I don't believe that Evangelical Christians (or any similar groups) should be allowed to serve in high-level public office...
I'm in full agreement and for the same reasons.
Saturday, October 8, 2005
Interesting
From T. Rex:
I'm in full agreement and for the same reasons.
I'm in full agreement and for the same reasons.
I'm sad
I was startled to learn from the CultureGhost yesterday that a great blog will be packing it in.
Being taken quite by surprise, I shot off an email to M and T of Adgita Diaries for confirmation. I was assured the Ghost was not pulling our collective leg and they will indeed be going dark. It's a sad time for Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!*). I will miss their writing, miss pictures of the garden, and Princess Shayna will certainly miss her friend Harry Hound and his Hound Report. I, on behalf of the Brain and my blogmates, wish them all the best in their chosen endeavors. We'll miss you.
...ADGITA DIARIES will be closing up shop at the end of this month...
Being taken quite by surprise, I shot off an email to M and T of Adgita Diaries for confirmation. I was assured the Ghost was not pulling our collective leg and they will indeed be going dark. It's a sad time for Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!*). I will miss their writing, miss pictures of the garden, and Princess Shayna will certainly miss her friend Harry Hound and his Hound Report. I, on behalf of the Brain and my blogmates, wish them all the best in their chosen endeavors. We'll miss you.
[To M and T and Harry. The floor here is always yours if you find you have the urge to blog somewhere down the line. Just email me when you want it. - The Fixer]
*yes! skippy coined that phrase!
Friday, October 7, 2005
Stopping terror
EDITOR'S NOTE: President George W. Bush claimed in a speech yesterday that he had foiled 10 terrorist plots on American soil since 9/11. Much speculation has centered on exactly what these "10 terrorist plots" could be. The president stated he could not reveal this information because it was classified due to "National Security".
[. . .]
A hoot from Neil Shakespeare.
This one'll piss ya off....
From Salon:
I didn't bother reading the rest of it because it doesn't surprise me a bit and I didn't want to bother with a site pass. Has to do with "Coingate".
There's a brand spanking new prison in Lovelock, Nevada, that's never been used. Let's Federalize it and put the entire Republican apparatus in it.
Did a reporter with GOP ties suppress a story that could have cost Bush the White House?
President Bush's reelection may have been made possible by a Toledo Blade reporter with close ties to the Republican Party who reportedly knew about potential campaign violations in early 2004 but suppressed the story.
According to several knowledgeable sources, The Blade's chief political columnist, Fritz Wenzel, was told of potential campaign violations by Tom Noe, chair of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign for Lucas County, as early as January 2004. But according to Blade editors, Wenzel never gave the paper the all-important tip in early 2004.
I didn't bother reading the rest of it because it doesn't surprise me a bit and I didn't want to bother with a site pass. Has to do with "Coingate".
There's a brand spanking new prison in Lovelock, Nevada, that's never been used. Let's Federalize it and put the entire Republican apparatus in it.
Common Sense
From Stupid Country:
They could also be viewed as bait. Hey, Jesuslanders, how's it feel to have your kid's life used as nothing more than chum? Yeah, keep voting Republican. They'll be calling for your grandkids next. You know, the ones your son never knew because his wife was giving birth while he was dying in Saddam's backyard.
Update:
Speaking of Mess-O-Potamia* Dave Johnson steers me to Harry Reid's blog:
These are the things we need to hear from the Dem leadership. The problem is getting them on TV enough for it to sink in. That damned 'Lib-rul Media'.
[. . .]
If you drop 135,000 American troops anywhere in the Middle East, destroy the host country's economy and kill tens of thousands of its citizens, then people will obligingly show up and shoot back. They will not, however, hold still so that you can oppose them in the way a conventional force of combat soldiers is designed to oppose an enemy along anything that could reasonably be viewed as a "front."
[. . .]
They could also be viewed as bait. Hey, Jesuslanders, how's it feel to have your kid's life used as nothing more than chum? Yeah, keep voting Republican. They'll be calling for your grandkids next. You know, the ones your son never knew because his wife was giving birth while he was dying in Saddam's backyard.
Update:
Speaking of Mess-O-Potamia* Dave Johnson steers me to Harry Reid's blog:
[. . .]
