Dear Republican friends...

Nice article from Christopher Rice, Ann Rice's son. (I met him a few years back at an OUT event in NYC. Nice enough guy. Young.) Anyway, good article.

Before gay marriage bans were passed in 11 states, my Republican friends had a simple message for me: “Don’t panic. We hate those right-wing nut jobs as much as you do.”

Now I have a message for them.

Prove it! Take back your party from the religious extremists who are doing so much to demonize the friends you’re always willing to console. Stop posting maudlin, disingenuous e-mails on blogs about your deep regret over having to sacrifice your gay friends for more important issues....

There is one problem with this. It’s a big one, so I have saved it for last. If you’re successful in rescuing the Republican Party from the religious extremists who have held it hostage for almost two decades, you guys will have to say goodbye to a lot of cold, hard cash. I’ll leave it to you folks to come up with a good term for a person who accepts money to betray his friends. (Try the Bible.)

[Snap, snap!] Read the rest of this post...

"I didn't want...'Died deluded in Iraq' over my gravestone."

Wow. 5,500 US soldiers have stood up and refused to go to Iraq. Many have apparently gone to Canada. Honestly, I don't blame them.

From CBSNews.com:

I was told in basic training that, if I'm given an illegal or immoral order, it is my duty to disobey it, and I feel that invading and occupying Iraq is an illegal and immoral thing to do," says Hinzman.

"I think there are times when militaries or countries act in a collectively wrong way. ...Saddam Hussein was a really bad guy, but was he a threat to the U.S.?"

Hussein may have been a threat to the Iraqi people, but Hinzman maintains that was not enough of a reason for Hinzman to risk his life fighting in Iraq.

"Whether a country lives under freedom or tyranny or whatever else, that's the collective responsibility of the people of that country," says Hinzman.

He later adds that his contract with the military was "to defend the Constitution of the United States, not take part in offensive, preemptive wars."

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C-SPAN televising Rep. Conyers' "Voting Irregularities in Ohio" forum on Wed.

Tomorrow, Wednesday - thought you might like to know. Find out when here. Read the rest of this post...

Evening open thread

Talk, damnit. Read the rest of this post...

Toys every good Christian should avoid this Christmas

More fabulousness from Betty Bowers. Read the rest of this post...

Could Bush BE any gayer?

Seriously, what IS he wearing? I mean, who dressed him, Ken Mehlman?



CrooksAndLiars.com alerted me to Bush's fashion choice. Read the rest of this post...

For you Chicagoans: Ray Rayner died (well, like a year ago)

Wow, I didn't know he died. UrbanLenny posted the link. For those of you not lucky enough to grow up in Chicago, Ray Rayner was THE daily staple for all the with-it 5 year olds in the late 1960s. I used to watch Captain Kangaroo until my brother MADE me switch to Ray Rayner - I was quickly sucked in.

(As an aside, I ran into Captain Kangaroo in downtown Chicago about ten years ago - I was walking out of Fields, he was walking in, and I literally bumped into him - freaked the hell out of me, I was speechless - he had the same haircut and everything!)

Anyway, Ray's dog, Cuddly Dudley, was a regular visitor (and he's the dog you saw below in my picture of my tree). Wow, this was like a MAJOR show when I was a kid - the Sesame Street of its time (though maybe we already had Sesame street, not sure, but Ray was still "it"). Wow, getting older sucks. Read the rest of this post...

ABC News: US soldier frisked before having lunch with Cheney

Ok, you gotta love this. Everything is going so well in Afghanistan that we had to FRISK OUR OWN SOLDIERS entering a US military cafeteria today in Afghanistan. Why? Because Dick Cheney was there to have lunch with them.

What, we're now afraid our own soldiers are going to shoot Cheney? Boy, you guys must be really confident of how well things are going in your little war if you're now afraid of our own soldiers killing the vice president. But morale is REALLY good, so pay no heed.

This was just on ABCNews World News Tonight. Hopefully our friends at Crooks and Liars will get the video of the frisking, it's great. Read the rest of this post...

Welcome to Amurikkka

From the NYT:

Two Defense Department intelligence officials reported observing brutal treatment of Iraqi insurgents captured in Baghdad last June, several weeks after disclosures of abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison there created a worldwide uproar, according to a memorandum disclosed today.

