edged out their Democratic counterparts in first-quarter fundraising. Each side raised just over $47 million but the GOP came out on top by a difference of just $76,049.66. The Democrats spent much less in the first three months of the year, so they had more in the bank as of the April filings.

The Democratic advantage came from the congressional committees, which outraised the Republicans now that they hold majorities in the House and Senate.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, raised $24.6 million to the Democratic National Committee's $15 million. The national parties' money is typically targeted more toward the presidential contest, likely to be the case this cycle with the 2008 White House race.

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-13T07:05:00.000-04:00

I've been learning a lot about Mother's Day over the past week. Did you know that it was first proposed in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe (of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" fame) as a call for peace and disarmament for mothers who had lost sons in the carnage of the Civil War? Although Howe failed in her attempt for a "Mother's Day for Peace," Anna Jarvis co-opted the idea in 1908 and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to fly the flag in honour of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

It seems especially pertinent that we remember the words of Julia Ward Howe today, 137 years after they were first spoken. Nothing much has changed.

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions
The great and general interests of peace.

Happy Mothers Day to all mothers reading, as well as all of us who yearn for peace in our time.

Another Reason NOT to Vote for Sam Brownback...

2007-05-13T06:39:00.000-04:00

...sheesh. As if you needed one.

He thinks Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback in history.

Of course, all those pissed-off Packer fans are wrong, too. If you know anything about football, you know the greatest quarterback in history is Tom Brady.

No Focus on the Family

2007-05-12T08:23:00.000-04:00

Think of how many conservative organizations have the word "family" in their moniker. The most obvious one is the ubiquitous "Focus on the Family," led by the adultery enabler James Dobson, who proclaims without irony that they are "nurturing and defending families worldwide." Then there is the equally unctuous "Family Research Council," who also claims they are "defending family, faith, and freedom" by promoting it with a xenophobic agenda and the stated belief that "government has a duty to promote and protect marriage and family in law and public policy."

Soooo...if the family unit is so important, and it is up to the government to make the preservation of (white Republican two-parent heterosexual) family life a priority, I'd like to know where the voices of these defenders of traditional Donna Reed/June Cleaver moms are on this issue:

"WASHINGTON - Mothers in the U.S. military are stressed, poorly paid and need more help caring for their children, according to a report issued by Congress on Friday.

Nearly half of all women in the active-duty military have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and 24,475 women are there now, the report by the Joint Economic Committee said.

Yet child-care services are not keeping up with longer and more frequent deployments, said the report, released to coincide with Mother’s Day.

And women get only 6 weeks of leave after the birth of a child, it found."

The report also notes that 40% of the women in the active-duty force have children, and that they are more likely to be single parents than the active-duty men. It also reports that "the military is approximately 35,000 short of expected need” in providing child-care services.

So, ok, Jim and Tony, and all your sycophantic followers...where's the outrage? If your organizations were truly committed to the service of all families, why, I'd expect to hear a huge backlash from your organizations concerning the shoddy treatment of mothers and their children by the U.S. armed forces. But, in between immersing themselves in really important, loving works (such as fighting hate crimes legislation , protecting clumps of cells headed for the incinerator, or championing admitted adulterer Newt Gingrich for president), there seems no time to advocate for exhausted military mothers trying desperately to parent their children in between more frequent and longer deployments.

Well, I shouldn't be surprised...none of those families are named Murdoch, after all...and we all know single parents got that way because of their own irresponsibility, right?

What's really sad is that some of these same women, in such dire straits because of failed conservative policies, probably think James Dobson is a saint. Moms, take note...the only voice in support of your plight came from New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who noted “Making sure military mothers have the quality child care, generous family leave, and access to mental health services they need is key to their family well-being and our national security."

Do I hear an amen, James?...Tony?...

A Triumph for Science and Public Health

2007-05-09T18:56:00.000-04:00

I doubt most of these folks on the Kansas Board of Education are progressives, but at least they have made it clear that they are not going to take politically motivated trampling of the tenets of science in their state lying down. Good for them! Gives the rest of us courage to keep fighting the good fight.

Kansas Board of Ed. erases conservative sex ed policies

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- The Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday repealed sex education policies enacted last year, the latest move by the moderate majority to undo efforts by conservatives when they dominated the board.

One rescinded policy recommended that schools stress abstinence until marriage, while the other urged school districts to get parental permission before students could attend human sexuality classes.

On a 6-3 vote, the board replaced the policies with one that recommends "abstinence plus" sex education programs and leaves it up to the state's 296 school districts to decide whether to get parental permission.

The "abstinence plus" program stresses abstinence before marriage, while also urging schools to give students information about birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

"It's a matter of emphasis," said chairman Bill Wagnon.

Wagnon said the goal was "to describe the curriculum standards in terms of 'it's more than just simply an encouragement of abstinence,' but we want a balance and comprehensive educational program about sex."

