Evening open thread

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Growing Santorum scandal

Couldn't have happened to a nicer asshole. Read the rest of this post...

Kentucky Governor may lose medical license

Signing a death warrant may be in violation of his American Medical Association pledge which bars doctors from involvement in executions.

The AMA guidelines forbid doctors to actively take part in an execution or to take any "action which would directly cause the death of the condemned" or "which would assist, supervise or contribute" to the death of the inmate.

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More troops needed for Iraq

No numbers mentioned yet but they're testing the waters.
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Condi has surgery, gets the mythical overnight stay

Check out the healthcare package that Condi gets. Considering it was a "minimally invasive procedure" and a fairly routine procedure and since she will be back at work on Monday, how come she gets an overnight stay at the hospital? Don't get me wrong, I think an overnight stay ought to be pretty standard but I've gone under three times for surgery in the US and I have always been pushed out the door pretty quickly, within hours of going under the knife. Women in America often have to play games with checkin times at hospitals in order to get an extra (second) night after delivering a baby because of insurance companies and then I see this. Damn, some people certainly are more equal than others.
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Friday Orchid Blogging

Today we have a stand-in. While I do have a new orchid in flower, it needs a few days to reach its potential. But I did just today take a few pictures of my Venus Fly Trap that is sitting outside enjoying the weather and the sun. It's become quite red, as you can see by the tips of the leaves. I actually didn't doctor the colors of the photo - the back wall is red, the pot is red, and the plants have a lot of red in them because they've been in the sun, so there was color everywhere. All I did was strengthen the contrast. Enjoy.

PS Yes, I spared you the leaf that caught the fly, it's cool but a bit gross. Kind of like having your cat catch a bird - good cat, bad cat, so confusing to be a parent.

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Religious right burns constitution

Apparently burning the flag is wrong but burning a constitution is a-okay, per the radical right. Below, a man whose name suggests he should appreciate the gift of tolerance America offers people of all faiths, ethnicity, and other differences, seems to not get it so much. He's burning a copy of the Massachusetts constitution. Now, I understand the Mass. constitution is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the country. Pretty sacred document, you'd think. But I guess the radical right only cares about sacred documents when someone else is burning them.

But hey, no one ever accused them of practicing what they preach (or screech).


Thanks to Tom for sending this in from the the land of the free, Massachusetts.
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What's worse than crack? BOOBIES!

Yes, your tax dollars are hard at work again. Senator Sam Brownback (R-Leviticus) chaired a subcommittee hearing today where a witness claimed that web-based porno can have a worse impact than addiction to crack cocaine, and that the Internet is actually a massive "drug delivery system" for "erototoxins."

Brownback said porn was ubiquitous now, compared to when he was growing up and some guy would sneak a magazine in somewhere and show some of us, but you had to find him at the right time."

So I take it in his youth, Brownback was just a casual user of erototoxins?

Also testifying at the hearing was one of the wackjobs from the thoroughly de-bunked ex-gays movement, Jeffery Satinover:

Pornography really does, unlike other addictions, biologically cause direct release of the most perfect addictive substance," Satinover said. "That is, it causes masturbation, which causes release of the naturally occurring opioids. It does what heroin can't do, in effect."

The internet is dangerous because it removes the inefficiency in the delivery of pornography, making porn much more ubiquitous than in the days when guys in trench coats would sell nudie postcards, Satinover said.

Seriously, have you ever heard of anyone so incredibly obsessed with porn? And WE are the people that need help?
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Religious right and red state racism

A number of folks have been commenting in the posts below that the uproar over the NFL's Desperate Housewives ad may very well be race-based. Meaning, how dare a black man (football player) touch one of our white women. I don't think this criticism is necessarily off mark.

I remember growing up in Chicago in the late 60s, when I was just a wee lad (very wee, thank you), and I remember it was a big oddity, to say the least, to see an inter-racial couple - it was something you stared at and talked about when you saw it. And even today, I suspect it's still not as common as it should be to see an inter-racial couple walking around - it's still something you might notice when you saw it, though hopefully without the judgment of the past.

With that in mind, is it any surprise that it's the religious right, not known for its tolerance of anybody, who first jumped on this "scandal"? (And the religious right sure has a lot of supporters in Red states that aren't, shall we say, real friendly to black folk - think Alabama and that little segregation-era law they refuse to repeal - do you really think religious-right-friendly Alabamians (or whatever) are comfy with black men taking "our" women?)

Who else is fanning the flames? Rush Limbaugh. Ironically, it was Rush who made his racist little comment last year about black football players, and now he's having it again, this time suggesting that the ad reminded him of the Kobe Bryant case. Now, in that case, a black athlete is accused of raping a white woman. In the case of this ad, a black athlete is seduced by a very clearly willing white woman. I'm sorry, but are we now suggesting that any time black men and white women are "together" on TV it's going to be akin to rape? That to me is racism.

So, I'll leave it to you to decide. Racism, anti-sex (ism), or a legitimate concern about corrupting the morals of innocent football viewers?
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GOP hypocrisy, exhibit no. 43,456,931

Excellent editorial in today's Washington Post. Not that it suprises any of us, but the GOP has no problem with deficit spending for dozens of corporate interests, but not when it's time to pay for health insurance for poor kids.

