Disturbing Right-Wing Comments re: Tenn. Church Shootings

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (July 28) -- An unemployed man accused of opening fire with a shotgun and killing two people at a Unitarian church apparently targeted the congregation out of hatred for its liberal social policies, police said Monday.

This report of the church shootings in Tenn. from AOL has the following in the comment thread:

MayDayMayDay1941
05:56 PMJul 28 2008
THIS CHURCH IS ARE THE DEVIL, THE DEVIL DID IT , THIS''S WHAT HAPPENS ,.WHEN PPL SERVE THE DEVIL... BAD THINGS WILL COME OUR WAY.THE DEVIL MAKE HIM DO THIS.. IT'S A SAD SAD WORLD TODAY FOLKS:TED in OHIO

Wllynemly
05:56 PMJul 28 2008
DONT YOU PEOLE BE FOOLED LIBERALS WOULD BE THE FIRST TO USE A GUN AN USE VIOLENCE IF THERE GREAT CON JOB WASNT WORKING....THEY WANT TO ACT LIKE THE ARE PASSIVE TO TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY SO YOU CANT STOP THEM WHEN THEY CON THE COUNTRY INTO COMMUNISM.............THE LIBERALS ARE THE MOST HATEFUL BUNCH EVER TO CURSE THIS EARTH WITH THERE PRESENCE.....GO ASK MIKE SAVAGE AFTE ONE RADIO SHOW HIS FIRST ONE HE SAID HE WOULD NEVER DO ANOTHER CAUSE OF THE LIBERALS HATRED AND DEATH THREATS..THANK GOD HE OVERCAME THAT...

SobekXI
05:56 PMJul 28 2008
The headline should read, "American hero exterminates commie vermin." Too bad he only got two of them.

SucotoHHerr
05:54 PMJul 28 2008
Are you serious, loosing rights under the Rep, strap in, you think the Dems will maintain your rights, wait until you are told where to set your thermostat and how many miles and how many gallons of gas you are entiltled to, how much of your pie should go to the underprivledged, after all Barrack said we have to give more of our pie..maybe he has more to give, but your taxes will definitely increase your federal income tax which under Bush the middle class only pais 10% will increse to minimal 40%, that is part of his ecomomic policy

LDavelewis
05:44 PMJul 28 2008
The gunman believed he was carrying out God's will against a church established in direct contradiction to Biblical values. Although I do not endorse his actions, I can understand why he was appalled by its endorsement of the gay lifestyle. It's truly a wonder that this doesn't happen more frequently in our decadent mraol society.

Hppycmpr00
05:40 PMJul 28 2008
Obama isn't any different than these religious fanatics that think they're Jesus reincarnate and lead their followers to commit suicide, that's what Obama will do with the U.S. if he (God forbid) wins....Don't let the uneducated, Liberal commies elect him into office!

Wllynemly
05:39 PMJul 28 2008
liberals you know why you dont like guns cause it is the only thing that keeps you from doing anything you damn well please as you see these radical judges do .....your types would turn this country communistic.....thats why you dont like guns an real men...you only like feminine males cause they dont got any sense or guts to stand up against your corrupt an wicked philsophies .....a world without morals except the one you endorse an force on the rest of us....you are your own bible thumpers..theliberal bible an you corrupt an ruin this country

HenryVA1 Click to read Low-rated and possibly explicit material.
05:37 PMJul 28 2008
With the complete take over of America by the radical Left Wing America Hate Mongers, just wait till death camps and mass murderings in Town Squares all across the Country begin. You think it can't happen? Think again. The Radical Marxist Communist Left Wing Nuts are lining up to participate. With Obama as Premiere and Dingy Harry in control of Congress, start looking over your shoulder. They are coming for you! They will take every dime you have then place you in concentration camps to await your death sentence if you are a Conservative. Get ready! Here they come.



And there is much, much more of that if you have the stomach for it.

Catch you later.....

Garrison Keillor - Why we write (blog).

One of my all-time favorites calls me depressive.

Catch you later.....

Sunday Funnies

From a couple of years ago but an excellent example of the chronically obtuse mentation that vexes folks like the esteemed Prof. P.Z. Myers, Richard Dawkins and so many others.

Unintentionally humorous yet chilling, especially in light of the ongoing efforts of these wack-a-loons to weaken, even destroy true scientific inquiry.

Objects of derision? Yes. Laughing-stocks? Certainly. Dangerous? Yah, sure, you betcha!

That last is for the Minnisota crew. Keep after them!

Catch you later.....

Al Gore - What Might Have Been...

