Larry kramer on the state of gay activism

Amen. It's long. Read it.

Kramer: I really am tired of that question. Everybody's got to do what they can do. The amazing thing about ACT UP and GMHC is that they made themselves. People showed up and said, "I can do this, I'm gonna do that." GMHC came along when everything was really desperate. Lawyers said, "Let me help legally." Doctors said, "We're being screwed on the epidemiology. Let me investigate that." How we got drugs is an amazing story. A straight woman showed up at a meeting who nobody had ever seen before—Iris Long—who is a scientist, and she said, "You people don't know squat about any of this. You don't know how the government works, you don't know how science is done, you don't understand how it's researched, you don't know how to get grants, you don't know how drugs get approved, you don't know the chemistry of all of these drugs." And she started a group with three or four people, the Treatment and Data Committee. They all taught themselves everything. They became smarter than the scientists.

It was the same thing with ACT UP. It wasn't me making up all those demonstrations that were so effective. It was very imaginative people who sat around in a room with a couple hundred other people and brainstormed. I didn't know what we were going to do when I said we've got to do something. You can't know in advance. You have to get together and talk. You have to find out: What do you want to do? What are you capable of? What do you dream of doing? It's all about dreams. We have to stop making it sound so clinical....

Kramer: There's my favorite line, I use over and over, from a Brazilian reporter who saw one of our more feeble ACT UP demonstrations outside City Hall, and she said, "You call that a demonstration? In my country, when they raise the bus fare we burn the buses!" I have no idea why there hasn't been more civil disobedience, guerrilla tactics. The Right uses guerrilla tactics all over the place in the guise of think tanks. What I'm slowly beginning to sniff and to encourage is that some of the richer gays with their foundations are beginning to talk among themselves about what they can do with their money. They're generous, but they're safe-generous, and it's time not to play everything so safe.

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Vanity Fair: How the Supreme Court Intentionally Stole the 2000 Election

The article is now online. Read it. Read More......

Military planning on moving cargo transport from ground to air

Iraq is getting so bad that the military is now planning on moving cargo transport off the ground and into the air. But hey, we've got enough troops and everything is great over there. From the LA Times:

U.S. commanders in Iraq have begun transporting more supplies to the country by aircraft in an effort to evade the roadside bomb attacks that have been killing or wounding about 100 American troops each month, the Air Force's top officer said Tuesday.

Scrambling for other ways to avoid the attacks, the military is also looking into the possibility of bottling and purifying water in Iraq rather than transporting it by truck from Kuwait. Water accounts for 30% of U.S. cargo ferried over Iraq's perilous roadways, officials said.

U.S. forces have been sending about 3,000 vehicles in about 215 convoys in Iraq each day. The vulnerability of trucks, Humvees and other U.S. equipment to roadside bombs has become a major issue amid complaints by troops that the military has been slow to reinforce the vehicles with protective armor.

In the last month, the Air Force has offered extra air freight capacity to take 180 American troops off the road each day, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper said. Air freighters are now carrying 450 tons of cargo previously carried in convoys, a 30% increase, with a goal of taking on as much as 1,600 tons, Air Force officials said.

Jumper said the changes followed a recent visit he made to Iraq, where he concluded that Air Force and ground commanders had failed to cooperate effectively on ways to safeguard freight.

"I was not happy with the communication I saw between the air components and the land components about convoy operations," Jumper said. "We have 64 airplanes and they're staying busy. But the question is: Could they be busier? And is 64 enough?"

Roadside bombs pose the most lethal threat to American troops in Iraq. About 20 such explosives have erupted in the last month along the main highway from Baghdad's international airport to the capital.

The dangers prompted 23 Army reservists to refuse on Oct. 13 to transport supplies from the Tallil air base near Nasiriya to Taji, north of Baghdad, saying their vehicles lacked armor and were in poor condition. Army officials opted not to court-martial them for refusing orders, imposing minor penalties instead.

Many attacks could be avoided by using aircraft to transport cargo that otherwise would have to be moved along Iraq's most dangerous roads, Jumper said.

Some land routes have already been changed, he said. U.S. military planners also try to keep insurgents guessing by alternating routes and travel times. The Air Force has also begun airlifting newly armored Humvees from Kuwait to Baghdad to avoid the dangerous three- to four-day drive.

Pentagon officials said the number of landing sites for cargo planes probably would expand.

More freight could be diverted with increased use of aging C-130 cargo planes, which are capable of landing on many of the roads that trucks use to make deliveries to troops, Jumper said.

He acknowledged that increased air traffic had its own hazards. "There'll be increased [surface-to-air missile] threats to C-130s, but we've also got 100 casualties a month in convoys."

