More Bolton allegations

Keep this up and we may have to make him Pope. Read the rest of this post...

Late night open thread

Off to watch TIVO'd Charmed, then bed. Read the rest of this post...

Political donations from Microsoft execs

Michael Petrelis has the details. Seems to be a somewhat mixed bag, Dems and Repubs, but need to look through it more clearly - anyone with the time to rifle through it and report back, please do. Read the rest of this post...

GannonGuckert visited White House nearly 200 times in less than 2 years on a DAY PASS

UPDATE: The FOIA documents are now online here.

Amazing. Raw Story reports that the FOIA requests are back and what it shows is pretty shocking.

GannonGuckert accessed the White House approximately 200 times over a twenty-two month period, simply using a day pass. That's twice a week for a two year period. This is fishy as hell. And ON A DAY PASS. If that's isn't regular access, what is?

Oh, it gets better.

Many times he didn't sign in or out.

Perhaps more notable than the frequency of his attendance, however, is several distinct anomalies about his visits.

Guckert made more than three dozen excursions to the White House when there were no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office held press gaggles aboard Air Force One - which raises questions about what Guckert was doing at the White House.

On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the entry or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times correlate with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert checked in but was never processed out.

In March, 2003, Guckert left the White House twice on days he had never checked in with the Secret Service. Over the next 22 months, Guckert failed to check out with the Service on thirteen days. On several of these visits, Guckert either entered or exited by a different entry/exit point than his usual one. On one of these days, no briefing was held.

"I’d be worried if I was the White House and I knew that a reporter with a day pass never left," one White House reporter told RAW STORY. "I’d wonder, where is he hiding? It seems like a security risk."

Raw Story will be posting the entire FOIA documents, like 18 pages worth, shortly.

Wow.

PS Microsoft, don't think we've forgotten about you. I've got some good stuff coming up in a few days. Stay tuned. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

There better be a new Charmed tonight... Read the rest of this post...

Will the MSM Hold Frist Accountable for the hate speeches today?

Remember last fall when Whoopi Goldberg made a joke about Bush at a Kerry fundraiser and the GOP went crazy? Ken "Straight but not on the record" Mehlman called it a "hatefest." The lapdogs in the mainstream media all obediently tagged Kerry with Whoopi's remarks. It was such a scandal....neverminding the fact that Whoopi is a comedian.

The right wingers are always pulling stunts like this, linking comedians to Democratic politicians as if the Dems. are responsible for their acts.

Fast forward to today's radical right wing hatefest: "Justice Sunday - Stopping The Filibuster Against People of Faith." This event is not being hosted by comedians or entertainers. It is sponsored by political professionals who have very close relationships to the White House, the RNC and the GOP leadership in the House and Senate.

Frist's office released his remarks AP is reporting. But, Frist will act like he has no ties to what the anyone else has to say:

Frist seemed intent on steering clear of the views expressed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other conservatives in and out of Congress who have urged investigations and even possible impeachment of judges they describe as activists.

C'mon AP. Frist can't steer clear if he's participating in the judge-bashing conference.

So, the early evidence is that the MSM isn't holding Frist to the same standard Kerry faced. The people holding this conference aren't comedians. They are extreme activists with a hard core agenda. And, they are bashing other elected officials and other religions.

If the MSM holds Frist to the "Whoopi" standard, he will be responsible for the remarks of every other speaker at the conference. Their words are his words by the GOP's own standard.

In fact, using the Ken Mehlman standard, Tom DeLay is responsible for the Stalinist threats against judges from a couple weeks ago at the "Remedies to Judicial Tyranny" conference which were reported in the April 9th Washington Post:

Not to be outdone, lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering that [Justice] Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law."

Ominously, Vieira continued by saying his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. "He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,' " Vieira said.

The full Stalin quote, for those who don't recognize it, is "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem."

The MSM and political commentators salivated over the Whoopi story. Um, folks, she is a comedian who was telling jokes. The political professionals, like Tony Perkins and James Dobson are close allies and supporters of Bush, Frist, DeLay, Mehlman...these people really have organized a "hatefest." (And Mehlman should be concerned about the people they hate...he might fit in to a couple of the categories.) Read the rest of this post...

Doonesbury nails JeffJames GannonGuckert today

I know his 15 minutes are up, but it's very funny, and we could use the comic relief.

PS And speaking of whoring, how exactly would one go about trying to get a signed copy of today's Doonesbury? I've seen them on the walls of Senators, but no clue how you actually get a signed on. Anyone? Read the rest of this post...

