Children, I know it is hard to believe, but once, long long ago, the "investigative reporters" you see on TV or who wrote articles in your newspaper actually "investigated."

Now a "reporter" is an honorary title given to anyone who can cut and paste a press release (hey - I can do that!).

But a Democracy demands that the citizens be informed.

Well it looks like its up to the citizens themselves then:

• Daily Kos :: Coordinated attack on your voting rights happening NOW!

  It is no accident that James A. Baker III is the co-chair of the new blue ribbon commission on voting issues. Baker helped ensure that the votes in Florida 2000 were not counted. How did Baker get on the commission? We don't know yet. The commission was created in secret.
  
  Then there's the Gannon/Talon-like ACVR. The American Center for against Voting Rights. The "non-partisan" ACVR sprang into existance 3 business days before a 3/21/05 House Administrative Committee on voting issues of Ohio 2004. ACVR submitted a 31-page report to the Committee. The report, authored by Mark F. Hearne (General Counsel to Bush/Cheney '04), entirely blames ALL potential vote fraud on Democrats. Presently, the ACVR report is being circulated far and wide to every nook and crany of Freeper Land.
  
  The Baker-tainted blue ribbon commission and the Gannon-like ACVR are both part of a coordinated attack on the right to vote. This is known because of a very peculiar detail reported by the BradBlog:

  The Commission was seated in secret, announced on Thursday at 2pm, and lauded in a Press Release published by ACVR just 24 minutes later!

• NEW REPORT says PRES 04 vote outcome 1 in a million

  A new report just released confirms what many of us here have believed for a long time. The likelyhood of bush winning by 2.5% when exit polls showed Kerry winning by 3% just doesn't add up.
  The full report can be found here
  http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_2004_Edison-Mitofsky.pdf

• Fake Reporter Running Sham Nonprofit?

  Like almost everything else connected with The Great Pretender, "Jeff Gannon," aka J.D. Guckert - his name, his "news agency," his purported conservative family values while selling his "escort services" on the internet - his Free Speech Foundation is looking more and more like a sham "tax-exempt" organization, with the timing of its founding suggesting it was created primarily in response to a $5 million libel lawsuit filed against a rabidly pro-Bush website called, appropriately enough, ProBush.com.

  
  
  - rob 5:34 PM - [PermaLink] -
  
  ----

The Bush administration is arrogant and incompetent - so we're all cool right?

US intelligence on Iraq chaotic and incompetent, says Bush commission

- rob 5:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Let's hear it for the Old Guys!

Lautenberg rebukes DeLay over Schiavo remarks

I was stunned to read the threatening comments you made yesterday against Federal judges and our nation’s courts of law in general. In reference to certain Federal judges, you stated: “The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.”

As you are surely aware, the family of Federal Judge Joan H. Lefkow of Illinois was recently murdered in their home. And at the state level, Judge Rowland W. Barnes and others in his courtroom were gunned down in Georgia.

Our nation’s judges must be concerned for their safety and security when they are asked to make difficult decisions every day. That’s why comments like those you made are not only irresponsible, but downright dangerous. To make matters worse, is it appropriate to make threats directed at specific Federal and state judges?

You should be aware that your comments yesterday may violate a Federal criminal statute, 18 U.S.C. §115 (a)(1)(B).

If Lautenberg keeps this up DeLay isn't going to do the free office fumigation he does for the Senator every Christmas.

- rob 5:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Diebold to tally votes from the College of Cardinals

It's been announced today that when the Apostolic See fall vacant the tallying of the votes from the conclave will be performed by Diebold.

In 1975 Pope Paul VI significantly change the rules for conclaves. In the Romano Pontifico Eligendo new rules were set for the conclave. Cardinals over 80 years old were excluded, the bugging of the Sistine Chapel was forbidden, and the tallying of the votes from the College of Cardinals was to be performed by a computer.

In 1975 an IBM mainframe was purchased for the vote tallying. In the eighties a PC Jr. (Peanut) was purchased, but never used. Last year after intense lobbying efforts by Diebold officials, Diebold machines were purchased by the Vatican.

When the pope dies the new process calls for the Cardinal Camerlengo to verify the death of the pope by calling for him three times without response. He is then to boot up the Diebold machines and install freshly blessed flash cards.

The Cardinal Vicar of Rome was unconcerned about possible errors in the software of the Diebold machines. "Often such errors seem to have thought behind them and they are termed 'The Ghost in the Machine,' but isn't that just another way to say the Holy Ghost?" said the Vicar.

