Edwards Declined to Go Into Hiding on 9/11

While the other guy read "The Pet Goat" and then ran and hid from his family and his country, without a peep, for a good 3 hours...

AP:

Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards was on his way to work at the Capitol when terrorists struck in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, but he says he declined to join other members of the Senate at a secure location because his family would not be with him.

His wife, Elizabeth, was out shopping. Eldest daughter Cate was at college in New Jersey. Youngest daughter Emma Claire was at school, and son Jack was on a play date.

U.S. Capitol Police were whisking members of Congress to secure locations for their safety.

"I said, 'Well, what about my wife and my kids?'" Edwards told CNN's Larry King in an interview Wednesday, a day before an independent commission investigating the attacks releases its long-awaited report. "And they said, 'Well, they'll stay here. And I said, 'Well, if they're staying here, I'm staying here."

Read More......

Liar liar pants on fire

This is good - weird, but good.



Associated Press:

Call it the burning Bush. The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is on the road, towing a 12-foot-tall effigy of President Bush with fake flames shooting out of the pants.

Ben Cohen says it's an acceptable way to point out what he calls the president's lies.

"In a polite society, you don't go up to a person and look at them in the face and say, 'You're a liar,'" Cohen said in a telephone interview before arriving in Spokane, the next stop on the Pants on Fire Tour.

"We think it's a lot more dignified and there's a lot more decorum to say, 'Excuse me sir, your pants are getting a little warm, don't you think?'" Cohen said.

The "PantsOnFire-Mobile" is a trailer pulled behind a car. The Bush character wears a flight suit with the words "Mission Accomplished" emblazoned on the back, a reference to the president's declaration aboard the deck of an aircraft carrier that major hostilities had ended in Iraq. An electronic ticker on the front displays what Cohen says are Bush's lies.

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Here's a little bit of Republican fascism I missed...

AP:

One of the partners buying the Aladdin hotel-casino said singer Linda Ronstadt would be welcomed back to the property after the performer was kicked out over the weekend by current management for praising filmmaker Michael Moore.

Planet Hollywood CEO Robert Earl of Orlando, Fla., said he'd like to take Moore up on the filmmaker's offer to join Ronstadt on Aladdin's stage and sing "America the Beautiful" when Earl's management team takes control of the bankrupt casino, as early as September.

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W's Second Term, by Robert Reich

This article by former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich is from this past April - I only just received a copy today - but it's an excellent, chilling, quick read. I've had to edit some of it out for this snippet - do read the entire thing:

W.'s Second Term: If you think the first is bad ...
By Robert B. Reich

Musings about a second Bush term typically assume another four years of the same right-wing policies we've had to date. But it'd likely be far worse. So far, the Bush administration has had to govern with the expectation of facing American voters again in 2004. But suppose George W. Bush wins a second term. The constraint of a re-election contest will be gone. Knowing that voters can no longer turn them out, and that this will be their last shot at remaking America, the radical conservatives will be unleashed.

A friend who specializes in foreign policy and hobnobs with subcabinet officials in the Defense and State departments told me that the only thing that's stopped the Bushies from storming into Iran and North Korea is the upcoming election. If Bush is re-elected, "[Dick] Cheney and [Donald] Rumsfeld are out of the box," he said. "They'll take Bush's re-election as a mandate to wage the 'war on terror' everywhere and anywhere."

The second term's defense team will be even harder line than the current one. Colin Powell will go. Condoleezza Rice will take over at the State Department. Rumsfeld will consolidate power as the president's national-security adviser. Paul Wolfowitz will run the Defense Department.

Domestic policy will swing further right. A re-election would strengthen the White House's hand on issues that even many congressional Republicans have a hard time accepting, such as the assault on civil liberties....

Right-wing evangelicals will solidify their control over the departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services -- curtailing abortions, putting federal funds into the hands of private religious groups, pushing prayer in the public schools, and promoting creationism....

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will surely step down from the Supreme Court, possibly joined by at least one other jurist, opening the way for the White House to nominate a series of right-wing justices, a list that could easily include Charles Pickering Sr. and William Pryor Jr. After Chief Justice William Rehnquist resigns, Bush may well nominate Antonin Scalia for the top slot -- opening the way for Scalia and Clarence Thomas to dominate the Court. Such a court will curtail abortion rights, whittle down the Fourth and Fifth amendments, end all affirmative action, and eliminate much of what's left of the barrier between church and state.

Karl Rove and Tom DeLay, meanwhile, will have four more years to fulfill their goal of transforming American democracy into a one-party state. Congressional redistricting across the nation will make Texas' recent antics seem a model of democratic deliberation. Automated voting machines will be easily rigged, with no paper trails to document abuses. Changes in campaign-finance laws will permit larger "hard money" donations by corporate executives and federal contractors who have benefited by Republican policies.