Microsoft's most famous blogger criticizes the company

Robert Scoble, perhaps the most famous blogger who just so happens to be employed by Microsoft, has written extensively on his blog about the recent brouhaha.

Here is his reponse to CEO Steve Ballmer's recent memo to all staff (and the comments on his blog are equally fascinating).

He's a brave man to do this publicly. It's nice to see someone who can give voice to those employees who are too afraid to speak publicly:

Steve, I personally am not happy with what it appears went down in this case -- even the APPEARANCE that a church is pushing around Microsoft is just wrong in my view (and, when the pastor makes claims that we buckled because of his pressure then I'm left trying to figure out who to believe: a CEO of a company, or a religious guy. Most people I know will pick the religious guy, sorry).

One of the reasons I came to Microsoft is because of its very strong stance on human rights.

The fact that Microsoft is even in this position makes me want to leave and join a different company that won't be pushed around by religious folks. Is that the message you want to send?

Steve: this comes down to leadership. What kind of society do we want to live in? One where religious folks decide the society we live in? Hint: my wife left Iran for a reason. My mom left Germany for a reason. There are bloggers in jail as we speak because religious people are so powerful in their societies. I guess we (Microsoft) have to now pass every decision to our religious leaders to make sure it's OK with them.

As to the religious' guy's claims. I'm not gonna name him cause that just makes his popularity even higher which is EXACTLY what he wanted. He says that Microsoft should not be pushing an agenda outside our walls. Well, sorry, the religious right has pushed an agenda outside of THEIR walls. My money says "in God we trust." That's not my agenda. It's one that was pushed on us. (Our money didn't always say that, by the way). Same thing for a whole raft of issues.

But, I guess, religion in America has become so powerful that even we are willing to cowtow to them.

Steve, I'm sad. Very sad. This is leadership? What if we were a company in Germany in the 1930s? Would we have taken the same position you just did? After all, most of the churches back then were on the wrong side too. It took the Catholic church about 60 years, for instance, to issue an apology for their part in the Holocaust.

On the other hand, I see your point that Microsoft should only be about making great software and that we should leave the social issues to others to fight out. I disagree with that stance, but can see how you arrived at it.

Finally, I wanna get my readers involved.

What do you think about this?

Read the rest of this post...

Note to Apple: Wanna buy an ad? :-)

We've got a big audience these days, and lots and lots of our visitors are not happy with Microsoft at all. It would be the perfect time for Apple to buy an ad on this site, or across the progressive blogs actually. How about a Premium ad, guarantees top placement, pitching Apple's commitment to diversity, and noting how diversity of choice in technology (Mac vs. PC) is a good thing :-) And sometimes it's even good for society at large.

This ad space is available on 4/27/05 :-)

PS The Mozilla (FireFox) people ought to be paying attention as well. Here's your big chance

PPS or PSS I'd also have no problem whatsoever reviewing one of those new Tigers. Already have an iPod mini and, other than the fact that my earplugs are already pulling apart after 3 months, I love it. Read the rest of this post...

Business Leaders Stand Up To Religious Right On Judges; Why Can't Microsoft?

"Justice Sunday" is creating a real quandary for Republicans. It plays well with the fringe far right religious groups -- what do they care about responsible government when the Rapture is coming any day now?

But the LA Times reports major business groups think the "nuclear option" is bad for business. While the radical Religious Right will be thrilled if the government is shut down, major business lobbies like the US Chamber of Commerce and Roundtable are telling Frist they'll be annoyed if their legislation gets bogged down and they won't be supporting his radical agenda.

So if Big Business can stand up to the radical far right, why couldn't Microsoft? Why couldn't Microsoft simply say, "We believe in equal rights for ALL of our employees?" Is that radical? Some fringe groups can try and claim you're "offending" them by not attacking your employees and customers by trying to deny them basic rights under company policy and the law, but ultimately that dog won't hunt -- no one can pretend you're prejudiced by calling for equal rights for everyone. But Microsoft got scared of the religious wrong. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Go Read the rest of this post...

Pope Benedict: Quite The Busy Pontiff and Don't Interrupt Him When He's Listening, Thank You Very Much

The New York Times has a lengthy, nuanced article about the '68 student revolt in Europe and how it radically shaped the thinking of the future Pope Benedict XVI. It's well worth reading for anyone who wants to learn more about Ratzinger and what makes him tick.

However, maybe we can learn more from a Washington Post article. Hilariously headlined "Pope Wants Dialogue" on the main web page, it describes the Pope's first meeting with reporters. Yes, the Pope who wants dialogue:

...sat on a gilt throne in a large auditorium and read a statement of thanks in Italian, German, French and English, but took no questions. When John Paul was elected pope in 1978, he first met with reporters inside the tight confines of the Clement Room in the Apostolic Palace, took questions and mingled with journalists.

