Two gunshot wounds to the head a Suicide?

Gary Webb, the reporter that broke the story about the CIA, and Contra-cocaine, being sold as crack in LA, has died, the result of two gunshot wounds to the head, in what is being reported a suicide. From Common dreams.

Webb's explosive San Jose Mercury News series documented that funders of the Contras included drug traffickers who played a role in the crack epidemic that hit Los Angeles and other cities. Webb's series focused heavily on Oscar Danilo Blandon, a cocaine importer and federal informant, who once testified in federal court that "whatever we were running in L.A., the profit was going to the Contra revolution." Blandon further testified that Colonel Enrique Bermudez, a CIA asset who led the Contra army against Nicaragua's leftwing Sandinista government, knew the funds were from drug running. (Bermudez was a colonel during the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua.)

Webb reported that U.S. law enforcement agents complained that the CIA had squelched drug probes of Blandon and his partner Norwin Meneses in the name of "national security." Blandon's drugs flowed into L.A. and elsewhere thanks to the legendary "Freeway" Ricky Donnell Ross, a supplier of crack to the Crips and Bloods gangs.

While Webb's series could be faulted for some overstatement in presenting its powerful new evidence (a controversial graphic on the Mercury News website superimposed a person smoking crack over the CIA seal), the fresh documentation mightily moved forward the CIA-Contra-cocaine story that national media had been trying to bury for years. Any exaggeration in the Mercury News presentation was dwarfed by a mendacious, triple-barreled attack on Webb that came from the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.

The Post and others criticized Webb for referring to the Contras of the so-called Nicaraguan Democratic Force as "the CIA's army" -- an absurd objection since by all accounts, including those of Contra leaders, the CIA set up the group, selected its leaders and paid their salaries, and directed its day-to-day battlefield strategies.

Stories like these are extrememly difficult to deal with, because most people would not like to know, in fact would rather avoid knowledge of what their government (and they by extension) might be capable of. Having come of age during the reagan administration, I have no such difficulties. While Webb may not have been able to completely expose the shadowy parties that signed off on the plan, the CIA was involved in the sale of cocaine in order to fund the Contras. This operation may have also had other strategic objectives, but that is a post for another day.

From the SacBee, the Coroner signs off on the death as a suicide.

Reporter's suicide confirmed by coroner
A flood of inquiries about Gary Webb's shooting death prompts statement.
By Sam Stanton -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Facing a barrage of calls from the media and the public, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office issued a statement Tuesday confirming that former investigative reporter Gary Webb committed suicide with two gunshots to the head.

"The cause of death was determined to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head," the coroner's statement said.

"Information and evidence gathered at the scene of death, including a handwritten note indicating an intention on the part of the decedent to take his own life, resulted in 'suicide' as the determined manner of death.

"The investigation is continuing and will take an estimated additional six to eight weeks to complete."

The statement was issued because of the number of calls that had flooded the Coroner's Office since The Bee reported Sunday that Webb's death was caused by more than one wound.

Webb, a former San Jose Mercury News reporter, was found dead in his Carmichael home Friday morning.

Webb, who most recently had been writing for the Sacramento News & Review, is survived by his ex-wife and three children.

Such a case normally would have sparked little notice. But Webb gained notoriety in the 1990s after writing a series of stories for the Mercury News linking the CIA to Nicaraguan Contras seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government and to drug sales of crack cocaine flooding South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s.

His newspaper and others later questioned the conclusions in Webb's reporting, and he left the San Jose newspaper in 1997 after being moved to a suburban bureau.

So we are left with the image of a very determined person failing to kill himself with the first shot, and having the wherewithal to pull the trigger the second time, or we are looking at an execution. While the first image is possible, and while his ex-wife suggests is in deed the case, the cynic in me finds the latter more plausible. The coroner in question suggests "It's unusual in a suicide case to have two shots, but it has been done in the past, and it is in fact a distinct possibility." Of course a little more information on the nature of the first wound might clear things up considerably on all accounts, I won't be holding my breath.

Tip of the hat to Helga for bringing this to my attention.

A bag of cat and his eyes

Jack again, doing one of the things he does best, lounging. I give the rat bastard a list of chores every day and what does he do? Actually most of them, though he always omits one or two from his list. First the picture, then the list of chores.



Jack's list of chores
1. Wake up.
2. Lounge for a bit.
3. Stretch extra good.
4. Plop back down.
5. Get up and check out the Food Bowl, if in satisfactory condition, eat.
6. Stretch some more
7. Clean the litter boxes
8. If inside, take a nap
9. If outside, contemplate chasing Bean, or a chipmunk.
10. Vacuum the carpet.
11. Roll around in the catnip.
12 Balance the checkbook.

You see, the list is not particularly hard, but it seems that he just skips over 3 items, every single time. I am at my wits end regarding his insubordinance, but then again, the other cats seem incapable of compliance as well, so maybe it is just a cat thing.

They write letters to Newsweek. Part two.

I was visiting a couple friends yesterday who happen to have a subscription the that paragon of newsweeklies Newsweek. It was the one with the painting of the Virgin and Child on the cover and somesuch about the origin of Christmas. Anyway I started flipping through the thing and came upon the letters section. A couple of them lept out and grabbed my attention, so I found a pen grabbed the notebook I had forgotten I carry around and transcribed them so that I could post them here for your edification. The first letter is in response to the Question on the cover, which was a lead in to an article about that new hit "Desparate Housewives".

Your Nov 29 cover line asks: Has pop culture gone too far? Unfortunately, it went too far long ago. That is why I, along with millions of others, voted not only against John Kerry and his support of the current pop culture, but against the Hollywood that supported Kerry and created "Desparate Housewives".

The housewives depicted in this show are not the housewives I am familiar with. If they are typical of mainstream America, then we are desparate -- desparately in trouble.

Jim Olsen
Hobe Sound, FL

Now I am not sure where to start, so many angles as to boggle the mind. It occurs to me that this was composed at one of the regional republican indignant composition farms. But lets see, This gentleman, if he is indeed a person and if he is indeed the author, would have us believe that he voted not for George Bush, but against John Kerry, pop culture, and Hollywood. In fact he projects his intention on millions of others that seem to think that Kerry's carreer as a sleaze merchant in hollywood, has done quite a bit to turn America into a Moral sesspit.

Oh I see, it appears that Kerry was not a longtime hollywood producer, but was the benificiary of the support of "the Hollywood"
that "created" a stupid assed TV show (just one of millions of stupid assed TV shows, In fact one thing that ole Jim and I might agree on is that the show sucks, in fact I have not and have no interest in watching the thing, and I am a heathen liberal, but I digress).

The last sentence is just a bit too clever, which raises my suspicions about its authorship. But in any event when has a Fucking TV show sitcom or Drama, bared even a remote resemblence to reality. And Jim old boy, why does this show in particular ring the death knell of civilization? There is a whole lot of gorge rising material out there, or does this have anything to do with the orchestrated campaign of outrage directed at the commercial spot featuring the Nordic Sullivan and Mandingo Played by Terrel Owens.

White man has enough to worry about, without having to search under the bed for Mandingo before sleep.

They write letters to Newsweek Part One

The following is from the December 13th issue of Newsweek letters section. Apparently there was an article written by Jonathan Alter titled "Shabby Fiesta of Hypocracy" at some point in a previous issue. Apparently Clinton, Bill was put under a pleasing light, and this was too much to take from one reader apparently.

Providing a positive spin to Bill Clinton regarding raunchy TV as Jonathan Alter does, takes some real creative thinking. No one did as much to lower the moral standards of this country and to lowerrespect for elected officials as Clinton did. He damaged the respect of the presidency to a point that would have been considered unimaginable prior to his immoral shenanigans while he was in office. Using his name in a positive manner when talking about raunchiness is laughable.

Don Landis
Broomall, PA

Now first things first, I would not be suprised if this letter was witten by Don, and I also would not be suprised to find that Don is a relation of Floyd's. Floyd Landis, a teammate of Lance Armstrong's, and one of the primary reasons that lance was able to capture an unprecedented 6th title in this years tour.

That said, I will keep this short, 'cause, well, its just batshit stupid. The author must be talking about a blowjob right? One which really wasn't anyones business, one that no one would have found out about, (Yo Don, Gush the Elder, had him a piece of Washington ass, and I am quite sure that Barbara is not the only one from whom he has enjoyed a blowjob) so you can than Ken Starr for his pornographic report, congress for 70 million to find nothing except the exact kind of purgery that anyone would commit (Don, has the little soldier ever been stiffened by anything other than thoughts and visions of wifeypoo, and if not, have you told her about it? And if you want Moral, the guy you voted against in 1980, was probably the most moral man to hold office, but I am getting away from myself).

Have you heard of Bob "grab ass" Packwood? Does Nixon ring a bell?
One could go on and on if one had the interest, but mine has run out.

A couple more dead prisoners

The US Army has admitted to two more deaths of prisoners held in custody in Afghanistan, bringing the total number to eight. One has to wonder if a full accounting of prisoner deaths will ever see the light of day. From the BBC.

The US army has admitted that eight detainees have died in its custody in Afghanistan - two more than it had previously acknowledged.

The army's admission came after the campaign group Human Rights Watch said it knew of three new incidents.

The group sent an open letter to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying the US has failed to investigate or punish abuses by its soldiers.

A US official said at least three deaths were still being investigated.
"It's time for the United States to come clean about crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan," said Brad Adams, Asia Division director for Human Rights Watch (HRW).

A failure to prosecute soldiers for incidents in Afghanistan had led to "a culture of impunity" which may have spread to Iraq, he said.

There was fury earlier this year when photographs emerged of Iraqi prisoners being physically and sexually abused by American prison guards.

The latest revelations are a further embarrassment for the US military and will only intensify scrutiny of the way it treats its prisoners, says the BBC's Ian Pannell in Washington.

Just what the doctor ordered, more embarrasment. Can we just go ahead and put some guidelines in place, so we can stop improper treatment and handling, 'cause in the long run this is going to bite us in the ass. I would hate to hear that the 70 oral surgeon that is shipping out to Afghanistan, has been kidnapped, tortured and killed in retaliation. I am sure that Rummy will finally get around to fixing this mess.

HRW also urged the US military to publish a delayed internal report on its Afghan detention centres.

The US authorities promised to release parts of the report several months ago, but a spokesman said on Monday that no date had been set for publishing the report because its findings were still being reviewed in Washington - but that no abuses had been uncovered.

Natch, we are still reviewing the case, but do not expect to find anything that could cause the administration damage, I mean any other cases of abuse. If we had let Ken Lay investigate Enron, I am sure that he would find no evidence at all of impropriety.

How long c*a*n they put off the Draft

In the latest episode of that great new hit show "The Backdoor Draft", a 70 year old oral surgeon, who retired from the service for the second time in 1980, has been called back to service in Afghanistan. It's too bad that he didn't answer the phone, as he may have found a billet in Hawaii, but alas he thought the calls were a mistake. If this was the first story it would be astonishing, but by now it's just old news.

By R. NORMAN MOODY
Gannett News Service

Dr. John Caulfield thought it had to be a mistake when the Army asked him to return to active duty. After all, he's 70 years old and had already retired - twice. He left the Army in 1980 and private practice two years ago.

"My first reaction was disbelief," Caulfield said. "It never occurred to me that they would call a 70-year-old."

In fact, he was so sure it was an error that he ignored the postcards and telephone messages asking if he would be willing to volunteer for active duty to "backfill" somewhere on the East Coast, Europe or Hawaii. That would be OK, he thought. It would release active duty oral surgeons from those areas to go to combat zones in Iraq or Afghanistan.

But then the orders came for him to go to Afghanistan.

Today, Caulfield, a colonel from Satellite Beach, Fla., is an example of how the continuing demands of keeping ground troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are forcing the military to go to extraordinary measures to keep its ranks filled. He's attending to patients - U.S. troops, Afghan soldiers and civilians - at the Army's 325th Field Hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan.

He is one of about 100 over the age of 60 known to be serving. The Department of Defense couldn't provide exact figures.

"Those figures are around here somewhere I swear" No Fucking shit, the last thing the DoD wants out in the wild is the number of septegenarians and greatgrandfathers who are serving in combat zones.

Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman, said the service has taken back some 350 soldiers who had already retired from the military. But some of those could have done 20 years of duty and still be only in their late 30s. He did not know how many of the returning retirees are 60 or older.

The reason, he said, is clear: "It's the continuing demand in the service."

The Navy has 36 medical personnel and 16 chaplains who are over 60.

There is one Marine between 60 and 65 currently serving.

The Air Force has 12 chaplains over 60 and 32 medical personnel between 60 and 65.

Interesting, the other Services seem to be able to provide the numbers of service members over 60, hmmmmm. This is apparently a voluntary situation and Col. Caufield has elected to serve, and while it is a testament to the man, the bottom line is if the force was not near the breaking point, he would never have had to make the desicion. I hope that he is able to save some lives, and stay out of harms way in that shining city on a hill known as Afghanistan.

They are still pissed at Pitt.

We'll try this again. After spending the better part of the day searching for crystal radio ideas, and playing around with a newly constructed breadboard experimental platform, I though I might want to check in to the world and see I there was anything I might be missing. Sure enough, I hit the eschaton and atrios has a letter posted that was recieved by Greg Mitchell, who had posted it for his editor and publisher column, among other letters. This is a prime example of frustrated wingnut and he is, to put it lightly, pissed that that guardsman would question Dapper Don Rumsfeld about a lack of armor plated vehicles, and that a damn reporter....well by now you should get the rest......

Joe M. Richardson: "The duped soldier should be put at the very front of the action, no armor. The cooperating sergeant's career should be over and maybe become MIA. Pitts and all his cronies should be executed as traitors. We are fighting a war, the debate is over, you’re either for us or against us, there is no middle ground. I say start executing the leftists in our country, soon."

Thats some pretty strong language, I am not sure what we are supposed to call it, but god forbid I think the Pubby Pundits might just call it "Hate Speech". At least you could count on the CoulterBot™ to make substantial piles of hay over several TV appearances about the intemperate invective used by commie leftists. Now remember kids, this guy is not being serious, he's just venting off a bit of steam. It can build up quickly in the Morally Superior, when they run straight into a wall of Moral Outrage.

There are several letters, some from folks this guy might define as worthy of execution, but for the most part they are well reasoned and well, no fun. However there is another, from a man who by all accounts probably received his PhD in history and wrote his dissertation on the press in WWII.

Peter Minoc, Vallejo, Calif.: "I would hate to think how World War II would turn out if our military had a media like the one today. There were so many friendly-fire deaths to ill-equipped units that led to soldiers dying, but the media of that time knew what the stakes were. The media today has this suicidal belief that their press credentials will protect them from the Islamic fascists. This belief is so strong that you are willing to lower the morale of the people fighting for your right to attack this administration. Stop being the damn story and just report the news!"

Would it were possible Peter. I am going to step out on a limb Peter and guess that you receive most of what you call news from What I like to call "rightwing worldview reinforcement dispensaries" i.e. equal parts Fox and Rush. You might even have a couple of Hannity's books on the shelf next to your copy of "Treason". If that is the case, you will never be satisfied. the next letter adds a talking point that might have me looking at media matters, cause, well, the wording is so similar that both of these guys are unlikely to have come up with it independantly.

Ron Bean, Pachuta, Miss.: "He knew it was a low-life tactic to use a GI that was probably stressed out from having to go into Iraq. Oh, I forgot, anything to get a story. What happened to reporting the news instead of making the news?"

There seems to be a new found sensitivity that was lacking during the Clinton administration to the idea of the press as objective reporters who should not inject themselves into the story. Funny that. Finally there is another crime that has been commited by Pitt in the following writers eyes.

Wade Hampton, Phoenix, Ariz.: "That was a well orchestrated con job by Pitts. Sure you’re going to get some cheering, a good portion of our military are indeed liberals who voted for Kerry. Plus the military always needs or wants something. If they made a one-man tank suit they would all want one, although I doubt Kerry would have approved the funding. What the media has done is insure that military personnel probably won't be given the opportunity to ask questions in this manner again."

No doubt dude, them pesky libs are everywhere even in the Military, and some of them doubtless voted for that evil, shiftless, and eminantly unqualified Kerry. It would be a shame if the soldiers never got to ask questions again, and we only have that reporter to blame, because if the soldier had not been coached........then..........they still would roast the poor bastard and the military would only allow pre-scripted Q and A's just like they do for the prez. Now if someone could be a dear and map out a couple of points on my skull that I could hit with a ball peen hammer that would make me smarter, and therefor more receptive to these types of arguments, and I would forever be in your debt, that is, if I remember the favor.

US aid for the Palestinians?

Well blow me down, we have "pledged support in the amount of 20 million to aid the Palestinians out of a Financial crisis. I guess another trip across the lines might be warrented. I am a bit suprised that i did not hear about the first time. Now before you get exited, this is as of yet, only a pledge, and we know how our present administration honors its word.

The US government has pledged $20m (£10.3m) in direct aid to help the Palestinians out of a financial crisis.

It is believed to be only the second time in two years that Washington has transferred money in this way.

A senior administration official said the grant will provide emergency budget support, and recognises efforts made to shore up democracy ahead of elections.

Palestinians are preparing to vote on 9 January for a new leader to replace the late Yasser Arafat.

"The upcoming Palestinian elections have made a functioning Palestinian Authority more important than ever," an official told the BBC.

He said the Palestinian Authority was "in dire financial straits", barely able to pay its bills from month to month.

The money will be used to pay for utility services, including the payment of arrears to Israeli utility companies, the official added.

Well as long as the Isreali Utility companies get paid I guess all is well and good. I wonder if they will be upping their prices on Kilowatt Hours. I mean if its OK for Enron...........

Panty Bunching Powers ....... Retro-Activate.

Caught wind of this latest episode of "Mind if I sniff your Crotch" "Are we in Prudeistan yet?", at the Americablog via HaloScam. Some One, or ones, complained about indecency during the, get this, Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. And I thought that Maude Flanders had died and gone to Heaven. It is good to know that someone is "thinking about the children".

FCC Wary of Greeks Baring Gifts at Games

By Lisa de Moraes
Saturday, December 11, 2004; Page C01

In response to one or more indecency complaints, the Federal Communications Commission has asked NBC to send it tapes of its coverage of the Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies in Athens, the network confirmed late yesterday.

Ironically, the night before, NBC's Summer Games coverage was named the family-friendliest special of 2004 during WB's broadcast of the sixth annual Family Television Awards. The awards are given by the Family Friendly Programming Forum, a group of 46 major national advertisers working to encourage networks to produce more family-friendly prime-time fare.
........................
It's unclear what aspect of NBC's coverage of the ceremonies has knotted the knickers of someone who has corresponded with the FCC, word of which was first reported by trade paper Mediaweek on its Web site late yesterday.

I am not sure whats going on here but it sure is strange and I think someone should investigate.



A woman with an unusual paunch took a dip in the
Opening Ceremonies' wading pool last summer.
(Tom Hanson -- AP)Like I said, someone needs to investigate.

Meanwhile support for the Troops appears to be skin deep.

Homeless Gulf war Vets you say. Must be Gulf war I vets, and sure, while tragic, some guys just can't seem to get it together and their bennies run out. Oops, were are not talking about GWI vets, but Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom vets. Thanks to Rorschach for the tip. I do wonder why the Moonie Times is carrying this story.

Homeless Iraq vets showing up at shelters

By Mark Benjamin
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Washington, DC, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. veterans from the war in Iraq are beginning to show up at homeless shelters around the country, and advocates fear they are the leading edge of a new generation of homeless vets not seen since the Vietnam era.

"When we already have people from Iraq on the streets, my God," said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. "I have talked to enough (shelters) to know we are getting them. It is happening and this nation is not prepared for that."

"I drove off in my truck. I packed my stuff. I lived out of my truck for a while," Seabees Petty Officer Luis Arellano, 34, said in a telephone interview from a homeless shelter near March Air Force Base in California run by U.S.VETS, the largest organization in the country dedicated to helping homeless veterans.

Arellano said he lived out of his truck on and off for three months after returning from Iraq in September 2003. "One day you have a home and the next day you are on the streets," he said.

Thanks for your service, now please just go somewhere else and stay out of sight. We've got real "still-fighting" troops to support. Now I just need to remember to pick up some of those chinese made support the troops ribbons, 'cause I wouldn't want anyone to think I was anything but a proud war mongering fool.

In Iraq, shrapnel nearly severed his left thumb. He still has trouble moving it and shrapnel "still comes out once in a while," Arellano said. He is left handed.

Arellano said he felt pushed out of the military too quickly after getting back from Iraq without medical attention he needed for his hand -- and as he would later learn, his mind.

"It was more of a rush. They put us in a warehouse for a while. They treated us like cattle," Arellano said about how the military treated him on his return to the United States.
.................
A gunner's mate for 16 years, Arellano said he adjusted after serving in the first Gulf War. But after returning from Iraq, depression drove him to leave his job at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He got divorced.

Thanks for the service buddy, but now that you are useless to the war machine just sod off already, and please stop complaining, like someone owed you sonething.

Rummy, Humvees, Armour, and the protection of projection.

Earlier this week a guardsman that was allowed to speak to the Vaunted Secretary Rumsfeld, apparently he did not follow the script. Apparently things are not so rosy in Iraq. Via No Capital

Middle East - AP
AP
Rumsfeld Hears Gripes From GIs in Kuwait

Wed Dec 8, 6:24 PM ET

Add to My Yahoo! Middle East - AP

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - In a rare public airing of grievances, disgruntled soldiers complained to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday about long deployments and a lack of armored vehicles and other equipment.