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Police Investigate 11-Year-Old Boy for Being "Un-American", Mom Asked if She's Teaching Her Children "Anti-American Values"

Just when you thought things couldn't get scarier. It's one thing to make sure the kid isn't the next Columbine shooter, maybe. But to ask the parents if they're teaching their kids "anti-American values"? What, like freedom of speech and democracy?

When the two plainclothes Loudoun County sheriff's investigators showed up on her Leesburg doorstep, Pamela Albaugh got nervous. But when they told her why they were there, she got angry: A complaint had been filed alleging that her 11-year old son had made "anti-American and violent" statements in school.

She was aware of an incident at Belmont Ridge Middle School in which her son, Yishai Asido, was assigned to write a letter to U.S. Marines and responded, according to his teacher, by saying, "I wish all Americans were dead and that American soldiers should die." Yishai and Albaugh deny that the boy wished his countrymen dead....

Albaugh described her son as a rambunctious student who has long opposed armies of any kind. He refused the Veterans Day assignment and told his teacher that the Marines "might as well die, as much as I care." Whatever was said, the words had been the source of anguished conferences, phone calls and, ultimately, a day of in-school suspension.

Albaugh thought the whole thing was resolved in school until Investigators Robert LeBlanc and Kelly Poland showed up last week. What followed, she said, was two hours of polite but intense and personal questioning.

They asked how she felt about 9/11 and the military. They asked whether she knows any foreigners who have trouble with American policy. They mentioned a German friend who had been staying with the family and asked whether the friend sympathized with the Taliban. They also inquired whether she might be teaching her children "anti-American values," she said.

Toward the end of the conversation, Albaugh's husband, Alon Asido, arrived home. Asido said the pair then spent another hour talking to him, mostly about his life in Israel and his more than four years in an elite combat unit there.

Before the investigators left, one deputy said their "concerns had been put to rest," Albaugh said.

"It was intimidating," she said. "I told them it's like a George Orwell novel, that it felt like they were the thought police. If someone would have asked me five years ago if this was something my government would do, I would have said never."

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"Dream" of baseball in DC may die - good riddance

Our mayor is spending a rare day or two in DC to fight for us getting a baseball team (he's usually off flitting around the world on some "important" mission for our illustrious city). You see, Mayor Williams doesn't care a lot about the details of mayoring (kind of like our president). We became the murder capital again. Williams said everything was going great. You get the picture.

Well, now he's decided his "legacy" is going to be bringing a baseball team to DC. Forget about the fact that our education system blows, even though we spend more per capita on education than any other city. Violent crime is still some of the worst in the country, in spite of the fact we spend more on policing than any city in the country. But rather than make a restored education system and police force his legacy, the mayor wants a baseball team. Think: no body armor in Iraq but the president is focusing on tax cuts. Same idea.

Well, our city council, not always known for having any guts at all, actually stood up to the mayor and told him to stick it. They want him to come up with 50% private financing for the over $400m cost of building a ballpark, and the mayor is now all woe-is-me. You see, we pay exorbitant taxes here in DC. Like 8-9% income tax, for starters. We waste money on everything, and the solution to all our problems isn't to finally clean house, it's to spend more money on the problem while failing to admit it really is a problem (again, think Iraq).

So, I for one am happy out little mayor is getting his comeuppance. Everyone knows the stadium is going to end up costing a LOT more than $400 million and we're going to be the ones, again, left paying. Perhaps its time our world-traveling mayor stayed at home awhile and worked on a real legacy for making our city work. Read More......

Bushistas says CIA is filled with "garbage"

From the American Family Association's propaganda organ:

..."The Sheriff" -- that's how some people are referring to the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency in the wake of some of his early decisions. Jack Wheeler, editor for the conservative publication called The Point, has been keeping a close eye on the goings-on as new director Porter Goss begins a purge of the CIA. Wheeler has been complaining for some time about what he calls the "left-wing garbage" that has infested the CIA and the liberal "rogue weasels" that operate within the agency. While there are plenty of good and true American patriots at the agency, the conservative journalist says there is still plenty of dead wood that needs to be removed. "The CIA has needed a housecleaning for a long, long, long time," he asserts, "and these people are running around screaming and talking primarily to left-wing reporters; and what's important for conservatives to understand is that every time they see a hit piece that says [Goss] is doing a terrible job and he's destroying the CIA, that tells you that Porter is doing great." Wheeler says Goss has genuinely earned his nickname, "The Sheriff," because of the purgative policies he has already begun to implement in the intelligence organization.

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Now attacking minorities is akin to the civil rights struggle of the 50s and the 60s

Well, I guess it is akin to it, if you consider that these people are acting like the segregationists. Also, get a load of their use of the word "Christian" in the headline - it's as though the affront here is that a judge, ANY judge, would dare try a Christian. As though America's courts now have no jurisdiction at all over "Christians." As I recall, Hitler was a Christian too. I don't think that gave him carte blanche to break the law.

