"Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"
- Evil-doer Tom DeLay,
addressing three young evacuees living in Reliant Park in Houston
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this is working very well for them."
- Barbara Bush,
finding the "bright side" to being homeless and destitute
and living on a stadium floor cot, as only a detached conservative can.
"I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."
- Bill Bennett, "Moral Values" imbecile
December 7, 2005 - Sick Day
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."
- Winston Churchill
"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."
- Hermann Goering
If you've never had an allergic reaction to something, I suggest keeping that track record intact. My face puffed up like a circus freak along with an itch all over my head. Anyways, enough on that nonsense.
I've been ignoring this story a bit as it just doesn't surprise me. I know conservatives hate public broadcasting, I just didn't know how much. Read and be enlightened.
Bad news for "intelligent design" zealots. For once anyway. Ford bows to the religious right like a two dollar whore. Billboard company Lamar is playing politics with hopeful Democratic advertisers. Let's see: they own the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, most of the Federal courts, major media, and the billboards. Not to mention the electronic voting machine companies. But no, there's no conservative conspiracy.
The GOP was watching a Congressional race in California, featuring the head of the racist Minuteman vigilantes. He lost, but earned a healthy quarter of the vote. That's right Republicans, you can run your racist agenda again and get 25%, even in California.
Harvard Law is taking a fight to the Supreme Court that since they don't allow companies that discriminate recruit on campus, why would they let the military? The Court will likely side with the government and we kiss one more piece of civil liberties goodbye.
Condoleeza Rice is try to sell Bush's bill of lies to Europe, swearing that "oh, god gosh, no we don't torture people." Europe isn't buying it. Indeed, they are poring over some words that make it look like like our Secretary of State of War may have accidentally admitted to a Bush administration mistake. Rice, as she always looks, is angry.
Speaking of angry, the religious right - and by that I mean psychos who only pretend to be religious - are mad at Bush and at some of the "it's-not-your-fault-ever"-preaching megachurches. Why? They're mad at Bush for not sending out Christmas cards. Oh, he sent out cards; they were "just" Happy Holidays cards. To the psychos bent out of shape about this, I'm going to do something that feels very wrong to me: defend Bush. One, he apparently has always sent out generic cards. Two, until you round up the Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, actual peace-minded Protestants, and run-of-the-mill atheists and agnostics and exterminate us, there will be more than just angry, bitter, bigoted "Christians" in this country. Get used to it and get over it.
As for the megachurches, they are encouraging parishioners to spend the day with their families and some are closing to allow this to happen on Christmas Day. This, of course, infuriates the supposed family values types. Go figure.
December 5, 2005 - Like I was saying....
Molly Ivins seems to do this better than me; probably why she's paid to muse and why I do it in my spare time. In any case, she addresses the hypocrisy of GOP "Christianity" in this article.
Your Talibangelical pals are working to become AIDS activists. With decades of bigoted hate speech as their guide, I can't imagine how they can help this cause, but oh well.
Other GOP tomfoolery. The Bush EPA "fixed" (i.e. lied) about data to make El Jefe's "Clear Skies" act look like a progressive environment law.
Condoleeza Rice is running around Europe defending the right for US citizens to torture people. Shameful.
Bush's latest pick for the Supreme Court thinks it's okay for police officers to shoot anything that moves; a stance even psycho Alabama cops don't support.
Your tax dollars at work for the right wing. Apparently the Department of Education is paying a talibangelical "Christian" band to use scare tactics to force high schoolers into right wing churches. But, you know, at least we're not teaching them evolution.
In Iraq, we're apparently paying for Iraqi newspapers to print our propaganda as actual news. Yeah, way to teach them the meaning of a free press. Meanwhile, here at home, Rumsfeld is chastising our media's actual use of a free press, calling it unaccountable and stressing that the news outlets "don't know all the facts." Well, Rummy, that may have to do with you being a part of the most secretitive US government - ever.
Meanwhile, two more "coalition" members became unwilling to play George's game anymore. Farewell to Bulgaria and the Ukraine in the coming year.