Finally, the Federal Communications Commission will allow three or four giant media empires -- all tightly connected to the Republican Party -- to consolidate their ownership over all television and radio broadcasting.

Nothing is more dangerous to a republic than fanatics unconstrained by democratic politics. Yet in a second term of this administration, that's exactly what we'll have.

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US House committee to investigate Sandy Berger?

So says a report on our local newsradio station.

Wouldn't that be precious? The Republicans don't do a bloody thing for over a year now that Valerie Plame's leaker is still sitting in the White House, still having access to the highest level intelligence information in our nation, still posing a risk to our intelligence operatives, foreign operatives, and our entire national security, and still responsible for who knows how many deaths of sources compromised by his leak of Plame's status as an undercover CIA agent.

No, for a year now the Republicans couldn't care less about that security leak, even though the leaker is still at large inside the senior most levels of the White House. The Republicans instead now want an immediate investigation of some papers Sandy Berger apparently took over a year ago.

First gay marriage, then flag burning, then more tax cuts, now this. These are the kind of issues Republicans in Congress make their top priority while over 900 Americans lie dead in Iraq, and Al Qaeda allegedly prepares to blow us to kingdom come.

Donate to Kerry and register to vote now. Read More......

Dos and Don'ts when that Muslim family comes to dinner (SO not kidding)

The wondrous AgapePress of the radical right informs us that God apparently has a reason for bringing all those nasty Muslims to our wonderful Christian nation - he wants us to convert the heathens:

Despite the fact that it is creating a lot of chaos in the our society and in the world in general, I believe God's purpose in bringing so many Muslims to America is so they can be reached with the Gospel," said Jeff Marlowe. Marlowe is a missionary trainer with Enterprise, an Atlanta-based church planting initiative affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America.

But even better, is the list of Dos and Donts for good Christians to follow when you invite your Muslim brethren to sup at your home. (This is for real.)

Dos and Don'ts
In an article titled 'Reaching our Muslim Neighbors,' Stewart writes that building bridges to Muslims begins with prayer and a sense of utter dependence upon God's Holy Spirit.

After that, 'hospitality is the key to most Muslim hearts,' Stewart writes. 'Do not hesitate to call and ask to visit them. In most cases this will please them and make them feel honored. Be sure to take a gift, such as flowers or a basket of fruit, for this is their love language.'

'When they come to your home be sure to stand up as they enter and introduce them to your whole family,' he says. 'Offer them something to drink such as hot tea or a soft drink; even if they refuse, bring it anyway. If you choose to serve food, avoid all pork products.'

In conversation, ask a lot of questions and make few statements at the beginning, Marlowe suggests. 'We must get to the core of their worldview, but that takes time.'

Be careful not to challenge their faith. Stewart says that people from shame-based cultures easily wound and may quickly become defensive.

On the other hand, Muslims respect genuine faith, so look for low-threat ways to introduce them to the things of God. Stewart suggests praying for the Muslim family in your prayer before meals; giving them a copy of the Scripture in their language and ordering a copy of the JESUS Film in their language.

Although Muslims take great pride in defending Islam -- at least in public -- privately many are interested in Christianity. 'I have found that every time you break the friendship barrier with a Muslim and you sit in their home or they come to your home, and you start talking heart-to-heart, you are going to find a lot of questions about Islam and much interest in Christianity,' Stewart says.

And we wonder why some Muslims don't like us. Read More......

By the way, I'll be reporting from the convention next week

I'll actually be an accredited correspondent for Sirius Satellite Radio's OutQ, gay and lesbian channel. I'll be a roaming radio reporter checking in from all sorts of fun events. Sirius is going to be having a BIG presence with LOTS of coverage. And of course, our coverage will be fun :-)

You'll be able to listen live via the Internet throughout the week on the OutQ home page. I'm told the live coverage will continue each night until midnight.

I'll also be blogging from there as well, though most likely first thing in the morning and late at night, as during the day it's not clear I'll have my computer. But covering the days for me will be Michael in NY, Chris in Paris, and maybe even David in Louisville (formerly David in DC, formerly David in Boston, well, you get the idea - i.e., David's another big time political consultant who's from Boston, he knows his stuff and is a big straight-but-not-narrow Dem). Read More......

Kofi Annan to Bush: Go Fuck Yourself

Well, okay, he didn't EXACTLY say that. But you can read between the lines...

The world is no safer than it was three years ago, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday, countering President Bush's claims he had made the world a safer place....

Annan's remarks could renew strains on ties between the United States and United Nations, which -- while devastated by Bush's inability to win U.N. backing for the U.S.-led war on Iraq -- had improved following U.N. help in setting up a new government in Baghdad in time for the U.S. occupation to end.

'No, I cannot say the world is safer today than it was two, three years ago,' the U.N. leader said.

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U.S. Underestimated War Costs by $12.3 Billion -GAO

Reuters:

The Bush administration underestimated the 2004 cost of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by $12.3 billion, a report released on Wednesday found, fueling criticism that the war was badly planned.

