Late night thread

It was an evening without any cowboy hats or fur coats in sight. I consider that a success. Read More......

Excellent Maureen Dowd piece

This one is particularly good. Read More......

Open Thread

Happy Inauguration Day Everyone!

FEAR MORE YEARS
FEAR MORE YEARS
FEAR MORE YEARS

Woo, woo, woo!

(Credit goes to freewayblogger for the Fear More Years) Read More......

The carnage begins. Religious right attacking RNC co-chair for being pro-gay

No, they're not attacking the ambiguously-gay Ken Mehlman, they'd NEVER DARE do that without concrete proof. So they attack his co-chair, Joann Davidson, former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives for four years. You see, she's a girl (as compared to a "big girl"), so it's easier to attack her in wingnut land and get away with it.

The growing concern on the right is that the new co-chair, picked by Ken himself, is not only pro-choice, but that she's so pro-gay she reportedly helped KILL an Ohio version of the Defense of Marriage act not once, but TWICE!

Now why is it that Ken "I refuse to say on the record if I'm straight" Mehlman is surrounding himself at the top levels of the RNC with people who aren't pro-family? If it were me, I'd surround myself with all the fag hags I could get. But in Ken's case, what could the reason be that a family values Republican would surround himself with such anti-family GOPers?

Excerpts from the Wing Nut Daily article:

The Pro-Family Network of Ohio, however, says Davidson "does not represent the values of the rank and file of the GOP."

"Not once, but twice, the measure was introduced and never had a vote in committee because, as speaker, Ms. Davidson had the measure killed and is on record calling the legislation 'unnecessary.'"

Concludes Quinlan: "The RNC needs to ask Ms. Davidson why she supports gay marriage and abortion. After all of our hard work in the past election, Republican voters have a right to these answers."

And the RNC needs to ask Mr. Mehlman why he's silent about his own sexual orientation after all the hard work of family values voters in the past elections. Republican voters have a right to this answer. Read More......

Last time I eat at that hotel

Check out the security for the inaugural balls. Not kidding.

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Avowed lesbian touches Bible

Yep, all of America just got to watch an avowed lesbian activist swear in the Vice President. Out and proud, and her parents are out and proud. And the religious right is worried about Sponge Bob? They ought to be worried about Sponge Mary. I'll say it again, when you've got that many homos at the senior ranks of the Republican party it gets VERY hard to gay bash. The Cheneys obviously chose Mary for a reason. They could have chosen the cuter, married-with-kids daughter Liz, but they chose lesbian Mary instead. That was to send a signal that they're not embarrassed of their lesbian daughter. Religious right take note. You can't get around this Fifth Column.

Final thought. Don't get me wrong. Mary is still a sell-out and a traitor to herself, her lover and her people. She helped the gay-bashing Bush-Cheney ticket get re-elected, so they can continue to bash us. But her gay-ness, which wouldn't have been public if WE didn't make it public, has now put the Bushies in a pickle. They can't go THAT anti-gay without dissing the image of the virgin "Mary." And THAT helps us. Read More......

More on Sponge Bob, evil gay genius

Yes, the American Family Association is livind about Sponge Bob being a secret gay agent to convert our children.

You really can't make this shit up. Read More......

Bush's response about why he can't find Osama

"When President Bush was asked last week by The Washington Post why Osama bin Laden had eluded capture, he replied, 'Because he's hiding.'" - NYT, 1/20/05

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Mehlman asks pro-choice not-so-anti-gay woman to be his co-chair at RNC

Gee, so we have an ambiguously-gay man running the Republican party, and his co-chair is a pro-choice woman who refused to speeak out in favor of her state's anti-gay constitutional amendment. Hey, fundies, you're screwed. Bush isn't one of you. He doesn't even like you. You're the crazy aunt in the attic that gets a little crumb when you kick the floorboards enough, but when push comes to shove, he thinks you're an embarrassment and a detriment to the GOP. That's why an ambiguously-gay man and his pro-choice seemingly not-so-anti-gay woman co-chair are running the party. They suck up to you when they need your votes, but face it - the pro-choicers and the fags have infiltrated the party and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, short of a purge. Read More......

