Message to John Kerry: Go away

What he said.

Not to mention, spare us the opposition to the Iraq war crap. When it counted you couldn't find a coherent position on the damn war when your political life depended on it. Now you're our hero?

And, oh yeah. Once you get over your gratuitous anti-gay crap, then we'll talk. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Almost forgot.



Another pic of mine from the NY orchid show. I think this is a masdevallia. I don't grow them because they're not that easy. But they very very cool looking. Enjoy. Read More......

Open thread

Ah yes, the sounds of straight drunk people yelling in the night. Must be summer in DC. Read More......

If it's late Friday, it's time to admit US military abused the Koran

UPDATE: I've just updated this story. It looks to me like we just caught the military in a lie. See what I wrote below, but why did they reprimand a guard for what they're claiming wasn't his fault, i.e., the urine episode? Because they're lying to us.

Honey, I kicked the Koran.

Now the Bush administration is admitting a guard kicked a Koran and "accidentally" splashed urine on it. How exactly do you accidentally splash urine on a holy book? Apparently there are magical winds in Cuba that were able to waft the urine through air vents from a man peeing, and then amazingly deposit the urine in a prison cell on top of a Koran. Truly magical winds.

Think I'm kidding - this is what the military is claiming:

In the incident involving urine, which took place this past March, Southern Command said a guard left his post and urinated near an air vent and "the wind blew his urine through the vent" and into a cell block.

It said a detainee told guards the urine "splashed on him and his Koran." The statement said the detainee was given a new prison uniform and Koran, and that the guard was reprimanded and given duty in which he had no contact with prisoners.

Of course, this is interesting. Why did the military reprimand the guard if the wind simply blew his urine onto the Koran? That's not a basis for a reprimand. What's going on here? Was it intentional or not? The military clearly is saying it was not intentional, but then they reprimanded the guard? For what? Sloppy urination?

Funny we find out about this on a Friday night at 7:45pm.

AP has a more detailed report on this:

The Pentagon on Friday confirmed for the first time that a U.S. soldier deliberately kicked a Guantanamo Bay prisoner's Muslim holy book in violation of the military's rules for handling the Quran.

In other confirmed incidents, prison guards threw water balloons in a cell block, causing an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet; a guard's urine splashed on a detainee and his Quran; an interrogator stepped on a Quran during an interrogation; and a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran.

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Laughing stock Spokane Mayor West of boygate does live press conference NOW

UPDATE: Watch the video - it seems there's a "bullshit" cough at one point!

See it recorded online here.

What a pig. He's staying on the job. Thinking of filing suit against the newspapers who outed him as a 54 year old who tricks with 18 year old boys while supporting incredibly anti-gay legislation, and who allegedly trades sex for jobs with those boys.

Q: "Legal or not, is sex with 18 year olds appropriate behavior for the mayor of Spokan?"

A: "I have never engaged in anything with anybody under age."

Just a little reminder of the history of this controversy:

- Spokane Mayor West accused of sodomizing 6th grade boy

- New allegations about Spokane Mayor West, the one who likes 18 year old boys

- FBI investigating Anti-Gay Mayor West

- Mayor West to take leave of absence -- with updates

- The Task Force calls on Mayor West to Resign

- More dirt on anti-gay Mayor West

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PA County Leader Dumps the GOP

MyDD has the story. County Commissioner Andy Warren, the longest serving elected official in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, quit the GOP last weekend.

Okay, to many this may not sound all that interesting...I mean, who cares what some local pol in Bucks County does? As Tip O'Neill opined "all politics is local."

Bucks County is a wealthy, suburban/exurban county outside Philadelphia....the quintessential swing part of the state. Local elected officials are the closest to the reality of what is going on in their communities. He left the GOP because it's too extreme. And, he trashed the freshmen Congressman, Mike Fitzpatrick, to the local paper:

"Personally, I like Mike Fitzpatrick and believe him to be a very engaging gentleman," Warren wrote. "Politically, our philosophies are poles apart. I believe he is far more a 'DeLay disciple' than a representative of Bucks County residents."

Fitzpatrick was unavailable for comment.

His chief of staff, Mike Conallen, however, disputed that Fitzpatrick is under DeLay's thumb.

"One only has to look at his voting record to see that he has demonstrated independence," Conallen said. "Congressman Fitzpatrick has differed starkly with Majority Leader DeLay."

You gotta love it when GOP members of Congress are trying to run from DeLay. They own DeLay...and we can't let any of them off the hook for that. Read More......

State GOP leader demands Mayor West resign over boygate

Put a fork in him.