The memorandum, written by the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to a senior Pentagon official, said that when the two members of his agency objected to the treatment, they were threatened and told to keep quiet by other military interrogators. The memorandum said that the Defense Intelligence Agency officials saw prisoners being brought in to a detention center with burn marks on their backs and complaining about sore kidneys.

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FOX's lesbian kiss

Apparently FOX has no problems with gays when it lets them spice up their ratings. Maybe we can get the religious right to take down FOX? Read the rest of this post...

Off to a vast left-wing conspiracy meeting

We have them, you know. Grabbing coffee with Matt of BOPNews.com and Jerome of MyDD.com. Will report on what I learn, if I can :-) Chat amonst yourselves, I'm back in an hour, then here for the evening. JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Rainy day open thread

Well, it's cold and rainy in DC.

For those who asked, here's Cuddly Duddly - the official AMERICAblog pet.

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More religious right angst over Senator George Allen, homo-lover

UPDATE: Feel free to email the anti-gay Family Policy Network and crow a little over all the open, practicing homosexuals working for senior Republicans in the Bush campaign, Cheney campaign, White House, Bush administration, Congress, and RNC. Grand Old Party, my ass - try Gay Old Party! And be sure to ask them why Ken Mehlman is afraid to say he's straight. Has political correctness gone so far that it's now not PC for a Republican partly leader to 'admit' he's straight? :-)

I will say this, Allen has been surrounded by gay staff since he was governor. And they had very senior positions, and to the best of my knowledge were always men. For a married, family values, straight guy, he sure does seem to like having gay men around.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

This is from the Virginia family values group Family Policy Network. They're the one's the American Family Association quoted yesterday in their daily update, telling conservative politicians to fire their gay staff ( you can read more on that further down in the blog).

From the Family Policy Network:

It’s no secret that George Allen is a friend to the homosexual lobby in Washington, D.C. This year, Allen broke a campaign promise he made to pro-family conservatives by voting to grant special victim status to people who engage in homosexual sex acts. Earlier in the year, he signed a “non-discrimination” pledge for homosexual activists who then used it to lobby for the same among Virginia’s General Assembly members.

During the fall campaign season, Allen publicly chastized now Senator-Elect Mel Martinez (R-FL) for criticizing a liberal opponent for supporting the Log Cabin homosexual club. Perhaps most disappointing to conservatives was Allen’s refusal to co-sponsor the Federal Marriage Amendment. He met with homosexual activists to discuss the measure, who later claimed the Senator was only voting for FMA because of criticism he had received from conservatives over his support for the hate-crimes bill.

Lately, George Allen has been enduring criticism from homosexuals for not being MORE supportive of their agenda. A homosexual activist in Washington, D.C. has been “outing” members of George Allen’s Senate staff, exposing their formerly “closeted” homosexual activities. According to this strident gay activist - at the very least; George Allen’s general counsel, his chief spokesman, and his appointment to be Executive Director of the Republican Senatorial Committee are all practicing homosexuals. The homosexual activist calls Allen’s office, “the gayest place on Capitol Hill.”

Pro-family conservatives throughout Virginia have been largely unaware of George Allen’s affinity with homosexual activists and gay staff members. They don’t know of his support for the Log Cabin Homosexual club, or his vote to give special status to some crimes, simply because of the victims’ private sexual misconduct.

Instead, pro-family Virginians believe George Allen is a stalwart conservative who would have nothing to do with the liberal ideology or the homosexual agenda that seems to be so prevalent among other leaders in the halls of Congress. It’s too bad, but conservative Virginians will have to learn George Allen is not the Senator he’d like everyone to think he is, now that he lives in Washington, D.C.

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Heartbeat detected at DNC

From the DNC yesterday:

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe and Voting Rights Institute Chair Donna Brazile announced today that the DNC will conduct a comprehensive investigative study of key election practices and issues surrounding the 2004 general election in Ohio. The purpose of this study is not to contest the results of the election but to fulfill the Democratic Party's commitment to ensuring that every eligible voter can vote and that every vote cast, is counted.

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Bush's favorite pedophile

Who says the family values crowd doesn't know how to have fun. Read the rest of this post...

Poor Grover (and Ken-doll too!)

