Open thread

Just spoke to Mike Signorile. Apparently he had that sheriff from Alabama on his radio show today - you know, the sheriff who thinks homosexuality is an abomination. Mike says the interview was hysterical. He's going to try to get me the audio so you guys can hear it. Read the rest of this post...

ACTION: File an FCC complaint against Armstrong Williams

Armstrong might be in a tad bit of trouble with the FCC now too. And even Arlen Specter is jumping on him. Once you read the story, use the links below to file an FCC complaint against Armstrong Williams:

Leaders of a Senate committee have asked the Education Department to turn over records of recent years' public relations contracts, while reminding the education secretary of a federal ban on "propaganda."....

Separately, a Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission called Thursday for his agency to investigate whether Williams broke the law by failing to disclose that the Bush administration paid him $240,000 to plug its education policies.

Williams, who has apologized for a mistake in judgment, said he had broken no law.

In the same contract as the Armstrong arrangement, the Education Department paid the public relations firm Ketchum for a video that promoted the law and appeared as a news story without making clear the reporter was hired as part of the deal....

"Given our jurisdiction over the funds involved, we would appreciate your careful review of the contract with Ketchum and the payment made to Mr. Williams," said Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, in a letter to Education Secretary Rod Paige....

They also asked Paige for a list of any grant, contract or arrangement of public money being used "for public relations or anything similar to the purpose of the Ketchum contract" from the 2002, 2003 and 2004 budget years.

Meanwhile, at an FCC meeting Thursday, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said the agency had received about a dozen complaints concerning the Williams arrangement.

"I certainly hope the FCC will take action and fully investigate whether any laws have been broken," Adelstein said.

FCC Action Alert!!!

Send an email to fccinfo@fcc.gov and demand that they launch an immiediate investigation to determine if any laws were broken Armstrong Williams failed to disclose that the Bush administration paid him $240,000 to plug its education policies.

To date, the FCC says it's only had 12 complaints. Let's change that. :-) Read the rest of this post...

Religious right group, caught red-handed, drops plans to brainwash Muslim children tsumami victims

Yeah, now that they got caught they're dropping their plans. But the damage is done, including:

1. Putting all foreign aid, even "foreign" foreign aid, at risk. What Muslim country would EVER allow aid from a Christian country in the future? And how many thousands, if not millions, of disaster victims in the future will suffer because their governments will no longer permit foreign aid as a result of this scandal?

2. Putting all foreign aid workers at risk. Is that aid worker talking to your child a REAL aid worker, or a secret agent out to kidnap your children and convert them to the Great Satan's religion?

3. Jeopardizing citizen donations to disaster relief projects. Do you REALLY know that your donations aren't going to kidnap small children in other countries? After all, how many Americans realize that the Salvation Army is actually a religious right activist organization that lobbies for anti-gay legislation in Washington and the states?

4. Reinforcing the fears that US foreign policy is all about an American crusade against the world, and against Muslims in particular. I mean, Jesus, these freaks chose the largest Muslim country in the world to pull this little stunt in. Kiss our image, or what was left of it, goodbye for good.

5. Making the entire world hate us that much more.

6. Increasing terrorism against Americans. No, I'm not exaggerating. Imagine the terrorist recruiting film you could make out of this little ditty. Sunny day. Massive wave. Muslim moms and dads and kids swim for their lives. Poor little Muslim orphans left crying for their parents. White American Christians, seeing the death of almost 200,000 Muslims as "an opportunity," enter the picture to save the day and kidnap poor Muslim children and brainwash them. I wish I were joking.

And for me, this issue opens up lots of other questions:

1. I doubt this is the first time the religious right has tried to steal children in order to brainwash them into Christianity. Where else have they, or other religious right groups, done this, and are they getting US government money to do this or to support any other of their work?

2. Does the Bush administration condone these kind of actions, and will they support the passage of US laws to stop this fundamentalist traficking in children? Are there any laws on the books already that cover this matter?

3. Who is WorldHelp? Their Web site, to the best of my searching, doesn't include a single name of ANYONE behind the organization. That's rather troubling for a group that collects money from the public, then gets caught spending it in morally questionable ways.

I'm sure there are more questions and observations, but those come to mind right away. Read the rest of this post...

Great, the Muslim backlash against us has already begin

Congratulations goes to the religious right for fucking up our foreign policy for, oh, the next 20 years at least. From IslamOnline:

Giving credence to fears that Christain missionaries are exploiting the tsunami distaster to proselytize poor and needy Muslims, The Washington Post reported Thursday, January 13, that a US missionary group plans to christianize 300 Muslim children from the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Read the rest of this post...