The Vicar-General for Vatican City agreed. "As the machines are unthinking any error in the vote tabulation must be attributed to the hand of God."

In Washington, D.C. today rumors were that the President has already begun working on his acceptance speech. "The time has come for a Texan Pope" said a White House official [Rove] who wished to remain anonymous.

"I think the President would be an excellent choice. Too long has the Catholic Church strayed from the true word of God, with Bush as Pope the Catholic Church will join the many American Christian who teach the true Gospel." Said Pat Robertson. He continued, "Bush already talks to God anyway."

- rob 4:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Halliburton: "You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." - Obi-Wan Kenobi

Democracy Now! | Exclusive: Halliburton Employee Says He Was Gang-Beaten By Co-Workers at Baghdad Airport

The father of an employee of Halliburton subsidiary KBR in Iraq is alleging that his son was gang-beaten by a group of fellow employees, known as the "Red Neck Mafia," at the Baghdad airport where he works as a security coordinator for KBR.
...
While Ronald was in Albuquerque on R & R, he advised me that his Boss did not like him because Ronald is Hispanic; and that the "Red Neck Mafia" ran the operation for Halliburton at Baghdad Airport. Ronald further advised me that he had reported by Memorandum to higher authority within the Halliburton Chain of Command the vulnerabilities at Baghdad Airport regarding to terrorist attacks. Ronald further stated that higher authority was upset at his recommendations.

- rob 1:12 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Reality has made a wrong turn when you actually have the House Majority Leader making threats against American judges.

This is real: "DeLay Statement on Terri Schiavo"

"Mrs. Schiavo's death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today." [Emphasis mine]

- rob 1:07 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

How can you have April Fool's Day?

Wouldn't it be funny to have an April Fool's Day prank on TCS?

But then you realize that we are in the middle of a horrible joke, where multiple fantastic worse case scenarios are happening - how do you pull a prank when you're living in one?

Daily Kos :: And you were there....and you were there...and you were there...

I just had the greatest April Fool's joke played on me. I guess someone slipped some LSD into my Evian. What horrible halluciations I had. It all seems like some horrible dream.
I dreamt my country had been taken over by proto-fascist, extreme right wing, neoconservative religious zealots. At their head was a barely coherent, incompetent, simian looking man. He was spoiled, petty, and had serious delusions of grandeur.

Some of their other leaders were even worse. One was a former exterminator--of all things!--who had been utterly corrupted by power. Another was a doctor who performed hideous medical experiments on kittens. Can you imagine?
...
On the diplomatic front, serious efforts were made to alienate as many allies as possible. "Our way or the highway!" became the cry of the American ambassador. Militarily, the armed forces were used a club that (so they said) was allowed to be used pre-emptively and at will. This policy resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans and uncountable thousands and thousands of innocent foreigners.

Pretty f'ing scary, huh? At least I know nothing like that could happen in the real world. April Fools, ha ha. Boy, I wonder who the wacky character was who put that hallucinogen in my water to make me see all that.

- rob 1:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

So where we? Ah yes, the team blog.Oh yes, Gordon England, the Secretary of the Navy, or Air Force, or whatever he is this week, late of General Dynamics, has been nominated to replace Paul Wolfowitz as Rumsfeld's Deputy Secretary of Defense, or DEPSECDEF as they say inside the five walls. Replacing Wolfowitz can only be a good thing. I have no opinion on England, but what I always do first on these things is check donor lookup at opensecrets.org. As with all defense contractors, England, in a long career of Republican donating, managed to sneak in $423 to John Glenn (1991), $500 to Ted Kennedy (1997), $1400 to Pat Leahy (1998), and $1000 to Dianne Feinstein (1999). Of course that's out of more than $86,000 in giving. But hey, a blogger can dream.

- Other Michael 9:21 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Stanislav Petrov Saved My Life (and yours)

The Man Who Saved the World Finally Recognized

Sirens blaring, warning lights flashing, computer screens showing nuclear missiles on their way, one man in charge of a red button labeled “START” - that’s start a retaliatory strike — and a roomful of people at their terminals and switchboards waiting for him to push it. Sound like a typical Hollywood Cold War cliffhanger?

It was indeed just like in the movies, says the man who was poised over the red button over twenty years ago, except “in the movies, Hollywood specialists and directors can stretch a little situation into half an hour. In our case, from the time I made the decision to when it was all over, it was five minutes max.”