Wired covers the provocative question of whether or not expensive gas is good for the US, and addresses some of the alternative fuel options we have available to us.
To wrap up, a story on some of the animal rescue folks still working in New Orleans.
November 25, 2005 - Farewell Mr. Miyagi
I didn't even know he lived here, but Pat Morita passed yesterday here in Vegas. He always seemed a class act and so I mention his passing with some regret.
I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving - those of you who celebrate it - and that you did what I did today; which was eat some leftovers, watch a movie, and take a nap. I always like to think of this day as a throwaway day. If you accomplish something, great. Otherwise, it's no big loss otherwise.
I'm not going to delve into too much really. Still feeling the holiday warm fuzzies. Cooked for twelve and ate damn well. The dog even managed to snagged some dropped pieces.
I do have one complaint I wanted to get out of my system. In my quests for Cool Whip and yams and what-not earlier this week, I noticed and grimaced - again - as I saw Salvation Army bell ringers out before Thanksgiving Day. I mean, I know corporate miscreants will put out Christmas items the day after Holiday...or Columbus Day now apparently...but if you are waiting for the season of charitable giving, shouldn't you actually wait for said season to begin?
In the interest of keeping the Gulf Coast in our minds, a story about Thanksgiving for some of the refugees, as well as a NPR story about displaced students. Here's another one about Congress' fading interest in assisting the region.
Alright, what else do we have to offer up? More religion, or idiots mascarading as religious. A public television channel is fighting to keep its license after a "christian" television conglomerate tries to muscle in to SoCal. Disney is appealing to churches to push ticket sales to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Great, not only are preachers telling you its a sin to vote for Democrats, now they're telling you what to watch. Drink the Kool-aid Jimmy. Drink it all down.
A teacher in Vermont is being accused of giving "liberal" tests full of anti-Bush rhetoric. One, he's probably guilty of it and should hold it back it bit. BUT, two, it's Vermont you fascists...liberalism is implied. Three, you throw those fundamentalist jerks out in Kansas and we'll consider slapping this guy on the wrist.
Another teacher is unwed, newly pregnant, and even more newly unemployed from a Catholic school. Now, I get their argument, but only to a point. I mean, priests and nuns are unmarried and they don't get fired when they violate their vows. This lady just filled out a job app. Come on, at least be consistent.
As part of the re-made "This I Believe" series, Penn Gillette offers up why he doesn't believe in God. Now come on, go ahead and read it with no preconceived notions.
Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, and the state-owned Citgo group is offering cheap fuel oil to some American citizens. Now, granted, it is a politically-motivated move, but it's a damn site more than Bush ever did to reduce our fuel costs in this country.
Canada is trying to ban 50 Cent from touring because he's a criminal and his music glorifies violence, disrespect of women, etc. ad nauseum. I'm all for it. Then again, I'm for getting rid of pretty much any gangster rap.
Mike "Heck of a job Brownie" Brown is now offering his services as a disaster preparedness consultant. Seeing as he was a monumental failure as a FEMA director, he'd know all about how to make a disaster worse than it is. That said, I'd equate taking advice from him akin to asking a pedophile how to raise a child. You could do the opposite of their actions, but it would still be unethical and wrong.
November 22, 2005 - So much for freedom
Weird thing about Bush's theory of freedom...it has nothing to do with actually being free. Apparently Wonder Boy decided at one time to bomb al-Jazeera. Now look, you don't have to agree with what they say, but isn't freedom of expression one of those things we are SUPPOSED to be on the side of? Then again, you've got Ann Coulter cheerleading anyone who will blow up The New York Times so this is in line with the "you are free to agree with the GOP" philosophy. Idiots.
At the University of Kansas, they are confronting ignorant reactionary types their own way: with a class called
"Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies." Having liked the few times I've been through Lawrence, I wish them the best and hope the class is standing room only. The religious fascist types may overthrow our public schools and brainwash children with their crap psuedo-science, but higher ed can throw that off in no time flat. It's like learning in college that Columbus was a butcher of millions. Truth hurts, but it's better to be smart than Republican.
