Horrible anti-gay hate crime in Massachusetts

The fruits of the hate spewed by the religious right and the Republican party. Call people perverts and child molesters long enough, and some nutjob will take it upon himself to fix "the problem." Read More......

Time to support a good Democrat who's running against a bad Democrat

Good Dem: Ciro Rodriguez
Bad Dem: Henry Cuellar

Former Democratic congressman Ciro Rodriguez lost his seat when Delay redistricted Texas. He lost to Democrat-in-name-only Henry Cuellar, a man rumored to be getting ready to switch his party affiliation to Republican. When Cuellar came to DC, the Dems didn't trust him, and even the uber-conservative Blue Dog Democrats (and we loathe them) wouldn't touch the guy because they thought he was a secret Republican. That's how bad this guy is.

How does the local paper describe Cuellar?

"a man who calls himself pro-gun, pro-free trade, anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage"

Well, this year, Ciro Rodriguez wants his seat back, and the Netroots wants to help him. Markos at DailyKos has been leading the charge, asking folks to donate to Ciro's campaign, and I'm happy to give any help I can, and urge you to do the same. The primary is in March, and there is no Republican challenger at this point, so whoever wins the primary will get the seat.

A few facts:

Which Democratic member of Congress chose to sit on the Republican side during the State of the Union and got this cute (read: gross) little face rub from George Bush the other night?



ANSWER: Sell-out Henry Cuellar (D-TX 28)!!! (The Bush photo, and Markos' efforts, are already creating a buzz.)

From the Dallas Morning News:

For the speech Tuesday, Mr. Cuellar positioned himself along the president's route and grabbed a seat on the Republican side of the aisle. Custom dictates that the Democrats stay to the speaker's right and Republicans to the left, making it easier to gauge party-line splits on applause lines.

"Doesn't really matter," the congressman said. "It's the U.S. Congress side. I didn't see any sign that says Democratic or Republican."

Then there's Ciro Rodriguez:

- Voted against a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
- Voted against legislation prohibiting courts from reviewing provisions of the DOMA (HR 3313), i.e., he voted against an amendment that was meant to help keep DOMA alive.
- Voted against banning adoptions by gay parents in DC.
- Voted against ending preferential treatment by race in college admissions.
- Voted for funding and stricter sentencing for hate crimes (including those based on sexual orientation)
- Sponsored a constitutional amendment for equal rights by gender.
- Rated 79% by the ACLU, indicating a pro-civil rights voting record.

Markos is asking folks help contribute to Ciro's campaign via this link. Markos is right, this Ciro Rodriguez is a good man, and certainly better than some Joe Lieberman clone - hell, Cuellar sounds more like a Rick Santorum clone. Why do we need another Dem who is not only going to vote against us, but is probably going to switch parties anyway? Read More......

President of cartoonist association blasts Joint Chiefs

From E&P;:

"They should be as concerned with the soldiers in the field as they are with a cartoon in The Washington Post," said Bennett, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), when reached Thursday by E&P.; "Maybe they should provide the body armor soldiers need to help avoid the sort of injury shown in the cartoon."

"It appears they [the Joint Chiefs] interpret cartoons as accurately as they do pre-war intelligence," Bennett said. The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Christian Science Monitor added: "It was a tough cartoon on [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld, but he certainly deserves tough cartoons."

Snap, snap! Read More......

Republican hate bill stalled in Maryland

Satan cried today. Read More......

So tell me again why Karl Rove remains in the White House?

AP:

Goss complained that leaks to the news media about classified CIA programs — such as reported CIA secret prisons abroad — had damaged his own agency's work.

"I use the words `very severe' intentionally. And I think the evidence will show that," he said.

Goss cited a "disruption to our plans, things that we have under way." Some CIA sources and "assets" had been rendered "no longer viable or usable, or less effective by a large degree," he said.

The revelations have also made intelligence agencies in other countries mistrustful of their U.S. counterparts, Goss said.

"I'm stunned to the quick when I get questions from my professional counterparts saying, `Mr. Goss, can't you Americans keep a secret?"

Bull. If Goss gave a damn about national security and leaks he'd rip Karl Rove's security clearances. The Bush administration has made clear that politics come first, national security comes second. So spare us the crocodile tears. Fire Karl, then we'll talk. Read More......

"Ten things every American Jew should know about John Boehner"

Rep. John Boehner got chosen earlier today to replace Tom Delay as Repubublican majority leader. The National Jewish Democratic Council says that if you're Jewish, you really need to keep an eye on this guy. Read More......

Busiest day ever and busiest month ever on AMERICAblog

I was bored late last night and went over the site traffic records. Yesterday was our busiest day ever, with over 160,000 visits, and January was our busiest month ever, with over 2.56 million visits (and while we launched in March 2004, I don't have the stats for back then, so the chart below starts at June, for which I have the stats). Interestingly, the three biggest spikes in traffic were due to the 2004 presidential election, Jeff Gannon, and Katrina. [Insert joke here.]



