there is a lot of crazy sh*t on the web!

And World O'Crap collects a lot of it in a post titled Sex! Sex! Sex! - read it! There are some true nut cases out there with computers!

just how much pressure it he getting from wall street?

It's amazing to me that bush simply refuses to back off or even compromise on his horrendous idea of privatizing social security. Everyone knows that it is a bad idea for everyone except for Wall Street. No one wants to gut benefits and add trillions to our debt for an idea that will not help the solvency of SS and will only hurt the average American. Yet, bush refuses to budge. This is past being stubborn, this is being stupid! Someone is certainly forcing his hand.

Bush Offers New Social Security Plan With Some Benefit Cuts;Democrats
Unmoved

WASHINGTON -- After nearly 60 days on the road pitching Social Security changes, President Bush is offering a new plan to fix its finances by cutting benefits of more prosperous future retirees. Democrats still aren't buying it.

In a prime-time news conference, Bush refused to back off his desire to carve private retirement accounts out of Social Security. Democrats say those personal accounts are a deal-breaker that would keep most of them from supporting Bush's revisions.

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If he would just back off on the stupid part of his plan, he could actually do something. The idea of adjusting the benefits to the wealthy actually makes sense, especially since they are getting a free ride with his tax cuts....But, he is never satisfied unless he screws everyone as much as possible....
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Atrios details bush's plans a little more:

The Plan

President Bush called on Congress last night to curtail future Social Security benefits for all but low-income retirees in an urgent new effort to address the popular program's shaky finances.

Let's be clear, by "low income" we're really talking about "low income." Everyone else gets big benefit cuts. Here's the CBPP analysis of the Pozen plan, which is basically what Bush is embracing.

A "medium" earner, one earning $36,507 in 2005, would see benefits cut by 16% in 2045 and 28% in 2075.

A "high" earner, one earning $58,411 in 2005, would see benefits cut by 25% in 2045, and 42% in 2075.

By 2100, basically everyone earning above $20,000 would earn exactly the same benefit, no matter how great their tax contribution was. You think Social Security provides a poor rate of return now? Just wait.

This turns the system into a modest welfare program.

And, let me add, for most workers this is worse in the long run than the "do nothing" plan - the one which assumes given current projects benefits would have to be cut 28% or so starting somewhere between 2040-2050.

once again, bush screws the poor, rewards the rich

Congress Approves Budget Outline With First Cuts in Medicaid for the Poor Since 1997

WASHINGTON -- A $2.6 trillion budget outline barely approved by Congress will cut projected spending on Medicaid for the poor, lock in tax cuts and _ Republicans claim _ put the country on a path toward lower federal deficits.

Democrats unanimously opposed the spending outline passed late Thursday. They said the budget reflects the president's misplaced priorities by freezing or trimming health, education and agriculture programs while cutting taxes by as much as $106 billion over five years.

The vote was 214-211 in the House and 52-47 in the Senate.
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But Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said her state alone would lose
$1.37 billion in Medicaid funding. "It is unconscionable to balance the budget
on the backs of our most vulnerable Americans."

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So, once again, this administration claims to be trying to fix the massive deficit that they caused by screwing over the poor while continuing to reward the rich with more tax cuts....To think that this country once stood for something.....

INSANE homophobia!

First seen at TBogg:

Lexington school calls cops on dad irate over gay book

Police arrested a Lexington father who refused to leave the Joseph Estabrook School yesterday after school officials rejected his demands that his 6-year-old son be shielded from any discussions about gay households.

David Parker, 42, confronted officials after his son brought home ``Who's in a Family,'' a storybook that includes characters who are gay parents.

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To see true looney-toon reactions to this check out this freeper post. To these wackos, a mention of a same-sex household is "sexually explicit"!!!!!! Wow!!!!! How can people be so violently anti-gay in this day and age?!

truth won't work for them....

....so no lie is too outrageous...

Democrats furious over GOP efforts to rewrite amendments

Democrats in the House are furious over what they see as a deliberate attempt by Republicans to rewrite Democratic amendments to make the Democrats amendments look preposterous, RAW STORY has learned.

what is with the gay bashing these days?