"You go to war with the Army you have," Rumsfeld replied, "not the Army you might want or wish to have."

Spc. Thomas Wilson had asked the defense secretary, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Shouts of approval and applause arose from the estimated 2,300 soldiers who had assembled to see Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld hesitated and asked Wilson to repeat his question.

"We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north," Wilson, 31, of Ringgold, Ga., concluded after asking again.

I first heard about this lack of armor in late september 2003, shortly after they tried to shaft the soldiers and their families back home with pay cuts. Back in the day when I still believed a critical mass would lead to dubby's implosion. As you cn imagine, over on the other side of the fence they are not dealing with the facts of the case per se, just the motivation of the questioner. You see, apparently the kid who asked the question was coached by a reporter, so you see, the question itself is no longer valid. I guess its time for a side trip the the site of Warpornucopia called LGF. What follows it how the mighty CJ see's things. Afterward a bit from the shallow end of the pool.

The executive editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press now says he “regrets” readers were not informed that their reporter, Edward Lee Pitts, planted a question for Donald Rumsfeld: Paper Regrets Handling of Rumsfeld Story.

Notice how nobody seems concerned about the unethical nature of what Pitts did—least of all Pitts himself, who bragged openly about setting up that soldier. The only problem, according to the people quoted by the Associated Press, is that readers weren’t told about Pitts’ machinations.

But media is supposed to report news. Not manufacture it.

I know Charles, welcome to the party, where were you when they were spreading that SBVFT crap around, Oh right, please don't mind me you can return to felating the prez. Now with over 500 comments you now that people are righteously indignant that someone might question the quality of the imperial wardrobe.

#4

Curt 12/10/2004 08:51AM PST

Nice to see someone is at least thinking, but I'm sure not holding my breath over the rest of the MSM coming clean.... Thank God for blogs.... Question: With each passing day, I wonder if the Democrats hate Al Gore more and more for inventing the Internet.... (first? probably not...:))

Yes thank god for the blogs, where you can avoid anything resembling the news while seeking out places that reiforce your ill informed viewpoints. We must live in alternate universii my friend. Sorry to break it to you charlie, but this democrat also praises the invisible cloud being and Al Gore for his sponsorship of the legislation that funded the thing, and for all the other members of Congress that voted yea. Buddy you can thank the MSM for you Gore/internet snickers. As well as for C- Tiberius.

#6

rabid fanatic 12/10/2004 08:51AM PST

As I mentioned yesterday, the thing that bugs me the most is the purpose of the deception, i.e. another attack on the senior members of the administration in an effort to discredit their handling of the war. You can argue, as Jheka did, that we don't know that this was the motive, but I believe it is hard-wired into the majority of the MSM.

dud belief in something is right next door to conclusive proof, just go ahead and say it; "if the MSM had not been so hard on Bush he would have won by 100 Million votes"

#9

Grafton 12/10/2004 08:53AM PST

Charles, why don't you post a followup to this story about the fact that the armor is *not* being produced at capacity? Isn't that more important than yet more about this reporter? I understand your concern about the media, but how about some concern for the 192 men and women killed in un-armored Humvees? If this story pressures the Pentagon into armoring at full capacity, and saves lives (which is likely), even one life, then this question, however asked, was a good thing. Otherwise, your critics will say you care less about the troops than your own irritation with the media.

Now this Grafton guy seems OK, and makes a couple of fine points, lets see how long it takes for the pile up to commence.

#11

Curt 12/10/2004 08:57AM PST

#6 - rabid fanatic: My theory is it's just plain wired into at least a one genration, the offspring of the same type hippies like the couple I saw in a park in Haight -Ashbury in about 1967, laying on blanket, groping each other, and the woman was pushing the about 18 month old child away.... The "me" generation, and the resultant "raising" of the children to be selfish. They now have populated academia, and the left wing of the political spectrum, demanding more and more and more, and woe be unto the person in office who doesn't give them everything they want.... /thoughtful rant on society at large

I saw an atrocity once too, and I have formed an entire world view based on that one fateful event so many years ago. I'd share some of my theories in a "thoughful rant" but I haven't got the time right now, Oh wait that's pretty much what I do here, allright then, lets move along.

#12

rabid fanatic 12/10/2004 08:58AM PST

Grafton how do you know armor is NOT being produced at capacity? Are you saying that we are intentionally under protecting our soldiers so that more of them die? Why would we do that?

This is what you get for an honest question and a good point. clearly anything that poses a challenge to the leadership of dear leader must be challenged with a vengeance, and when shown the proof, just blame the accuser. rabid, uhm hate to break it to you but that information is readily available. In fact the Junior Senator from my state (I know, he's one of those) where a large amount of the vehicles in question are built had a few nice things to say about Rumsfeld.

Bayh, a Democrat and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who has pushed for more armored Humvees in the past, said Rumsfeld was mistaken that vehicle and armor production were at capacity.

"I don't think he was lying, I think he didn't know," Bayh said in a teleconference with reporters from his office in Washington. "I think a lot of the information is controlled by the Pentagon bureaucracy and he was misinformed."

The Indiana manufacturer of Humvees for the military and the Ohio company that adds armor to them are not running near production capacity and are making all that the Pentagon has requested, spokesmen for both companies said.

Really neither company running near capacity, and rummy's excuse is a lack of cash? In a related story Bayh continues.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Military planners never envisioned the difficulty the United States would have in stabilizing Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Sen. Evan Bayh said.That mistake led the Pentagon to underestimate the need for fully armored military vehicles to protect U.S. troops, Bayh, D-Ind., said Thursday as he urged a substantial increase in the production of the vehicles."The lack of troops, the lack of armor, the lack of other kinds of equipment, it all comes back to them thinking that we were going to be welcomed as liberating heroes and that this was going to be a police action and nothing more."

Bayh's comments came a day after a soldier publicly complained to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld about a shortage of armored vehicles and other equipment. Army Spc. Thomas Wilson also told Rumsfeld that soldiers have had to scavenge through landfills to find materials to provide adequate protection for their vehicles.Bayh said he had heard similar complaints ever since the war started."At the beginning, although not acceptable, it was at least somewhat understandable. Everybody makes mistakes, but this mistake has been made over and over and over again," he said.

No shit. but if we did not continue to make these mistakes over and over we might not benefit as much from the massive war profiteering exercise, and naked grab for power that a generation long conflict can provide. We'll finish with this bit from a denizen of LGF, with a bit of a lead in. Ok it is well documented that our soldiers have suffered from exactly the situation that bayh raises above, and this is due to the candy land vision of a quick and easy payforitself kind of vision the planners had at the start. The bottom line is that there have been needless casualties due to the lack of armor, but apparently that is not the issue.........

13

Geepers 12/10/2004 08:58AM PST

What really struck me, is that this soldier starts his question with: "Our soldiers ..." And when asked to repeat his question he asks "Our soldiers ... " Ask yourself; would a soldier naturally refers to the other members of his company as "Our soldiers ..." Very telling as to if this question was fed to him by a reporter. And it looks like Lee got both of his plants up to the mike because the sixth question is almost identical to the third. This stinks. For anyone who wants to you can listen to the entire address and Q&A's here: The Pentagon Channel

For shame for shame, it is truly sick my friend, when a bunch of pajama wearing keyboard warriers can immediatley pile on a guy who is actually over there. Did it actually occur to any of these idjits that maybe the kid just wanted to avoid sounding like a fool? Of course not the problem is not the question (that is to be ignored) the problem is with the delivery.

They continue to proudly identify with the mantle of victimhood. That damn MSM. Hell in my universe, without the compliance of the media, Dubby would have long ago been impeached. Good thing that independant prosecutor law ran out in 2000.
[.............UPDATE............]
Just before I was ready to close the window on the LGF bots, I found someone else taking notice of Graftons question and stepping up to the defence of their battalion commander.

#23

Studsup 12/10/2004 09:05AM PST

Grafton, Why does Charles have to do that? Why not Pitts, if that was his story? Unfortunately, Pitts real agenda was to make his bones by ambushing the SOD. In the end, that was the only story that counted, that's the one the rest of the MSM at home and abroad is running with, and that's exactly what Pitts wanted to achieve. Charles' focus tends to be the media, what it reports and what it doesn't and particularly as it relates to the global Islamic JIhad. If you want to learn more about the armored vehicle situation in Iraq, subscribe to Soldier of Fortune, they've been discussing it intelligently there on and off for two years.

It's Friday Kids, and we all know what that means

Togetherness I

Jack and Ptolemy are taking a well deserved rest on the bed (It was made before they got up there and messed it up I swear). While Betty
who had clocked in for a shift of her own, has seen a possible opportunity for lovin'. And has started off to see if a petting hand is available. As you can see Ptolemy is a little worse for wear, apparently a local fight club just got started somewhere near the north fourty. I am only surmising that this is the case as well, Ptolemy seems to be uninterested in breaking the first rule of Fight Club.



Togetherness II

Kitainy Yev, lounges in supervision of Ptolemy who is running a quality assurance test on the victuals. I never got that report, now that I think of it, and as the bowl has since been emptyed, and everyone is still around, I just will not worry about it.

"The Mainstream"

I was just hanging out at the blog, minding my own business...

So this weekend I was regularly checking in over at the Eschaton, and on Sunday Atrios had an interesting theme, concerning how the press had responded during different stages of the war in Iraq, finishing the mini series with a late 2002 poll. During this last thread, there was lively discussion, a couple of drive by trolls, and then a Juan Cole hater dropped by to educate us about our lack of understanding. A bit later, a nice gentleman who goes by the nick of Iron Fist LGF dropped in with the following kind words, and before we knew it the guantlet had been thrown down. I feel compelled to break down
that which starts with a backhanded slap and ends up with an invitation.

Atrios,

I'd say it's a pretty good thing your side wasn't running things during the Civil War, don't you?

Otherwise, y'all would've hung it up after Antietam if not before. I think President Lee would have ended slavery, but there are no guarantees. In either event, I'd be posting from the Confederate State of Tennessee. Both sides lost more men in one day on one battlefield than we've lost in over three years in two theaters of combat.

Kicks the door open, enters the room, making accusations and asking and answering his own question. Then launches into one of the favorite winger articles of faith, the law of comparitive casualties. Since we lost more men in a day during the civil war than in the combined actions in Iraq and Afghanistan we should have nothing to complain about. This tack, of course, conveniently sidesteps a multitude of issues. He continues with the sesibility of a diplomat.

Your side is either so ignorant of military history that it has no business making comments on military operations, or is so divorced from reality that it needs hospitalization.

In case you didn't notice, the South lost the Civil War, despite beating the hell out of the Union up to the Battle of Gettysburg (almost a year after Antietam).

It's really hard to take your side seriously if you know military history. Your side makes the French look courageous.

At this point i find myself warming up to the guy, apparently, "our side" is utterly ignorant and therefore unqualified to make comments or have opinions about military matters. In fact not only are we cowards, we are probably gay as well. As you will see, this fine gentleman did not come around to insult or educate, and thank gof for that (I was a little scared that I might have to change my underoos).

Anyway, I didn't come here to fight, so don't cower.

Thank god, skidmarks I could deal with, and i did not want to ruin my favorite pair of underoos. I gues the above was just preliminary, get to know ya banter for the invitation to follow.

Why aren't you involved in Friends of Iraq Blogger Challenge? Whether or not we agree on the war, can we not agree that it would be best for a Free Iraq to get off the ground? Not only for the US but for the Iraqis themselves?

Your side whines that conservatives are cold and cruel, but when it comes to demonstrating compassion with your own money (as opposed to someone else’s) the Left seems rather reluctant.

I’m here to throw down the gauntlet. LGF has hit the ten grand mark.

Can you compassionate Leftists beat us?
Iron Fist, LGF | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 10:04 pm |

Now how could anyone be expected to respond to such an endearing entreaty? Reach for our checkbooks of course. At least I believe that is the response that Mr Fist expected. After all he waltzes in, insults us, educates while insulting us, explains that it isn't a fight he is looking for so "don't cower" and then asks us to contribute money while insulting us, and everyone on "our side". This was the opening salvo in a battle that few of us were aware of engaging in that would be documented by Chucky J at his Award winning Little Green Footballs site.

Freak Parade at Atrios

Last night, LGF reader Iron Fist ventured into the comments at Duncan Black’s weblog, Atrios, daring Black and his readers to participate in the Spirit of America Blogger Challenge, and do something to help the Iraqi people.

The resulting deluge of noxious hatred and bile, from people who like to set themselves up as paragons of moral virtue, is simply amazing. Here’s a direct link to the post that starts it off: HaloScan.com - Comments. It should be obvious, but please note that there are freaks posting as Iron Fist, and also with my name there; probably one or more of the banned LGF stalkers who now find a home at Atrios and other lefty blogs.

I don’t think they like me. I’m all torn up about it.

WARNING: Don’t read this if you’re easily offended; there are some really ugly comments, the kind of thing you see when maladjusted personalities are allowed to run amok.

by Charles at 10:57 AM PST | 441 comments | link | rss
last comment: Geepers 7:45:19 am 12/7/04
email this arti

Now the last part is too rich, if you have had the opportunity to wade through the comments on that site. I would suggest if you have the stomach for it to check out this Rachal Corrie thread, better yet, take a look at this one celebrating her victory in the Idiotarian of the year award. Of course, i would suggest you avoid reading these threads if you are easily offended. So back to the "battle of the blogs" let's take a look at some of the comments from the LGF piece, there have got to be some good ones with over 400 to choose. Just keep the following in mind, If I were to say, go over to LGF, start with insults about their knowledge of history and general lack of intelligence, I would likely have my post deleted and be banned from posting again (remind me to try from another computer), whereas, at the eschaton you pretty much have to be a pain in the ass, and or highly disruptive for an extended time, before you might lose posting priviledges. A sample from the first 10.

#7

Joshua (not a hamster) Scholar 12/6/2004 11:07AM PST

Yeah they gave Iron Fist a hearty f*** y** and made a bunch of posts pretending to be him fucking cats and talking about gay sex. Then the one-hand posting name stealer went after Charles (and then threw some friendly fire at someone with a child molesting fantasy).

#8

Tman 12/6/2004 11:09AM PST

Iron Fist made a generally harmless request, asking Atrios and his members to help support the Iraqi's futures, whether you agree with the war or not. Instead he gets trashed with some of the most asinine commentary I have ever read. After reading only about half of that thread I feel like I need a shower. And the democrats still wonder why they lost the election.......look no further than this post DNC, THIS is why....

#9

stevej 12/6/2004 11:10AM PST

sad. they are so blinded by their ideology and propeganda that they cant even come out into the real world. the only other example i can think of would be a Hitler Youth, brainwashed by the propeganda and ideology and blind to the real world. /yes thats right LLL's i flipped your hitler attack on you, becuase it fits you.

According to #8 Iron Fist was just making a harmless request and just trying to reach across the divide and bring us a little closer together, but got his head nearly ripped off by nasty recalcitrant Lilly Livered Liberals. OMG ding ding ding, i think one of my comments was cited, and articulately rebuffed. It must be the following comment, as there are no other references that I can find.

I like how "party line boy" wears his frat tattoo with his nick. Good idea actually, might I try a version and see if it lends weight to my words.
kentrios | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 10:51 pm |

19

Tanker J.D. 12/6/2004 11:16AM PST

Note how one commentator refers to LGF as a "fraternity". Putting aside, for a moment, the fact that numerous female posters here belie that description, I just wanted to say that I was unaware of the formality of the LGF community. I'm relatively new here, and no one told me anything about the pledgeship program, and really, y'all seem pretty light on the hazing. I mean, when do I get paddled and get forced to clean up the brothers' vomit after the kegger? Are there dues? Chapter meetings? Just curious, you know....

I guess I should have referred to a panhellenic society, as I was not trying to insult the female commenters of LGF. The point was that most do not append to their nicknames, their favorite website when they leave the conforts of home, but then I guess that some of us are not into tribal identity.

OK I think this might have been where the confusion about which site they were visiting, arose.

20

Quilly Mammoth 12/6/2004 11:17AM PST

Zoiks! Such erudite people there... What scares me is that it isn't just HaloScan, or the Kossacks, it is virtually _every_ _single_ lefty blog where the hate is palpable. Not against people trying to kill us, but rather against their fellow citizens. While I may mock most Liberals I don't hate them. But they sure seem to hate everyone who doesn't agree with them. QM

Ok buddy, the place is known as Eschaton, not Haloscan, the latter is an add on commenting system in use by many websites. Last night, while hanging out at the Eschaton, NYMary said that she had recieved an email, suggesting that she should be fired for commenting at the Eschaton. I asked her about the letter and she kindly posted it and this was the first I saw of the Haloscan/Eschaton confusion.

kent,
satanika1982@yahoo.com

Here's what it said:

Hello, you mentioned that you are a prof at BCC? I find it utterly despicable that there is person in a teaching position out there who would visit that disgusting blog, HaloScam. Also, the fact that you were posting that garbage about LGFers trying to raise money to build up Iraq economy? Build schools? Buy food? You are a disgusting human being, but I guess you already know it. Good luck with your position, I hope someone does something about it, and you wouldn't be able to indoctrinate young people and get big bucks for it. My regards (not)
-Natalia

Weird.
NYMary | Email | Homepage | 12.06.04 - 6:44 pm |

Now as memory served, NYMary while commenting on other matters, pretty much stayed out of the fray except to offer the following rejoinder.

Ummmm....
Is there a substantive difference between "ZioNazi" and "Islamofascist"?

I think not.

"Cracker dumbass"? Now that's something different.
NYMary | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 10:29 pm |

I am not sure that this comment fits the definition of an attack on the worthy effort to help out the Iraqi's in their time of need. I would not believe that it rises to the level that would require that "someone does something about it" But maybe thats just me. Anyhoo, Mary's lesser half Thersites was quoted by one of the members of the LGF crack assault team.

21

Joshua (not a hamster) Scholar 12/6/2004 11:19AM PST

#15 Geepers That's Thersites, a guy who writes twelve year fantasies of TV programs into his arguements like this one Shorter LGF cerebral process: Imperious Leader: Welcome, Baltar. I have grave news. A handful of Colonials prevail, but we will soon find them. Baltar: What of our bargain? My colony was to be spared! Imperious Leader: I now alter the bargain. Baltar: How can you change one side of a bargain? Imperious Leader: When there is no other side. You have missed the entire point of the war. Baltar: But I have no ambitions against you! Imperious Leader: Could you think me so foolish as to trust a man who would see his own race destroyed? Baltar: Not destroyed, subjugated, under me. Imperious Leader: There can be no survivors. So long as one human remains alive, the Alliance is threatened. Baltar: Surely you don't mean me? Imperious Leader: We thank you for your help, Baltar. Your time is at an end. Baltar: No! You can't! You still need meAAAAAAARRRRGHHH! [A Cylon slits Baltar's throat.] That's the prose of a 12 year old if I've ever read such. But since you have to be at least 35 years old to remember Battle Star Gallactica, I recommend nodding politely and backing away slowly.

He also posted one of my favorite responses.

Now THIS is funny...

I wish I could say come over to LGF, and we can have a discussion, but I can’t. We're in a troll culling phase.

Right.

Combined with this...

These other motherfuckers would piss their pants if they saw what was sitting on this end of their TCP/IP shield.

LGF as pesonified in "Iron Fist," ladies and gentlemen.

The delightful cherry on the top of this asshat sundae? He came here to ask us to give him money.

Oy.
Thersites | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 11:13 pm |

IF's response and first goodbye

Thersites,

It is trolling to simply make a challenge to your principles?

To say we've stepped up for the Iraqi people, why haven't you?

I've suffered immense abuse for this, for trying to talk rationally with you all.

You are right. I was stupid to believe that the Left had any redeeming qualities.

You all are nothing but has-been scum.

As the American Electorate has decided.

President George W. Bush

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice

Republican House

Republican Senate

Welcome to irrelevance. I won't trouble you any more.

Have fun playing in the ash-bin of history

'Bye
Iron Fist, LGF | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 11:18 pm |

Poor little victim

pseudonymous in nc,

With all due respect, fuck you.

I'll give the respect I've been given.
Iron Fist, LGF | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 11:27 pm |

And another mean response by Thersites.

I'll give the respect I've been given.

Let's back up a bit, and see all this from Chester's perspective. It goes something like this:

"I am IRON FIST, puny human! I demand REASONED ARGUMENT from you SCUM! And do not mock me. Do not mock IRON FIST! Or he will call you IMPOLITE! Kneel before Zod!"

Honestly, it's like Ming the Merciless pouting and stamping his feet because you're using the salad fork with your entree...

This really is some funny shit.
Thersites | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 11:41 pm |

Now IF and I had what might amount to a "debate" on the subject at hand. I usually try to avoid trolls, but sometimes I can't help myself. So in response to his calculous of comparitive casualties, I suggested that he was dealing in Fruit.

Does anyone around here actually think? or do you just spout the Party line?

Thats rich, he he he, party line, hehehehe.

Apples and oranges my friend.
kent | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 10:47 pm |
..........................
kent,

Apples and oranges? In what way?

Last time I checked, dead was, well, dead.

