Radical right angry that colleges are promoting "respect [for] the dignity of all persons"

Holy cow! Next thing you know those darn colleges are going to tell us women have the right to vote and black people can swim in our pools.

Seriously, get a load of some of the examples of college academic rules that the religious right is outraged over:

* A ban on "insults, taunts, or challenges directed toward another person" (Appalachian State University).
* A practice of outlawing "statements of intolerance" (North Carolina Central University).
* A requirement that all students "respect the dignity of all persons" and "strive for the openness to learn from differences in people" (UNC Asheville).
* A policy outlawing "disrespect for persons" (UNC Greensboro).

Now, it may come as no surprise that this story comes from the Muslim-hating, gay-hating, and Jew-loving-so-long-as-two-thirds-of-you-die-in-the-rapture American Family Association, one of the top religious right groups.

But seriously, how twisted are these self-proclaimed holier-than-thou pseudo-religious groups that they feel threatened by campus codes that require students to "respect the dignity of all persons" and "strive for the openness to learn from differences in people." What exactly are conservative Christian activists promoting that they're afraid of these kind of campus policies? Short of the Klan, or a rude drunk fratboy, I can't imagine who would have a problem with campus policies that promote "respect and dignity."

What would Jesus do? Send a few lightning bolts their way, I suspect. Read the rest of this post...

AP confirms that Clinton searches were legal under FISA, Bush's were not

So much for the latest lie from the White House. Time to strut out Laura again I guess. Read the rest of this post...

FLASHBACK: Gingrich Said Democrats Think They “Run The Plantation”

Oh Newt. Read the rest of this post...

Even more scary pictures

Atrios is right, there are WMD everywhere!



All kidding aside, yeah, it's a big mo-fo deal if Iran gets nukes. Too bad we wasted the past 3 years attacking the wrong country, spending $300 billion we didn't have, wearing down our military, using up our munitions, and destroying any relationships we had with any of our allies, so that now when a real threat presents itself we don't have the resources to deal with it adequately.

Mistakes have consequences. I'm seriously glad George Bush is president for three more years. He created this mess. Let him get us out of it. Read the rest of this post...

Cell phone privacy, the issue that just keeps going, and going...

The cell phone records privacy issue continues to attract more and more media interest by the day. I've been doing interviews with a slew of local radio stations around the country, will be taping Inside Edition later this week, TV continues to cover it (CNN has its teeth into this issue and will not let go until it gets some answers, they've been covering it EVERY day), the New York Daily News wrote a great editorial today (it's the 2nd one on the page), USA Today wrote about it today, Newsday, Wired News, Salt Lake Tribune, UPI, MSNBC wrote a particularly interesting piece, and more.

Oh, and check out this update from the Chicago Sun-Times, which has done an amazing job dogging this story: A convicted felon is running one of the top Web sites trafficking in your private cell phone records.

Oh yeah, and it was THE cover story on AOL's home page today:



The media is in a feeding frenzy on this issue - it is now RIPE for the picking by any enterprising federal or local/state politicians who want an easy issue that the public will love. Who in the legislature will have the nerve to oppose you on this? And rather than just passing a law that applies to cell phone privacy, what about using this opportunity to propose a state ballot initiative enshrining a right to privacy in your state constitution, what about pushing a federal right-to-privacy amendment in the US Constitution. The options are limitless. Privacy benefits so many causes dear to our hearts, the issue ready for it's close-up - any real politicians out there interesting in making an easy fix for some good press to boot?

And here's an interesting update from the telcom industry press. Read the rest of this post...

Gore vs. Gonzales feud grows

Al Gore hits back at Attorney General Gonzales today, saying that Gonzales' latest criticism of Gore's speech yesterday proves why an independent counsel is necessary to investigate the Bush Administration's spying on thousands, if not millions, of innocent Americans in violation of the law.

First, Gore notes that Gonzales doesn't even understand the law, nor does he understand that the Clinton administration obeyed federal law regarding spying on Americans, while Gonzales and the Bush administration broke the law. Secondly, Gore notes that even if you accept Gonzales' false argument that Clinton spied on Americans in violation of the law so Bush can now do it, Gonzales is proving why it is so important that a special prosecutor investigate what Bush did. Future administrations will rely on Bush's lawlessness to justify their own, just as Gonzales is (falsely) relying on what he claims was Clinton's lawlessness to justify Bush illegally spying on American citizens.

