Condi's Vision for America: All Alabama All the Time

PROPAGANDA ALERT - now at least we get a heads up when the propaganda is coming. Condi is bringing Jack Straw to America and showing him... the South. From Reuters:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in the United States for a three-day, stage-managed tour with political overtones.
...
Jim Wilkinson, her image guru, outlined a program of U.S. events, including the two taking center-stage for the opening coin toss at an American football game, indicating the unusual tour was more photo opportunity than foreign policy. ROB'S NOTE: Why are tax dollars going to an "image guru"?

Their time together in Alabama, the place Rice grew up in the racially divided South, will include serious speeches on civil rights and minorities, Wilkinson said, noting Straw's parliamentary constituency had a large Muslim population.

Wilkinson said the new venture with the top diplomat from Washington's closest ally was a way of showing off "the best of America".

Alabama is the best of America? I guess now we see the Republican point of view. If Alabama is the best of America, then I completely understand "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Read More......

In Ohio, find god, register to vote and bash gays.

Gotta love Ohio. This is a scary crowd:

A new coalition dedicated to converting thousands to Christianity and getting thousands more on voter registration lists got its start Friday with a tightly scripted rally that resembled a revival meeting.

More than 1,000 people gathered outside the Statehouse for the launch of Reformation Ohio. The group, founded by the Rev. Rod Parsley, a television evangelist and pastor of the World Harvest Church in suburban Columbus, vehemently opposes gay rights, and Parsley has written that the teachings of Islam were inspired by demons.

The group's formation comes after last November's election in which Christian conservatives helped pass a gay-marriage ban in Ohio and give President Bush the electoral votes he needed to claim victory.

Speakers included U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican from Kansas who is considering a White House run in 2008; Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., and Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor next year.

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NYT reveals that Scooter Libby directly undercut President Bush on Plamegate

Judy Miller had this to say in the new NYT article:

At the behest of President Bush and Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Libby had signed a blanket form waiver, which his lawyer signaled to my counsel was not really voluntary

So President Bush ordered the White House staff to cooperate fully, tell everything they knew, and waive any reporter privileges they had. Scooter Libby turned around and behind the President's back told Judy Miller, ignore the president and don't accept my waiver.

Why is Scooter Libby still working in the White House after directly undercutting the president on a direct order?

A direct order from the president and Scooter Libby thought he was more important. The big question remains whether President Bush thinks his word is more important than President Libby's. Read More......

NY Times finally reports on Judith Miller...and she weighs in

The NYT explains the saga.

Judy tells her own story. Read More......

Republicans Destroy Foundation of Middle Class: Public University Education

How much damage can Republicans do in five years dismantling the very foundations of what makes our country strong? More than you can imagine. From the New York Times we learn that, with the neglect since Republicans took control of two branches of government, public university education has been struggling:

Taxpayer support for public universities, measured per student, has plunged more precipitously since 2001 than at any time in two decades, and several university presidents are calling the decline a de facto privatization of the institutions that played a crucial role in the creation of the American middle class.
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At an academic forum last month, John D. Wiley, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that during the years after World War II, America built the world's greatest system of public higher education.

"We're now in the process of dismantling all that," Dr. Wiley said.

This is what you get when you vote for Republicans. They don't believe in public education and so they are doing exactly what you would expect, dismantling what created the middle class in this country. Must make you Bush voters from 2004 so proud -- your vote put an indelible mark on our nations' history -- a really dark and sad mark, but you've made your mark. Read More......

So Bush thinks we should have STAYED in Vietnam?

I've said this before, and Bush only confirms it today. His administration thinks the lesson from Vietnam was "don't cut and run." THAT'S the lesson for these guys. If we'd only stuck it out a little longer, we'd have won in Vietnam. Huh?

President George W. Bush vowed on Saturday that the United States "will not run" from Iraq as it did from Vietnam, as he welcomed voting on a new Iraqi constitution and called it step forward for democracy.

So we "ran" from Vietnam? Well, I guess when you get your ass kicked and the battle is hopeless, yes, you do run, and fast, unless you're a moron.

Some reporter really has to ask the Bush administration if they think it was a mistake for the US to finally withdraw from Vietnam. Then ask them about Reagan being responsible for cutting and running in Lebanon and thus contribution to September 11.

Come on, you know you want to ask. Read More......

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

Have some fun...we'll be reporting from Maine soon. Read More......

Largest consumer price increase since Jimmy Carter

At least we have a president who said he would jaw bone the oil countries if prices were out of control, since he's such good friends with them. So when is that conversation happening or is the president just going to continue sitting by while his friends rake in the cash and average Americans pay the price? Read More......

I'm heading to Maine this afternoon...

I am heading to Maine this afternoon with "Joe in DC," who is from there. Tomorrow, I'm speaking at a fundraiser for Maine Won't Discriminate, hosted by Joe's sisters and friends. Then back in DC on Monday.