Mayor Jim West, returning from a conference in Tampa, Fla., touched down at Spokane International Airport Thursday night in the midst of a storm of controversy following calls this week from his city council and political party leadership for him to resign from office.

West has scheduled a news conference Friday at 5 p.m. and says he will answer questions about the sex scandal that has resulted in numerous calls for him to step down.

The state Republican Party and Spokane County GOP leaders Thursday demanded that West, once one of the party’s top elected officials, resign in the wake of allegations that he molested juveniles and misused his office.

West has said he will fight allegations of sexual abuse, and will not resign.

Read More......

Religious Right Folds on Disney Boycott After Nine Fruitless Years

In classic Orwellian fashion, the far right hate group American Family Association is ending its boycott of Disney and declaring success just a few days before the 15th Annual Gay Day pumps millions into Disney's theme parks. AFA president Tim Wildmon said the boycott had been a huge success.

Oh, of course it has. Disney sent the career of out lesbian Ellen Degeneres soaring with its massive popular hit Finding Nemo. Now Ellen is a daytime talk show fixture and Emmy winner beloved by moms and kids everywhere. Disney's family friendly summer movie "Herbie: Fully Loaded" was directed by another out lesbian. And ABC is reaping the rewards of TV's biggest new hit "Desperate Housewives," which has given a huge boost to its ratings thanks to its out creator Marc Cherry and steamy storylines about moms sleeping with (very hot) teenage gardeners and other high school guys who are gay and/or experimenting just to drive their moms crazy. Yep, that boycott is going swimmingly -- they've certainly changed Disney's behavior.

Why don't they just boycott America and be done with it? Read More......

Big lefty consulting firm, Convio, working for anti-gay hate group in violation of its own non-discrimination policy

I've wondered for a while how the big lefty non-profits could hire consultants who work with right-wing hate groups at the same time that the lefties are pouring out their innermost secrets to these same consultants.

Convio, a big Internet consulting firm in DC, worked on Howard Dean's campaign among other big lefty clients. Well, now they're working for the Alliance for Marriage, the lead group of anti-gay religious right bigots trying to write us out of the US Constitution.

According to yesterday's Washington Post:

With an Internet store and online fundraising and advocacy, to say nothing of 1 million free bumper stickers, the Alliance for Marriage is trying to build up support for its proposed constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.....

[Alliance for Marriage president Matt] Daniels said AFM is also working with Convio Inc. for online fundraising and advocacy services to build up its army of citizen-lobbyists. Convio helped Democrat Howard Dean raise millions of dollars online and recruit large numbers of supporters for his presidential bid.

"They gave us an excellent deal," Daniels said of Convio. "Convio allows us to reach, motivate and retain supporters using online communication, fundraising, team-building and advocacy tools."

Well, Convio, here's a bumper sticker: Fuck you.

And actually, Convio deserves an even bigger fuck you for claiming on its Web site that it doesn't work for clients who "promote prejudice and hate." Oh, so writing gays out of the Constitution, trying to rescind every single civil rights protection on the planet for gays, isn't promoting hate and prejudice?

Fuck. You. And fuck every non-profit in this city that dares touch your company in the future. Though I don't think, after this, any lefty non-profit will ever have the nerve to work with Convio ever again (because if they do, they'll be publicly savaged - you should see the emails that are flying around DC about this scandal).

For its part, Convio has a "Right to Be Heard Policy" on its Web site, explaining that it provides Internet software and services equally to law-abiding nonprofit organizations, regardless of their missions, issues and positions. The company said it does not advocate on behalf of its clients and noted that it "does not work with groups that promote prejudice and hate even if they are in full compliance with the law."

From Convio's site:

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Romney adviser: Psyche!

This is getting good.

``[Romney's] been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly,'' Michael Murphy is quoted as saying in the cover story of the not-yet-released June 20 issue of National Review.

Murphy said he was misunderstood.

``The quote in the National Review article was not what I meant to communicate,'' he wrote on the letterhead of his Washington-based firm yesterday. ``I was discussing a characterization the governor's critics use. I regret the quote and any confusion it might have caused.''

Ah, so what you really said was:

Romney's been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly, is something I'd say if I were from the kingdom of liars.

Uh huh. Romney ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994, claiming he was just as pro-gay as Ted Kennedy. He even had the gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans on his side. But then, suddenly, Romney decides he wants to run for president and needs to be a Christian conservative to get elected (even though he's a Mormon - can't wait to see the religious right elect a Mormon as prez, yeah that'll be the day). So, suddenly Romney is Mr. Family Values Defender. Uh huh.

He's pro-gay, he's anti-gay. He's pro-life, he's pro-choice, he's pro-life again! The incredibly changing Massachusetts politician. Anyone else think this sounds awfully familiar? Read More......