I think the worst thing is news like this is usually greeted only by a shrug of the shoulders. It's so predictable now it's really not even news.
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Contact the FCC re their pro-religious-right witch hunts

I'm sick of these people. It's time WE wrote the FCC and told them to lay off the censorship. I mean, give me a break. I saw the "Desperate Housewives" commercial that was aired by the NFL. It wasn't that bad. Not to mention, it's Monday Night Football. Like scantily clad women and sex aren't used to sell that?!

The religious right is pouring emails into the FCC, and the FCC, under Colin Powell's son Michael, is all too happy to report how many emails they've received (to push the story even more).

It's time WE wrote in to the FCC as well. This allows us to show we have a voice, and it casts doubt on how many email complaints they've really gotten if a bunch of the emails are from our side too. The religious right, like a gay shark, has tasted blood and wants more. They need to be stopped, or we're going to end up a country of velvet dogs playing poker. And you thought John Ashcroft covering the breast of a statue was just a quirk.

Email the FCC:

Chairman Michael K. Powell: Michael.Powell@fcc.gov
Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy: Kathleen.Abernathy@fcc.gov
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov
Commissioner Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov
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Mission accomplished. Again.

I'm really sorry. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan right now, and I know it's important to use positive milestones over there to build morale. But it's not fair to tell our troops and their families that we've broken the backs of insurgents when it's clear we haven't yet.

We've won? Great. Then BRING OUR TROOPS HOME. NOW. I'll be the first one at the parade, thanking our troops for their bravery and for their sacrifices -- and I'll promise them I'll do everything I can to make sure the administration doesn't gut veterans' health benefits. Again. I'm really thankful for their service. They'll do something I won't. They deserve our support and respect -- which to me means not lying to them.

You don't respect our troops or their families by blowing sunshine up their asses. You respect them by telling the truth. I'm sick of hearing we've rebuilt Afghanistan, that we're thisclose to catching Osama, that the noose is tightening on Mullah Omar, that we may still find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or that the explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, ammo, and everything else we basically handed to the enemy won't really be a big deal. You know, because we've broken their backs.

I'm not saying a 4-star should get up in front of a camera and say, "wow, we're really screwed." Report our successes, absolutely, and be proud of them. But be realistic in their significance. Don't undermine what confidence people have left in you. And sadly, there isn't much confidence left.

Major combat operations in Iraq ended about a year and a half ago, remember?
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Why isn't Novak in jail?

A reporter in Rhode Island is going to jail because he won't reveal the identity of a person who gave him a tape showing a politician taking a bribe. A Time Magazine reporter is being forced to testify in the investigation regarding the white house's outing of a covert CIA agent to Robert Novak, who promptly told the world that agent's name.

So why is the guy who didn't publish the story forced to choose between integrity and jail, while Novak still shows his ugly mug on Crossfire and still writes his nationally-syndicated column?

Because he's the white house's bitch, that's why. He's the one guy who could put this whole thing to rest, but chooses not to. And he should be forced to make the same choices these other journalists are - but for some reason he's getting a free pass.

The safety and integrity of agents at the CIA means absolutely nothing to this administration, and the folks at the CIA know it. They remember what their new purger, er, leader, said when asked about investigating Novak's treason:

Somebody sends me a blue dress and some DNA, I'll have an investigation.

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Seniors not joining cancer clinical trials

At first glance this is surprising since most cancer patients are seniors but there is a critical piece missing in this story. Two years ago when my father was going through chemotherapy his doctor discussed the possbility of him joining a clinical trial. The catch? The doctor estimated that it would cost $25,000 - $30,000 to take part in the trial. Insurance would not cover the expense, it would be cash only. Most seniors are living on fixed incomes so just what the hell do these idiots expect when they ask for that kind of money, in cash? Is there no end to the money grab by Big Pharmaceuticals?
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Taking on Tom DeLay

It surprises me that the Democrats have so far failed to single out and demonize DeLay at a national level, considering his track record against the Democrats. The Republicans use that tactic all of the time with Dem's such as Clinton (either one), Ted Kennedy and Daschle. A few years ago the Dem's did a good job of putting a negative spotlight on Newt but DeLay has had free reign for too long. This blog over on DailyKos lists a few tactics for changing all of that and making DeLay an issue.

The discussion also reminds me of just how awful our current DNC leadership is. If ever there was a time for change...
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Toxic, schmoxic: clean drinking water is for tree-hugging wimps

Who needs clean drinking water anyway? Clearly burying chemicals underground is the answer and it is always best to leave problems like this for future generations to discover. We can also sleep well at night knowing that the US Army Corps of Engineers is not trying to cover its ass.

A more refined test of the water in the Washington Aqueduct has revealed the presence of perchlorate, a toxic chemical typically found in weapons and explosives, federal officials said yesterday.

The discovery of the chemical in the water supply challenges the prevailing theory of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has argued that contamination from buried World War I munitions in the Spring Valley neighborhood to the north poses no threat to Dalecarlia Reservoir along MacArthur Avenue NW.

Thomas P. Jacobus, chief of the Washington Aqueduct, said perchlorate in the reservoir measured between 1.2 and 1.8 parts per billion (ppb) and did not pose a health risk.

Perchlorate -- a chemical that disrupts the thyroid and is linked to hormonal dysfunction, developmental delays and infertility -- is considered a health risk to humans. The EPA has said perchlorate could harm humans at levels of 1 ppb.

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