...Benedict lectured the journalists on the need to possess "clear references of the ethical responsibilities" and to engage in a "sincere search for the truth and the safeguarding of the centrality and the dignity of the person." Vatican TV broadcast not only his speech, but also the images of a line of clerics as they approached the pope, knelt and kissed his hand.

Now that's dialogue. Bush must be jealous. The British, as always, weren't afraid to be caustic and noted a cultural snub that passed by the Americans. The Independent's reporter quoted the Pope as saying:

Only by a "sincere search for the truth and the safeguarding of the centrality and dignity of the human being" can the media "fulfil the purpose of God, who has put them at our disposal."

So that was clear. We assembled in the Paul VI Hall, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Don't Knows and None of the Aboves, to fulfil God's purpose - if we were doing our jobs properly, that is.

Benedict took no questions, unlike his predecessor, who fielded them for 40 minutes at his first press encounter. And the new Pope shocked Spaniards and Latin Americans in the audience by reading his brief message in Italian, English, French and German, but not in the language of half the Catholic world: some wondered if this might be an oblique rebuke to Spain's Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, for giving Spain's homosexuals the right to marry - condemned by a top Vatican official this week as "an iniquitous law" - so painfully soon after the papal election.

Again, nothing like dialogue, an open heart and snubbing half the world's Catholics with your first press conference. Finally, this may be the most shocking news of all: Pope Benedict XVI supposedly reached out to the Anglican Church by inviting the Archbishop of Canterbury to attend his formal acceptance of the pontificate. But behind Williams' back, according to the Times of London, Benedict has been establishing links with the rebel Anglicans who are threatening a schism in their Church. Wow. This ain't no caretaker. Read the rest of this post...

Ok, we know something is up, what do YOU think happened?

NOTE TO OUR JOURNALIST FRIENDS, THERE'S A MUCH BIGGER STORY HERE.

We KNOW there's more to the Microsoft story than they're letting on. I doubt that one single anti-gay pastor in one single meeting got them to cave on fifteen years of pro-gay policies. They've had those threats before, I'm sure, and didn't cave. But this year they did. Sure, the preacher didn't help - so I most certainly do not buy MSFT's argument that the preacher was irrelevant - but it was more than just that one preacher meeting that got Microsoft to abandon gays, he was part of something larger that changed their mind. So what other shoe(s) dropped that we don't know about?

Did the preacher have friends? Did someone else contact MSFT behind the scenes and threaten them? A religious right leader? Someone in Washington? A friend, an enemy, warned them of what was coming from the religious right or from the Bush administration or from Congress? Or did somebody have something on Microsoft, someone who told them "ditch the gays or else"?

There's much more to this story - that, we know. It's now our job to find out what. I'm open to suggestions. Read the rest of this post...

Even More DeLay Scandal from the Wash. Post

Man, DeLay's been so drunk with power for so long, he wasn't even trying to hide his shenanigans according to this latest report from the Washington Post:

The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, according to two sources who know Abramoff's credit card account number and to a copy of a travel invoice displaying that number.

DeLay's expenses during the same trip for food, phone calls and other items at a golf course hotel in Scotland were billed to a different credit card also used on the trip by a second registered Washington lobbyist, Edwin A. Buckham, according to receipts documenting that portion of the trip.

The problem for DeLay with this revelation, besides being totally sleazy, is that it is also not allowed under under House rules according to the Post:

House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting travel and related expenses from registered lobbyists. DeLay, who is now House majority leader, has said that his expenses on this trip were paid by a nonprofit organization and that the financial arrangements for it were proper. He has also said he had no way of knowing that any lobbyist might have financially supported the trip, either directly or through reimbursements to the nonprofit organization.

and

House rules do not exempt such nonprofit organization board members from the prohibition on lobbyist payments for travel. They also state that this prohibition "applies even where the lobbyist . . . will later be reimbursed for those expenses by a non-lobbyist client."

and

House ethics rules contain detailed provisions barring the acceptance of any travel funds from private sources if doing so would "create the appearance of using public office for private gain." They also obligate lawmakers to "make inquiry on the source of the funds that will be used to pay" for any travel ostensibly financed by a nonprofit organization -- to rule out the acceptance of reimbursements that come from one organization when a trip is "in fact organized and conducted by someone else."

Of course, House ethics rule only work if the majority party is willing to let them be enforced. And that ain't happening.