For those of you who may not be aware, Maine passed a law this year banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. The far right is trying to repeal the law through a referendum. In their world, it's okay to fire someone for being gay... or to deny housing to a lesbian... or to refuse service to a same-gender couple.

A lot of people don't realize that it's LEGAL to fire someone simply for being gay in most states and many cities - federal anti-discrimination laws do NOT cover gay people, and despite what people may think, the US Constitution does NOT prohibit all discrimination (oh that it did). This false notion that "it's already illegal to fire someone for being gay" is something many Americans think to be true. It's not. Though that would explain why some people fall for the religious right's "special rights" argument - they actually THINK that gays are already covered by US law and that we're now asking for AN ADDITIONAL law, when in fact, we're not covered at all.

This is the fourth time Maine has had a vote on this issue. Our side has come very close to winning in the past. This year, we have to win. And in fact, we did win in the past - the legislature passed the non-discrimination legislation and the governor signed it. But I guess legislatures only matter when the religious right thinks the legislature will vote DOWN civil rights for gays (in Massachusetts, the religious right DEMANDED the legislature be allowed to vote on marriage rights, only because they thought they had the legislature in their pocket, and they didn't). But no one ever said the love of democracy, or consistent values, was a strong suit for our opponents.

The anti-gay forces want to show that homophobia is acceptable in a progressive blue state, like Maine. That can't happen. The polling numbers look good for our side... but they've looked good before, and we NARROWLY lost. This time we have to make sure the campaign has the resources for the last few weeks to get out their vote. If you like, you can donate to the campaign online here.

The fundraiser tomorrow (Sunday) is in Portland, Maine on Munjoy Hill. Any AMERICAbloggers in the Portland area should definitely stop by and introduce themselves to Joe and me. Maine Won't Discriminate has the details of the exact where and when (it's Sunday, afternoon-ish).

I've never been to Maine... looking forward to seeing the state and helping out, and eating lots of lobster (I hear it's a sin). Read More......

More on Bush's faked interview with the soldiers in Iraq

From the Moderate Voice Read More......

More evidence the Al Qaeda letter is a big fake

And if it is a fake, that probably means the US government used taxpayer money to fake this piece of propaganda to influence US public opinion. And last time I checked, that was a crime. Read More......

DeLay using campaign web site to bash prosecutor

DeLay's campaign web site has been turned in to a Ronnie Earle bashing web site according to AP:

The former House majority leader is using his congressional campaign to distribute to voters derogatory information about the prosecutor who brought the charges against him and to solicit donations for his re-election.

"Help Tom fight back," reads one of the solicitations on the http://www.TomDelay.com Web site that voters are being directed to as part of an Internet-based campaign funded by DeLay's re-election committee.

Contributors, voters and others who sign up can get regular e-mails and an electronic "toolkit" from DeLay's campaign with the latest disparaging information his legal team has dug up on Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle.

And, DeLay being DeLay, there is a legal question about what he's doing:

Legal experts said DeLay's use of congressional campaign donations to attack Earle likely was permitted under campaign law, though it could lead to legal questions about whether he is trying to influence potential jurors for his trial.

"He clearly is aiming at the jury pool and aiming at voters, hoping to generate as much sympathy as he can," said Larry Noble, the government's former chief election enforcement lawyer. "And it shows DeLay never misses a beat when it comes to fundraising - no matter how dark things get."

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

Just say it. Read More......

Wingnuts go nuts again - now its American Girl dolls

These nut cases really have compiled an interesting list of targets going back to Teletubbies and more recently SpongeBob SquarePants and now, the former right-wing favorite American Girl dolls. Yes, when you buy an American Girl doll you are supporting choice, self-esteem and even worse, girls education. Oh no! The last thing we need is girls education and self-esteem because who knows what will happen if they start thinking. Wingnuts are talking about protests outside of the stores in New York and Chicago. Another great moment for wingnut democracy.

Read more about the "radical" Girls, Inc organization and make up your own mind.

More here. Read More......

New poll has even more bad news for Bush and GOP

For a team that is in a free fall, it ain't a pretty site. Looks like there is quite a few issues that the Democrats can work with for 2006.

"Things at home are in peril, and we're spread thin throughout the world," said Nick Tepsic, a surgical technician in Boynton Beach, Fla., who is a political independent. "We need to be worrying about things at home. We have a terrible debt going on; we need to improve education; we had two terrible natural disasters here. Our money could best be spent in other ways."

"The hurricane issue has refocused people on government's response to big domestic problems," said Robert Blendon, a public opinion analyst at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "Gas prices are the big change over the last four months. It's really impacting families, and they are worried about it for the impact this winter."

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Cool anti-Bush Web site

I'm sure the Secret Service will not be happy. Send this to a friend and make them even unhappier. Read More......