In related news, the Vatican again reiterates that, no, 'intelligent design" is NOT science. Furthermore, they want nothing to do with the hateful, racist inbreds masquerating as Christians who are selling this elixir of stupidity.
Falwell is planning to sue anyone who doesn't call the holiday season Christmas. Jewish folks, this may sound familiar to you. And for anyone either celebrating Kwanzaa or nothing at all, best get ready to get out of Jesusland. And Dobson and Co. have decided to bring their anti-gay fearmongering to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Gee, let's inject some hate-filled fear of an oppressed group of American citizens into a day of thoughtful remembrance. Jerks.
You know, or at least you should know, that I have nothing wrong with religious people. I admire them and have a certain form of faith of my own. It's just these hypocritical "Christian" Taliban types I can't stand. They bomb clinics and assassinate doctors and then talk about the "culture of life." They want people suffering from cancer or who are braindead to live forever on a machine, suffering, but invade countries and kill tens of thousands to avenge a supposed slight against their daddy. You can't practice birth control or be against religious zealots taking over public government, but you can watch as billionaires get more tax breaks.
In short, don't think I'm down on religion. I'm not. I'm down on bigots and racists who think they are religious.
Military news. The armed forces are having a hard time filling needed positions. They are also in the midst of recalling flawed body armor and have decided to stop calling up the IRR.
Wal-Mart is caught between getting busted for hiring illegal aliens and for choosing not to carry the "morning after" pill. Look, if you are GOP tools/contributors like Wal-Mart and are a major cause of illegal immigration, don't you find it as silly as I do to see redneck racist Republicans fuming about "all dem mud people takin' ar jobs" as I do? And also, if your growth strategy is to get in as many communities as possible, isn't it your responsibility to serve said communities, especially as you kill off any local mom and pop businesses in your way? You can't be a hegemon AND still stick to your backward Arkansas repressive "values."
Other news from the culture wars. Cell phone phools are dumbing down Shakespeare so the average illiterate text messenging 13-year old can read the classics. Brilliant.
November 17, 2005 - They said it
First off, the top banner goes to Child's Play. Gabe and Tycho are giving to children's hospitals again and need your help. Go there if you have some extra dollars and help out.
Bush and Schwarzenegger head for the red state that still loves them - China. Bush still has a 37% approval rating, proving that a third of our citizens are complete frigging imbeciles. That said, less than 10% of voters who back a congressional candidate whose values were the same as Bush.
None of this is phasing Bush and Cheney, who still think they can win at least one war this decade - the one against those Americans who think they're liars. Bush calls it "irresponsible" to send "mixed signals" to our enemy about our resolve to back the war. Hey Bush, irresponsible is ignoring intelligence just to make sure you can fight a war even your daddy knew well enough not to fight. And by mixed signals, you must mean the part where we get elected by the Supreme Court, ignore international bodies and treaties, start a preemptive war, hold elections while in cahoots with electronic voting machine companies, call your citizens traitors, call illegal wiretapping a police necessity, reward polluters, criminals, and other miscreants with favorable policies and contracts. Oh heck, you get the idea. He promotes democracy abroad while systemically destroying it here.
As for Cheney, he says we who oppose him are "dishonest and reprehensible." No, Mr. Vice President, people who coerce with oil company scum to rob American consumers are dishonest. And asshats who actively try to make torture legal are reprehensible. Get it right.
Bush's new Supreme Court appointee is anti-abortion. Big surprise there. I've been reading Catherine Crier's new book Contempt: How the Right is Wronging American Justice. Now don't get me wrong, she's not a raging liberal, but she does like her judicial system bias-free. It's a pretty good read so far. One thing she touches on is how the GOP and its fanatical wing have taken over almost all the federal Courts of Appeals except for a split in Pennsylvania's 3rd District and a slight Democrat lead in the Northeastern 2nd and a strong liberal stronghold solely on the west coast 9th District. This 9th District has been slated for being split into a smaller liberal district and one that favors the evangelicals in Montana, Idaho, and Alaska for example. Basically, it's the old "if you can't beat them, cheat" philosophy which works so well for Republicans.