Do you mean that our wounded are more likely to survive today? That they are more likely to recover better from their wounds if they survive?

Hardly an argument for your side.

We took a heavier beating at Antietam than we have in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. And that is for each side. It doesn't really matter if I me the North by we or the South.

The only way you get apples and oranges is if you say they were willing to pay a higher price than you are.

If that is what you mean, we are in agreement.
Iron Fist, LGF | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 10:57 pm |
..............................
IronCross

I forgot that we were just discussing the calculus of bodycount, and that yours is a black/white worldview.

If you can provide a coherent justification for why we are now, or more importantly still fighting, in Iraq that doesn't start with "Saddam was...", then I might be interested.

For some reason, I never feel the need to prosthylatize over on your stomping grounds.
kent | Email | Homepage | 12.05.04 - 11:09 pm |

Well, I never got an answer to my question, not that IF had already left the building.
This is his final post, although not before heading back to LGF to get some backup.

Real final post, Guys and Dolls.

Was this fun or what?

G-d these folks are idiots.

Now the whole WWW sees what they are.

Atrios must be proud.
Iron Fist, LGF | Email | Homepage | 12.06.04 - 12:51 am |

So thus ended his involvement but there were many others who felt compelled to join the fight. Now one of my favorite Keyboard commando's was Darleen. She barges in with the following astute observation.

What I find so amusing is that the typical Leftist male (I can't quite bring myself to use the title "man" in connection with males who would rather ignore beheadings and female genital mutilation as long as it happens over there) thinks the best way to belittle those that challenge Leftist.Truth. is to make genital jokes (when they aren't waxing conspiratorally about all those nasty Joooos in Israel, why don't they just go AWAY!! whaa! I've spilt my latte!).

I'd say projection was the order of the day.

Pity

I await the return of the loyal, mature, anti-left liberal Democratic Party.

And its fun to see y'all run your mouth but never put a $ up to back it up.
Darleen | Email | Homepage | 12.06.04 - 12:07 am |

And as you can imagine, there imght be an intemperate response or three. Darl, adds the following pertanent information.

pseudonymous in nc

Well, that's a brave..something. All the intellect of a sniggering little boy scrawling nasty words on the neighbors fence.

BTW, the disney "Darlene" may have had her tits after Annette's, but I certainly got more compliments on mine.

No flatchested women in my family.
Darleen | Email | Homepage | 12.06.04 - 12:27 am |

Ok I needed to know that. I fear the mam's the mam's scare me, big ones especially.
To finish, I'll let Thersites take it away, sums it up nicely, and then well head on back to LGF central.

Which do you think this thread is?

"Iron Fist" went back to LGF and posted a link to this thread, claiming the Left is full of Islamofascists and we are Nazis because we were mean to him and will not give money to the thing fistula asked us to give money to because he showed up and called us pussy appeasers unless we coughed up $10,000 pronto. Then the rest of the moron brigade showed up, yammering like semiliterate Cylons about how big their tits are and doing the "I'm going to repeat what you said in a 'duh' voice" schtick which passed for wit in the third grade.

Now, back to the troll infestation.
Thersites | Email | Homepage | 12.06.04 - 1:40 am |

Now I have a London Broil I have to get to, this post is gaining in length so I'll try to keep this short. Back in La La land

#53

oldengr 12/6/2004 11:40AM PST

#28 Did you notice how many of the posters appear to be academics? It's getting to the point where I'm afraid to send my kids to college. I find many people are liberals when they are in academia - its when they start working and start having to pay taxes and see what really is going on in the real world that they start becoming wiser and more conservative. Heck, I was pretty liberal before I graduated from university! I am trying to "immunize" my kids so they won't have to go thru the "liberal phase" when they go to college.

Acedemics don't pay taxes or live in the real world. Shit thats news to me. Maybe I should finish college and get a job as an acedemic so I can ovoid paying taxes. Here's Iron Fists first comment on the battle.

76

Iron Fist 12/6/2004 11:55AM PST

Guys and Dolls, Thanks for the support! I must admit I was shocked by the sheer vitriol, and by the fact that Atrios obviously supports it (a lot of that shit would have been deleted and got the poster banned here. And we are the mean and nasty ones?). The Left keep saying that we need to “reach out” and find “common ground”. We all saw what happened when I tried that, didn’t we? I’m not mad, just a bit disappointed. But only a bit. I pretty much expected what I got (the cat thing was kind of a surprise :-) The left is entirely morally bankrupt, devoid of any purpose other than the blind acquisition of power and the purposeless use of the same. Of course, we already knew that. {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{LGF}}}}}}}}}}}}}} }}}}}}}} And thanks, Charles! Too cool!

Just a couple to finsh the post and keep the corrie threads in mind when you read these descriptions. You can Keep Hannity and Coulter in mind as well as Big Pharma.

#121

Trippin 12/6/2004 12:39PM PST

It's amazing that leftwing fascists can even type a complete sentence, what with one hand usually up their sister's skirt, the other hand lovingly caressing a hamster's rectum, and the dull thud of uncle Marvin's balls thumping against their chins. I'm assuming liberals type with their toes? Cool.

#122

bender 12/6/2004 12:39PM PST

wow - they have really gotten out of control. seriously - and people say the comments at LGF are borderline insane - that stuff was just plain nuts.

Yep I'm just a hateful person who can't accept a polite invitation. I am the Thug that is keeping so many patriots down. I mean all of Us are Thugs, or should that be Thugs-R-Us, yeah thats the ticket. Oh and you can visit the Weblog of Iron Fist.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Tournament Time in Tennessee

Well, we had our annual tournament today, and I'm sad to say that none of the various moonbats I had invited to come out and play showed up. It would have been so much fun.

Well, for me and some of the other Black Belts ;-P

It was a good tournament, with only one serious injury (a guy got five teeth knocked out), and I got to see a lot of old friends. As part of the Black Belt Society, I worked the concession stand, and we sold out of everything.

All in all a good day.

The Best of the Warbloggers.

Something tells me that this blog did not qualify under the strict guidelines set up by Right Wing News. If I had only known there was such an award, I might have been a little less strident in my criticisms of the war and the administration. Oh well. Seriously, I find it difficult to believe that one would take pride in such an award, but as I was taking a gander over at Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs site, looking for material for the next post, i discovered that they were quite happy to have placed highly in the contest. While looking over the results, I did find some interesting results in some interesting categories. Let's start with famous columnist that is not a blogger.

Favorite Columnist Who's Not A Blogger

4) Victor Davis Hanson (4)
4) Thomas Sowell (4)
3) Ann Coulter (8)
2) Charles Krauthammer (10)
1) Mark Steyn (16)

I have to admit that I am not well aquainted with Hanson, Davis or Steyn, but thanks to the power of linkydinks, I might decide, when I have absolutely nothing to do (do I need to scoop the litter box?), to bone up on those characters. Now Coulter and Krauthammer would make my pantheon of providers of the batshit looniest political commentary you will find. Let's just say that if you take what they have to say seriously, it is unlikely that we can have a meaningful conversation about anything other than the weather. So like I said, after I scoop out the litter,,,,,,,,,,

Least Liked Columnist Who's Not A Blogger

3) EJ Dionne (3)
3) Helen Thomas (3)
3) Mark Morford (3)
2) Paul Krugman (5)
1) Maureen Dowd (24)

No suprises here, well, OK I am suprised that Dowd beat out Krugman, but he's on hiatus so they may have simply forgotten about him.

Favorite Political Website That's Not A Blog

3) WSJ Opinion Journal (6)
3) FrontPage Magazine (6)
2) RealClearPolitics (9)
1) National Review (12)

Worst part of a paper (WSJ) that has actually done some decent reporting, Never seen or heard of FPM, or RCP for that matter but would lay decent odds that the publications in question are probably rags. And the grandfather of the right wing the National Review.

Favorite Left-Of-Center Blogger

2) Matt Welch (3)
2) The Washington Monthly (3)
1) Mickey Kaus (5)

I wonder how Kevin and Mickey think about this, not sure about the Welch character, but it is likely that he was also for Dubby's grand Imperial Iraqi adventure. Kaus is simpley a hack, and I stopped reading Drum regularly during the summer of 2003, I fear that too much of the beltway has entered his brain. Needless to say on my scale none of these guys are left of center.

Most Annoying Left-Of-Center Blogger

4) Talking Points Memo (4)
4) Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish (4)
3) Oilver Willis (8)
2) Eschaton (9)
1) Daily Kos (19)

Now if you had to win a category............Nice job guys, ('cept Andy "glutes" Sullivan)
Not sure what Sullivan is doing on the list though, realizing that bush is so fucking horrid that you simply can not vote for him, may get you shown the door on the right side of the aisle, but does not win you any street cred in blogistan.

Most Annoying Right-Of-Center Blogger

3) Gut Rumbles (3)
2) The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler (5)
1) Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish (14)

How about that fence straddling Sullivan, places in both categories, anoying almost as many wingnuts as the Daily Kos (19) - Sully (18). How's that for double dipping.

Most Overrated Blog

4) Instapundit (5)
3) Daily Kos (7)
2) Wonkette (13)
1) Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish (15)

Andy is beginning to remind me of Homer simpson in the highschool reunion episode, wherein Homer wins all of the undesirable awards like "most weight gained" "most hair lost" for example. And last but not least the category for best blog overall.

The Best Blog Overall

14) The Volokh Conspiracy (3)
14) Wizbang (3)
14) Winds Of Change (3)
14) Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish (3)
14) Samizdata (3)
14) PoliPundit (3)
14) LILEKS (James) The Bleat (3)
14) Mickey Kaus (3)
14) Dean's World (3)
11) Protein Wisdom (4)
11) Michelle Malkin (4)
11) Betsy's Page (4)
8) Roger L. Simon (5)
8) Captain's Qaurters (5)
8) Tim Blair (5)
7) A Small Victory (6)
5) Hugh Hewitt (9)
5) Belmont Club (9)
4) The Corner (12)
2) Power Line (16)
2) Little Green Footballs (16)
1) Instapundit (22)

So there you go, the above are all proud and bonafide members of the 101st Fighting Keyboards, supporting poorly managed, blatantly unnecessary war, because war makes a tent in the pantaloons.

I love the smell of open Bigotry in the Morning.

The monday before last, a partially naked white woman jumped into the arms of a football uniform wearing black man. There was much weeping and wailing and knashing of teeth. Some may have pulled out their hair in the fashion of grieving greeks. The cacophony of outrage rang far and wide. As usual and in public it was "what about the children", this being yet another example of moral decay, behind closed doors folks wispered that it must be part of the anti-miscegenationist "agenda" and feared hordes of black men defiling the purity of (southern) white femininity. In other back rooms talks of the resurrection of the Mandingo Project caused a near panic.

Most astute observers knew that the outrage was based on rascism. And while the usual suspects in the punditocracy, steered clear of the overt racial undertones, but someone forgot to keep the closet door shut. What follows is yet another example of how empowered the Bigot wing of the republican party feels. This is the most openly racist opinion piece I think I have ever had the good fortune to come across.

Samuel Francis, VDARE.com, Nov. 26

ABC Sports last week took careful aim at the “moral issues” that are said to have driven this month’s national election and delivered a good swift kick to their dentures on national television.

The main reaction from viewers and the professional “family values” lobby has been to denounce the nudity and clearly implied sex of the now-notorious ad that promoted last week’s Monday Night Football game. That’s all well and good, but there was more going on in the ad that no one will mention—race.

The ad shows blonde white sexpot Nicolette Sheridan of the steamy “Desperate Housewives” series smooching up to black football star Terrell Owens in the locker room of the Philadelphia Eagles. Then the young lady drops her bath towel and jumps into Mr. Owens’ not-exactly recalcitrant arms.

“Aw, hell,” he leers, “the team’s going to have to win without me.”

In the aftermath of the similar reaction to CBS’s showing of the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake flap during the Super Bowl last February, there can be little doubt the ABC ad was not just a blunder.

It was an intentional act of moral subversion.

Thems pretty strong words, I guess that in your view most of what passes for entertainment programming on TV are just an unintentional acts of moral subversion. I have the sneaking suspicion that when our new theocratic overlords claim the mantle of power that acts of moral subversion will be punishable by firing squad.

It was filmed the Friday before, and in the aftermath of all the jabber about “moral issues“ in the election, it ought to be transparent that it was intended as an act of political-cultural subversion as well.

In the CBS incident, Miss Jackson exposed her breast on camera during a performance with Mr. Timberlake. The Federal Communications Commission fined CBS, which broadcast the Super Bowl, the piddling sum of $550,000—little more than lunch money, of course, for the big networks and hardly a deterrent to similar smacks at good taste in the future.

But taste and morality are by no means the ad’s only targets.

Of course they aren't, I would imagine that the precious virtue of the female fruit of the loins of southern gentlemen is next on the agenda. A wedge driven between the demurely closed knees, leading to the inevitable corruption of the flower of the south. what follows is the sound of several jackboots falling.

Like the Jackson-Timberlake performance, the Owens-Sheridan ad was interracial and brazenly so—if only morals and taste had been the targets, the producers could easily have found white actresses who are less obviously Nordic than the golden-locked Miss Sheridan, but Nordic is what the ad’s producers no doubt wanted.

And who said that champions of aryan racial purity were anachronistic, or the sole purview of Nazi Germany. I have to admit that I am a bit stunned to find that the above paragraph was not only written, but published. Remember kids, these are the folks that just a couple weeks ago were attacking liberals as racist, because some of us thought that condi might not be up to the Job of SoS, Anne Coulter could not shut up about it. I was unaware before now that there were varying degrees of white.

I guess a brown haired girl or better yet a mexican or a jew, would have been less offensive to Mr Francis' sensibilities. A lot of people have wondered why Jed was not tapped as the standard bearer for the republican party. He is clearly the intellectual superior of his brother, I think Francis gets us to the heart of the matter. There is a reason that George P Bush is called the "little brown bush", his mother is of mexican ancestry, mestizo. If she had only been a daughter of Cortez, Jeb might be president, but unfortunately hers is a lineage of Montezuma and Cortez. Put another way, had Jeb's wife landed in Owen's arms, this column would not have seen the light of day.

For that matter, if you only wanted to take a swipe at morals and taste, you could find a black woman to rip her towel off or replace Mr. Owens with a famous white athlete (there are still a few).

But that wasn’t the point, was it? The point was not just to hurl a pie in the face of morals and good taste but also of white racial and cultural identity. The message of the ad was that white women are eager to have sex with black men, that they should be eager, and that black men should take them up on it.

For anyone who still is foolish enough to question why black folk do not in general support the party of Lincoln, presented for consideration is exhibit A. Did he really need to travel all the way down this path? I am sure that many in agreement might say "but you had me at "nordic".

So far only one voice has mentioned the ad’s racial meaning and denounced its “insensitivity“ (to blacks)—that of black Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy.

Blacks are permitted to notice race. Whites aren’t. [Really? What the fuck do you think you are doing Mr. Jolson? -ed]

But the ad’s message also was that interracial sex is normal and legitimate, a fairly radical concept for both the dominant media as well as its audience.

Nevertheless, for decades, interracial couples of different sexes have been sneaked into advertising, movies and television series, and almost certainly not because of popular demand from either race. The Owens-Sheridan match is only the most notorious to date.

In the minds of those who produced the ad, race is at least as important as the moral and aesthetic norms their ad subverts.

Lord have mercy, how much rope does this guy need, did someone order a sufficient amount of sheets, and white hoods. I hope the cross construction team is hard at work.

To them, the race as well as the religion, the morality, and the culture of the host society are all equally hostile and oppressive forces that need to be discredited, debunked and destroyed.

If the destruction can’t happen at the polls or through the courts, they can always use the long march through the culture that control of the mass media allows.

Breaking down the sexual barriers between the races is a major weapon of cultural destruction because it means the dissolution of the cultural boundaries that define breeding and the family and, ultimately, the transmission and survival of the culture itself.

“We apologize,” smirked the spokesman for those who sponsored the ad, Mark Mandel, the Vice President of ABC Sports.

Host society????!!!?? Wow. If you had not received the message by now, you ain't gonna ever get it. Warning Will Robinson, Weapons of Mass cultural Destruction spotted ahead. (Apparently a brother has a little more power than previously advertised, No wonder the stink of fear is strong. This must be the first test of their Weapons of Bigotry Related Pogrom Activitites, program.

Owens "leers" (and dammit we used to be able to lynch them for that) Mandel "smirks" (very bad form, only his Chimperious Majesty is allowed that facial expression). One might think one has journeyed through time, but no we have not, this is not a 1968 debate regarding the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation statutes, this is November 28, 2004. More troubling are the comments from his cheerleading section in the comments below the "piece". Thanks to Atrios for the tip. Now I have to shower. Before that, just a taste of the commentary.

My brother, in the film business, tells me at least 40 people were invovled in making and showing the ad, from actors, to lighting, make-up, sounds, set, script, etc. They PLANNED this well in advance and did so on purpose.

The purpose of the ad was to promote white women having sex with black men. That was the purpose. It was no accident.

Posted by HomoRacial /aka/RICK at 6:06 PM on November 30
...............
So this is Janet Jackson's response. "Hey! Everybody look! White men want me!" Racial equality, gender equality, economic opportunity, how can she lose? Her case is more certain than that of Koby Bryant, the "black" pro-athlete accused of raping a white teenage girl. Jackson raped the whole country! Liberals will hail her as a heroine, an unprecedented achiever of social architecture. She will quell the tide of "black" hatred for whites, by demonstrating that whites want blacks sexually. Case neutralized. (Sexual morality not an issue.) A spectacular achievement.

Indeed, it wasn't just Janet Jackson who accomplished this, but very powerful forces behind her. For this, we should all fear. Janet was just the willing slave.

It's just plain evil on the part of the liberal media to force interracial relationships or black people on an unwilling public.

Posted by b at 9:20 PM on November 30
.................
I know one thing, if Nicolette Sheridan ever files a rape charge against a black football-player or any other non-white sports star, I would have a hard time convicting anyone after seeing her behavior on national TV.

Posted by Tim2 at 12:29 AM on December 1

Bean, Small, deadly and she has thumbs

Bean has six digits on each of her forepaws and one on each paw is an opposable thumb. This may explain her success as a varmint killing machine. Unfortunatly she did not beat on Jack and Ptolemy when they were little, so they like to chase her. She is a little spitfire, and Kitainy Yevshenki (below) can't get enough of her, she is his unrequited love.

Friday CatBlogging, Sylvia likes the bag.

Last night on a thread at the eschaton, Dave posted this link to one of his cats. So I was compelled to try to convince Ptolemy to examine the bag. He decided against it as he was to busy looking for lovin' and eating. Now sylvia on the other hand was more than happy to comply, and a nice little fort it is.





More beasts to follow, especially, the littlest Calico polydactyl, and world champion killer, Bean.

...............It's Big Pharma Friday

Why is Felony Drug offender,
Rush Limbaugh, not in Jail.



"I'm just a regular guy, I couldn't help
it that they made that Oxycontin sooo
tasty. The maid made me do it.

[thought bubble]....It's a good thing
that I am rich, white, and well connected or I'd
be tossing salad right about now....[/thought bubble]

The Founding Father of Crotch Sniffing issues mea culpa, Sorta, not really.

Ken Starr, in an odd demonstration of conscience, suggests that maybe he should have let someone else go after the Lewinsky affair, saying that he should have payed more attention to the piles of bodies stacked around the whitewater scandel or somesuch. I'm betting that this is less of a "this really isn't any of my business, and I am ashamed at the pornography I let slip into the world" than a "It was a tactical error, and if had only focused on the original investigation, instead of finding nothing, I might have found something, and then we could have really impeached him". Well lets take a look shall we. From the SacBee via Buzzflash.

Kenneth Starr says he shouldn't have been involved in Lewinsky case
The Associated Press
Last Updated 7:26 pm PST Thursday, December 2, 2004
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - Kenneth Starr says he never should have led the investigation that resulted in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.

The former independent counsel, now dean of the Pepperdine University law school, says "the most fundamental thing that could have been done differently" was for somebody else to have investigated Clinton's statements under oath denying he had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Starr said his role in a yearslong investigation of Clinton should have focused instead on Clinton's role in the failed Arkansas land deal known as Whitewater.

"There was a sense on the part of the country that my (Lewinsky) effort was an effort somehow to expand the (Whitewater) investigation, when it was separate," he told the Santa Barbara News-Press following a speech on Wednesday.

Clinton has accused Starr of running a partisan, Republican effort to ruin his presidency. Starr, however, defended the integrity of the investigation.

"It reinforced the proposition that all of us are subject to the law, no matter how high our station," he said. "The facts are the facts."

Yes of course, unless you are a republican, then the "facts" are fungible, they are whatever you say they are. Ken, let me give you a clue, I am sure that an investigation into the cronyism and warprofiteering that the present administration wallows in would provide fodder for real criminal charges that might result in the prosecution of those that do consider themselves above the law. But alas, the law that allowed you to go on a crotch sniffing expedition from Tangiers to Kyoto to Little Rock, expired in 2000.

Now if you have forgotten, Clinton requested the special prosecutor, and also signed an extention of the bill into law. Seems like an honorable position of a man who does not consider himself above the law. Can you imagine for a moment dubbya assigning a special prosecutor to look into, say, the Cheney energy task force? Please, don't think to hard about it, lest your head explode. There is no honor omong thieves or so they say.

