Why the Cynical GOP is turning to religion:

If the citizens believe you represent God then reality no longer has an effect on your polling.

After all, how shallow of you to put your personal or anyone's well-being before the message of God. Better to be a saved soul in a cardboard box then be going to hell in a nice middle class home.

I understand the sentiment. And the GOP does too. So they've drafted God.

Call them on the cynics that they are.

They've worn out the patriot card... so now they bring out the even bigger card. GOD. It is God and Country after all.

Don't vote on issues. Facts. Policies. Vote for the party that says they're who God wants you to vote for.

Do this and the GOP will never have to worry about their incompetence biting them in the back.

Dow Tumbles 198 on Economic Worries

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks plunged again Friday, suffering their worst day of 2005 and the third straight triple-digit loss for the Dow Jones industrial average. Deepening concerns over economic growth and higher prices led to the worst week of trading so far this year.

The Dow fell 198 points after an already uneasy market was disappointed with the latest economic news. The Federal Reserve reported drops in manufacturing and other industrial production, while a Labor Department report also showed higher oil costs driving up import prices and worsening Wall Street's chronic inflation worries.

- rob 5:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

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What I was doing this past Wednesday

Clinton urges Drew audience to make a difference in the world

MADISON, N.J. - Former President Bill Clinton urged a standing-room crowd at Drew University Wednesday night to take advantage of unprecedented opportunities to help create a world of integrated communities and fewer adversaries.

His hourlong remarks touched frequently on the theme of shared responsibilities and benefits, both in domestic policy and on the world stage.
...
"You can make a difference whether you agree with your government or not," he said. "You can do something, and you have hundreds of choices. You have the opportunity at this point in history that no one has ever had before, with the technology and travel. You have a responsibility to find some way to serve."
...
Clinton repaid the compliment by describing himself and Kean as "dinosaurs, a Democrat and Republican who actually like each other and want to work together." He lamented the current tone of political discourse, saying, "We have made the mistake in this country in the last 20 years of thinking we should demonize those with whom we disagree."

He was amazing and generous.

When he came on stage he looked tired... and he is so thin now... but as the hour continued he seemed stronger and stronger. After that he took questions and seemed to be full of strength. After one question he paused and said "let's order breakfast." He had a lot to say on the matter.

It was Kean who announced when it was the last question. I think Clinton could have kept going.

It wasn't just that he is an amazing speaker... it isn't just that it is a breath of fresh air to remember a President that could actually speak... He spoke of potential, of possibilities, of the future and Hope.

You don't hear that any more.

And we're all damaged a bit by that loss in the political discussions of the day.

He understands the world in ways Bush the younger just doesn't seem to be able to grasp:

Clinton, who has been deeply involved in the post-tsunami relief effort in southeast Asia with former President George H.W. Bush, cited a poll taken in Indonesia to illustrate how small efforts can have a ripple effect.

Before the tsunami, 36 percent of Indonesians had a positive impression of Americans, compared to 60 percent after the disaster, Clinton said. In contrast, Osama bin Laden's positive impressions among those polled in the heavily Muslim nation dropped from 58 percent to 28 percent.

"He [Osama] didn't do anything to help these people after the tsunami, but people in New Jersey did," Clinton said to a roar from the audience. "And they got it."

Thanks to friend E for the tickets (out of the blue, I didn't even know Bill was to be in town until earlier that day).

- rob 5:30 PM - [PermaLink] -

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There ain't no news like fox news

if its Faux News - then you know its Fox News

Fox News host: Repeat after me

If the conservative guests on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" sound especially on-message, that's because they're being coached by the best:

Sean Hannity himself.
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Between commercials, according to an off-air audiotape obtained by investigative comedian Harry Shearer for last Sunday's episode of his weekly radio program, "Le Show," Hannity coached the women on exactly how to respond when liberal co-host Alan Colmes cross-examined them.

"Just say, 'I'm here to tell what I saw,'" Hannity can be heard instructing his guests. "No matter what the question, 'I'm here to tell you what I saw. I'm here to tell you what I saw.'"

Hannity adds helpfully: "Say, 'I'm not going to be distracted by silliness.' How's that? Does that help you? Look into that camera. Look at me when I'm talking."

On the air, Iyer performs beautifully. "I don't have any opinions or judgments. I was there," she declares.

- rob 5:20 PM - [PermaLink] -

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What did the religious right take as the lesson from the horrifying legacy of Taliban?

"Hey let's start going in that direction here! - Why should they have all the fun!"

Frist Set to Use Religious Stage on Judicial Issue

WASHINGTON, April 14 - As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmations, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as "against people of faith" for blocking President Bush's nominees.