Speaking of self-serving Republicans, last week Texan residents of White Settlement chose to keep their racist town name by a 9-to-1 margin. This week, citizens of Clark, TX now find their town to be called Dish for the next ten years. Not to right a racist wrong, not to recognize any hero or item of note. No, Texans spurn anything to correct the sins of racism, but stand in line to get free cable for a decade. Now you know how Bush got into high office in the first place.
In the tech world, major companies are being pushed to adhere to more sensibility to human rights instead of bending over for dictatorial regimes like China...and the Bushites. Foreign enrollment is down at US universities. Big surprise there concerning our angry foreign policy.
The CIA is hiding torture reports. Apparently the Central Intelligence Agency is capable of shame, not that our president is. The FDA is bowing to religious psychos and is preemptively banning the "morning after" pill waiting for any test results. Speaking of activists, the Senate is trying to destroy your right to a fair trial...or even an unfair one.
Paranoid yet? Here's a study on why tin foil hats won't stop the aliens from affecting your brain waves.
November 13, 2005 - The other shoe
Despite Arnold being set back in Kahlifornia, despite the GOP losing two governor's seat and other offices, despite the bad news for Bushites and other Republican ilk last week, I just couldn't get jazzed up about it. I mean, the idiots in charge are still, well, in charge. This is still a bad thing and it isn't getting any better.
Bush is swearing up and down that we don't torture. Yet, his pet pit bull/dark overlord Cheney is running about Washington trying to force through an exception for the CIA just "in case" we have to break thumbs or apply voltage to scrotums or whatever the hell else he authorized at Abu Ghraib.
Which leads me to this article by Molly Ivins. I can't say this any better than she has. I mean, this is the United States of America. We're supposed to be above barbarism. We didn't tell our pilots to kamikaze into Japanese carriers just because they did it to us. We were appalled at our troops' ear-cutting and My Lai-style events in Vietnam because that wasn't how we wanted our country portrayed to the world. Now we have a presidency advocating torture "just in case" with a record of torture already on the books, with secret prisons in Eastern Europe, with the stain of Gitmo and Abu Ghraib on public record. This is not dignity, this is not even national defense. What this is is what happens when you let a pack of rabid, fascist whiners who avoided military service or even just combat have the reigns of command. It's what happens when the town bully becomes sheriff, except writ large across a whole globe.
Everyone is feeling bad for John McCain being caught in the middle of all this. He backed Bush, a man who discredited his service just to get a party nomination, over his friend John Kerry. Basically, here's a guy who chose party and politics over country and friendship. And I'm supposed to feel bad for him? Screw that. All that being said, I hope his anti-torture legislation passes over the depravity of a Bush veto and we start getting this country back on track. Having been on the receiving end of this kind of barbarism, partisan shill or not, he's the authority in our government on why this must stop.
Yet the corruption machine goes on. FEMA still hasn't opened bidding for Gulf Coast reconstruction, despite promises to the contrary. The GOP considers the KKK a joking matter. Halliburton is playing foul with pension plans. The "intelligent design" idiots win again in Kansas, though a setback in Pennsylvania is encouraging. Even psycho Santorum is pulling his backing from teaching religion as science.
This hasn't stopped hothead Pat Robertson from telling Dover, PA residents that they have "turned their back on God" and deserve a plague of boils or something. And moron Bill O'Reilly gives Al Qaeda permission to blow up San Francisco because the city wants the military to stop aggressively poaching for recruits at its high schools. He swears to stand by his statement though his show staff is trying to cover it up. Advocating an attack on American soil? Who's really anti-American now? This is in the same vein as that moron Coulter begging for New York to be hit again.
Retailer news. I'm not sure what's the more insidious plot here. Target is allowing its pharmacists to play god with their patient's health and not prescribe drugs they don't feel compelled to by religious reasons. This is dangerous considering the increasing shortage of pharmacists across the country. WalMart, for its part, is helping clergymen tailor their sermons to push the retailer's agenda of being anti-union, anti-mom-and-pop, anti-women, anti-good behavior. That belongs in church almost less than Bush's "Let's bomb the brown people" campaign prior to the Iraq invasion.