We are equally dismayed that your Administration has failed to produce broad international participation, both in the months leading up to the war and the years since the conflict started. There appears to be no strategy to involve regional countries as there was in the Balkans in the 1990s and in Afghanistan in late 2001 and 2002. There has been little effort to obtain the contribution of military forces from Muslim nations to dispel the perception of a Western occupation of a Muslim nation. In addition, offers to train Iraqi security forces from countries such as Egypt and France have apparently gone unanswered.
The only thing as disturbing as the obvious lack of progress is the Administration�s continuing failure to level with the American people about the current situation in Iraq. This failure only serves to erode the public's confidence about your Administration's plan for Iraq. Therefore, Mr. President, in the interest of providing accountability to our troops and our taxpayers, we ask again for you to provide direct answers to four critical questions about your Administration's Iraq policy. Specifically:
[. . .]
These are the things we need to hear from the Dem leadership. The problem is getting them on TV enough for it to sink in. That damned 'Lib-rul Media'.
*Credit:Jo Fish
Timing NYers' Safety Until Bush Says It's OK
If you still think yesterday's New York terror alert was a coincidence following closely on the Chimp's speech, think again. From Craig Crawford:
Manufacturing terror alerts and then timing them for political purposes and diversion is a total crock of shit.
I hope we're all sick and tired of these assholes taking it for granted that we'll all panic like we're supposed to when they hit the fear button, and run to them like little kids screaming "Oh, yes, Mr. president, save us, only you can do it, O Mighty One!"
Imagine if the subway had blown up yesterday: "Oh, we knew about that two days ago. Bush hadn't made his speech yet."
They'd be swinging from lampposts.
Even more disturbing to me in yesterday's subway warning was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's comment that a news outlet had gotten the story two days earlier but agreed to withhold releasing it until the government gave the green light. Perhaps Bloomberg's position on this will turn out to be credible, but his claim that the extra time was needed for law enforcement to handle this threat seems worth questioning.
The result was that a news media outlet was persuaded to join a conspiracy of silence until the government was ready to announce the news, which happened to coincide with White House strategy for Bush's speech and also just so happened to serve as a neat distraction from Rove's latest bad news.
Manufacturing terror alerts and then timing them for political purposes and diversion is a total crock of shit.
I hope we're all sick and tired of these assholes taking it for granted that we'll all panic like we're supposed to when they hit the fear button, and run to them like little kids screaming "Oh, yes, Mr. president, save us, only you can do it, O Mighty One!"
Imagine if the subway had blown up yesterday: "Oh, we knew about that two days ago. Bush hadn't made his speech yet."
They'd be swinging from lampposts.
Friday Cattle Dog Blogging
Princess Shayna gives high marks to the Norwegian Nobel Committee for giving President Fucknuts the finger and awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Mohammed el-Baradei. She also sends out her heartfelt congratulations to Dr. El-Baradei and urges him to continue his good works as a nuclear watchdog.
Hat tip: Blondie
Me and my big mouth
As regular readers of the Brain know, I speak my mind. Everybody knows where they stand with me. There's no guessing if I like you or not. If I don't you'll know it.
Anyway, it's with this attitude I pay my property taxes twice a year . . . in person. It's the one time I can get in my local politicians' faces . . . well, two times a year. They have to deal with me too because I give 'em $4000 at a clip. I also went to school with the Town Supervisor's (mayor's) useless piece-of-shit son.
[. . .]
The rest below the fold.
Anyway, it's with this attitude I pay my property taxes twice a year . . . in person. It's the one time I can get in my local politicians' faces . . . well, two times a year. They have to deal with me too because I give 'em $4000 at a clip. I also went to school with the Town Supervisor's (mayor's) useless piece-of-shit son.
[. . .]
The rest below the fold.
Da Subway or Cry Wolf
(New York - WABC, October 6, 2005) - The New York City police are responding to what they are considering a credible threat to the subway system. Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared at a news conference alongside Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly in which they announced a bombing threat and said it was the most specific they had ever received to date.
Bloomberg says the FBI has shared the information with city officials, and is asking the public to be vigilant.
[. . .]