Fliers for the telecast, organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24, call the day "Justice Sunday" and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other.

The Democrats still believe in congressional review of Judges and seem to think it is in their right to prevent the scariest ones from getting a seat behind the bench. That sounds like the work of The DEVIL!

Religion as a political tool is dangerous. Frist thinks its an easy way to get a solid base "them fanatics will follow whatever happens." But they are fanatics... and this can turn to violence quicker then they think. I'm not being paranoid. Ask the folks in Eric Rudolph's neighborhood and they think he's just being a good Christian... even though he's a terrorist.

Oh and McCain's having another one of those decency and honesty things happening again.

On Thursday, one wavering Republican, Senator John McCain of Arizona, told a television interviewer, Chris Matthews, that he would vote against the change.

"By the way, when Bill Clinton was president, we, effectively, in the Judiciary Committee blocked a number of his nominees," Mr. McCain said.

- rob 5:17 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Okay its not hilarious or anything, but I was just looking at TCS and noticed there were no pictures of any type up on the home page....

- rob 11:19 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Conversation Between Two Invisible Men

The following exchange has been slightly edited, for relevancy (my parts, anyway; my correspondent's quotes are verbatim, in full):

From: Michael
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 6:40 PM
Subject: Serpico

I just came back from a new Japanese restaurant where I get takeout sushi.... I get there about an hour ago, and my usual spot at the counter has an open NYTimes, a salad, a sweater on the back of the chair. Cursing my luck, I move over three seats down, near the end. After about a minute, this short, graying, Hume Cronyn type takes up his seat and starts reading his paper and eating his salad. I don't really pay any attention to the guy, I'm much more involved with the dish he's ordering, which is the deluxe sushi platter, and the chef was going gangbusters making it: a breathtaking display, and wonderfully presented, on a white porcelain dish. So I'm staring at the platter, and it gets ceremoniously presented to this shlubby guy with a gray beard and a baseball cap, and I look at him, and I think, Goddamn if that isn't Serpico. Now I'm really intrigued. He lives here. It's a really small town. So I'm studying him out of the corner of my eye, being really discreet, to get a good look, because I don't really know how he looks now, not in precise detail. It could be anybody.... When I came home, I Googled Frank Serpico and it was definitely him. There was nobody in the restaurant but me, Serpico, the chef, and the two Japanese twentysomethings serving up sushi.

From: J
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2005, 10:19 AM
Subject: RE: Serpico

Last time I went home to visit my parents Serpico was on tv. I plunked down on the couch to watch it while waiting for people to wake up and get the day going. @ 1/2 hours later the whole family was sitting with me on the sofa, completely immersed in it. As flawed as that movie is (the score is horrible, and Serpico's girlfriend couldn't act her way out of a paper bag) it really showcases why people were so gaga over Pacino. He's just amazing in it.

From: Michael
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2005 10:42 AM
Subject: RE: Serpico

I remember seeing it when it came out; definitely one of those indelible 70s movies, where you actually remember being in the movie theater -- it was an event. But all I could think of last night was how despite all his courage and brave (some would say foolish) risk-taking to actually try to change the system of law enforcement -- the movie certainly implies that he made a difference, with that Commission investigating corruption -- along with the fact that that movie really brought the issue into the national consciousness (in those days, there was one, believe it or not), look what we have today. I wondered if he just shrugs now. Who knows? [Thanks to J, now we know: check out Frank's offical blog.] Serpico has a conscience, which must be true of some other cops, somewhere, maybe. But you look around and see how far we've come from those days and it's pretty fucking scary what these cops are doing now, with complete and utter approval from the toppity top. This business about being allowed to shoot people -- I'm not talking about cops, I mean citizens in Florida who don't like the cut of your jib -- being allowed to open fire indiscriminately can only lead to statewide mass homicide wherever that law becomes enacted. It's insanity, literally. We're being encouraged to shoot one another. Do you think that's the Republicans' plan, to get us all to kill each other? Sometimes it seems that way. The Republican call-to-arms for assassins to murder judges is rapidly spiraling into something truly frightening -- it's a clarion call for declaring open season on anyone who stands in your way, for whatever reason. Why are they doing this? This is what was going through my head when I was eying Serpico. I tried to see what article he was reading, but then he would've spied me for sure: everybody knows when you're trying to read over their shoulder, it's a human instinct, probably going back hundreds of thousands of years, having to do with protecting your food and making sure nobody sneaks up your back and murders you for it. Seems like we're back to those times again.

Kinda makes you wanna throw up, doesn't it?

