What Year Does George Bush Think It Is?

Your guess is as good as mine. I'm thinking about 1860... From AP earlier this week:

The Senate may be the place for some former first ladies, but President Bush on Thursday categorically ruled out a run for office by his wife, Laura Bush.

"She's not interested in running for office. She's interested in literacy," Bush said during an appearance at JK Moving & Storage.

The topic came up as the president took questions from his audience after a speech on the economy. A woman asked if Mrs. Bush would ever run for Senate from the first couple's home state of Texas, and Bush responded "never" - twice.

He also declined the woman's plea that he at least ask Mrs. Bush if she might be willing.

"She's a great lady," the president said. "She's not interested in running for office."

Heaven forbid a woman be allowed to speak for herself. And there is no way Laura could be interested in both literacy and the Senate. It's Bush's world, no one can do more than one thing at a time. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

I'm off to dinner. Italian... Read the rest of this post...

Local TV Coverage of Maryland Gay Marriage Ruling

For those interested in following the reaction to the Baltimore Circuit Judge's decision yesterday:

• The local CBS affiliate (video on the right of the page)
• The local NBC affiliate (video on the right - click AG Appeals Ruling)

Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled that the ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional here in Maryland, staying her ruling pending appeal. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Rove and Mehlman really don't think we're capable of fighting back. That reinforces their argument that Dems. are weak...Chris Matthews and the Washington Post think the same thing.

Soon enough, they are all going to learn that the times have finally changed. Read the rest of this post...

Michael Moore gets his revenge on Chris Matthews

Just click. Read the rest of this post...

Katrina evacuation bus company rips off US - close GOP ties, again

No surprise here that a no bid contract to Landstar Express America has turned out to be another big rip-off. This time, it's to the tune of $32 million. How many more times are people going to tolerate the GOP fleecing of America? It's just one big taxpayer funded feeding orgy with these people. Whether it's overbilling in a war or ripping off taxpayers, it makes no difference to them as long as their deep connections to the GOP pay off.

In this case, even Fox news had carried the initial story of the no bid contract which did not pass the sniff test before and now we see why. Check out the links to the stories from the initial no-bid, despite offers for FREE bus assistance that was ignored by FEMA. And this is the party that wants to run on wrapping itself with the flag? These people don't deserve to call themselves Americans.

Why does the GOP hate America and want to steel money from average Americans? Read the rest of this post...

Dying NJ woman wins right to pass benefits to her surviving partner

This is a great story. After a year of the local city government saying no because the couple is gay, they've finally said yes. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Already a lot of news backed up and ready to go. Busy for a Saturday. Some might say too busy... Read the rest of this post...

ABC/Disney may have killed new TV show because gay couple won and they didn't want to anger religious right

This is bad. The NYT article below provides a lot of evidence that the religious right got "Welcome to the Neighborhood," a reality TV show, killed before it even aired a single episode because ABC/Disney thought the religious right would pull its support for the movie Narnia if the gays were shown to win the reality show (the gay couple did win).

What's worse, a bit part of the religious right's problem with the reality show is that many of the neighbors of the gay couple in the show were quite homophobic Christians and by the end of the show they ended up loving their gay neighbors. The religious right objected especially to the fact that real Christians embraced their gay neighbors.

And it looks very strongly like ABC/Disney caved to the religious right in order to ensure that a reality TV show didn't show real Christians embracing gays.

"Neighborhood" features a real gay couple and their prospective neighbors in a continuing dialogue about homosexuality, including interpretations of the Bible.

In a recent interview, Richard Land, an official with the Southern Baptist Convention involved in the negotiations with Disney last year to end the group's boycott of the company, said he did not recall any mention of "Neighborhood." He added, however, that had the show been broadcast - particularly with an ending that showed Christians literally embracing their gay neighbors - it could have scuttled the Southern Baptists' support for "Narnia."

"I would have considered it a retrograde step," Mr. Land said of the network's plans to broadcast the reality series. "Aside from any moral considerations, it would have been a pretty stupid marketing move."

Paul McCusker, a vice president of Focus on the Family, which had supported the Southern Baptist boycott and reaches millions of evangelical listeners through the daily radio broadcasts of Dr. James Dobson, expressed similar views.

"It would have been a huge misstep for Disney to aggressively do things that would disenfranchise the very people they wanted to go see 'Narnia,' " he said.