Ya see what all those terror alerts (notice we haven't had one since the elections last year; notice the NYC mayoral elections are this year) did? Ain't nobody gives a shit. My wife, who rides the Subway from Pennsylvania Station to the World Trade Center (the station is up and running again) and back every day, a woman who's been bombed and shot at almost as much as me, doesn't give a shit. And if I got out at the station (as opposed to slowing down to 30 and making her jump like I usually do, heh) in a few minutes and asked her fellow commuters, they wouldn't give a shit neither.
Mr. Bush, Mr. Bloomberg, and all the rest of you idiot politicians, do you see what you've done to the warning system that was questionable to begin with? Ain't nobody gives a shit. At least nobody who's affected directly gives a shit. Those warmongering idiots in Jesusland will get all fired up, just like they did on 9/11, using our tragedy to push their agenda, but commuting New Yorkers don't care, they got work to do. They also don't believe anything that comes out of Washington anymore. They could change the terror threat to red and we wouldn't believe it. Know why? Because you've cried wolf too many times.
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Dogs saving cats
Outstanding work.
Dr. Marker has been doing excellent work in saving the cheetahs, whose population has declined from 100,000 in 1900 to less than 13,000 today.
An innovative program that provides guard dogs to livestock farmers at a modest cost may be helping to save wild cheetahs in southern Africa.
The decade-old effort is the brainchild of Laurie Marker. The U.S. biologist moved to Namibia in 1990 to help prevent livestock losses that spurred ranchers to shoot and kill hundreds of cheetahs each year.
[. . .]
... During her research, she came across the Anatolian shepherd, a breed used by Turkish shepherds for thousand of years as the first line of defense against predators.
The canine's formidable height (they stand 27 to 29 inches/69 to 74 centimeters tall) can help intimidate predators. The dogs live with their flocks and are independent thinkers, needing little direction to do their jobs. Their short coats are also well suited to Namibia's hot climate.
With their instinctive guarding ability, Anatolia shepherds have successfully warded off more than cheetahs on Namibian farms—jackals, caracal lynx, leopards, and baboons have been turned away.
[. . .]
Dr. Marker has been doing excellent work in saving the cheetahs, whose population has declined from 100,000 in 1900 to less than 13,000 today.
I wonder if they tuck him in at night...
Just so you don't have to pay half a Benjie to read her, here's MoDo on "Women of the White House". No, I don't think it'll be a spread (heh!) in Playboy, but I do wonder if there'll be a video...
And then she starts in on 'em. Go read.
I hope President Bush doesn't have any more office wives tucked away in the White House.
There are only so many supremely powerful jobs to give to women who are not qualified to get them.
The West Wing is a parallel universe to TV's Wisteria Lane: instead of self-indulgent desperate housewives wary of sexy nannies, there are self-sacrificing, buttoned-up nannies serving as adoring work wives, catering to W.'s every political, legal and ego-affirming need.
And then she starts in on 'em. Go read.
Hey, he coulda said "ride the baloney pony"...
Howard Dean was on Lameball last night talking about the Miers nomination and the "Culture of Corruption" and said, amongst much other good shit, the following:
That's what it's called, Howie. Heh.
DEAN: Well, certainly the president can claim executive privilege. But in the this case, I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, hide the salami (my bold), or whatever it's called.
That's what it's called, Howie. Heh.
From O'Donnell's lips to Fitzgerald's ears...
Lawrence O'Donnell, who, if you will remember, was the first to name Rove as a leak source on TV, has the following on my favorite big-titted Greek redhead's blog:
I just heard on Lameball that Rove's scheduled grand jury testimony is "voluntary". Oh, sure. If Fitzgerald told me to "testify or go to jail", I'd volunteer too.
Here's the good part:
If Karl Rove's lawyer, Bob Luskin, is still as easy to read as he has been since I broke the story that his client was Matt Cooper's source, then we now know that Rove has received a target letter from Patrick Fitzgerald. How do we know it? Luskin refuses to deny it.
Fitzgerald does not have to send Rove or anyone else a target letter before indicting him. The only reason to send target letters now is that Fitzgerald believes one or more of his targets will flip and become a prosecution witness at the pre-indictment stage. A veteran prosecutor told me, "If Fitzgerald is sending target letters at the end of his investigation, those are just invitations to come in and work out a deal."
