Late Friday evening thread

If you're still here... Read the rest of this post...

Jerry Falwell's appetite for giving men BJs

Something you're not telling us Jerry?

MATTHEWS: How did they get to be gay, though?
FALWELL: Well, we probably differ there.
MATTHEWS: I'm asking.
FALWELL: But I think all behavior is chosen.
MATTHEWS: I'm open. I don't know.
FALWELL: I think that...
MATTHEWS: Did you choose to be heterosexual?
FALWELL: I did.
MATTHEWS: You chose it? You thought about it and you came up with that solution? That lifestyle? (CROSSTALK)
FALWELL: Put it this way. I was taught as a child that's the right way to...
MATTHEWS: But did you feel an attraction toward women?
FALWELL: Oh, of course.
MATTHEWS: When people are born and they find themselves having an attraction to somebody from the same sex, do you think that's a choice?
FALWELL: I think you can experiment with any kind of perversity and develop an appetite for it, just like you can food.

So, Jerry Falwell admits he could develop an appetite for giving guys blowjobs, if given the chance. Okay then.

Wonkette has the full story. Read the rest of this post...

Just an isolated incident, again.

From AP: Photos that appear to show commandos in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees are seen on a commercial photo-sharing Web site operated by a woman who said her husband brought the photos from Iraq after his tour of duty. The Navy SEALs have launched a criminal investigation into the photographs. Date stamps on some photos suggest they were made in May 2003, which could make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of prisoners in Iraq. (AP Photo) Read the rest of this post...

Friday evening open thread

We are the blog. Resistance is futile. Read the rest of this post...

Ammons Family Values

Wash Times:

A Christian Coalition of America ex-official's lawsuit for $123,500 in unpaid compensation has put nepotism of the coalition's president and the acrimonious divorce of her daughter center stage in Virginia courts.

The coalition, once a powerful national voice for traditional family values founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, contests the claim filed by Tracy E. Ammons of Alexandria on grounds his compensation was funneled through a consulting company belonging to his ex-wife, now the coalition's vice president for communications.

I'm sorry, you were saying about my family values? Read the rest of this post...

Friday Orchid Blogging

Paph Gloriosum "Hallelujah" x Paph Black Currants "Tar Baby"

Actually, this flower has not yet fully opened, but I thought it looked kind of cool and enticing as is (almost there, but not quite, just giving you a hint of what's to come). An orchid "tease," if you will.

Anyway, this isn't really anything particularly interesting, orchid-wise, and I got the plant for like ten bucks a year and a half ago - i.e., it's not anything particularly rare or expensive. But you know, it might just be the best flower I bloom to date. I'm loving the spots and the color so far.

Updates as the flowering progresses. Enjoy. JOHN Read the rest of this post...

More thoughts on the Bush Twins' sex lives

I reread Joe's post below about Bush's abstinence kick, and alongside Bush's attacks on gays, his desire to outlaw sodomy, etc., it got me wondering why we don't demand more answers about the sex lives of first daughters Jenna and Barbara. Such as:

1. Have they, do they now, or do they plan ever to partake in sodomy (blow jobs, anal sex, cunnilingus, etc)?

2. Have they, do they, and will they, practice abstinence until they get married?

3. Do they avoid using condoms during intercourse because they're not fool-proof?

4. Has President Bush done everything he can to urge his daughters not to commit sodomy, engage in sex at all until marriage, and not use condoms (since they're apparently so bad)?

5. And finally, I do hope the Bush Twins attend church each Sunday, right? Can we see the log?

I mean, after all, this is the era of "No sex please, we're red states." Bush and his radical right supporters have decided that they want the government to regulate the most intimate details of family life, the way we, our kids, our spouses and our families and friends live their private sex lives. So why should Bush's and his family's, his coworkers', and his supporters' private sex life be somehow off-limits?

Think about it. Bush thinks it's okay for Big Brother to REGULATE the Bush Twin's sex lives, but simply asking a question about their sex lives is somehow wrong? That's hardly a very conservative position: Big government, good; big questions, bad. Read the rest of this post...

Too bad Dick Cheney decimated the Army

I called it months ago. You can't sustain this level of deployment without: 1) simply burning the troops out after a few years; and 2) leaving no troops available for an unexpected crisis in another region of the world. Not unless you pay a ton of more money to entice new volunteers, or you institute a draft.

"You need a bigger Army if you're going to carry out the Bush national security strategy," said Lawrence Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. "Right now, you're really using the reserves at an unsustainable pace, and you're violating the norms that you have for deploying people overseas that you've established not only for equity but for retention."