You think? Read More......

Reality Show Turns Amish Into TV Stars

It's not really clear why Al Qaeda wants to destroy America when we're already doing a pretty good job of it all by ourselves.

Ok, I take it back. Just saw the pic promoting the show. Maybe this is a show a man like me could get into :-)


From left, Jonas, Miriam, Randy, Ruth and Mose.

Ooh ooh ooh - more on our Amish friends from the Washington Post:

Also calming some of the critics' concerns, the five Amish participants in this reality series seem to be pretty rumspringaed from the get-go. Construction worker Randy has a pierced ear. Factory worker Ruth has dyed hair and was seen smoking a cigarette; she told critics during the Q&A; session late in the day that her family looks on her "as very bad" and that she goes to visit them "maybe two times a year." Construction worker Jonas is a self-described "bad boy," and former teacher turned construction worker Mose is actually re-rumspringaing, having left the flock in his teens, returned, been baptized and now left again. Mose told critics that he was considered "very rebellious" and a "bad influence" as a teenager. Also, the Amish participants already are talking mall-speak in the first episode: Mose says his first ride on an escalator is "really freaking me out" and Ruth describes her first experiences -- visiting the beach, seeing a parking meter, seeing art in a gallery, you name it -- as "awesome."

Ok, I'm just overflowing with jokes, but will control myself. Read More......

Saudi Forces Find Head of Slain U.S. Hostage

Feeling safer yet? Read More......

Wash Post blasts Congress over new gay-bashing attack

Washington Post Editorial:

"FOLLOWING THE Senate's burial last week of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, foes of same-sex marriage are back with another radical proposal. This time they are pushing a bill that would prevent federal courts from hearing challenges to a federal law that limits gay marriage. The bill, scheduled for a vote tomorrow, is an attack on the basic function of the courts in American society. Making this attack all the more ominous is House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's stated intention to promote similar bills to bar court challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance and, potentially, on other social issues. This is as wrong as wrong can be. The House should not strip courts of their authority in order to protect bad policy -- or even good policy -- from constitutional scrutiny..."

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GOP adds conservative speakers to convention

Well, the Republicans buckled to the religious right pressure like they always do. Apparently Rick Dog-Sex Santorum will be speaking at the convention. I feel a new idea for a t-shirt coming on...

After protests from the party's conservative wing, the Republican National Committee has invited several conservative Republicans to speak during the presidential nominating convention next month in New York.

New additions include Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.

And even more fun, several of these guys have gay staff! Won't it be fun if they dare talk about "marriage" at the convention?! Read More......

Senator Warner Helped the Rev. Moon

You may remember that the leader of the Moonie cult, Rev. Moon - who also owns the rabidly Republican newspaper the Washington Times - was recently crowned the messiah in a ceremony in the US Senate (see photo above). Yes, your tax dollars at work. Well, the Washinton Post found proof that Senator Warner arranged for the thing.

Yes, our very own party of God is willing to suck up to religious cults when its politically expedient. Wonder what Gary Bauer thinks of that? Read More......

Bush losing military voters

It looks like the ranks are getting restless and the reserves and National Guard members are fed up.  For an election that is supposed to be tight, he's sure alientating chunks of voters that supported him in 2000.

"My overall encapsulation is that the public will be overwhelmingly surprised at how many people coming back from Iraq will not vote for George W. Bush."

The people most likely to shift their support from Bush to Kerry are in the reserves and National Guard, says David Segal, a professor at the University of Maryland. "In the past the antiwar movement was rooted in college campuses," he says. "Now the major movement against the war is in reserve families."

Reservists, used to serving a weekend a month, are being called up for a year at a time, over and over. They leave homes to serve in jobs for which they feel unprepared, attached to commanders and units they don't know. "We are the stepchildren, here to be abused," says Michael Ray Gibbins [Texas National Guard].

Jean Prewitt's son was with the 3rd Infantry Division and was killed three weeks into war. But she swears that has nothing to do with her opposition to the war. She's just been reading the papers, she says, and can't fight the sense that "we find out more and more each day how we were lied to. We went there for no good reason. It's just so big and tragic and horrible."

She's a former postal worker and a lifelong conservative. But the war has changed her. "It just frustrates me, how they won't admit they made a mistake."

Federal Appeals court questions Bush's appointment

AP

A federal appeals court is asking the Bush administration to defend the president's appointment of a judge to its ranks while the U.S. Senate was out of session. 

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, asked the Justice Department on Monday to intervene in a case contesting the appointment of former Alabama attorney general William Pryor to that court.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and others are backing a challenge asking the court to rule that the appointment was unconstitutional.

"It's hard to imagine a more flagrant attempt by the president to bypass the constitutional requirement of Senate consent in appointing a federal judge," Kennedy said in a written statement.