Bushism of the year.........

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.-- George W. Bush

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/multimedia/bushism_propaganda.mp3

Uh huh...........

The gospel according to Lucas....

Is George Lucas making a politcal statement in "Return of the Sith?
According to the New York Times, he might be.

"This is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause," Padmé observes as senators, their fears and dreams of glory deftly manipulated by Palpatine, vote to give him sweeping new powers. "Revenge of the Sith" is about how a republic dismantles its own democratic principles, about how politics becomes militarized, about how a Manichaean ideology undermines the rational exercise of power. Mr. Lucas is clearly jabbing his light saber in the direction of some real-world political leaders. At one point, Darth Vader, already deep in the thrall of the dark side and echoing the words of George W. Bush, hisses at Obi-Wan, "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." Obi-Wan's response is likely to surface as a bumper sticker during the next election campaign: "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes."

Hmmm.......seems familiar somehow.

Much ado about judges......

Is this what we really want?

Janice Rogers Brown, often the lone dissenter on the California Supreme Court, has a record that indicates hostility towards affirmative action, civil rights, the rights of people with disabilities, workers' rights, and criminal rights.

Pricilla Owen, also has a record that indicates hositility towards worker's comp, anti-discrimination laws

http://www.civilrights.org/issues/nominations/owen_fs.html

FILIBUSTER LIES............

Republicans repeat ad nauseum that the attempt to fillibuster the vote on judges is unprecedented. Bullshit. On March 9, 2000 14 Republican Senatorsvoted to deny Clinton judicial appointee Richard Paez, an "up or down vote".

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0305-29.htm
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=2&vote=00037

In 1968 Republicans successfully filibustered LBJ judicial appointee Abe Fortas, who was to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

More on the history of the Filibuster here.


TWO MORE instances of republican filibusters.....

On June 22, 1995 57 Senators voted for cloture- to end debate and proceed to a vote on the nomination of Henry W. Foster, Jr., of Tennessee, to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service. 43 Senators voted to deny the vote. 60 votes were needed to proceed to a vote on Foster. 2 filibuster roll calls killed Foster's nomination.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=104&session=1&vote=00280

On May 25, 1994, a cloture motion was denied in a 56-42 vote on the nomination of
Sam W. Brown, Jr., of California, for the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as Head of Delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
This nomination was also killed by threat of filibuster.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=103&session=2&vote=00132

Newsweek the latest adminstration scapegoat...

Lessee.....is it really that implausible that someone at Gitmo might have flushed a Koran down a toilet???

Granted, Newsweek should have been more cautious, but their source WAS a government official, and reports of "Koran abuse" have floated around before. And the charges have NOT been disproven, only called into question.

That being said, BUSHCO has NO BUSINESS pointing a holier than thou finger at Newsweek, accusing them of publishing a story that lead to a violent uprising. NO, not when BUSHCO started a war based on lies, phoney intelligence.....lies that have lead to the deaths of well over 100,000 people.

The Newsweek article that started it all can be found here.

UPDATE.....Red Cross documents cases of Koran Abuse....
From the Kansas City Star.....

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The International Committee of the Red
Cross documented what it called credible information about U.S. personnel
disrespecting or mishandling Qurans at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and
pointed it out to the Pentagon in confidential reports during 2002 and early
2003, an ICRC spokesman said Wednesday.

White House Press pool grows testicles...gasp....fights back....challenges Scott McClellan.......

Q Scott, you said that the retraction by Newsweek magazine of its story is a good first step. What else does the President want this American magazine to do?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, it's what I talked about yesterday. This report, which Newsweek has now retracted and said was wrong, has had serious consequences. People did lose their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged; there is lasting damage to our image because of this report. And we would encourage Newsweek to do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region.

And I think Newsweek can do that by talking about the way they
got this wrong, and pointing out what the policies and practices of the
United States military are when it comes to the handling of the Holy Koran.
The military put in place policies and procedures to make sure that the
Koran was handled -- or is handled with the utmost care and respect. And I
think it would help to point that out, because some have taken this report
-- those that are opposed to the United States -- some have taken this
report and exploited it and used it to incite violence.

Q With respect, who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not telling them. I'm saying that we
would encourage them to help --

Q You're pressuring them.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm saying that we would encourage them --

Q It's not pressure?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, this report caused serious damage to the image of the United States abroad. And Newsweek has said that they got it wrong. I think Newsweek recognizes the responsibility they have. We appreciate the step that they took by retracting the story. Now we would encourage them to move forward and do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done by this report. And that's all I'm saying. But, no, you're absolutely right, it's not my position to get into telling people what they can and cannot report.

LRH: Soooo Scottie, a war based entirely on lies, Abu Ghraib, and flying prisoners to Syria so they can be tortured legally hasn't caused serious damage tot he image of the United States abroad??? Never mind the fact that there is absolutely no proof that the demonstrating in Afganistan had anything to do with the Newsweek article. Give me a fucking break!