- Michael 10:56 AM - [PermaLink] -

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The Republicans Work to Make the Deficit Permanent

The Rich Get Richer

WITH MEDICAID and food stamps on the chopping block, the House of Representatives is about to vote for a $290 billion tax break for the richest sliver of Americans. The subject is, once again, the estate tax. Under the convoluted, dishonest plan Congress approved in 2001, the estate tax was to be gradually reduced and eliminated by 2010, only to spring back the following year to its 2001 level: a tax of 55 percent on estates of $1 million or more. Tomorrow the House is set to vote to keep full repeal in place after 2010.

This is unnecessary, irrational and unaffordable. Those who inveigh against the "death tax" point to the travails of family farmers and other small-business owners whose heirs are supposedly forced to liquidate enterprises to pay the tax bill. In fact, even if the estate tax were to revert in 2011 to its 2001 level -- and no one believes that the exemption will remain at $1 million -- it would affect the estates of only 2 percent of those expected to die that year. At $3.5 million (and $7 million for a couple) -- the level proposed in a Democratic alternative sponsored by Rep. Earl Pomeroy (N.D.) -- a mere three-tenths of 1 percent of estates would be covered. In other words, no one but the richest Americans would be asked to pay estate tax.

Moreover, an analysis by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center supports the contention that the family forced to sell its farm to pay the tax is, if not a fiction, close to it.

- rob 5:07 PM - [PermaLink] -

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I'm not too fond of some of the Supreme Court's actions in the past.

I think they did not act within the bounds of the constitution when they crowned Bush in 2000 (please do read None Dare Call It Treason if you have not yet done so).

I think they acted with great stupidity when the Supreme Court declared the tomato a vegetable. Botany be damned! Reagan took this a step further declaring Ketchup (and even Catsup I guess) a vegetable in the eighties.

In fact the supreme court is capable of outright evil as seen in the 1857 Dred Scott decision

Taney [Supreme Court Chief Justice]-- a staunch supporter of slavery and intent on protecting southerners from northern aggression -- wrote in the Court's majority opinion that, because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue. The framers of the Constitution, he wrote, believed that blacks "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever profit could be made by it."

Referring to the language in the Declaration of Independence that includes the phrase, "all men are created equal," Taney reasoned that "it is too clear for dispute, that the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this declaration. . . ."

There or others, of course, who are none too happy with some Supreme Court decisions. But it isn't decisions like those ones above (I honestly think they are happy with those decisions). No they are angry with recent decisions such as saying we shouldn't kill prisoner's who committed their crimes as juneniles.

As we've noted in many posts this past week many of these people angry at the Supreme Court are people who have a lot of power. But the Supreme Court seems to be taking it in stride.

Justices defend court's independence

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas on Tuesday defended the independence of federal judges and suggested that criticism such as that directed at the federal bench recently by Republican leaders in Congress is simply part of the democratic process.
...
Thomas noted that federal judges are appointed for life, which means that although they might be criticized by politicians, the judges are insulated from real retribution.

"I think the reason we have lifetime appointments is that we are supposed to be criticized," Thomas said.

They seem pretty cool about some of the comments coming out...

"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who referred to a "judiciary run amok." Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has criticized judges who make "political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public."

...But they aren't stupid:

Kennedy and Thomas also emphasized the need for more security at the high court, in part to protect against threats to the nine justices and others in the court's marble building

The court's proposed budget of $66 million for next year includes money to add 11 police officers to the court's current squad of about 130. One new officer would assess threats made against the justices.

Thomas said he believes the Internet has helped critics of various rulings incite anger at the justices. Explaining why he thinks that the court needs more police officers, Thomas said, "I think we have been on borrowed time for a long time."

And indeed you can find all sorts of things on the internet:

How U.S. Supreme Court Is Destroying America

How have the nine members of the Supreme Court become America's most powerful political and judicial force?

Simple. By making laws, instead of upholding the United States Constitution that gave birth to America, the greatest nation in the world over the past 7,000 years.

The U.S. Supreme Court is destroying America by destroying the U.S. Constitution, which represents "rule-of-law" in this shining Republic of the people, by the people and for the people.

People no longer matter. Politics (ideology) is the name of the game over the past 75 years, led by the Supreme Court dominated by liberals, socialists and Marxists.

It's "bye-bye America," according to author Mark Levin, head of the Landmark Legal Foundation and a contributing editor for National Review Online. Levin, also a popular radio talk host and a regular guest on TV shows, is a former advisor to President Ronald Reagan, another strict Constitutionalist.

Yep just a bunch of liberals, socialists and Marxists. Why just the other day I saw Scalia in the Village waving his little red book of Mao while wearing his Che shirt. Yep... he was smoking pot too.

I wonder as former advisor to Ronald Reagan did Levin recommend that those damn hippies Sandra Day O'Conner, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy be placed on the court?