Stanislav Petrov was a Soviet army officer monitoring the satellite system for signs of a U.S. attack, the year was 1983, and his instructions, if he detected missiles targeting the Soviet Union, were to push the button and launch a counter-offensive.

He didn’t. Minutes later, no missiles came; months later, the frightening data across his monitor was determined to have been a system glitch. Today, the Association of World Citizens is calling him “the forgotten hero of our time,” a title befitting the man whose responsibility had been to start World War III.

If that was an American I'm sure Sean Hannity, Rush, et al would have endless blather about how that man didn't live up to his responsiblity as an American military officer, that we was a wimp, that he should be court martialed, etc.

- rob 3:56 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

It is official: Life is a Simpsons episode

Kent Brockman: Is it a masterpiece or just some guy with his pants down? That's our topic tonight on Smartline . . . .
...
Helen: [gasp] It's filth! It graphically portrays parts of the human body, which, practical as they may be, are evil.

Marge: But I like that statue.

Helen: [gasp] I told you she was soft on full frontal nudity! Come on, girls . . . .

- From the episode "Itch & Scratchy & Marge" (airdate: 12/20/90)

LancasterOnline.com: Ind. Business Told to Hide Nude Statues

EDINBURGH, Ind. (AP) - The Venus di Milo had better wear a top and Michelangelo's David should put on some pants if they're going to be seen at a yard art business.


Bartholomew County officials told the business near Interstate 65 that it must move cement copies of the classical statues — and about 10 others — out of public view because they are obscene under Indiana law.
...
"They have nudity ... and that should not be in the view of a minor," he [Frank Butler, the count's zoning inspector] said.

Indiana's obscenity law prohibits the display of nudity where children might see it, he said.

Well it looks like we look to Hong Kong for freedom?

Marge Vindicated!

HONG KONG, Aug 1 [1995] (Reuter)
A Hong Kong judge ruled on Tuesday that Michelangelo's David is not obscene. The High Court decision resulted from a case brought by an English-language newspaper, the Eastern Express, which sought to quash a ruling by the colony's Obscene Articles Tribunal that a picture it published of the sculpture was obscene.

The paper's editor, Michael Chugani, said the judge declared no jurist would find the statue of a nude David indecent and referred the case back to the tribunal for a re-ruling.

"Hong Kong is set to become the laughing stock of the world," the paper said when it launched the court case.

No need to worry about that Mr. Chugani, there are folks in America working hard on trying to give America that title.

- rob 1:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Get ready for a terror warning.

or worse

Bush's plunge in polls tied to domestic issues

President Bush's record-low approval ratings are a result primarily of public dissatisfaction with his handling of domestic issues that loom larger than foreign policy in his second term.

On issues such as immigration and controlling federal spending, Americans disapprove of the president's approach by margins of at least 20 percent, according to Gallup. While they approve of his handling of terrorism by a similar margin, such foreign-policy issues have faded from the headlines in recent months.

By the way, let's look at a poll and see how much better Bush is doing when it comes to fighting terrorism (in the state of Wisconsin)

Badger Poll: 55 percent rate Bush only fair or poor

Forty-three percent rated Bush's performance as "excellent" or "good," compared to 55 percent who said he's done a "fair" or "poor" job.
...
Bush received higher marks for dealing with terrorism, as he has generally received in the Badger Poll over several years. Fifty-three percent said he is doing an excellent or good job fighting terrorism, with 46 percent answering fair or poor. A year ago, it was 55 percent to 43 percent.

- rob 9:43 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Hey it isn't always about misery in Florida here at TCS.

Don't forget, Iraq is moving headlong into a functioning Democracy: Iraqi PM Walks Out of Parliament Meeting

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Iyad Allawi walked out of a meeting of Iraq's parliament on Tuesday after angry scenes erupted, with assembly members berating Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders for failing to agree on a government.

The speaker of parliament ordered journalists to leave and declared the meeting would be held in secret, after politicians -- one of them a leading member of Allawi's bloc -- denounced a failure to reach agreement two months after the historic Jan. 30 polls.

- rob 3:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

I dunno either.

Krugman: What's Going On?

Democratic societies have a hard time dealing with extremists in their midst. The desire to show respect for other people's beliefs all too easily turns into denial: nobody wants to talk about the threat posed by those whose beliefs include contempt for democracy itself.
...
Before he saw the polls, Tom DeLay declared that "one thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America." Now he and his party, shocked by the public's negative reaction to their meddling, want to move on. But we shouldn't let them. The Schiavo case is, indeed, a chance to highlight what's going on in America.

