Open thread

Debate on the Hate Crimes bill begins in the House tomorrow morning at 10:15am Eastern, vote on final House passage comes around 1pm. Read More......

Why don't we just tax every single American taxpayer for the $500 billion cost of the war in Iraq?

Seriously. Let's just add the charge to everybody's taxes next year, a nice little line-item. Total costs of the war in Iraq will soon be $500 billion, to date, and with 100 million Americans filing tax returns each year (the actual number is somewhat higher, but for the life of me I can't find it), that comes to about $5000 a taxpayer. (And I'm just talking about the actual up front defense costs - the real cost of the war is estimated at $2 trillion dollars, that's four times what we're paying for the defense side of it, so that makes the real cost to taxpayers around $20,000.)

We're paying for it anyway, why not put it in our tax returns so that we're forced to see exactly how much the Republicans' little patriotic venture in Iraq is costing every American taxpayer. Most Americans have no idea what the costs of this war are, in lives, in money, in national prestige. But the one thing we can show, quite personally, is the cost in dollars.

The Iraq war is the biggest tax increase in American history. I'd love to see someone amend the tax code and require a line-item on all of tax forms adding $5,000. Then see how long the war goes on for. Read More......

ABC News: Hate groups on the rise in America. Then why are the lead religious right groups promoting a well-known hate group?

It's time the media asked the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America why they are promoting a known "hate group" on their Web sites.

Who says they are promoting a known hate group? Why, none of than the same expert on American hate groups just interviewed on ABC's World New Tonight: the Southern Poverty Law Center. ABC reports that the number of hate groups has risen 40% since the year 2000. One of those hate groups, as documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is Paul Cameron's "Family Research Institute." Cameron's specialty is concocting phony "science" that dehumanizes gays. Cameron has discussed the extermination of all gay people. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Cameron's Family Research Institute alongside the neo-Nazis and the Klan - that's how bad he is.

So with hate groups on the rise in America, why are 3 of the top 4 religious right organizations in America - the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America - promoting Cameron and his research on their Web sites as I write this? They are promoting a known hate groups that has been likened to the Klan and neo-Nazis. The Southern Poverty Law Center says that "Cameron's 'science' echoes Nazi Germany." America's lead religious right organizations are using their Web sites to promote "science" that "echoes Nazi Germany." Think about that. And these aren't fringe groups. These are THE groups - the people who meet with George Bush, who pull the Republicans' strings in Congress. They aren't the fringe of the religious right - they ARE the religious right.

How in God's name are these organizations quoted by American media, welcomed into the offices of Republicans in Congress, and invited to meet with George Bush's White House staff when they cavort with hate?

And why do the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America continue to promote on their very public Web sites the Nazi science of a known "hate group"? Is their hatred for gay Americans so great that they would promote the work of a group akin to the Klan?

You can read much more about this, including links to all the original sources I cite above, here. Rest assured we will continue to document how long the religious right leaders continue to promote this known hate group. It's a fact that every member of Congress should discuss during their floor speeches about the hate crimes bill tomorrow in the House. These are the faces of the people who oppose the hate crimes bill. These are the faces of hate enablers. It makes me sick as a Christian that these extremists claim to speak for me. Read More......

Bush announces that he is "the Commander Guy"

Why won't Harry and Nancy be nice to him? He is the Commander Guy, after all. Bush has a clear plan for Iraq, he described it to us today:

"By the way, in the report it said, it is -- the government may have to put in more troops to be able to get to that position. And that's what we do. We put in more troops to get to a position where we can be in some other place. The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm the commander guy."

We're putting in MORE troops to get to a position where we can be in some other place. Well why didn't he say so in the first place?! We could have saved the lives of 3,300 American soldiers and half a trillion in taxpayer money had the Commander Guy just come out with this brilliant plan for victory when we invaded four years ago.

And by the way, Commander Guy just lied. He told us several months ago that he was no longer relying on the commander guys and gals on the ground - in the future, Bush told us, he was going to be the decider, not the commanders. Now when Congress is finally taking away his car keys, suddenly it's the commanders in Iraq who are running the show.

Uh huh. He thinks none of us have ever been around 4 year old children before. Read More......

Caption that photo!