This is getting WAY out of hand! Why are we going backwards so fast?!

Ok, THIS is Nazi Germany in America

I dare ANYONE to tell me that we are NOW off-base comparing this kind of Nazi crap to what happened in Germany. This is outrageous and terrifying.

epublican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters."

I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."

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Cardinal compares gay marriage to Nazism

Gay rights groups in Spain reacted with anger on Wednesday after a Roman Catholic cardinal compared obedience to the legalization of same-sex marriage to the process that led to the creation of Nazi death camps, Agence France-Presse reports. "If you give obedience to the law priority over obedience to your conscience, that leads to Auschwitz," Cardinal Ricard Maria Carles, former archbishop of Barcelona, told a Spanish television station.

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I am scared for us all.....This is getting crazier by the day!

scary

Texas School Board Adds Bible Class

ODESSA, Texas - The school board in this West Texas town voted unanimously to add a Bible class to its high school curriculum.
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The board had heard a presentation in March from Mike Johnson, a representative of the Greensboro, N.C.-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, who said that coursework designed by that organization is not about proselytizing or preaching.

But People for the American Way and the American Civil Liberties Union have criticized the council, saying its materials promote religion.

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This is in a PUBLIC school! What is church for anymore?! Or home?! Why would they have a class about ONE religion?! SO wrong!

damn, lighten up already!

From Americablog :

Air America gets the Secret Service while the religious right gets nothing? by John in DC - 4/27/2005 09:11:00 PM

Air America's apparently inappropriate joke about Bush and gunshots gets a Secret Service investigation but the religious talking SERIOUSLY about how Stalin had the right idea about what to do about judges when he murdered millions of people, THAT apparently doesn't raise an eyebrow. This is how dictatorship starts, folks - an extreme government starts to use its police state powers against political opponents in an arbitrary and partisan fashion. We should be in the streets demanding a similar investigation of the religious right for threatening judges.

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See the transcript here.
Personally, i don't see the big deal - it's like John says above, there has been a lot worse coming from the conservatives. This was OBVIOUSLY a joke!

is there really any good news coming out of Iraq?

Iraqi MP Killed; No Government Announced

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament Wednesday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

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This is really terribly sad. I wish that there was something positive going on over there. Hopefully, they will eventually be able to dig themselves out of the hole that we put them in.

Funny!

Good stuff!

"war on terror" not going well? Cancel the reports!

Major terror attacks triple in '04 by U.S. count

Intelligence briefing renews debate over war on terrorism

WASHINGTON - The U.S. count of major world terrorist attacks more than tripled in 2004, a rise that may revive debate about whether the Bush administration is winning the war on terrorism, congressional aides said Tuesday.

The number of “significant” international terrorist attacks rose to about 650 last year from about 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides briefed Monday on the numbers by U.S. State Department and intelligence officials.
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The State Department last year initially released erroneous figures that understated the number of attacks, fatalities and casualties in 2003, and used the figures to say the Bush administration was prevailing in the war on terrorism.
---
The State Department stirred a debate last week by saying it would no longer release the numbers in its annual terrorism report but that the newly created National Counterterrorism Center, which compiles the data, would do so.
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“What it effectively means is that the Bush administration and the CIA haven’t been putting the staff resources necessary and have missed 80 percent of the world’s terrorist incidents” in past years, said a Democratic congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. “How can you have an effective counterterrorism policy from that?”

lots of sh*t going on

All from First Draft :

Uh, What About This Crisis?

Why is our president spending so much time (and so much of our money) trying to convince Americans that the Social Security trust fund faces a HUGE FUCKING CRISIS which he claims will not begin to be a problem for another 12 years and his Social Security trustees claim will not become a HUGE FUCKING CRISIS for 36 years?

Why does he seem unconcerned about another HUGE FUCKING CRISIS that one of his own advisors says our economy and those of all other developed nations will face in the next three years?

One of the world's leading energy analysts yesterday called for an independent assessment of global oil reserves because he believed that Middle Eastern countries may have far less than officially stated and that oil prices could double to more than $100 a barrel within three years, triggering economic collapse.