One thing that's going on is a climate of fear for those who try to enforce laws that religious extremists oppose. Randall Terry, a spokesman for Terri Schiavo's parents, hasn't killed anyone, but one of his former close associates in the anti-abortion movement is serving time for murdering a doctor. George Greer, the judge in the Schiavo case, needs armed bodyguards.

Another thing that's going on is the rise of politicians willing to violate the spirit of the law, if not yet the letter, to cater to the religious right.
...
The closest parallel I can think of to current American politics is Israel. There was a time, not that long ago, when moderate Israelis downplayed the rise of religious extremists. But no more: extremists have already killed one prime minister, and everyone realizes that Ariel Sharon is at risk.

America isn't yet a place where liberal politicians, and even conservatives who aren't sufficiently hard-line, fear assassination. But unless moderates take a stand against the growing power of domestic extremists, it can happen here.

- rob 1:48 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Living will is the best revenge

Like many of you, I have been compelled by recent events to prepare a more detailed advance directive dealing with end-of-life issues. Here's what mine says:

* In the event I lapse into a persistent vegetative state, I want medical authorities to resort to extraordinary means to prolong my hellish semiexistence. Fifteen years wouldn't be long enough for me.
...
* I want my case to be turned into a circus by losers and crackpots from around the country who hope to bring meaning to their empty lives by investing the same transient emotion in me that they once reserved for Laci Peterson, Chandra Levy and that little girl who got stuck in a well.

* I want those crackpots to spread vicious lies about my wife.

* I want to be placed in a hospice where protesters can gather to bring further grief and disruption to the lives of dozens of dying patients and families whose stories are sadder than my own.
...
* I want the state Department of Children and Families to step in at the last moment to take responsibility for my well-being, because nothing bad could ever happen to anyone under DCF's care.

Sarcasm is not dead it is alive and well in St. Petersburg.

- rob 1:33 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

As you read about the people who threaten the lives of judges in their effort to "save a life" it would be to ask "what planet are these people from?"

Ours... but they travel in... um... "different" circles. Thanks to Kos here's a peek into the SPAM they receive: Daily Kos :: The sort of people who'll buy the Schiavo list

Eugene Delgaudio
Public Advocate of the U.S.
5613 Leesburg Pike, Suite 17
Falls Church, VA 22041
www.PublicAdvocateUSA.org
(703) 845-1808
...
Tonight, after a long day of fighting the Radical Homosexuals, I just feel exhausted.

Beaten down, wrung out, and worn to the bone.

This has been a most difficult year.

The radical Homosexual Lobby is more intimidating than ever.

Now, they dare me to stand in their way . . . they laugh, and brag that they have the votes to kill the Federal Marriage Amendment and will legalize homosexual "marriage" state by state.

And they boast about ramming the Gay Bill of Special Rights and Thought Control Bill through Congress even with Republicans in charge . . .
...
Never have the Radical Homosexuals and their allies been so vicious, so powerful, and so well financed.

Never.

They have been strolling through the Halls of Congress handing out campaign "contributions" like sweet candy, and even some conservative Congressmen have taken the bait.

Gays like to go "strolling" don't ya know.

am speaking to you from the heart, my friend.

This time we are facing an enemy who is riding high, and hungry for victims.

And I am nearly at the breaking point.

So I am coming to you, and asking you to help me like never before.
...
think about their "pet" bill -- The "Gay Bill of Special Rights" -- and what it will do to America . . . and how close it is to passing.

And how right now, night and day, I'm fighting to kill their evil Thought Control Bill.

Meanwhile, the perversity of so-called homosexual "marriage" is sweeping through America like a plague, and few in Washington seem to want to even fight back.

I know the Homosexual Lobby will stop at nothing.

And I see what their victory will do to the families of America.

Because he's from a family that came out so well (see below)

So whatever you can afford, please send it in immediately.

$75, $50, $25, or any amount you can manage, these are all badly needed.

No matter how discouraged I become at times, I know that what we are doing is important.

I know that we are on the right side.

We are in the lead on this, and we are on the line.

I am here, alone except for your prayers and support, and I am ready for the fight of a lifetime.

The Radical Homosexuals are boasting that they are in the driver's seat, that no one can stop them, and that the Thought Control Bill is going to be the law of the land and they swear they'll pass the Gay Bill of Special Rights.

The Radical Homosexuals are definitely in the driver's seat, I was almost hit by one driving his Hummer the other day.

The Radical Homosexuals are trying to turn America into a perverted pleasure palace. They hate us for standing in their way, and they have vowed to defeat us.