In fact seven of the nine up there now were appointed by Republican Presidents. What is it with Republican presidents and their love for Marxist jurists?

If the Democrat Party cannot pass federal legislation for expanding and liberalizing government, they look to the liberal Supreme Court to pass laws that Congress has rejected, according to Levin.


"Most Americans don't know that it was the Supreme Court that upheld slavery, segregation, and the internment of American citizens without any evidence." Levin reported.

Wait up minute... first Levin is saying the Democrats are using all those Republican judges to pass laws on their behalf and as an example of this he notes that the Supreme Court made decisions that upheld unjust laws? My head is spinning - are they making laws or not?

Levin wants Congress - the "people's body" - to have the final say, not six or seven lawyers on the Supreme Court.

Mark Levin should be appointed to the Supreme Court, or even better, run as Vice President on a Presidential ticket that is pro-U.S. Constitution - not a party ticket made up of Constitutional destructionists.

Why that is a great idea. It should be noted that that fine idea was made be Gordon Bishop who is "a national award-winning author, historian and syndicated columnist. He is the recipient of 8 Congressional Commendations, 12 National and 15 State Journalism Awards." And yet, he is also an idiot.

- rob 2:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Doing the Right Thing is good for business

Krugman: Ailing Health Care

Well-informed business executives agree. A recent survey of chief financial officers at major corporations found that 65 percent regard immediate action on health care costs as "very important." Only 31 percent said the same about Social Security reform.

But serious health care reform isn't on the table, and in the current political climate it probably can't be. You see, the health care crisis is ideologically inconvenient.
...
Finally, the U.S. health care system is wildly inefficient. Americans tend to believe that we have the best health care system in the world. (I've encountered members of the journalistic elite who flatly refuse to believe that France ranks much better on most measures of health care quality than the United States.) But it isn't true. We spend far more per person on health care than any other country - 75 percent more than Canada or France - yet rank near the bottom among industrial countries in indicators from life expectancy to infant mortality.
...
The fact is that in health care, the private sector is often bloated and bureaucratic, while some government agencies - notably the Veterans Administration system - are lean and efficient. In health care, competition and personal choice can and do lead to higher costs and lower quality. The United States has the most privatized, competitive health system in the advanced world; it also has by far the highest costs, and close to the worst results.

Imagine, you are sick, you go to the doctor, you get help.

That's it.

"But what about the rationing, the long lines?" The fact that most elective surgeries are out of reach for most Americans isn't rationing? And by long lines are you talking about the wait at the doctor's office while the receptionist tries to figure out what your insurance's copay is (and if they even take that insurance).

Doctors in America are running assembly lines, checkups last five minutes and then its "next!" Anymore time spent and they lose money, the insurance companies aren't a charity you know!

Corporations have huge staffs and budgets coordinating their company's healthcare offerings. Think of the productivity lost as the workers of America try to find the doctor who won't be best for their condition but who their insurance company covers.

Our healthcare system is bad business. The insurance industry is the only one who benefits (well and their lobbyists... and there you have it).

Why are we happier paying a bureaucratic insurance company large sums for poor health care when we could pay a bureaucratic government less in taxes for better health care. It is where ideology meets insanity.

Why also are we happier spending far more in jails then in early intervention. Intervention is cheaper, it makes for a better citizenry, it makes for a better work force, it makes for more able bodied citizens available to pay taxes (thus in theory keeping overall tax rates down)... but NOOOOOO... that'd be too much like coddling - and that aint Christian?

Preschool for all California 4-year-olds a wise investment, study finds

LOS ANGELES -- High-quality, universal preschool for all 4-year-olds in California would generate $2.62 in benefits for every public dollar spent, according to a new economic analysis released Tuesday by the Rand Corp.

The cost-benefits study by the Santa Monica-based think tank estimated average annual costs of $1.7 billion for universal preschool would be offset in the long-term by a reduction in the high school graduation dropout rate, less juvenile crime and a more productive work force.

Come on it is a Rand study... those guys love weapons... their your people... LISTEN TOO THEM.

For more and better written thoughts on this, try these earlier TCS posts (here's some excerpts):

Enough with helping people already

Remember back in the Reagan era when Americans were happy with the idea that hundreds of intelligent but needy people would be denied affordable loans that would make it possible for them to go to college rather then have a few students purchase stereos with the loan money?

People seem to be happy with the idea of locking people up, but unhappy of programs that could prevent them from turning into criminals in the first place. Helping humanity as a marketing point doesn't really work. I know it is hard to admit after growing up with Star Trek, but humanity isn't really all it is cracked up to be.

Helping people can and always should be framed as a smart move for your tax dollar. Save money with the added bonus of helping people. People will go for that.