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''Soft Patch'' is the new Bush Boom

Orders for manufactured goods took a steep dive last month, the biggest decline in more than two years. This marks the third straight month of declines, the worst performance since the first Dubya Recession of 2001. Although analysts predicted a 0.3% increase in March, orders fell by 2.8%.

It gets worse: February's numbers were revised from the initially reported +0.3%down to -0.2%. Watch the Dow drop accordingly today.

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Rummy Sez: We're Losing The War

Oh my, looks like Don Rumsfeld went for candid when he should have tried gruff.

Asked during the briefing "are we winning" the war, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not directly respond.

"The United States and the coalition forces, in my personal view, will not be the thing that will defeat the insurgency," Rumsfeld said.

"So, therefore, winning or losing is not the issue for 'we,' in my view, in the traditional, conventional context of using the word 'winning' and 'losing' in a war. The people that are going to defeat that insurgency are going to be the Iraqis."

Rummy's confused response sent Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Richard Myers into a sputtering attempt at damage control.

After Rumsfeld finished, Myers interjected, "I'm going to say this: I think we are winning, OK? I think we're definitely winning. I think we've been winning for some time."

But even Gen. Myers had to admit that U.S. forces have made absolutely no progress over the past year.

Iraq's insurgency remains undiminished in its capabilities in the past year despite U.S.-led efforts to crush the rebels, the top American general said on Tuesday.

"I think their capacity stays about the same," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said of Iraq's insurgents during a Pentagon briefing. "And where they are right now is where they were almost a year ago."
[snip]
Myers said rebels are staging 50 or 60 attacks a day in Iraq after the number had dipped to about 40 daily. He said the number of daily attacks is about the same as a year ago.

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Uncle! Uncle! Unnncllleeeeeee!!!

House Republicans cry "uncle" on their DeLay-hugging ethics rules.

House Republican leaders, acknowledging that ethics disputes are taking a heavy toll on the party's image, decided yesterday to rescind a controversial rule change that led to the three-month shutdown of the ethics committee, according to officials who participated in the talks.

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more lies

Does anyone even expect any semblence of truth from these vile excuses for human beings any more?
Again, from Think Progress:

Someone needs to tell the White House - just repeating the same talking point doesn’t make it true.

Scott McClellan this morning, spinning on Air Force One:

What has happened in this Senate is unprecedented. There has not been a situation like this, where members of one party have blocked nominees from even receiving an up or down vote on the floor.

The truth, courtesy of People for the American Way:

[M]ore than 50 Clinton nominees were not even granted a hearing by the GOP-led Judiciary Committee. Six more who had hearings were not given the courtesy of a committee vote. In fact, 35 percent of Clinton’s appeals court nominees were blocked without a vote while the GOP controlled the Senate from 1995 to 2000.

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Unfortunately, some people will believe anything that repugs tell them....

bush doesn't listen and doesn't care

From Think Progress :

From today’s Social Security event in Galveston, Texas:
MR. BENTLEY: And we’re operating in central Iraq. I’ll be back there next week.
[Snip]
THE PRESIDENT: How many children you got?
MR. BENTLEY: We have two children. We have a four-year-old son named Patrick, and a three-month-old daughter named
Elaine that I just got to meet for the first time.
THE PRESIDENT: Really?
MR. BENTLEY: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: No wonder you’re emotional. (Laughter.) That’s awesome.
MRS. BENTLEY: She was born two days after he deployed.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, great.
Is this what it means to be a compassionate conservative?

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Either he just doesn't hear what these people say - at least if its not on the script - or he honestly thinks its "awesome" that people aren't around when their babies are born or have to work 3 jobs. What a cretin....

are Americans finally waking up?!

I'm certainly not getting my hopes up, but polls are starting to show intelligence on the rise in this country! I just can't believe that it's taken them this long!

Gallup: Half of All Americans Now Feel Bush Deliberately Misled Them on WMDs

NEW YORK Half of Americans, exactly 50%, now say the Bush administration deliberately misled Americans about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the Gallup Poll organization reported this morning.

“This is the highest percentage that Gallup has found on this measure since the question was first asked in late May 2003,” Gallup observed. “At that time, 31% said the administration deliberately misled Americans. This sentiment has gradually increased over time, to 39% in July 2003, 43% in January/February 2004, and 47%in October 2004.”

