Senate to begin legislative gay-bashing on Friday (tomorrow)

The latest info is that the US Senate will begin its legislative gay-bashing on Friday (next morning). The debate will begin on the Federal Marriage Amendment to make gays and lesbians second-class citizens in our own country. Glad there aren't any other pressing issues to be debating, like new terror threats, beheadings, soldiers dying, things like that... Read the rest of this post...

Funny how similar this new Pakistani scandal is to Bob Woodward's accusation about the Saudis dropping oil prices to help Bush's re-election

Remember how the media quickly let Bush off the hook after Bob Woodward accused the White House of pressuring Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar to drop oil prices this summer to help Bush's re-election? That story gets a whole new set of legs after this new accusation, in the post below, that the Bushies pressured Pakistan to catch Bin Laden during the Democratic convention.

Not to mention, remember when Madeleine Albright said last year, off the cuff, that she thought Bush might try to hold Bin Laden until right before the election, then let the public "suddenly" know they caught him, and everyone trashed Madeleine for suggesting this conspiracy theory. Not so kooky now, is she... Read the rest of this post...

A July Surprise? Bush Cartel Tells Pakistan to Arrest or Kill Osama bin Laden During the Democratic Convention. I Am Not Making This Up.

From Buzzflash, quoting The New Republic:

This spring, the administration significantly increased its pressure on Pakistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, or the Taliban's Mullah Mohammed Omar, all of whom are believed to be hiding in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan....

This public pressure would be appropriate, even laudable, had it not been accompanied by an unseemly private insistence that the Pakistanis deliver these high-value targets (HVTs) before Americans go to the polls in November. The Bush administration denies it has geared the war on terrorism to the electoral calendar. 'Our attitude and actions have been the same since September 11 in terms of getting high-value targets off the street, and that doesn't change because of an election,' says National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack.

But The New Republic has learned that Pakistani security officials have been told they must produce HVTs by the election. According to one source in Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), 'The Pakistani government is really desperate and wants to flush out bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the U.S. administration to deliver before the [upcoming] U.S. elections.' Introducing target dates for Al Qaeda captures is a new twist in U.S.-Pakistani counterterrorism relations--according to a recently departed intelligence official, 'no timetable[s]' were discussed in 2002 or 2003--but the November election is apparently bringing a new deadline pressure to the hunt. Another official, this one from the Pakistani Interior Ministry, which is responsible for internal security, explains, 'The Musharraf government has a history of rescuing the Bush administration. They now want Musharraf to bail them out when they are facing hard times in the coming elections.' (These sources insisted on remaining anonymous. Under Pakistan's Official Secrets Act, an official leaking information to the press can be imprisoned for up to ten years.)

A third source, an official who works under ISI's director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis "have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before [the] election is [an] absolute must." What's more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: "The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq's] meetings in Washington." Says McCormack: "I'm aware of no such comment." But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

So the White House is willing to let Osama stay around for a few weeks, maybe kill another 3,000 Americans, because it's better that we catch him on a certain date rather than immediately? If this is true, I've had it. Where are the damn hearings, where are the damn investigations, and where is our damn party? Read the rest of this post...

Stupid dirty boy

Totally creepy:

[California] State Education Secretary Richard Riordan [the former mayor of LA] jokingly told a child her name, Isis, meant "stupid dirty girl," prompting the head of the California NAACP on Thursday to call for his resignation.

The conversation, videotaped by KEYT-TV, took place July 1. The girl, 6-year-old Isis D'Luciano, asked Riordan if he knew her name meant 'Egyptian goddess.'

Riordan replied, 'It means stupid dirty girl.'

After nervous laughter in the room, the girl again told Riordan the meaning of her name.

'Hey, that's nifty,' he said.

Read the rest of this post...

Iraq insurgency far larger than 5,000 guerrillas previously thought

Oops. Bush is such toast:

AP:

The Iraq insurgency is far larger than the 5,000 guerrillas previously thought to be at its core, U.S. military officials say, and it's being led by well-armed Iraqi Sunnis angry at being pushed from power alongside Saddam Hussein.

Although U.S. military analysts disagree over the exact size, dozens of regional cells, often led by tribal sheiks and inspired by Sunni Muslim imams, can call upon part-time fighters to boost forces to as high as 20,000 — an estimate reflected in the insurgency's continued strength after U.S. forces killed as many as 4,000 in April alone.

Read the rest of this post...

Show the flag: Don't put discrimination in the Constitution

Planned Parenthood just launched a campaign this afternoon for all Americans to put up rainbow flags in their windows, cars, offices, and everywhere else they like to show opposition to the anti-gay constitutional amendment, and to show solidarity with the LGBT community. It's called "Flags Across America," and I urge everyone to visit the site and download a rainbow flag.

Full disclosure: Planned Parenthood is one of my clients, and I helped them with this campaign, and am proud to have done so. It's high time we "progressives" started helping each other out more and working together as a larger community of common interests, and in this campaign, Planned Parenthood is doing just that. (You can also contact Congress via their site as well).

Please visit the main "Flags Across America" home page, and make sure you download a flag and tell your friends about this campaign!