I wish Al had fought harder to prevent the theft of his election.

Imagine the different future that might be before us eight long years later.

New to the Blogroll: Oliver Willis (Like Kryptonite to Stupid!).

Drop by, you'll like it.

Catch you later.....

Honest McCain Campaign Poster Redux

Guy's? Hello? Anybody? Cindy?

Make your own courtesy of Oliver Willis.

Catch you later.....

Katie Couric - Serious Journalist?

SusanG at DailyKos has a nice take on the shameless, partisan abandonment of journalistic standards and ethics at CBS.

Here in SoCal, satellite TV means we see KO on MSNBC before the CBS Evening News, so of course I was going over to see how the Big Eye's west coast feed would play.

And yes, KO, Susan G, et al were quite spot on. Katie's in the tank for McLame.

But what shocked was what preceeded the McLame piece.

WHAT the hell was that performance with Obama all about? She wouldn't stop trying to pull a Gotcha' on Obama, coming back over and over again to a simplistic, illogical either/or choice regarding the surge.

Unless you're an IT Pro, don't Google: Katie Couric Serious Journalist. Now my computer smells funny.

Catch you later.....

Vanity Fair pwns the New Yorker

(click to enlarge)
Now, that's satire.

Catch you later.....

Rove Belongs In Jail !

Really!

Catch you later.....

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over' | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

I'm sure that when published on January 17th, 2001, the editors of the Onion felt they were writing humorously:

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over' The Onion - America's Finest News Source

A few excerpts:

WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over." ...

...Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street....

..."You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"...

...Turning to the subject of the environment, Bush said he will do whatever it takes to undo the tremendous damage not done by the Clinton Administration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He assured citizens that he will follow through on his campaign promise to open the 1.5 million acre refuge's coastal plain to oil drilling. As a sign of his commitment to bringing about a change in the environment, he pointed to his choice of Gale Norton for Secretary of the Interior. Norton, Bush noted, has "extensive experience" fighting environmental causes, working as a lobbyist for lead-paint manufacturers and as an attorney for loggers and miners, in addition to suing the EPA to overturn clean-air standards....

..."Finally, the horrific misrule of the Democrats has been brought to a close," House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told reporters. "Under Bush, we can all look forward to military aggression, deregulation of dangerous, greedy industries, and the defunding of vital domestic social-service programs upon which millions depend. Mercifully, we can now say goodbye to the awful nightmare that was Clinton's America."...

..."We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two," Bush said. "Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there's much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

Go read the whole thing. What was thought an attempt at hyperbole was more than seven years later shown to be a frighteningly accurate prophecy. Or is the Onion evil?

Catch you later.....

Zaius Nation - Ponder This at the Gas Pump

Zaius Nation - Some apes are more equal than others

Dr. Zaius puts it in a nutshell.

Catch you later.....

Situational Awareness - Navy Style

(click to enlarge)

Off to the bounding main.

Catch you later.....

Awaken Your Inner Elephant - You Whining Whiners

I'd love to attend, but I can't afford the gas to get to the Ramada Inn (by the airport).

Catch you later.....

New Yorker's Obama Cover - Tasteless AND Stupid!

Geez, New Yorker, what would possess you to arm our opponents?

The wing-nut blogosphere must be thrilled.

I'm sure you meant to ridicule those that believe the baseless, racially-tinged smears flying all over the Intertubes but this tasteless image will only reinforce the stereo-types of the low-information (non-reading) crowd. Ridicule is lost on them.

Common sense must be lost for you. Sheesh!

Catch you later.....

U.S. oil firms seek drilling access, but exports soar | Reuters

U.S. oil firms seek drilling access, but exports soar Reuters:

By Tom Doggett - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While the U.S. oil industry wants access to more federal lands to help reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, American-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries.

A record 1.6 million barrels a day in U.S. refined petroleum products were exported during the first four months of this year, up 33 percent from 1.2 million barrels a day over the same period in 2007. Shipments this February topped 1.8 million barrels a day for the first time during any month, according to final numbers from the Energy Department.

The surge in exports appears to contradict the pleas from the U.S. oil industry and the Bush administration for Congress to open more offshore waters and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

"We can help alleviate shortages by drilling for oil and gas in our own country," President Bush told reporters this week. "We have got the opportunity to find more crude oil here at home."

"As a nation, we can have more control over our energy destiny by supplying more of the oil and natural gas we'll be consuming from resources here at home," Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said in a letter last week to U.S. lawmakers.