This will be the battle of a lifetime.

Your maximum gift is absolutely necessary to keeping our struggle alive.

I will be waiting to hear from you.

So in the end it isn't so much different the "natural herbs" that increase penis size SPAM - its just marketing - its just money. And it is hurtful and cruel, and I'm sure that more than a few of the people who donate do it to prove to themselves that they are not gay. The closest is a dangerous thing... especially for wingnuts.

But Eugene Delgaudio is trying to save American families... it'd be interesting to see his explanation of what went wrong with his own family... years before the radical homosexuals were in their driver's seats strolling the halls of congress.

Eugene's brother Richard Delgaudio (who's done direct mail work for Republicans) has had an interesting side job: Delgaudio pled guilty February 25, 2003 to one count of felony production of child pornography.

Now that is Richard's sin, not Eugene's, but I think it does let some one make some inferences that maybe something went wrong with the family values that were taught to Dick and Gene when they were young.

- rob 1:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Hilarious (via Atrios)

Neurologist Cranford confronted Scarborough of MSNBC

DANIELS: Doctor, was a CAT scan -- Doctor, your critics would ask you, was a CAT scan used? Was an MRI taken? Were any of these tests taken?

CRANFORD: You don't know the answer to that? The CAT scan was done in 1996, 2002. We spent a lot of time in court showing the irreversible -- you don't have copies of those CAT scans? How can you say that?

The CAT scans are out there, distributed to other people. You have got to look at the facts. The CAT scan is out there. It shows severe atrophy of the brain. The autopsy is going to show severe atrophy of the brain. And you're asking me if a CAT scan was done? How could you possibly be so stupid?

SCARBOROUGH: Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait a second.

Scarborough continued: How the hell did you get on here. Weren't you properly screened. I must apologize America sometimes honesty slips into our broadcast. We work hard to prevent that but sometimes we fail, and for that I apologize.

- rob 12:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Perjury ain't what it used to be

I remember when there was perjury to hide a blow job (which was bad - it was perjury folks - as well as just tacky) would get a person impeached.

Now if there is perjury about torture a person would still get the job as the chief law officer of our nation.

Of course a blow job is dirty - torture is part of a culture of life

Daily Kos :: Citizen-journalist finds apparent proof of Sanchez perjury concerning torture

That title is being generous. I don't think "apparent" is necessary.

- rob 12:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Blogger's been bloggered lately.

Sorry for the lack of updates, but while I'm here I thought I'd not that earlier this week it was Monday: The Top 10 Conservative Idiots (No. 191)

2. Cultists Of Life
Let's be clear - there's a BIG difference between real Christians and these right-wing crackpots. How strongly do some of these freaks believe in "life?" So strongly that they're willing to, uh, kill for it. Take Hal Turner, the hate-radio host who earlier in the week wrote on his website, "I advocate the use of force to rescue Terri Schiavo from being starved to death. I further advocate the killing of anyone who interferes with such rescue." (To be fair, after finding out that Terri Schiavo was born Jewish, Turner wrote, "seeing as racial jews are the lowest form of scum in the history of this planet ... maybe starving Terri to death isn't too bad a thing at all." Yes, he actually said that.) Then there was Michael W. Mitchell, who last week tried to steal a gun from a firearms store so he could "take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo." Some weren't willing to take such drastic action, preferring instead to get others to do their dirty work for them. Step forward Richard Alan Meywes, who was arrested last week after offering a $250,000 reward to anyone who killed Terri's husband Michael (he also offered an extra $50,000 to anyone who knocked off one of the judges involved in the case). Clearly Meywes's offer had some takers - according to the Las Vegas Sun, "Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer has been under the protection of armed guards, and friends say his family also is protected." In case anyone was wondering, Greer is a Republican and a conservative Christian - although it should be noted that his church kicked him out last week. You know, somehow I don't think Jesus would approve of all this.
...
4. George W. Bush
Mind you, the examples given above are just cases in which Bush has had a direct hand in killing people. There are plenty of other times when he didn't consider it particularly important to "err on the side of life." For example, in 1999 Bush signed a Texas law "which allows a person's next of kin to make decisions regarding life support for patients whose conditions have been judged hopeless by a physician and a hospital's bioethics committee," according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Why, that sounds awfully similar to the Florida law he's now vehemently opposing. He also signed a law allowing hospitals to pull the plug on patients - against their family's wishes - if they can't afford to pay the medical bills. Another gold star for the culture of life. Bush has also slashed funding for soldiers coming back from Iraq with traumatic brain injuries. Err on the side of life my ass. Why, Our Great Leader rushed back from vacation to sign the "Save Terri" bill, but just last week waited four whole days before offering any condolences to the families and friends of victims of the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history. Guess he was too busy figuring out how to wring more political juice out of the Schiavo family.