Stop playing defense

We need to go on the offensive. Hard. "Freedom is another word for nothing else to lose." The Democratic Party is truly free. It has nothing to lose and everything to gain. It has been so easy for career politicians to let bits of their soul and ideals fall away at the expedience of politics as usual and electability. The only thing that can get ANY of them elected now is to fight. Fight for America. Fight for the reasons they originally went into politics (their idealist youth).

We just need to fight a little bit smarter though. While fighting (defensively, unfortunately) the bankruptcy bill why not employ a flank attack. End prohibitions against Credit Unions imposed by the banking lobby. Fight banking corruption and illegal credit card scams. Who's fighting for Americans now? We are. Publicly state how much banking companies have given to the campaign chests of those supporting the bill. Continue to propose loudly amendments that bring heart and soul to the measure and watch the blood on the hands of the republicans stain deeper as they say, "no - our troops in harms way must have their homes taken away because of debt. They do need more to worry about." Heck the DNC needs to place full page ads in the hometown districts of every republican representative after each vote and trumpet what their representative - their voice in congress - has done in their name.

We need to improve the coinage of our initiatives. And we need to push them fast and furious and with much ballyhoo.

Stop saying that alternative fuels are better for the world, the environment, blah blah blah. Point out it is a security issue as well (with cool side benefits like the environment). Put forth and publicize the "Long Term Homeland Security Energy Act." Point out the dangers of our national security from foreign oil dependence, how it ties our hands, and binds us to relationships we should not have. Invest in alternative fuels, energy efficiency, and improved energy distribution. It is about the safety of your children and their future children.

Bush was going to run the nation like a corporation.

Corporations ain't so hot. They, like the government, become dehumanized entities and the costs of their actions are removed from the individuals who enacted them.

Here's the thing - the thing that is best for the environment, best for the employees, best for the economy, and best for America: Small businesses.

Politicians and Corporations hate small businesses. Small businesses can't fill a politicians war chest. Small businesses are just a prop that both democrats and republicans trot about. Any safety regulation, or any regulation in general that a corporation doesn't like is described as a threat to small businesses, though often the small businesses would not be effected. If the regulations in the end become enacted they are rewritten or repurposed to become a shield the corporations wield to defend themselves from competition from small new comers.

The present state of the FDA effectively eliminates the creation of any new small pharma company. You got a drug that eliminates cold sores? It will NOT go to market unless you give the rights to a big pharma company. The regulations now serve more as a barrier to competition then any safe guard to us citizens.

Big Business and Big Government are allies. In the post world war II America large corporations and the government have formed a symbiotic relationship. They need each other.

The GOP ran for decades under the cry "smaller government." When they came into power the government only became bigger. They realized that their base (their true base: "The haves and the have mores") wanted it that way.

- rob 5:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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We are Unitarian Jihad

People of the United States, why is everyone yelling at you??? Whatever happened to ... you know, everything? Why is the news dominated by nutballs saying that the Ten Commandments have to be tattooed inside the eyelids of every American, or that Allah has told them to kill Americans in order to rid the world of Satan, or that Yahweh has instructed them to go live wherever they feel like, or that Shiva thinks bombing mosques is a great idea? Sister Immaculate Dagger of Peace notes for the record that we mean no disrespect to Jews, Muslims, Christians or Hindus.
...
We are Unitarian Jihad. We are everywhere. We have not been born again, nor have we sworn a blood oath. We do not think that God cares what we read, what we eat or whom we sleep with.
...
Beware! Unless you people shut up and begin acting like grown-ups with brains enough to understand the difference between political belief and personal faith, the Unitarian Jihad will begin a series of terrorist-like actions. We will take over television studios, kidnap so-called commentators and broadcast calm, well-reasoned discussions of the issues of the day. We will not try for "balance" by hiring fruitcakes; we will try for balance by hiring non-ideologues who have carefully thought through the issues.
...
We are Unitarian Jihad, and our motto is: "Sincerity is not enough." We have heard from enough sincere people to last a lifetime already. Just because you believe it's true doesn't make it true. Just because your motives are pure doesn't mean you are not doing harm. Get a dog, or comfort someone in a nursing home, or just feed the birds in the park.
...
People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere!

Damn Unitarians, do bad Texas wasn't able to revoke their tax free status.

- rob 4:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush still trying to out do dad

Wages Lagging Behind Prices

For the first time in 14 years, the American workforce has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.

The growth in wages in 2004 and the first two months of this year trailed inflation, compounding the squeeze from higher housing, energy and other costs.

- rob 4:10 PM - [PermaLink] -

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So Bill and TCS were talking about self-loathing the other day.