Speaking of Bush, he's on the attack again. No, not against al-Qaeda or al-Zarqawi. He's out to get those pesky Democrats who keep calling him a liar about the whole purpose of going to war. Seriously, the White House wants to "hit back" (their words) at anyone opposing the war.
I mean, this is ludicrous. Every day, more info comes out that shows he KNEW Iraq wasn't the threat he was making it out to be. That said, they still send out their staff and pet reporters to spread untruths to justify their case. Basically we're down to watching the Bushites try to repeat a lie enough times that we believe it. That's one hell of a strategy for the greatest power on the planet Earth. Then again, with increasing numbers of Americans believing Bush isn't honest (57% of last count), then lying might be playing to his strengths. In case you forgot, here's how we got suckered into going into Iraq in the first place (QT video).
Even with National Security Advisor admits they were wrong. Not that Bush ever will.
If you want encouragement though, look to the 95 Methodist bishops who have finally realized that infrequent parishoner Bush hoodwinked them into selling the war. A little late for people supposedly with a direct line to God to let you know you were being lied to, but welcome to the crowd of disgusted Americans. Heck, even Jimmy Carter has stopped being nice to Bush, which pretty much means he's pissed off the nicest ex-President we've ever had. Incidentally, pick up his new book. So far its a good read.
Hell, even Ali thinks he's crazy. And this guy had to deal with Foreman.
November 7, 2005 - Too little, too late
First off, thanks to all of you patient visitors. I know I haven't been posting much or regularly of late and I apologize. Last month had the most traffic I've ever gotten on the site, over 800 MB, and this month is already at what usually the halfway mark is. Scary. In short, I can't promise a better response, but I do hope to worry about it more. Heh. Seriously though, thanks for the support and I hope you get use out of the site.
The military is responding to the realities of war in this day and age and is training military families to help each other when faced with a loss. I commend them for adapting to the situation they, like the rest of us, are unfortunately caught up in thanks to George Bush. In fact, most of them disagree with their boss' job performance.
Meanwhile, the guy who promised to bring "honor and dignity" to the White House is forcing his staff to take ethics classes. Let's hope he attends too. I mean, this guy reminds me more and more of Bradley Whitford's character in Billy Madison than a chief executive. Let's hope he doesn't pull a gun out when confronted with an ethics question.
Remember all those pro-Bush churches in the last election that said it was a sin to vote against El Jefe? They printed out ballot card checklists, gave speeches, marched, and did everything but tear down the cross and replace it with a GOP logo. Did any of them get in trouble for this? No. Ah, but let one liberal church give an anti-war sermon and the IRS threatens to pull its tax exempt status.
Meanwhile, not every church is in the pocket of the radical right. The Vatican announces it is - with some reservations of course - on the side of science, making the Protestant fundamentalists with their pseudo-science look even more allow in the war of intellectualism vs. make-believe.
Meanwhile, many wonder if the US is just being led by people who hate science. Sadly, this seems to be the case. It's also the case we are led by people who are not enviromentalists either; which is weird for people who say they are conservatives. Bush is busy killing off celebrated frog habitats when he and his cohorts are not too busy killing off arctic wildlife refuges.
Suprise, the FBI is abusing the PATRIOT Act and spying on American citizens. Don't say you weren't warned. This is the same PATRIOT Act being used to expand the death penalty.
Public opinion polls say our country should be working to eliminate poverty. Instead, places like Texas lead to nation in percentage of hungry households. Instead, Congress has to be goaded into investigating how the hell oil companies are making record profits in a time of need. We can't cover the bill to rebuild Iraq, but the GOP-run House can try to re-establish Jim Crow laws in this country and Bush can select a guy to be a Supreme Court justice who is pro-discrimination of almost every kind and likely get away with it.
On a good note, I saw The Boondocks on Adult Swim last night. Good stuff. If you are unfamiliar with the show or the comic, read these two articles, then read the comic and catch the show again Saturday night. You can thank me later.