- rob 9:08 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Hello AP - I can ignore facts and not do any research - when do I start?

Stories on Schiavo Protestor Miss One Point: He's a Registered Sex Offender

NEW YORK As protests outside the hospice housing Terri Schiavo in her final days mounted last week, numerous newspaper reports, many based on an Associated Press account, mentioned or quoted 10-year-old Joshua Heldreth and/or his father, Scott Heldreth. Josh was one of several youngsters arrested for crossing police lines in Pinellas Park, Fla., in an effort to take water to Schiavo.

None of the stories revealed that Scott Heldreth, a religious activist and anti-abortion crusader, is a registered sex offender in Florida-- until The Charlotte Observer mentioned it on Sunday.

A widely published AP story on Sunday by Allen G. Breen had painted a warmer picture of the Heldreths, noting that it was young Josh who insisted that his father take him to the protests from their home in North Carolina, not the other way around. “God’s with me,” Josh said.

The article continued: “Scott Heldreth, a veteran of the Operation Rescue and Operation Save America campaigns against abortion, didn't intend to join this fight, until his son asked to be brought to Pinellas Park. ‘My wife and I, we felt like if God really put it on his heart, we should come down, to allow him to live out what God had put on his heart,’ says Heldreth, a carpenter.”

"Save the unborn so when they're born I can offend them sexually," sayith Heldreth, a carpenter.

- rob 4:45 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

"Who's Christianity?" If we were to become a Christian nation whose Christianity would the government enshrine into law?

Would it be the "consumer" Christians who buy chocolate crosses for Easter? CNN: Chocolate Crosses Move Into Mainstream

or the just out right scary Christians who freak out at this picture of the pope:

The Catholic religion calls herself "Mother Church". She's a mother alright, but she ain't the mother of Christ's church. By calling herself "mother" she is telling on herself. She is THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Rev. 17:5)! Notice the Catholic religion calls herself a woman. And what a GREAT WHORE she is committing spiritual fornication with the kings and rulers of the earth. She's DRUKEN with the blood of the saints--study the Inquisitions and read Revelation 17 in light of that knowledge. Oh, even the antichrist is naked in light of God's word.
...
That symbol was not put in that chair to tell the world that Peter was crucified upside down. That is not how the world views that symbol (at least those of us that can see). That symbol was put on that chair to tell every Lucifer-worshipping, Beelzebub-worshipping, Satan-worshipping, devil-deceived, new age, hellbound, profane person that the show is on! Lights, cameras, action! We're right here in Israel with worldwide coverage! The fools is tricked!

And there are lots of Christians in between. The danger is if law comes from a religion and not its citizens.

Think of the poor child who eats her chocolate cross upside down. Would DeLay lock her up?

- rob 4:45 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Maureen Dowd: Oh my God, we really are in a theocracy

• Dowd: DeLay, Deny and Demagogue

  Oh my God, we really are in a theocracy.
  
  Are the Republicans so obsessed with maintaining control over all branches of government, and are the Democrats so emasculated about not having any power, that they are willing to turn the nation into a wholly owned subsidiary of the church?
  
  The more dogma-driven activists, self-perpetuating pols and ratings-crazed broadcast media prattle about "faith," the less we honor the credo that a person's relationship with God should remain a private matter.
  
  As the Bush White House desperately maneuvers in Iraq to prevent the new government from being run according to the dictates of religious fundamentalists, it desperately maneuvers here to pander to religious fundamentalists who want to dictate how the government should be run.
  
  Maybe President Bush should spend less time preaching about spreading democracy around the world and more time worrying about our deteriorating democracy.

  
  
  
• Police 'showdown' averted

  Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize her and have her feeding tube reinserted -- but they stopped short when local police told them they would enforce the judge's order, The Herald has learned.
  
  Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside, on Thursday that they were on the way to take her to a hospital to resume her feeding.
  
  For a brief period, local police, who have officers at the hospice to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called ``a showdown.''
  
  In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children & Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting local police outside the hospice.

  Yes it seems in Florida the local police of Pinellas Park are move familiar with law then the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (soon to be renamed The Florida Mutawwa'in).
  