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Turkey's political intrigue

The latest political maneuvering in Turkey strikes me as a big deal. The Turks are actively dealing with the kinds of issues many foreign policy experts and pundits grapple with regularly: the intersection of religion and politics, but specifically Islam and democracy. Yesterday a Turkish court prevented Abdullah Gul, who has a "background in Islamic politics," from becoming president. Turkey has a parliamentary system, and Turks vote for parties that subsequently form governments in Parliament. Both the Prime minister and President positions are elected by the Parliament itself, rather than through direct elections. Currently, Turkey's Justice and Development Party (often referred to by its Turkish initials, AK, or AKP for "AK Party"), has a commanding parliamentary majority, holding 351 of 550 seats. Despite its electoral popularity, AK is criticized for being a party of religious conservatism in a nation whose political identity is wedded to the secularism of its modern founder, Kemal Attaturk.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably admit that I'm a tremendous Turkophile. I love the country and its people, and I think Turkey is greatly undervalued as an ally and model for developing nations. It's not perfect, of course, but it is, I think, on an impressive track. Back when I was in school, riding dinosaurs to class, I studied Middle East international politics at Bogazici University in Istanbul, and I greatly enjoyed my time there (especially the soccer games -- go Besiktas!). So I've followed the past few years of political development, especially the tension between the secular parties and AKP.

Turkey's 2002 election was a shocker, with AKP winning by far the largest share of the vote, and the results produced Turkey's first single party government since 1987 and the country's first two-party parliament in 48 years. It's vital to note, however, that AKP won not because of its religious conservatism but because the secular coalition was viewed as corrupt, out of touch, and stale. AKP and it's leader, current Prime Minister Erdogan, ran on a platform of reform, economic development, and technocracy. More importantly, AKP has mostly delivered on those promises.

This has occurred repeatedly, and yet people still don't understand it: in developing areas, especially the Middle East, the establishment secular rulers are thrown out for domestic reasons -- usually economic and developmental -- and replaced by reformers who happen to be religious conservatives. These groups often build grassroot support, provide services that the government neglects, and quietly but effectively grow their networks from the bottom up. Hamas in the Palestinian territories. Ahmadinejad in Iran. Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. AKP in Turkey. Further, many of those crappy secular governments are/were being propped up by the U.S., to the detriment of the nations' people. Turkey, which is, admittedly, uniquely founded upon the principles of secularism, is now struggling with just how religious politicians can be, and the results will be very interesting.

And it would be easier to criticize or oppose or fear AKP if it wasn't fighting the stagnant status quo in a nation with such great potential. Read More......

Religious freedom in Iraq under severe threat for first time, ever

Congratulations. This only cost us 3,300 American lives and nearly half a billion dollars. Check it out, we've made Iraq as free as Cuba.

From AP:

Soaring sectarian violence and government abuses have caused an alarming deterioration in religious freedom in Iraq, prompting a U.S. advisory panel for the first time to place it on a watch list of countries where worship is under severe threat.

Citing gross violations of the rights of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, as well as followers of numerous minority beliefs, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added Iraq to its ``watch list'' on Wednesday. Violations included arbitrary arrests, torture and rape.

Iraq joins Afghanistan, Belarus, Egypt, Bangladesh, Cuba, Indonesia and Nigeria on the list.

What a surprise, Afghanistan too. Read More......

Family Research Council takes a swipe at blacks

Hmmm... not sure that saying that labeling civil rights law protecting African-Americans as "special rights" that leave out millions of Americans like you and me (their words) is the wisest argument the religious right Republicans should be making in opposition to the hate crimes bill. Check it out for yourself, from a Family Research Council email alert sent out today:

This [hate crimes] bill creates a caste system within American society where those who fit a certain category - ranging from race, disability, gender to sexual orientation and transgendered - would be seen as deserving special legal protection. The bill is most notable for the millions of Americans it leaves out, meaning if you or I are a victim of a violent crime - we matter less.

"We" matter less than black people? I didn't know that the religious right "we" didn't include black people? Maybe there is something to the recent article about the president of the Family Research Council's business relationship with former Klan leader David Duke.

And as an aside, check out the blatant lie from the Family Research Council. The hate crimes law wouldn't cover people like them, they say. News flash - the hate crimes law on the books ALREADY covers people like them explicitly. Religion is a category already in the existing federal hate crimes law. The religious right Republicans' problem with the hate crimes law being debated and voted on in the House tomorrow is that their little special right would have to be broadened to include more people.

They are just such liars. Un-Christian, un-Christ-like, liars. Read More......

Open Thread

This is neither an open nor a thread. Discuss. Read More......