Next, a new weekly feature. Praise the Lord and Pass the popcorn because it's...........

The Tentacles of Tyranny

Just saw this over at Steve's, and It just made me sick. The Roaches have lost their fear and feel perfectly comfortable asking for seconds at the dinner table. Some Jackassed, Alabama, Opportunistic Bigot, state legeslative representative, wants to ban all books that have any reference to homosexual situations or characters from the Public and State funded University libraries. These bastards are hellbent on a total whitewash of history, looking to cleanse anything that does not conform to their view of the world; in otherwords, they likely won't be satisfied until libraries are nothing more than repositories of bibles, a version cleansed of all references to the poor of course.

Gay book ban goal of state lawmaker
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer

MONTGOMERY - An Alabama lawmaker who sought to ban gay marriages now wants to ban novels with gay characters from public libraries, including university libraries.

A bill by Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, would prohibit the use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." Allen said he filed the bill to protect children from the "homosexual agenda."

These fucks have absolutely no shame. They use children at every turn, to pick our pockets, erode constitutional rights, as well as a distraction so that we seem to forget that they can't really do accomplish anything substantive, oh and before i forger, they like to pimp out children and Jesus to shove *their agenda* down our throats. This "homosexual-agenda" crap is getting really fucking old --- There is no agenda, Jesus.

"Our culture, how we know it today, is under attack from every angle," Allen said in a press conference Tuesday.

I'm sorry to but in but this is just plain old White Supremest code talking, plain and simple. "Our culture"(White christian folk) "under attack"(fear mongering) "every angle"(Niggers, Fags, wetbacks and Jews) worked to get the aryans wound up in the thirties. They really aren't trying to hide it anymore.

Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.

A spokesman for the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center called the bill censorship.

"It sounds like Nazi book burning to me," said SPLC spokesman Mark Potok.

Dig a hole? Who the fuck are you kidding, Families will be bringing their kids to revel in the righteousness in the immolation of the evil, not long after sticks and hotdogs will make an appearance. I kid you not (well maybe about the hotdogs).

Allen pre-filed his bill in advance of the 2005 legislative session, which begins Feb. 1.

If the bill became law, public school textbooks could not present homosexuality as a genetic trait and public libraries couldn't offer books with gay or bisexual characters.

When asked about Tennessee Williams' southern classic "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," Allen said the play probably couldn't be performed by university theater groups.

Allen said no state funds should be used to pay for materials that foster homosexuality. He said that would include nonfiction books that suggest homosexuality is acceptable and fiction novels with gay characters. While that would ban books like "Heather has Two Mommies," it could also include classic and popular novels with gay characters such as "The Color Purple," "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Brideshead Revisted."

The bill also would ban materials that recognize or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama. Allen said that meant books with heterosexual couples committing those acts likely would be banned, too.

Don't let this guy anywhere near the Greek history and Literature section, let's hope in this case that it is "greek to him". I doubt that this bill will pass, this is a trial ballon for another ballet initiative, or possibly cover for something more nefarious, but the fact that this guy is playing that card, openly and expects to benefit scares the shit out of me. They pass this, then Alice, we may well be through the looking glass.

Chimperial Hubris Indeed.

So the Jackass in chief is visiting Canada, telling them that they need to fork over some troops for the Glorious Iraqi Adventure™, and meanwhile his advanced press group is up to their old tricks. Got the tip from Atrios, copped the picture from Wonkette. You know I have to do it. Enjoy the smirkitude, and bask in its warming glow, and when you are done sunning yourself, just think about the fact that a not insubstantial amount of your fellow citizens think this guy is COOOL.



Subtle innit. More like a photographic definition of SMUGLY.

Hubble Porn™, 'cause one can never get enough

Below are a couple of the many favorites of mine available from the Hubblesite News realeases. IMO the best way to brouse the best of Hubble. Everything is categorized in a way that is easy to navigate. You can select the objects of interest eg. Nebulae, Galaxies, Solar System, etc. Then select the amount of images you wish to see on the page and browse away.

A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.

Fine details of the dark band are revealed in this image of the central portion of M64 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. M64 is well known among amateur astronomers because of its appearance in small telescopes. It was first cataloged in the 18th century by the French astronomer Messier. Located in the northern constellation Coma Berenices, M64 resides roughly 17 million light-years from Earth.

At first glance, M64 appears to be a fairly normal pinwheel-shaped spiral galaxy. As in the majority of galaxies, all of the stars in M64 are rotating in the same direction, clockwise as seen in the Hubble image. However, detailed studies in the 1990's led to the remarkable discovery that the interstellar gas in the outer regions of M64 rotates in the opposite direction from the gas and stars in the inner regions.

Active formation of new stars is occurring in the shear region where the oppositely rotating gases collide, are compressed, and contract. Particularly noticeable in the image are hot, blue young stars that have just formed, along with pink clouds of glowing hydrogen gas that fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light from newly formed stars.

Astronomers believe that the oppositely rotating gas arose when M64 absorbed a satellite galaxy that collided with it, perhaps more than one billion years ago. This small galaxy has now been almost completely destroyed, but signs of the collision persist in the backward motion of gas at the outer edge of M64.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has trained its razor-sharp eye on one of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped Mexican hat.

At a relatively bright magnitude of +8, M104 is just beyond the limit of naked-eye visibility and is easily seen through small telescopes. The Sombrero lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies and is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth.

Hubble easily resolves M104's rich system of globular clusters, estimated to be nearly 2,000 in number — 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. The ages of the clusters are similar to the clusters in the Milky Way, ranging from 10-13 billion years old. Embedded in the bright core of M104 is a smaller disk, which is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission suggests that there is material falling into the compact core, where a 1-billion-solar-mass black hole resides.

A larger version of this image curently resides on my desktop as wallpaper. I am sure that you will find something at the Hubblesite that will tickle your fancy.

CBS Vanguard of the Liberal Media

trios and Jesus General are already running this story from the Blue Lemur about CBS, which serves as confirmation of a recent status downgrade to a subcategory of invertabrate, a spineless administraton bootlicking propaganda monkey. Meanwhile across the right side of the blogsphere the kids continue to scream about Liberal bias in the Newsrooms of America.

First, CBS caves in to pressure, and pulls the plug on an airing of a stupid movie about the "Reagans" Then they refuse for reasons unjustifiable, to run a Move-On advertisement, the winner of a contest, during the SuperBowl. Of course we all know about Janet Jackson's "Wardrobe malfunction", and the trauma suffered by the Broadcast industry, as the FCC found it's knickers in a painfully irritating twist.

This time, the Network, has refused to air a spot from the United Church of Christ, who in the Fallout from the "rig at any cost" election results and the subsequent barage of a spin point calling it a victory for fundimentalist evangelicals, have decided to advertise themselves as a congregation of inclusion. Apparently the ad features appeals to gay christians and implies that Negros are welcome too. You can view the ad here.

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

CBS and NBC’s television networks are refusing to run a 30-second television ad from the United Church of Christ welcoming gays and minorities to its churches, saying it is “too controversial,” RAW STORY has learned.

Negotiations between network officials and the church’s representatives broke down Tuesday, the day before the ad campaign begins airing nationwide on a combination of broadcast and cable networks. The ad has been accepted and will air on a number of networks, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land, among others, the church said.

The ad, part of a broad public relations campaign by the mainstream Protestant Christian denomination was set to begin airing nationwide on Dec. 1. CBS and NBC were not available for comment Tuesday evening.

The 30-second commercial features two muscle-bound “bouncers” standing guard outside a picturesque church and selecting which persons are permitted to attend Sunday services, and turning away apparent gays and persons of color.

Written text interrupts the scene, announcing, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” A narrator then states, “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

I think I like the ad already, and it appears that while NBC may be caught with the presidential member in its corporate mouth, a number of other networks are going to run it inspite of the tender feelings of an angry but highly vocal, minority. Who can throwdown a hissyfit of victimization better than the Fundimentalists, a cult who's primary function seems to be the manufacture of outrage boogiemen.

According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access, they church says, because its ad implies that other denominations are not as accepting of minorities and therefore too “controversial.”

“Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations,” the group states an explanation from CBS reads, “and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks.”

A rejection by NBC declared the spot “too controversial;” UCC did not elaborate on the network’s letter. [code for "please don't hit me" -ed]

Presnidental [misspelling intentional] propositions that are used for craven political purposes now form the framework in which executive desisions are made at CBS? At least you have to give small credit to NBC, who chose only to show the wide yellow stripe on their corparate backside, but did not cause themselves further harm by commenting on the refusal, from a PR standpoint it is a good move, but should not obviate their shunning, by members of decent society.

“It’s ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial,” said Rev. John Thomas, UCC’s general minister and president. “What’s going on here?”

Allright, lets stop it right there, Rev I get your point but please don't fall into the he said she said trap and suggest for a moment that the lies were equal on both sides. All the Rove campaign sold was a pack of lies, period. At worst, the Kerry campaign could be accused of is distortion of the garden variety. The fact that you feel the need to run this add at all is a direct result of the assault on our freedoms and discourse brought to bear by the religious right and manipulated with mastery by the Republican Party.

In focus groups and test market research conducted before the campaign’s national rollout, the UCC found that many people throughout the country feel alienated by churches, the group said in a release.

“We find it disturbing that the networks in question seem to have no problem exploiting gay persons through mindless comedies or titillating dramas, but when it comes to a church’s loving welcome of committed gay couples, that’s where they draw the line,” Rev. Robert Chase, director of the church’s communication ministry said.

One might suggest that Christ had bigger fish to fry than worrying about gay folks, creatures as god made them I think he may have been more concerned about poverty, sickness, religious perversion, and spreading his message of hope, love and peace.

Testify

C

rap, and other sundries, Just filling a bit of space testing some new css formatting, that will yield a nice Boxed in
Capital letter at the start of a post or paragraph. Kind of like the times does on their editorial pages, but actually copped from Cliff Burns' site (I discovered his place in the comments over at World 'O Crap in the identify the wingnut contest) He's got a nice place over there and doesn't seem to mind a daily constitutional down wingnut way. He has a nice clean layout as well. So as I am always looking for ways to mess about (I can't help myself) here we are.

Limbot is a Lying sack of History Revising Crap.

I have not yet taken the earphones off of the Crystal radio, and now the "Big Pharma" is going off on the 9/11 report. He just made the statement that no such investigation on the scale of the 9/11 commision happened during the WWII. The committee is also worthless because it was composed by unelected officials. Now he is citing a report that he will find at the break wherein some foreigner, who says that we are making more of al quaeda than necessary, here we go it's a german reporter that claims in the LA times that we are making a mountain out of a molehill with respect to Al Quaeda.

Now we find that Richard Daley's son is joining the Army. Patrick 29 years old says "he's thrilled to serve" or somesuch. OK enough of Limbot, wait, he's dogging on Rangel and suprise he's talking about Black people.

Now if this was 20 years ago, I would have the pleasure of listening to classic Rock. If there is one unfortunate thing about crystal radio enthusiasm, it is simply the fact that AM radio has been taken over by FuckTard WingNut hate merchants. Allrighty then, I have 40 minutes before Jackass quites poluting the AM band. Time to chassisfy.

I hope that post tasted good.

Blogger just ate one, and good, zippo CULater, goodby. Well its not really a major loss just a minor inconvenience. I had composed and submitted for publication a post about a wonderful manly Christian heterosexual man by the name of Doug Giles. He is a contributor to the cesspool over at Town Hall, and has his own radio show. I might take up Doug "Guns, God, and Gloryholing for Jebus" Giles, pontificatin' at a later time, but alas, have no real interest in rewriting that which is lost.

I am presently playing around with various crystal radio configurations, using pyrite for the detector, and a variometer that I made a couple of years ago for the coil. The object is a simple radio with some sensitivity and selectivity to listen to some shortwave in the evening hours.

Right now I have the internal coil hooked up to the antenna and ground, with a 100 pf capacitor in parralell across the windings. I am looking forward for night to fall and see if this thing has the characteristics I am looking for. So now that the configuration "looks" promising, time to put this thing together on a proper chassis.

A couple of nights ago I happened to catch a bit of programming from China Radio International, as well as a japanese language program that I failed to catch a station ID for. Most likely both of these stations were coming through transmitters located in North or central america, but I need to do some research to make sure.

In any event, daytime listening is limited to the local station, which for 3 hours everyday aids and abets the propogandistic blatherings of one Rush Limbaugh (why is he still walking around free?). Just realized that at the top of the hour, that ABC news, interupts the blowhard, Just found out what we who have paying attention already knew: Tom Ridge has Tendered his resignation, "'cause he needs the money" to send his kids to school. I also just found out something else that I had predicted earlier in the College football season, Tyrone Willingham has lost his job as the head coach of the Notre Dame football team. It will likely be another 50 years before the Golden Domers are led by another Black Man.

Oh well that was nice while it lasted, but the limbot is back, and with that, we'll see if this post makes it past the dragon.

59% percent want to keep Roe.

A new AP poll may be the piss in the cornflakes, or the rain on the Fundy parade, as its results show that a significant majority of Americans do not want to turn the clock on Roe v Wade, though I doubt this news will breach their thick skulls, after all it is only the word of the secular against all that anti abortion stuff in the Bible. What? No anti abortion stuff in the Bible? Oh well why should we discuss a technicality.

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans say President Bush (news - web sites)'s next choice for an opening on the Supreme Court should be willing to uphold the landmark court decision protecting abortion rights, an Associated Press poll found.



The poll found that 59 percent say Bush should choose a nominee who would uphold the 1973 Roe v. Wade (news - web sites) decision that legalized abortion. About three in 10, 31 percent, said they want a nominee who would overturn the decision, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

"While I don't have a strong feeling about abortions personally, I wouldn't want the law overturned and return to the days of backdoor abortions," said Colleen Dunn, 40, a Republican and community college teacher who lives outside Philadelphia.

The preference for Supreme Court nominees who would uphold Roe v. Wade could be found among both men and women, most age groups, most income groups and people living in urban, suburban and rural areas. Fewer than half of Republicans, evangelicals and those over 65 said they favored a nominee who would uphold the abortion ruling.

Fewer than half of Republicans? How many of these idiots vote for Dubby? just more informative support for a thesis suggesting that while loud, motivated, and vocal, the fundies are a small minority, but have access to a massive echo-chamber, and have the capacity to terrify good men and women of any political affiliation. This is ultimately the reason the Pat Robertson may talk a good game about a third party, but would never leave the republican fold, and loose the power and influence they enjoy.

Can we get one of these to the white-house Stat.

Scientist using MRI technology have mapped brainwave patterns, and have discovered, that scans of the truthfull look substantially different from scans of those that are lying. this may be a step into the development of more accurate polygraph testing devices.

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brain scans show that the brains of people who are lying look very different from those of people who are telling the truth, U.S. researchers said on Monday.



The study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI, not only sheds light on what goes on when people lie but may also provide new technology for lie-detecting, the researchers said.

"There may be unique areas in the brain involved in deception that can be measured with fMRI," said Dr. Scott Faro, director of the Functional Brain Imaging Center at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

"There may be unique areas in the brain involved in truth-telling," Faro added at a news conference.

Faro and colleagues tested 10 volunteers. Six of them were asked to shoot a toy gun and then lie and say they didn't do it. Three others who watched told the truth about what happened. One volunteer dropped out of the study.

While giving their "testimony," the volunteers were hooked up both to a conventional polygraph and also had their brain activity imaged using fMRI, which used a strong magnet to provide a real-time picture of brain activity.

There were clear differences between the liars and the truth-tellers, Faro's team told a meeting in Chicago of the Radiological Society of North America.

"We found a total of seven areas of activation in the deception (group)," he said. "We found four areas of activity in the truth-telling arm."

Overall, it seemed to take more brain effort to tell the lie than to tell the truth, Faro found.

Reminds me of the fact that it takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown. It's just easier to be truthful (unless you spent a bunch of time in the oil industry) than it is to lie. It is only a matter of time before a study shows that living a life above board is more healthy than living in a web of lies. And when it does, I want a cut. Hopefully they will have one of these machines ready for delivery to the Hague in a couple of years.

I Wonder if Moderate Conservatives knew they were voting for the Fundimentalist Agenda

Atrios posted this at the eschaton a little while ago, and as I can't help myself when it comes to racists and fundimentalists, I felt the need to jump in. That whole "Values Voters" post election analysis is just a GOP sponsered office of special Propaganda canard. for one thing these values voters were identified by an open ended question, and this data came from the exit polling which has since been "declared" incorrect insofar as the election results are concerned. But hey, the fundies will grab anything that would suggest that they can run with their agenda, even if the "poll" cited, only 20% of the voters asked, answered that values was the most important criteria, and that these respondants voted overwhelmingly in favor of bush. A tyrrany of the minority indeed. Abc news introduces us to some of the newly empowered.

Nov. 28, 2004 -- Among some conservative Christians, there is a belief that President Bush received a "moral mandate" to win the recent presidential election — and they are calling on him to act on their agenda now.

"I believe Our Lord elected our president and I believe he put him in office and it is my prayer that he will sustain him in office," said one woman at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Another was asked if she believed that God intervened in the election. "Absolutely," she said.

Forgive me if I find this terrifying. So if I understand this correctly, God elected a Greedy, Powerhungry, Childkilling, War profiteering, Lying War Criminal, as the president. But of course it is useless to argue with the web of mysticism, and biblical cherry picking wrapped in a theological cloak and stamped with the seal of Jesus. To them, if Dubbya is not the second coming himself, he is the man to bring it on home. The bigotry of homophobia commences in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Lift-Off.

"Values" voters delivered for the president, and the president must now deliver for them — especially in the courts, said Gary Cass, head of a grassroots political organization affiliated with Coral Ridge, called the Center for Reclaiming America.

"It's about the next 40 years and how the courts are going to affect the world in which my children and grandchildren are going to be raised in," he said.

Cass wants a U.S. Supreme Court that will outlaw abortion and gay marriage. "Do you want to take your children to a National League baseball game for instance and have homosexuals showing affection to one another? I don't want my kids to see that," he said.

Well buddy, I am afraid that denying the right to marry, will not likely stop them from showing affection in puplic, although most of the gay folk I know, don't make a big show of public displays of affection. But make sure you teach your children well. If you are so unfortunate to have a fine young gay son, rest assured that he will be a frustrated fag bashing machine, at least until he comes to terms with his "true nature".

Risking God's Wrath

By one measure, conservative Christians comprised 12 percent of the electorate this year — the same as four years ago. But they see themselves as a crucial piece of the president's political base.

They believe that if their agenda is not implemented quickly — if their concerns are not addressed in a timely fashion — God will be angry.

One leading evangelist recently warned, "God's patience runs out."

Dr. James Kennedy delivers sermons at Coral Ridge which are broadcast to 3 million homes. He said he knows of no timetable for God's wrath, but wants results fast.

He dismissed the concerns of people who worried about the impact of Christian conservatives on the U.S. government.

"Repent," he said with a laugh. "Repent. That's what I'd say."

In a number of conversations, I held with the belief that the number of evangelicals could not be much more than 15% of the electorate, but because they tend to vote in high numbers that they looked like 30%, and that was probab;y true in 2000, but increased turnout this time around has reduced that numer to 12%. In this way they are kind of like a rat terrier. A little dog that is convinced that it is a giant, and they want thier big Rawhide Bone™ NOW. 'Cause with the finger on God's pulse these people are fairly certain that we are tempting god's wrath. This Kennedy fellow is quite a charmer.

People who are concerned about the influence of Christianity "have never really surrendered their life to God and submitted themselves to his commandments — and if they did that they wouldn't have so much concern about some court saying again that it's wrong," he said.

Asked about the millions of Americans who are not Christian, or have a different interpretation of Christianity, Kennedy said with another laugh: "I couldn't care less. It's true."

"I think that the idea that the worst sin that somebody can commit is to offend somebody is ridiculous," he said.

Evangelicals say Kennedy may seem intolerant, but there's no greater love than upholding the will of God.

Maybe if I am lucky someone will hook me up with a secret Jesus Decoder ring so that i too can join the party. Mr. Kennedy? Are you are aware of what Jesus had to say about the rich, camels, and the eyes of needles?

This is a Stray that a friend is taking care of.

This is a stray that showed up at my friend Kent's house a couple of weeks before I was charged to watch his beasts for 3 week while he was out of the country at the end of the summer. That was a few months ago. When I first met the guy, he was very skinny, but seemed to have had some domestic experiance, in other words the little guy was skittish, but not feral.

A couple of days into the feeding and love providing, I managed to get my hands on the little guy, turns out he loves the petting. Anyway, I am watching Lurch, Mr. President, Taylor and Straybie (my nickname for the fella) over the break and tonight got a chance to capture the lovely boy on Kent's front porch. Mr President and Lurch are extrememly difficult subjects to get pictures of -- allways on the move, but I also have a couple of nice shots of Taylor, that I will post later.

Black Friday: "Fondling yer Breasts for Security"

So soon, yep. Another day another article on the stupid assed TSA security band-aids. As I mentioned yesterday, whoever got the contract for the machinery that should render this invasion of privacy unneccessary is "still working the bugs out". So to bring those up to speed who may be unaware, when you are flagged for the random security check, the one where they used to make you take off your shoes as they rifled through your luggage, may now include a groping of your privates, and if you are a female an examination of your breasts, so as to make sure that you aren't hidding any explosives. This reactionary tactic was inspired by a "theory" that two women "may" have smuggled the explosives that took down two Russian planes in August. I looked yesterday for a reliable source for this "thoery", but to no avail. In any event, the USA Today has taken the baton from Maureen Dowd. Thanks to Konopelli for the tip.

