Friday, July 28, 2006

Dan Savage lets the chief justice of Washington State have it, in person, over his decision against gay marriage


I love Dan. (You'll recall he's the guy responsible for creating the word "Santorum" - Google it.) Read More......

What's the matter with Meade Kansas?


Homophobia is rampant. All because of a rainbow flag. Read More......

Prediction: There will be NO minimum wage increase this year


The House Republicans are going to great pains to make sure that the minimum wage increase never gets signed in to law. It's so disgusting. The same crowd that has given themselves $31,600 in raises over the past few years, still wants Americans to make $5.15 an hour.

There will probably be a vote later today on the minimum wage in the House, BUT, and this is a major BUT, it's designed to lose. They'll attach poison pills language in the House to ruin the substance of the bill and they'll make sure that whatever passes will die in the Senate. They're such brilliant strategists when it comes to screwing the poor.

Their latest gimmick is to tie the minimum wage to the Paris Hilton tax cut. Not kidding.

Can't bring gas prices down. Can't even begin to address the Iraq disaster. Can't shrink the deficit. But, screw the minimum wage while giving a HUGE tax break to Paris Hilton, they're all over it.

So, the GOP has a "stay the course" mindset on the minimum wage, too. Why not? Only 85% of Americans support the increase.

Interesting coincidence. Oprah's show today is about living on the minimum wage. Members of Congress need to try it. They wouldn't last a day. Read More......

Friday Cat Blogging




This is Sushi. Nasdaq has been hiding ever since they had a fight over the cat toys I brought. Well, it wasn't really a fight. Sushi attacked Nasdaq for having too much fun. There were two toys, but Sushi needed both. You understand. Read More......

Cliff's Corner


For Republican Sexcapades on The Young Turks (hypertext link not working for some reason) go to: mms://youngturks.wmod.llnwd.net/a591/o1/7-27CliffSchector.wmv
Link to more on Lieberman here and here

The Week That Was 7/28/06
Another week. More preposterousness to report.

Schadenfreude is such an underrated feeling. It has been largely difficult to enjoy it as it pertains to President “wow Russia’s really big,” because the colossal disaster that is his presidency has caused countless casualties at home and abroad, wrecked our finances, made us such a pariah Sudan won’t take our phone calls, turned Norm Coleman’s dad into Ace Bigelow, destroyed our environment and made solving world crises about as clear as Christopher Hitchens’ vision after the Wild Turkey runs out.

But we can surely enjoy life’s guilty pleasure of cackling at the Lifestyles of the Corrupt and Crazy who have enabled our president to do such damage to this country over the past 5+ years. And the last week or so has been especially bad for three of these GOP stooges.

First there was the loss in the Georgia primary by Francisco Franco and Anita Bryant’s lovechild, Ralph Reed. This was a real shame because a victory would have allowed his swearing in as lieutenant governor to coincide nicely with his bid to achieve pubescence.

You may remember Ralph as the titular head of the Christian Coalition, the smiling, facile brat who conservatives foisted upon us to equate Christianity with his perverted vision of the righteous path in which America would presumably turn into Phyllis Schlafly’s house. Without the gay kid of course. And the mother who’s never around because she’s always out working. And…well you get the point.

Later Ralph became the man in charge of George W. Bush’s southern dirty tricks division in 2000 and 2004, touting our president’s abiding Christian values and translating retard into English when Bush was in the neighborhood. Yet, it turns out Ralph's not-so-Christian habit of lying, stealing and cheating to play Native American tribes off against each other, so he could in the words of an email to his good buddy Jack Abramoff “start humping corporate clients” (insert Republican joke) wasn’t a big seller. Promoting the banned-religion, forced-abortion nightmare that is the Marianas Islands probably didn’t help much either. For some reason conservatives got a bit worked up about these things.

His mother probably put it best, when quoted in a recent GQ article. “I used to tell people he was going to be either President of the United States or Al Capone.” Now I don’t want to go out on a limb here, but let’s just say Geraldo will probably be opening Ralph’s empty vault on live television in twenty years after giving away U.S. troop positions on Fox using only his mustache.

Two other self-deluded, monomaniacal, intellectual ring-dings, Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell, are also finally getting the pay back they deserve for doing everything in their power to cheat Bush’s way to victory in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, respectively.

Harris’ mascara is running for Senate, and she’s fired everyone from the interns to her breast-pump at least three times (and many others have just quit). In fact, a friend of mine familiar with the situation says she is absolutely bipolar, ignoring everyone’s advice, thinking the world is out to get her and berating her staff constantly. I’m just waiting for her to jump up on Oprah’s sofa.