Bill: Gay GOPer 'self-loathing'

Former President Bill Clinton wasn't about to let just anybody attack his wife - especially a gay Republican operative.

Clinton fired back yesterday, suggesting that political consultant Arthur Finkelstein, who has launched a "Stop Her Now" campaign, is suffering from "self-loathing."

Finkelstein married his male partner in a civil ceremony in Massachusetts in December, with a few of his conservative clients at the nuptial.

"... He went to Massachusetts and married his longtime male partner and then he comes back here and announces this," Clinton said at a Harlem news conference.

"I thought, one of two things. Either this guy believes his party is not serious, and is totally Machiavellian in his position, or there's some sort of self-loathing there. I was more sad for him."

Actually I think Bill suffers from a bit of self-loathing as well. His infantile "affair" with Monica was self-distructive and really does say he doesn't think much of himself. Here's a bit from the TCS post about self-loathing (because I feel like quoting TCS a lot today - because no one else does):

Repression. Repression leads to self-loathing. Self-Loathing leads to hate.

Jeff Gannon is more than just a propaganda story, it is more than a security breach story. It is the story of a gay man who might not consider himself gay. His belief system has taught him to view his own natural urges as evil. So after years of repression, the guilt turns to self hatred. Gannon had no problem writing homophobic articles for Talon News... perhaps because he is homophobic himself.

In efforts to bring "morality" to the world the right wing has damaged the health, psyche, and spirit of hundreds of thousands of people. Take the former governor of New Jersey. He fought with who he was. Society and the church taught him that who he was was wrong and a choice. To prove to himself he did not want to make such a "choice" he, like many others, visited the strip clubs, had many a female partner, and, eventually, a wife. How could he be gay, he thought. But he was, and it brought down his career and his marriage. The Church which supposedly represents a philosopher who preached love and understanding had force a man to deny his natural state and in so doing damaged not only this man, but so many others in his life.

Repression leads to the hatred. Men so insecure in their own selves they perceive "attacks." If you are born straight you made a "choice" to be straight... bully for you. It is yet another way for a shallow and empty soul to feel better about themselves. If you weren't born straight and are taught it is your choice, it is because you are being attacked by "homosexual" messages, images... the "gay" agenda. This is the hate. Insecurity and repression. In fear and revulsion you run further to the right. Twisted morality creates future twisted followers.

The post goes on "blah blah blah."

- rob 4:08 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Brown Shirt update

In Contempt of Courts

Michael Schwartz must have thought I was just another attendee of the "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith" conference. I approached the chief of staff of Oklahoma's GOP Senator Tom Coburn outside the conference in downtown Washington last Thursday afternoon after he spoke there. Before I could introduce myself, he turned to me and another observer with a crooked smile and exclaimed, "I'm a radical! I'm a real extremist. I don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them!"

For two days, on April 7 and 8, conservative activists and top GOP staffers summoned the raw rage of the Christian right following the Terri Schiavo affair, and likened judges to communists, terrorists and murderers. The remedies they suggested for what they termed "judicial tyranny" ranged from the mass impeachment of judges to their physical elimination.
...
As Gary Cass, the director of Rev. D. James Kennedy's lobbying front, the Center for Reclaiming America, explained, they are arousing the anger of their base in order to harness it politically. The rising tide of threats against judges "is understandable," Cass told me, "but we have to take the opportunity to channel that into a constitutional solution."

Cass's "solution" is the "Constitution Restoration Act," a bill relentlessly promoted during the conference that authorizes Congress to impeach judges who fail to abide by "the standard of good behavior" required by the Constitution. If they refuse to acknowledge "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government," or rely in any way on international law in their rulings, judges also invite impeachment.
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Conference speakers framed the Constitution Restoration Act in pseudo-populist terms--the only means of controlling a branch of government hijacked by a haughty liberal aristocracy against the will of the American people. As Michael Schwartz remarked during a panel discussion, "The Supreme Court says we have the right to kill babies and the right to commit buggery. They say the people have no right to express themselves, that the people have no right to make laws. Until we have a court that reflects a majority," Schwartz continued, his voice rising steadily, "it is a sick and sad joke that we have a Constitution here."

I don't know about buggery, but Delay's committed bugacide. Seriously, that quote from Schwartz reads like its from a Monty Python sketch. Sure Monty Python is funny to watch, but would you want to live there?

The right wing claims that judges should reflect majority opinion. But what is the majority opinion? After DeLay and Senate majority leader Bill Frist passed special bills ordering federal courts to consider the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, according to a Gallup poll, Congress's public approval rating sank to 37 percent, lower than at any time since shortly after Republicans impeached President Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, 66 percent of respondents to a March 23 CBS News poll thought Schiavo's feeding tube should be removed. The notion that the Christian right's agenda is playing well in Peoria must be accepted on faith alone.