But conservative member Kathy Martin said most parents want the standards enacted last year.

"Abstinence until marriage is the best message we can give our children," Martin said.

She said the old standards "emphasized self-control over birth control," and the new standards "fail to give a true picture."

It was the second major change for the 6-4 moderate bloc since taking control in January. Wagnon said the final major change could come Wednesday if the board hires a new education commissioner to replace Bob Corkins, hired by conservatives in 2005. His hiring touched off criticism because he had no experience as a school administrator, and he resigned in November after the new board was elected.

In February, the board repealed science standards backed by social conservatives and switched to ones that treat evolution as well-supported by research. The standards, which take effect next school year, are used to develop tests to measure how well students learn science.

The old standards, endorsed by supporters of "intelligent design," questioned the theory of evolution.

Here, Beary-Beary-Beary....

2007-05-08T18:16:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty creative-and, sadly, accurate-portrayal of the "sport" of bear trapping here in Maine. What a bunch of pathetic neanderthals.

Kind of strips away the "stealthy sportsman" facade, doesn't it?

Tom Allen in the Race

2007-05-08T17:32:00.000-04:00

Tom Allen announced today that he will, in fact, be a candidate for the U.S. Senate. He will be running against Stoogan Collins, a so-called moderate who is more and more, thanks to her positions on the Iraq War and as a prominent member of the no-oversight Republican-led congress of 2001-2007, being seen as a right wing sycophant. Never mind that she shouldn't be even in the race-she pledged to serve no more than two terms when first elected in 1996. So already she's established herself as a liar.

IMO this is the best news we've had in Maine for a while, and the best opportunity to send this wolf in sheep's clothing to ignomious defeat. Collins has historically had some support amongst Democrats because of her pro-life positions, but the war and the president are very unpopular here in Maine, and, despite her window-dressing to the contrary, Collins has been an lemming-like supporter of both. Allen has the benefit of being opposed to the war from day one, and you can bet he will harass Collins endlessly on this issue. Add that to the national interest (and money) this race will garner-Collins' seat has been targeted as vulnerable one because of the state's recent voting record and her war positions-and you can be certain we'll have a barnburner on our hands. Allen's got his work cut out for him-some early polls put him~20 percentage points behind Collins-but my guess is that as people learn more about the two, the gap will close considerably (especially when you put them side by side, like they'll be in a debate...the only thing that may help Collins in that case is some elocution lessons. She is painful to listen to.)

Socially Responsible Theater

2007-05-06T12:03:00.000-04:00

This looks like a film every American should see:

From Harper's:

"104 prisoners have died in suspicious circumstances in U.S. custody during the war on terror. "Taxi to the Dark Side" takes an in-depth look at one case: an Afghan taxi driver called Dilawar, who died as a direct result of beatings he sustained from guards and interrogators at Bagram Air Force Base. The documentary, by award-winning producer Alex Gibney ("The Smartest Guys in the Room"), carefully develops the last weeks of Dilawar's life and shows how decisions taken at the pinnacle of power in the Bush Administration led directly to Dilawar's brutal death.

This is the definitive exploration of the introduction of torture as an interrogation technique in U.S. facilities, and the role played by key figures of the Bush Administration in the process. Harper's contributor Scott Horton provides part of the documentary's narrative."

"Taxi to the Dark Side" premiered on April 27 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Sidney Blumenthal is executive producer

An Historical Milestone

2007-05-05T13:12:00.000-04:00

"It certainly is most absurd, the fact can never be!
My great grand daddy never was a monkey up a tree!"
Grace Carleton, "Darwin's Little Joke," 1874

“Parents have a right to insist that godless evolution not be taught to their children”-former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan

On May 5, 1925, a high school science teacher named John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in a public school in a Tennessee public schools in violation of state law. The day before, on May 4, the ACLU had run an ad in the Chattanooga Times, offering to pay the legal fees of any Tennessee teacher who would agree to take the state on in a test case, and Scopes became the guinea pig. Although he was eventually acquitted on a technicality, the Tennessee State Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the state law, cementing Tennessee and the south's reputation as an intellectual cesspool for decades to come. Not until nearly forty years later, in 1967, did the Tennessee legislature overturn the law, finally allowing teachers to teach evolution-a law many on the right wing fringe would like to see overturned.

On May 3, two days before the eighty-second anniversary of the historic arrest, three Republican candidates for president-Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, and Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado-indicated they did not believe in evolution, thus cementing the Republican party as an intellectual cesspool, not to mention a coalition of pandering lackeys. Huckabee only made things worse for himself when he later tried to straddle the fence:

"If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, I'll accept that....I believe there was a creative process...We shouldn't indoctrinate kids in school. I wouldn't want them teaching creationism as if it's the only thing that they should teach." He then indicated he thought students should be given credit for having the "intelligence" to think through various theories for themselves and come to "their own conclusions."