But environmentalists and other opponents to expanding drilling areas could seize on the record exports to argue Congress should not open more acres if U.S. refineries are churning crude oil into petroleum products that are sent out of the American market.

"It doesn't look good to say: 'We need more oil.' But then export the refined products that you're getting. It doesn't seem to be consistent," said Jim Presswood, energy lobbyist for the Natural Resources Defense Council....

Do you think that oil speculators and multi-national oil companies give a rat's ass about America's economic difficulties? Not when there's profit to be made.

How about the claims that refining capacity is down because 'the Dems' won't allow more refineries to be built?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A dramatic slowdown in U.S. gasoline demand in the midst of record pump prices has forced refining companies in the world's top energy consumer to curb output at a time of year they normally produce at full throttle.

The untimely production cuts during the peak driving summer season are another sign of the pain inflicted by record energy costs on U.S. consumers and businesses, already hard-hit by a housing slump and credit crisis, experts said....

Curbing output and exporting ever larger amounts of refined petroleum products while hollering to drill in sensitive environments and give further tax breaks to the oil companies makes it pretty clear who BushCo and the GOP really consider their true constituency.

Catch you later.....

President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran - Times Online

President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran - Times Online:

"President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times...."

Oh great, he's not quite done yet, is he?

Catch you later.....

Former Bush press secretary Tony Snow dies

WASHINGTON - Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as President Bush's press secretary, died Saturday of colon cancer. He was 53.

My heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones.

No further comment at this time, head nodded in contemplation.

Weekend Nostalgia: Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Is this what they mean by violins in the street?

Peace, Love, Catch you later.....

(ps. check out the Save Ferris cover attached. Jazzy!)

Woman kills husband with folding couch - Reuters

By Denis Pinchuk

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - A Russian woman in St Petersburg killed her drunk husband with a folding couch, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

St Petersburg's Channel Five said the man's wife, upset with her husband for being drunk and refusing to get up, kicked a handle after an argument, activating a mechanism that folds the couch up against a wall.

The couch, which doubles as a bed, folds up automatically in order to save space. The man fell between the mattress and the back of the couch, Channel Five quoted emergency workers as saying.

The woman then walked out of the room and returned three hours later to check on what she thought was an unusually quiet sleeping husband.

Police refused to comment.

The St Petersburg Emergency Services Ministry said a private rescue service removed the man's body.

Video on the television channel's website showed emergency workers sawing away the side panels of a couch to remove a man in his underwear lying headfirst between the cushions.

Emergency workers said the man died instantly.

(Additional reporting by Tatiana Ustinova, Writing by Chris Baldwin, editing by Alison Williams)

Offered without comment,

Catch you later.....

What a Day...

Well, this was one of those days...

The patient load was heavy, the Dr. was cranky and the front office seemed paralyzed by... well, whatever. It was Friday.

And then I heard one that takes the cake.

A person new to our office remarked, "You're busier than a one-armed paper-hanger."

Pause.....

"You know, I got fired two years ago for saying that."

I begged his pardon, glanced at the chart and saw he was an IT professional.

"Yup, got fired from (Un-named Software Giant)."

Naturally I was all WTF?

"Yup. Said I was insensitive to the disabled. Pissed off some guy in a wheelchair, he complained to Human Resources and I was gone in less than a week."

Weren't you angry, didn't you do something about it? I asked.

"Nope. Got hired by their main rival within the week for more money. Screw 'em."

You know, despite the fact that everything worked out for him, seems to me that this is another good example of PC run amok. People, lighten up, fer gawdsakes!

Catch you later.....

Maddow and Turley - FISA - from Countdown w/ K.O.

Get Morning Schmoe off the air and give Rachel her own show already!

And for gawdsakes, lets get this abortion of a bill in front of a Federal judge ASAP.

This shall not stand (I hope!).

Catch you later.....

Dear Barack, You've let us down...(is there a difference?)

Dear Barack

My enthusiasm wanes

Now, FISA

Before, Capital Punishment

And then , faith-based B.S.?!?

Gun control...

Death Penalty...

What's next? Problems with Roe v. Wade?

Time to re-read the first ten amendments to our Constitution. That is what is at stake.

For the first time in a generation, a democrat can safely run on Democratic Principles with no fear of condemnation, no need to run to the center. Here we are, Democrats, this is what we are, what we stand for, at a time when principles are what the electorate calls out for. Change is what is most desired.

And then you cave, after a promise! The FISA vote will go into the history books as a black day for democracy,

These days, one only needs to see where the overwhelming majority of Americans want to go and then get out in front. At this time in our history, leadership should be easy. Get with the program, ride the wave, enjoy the ride and never forget who got you there.

