Late night open thread

Again, chat at will. Read the rest of this post...

Just when you thought we were through with Ohio...

Affidavits filed alleging electoral tampering, fraud, and more. Sickening. I was reading again today, and had totally forgotten about, the independent recount done by the top newspapers that showed Gore actually won Florida. Makes me sick. Imagine what the Republicans would done to Gore as president had the shoe been on the other foot. Read the rest of this post...

Christian conservatives join up with wife-beaters who support killing our troops in Iraq

All in the name of family values, of course.

Love the wife-beater, hate the wife. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

What's on your mind? Read the rest of this post...

Conservative pundit paid by Bush to help promote marriage policy testifies on Bush's gay marriage policy in Congress as an "independent expert"

Arch-conservative pundit Maggie Gallagher was caught in the last day as having taken money from the Bush administration to help them "promote marriage" while she wrote about "promoting marriage" as a private journalist and didn't disclose her cozy relationship with the administration. It now gets even better.

After getting her $40,000 from the administration to help them promote their marriage agenda, Gallagher reportedly testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of President Bush's Gay-Bashing Amendment to make gays second class citizens in the US Constitution.

Now, did those Senators know that when Gallagher was testifying on behalf of the Bush administration's position on marriage issues, as supposedly an independent expert on marriage, that she had in fact recently accepted money, a good deal of it, to help Bush promote his position on marriage issues? Didn't the Senators deserve to decide for themselves whether Gallagher was truly offering her independent vide on Bush's proposal, or whether she was influenced in her views to the tune of $40,000?

No one knows if Gallagher was or wasn't influenced by the cash the Bushies paid her. But testifying as an independent expert on administrtation policy on an issue when you were just paid to help promote that policy sure could be taken as some to mean that you're not really that independent anymore. Or at the very least, people have the right to know and then decide for themselves.

It's nice to know that the family values crowd values winning over values. Read the rest of this post...

Demand Bush apologize to America's seniors

In response to Bush's little smear of seniors today during his press conference, ThereIsNoCrisis.com (a project of BlogPac that I'm working on) is asking folks to use their handy-dandy letter-to-the-editor tool and write local newspapers around the country demanding Bush apologize to seniors.

You can find the video and transcript of what Bush said in posts below. Read the rest of this post...

Dear Senator,

Please ask Alberto Gonzales if this WWII poster about Nazi brutality looks at all familiar.



Love, Another American against torture Read the rest of this post...

Transcript of Bush's senior slur is now on White House Web site

UPDATE: You can now view the video at this post.

WhiteHouse.gov:

Q I seem to remember a time in Texas on another problem, taxes, where you tried to get out in front and tell people it's not a crisis now, it's going to be a crisis down the line -- you went down in flames on that one. Why --

THE PRESIDENT: Actually, I -- if I might. (Laughter.) I don't think a billion-dollar tax relief that permanently reduced property taxes on senior citizens was "flames," but since you weren't a senior citizen, perhaps that's your definition of "flames."

Q I never got my billion --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Because you're not a senior citizen yet. Acting like one, however. Go ahead. (Laughter.)

Q What is there about government that makes it hard --

THE PRESIDENT: Faulty memory. (Laughter.) Go ahead. (Laughter.)

NOTE: Terry Moran of ABCNews says Bush was joking about the reporter's poor memory, i.e., this was an Alzheimer's joke, or at best, a senility joke. Read the rest of this post...

National Review's Gallagher Also on Bush Admin. Payroll

Just like Armstrong Williams, another conservative columnist proves that Bush seems to get the best press money can buy. I, for one, think that $21,500 seems cheap given what Williams got. From the Washington Post:

In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families.
...
But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. Her work under the contract, which ran from January through October 2002, included drafting a magazine article for the HHS official overseeing the initiative, writing brochures for the program and conducting a briefing for department officials.

So if Williams is a high priced call girl, what does that make Gallagher? Read the rest of this post...

36 American Troops die in Iraq today

"The combined death toll from today's helicopter incident and the fighting with insurgents surpasses the highest previous American death toll in a day" according to The New York Times. 31 troops died in a helicopter crash, 4 marines and a soldier were killed by insurgents. Read the rest of this post...

Bush slurs "senior citizens" in White House press conference

In response to a question from a reporter about Bush's social security proposal, Bush becomes obviously angry at the reporter and tells him he's not a senior citizen but he's sure acting like one.

I've got the video, will try to get it up shortly.

Update: Terry Moran of ABC says that Bush's "joke" was making fun of seniors' "memory." I.e., Bush just made an Alzheimer's joke. Gee, wonder how Mrs. Reagan would feel about that. Read the rest of this post...

Bush raises possibility of raising taxes

Bush got asked about the possibility of "other revenue enhancements," i.e., tax hikes, to pay for his social security reform proposal and he responded he was open to other ideas EXCEPT instituting a payroll tax increase. Stephanopoulos said that means Bush might be for a value added tax increase, and I'd add a corporate tax increase.

Read my lips. Read the rest of this post...