Define the Center

Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling

2006-12-05T21:19:00.000-06:00

Dear Santa,

This game is the most underated PS1 game in all of history (IMHO). Very weak graphics, lame animation, but great porno-style soundtrack and ultra-realistic pin action.

I wanted to upload a track I recorded recently, but blogger doesn't allow that sort of thing. I'm going to take a look at mySpace.

Nothing to Say

2006-03-23T20:51:00.000-06:00

I've never actually blogged from a coffee shop, so that's my excuse now. I'm pretty newsed out right about now, preferring to listen to Dane Cook CDs and playing music. I did notice that the New York Times story from last Sunday about Camp Nama meant nothing more than a ripple in American news coverage. Bush's speech and press conference was a joke. He told Helen Thomas that he invaded Iraq because the Taliban provided safe haven to al-Qaeda. Wrap yourself around that one. But, again, this is nothing new. Outrage fatigue.

My drink is empty.

Holy Jesus

2006-02-28T10:15:00.000-06:00

Civil War has already started.

BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 -- Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.

WOW--34% Approval for Bush

2006-02-28T09:58:00.000-06:00

WOW. (via Josh Marshall)

Mr. Bush's overall job rating has fallen to 34 percent, down from 42 percent last month. Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the job the president is doing.

For the first time in this poll, most Americans say the president does not care much about people like themselves. Fifty-one percent now think he doesn't care, compared to 47 percent last fall.

Just 30 percent approve of how Mr. Bush is handling the Iraq war, another all-time low.

By two to one, the poll finds Americans think U.S. efforts to bring stability to Iraq are going badly – the worst assessment yet of progress in Iraq.

Even on fighting terrorism, which has long been a strong suit for Mr. Bush, his ratings dropped lower than ever. Half of Americans say they disapprove of how he's handling the war on terror, while 43 percent approve.

In a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident.

More then three in four said it was understandable that the accident had occurred and two-thirds said the media had spent too much time covering the story.

Still, the incident appears to have made the public's already negative view of Cheney a more so. Just 18 percent said they had a favorable view of the vice president, down from 23 percent in January.

Bush on ports: 'People don't need to worry'

2006-02-23T09:54:00.000-06:00

Pres. Bush's response sounds like it's directly from Dave Chappelle's Black Bush sketch, or from 1984, I can't decide. LINK

WASHINGTON — President Bush today sought to calm an uproar over an Arab company taking over operations at six major American ports, saying "people don't need to worry about security."

You don't need to worry about that. I got that shit under control.

Reporters/talking heads dutifuly neglect to mention that the Arab company in question is actually owned by the United Arab Emirates government. So, we're basically ceding these ports to a foreign government with ties to the A.Q. Khan nuclear materials trafficking network, and that allowed al-Qaeda money to travel through their country.

"Gold is a huge factor in the moving of terrorist money because you can melt it, smelt it or deposit it on account with no questions asked," said a senior U.S. law enforcement official investigating gold transactions. "Why move it through Dubai [capital of UAE]? Because there is a willful blindness there."

That's national security, eh?

Prairie Progressives

2006-02-23T09:06:00.000-06:00

I went to the Prairie Progressives meeting last night at the Radisson. Linda Coates encouraged us all to help pay for the room (free admission) by visiting the cash bar early and often, which I did. Eddie Schultz was in the audience with his lovely wife. Rep. Earl Pomeroy introduced two candidates: Tim Mahoney (along with his hot wife), seeking reelection to the City Council, and Arlette Preston (didn't see if her husband is hot), seeking the Mayor's office. Both are up for election in June. I definitely support both candidates and would vote for them if I lived in Fargo. Both were very clear, concise and thoughtful.

The keynote was delivered by Sen. Kent Conrad. He gave a great red meat, hate'n on Bush speech. But, as usual, he had all of the statistics to back his claims up. I'll track down the slides and post a link soon.

Conrad described a meeting he had with President Bush where neither he, nor Bush, had their staffers in the room. He said he was struck by the realization that not only does Pres. Bush not understand the issues before him (economics, specifically), but he did not possess the "capacity" to understand them. A thoughtful way of saying that Bush is not smart enough to be president. Of course, this is not news, but to hear it directly from Sen. Conrad, suitcoat off, staring directly at me (I was in the front row on the aisle, no more than 15 feet away)...it had a little more impact than hearing your everyday rants from comedians or friends.

Conrad also heaped praise on Rep. Earl Pomeroy for getting his Ways and Means committee assignment.

All Hail David Gregory

2006-02-14T15:25:00.000-06:00

Read this about David Gregory's contentious exchange with Scott McClellan.

I didn't see this yesterday, but the White House is blaming the victim. What a bunch of cocksuckers.

The White House blamed the 78-year-old man whom Vice President Dick Cheney shot during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas for the incident, as officials struggled Monday to explain why they waited nearly 24 hours before making the news public.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan tried to absolve Cheney of blame for shooting wealthy Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, saying that hunting "protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington when it came to notifying others that he was there. And so, you know, unfortunately, these types of hunting accidents happen from time to time."

Several hunting experts were skeptical of McClellan's explanation. They said Cheney might have violated a cardinal rule of hunting: Know your surroundings before you pull the trigger.

Oh, and ABC News doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. They reported that Whittington was shot with a "pellet gun."

And here's the Daily Show's take on the shooting.

When Vice Presidents Attack!

2006-02-13T16:17:00.000-06:00

I hope you've heard about VP Darth..er..Dick Cheney shooting one of his hunting buddies. There appears to be a lot of secretive shadiness surrounding this incident. That's just par for the course for these guys, I guess. David Gregory and other White House reporters had fairly intense questioning for Scott McClellan.

Michael Brown's Move

2006-02-09T09:09:00.000-06:00

Is disgraced ex-FEMA chief, Mike Brown trying to blackmail the White House and President Bush?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless the White House forbids it and offers legal support.

[...]

"Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president, including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr. Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify if asked about particular communications," the lawyer wrote.

You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie!

Guantanamo Abuses

2006-02-08T11:01:00.000-06:00

I know that's kind of a redundancy at this point, but here's an article about all the ~~falsehoods~~ lies surrounding the Bush Administrations statements about Guanatanamo Bay.

This, plus something said by one Mohamed al-Kahtani while being driven mad by his tormenters (see below), was evidence enough for the tribunal to brand the Yemeni an enemy combatant.

It's difficult to know how many of the 750 men taken to Guantanamo were dangerous to Americans when they arrived, let alone how many of the innocent detainees among them may have acquired a lust for American blood from years of being jailed, humiliated, and brutalized by Americans. The administration's unspoken logic appears to be: Better to ruin the lives of 10 innocent men than to let one who might be a terrorist go free.

This logic would be understandable if the end of protecting American lives justified any and all means, including the wrecking of many more innocent non-American lives. So, too, would be the torture (or near-torture) in late 2002 of the above-mentioned al-Kahtani, after fingerprints had shown him to be the would-be "20th hijacker" turned away by a suspicious immigration agent a few weeks before 9/11.

Al-Kahtani was interrogated for 18 to 20 hours a day for 48 of 54 days; he had water dripped on his head and was blasted with cold air-conditioning and loud music to keep him awake; his beard and head were shaved; he was forced to wear a bra and panties and to dance with a male jailer; he was hooded; he was menaced with a dog, told to bark like one and led around on a leash; he was pumped full of intravenous fluids and forced to urinate on himself; he was straddled by a female interrogator and stripped naked; and more -- all under a list of interrogation methods personally approved by Rumsfeld.

My emphasis added. Rumsfeld truly is Skeletor.

Federal Deficit

2006-02-06T15:08:00.000-06:00

This year's Federal Deficit is going to be $423 billion. Holy fuck that is a lot of money. It's a good thing that deficits don't matter.

State of the Union-One Thing Worth Mentioning

2006-02-02T13:37:00.000-06:00

I didn't watch the State of the Union because I was too busy drilling a hole in the side of my skull, but I did here about this...when Bush brought up how "Congress failed to act on my Social Security overhaul" or whatever it is he said, the Dems stood up and cheered...

Well, here's the video. Crooks and Liars rocks.

Bush is a Liar #7575984

2006-02-02T13:13:00.000-06:00

From Daily Kos,

Administration backs off Bush's vow to reduce Mideast oil imports
By Kevin G. Hall
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

Didn't mean it literally. Man of integrity, this guy. Then, further down Kos points out:

The Energy Department will begin laying off researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the next week or two because of cuts to its budget.

A veteran researcher said the staff had been told that the cuts would be concentrated among researchers in wind and biomass, which includes ethanol. Those are two of the technologies that Mr. Bush cited on Tuesday night as holding the promise to replace part of the nation's oil imports.

Boy, it's almost if Bush was just saying shit to sound good while doing exactly the opposite. That's so weird, because he's been so upfront about his agenda previously.

End of January Posting

2006-01-31T09:32:00.000-06:00

Well, this is probably the funniest thing I've seen in a while--Frank Caliendo's Bush routine on Letterman.

I'm looking forward to the Senate questioning Alberto Gonzalez on the subject of Bush's illegal wiretapping.

More thoughts to follow....

Monday Round-up

2006-01-23T13:27:00.000-06:00

Wow, this isn't good for President Bush. 36% approval rating? Well, in baseball he'd be batting .360. Wait for the right-wing hacks to pull that one out...

Next State of the Union address, President Bush will be announcing his plan for Health Savings Accounts. Ezra Klein explains what it will really mean to Americans:

The idea here is simple. Conservatives believe Americans have too much health insurance, that they spend heedlessly and wastefully on care, procedures, and medications they would simply forego if insurance plans didn't pick up the tab. Ergo, HSA's, which end risk pooling, forcing care to come directly from pockets. Newly responsible for their medical bills, consumers will be spurred by the Magic of the Market to make smarter decisions, show more prudence, lead healthier lifestyles, smile more often, and smell springtime fresh. It's gonna be awesome.