Don't make me wish Hillary had prevailed. Neither you nor she were my first, second, or even third choice. If, however, in the end she should prove to have bigger balls than yours, well, my face will be red.

Show us you stand for something, before we conclude you are just another politician who stands for nothing, except getting elected.

The opportunity before you has not existed in my lifetime since JFK. Real change is do-able if courage is yours. The risk for you is not really so great. The risk for our country looms much larger. Courage, Sir, Courage. Principles matter. Your legacy has already begun, don't sully it any further.

Catch you later.....

Dennis Kucinich: Independence Day: Let Us Remember Who We Are

Adherence to the Constitution? What a novel idea! I wonder if it will catch on in Washington, DC?

Probably not, there's no way for the powers that be to profit from it.

God damn, I'm so jaded.

My enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee fades by the day, but the alternative is so much worse.

I'll be holding my nose while voting again this cycle.

Catch you later.....

Under the Weather

I'll be posting again soon, been ailin'.

Catch you later.....

Lieberman Must Go!

New video from Brave New Films.

What a schmuck!

Catch you later.....

George Carlin on Countdown with Keith Olbermann

I feel as though I've lost a brother.

Will he be lionized like Russert? No.

Had he more impact? Yes.

Thanks, George, for everything,

I'll surely catch you later...

George Carlin - 1937-2008 - American Icon

Now what do we do?

George Carlin dead at 71.

George, you will be missed....

Thank You, for all you did for us...

GOP frets Barr could play spoiler in prez race

"...Bob could be the Ralph Nader of 2008," said Dan Schnur, a GOP consultant in California who worked on McCain's 2000 campaign but is not involved in this year's contest. Consumer advocate Nader is the third-party candidate many Democrats blame for helping George W. Bush narrowly win in 2000."...

"...No reasonable conservative is going to vote for anyone except McCain," Gingrich said."

Reasonable Conservative? Talk about mutually exclusive terms!

Catch you later.....

Enfeebled superpower: how America lost its grip (Times Online)

The mighty US has held the best ever hand in global political history but played it spectacularly badly. Now its influence is waning on all fronts. (© Fareed Zakaria 2008 )

"...America remains the global superpower today but an enfeebled one. At a military-political level it still dominates the world but the larger structure of unipolarity - economic, financial, cultural - is weakening.

...There is also another reason. The United States has had an extraordinary hand to play in global politics, the best of any country in history. Yet by almost any measure - problems solved, success achieved, institutions built, reputation enhanced - it has played this hand badly. How did America blow it? Beyond specific personalities and policies, about which much has been written, the condition that made such errors possible was, ironically, America’s immense power.

...THE task for today is to construct a new approach for a new era, one that responds to a global system in which power is far more diffuse than before and in which everyone feels empowered. The rise of the rest ensures America a vital, although different, role."

It's always instructive to read the overseas papers, especially the op-eds, to get a sense of balance in the news.

Though I disagree with some of the authors conclusions, I agree that American power is on the wane, our policy approach to the rest of the world must change, and that George W. Bush is/was a complete and total disaster, at home and throughout the world. Amen.

Obama Swings and Misses!

My dissappointment with the nominee and his anemic response to the FISA/Telecom capitulation is acute.

This is an important issue which presents him with a tailor-made opportunity to show leadership and he whiffs on it.

Glenn Greenwald at Salon gets to the heart of the matter:

"...This bill doesn't legalize every part of Bush's illegal warrantless eavesdropping program but it takes a large step beyond FISA towards what Bush did. There was absolutely no reason to destroy the FISA framework, which is already an extraordinarily pro-Executive instrument that vests vast eavesdropping powers in the President, in order to empower the President to spy on large parts of our international communications with no warrants at all. This was all done by invoking the scary spectre of Terrorism -- "you must give up your privacy and constitutional rights to us if you want us to keep you safe" -- and it is Obama's willingness to embrace that rancid framework, the defining mindset of the Bush years, that is most deserving of intense criticism here."

"...Making matters worse still, what Obama did yesterday is in clear tension with an emphatic promise that he made just months ago. As the extremely pro-Obama MoveOn.org notes today, Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, back in in September, vowed that Obama would "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." MoveOn believes Obama should be held to his word and is thus conducting a campaign urging Obama to do what he promised -- support a filibuster to stop the enactment of telecom amnesty. You can email Burton here to demand that Obama comply with his commitment not just to vote against, but to filibuster, telecom amnesty:


bburton@barackobama.com


"...What Barack Obama did here was wrong and destructive. He's supporting a bill that is a full-scale assault on our Constitution and an endorsement of the premise that our laws can be broken by the political and corporate elite whenever the scary specter of The Terrorists can be invoked to justify it. What's more, as a Constitutional Law Professor, he knows full well what a radical perversion of our Constitution this bill is, and yet he's supporting it anyway. Anyone who sugarcoats or justifies that is doing a real disservice to their claimed political values and to the truth."