This is all a sign of the larger battle we're fighting, and losing, with the media. They've turned to the right, and until we show them that we too can cause them pain, they're going to continue promoting bigotry and discrimination as an effort to win favor with the far-right.

Just like the religious right's Ford Motor Company boycott, it too got suddenly called off, we now see another case where perhaps these boycott's are getting called off because of behind-the-scenes secret deals these companies are working out with the far-right bigots. Read the rest of this post...

Two Times articles, two different reports on the polls on domestic spying

One article reported on facts, not the White House spin. One article reported on the White House spin, not the facts.

From Licthblau and Risen (on page A8 of the print edition):

While the White House usually says it pays no attention to public opinion polls, Scott McClellan, the press secretary, said at a briefing Friday that recent surveys "overwhelmingly show that the American people want us to do everything within our power to protect them."

But several opinion polls this month showed a clear divide over the issue. One poll, conducted two weeks ago by CNN/USA Today, found that 50 percent of those surveyed thought it was right for the president to order wiretaps without warrants and that 46 percent said it was wrong.

From the Times stellar political reporter Adam "Ad Nags" Nagourney (on page A10 of the print edition):

The White House's increasingly forceful defense of the eavesdropping program signals its belief that the disclosures are not politically damaging, notwithstanding criticism. Some polls so far suggest that Americans are supportive of the eavesdropping campaign.

Did someone in the White House just tell Nagourney the polls were good for them? He does have that reputation, after all, of taking what they feed him. Because, if Ad Nags did some very basic research like his colleagues did, he'd learn otherwise. But that might make Karl Rove mad at him. Read the rest of this post...

Dean Blasts Rove and the Dems. have to keep up the attack

Howard Dean showed that he is willing to fight back against the hypocrisy of Karl Rove and his boss, George Bush:

Democrats were quick to respond, with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean challenging Rove's fitness to serve. "Karl Rove only has a White House job and a security clearance because President Bush has refused to keep his promise to fire anyone involved in revealing the identity of an undercover CIA operative," Dean said in a statement. Dean added: "The truth is, Karl Rove breached our national security for partisan gain and that is both unpatriotic and wrong."

Yes, Rove, that is the truth. The guy who put our national security at risk, wants to make national security an issue again in 2006, just like he did in 2002:

It was four years ago this week when Rove, appearing at another meeting of the RNC, said Republicans would make terrorism a central issue of the 2002 midterm elections. Rove's remarks infuriated Democrats, who protested that, until then, Bush had stressed bipartisanship and national unity in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Republicans made historic gains in 2002, and Bush successfully used the issue again to help secure his reelection in 2004, despite growing public dissatisfaction with the administration's handling of the war in Iraq. Yesterday's speeches by Rove and Mehlman signaled that the White House and the RNC intend to pursue much the same strategy in a midterm-election year that begins with Republicans on the defensive.

It's the only strategy they have. It's not even true that the Republicans are better on national security. 9/11 happened on their watch. Iraq is creating terrorists. Bin Laden is still alive. But, it's all they have. Think about that.

That's why the Democrats need to fight back hard on this one. They know it's coming. You can't promote national security if your staff violate national security. Bush, Rove and the GOP put our security at risk. Don't just think Americans are going to that. Make sure they do. Read the rest of this post...

US beef banned again in Japan

We can thank the GOP self-regulation policies for the terrible reputation of American beef. Besides tasting like crap these days and being full of drugs, mad cow is back in the picture. You would think that with the PR troubles of this industry we might see some change, but apparently not. Obviously the cattle processing industry would like to lose more money and run themselves out of business.

For true entrepeneurs, this is another situation where you can take full advantage of the Soviet-style business practices and deliver quality products that are not tainted by hormones or steroids. Add to that decent processing and you have yourself a business. The factory food industry will collapse, just like the Soviet Union because they have no clue how to compete. It's just incredible what the GOP has done to US politics and US business. Why in the hell did they care about the Cold War only to become like the Soviets? They wouldn't know freedom or free market if it kicked them in the ass. Read the rest of this post...

Why do the neocons hate America?

And the GOP wants to run with "national security" as the issue (again) in 2006? Give me a break, "national security for sale" ought to be their slogan as we have seen over the last five years. Read the rest of this post...

Frist says Alito is Democrats "worst nightmare"

Okay, this is the kind of talk that just might get Alito's nomination sunk. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Off to bed. Read the rest of this post...