At least if you're healthy. Because what HSA's really do is separate the young from the old, the well from the sick. Currently, insurance operates off of the concept of risk pooling. Since health costs tend to be unpredictable and illness isn't thought a moral failing, we all pay a bit more than we expect to use in order to subsidize those who end up needing much more than they ever thought possible. The well subsidize the sick, the young subsidize the old, and we all accept the arrangement because one day we will be old, and one day we will be sick, and no one wants to shoulder that alone.

But HSA's slice right through this intergenerational, redistributionist arrangement: they're a great deal for young, healthy folks because they don't force subsidization. Just don't get sick. And if you're already sick, don't think you can hide by remaining in traditional insurance plans: when the healthy rush towards HSA's, older plans will hold only the ill, and insurance companies will send premiums skyrocketing to recoup the difference.

All in all it's just another brick in the wall the elite (represented by Bush) are erecting against the poor and sick. Compassionate conservatism my donkey balls.

Happy New Year

2006-01-06T16:40:00.000-06:00

Some of my fan has been complaining that I never update this blog. I find it boring to regurgitate the same shit I read, but I'll suck it up and let you know what I'm reading...a sort of round-up, if you will:

The dumbest, most insulting thing I've ever seen George Bush ever say

Duke Cunningham wore a wire

Pat Robertson is still an insufferable bastard, implying that God gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a stroke for 'dividing up God's land' (i.e. pulling out of the Gaza Strip)

Bush's illegal wire-tapping may have included snooping on CNN's Christiane Amanpour--who also happens to be a RILF

Jack Abramoff is going to take down the Republicans (cross your fingers)--don't buy the spin that it's going to hurt both parties

Vikings hire Eagles' Offensive Coordinator Brad Childress as Head Coach

There, are you happy?!?!

Vikings Charged in BangBoat incident

2005-12-15T14:03:00.000-06:00

Strib Link.

Choice quotes:

Four Minnesota Vikings, including quarterback Daunte Culpepper, were charged today with misdemeanors alleging lewd or indecent conduct in connection with a party on Lake Minnetonka in October.

The other players charged were tackle Bryant McKinnie, running back Moe Williams and cornerback Fred Smoot, who was one of the organizers of the annual party put on by a first-year player from the team.

[...]

Culpepper got a lap dance from an unidentified, naked female in the bar area of a boat and that he placed his hands on the naked buttocks of the dancer.

Williams, in an area near the boat's downstairs bathrooms, received a lap dance from a bare-breasted dancer and touched her breast.

Reasonably tame stuff...

Smoot was accused of using a sex toy on two women in the presence of numerous guests.

A little more lascivious...

Witnesses reported that they saw McKinnie "pick up a naked woman, place her on the bar in the lounge area, and commence to perform oral sex on the woman." At a different time in the evening, the witnesses said they saw "Mr. McKinnie along with three other unidentified males receiving oral sex from four women while the men were seated in deck chairs on the boat."

So McKinnie is preparing for a future as a porn star? Or felon? Comments?

President Bush on Global Warmings

2005-12-06T08:09:00.000-06:00

It's this kind of thing that will rouse me from my hibernation.

Bush Was Right

2005-11-16T13:11:00.000-06:00

Remember back when Dodgy Goodtimes decided to close up shop? Remember when I took a big ol' dump on his last posting? Well, there's a new song out that makes me want to punch myself in the nuts again and again and again.

As far as I can tell it's a almost direct ripoff of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. The crowning achievement of that song is the chorus. After these douches sing "Bush Was Right" the response riff is clearly inspired by the schoolyard chant "na-na-na-na-na-na", as in "you can't catch me, na-na-na-na-na-na!"

This is not a parody.

Side Note: Oh, and in case you didn't notice, we torture the shit out anybody we want to, and Cheney is making sure we can. So is Bush. Even though we aren't. Oh, and we have torture prisons in the Eastern bloc (new Europe) that have been converted from the old Soviet gulag.

I've been hating on the Bushies since Day One, but this is truly the most egrerious affront to any shred of remaining pride we could have as Americans. We fucking torture people as a practice. I have never been more ashamed to be an American.

5 Years Too Late, Alan

2005-11-04T09:20:00.000-06:00

Greenspan Urges Congress to Offset Any Tax Cuts

"We should not be cutting taxes by borrowing," Mr. Greenspan said in testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. "We do not have the capability of having both productive tax cuts and large expenditure increases, and presume that the deficit doesn't matter."

Mr. Greenspan's comments are likely to be a headache for Mr. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress. They are struggling to pass tax cuts before Thanksgiving totaling $70 billion over five years, but would not try to offset the cost with savings in other areas.

Wanker. You knew we were borrowing money all along for the previous tax cuts, but you decided to support President Bush. Partisan hack. Maestro, my ass.

I'm very curious to see what kind of a chairman Ben Bernanke will make. I know nothing about him.

Drunken Sailors

2005-11-04T09:12:00.000-06:00

Senate Passes Bill to Cut Spending by $35 Billion

WASHINGTON — The Senate approved a far-reaching budget bill Thursday that would trim spending for Medicare, Medicaid and other domestic benefit programs and save $35 billion over five years.

The measure also would authorize oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Let's just sneak this in while we're at it -ed)

[...]

The measure represents Congress' first big effort to cut spending since 1997.

"This shows we are serious about fiscal discipline," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said.

That's $7 billion per year. Woo hoo! What's the total deficit? On the order of $450 billion (if you include Katrina and Iraq). Way to stand up and fight the good fight, Frist.

In the Senate, Democrats contended that the bill passed Thursday would actually increase the deficit in combination with $70 billion in tax cuts that Republicans hope Congress will approve.

In opposing the bill, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the deficit reduction package was "not what it claims to be. Yes, it will cut spending by more than $30 billion, but in a few weeks these savings will be spent on tax breaks for the rich…. This fiscal strategy edges us closer to fiscal insanity and leaves our children and their children impoverished and riddled with debt."

Gotta save money for Paris Hilton's Tax Cuts.

Bring Them Home

2005-10-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

Bring Them Home.

One of our Worst Senators

2005-10-24T09:07:00.000-05:00

There's only 100 to choose from, but if I had to declare who's in the top 5, I'd have to include Tammy Faye Hutchison, R-Tex. (Ok, it's Kay Bailey, but she's got about the same depth) With regards to Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury being ready to roll out indictments for many administration officials, she said:

On Sunday, Republicans appeared to be preparing to blunt the impact of any charges. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, speaking on the NBC news program "Meet the Press," compared the leak investigation with the case of Martha Stewart and her stock sale, "where they couldn't find a crime and they indict on something that she said about something that wasn't a crime."

Ms. Hutchison said she hoped "that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars."

Here's her explanation in 1998 of how it wasn't about blowjobs

The perjury committed [by Clinton]...was an attempt to impede, frustrate, and obstruct the judicial system in determining how the man was injured or killed, when, and by whose hand, in order to escape personal responsibility under the law, either civil or criminal. Such would be an impeachable offense. To say otherwise would be to severely lower the moral and legal standards of accountability that are imposed on ordinary citizens every day. The same standard should be imposed on our leaders.

Click here to see the other statements from the other senators.

So, something has changed in the intervening 7 years to make Ms. Hutchison change her mind on the importance of not lying to grand juries. Not sure what it is.

Hutchison is the Harriet Miers of the senate.

Virginia Governor's Race

2005-10-21T14:19:00.000-05:00

Ever heard of Mark Warner? He's the governor of Virginia. A feline friend of mine wants him to run for President in 2008. Virginia's governors are limited to one consecutive term and his lieutenant governor, Tim Kaine, is the frontrunner for the Dems in the 2006 race. (Aside--I'm starting to pay attention to governor's races around the country because I have no life or girlfriend.)

Anyway, Kaine's likely challenger is Jerry Kilgore. In this FoxNews article, it describes his strategy:

He is boasting his down-home roots and is attacking Kaine as a tax-and-spend liberal who is soft on immigration, abortion, gun rights and gay marriage.

That's quite a new strategy, huh? I just laughed when I read that because you can replace Kaine with "any democratic candidate for any level of office in any state in the country," and accurately portray the campaign strategy of any republican. To get an idea of what a scumbag Kilgore is, he ran this attack ad.

Conservatives on Chomsky

2005-10-19T16:55:00.000-05:00

I don't normally do this kind of thing, but I went to the Little Green Football's website where there's a bunch of people railing against Noam Chomsky being named the World's top intellectual by some British outfit. Don't care, especially, but it's so fun to watch people completely misinformed about Chomsky's theories/political views. If you really want to do it to yourself, click here and read some of the comments. Self-hating Jew, Pinochet apologist, etc.

By the way, does anybody have any idea what it means to be a Conservative anymore?

Colbert Report

2005-10-18T12:34:00.000-05:00

Anyone else see the Colbert Report last night? Hilarious. It is definitely aimed at people like me that can't stand Bill O'Reilly, et. al. Colbert perfectly nailed the egocentric narcissist persona. The intro is sweet: Colbert literally wrapping himself in an American flag, various military imagery, concluding with an eagle attacking and swallowing the camera (you). His exposition on elitism and how he's the true, down-home everyman, was beautiful:

Anybody who knows me knows that I am no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They're elitist for constantly telling us what is or isn't true, what did or didn't happen...
I don't trust books. They're all fact and no heart. And that's exactly what's pulling our country apart today. Because face it, folks, we are a divided nation... We are divided by those who think with their head, and those who know with their heart.

Consider Harriett Miers. If you think about Harriett Miers, of course her nomination's absurd! But the President didn't say he thought about this selection, he said this:

President Bush: "I know her heart."

