With rumors of massive protests at the upcoming GOP convention, the Republican party has pretty much gone with the playbook and declared anyone who would deign to disagree with Bush as a traitor. According to GOP fascist-pig-in-chief Ed Gillespie, "The line between the official Democratic Party and labor protesters, environmental protesters and antiwar protesters is fairly blurry, and I'm not sure they want to have Democrats engaging in violence in New York against our convention. It would seem disrespectful and antidemocratic." (Emphasis mine.) Excuse me, but killing a thousand soldiers based on innuendo and outright lying to the American people is "disrespectful and antidemocratic." A protest is a constitutionally protected response to bad government. Or did Ashcroft do away with that right too?
The story that irritated me so referred in the previous paragraph is in the New York Times (use refuse and registration as your user name/password).
Then there are the Swift Boat Vets. No matter what the truth is of Kerry's medals - other than they usually don't give out Silver Stars like candy, here we have a bunch of guys who will lie and collude with Bush party officials to try to stop a guy from becoming president who was actually in a combat zone. Bush, meanwhile, can't even be accounted for over a period of months and managed to bail out of his service. Pretty damn weird if you ask me.
And oops, there appear to be ties (image) between the campaign and this group. Not to mention a staffer working both sides. And more vets now are coming out against these guys who can't even keep a story straight, much less have any proof.
The point is, I guess, if this is all the Bush campaign has to argue for the guy to win the election, then seriously, why vote for him at all?
Apparently we are on the lookout for large, alcoholic, Irish-descended, Democratic senators who may potentially have joined Al-Qaeda. At least, that's the DHS' argument for putting Ted Kennedy on the No-Fly list. But wait, he's not the only Democrat on the list. Funny, I always thought Orrin Hatch was more of a threat to our civilization.
My respect for Tony Blair just went up a notch as he refuses to accept a medal from Bush while troops are still in Iraq (read: Mission NOT Accomplished) and for basically not meddling with our democratic process. This has been an ongoing issue between the White House and #10 Downing. Thanks PM!
Here's a weird political report about the advantage of having your name first on a ballot.
Alright, I've been watching the Olympics pretty regularly. It helped that I was out of town and had nothing to do most nights, but still I'd have caught a lot of it. Two major subplots beyond what the press has covered (Michael Phelps, et al).
One, our basketball team sucks. Period. And why the heck are they on a luxury cruise ship when their pathetic butts should be cleaning the toilets of the actual atheletes in Athens? Plus, nobody likes them. I'm all for pulling for the home team; but these clowns are only a sign of what's wrong with our pro league.
Two, and this is way out on a tangent. But in watching women's gymnastics I heard mention that Svetlana Khorkina of Russia is supposedly a model. Now come on. She looks like a giraffe that's been depilated and then fed alum. Plus, she can't even lose graciously. Not even the judges are immune from her fantasy world.
If you haven't been watching, shame on you. Aside from my nitpicking, I've watched some damn fast swimming and some excellent soccer (luckily, where I stayed last week had Telemundo).
I had more stuff to point out, but want to end on a fun note. Here are recent stories on animals and the harm we cause each other. First, we'll start off with dire news that badgers are destroying Stonehenge. Yes, the English do not need those stinking badgers.
Take a moment to recover from that horrible pun and read the following tales of a rabbit and a bear. Plus a variation on the dog ate my homework trick. Thanks to Mooney on the bear story.
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