Majority is soon to be redefined. America is a Christian nation they'll say, ergo Christian's are the majority. QED.

The "Spanish Inquisition" sketch by Monty Python is coming up next.

- rob 3:30 PM - [PermaLink] -

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When the Republicans come to town - you go to jail

Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest

Dennis Kyne put up such a fight at a political protest last summer, the arresting officer recalled, it took four police officers to haul him down the steps of the New York Public Library and across Fifth Avenue.

"We picked him up and we carried him while he squirmed and screamed," the officer, Matthew Wohl, testified in December. "I had one of his legs because he was kicking and refusing to walk on his own."

Accused of inciting a riot and resisting arrest, Mr. Kyne was the first of the 1,806 people arrested in New York last summer during the Republican National Convention to take his case to a jury. But one day after Officer Wohl testified, and before the defense called a single witness, the prosecutor abruptly dropped all charges.
...
A videotape shot by a documentary filmmaker showed Mr. Kyne agitated but plainly walking under his own power down the library steps, contradicting the vivid account of Officer Wohl, who was nowhere to be seen in the pictures. Nor was the officer seen taking part in the arrests of four other people at the library against whom he signed complaints.

A sprawling body of visual evidence, made possible by inexpensive, lightweight cameras in the hands of private citizens, volunteer observers and the police themselves, has shifted the debate over precisely what happened on the streets during the week of the convention.

For Mr. Kyne and 400 others arrested that week, video recordings provided evidence that they had not committed a crime or that the charges against them could not be proved, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors.

Among them was Alexander Dunlop, who said he was arrested while going to pick up sushi.

Well of course he was arrested - Sushi is one of them elitest, volvo driving, French cheese eating liberal type foods.

- rob 3:19 PM - [PermaLink] -

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It looks like we have to apologize to Halliburton's KBR folks. We had earlier posted that they had overcharged the military for gas by close to $100 million.

We're sorry it looks like we were wrong. It was $212 million.

U.S. Audit Probes $212 Mln in Halliburton Iraq Work

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. oil services giant Halliburton Co. may have overcharged by at least $212 million to get fuel to Iraqi civilians under a no-bid deal with the U.S. military, said Pentagon audits released on Monday.

California Rep. Henry Waxman, a leading critic of Halliburton's work in Iraq, released portions of audits by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) that identified overcharges and questioned costs for fuel delivered in Iraq by Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown & Root in 2003 and 2004.
...
Halliburton, which was run by Vice President Dick Cheney until he joined the race for the White House in 2000, has said its KBR subsidiary delivered fuel for the best possible price in Iraq and has consistently denied it overcharged.

Cheney was later quoted saying, "what the hell is with this goddamn commie Waxman... doesn't he know businesses are supposed to make money?"

- rob 2:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Oh what the hell - Believe it or not: It's Monday

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 193

1. Tom DeLay
This might be the understatement of the year, but Tom DeLay is in the shit. Last week the Campaign for America's Future put up a handy cheat sheet of DeLay's recent scandals, which include taking fancy business trips paid for by lobbyists, taking campaign contributions for favors, using a federal agency (the FAA) for partisan purposes, and alleged money laundering, among other things. In the past week it was also revealed that since 2001 DeLay's wife and daughter have personally received more than $500,000 from his political action committees, and in 1997 DeLay took a trip to Russia which was "underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government," according to the Washington Post. He later cast votes in support of those same business interests. DeLay has done what he can to clear himself of the charges by, um, trying to change House ethics rules to make the whole thing go away. But let's face it, that doesn't really make him look any better. So what's a poor, downtrodden House Majority Leader to do when the heat is on? Why, blame somebody else, of course! Last week DeLay called the reports about his scandalous behavior "just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me." Aww, poor baby. But let it be known that the GOP is backing Tom DeLay all the way, so hats off to the Republican party for standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Bugman, and we'll just wait and see where their firm conviction for being led by an unethical megalomaniac gets them in 2006.

2. Fox News
Of course, DeLay's pals at Fox News have been doing their best to disabuse the public of the notion that he might bear just a tiny bit of responsibility for his alleged ethics violations. Media Matters noted that several Fox News hosts went out of their way last week to assist DeLay in his attempt to blame the media for his problems: Brit Hume reported that, "Here in Washington, the press is after Tom DeLay again, but wait 'til you hear the facts," and, "speaking of Tom DeLay, the mainstream media were out after him again today." John Gibson said, "The liberal media is hammering 'The Hammer' - Tom DeLay under a microscope and under the gun. Is this simply a media hit job?" (In order to get a fair and balanced answer he interviewed Rich Lowry, editor of the right-wing National Review.) And our old friend Sean Hannity referred to the "liberal allegations" against DeLay and asked, "Is he the target of a smear campaign?" So if you want to know the details of the charges against Tom DeLay, don't bother asking Fox News. They're more concerned about protecting their buddy than they are about actually reporting the facts.