Notice that he didn't say anything about her brain? He didn't have to. He feels the truth about Harriett Miers. And what about Iraq? If you think about it, maybe there are a few missing pieces to the rationale for war. But doesn't taking Saddam out feel like the right thing...right here in the gut? Because that's where the truth comes from, ladies and gentlemen...the gut.

Did you know that you have more nerve endings in your stomach than in your head? Look it up. Now, somebody's gonna say `I did look that up and its wrong'. Well, Mister, that's because you looked it up in a book. Next time, try looking it up in your gut. I did. And my gut tells me that's how our nervous system works.

Now I know some of you may not trust your gut...yet. But with my help you will. The "truthiness" is, anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news...at you.

He also had a great segment with Stone Phillips where they tried to "out-gravitas" each other. Great set of quotes that I will share if I find them.

Metallagher

2005-10-11T09:23:00.000-05:00

This is the funniest thing I've heard of in a while. The guy that works at the Coffee Cart told me about this show last weekend at the Fargo VFW, featuring a band by the name of "Metallagher". That's right. It's a Metallica tribute band where the lead singer dresses up like the comedian Gallagher, smashes fruit, tells corny jokes, and sings like James Hetfield. They must be from Minneapolis-St. Paul because the Strib reviewed them in August.

In other news, I'm starting to think that the Forum will print anything I send them. This time it was an angry letter about the DeLay indictment, connections to the Abramoff-lead Republican party slush fund. It's a free subscription service...I can copy and paste here if you don't want to go through all that. Basically it's a book report on all the coverage from Josh Marshall on these matters.

I'm going to need a Rove letter ready for when he gets indicted. Does anybody have another word for "doughy devil-spawn?" Here's a great rundown on the entire Plame/CIA leak case from Chris Matthews.

I'm also going through my Prince collection again. The Love Symbol album's Sexy M.F. may be the best Prince song of all time. The guitar intro to Love to the 9's is so sweet (I think the intro to Subterranean Homesick Alien is loosely based on it--that might be a stretch). The worst thing about the album is the stupid interview segments with Kirstie Alley. Some of his worst songs (3 chains of gold) are on this album, but Sexy M.F. makes it all worth it. The Continental? Who can resist Prince's sexy bedroom cant, really? Who among you?!

Tom Delay Indicted

2005-09-28T13:01:00.000-05:00

I truly didn't think this would happen due to jurisdictional issues but House Majority Leader Tom Delay was finally indicted today for his shady campaign finance/PAC dealings. With all of his buddies getting indicted I thought he'd elude them, but they indicted Delay on a conspiracy charge.

Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, is being investigated for his well-timed stock sales.

Karl Rove is still under investigation in the Plamegate affair.

Drucken die Daumen, bitte!

No Title

2005-09-21T11:08:00.000-05:00

As you've no doubt surmised, I have given up on my dream of having an influential political blog. I was slightly aroused from my political slumber by the striking incompetance of the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, but rejected my urges to blog about it. Go to atrios, tpm, dailykos if you want to know what I've been reading and thinking. Still check the Rude Pundit and Wolcott if you want to laugh while you cry.

Here's a birthday shout out to mein Freund (that's german) Sammy the Cougar. 28 und jetzt schoen und angular. He turned me on to the only new political blog I've given a shit about in a while, Inside Minnesota Politics with Peter Idusogie. He also has Minnesota's first political podcast. If you don't know what a podcast is you probably don't know what a blogger is, so you're probably not even reading this. If you want to hear interviews with former Sen. Dave Durenberger, 2006 Dem Senate candidates, and other stuff...check it out.

And now for some red meat for the faithful: George Bush is a giant douche and probably cuddles with Cheney at the base of an oil derrick while being felated by Karl Rove and his leather slave(s). He also hates black people and women. And Radiohead, too.

Nike Channels Sir Mix-a-Lot

2005-08-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

Summer vacation, recess, what have you. But I'm back for a very important announcement. I'd like to congratulate Sir Mix-a-Lot on his promotion to ad executive at Nike. This is a long time coming for the Mix. Previous to his advertising career he was an advice columnist.

CAFTA, NAFTA, SCHMAFTA

2005-07-28T09:58:00.000-05:00

I don't really know much about this new CAFTA agreement. However, I would like to still offer some commentary. Ignorant, reactionary commentary in the form of a South Park catchphrase.

THEY TOOK ER JOBS!

I do think that Nancy Pelosi is right, though.

As our manufacturing base erodes, as our industrial base erodes, we have a president who is contributing to the further erosion of that base

We are slowly losing our ability to produce, well really, anything. What is it that America now makes? I look around at my desk at home (*wink) and notice that not one item in view is made in America. The clothes I'm wearing-not American. Maybe the lightbulbs?

London Tube Shooting...Shoot to Kill

2005-07-25T10:26:00.000-05:00

I just returned from a lovely family vacation to learn of the second round of attempted bombings targeting London's Underground (that's British for subway). I also learned about the shooting of a Brazilian man suspected of being involved in the bombing. It turns out he wasn't related to the plot in any way, but, nevertheless, was shot 5 times in the head. Tony Blair says he's "desperately sorry" for the shooting, but British police will still keep the shoot-to-kill policy they're employing now.

I happen to have a friend in London right now and he wrote me the following e-mail:

I don't know how many of you have been paying attention to London lately, but last week there were four more bombings on the tube system. There were only a few injuries and the four guys got away. However, they managed to get four blurry CCTV images of the bombers. One looks black, one looks white, and two look brown. They could be damn near anyone.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, a Brazilian electrician is on his way to work and unbeknownst to him, he is being followed by 3 plain clothed policeman undercover. They think that he looks a bit like one of the blurry pictures, or at least suspicious in some way. So the guy runs to jump on the tube and they take this as a threatening move. They yank him by the shirt tails back from the door of the train and on to the floor of the Stockwell tube platform. They then shot him 5 times repeatedly in the head. In front of crowds of people.

The guy turned out to be just a normal dude rushing to get to work.

So apparently, here are the rules:

1) Don't run to catch a train.
2) Especially if you are black, white or brown.
3) And also especially if you are being followed by three strange men.

People don't know who to fear most, terrorists or trigger happy plain clothed cops! Jesus!

They should go back to carrying only night sticks. At least then they would only have beaten the poor sap to a pulp and hauled him in for questioning instead of finding out their error only after plugging him 5 times in the head. They are lucky they didn't kill x number of bystanders.

PS: I am thinking it is time for me to get out of this city.

Pretty scary stuff.

UPDATE: My friend sent me the link to the photo now atop the post.

Sport-hunting Karl Rove

2005-07-19T09:17:00.000-05:00

It's fun to watch the talking head shows every once in a while, especially when they're focusing on bringing down an enemy of the people such as Karl Rove. The press' underlying half-assed work ethic is still there, their aversion to any detailed discussion of the matter, all the hallmarks of our current state of journalism. But, now they're going after the right guy. And I've realized that I don't care if this is getting Al Capone for tax evasion, I want to see Rove go down.

The press treats all politics as sport, cable news being the absolute worst. Here's a story that's been around for 2 years, but only now once one of their own is in jail, they're quite intrigued with the whole Valerie Plame outing.

But, as Josh Marshall said, the big picture in this whole situation is actually about cooking the WMD books to justify Bush's war on Saddam, and how aggressive the White House got when someone questioned their main rationale for war.

As Rich says, this isn't about Valerie Plame or Joe Wilson or even Karl Rove. It's not about exposing a CIA agent. That's merely the tear in the fabric, the third-rate burglary, if you will. This is about a president who knowingly took his country to war on the basis of lies and the war on the homefront against anyone and everyone who's tried to peel back the lies and expose the truth.

The press is only mildly concerned on that front--the whole truth thing. What is most important is this: the press sharks smell blood in the water. They were mostly complicit in bringing us to war with their trumpeting of every new WMD GOP talking point, dutifuly switching to freedom, freedom, freedom!, then on to fighting terrorism--they won't fess up to any of that. They've forgotten all of that now that a bigwig might go down. Man they're sluts.

UPDATE: Rude Pundit points out a very good distinction in why things that infuriate us liberals (like the Cheney/Halliburton thing) are on the wrong side of the simple vs. complex argument.

One of the things that has failed liberals at every step of the way on stories as seemingly cut and dried as, say, Dick Cheney's relationship with Halliburton is that we've been on the wrong side of the simple vs. complex storyline. See, in order to understand how diabolical the Cheney/Halliburton nexus is, one has to immerse oneself into laws and rules regarding the finances of government officials, the various schemes created for assuring Halliburton would become bloated like dead hippo corpse, and more. Shit, it's just easier to ignore it.

Precisely. Now it's Rove's defenders' turn to use their legalese wiggle words, a complex and possibly valid argument, to defend themselves. Americans don't have the time for it.

Daily Show's take on Karl Rove

2005-07-13T12:40:00.000-05:00

LINK (via Crooks and Liars)

Sometimes I forget...

2005-07-13T09:02:00.000-05:00

...that 9/11 changed everything. Or was it the London bombings? I forget.

Let's Settle Down Everyone

2005-07-12T11:27:00.000-05:00

Let's not get too carried away in calling for Karl Rove's head with regard to his involvement in the Valerie Plame leak case. I know it looks promising that the White House is not even bothering to tap dance around Karl Rove's involvement and has decided to straight up stone-wall all questions.

Under often hostile questioning, Mr. McClellan repeatedly declined to say whether he stood behind his previous statements that Mr. Rove had played no role in the matter, saying he could not comment while a criminal investigation was under way. He brushed aside questions about whether the president would follow through on his pledge, repeated just over a year ago, to fire anyone in his administration found to have played a role in disclosing the officer's identity. And he declined to say when Mr. Bush learned that Mr. Rove had mentioned the C.I.A. officer in his conversation with the Time reporter.
When one reporter, David Gregory of NBC News, said that it was "ridiculous" for the White House to dodge all questions about the issue and pointed out that Mr. McClellan had addressed the same issues in detail in the past, Mr. McClellan replied, "I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said, and I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time."

