Love means never having to say you're choking, Part II

AP has now picked up on the story that Joe reported earlier today. Namely, GOP family values congressman accused of trying to strangle his backrub-loving female houseguest who was definitely not his wife.

From AP:

A woman alleged in a call to police last fall that U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood had started choking her while giving her a back rub at his Washington apartment, but no charges were filed, according to a published report.

The encounter between Sherwood, 64, a four-term Republican congressman, and Cynthia Ore, 29, of Rockville, Md., occurred on the afternoon of Sept. 15, according to a copy of a Washington Metropolitan Police incident report obtained by the Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times Leader.

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Bedtime open thread

Have at it. Read the rest of this post...

GOP taking over PBS, used White House staff to rout out "liberal bias"

This story from today's New York Times is really amazing.

ADDED NOTE FROM JOHN:

This is outrageous. The Republican head of PBS basically spied on Bill Moyers (did they do similar spying on Tucker Carlson for his short-lived show?) They used White House staff to help do their dirty work, paid them with PBS money while they were still working at the White House - hello? There's got to be a violation of law there. And now the Republican running the place is thinking of bringing in WHO to be the new head and ensure that PBS is no longer partisan? The former head of the Republican National Committee.

This is beyond anything I can even verbalize at this point. The far-right along with the Republican party has declared war on not just liberals, but on objective and independent American thought. They have adopted the tactics of fascism, national socialism and communist dictators, and every other tyranny in history short of sending people off to death camps - though we do apparently send them off to government prison camps without batting an eye, and conservatives are now talking more and more about ethnically cleansing America for government positions (no Muslims), books in libraries (no gay authors), television (no mention of gays on TV shows), and more. Adolph Hitler would be proud of the extremists who are running the religious right and who have taken over the leadership of today's republican party.

Read the atrocity that is taking place at PBS. Doing stories about Tom DeLay's ethics are now "anti-Tom DeLay" stories according to the GOP head of PBS. George Orwell, party of one. And any story that even vaguely isn't positive of something President Bush has done is "anti-Bush."

These freaks and ideologues are slowly taking over our government and our society, piece by piece, with a brazen, to-hell-with-what-you-think hubris that should by now scare the hell out of anyone who cares about what this country used to stand for. It's time for not just the left to wake up and fight back, but for the middle and for Republicans who love this country and don't embrace the far right agenda. These are people who, in the name of being apolitical, want to hire the former head of the RNC. These are the people who think FOX News is fair and balanced but the other networks are biased. This is Orwellian, Hitlerian, Stalinesque, and just about every other dictatorial adjective you can come up.

We're going to need some kind of bold, well-thought out master plan to respond to the final solution they're unleashing on our country. Everyone should be very afraid at this point, and very angry. We need leadership, and I fear it's not coming at all, let alone fast enough.

JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Busy day...have at it. Read the rest of this post...

PA GOP FAMILY VALUES????

Okay, this is a bizarre story from Saturday's Times Leader, the paper for Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania involving Republican Congressman Don Sherwood, married Republican Congressman Don Sherwood, in fact, according to his official web site, he's been married for 33 years. The title of the article is "Sherwood denies choking woman":

Police responded to the Washington, D.C., apartment of U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood seven months ago after a woman who was visiting called 911 and reported he choked her.

Sherwood, R-Tunkhannock, says he was falsely accused. He pointed to a police report that stated the woman backed off the claim. He also said he’s the victim of a political smear.

No one has been charged in what the police termed a domestic incident.

“Both parties have left out significant information or are not willing to discuss in detail what actually happened,” Washington Metropolitan Police stated in the incident report.

Cynthia Ore, 29, of Rockville, Md. locked herself in a bathroom and called 911 from her cell phone on the afternoon of Sept. 15, saying Sherwood “choked her for no apparent reason” while giving her a backrub in his apartment on D Street, according to a police report.

Sherwood, 64, told police he was giving Ore a backrub when she “jumped up” and ran to the bathroom, the report stated.

Well, well, well. True, no charges were pressed. Congressman Sherwood claims he was the victim of a political smear.