Also, according to the latest poll, more than half of Americans, 54%, disapprove of the way President George W. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, while 43% approve. In early February, Americans were more evenly divided on the way Bush was handling the situation in Iraq, with 50% approving and 48% disapproving.

Last week Gallup reported that 53% now believe that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was “not worth it.” But Frank Newport, editor in chief at Gallup, recalled today that a majority of the public began to think the Vietnam war was a mistake in the summer of 1968. But the U.S. did not pull out of Vietnam for more than five years, after thousands of more American lives were lost.

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And we're only a few months into the new presidency! We're stuck with this loon for 4 more years unless people truly start to wake up and we impeach the maniac! But, that's only a beautiful pipe dream, i'm sure.
I was actually startled when it struck me yesterday that bush has only been president for just over 4 years so far. The amount of damage that he has done to this country and the world in such a short time is phenomenal! It seems like a lifetime! I honestly don't know how we will survive another 4 years....
(First seen at Americablog)

all or nothing - repugs refuse to compromise for the good of the country

Frist Says He's Not Interested in Deals

WASHINGTON - Reacting to a Democratic offer in the fight over filibusters, Republican leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he isn't interested in any deal that fails to ensure Senate confirmation for all of President Bush's judicial nominees.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid had been quietly talking with Frist about confirming at least two of Bush's blocked nominees from Michigan in exchange for withdrawing a third nominee. This would have been part of a compromise that would have the GOP back away from a showdown over changing Senate rules to prevent Democrats from using the filibuster to block Bush's nominees.

But Frist, in a rare news conference conducted on the Senate floor, said he would not accept any deal that keeps his Republican majority from confirming judicial nominees that have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Are we going to step back from that principle? The answer to that is no," Frist said.

That means he and Reid are still at deadlock, because Democrats have said they would not accept any deals that would permanently ban them from blocking Bush's nominees to the Supreme Court or the federal appellate courts, the top two tiers of the judicial system.

"As part of any resolution, the nuclear option must be off the table," said Reid, referring to the GOP threat to change the filibuster rules.
---
That proposed deal, officials speaking on condition of anonymity said, would include allowing the confirmation of Richard Griffin and David McKeague, both of whom Bush has twice nominated for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

At the same time, Reid wants the nomination of Henry Saad scuttled. Democrats succeeded in blocking all three men from coming to a vote in 2004 in a struggle that turned on issues of senatorial prerogatives as well as ideology.

Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., has led the opposition to all three men. He said Republicans had refused even to hold hearings on two of former President Bill Clinton's nominees to the 6th Circuit.

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These scumbags will not be satisfied until there is no vestige of any opposing party left in this country! It is unreal that the Dems are willing to allow 2 out of 3 of the repugs unrealistic, ultra-conservative nominees (which i think is an outrageous compromise personally) and the repugs refuse! All of nothing! Talk about absolute power corrupting absolutely! Has there ever been a more extreme administration in this country?!
Daily Kos has a good take on this, too.

no, really, do they think that ANYONE believes them anymore?!

From Media Matters :
Novak falsely claimed that Bush and other Republicans "never said" Social Security should be privatized
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Limbaugh falsely suggested federal spending on environment equal to spending on defense, homeland security
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Honestly, they can't expect anyone living in this reality to think that these statements had any semblence of truth to them, can they?! They keep getting more & more outrageous....

Iraq

From Crooks and Liars :

Iraqi forces are deserting after latest attacks
Iraqi army and police units are deserting their posts after the recent escalation in insurgent attacks, according to reports from around the country yesterday....

On average 20 Iraqis and two coalition soldiers have died every day this month...

The failure of the victors of January's election to form a government has resulted in the defence and interior ministries being placed in limbo, and security experts cite this as partly responsible for the subsequent fall in army and police morale.

While many sites have been boasting that we are winning (I really hope so. The sooner the Iraqi's can police themselves, the quicker our troops can leave), these latest attacks are having a chilling effect on Iraq.