PS For bonus points, get a load of the photo of their lawyer.

Philly Court Orders Four Christians to Trial; Emergency Appeal Likely
Attorney Contends Reading Scripture in Public Landed Them in Jail
By Allie Martin
December 15, 2004

(AgapePress) - An attorney with a pro-family ministry says a judge's decision on Tuesday, ordering four Christians in Philadelphia to stand trial for witnessing at a homosexual pride event, is comparable to the atmosphere of the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s.

In October, 11 Christians were arrested as they were praying and reading scripture during the annual "gay pride" event known as "Outfest" in Philadelphia. Those in the group were charged with three felonies (criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and riot) and five misdemeanors. On Tuesday, charges were dropped against seven of the individuals; but Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan ordered the other four to stand trial on the charges. They were also banned from doing any type of evangelism within 100 yards of any "gay and lesbian event."

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Late afternoon open thread

Any new scandal on Kerik while I was away? :-) Read More......

NJ airport security lets fake bomb onto plane, bomb flies to Europe

Gee, it's only been 3 years since September 11 and the feds can't not only FIND bombs going onto our planes, but when they do find them, they not only LOSE them, but they then don't tell anyone and all the planes with the bombs take off into the air. Nice how the article fails to ask the airport folks why no planes were detained? Why ALL planes weren't detained?

The first plane that blows up, it's Bush's fault. And by the way... WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE DEMOCRATS?

Baggage screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport spotted — and then lost — a fake bomb planted in luggage by a supervisor during a training exercise.

Despite an hours-long search Tuesday night, the bag, containing a fake bomb complete with wires, a detonator and a clock, made it onto an Amsterdam-bound flight. It was recovered by airport security officials in Amsterdam when the flight landed several hours later....

In October, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported that screeners missed one in four fake explosives and weapons in secret weekly tests conducted throughout the summer by TSA agents.

In Tuesday night's test, a TSA supervisor secretly placed the bomb, which was designed to resemble the plastic explosive Semtex, inside a bag that was put through screening machines, Davis said.

A baggage screening machine sounded an alarm, but workers somehow lost track of the bag, which was then loaded onto a Continental Airlines flight.

Despite the incident, no flights were delayed and the terminal remained open.

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Canada is going to hell

But funny, they seem pretty content about it. Read More......

Bush proposes permanent tax cuts for military in Iraq

More tax cuts:

As he leaves the Capitol after taking the oath of office Jan. 20, President Bush is expected to announce a new proposal to make permanent tax cuts for all US soldiers serving in Iraq, the White House announced today.

With 138,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq and casualties reported nearly every day, the White House wanted to showcase the role of the armed services in the war against terrorism as well as in the nation's premier display of a peaceful transition of power.

"I believe permanent tax cuts for our troops in Iraq is the right thing to do to honor the service and sacrifice of these patriotic Americans," Bush said in a statement released by the White House today.

When asked how the nation could afford additional tax cuts with an already swelling budget deficit, Bush explained that the net budget impact of his proposal would be negligible.

"I'm not sending our boys and girls in Iraq the body armor they need, so they'll all be dead anyway before they can file for my tax cut," Bush said.

"Now watch this drive."

(Obviously this is a joke. This story is what inspired me.) Read More......

Dear Leader is rolling out his props again

Deconstructing the spin and lies line by line. From an ass kissing reporter at the LA Times:

As he leaves the Capitol after taking the oath of office Jan. 20, President Bush is expected to exercise a familiar presidential prerogative - reviewing the troops.

Then the real embrace of the military begins. Rob's Note: I have an idea for an embrace - how about some f'ing armor for the Humvees and fuel trucks.

Bush, who campaigned for reelection as a wartime president, will have more than the usual military flourishes at his second-term inaugural ceremonies.

With 138,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq and casualties reported nearly every day, the White House wanted to showcase the role of the armed services in the war against terrorism as well as in the nation's premier display of a peaceful transition of power. Rob's Note: This is the White House spin in action. Using the military as a prop in the inauguration has NOTHING to do with the war on terror and everything to do with trying to give the President a mandate to use the troops even more. It's entirely a mechanism to make him look like they support him whether they do or not.

--snip-- (he is letting the military have their own ball - he'll do a drop by and then go off and party with the oil buddies.)

"The fact that we're a nation at war will be reflected throughout the inaugural," said Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the inaugural committee. "This is a way to pay tribute to those who sacrifice every day for the security of our country. We are working to celebrate the hard work of men and women of our military." Rob's Note: It's a way to do nothing that actually helps the troops but looks really hard like he's trying. This quote is just utter spin.