60 Minutes Sunday -- Military Lawyers Denounce Show Trials for Guantanamo Bay Suspects

A new report by Ed Bradley airing on "60 Minutes" this Sunday at 7 p.m., reinforces the obvious with new interviews of the military lawyers assigned to defend Guantanamo Bay suspects. They're quoted at length that the strictures in place -- keeping evidence hidden from defendants, admitting hearsay and rumour, make a mockery of our legal system and virtually impossible for them to mount a fair defense.

And of course, the trial really is a complete joke since even if someone is found innocent, they'll most likely be thrown right back in their cell -- and if they're found guilty, they'll serve their time...and still remain locked up.

“If [my client] Salim wins, does he get anything?" asks Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift. "No, he goes back to the same cell, so it seems awfully a lot for show, doesn’t it?" Read More......

Mitt Romney's been "faking it"....Liar...

No surprise that a GOP politician is a liar and a fraud. The surprise is that anyone close to them would admit it. But for Mitt Romney, that happened. It's reported in today's Boston Globe:

Governor Mitt Romney's top political strategist has told a prominent conservative magazine that his client has been ''faking" his support of abortion rights in Massachusetts.

''He's been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly," Romney adviser Michael Murphy told the National Review in a cover story hitting newstands today titled ''Matinee Mitt."

A lying liar. It's the perfect qualification to be a GOP presidential candidate. Read More......

Bush wrapped up in Ohio's Coin-gate Scandal...

Well, this Ohio GOP coin-gate story has gone national.

Today's Toledo Blade reports that Bush is returning the direct contribution his campaign received from Tom Noe and his wife. That's $4,000. However, the Bush campaign isn't giving back all the money Noe raised...and Noe was a "Bush Pioneer." That fundraising by Noe is currently the subject of a federal grand jury investigation (which is getting really interesting as you will see below):

President Bush will return $4,000 in campaign contributions donated by Toledo area coin dealer Tom Noe and his wife, officials said yesterday.

A spokesman said the Republican National Committee will also return $2,000 contributed by Mr. Noe, who is facing multiple investigations for allegedly misappropriating at least $10 million in state money and possible federal campaign finance violations. The money will be refunded to charity.

But President Bush will not — at least for now — return more than $100,000 raised by Mr. Noe for his re-election bid last year, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the RNC. Democrats continue to call on the President to return all of the “tainted” money raised by Mr. Noe.

Follow the money...wasn't that what Deep Throat said?

And, it sures looks like that money Noe raised for Bush might not be legit according to today's Plain Dealer:

H. Douglas Talbott, a former top aide to two Ohio governors, told federal authorities that Republican coin dealer Tom Noe persuaded him to contribute $2,000 to President Bush's re-election campaign - then reimbursed him for the donation, The Plain Dealer has learned.

Talbott appeared Wednesday before a federal grand jury in Toledo that is investigating whether Noe illegally reimbursed as many as two dozen contributors to a Bush fund-raiser in October 2003. The grand jury is looking into whether Noe made the reimbursements to circumvent campaign finance laws, which limit individual contributions to $2,000.

Um....if that's what happened, it's illegal. We've got a full-blown, national GOP scandal going now. Read More......

Two words: Man Whore

Silly silly right-wing bloggers. Will you never learn that the problem with JeffJames GannonGuckert wasn't that he was a conservative. It was that he had no background whatsoever in journalism, yet claimed to be a reporter. Worked for a pseudo news service, yet claimed to be a newsman. Worked as a $200 an hour prostitute, yet was granted access to the White House 200 times over a two year period on a DAY pass and access to the president. And on and on and on.

Of course, we understand how it's easier for you guys to claim that your man-whore was vilified for simply leaning right than to admit the truth - that your man-whore wasn't a real journalist and was, well, a man-whore. But couldn't you do a better job of defending yourselves than always elevating GG as your pinnacle of victimhood? I mean, come on guys. Even you hacks can find a better hero than a plagiarizing gay Republican prostitute. (I'm sure there's got to be some octogenarian Nazi war criminal still alive in Bolivia.) Read More......

Where's Our Deep Throat?

Numerous accounts of the unmasking of Deep Throat have pointed out one incontrovertible fact -- if he hadn't come forward and fed Woodward and Bernstein info and prodded them along, the Watergate story would probably have died and Nixon's misdeeds might never have come to light.

Here's my question: where the hell is our Deep Throat, someone in the government who will risk their careers by either coming forward publicly or giving hard evidence to respected journalists?

