Late evening open thread

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Religious right flips out over Specter getting Judiciary chair

From the Concerned Women for America's Janet [Chi Chi] Larue:

Allowing Arlen Specter to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee makes no more sense than Michael Moore becoming chairman of the RNC (Republican National Committee). [NOTE FROM JOHN: I thought she was going to say "a homosexual" instead of "Michael Moore" - oops.]

The Republican Conference rules do not require that seniority for chairmanships be adhered to. Getting it right is more important than tradition.

The president wants judges who are loyal to the text of the Constitution and original intent. Specter wants judges who treat it like a living and growing fungus. [A FUNGUS?]

The president is pro-life. Specter is pro-abortion

The president opposes embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning. Specter supports both. [NOTE FROM JOHN: That's funny, cuz when Kerry said the president opposed stem cell research, the "liberal" media said Kerry was exaggerating.]

The president opposes the International Criminal Court (ICC). [NOTE FROM JOHN: Well, yeah, cuz otherwise he'd be in jail as a war criminal.] Specter supports the ICC, which would allow a panel of rogue international judges to try our military for war crimes.

The president supports a federal marriage amendment. Specter opposes a federal marriage amendment.

The president wants tort reform. Specter opposes tort reform. [NOTE FROM JOHN: And this is a religious issue because?

The president wants tax cuts. Specter voted against the president’s first tax cut. [DITTO]

The president supports school choice. Specter opposes school choice. [DITTO]

The Judiciary Committee chairmanship is absolutely vital and must be held by someone with a track record to back his commitments.

Specter thinks Jeff Sessions is extreme. But he thinks Frederica Massiah-Jackson is mainstream. [WHO?]

This is a man who said on the floor of the Senate: “I will be opposing my president, my party, and a man of powerful intellect whom I respect and like. In my judgment, Judge Bork was simply outside the historical constitutional continuum.” [YEAH, AND HISTORY SURE PROVED HIM WRONG ON THAT ONE, EH CHI CHI?]

Specter betrayed President Reagan—we can expect him to betray President Bush. [HUH?]

Give us Jon Kyl.
Give us Jeff Sessions.
Give us John Cornyn. [AM I THE ONLY ONE GETTING HOT HERE?]
Give us any true red Republican. [RED REPUBLICANS? RED RUM RED RUM]
But don’t give us Arlen Specter.

Say No to the RINO (Republican in Name Only) in chief.
Say Yes to our Commander in Chief.

Read the rest of this post...

Why Bush won

Funny, I'd told friends something similiar:

Picture the American electorate as a woman, leaning against the frame of her duplex's screen door in a star-spangled halter top, paunchy midriff hanging out over her low-rise jeans. She has two black eyes and a busted lip.

"He didn't mean no harm, officers. He loves me. He just has trouble showing it is all."

"Ma'am, you don't have to take this you know, we could throw him out right now. Just say the word."

From behind her, we hear a beer bottle shatter. A drunken Texas drawl calls out from the living room inside.

"You'll take it and you'll like it, bitch."

"He didn't mean nothing, officers. He's a good man, I swear it."

Read the rest of this post...

Evening open thread

PTL Read the rest of this post...

Republican Jesus

Read the rest of this post...

PEOPLE: Jude Law Is Latest 'Sexiest Man Alive'

People Magazine clearly forgot to drink the Kool-Aid. The sexiest man alive is Jesus.

Get ready for People's tax audit. Read the rest of this post...

Top 10 places to live

And they include some scary red states.

Making the top 10 for 2004 are:

Venice, FL
Paragould, AR
Edmond, OK
Bonita Springs, FL
Asheville, NC
Colorado Springs, CO
Bartlesville, OK
Carlsbad, NM
Huntington Woods, MI
Madison, WI

They say the survey is based on:

- Safety, low crime rates, safe for children
- Activities, such as museums, theaters and sports
- Serenity, peace and quiet
- Beauty, such as a downtown with trees
- Great schools
- Economy of the town is healthy, with employment opportunities and affordable housing
- Great people and neighbors

What they REALLY based the survey on:

- Safety, low crimes rates, safe for children (i.e., no pesky brown people)
- Activities, such as museums, theaters, sports, snake handling, cross burning and voter fraud
- Serenity, peace and quiet (no civil rights)
- Beauty, such as a downtown with trees and the Ten Commandments
- Great schools, dumb people
- Economy of the town is healthy, with employment opportunities and affordable housing for white people
- Great people and neighbors, but they speak in tongues

Ok, fair enough, some of the places aren't THAT bad - but Colorado Springs? Read the rest of this post...

The entire Bush family is caving on family values

Don't get me wrong. They'll screw us again, and soon. But it's interesting to note that, as I've been saying for a week now, the Bushistas are backing off of this "moral majority rules the day" crap, ever since the election. This is the latest evidence.

From the Times-Union:

Gov. Jeb Bush said he "would not support" a campaign by Florida's Southern Baptists to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

"My belief is it's not necessary," Bush said Monday in Jacksonville about such an amendment.