Damn liberal media. Honestly, what could that (emphasis mine) statement mean? Is the appropriate time after there's been an indictment? I honestly don't know. I just read through some of the Rove-related press briefing. Quite contentious. Read it. Scotty really is no Ari.

All of this considered, there's still very little hope in my mind that we'll see Rove doing the perp-walk. He'll either claim that he only spread the word about Plame after seeing Robert Novak's column, unless Novak has already testified to the grand jury that Rove is his source. Or, he can claim that he didn't out her because he didn't name her, he only identified her as Joe Wilson's wife. Obviously that's a crock of shite; you don't have to name her to identify her. But then again O.J.'s glove didn't fit over his already gloved hand and he got off. Too bad for Rove that he didn't do this in California where they don't convict anybody for anything.

Liberal...er...Conservative Activist Judges

2005-07-06T16:06:00.000-05:00

From DailyKOS, the most activist judges are the Conservatives: Thomas, Kennedy, Scalia. Least activist: Liberal judges--Breyer, Souter, Ginsburg (not Capt. Toke--he was never approved) and Stevens. The operational definition of activist judge is when a justice votes to overturn Congressional statutes, or "legislate from the bench," as critics most often accuse liberals of doing.

The White House is completely disconnected from reality

2005-06-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

Guess who said this

Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," [GUESS WHO] tells U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq.

Howard Dean?

Michael Moore?

Dennis Kucinich?

Noam Chomsky?

Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel?

Answer HERE

And now on to more important matters

2005-06-29T09:30:00.000-05:00

Since Cheney pointed out to Larry King that the insurgency in Iraq is in its last throes, Rumsfeld said it could be 12 years until America is out of Iraq, and with Bush’s speech last night, it’s clear to me that they’ve got all of that in control and I don’t need to worry about any of it. So, I’ll concentrate on the new issues that will and should be of concern in the post-post-post 9/11 world.

Did you know that

There’s a missing white girl in Aruba?

Brad Pitt may have sired a child with Angelina Jolie?

Christina Aguilera threw quite the bachelor party for her fiancée?

Some guy confessed to a bunch of murders 10-30 years ago?

Sharks are targeting our nation's teenagers again?!

Michael Jackson never touched that boy(s)?

My mind is a trap. Our minds are traps. I’d go and find links to these stories, but then that would just be silly. If you want to be silly, go here, or if you want a good laugh go here.

For the first link, you can’t just type in any old word. Just type the letter “a” and then a variety of options appear, then click the phrase, and you’ll figure it out from there. Oh, and it’s case sensitive. Try loading some of the previous entries to get a flavor for it.

For the second link, if you've been crying for more than five minutes, just bury your head in your hands to avoid swallowing your tongue.

No One Cares

2005-06-28T13:53:00.000-05:00

I guess I was the only person in the whole country that actually took seriously the newest GOP proposal for Social Security. Why is no one talking about it? Because no one cares. Because every SS proposal put forth by the GOP is dead in the water when, according to CNN (via JJM) Bush's approval numbers for Social Security is 31 %! That's simply terrible. His overall disapproval rating is 53%. I wonder what happened to George Bush's "political capital?"

Newest GOP SS proposal classic Bait-and-Switch

2005-06-23T10:56:00.000-05:00

The latest GOP plan for Social Security (offered by Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina as well as House GOP members) is to take the Social Security surpluses from here until 2017 (which is when SS is projected to start running a deficit) and use that money to fund private accounts for willing citizens. Essentially this plan is a bastardized version of
Al Gore’s much-criticized “lockbox” plan, creating millions of mini-lockboxes for future retirees, private accounts paid for out of the surplus.

On its face, the plan to keep SS surpluses in the SS system is good, but this is classic bait-and-switch and is meant as a foothold for the eventual destruction of the current Social Security system. In 2017 is the plan simply going to go away since there is no funding source (see above)? Of course not. At that point, the plan will simply morph into the private accounts plan that Bush has been flogging (and being decisively rejected).

Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota, fuck yeah!) has easily seen through this as well (link)

Democrats scoffed at the Republican plan. "This is the same crowd that spent all the Social Security surplus in the first place," Pomeroy said. "We do need to stop spending the Social Security surplus, but by balancing the budget."

This is also the same crowd that has been scoffing at the idea of the Social Security surplus trust fund even existing.

``There is no trust fund,'' [President Bush] said after inspecting papers representing the $1.7 trillion in special Treasury securities held in a locked file cabinet at the Bureau of Public Debt facility.
In University Park, Pennsylvania, June 14, Bush said that once the payroll taxes are applied to Social Security benefits, the excess revenue ``funds all the different programs'' of government. ``And do you know what's left behind?'' Bush said. ``Paper. IOUs in a file cabinet in West Virginia.''

Bush implies that they are worthless IOUs when, in fact, they are bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury. The most ironic thing about this bait-and-switch proposal is that the new million mini-lockboxes that are to be created will not be investment accounts in the sense that you could invest in the stock market or something of your choosing; the new accounts will be invested in U.S. Treasury bonds(!) the same worthless pieces of paper sitting in a file cabinet in West Virginia. Media Matters has more on this contradiction.

Another aspect, one that anyone concerned about the federal deficit needs to know, is that we’ve been subsidizing the US Federal Budget with the SS surpluses in the last (I’m guessing here) 20 years. Why do we have a surplus in the first place? See here for a brief rundown. But basically we hiked payroll taxes in 1983 to anticipate the need for more money when Baby Boomers start drawing benefits. The GOP proposal will no longer allow the federal government to pad its bottom line with the Trillion dollars in anticipated surpluses over the next 10 years. This is going to be a big drawback for supporters of private accounts that still claim to be concerned with the deficit. (Personally, I like the fact the government would have to stop faking its budget numbers, but that money should be put back into Social Security, as was really intended).

I was initially going to tear apart the incredibly misleading and dishonest CNN.com article about this, but I would rather spend my time more wisely.

Almost 60% oppose Iraq war

2005-06-21T13:27:00.000-05:00

The latest poll shows that almost 6 in 10 people oppose the war in Iraq.

UPDATE (via atrios): an interesting article about the difficulty the Bush Adminstration is having by not having a strong antiwar movement to demonize, the way Nixon did when he was seeking reelection.

The administration has no one to demonize. With nobody blocking the troop trains, military recruitment is collapsing of its own accord. With nobody in the streets, the occupation is being judged on its own merits.

Unable to distract people from his own performance, Bush is tanking in the polls. And with congressional Democrats at least partly muting their opposition to an open-ended occupation, it's Bush's fellow Republicans -- most prominently, North Carolina's Walter Jones -- who are now calling our policy into question.

I guess this makes sense to me. Most people disagree with the war, but disagree more with people opposing American policy (hating America).

Sen. Bill Frist is an Irresponsible Hack

2005-06-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

I forget on what part of the political spectrum falls the issue of poisoning our children. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s article is about a shadowy government sponsored conference where they presented disturbing evidence (linking mercury in vaccines to autism and other disorders) merely to surpress the findings.

The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- thimerosal -- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. "I was actually stunned by what I saw," Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children

But, at least we have a doctor as our Senate Majority leader. Surely he'll make sure that this kind of behavior from the drug companies (GlaxoKlineSmith, Merck, Eli Lilly, etc) will not go unpunished.

The drug companies are also getting help from powerful lawmakers in Washington. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has received $873,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, has been working to immunize vaccine makers from liability in 4,200 lawsuits that have been filed by the parents of injured children. On five separate occasions, Frist has tried to seal all of the government's vaccine-related documents -- including the Simpsonwood transcripts -- and shield Eli Lilly, the developer of thimerosal, from subpoenas. In 2002, the day after Frist quietly slipped a rider known as the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" into a homeland security bill, the company contributed $10,000 to his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism. Congress repealed the measure in 2003 -- but earlier this year, Frist slipped another provision into an anti-terrorism bill that would deny compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain disorders. "The lawsuits are of such magnitude that they could put vaccine producers out of business and limit our capacity to deal with a biological attack by terrorists," says Andy Olsen, a legislative assistant to Frist.

You see, it's the War on Terrorism. For Christ's sake, how can this actually be happening? This man is the same "doctor" who thought he should jump right in the middle of the Terri Schiavo affair, saying

Persistent vegetative state, which is what the court has ruled -- I question it. I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office here in the Capitol. And that footage, to me, depicts something very different than persistent vegetative state.

You see, he spent an hour or so watching a video of her, so he can make a qualified, medical diagnosis. A diagnosis that turns out to be completely wrong. Hedging himself,

"I raised the question, 'Is she in a persistent vegetative state or not?' I never made the diagnosis, never said that she was not. I did say that certain tests should be performed to determine that before starving her to death," Frist said in the interview.

I'm not a doctor, but even I know she didn't starve to death; she died of dehydration. Frist should lose his medical license if he still has one. If not, he shouldn't be referred to as a doctor any more than Pat Robertson is a reverand. Damn it.

Dean states the obvious

2005-06-13T12:32:00.000-05:00

Man, Cheney is a Dick*.

Cheney, in an interview to be broadcast today on Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes,'' said Dean "was not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party.''

On a roll, Cheney said, "I've never been able to understand his appeal. Maybe his mother loved him, but I've never met anybody who does.''

Dean was asked to react to the punch from the vice president.

"My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on Fox News.''

Dean has been around a long time, and some Democrats who are Dean-friendly are confounded that he gets in these jams.

In the last few weeks, Dean has gone from one rhetorical mishap to another.

Republicans want to demonize Dean, and his "white, Christian'' remark seems to only highlight the success the GOP has had within the evangelical community.

To counter this, Sunday afternoon, Dean talked about the Bible, Jesus, respecting people who disagree with you and the persuasive power of deep convictions.