An Intrusive new search

Thanksgiving travelers may be in for a bit of a shock as they plod through security lines at the nation's airports. Passengers chosen for secondary screening or whose clothing appears suspicious or bulky are now subject to frisking--in a pretty intrusive way. In late September, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began allowing security checkpoint screeners to manually pat down women's breasts and the genital and derriere regions of both sexes during searches. The point is to find hidden explosives while machines that might perform the job are still being tested. "I know it's not pleasant," says Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, "but until we get the technology, what are the options?"

Before I answer your question sir, I have to ask what your intent is. If you really believe that there is a good chance that folks will try smuggling bombs in their underwear, and you want to appear fair, then every traveler should be subject to a full strip search and cavity check. I know it sounds harsh, but if you aren't going to grope everyone, what's the point of the exercise, i mean now that this new tactic has passed the publicity threshold, and must be known by the "enemy", clever terrorists will send waves of explosive brassiere wearing bombediers, some will make it through screening and planes will fall from the skies.

But as i don't believe you were asking a serious question, and as long as alot of the cargo makes it into the plane unchecked, this reactionary tactic only serves the appearence of Security, but hey, I know the papier mache fort I just built in the Backyard will keep the hords of Vikings out of my hair (they are using cardboard swords aren't they?). So lets see how safe we really are

The new policy reflects an increasing sense of urgency about the lack of explosives-detection equipment. Today, only a small percentage of carry-on luggage and passengers is tested for bombs. In its final report, the 9/11 commission said the TSA must give "priority attention" to checking passengers for explosives. In August, two Russian airliners crashed, almost certainly because of explosives two Chechen women had concealed beneath their clothing--underscoring the danger.

I don't know about you, but it looks like we are taking the driftnet to go shrimping approach to security. It is nice that they wedged in the Chechen women into the article, using the New-Journalism standard for truth, "almost certainly".
In essance, at this state in the game, it could be agued that a terrorist has a much better than even chance of smuggling something on a plane regardless to the lip service we pay to the idea of increased security. I hope the terrorists don't find out.

Deana aka Dee-Dee

DeeDee, is a beautiful, sweet, and theres a lot to love. She lives with Justin and Rob, a couple friends of mine. I have the pleasure of occupying a spot in her top three Human's list. Justin found her as a kitten on the streets of Chicago about ten years ago and had no Idea that she was a white cat until he gave her her first bath.

J&R have a couple of Dogs, Dolly is a Boston Terrier and cute as hell , and Daisy a Hound / Chow mix and when you roll her ears up she is a dead ringer for Pricess Leia. But in their house DeeDee is at the Top of the Animal hierarchy.

Continuing with the Star Wars characters in that house, we have Daisy as the princess, Dolly as Darth Vader, and Deana is definitly Obi-wan Kenobi.

In the dream-world of fixed feline matchmaking, we would like to think that Deana and Jack (below) would make beautiful kittens together and a beautiful couple.

happy T-Day, The Pilgrims Edition.

Near about 1608, a group of separatists left England due to increasing religious intolerance. The found a home in Holland settling in Lieden for the next twelve years when a number of forces motivated half the group to uproot and head for America. Originally planning to take of on two ships, the Speedwell proved unseaworthy and those still committed to the journey left Plymouth England on September 6, 1620 in the Mayflower and anchored at provincetown on the 21st of Novembver the same year.

Prior to leaving the boat the colonists signed the Mayflower Compact, a constitution of sorts that formed the basis of the early government. The first winter killed off half the colonists, but following years saw less privation and continued immagration, and the basis for what is known as the Massechusetts Commonwealth was formed.

Of course they got a little intolerant themselves and more or less forced the founding of Rhode Island and Conneticut by folks who themselves were looking to practice their religion in peace. This early colonial history, must have weighed in the minds of the founding fathers, as they contemplated the formation of a new government. I imagine that the many religious troubles in England during the 17th century also played a large role in the decision to place a wall between church and state.

For what its worth there you go. I had promised this post, I didn't promise that it would be any good. Anyway most of his material is either off the top of my head or supplemented frem the Pilgrims entry of the Wikipedia.

Thanksgiving Day, the Global Warming Edition

Saw this a couple of days ago, possibly on the BBC site IIRC, and it's a scary demonstration of the rapidity of change in the arctic due to Global Warming. One of these days the bush administration will be all over this story, likly replete with positive bromides. Imagine for a moment that you are an indiginent inhabitant of the arctic, where your culture and language has developed in a relatively static environment.

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (Reuters) - What are the words used by indigenous peoples in the Arctic for "hornet," "robin," "elk," "barn owl" or "salmon?" If you don't know, you're not alone.
Many indigenous languages have no words for legions of new animals, insects and plants advancing north as global warming thaws the polar ice and lets forests creep over tundra.

"We can't even describe what we're seeing," said Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (news - web sites) which says it represents 155,000 people in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia.

In the Inuit language Inuktitut, robins are known just as the "bird with the red breast," she said. Inuit hunters in north Canada recently saw some ducks but have not figured out what species they were, in Inuktitut or any other language.

Animal migration patterns trending northward as changes in climate extend their territory, is a terrifying trend indeed, likely the most tangible evidence to dat of the accelleration of the problem.

An eight-nation report this month says the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet and that the North Pole could be ice-free in northern hemisphere summer by 2100, threatening indigenous cultures and perhaps wiping out creatures like polar bears.

The report, by 250 scientists and funded by the United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, puts most of the blame on a build-up of heat-trapping gases from human use of fossil fuels like coal and oil.

The thaw may have some positive spin-offs for people, for instance by making chill Arctic seas more habitable for cod or herring or by shifting agricultural lands and forestry north.

But on land, more and more species will be cramming into an ever-narrowing strip bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, threatening to destroy fragile Arctic ecosystems from mosses to Arctic foxes or snowy owls.

I note the presentation of an upside (ha ha), as well as some of the negative side effects. What I don't see anything about, is the impact of a rather dramatic rise in sea level that would occur if we end up with an ice-free North Pole by the summer of 2100. Meanwhile in Lapland The Elk is a mysterious invader.

In Arctic Europe, birch trees are gaining ground and Saami reindeer herders are seeing roe deer or even elk, a forest-dwelling cousin of moose, on former lichen pastures.

"I know about 1,200 words for reindeer -- we classify them by age, sex, color, antlers," said Nils Isak Eira, who manages a herd of 2,000 reindeer in north Norway.

"I know just one word for elk -- 'sarvva'," said 50-year-old Eira. "But the animals are so unusual that many Saami use the Norwegian word 'elg.' When I was a child it was like a mythical creature."

Thrushes have been spotted in Saami areas of the Arctic in winter, apparently too lazy to bother migrating south.

Buddy, it's time for you to fucking join the real world. Quit screwing with those reindeer, get a real freakin job and contribute something to society. Who cares if your kids will grow up appreciating your useless culture. Jeez allready, and now your telling me that Polar Bears are screwed? Hell the earth is a competitive market place, if you cant adapt you die. Get with te program Polar Bears.

n some more southerly areas of the Arctic, like Canada's Hudson Bay, receding ice means polar bears are already struggling. The bears' main trick is to pounce when seals surface to breathe through holes in the ice.

The Arctic report says polar bears "are unlikely to survive as a species if there is a complete loss of summer-ice cover." Restricted to land, polar bears would have to compete with better-adapted grizzly or brown bears.



"The outlook for polar bears is stark. My grandson will lose the culture I had as a child," said Watt-Cloutier, referring to Inuit hunting cultures based on catching seals, bears or whales.

Boo Freakin Hooo, buddy, the earth is under the Dominion of Man. Got that? White, Christian, American, Man, if you gotta be specific.

Happy Turkey Day, The Falwell gives thanks for the "Bearers of False witness"

jerry Falwells T-Day mesage to the faithful included thanks for quite a few republican pundits, all who manage to break the 9th commandment on a nearly daily basis. The ninth commandment reads:

'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

I guess if you take the definition of neighbor loosly, these guys might have an escape clause. But in general, they have an inclination to take "liberties" with the truth, and their version is unusually discordant with mine. On to Falwells thanks and praise for these pundit prevaricators.

Let me talk to you about five good things of late ... for which this week I hope you and your family around your Thanksgiving table will praise the Lord. ... No. 5: America has alternative news media and is no longer held hostage by the major print and broadcast media. I remember a day when ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and the major print media controlled all the news flow to the American people and we found ourselves getting warped and distorted news. I thank God now in the 21st century for talk radio, that three hours a day people like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and hundreds of others are telling the truth of what really is going on. I thank God for FOX News Channel [applause]. I thank God for the Internet bloggers and the news producers like NewsMax.com, WorldNetDaily.com, even The Drudge Report.

Now I bet that Charley Johnson, Instapundit, the Free Republic and Friends, are patting themselves on the back, basking in the praise that includes "internet bloggers like...."

I wonder if he knows that Drudge prefers to share his bed with men. "Jerry [points at Drudge] Leviticus, Abomination, get the drift?" And I doubt he has watched CNN lately 'cause if he did he would be watching a network desparately trying to outfox "FOX" . He seems never loathe to accept their invitation to share with us his wisdom. On November 5th on Anderson Cooper show, he appeared to deny making statements that we can be reasonably certain he made. For instance, the denial:

Falwell denied his habit of comparing homosexuality to bestiality, crack addiction

During an interview with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, fundamentalist Baptist pastor and Moral Majority founder Reverend Jerry Falwell denied ever having equated homosexuality to "smoking crack and bestiality" -- a comparison Falwell has in fact made on several occasions.

From the November 5 edition of CNN's Anderson [rumored to be gay-ed] Cooper 360:

COOPER: I know in the past you believe homosexual behavior is immoral, a sin, you've equated it with smoking crack, bestiality. But what is the threat to you? What is -- I mean, two men saying that they love each to each other, what's the threat?

FALWELL: Well, I haven't equated it to anything, but I believe that the scripture makes it clear that all sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman is wrong, whether it's heterosexual promiscuity or homosexual activity.

[...]

COOPER: On homosexuality, I mean, you say you don't equate it to anything, but you do equate it to -- I mean, you have in plenty of interviews equated it to, you know, immoral behavior, smoking crack and bestiality.

FALWELL: Well, it is immoral behavior, of course. No, not bestiality, not crack -- taking crack. Those are different things, but homosexuality is sin.

Following are examples of Falwell equating homosexuality with smoking crack and bestiality:

Say it ain't so Jerr, the ninth my friend, what will we tell the children? That it's OK if you are on the side of righteousness? Moving along to the evidence of a broken covenant.

• FALWELL: Well, look, first of all, Mr. Bush did not make this a 2004 issue. The Massachusetts Supreme Court did, the San Francisco mayor, the New Mexico officials, et cetera. This was made an issue when the Supreme Court gave constitutional protection to sodomy. So here we have now same-sex marriage. What's next, polygamy? ... Why not? And why not bestiality? [CNN, Wolf Blitzer Reports, 2/24/04]

• FALWELL: I don't want anybody in my bedroom any more than you want anybody in your bedroom. But I think this privacy issue goes too far. Is this right to privacy going to legalize prostitution, or bestiality, or the use of cocaine or heroin as long as you do it in your bedroom? Privacy can be taken to a great extent. ... [I]f we're going to do that, then why don't we just legalize bestiality since it's done in the privacy of one's home, perhaps? [MSNBC, Hardball, 6/27/03]

• In the latest letter, the Baptist minister [Falwell] said more money must be received to keep the Moral Majority newspaper and broadcasts going. "Perhaps the most disturbing situation is that our lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., to keep Congress from legalizing sodomy, bestiality, fornication, homosexuality and other perversions is also in danger," the letter added. [Associated Press, 10/23/81]

Jerry, I can see where you aren't equating homosexuality to beastiality, or crack smoking, in your overt attacks on privacy (a crumbling redoubt for the causes of Gay and Women's rights), Oooops sorry, You are a lying sack of shit afterall, Mr. Falwell. Does not baby Jesus love the truth tellers? What of False witness Jerry? That friends is a real Christian man. Is lying a gateway crime? What would Jesus Do Jerry, for the love of Christ, What Would Jesus Do?

Happy Thanksgiving, The "For Security Surposes, We Have to Fondle your Breasts" edition.

I posted previously about Ava Kingsford's adventures with the Transportation Security Administration and their new breast examination protocols. Apparently on theory holds that a couple of women smuggled the explosives that took down to Russian planes in August, in their Bra's. I did not expect that this was an isolated incedent, and now it appears that New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd has had a number of run-ins with the Breast examination squad.

Hiding Breast Bombs
By MAUREEN DOWD

WASHINGTON

It always makes me feel slimy and humiliated, as though I'm in one of those cheesy women-in-prison movies, with titles like "Caged," "Slammer Girls" or "Reform School Girls."

First you have to strip, unzipping your boots, unbuckling your belt and unbuttoning your suit jacket while any guys standing around watch. Then you have to walk around in some flimsy top and stocking or bare feet. Then you have to assume the spread-eagled position. Then a beefy female security agent runs her hands all the way around your breasts, in between, underneath - again with guys standing around staring.

Flying on business, I've gone through this embarrassing tableau two dozen times in airports all over the country in the last couple of months. I've been searched more than Martha Stewart. I watched a Transportation Security Administration screener brusquely insist that my friend take off her blazer even though she had on only lingerie underneath - a see-through camisole - and the man behind her was leering.

Airport screening procedures are more reactive than imaginative. There's an attempted shoe bombing, so all passengers must shed their shoes. Two female Chechens may or may not have sneaked explosives onto Russian planes, so now some T.S.A. genius decides all women are subject to strips and body searches.
............
In two articles in The Times, Joe Sharkey has chronicled the plaints of women angry about new procedures in airport security that have increased both the number and intensity of the airport pat-down, or "breast exam," as one woman put it.

He described the experience of Patti LuPone, the singer and actress, at the Fort Lauderdale airport, who resisted taking off her shirt and got barred from her flight, and of 71-year-old Jenepher Field, who walks with the aid of a cane, being subjected to a breast pat-down at the airport outside Kansas City, Mo. (Do we have intelligence telling us that grandmothers are part of Al Qaeda now?)

Even a stripper complained in an e-mail message to Mr. Sharkey that she found her experiences degrading: "On one occasion a screener flat out asked if they were fake."

Somebody tell me what quantity of explosive material they have found through these strip searches, because I've got a hunch it's zero. How many billions are they wasting on this?
..............
I know it's not just women who are uncomfortable; a guy I know said a male screener at the Miami airport recently stuck a hand down the front of his pants, making him feel "totally manhandled." And I heard the sad tale of a red-faced Washington businessman who took off his shoes, only to show the room the red painted toenails he had forgotten to wipe off.

Barry Steinhardt of the A.C.L.U. told Court TV that the new procedures are not only "an open invitation for harassment" - there are not enough female screeners, so sometimes men are doing the pat-downs of women - but they're also "not particularly effective."

I've never wanted to complain because I assume there are inconveniences that go along with greater security. But I would feel less creepy if I thought this were part of an effective overall strategy of protecting the country. I don't.

We really have Jumped the Shark as a country. Homeland security is just a bunch of appearance based crap like this and the shoe removal programs, which as Dowd states in an unquoted part of her piece "are more reactive than imaginative". I have to admit that this is the first I have heard of a "package inspection". I gotta tell you, I would be mighty upset if some guy went rooting around in my pants, looking for an improvised explosive device. I don't think anyone should have to put up with this nonsense, unless the company that got the "no-bid contract" for making bomb sniffing machines has been unable deliver the goods. Strike that, even if one of Dubby's buddies hasn't come through this level of intrusion and humiliation is simply uncalled for. I am suprised that MoDo chose to be silent for so long.

Now, I wonder if I can get a job with the TSA? hmmmmmmm...........................

Happy T-Day, George Catlin with the Mandan Indians

This painting depicts a Mandan Mid-Summer Ceremony. Possibly the last time it was captured by illustration. From the Upper Missouri 1932.



click on image for larger version

Catlin's most significant contribution was to record in image and in print the mid-summer ceremony of the O-kee-pa based on his first hand observation. The significance of this work lies in the fact that it is first hand documentation unavailable after 1837. Catlin was one of very few Whites who ever witnessed the ceremonies. In 1837 smallpox was introduced to the Northern Plains. On June 18 of that year, the American Fur Company Steamboat St. Peters arrived at Fort Clark, carrying contaminated goods and infected individuals. The disease spread across the Northern Plains to the Northwest Coast and into Alaska, becoming a pandemic which killed perhaps as many as half a million people before fading out by 1840. The Mandan may have numbered 2,000 before the epidemic, but by January 1838, less than 100 remained.

Poof, another Heathen culture stomped out in the service of the Lord. Some more documentation regarding the Smallpox epidemic.

In 1837, the Mandan were especially hard hit by smallpox, perhaps because they remained in their fortified villages, fearing attack by hostile Sioux if they left.

The great Mandan chief Four Bears maintained friendly relations with whites throughout his life. He befriended two influential frontier artists who painted his portrait and praised his virtues, George Catlin and Karl Bodmer.

But his views of whites changed after smallpox brought agonizing death to many of his people.

A fur trader named Francis Chardon kept a journal of events at Fort Clark, a trading post along the Missouri near the villages of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara.

Symptoms usually announced themselves with a sharp headache. By the end of September, Chardon estimated that seven-eighths of the Mandan and half of the Hidatsa and Arikara were dead.

The bodies piled up so quickly, and the survivors were so distressed, that many weren’t buried. Very few survived.

One of the many who perished was Four Bears, whose bitter dying statement Chardon took down in his journal on July 28, 1837:

My friends one and all, listen to what I have to say -- Ever since I can remember, I have loved the whites.

I have lived with them ever since I was a boy, and to the best of my knowledge, I have never wronged the white man; on the contrary, I have always protected them from the insults of others, which they cannot deny. …

I have done everything that a red skin could do for them, and how have they repaid it! With ingratitude! … I have been in many battles, and often wounded, but the wounds of my enemies I exalt in, but today I am wounded, and by whom? By those same white Dogs that I have always considered, and treated as Brothers.

I do not fear Death, my friends. You know it, but to die with my face rotten, that even the Wolves will shrink with horror at meeting me, and say to themselves, that is the Four Bears, the friend of the whites. ...

Think of your wives, children, brothers, sisters, friends, and in fact all that you hold dear, are all dead, or dying, with their faces all rotten caused by those dogs the whites, think of all that my friends, and rise up all together and not leave one of them alive. The 4 Bears will act his part.

The above is a painting of Four Bears before he succomed to the pox.. I guess you could say tht we are getting off easy, though it is not easy to swallow.

Happy Thanksgiving Founding Fathers views on Religion, The Thomas Jefferson edition.

The third president of the United States, author of the Declaration of Independence, Architect, Scientist, Farmer, Renaissance Man, Genius. The man had his own Bible.

Now as many of you are aware, a movement looms in this country, believing that the country should be ruled by "God's Law" as written in the Bible, and was founded as a "Christian Nation". Now the trouble with these folks is a ratherinteresting approach with regard to history, in other words, that which does not support their thesis gets tossed. As we saw below, these folks are not terribly interested in being above board when it comes to the advancement of their agenda. These "true believers" wish to bring salvation to america, they desire to "bring America back to God" as Falwell puts it:

“If we are going to save America and evangelize the world, we cannot accommodate secular philosophies that are
diametrically opposed to Christian truth ... We need to pull out all
the stops to recruit and train 25 million Americans to become informed pro-moral activists whose voices can be heard in the halls of Congress.

I am convinced that America can be turned around if we will all get serious about the Master's business. It may be late, but it is never too late to do what is right. We need an old-fashioned, God-honoring, Christ-exalting revival to turn American back to God. America can be saved!”

And What has Radical Cleric Dobson have to say about our situation.

"Fortunately, those who would rid us of our spiritual heritage have an impossible task on their hands. To sanitize our history, it would be necessary to expunge all official records, burn old textbooks, close the Library of Congress, destroy the existing diaries and letters and sandblast half the buildings in Washington, D.C. And still the evidences of our faith would exist.

An image of Moses faces the Speaker of the House of Representatives; our coins proclaim, 'In God We Trust' {on some coins since 1864, and on paper since 1954}; our Pledge of Allegiance declares that we are 'one nation, under God'; our Declaration of Independence asserts that we are 'endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights;' the oath of office for the presidency ends with the phrase, 'so help me God'; and on it goes."

which means that the troubles some of the founders had with religion and why the separation of church and state is addressed in the first ammendment, but I digress, lets see some of Jefferson's thoughts on the subject of Religion.

I have examined all the known superstitions of the Word, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the world ...
....................
The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves. [They], in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ.
.................
The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes; fools and hypocrites. To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.
................
Accustom a people to believe that priests and clergy can forgive sins ... and you will have sins in abundance. I would not dare to dishonor my Creator's name by [attaching] it to this filthy book [the Bible].
.................
For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate error so long as reason is free to combat it.
........................
It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.
....................
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
............... The following is from another source.
Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man. ...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus.