- rob 5:54 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Find out what the DSCC thinks of this in the post below.

And the Verdict on Justice Kennedy Is: Guilty

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is a fairly accomplished jurist, but he might want to get himself a good lawyer -- and perhaps a few more bodyguards.

Conservative leaders meeting in Washington yesterday for a discussion of "Remedies to Judicial Tyranny" decided that Kennedy, a Ronald Reagan appointee, should be impeached, or worse.
...
Not to be outdone, lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering that Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law."

Ominously, Vieira continued by saying his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. "He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,' " Vieira said.

The full Stalin quote, for those who don't recognize it, is "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem." Presumably, Vieira had in mind something less extreme than Stalin did and was not actually advocating violence. But then, these are scary times for the judiciary. An anti-judge furor may help confirm President Bush's judicial nominees, but it also has the potential to turn ugly.

People might have thought the posts of Michael and I for the past two years on TCS were cynical, pessimistic, and paranoid.

Now the GOP is handing out the brown shirts, and not because they work for UPS.

- rob 5:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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I'm lazy today, but I really do think you'll find this new email from the DSCC interesting.

If they talked like that in front of cameras and not just in fund raising emails I'd be more excited though (though it is pretty exciting with their frequent use of BOLD):

Dear Rob,

The Republican Party has finally gone off the deep end.

They want to immediately enact the so-called "nuclear option." They want to impeach any judge they don't like. They want to impose a virtual theocracy on our political system. And, if that doesn't work, they're willing to make excuses for violence against anyone who doesn't buy into their completely insane delusions.

Think I'm just off on another rant? Think again.

Impeachable offense?

Did you know that Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) chief of staff supports a "mass impeachment" of judges who don't rule exactly the way he wants? Neither did I. But that's what he said last week at a big conference on judges held in Washington by a group of prominent Republicans and their allies in Congress.

Our Constitution is clear. There are three branches of government. Power is split among them so that no one individual or small group of individuals can exercise total control. Republicans are absolutely drunk with power now that they control the Congress and the White House. They are simply livid that the judicial branch still maintains even a shred of control over their most outrageous plans.

Congress shall make no law...

The leaders at the conference issued a shocking manifesto that demands Congress remove judicial jurisdiction over marriage and the separation of church and state.

This manifesto is based in part on a Senate bill that has already been introduced by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and cosponsored by five other Republican senators. This bill actually goes so far as to ignore the First Amendment and single out an official national God.

Usually, when you have a secret agenda to impose an outlandish theocratic vision of America, it's a good idea to keep it a secret.

Apparently, violence is the answer after all.

What do you do if all that doesn't work? Apparently, you start suggesting possible violence as a way to solve your problems, just like conference panelist Edwin Vieira did when he told conference participants that he thought Josef Stalin had it right when it comes to dealing with the Supreme Court. "[N]o man, no problem," Vieira said.

He knew better than to use the full Stalin quote, "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem." This way, Vieira stops just short of actually advocating the assassination of judges he doesn't like. Oh, and he said it twice, just to make sure no one missed it.

And then there was Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on the Senate floor last week:

I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in...violence.

Remember, this guy is rumored to be on Bush's short list of possible Supreme Court nominees.

Are you scared yet?

- rob 5:41 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Remind me not to fall fatally ill or get into a life threatening accident in Ohio

Law Dork: End-of-Life Debate Hits Ohio

A state senator is seeking to give prosecutors and the state's Attorney General a say in Ohioans' end-of-life decisions. This and other provisions and proposals are about to hit the statehouse in the wake of the national debate that centered around Terri Schiavo.

According to a letter circulated Friday to Ohio senators (a copy of which can be found here in Microsoft Word format), Sen. Jeff Jacobson (R-Butler Twp.) will be introducing a bill in the coming days to address "[o]ur laws dealing with health decisions."

The bill would "[e]nable[] the attorney general or prosecuting attorneys to present evidence to probate courts before the court determines whether to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment or nutrition and hydration."
...
In the House, Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Derrick Seaver (R-Minster) intends to introduce a bill that would go even further. His bill would direct the probate court to "give preference to the first individual" on the priority-class list who will:

(1.) will sustain the life of the individual
(2.) will incur the cost of medical care for the individual

- rob 4:13 PM - [PermaLink] -

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