Can Nancy Reagan wrongly use herself?

It's a sticky philosophical conundrum. Can Nancy Reagan wrongly use herself in the debate over stem cell research? God's self-appointed moralist, James Dobson of the religious right lobbying organization Focus on the Family, seems to think so. Here's what Dobson told the NY Daily News today, in an article that Michael cites below:

But James Dobson, a pro-life conservative who leads Focus on the Family, equated a free hand in modern stem cell research to the unfettered atrocities committed by Nazi scientists who experimented on the Third Reich's victims.

"The people that are demanding this are ... using a grieving widow to try to make this case to the American people," Dobson said.

Of course, the problem here is that Nancy Reagan, the "grieving widow," is in fact the one making the case to the American people ON BEHALF of stem cell research. Perhaps the connection got a big garbled the last time God and Dobson spoke (can you hear me now?) Read the rest of this post...

Five Foreign Contractors Among 13 Dead in Iraq Blast

A suicide car bombing in Baghdad kills 13 people today, including one American. There is simply NO WAY this situation can improve in the near term, and that includes between now and the approaching US election. I think Iraq is going to be a guaranteed minus for Bush come election time. Read the rest of this post...

Dance With The Devil?

Saudi preachers -- and not just the paid lapdogs of the corrupt Saudi royal family -- are condemning the attacks on foreigners in Saudi Arabia. That makes a nice change. Still, Americans, Brits and others are being attacked, killed and taken hostage and certainly anyone with a heart feels for their families and prays for the safe release of anyone still alive. The Times of London reports, unsurprisingly, that many Brits living there are suddenly taking "vacation time" and getting out. Here's the insensitive question. What the hell were they doing there in the first place? This is a country that enslaves half its population (namely women) under draconian laws, financially supports terrorism all over the world and preaches hatred in its state-run schools, using anti-Semitic rhetoric to keep the increasingly unhappy populace under its thumb. I for one would be ashamed to do business in that country and would gladly take on serious hardships to avoid giving any money to its evil government. Ten percent of our oil comes from Saudi Arabia. Why does any of it? Read the rest of this post...

Somali Charged in Plot Against Ohio Mall

Either very scary, or totally fabricated bullshit. You decide. Read the rest of this post...

Ronald Reagan's family declares "political war" on Bush

President Bush's political base continues to erode. He's angered fiscal conservatives with his "play today; pay tomorrow" approach to the increasingly massive budget deficit. He's angered social conservatives with his half-hearted -- albeit dangerous -- support of attacks on gays. Now it seems even the aura of the late Ronald Reagan will be denied Bush, thanks to his muddled thinking on stem cell research. Patti Davis makes clear there is no love lost in the current issue of "Newsweek," as quoted in today's New York Daily News.

"Reagan's daughter from his storybook marriage to Nancy Reagan, said yesterday that her mother "has emerged as a central figure in the effort to get the federal government out of the way."

"If that phrase about the government sounds familiar, it should," Davis wrote in Newsweek. "I grew up hearing my father say often that the government should get out of the way."

The NY Daily News interprets this and the rest of her column as a direct slam on Bush and characterizes it as the first volley in a "political war" between the White House and the Reagan family. Apparently, there's one more person Davis thinks should get out of the way come November. Thanks to this stalemate, the chances of Nancy Reagan speaking at the Republican convention and passing on some of that Reagan mystique to Bush are increasingly slim.

Read the rest of this post...

White House Refuses to Deny Bush Made Poltical Plea

On Sunday, the New York Times said President Bush continued his assault on the separation between Church and State by reportedly asking the Pope to get US Bishops in line and promote his political agenda by attacking the rights of gays and so on. Their source? The Vatican. With John Kerry a Roman Catholic, Bush is hoping more criticism by US bishops can splinter the Catholic vote. Today, the White House confirmed they spoke about "shared priorities" and did not deny Bush urged for more attacks on Kerry and stances that might harm Kerry's standing among Catholics. It's an odd pairing since the Vatican has been on the outs with Bush over Iraq and on the outs with American Catholics for its antiquated stances on sexuality and democracy (which the Church supports everywhere except in the Church)and especially for the shameful child abuse scandal it refuses to make amends for. And American bishops are on the outs with each other since most condemn the actions of just four Bishops who want to turn the giving of Holy Communion into a weapon for attacking anyone they disagree with. Read the rest of this post...

Welcome my friend Michael, hopefully

My friend Michael, in NYC, will be posting on the blog starting today, assuming he can figure out the software! Michael's a Republican, a good one, who sometimes clashes me with me on things, but even when he's seriously wrong he's still always interesting ;-). Seriously, I think you'll enjoy his intermittent input on days like today when I'm in Chicago and online for a bit of the day. Michael is particularly good at finding great little gems buried in the NY press (NYT, Daily News, Post, etc.)

As for Chris in Paris, he's currently down in the south of France sunning with his lovely wife (we hate them) - apparently there's no Internet access in his little cabana - so he'll be back in 2 weeks. JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go

Military and diplomats appointed by Reagan and Bush 1 say Bush 2 must go. Ha!

LA Times via Yahoo:

A group of 26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, plans to issue a joint statement this week arguing that President George W. Bush has damaged America's national security and should be defeated in November....

It is unusual for so many former high-level military officials and career diplomats to issue such an overtly political message during a presidential campaign....

Jack F. Matlock Jr., who was appointed by Reagan as ambassador to the Soviet Union and retained in the post by President Bush's father during the final years of the Cold War, expressed similar views.

"Ever since Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. has built up alliances in order to amplify its own power," he said. "But now we have alienated many of our closest allies, we have alienated their populations. We've all been increasingly appalled at how the relationships that we worked so hard to build up have simply been shattered by the current administration in the method it has gone about things." ....

Several on the group's list were appointed to their most important posts under Reagan and the elder Bush. These include Matlock and Harrop, as well as Arthur A. Hartman, who served as Reagan's ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1981 through 1987; H. Allen Holmes, an assistant secretary of state under Reagan; and Charles Freeman, ambassador to Saudi Arabia under the elder Bush.

Read the rest of this post...

First thing, kill all the lawyers

Some doctors have asked the AMA to endorse a proposal permitting them to refuse care to attorneys involved in medical malpractice cases. Putting aside the obvious fact that the attorney would then sue the doctors who refused care (doh!), this is interesting in light of recent successful efforts to cut off care to gays, women and others. As you may recall, Michigan recently passed a law permitting doctors and EMTs to refuse care if their morals would be offended by the patient (i.e., gays, women seeking abortions, etc.). Then two other states passed similar laws as well. So why not include lawyers as well. And hell, why stop there? Let's cut off medical treatment to right-wing fanatics, people who work for FOX News, and anybody named Bush. Read the rest of this post...

There goes the neighborhood...

See, now I'm confused. According to AP, the US today released hundreds of prisons from Abu Ghraib. But Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) told use recently that these prisoners were all bad men who deserved what they got. So then why are we releasing them? Hmm... Read the rest of this post...