From Forbes:

The ensuing controversy surrounding a mailing list of 592 conservative activists given free of charge--and in violation of election law--to President Bush's campaign will likely land in court next week.

The Bush-Cheney campaign violated federal election law by accepting a list of 592 personal contacts, marked confidential, from Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and its leader Grover Norquist, a Federal Election Commission report found last month. But FEC lawyers asserted that because of the list's "limited size and scope" the agency should take no further action and close the file.

"It was a bad decision of the FEC refusing to take its responsibility seriously," says Larry Noble, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. "This case is ripe for someone to challenge it."

Now, the public interest group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, is close to filing a complaint in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia to require the FEC to disclose the value of the list that reportedly took five years to produce.

"The FEC dismissed this case too easily," says Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, adding that the suit would be filed next week.

In February Sloan's group filed a complaint at the FEC against ATR's Norquist, Bush Campaign Chairman Ken Mehlman and Treasurer David Herndon, based on stories in The Washington Post and on Forbes.com (see: "Did Bush-Cheney '04 Break Campaign Law?") regarding allegedly impermissible corporate contributions involving the contribution of a mailing list.

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Some things to do before the Inaugural

I didn't write this, don't know who did. But it's good. Feel free to add your own:

Some things to do Before the Inaugural:

1. Get that abortion you've always wanted.

2. Drink a nice clean glass of water.

3. Cash your social security check.

4. See a doctor of your own choosing.

5. Spend quality time with your draft-age child/grandchild.

6. Visit Syria, or any foreign country for that matter.

7. Get that gas mask you've been putting off buying.

8. Hoard gasoline.

9. Borrow books from library before they're banned - constitutional law books, Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter, Tropic of Cancer, National Geographic.

10. If you have an idea for an art piece involving a crucifix - do it now.

11. Come out - then go back in - FAST!

12. Jam in all the Alzheimer's stem cell research you can.

13. Stay out late before the curfews start.

14. Suck up to your neighbors now, BEFORE they turn you in to Homeland Security.

15. Go see Bruce Springsteen before he has his "accident."

16. Go see Mount Rushmore before the Reagan addition.

17. Use the phrase, "You can't do that - this is America!"

18. Have that last drink with your Muslim friends.

19. If you're white, marry a black person; if you're black, marry a white person; if you're gay, get married in Massachusetts; if you're transgendered, move to Canada.

20. Take a walk in Yosemite, without being hit by a snowmobile or a base-jumper.

21. Enroll your kid in an accelerated art or music class.

22. Start your school day without a prayer.

23. Pass on the secrets of evolution to future generations.

24. Learn French (it'll help you learn German later on).

25. Take a factory tour anywhere in the US.

26. Take photographs of animals on the endangered species list.

27. Take photographs of Democrats.

28. Visit Florida before the polar ice caps melt.

29. Visit Nevada before it becomes radioactive.

30. Visit Alaska before "The Big Spill."

31. Visit Massachusetts while it is still a State.

32. Download a copy of the Constitution on an encrypted CD-ROM and hide it.

33. Play with a dreidel.

34. Masturbate, before Chief Justice Scalia makes it illegal.

Read the rest of this post...

Colgate cutting 12% of workforce

Can't they listen to the White House story that all is well? Serve those people some Kool Aid for heavens sake. All is well and the economic policies of this administration are great.
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CIA station chief report on Iraq looks bad, Kool-Aid drinkers say black is white

The report was the result of a one year tour of duty in Iraq by the CIA station chief. Not surprisingly, newcomer Negroponte has filed a written dissent with the report, preferring a rosier, cheerleader-type report as we've all come to know and love over the past four years. Even the ranking US military commander in Iraq failed to take issue with the report...when it was initially released. Also not surprisingly, he may now be voicing objections after further review, or whatever they're calling come-to-Jesus meetings these days.

As we are getting used to scenarios like this, the CIA station chief was highly regarded and well respected so we can all brace ourselves for the ever-popular smear campaign that is now standard whenever anyone delivers a message that fails to fit with the neatly wrapped message of the Kool-Aid drinkers.
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School sued for awarding cat with MBA

Sure it's ridiculous, but then again what does it say about Yale and Harvard when they churn out graduates such as Bush? Maybe as a society we get too wrapped up with formal education. Hell, I think my two cats would do a better job with the economy than Bush, even with one paw tied behind their back.
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