Now, some might question why the 64 year old married Congressman was alone in his apartment giving a back rub to his 29 year old friend. So, what's a little back rub between friends?

These are GOP Family Values in action. Sherwood is a defender of marriage. He voted for the constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity of marriage.

A couple other tidbits from the article:

Ore said she was supposed to meet Sherwood at the apartment that day but was late. That upset Sherwood, she said.

Sherwood disputes her version of what happened.

Sherwood, who is married, called Ore “an acquaintance” but wouldn’t say why she was in his apartment.

“Did I call her there, no. You meet lots of people in Washington and I had known her casually,” Sherwood said. He could not recall how long ago they met.

and, I love this one:

Ore said she met Sherwood at a Young Republicans meeting in 1999 and has had an ongoing relationship with him. Sherwood would not get into specifics about the relationship.

That means, if my math is correct, when they met, he was 58 and she was 23. Okay, does the word "hypocrite" come to mind?

I am sick and tired of sanctimonious Republicans trashing gay relationships when, well, kinda looks like they have some troubles with their own. Can't wait to see the outrage from James Dobson and Tony Perkins. Read the rest of this post...

ABC Accepts Ad From Focus On Family After Rejecting Gay Friendly Christian Church

This is really outrageous. According to the NYT, ABC is running an ad from hate group Focus on the Family during the season finale Monday of the hit primetime show Supernanny. This after CBS and NBC refused to run an ad from the United Church of Christ because it dared to be welcoming of gays.

Focus on the Family is a hate group and has a history of lying and distorting facts when speaking to the media. Any org that wanted to focus on them and challenge their lies in major stories could have made this group untouchable for any respectable media outlet years ago. Ditto the Traditional Values Coalition et al. But they're considered repsectable enough to run ads on major networks but a Christian church is not?

Thanks to ohthebill for alerting us to this story. Read the rest of this post...

Judges are worse than terrorists - so says GOP friend Pat Robertson

As Atrios notes, if he said this, there'd be hell to pay. I think Pat Robertson needs a visit from the Secret Service, he's now talked of nuking the State Department and told his followers that American judges are worse than terrorists. I don't know about you, but if I met Osama or Mohammad Atta (were he still alive), I'd kill him on the spot if I could. Does Pat Robertson think terrorists should be killed - and if so, what about judges? Read the rest of this post...

Great Philly Daily News commentary on GannonGuckert

Excellent.

Just last week, a Freedom of Information Act search requested by two members of Congress revealed that Gannon/Guckert visited the White House 196 times - 39 of them days when there were no press briefings. While liberal blogs made much of the news, a Nexis search found that the Associated Press gave it only three paragraphs, which were picked up by only two newspapers nationwide. CNN mentioned the story only to say that the blogs had it. On MSNBC's "Countdown," Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank offered excuses for the 14 times that Gannon/Guckert's entries or exits weren't recorded by White House security and host Keith Olbermann seemed apologetic for bringing it up.

If reporters aren't worried about imposter journalists, at least they should smell a good story in a possible White House security breach.

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Would Robertson and Sheldon filibuster Muslim-American judges?

Seems they don't want to see Muslim-Americans get judgeships or other key appointments, so would they filibuster them? And isn't this the same kind of religious litmus test that they falsely accuse Democrats of having? Come on, groups fighting the judge thing, use this! Read the rest of this post...

Robertson, Sheldon: Muslim-Americans not fit for higher office in America

Pat Robertson and Lou Sheldon says that Muslims-Americans are not fit for higher office in America.

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Robertson ? who founded the Christian Coalition ? also said he would be wary of appointing Muslims to top positions in the U.S. government, including judgeships.

His comments on Islam drew a heated response from Muslim leaders, who criticized them as racist and inaccurate.

Another conservative Christian leader, the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, was more cautious in an interview about embracing Giuliani as a presidential candidate, but said he was inclined to agree with Robertson's view of Islam.

See the video at Crooks and Liars.