  
• Schiavo case results in threats, prompting calls for calm

  TAMPA, Fla. - (KRT) - As Terri Schiavo weakens and legal options peter out, tension here is intensifying.
  
  Some pro-life activists are making ugly threats, making up "Wanted" posters for lawmakers and handing out the home addresses of judges who rejected legal appeals to keep Schiavo alive.
  
  "I am afraid," said state Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who has received numerous death threats by phone and mail because she voted against a measure to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube. "We're talking about the sanctity of life, and (they're) threatening my life."

• The Right to Life
  Protecting one woman.
  By William J. Bennett & Brian T. Kennedy

  She is a human being. She has committed no crime and therefore she has forfeited not one of her natural rights. Our American faith teaches us 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." And the purpose of all American government is "to secure these rights," not destroy them.

  Yes they just said "Our American faith..." and then follows with the words of Jefferson. Okay, I have an amazing respect and love for Jefferson's words and ideas. But come on, the guy not only had slaves but he slept with him... isn't it a bit much to imply he was a prophet? But Bennett and Kennedy don't stop there, they aren't happy until they actually work to destroy what Jefferson started.

  Using the state police powers, Governor Bush can order the feeding tube reinserted. His defense will be that he and a majority of the Florida legislature believe the Florida Constitution requires nothing less. Some will argue that Governor Bush will be violating the law. We think he will not be violating the law, but if he is judged to have done so, it will be in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., who answered to a higher law than a judge's opinion.

  Um... MLK wasn't a Govenor and was protesting against the prejudice present in "state powers."
  
  
• Man Tries to Steal Gun to 'Rescue Schiavo'

  SEMINOLE, Fla. -- A man was arrested after trying to steal a weapon from a gun shop so he could "take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo," authorities said.

• Open Letter from 11th Hour Coalition to save Terri Schiavo's life to President Bush and Gov. Bush
  Dear President Bush and Governor Bush:
  
  Early this morning, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta denied Terri Schiavo's parent's application for a stay of her sentence of death. The ruling was based on arcane matters of law and jurisdiction-heady subjects that only lawyers and judges understand. While the law may be complicated and hard to understand, the reality is that an innocent woman, who has committed no crime, and is only dependent upon others to give her food and drink, will soon be dead.
  ...
  As citizens and people of faith-we implore, beg, nay... insist, that you brothers, so distinguished by their singular accomplishments and political leadership-use the Constitutional powers of their respective offices to interpose yourselves and deploy the police services at your disposal and take Terri Schiavo into your protective custody, direct that her food and water be restored to her, and save her alive while the lawyers debate arcane matters of jurisdiction and jurisprudence. For God's sake, take pity, have mercy, and please do not delay in saving Terri Schiavo's life.

Hilarious

Daily Kos :: Scientific American Gets Snarky

Scientific American wrote a beautiful editorial on this topic in their April 2005 edition.

Okay, We Give Up
. . . In retrospect, this magazine's coverage of so-called evolution has been hideously one-sided. For decades, we published articles in every issue that endorsed the ideas of Charles Darwin and his cronies. True, the theory of common descent through natural selection has been called the unifying concept for all of biology and one of the greatest scientific ideas of all time, but that was no excuse to be fanatics about it.
...
Why were we so unwilling to suggest that dinosaurs lived 6,000 years ago or that a cataclysmic flood carved the Grand Canyon? Blame the scientists. They dazzled us with their fancy fossils, their radiocarbon dating and their tens of thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles. As editors, we had no business being persuaded by mountains of evidence.
...
Good journalism values balance above all else. We owe it to our readers to present everybody's ideas equally and not to ignore or discredit theories simply because they lack scientifically credible arguments or facts. Nor should we succumb to the easy mistake of thinking that scientists understand their fields better than, say, U.S. senators or best-selling novelists do. Indeed, if politicians or special-interest groups say things that seem untrue or misleading, our duty as journalists is to quote them without comment or contradiction. To do otherwise would be elitist and therefore wrong.

Hats off to Scientific American for stating the obvious truth. We need to pressure other media outlets to present these scientific debates accurately, and to show these fringe groups as they are: idealogues trying to undermine scientific reasoning in support of predetermined religious beliefs.

And Hats off for the best summary (outside of Daily Show) of journalism's current love this inane definition of "balance."

There are often more than one side to a story, golly gee sometimes there are even more than two sides (but lets not get carried away, we might get the american viewer confused), but when I start saying George Bush is a baby eating Lizard alien that isn't just "My Side" of the Bush story, that is just made up crap and it doesn't deserve continual discussion in cable news as if it was a viable "opinion." (yes - not so swift veterans for truth).