So, yet again I will call my Senators, E-mail my Senators, fax my Senators (Hi Barbara, Hi Dianne, remember me?!) and generally make my concerns heard. I expect the usual polite hearing from Sen. Boxer's office and the usual rude dismissal from Sen. Feinstein's.

I don't know what to expect from Sen. Obama's office, but he is now on my list and the reception I get will be reported here.

I expect a Democratic nominee, especially this year, to stand up, stand for something and say:

"No more! Never again!" And to make it stick.

Keep your eye on the ball, Sen. Obama. We need a hit.

Catch you later.....

Phony Conservatives

Give 'em hell Bobby!

Catch you later.....

Honest McCain Campaign Poster - Part ...

What a fertile field to plow...

Catch you later.....

McCain T-Shirt: Where can I get one?

From Darkblack,

Someone please license these and get them out, pronto!

I'll take a dozen, XL, Hanes Beefy T's, please, grey or white, thanks.

Catch you later.....

You Can't Have Alex! MoveOn.org

I approve this message.

Catch you later.....

Colin Powell slams Bush - Welcome, but overdue.

Colin Powell slams Bush, From the Vancouver Sun:

"...But Colin Powell said Thursday in Vancouver that he is considering voting for Democrat Barack Obama in November -- and he took shots at the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war and the holding of terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

...The former secretary of state discussed the controversy that drew a small but loud protest outside the convention centre -- Powell's use of flawed intelligence during his 2003 presentation at the United Nations to sell the world on the invasion of Iraq.

Powell told the audience that he wouldn't have agreed with the decision to go to war had he known that the data about Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction was exaggerated.

Powell said that every word of what he called his "infamous" presentation about WMD had been vetted by the intelligence community -- "and I had no reason to disbelieve it."
The former secretary of state has previously described his prewar UN speech as a "blot" on his record.

Powell went on to say that the Bush administration fell into "disarray" over how to govern Iraq after it overthrew Hussein.

"If we had handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad differently then we wouldn't be where we are today," said Powell....

...Powell said the use of torture and denial of habeas corpus at the prison for suspected terrorists at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo has diminished America's standing in the world. "It [Guantanamo] is not a seen as a place that is consistent with what America says justice will be."

...Powell said that torture, including water-boarding, should stop at Guantanamo and that terrorism suspects should be given lawyers and afforded all the rights of the American criminal justice system....

..."We will not be terrified into changing our way of life because of some guy [Osama bin Laden] hiding in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan."

I was always most disappointed with Secretary Powell out of all of the Bush appointees, but that is because I always expected the most from him.

His reluctance to trash the Bushies to the extent he must be able is a measure of the man's loyalty and devotion to duty.

I just wish his loyalty had not been so misplaced in certain people, rather than in the institutions he swore to protect.

His endorsement, when it comes, should prove interesting.

Catch you later.....

Lefties hug their children less. Don't they?

From the Times of London:

Whether we're left or right-wing, we use strong political beliefs to exonerate our own personal nastiness...

...All you need is a book (or a handy digest, which I will try to provide) written by a research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Peter Schweizer.

...He has a simple and arresting theme, supported by artfully selected research. In Makers and Takers he says that conservatives are, in their private behaviour, superior to liberals: “Conservatives work harder, feel happier, have closer families, take fewer drugs, give more generously, value honesty more and are less materialistic.” Liberals are narcissistic, selfish and grasping. They think benefit cheating is fine and prefer charities that campaign to those that actually help the poor. They sleep around, hate marriage and family and - “according to research carried out at Princeton University” - hug their children less. “My wife,” chortles the author, “thinks they're too busy hugging trees.”...

...Conservatives, meanwhile, are a benign cadre of honest Cheeryble brothers: giving to the poor, caring for their parents. Left-wing ideology corrupts, concludes Mr Schweizer on raising his head from “America's premier social research database”. He joyfully quotes Orwell's gloriously intemperate observation that “the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England”...

...And none of this means that there is anything innately wrong with the Left or the Right, or religion, science or gay pride. The fact is that deep down we are all a bit nasty and selfish. When we use ideologies to camouflage what should be our shame, any belief will do. Mr Schweizer calls his book Makers and Takers. He should have admitted that every banner also shelters fakers, snakes and haters: unoriginal sinners all."