This is getting good. Law-breaking conservatives are making the mistake of thinking that Al Gore is somehow persona non grata to the American public. They think that by simply taking him on publicly, they win. On the contrary, whether Gore did or didn't win the 2000 election, people didn't dislike Al Gore. He's a nice enough guy, and is clearly intelligent and well-read. I think the growing Al vs. Alberto feud is just what the doctor ordered for a media feeding frenzy on this issue. And I'd love to have someone of Gore's intelligence take the issue head on. And judging by the amount of vitriol the administration and its surrogates spewed after Gore made his speech yesterday, they clearly perceive him, and his message, as a danger. Read the rest of this post...

Slew of Republicans refer to Democratic party as "plantation" - when are they apologizing?

If Hillary needs to apologize for using the word "plantation" to describe the GOP, I can't wait for the media to now demand apologies from:

• Townhall.com
• The National Review
• The Wall Street Journal
• Rush Limbaugh Show
• Newsmax
• The Washington Times
• Bob Novak

Hat tip to Atrios for the idea and the main Google link. Read the rest of this post...

Correction demanded from Washington Post over Ombudsman's faulty reporting

From Will Bunch posting at Romanekso:

Here’s what she wrote: “The second complaint is from Republicans, who say The Post purposely hasn't nailed any Democrats. Several stories, including one on June 3 by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, a Post business reporter, have mentioned that a number of Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (N.D.), have gotten Abramoff campaign money....

The first assertion is flat-out wrong. Dorgan and Reid could not have received “Abramoff campaign money,” because as numerous articles and investigations have shown, Abramoff never donated a dime to any Democrat. Not one. That’s not surprising, since Abramoff -- whose start in politics was as a leader of the National College Republicans -- is a Republican. Which is one of the primary reasons why this is a Republican scandal, despite assertions to the contrary in the Post, on CNN, and elsewhere.

Did Dorgan and Reid receive donations from some of Abramoff’s many clients? Yes. But if that’s what Howell meant, that’s not what she wrote. When you’re lumping public figures into an ongoing criminal investigation, you should be pretty damn clear on the facts. In fact, one of the two senators, Dorgan, has stated that he has never even met Abramoff -- not something you’d think after reading Howell’s article.

If a newspaper prints something that is wrong, there should be a correction, and if something is unclear to the point where it suggests something that is not true, then there should be a clarification. And yet so far the Post has offered neither.

Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Lot of news today...much of it from what Gore and Clinton said yesterday. Read the rest of this post...

Any company that responds to pressure from the American Family Association is endorsing the bigotry and prejudice detailed below

Bigotry from the American Family Association, it's not just for gays and Jews anymore.

Hard to imagine that anyone in corporate America would want to cozy up with an organization that is this intolerant. Anyone out there being boycotted or threatened by the AFA, do pass these quotes from them along and ask your corporation whether THIS is the kind of racist vitriol your company wants to endorse by cozying up to the AFA. Because if you do drop your advertising, or drop your support for any American minority community as a result of the AFA's pressure, this is exactly the message you are putting your corporate seal of approval on.

I really need to dissect this entire article from the AFA propaganda organ, just to give you the full flavor of how bigoted these people are - this came out today:

Title: Former Muslim Claims 'Deception' Key in Rise in European Converts to Islam

See, they created "ex-gays" out of thin air and now they've created "ex-Muslims." Original.

A Christian evangelist who was involved with Islam for 15 years says she understands why a growing number of European women are converting to the false religion. Speaking from experience, she claims it is primarily because the women are being deceived -- by Muslim men.

Well, she wasn't really "involved" with Islam, it was more a casual dating thing. She saw other religions, Islam saw other religions, you get it. As for the second sentence, ah yes, those crafty Muslim men, why, dear God, why are our women-folk so gullible?!

"The way Islam treats any woman, why does any woman ... convert? Because these [Muslim] men are deceivers," she asserts. "It's like you have to go back to the Garden of Eden: Eve was deceived by the serpent."

Ah, now we learn that Muslim men, categorically and across the board, are "deceivers" like "serpents." Maybe the Europeans could set up concentration camps? Or just use the secret American ones in Eastern Europe!

Cati believes Muslim men have a deceptive spirit and will tell unsuspecting women anything they want to hear to get them to convert. "They twist the word of God on these women, on any women, on anybody, and they use deception," she says. "They have a lying, deceptive spirit."

Ah yes, those Muslim men and their "deceptive spirit." I hear it's in their genes. And yet again, those poor white women, so deceived, so innocent, so gullible to a dark guy with a serpent.

The Christian Science Monitor article suggests that one reason for the increase of Muslim converts among white European women may be due to the fact that security monitors and police are "more relaxed" about them and less likely to consider them terrorist risks

Oh, so Muslims like to marry white chicks so they can use them as terrorists and not be caught. Who knew?

But Cati believes there is another reason why Islamic leaders want as many European women as possible to convert.