(I used this site to create the graph, it's free, and pretty cool - yeah I know, I'm excel illiterate.) Read More......

VIDEO: Limbaugh says Osama "is irrelevant"

I'm guessing the families of 3,000 dead Americans don't agree. Read More......

Feds say "ban all cell phone record sales"

Excellent. The phone companies are gonna be pissed. This means they can't use your records for telemarketing, so sell to other people, etc. Your privacy ceases to be a commodity.

So let me again throw this to the useless Democrats out there. Now, after a good 3 weeks, do you finally get that this is an issue that isn't going away? That this is an issue that is SO up our ally in terms of privacy rights affecting so many issues we care about? That even Republicans are scrambling to get on board? That this is an issue that is STILL going on in the local media? Why in God's name aren't the Democrats the ones holding press conferences and public meetings on this issue? Are they actually that afraid of taking credit for something when it's handed to them? I gave this to the Dems before I even wrote about it - they weren't interested. And we wonder why we don't ever win.

Oh yeah, that's right, they're busy planning for the next Supreme Court nomination.

Pathetic.

Two of the nation's top regulators urged lawmakers today to ban the sale of consumer telephone information by not only online brokers but also by telephone companies.

The comments by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Liebowitz came during a House Energy and Commerce hearing probing the source of black-market telephone data, including call records and location of the calls, for sale over the Internet.

Lawmakers had previously focused on the online brokers selling the data and the security measures of the telephone carriers. Martin and Liebowitz, though, went a step further and suggested telephone companies too should be barred from selling consumer data.

"I believe that Congress could specifically make illegal the commercial availability of consumers' phone records," Martin said. "If any entity is found to be selling this information for a fee, regardless of how it obtained such information, it would face liability."

Agreeing with Martin, Liebowitz said the sale of telephone records is a "serious intrusion into consumers' privacy and could result in stalking, harassment and embarrassment."

There's more. Read how Congress loosened what protectsions we already had in the Telecom Act:

The carriers are currently allowed to sell customer data to their affiliates, agents and joint venture partners. As originally passed in the Telecom Act, phone companies were obligated to get an opt-in permission from consumers in order to sell the information, but a court decision overturned that ruling.

Consumers are now obligated to opt out of the arrangement.

"Why don’t we make opt-in a moot point? Let's just outlaw [selling consumer phone data]," Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) said.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, Democrat Ed Markey of Massachusetts agreed with Barton.

Read More......

Iraqomo

New from the Freeway Blogger.

If you didn't like Toles, you're really gonna hate this :-) Read More......

Bush reportedly considered flying American U-2 spy plane, with fake UN colors on it, over Iraq to get Saddam to shoot it down & "attack UN"

Nice.

Mr Sands' book says that the meeting focused on the need to identify evidence that Saddam had committed a material breach of his obligations under the existing UN Resolution 1441. There was concern that insufficient evidence had been unearthed by the UN inspection team, led by Dr Hans Blix. Other options were considered.

President Bush said: "The US was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."....

peaking to Channel 4 News, Mr Sands said:

"I think no one would be surprised at the idea that the use of spy-planes to review what is going on would be considered. What is surprising is the idea that they would be used painted in the colours of the United Nations in order to provoke an attack which could then be used to justify material breach. Now that plainly looks as if it is deception, and it raises some fundamental questions of legality, both in terms of domestic law and international law."

Read More......

House Republicans vote for Majority Leader, but they hit a little snag. More votes are received than actual number of people voting

They even steal their own elections. Read More......

The Post analyzes the Alito battle

The Alito debriefing has begun. The Washington Post looks at how the battle unfolded -- and how the GOP won. No question, the GOP operatives were more strategic. And, they work in unison. The White House, the operatives, the Senate and their groups come up with the plan and make it happen. There's nothing new in that statement. The tragedy is that our side hasn't figured out how to do it. Read the Post piece, but be forewarned, it will make your blood boil:

For three intense months, hundreds of advocacy groups on both sides of the battle aggressively competed to shape public opinion, spending more than $2 million in advertising and blanketing the country with millions of e-mails saying why the man who would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was important. But in the end, Senate Democrats and their allies never succeeded in convincing Americans that Alito was the threat to their rights that critics said he was.

In a sense, the outcome of Tuesday's 58 to 42 vote confirming Alito was ordained by the results of the 2004 presidential race, the mandate President Bush received for his conservative agenda, and Republican control of the Senate. "Elections matter," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). But interviews with senators, congressional staff members, advocacy groups and White House aides over the course of the process suggest that the result was equally affected by the division and disorganization of Senate Democrats, who were outmaneuvered at virtually every turn, victims of the same strategies they used in 1987 to defeat the nomination of Robert H. Bork.