It came out right.

"Let me remind those Republicans,'' he said, that the Bible mentions helping the poor "3,000 times. I have not yet seen gay marriage mentioned in the Bible. That is a Republican issue.''

Dean states the obvious and some how these are "rhetorical mishaps?" The Republicans ARE primarily a white Christian party, Fox News IS a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party. There really are no serious people who dispute those statements.

*-that statement is trademarked

Here's $2 billion, but we didn't do anything wrong

2005-06-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

This makes no sense.

Wall Street giant Citigroup Inc. agreed Friday to pay $2 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the bank of defrauding the University of California and other investors through its work for fallen energy trader Enron Corp.

The deal, the biggest yet stemming from the 2001 bankruptcy that came to symbolize corporate corruption, could set the stage for other hefty recoveries in the Enron fiasco.

[...]

In a statement, Citigroup denied violating any law and said it agreed to settle "solely to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further protracted litigation."

Citigroup, the nation's largest financial institution, said it had ample legal reserves to cover the payout.

Science, Schmience

2005-06-11T13:57:00.000-05:00

The Bush Administration does not respect science and will do anything to manipulate intelligence to support their industry friendly conclusions.

Mr. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the office that helps devise and promote administration policies on environmental issues.

Before going to the White House in 2001, he was the "climate team leader" and a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group representing the interests of the oil industry. A lawyer with a bachelor's degree in economics, he has no scientific training.

In other news of the obvious...

America IS Paying Attention

2005-06-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

The conventional wisdom/language/vocabulary used by the punditocracy when talking about our current president usually involves the word "popular". There's a new poll showing that Bush's job approval ratings are an all new low, not only for him, but for any president that's serving a 2nd term.

About one-third of adults, 35 percent, said they think the country is headed in the right direction, while 43 percent said they approve of the job being done by Bush. Just 41 percent say they support his handling of the war, also a low-water mark.

It's not only a disapproval of his overall job performance, it is also with regard to specific issues, namely the issues he defined as the main points of his 2nd term agenda.

The poll conducted for AP by Ipsos found 45 percent support Bush's foreign policy, down from 52 percent in March.
Support for Bush's handling of domestic issues remained in the high 30s and low 40s in the latest AP-Ipsos poll.
Thirty-seven percent support Bush's handling of Social Security, while 59 percent disapprove.

Congress actually polls worse than the President. How that will play into the midterm elections next year remains to be seen. I think the tide is turning.

Downing Street Memo

2005-06-09T09:49:00.000-05:00

Go here and read this. This is under the radar for a lot of people since the major media don't seem to be covering it. It's pretty damning stuff. The memo is from July 23, 2002, eight months before the invasion, while Bush was declaring that the decision hadn't been made to invade Iraq. See here for more commentary. Some highlights of the memo...

There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

We should work on the assumption that the UK would take part in any military action. But we needed a fuller picture of US planning before we could take any firm decisions. CDS should tell the US military that we were considering a range of options.

CNN=Certainly Not News

2005-06-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

How could this be possibly construed as a news story? Especially a full 8 months after the election? It truly boggles my mind.

Stem Cells Will Split GOP

2005-06-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

After over 4 years in office, President Bush hasn’t met a bill that he hasn’t liked. But, we all know that the president supports a "Culture of Life" and is now threatening to veto the recently passed house legislation that allows research to be done on embryonic stem cells. South Korea stoked the debate by announcing it had developed a procedure to clone embryonic stem cells; these cells are a genetic match for their target patients, and therefore have a much better chance of not being rejected by the patient. President Bush immediately condemned South Korea’s actions.

This issue is going to split the GOP. Bush and the most right wing senators have to support the veto of this bill in order to appease their Christian Conservative financiers.

The president and other opponents focused on the fact that the embryos are destroyed in obtaining the cells. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) called it a "vote to fund with taxpayer dollars the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings for the purposes of medical experimentation."

Unfortunately for them, Americans clearly support researching embryonic stem cells, including a majority of Republicans. Republican leadership is not listening.

The best analysis I’ve read about this issue comes from Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter.

Bioethical blowhard Leon Kass of the University of Chicago conned Bush into seeing the issue as morally complex, but the rest of the world understands that it's simple enough — reproductive cloning (to create Frankensteins), no; embryonic-stem-cell research (to cure diseases), yes. (The phrase "therapeutic cloning" should be retired.) Enshrining this basic distinction in law is a better bulwark against the "slippery slope" problem than hair-splitting limitations. Most nations understand this. Only Bush bitter-enders and the pope are in the perverse position of valuing the life of an ailing human being less than that of a tiny clump of cells no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence.
The stem-cell debate has been linked to abortion, as if depriving science of the use of these cells somehow extends "the culture of life." But here the "pro-life" position should argue for therapeutic research.
Under Bush's stem-cell policy, 400,000 surplus blastocysts at fertility clinics are eventually thrown in the trash instead of a few thousand being used to enhance life. To be intellectually coherent, Bush would have to shut down all in vitro clinics, depriving millions of infertile couples of the chance for a child. Fat chance. (ed. note: He could also advocate for women to donate their wombs to bring these blastocytes to term, as Bill Maher suggested.)

Most Americans still don't know all these details, but they're beginning to understand that religious extremists are hijacking the political system and robbing us of our essential national character — faith in the future. House GOP leaders were annoyed recently when the Republican Main Street Partnership, a moderate group, conducted polls showing support for stem-cell research even in very conservative districts.

The future of medicine appears to be stem cell research, Americans understand this, Republican leadership doesn’t, and that failure will resonate in 2006 mid-term elections. As Alter said,

Unless there's another war, stem cells will become one of the defining issues of the 2006 campaign. Look for smart Democrats to run ads with relatives of the afflicted ("My sister has Parkinson's," "My father has Alzheimer's") pointing out that Congressman X is so extreme, he voted against a bill supported by many Republicans to begin curing these diseases.

The man behind draftwesleyclark.com has picked up this fight. Expect all sorts of special-interest groups to start pitching in as well.

This will split the GOP.

Nuclear Option Averted

2005-05-24T12:25:00.000-05:00

At last, there's a compromise to the nuclear option. Fourteen Senators (seven Republicans, seven Democrats) crafted a deal to allow them to have up-or-down votes on three contested judicial nominees in exchange for preserving the right to filibuster judges given "extraordinary circumstances." No definition of "extraordinary circumstances" has (intentionally) not been provided.

So, who won? The way I see it, the 14 senators won. Harry Reid (almost) won. Bill Frist did not. But, this seems to be a really wiggly compromise. I still expect a showdown when Bush gets ready to nominate Scalia as Chief Justice (when Rehnquist steps down or dies), or he nominates Miguel Estrada or Alberto Gonzalez to the Supreme Court.

I don't think this is over, but for now it's on the back burner.

Priscilla Owen, Judicial Activist

2005-05-20T11:23:00.000-05:00

With the nuclear option likely to be attempted next week, let's take a look at one of the Appeals Court nominees, Priscilla Owen. First, Bush and Republican leadership want to pursue this nuclear option in order to achieve several goals:

To appoint conservative idealogues to the appeals court, where most federal judicial decisions are made

To achieve one-party rule by eliminating Senate minority rights

To set the stage for his Supreme Court nominees to be passed without threat of filibuster

So, what kind of judge is Priscilla Owen? Well, according to Joe Conason, the Texas Supreme Court is inherently sleazy because judicial elections are privately financed by corporations, which in turn benefit from their candidates ruling on matters related to their own corporation. For instance,

Among the most notorious examples is a case in which Owen wrote the majority opinion that allowed Enron Corp. to escape more than $200,000 in school district taxes. In her 1994 campaign, she took $8,600 from the Houston energy firm and $31,550 from its lawyers at the powerhouse firm of Vinson & Elkins; her consultant Rove also worked for Enron. Two years later, when Spring Independent School District vs. Enron reached her court, she did not recuse herself from the case. Her opinion allowed Enron to choose its own method for valuation, cutting the taxable property assessment by millions of dollars.

So obnoxious was her conduct in the Enron case that it provoked the Houston Chronicle -- a newspaper that has enthusiastically endorsed Bush -- to urge the Senate to reject her nomination three years ago. While acknowledging that Democratic objections to Owen were hardly apolitical, the newspaper's editorial said the Democrats were also displaying "a rational desire to prevent the lifetime appointment of a justice who has shown a clear preference for ruling to achieve a particular result rather than impartially interpreting the law."

So, this is the kind of nominee that Bush is trying to shove through the Senate by repealing rules in use for the 200-odd years of Senate history. (Sidenote: Why is Enron seemingly at the center of all of Bush's shady Texas associates?)

One last, but extremely important point about the nuclear option, courtesy of Josh Marshall.

Liberal Bible Thumping

2005-05-15T11:39:00.000-05:00

Good op-ed from Nick Kristof in today's New York Times. He's discussing the book, "The Sins of Scripture," by John Shelby Spong, a former bishop.

This book is long overdue, because one of the biggest mistakes liberals have made has been to forfeit battles in which faith plays a crucial role. Religion has always been a central current of American life, and it is becoming more important in politics because of the new Great Awakening unfolding across the United States.

Yet liberals have tended to stay apart from the fray rather than engaging in it. In fact, when conservatives quote from the Bible to make moral points, they tend to quote very selectively. After all, while Leviticus bans gay sex, it also forbids touching anything made of pigskin (is playing football banned?) - and some biblical passages seem not so much morally uplifting as genocidal.

"Can we really worship the God found in the Bible who sent the angel of death across the land of Egypt to murder the firstborn males in every Egyptian household?" Bishop Spong asks. Or what about 1 Samuel 15, in which God is quoted as issuing orders to wipe out all the Amalekites: "Kill both man and woman, child and infant." Hmmm. Tough love, or war crimes? As for the New Testament, Revelation 19:17 has an angel handing out invitations to a divine dinner of "the flesh of all people."