"They can marry them, have more children, populate the earth, and spread Islam in that way," she says. "It's the same M.O. anywhere they go."

The same M.O. Those crafty Muslims. Screw our "white women" - by the way, who knew the rest of the non-Muslim world was exclusively "white" and that all Muslims were dark-skinned? - pump out babies, and I guess use those babies as little white baby terrorists to trick our unsuspecting white policemen into letting them on our big white airplanes where they can kill the entire white world. Sieg Heil!

Sorry, got swept up in the moment.

So which American companies have endorsed the AFA's bigoted message against Muslims, Jews and gays by removing their ads from the TV show "The Book of Daniel," as the AFA has demanded? You're either with them or you're against them, corporate America - so which one of you has sided with this kind of bigotry? Read the rest of this post...

It was absurd of Hillary to say that the GOP-controlled House is run like "a plantation"

Anyone with half a brain knows that there are no black Republicans in either the House or Senate. So to suggest that they might be mistreated when they aren't even allowed in the same room, well, that's just silly and wrong.

The Republican Congress: Defending the rights of African-Americans, from a safe distance.

In related news, black Republican members of Congress joined together today in condemning Mrs. Clinton for what they perceived as an affront to every African-American Republican in the US Congress. Those members are pictured below at a press conference earlier today:

Read the rest of this post...

Democrats didn't prepare adequately for Alito hearings because they were on vacation

Oh, well that explains it. I mean, what's a simple lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court when a Senator's January vacation is at stake. President Bush didn't have to come back to DC for a hurricane, why should Senators on the Judiciary Committee do it when our most sacred constitutional rights are in jeopardy.

From Sunday's New York Times:

Democratic aides said there had been even less strategy than usual in trying to coordinate the questioning by the eight Democratic senators. The situation was complicated because senators and staff were out of Washington before the hearing.

Tell me right now why those 8 Democrats shouldn't be resigning their positions on the Judiciary Committee immediately.

By popular demand, here's the list:

Patrick J. Leahy
RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, VERMONT

Edward M. Kennedy
MASSACHUSETTS

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
DELAWARE

Herbert Kohl
WISCONSIN

Dianne Feinstein
CALIFORNIA

Russell D. Feingold
WISCONSIN

Charles E. Schumer
NEW YORK

Richard J. Durbin
ILLINOIS

Read the rest of this post...

Hillary pilloried for using same words as Gingrich

Oh how quickly the traditional media forgets. Then again, why miss a chance to slam a Democrat even when those inconvenient facts get int the way?

From ThinkProgress, the only sign of life we ever see from the well-funded Center for American Progress. (We do hope TP is getting its share of CAP's multi-million dollar budget. But from what we've seen of TP's offices desks, we're not counting on it.):

Prodded by the right-wing, the media is already swarming around Sen. Hillary Clinton for saying the House of Representatives “has been run like a plantation…It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard.” MSNBC has already launched a poll: “Was Clinton’s ‘plantation’ comparison too harsh?”

How long before the media mentions that Newt Gingrich, just before becoming Speaker of the House, made the same comparison in 1994:

“I clearly fascinate them,” Gingrich said of the Democrats. “I’m much more intense, much more persistent, much more willing to take risks to get it done. Since they think it is their job to run the plantation, it shocks them that I’m actually willing to lead the slave rebellion.” [Washington Post, 10/20/94]

Don’t hold your breath.

Read the rest of this post...

Supreme Court upholds Oregon's Right to Die Law

A rebuke to the theocrats from the Supremes. But now we know for sure that Roberts is really one of them:

The Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts dissenting, upheld Oregon's one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die.

Justices, on a 6-3 vote, said the 1997 Oregon law used to end the lives of more than 200 seriously ill people trumped federal authority to regulate doctors.

That means the administration improperly tried to use a federal drug law to prosecute Oregon doctors who prescribe overdoses. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft vowed to do that in 2001, saying that doctor-assisted suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose."

This Bush crowd wants to dictate every aspect of your personal life. Everything. Roberts, Scalia and Thomas can't wait for Alito to join them in that quest. Read the rest of this post...

DOD: If you buy your own body armor the miltary won't give your family death benefits

This comes from the late Col. David Hackworth's Web site. Hackworth was putting out some good information up until his recent death. That means this has a least enough credibility to warrant congressional and media inquiry to see if it's true. It's an important enough issue, and a serious enough charge, that I'm posting this:

Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the U.S. Army appears to be singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action....