Jefferson seems to have some issues with the church, though not with belief in a higher being, nor a repudiation of Christ. Representatives of the Danbury Baptist Association were concerned about the issue of the Separation of Church and state and whether there was to be established a state religions, an excerpt.

Our Sentiments are uniformly on the side of Religious Liberty -- That Religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals -- That no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious Opinions - That the legitimate Power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor: But Sir our constitution of government is not specific.

This is when I think of the bright young lad who looking to the future with vision would have had the temerity to suggest that the right to privacy be specifically enumerated, as he could foretell a time when the lack of such provision might lead a judicial body to conclude that privacy was not a constititutional right. (I'm looking at you Thomas, Scalia) Unfortunately we do not know if the suggestion was ever made during the Bill of Rights debate, but if indeed it was, I can imagine that it was recieved with laughter as some smarty pants replys "Should we not then enumerate, within this bill, the right to breathe?" The following is part of his reply to the Danbury Baptist Association.

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."

Interesting. So Jefferson is pretty clear on the issue. Religion is a matter between man and his God, and a wall of separation protects the rights of everone with respect to religion. A great site on the subject of Separation of Church and State. And it occurs to me that I spend far too much time trying to debunk or slapdown falsehood or misrepresentation. Seems like I could use my powers for more productive ends. Hmmmm maybe when they actually teach people things like history.

Happy T-Day, The propagation of Republican lies Edition.

Last night Atrios pointed to this piece at Seeing the Forest, about a little fundementalist / Republican victimization propaganda. The author suggested that we keep our eyes open for the appearence of this story in the media, suggesting that it was designed to be used as a wedge, as well as "illustrate the demonization of Christianity by heathen and secular Liberals". I thought as I read the piece, that I was sure that sometime down the road I might be confronted with this "evidence" and be forced to call it for what it is, Bullshit. So lets take a look at the source.

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.

Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.

"It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry Thompson.

"Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country," he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S. Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the Declaration of Independence."

I would be interested in what constitutes "the true history" of Our country. There seem to be so many versions it is beginning to be difficult to keep track. sorry Attorney dude from some Christian protection association, but every time I hear someone spout off on how religious the Founders were, I want to hurl. Because the next words out of the mouth is usually something along the lines that the country should be a theocracy, and I'v never heard of that first ammendment you keep talking about.

Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment.

Phyllis Vogel, assistant superintendent for Cupertino Unified School District, said the lawsuit had been forwarded to a staff attorney. She declined to comment further.

Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts [Christian propaganda anyone] to Vidmar for approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that contain references to God or Christianity.

now think about it for a moment, The Declaration of Independance banned? because it makes a reference to god? Okie Dokie lets see where and how such refference is made. Me thinks that that something smells in Denmark. From the Declaration.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I for one am not bying the "ban", the above are the only references to God or Creator in the entire document. Of course it is here that the fundimentalists will show as an example of our Founding as a Christian Nation. Too bad there aren't any Journalists around who might smell a rat as they are viewing it's rotting corpse. This is a case of a teacher forcing christian beliefs on the students under the guise of historical education. The fact that the Declaration mentions god on one occasion allows them to play this as a ban on the Declaration itself, when in fact it is likely a ban on class time prosthelatizing, or "everyday should be sunday school". The Alliance Defence Fund is supporting this case and let's just say they have an agenda, and it is more insidious than the gay agenda. The People for the American way dossier on the ADF.

Alliance Defense Fund’s Principal Issues:
# ADF is a Christian legal firm established by more than 30 Christian ministries to help defend “family values” and work against the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).
# ADF defines itself by its ability to strategize and coordinate with lawyers all over the United States. Lawyers who sign up for their “Blackstone Legal Institute” are expected to donate 450 pro bono hours over a three year period.
# ADF has coordinated over 400 lawyers, over 125 right-wing organizations, and many conservative ministries on behalf of ADF-defined Christian legal issues.
# ADF has been involved with 16 “victories” before the Supreme Court, including such high profile cases as Boy Scouts of America v. Dale and Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network. ADF has had success in anti-gay cases all over the US, from Alaska to Massachusetts.

Man they would seem to have their fingers in every slice of the right wing fundimentalist hot button issue. Digby takes it home.

That's the best case for lawsuit reform I've ever heard, right there.

STF points out that this is coordinated to come out the day before Thanksgiving so that they can pound it over the holiday week-end without anybody being able to properly respond. These precious little stories are becoming commonplace these days. I remember the one about the teacher who was allegedly discriminated against because she put a picture of Bush on the bulletin board. It turned out that she had a fucking shrine up there and was insulting 12 year old kids whose parents were voting for Kerry. All the wingnuts keened and wailed about the unfairness of it all, always being the first to claim victimhood. As each tale is debunked they just move to the next.

These little personal stories are a very effective way to spread propaganda. We need to figure out a way to deal with this stuff.

Digby also has some material I may need to swap for my planned piede on the religious beliefs of the founding fathers.

Happy Thanksgiving, Republican Aristocratic Hubris edition.

Guest poster upyernose one of the guest posters subbing for Atrios while he is away enjoying Barcelona, points us in the direction of a Texas State Race in which the incumbant lost both the original tally and a recount, and now has decided to take it to the TX lege. I guess this guy is gonn have to have his cold dead ass pryed out of his seat, as it would appear that the will of the people are of little concern if you are a Republican. As Yoda might say, " the stink of entitlement is strong in this one".

Heflin wants House seat back or a new election
By JOE STINEBAKER
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

State Rep. Talmadge Heflin asked the state House of Representatives today to overturn the results of his failed re-election bid and either order him returned to the Legislature or call for a new election.

Heflin's attorney, Andy Taylor, said the election results in state House District 149 in southwest Harris County were fraught with voting irregularities and potential fraud, most of which occurred in predominantly Democratic precincts.

Ooooh the dual boogeymen of irregularities and Fraud, where have I heard that before, and what was the response to questions? Oh, yeah that's right. "Get Over It". I'm thinking, and I might be wrong, but since the republicans are in controll in TX which included the running of the elections, and I might be going out on a limb here, but that the local board of election officials are republican, one might conclude that if there were any funny business it would benefit our multi term "Real American" Heflin, rather than his opponent a former Vietnamese boat person. Just sayin'.

"The true outcome of this election was stolen from the voters in House District 149," Taylor said Tuesday. "We will prove that Representative Talmadge Heflin was re-elected."

Heflin, a Republican member of the House since 1983 and chairman of its Appropriations Committee, lost to Democratic businessman Hubert Vo by 32 votes earlier this month. But Heflin's campaign alleges that those election results include at least 248 irregularities that could have altered the outcome.

Hell it worked in 2000, in Florida, why the fuck not re run that playbook, and call everything into question. now that he brings it up, one wonders if those 248 "irregularities" may have had any impact on the other races in the district.

Taylor said he will file notice today that the Heflin campaign intends to contest the election in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. That will require that House Speaker Tom Craddick order a House committee to investigate Heflin's allegations.

After the committee reports its findings, the full House will decide whether to seat Vo or Heflin or call for a new election. The House's decision will be binding, said a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state's office.
...............
Although there have been several election contests in the Texas House in recent years, none has reversed an election result, and most were withdrawn after they were filed.

Officials with the Vo campaign have said they are confident that their candidate won a fair election and have called on Heflin to concede.
...............
Heflin's decision to contest the election is part of a two-pronged effort to return him to the Legislature. On Monday, Heflin requested a manual recount of all ballots cast in the election.

His best chance for recapturing his House seat probably lies with the election contest because the recount is not allowed to go into the issues of voting irregularities but must focus exclusively on the ballots cast in the election.

Good luck with that buddy. I know mr Heflin,I know, you have been in that seat since 1983. I understand why you feel it should be yours again, if not in perpetuity and I certainly respect that you could not envision having your seat taken by a gook, probably a dirty one at that. meanwhile lets see what the elections officer has to say about the situation.

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt, the county's voter registrar, said Tuesday that he was somewhat familiar with the Heflin campaign's allegations.

Bettencourt, a Republican, agreed that many of the allegations raised by the campaign would involve illegal votes, but he said such votes are not uncommon in large elections.

Bettencourt said that in the heat of conducting an election, precinct judges often mistakenly allow ineligible voters to cast their ballots or reject ballots from eligible voters.

The number of such complaints is usually too small to affect an election's outcome, he said, although it could have an impact in an election as close as the Heflin-Vo race.

I won't be suprised if they ultimately decide in Heflins favor, cause, you know IOKIYAR. but it would be interesting if they chose to hold another election, and see how the voters of Harris county respond to these tactics. The county voter registrar is indeed a republican. I wonder how powerfull the Vietnamese Mafia is in Harris county?

Happy Turkeyday George Catlin paints Wi-jun-jon

On board the Yellow Stone were two returning members of an Indian delegation to Washington, D.C. Wi-jun-jon, an Assiniboin known as Pigeon’s Egg Head or The Light, was a distinguished member of his tribe and was considered a "good" (that is friendly and cooperative) Indian by the fur traders and authorities. Fascinated with the White Man’s culture, he returned home garbed in a mixture of the white man’s clothing. Catlin was so struck by The Light’s transformation that he painted a double portrait showing the subject going to and returning from Washington. After returning to his people, The Light persisted in relating his experiences, telling stories which his people could only conceive as lies. He was murdered by another Indian.

The destruction of thousands of years of culture and civilization begins one indian at a time.

The other delegate on board was the Plains Cree He Who Has Eyes Behind Him (also known as Broken Arm). He was not popular with the traders -- that is, he was not considered a "good" Indian, but he survived. He went to Washington, decided the White Man’s ways were not for him, and returned to maintain the old ways with his people.

One indian chooses the ways of the white man, another chooses the ways of his ancestors, one considered a "good" Indian, the other was not, In any event two cultural traditions have become for all intents and purposes extinct. Later we will take a look at the Mandan Indians, and a painting of a ceremony that might have been the last for those people who were soon to exposed to Small pox, you can guess the rest. The work you see here is from a jaunt up the upper Missouri River in 1832.

Happy thanksgiving, the Falling Dollar Edition

It's Theme blogging at the codpiece today, and as a challenge to myself I think that we'll take a look at Native Americans through the eyes of George Catlin, a flight from religious persecution that led to the founding of Massachusetts colony, an examination of the religion of the Founding Fathers, Jeffersons letters to th Baptists, and why I am thankfull that for a short while at least, we enjoy the separation of Church and State.

But to begin with lets take a look at the Falling Dollar. Atrios laments not being able to pay for his accomodations in Barcelona in advance. The Euro is at 1.30 and climbing. The Yen is approaching the penny in value. Russia may be looking to unload dollars in the near term, which will serve to only exascerbate the decline.

LONDON (AFP) - The dollar trawled record depths against the euro, hit by signs that central banks in Russia and elsewhere could step up sales of the ailing US currency to buy euros.
The single European currency soared to a new record against the dollar, reaching 1.3178 dollars in late European trading.

It was the third record high of the day, and the second straight day of record highs for the euro, which has been boosted by concerns about the US budget and current account deficits.

The euro then eased back, changing hands at 1.3174 dollars, against 1.3084 late on Tuesday in New York.

The dollar fell to 102.89 yen from 103.30 on Tuesday.

The dollar sell-off has gathered pace over the week as concerns over the US's twin deficits combined with talk the Russian Central Bank is reviewing the structure of its currency reserves away from the US currency.

Can you blame them? The almighty dollar is not what she used to be, and is falling in the face of budgetary and trade deficits, that until now has been buoyed by the reputation of the United States as a fiscally responsible Nation. First world economies are always given the benifit of the doubt, but given the "re-election" of the Manichean Candidate, the doubts begin to mount.
Coming from our side of the pond from Stephen Roach, his suggestion that there is a 90% chance of economic Amegeddon can't be soothing the ruffled feathers of economists and bond traders here and abroad.

Economic `Armageddon' predicted
By Brett Arends/ On State Street
Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, has a public reputation for being bearish. But you should hear what he's saying in private. Roach met select groups of fund managers downtown last week, including a group at Fidelity.

His prediction: America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic ``armageddon.''

Press were not allowed into the meetings. But the Herald has obtained a copy of Roach's presentation. A stunned source who was at one meeting said, ``it struck me how extreme he was - much more, it seemed to me, than in public.''

Roach sees a 30 percent chance of a slump soon and a 60 percent chance that ``we'll muddle through for a while and delay the eventual armageddon.'' The chance we'll get through OK: one in 10.
Maybe.

Can you understand why Russia's central bank may be leery about the dollar and might want to avail itself of the always good advice for any investor and diversify it's currency portfolio.

Whether or not Russia reduces the weight of the dollar in its foreign exchange reserves, analysts said the US currency will stay on the backfoot so long as the US continues to record massive deficits on both the current account and the fiscal front.

"The dollar is friendless and in danger of freefall," said Neil Mackinnon, chief economist at ECU Group.

As long as the market believes the US administration is following a policy of benign neglect, then the dollar will continue to fall whatever the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan does to counter-act it, he added.

In that scenario, not even strong US data can provide the dollar respite, with analysts now widely predicting the euro hitting 1.45 dollars and a two dollar pound is just around the corner. Meanwhile, there is even talk that the dollar could drop to 85 yen.

Does not seem to be a whole lot to be thankfull for in the short term, short being relative (let's hope we aren't looking at the geological time frame).

Despite this brighter US economic picture, the dollar continues to slide in the currency markets against all its major rivals in the wake of last weekend's G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers.

That meeting eliminated any expectation that there would be concerted action to help stabilise the dollar.
..............
"The market believes intervention will be ineffective, and there is now a strong view the ECB will not intervene, while the market waits for the BoJ [bank of Japan] to follow words with actions," said ECU Group's Mackinnon.
..............
The renewed bout of selling this week was sparked by comments from the Russian authorities hinting at plans to continue to switch their currency reserves into euros, to the detriment of the dollar.

The euro was changing hands at 1.3174 dollars against 1.3084 late on Tuesday in New York, 135.52 yen (135.16), 0.7001 pounds (0.7000) and 1.5105 Swiss francs (1.5152).

The dollar stood at 102.89 yen (103.30) and 1.1463 Swiss francs (1.1582).

The pound was at 1.8824 dollars (1.8685), 193.65 yen (192.99) and 2.1578 Swiss francs (2.1645).

On the London Bullion Market, the price of an ounce of gold stood at 448.60 dollars against 448.15 late on Tuesday.

I wonder if Dubby took a look into Putin's soul while in Chile, and if the soul told him "Mars Bitch, we are switching to Euros".

Now back in '98 Mr. Andrea Mitchell, saw clouds looming over Asia, has Greenspan been replaced by a pod person?

WASHINGTON, February, 24 1998 (AP) - Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan hailed the remarkable performance of the U.S. economy today, but warned that "storm clouds coming out of Asia carried unusually high uncertainty about the future."

Delivering his semi-annual economic report to Congress, Greenspan may be forecasting the same grim scenario seen and reported here by John Kutyn.

It would seem that Asia knows some kind of economic Kung Fu, and flipped said crisis back at us. Now that pollyanna Greenspan keeps telling us how great things are I can only semise that he is a replicant. The rest of the article paints an interesting picture of threats not yet materialized.

Well there you go friends, the immenent collapse of the US economy awaits. Before the fall, i would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving day.

Oswald Killed on this day in 1963

The prime suspect in the Assasination of President Kennedy was gunned down in the Dallas Police station by Jack Ruby on this day 41 years ago. From the BBC.

1963: Kennedy 'assassin' murdered
The man accused of assassinating the US President, John F Kennedy, has himself been shot dead in a Dallas police station.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old former Marine, was being transferred from police headquarters to the county jail, at the centre of a large crowd of police officers, reporters and camera crews.

The event was being covered live on television, and Americans across the country watched in astonishment as a man - later identified as Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner - stepped forward, drew a gun and shot Mr Oswald at point-blank range.

"I didn't want to be a hero - I did it for Jacqueline Kennedy"
Jack Ruby

Mr Oswald fell to the floor, grasping his stomach, as a confused scuffle broke out between police, reporters and the gunman.

An ambulance rushed Mr Oswald to the Parkland Hospital - the same hospital which had fought to save President Kennedy's life two days earlier - but he died within minutes of his arrival.

Never allowed to speak in his own defence, Oswald took whatever he may have know about the case to the grave with him. A couple of years later the young Arlen Specter would find himself diagramming the "magic bullet theory" and the Warren commision would find Oswald responsible, for a crime that still confounds people to this day. I am willing to accept some of the questions that have been raised, but many still find themselves unable to believe that the assasination could be bigger than one man and a magic bullet. I doubt that we will ever really know what happened on that November 22nd, but I am inclined to believe that If involved at all, Oswald was not acting alone. But then I am just an extremely open minded guy.

Problems, Ideas, and Solutions, a work in progress

Started by a comment from eschatonian Jennifer, joined by Wiley E Oddyseus and myself, a discussion of message, tactics, the roadblocks, and possible solutions to some of our problems with the media and the message.

Well, it looks as though at least one Dem knows how the game is played.

The Dem senators had a prime opportunity with this bill - they should have simply refused to vote for it until the offending section was stripped. Then, when the pukes started howling about it, which is the only time the media looks up from contemplating its own navel, the Dems would have been assured of airtime, and could have put out this message: that they were not about to ok puke invasion of people's privacy, and puke promises to go back and "fix it" were meaningless after the way the pukes have abused the Patriot Act and the dept. of Homeland Security. They could have gotten in three swipes for the price of one.

But no, they're more concerned about what the pukes might say about us.

Bravo for Pelosi. She may be the only Dem in Congress who really gets it.
Jennifer
..................
the Dems would have been assured of airtime, and could have put out this message


I like the idea, but there is little guarentee that "this message" would have servived intact and coherent, after they ran it through the media obfuscation machine.

In other words, one could expect them to go from navel gazing to an instant of perked ears and straight through to
glazed eyes while reaching for the faxes streaming in to give them their talking points.

"Democratic message is too hard to reduce to pithy soundbites"

"Republican message easy to propagate, and when are they gonna permanently cut my taxes, cause that's all I am really concerned about"
kent
..........................
kent - well, what's the alternative? Doing as they've been doing and just rolling over and begging to have their bellies scratched? That's worked out really well for us.
Jennifer
...........................
Jennifer,

I am trying to work that out. I don't propose rolling over and playing dead. Hell I have nothing to propose at this time.

I just think that it is important to understand the fact that as long as the media remains a bought and paid propaganda arm for the GOP, that getting the message out is not gonna be easy under the best of circumstances, and that the best of messages can be destroyed through manipulation and distortion.

It would help greatly if we had spokespersons who did not drink of the conventional wisdom or parrot GOP talking points, but then again these folks tend not to get re-invited, the talking heads don't like to leave the sets carrying their asses.

Jen, by no means was I attempting to jump on you, believe me I share your frustration.

I guess for a start, continue to hold our guys' feet to the fire and start a working the ref Program. if we cn find 10% of our numbers willing to channel fundy outrage-mode, and give them directed targets making sure that CNN et al recieve 5,000 emails a day would help.
kent
..............................
kent - yes, it would help. That's how the right did it - they mobilized all the aggrieved fundies, played into their martyr complexes and got them going. They've been writing letters and sending complaints and generally hogging the attention of the media and politicians for over 2 decades.

NYMary is right - I blame this latest outbreak on the 70's charismatic movement myself. That started a lot of the splintering of mainline protestant congregations into regular and charismatic groups. Some smart religious conmen saw the potential and grabbed it.

I didn't even know it was happening until the fundie revolution was already well underway.
Tena
.................................
Tena,

my parents were sucked into the born-again movement for a couple of years in the late '70's (maybe a last ditch attempt to save the marriage) so I was fortunate to get a good biblical edumication (though I hated it at the time). I guess that if my parents, well educated and intelligent and liberal could get sucked in for a spell...{shudders}

During the rise of the Falwell and the MM during the early '80 the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

The religious right conmen, and Big Pharma Limbaugh fueling the fires of hatred, probvided the corps with new tools (revamped old ones actually) for the hard work of keeping the lower classes divided.

This game may have been over when the dems in the '80's did not have an answer for the "tax and spend" label, nor challenged reagans use of the term Welfare Queens, for the racist code that it was.
kent
..........................
...My big bitch is the capital class shifting the tax burden to the little guys. You know push the risk on us and reap the profits for themselves.
little alex
..............................
"Privatized profits and socialized risk."

It's the mantra of corporate America.
Jennifer
...................................
"Privatized profits and socialized risk."


ding ding ding, we have a winner.

It's short, pithy, true as the day is long, in short a perfect soundbite. This might not play with the rubes, but the reality based fiscal conservatives might go for it.

Fold this one into a broader theme, Fairness is a fundimental American Value.
kent
............................
This game may have been over when the dems in the '80's did not have an answer for the "tax and spend" label, nor challenged reagans use of the term Welfare Queens, for the racist code that it was.

I agree with the gist of this, though not entirely with it's apocalyptic pessimism. I don't think the game is over, or, if it is, it is going to be followed by a new one centering on the '06 and '08 election cycles.

The Rethugs did start demonizing liberals over a generation ago. It will take a while to undo that, and meanwhile we are playing catch up ball.

As for Dems being too polite, I think it comes from having become the party of government during the New Deal era. Dems are susceptible to calls to come together for the common good, and Rethugs exploit this.