Congressional Dems weigh in.......

From Congressman John Conyers on Daily Kos....

A brief message today: What we are witnessing is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate the press corps so that they will be afraid to do their jobs.

Simply put, we must not allow this to happen, particularly when the struggle
to hold this Administration accountable has been so difficult.

There are serious, serious questions about the White House's conduct in the Newsweek matter. More importantly, there are countless unanswered questions about documented and verified cases of detainee abuse and other matters. These questions must be answered.

It is time to circle the wagons and demand that the press corps continue to be vigilant. I intend to contact media outlets to demand that they pursue the unanswered questions about this Administration.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan owes us some answers as well. This morning, I wrote to him asking for an accounting. This letter will soon be in the hands of the entire White House Press corps. I hope they pursue the questions I have raised.

More of the post, including Conyer's letter can be found here.

And from Frank Rich of the New York Times....It's All Newsweek's Fault

Scopes revisited

Ok, its time to read "Whats the Matter with Kansas" by Thomas Frank.

TOPEKA, Kan., May 5 -- Debating a question that the scientific establishment considers settled, Kansas education authorities put evolutionary theory on trial Thursday in a hearing marked by sharp exchanges over Earth's origins and what students should be taught in science class.

Scientists who support the idea of intelligent design, a set of assumptions that challenges established scientific thinking, told an approving Kansas State Board of Education subcommittee that modern Darwinian theory relies too much on unproven reasoning. Gaps in the science, they argued, leave open the possibility that a creator, or an unidentified "designing mind," is responsible for earthly development.

More from the Washington Post.....

Modern Darwinian theory relies on unproven reasoning and creationism doesn't????

It's been a while since I studies Darwin, but I believe a great deal of Darwin's theory is based on OBSERVATION. And there's no disputing the fossil record.

Personally, I like the idea that God got the ball rolling on the creation of the universe, the earth and its inhabitants, through scientific means. But the God part of that belief system is only my personal belief and should not be imposed on others. The God part is NOT SCIENCE, it is theology. It is based on FAITH, not observation and does not belong in a science class.

Bush asked to explain UK war memo

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Eighty-nine Democratic members of the U.S. Congress last week sent President George W. Bush a letter asking for explanation of a secret British memo that said "intelligence and facts were being fixed" to support the Iraq war in mid-2002 -- well before the president brought the issue to Congress for approval.
The Times of London newspaper published the memo -- actually minutes of a high-level meeting on Iraq held July 23, 2002 -- on May 1.

British officials did not dispute the document's authenticity, and Michael Boyce, then Britain's Chief of Defense Staff, told the paper that Britain had not then made a decision to follow the United States to war, but it would have been "irresponsible" not to prepare for the possibility.....

Rest of the story here.....

BASTARDS.....and we impeached a President over lying about a blow job.

Ike speaks from the grave.....

"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."

- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/8/54

I can't believe.....

CNN is going on and on and on about this Cessna that strayed into the restricted airspace around the White House, they been nonstop on this for at least two hours. The Daily Show should be good tonight.

Huh???

"But let me say something: the United States government has an obligation to protect the American people. It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way." ----George W. Bush 4/28/05

Election day in the UK

click image to enlarge

My understanding of the British electoral process is in its infancy, but I know more than I did a month ago.

If I understand correctly, British voters are voting for Members of Parliament (MPs), not specifically for Prime Minister. They have three political parties: Conservative(Tories), Labour, and Liberal Democrats. As of an hour ago I though Labour and Liberal Democrats were the same group. I guess this would be comparable to republicans, democrats and greens in the US.

Anywho, the party that gets the most MPs elected chooses the Prime Minister, or their leader becomes the Prime Minister, or if the party that wins was already the majority party, their leader remains Prime Minister. Although I have been hearing that if the Labour party stays in power, as the exit polls (hopefully more accurate than in US presidential elections) are already reporting, they may choose to replace Tony Blair at some point.

Well, there you have it..."British Elections for Dummies". Hope I was accurate.

Heartbreaking..........

This one could be a contender for the Pulitzer....


May 3, 2005 A U.S. Army soldier comforting a child fatally wounded in a car bomb blast in Mosul, 360 km (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 2, 2005. 15 Iraqis were wounded in the combined suicide bomb attack. (AP Photo/Michael Yon via U.S. Army)

Who knew?

That Laura Bush could be funny?

THIS is funny......

download video here.

THIS is even funnier.............

disclaimer 1: I have a raunchy, nasty, sense of humor, deal with it

disclaimer 2: If you are easily offended, don't go here.......

Click on image to view video

Love is a many splendored thing....

"I wish Bush had gone to second base so maybe we'd get gas down to a buck-fifty."

-Maureen Dowd on the "Chris Matthews Show"


And then there's this......