Henry Hyde's Retiring

Good Riddance. Hyde is one of those sanctimonious Repubs who didn't exactly practice what he preached. AP has the story including the "youthful indiscretion" adultery (when he was in his youthful 40s) and his role in the Savings and Loan fiscal scandal.

Why don't the Dems. redistrict Illinois? Read More......

Open thread

Have at it Read More......

O'Connor says religious right hate-speech could spur violence against judges, calls her critics "extreme"

Wow. I'm glad our old-time liberal non-profits have NOT jumped on the anti-judge hate speech issue that I've been preaching about for, oh, a good month now. Obviously I was wrong and the story has no legs whatsoever.

From this week's Newsweek:

In a speech earlier this month at Goucher College, O'Connor herself said she was surprised at all the violent threats she received. "I don't think the harsh rhetoric helps," she told the crowd. "I think it energizes people who are a little off base to take actions that maybe they wouldn't otherwise take."

More from O'Connor's speech criticizing the conservative Christians, who she apparently thinks are not "thoughtful citizens" - but rather part of the "extreme" in America:

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said harsh political rhetoric could spur violence against the nation's judges, offering a veiled response last night to some national figures who in the past week have blasted the courts for failing to intervene in the case of a severely brain-damaged Florida woman.

Speaking before a crowded auditorium at Goucher College in Towson, O'Connor said she never anticipated her work as a judge would be accompanied by violent threats and said "thoughtful citizens" should demand an end to fiery extremism on either end of the political spectrum....

Political leaders, most prominently House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, said the nation's courts would have to answer for Schiavo's death.

O'Connor said tensions have historically existed between Congress and the courts, but she added: "It isn't any more pleasant today. ... And I hope that we will see an end to this, but it won't happen right away, and it will take the work of thoughtful citizens who say, 'We don't want to have this from either extreme, so let's move on.'"

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Religious right calls Reagan-appointed Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor "un-American"

From the religious right propaganda organ AgapePress:

...A conservative activist says some U.S. Supreme Court justices appear to be getting a little agitated with the criticism that's mounting against them. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is not happy with all of the current criticism focusing on "judicial activism." Jan LaRue of Concerned Women for America says O'Connor has trashed critics of the judiciary. "She actually, in her public statement, linked criticism from extremists to the serious threats that she and other judges receive -- and I think that is very unfair," she says. "It's baseless." LaRue says Justice O'Connor's comments also fly in the face of the First Amendment free-speech rights of all Americans. O'Connor is one of what critics call the "un-American six" who have ignored the Constitution's claim that it -- not foreign law -- is the final authority in the high court's rulings. Read More......

Drudge didn't sound so "not gay" in David Brock's book

Brock's description of a night out with notorious cybersleaze Matt Drudge, from page 283:

Drudge picked me up at a friend's house in the Hollywood Hills in his red Geo Metro, arriving with an impressive bouquet of yellow roses. Jesus, I thought, Drudge thinks we're going on a date. After dinner at the famed West Hollywood restaurant Dan Tana's, he suggested we go bar hopping along the gay strip on Santa Monica Boulevard, which Drudge navigated like a pro. ... (Six months hence, I received the following e-mail message from Drudge, under the subject heading "XXX." Drudge wrote: "Laura [Ingraham] spreading stuff about you and me being fuck buddies. I should only be so lucky. ")

My talks with Drudge focused on how he was being manipulated by the right, on what not to do with his career. ... Arianna, Laura, Drudge — sadly, they were all lost causes. They needed to enroll in Clintons Anonymous.

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Matt Drudge tells reporter he's "not gay"

From the Sunday Times of London:

“So are you a gay right-wing Republican?” I ask.

“No, I’m not gay. I was nearly married a few years ago. And no, I’m not a right-wing Republican,” he replies without batting an eye.

Well, that might come as a surprise to all the journalists, from David Brock to Michelangelo Signorile, who have outed Drudge over the years. I think this is going to get interesting.

Here's a bit more:

What does Drudge do when he is not plugged into cyberspace? “That’s a very good question and I’m not going to discuss it,” he replies.