I'd also look at the preface to Krugman's last book, The Great Unravelling, where he likens the difficulty of the reality-based community in dealing with these guys to the difficulties the establishment had in dealing with French revolutionaries who ceded it no legitimacy whatsoever.
Wile E. Odysseus
..............................
Wile E. Odysseus,

Game over was not necessarily meant to be appocalyptic, just a demonstration of a starting point of having rediculous charges thrown in our faces and an inability to deal with them as we go "what the fuck? Thats just Bullshit" and of course the lie makes it halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on.
................
kent
..............................................
Game over was not necessarily meant to be appocalyptic, just a demonstration of a starting point of having rediculous charges thrown in our faces and an inability to deal with them as we go "what the fuck? Thats just Bullshit" and of course the lie makes it halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on.

Fair enough. I certainly agree with you on that. I hear some crazy ass sh*t like, "liberals eat babies," and before I can even finish thinking, "Nah, no one's going to be so dumb as to believe that," everybody in the media is parroting the new talking point, and the journos are saying, "Some say liberals eat babies," and writing "analysis" pieces on whether Kerry (or whatever Dem you care to name) can overcome the strong "liberals eat babies" perception on the part of the American people and quoting anonymous Dems spouting defeatist stuff and wrining their hands about the strong attacks on Dems for eating babies.
Wile E. Odysseus
............................
Wile EO-new poll on MSNBC: Is it true liberals eat babies?
bebe rebozo



And Wolf Blitzer nodding approvingly while Enron Eddie Gillespie or some other Rethug shill is spouting off about liberals eating babies.
Wile E. Odysseus
.....................................
W.E.O, great handle btw,

You have done a perfect job describing how the media would respond to changes of dems drinking the blood of xtian babies, and slow roasting their flesh for a fantastic bar-b-cue. I'd laugh if it was not so true.

Uhm, I need another napkin to wipe the blood, oops barbecue sauce off my face.
kent
..........................................
I'd laugh if it was not so true.

Well, kent, I owe the inspiration to you.

Sadly, it's going to take a while to counteract this, because, as you said upthread, the Rethugs have been playing this game for a while now.
Wile E. Odysseus
.............................
BTW, kent (or anybody else), any thoughts on how Dems can counter this sort of thing and even do some of it on the Rethugs?
Wile E. Odysseus
...............................
WEO,

Good question. I think the first thing we should remember that even if it wasn't stolen, the results are pretty close to a dead heat, in spite of everything going against us. So I am not thinking that we have to retool the whole situation.

As I suggested earlier, working the refs, by targeting progressive rage might actually bear fruit, something like the sinclair operation, except daily, using Fair, Media matters and the Daily Howler for direction.

next crafting nice soundbites, which is much more difficult for us reality/rational based folk. but Jennifer had a good one above.
"Privatized profits and socialized risk."

While working on reframing some of our message, we have to figure out ways to give our message a visceral emotional appeal, as many seem resistant to reason. Not that walking a mile in a fundie's shoes something I want to do or look forward to doing, but we have to understand the lizard brain in order to understand how to effectivly communicate with it.

implementation is for another day, but thats what I have for now.
kent
.......................................
kent,

I like, I like.

Also the Rethugs have perfected the schtick of having the crazies like Coulter and Rush spouting off, "liberals eat babies," and the more presentable, button down types like Bobo Brooks and Bill Kristol furrowing their brows and saying, "Well, I don't KNOW if liberals eat babies, but there are a lot of troubling questions that need to be answered." That's another way of keeping the pot boiling, so to speak, and of getting the less ideological talkingheads and pundits to take up the theme.

I think we need to do something similar, so we get the benefits of demagoging the issue when we need it, but we don't have all our talking heads and talking points smeared as extremist, so they can be dismissed by ordinary folks who don't follow poitics that closely. (That's what happened inthe run up to the war, IMHO: only actors and other easily scapegoated and easily marginalized talking heads were put on the news networks to make the anti-war case, whereas there were a lot of people, including Republicans like Scowcroft, voicing their dissent who would have been less easy to dismiss.)
Wile E. Odysseus
.............................
IMHO: only actors and other easily scapegoated and easily marginalized talking heads were put on the news networks to make the anti-war case,

Oddly enough when I woke up this morning, I had visions of Sarandon and Robbins in my misty head. In fact I wake up most mornings with some or another vision regarding the failure to deliver our message.

My SO was watching Real world last night and I caught a small bit where one of the kids was lecturing someone in a restaurant about the evils of beef and replaying the X gallons of water for each hamburger line. While this may be true, this message does not work at all. Preaching to the choir to rile up the base is one thing, but using the same arguments on those we wish to see the light is another entirely, it just don't work.
Not as long as mother culture is continually buzzing in their ears.

But is has become clear that we can't rely completely on reason and must figure out a way to add appeals to emotion to our arsenal. I can not expect to shove reasonable arguments down the throats of people who distrust reason, as the fundies should
not expect me to be sold on their articles of faith, but there has to be a middle ground. It is however necessary for those of us that want to change minds to understand the minds we wish to change.

Anyhoo, I am gonna lift this discussion and post it on the blog for the purpose of being able to keep track of the ideas. Feel free to drop me an email and we can continue this conversation.

Thats all I got for now

~
kent
......................................
Kent is right. Appeals to Reason? Conservatives are unreasonable. Appeals to ethics? Conservatives are unethical. All we have left is appeals to emotions.
cosmosis
...........................................
cosmosis, another great nik btw.

Thanks, I hope that emotional appeals are just part of the quiver, and serve to make the rational arguments more easy to embrace, but I do believe that emotion is the battle ground where we are being beaten like red headed step children.

Damn shame really.
~
kent
......................................
What kind of emotional appeals? In the lexicon of Dr Suess, should we focus on Mad, Sad or Glad? Cons have cornered the market on Mad--rage really. Sad is for losers, as the last few elections show. So, liberals need to be the party of happiness, joy, feeling good. It doesn't matter if being "glad" is illogical, since people aren't logical. What they'll respond to is confidence and happiness.
Well, it's a nice thought anyway.
cosmosis
.................................
Well, it's a nice thought anyway.
cosmosis

You know you might have stumbled into something there. Why not glad? The other guys are happy to push mad and sad. Glad can be couched in language of a happy future for the kids (of course)
and we would not neccissarily have to sell ourselves out.

I imagine that people will grow weary of the mad and sad.

Not sure quite how to manipulate glad, but I think it worthy of serious concideration.
~
kent

Will update as necessary.

Left Behind. Jesus could you just take them already?

There is a series of very popular books that describe the return of Jesus the retrieval of the faithful, and hellfire and brimstone for all who are not true believers. It might not be a stretch to consider that upwards of 30 percent of the population may be inclined to believe that we now live in the end-times. Given the amount of shit flying through the air with respect to the interpretation of the intent of Jesus and the Founders, I dream that Jesus, and Jefferson night return and explain themselves. I am not sure that either would agree with what has been done in their names. I guess it is just a downside of historical immortality. Nick Kristoff wrote a piece during the summer about the left behind series, that I may have covered here, and he got some letters from the authors of the series and writes about it in todays NYT.

Apocalypse (Almost) Now
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

If America's secular liberals think they have it rough now, just wait till the Second Coming.

The "Left Behind" series, the best-selling novels for adults in the U.S., enthusiastically depict Jesus returning to slaughter everyone who is not a born-again Christian. The world's Hindus, Muslims, Jews and agnostics, along with many Catholics and Unitarians, are heaved into everlasting fire: "Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and . . . they tumbled in, howling and screeching."

Gosh, what an uplifting scene!

If Saudi Arabians wrote an Islamic version of this series, we would furiously demand that sensible Muslims repudiate such hatemongering. We should hold ourselves to the same standard.

Sounds about right. You can only imagine the hissy fit throughdown (or should that be hoe-down). I can head on over to LGF and find a multitude of commentary that suggests, if Muslims don't repudiate the terrorist activities in the strongest voice possible and turn around and sign loyalty oaths demonstrating to their satisfaction, that they are loyal to the country first religion second, they should be rounded up and shot. so indeed if an Islamic Cleric wrote a book stating that Christians would be cast into a pit of fire, certain elements of the population would be screaming for a Nuclear solution. You can find lots of this going on at LGF already.

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, the co-authors of the series, have both e-mailed me (after I wrote about the "Left Behind" series in July) to protest that their books do not "celebrate" the slaughter of non-Christians but simply present the painful reality of Scripture.

"We can't read it some other way just because it sounds exclusivistic and not currently politically correct," Mr. Jenkins said in an e-mail. "That's our crucible, an offensive and divisive message in an age of plurality and tolerance."

Silly me. I'd forgotten the passage in the Bible about how Jesus intends to roast everyone from the good Samaritan to Gandhi in everlasting fire, simply because they weren't born-again Christians.

I accept that Mr. Jenkins and Mr. LaHaye are sincere. (They base their conclusions on John 3.) But I've sat down in Pakistani and Iraqi mosques with Muslim fundamentalists, and they offered the same defense: they're just applying God's word.

Well I have my starting point, bust out the good book and turn to John. You can talk to any fundimentalist and you are talking to a true believer, Muslim or Christian, or Zionist Jew. These guys are gonna be "right" no matter the evidence to the contrary.

Now, I've often written that blue staters should be less snooty toward fundamentalist Christians, and I realize that this column will seem pretty snooty. But if I praise the good work of evangelicals - like their superb relief efforts in Darfur - I'll also condemn what I perceive as bigotry. A dialogue about faith must move past taboos and discuss differences bluntly. That's what blue staters and red staters need to do about religion and the "Left Behind" books.

For starters, it's worth pointing out that those predicting an apocalypse have a long and lousy record. In America, tens of thousands of followers of William Miller waited eagerly for Jesus to reappear on Oct. 22, 1844. Some of these Millerites had given away all their belongings, and the no-show was called the Great Disappointment.

In more recent times, the best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970's was Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth," selling 18 million copies worldwide with its predictions of a Second Coming. Then, one of the hottest best sellers in 1988 was a booklet called "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988." Oops.

Being wrong has rarely been so lucrative.

Now we have the hugely profitable "Left Behind" financial empire, whose Web site flatly says that the authors "think this generation will witness the end of history." The site sells every "Left Behind" spinoff imaginable, including screen savers, regular prophecies sent to your mobile phone, children's versions of the books, audiobooks, graphic novels, videos, calendars, music and a $6.50-a-month prophesy club. This isn't religion, this is brand management.

Bingo, it is all about the marketing of certain religious doctrine in the service of power and increased hegemony, with the fundimentalist christians willing tools in this exercise. Welcome to the new time religion, where christianity has about as much to do with the teaching of christ, as a fish has to do with a bicycle.

Pssssst. XYZPDQ Mr. President.

I have to admit that I missed the
open area in dubya's pantal area
when I first saw this at the Eschaton

NBA Brawl video search. Found Bigotry instead.

While searching for a vid of the Brawl at the end of the Pacers Pistons game, I found this site through a google search. It's a good thing that racism is dead. From the comments.

Whats with the "come to my city, and say that?" Do you mean My city, My Country, My English language--that My people gave you the right to participate in. Gave--you did not earn. You were brought from a third world, backwoods, uneducated slave race--to a modern society, and after four hundred years you are still unable to adapt without using your only commodity--your ability to jump. Way to go. I suggest we have a cotton picking contest, what better way is there to make white people happy--and make money for the white owners and management. Your people are still owned by whites
Submitted by: Toddy on 11/23/2004
..................
What do you expect when you let the gorillas out of their cages? Dont act so surprized you dolts. Another incident to prove that the NBA (N--iggers B--eing A--ssholes)is living up to its acronym. Screw the NBA....and most professional-level sports for that matter. Save your money and get the best seats in front of your big-screen. Professional sports owners and atheletes will all fall to the demise of their own monster-creating, money-hoarding ways. Can anyone say NHL?
Submitted by: Jack Meoff on 11/22/2004
...................
Yes it is typical black behavior. Artest didnt want any of Wallace who put his hands on him, but will go after a smaller white person. What can you say about animals. And as far as hating, any body 65" can play this game unless your just a big lazy ****, which most are anyway and just get by thats why the game sucks.
Submitted by: Hardtime on 11/22/2004
...................
What do you expect when youve got players with the "Gansta" type mentality... Artest and Jackson should have been suspended FOR LIFE!!!
Submitted by: Rexxx on 11/22/2004

I wonder if this last dude got his Talking points from Rush "Big Pharma" Limbaugh, who used similar language yesterday.

LIMBAUGH: There is something about this hip-hop culture business. I'm not going to mention the name because there's thousands of them, but I've been watching interviews with ex-NBA players and current NBA players. You know what the common theme that I'm hearing is? "Well, I'm not going to be dissed. I'm simply not going to be disrespected. Somebody disrespects me, they're going to pay for it." Meaning, "A fan disrespects me, that fan's going to pay for it," not just another player.

And that comes right out of the hip-hop culture, and it's not just that. You look at NBA players and the uniforms, you don't have to go back very far. The uniforms have changed totally. They're now in gang colors. They are in gang styles.
..................
CALLER: This is not a new thing with the Piston fans.

LIMBAUGH: I know. That's why I say call it "New Fallujah, Michigan."

Tell it like it is FatBoy™. Interestingly I was discussing the possible racist component among the fans as a possible exascerbant to the hostilities. He did not find it terribly plausible. From a comment on the thread over at the Eschaton on the Limbaugh biz.

by the way, i have a very good friend who has many season tix right behind the laker bench.

the shit you hear wafting down from the stands to the players is just downright atrocious.

"nigger" and much worse are very, very common. and it ain't used in the "yo my N" phrase used between blacks. it's white namecalling.

just so you know. the racism that rush evokes using his code words and republican treehouse secret dictionary isn't even that required out in "polite" society anymore.

i hear it all the time. you'd think this was 1954, not 2004, for fuck's sake.
Jim in LA

My friend might find this suprising but I certainly don't. One thing that has become clear to me after this election is the realization that bigotry is simply a much bigger problem than I previously thought. It really has been flying under the radar, but has increasingly reared it's ugly head. The barely veiled contempt for wealth black athletes, on a basketball fan board is enlightening and distressing.

Simply a bunch of monkeys who can throw a ball around, a little bit of money doesnt really change who they really are. This here is a prime example of why blacks are looked down upon. Simply disgusting!!!!
Submitted by: DeeznYa on 11/20/2004
..............

To bad they didnt all "bust out their 9s" and kill themselves off! Overpaid crybaby bitches. If they couldnt bounce a ball and through it into a basket theyd all be out stealing cars.
Submitted by: TWISTED on 11/20/2004
................
dude, their black... what else would u expect?!?
Submitted by: Arsenist on 11/20/2004

Dudes, It's that simple.

Rather is leaving the evening News

Dan Rather is stepping down as anchor of the CBS Nightly News program in March, just 24 years after taking over from Walter Conkrite.

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - Dan Rather, embattled anchor of the "CBS Evening News," announced Tuesday that he will step down in March, on the 24th anniversary of taking over the job from Walter Cronkite.

The veteran anchor has been under fire in recent months for his role in a "60 Minutes Wednesday" story that questioned President Bush (news - web sites)'s service in the National Guard, which turned out to based on allegedly forged documents.

Rather, 73, said he will continue to work for CBS, as a correspondent for both editions of "60 Minutes."

He made no mention of the National Guard story in announcing the change, saying he had agreed with CBS executives last summer that after the Nov. 2 election would be the right time to leave.

"I have always been and remain a `hard news' investigative reporter at heart," he said. "I now look forward to pouring my heart into that kind of reporting full time."

CBS did not mention a potential successor.

"He has been an eyewitness to the most important events for more than 40 years and played a crucial role in keeping the American public informed about those events and their larger significance," CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said.

All I have to add, besides a possible update to follow the wingnut response, is this:
The media has fallen a very long way in such a short time. Jeez.

[....update it did not take long....]

7

huckfunn 11/23/2004 09:23AM PST

I'm located just west of Austin, and its been raining constanly for the past week. At the very moment FOX reported that Dan Rather is leaving, the sun came out briefly for the first time in at least 10 days. I kid you not. Is this a sign from God? I'm gonna go look for the rainbow.

.............

#14

Ghost 11/23/2004 09:24AM PST

Yee hah! Congrats to Charles and all the others who had part in exposing the blatant partisanship of this man. Who wants to bet that if Kerry had won the election, this wouldn't have happened?

............

#49

zulubaby 11/23/2004 09:34AM PST

November is the Best Week Ever! He should have been thrown out but I'll take what I can get. Now we need to start working on getting rid of Ashrawi's boyfriend.

Now which pill was I supposed to take, the red one or the green one, or was it a blue pill?

Update on the Deer Stand Murders

While I might find myself in trouble with Wollcott, I feel compelled to refer to something I previously wrote: Yesterday, I wrote the following about the case of the deer-stand inspired shooting spree.

It might also be the case that Mr. Vang's asian heritage, may have inflamed passions on both sides, but alas this is just speculation.

Well it would seem, according to Mr. Vang, that race was involved. He also claims that he was shot at first.

By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer

HAYWARD, Wis. - A man suspected in the killings of six hunters told investigators he began firing after he was shot at first and some of the victims called him racially derogatory names, according to documents filed Tuesday.

A judge set bail at $2.5 million for Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., who is suspected in the killings Sunday of six deer hunters and the wounding of two others.

Bail was set after investigators filed documents arguing there was probable cause to hold Vang in the shootings. No charges have been filed.

Vang was arrested Sunday about four hours after the shootings as he emerged from the woods with his empty SKS 7.62-mm semiautomatic rifle. No charges had been filed as of Tuesday morning.

Sawyer County Sheriff Jim Meier said a dispute over Vang's use of a hunting stand on private property preceded the gunfire.

Whether or not it occured in this instance or not, there is little doubt in my mind that Mr. Vang has dealt with more than his share of racism.

The Brits Stop Terrorist (9/11 style) Plot

This might be what happens when you have a real intelligence infrastructure...Check that, when you allow your intelligence community to do the job they were paid to do, which is to protect the security of the contry and not a party's consolidation of power. From Yahoo.

Mon Nov 22, 6:39 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - British security services have foiled an Al-Qaeda plot to fly planes into targets in London in a September 11-style attack, Britain's independent ITV News network reported.

"This is the story of what could have been a nightmare averted," said ITV's political editor Nick Robinson. "A story not of failure, but of success."

"That, at least, is what I am told by a senior authoritative source who says that the security services managed to avert a plot to fly planes into Canary Wharf here, and also into Heathrow Airport," he said.

"I simply do not know the details of how they found out, how they stopped it, how close the plot got, but I am in no doubt that this was a genuine feeling on the behalf of those in the security services that they had managed to foil a plot and make us safer," he added.

ITV News confirmed to AFP that their journalist's "non-attributable source" was in "the arena" of the security services or government, but would not be specific.

Britain's Home Office and London's Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the report.

Well thats some damn fine news, hopefully it was not a feint. Now of course the cynic needs to step up and suggest that there is a whole lot of detail missing from this picture, and so It could all be one big fat lie. I imagine that the average british citizen does not need a window installed in their abdomen, as they do not have their heads so far up their asses.

Now as I orignally caught this over at Chuck Johnsons place LGF, lets take a look at what some of the window watchers have to say about the situation.

Tanker J.D. 11/22/2004 04:15PM PST


plot to fly planes into Canary Wharf here, and also into Heathrow Airport

Are those really the most high value targets in London? What about "Look kids, Big Ben;" or maybe #10 Downing Street - I mean with a 747 at your disposal, you wouldn't need to be that accurate to rid of #10; you could just kinda aim for Downing Street, generally.

Maybe that's why this plan failed: they couldn't even assess their targets correctly...

I think we should view this as a sign of Al Quaeda's reduced capabilities . . . [i guess thats one way of looking at it.]
....................
Typical Texan 11/22/2004 04:15PM PST


Thank the Lord! (and the security forces)

Does England get Fox News? [Typical fucktard, uhm, why do you ask?]
......................
Megan 11/22/2004 04:17PM PST


It's good that they prevented this, but I bet they used racial profiling! That only hurts people's feelings and makes them jsut as bad as the terrorists!!!/LLL
(keep up the good work, Britain) [Thats white, I mean right megan racial profiling will save the world, and torture too.]
......................
Buckaroo 11/22/2004 04:20PM PST


# 17 M D

IIRC, Murdoch owns Sky News so it's close ...
:-) [Typical Tardblossom gets his answer, as long as the speakers are pumping from a Murdoch joint, then its all good]
.....................
Max Power 11/22/2004 04:21PM PST

Apparently the attackers were foiled by when a well dressed Hard Hitting Fox news reporter wrestled them to the ground.

PS-did you hear about their new hard hitting segment....

(I kidd, Fox rules, its just so...omnipresent lately) [Okaaaaaaaaay. Fealty to leader, to leaders propaganda, party before country]
......................
lazytart 11/22/2004 04:40PM PST


My parents just returned from 10 days in London. They have nearly every 5 years or so for the past twenty years.

They said:

A) The trip was so expensive that they almost couldn't relax enough to enjoy themselves.. $60 to see Bridget Jones movie.. oy... transportation, food, everything nearly doubled since two years ago

B) "Old" Britain is dead.. My parents are anglophiles, and they are in a grief state.

C) London has no londoners... just "islamics", as my mother says. She was shocked.

D) They were practically cavity searched a gazillion times... security tons tighter in Heathrow than airport here.