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Man, i wish that there was some honest, good news coming from Iraq. This is scary. Things just seem to be getting worse and worse and more and more people are dying and nothing seems to be helping. I wish that there actually was a plan for winning and ending this disaster.
More from Americablog...

media taking chances?

Interesting that Atrios has a post about a new Dr Who episode referencing the Iraqi War.

I was watching Joan of Arcadia on Friday – actually a decent show, and I’m surprised that it hasn’t been attacked by the religious reich – and thinking how the latest storyline seems to be an allegory for the current Dem/Repub relationships.

Joan, who talks to God (really!), is apparently about to have to fight the Devil in a true “good vs. evil” conflict. All that Joan has on her side is the truth and her rag-tag, unorganized friends – the geeky intellectuals, the misfits, the artists, while the devil has money, power, influence, the media, unlimited resources, etc. All the while the devil is convincing the people around Joan that he’s a good guy, a “regular joe”, who just wants to help out the community, even though he is evil incarnate!

I think that the Dems should start watching the show to see just how to overcome someone like this!

The more I think about it, the more I believe that this can’t be coincidental. Who would think that the msm would allow this sort of reactionary work on the air in this day & age?! Maybe they'll have God lose in the end just to let us all know how hopeless it is!

beyond incredible "Gannon" news!

From Americablog :

UPDATE: The FOIA documents are now online here.

Amazing. Raw Story reports that the FOIA requests are back and what it shows is pretty shocking.

GannonGuckert accessed the White House approximately 200 times over a twenty-two month period, simply using a day pass. That's twice a week for a two year period. This is fishy as hell. And ON A DAY PASS. If that's isn't regular access, what is?

Oh, it gets better.

Many times he didn't sign in or out.

Perhaps more notable than the frequency of his attendance, however, is several distinct anomalies about his visits.

Guckert made more than three dozen excursions to the White House when there were no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office held press gaggles aboard Air Force One - which raises questions about what Guckert was doing at the White House.

On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the entry or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times correlate with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert checked in but was never processed out.

In March, 2003, Guckert left the White House twice on days he had never checked in with the Secret Service. Over the next 22 months, Guckert failed to check out with the Service on thirteen days. On several of these visits, Guckert either entered or exited by a different entry/exit point than his usual one. On one of these days, no briefing was held.

"I’d be worried if I was the White House and I knew that a reporter with a day pass never left," one White House reporter told RAW STORY. "I’d wonder, where is he hiding? It seems like a security risk."

Raw Story will be posting the entire FOIA documents, like 18 pages worth, shortly.

Wow.

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Beyond belief!!! This story just keeps growing bigger and bigger and the "liberal media" continues to ignore it!! This story would be ridiculed as absurd if it was fiction! As truth, it is by-passed completely! Only goes to show just how much this administration controls the media.

Man, the more i think about it, the more wild this is! This story is obviously being squashed from high up! There's no other explanation - this is way too big to be as ignored as it is! It's pretty amazing that we're finding out as much as we are. Maybe the MSM reporters know what would happen to them if they start actually doing their jobs!
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As an interesting aside, check out Julius Blog to see proof of bush's love of bald men! (First seen at Atrios )

Go Harry Reid!

From Americablog:

As noted below, Dick Cheney today said he supports the nuclear option. I added an update about Reid's response, but when the Minority Leader challenges the President's honesty, it really deserves a post of it's own.

After hearing Cheney's remarks, Harry Reid blasted both Bush and Cheney. Basically, Reid said Bush lied about how the White House would handle the filibuster debate. Once again, Raw Story (who we thank profusely for the always great work)has the details. Here are a couple key paragraphs:

“In the span of three minutes, the vice president managed to reinvent 200 years of Senate history and ignore the fact that Congress has already approved 205 of this administration’s nominees. Apparently, a 95 percent confirmation rate is not enough for this president. He wants it all, even if it means shattering the checks and balances in our government in order to put radical judges on the bench.“

Last week, I met with the president and was encouraged when he told me he would not become involved in Republican efforts to break the Senate rules. Now, it appears he was not being honest, and that the White House is encouraging this raw abuse of power.

Okay, by now, the GOP should begin to understand, you can't screw with Harry Reid. The Repubs. are so used to rolling Dems. and having no one fight back. Reid has changed the rules.

this is phenomenal!