Ok, to all who think that makes sense...is it then ok if students judge for themselves whether a musical note is an F sharp or a B flat? Or whether or not the exterior angle of a triangle is always equal to the two angles of the triangle that it is not adjacent to? Or whether or not water is composed of one part oxygen and two parts hydrogen? Or whether or not I comes before E, except after C?

Uh-huh. Thought so.

Wikipedia notes, "At that time in history the theory of evolution was considered controversial in public opinion, and a large faction of its detractors linked it with atheism."

Sound familiar? Remember, they're talking about the 1920s here, not 2007. The more things change, the more they stay the same, apparently.

Where's Clarence Darrow when you really need him?

(Church threat lifted from http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/quotes.htm)

Some Good News for a Change

2007-05-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

Credit where credit is due...this doesn't make our president any less a miserable, lying bastard, but he does like animals. Got this nice piece of news in my inbox yesterday

The President Signs Landmark Animal Fighting Legislation

May 3, 2007

"Today, President Bush signed into law a bill that will help law enforcement rid the United States of dogfighting, cockfighting, and other forms of animal fighting.

Dogfighting and cockfighting crimes are rampant in the United States, with individuals arrested every week in scores of locations under state laws. The vast underground networks generate pervasive animal cruelty, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, public corruption and even violence and murder. The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which passed Congress with large bi-partisan support, will give law enforcement a stronger tool to crack down on this illegal activity.

"Animal fighting is a barbaric and inhumane practice, and it is fitting and appropriate that we now have a national policy condemning and criminalizing this form of organized animal cruelty," states Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, which has led the national battle against animal fighting and been the primary advocate for this federal legislation.

The law takes effect immediately. It provides felony penalties for interstate commerce, import and export related to animal fighting activities, including commerce in cockfighting weapons. It will make it much harder for criminals who engage in dogfighting and cockfighting to continue their operations. Each violation of the federal law may bring up to three years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine for perpetrators.

Cockfighting is outlawed in every state except Louisiana, although there is mounting pressure in that state to ban the practice. Many states still have misdemeanor penalties for cockfighting. The federal law slaps felony penalties on interstate cockfighting trafficking, and this should provide an enormous deterrent for the tens of thousands of people involved in this criminal industry.

The law will have a devastating impact on major breeders of fighting animals, who depend on customers from all over the United States and abroad. Dog kennels rely on transporting their fighting dogs across state lines and across the world to customers. The new law should substantially curb the transport of fighting animals across state and U.S. borders. The HSUS is already seeing some major breeders of fighting roosters cutting back on production.

The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act will help end the export of fighting animals to other countries. Selling roosters to customers in the Philippines and other nations can be lucrative for American cockfighters. The new law puts increased pressure on the airlines to stop shipping roosters to cockfighting hot spots.

The new law had been introduced by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) in the House, and by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in the Senate. It had also been endorsed by more than 500 groups, including all major humane organizations, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the National Chicken Council, the National Sheriffs' Association, and more than 400 local law enforcement agencies covering all 50 states."

Speaking of outlawing animal cruelty, here in Maine we're the only state in the nation that allows bear trapping, and a ban on it a couple of years ago was rejected largely because some of the upstate rednecks who apparently don't mind earning money off inflicting misery on a living creature. A new bill is in front of the Maine legislature to ban the inhuman practice, and I sent this message to my own state representative, Democrat Lawrence Bliss (if you live in Maine and feel as I do, I suggest you contact your representative as well):

Representative Lawrence Bliss
Maine House of Representatives, Room 333
2 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0001

Dear Legislator Bliss,

Please support LD 1635 to ban bear trapping.

In a poll conducted in 1992 by The Maine Sportsman, a
Yarmouth-based magazine, seven out of 10 respondents disapproved
of trapping. The numbers would likely be even more lopsided
among the general public. During the failed bear referendum of
2004, a poll was taken of Maine hunters regarding their opinion
on bear trapping. Of those polled, 70% disagreed with bear
trapping.

Maine is the only state in the country to allow bear trapping,
putting the state outside the hunting mainstream. There is no
wildlife management reason for bear trapping.

I urge your support in banning this practice.

Sincerely,
Lisa Keenan

Larry very kindly answered me back:

Thanks for writing to me about the bear trapping bill.
When a similar bill came to the legislature two years ago,
the folks from northern Maine said that it was necessary
for economic survival of the northern counties. I'll be
interested in their reasons this time.

You'll see me support this bill if it gets to the floor
of the House without amendments. You can never be sure
what the committee of jurisdiction might do in their
work session, so I'll wait to read the final bill. If it
actually does ban bear trapping, I'll support it.

Thanks again for writing to me about this. I'm always
interested in hearing from folks from South Portland
who are interested in what we're doing in Augusta. I
hope you'll stay in touch.

Larry

Representative Lawrence Bliss
House District 122 (South Portland, Cape Elizabeth)

I'll let you know what happens when the bill comes up for a vote!