I've been so busy hugging trees, I haven't had time to force gay abortions on Christian virgins or even take my neighbor's guns then sell his children to the Mexican slavers. Not to mention what I was going to force his wife to do with the falafel.

Sheesh, catch you later.....

Texas GOP - More Stupidity From Those Wonderful People Who Gave Us George W. (You're doin' a heckuva job) Bush

From Justin Webb's BBC Blog:

Laughs aside, the platform of the Texas Republicans as revealed here by one of the Lone Star State's finest political reporters, leaves no doubt about where the zeitgeist is not in 2008.

None of this stuff - intelligent design and abortion and gay marriage, let alone banning nudies in DC art galleries - sings in 2008.

A party with these folks at its heart is a party in trouble. And so is a party with such deep apparent misgivings about the boss going into the election.

The Republicans might tell themselves, reasonably, that McCain can win and might win, but it cannot happen by magic or by default or by act of Fox News, and the issue that we will look back on as his ticket to the White House (Iraq? Gas Prices? Healthcare?) is not clear to me at the moment...

Work on Texas GOP's platform stirs passions

from the Dallas Morning News, June 13, 2008:

HOUSTON – Robert Hurt went to Washington and didn't like what he saw – nudity in the nation's capital.

"Nude women, sculptured women," he told the state Republican platform committee, which sat in rapt attention....

...The GOP platform will be presented today to the full convention. Like all platforms, it's a statement of principle and a political document to rally the troops....

...In this, a presidential year, it advocates prayer in school, getting out of the United Nations, teaching intelligent design with evolution in science classes, repealing of the minimum wage, declaring illegal immigrants criminals and outlawing abortion with no exceptions.

"Hallelujah!" said a delegate who had urged strong anti-abortion language....

...The platform calls homosexuality contrary to "the unchanging truths" ordained by God. It opposes gay marriage, civil unions and the custody of children by gays....

..."There is no substitute for victory!" the platform says in supporting the Bush administration's war on "radical Islamist terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries around the world."

God, Guns, Gays! Just when I think my opinion of Texas can go no lower, I run across this.

What a bunch of mealy-mouthed hypocrites! A friend who was raised in Texas once told me, "My Daddy always said, whenever you do business with someone who claims to be a good christian businessman, keep both hands on your wallet!"

You Faith and Values types are doin' a heckuva job! See you in November...

Catch you later.....

Justice 5, Brutality 4 - NYT Op-Ed

In re the SCOTUS decision on Habeus Corpus from the N.Y. Times:

June 13, 2008

Editorial

Justice 5, Brutality 4

"For years, with the help of compliant Republicans and frightened Democrats in Congress, President Bush has denied the protections of justice, democracy and plain human decency to the hundreds of men that he decided to label "unlawful enemy combatants" and throw into never-ending detention.

Twice the Supreme Court swatted back his imperial overreaching, and twice Congress helped Mr. Bush try to open a gaping loophole in the Constitution. On Thursday, the court turned back the most recent effort to subvert justice with a stirring defense of habeas corpus, the right of anyone being held by the government to challenge his confinement before a judge.

The court ruled that the detainees being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have that cherished right, and that the process for them to challenge their confinement is inadequate. It was a very good day for people who value freedom and abhor Mr. Bush’s attempts to turn Guantánamo Bay into a constitutional-rights-free zone.

The right of habeas corpus is so central to the American legal system that it has its own clause in the Constitution: it cannot be suspended except "when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."

Despite this, the Bush administration repeatedly tried to strip away habeas rights. First, it herded prisoners who were seized in Afghanistan, and in other foreign countries, into the United States Navy base at Guantánamo Bay and claimed that since the base is on foreign territory, the detainees’ habeas cases could not be heard in the federal courts. In 2004, the court rejected that argument, ruling that Guantánamo, which is under American control, is effectively part of the United States.

In 2006, the court handed the administration another defeat, ruling that it had relied improperly on the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 to hold the detainees on Guantánamo without giving them habeas rights. Since then, Congress passed another law, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that tried — and failed horribly — to fix the problems with the Detainee Treatment Act.

Now, by a 5-to-4 vote, the court has affirmed the detainees’ habeas rights. The majority, in an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, ruled that the Military Commissions Act violates the Suspension Clause, by eliminating habeas corpus although the requirements of the Constitution — invasion or rebellion — do not exist.