Tasty. I'd like to think that this is what I'm trying to do--pointing out the hypocrisy/inconsistency of church positions, but not trying to invalidate faith or Christianity. It's really good sport to just sling mud at the wackos like James Dobson, but that's not being very constructive, is it?

Intelligent Design

2005-05-06T13:12:00.000-05:00

The only thing intelligent about "intelligent design" is the actual naming of this phony science "theory" to make it seem, well, intelligent. First off, evolution is an established scientific theory. Theory, in the realm of science, does not mean "Hey, I've got this wild guess, a theory, if you will." Typically, the proponents of intelligent design deride the Theory of Evolution as "just a theory," hoping to obfuscate the definition of what a scientific theory really is.

Gravity is just a theory.

The religious wackos that support the idea of intelligent design (who also believe the Bible is a statement of objective fact) contend that the earth is roughly 10,000 years old because they've added up the ages of all the people that have descended from Adam and Eve to us and it equals approximately 10,000. As Bill Hicks said, "Gee, it's hard to argue with that, you know, uhh, research."

So, why I am bringing all of this up? Because Kansas is at it again. In 1999,

conservatives on the school board ignored their expert panel and deleted virtually any reference to evolution, only to be ousted in the next election.

Now, it's 2005, and they're trying to treat intelligent design as an alternative theory. But it isn't. Not only that, but this isn't really about evolution, it's about religion.

"These people are going to obfuscate about these definitions," complained Jack Krebs, vice president of the pro-evolution Kansas Citizens for Science..."They have created a straw man. They are trying to make science stand for atheism, so they can fight atheism."

This is exactly it.

Health Care is a Basic Right

2005-05-02T10:48:00.000-05:00

For an uber-wealthy country like the United States to not have universal health care for its citizens is absurd. We've seen recently that over 50% of bankruptcy filings are because of debt incurred by medical payments. Does this seem fair? (Especially in light of the recent Bankruptcy Bill passed by the Credit Card companies..I mean..Congress.)

Here at Define the Center, we firmly believe that Health Care, like electricity, is a basic need for people, and therefore should not be a profit-driven venture. "Socialism! Communism!" you may say. We already have a form of socialized medicine (medicare) because we're not a country of barbarians. But, that's not going far enough. We should have a universal health care program.

For you business-minded people out there, you should also embrace universal health care as a means by which businesses, like General Motors, could cut down on operating costs because they wouldn't need to offer a program to their employees. There would be an overall reduction in cost (for the country) by switching to a state-run program rather than our current situation with private insurance companies trying to profit off of what is, by its very nature, an unprofitable venture. Then we would end up with a better service to the country, but at the expense of the Insurance companies' profit margin. This seems like a fair trade to me.

But that's coming from someone who values people over profit. Does that make me a commie?

Bush's Press Conference

2005-04-29T10:22:00.000-05:00

I almost paid attention to the whole news conference last night by the President. A few things I noticed was that

He laughs at the most inappropriate things. Example: As he was explaining how his SS plan is better for a theoretical older couple where one of the spouses dies early (before reaching benefit collecting age of 65), he couldn't keep stop chuckling or the smirk off his face. I know it's kind of petty, but he reminds me of a comedian that isn't funny but keeps laughing at himself to entice others to laugh at his jokes. I don't know if that's a symptom of not having any confidence in what he's saying, or too much. I half-expected to see an 'applause' sign below the Great Seal on the podium.

He doesn't answer any questions. Example:
Q: Your top military officer, General Richard Myers, says the Iraqi insurgency is as strong now as it was a year ago. Why is that the case? And why haven't you been more successful in limiting the violence?
BUSH: I think he went on to say we're winning, if I recall.

But, nevertheless, there are still some in Iraq who aren't happy with democracy. They want to go back to the old days of tyranny and darkness and torture chambers and mass graves.

I believe we're making really good progress in Iraq, because the Iraqi people are beginning to see the benefits of a free society. They saw a government form today...
So, what about the insurgency?

He really 'appreciates the question'.

The other thing I noticed is that he's trying to completely change the function of Social Security. Again. First, he wanted to change it to an investment program (which he still wants to do with his privatization idea). Now, he basically wants to change it to poor relief by proposing a de facto means-testing pay-out program called "progressive indexing." I'll leave it to Josh Marshall to explain this:

All that has happened here is that the president has temporarily bamboozled a few folks in the media by trying to spin phase out. He is calling for steep and growing benefit cuts for everyone in the middle class and he still demands a partial phase-out of Social Security to be replaced by private accounts.

Social Security's support of the poorest Americans is a critical part of what it accomplishes. But Social Security is not poor relief. That is only what the president wants to make it -- in part because, once it is, it is far easier to cut further, since it has no organized political constituency.

Social Security is the sheet anchor of the modern American middle class. It's why working Americans can approach retirement with an assurance of security and a modicum of leisure. It stimulates economic vitality by creating a floor of security that facilitates economic risk-taking in investment and business. It's why parents don't have to shortchange investment in children's education by supporting parents in their old age. It provides economic security to families hit by catastrophe and misfortune in mid-life. As I said, it's the sheet anchor of what we've come to know in the last century as middle class life.

Don't let there be any doubt on this: The ultimate goal in all of Bush's Social Security "reform" ideas is to permanently phase out the program.

Al Gore Speech - "An American Heresy"

2005-04-28T08:58:00.000-05:00

Did you hear anything about Al Gore's speech yesterday, titled An American Heresy? He was speaking my mind, man. If we end the filibuster option for the minority party, the repurcusions are wide-ranging.

On the legitimacy of Judges' rulings: "Moreover, if the confirmation of those justices [responsible for 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling] in the majority had been forced through by running roughshod over 200 years of Senate precedents and engineered by a crass partisan decision on a narrow party line vote to break the Senate's rules of procedure then no speech imaginable could have calmed the passions aroused in our country."

"Long before our founders met in Philadelphia, their forebears first came to these shores to escape oppression at the hands of despots in the old world who mixed religion with politics and claimed dominion over both their pocketbooks and their souls.

This aggressive new strain of right-wing religious zealotry is actually a throwback to the intolerance that led to the creation of America in the first place."

Our founders understood that the way you protect and defend people of faith is by preventing any one sect from dominating. Most people of faith I know in both parties have been getting a belly-full of this extremist push to cloak their political agenda in religiosity and mix up their version of religion with their version of right-wing politics and force it on everyone else.

They should learn that religious faith is a precious freedom and not a tool to divide and conquer.

One of the most disappointing things about politics in America has been how the (liberal) media has made a sport out of trashing Al Gore. Here is an honest, earnest, intellectual patriot with real knowledge of how government works and what needs to be done to help average, working-class Americans, but he's a punchline to 75% of Americans*. Bob Somerby over at the Daily Howler has an exhaustive catalog of how the (liberal) media gleefully distorted statements Al Gore made and perpetuated these inaccuracies over all forms of media. Here.

*-That statistic brought to you by [unintelligble].

UPDATE: Oops, I almost missed the money shot:

This fight is not about responding to a crisis. It is about the desire of the administration and the Senate leadership to stifle debate in order to get what they want when they want it. What is involved here is a power grab -- pure and simple.

And what makes it so dangerous for our country is their willingness to do serious damage to our American democracy in order to satisfy their lust for total one-party domination of all three branches of government. They seek nothing less than absolute power. Their grand design is an all-powerful executive using a weakened legislature to fashion a compliant judiciary in its own image. They envision a total breakdown of the separation of powers. And in its place they want to establish a system in which power is unified in the service of a narrow ideology serving a narrow set of interests.

Their coalition of supporters includes both right-wing religious extremists and exceptionally greedy economic special interests. Both groups are seeking more and more power for their own separate purposes. If they were to achieve their ambition -- and exercise the power they seek -- America would face the twin dangers of an economic blueprint that eliminated most all of the safeguards and protections established for middle class families throughout the 20th century and a complete revision of the historic insulation of the rule of law from sectarian dogma. One of the first casualties would be the civil liberties that Americans have come to take for granted.

Economy Good for Some, not Us

2005-04-25T09:16:00.000-05:00

Do you have a significant portion of your income coming from dividends and stock earnings? If so, you're probably doing just fine, financially. If you depend on wages and salary, as I'm sure you do, George Bush's economy is not doing very well for you. Paul Krugman in today's NYTimes, says that Bush and the Republican/Conservative base keep saying, over and over, "the economy's doing fine." But, this is not at all true for wage earners:

According to John Snow, the Treasury secretary, the global economy is in a "sweet spot." Conservative pundits close to the administration talk, without irony, about a "Bush boom."
[...]
Is the administration's obliviousness to the public's economic anxiety just partisanship? I don't think so: President Bush and other Republican leaders honestly think that we're living in the best of times. After all, everyone they talk to says so.
[...]
Mr. Bush and his party talk only to their base - corporate interests and the religious right - and are oblivious to everyone else's concerns.

The administration's upbeat view of the economy is a case in point. Corporate interests are doing very well. As a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out, over the last three years profits grew at an annual rate of 14.5 percent after inflation, the fastest growth since World War II.

The story is very different for the great majority of Americans, who live off their wages, not dividends or capital gains, and aren't doing well at all. Over the past three years, wage and salary income grew less than in any other postwar recovery - less than a tenth as fast as profits. But wage-earning Americans aren't part of the base.

So, how does this Define the Center? Well, if the vast majority of American's are experiencing the pinch of lost jobs or depressed wages, but the powers-that-be are still crowing like EVERYONE is reaping the benefits of a corporate-friendly economic policy, that means they are detached from reality. They do not represent us; they represent the upper-most crust of our consumer society. That's George Bush's America. An extremist dressed in the clothes of a down-home American. What a fraud.