The religious right Republicans are simply obsessed with sex

And really creepy sex at that. One of the lead religious right groups, the American Family Association, in addition to promoting a known hate group on its Web site (a group that is lumped together with neo-Nazis and the Klan in a report compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center), is now publishing on its site a list of what it calls "sexual orientations." The list is filthy, it's the kind of thing we would never publish on this blog under any circumstance. It's not child safe by any means, and the AFA's Web site should be banned by every child safety filter in the country (please report their site if you know how to do so). Basically, the AFA is flipping out that others groups in society, like gays and women and people with disabilities, will be included in the already-existing federal hate crimes law - a law that ALREADY covers the religious right. Yes, the religious "special" right doesn't want to share their special status under US law. So what is their latest tactic? To declare that the word "sexual orientation" in the proposed hate crime amendment will include sex with animals, feces and corpses (the following link is NOT work-safe - you can see their bizarre sex list here).

These people call themselves Christians. They're sick. Do check out the filth they published on their Web site. The religious right Republicans are simply obsessed with sex, obsessed with gays, obsessed with filth. They are simply obsessed. Read More......

CNN host compares Al Gore to Hitler

Why? Because some moron at CNN hired this jerk and apparently is afraid to admit that he really screwed up. Sounds like some presidents we know (and some Americans who hired him). More via DKos. Read More......

Bush officials say they will keep breaking the law to spy on Americans

No surprise here really. The loyal Bushies were lying earlier this year. We were told the Bush team would follow the law and obtain warrants when spying on Americans. Wrong. Instead, they'll keep breaking the law if they want to. Lying lawbreakers, that's who is running our country:

Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.

Rather, they argued that the president had the constitutional authority to decide for himself whether to conduct surveillance without warrants.

As a result of the January agreement, the administration said that the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program has been brought under the legal structure laid out in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires court-approved warrants for the wiretapping of American citizens and others inside the United States.

But on Tuesday, the senior officials, including Michael McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, said they believed that the president still had the authority under Article II of the Constitution to once again order the N.S.A. to conduct surveillance inside the country without warrants.

George Bush doesn't have the authority to break the law. He just thinks he does. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

What now? Read More......

April in Europe sets records

In Paris, we had about one hour of rain this past Sunday but I can't even remember the last time it rained. Paris is not London, but the weather is still consistently wet and cool so the mild winter and lack of rain stands out. There is plenty of concern across Europe that if the rain does not start soon, water shortages will be an issue in July and August.

The month of April was so warm and so dry across Western Europe that it rewrote the weather record books in country after country, national weather services said today, as hot air masses from Africa and the effects of a changing climate combined to drive up temperatures and drive away rain.

April 2007 was the eighth consecutive month of higher-than-normal temperatures in Germany, and the 13th straight month of unusually warm conditions in France.

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Bush finds someone new to do his job

First it was a "war czar" though nobody was interested in being the fall guy for the failures of the President and now it's a food czar. What an amazing inability to accept any and all responsibility. Sounds like Return of the Wimp Factor, Bush II.

The Bush administration appointed a new "food safety czar" yesterday and directed him to develop a plan for addressing shortcomings exposed by recent scares in the human food supply.

Dr. David W.K. Acheson, a former University of Maryland medical school professor who had been chief medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration's food safety center, immediately stepped into the job.

The creation of the new position underscored the extent of public concern about the country's food safety system over a dangerous chemical found in pet food entering the human food supply, in addition to recent outbreaks of bacterial contamination in bagged spinach, Taco Bell lettuce and Peter Pan peanut butter. But Democrats said fears have intensified to a degree that a new appointment alone won't quell.

What is a czar going to do? Tell us that we need to get back to the original mission of the FDA and scrap years of GOP congressional damage? Uh, I think that much is obvious, so this is another diversion on the taxpayers dollar. Read More......

Interior Department loses right wing extremist political enforcer

The similarities between the Bush administration and Soviet Russia are amazing. In both cases, you have political enforcers sitting there, approving or disapproving decisions. Nothing is too small to be missed by the political enforcer who makes sure the programs fit the political agenda. And the results, well, they're predictable.

Environmentalists cheered the departure of MacDonald, who they say tried to bully government scientists into altering their findings, often without scientific basis.

"Julie MacDonald's reign of terror over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is finally over," said Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Endangered species and scientists everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief."

MacDonald, a civil engineer with no formal training in natural sciences, had served in her post since 2004. She was a senior adviser in the department for two years before that.

Pick the issue - Iraq, Katrina, global warming, food safety, US Attorneys, etc - and it is always the same. What ever happened to competence instead of politics? Read More......