The court ruled that the military tribunals that are hearing the detainees’ cases — the administration’s weak alternative to habeas proceedings in a federal court — are not an adequate substitute. The hearings cut back on basic due process protections, like the right to counsel and the right to present evidence of innocence.

It was disturbing that four justices dissented from this eminently reasonable decision. The lead dissent, by Chief Justice John Roberts, dismisses habeas as "most fundamentally a procedural right." Chief Justice Roberts thinks the detainees receive such "generous" protections at their hearings that the majority should not have worried about whether they had habeas rights.

There is an enormous gulf between the substance and tone of the majority opinion, with its rich appreciation of the liberties that the founders wrote into the Constitution, and the what-is-all-the-fuss-about dissent. It is sobering to think that habeas hangs by a single vote in the Supreme Court of the United States — a reminder that the composition of the court could depend on the outcome of this year’s presidential election. The ruling is a major victory for civil liberties — but a timely reminder of how fragile they are."

Emphasis added.

Another voice that demonstrates what is at stake this fall and why McCainocrats need to wake up before they score an "own goal".

Catch you later.....

Too Nice to Blog

I'll be at the pool,

Catch you later.....

Captain Kirk for President?

From ABC, set your phasers on FUNNY.

Catch you later.....

McCainocrats Hate the Constitution, the BOR and Personal Freedoms!

The narrow 5 to 4 decision today from the SCOTUS should give great pause to any Dem worthy of the name before casting a vote for McCain.

Few things a President can do have the lasting import of Supreme Court nominations. The chilling effect on the freedoms that we hold most dear can linger for decades.

Though the Wingnut reaction was to be expected, the shortsightedness of certain fellow Dems is alternately puzzling and disheartening.

One more Scalia, Alioto, or Thomas and we're on the way to tyranny. Keep that in mind this fall when the time comes to make your choice. The consequences are staggering to behold.

Catch you later.....

The NSA is Spying on Your On-line Gaming

Bill Moyers via Ballon Juice.

Gotta make sure the 14yr old in the folk's basement, eating Cheetos, doesn't form a terrorist cell.

Catch you later.....

Impeachment? Yes, please. Criminal Prosecution? Hell Yeah!

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

"...Henry Waxman, who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform, said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, it's egregious.

"It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."

In the run-up to the invasion, one of the most senior officials in charge of procurement in the Pentagon objected to a contract potentially worth $7bn that was given to Halliburton, a Texan company which used to be run by Dick Cheney before he became vice-president.

Unusually only Halliburton got to bid - and won...."

The cost of the illegal war now is estimated to exceed half a trillion dollars.

The cost to the men and women of the armed forces is incalcuable.

What price will the perpetrators pay?

Catch you later.....

I'm Voting Republican (not)

For far too many, these are good reasons.

Satire is lost on small minds.

Catch you later.....

Bill O'Reilly thinks you're crazy

Further proof we're on the right track.

Bill Moyers address (long but important).

Also of note: Dan Rathers.

Countdown puts Billo down for the count.

Catch you later.....

The McCain File

Patriot? Keep sending those jobs and dollars overseas and just watch fuel prices skyrocket. President McCain?

God forbid.

Catch you later.....

Separated at Birth? Bundy - Bush

From the site Mighty Optical Illusions.

Write your own caption.

Catch you later.....

POTUS 44 and 45

Today, nothing warms me so much as the thought of a successful, ground-breaking 44th president (Obama) followed by a history-making 45th President (Clinton) for a great 16 year run.

Can anyone tired of the last seven years and this past primary season argue with that?

Catch you later.....

Jesus Christ Endorses Obama - Media Bloodhound

The Wounded-Courier: Jesus Denounces McCain, Endorses Obama

"In a stunning turn of events Thursday, the Son of God endorsed Barack Obama for President while rejecting and distancing himself from presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Outside an Applebee's off the New Jersey Turnpike in Paramus yesterday, Jesus Christ told reporters, "Look, it's been a very divisive primary season between Barack and Hillary. I thought my support would aid the healing process and help unify the Democrats."

Asked if he was a registered Democrat, Jesus replied, "I'm actually registered with the Green Party. But no amount of faith and prayer will get their candidate elected." Christ clarified, "I perform miracles, but there are limits."...

...A new 527 ad hit the networks this morning, attacking Obama's latest endorsement:

VISUAL: Series of photoshopped pictures of Barack Obama and Jesus Christ gambling in Atlantic City.

VOICE-OVER: He calls himself the Son of God. But who really is Jesus Christ?