Bush's use of the military as part of his inauguration is hardly new. When George Washington traveled from Mount Vernon, his Virginia estate, to New York City for his inauguration, he was accompanied by local militias on his journey - and members of the Continental Army escorted him to Federal Hall on Wall Street, where he took the oath of office on April 30, 1789. Rob's Note: Oh yeah, Bush is like George Washington (who actually fought in a war) - this reporter's nose is so far up the White House's a-hole it's repulsive.

-- snip -- (Nixon used a 21 gun salute during Vietnam so that's supposed to be cover for this North Korea style crap.)

Bush's emphasis on the military during the inauguration rankles some who reminisce about Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1945 ceremony, which he moved to the White House for the only time in history - in part because of ill health and in part to tamp down the gaiety of an inaugural while the nation was at war.

Bush defenders note that given the sacrifices made daily by military personnel, it would be difficult for the White House not to make the armed services a centerpiece in the ceremonies and the celebration.

"I don't see how the military can but be a big part of the inaugural," said Victoria Clarke, former assistant secretary of Defense for public affairs. "Even people who adamantly oppose the war respect what people in uniform are doing. This is a way to show our appreciation."Rob's Note: Read the last two paragraphs again and see if you can tell me even a nugget of truth in them. Using troops as props is now somehow showing appreciation? Bush shouldn't be "reviewing the troops", he should be apologizing for not giving them what they need to do the crap ass job he gave them to do in the first place.

Military personnel themselves seemed pleased by the attention.

"For us to work on this is an honor and privilege because so many of our brothers and sisters are not here," said Navy Capt. Curtis Reilly, spokesman for the Joint Task Force-Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, which began work on the plans long before the president was reelected. Rob's Note: I'd be willing to bet that Curtis is just happy his ass isn't in Fallujah.

Bottom line after reading this, if I were in the military, I would think that all this attention was like taking the kid with cancer to Disney World one last time. Read More......

Maybe Bush should slap Japan with trade sanctions

Evil horny Japanese.

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Kerik's mistress: "He's insane and maniacal"

I am just loving this story. Read More......

Why do the Jews hate America?

From AP:

In Terrebonne Parish, La., an organization is petitioning to add "Merry Christmas" to the red-lighted "Season's Greetings" sign on the main government building and is selling yard signs that read, "We believe in God. Merry Christmas." And a Raleigh, N.C., church recently paid $7,600 for a full-page newspaper ad urging Christians to spend their money only with merchants who include the greeting "Merry Christmas" in ads and displays.

Apparently Jews don't believe in God (but I hear they like anal sex). Read More......

I'll bet the gays are to blame

A friend just received the following spam email. Somehow it doesn't seem to me that gays are the biggest problem affecting heterosexual marriage. (I left off the URL of the Web site - why give them the publcity.)

4 Cheating-Wives have been matched for you in your area:

1) Jessica, 120 lbs, 5'9, 36c, 10 miles away, available Dec 17-19th
2) Laura, 127 lbs, 5'8, 36d, 8 miles away, available Dec 16-18th
3) Tabatha, 117 lbs, 5'6, 34b, 19 miles away, available most nights(husband works midnights)
4)Sandra, 134 lbs, 5'9, 36c, 21 miles away, available most week nights(looking for side-fling)

All 4 women are waiting to speak with you live & have photos. Webcam's are available for all 4.

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Alabama judge embroiders Ten Commandments on his robe

What is this, a fetish for these people? Read More......

"A leadership failure of the highest order"

Not that it is even shocking anymore, but newly released Navy documents show the abuse scandal is even larger than previously thought, which was of course even larger than first reported, which of course was first not reported and was covered up. It is going to take years to recover internationally from these fiascos and the word of the US has sunk back down to Vietnam-era levels. Why is this administration to pleased to humiliate America like this? This is what happens when you demonize a nation as we witnessed in the run up too the war. McCain surely knew the details of this investigation the other day when he abandoned his support of Rummy.

The files released Tuesday document a crush of abuse allegations, most from the early months of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, including U.S. Marines forcing Iraqi juveniles to kneel while troops discharge a weapon in a mock execution and the use of an electric shock on a prisoner.

The approximately 10,000 files include investigation reports from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and witness interviews.

Several Marines have been charged in connection with the treatment of a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party who died of strangulation after a Marine grabbed him by the neck at a holding facility. Investigators ruled that the death was accidental, but other investigations are pending.

In another of the documents, a Navy corpsman is quoted as saying, "there was a lot of peer pressure to keep one's mouth shut."

In yet another, a Navy investigator describes his Iraq caseload as "exploding" with "high visibility cases."

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