Last week in Jacksonville, more than 1,900 delegates to the annual meeting of the Florida Baptist Convention voted unanimously to lead a campaign to place a constitutional same-sex marriage ban on the 2006 ballot, either through the Legislature or through a voter petition drive.

Predictably, the far right is going ballistic. Pam's House Blend has been monitoring the Freeper reaction.

When the incoming leader of the Republican party is mortally afraid to "admit" that he's heterosexual, it ain't a good sign for the family values brigade and their future relevance to the party. There's a reason you've got open gays working in the highest levels of the Bush campaign, the RNC, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Bush Administration, and the Congress (hell, they even have a gay Republican congressman). The inside-the-beltway Republicans pay lip service to the religious right agenda, but in their hearts, they don't really agree with the Bible thumpers' agenda, and that's why you're seeing the ongoing waffling from the Bushistas. Read the rest of this post...

[Insert caption here]

Read the rest of this post...

Crime is a family value

Where is the family values crowd when Delay and the Congress try to minize the importance of breaking the law? Great message THIS sends to children. Read the rest of this post...

This is what happens...

...when impressionable children are allowed to cross-dress. Read the rest of this post...

More on man who set himself on fire at the White House

The NYT reports that he was CENTRAL to the government's terror case in Brooklyn. Either the guy is a total nutjob, and Dear Leader is relying on total nutjobs as a basis for executing the terror war, or this guy was totally screwed by the Feds. Either way, doesn't sound good for Dear Leader. Read the rest of this post...

Noon-time (well, out here at least) open thread

Hallelujah. Read the rest of this post...

Texas school district nixes 'cross-dressing day'

America's Taliban strikes again:

Note to boys in the tiny Spurger, Texas, school district: Put away those high heels and pleated skirts. Instead, wear black boots and Army camouflage to school Wednesday.

A parent's concerns prompted the district 150 miles northeast of Houston to scrap its annual "TWIRP Day" -- when boys dress like girls and girls dress like boys-- in favor of "Camo Day."

TWIRP stands for "The Woman Is Requested to Pay," and for years Spurger schools hosted the day during Homecoming Week to give boys and girls a chance to reverse social roles and let older girls invite boys on dates, open doors and pay for sodas.

Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute issued a news release Tuesday reporting that it "came to the aid of a concerned parent requesting an excused absence for her children on official cross-dressing day in her children's elementary school."

"It is outrageous that a school in a small town in East Texas would encourage their 4-year-olds to be cross-dressers," Liberty Legal Institute attorney Hiram Sasser said in the release....

Delana Davies, a 33-year-old mother of three, said she contacted Superintendent Angela Matterson on Tuesday after reading a school notice about "TWIRP Day."

Davies, whose 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter attend Spurger Elementary, said she viewed the day not a silly Homecoming Week activity, but as an effort to push a homosexual agenda in a public school.

"It's like experimenting with drugs," said Davies, who also has a 2-year-old daughter. "You just keep playing with it and it becomes customary. ... If it's OK to dress like a girl today, then why is it not OK in the future?"

After speaking with the Liberty attorney, Matterson agreed to exempt Davies' son and older daughter from attending school on Wednesday. However, district officials later decided to scrap "TWIRP Day" altogether and replace it with "Camo Day," where students will wear camouflage clothing.

And check out this blurb from the Liberty Legal Institute Web site:

Liberty Legal Institute (LLI), founded in 1997 by Chief Counsel Kelly Shackelford, fights to protect religious freedoms and First Amendment rights for individuals, groups, and churches. LLI's assistance is provided free of charge to ensure all individuals and groups can thrive without the fear of governments restricting their freedoms.

Providing support for First Amendment rights and living without fear of government restrictions on freedoms? Sure...

Mr. Orwell, your table's ready. Read the rest of this post...

CIA looking for a few good "yes" men

Do not question authority, tow the line. Goss is so right because the last thing we need is any independent thinkin'. We need more cheerleaders and bootlickers in the CIA so everyone can stay on message.

Porter J. Goss, the new intelligence chief, has told Central Intelligence Agency employees that their job is to "support the administration and its policies in our work,'' a copy of an internal memorandum shows.

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Tough year ahead for the Poodle?

The Independent (UK) released a survey that says 64% of Brits questioned preferred having closer relations with the European Union over the US and only 25% favored a closer relationship with the US. I sure hope that this spells trouble for Blair who will be facing voters sometime next year. In a BBC interview yesterday Chirac again blasted Poodle-boy when he questioned whether the world is actually safer after Iraq, as Blair and Bush like to believe.

"I'm not at all sure that one can say the world is safer," Chirac said. "There is no doubt there has been an increase in terrorism."

"To a certain extent Saddam Hussein's departure was a positive thing but it also provoked reaction such as the mobilization in a number of countries of men and women of Islam which has made the world more dangerous."

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