One more point: How can corporate profits be up 14.5 percent annually over the last three years, but the World's Largest Casino (a.k.a. the Stock Market) is essentially even over the last 3 years. Who's getting these profits? Wage earners? I don't think so. It's going to CEO golden parachutes and $16,000 umbrella stands.

Filibustering Judicial Nominees

2005-04-21T15:09:00.000-05:00

This is a tough issue because it doesn't really favor Republicans or Democrats in any general sense. The Democrats have filibustered 10 judicial nominees of President Bush's. They claim that, since the Republicans control the Executive and Legislative branches, this is their only way of having a say in the matter of approving these judicial nominees. Whether you agree with that statement or not, it is well within their constitutional privileges.

However, Bill Frist, senate majority leader, is trying to implement the so-called "nuculer" option by disallowing filibustering of nominees. Sen. Bill Frist stated last year

Now the Minority says the filibuster is their only choice, because the Majority controls both the White House and the Senate. But that fails the test of history.

The same party controlled the White House and the Senate for 70 percent of the 20th Century. No Minority filibustered judicial nominees then.

This is absolutely false. In the Washington Post article they mention a 1968 Republican party filibuster of President Johnson's Supreme Court nominee, Abe Fortas. In addition, as recently as 2000, the Republican minority filibustered Clinton nominee to the 9th Circuit Court, Richard Paez. Frist voted in support of the filibuster.

So, what I'm trying to get at is the Republicans' faux-righteousness on this issue flies in the face of the facts.

I think the filibuster should be permitted as an acceptable tactic to fight the Bush judicial nominees, and so apparently does Bill Frist. Even though he doesn't. Frustrating, eh?

DeLay gets an F in Civics 101

2005-04-20T11:48:00.000-05:00

Separation of Powers, Tom. The Judiciary branch is not supposed to be accountable to the Legislative branch, Mr. DeLay. If you don't like the way they interpret the laws on the books, change the laws. That's something you are able to control, Tom. Why is this so hard for you to understand?

Now, he's blasting shots across the bough of Reagan-appointed Supreme Court justice, Anthony Kennedy, for not going along with DeLay's worldview. Remember when he threatened all of the judges that participated in the Schiavo court fiasco?

The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today.

Hmmm...sounds like a threat to me.

Well, at least it's better than Debtor's Prison

2005-04-20T09:12:00.000-05:00

President Bush wants to promote an "ownership society", right? Well, what he didn't tell you was that he wants credit card companies to own you. That's the idea behind this new legislation that was passed against the back drop of giggling corporate megoliths.

Here, in our endless efforts to Define the Center, we thought we could all agree that credit card companies are bad. But, corporate money to the parties goes a long way. How far, you might ask? Far enough for 31 Democrat House members to betray the principle of standing up for the little guy, and vote along with the Republican majority. Read more here.

What a Day for Catholics

2005-04-20T09:03:00.000-05:00

So y'all have a new pope, Benedict XVI, a.k.a Cardinal Ratzinger. And y'all have a new sighting of the Virgin Mary. Congratulations.

World's Largest Casino

2005-04-12T11:57:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't pushed much on the Social Security issue (For the best reporting on this issue, see Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo). As we all know, George Bush wants to divert money from the general Social Security fund in order to set up private accounts for each and every one of us, including people like me that know essentially nothing about the stock market. What I do know, I learned during the summer of 2002 when company after company (most notably Enron) was getting indicted or going bankrupt because they tried to artifically bolster their stock prices through shady financial/accounting practices. But, that was three years ago and that kind of thing doesn't happen anymore. Right?

Wrong.

The traders traded ahead, by buying or selling stock for their companies' accounts, at prices that would be better than the public would get, Mr. Kelley said. They would also engage in inter-positioning, in which they buy the stock at one price and then turn around and sell it at a profit to another client, instead of executing a direct sale between interested parties, he added.

"The harm to investors by each of these specialists trading ahead ranged from some $400,000 to $5 million, for a total of nearly $20 million," Mr. Kelley said.

"The defendants functioned at the heart of the New York Stock Exchange," he said.

So, George Bush wants us to divert money from Social Security, thereby exacerbating an already potentially unsettling financial situation, so we can invest in the Stock Market and be subject to the whim of people like the 15 investors mentioned in this article? I don't trust them and I don't trust the Stock Market, the World's Largest Casino.

Latest Letter to Editor

2005-04-11T13:42:00.000-05:00

Bad Title, but here's my latest...

Securing My Name on the Next List

2005-04-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

There's an update on the Fargo Forty issue. Another article from the Fargo Forum about a formal request for an investigation.

Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Secretary of the Treasury John Snow on Friday asking them to investigate the development and distribution of the black lists, including one that surfaced in Fargo.

Updates will follow.

Thomas Paine

2005-04-11T13:17:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of James Wolcott, quotes from Thomas Paine.

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

"I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise. They have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving: it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."

--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

I guess Thomas Paine doesn't understand "values."

Post Birthday Sluggishness

2005-04-07T09:37:00.000-05:00

No posting the last few days due to me taking FiddyCent's suggestion and partying like it's my birthday. Luckily for me it was (April 5). The last couple days have been spent alternately between sleeping and wishing I was sleeping.

I don't think I(or you)'ve missed much. I'll return with some very useful insight at some later date.

RIP Pope John Paul II

2005-04-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

I don't really have anything to say about the passing of our latest pope, JP II. I have plenty of beef with the Catholic Church, but him specifically? I don't really know anything about him or his teachings/causes. But, Josh Marshall, via Atrios, has an interesting take on the CNN piece describing poll numbers regarding who Catholics want as their next pope.

It highlights an important point (2-points) about religion, and that is that your average religious/pious person likes the idea of being religious, believing in an organized religion to make that belief in the Other (or God or whatever you wish to call it) "official" in some capacity, much as a person that considers him/herself an intellectual may wish to go to college and get that degree to make their desire for knowledge officially recognized. However, when the deeds and positions of the Church are brought out in full view and examined, the Church represents a lot of interests that are not held by its parishoners, the Catholic church in particular.

But, as Reverand Rumsfeld famously noted, you worship at the Church you have, not the Church you wish you had.

Good Articles

2005-04-01T15:43:00.000-06:00

Sorry, this is for Salon subscribers, but check out this piece by Juan Cole, on how America is not only NOT a 100% Christian nation, but it is demographically moving away from that at a consistent pace.

Via Atrios, check out this article titled "Sen. Lautenberg rebukes DeLay over Schiavo remarks." It appears that DeLay's remarks regarding the judges' decisions in this case could easily be interpreted as threats against a federal judge, a felony offense.

More Salon fare: Here's an excellent commentary by Bill Maher about the problems with Abstinance-only sex-education that's being constantly pushed by the Bushies and the Christian Far-Right, at the expense of the health and well-being of our citizens. It's titled "Abstinence pledges suck -- literally" and here's how it starts:

New Rule: Abstinence pledges make you horny. A new eight-year study just released reveals that American teenagers who take "virginity" pledges of the sort so favored by the Bush administration wind up with just as many STDs as the other kids.

But that's not all -- taking the pledges also makes a teenage girl six times more likely to perform oral sex, and a boy four times more likely to get anal. Which leads me to an important question: where were these pledges when I was in high school?

Via Atrios (again), More on DeLay from DailyKos.

The Fargo Forty

2005-04-01T10:36:00.000-06:00

One of the things that makes me want to Define the Center is that I have been branded by the Republicans as a threat to the President. You see, I was among those that were listed on the do-not-admit list for the President's visit to Fargo, ND because I belong to the local Democracy for America chapter, Democracy for Fargo-Moorhead. I also wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper criticizing the Bush Administration.

Democracy for America is a wonderful group that was started by Howard Dean (initially titled Dean for America, changed after he dropped his candidacy for President) that focuses on supporting and finding economically conservative, socially liberal candidates to run for state/local offices. It's truly an organization that the Founding Fathers would absolutely love because it encourages civic involvement.

This was not an isolated incident during Bush's Social Security propaganda trip. This just happened to three people in Denver that belonged to the Denver Progressives group, and now Rep. Earl Pomeroy wants an investigation into this.

The other point I want to make is that Howard Dean is actually closer to the center than most candidates...in fact, in my mind, he defines the center. In Vermont, he balanced the budget and gave health care to all children under 18. Sure it's a small state, but it's the principle, right? Socially progressive, economically conservative. That's the mix, if you ask me.

If Howard Dean can get painted as a leftie-liberal-loonie, that is only possible with a complicit media. They don't necessarily have to belive that he is, but they provide the megaphone for the right-wing fringey people to define who he is. That has to stop.

Hopefully Big Eddie will help.

Tom DeLay is the Face of the GOP

2005-04-01T10:29:00.000-06:00

Here's an excellent post by Josh Marshall about the Tom DeLay situation. Here's the key to the post:

When DeLay says 'bring it on' to his critics and marshals the full host of movement conservatism to defend him, I can't imagine that worries his critics a wink. I don't say that because these folks are impotent or can't raise a ruckus; they can. It is rather that in purely partisan terms the aim of the people leading the charge against DeLay is to raise his profile, to make him the face of the Republican majority on capitol hill -- with all his full measure of snarl, extremity and venality.(emphasis added by me)
[...]
When Democrats go corrupt, they betray their principles. And certainly it's happened enough times. With someone like DeLay, there are no principles to betray. It's just money and power from the git-go. And really that means just power. A cash-and-carry operation.

DeLay is way, way out there on the fringe of political thought, but not in any earnest way. He just thinks it plays well for political purposes. I truly don't believe he has any conviction. Power is the end, any means are at his disposal, including using a dying woman as a prop for his sanctimonious blather. And all the moderate, reasonable Republicans are being taken for a ride to apologize for this disgusting human being that runs their entire House operation.

Poor Republicans.