October 27, 2005 - Satirical terrorists
The White House, unable to find bin Laden, incapable of solving the Iraq crisis, complicit in letting Americans die in natural disasters, has found an enemy it may be able to handle: The Onion. Seems that the administration has sent a cease and desist letter to the parody paper to stop it from using the presidential seal in it's fake version of Bush's radio address concerning Katrina.
On the heels of staged teleconferences comes news of the 2,000th soldier killed in Iraq (and more since). The Pentagon is asking that no one make a "milestone" of the occasion as they don't wish to do anything to turn the spotlight even more on how this administration blundered us into the conflict in the first place. The army, hamstrung by a crappy battle plan (thanks Rummy!) and hindered by lack of political support on the ground in Iraq (i.e. cutting out the State Department and letting DoD civvies run the show) are doing the best they can, but bullets alone won't solve this problem.
Meanwhile, the National Guard has been forced to leave equipment in Iraq. That's alright, except that said equipment isn't getting replaced when the troops get home. Next time the Mississippi floods or a hurricane hits and guardsmen are moving around in commandeered Kias, I want Rumsfeld to tell one of them that they can't defend America with the gear they want, but with the equipment they can pry at gunpoint from the hands of a homeless citizen.
From the Republidolts. Kay Bailey Hutchinson was all about busting Bill Clinton for perjury when he lied about getting a blow job. But when it comes to facing the music for outing a CIA agent, she hopes Rove, Libby, Cheney, Bush et al don't get caught up in a perjury "technicality." Ann Coulter - big surprise - isn't a "fan" of the First Amendment. Must be that freedom of speech and religion part in particular. Thanks for playing Hitlerite. As Ah-nold's popularity nosedives, he is both hiding from Bush and from advertisements to avoid tarnishing his efforts to push propositions that will change (and not in a good way) the state of Kahlifornia. Frist continues to lie about his "blind" stock trust shenanigans even as documents continue to prove his wrong. Cheney keeps trying to legalize torture. Karen Hughes gets an earful from Indonesian students.
The GOP junta is also trying to privatize food stamps. Which, when all is done, effectively means starving people to death.
Look at this fat bastard:
This is Lee Raymond, the president of Exxon, which reported the largest quarterly profit for a US company EVER on the backs of the American consumer. Oil buddies Bush and Cheney did NOTHING to stop the oil industry from price gouging. Republicans, this is what you willingly allowed to happen. Please do me a favor and slap yourselves for me.
More bad news. The man we knew as the voice of the Jolly Green Giant passed away recently. Aryan hate speech pop princesses. Terrors of the war in Uganda.
Just for fun. I found this cute being as you can get married by Elvis is dozens of places here in town. In China, you can now get married by a guy in a Mao suit. Makes you wonder what Cuba will do when Fidel finally passes on.
October 19, 2005 - At least it's fun to watch
An warrant is already out for DeLay's arrest on his money laundering scam. Frist is swearing he didn't violate any laws in ordering a sale on blind trust stocks right before the stock tanked. Rove and Libby are watching their jobs - and potentially their freedom - disappear daily for outing a CIA spy.
Bush doesn't care. Hell, he doesn't even care enough to talk directly to troops he has sent into harm's way. Instead, he has his handlers carefully manage, coach, and screen questions when he hosts a sham videoconference with a select few of them. Then again, The Daily Show's take on it (video).
The Colbert Report covers the Harriet Mier's idiocy better than I can (video).
Still, despite these setbacks, the GOP is still out screwing the American public. As on Monday, when the gift to business and attack on private citizens came into play, making it almost impossible to go bankrupt. I except Republican-run debtors prisons any year now. Today, they snuck in a proposal for drilling in Alaska into a larger budget bill. As you know, most of these morons are trying to hasten the end of the world, so destroying fragile ecosystems means nothing to them; especially when they can make a few bucks off of it.