Again, this is Nazi Germany territory. I called it several years ago. Said that first it was the gays, but other groups would next become the targets of the religious right. We yet again have a perfect opportunity for our liberal non-profits to jump in. Robertson and Sheldon just made themselves instant pariahs - no politician should ever meet, talk to, or do anything with any organization that has anything to do with either of these two ever again.

Will the lefty organizations take advantage of this golden opportunity to finally destroy Robertson and Sheldon? Don't hold your breath. This is about more than just press releases, this is an action campaign now. Demanding an apology. Demanding Bush and any politician who's dealt with these men publicly distance themselves from them. Demand that Bush and all politicians reiterate their support for Muslim-Americans. Hell, I'd create a tolerance pledge that politicians are asked to sign that they will not discriminate in hiring and firing of Muslim-Americans.

There are tons of things the civil rights groups and fight-the-right groups could do.

But will they? Ha. Read the rest of this post...

Egypt -- Judges Demand Independence

Egypt really is in some serious turmoil. Terrorists (including women) attacked a bus of tourists and killed some. The "Enough!" movement continues to inspire street demonstrations. And now a group of 1,200 judges have again demanded full and complete independence from the government before they'll agree to monitor the upcoming election.

Before I jump to the conclusion that the elections in Iraq inspired all of this, I'll note that the protestors often chant anti-US slogans as well. (No surprise since we've propped up the cruel dictator Mubarak for years.) But if it ain't Iraq -- and I think it is a major factor -- what's inspiring this wave of unrest in Egypt? Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

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

What? No Mandate?

The Washington Post has an analysis piece today, "Doubts About Mandate for Bush," that concludes maybe Bush didn't have an election mandate after all. Imagine that. Considering the only people who believed the Bush spin was the mainstream media, this is a big concession.

First, they refreshed our memories from that ugly day back in November:

"When you win there is a feeling that the people have spoken and embraced your point of view," he said, "and that's what I intend to tell the Congress, that I made it clear what I intend to do as president . . . and the people made it clear what they wanted, now let's work together."

But that's not the case after all. The Bush team sure spun their mandate. And, the MSM did buy it. But a funny thing happened on the way to their mandate. The American people haven't bought it. In fact, they're rejecting it.

There's also this chestnut from the post-election spin:

If Bush has misjudged the public appetite for an ambitious conservative agenda, he is not the only one. On election night 2004, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) boasted: "The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country. . . . We are going to be able to lead this country in the direction we've been dreaming of for years."

The Post analysis is filled with reasons why the GOP is faltering. But in what is really an amazing omission, they don't talk to one Democrat. I give a lot of credit to the new Minority Leader, Harry Reid, and to the Democrats for sticking together on key issues. The GOP does not know how to respond to real opposition. But the Post might have asked one of them.

Whatever. The fact is the Bush administration is faltering right now. And, Laura Bush telling a few jokes doesn't change that. Read the rest of this post...

AIG to lower net worth, again

It's not as though AIG had qualified, experienced business leaders or high priced accountants working with them or anything. After all, they only lowered the value by $1 Billion more than the previously lowered number bringing their ever-so-slight accounting hiccup to $2.7 Billion. Read the rest of this post...

Frist: Showdown On Judges Inevitable

Frist talks to USA Today and says a showdown on the fillibuster is all but inevitable. Of course, because unless the Senate approves absolutely every single nominee Bush ever presents, then it's being absurdly obstructionist.

He's also surprised anyone would characterize his meeting in a church with far-right evangelical leaders who condemn Democrats as godless sinners who hate Jesus for not approving extremist judges as anything other than reasonable and fair.

Frist can't imagine the Dems "acting that radically" by shutting down the government. You mean, as radically as the Republicans under Newt when they did the same thing?

Finally, Frist admits he has more work to do in keeping Republicans in line. As for the Presidency, gosh, he doesn't know if he'll run yet but boy saving lives as a heart and lung transplant surgeon is just as appealing. No, Frist, run for President! We need you to pull the Republican who will actually win his party's nomination over to the extreme right. Read the rest of this post...