Born to an out-of-wedlock mother and absentee father, Jesus was a direct product of the welfare state and later became a drain on the occupying Roman Empire.

Barack Obama says he's proud to have Jesus by his side. Maybe that's because Barack Obama would've fit right in with Jesus' ultra-liberal, sandal-wearing, appeasing flock or those Ivy League, latte-drinking Wise Men.

While John McCain is committed to winning the war in Iraq even if he has to kill every last Iraqi to do it and nuke Iran back to BC, Obama's closest spiritual advisor, Jesus Christ, continues to preach, "All they that take the sword shall perish by the sword."

Tell that to Ahmadinejad, Jesus.

Barack Hussein Obama. Jesus H. Christ. Two appeasers in a pod.

Don't roll the dice with our national security.

This message was paid for by Swift Boat Clergymen for Truth."

Go read the whole post. Hysterical! I especially like the way the post captures the voice and style of several of the more well-known pundits we've come to know and love (loathe?). Good stuff.

Catch you later.....

Voting Nightmares

Horror stories from the Polls via C&L:

Brad Blog:

My Own Votes, Four of Them, Were Flipped Yesterday Before My Very Eyes.

"...It's even more troubling when one realizes that so little ever seems to be done in light of so many of these horror stories, as those very same failed systems are still deployed across the nation, with little or no modification to correct the mountains of documented problems even now, as we head towards an election likely to be of historic proportions this November.

What follows is yet another one of those stories, where a voter had vote selections flipped by the electronic voting system, such that candidates were chosen other than the ones intended to be selected by the voter, though no fault of his own.

But this time, the voter is me."

Excellent post, see this and that for even more horror.

Catch you later.....

Obama vs. McCain = Cake or Death; Eddie Izzard

Cake or Death?

Obama or McCain?

Pretty easy choice, People.

Catch you later.....

Bush's Approval Rating thru the Years - Interactive!

This is instructive....

From USA Today....

Enjoy,

Catch you later.....

Back in San Diego County!

Got back home to North County, San Diego, after a week w/ Family and Friends "back home" in Omaha (and Lincoln {Go Huskers!}).

For the gang back home, this is a picture of my first retaurant meal once I got back.

Omaha is for steak. Omaha is for the Bohemian Cafe. And La Casa Pizza.

San Diego is for Sushi! And Mexican!

It's all good.

Catch you later.....

Omaha - Hidden Jewel - Joslyn - third and final part...

The guard was polite, but firm and I complied immediately. These treasures deserve respect and my ignorance was my fault, not theirs.

Please visit if you can, it's amazing.

If you can't, at least see their Website.

Catch you later.....

Omaha - Hidden Jewel - Joslyn - 2 of 3

My last visit was almost 25+ years ago and I remember people using tripod mounted cameras with those old Pentax flashes that peeled skin.

Omaha - Hidden Jewel - Joslyn - 1 of 3

Did you know they frown on photography?

McCainocrats: Meteor Blades (Dkos) has Questions

Why would Sen. Clinton's most fervent supporters vote for a candidate that stands in opposition to the very things their champion stands for?


To make true their claim that Sen. Obama can't beat the GOP in the fall?!?


Out of plain, ugly, petty spite when so much is at stake?


From Daily Kos:



"...Thus is born a new subspecies, McCain Democrats, McCainocrats.


If your shrieking can be believed, you McCainocrats are premeditating ballot support for an exclusive club of racist, union-busting, woman-suppressing, bedroom-peering, rights-scoffing, warmongering, torture-backing, buccaneering, global warming-denying, privatizing, public land-grabbing, Supreme Court stuffing, empire-building, Constitution-shredding raptors. All for self-indulgent revenge. You’re unhappy that your candidate has not won the nomination. I understand that. Mine didn’t win either. But you’re not just unhappy, you're also willing to contribute to the election of someone who stands against most of what your candidate has been promoted as standing for. That, I don’t comprehend at all. Emotionally, intellectually or morally. I get the feeling you would vote for George W. Bush in 2008 if the 22nd Amendment weren’t in the way...."



If you, like me, are anxious to begin to unravel the Olympic caliber mess of the last 7+ years, you would vote for the democratic nominee even if said nominee were a purple/green-skinned hermaphrodite married to a box turtle in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, fer the love of jeebus! Dig up Harry Truman and the corpse get's my vote if he's won the nomination.



Enlightened self-interest should make it clear that intra-party squabbles must end once the nominee is chosen. This is not about the person, it's about policy, direction, ultimately the good of our nation. An "I told you so" vote is a vote against your own interest. Hardly enlightened.

Catch you later.....