“Hold on, Matt,” I say, “you’re always exposing the private lives of public figures. You can’t go all coy now.”

“I’m not very social. I live on an island in Miami, Florida, and I do my own shopping and pay my taxes,” he says. “And I’m not mean.”

That is not the way that Drudge’s critics see it. David Brock, a former right-wing journalist, claimed in his book Blinded by the Right that Drudge was gay, yet supported a party that these critics see as “homophobic”.

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You Don't Care Who The Next Pope Is? You SHOULD!

A number of people have scoffed at paying attention to the conclave -- who cares, religion is a farce, the Catholic Church is blah blah blah. Well, it does matter. Whatever you think of China or WalMart or numerous other countries and transnational institutions, they have a huge impact on many people's lives. Paying attention to the direction they're heading in and who is leading them is important.

Maybe -- like me -- you thought the former Soviet Union really was an evil empire. Or maybe you thought it was no better or worse than the U.S. But its leader mattered. Mikhail Gorbachev is a far different ruler than Josef Stalin.

So, yes, it does matter who becomes the next bishop of Rome.

So far, day one and the smoke is black, meaning no new pope. Remember, JP II instituted the nuclear option ahead of Bill Frist, so the longer it drags on (10 plus days), the more likely we are to have a divisive candidate who couldn't muster the support of the super-majority (2/3rds plus one) that used to be the benchmark for a pontiff. Read More......

Time Mag publishes FAKE photo of supposed Anti-Coulter/Pro-Kerry group

UPDATE: Email a letter to the editor of TIME here - letters@time.com

THIS IS A GOP FRONT GROUP POSING AS "COMMUNISTS FOR KERRY"



And had TIME magazine followed the news cycle last year, they'd have know this. FOX News got duped by the group, the group was uncovered, and now TIME republishes the photo saying that it's a real group protesting Coulter, when it's really a GOP group pretending to be "communists for Kerry" in order to make Kerry and the Dems look bad.

Thanks, TIME. It's bad enough you give a cover story to a woman who advocates murdering journalists, but now you help publish a lie to millions of Americans. I'm sure we'll get a small box correction that no one will even see next week.

Stay tuned for next week when TIME republishes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Read More......

Does Ann Coulter make a positive contribution to American political culture?

Vote in the TIME poll :-) (left hand column, scroll down a bit). Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

What do the theocrats have in store this week? Read More......

Does anyone really believe this?

Washington Post has a piece today about why many Americans aren't interested in adding private accounts to Social Security. There is one passage that made me laugh out loud. Of course, it came from the Bush spokesperson:

"I'm 1,000-percent convinced of this: The president cares the most about this $10-an-hour person," said Allan B. Hubbard, director of the White House National Economic Council. "And what he gets most irritated by is when it is suggested, 'Oh the $10-an-hour person isn't sophisticated enough to deal with a personal retirement account.' "

Given the track record of the Administration, does anyone, besides Allan B. Hubbard, really believe George Bush cares most about the $10-an-hour person? Does he even know any? Read More......

NRA reaches out to America with subtle new approach

And who wouldn't respond to this call from Ted Nugent?

"Let's next year sit here and say, 'Holy smokes, the NRA has 40 million members now,'" he said. "No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member. Do that in your life."

"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

Sounds like he probably meant to add in "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" but just ran out of time.

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Howard Dean "gets it"

On Friday Howard Dean raised the Schiavo issue and told the audience that he intends on using clips of DeLay spouting off on the Schiavo case. Without a doubt, it's time to make the GOP live up to their crazy words and see how the American public responds.

"This is going to be an issue in 2006, and its going to be an issue in 2008 because we're going to have an ad with a picture of (House Majority Leader) Tom DeLay saying, 'Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?'" Dean said in West Hollywood, Calif.

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Japanese market tanks on Chinese rioting and Wall Street numbers

After last week on Wall Street one would assume a problem but with the never-ending ultra-nationalistic Chinese protesting and rioting (under control of the government) this is going to sting. The "communist" leadership is in love with getting rich but who in their right mind would invest in a country like China right now? Japan is the leading investor in China and China is not the only cheap labor country out there. If you are not Japanese, you have to be asking "are we next?" Read More......