The "ex-gays" are having their circuit party in St. Louis

So, exactly what happens when a group of "former" homosexuals all get together in one place? Sounds like trouble:

Focus on the Family's international Love Won Out conference on homosexuality comes to St. Louis this Saturday, Feb. 25, and organizers are anticipating record-breaking attendance numbers.

"We could not be more pleased with the response," said Mike Haley, host of Love Won Out and a former homosexual. "We will have people coming from at least 23 different states on Saturday, and we're set to break our all-time record with more than 1,300 attendees. All despite the controversy stirred up by opposition groups in St. Louis."

Record attendance???? I think Mike Haley sounds a little giddy about this gathering of all his pals. He's also clearly obsessed with gays according to his bio at Love Won Out:

Mike offers tremendous insight into the causes and recovery of the homosexual condition. He has an undergraduate degree in Christian education from Biola University and is pursuing a masters in counseling. Currently, Mike is director of the Homosexuality and Gender department for Focus on the Family's Public Policy division and also serves as chairman of the board of Exodus International. He is the author of the recently published book 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Homosexuality. He and his wife, Angie, have two sons and make their home in Colorado.

Wow. Mike is all homo all the time. Seriously, it looks like Mike spends all his time thinking and talking about gay sex. Probably has to do a lot of research.

I don't think Wayne Besen is invited. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Night Open Thread

CNN's Anderson Cooper is about to interview Oprah on the Katrina evacuees. He was on her show today - it's a great tag team.

Consider this an open thread! Read the rest of this post...

Supreme Court taking GOP case on redistricting in Colorado

Alito and Roberts have had a busy day:

The Supreme Court has revived an attempt by Colorado Republicans to block a congressional election map.

Justices on Tuesday gave Republicans a new chance to challenge boundaries drawn by a state judge in 2002. The judge handled the task because lawmakers could not agree on boundaries when the state received an additional congressional seat after the 2000 U.S. Census.

In an unsigned opinion, justices said that a lower court was wrong to prevent the lawsuit. Justice John Paul Stevens filed a dissent, saying that a ``spurious'' claim was properly dismissed by the lower court.

This could get really ugly. Read the rest of this post...

The Alito Era Begins

That didn't take long:

The Supreme Court, at full strength with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on the bench for the first time, opened the next chapter in its long-running confrontation with abortion today by agreeing to decide whether the first federal ban on a method of abortion is constitutional.

So, it begins. Read the rest of this post...

Hey, it was just a little multi-million dollar budget mix-up

He really does lie about everything:

President Bush, on a three-state trip to promote his energy policy, said Tuesday that a budgeting mix-up was the reason 32 workers at one of the nation's premier renewable energy labs were laid off and then reinstated just before his visit.

Bush addressed the funding problem as soon as he began speaking here at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which is developing the sort of renewable energy technologies the president is promoting.

"Sometimes, decisions made as the result of the appropriations process, the money may not end up where it was supposed to have gone," Bush said.

"My message to those who work here is we want you to know how important your work is. We appreciate what you're doing and we expect you to keep doing it, and we want to help you keep doing it."

Read the rest of this post...

Does Bush even know that Al Qaeda used Dubai as "a logistical hub"?

Today, your President posed this challenge to the critics of his plan to turn over American port security to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates:

"I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company," Bush said. "I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We'll treat you fairly.'"

Of course, Bush got a few facts wrong (not just making up the term "Great British"). The company is owned by another country. That's a critical fact Bush chooses to ignore.

So, not sure that Bush reads AMERICAblog, but we'll step up. How about we help explain the concern by pointing to this USA Today article from just 18 months ago?:

Osama bin Laden's operatives still use this freewheeling city as a logistical hub three years after more than half the Sept. 11 hijackers flew directly from Dubai to the United States in the final preparatory stages for the attack.

The recent arrest of an alleged top al-Qaeda combat coach is the latest sign that suspected members of the terrorist organization are among those who take advantage of travel rules that allow easy entry. Citizens of neighboring Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia can come to Dubai without visas, which other nationalities can get at the country's ports of entry.

Doesn't that make you feel safer? Oh, sure. The article is 18 months old. But do you really think things have changed all that much?

Just imagine if a Democratic President cut this deal -- and defended it the way Bush has. Karl Rove would have a field day. This is a major political issue. Remember, Rove's the one who wants to make national security a political issue this year. Read the rest of this post...