Disabled fear Schiavo death may hasten euthanasia
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Wow! Only in Freeperville! Of course, the original article come from some crazed baptist site. this is so wild and out-there that it is surreal! This article claims that disabled people are now afraid that Democrats will try to kill them because conservative judges upheld a law allowing Terri Schiavo, who had no brain matter left, to die in dignity, as per her wishes! These people have the most amazing imaginations to come up with this convoluted madness! Besides the fact that there is absolutely no correlation between disabled people and a brain-dead woman, this ignores the fact that Dems have historically HELPED the disabled in so many ways - handicapped access, parking, equal employment rights, etc etc etc.
I sometimes feel that it is just better to ignore this kind of nonsense, but without reporting on it, sane people would never believe that this kind of craziness is out there!

conservatives once again show that they have no sense of humour!

Unless, of course, it's funny girl Coulter "joking" about mass murder!
This, on the other hand, is truly funny (via DC Media Girl):

He’s HAD IT, by God. Is the Left’s lack of respect for wholesome values bottomless(sorry)? I ask you, what is the world coming to when lefties abandon their beloved Marxist principles to engage in free commerce and sell items like this? Or open stores brimming with filth like this? Why, why??

more insanity from the religious "right"

From Crooks and Liars :
Pat Buchanan compares The Da Vinci Code to Mein Kampf
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These wackjobs really must be unhinged and/or bored to death when they have to get this worked up about a work of FICTION! How do these crackpots continue to get exposure? I suppose people must be entertained by the madness!
I just watched the video and Buchanan is truly nutz! With a banner reading "A Holy War" underneath him, he rants about how the fact that 17 million people bought this book, and because of its popularity a movie is being made, and that means that Hollywood is anti-religion! Whew! I would say that means that Hollywood wants to capitalize on it and create a money-making film! I always have a hard time imagining that anyone actually believes any of the absurdities spouted by these loons, but i suppose that some people do, which is scary!
I do find it interesting that Buchanan is not a Catholic and does not share their beliefs, yet is defending them. Doesn't he usually say that his religion is the only true religion and that everyone else is wrong?

ny mayor makes sense - conservatives are outraged!

From NY Daily News (First seen at Crooks and Liars):

Hoping to reduce unwanted pregnancies, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday became the first political leader in the nation to dedicate tax dollars to promoting the "morning-after" pill.

The $3 million program, which includes offering advance prescriptions for the drug to women at city hospitals, was immediately blasted by conservatives.
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"I think it's outrageous, frankly, that we haven't done everything we can to reduce unintended pregnancies and the need for abortions," Bloomberg told a meeting of NARAL Pro-Choice New York.

Under the new plan, the city Health Department will reach out to doctors and pharmacists to raise awareness of Plan B - the only government-approved morning-after pill.

Plan B works by preventing a fertilized egg from attaching itself to the uterus.
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"It would be nice to see the City of New York talk about abstinence," said Conservative Party leader Mike Long, "and not send a signal to all our citizens- especially young people - that you can be irresponsible."
---
The pill prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. For this reason, it is not considered an abortion pill, like RU486, which destroys a fetus after it has attached to the uterus.

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It's amazing to me that there are some people who are opposed to stopping abortions! the lack of logic of these people continues to astound me! It seems that they think that the only reason any human being should ever have sex is if they are planning on having a baby! Otherwise it is immoral! The fact that a majority of people do not agree with that lunacy enrages them! People are going to have sex and women unintentially get pregnant unless precautions are taken. Let's help the problem instead of adding to it!

bad news for GOP in their own poll

Via Americablog (and AP):

Private Republican polling shows scant support for a plan to stop minority Democrats from blocking judicial nominees, officials said Thursday, as two of President Bush's most controversial appointments advanced toward a possible Senate confrontation.

These officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a recent survey taken for Senate Republicans showed 37 percent support for the GOP plan to deny Democrats the ability to filibuster judicial nominees, while 51 percent oppose.

Additionally, the survey indicated only about 20 percent of Americans believe the Republican statement that Bush is the first president in history whose court appointees have been subjected to a filibuster, a tactic in which opponents can prevent a vote unless supporters gain 60 votes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, noting the survey data has not been made public.