I just heard on Lameball that Rove's scheduled grand jury testimony is "voluntary". Oh, sure. If Fitzgerald told me to "testify or go to jail", I'd volunteer too.
Here's the good part:
If no one RSVPs to Fitzgerald's invitations, look for indictments as early as next week. If anyone does sit down with Fitzgerald, he will probably have to move to extend the grand jury, which now has only thirteen working days left in its term.I'll settle for three. To start.
Prediction: at least three high level Bush Administration personnel indicted and possibly one or more very high level unindicted co-conspirators.
Jane says . . .
. . . Okay everybody take a deep breath, sit back, pour yourself some herbal tea and take some time to brush up on your TraitorGate facts. You'll be able to impress everyone you know with your trenchant observations and deep insights when indictments come down.
[. . .]
I hope the reaming is hard, dry, deep, and dead slow. After 2 years it better be good. Go read. I guess this would be a good time (if a bit late) to stand up and applaud Jane (and her cohorts) for her masterful work giving us lay folk (Git yer mind out the gutter, Gord) an insight into the process over the months. Your thoughts and expertise are appreciated.
Dine Out America
Thank God! Both my DSL and my dial-up were broken this morning. It was like I had the rubber band around my arm and the needle in my vein and the candy man didn't show up! I'mmm oookay nooowww....
Yesterday, Mrs. G had a dentist appointment in Reno. We decided to conserve fuel and rubber, like we would during a real war, so we ran some errands and then decided to have dinner out. I mean, why waste a trip to the Big City?
The joint we chose was the Macaroni Grill. It's one of a chain. This outfit has about five different-named restaurants all over the country. It was about as close to fine dining as we ever get: they had tablecloths. They had a big piece of paper over said tablecloth and provided crayons, with which our server (PC term for waiter, I think), a large bald-headed brother named Percy, wrote his name on the table in big letters so I wouldn't forget it! The food was different (for us) but very good. Go see their menu here.
My point is that yesterday this outfit donated the profits for the day to hurricane relief for Katrina victims and called the effort "Dine Out America". I think that was nice.
Give 'em a try.
Yesterday, Mrs. G had a dentist appointment in Reno. We decided to conserve fuel and rubber, like we would during a real war, so we ran some errands and then decided to have dinner out. I mean, why waste a trip to the Big City?
The joint we chose was the Macaroni Grill. It's one of a chain. This outfit has about five different-named restaurants all over the country. It was about as close to fine dining as we ever get: they had tablecloths. They had a big piece of paper over said tablecloth and provided crayons, with which our server (PC term for waiter, I think), a large bald-headed brother named Percy, wrote his name on the table in big letters so I wouldn't forget it! The food was different (for us) but very good. Go see their menu here.
My point is that yesterday this outfit donated the profits for the day to hurricane relief for Katrina victims and called the effort "Dine Out America". I think that was nice.
Give 'em a try.
I'm on a mission from God
[. . .]
[Palestinian Foreign Minister] Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq ..." And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'"
[. . .]
Time to take the Chimp out in a straightjacket.
Link via Maru
No Reich here
Thankfully for all the single women and unmarried couples in Indiana, this Nazi has been silenced. Thank God Shakespeare's Sister (and Mr. Shakes too of course) lives there. I think some of her smarts are rubbing off on the locals. From Pam:
[. . .]
Did she just come out from under a cultural rock? This gal had no clue the poorly conceived (pun intended) legislation to control procreation outside of the fertile, married, male-female, faith-based experience was a flaming pile of sh*t? Looks like a little fire was lit under the ass of this Hoosier, so she pulled it.
[. . .]
Quality
No, Harriet Miers doesn't need to be a judge to be qualified for a seat on SCOTUS. No, she doesn't need any experience arguing cases before SCOTUS to be qualified. In fact I am qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice. Go figure. But there's one little fact that's telling. It's where Ms. Miers learned the vagries and intricacies of the U.S. legal system. Now I've seen politicians from Harvard and Yale in action. I know quite a few of their alumni. I'm not impressed but as far as educations go, they're probably the best places to get a law degree. Zoe contrasts and compares the sitting Justices' educational credits to Ms. Miers'. It's about quality, folks, as opposed to a faith-based education.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)