The GOP's poster boy for ethics, Ricky Santorum, isn't all that clean himself

For all his sanctimoniousness, Rick Santorum really is a pig. Read what Will Bunch wrote. Here's a taste:

SEN. RICK SANTORUM and his wife received a $500,000, five-year mortgage for their Leesburg, Va., home from a small, private Philadelphia bank run by a major campaign donor - even though its stated policy is to make loans only to its "affluent" investors, which the senator is not.

Good-government experts said the mortgage from The Philadelphia Trust Co. raises serious questions about Santorum's conduct at a time when he is the Senate GOP's point man on ethics reform. They said it would be a violation of the Senate's ethics rules if Santorum received something a regular citizen could not get.

Hey, let's be realistic. Ricky is probably way too busy obsessing about gay sex to focus on mundane matters like ethics. Read the rest of this post...

Bush vows first veto to make sure foreign country with ties to terror can guard ports

Wow. He is stubborn on this one. Even the usual GOP lapdogs on the Hill are freaked out by Bush's decision to let the UAE owned company guard American ports. But, Bush is not backing down -- he's even talking veto:

President Bush said Tuesday that a deal allowing an Arab company to take over six major U.S. seaports should go forward and that he would veto any congressional effort to stop it.

The Senate's Republican leader had promised just such an effort a few hours earlier.

"After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction ought to go forward," Bush told reporters who had traveled with him on Air Force One to Washington. "I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company. I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We'll treat you fairly.'"

It's a state-owned company. The state that owns it has ties to the 9/11 plotters. AP graciously included this paragraph in their article -- again:

Critics have noted that some of the 9/11 hijackers used the UAE as an operational and financial base. In addition, they contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.

How's that?

Bush and Rove want to make national security a major political issue in 2006. Looks like we have the issue. Read the rest of this post...

Off to the airport

Off to Amsterdam. Joe will pick up the slack in a bit. I'll check in when I arrive, which will be middle of the night DC time. Laters!

And remember, we're all meeting up for coffee at the Cafe Americain in the American Hotel on Wednesday, tomorrow, at 4:30pm in Amsterdam - if you're in the area, please drop in. Read the rest of this post...

Crazy Jean Schmidt upset about look-alike cake

She's demanding an apology from an advocacy group that took a cake that looked like her and cut it up, including cutting off her head. You see, Ann Coulter calling for the murder of Supreme Court justices and the assassination of an American president, that's okay, but cutting a cake that looks like a lunatic, it's time to call Homeland Security.

Someone's job has already gone to her head. Read the rest of this post...

Senior GOP Senator lies about Saddam, says he had ties to Al Qaeda when it's already been determined he has not

At some point, the media needs to just eat these people for lunch. It is not acceptable for any Senator, let alone a senior member of the Senate who is often spoken about as a possible Republican supreme court nominee, to outright lie about key facts concerning the war on terror. The bipartisan 9/11 commission already determined that Saddam had NO ties to Al Qaeda, so why is Republican Senator Orrin Hatch still saying he did?

Is this why Hatch is in favor of Bush's illegal domestic spying program, because Hatch has no idea as to the facts surrounding anything dealing with the war on terror?

Utah and America deserve better than men in power who are either outright liars or simply so out of touch so as not to have any idea what's really going on. Read the rest of this post...

Bush's sweetheart deal with the United Arab Emirates

Bush is refusing to budge in spite of growing complaints from Democrats, Republicans, and now even the religious right wackjobs over his plan to sell control of major US ports to the United Arab Emirates.

It's pretty clear that this is part of some larger sweetheart deal that Bush offered the UAE. But in exchange for what?

Isn't it nice to know that the Republicans are now auctioning off our national security to the highest bidder. Everything and anything for a buck. Read the rest of this post...

Join our AMERICAblog coffee get-together in Amsterdam, 4:30pm Wednesday Feb 22

WHAT: AMERICAblog coffee hour (or whatever your cup of tea) in Amsterdam with me.

WHERE: Cafe Americain, at the American Hotel, Leidseplein 28, Amsterdam (The address of the hotel itself is Leidsekade 97.)

WHEN: Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 4:30pm. (I'm hoping that time doesn't interfere with work for folks, let me know ASAP, otherwise we'll stick with this time.)

Basically, I'll just go to the front of the cafe and wait until someone walks in who recognizes me. You guys probably have a clue what I look like, just google me. And we'll grab as big a table as we need. Read the rest of this post...