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But, also in the poll, proving that Americans are still very confused:

Several officials who attended the polling briefing said the survey also contained encouraging news for Republicans. The poll found more than 80 percent of those surveyed believed all judicial nominees deserve a yes-or-no vote.

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While its great that a majority believe that we should keep the filibuster, it's funny that a majority think that it shouldn't be used for judicial nominees. But, i guess if people are even understanding half of the news these days, it's better than it was before the election!

more on DeLay

from Atrios :

On successive days in mid-November 2002, Tom DeLay was elected House majority leader, replacing the retired Dick Armey, and Nancy Pelosi was chosen as the House Democrats’ leader, succeeding Dick Gephardt. One of those had amassed a capable but relatively quiet record of service in the House of Representatives, stirring controversy only once (by supporting the primary opponent of a longtime congressional incumbent from Michigan). The other had called the Environmental Protection Agency “the Gestapo of government”; had denounced the Nobel Chemistry Prize, after it was given to the discoverers of the link between chloro?uorocarbons and ozone depletion, as the “Nobel Appeasement Prize”; had called CNN the “Communist News Network”; had linked the Columbine High School shootings to birth control and day care; had avoided military service during the height of the Vietnam War in 1969 (reportedly explaining, in 1988, that so many minority youths were going after those well-paying military gigs that there was no room for good folk like himself); had led a fanatical crusade to force votes on articles of impeachment against a president with an approval rating above 70 percent; and had been rebuked (privately) by the House Ethics Committee for attacking a business trade group for daring to hire a former Democratic congressman as its president.

And guess which choice the media said was a calamity?

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How can one person be so scummy?! Oh yeah, he's a repug!

repugs think chickens are more important than women!

From Think Progress :

South Carolina Rep. John Graham Altman killed a bill which would protect the victims of domestic abuse against their batterers. He had this to say for himself:

“I mean you women want it one way and not another. Women want to punish the men, and I do not understand why women continue to go back around men who abuse them…. tell me what self respecting person is going back around someone who beats them?”

The legislation would have made domestic abuse a felony in South Carolina. (Currently, it’s only a misdemeanor, legally equal to, say, littering or jay-walking.)Domestic abuse is a deadly serious problem in this country. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has received over a million calls for assistance from abused women in the past decade. In fact, statistics show nearly one-third of American women report having been physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. According to the American Institute on Domestic Violence, on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day.

Altman may refuse to make it a felony to beat your wife, but heaven help you if you hurt a chicken. The same week he killed the domestic abuse bill, the congressman voted to protect gamecocks from cockfights, shuddering:

“I was all for that. Cockfighting reminds me of the Roman circus, coliseum.”

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The Talent Show has a good post on this, too!

Newsweek is also defending conservatives

Democracy Cell Project :

Why is Newsweek cleaning up after Rush Limbaugh's radio droppings?

In its April 25, 2005 issue, now available online and on newstands, Newsweek carries a widely reported comment by Limbaugh in its weekly feature of noteworthy and oft embarassing quotes, "Perspectives".

Only one problem. They got the quote wrong. Very wrong.

Newsweek, in an astonishing display of either bad journalism or outright whitewashing, changed an offensive and obscene comment made by Limbaugh on his show, April 12, 2005, from this:

Limbaugh: What the hell is that, Al? What the hell is the point of view of young people? Blow jobs, that's what they're doing out there. They're out there getting oral sex all day long, that's what they're talking about.

To this:

"What the hell is that, Al? What the hell is the point of view of young people? They're out there getting oral sex all day long, that's what they're talking about." Rush Limbaugh, on Al Gore's new TV network, which aims to reach young viewers

For anyone that missed it, the sentence Newsweek left out was this:

Blow jobs, that's what they're doing out there.

Why is this important? Because that is the part of the quote that is likely obscene under the FCC's regulations. When a news organization leaves out the part of the story wherein the key figure commits the illegal act (not to mention the part later on wherein he admits to it), you have to wonder what's at the bottom of it.

So Newsweek, which is it? Bad journalism or whitewash?