Never fear. The GOP is looking ahead. With chief Bush confidants likely headed to jail, and accounting scandal chiefs already there, the Republicans are looking to provide for their base of liars, cheats, polygamists, McVeigh-style Christian murderers and abortion clinic bombers, not to mention the treasonous types that seem to be the personal assistants to junta leaders. How, you ask? Simple. Jack Kemp is asking that felons be given back the right to vote. By 2008, most of these scumbags will be back on the street, ready to pitch in and perpetuate the tragedy created by BushCo.
What else? Oh yeah, courtesy of Josh, a story about Bush junta loyalty tests given to management level National Park service employees. It's not enough Bush is trying to destroy the environment; he now wants the stewards of the land to give an oath of fealty to his work against them.
A former Powell staffer complains about Cheney's "cabal" that took over foreign policy. Great. You wait until 2,000 American soldiers die in Iraq before you stand up to those evil bastards? Thanks for nothing.
Exporting democracy. Kurt Vonnegut on the The Daily Show a few weeks back had something to say about exporting American democracy. Can't find a link but it was uncomfortable but relevant. What's more relevant is that we have apparently exported Republican Party-style American democracy to Iraq. How do I know this? Apparently more people voted for the new constitution than are registered in some districts. Where the hell has Ken Blackwood been lately anyway?
October 5, 2005 - Dream Kings and Scumbags
First off, something pleasant to pass along. Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean have opened the movie Mirrormask this past weekend. Have not watched it yet, but am definitely hoping to soon. Neil, for those who don't know him, created the Sandman comic series (vastly recommended; go find the trades and enjoy). He also have written Anansi Boys, the sorta-sequel to American Gods, the latter being one of those books you should read if you even bother to think you know me. Seriously, go get it. If I ever get around to being arrogant enough to do a recommended reading list, it's in the top five.
In any case, Time did an interview with him and Joss Whedon, talking about "nerd culture" and their rise to fame with the trend. Public radio's Studio360 also did a Neil interview, audio available here.
I was trying to ignore the outright corruption stories, but they are intriguing. To quickly encapsulate: Frist pulled a Martha and sold stock in his family's company before bad news was made public. And DeLay is pretty much guilty as sin of money laundering and violating campaign finance laws. These are the leaders of the Republican Congress. Not exactly "restoring honor and dignity" as they said they needed to, now are they? Some GOP types are trying to get rid of the tainted money. Then again, they're standing by DeLay's side so who are they trying to kid?
Meanwhile, the top quote goes refers to moral values compulsive gambler Bill Bennett, who, trying to make a point about statistics, decides to accuse all blacks of committing crime and, in one fell swoop, making it okay for white hood wearing Republicans to find a reason to like abortion. Yeah, moral values my ass you racist psycho. He even lied outright when trying to defend his position. Brit Hume defends Bill's right to race bait, and one conservative blogger says he's just plain right, though attempts to wrap the argument in neocon crap.
As for Bush? He's threatening to surround any American region that gets an outbreak of avian flu, quarantine it, and basically let it die out. He also announces his pick for O'Connors Supreme Court seat to be his personal lawyer, who has never been a judge, who probably isn't qualified for any job at the federal level if not for cronyism. I mean, who knows? Maybe she got him off of a drunk driving charge and he owes her, enough to not release White House documents of her work? Even so, not good for America.
Meanwhile, and I almost led with this story, but Bush channels his inner Jimmy Carter (see? Bush DOES have a soul; it's just corrupted) and asks for Americans and his administration to conserve energy. He should be putting the cardigan on any day now...if Satan lets him anyway.
The junta's buying of reporters and commentators, and the fabrication of news stories has been declared illegal. As it should have been. Meanwhile, at FauxNews, one ex-employee tells of fabricated stories just to push the conservative agenda forward. FOXNews, unfortunately, remains on the air.
Oh what else? Good news for one Katrina evacuee/refugee/whatever who hit a jackpot at a casino. She won $1.6 million, which keeps her from shooting her insurance agent who will likely blame the loss of her house on a "flood". LDS members looking for a wholesome movie end up with the story of a gay porn star. Sorry, that just makes me laugh. And one story on how all our technology may actually destroy our records for future humans.