Where is one general, just ONE general who will resign and speak out because they know it goes against everything America stands for to mock the Geneva Convention, risk future mistreatment of American soldiers by our enemies and simply lacks human decency to treat human beings the way we're treating prisoners by shipping them off for torture when we're not doing it ourselves?

Where is one general to resign or at least provide evidence to put the lie to Cheney and Rumsfeld's claims that it is absurd to criticize our treatment of prisoners (most of whom we've acknowledged have no useful intelligence and are basically innocent).

Where is one general to resign and say Bush's mistreatment of the National Guard etc is endangering the future security of our country? That we have and do need more soldiers on the ground in Iraq as suicide bombings and the insurgency grow week by week?

Where is one White House official sickened by Bush's paying off of journalists and calculating manipulation of the media who will slip info to journalists about who planted Jim Guckert/Jeff Gannon in the press room as a stooge to throw softball questions at the president?

Where is one US official who will release the US equivalent of the Downing Street memo that will prove the smoking gun confirming Bush cooked the evidence to back up the invasion of Iraq he'd been planning all along?

What scandal that has dropped of the radar do YOU wish someone in government would have the courage to rekindle? Read More......

Open Thread

Raining in DC....and my dog just won't go out in the rain.

What's going on? Read More......

White House quiet about Syrian SCUD missile tests

Now why would the White House say nothing about the May 27 SCUD missile tests that Syria launched? One of the missiles even broke apart in Turkey, showering villages with debris. Isreal leaked this information because they too were wondering why nothing has been said about this aggressive test. Could it be that this doesn not fit with the talking points of the administration about a safer Middle East? Hard to say, but hell, even with the daily disastors in Iraq Bush and Cheney are still telling us it's getting better so reality doesn't seem to enter the debate with these people. Read More......

A new Europe or not?

Plenty of aspiring EU countries are wondering where they stand after two sound defeats for the EU constitution and at best, they're going to be stuck in this dead zone for at least a few years while the EU member states figure out where to go next. Adding eastern European countries doesn't bother me and whether or not they are in or out, traditional manufacturing jobs from western Europe are going there one way or another. The values issue may be a bit different with religion being much more popular and conservative in the east as compared to the west.

Turkey is the largest issue moving forward and I don't think I would bet anything on their addition any time soon. Turkey raises so many issues that I just don't see any EU politician brave enough to push for their membership. Europeans are a lot more racist than they recognize or like to admit and for many, the idea of adding a Muslim country to a region with Christian roots is just too much. There are enough radical right extremists in Europe to swing a vote on this issue alone. Perhaps the bigger fear is adding a country of 70 Million (and growing quickly) to the mix. Germany currently stands at around 80 Million, France at 60M, UK 60M, Poland 38M so adding in such a large voting block is bound to cause difficulties because it is a dilution of power no matter how you look at it.

For the time being, I'm not expecting any change any time soon and Europe will continue to be a rudderless ship. It looks like the "reflection" period will be lasting for some time. Read More......

Gays Can Be Cured! At Least, Gay Fruit Flies Can!

That's a headline some have feared for years -- would science find a "gay" gene? One that parents could search for and abort a fetus before it's born (the way people around the world abort baby girls) or perhaps just "fix?' Many took comfort in the knowledge that scientists believed something as complex as sexual orientation would be derived from many factors and not just one lone gene.

Well, the New York Times reports in an experiment on fruit flies ...

That one gene, the researchers are announcing today in the journal Cell, is apparently by itself enough to create patterns of sexual behavior - a kind of master sexual gene that normally exists in two distinct male and female variants.

In a series of experiments, the researchers found that females given the male variant of the gene acted exactly like males in courtship, madly pursuing other females. Males that were artificially given the female version of the gene became more passive and turned their sexual attention to other males.

"We have shown that a single gene in the fruit fly is sufficient to determine all aspects of the flies' sexual orientation and behavior," said the paper's lead author, Dr. Barry Dickson, senior scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. "It's very surprising.

"What it tells us is that instinctive behaviors can be specified by genetic programs, just like the morphologic development of an organ or a nose."

The results are certain to prove influential in debates about whether genes or environment determine who we are, how we act and, especially, our sexual orientation, although it is not clear now if there is a similar master sexual gene for humans.

Humans are much more complicated, of course. And one should point out these are FRUIT flies we're talking about, after all. But is this a positive development? (See, it is genetic!) Or is it negative? (See, it can be cured!)

Actually, it's neither -- it's simply an apparent advance in human knowledge, one that could be confirmed or clarified or proven misleading down the road. Yes, people can abuse science or jump to silly conclusions based on one study. But only fools fear finding out the world is round or circles the sun or that the earth is more than 50,000 years old, etc. Let's leave fear and hatred of science to the fundies.

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