Civil Disobedience or Foolishness?

2005-04-01T09:01:00.000-06:00

So somebody decided to pour salad dressing all over arch-paleo-conservative Pat Buchanan at a speaking engagement at Western Michigan University. This is days after the neo-conservative, Weekly Standard editor-in-chief Bill Kristol took a pie in the face while speaking at Earlham College in Richmond, Virginia. Ann Coulter got the pie treatment back in November and was heckled just this week.

These guys are way, way out there on the right-wing, and I don't know if this is the most appropriate way of identifying them, but it is effective.

Yes, Ann Coulter is a guy.

RIP Terry Schiavo

2005-03-31T09:28:00.000-06:00

Sorry we kept you alive for so long. Sorry we used you as a pawn for our disingenuous, faux-sanctimonious posturing.

Joe Scarborough was by far the most disgusting whore in this whole matter. James Wolcott takes him to task here. Scarborough showed complete contempt for the truth, jumping on the bandwagon to pander to the Religious Right. If you have access, watch these videos. Christopher Hitchens takes him to task, summing up by saying, "You should be ashamed of the show you are running". Also watch Dr. Ronald Cranford demonstrate Scarborough's utter ignorance of the most basic facts. Jesus is watching you, Joe.

And what the hell was Jesse Jackson doing there in the last few days. Fresh off his radio interview with Michael Jackson he's down in Florida for his photo-op with Jeb Bush and the parents. Didn't Jesse Jackson used to have a point? And Nader? What the hell was he doing down there? Is he an M.D. now?

Why does it seem that our most reasoned, informed public discourse comes from comedy shows? The Daily Show's treatment of the matter was spot on. In fact, the most earnest debate played out in the latest South Park episode.

UPDATE: Here's a post about the South Park episode I mentioned.

What's Going On?

2005-03-29T12:36:00.000-06:00

Krugman commenting on religion overstepping the rule of law.

And the future seems all too likely to bring more intimidation in the name of God and more political intervention that undermines the rule of law.

The religious right is already having a big impact on education: 31 percent of teachers surveyed by the National Science Teachers Association feel pressured to present creationism-related material in the classroom.

Faith and Belief triumph over Reason and Science.

Secularism vs. Pluralism

2005-03-28T14:33:00.000-06:00

This blog didn't start this way, but I'm beginning to think that it's going to be focused on the way religion is most contorting the way we define the center. Not religion per se, but by the co-opting that the Republicans have engaged in to justify their selfish ends in terms of religion. Well-meaning (but ignorant) religious people around the country don't bother looking into Tom DeLay's rank hypocracy and ethical violations; they simply know that he quotes Bible verses with ease, and loves poor Terry Schiavo as Jesus would. But, it turns out that he and his family decided to pull the plug on their father in an almost identical set of circumstances. DeLay was in his third term in the House then. He chose to make this decision, along with his family, in private as they should. He didn't suggest legislation to put a stay on this Family Decision. But, now he's looking for sympathy from anywhere he can get it in order to distract from his ethical violations.

I can't imagine how Tom DeLay's sleazy, hypocritical career vaulted him into his current spot as House Majority Leader. The only explanation I can muster is his efforts to co-opt Jesus and make his constituents believe that he'll be doing God's work while in the House, thereby innoculating himself from investigation or criticism. Kinda like how the Pope and the Catholic Church dominated the politics of Europe.

You wouldn't second guess Jesus, would you?

Now, all of that being said, I am not arguing for a secular society; I recognize that it is impossible and not necessarily a good thing. I'm arguing for a pluralist society. You can't allow your personal religious beliefs to infringe on another's religious belief, or his/her belief that there is no God. Especially if you're in charge of making the laws that we all have to live with.

The secularism vs. pluralism meme was offered by Reza Aslan on Meet the Press last Sunday, as an explanation of the difference between democracy and theocracy. Check the transcript and look at what Aslan says. Here's the key point, I think:

It's perfectly natural for religion to have an influence in politics. I mean, I think that the difference between a democracy and a theocracy is not secularism but pluralism. The problem with Iran is a lack of pluralism, a lack of religious freedoms.

I would have previously argued that religion has absolutely no place in politics, but I think that is unattainable, and in no way, inherently good. Religion has a place as a moral foundation for our laws. But, we must recognize that Religion is merely a projection of some inherently human need to look after each other and promote things that are for the common good. It should not be used to divide us, but that seems to be the sole reason that pukes like DeLay use religious rhetoric.

This has to stop for Christ's sake. And ours.

Easter Sunday Reflections

2005-03-28T01:02:00.000-06:00

What defines the border, the line, and hence the center (since the space of ideas is infinite), between mysticism and religion? Is it bureaucracy? Organization? Money? Numbers? Message? Malleability? Intensity? What's the driving force behind religion's meddling in civic affairs?

My bet is on money. No, money is the lubricant. The lust for money may be the motive, but it's not alone the answer. It must be control. Control of the message, and therefore, society and the economy. The mullahs, Dub-sack's administration, Putin...it's all focused on controlling the message and the conventional wisdom, and the framing of the issues...you need the trump card of religion. You need that sledgehammer that can control the scene and implement your aims without review. All because God told you that you were right, or that you should do this, that, or the other thing. Or it's from a book that dates back to 2000-some-odd-years. Is it control, for control's sake?

And what about prayer? Consider the futility of praying for a certain team to win. It’s simply ridiculous, but well meaning moms across the world engage in this behavior. Both side’s advocates pray, one team loses. God's judgment? What about, upon hearing your friend’s tragic tale of a family member having tuberculosis or some shit and you say, “oh, Auntie So-and-So is in our prayers?” Well, what if she still dies? Does that mean you’re not one of the chosen, because your prayers weren’t answered? Does it mean that Auntie So-and-So died because she’s not one of the chosen? Of course not. That’s nonsense. He's not a damn genie.

She died, or the team won, because there is nature, there is reality, the physical world. We, as actors in this environment, are subject the frailties of our bodies and of our minds. We can hope and pray, but God does not micro-manage our affairs to the degree that prayer is relevant if you think you will actually get your wish simply because you prayed. He's not a damn genie. Prayer is merely a comfort. I take that back.

Positive attitudes, positive thoughts, I do believe are able to influence our reality. But they are truly in the realm of human affairs, a test of our ability to co-exist and not hate each other, and not be disgusted by each other; the ability to truly forgive each other for transgressions and weaknesses. We all share them.

You can believe in a benevolent, creative force behind our universe. I tend to feel that way. But he doesn't micro-manage. He's set this whole wheel in motion and he's going to let it all play out, come what may, and love you the whole way. There is no death or hell. This is spring training for the big leagues when we're interstellar, and self actualized.

Politics of Torture

2005-03-24T11:35:00.000-06:00

Which side of the political divide do supporters of terrorism fall on? Under this President and Republican leadership we've seen the most egregious disregard for the sanctity of human life. Thomas Friedmann, in today's column for the New York Times, expresses the outrage at the recent report that 26 Iraqi and Afghan POWs were killed while in American custody.

Yes, I know war is hell and ugliness abounds in every corner. I also understand that in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, we are up against a vicious enemy, which, if it had the power, would do great harm to our country. You do not deal with such people with kid gloves. But killing prisoners of war, presumably in the act of torture, is an inexcusable outrage. The fact that Congress has just shrugged this off, and no senior official or officer has been fired, is a travesty. This administration is for "ownership" of everything except responsibility.

The old saying that it's never the crime, it's always the coverup that gets you. This Administration is taking responsibility in a de facto sense by not investigating this and trying to stop it.

So, how can you be for a "culture of life" when your party is in control and these things keep happening over and over?

Republicans/Delay Stay Out

2005-03-24T08:56:00.000-06:00

I am far too sick of this Terri Schiavo "debate", but I thought I should weigh in on how the Republicans show that they're thumb is not firmly planted on the pulse of this great nation. Even though the polling data shows that Americans believe Congress should not be involved this matter. Not only that, but with respect to her condition, 87% of Americans say that if they were in Schiavo's state that they would want their feeding tube removed.

So is House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, completely melting down now, trying to conflate his situation to Terri Schiavo's? Here's a sample:

This is exactly the kind of issue that's going on in America, that attacks against the conservative moment, against me and against many others. The point is, the other side has figured out how to win and to defeat the conservative movement, and that is to go after people personally, charge them with frivolous charges, link up with all these do-gooder organizations funded by George Soros, and then get the national media on their side...when they can knock out a leader, then no other leader will step forward for a while, because they don't want to go through the same thing. If they go after and get a pastor, then other pastors shrink from what they should be doing. It forces Christians back into the church. That's what's going on in America. The world is too bad and I'm going to get inside this building and I'm not going to play in the world. That's not what Christ asked us to do.

Where in the Bible does Jesus say that Christians should be running the government? It must be next to the passage where he denounces Universal Health Care, and advocates cutting Veterans' benefits, running crippling federal deficits, undermining international institutions and lying about reasons to go to war.

Genesis

2005-03-23T01:44:00.000-06:00

This has been created from a wild thought less than ten minutes ago. The main point is: Who defines the center? If so much of our life is devoted to politics and seeing new angles, we must still acknowledge the validity of the right/left blue/red divisions that exist in our culture. But. in the terms of my liberal/democrat/activist/progressive agenda, what I've realized is that the right has been the group who refined the center. When Howard Dean can be characterized as a far-left candidate, you know that the climate has changed. Attention spans are nanotacular right now. We have to seize upon this by redefining the center to our own activist goals. Smell it. It is here. You want me to instigate the following feelings into you? How about guilt, suffering, questionable origins of political clout? How about pandering to your religious desires but not following through? Where's the Gay Marriage Amendment? Where's the overturn of Roe v. Wade? Do they really give a shit about your poor ass? I think you're ready, you just aren't reading my blog. So who am I kidding?