There are ample examples throughout the article of failed leadership and failed strategy on the Democratic side. What's most frustrating is that we knew this battle was coming for years. And, yes, elections matter. But so does the ability to launch a strategic, integrated, serious campaign. What's also probably true is that there will be no debrief on our side. No one ever tries to figure out what we can learn from our mistakes -- so we make the same mistakes over and over and over. Read More......

HOTLINE covers the Joint Chiefs controversy

HOTLINE's blogometer gave prominent coverage to the brewing controversy over the letter to the Washington Post from the Joint Chiefs, which they noted has not received coverage in the traditional media:

WASHINGTON POST: We Assume The Letter Was Delivered By An Acme Corp. Brand Mile-Long Accordion-Collapsible Hand

On 1/31 the JCS has sent a letter to the Washington Post protesting the 1/29 editorial cartoon by the Post's Tom Toles. Available at Post.com here, the cartoon features a quadruple amputee soldier in a hospital bed next to a diagnosing "Dr. Rumsfeld," who says, "I'm listing your condition as 'battle hardened.'" Editor & Publisher and AMERICAblog received a copy more or less simultaneously, and once the former had confirmed its veracity, the latter posted it in PDF format.

The letter describes JCS as "extremely disappointed" by the Post's decision to run the "beyond tasteless" cartoon. More: "While you or some of your readers may not agree with the war or its conduct, we believe you owe the men and women and their families who so selflessly serve our country the decency not to make light of their tremendous physical sacrifices."

AMERICAblog's liberal John Aravosis describes the letter as a "threat": "I have no problem with citizens speaking out about political cartoons they find offensive ... But when the government does it, that's a whole other story that smacks of censorship, especially when that government is the Pentagon threatening you during wartime." So does Seeing the Forest's Dave Johnson: "This is THE MILITARY DIRECTLY THREATENING A NEWSPAPER on behalf of the Republican Party. This is WAYYYY beyond unprecedented. This is past "find a safe refuge in Canada" time. This is a serious WATCH YOUR BACKS!!!!" Atrios: "The central theme of the cartoon is that Rumsfeld is an asshole, which he is. They repeatedly deflect criticism of the civilian leadership by implying it's a criticism of the troops."

Read More......

Help me understand this

I just got the following two emails, one from some lady in Florida, and another from a retired Marine. These are pretty good examples of the emails I've been getting from those on the right, and several folks claiming to be military or associated with the military, in response to my quote in Editor & Publisher yesterday:

Aravosis from AmericaBlog told E&P;: "Now that the Joint Chiefs have addressed the insidious threat cartoons pose to our troops, perhaps they can move on to less pressing issues like getting them their damn body armor."

And you can bet that quote pissed them off.

The thing I'm trying to understand is whether these are typical of the way people think, or whether I simply have a direct connection to Idaho? Seriously, is this the typical crazy-ass Rush Limbaugh fans weighing in - i.e., angry partisans that don't want to see the truth - or is this more indicative of something bigger. Namely, it amazes me how Toles can defend the troops against Rumsfeld's calloused disregard for their safety, how I can publicly criticize (repeatedly) the Pentagon for not getting our soldiers the vehicle and personal armor and other supplies they need, yet somehow that makes me and Toles "anti-military."

Interestingly, Howie Kurtz in the Post today interviews a representative of a disabled vets organization who thought the cartoon was fine:

Dave Autry, deputy communications director for Disabled American Veterans, said he was "certainly not" offended by the cartoon.

"It was graphic, no doubt about it," he said. "But it drove home a point, that there are critically ill patients that certainly need to be attended to."

I'm serious. I'm really trying to understand this. Is this just a bunch of knee-jerk wackos weighing in, or do reasonable people in the military and the public honestly think that when liberals and moderates complain about the mistreatment of our soldiers by the Bush administration, somehow we're actually ANTI-soldier? I don't get it. I want to get it. But I don't.

And let me just remind folks of the Pentagon study, that was just leaked:

A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

Help please? I'd be particularly interested in hearing from service members, current and former, and reasonable Republicans who are willing to have an honest discussion about this without the personal attacks, references to Hillary as a c---, etc.

EMAIL 1

Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 05:18:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Maureen W
Subject: I am an American
To: AMERICAblog@starpower.net

It is totally disgusting to see how immature and vicious our press has become that they resort to demeaning our wounded soldiers in order to make a "point". Most journalists,as I see it, were the least educated and the most noisy of our colleges of the past. They constantly attack what THEY don't understand,all in the name of support. Hogwash!

