Scalia asked at NYU if he sodomizes his wife - Can anyone get the video?

Actually, it's a fair question. Scalia is the one who complained in his dissent in Lawrence v. Texas (the case overturning state sodomy laws) that now states could no longer regulate things like sodomy and masturbation. It's thus a fair question to ask him if he himself does something that he thinks should be a crime. Or is this yet another case of conservatives wanting to regulate OUR lives while their own are off-limits?

And seriously, can anyone get the video of this, or audio, if it exists? Read More......

Late night open thread

And here I wanted to watch that "Revelations" apocalypse thing on NBC, but of course, I can't get NBC on my Starpower cable - who knows why. Fortunately, it's on the other channels later in the week. I know it's supposed to be horrible - but aren't shows like that supposed to be horrible? It's what makes them so special. And in any case, I want to see if the religious right really ends up being the anti-Christ right before the world blows up (it's just a hunch). Read More......

What if Dick Cheney held a town meeting and nobody was allowed in?

Another fake "town meeting" from Bush-Cheney. I guess having REAL people at a "town meeting" on social security would entail, uh, having Dick Cheney actually talk to REAL Americans, which is, I guess, a bad thing.

At some point the media needs to stop covering these events until they become real town meetings where real people can actually go. Read More......

JJGG thinks his life is in danger

Drama Queen, much?

From his eponymous - well, pseudonymous-eponymous - Web site:

Peace-loving liberal thugs

Is it any wonder why I was concerned about the security arrangements at the National Press Club? In the green room that morning, one of the panelists suggested that if an attack occurred I should "take it well." Thanks Wonkette, but we don't even tell rape victims to do that anymore.

Misguided attackers be advised: I know how to defend myself and I guarantee you'll regret finding out how good at it I am.

First, I doubt Wonkette was suggesting that if you get raped, you should take it well. Second, um, honey, those photos of you were obviously of a younger man - why exactly do you think someone would want to rape you? And third, you link to an article about people throwing pies at conservatives. Now, I'm not really a fan of the pie-throwing, because I can see how it could scare someone. But still, that's hardly akin to rape.

Bzzzzzzzzzz... that's the buzzer. Your fifteen minutes are up. Read More......

Open thread

Nap time :-) Read More......

What about Poland?

Not so much. Read More......

Reason #147 to count to ten before sending an angry email

This is an email the Center for American Progress just received from, apparently, a Republican city council member in Tom DeLay's district. And, oh yeah - the guy is a Baptist Deacon.

Hey ass hole [sic]. Tom Delay happens to be my congresman [sic] and I am happy with the job he does for me and my district. Why don’t you get the F@&* out of our district and leave us alone. Better yet, come speak to me personally and I will show you what I think of you.

Kevin Cole
Pealrand [sic], TX
[Cell Phone # Redacted]

Read More......

Religious right leader James Dobson compares US Supreme Court justices to the KKK

If that isn't hate speech, I don't know what is.

DOBSON (talking about the Supreme Court): I heard a minister the other day talking about the great injustice and evil of the men in white robes, the Ku Klux Klan, that roamed the country in the South, and they did great wrong to civil rights and to morality. And now we have black-robed men, and that's what you're talking about.

Nope, nothing inspiring hatred against judges there, move right along.

And oh yeah, where is Senator Frist's and President Bush's condemnation of this horrific attack on the Supreme Court justices, most of whom were appointed by Republicans and some of whom were even appointed by Ronald Reagan? Did Ronald Reagan appoint Klansmen to the US Supreme Court? Gosh, we may have to take his name off of that airport and all those buildings. Read More......

Why do Republicans hate Republicans?

DeLay better know he's in trouble when Newt Gingrich criticizes him! Read More......

Open thread

Off to NYC on Friday for the international orchid show - woo woo! I know, kinda gay. But I liked them before I knew it was kinda gay, if that helps. Read More......

Drug-abuser Rush Limbaugh's fixation with BJs

What a sad, pathetic man. (This is from yesterday's show, talking about Al Gore's new TV network.) Read More......

GOP heading for Nuclear Option Showdown

It's coming faster than originally thought according to today's New York Times:

Senior lawmakers and party officials said that while Republican leaders had been expected to put off any confrontation over Senate rules until next month at the earliest, they might now force a confrontation within the next two weeks.(that's my added emphasis)

The reasons for the rush?

Frist is getting enormous pressure from the right wing nuts....yes, those same people who last week had a conference calling for mass impeachment of judges, claimed there is no independent judiciary and invoked Stalinist techniques to "solve" the problem which was reported in last Saturday's Washington Post story about the "Remedies to Judicial Tyranny" conference. That whole article is worth a read, but this was the most bizarre and frightening excerpt:

Not to be outdone, lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering that [Justice] Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law."