- rob 1:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

DeLay is a sick man. A man in love with power for its own sake. In is a sickness that has stipped him of his humanity. I am sure he was human once, and he had his own tragedies in life with he dealt with sensitivity, sincerity, and humanity. Traits he no longer posses it seems.

DeLay's Own Tragic Crossroads
Family of the lawmaker involved in the Schiavo case decided in '88 to let his comatose father die.

CANYON LAKE, Texas — A family tragedy that unfolded in a Texas hospital during the fall of 1988 was a private ordeal — without judges, emergency sessions of Congress or the debate raging outside Terri Schiavo's Florida hospice.

The patient then was a 65-year-old drilling contractor, badly injured in a freak accident at his home. Among the family members keeping vigil at Brooke Army Medical Center was a grieving junior congressman — Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas).
...
The man in a coma, kept alive by intravenous lines and oxygen equipment, was DeLay's father, Charles Ray DeLay.

Then, freshly reelected to a third term in the House, the 41-year-old DeLay waited, all but helpless, for the verdict of doctors.
...
DeLay has denounced Schiavo's husband, as well as judges, for committing what he calls "an act of barbarism" in removing the tube.

In 1988, however, there was no such fiery rhetoric as the congressman quietly joined the sad family consensus to let his father die.

The man has caused so much suffering fighting for causes he does not believe in, he only believes in the power of his office and his need to keep it.

- rob 1:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

I'm tired of getting shot at

At church on Easter Sunday (one of my scheduled cameos at my wife's church) we bumped into the assistant priest (is that what you call the guy that isn't the main preacher?) who is at the church just a little more than I.

While I'm just sleeping in, he is generally in Liberia working at a hospital. A few years back the area the hospital was in was got so bad that all the volunteers had to leave and the hospital was pretty much ransacked. After a bit he and the others were allowed back in and the church we belong to had a huge fund raiser and donation drive for the hospital and he went back with containers filled with items.

He's back now and my wife asked when he was going to go back. "Oh, I'm thinking I'm told old for this. I don't think I'm going back." He is definitely past retirement age. He certainly has earned a rest. And then he said matter of factly. "I'm tired of getting shot at."

TCS is horribly self centered. We only complain about Bush really (well the GOP, idiot spineless Democrats, religious extremist, etc.) but there is a wide world out there truly suffering. America is become neurotically self obsessed to the point where Terri Schiavo removes the rest of the world from America's consciousness (when Michael Jackson isn't of course). TCS is just as narrow focused, and I apologize.

Here's a quick update from Liberia and that general area:

LIBERIA: Basic services still in tatters as people return to Lofa County

MONROVIA, 25 March (IRIN) - War-scarred Lofa County, which was once home for many of Liberia's internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, is still desperately short of shelter, food and health services as people start heading back, aid agencies have said.

A joint survey by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the Liberian government and other aid agencies operating in the northern county, found that less than 20 percent of the almost 100,000 people sampled had enough food and remained highly dependent on aid distributions.

and

Côte d'Ivoire: The Worst May Be Yet to Come

Dakar/Brussels, 24 March 2005: Cynically exacerbating social tensions for political gain, Côte d'Ivoire's leaders risk losing control and sparking a disastrous regional conflict.

Back to TCS's narrow focus: but doesn't that read like a warning to the GOP. This cynical use of religion could back fire - badly for all of us.

- rob 1:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

For more on this summary of the November election go to: Empire Rising: A Satirical History

- rob 1:14 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Subscribe to the TCS Feed

Having trouble with some of the poor English on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:

Search TCS

Archive

Archive Index Page

What is this?

This is a "team" blog.  We are a bunch of Americans, whose rising distress in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.  As Bush said, he's a "uniter."  Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.

This Century Sucks Store

Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.  

We have a little Store you can visit.  

Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come see what we have.

 

We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.

Search Now:

Sites we often like:

Tin Foil Caps

The Free Speech Zone

The office of the independent blogger

Buzzflash

Tom The Dancing Bug

VerifiedVoting.org

Get Your War On

This Modern World

Eschaton / Atrios

Daily Kos

Contribute to America's Future

It is now more important then ever.

Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee

Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Some More Site Mottos

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt



"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make fitting response."
 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt



"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson



"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
- James Madison



"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy



"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

More Sites we often like:

more coming...

"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America." - Bill Clinton.