E) She and my dad finally got a wake up call that it's just safer here for now. [The dramatically falling dollar had nothing to do I am sure with the outrageous costs that caused your anglophone parents much grief now would it. As to the rest of it....]

Well there you go. might have to make this a feature, winger eyes on the news of the day, or somesuch. Or maybe I will try to find the three places on my head, that if hit just so with a ball-peen hammer render me droolingly stupid, then they would start making sense. The red text above are my responses to the comments.

New editorial cartoonist (new to me that is)

more plus a blog here

It's really OK if You Are A Republican part Trois

We previously discussed the projection laden charge made by republicans, who no longer pay even lip service to shame. I really have to say that my personal favorite is the following charge, "engaging in the polotics of personal distruction". I mean this is rich, in the neighborhood of accusing democrats of "hate speech" rich.
Both accusations illuminate a tactic that seems to fly under the MSM or SCLM radar and that is to accuse your opponent of using your own tactics.

Lets put it this way, the class bully starts out the scool year telling anyone who will listen, that the class punching bags (that trio of small quiet kids at the bottom of the social hierarchy), are stealing his lunch money. In this bizarro world educational system, teachers and administrators, seem to ignore the fact that the class bully is eating the equivalent of two lunches, and walks around with the jingle of change in his pockets. Meanwhile the trio of kids are lucky if one of them gets lunch on any given day. When the trio complains, they are told to stop steeling the bully's lunch money.
While I will continue to seek out more elegant and illustrative analogies for this tactic, this one will have to serve for the time being.

So lets see what the house majority leader, who has already been reprimanded by congress for ethical violations, has to say about the recent rule change designed to allow him to run congress from behind bars if necessary.

DeLay and other Republicans have asserted that the Travis County probe was politically motivated. The Travis County district attorney, Ronnie Earle, is a Democrat.

Speaking to reporters last week, DeLay said the Democrats were engaging in the "politics of personal destruction."

"At this particular time, our rules could be used against us and so they fixed the rules so that the Democrats cannot use our own rules against us," DeLay said of the rule change that helped him.

I love it when on the rare occasion the truth falls out of a wingers mouth. In this case Delay admits that the rule was originally made to screw the democrats, "our rules", and then admits that the rules were changed soley for the benefit of his party, "fixed....Democrats cannot use our...rules against us". And you can be certain that Mr. Delay said all of this with a straight face.

This should tell you all you need to know about the party of personal responsibility. They consider themselves above the law and feel no need to follow established rules. If they happen to find themselves in violation of a rule, they will just change it. I guess that personal responsibility and the rule of law only apply to the rest of us. Welcome to the new Wingnut Aristocracy.

Milestones

I keep forgetting to do this, but sometime in the last couple of weeks I flew past the 500 post and 200,000 word Milestones. What started out on the fourth of July, as a place to practice writing, document the attrocities of the administration, and generally enjoy a cathartic rant from time to time, has become pretty much the same place it started out to be except with the addition of window dressing.

A few of the things I have learned along the way.

I am no longer intimidated by style sheets, so my overall HTML skills have improved.

I am not as funny as I would like to think I am, nor as insigtful, quite frankly I am a hack.

My typing skills and spelling (still god awful) have improved.

I have met people I would never had the pleasure to meet otherwise. In fact this is probably the best thing about this exercise.

Anhoo for what it's worth, there it is.

The Mandingo Factor, Or What makes a Dude want to Burn a Cross

I am pleased to report htat racial tensions are alive and well. Our Aristocratic Overlords should take solice that the strategy of divide and conquer works to their advantage. Play to the hatreds and passions of poor white folks by convincing them that government is all about transferring their wealth to undeserving negroes, and they will vote in favor of allowing the government transfer their wealth to undeserving rich people.

Works like a champ, so well in fact that I have the distinct pleasure of letting you know that in the heart of the Northeast, bastion of hedonistic secular "values" the old time religion has a home in Long Island, a place who's segregationist attitude might make fourties Mississippi blush (Ok a bit of hyperbole, I admit, but hey, this is my blog, and I like Hyperbole). If you thought that cross burning had been relegated to the ash pail of history, think again.

Burning Cross Left at Home of Interracial Couple on L.I.
By PATRICK HEALY

Awakened by a loud bang and the ring of their doorbell, an interracial couple peered out the front window of their Long Island home at 3 a.m. yesterday and saw a cross burning on the front lawn.

They said they immediately called the Suffolk County police, but by the time officers arrived, rain had doused the fire. The police removed the cross, which was three feet tall and made from the slats of a picket fence. By yesterday afternoon, the only remaining trace was a charred circle of grass outside the building, a two-family house in the southwest corner of Lake Grove.

Detective Sgt. Robert Reecks said that the police and the F.B.I. were investigating the incident as a hate crime, but that there were no suspects.

It was the county's first cross-burning since 1998, when a black family in Amityville returned home from church and found a burning cross on their lawn.

The Lake Grove home is a modest green split-level occupied by the couple, who rent the first floor, and another family upstairs.

The couple, who were not identified by the police, said that they had known each other for 30 years, had been married for 22 years and had lived in the house for 8. But they said that yesterday was the first time they felt attacked because of their relationship. The wife is white, and the husband is black.

"My first gut reaction was, how could this happen in the 21st century?" said the wife, who spoke only on the condition that she not be identified because she feared another attack. "I don't understand prejudice."
...............
Yesterday afternoon, residents in the neighborhood, a middle-class community of rental homes, said they were baffled and unnerved by the cross-burning. No one had seen anyone set fire to the cross or drive or run away, and no one had any idea why the couple had been singled out.

"I'm very scared," said Feroj Ahmad, 41, who lives across the street. "I know the neighborhood is good. All day long, it's very quiet. It's strange, this thing."

Conversations veered toward other occasions when bias has surfaced in the area.

Residents recalled a 1994 arson that destroyed a house that a black family was moving into in Nesconset, a predominantly white hamlet just west of Lake Grove. They also spoke of how, in 1997, the Ku Klux Klan planned a recruitment rally at the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove, only to be met by community resistance.

The wife said that although her husband remained furious about the cross-burning, she felt that discussing the incident could help to prevent a recurrence.

"My feeling is, let's talk about it, let's get it out there," she said, adding that that her anger toward those who set the blaze had subsided after a few hours, and that she had made up her mind to pray for them.

"Vengeance is the Lord's," she said. "God will repay. That's what the Bible says."

From the NYT, hat tip to Gilliard.

Guns don't kill people, people with guns fighting over a Tree-stand do.

It's hunting season folks, so figure that a few people are going to die. One hunter might look like a big orange deer to another hunter. A hunter might walk into the line of fire just as another pulls the trigger. A hunter may be startled and hit one of his companions as he swings the gun around to see what startled him. Inoccent mistakes that are part and parcel of the hunting season. But occasionally turf wars break out and that's when killing isn't an accident.

5 killed, 3 hurt in hunting rampage
Man arrested in assault rifle attack after tree-stand argument
By MEG JONES, GAIL BOXRUD and RICK BARRETT
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 21, 2004

Town of Meteor - Five deer hunters were shot to death and three were wounded Sunday by a man who was hunting from someone else's tree stand in northern Wisconsin, authorities said.

The bizarre attack happened on private land in this Sawyer County town about noon on the second day of the gun deer season, a time when hundreds of thousands of deer hunters are in the woods throughout Wisconsin.

Sawyer County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said Chai Soua Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., was arrested by a Department of Natural Resources warden just before dark about 4 p.m. on a road about one mile from the scene, just across the Sawyer County border in Rusk County.

Vang was armed with an SKS semiautomatic assault rifle, a weapon that's similar to a 30.06 but seldom used by deer hunters, Zeigle said.

Authorities said the rampage started after a hunting party saw a hunter they didn't know occupying their tree stand. That led to a confrontation, and at least one of the group was shot and wounded. One victim used a walkie-talkie to call for help, but when other hunting partners came to the scene, they also were shot, Zeigle said.

Sounds like someone went off their meds. I am not a hunter but even I know that it is generally poor form to use someones tree-stand without permission, or at least vacate the stand when approached by the owner. And I would imagine that if you were to decide to occupy a "vacant" stand, that waiting for the hunting season to progress into the second or third week might be a good idea, instead of the second day of Hunting season, when you cn be almost certain that someone is gonna be itching to do some hunting.

The victims began to scatter and run from their attacker who pursued them like "a sniper," Zeigle said. The three who were wounded managed to walk or run to safety, while the victims shot to death were found scattered across roughly 100 yards.

All five were dead by the time authorities arrived.

"It was like he was chasing after them to kill them. The bodies were a long way from one another," Zeigle said.

Authorities, who were trying to determine how many shots were fired, didn't know if any of the victims were able to fire back.

Before the shooting began, one of the victims jotted down the shooter's back tag number. All hunters are required to wear numbered tags on their back that include their names and addresses. Authorities were able to quickly figure out whom they were seeking because they knew his deer license number. When a warden discovered Vang, he was wearing the tag.

It is entirely possible that Mr. Vang had grown tired of deer, and instead wanted to hunt that most difficult of game animals Man. It might also be the case that Mr. Vang's asian heritage, may have inflamed passions on both sides, but alas this is just speculation. Who wants to place bets on how long it will take before this story is told on Law&Order or another crime show with the tagline "ripped from the headlines"? I'm betting mid February. Anyone else?

Jebus Freaks are off the Reservation and They want Theirs

I see the my esteemed colleague General J.C. Christian, heterosexual patriot, is allready all over this tale involving marriage protection, the scourge of spilt seed, lost eggs and childless couples. It is not enough to keep vigilant in the face of the "gay agenda", but also keep a vigilant eye on consenting adults who enjoy sex for recreation and not procreation, in other words, heathens, that practice deliberate childlessness.

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

NEW YORK - "Protection of marriage" is now the watchword for many activists fighting to prevent gays and lesbians from marrying. Some conservatives, however, say marriage in America began unraveling long before the latest gay-rights push and are pleading for a fresh, soul-searching look at the institution.

The august American institution has been under a withering assault of late, and a good old fashioned soul searching is necessary, before heathen secular concerns rush in and carry marriage off like like a Viking taking his plunder.

"When you talk about protecting marriage, you need to talk about divorce," said Bryce Christensen, a Southern Utah University professor who writes frequently about family issues.

While Christensen doesn't oppose the campaign to enact state and federal bans on gay marriage, he worries it's distracting from immediate threats to marriage's place in society.

"If those initiatives are part of a broader effort to reaffirm lifetime fidelity in marriage, they're worthwhile," he said. "If they're isolated — if we don't address cohabitation and casual divorce and deliberate childlessness — then I think they're futile and will be brushed aside."

Mr Christensen is a man with lazer like focus, and has not let the Gay marriage issue keep his eyes off the ball. His three main fears are "cohabitation" "casual divorce" and "deliberate childlessness", each of these paerils is like water or termites undermining the foundation of the Christian institution of Marriage, and if Mr Christensen has to do a whole lot of crotch sniffing while performing bedroom examinations so be it.

Now to be serious for one moment, one has to ask, what he plans to do about the cohabitation and deliberate childlessness. I am sure that he hopes to piggyback some no-divorce clause onto some federal marriage ammendement, but what does he have in mind for those that choose to live together out of wedlock, and those who chose not to have children. In the case of divorce, the modification of the rules of an institution that is entered into mostly as a matter of choice does not bother me (ridiculous as it is) as much as the idea that government has a say in the regulation of interpersonal relationships outside of he perview of Marriage, the Institution™. Mr Christensen is not the only wingnut who sees a need to protect us all from ourselves.

"For the first time in about 50 years we are honestly looking at the state of marriage in America, and what we have allowed to happen to it," he said. "I hope the conservative side will do a little soul-searching and look for ways to rebuild traditional marriage into something stronger."

Carlson decries no-fault divorce, where neither spouse is held responsible for the breakup, but acknowledges that its demise is not imminent. He proposes more modest steps: tax revisions benefiting married couples, a more positive portrayal of marriage in textbooks, policies aiding young college graduates so they could afford to marry sooner.

Lets examine his solutions to the problem that he is willing to discuss, because in all reality these folks are looking at the Handmaid's tale as a blueprint for the kind of moral hegemony they seek to lord over us. Carlson seems to have a 2 step solution: Throw money at it, and improve the propaganda.

Now throwing money at problems usually offers no guarentee of solution. As far as more positivitude in the textbooks, you are also going to have to convince the kids not to believe their lying eyes, as they watch economic and other forces tear theirs or families they know about apart.

Unfortunately these guys are dealing with bandaids and fail to address the causes underlying the problem (cause that's hard, and the answers would probably undermine your world view) and instead conflate the symptoms with he cause, leading to solutions not likely to adress either. I think there is another symptomalogist on the line.

Jordan Lorence, a Phoenix-based lawyer with the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, has been active fighting same-sex marriage, but he agrees with those who see marriage facing broader challenges.

"For decades, Christians have been guilty for having a weak defense of marriage," he told the Christian Post earlier this year. "Marriage has become a junior high school dating scene where if I am unhappy I could divorce my husband or wife and move on to someone else."

In a telephone interview, Lorence said Americans face a choice of whether to view marriage as primarily an act of individual satisfaction or as an institution serving the communal good.

"That's the big battle line," he said. "I think people's attitudes are shifting, and they're saying the traditional way makes a lot of sense — that you can't just get divorced at the drop of a hat."

Communal good? What happened to greed is good, by thyne bootstraps be true, individual responsibility? And does anyone really get divorced at the drop of a hat? Does anyone get an abortion at the drop of a hat? So what do we have in the end?

Three "keepers" with reasonably fat paychecks who study and decry symptoms for a living, so that no matter what wacky fix they engineer, it will most likely be a failure. Have there been fundimental societal changes that call for a re-evaluation of the institution? Do economic concerns play a role? The last two questions will not be touched by anyone who's sources of funding come from right wing morality crusaders to be sure. Last but not least a sane voice is provided with the last column inch.

Stephanie Coontz, a professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and author of a new history of marriage, said passing anti-gay amendments in hopes of returning marriage to some bygone traditional status is futile.

"Heterosexuals changed marriage, not gays and lesbians," she said. "None of these measures is going to change the fact that marriage no longer plays the same central economic and political role that it used to. ... People see it as more optional."

Reason trumps crotchsniffing, but crotchsniffing is alot more fun. it will be interseting to see if these moral crusaders will operate in the light of day convinced that their arguments are by no meens threatening to the majority or will they continue to work the refs from the sideline and under cover of darkness.

They're Showing us their Love

Chileans gather to show their support for Dear Leader.

WTF?

From a Trip to the other side.

Over at Little Green Footballs, where the self-righteous zionist brigade of the 101st fighting Keyboards take there marching orders. Leader Charles Johnson provides the reason for his vote for bush.

The President We Need

This is why I voted for George W. Bush: Bush Pulls Top Security Agent From Fracas.

SANTIAGO, Chile - President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night.

Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. The incident happened after Bush and his wife, Laura, had just posed for pictures on a red carpet with the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, Luisa Duran.

As Bush stepped inside, Chilean agents closed ranks at the door, blocking the president’s agents from following. Stopping for more pictures, Bush noticed the fracas and turned back. He reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum and into the building.

The president, looking irritated, straightened his shirt cuffs as he went into the dinner. The incident was shown on APEC television.

“Chilean security tried to stop the president’s Secret Service from accompanying him,” said White House deputy press secretary Claire Buchan. “He told them they were with him and the issue was resolved.”

Can you imagine President John F. Kerry doing something like this?

No, I can't imagine that someone who pulled a green beret out of the water while taking fire, or the same dude saving the life of a fellow Senator when know one else had a clue. Nope can't imagine Kerry grabbing his security guards jacket and pulling him through a crowd, that's like downright heroic. With 280 comments, there has got to be something humorous in there, and lots of projection.

Lady of Shalott (ylreveb) 11/20/2004 06:59PM PST

That's Georgie's Texas Cowboy influence showing. Good thing we got him out of Connecticut. :-))))

Watched the Texas rodeo today, and I had the thought, "Who do the jihadis think they're taking on? If they watched these guys, they'd think twice!"
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Dave the..... 11/20/2004 07:03PM PST

A) Kerry would of had to fly in his hairdresser from Christof after that.

B) Neither Clinton nor Kerry would have done what Bush had done, but they maybe would have considered it if they thought it would be a good photo op. Bush definitely didn't consider how this would look on TV or in newspapers before he acted on instinct. (I've broken up bar fights when friend were involved, you just do it without thinking how it plays out in public).
.........
Firebreather 11/20/2004 07:03PM PST

Uh, the word "stud" comes to mind...
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. Edgren (the Merciless Infidel) 11/20/2004 07:30PM PST

Ooh, but JF'inK's response would have been so nuanced.

OH...MY...GOD are we the luckiest nation (U.S.) on this earth right now.

We didn't just dodge a bullet by passing on Kerry, we dodged a fuckin' 155 howitzer round.


D. Edgren

Alright, thats enough for me. If you must you can see the rest here.

388 Billion Dollar Bill, At least Dubby gets his Yacht Back.

Looks like the government will have it's cash money to get things done now that the Omnibus Spending bill made it out of both houses. Now on the way to the passage, the bill was exposed for it's backdoor attack on Roe, then later a "staffer" allegedly "accidentally" but not on purposely, a little clause that gave people who should never have the privildge, the opportunity to go through anybody's Tax returns. Ill let JMM tell it like it is.

And at the last minute, Republican leaders tried to slip in a provision that would give certain committee chairman and their staffers unlimited access to any American's tax return, with none of the standard privacy protections applying.

You heard that right.

They could pull anyone's tax return, read it over and do whatever they wanted with the information. Those who would have this power would be the chairs and ranking members of the senate and house appropriations committees and subcommittees and "their designees."
............
The Republicans are acting like it was all an innocent mistake. And it seems clear that there are Republican senators who didn't know anytihng about it and are pissed. But clearly this was no accident, unless provisions have started to write themselves.

Thats the funny thing about legislation, after 200 odd years of glorius history, maybe bills have gained the power reequired to write themselves, or maybe not, I've just got the keep an open mind. One of the "good things" about this is that we actually know about it, and that at least this time the bastards got caught. Heres a CNN piece on the now embarresed, or Red faced Republicans. It seems that it might have cleared the house.

Saturday, November 20, 2004 Posted: 10:26 PM EST (0326 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress passed legislation Saturday giving two committee chairman and their assistants access to income tax returns without regard to privacy protections, but not before red-faced Republicans said the measure was a mistake and would be swiftly repealed.

The Senate unanimously adopted a resolution immediately after passing a 3,300-word spending bill containing the measure, saying the provision "shall have no effect." House leaders promised to pass the resolution next Wednesday.

Well thats good, pass the bill without modification, but not to worry it will be modified before being signed into law, as long as there is not some "clause" buried within the senate rules that allow us to change our minds. Unfortunately not only did this failed attempt to slip one past the goalie cause the Republicans some embarrasment (and you thought they had no shame) but also kind of rained on the parade they were planning.

The provision and the inability of Hastert, R-Illinois., to get the votes he wanted on an intelligence overhaul bill left Republican leaders chagrinned on a day they had intended to be a celebration of their accomplishments.

Too Fucking bad Denny boy. Meanwhile some are not so sanguine in their belief that promises will make everything hunky dory.

Questioned sharply by fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, Stevens pleaded with the Senate to approve the overall spending bill despite the tax returns language.

But Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, said that wasn't good enough. "It becomes the law of the land on the signature of the president of the United States. That's wrong."

Conrad said the measure's presence in the spending bill was symptomatic of a broader problem -- Congress writing legislation hundreds of pages long and then giving lawmakers only a few hours to review it before having to vote on it.
.........
Some Democrats didn't accept the assertion that the provision was a mistake and demanded an investigation.

"We weren't born yesterday, we didn't come down with the first snow," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California. "This isn't poorly thought out, this was very deliberately thought out and it was done in the dead of night."

I might add that Feinsteins language passes the "No shit Sherlock" test. Mistake my ass. but this isn't the end of Story. The Bill also provided a couple million to re-purchess the old Presidential Yacht, among other important matters.

President Bush was expected to sign the bill. Although it curbed a number of White House initiatives, it fulfilled Bush's goal of clamping down on nondefense spending in the face of a record deficit and mounting costs for U.S. military operations in Iraq.

Clamping down on nondefense spending in the face of record deficits caused by massive tax cuts for people likely to die horrible deaths without the money, Can you say good bye Social Safety Net, and Hello, to we exercise Ownership over your ass Society". Oh and Pell Grants have also been subject to "reduction"

Some lawmakers said the bill didn't go far enough to cut spending.

The bill, for example, provides up to $2 million to buy a former presidential yacht for a Navy museum and $250,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

The bill will fund much of the federal government for the 2005 fiscal year that began Oct. 1. It takes the place of nine separate bills that Congress normally passes to fund departments, such as Education, Labor, Interior, Commerce, Justice, State, and Health and Human Services, as well as dozens of other federal agencies.

Critics of the 1,000-page bill said it was unlikely that lawmakers read it before voting.

"There are things in here that almost nobody knows about," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

And its good for America, when her leaders have nary a clue as to the contents of bills they will be voting on. Very good indeed. Maybe we need to breed a race of superspeed-reading geniuii to read and process the bills for our representative, we might have the technology, After all shortly after the success of the Apollo program we did succed in the creation of a Bionic man, can speed-reading geniuii be far behind?