Too bad Dick Cheney CUT THE ARMY BACK 25% (and cut the rest of the military as well) when he was Secretary of Defense (from DOD's own Web site):

Over Cheney's four years as secretary of defense, encompassing budgets for fiscal years 1990-93, DoD's total obligational authority in current dollars declined from $291.3 billion to $269.9 billion. Except for FY 1991, when the TOA budget increased by 1.7 percent, the Cheney budgets showed negative real growth: -2.9 percent in 1990, -9.8 percent in 1992, and -8.1 percent in 1993. During this same period total military personnel declined by 19.4 percent, from 2.202 million in FY 1989 to 1.776 million in FY 1993. The Army took the largest cut, from 770,000 to 572,000-25.8 percent of its strength. The Air Force declined by 22.3 percent, the Navy by 14 percent, and the Marines by 9.7 percent.

Why does Dick Cheney hate the military? Read the rest of this post...

What do Barb and Jenna Know?

So, the Bush Administration is funding abstinence education. And, it turns out, according to a Congressional Report, they are funding "false and misleading" information.

George W. Bush and is his administration are OBSESSED with the sex lives of other Americans. But, they don't share with us. We still don't know what the abstinence policy is for single White House staffers. And, we should know what the abstinence policy is over at the RNC, since their leader, Kenny, is a "confirmed bachelor" wink, wink.

What might help is for Barb and Jenna to become spokespersons for the Bush Administration sex policies. They can tell us what they know about sex...or abstinence. What did their parents teach them about sex? Were they told about birth control? Do they know what "safe sex" is? Or, did their parents encourage sexual abstinence?

Since George Bush is so obsessed with sex, let's hear what his family policies are on the issue...and what his staff policies are. Going out on a limb here, but I bet they really don't practice what they preach. Read the rest of this post...

New jobs report tanks for yet another month

Well under the forecasted 200,000, the numbers came in at 112,000 and the markets are tumbling downhill. Again, the number needs to be more than 150,000 per month just to keep up with new additions to the market. The dollar is falling on the news as well.

October jobs report revised downward from 337,000 down to 303,000. Sure, all is going well with the Bush economy.
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US closes 10 mile road from airport in Baghdad for employees

Following on the heels of the British directive from earlier in the week, the road connecting Baghdad airport to downtown is now off limits to US embassy workers. No problem though, everything is under control. The local insurgents surely won't figure out how to adapt yet again and they have never ever never shot down helicopters so the new transport program will surely be another success story.

Precisely because of the road's importance, insurgents have shown increasing boldness and ferocity in targeting vehicles used by U.S. military personnel and civilian contractors.

An embassy spokesman said Thursday that U.S. personnel who need to travel between the airport and the embassy, which is in the heavily fortified area known as the Green Zone, would be transported by helicopter.

U.S. forces have tried a number of security measures over the past year, only to see insurgents adjust their tactics and pose fresh threats to traffic.

The Army's 1st Cavalry Division has about 1,000 soldiers dedicated to guarding the highway, which the U.S. military refers to as Route Irish. Still, suicide attacks there have averaged several a week.

But while the casualty tolls have tended to be relatively low -- less than four dead or injured per attack, on average -- the impact on public perceptions has been high.

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GOP itching to change filibuster rules

How could we ever forget that November 2 was a massive mandate of 51% to go off of a cliff with wingnut policy? The arguments by people like Frist are incredible and the Democratic Minority leader is already sounding like he's prepping himself to be a lapdog on this fight. How can Frist even suggest "tyranny by the minority" when it's quite clear we are being slammed by the majority, slim as it may be. We need some serious wins out there in 2006 to combat this kind of insanity that is so prevalent within the GOP.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., says "tyranny by the minority" must end and he will do whatever it takes. That includes what some call the "nuclear option" to stop Democrats from using the filibuster to block President Bush's judicial nominees.

Frist wants to change Senate rules to make it harder or impossible to filibuster judicial nominations. It now takes 60 votes to end debate and bring a nominee to a vote. Even with their new majority of 55, it is unclear whether Republicans can reach 60 votes on the most contentious nominees.

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Torture is now legal in US courts, a new low for democracy

This is one of the most revolting episodes in modern US history. There is no proof whatsoever that torture victims provide accurate or valid information. More to the contrary, torture victims generally tell the torturer anything they want to hear just to stop the torture and the information generated is most often useless. Anyone who thinks its a good idea ought to visit Cambodia where the infamous S-21 torture center is now a museum and then take a drive 12 kilometers out of town and visit the Killing Fields where it's all there to see. This does nothing other than soil our already shaky reputation.

Once again with this new development the US is choosing knee jerk reactions over reality. Torture has never been proven as an effective method of gathering information. It always spirals out of control and leads to demonization, as we have already witnessed with both Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.
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Danforth resigning from UN post already

Seven months and he's now going back home "to spend time with his family." Sounds like someone was expecting something larger to happen and it didn't.
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