BREAKING NEWS: Religious right tsunami relief group kidnaps 300 Muslim orphans, will raise them as Christians

Holy shit. This one act will so damage our relations in the Muslim world FOR DECADES. These are George Bush's faith-based buddies. They're now stealing children and indoctrinating them.

A Virginia-based missionary group said this week that it has airlifted 300 "tsunami orphans" from the Muslim province of Banda Aceh to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, where it plans to raise them in a Christian children's home.

The missionary group, WorldHelp, is one of dozens of Christian, Muslim and Jewish charities providing humanitarian relief to victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean, taking more than 150,000 lives....

"Normally, Banda Aceh is closed to foreigners and closed to the gospel. But, because of this catastrophe, our partners there are earning the right to be heard and providing entrance for the gospel," WorldHelp said in an appeal for funds on its Web site this week.

The appeal said WorldHelp was working with native-born Christians in Indonesia who want to "plant Christian principles as early as possible" in the 300 Muslim children, all younger than 12, who lost their parents in the tsunami.

"These children are homeless, destitute, traumatized, orphaned, with nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. If we can place them in a Christian children's home, their faith in Christ could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people," it said.

I am a Christian. THIS is criminal. It also sends a message to foreign countries to NEVER accept foreign disaster aid in the future, meaning millions will suffer as a result of the religious right's selfish viciousness. Is it any wonder India didn't want any foreign help?

Feel free to call the Indonesian Embassy and let them know that not all Americans are kidnapping religious right maniacs who see the death of 170,000 people as an "opportunity".

Embassy of Indonesia in Wash DC
Phone : 202-775-5200
Fax. : 202-775-5365

Email Address :
Consular: hsantoso@embassyofindonesia.org
Information: information@embassyofindonesia.org
Education: ibakri@embassyofindonesia.org
Economic: sumarjo@embassyofindonesia.org Read the rest of this post...

Kerry for president in 2008? Over my dead body

He has got to be kidding.

The man couldn't even beat the totally lame George Bush, and now he's hinting at running again? No. Good God, imagine if Kerry had to go up against John McCain next time? He'd be obliterated.

People didn't like Kerry. Hell, Democrats didn't like Kerry. What would be so different next time he runs? His history of waffling (and let's face it, he does waffle - his positions on gay issues were alone proof of that, let alone the old "I voted for it before I voted against it")? His war record? His personality and warmth? And how exactly would Kerry overcome his already signficant negatives in the public eye?

I mean, look, I voted for the guy, I wanted him to win, truly. But Kerry was just like Gore, the candidate WE HAD rather than the candidate WE WANTED. And the candidate we had was a nice man who simply was not good enough. Close, but no cigar. Do we get Bob Shrum again? And how long will it take next time before Kerry decides to fight back? Will he develop an actual opinion on the war on terror next time?

I hate to be so brutal about it, but how do you spend 20 years in Washington and not have a concrete point of view on the war on terror and especially the war in Iraq? How do you find it difficult to explain why you were for the war BECAUSE YOU WERE LIED TO, and now that you know the truth, you, like the majority of the American public, feel betrayed? Is that such a hard thing to explain? For Kerry, it was.

No no, a thousand times no. And while we're at it, someone tell Mrs. Clinton to take a hike as well. Read the rest of this post...

Bush knew

From the Financial Times:

For months, the US Congress has been investigating activities that violated the United Nations oil-for-food programme and helped Saddam Hussein build secret funds to acquire arms and buy influence.

President George W. Bush has linked future US funding of the international body to a clear account of what went on under the multi-billion dollar programme.

But a joint investigation by the Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, shows that the single largest and boldest smuggling operation in the oil-for-food programme was conducted with the knowledge of the US government.

“Although the financial beneficiaries were Iraqis and Jordanians, the fact remains that the US government participated in a major conspiracy that violated sanctions and enriched Saddam's cronies,” a former UN official said. “That is exactly what many in the US are now accusing other countries of having done. I think it's pretty ironic.”

Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Back soon :-) Read the rest of this post...

Ali G (or a look alike) freaks out uptight Virginians

This is a must-read. :-) Read the rest of this post...

How many times are we going to have to go over this?

From yesterdays press conference:

"Based on what we know today, the president would have taken the same action because this is about protecting the American people," said Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

Please tell me, what exactly invading Iraq had to do with protecting American people? How is this protecting the American people? Specifics, please. Read the rest of this post...