On Saturday morning a soldier affected by the order reported to DefenseWatch that the directive specified that "all" commercially available body armor was prohibited. The soldier said the order came down Friday morning from Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command (HQ, USSOCOM), located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. It arrived unexpectedly while his unit was preparing to deploy on combat operations. The soldier said the order was deeply disturbiing to many of the men who had used their own money to purchase Dragon Skin because it will affect both their mobility and ballistic protection.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush lied about yet another friendly fire death of a US soldier in Iraq

The mom is still trying to get answers. Bush promised her in a meeting he would get her some, but then did nothing. His campaign did, however, try to then get the mom to do a TV commercial for his re-election. Nice.

But hey, all you soldiers out there, President Bush really loves you. To death.

Peggy Buryj asked everyone she could to help find out the details of her son's last hours. She even asked President Bush when she and other grieving parents met with him during a campaign stop in hotly contested Ohio. He promised to look into it. Soon afterward, she said, his campaign called and asked her to appear in a commercial for him, but she declined.

Months went by with no clarification. "We had a lot of questions," said Amber Buryj, 22, Jesse Buryj's bride of seven months. "We were left in the dark."

And in the dark they stayed. Family members say they were not told Jesse was killed by "friendly fire," though the Army later said they were. They did not know that Polish soldiers with Jesse's unit may have fired the fatal shot and that his death had the potential to cause a rift with a coalition partner right before the 2004 presidential election. They asked friends in Jesse's platoon what had happened, but the soldiers had been told not to discuss the incident until the investigation was complete.

Even today, 20 months later, Peggy Buryj -- a Bush supporter who believes strongly in the Iraq war -- is left with swirling questions, a shattered faith in the Army, and the unsettling feeling that her son's death has been sullied by partisan politics and international intrigue.

I hate to say it, but if Peggy Buryj is still a Bush supporter after he lied to her about her son's death, refuses to come clean with her, and then had the nerve to try to get her into one of his TV commercials, well... I feel sorry for any mother that's lost a son. But there's also something called personal responsibility. And if after all this she is still a Bush supporter who strongly believes in the Iraq war, well, then she's made her bed. At some point you have to take responsibility for your own actions, your own vote, and your own continued support of a man who keeps doing the same wrongs over and over again.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Again, I feel terrible for this mom, but her continued support for President Bush only guarantees he will keep doing this to future moms just like he has to her and so many others. At what point are the American people responsible for their own actions?

And the bigger question for war opponents and Bush opponents is why do people continue to support this president when it would seem clearly not in their best interests? Crack that nut, and we win. Read the rest of this post...

Gore got under their skin yesterday -- and they respond with lies

Al Gore's speech yesterday got to the Bush administration. Last night, Attorney General Gonzales whined about Gore on Larry King Live. Of course, nothing Gonzales said was actually true:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the administration's actions and said Gore's criticism is inconsistent with Clinton administration policy.

On CNN's "Larry King Live," Gonzales said, "It's my understanding that during the Clinton administration there was activity regarding physical searches without warrants."

Gonzales "understanding" is wrong. He clearly doesn't understand, but why would he? Gonzales was the White House Counsel when the illegal spying began. He's basically lying about the Clinton Administration. Consider his compatriots in the misinformation effort. In December, Think Progress repeatedly documented how the right wingers, led by Drudge, aided by News Max, Michelle Malkin and Fox News, were trying to push that same false spin.

UPDATE: Think Progress dissects Gonzales today. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Okay, let's get it started. Read the rest of this post...

The Afghan success story

Remember how we used to hear so much about how great everything was and how we saved the country from the Taliban? Who could forget about how valiant the Americans were to help those poor women who were forced to cover themselves from head to toe? And what about all of those earlier claims about the heroin trade under the Taliban? Looking at how poorly things are over there now it's no wonder they're not promoting it as a success much anymore. I guess Laura won't be making any more one hour stopovers there any time soon.

The new Taliban are deploying tactics that have torn Iraq to shreds, and Afghanistan is seeing a surge in the previously unknown practice of suicide bombings ­ 25 in four months. This is seen as the reintroduction of al-Qa'ida into Afghanistan ­ a devastating example of how over-extending the "war on terror" into Iraq is rebounding on the West with vengeance.

President George Bush, supported by Mr Blair, the critics say, has subsequently neglected Afghanistan, toppled Saddam, and spawned " al-Qa'ida in Iraq" led by the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. This is the reality on the ground awaiting thousands of British troops being sent in the next few months into Afghanistan ­ a redeployment which in itself is part of the disengagement plan for Iraq.

Despite elections last year, presented as concrete steps towards stability, President Karzai's Afghan forces, trained by Nato, are no match for al-Qa'ida and its supporting phalanx of former Taliban. The real fight will have to be continued by Western troops. Heroin cultivation has rocketed in the atmosphere of lawlessness, with 90 per cent of the supplies in Europe now coming from the country.

Read the rest of this post...