Thanks, JOHN

PS For anyone who questions why pro-choicers should care about gay rights, and vice-versa, check out this legal analysis from Planned Parenthood - basically it notes, correctly, that the Supreme Court last year decided the sodomy case in gays' favor because it found that we have a right to privacy as guaranteed under Roe v. Wade and other reproductive rights cases. I.e., our freedom is based on their freedom, and vice versa. So, yes Virginia, there really is a link. Read the rest of this post...

Oh that's right, only Muslims are terrorists

AP:

A religious fundamentalist was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for plotting to blow up abortion clinics, churches he disagreed with and gay bars after a judge ruled he is not a terrorist under federal law.

Stephen John Jordi, who was turned in by relatives and church members, received the minimum sentence after U.S. District Judge James Cohn decided not to treat him as a terrorist as the prosecutors requested. They had wanted Jordi to receive a sentence of seven to 10 years.

Cohn said federal laws require that plots have an international component to be considered terrorism.

Read the rest of this post...

Ridge: Al Qaeda moving ahead with plans to attack US, but we won't raise the terror alert level

We're all gonna die, have a nice day :-) Read the rest of this post...

Page Six on outing mania

The NY Post's "Page Six" has picked up on the outing campaign.

Gotta love the picture Page Six ran with the story:


What, me a liability? Read the rest of this post...

Chapter 11 fever spreads to Cintucky

The diocese of Covington, KY (just across the river from Cincinnati) is also talking about filing under Chapter 11. The archdiocese of Cincinnati is taking full advantage of secular laws so they are not concerned about filing because the statutes of limitations have expired already. Thank goodness they're able to pick and choose which law they want to apply. Who cares about whether or not the crime was committed? Read the rest of this post...

Bush declines NAACP invitation

He's the first President since Hoover not to attend their annual convention. Read the rest of this post...

Atta-boy, Log Cabin does good

Planet Out:

Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans (news - web sites), addressed the issue to Frist: 'As Senate Majority Leader, you know there are nowhere near the 67 votes needed for passage of the FMA. In fact, there aren't even 60 votes for cloture.'

Cloture is the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on the consideration of a bill and thereby overcome a filibuster.

Guerriero continued: 'The question then becomes, why, at a time when our nation and our party ought to be coming together, would you choose to divide us on a vote you already know will fail? There's a one-word answer to that question -- politics.'

Read the rest of this post...

Jack-Off Ryan getting back into the race?

Oh, make my day. Read the rest of this post...

Having a bad day, maybe it's outrage fatigue

I was waiting for an important call this morning and completely mis-read/mis-reviewed something. Apologies about that but I am now comfortably hiding under a rock until I regain my sanity. It must have been outrage fatigue. D'oh! Read the rest of this post...

Massive timber sale, political payback to Bush contributors

This article sounds like an Onion story except it's true. Bush will do anything to fill the pockets of his contributors, as is now clear. These bastards seem to forget that it's our country, our resources and not their toy for political paybacks.

"The Biscuit Project would allow logging of 372 million board feet of timber across 30 square miles of southwest Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest...

"It's the biggest logging sale since World War II," says Steve Holmer, communications director with the Unified Forest Defense Campaign, a coalition of national and regional conservation organizations. "Timber companies have made huge contributions to the Bush campaign. This project is political payback."

When the Forest Service first started looking at the area, they planned maybe a 100 million board feet sale." That changed once Mark Rey, formerly a top lobbyist for the timber industry who is now the administration's undersecretary for natural resources and environment in the Department of Agriculture, began to work on the sale.

In addition to being one of the largest public lands logging sales in history, the Biscuit Logging Project may be one of the most expensive to taxpayers, ultimately costing the public over $34 million."

Thanks to Buzzflash for the link. Read the rest of this post...

Reserves maxing out due to Iraq and Afghanistan

If the war in Iraq was so necessary and so important and if we are all in this together, how come most Americans aren't really feeling it? Where's the national sacrifice? It seems as though only a slice of America is paying the price and it can't go on forever. Note that the concern was bipartisan.

"We're taxing our part-time soldiers, our Guard and Reserves nearly to the breaking point," said Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. "We have to be aware that the families back home are paying a significant price. We don't want to break the force."

Added Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the committee chairman: "We're also concerned that insufficient force structure and manpower are leading the services to make decisions that I liken to eating the seed corn. That is, in order to make it through today, we do things that mortgage the future."

But Pentagon personnel chief David Chu said defense officials can make better use of those in the service by reorganizing brigades, making sure uniformed personnel are not performing jobs civilians could do and temporarily increasing troops levels with stop-loss and other devices.

"I really think you're wrong," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told Chu."

Read the rest of this post...

Portland Archdiocese using canon law for calculating assets, $450M shortfall

As the Portland Archdiocese tries to weasel its way out of its responsibilities by declaring financial bankruptcy, even the parishioners are confused. No wonder, because the church is telling everyone that they only have $50m in assets, that number is based on canon law. This means that church is saying the assets of the local parishes do not belong to the archdiocese of Portland. As this is taking place in the US, legal precedent says that canon law does not apply and instead, secular law applies. So what's the difference? According to secular law the assets would include all of the parishes, including property, with a value estimated at closer to half-billion dollars. And to think that the church suggests that the victims are the greedy ones. Some values. Read the rest of this post...