The view from my balcony today

I was up till midnight in 20 degree weather doing this last night. Who new protest art looked so easy and was actually kind of hard? Enjoy. And oh, my balcony overlooks pretty much 2/3 of the city, and all the official helicopters from the White House and DOD fly overhead all day long. I think they'll notice. And, I almost forget, my view overlooks the "Hinckley" Hilton where one of the inaugural balls is tonight. He he he.



The photo below is to give you a sense of just how high up my apartment is - folks will see this.

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Hey John, Thanks

No surprise, today is a really ugly day here in D.C. The place is crawling with asshole republicans who apparently don't grasp the concept of things like stop signs and crosswalks.

This morning, I was walking my dog (almost all my stories involve my dog).

We were heading up Columbia Road from the Washington Hilton -- site of some extravaganza for the inauguration -- when I something caught my eye on the top floor of a building across the street from me.

Hanging from John's balcony on huge posters were the letters: L-I-A-R.

Loved it. If you've seen the pictures John has taken from his apartment, you can grasp that he has a great vantage point and great visibility. It was a bright spot on an otherwise dismal day.

So, thanks John. Read More......

A Dem. with a spine - what a concept

The New York Times has a great profile on Senator Barbara Boxer today. The first paragraph says a lot, not only about Boxer, but about her fellow Democrats:

While some Democrats are still struggling to find their voices after November's election losses, Senator Barbara Boxer of California is not among them.

Boxer is getting credit for the decision by the Democrats to slow down Condi's confirmation vote. Why? Because she asked tough questions about the biggest foreign policy debacle in recent history. And, as Boxer noted, it is not an intellectual exercise. American kids are being sent to die:

Before casting one of two Democratic votes against Ms. Rice on the Foreign Relations Committee - the other was John Kerry's - Ms. Boxer explained bluntly why she had been so persistent in pressing the national security adviser on what Ms. Boxer portrayed as the administration's misleading and misguided rationale for the war in Iraq.

"The fact is we've lost so many lives over it," she said. "So if we do get a little testy on the point, and I admit to be so, it's because it continues day in and day out, and 25 percent of the dead are from California. We cannot forget. We cannot forget that."

Boxer's challenge to Rice and Bush has generated enormous attention. Hopefully, it will provide some courage to her colleagues on the Hill.

I think Senator Boxer handled this situation masterfully. She basically challenged Condi on Condi's own words. Imagine that. This paragraph in the article really has a very strong message for her colleagues.

Had she not been willing to take on Ms. Rice over the buildup to the war, Ms. Boxer said, she would not deserve her seat in the Senate. All she did, she said, was confront the nominee with her own words and the record.

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Transcript of Signorile's interview with the anti-gay Alabama sheriff

Several deaf readers asked if there was any way to get transcripts of these things, and our enterprising readers took matters into their own hands!

This transcription comes from our friend The Witch at LastMidnight, who deserves a hearty round of cyber applause. Enjoy.

Atrios points out the best part of the interview, at the end:

M: Thanks for giving us this interview today, sir. It--
H: Can I say one more thing?
M: Yes.
H: Okay. Do you want to describe what homosexuals do to each other?
M: Are you asking me a question?
H: Yeah. Why don't we just, you know, if it's not such a terrible thing, a despicable thing, just in common language, let's put up here[?] what these gays do to each other.
M: Well, you know what they do, sir? They fuck, just like straight people fuck. That's what they do. Okay? You know, straight people--
H: --All I'm saying is [unintelligible]
M: You know, you put your dick in your wife's vagina and a lot of you Christian conservatives also put your dicks in other women's cunts when you're not -- you know, when you're married, and are hypocritical. So gay people, yeah, they fuck just like you fuck. That's what they do. And for many of them it's an act of love--
[crosstalk]
M: And for others of them, just like many of you heterosexuals, it's an act of sheer pleasure, because we live in a free society.
H: Well, tell Congressman Rangel and Senator Hillary Clinton-- You give them my regards.
M: I certainly will, sir. Thank you for joining us today.
H: Okay. Goodbye.

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