Let's see how he tries to squirm out of this one...better yet, let's see how his GOP henchmen try to save him. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Open Thread

Okay, today Ratzinger was officially installed as Pope. Also, today, Bill Frist speaks to the "God Hates Everyone but the Radical Right Wing" conference.

Big day for theocracies.

What's up? Read the rest of this post...

More on Hu from the Post

Sounds like a great guy who's going to be fun dealing with. One has to love his references to the Cultural Revolution, a program that worked oh so well for Mao, not to mention the millions who starved to death because of officials cooking the books with food supplies. Also right up there is his aggressive campaign to arrest and stamp out dissent and limit debate within the press and on university campuses. Much like our own dear president, Hu never spent much time outside of his home country and we all know how much that broadens ones mind and makes one open to any foreign ideas. This might explain his love of radical nationalism that strikes a cord with the Chinese population, much like we have witnessed in recent years in the good old US of A.

Anyone who thinks that Hu wants to continue opening up China ought to read more because this guy is bonkers. Threats to Taiwan and Japan are just the beginning. The business class in China has to be worried and if foreigners are dreaming of massive profits in China, they better think twice because there's a new sheriff in town and it's his way or the highway. This is going to get interesting in the next few years. Read the rest of this post...

Blair on the hot seat again regarding Iraq - just in time for the election

It's nice to see that both Labour Party members as well as the opposition are calling for the full release of the report provided by the UK Attorney General regarding the UK going to war in Iraq and its legality. At least the truth appears to be catching up with Blair and the timing could not be any better.

Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary who resigned in protest as Leader of the Commons over the war in Iraq, said: "Many weeks ago, I urged the Government to publish the advice and said at the time that it was inevitable that it was going to become public. I deeply regret that the Government has left this issue to fester, to the point at which it has become public at the worst possible moment for the Government.

"They should've done it in their own time, and made a clean breast of it."

"I resigned when it became evident that we couldn't get a second UN resolution. If this is indeed what the Attorney General said to the Prime Minister at the time, perhaps he should've resigned too."

Read the rest of this post...

EU leaders urge French voters to approve constitution

Panic is setting in across Europe as recent polls show the EU Constitution losing in France. The closest poll that I've seen says it will lose 52% against, 48% for but other polls says it's closer to 60% against. What is making this a tricky battle for the government is that the dissent is coming from both the left and the right. Some voters are fed up with Chirac doing pretty much nothing (funny how perceptions vary) since he's come to office, others are tired of the scandals associated with him, others feel this is the beginning of the Anglo-Americanization of Europe and the end of government assistance, others just are fed up with the same old political class that seems to run France and Europe, traditional Euro-racism related to Turkey, and others are just fed up with the complete lack off transparency in the government both in France and Europe.

I'm just a bystander in it all but I sure would hate to be on the side of wanting to get this passed. Just about every fear and concern that voters have are getting wrapped up in this, rightly or wrongly. I don't bet but if I did...I'd stick a fork in this and expect some fireworks with the attempts at writing the new constitution. Just like the divide between Red and Blue states in the US there's also somewhat of a divide between the EU founding states and the newcomers from the east. Religion is a lot more popular in the east and many of those states would like to see christianity brought into the EU constitution so we're going to have some exciting days ahead. Read the rest of this post...

Hu continues life in glass house

If foreign investors are not terrified by this ultra-nationalistic nonsense, they ought to be. It was stupidity on the part of some Japanese politicians to visit a shrine with WWII soldiers at the same time that Koizumi but the reality is that Koisumi is the president and he had once again extended an apology. Japan is much more of a democracy than the crackpots running China and in a democracy you can't ram through a single-minded policy as you can in China. Imagine that Hu, you can't just go out and arrest dissenters and throw them in prison for 10 years. What a crazy concept for a bunch of tyrants.

Japan is an easy whipping boy in this because if there's one thing that the Japanese detest, it's a public conflict. They have invested billions in to China no doubt with massive bribes to communist officials (as per usual there) and now they are being singled out. Personally I have stumbled across countless Japanese sponsored programs in the developing world in Southeast Asia and in Africa. Their wartime crimes were disgraceful but this is not the Japan of WWII. If China had a clear record in the past 50 years they might have some room to talk but c'mon, this is a joke. What is really scary is that the President of the country is mixing it up and taking an active role in this theater.

I've always been one of the rare dissenters who has not bought in to the Chinese economic miracle because the communist government there has an extensive history of cooking the books, lying and massive corruption. The party is not going to last with this crew of thugs and investors ought to be waking up in the middle of the night wondering if they are going to be the next Japan. Read the rest of this post...