Dems starting to coalesce on plan to "redeploy" troops in Middle East

Sounds to me like a plan to withdraw from Iraq, as it should be. But the dems are calling it a "redeployment" and NOT a "withdrawal" since that's a naughty word.

I agree that using the right words matters, so redeployment is probably a good word. But getting into this discussion about whether it's a withdrawal or not strikes me as the wrong focus. The focus needs to stay on the fact that Iraq is a disaster and Bush has no plans for victory or for ever bringing our troops home, AND that lack of a plan is hurting us internationally and domestically as our troops are far overstretched and unable to respond to other concerns (Iran, helping fight the war on terror at home, responding to natural disasters, etc.).

With the majority of the public wanting us to withdraw from Iraq, I have half a heart to suggest we just say it publicly - yeah, we're for withdrawal and the Republican party is not. If George Bush was president in the 1970s we'd still be fighting in Vietnam today because "cutting and running" would be "un-American."

It's not un-American for the country to recognize that our president is a failure, and respond accordingly. Read the rest of this post...

Bush touting energy plan at lab that was about to lay off researchers

This week brings another p.r. spectacle from Bush, the subject being energy policy. However, as we've seen so many times before, actions speak louder than words when it comes to George Bush. The Bushies were going to step on their own message today we learned from AP's story:

On Tuesday, Bush plans to visit the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., to talk about speeding the development of biofuels.

The lab, with a looming $28 million budget shortfall, had announced it was cutting its staff by 32 people, including eight researchers.

And what a coincidence, just before Bush got there, they found money to save them:

But in advance of Bush's visit, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman over the weekend directed the transfer of $5 million to the private contractor that runs the lab, so the jobs can be saved.

Someone needs to keep an eye on the lab. How long do you think those jobs will be around after Bush leaves? Because in Bush world, there is no need for pesky scientists and researchers. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Start threading the news. Read the rest of this post...

US threatening aid cut off to Iraq if sectarian government

I'm sure the Shia leaders are shaking in their boots with the threat. Oh how believable. So why is it not OK to have religion dominating the government in Iraq but it's OK to force it in the US?

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, warned yesterday that Washington might cut aid to the Iraqis if the new government included sectarian politicians, pointing out that the US had spent "billions" in building up the police and the army.

"American taxpayers expect their money to be spent properly. We are not going to invest the resources of the American people into forces run by people who are sectarian," he said. He singled out the defence and interior ministries, saying they should be in the hands of people "who are non-sectarian, broadly acceptable and who are not tied to militias".

Read the rest of this post...

GOP backlash against sale of US ports

Even Pataki and Ehrlich are being vocal in their criticism of the transfer of ownership to Dubai-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam claiming that there was no advanced notice or discussion. Ehhh, why would Bush start discussing now? That's not how the Soviet-style team has worked in the past so why would anyone expect them to change? Regardless of whether one approves or disapproves the sale and transfer, it would have made sense to at least have a debate and discuss the sale instead of just letting it happen. Democracy can be such a hassle sometimes with all of that open debate and we know how much the Bush team likes that.

"Ensuring the security of New York's port operations is paramount and I am very concerned with the purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam by Dubai Ports World," Pataki said in a news release. "I have directed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to explore all legal options that may be available to them."

Ehrlich, concerned about security at the Port of Baltimore, said Monday he was "very troubled" that Maryland officials got no advance notice before the Bush administration approved the Arab company's takeover of the operations at the six ports.

Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said on Fox News Sunday that the administration approval was "unbelievably tone deaf politically."

Read the rest of this post...

Former Malaysian PM talks about Abramoff money

Abramoff, Heritage Foundation, Bush...it's all about keeping the money in the family.

"It is true that somebody paid but it was not the (Malaysian) government," Mahathir said. "I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government."

Mahathir said the Heritage Foundation believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies."

Read the rest of this post...

Open coffee call to all AMERICAblog readers in Amsterdam area

I posted about this early this morning, but realized that in order to reach you folks over there, I probably ought to post first thing in the morning YOUR time. So here we go.

Let's organize a coffee for anyone interesed in meeting up in Amsterdam. Someone suggested the Cafe Americain, which sounds lovely. I'm open to other suggestions. I have plans for Thursday afternoon, but that's it. So we could do Wed afternoon, Thursday morning, Friday etc. Anyone in Amsterdam and interested, please weigh in via the comments, I'd really like to set this up. Thanks, JOHN Read the rest of this post...