No one takes these vicious and biased journalists seriously anymore. I agree with the Chiefs of Staff that Mr.Towle 's " cartoon" is disrespectfully but also, in my opinion, evil and vicious. What is so hard to believe is that people,like Peter Jennings (a high-school drop-out) was given so much prestige with so little credentials. As a grandmother, it is hard to explain to my teenage grandaughter that people, like Towle, have any credibility when they are so nasty and inhuman.

Thanks.

No, thank you.

EMAIL 2:

On Wed Feb 01 20:24:36 PST 2006, Brian wrote:

To John Aravosis regarding his recent quote: "Now that the Joint
Chiefs have addressed the insidious threat cartoons pose to our
troops, perhaps they can move on to less pressing issues like
getting them their damn body armor."

Johnny boy,

In reference to your recent above statement...you have no idea
what the hell you are talking about! Once you wake up from your
stupor and grow in maturity maybe then you will start to gain
some real perspective about what is going on in Iraq/Afghanistan
and how one successfully fights a war. Until then, I strongly
suggest you keep your inane, arrogant comments to yourself!

Brian J
LtCol, USMC, Ret.

As usual, no facts from Brian about what IS really going on. Read More......

Why the Joint Chiefs criticizing cartoons matters

From our comments:

The JCS (Joint Chiefs of Staff) have a right to voice their personal opinons, but doing so as a group on gov't letterhead takes it out of the personal realm. You better believe Chris Matthews would sh** if he got something like this (come to think of it, maybe he's already gotten his). I'm inclined to think they didn't want to go so far as censorship (they'd have handled that differently) but they certainly wanted their opinions to be backed by the power of their offices, which I'd read as intimidation.

What makes either or both of the above combustible is superheated environment in which we find ourselves. No photos of caskets at Dover. Denials of torture. Whitewashed investigations into incidents where brass are exhonerated while those beneath are charged and/or convicted. Claims that we have enough troops when we clearly don't. Claims we are winning when insurgent attacks were increasing. And on... until the incidents at the SOTU (State of the Union) last night.

There's a great line (which I'm going to butcher) in "Good Night, and Good Luck." when Murrow says something to the effect that "we have to do this story because the fear is in this room."

And it ain't fear of the terrorists.

This is the issue he's talking about. Read More......

Check out the ad Verizon pulled when the fundies complained

Tell me WHAT is wrong with this ad? Yet when we complain that Chris Matthews tells anti-gay jokes, bizarre stereotypes about Latinos, makes fun of sexual abuse of women, and compares half the country to Osama, that's okay with Verizon.

It's time we considered the alternatives to Verizon... Buy Blue!

Verizon Contacts:

Ivan Seidenberg, Chmn & CEO, Verizon Corp. Branding
212-395-2121
ivan.g.seidenberg@verizon.com

Robert Engalls Jr, Pres. Retail Mtkg.
bob.ingalls@verizon.com

Robert Varetonni, ED External Comm.
robert.a.varettoni@verizon.com

Eric Rabe, VP External Comm.
eric.rabe@verizon.com

Judy Verses, Sr. VP Natl. Mktg.
703-390-7017
judy.verses@verizon.com

Jerri DeVard, Sr. VP Mktg.
jerri.devard@verizon.com

John Bonomo, PR
212-395-7756
john.j.bonomo@verizon.com

Sharon Cohen-Hagar, PR
972-718-6205
sharon.cohen-hagar@verizon.com Read More......

The House GOP was busy yesterday

In two actions yesterday -- one private, one very public -- the House GOP showed their true colors. They vehemently oppose lobbying reform despite the huge scandals swirling around them. They are too drunk with power to care. Then, the House GOP voted to make budget cuts that will hurt the most vulnerable in our society. None of their cronies will suffer.

Fight against any kind of lobby reform (even the weak proposals their leadership proposed):

In a tense, 3 1/2 -hour closed-door session, many Republicans challenged virtually every element of the leadership's proposal, from a blanket ban on privately funded travel to stricter limits on gifts to an end to gym privileges for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), a veteran conservative who is seeking a top leadership post, scoffed that Congress knows how to do just two things well -- nothing and overreact, according to witnesses.

And screw over the poor, children, the sick and students:

The House yesterday narrowly approved a contentious budget-cutting package that would save nearly $40 billion over five years by imposing substantial changes on programs including Medicaid, welfare, child support and student lending.

All in a day's work for those House GOPers. Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Let's get it started again. Read More......

The Post published the Joint Chiefs' whine-fest

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Osama's been trying to get his hands on a nuke, and who knew all it would take to bring the greatest military in the history of this planet to its knees would be a single cartoon.

Then again, I suppose it does suck when a cartoonist cares more about the troops than you do. Read More......

Open thread

So, do the troops have their body armor yet?

Just checking. Read More......