Numerous other reports suggest that she is, let’s just say, living out a daily Girl, Interrupted existence. I must pause, because now I’m all choked up. Particularly when I look at Republican poll numbers that show her losing to Senator Bill Nelson 60% to 22%. But I guess it kind of sucks when you whore yourself out to the Bush brothers and place a blemish on American democracy and all you get is a lousy t-shirt (which is a bit too tight). Yet, she’s still the GOP's best ongoing-reality series. I think it has been tentatively named "Pearls Gone Wild." With a backup title of "The Bitch is Completely Out of Her Skull."

Finally there is the self-hating, Bible-thumping, con-man known as Kenneth Blackwell. He’s one of three black men running for statewide office as a Republican this year, so they can try and pretend their conventions don’t look like Wimbledon. Blackwell’s working hard to suppress votes in this election as he did in the last one, in his capacity as Ohio’s Secretary of State.

Blackwell likes sending a limited number of broken-down machines to large college towns and urban areas, while making sure every vote is counted in neighborhoods where he is the punch-line of most jokes after the raconteur looks over his shoulder. But it will be at least a little tougher to suppress Rep. Ted Strickland’s 47% to 27% lead over him in Ohio governor’s race.

Perhaps it was a bad idea to own stock in the ever-so-reliable Diebold machines he would love to use throughout the state. Or have ideas so shallow George Allen understands them without playing Pictionary.

Regardless, Blackwell and his Dominionist allies will be doing what they can to bring a Dominoes Pizza-like existence to Ohio, so he and Harris must be shown, like the good Mr. Reed, that membership in Loonsville doesn’t have its privileges. Read More......

Arab support for Hezbollah increasing


In news that's roughly as shocking as Lance Bass coming out, Arab popular support for Hezbollah is surging. At the beginning of this latest conflict, Israel had unprecedented support (not explicit, but there nonetheless) from Arab governments that viewed Hezbollah's actions as unnecessarily provocative. Now, with Israel's strategy of bombing everything that might be connected to Hezbollah combined with surprisingly able Hezbollah fighters preventing outright Israeli victory, Arabs are viewing Hezbollah not as foolish instigators but as the champions of the anti-Israel cause. Not good.

Middle Eastern governments, with the exception of Syria and Iran, really don't like Hezbollah. Why would they? Hezbollah is an Islamist Shia group in the midst of Sunni secular governments. Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan have enough problems with their restive Islamist populations without Hezbollah mixing things up, but now the popular support for Hezbollah is forcing those governments to change their stance. Read More......

White House admits that our troops in Iraq aren't really dying for the war on terror anymore


I'm sure the remaining few Americans who still support this fiasco are going to love this. As Dan Froomkin at the WashingtonPost.com put it:
President Bush and national security adviser Stephen Hadley yesterday for the first time publicly acknowledged the momentous shift in the role for U.S. troops in Iraq, from fighting terrorists to trying to suppress religious violence.

This sea change was described in such understated terms that it was eclipsed by news about the crisis in Lebanon. Bush described a change in tactics; Hadley called it a repositioning.

But it's a historic admission: That job one for many American troops in Iraq is no longer fighting al-Qaeda terrorists, or even insurgents. Rather, it is trying to quell an incipient -- if not already raging -- sectarian civil war, with Baghdad as ground zero.

Arguably, that's been the case for quite a while. But having the White House own up to it is a very big deal.
Read More......

Frist gives the GOP their message: We're staying the course


Yesterday, the Democrats offered a New Direction for America. Today, we learn the GOP mantra for 2006 via Hotline on Call:
"We're for staying the course in Iraq and the war on terror."

-- Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist on the GOP's '06 nat'l security message, "Hannity and Colmes," FNC, 7/27
So there you have it. The choice for 2006: "A new direction" or "Stay the course."

The New York Times poll released yesterday found that 66% of Americans think we're on the wrong track...so keep on that "stay the course" message, GOP. Read More......

The Chimp and his poodle are doing their presser now


Anyone watching Bush and Blair? Bush started by trying to make a joke about the open mike at the G-8. It's all fun and games for him.

Commentary please...

UPDATE: Love this comment from Jenius:
Whew! So relieved to hear that one of Bush's top priorities will be to rebuild civilian infrastructure so that the homeless Lebanese can return and have a place to live.

I wonder if the Lebanese got to see any Katrina coverage.
Ugh, this thing is painful to watch. Think about it -- the future of the world is in the hands of these two clowns. Read More......

Chevron caps out big Big Oil week


Record profits and plenty of smiling faces on one side, groaning and anger on the other. Same same, but different. Fortunately George Bush is an oil man and he promised to jaw bone the industry and you know he has us in mind. He's a compassionate conservative, of course, so he feels your pain. Read More......