Ominously, Vieira continued by saying his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. "He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,' " Vieira said.

The full Stalin quote, for those who don't recognize it, is "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem." Presumably, Vieira had in mind something less extreme than Stalin did and was not actually advocating violence. But then, these are scary times for the judiciary. An anti-judge furor may help confirm President Bush's judicial nominees, but it also has the potential to turn ugly.

So, that's who Frist is letting set the GOP agenda these days. And in the Senate, Ricky Santorum is leading the charge according to today's NY Times:

Among those pushing for the change is Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, No. 3 in the Republican leadership.

"I am concerned that a partisan minority of Democrats are threatening to shut down the Senate if Republicans act to restore Senate tradition for simple majority votes" on nominations to the bench, Mr. Santorum said. "Their rhetoric is out of control and counterproductive."

Um, Ricky, your colleagues and advocates are talking violence against judges. They are threatening judges with impeachment and worse. In the real world, that's the kind of rhetoric which is "out of control and counterproductive." And, Ricky, you and Frist and the rest of your colleagues are inciting and inflaming the craziness with the nuclear option. Read More......

Open Thread

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

Afghan opium war jumps out of the gate and stumbles

Hmm, it seems the battle against opium is not quite as successful as Condi and others would like us to believe. On the first day US mercenaries, oh sorry I forgot they are now called US security personnel, led the operation to cut down poppy before the harvest in what was supposed to be the easy going town of Maiwand. Unfortunately the operation was greeted by burning tires and heavy gunfire, perhaps with assistance from Taliban fighters.

Locals are complaining that small farmers are being singled out while big farmers who are connected to the warlords have free reign to grow and produce opium. If this is how the operation is starting, it's going to be interesting to see how the campaign goes in unfriendly territory. I'm sure Condi will be on the news keeping us briefed on it though, so no need to try and follow the story in the press. Read More......

Anheuser-Busch say "no" to biotech rice

AB has been battered in recent years and if they were to accept rice from the state of Missouri who is making every effort to suck up to Ventria Biosciences, who knows how big of a cliff they could fall off of when that news got out. Ventria was sent packing from California after local farmers worried about the financial impact of international boycotts of rice grown in the same area as biotech rice. The state of Missouri could care less about the tree-huggers who wonder about the impact of cross fertilization in the food chain and Ventria is moving its HQ from CA to Missouri.

Let's see how NW Missouri State University will welcome Ventria after AB rejects all rice from the state of Missouri. Choosing Ventria would certainly be a brave gamble. Read More......

John Paul II: Saint Soon(er) Than You Think

In an unseemly rush, the Vatican leaders are claiming they feel an upsurge of support to name the barely deceased John Paul II a saint. (Claims of miracles -- two are needed before someone can become a saint -- have already started flooding in.) According to the New York Times, some of this is political (trying to push cardinals into supporting a really conservative candidate by showing how much people loved JP II); some is just the rush of emotion after the outpouring of affection for the Pontiff. It's all dubious Catholicism (at best), since sainthood is traditionally a slow and careful process that typically doesn't even begin for five years after someone dies and usually takes AT LEAST decades if not centuries before winding up. He would be only the fourth Pope in the last 900 years to be named a saint.

However, it would be appropriate in some ways for John Paul II, who turned the Vatican into a Saints R Us factory. JPII churned out almost 500 saints -- more than all his predecessors of the past 2000 years COMBINED. After that rush to judgment, sainthood has been so devalued that it wouldn't seem so extraordinary to pass the honor on to him so quickly. Read More......

Hamas Imposing "Sharia" In Palestinian Territory?

Where to begin? A faction of Hamas is widely reported to have slaughtered a woman and brutally beat a man who were betrothed to each other because they were suspected of "immoral behavior." (As always, the woman is treated much more harshly than the man.) Others suggest it was maybe a political killing among factions and that lawlessness is spreading throughout PA. This could all help PA head Abbas in the upcoming elections, not to get coldly political about it. Sadly, under Islamic law the couple were married -- though their wedding hadn't taken place yet they had already exchanged marriage certificates. The Independent of UK weighs in -- and keep in mind most British press is strongly weighted towards the Palestinians.

Hamas explained the tragedy by saying there was a mistaken "suspicion of immoral behavior," implying the obvious -- that if the couple had been immoral, gunning them down would have been perfectly fine. Then, in truly ballsy fashion, Hamas tried to claim the woman they'd slaughtered as a martyr!

The families refused to accept the condolences of Hamas and gunfire was exchanged by factions at the funerals. Hamas's final justification:

"Palestinian law allows crimes to happen like adultery and wine drinking. There have been recent increases in these crimes and no one is punished," said a spokesman. Oh, well then. Read More......

Open thread

Gnite Read More......