Bush extends duty for thousands of US troops in Iraq. He was serious when he said there'd be no withdrawal.


It's time the American people took George Bush at his word. Yes, he's incompetent and a bit dumb, but he's been pretty consistent with his foreign policy. And Bush said he wasn't going to withdraw from Iraq, and he means it. So if you like US troops being bogged down in Iraq for the next several years - Bush himself said the next president would have to decide if the US ever pulls out (nice cop out) - then keep voting Republican. They've already told us repeatedly that theirs is the party of war. You like war, vote for them. Read More......

What is MSNBC's policy on airing "nigger" jokes? And what is Verizon's policy on sponsoring "kike" jokes?


It's a fair question, since MSNBC now has a clear track record of broadcasting live, uncensored "fag" jokes with no concern whatsoever. Their latest offense? Airing Ann Coulter, uncensored, calling Al Gore a "total fag."

You'll recall that MSNBC recently had no problem airing Chris Matthews and Don Imus making "fag" jokes about the movie Brokeback Mountain. Oddly, however, MSNBC had no problem censoring liberal Rachel Maddow when made she made a comment about Ken Mehlman being gay, and didn't even use the word "fag."

So MSNBC has no problem with broadcasting the word "fag" on the air, no problem with homophobic gaybashing on the air, but MSNBC does have a problem when a liberal simply making a comment about a conservative being gay. That's when the MSNBC censors come ripping in.

It's nice that in the quest for relevance MSNBC has now stooped to Ann Coulter's level by repeatedly airing bigotry in an effort to boost ratings. So we're assuming "nigger" jokes, "kike" jokes, and "spic" jokes are right around the corner at MSNBC? It would be nice to hear from MSNBC as to their corporate policy on airing such jokes - okay or not?

Then again, it was clearly Rachel Maddow's own fault that she got censored. She called Ken Mehlman "gay," after all. Had she simply called him a "fudgepacking fag," she'd have passed MSNBC's censors with flying colors.

TAKE ACTION: Feel free to contact MSNBC's advertisers, and management, and ask them if they have a policy against airing "nigger" jokes on the air. You can find their contact info on the left side of this page, and the contact info for a few of their advertisers.

Hey Verizon, can you hear me now? Read More......

Laura Bush's pet Iraq project: a mismanaged failure


Here's one of those projects that the Bush crew was pushing as the underreported good news from Iraq. It was a particular favorite of Laura Bush. In reality, it's another Iraqi disaster:
Now it becomes the latest in a series of American taxpayer-financed health projects in Iraq to face overruns, delays and cancellations. Earlier this year, the Army Corps of Engineers canceled more than $300 million in contracts held by Parsons, another American contractor, to build and refurbish hospitals and clinics across Iraq.
Bechtel made a lot of money from the project. The Iraqis accused that company of serious mismanagement. The Iraqis could figure that out, but not the U.S. government.

Maybe Laura should pay a "surprise visit" to her pet project to see what happened. Read More......

Tony Blair coming to Washington to help boost Bush's polls and help Republicans in the fall elections


No other explanation for why Tony Blair suddenly needs to hop on a plane and come to the White House for an official visit. It's all about trying to make Bush look more presidential, look like he really does have a handle on this crisis, and more generally, to distract America's attention from the disaster that the Republicans have made of our country and every other.

This is why some people are dog people rather than cat people. Dogs simply love you, and will do whatever you want, no matter how much you mistreat them. Sure, it's dumb love and a bit pathetic, but isn't that why we love them?

Read More......

Sushi says it's time for an Open Thread


Read More......

Real world impact of GOP silliness in action


The upcoming Ken Burns PBS documentary on WWII could be in violation of the new GOP-Bush approved "indecency" law. It's fine for Bush to cuss like a sailor but the words of WWII vets can either be bleeped out or maybe they can just dub the interviews with happy, cheery words about the battlefield experiences. And the GOP cries about political correctness? Where does it end with the wingnut loonies? They always have plenty of time for wasting time on issues like this but can't find a minute to step back and evaluate serious issues. Read More......

Maybe this is what's clogging those "tubes"


Ted Stevens, wake up. Instead of destroying an equal platform, how about you spend your time doing something about spam instead? Since you are so clueless about such an important issue that you know nothing about other than the talking points that you mangled, I'm not talking about the tinned stuff that has a remote connection to actual meat.

UPDATE from Joe: You've seen Stevens "tubes" diatribe -- now picture him on the Daily Show:
Mocked by comedian Jon Stewart for calling the Internet a bunch of tubes, U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Thursday he is open to going on Stewart's popular "Daily Show" for a rebuttal.
Read More......