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It makes ya wanna give up - NO ONE is on our side! But, i've always been an outcast! Just makes me reinforce my distaste (to put it mildly) for the masses!

you're KIDDING!

Greenspan: Budget Deficits Pose Threat

WASHINGTON - Bloated budget deficits pose a danger to the nation's long-term economic health, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned anew Thursday. He issued a fresh call to policy-makers to move swiftly to put the government's fiscal house in order.

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Guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks! Who else could have figured this out?!?!?!
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The Bush administration supports bringing back the pay-as-you-go provision for spending, but not for tax cuts. A decade-long pay-as-you-go provision expired in 2002.

The administration says it aims to cut the deficit in half by 2009.

"Our budget position is unlikely to improve substantially in the coming years unless major deficit-reducing actions are taken," Greenspan said.

Democrats mostly blame the growing budget deficits on President Bush's big tax cuts, which they contend mainly benefited the wealthy. Republicans credited the tax cuts with helping the economy rebound from the 2001 recession. The costs of the tax cuts along with paying for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and fighting terrorism at home have led to the deficits, they say.

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Funny, according to this, even tho the repugs are trying to say it differently, they agree with the Dems that the president has caused the deficits! It truly is amazing that if bush only cared a fraction as much for the country as he does for his ultra-elite, wealthy friends, then he could considerably reduce the deficit.
How different this country would be if only we had a president that wanted to help the US, not just the rich!

violence continues unabated in Iraq

Car Bomb Hits Civilian Convoy on Baghdad's Airport Road

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb exploded on the highway leading to Baghdad's airport Thursday morning, heavily damaging three SUVs carrying civilians, police said.

Police Capt. Hamid Ali said two foreigners were killed and three others wounded in the burning vehicles, but officials in the U.S. military and at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which were investigating the attack, could not immediately confirm that.

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Commercial Helicopter Shot Down by Missile Fire in Iraq; Nine Dead, Including Three Bulgarians

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A commercial helicopter contracted by the U.S. Defense Department was shot down by missile fire north of the Iraqi capital Thursday, and all nine people on board were killed, U.S. and Bulgarian officials said.

Elsewhere, relatives of Iraqis who have disappeared in a Sunni militant stronghold known as the "Triangle of Death" gathered at a police station to examine photographs of the bodies of dozens of Iraqis that officials said were pulled from the Tigris River in recent weeks.

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will this ever end?

more on no compromise EVER

As Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show the other night, does bush only know a few people?! He keeps nominating the same people over & over, despite valid objections. For someone who campaigned as a "uniter", you would think that every once in a while he would try to at least consider a compromise for the good of the country. But, of course, he doesn't give a crap about this country or its people, only his power....

Senate Panel OKs President Bush Judicial Nominee; Name Proceeds to Full Senate for Confirmation

WASHINGTON -- Republicans sent a Texas judge's name to the full Senate for confirmation for a third time Thursday, moving closer to a confrontation over Democratic filibustering of President Bush's judicial nominees.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on a 10-8 party-line vote gave its approval to judge Priscilla Owen, who was nominated by Bush for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The committee was scheduled to do the same for California judge Janice Rogers Brown, who is seeking a lifetime slot on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.

Owen and Brown were blocked from confirmation by Democratic filibuster threats during Bush's first term, but were renominated by the president after he won a second term in November. Democrats consider the nominees too conservative.

Republicans said Democratic complaints were unfounded and that Owen should be confirmed since the Senate's GOP majority has the 51 votes necessary.

"She deserves to be confirmed and she deserves the professional courtesy of an up or down vote," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who served on the Texas Supreme Court with Owen.

But Democrats made clear they would attempt to filibuster Owen again. "Since we last considered this nomination, nothing has changed to make us think she should be confirmed," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Owen's nomination is not worth the confrontation it will cause, said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's no. 2 Democrat.

"This nomination is going to be precipitate a confrontation that we do not need," Durbin said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has threatened to ban judicial filibusters to stop Democrats from blocking the judges again, and has been working to secure the 50 votes he needs from his Republican caucus to make the rules change. It requires 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster.

In an attempt to make Republicans reconsider that plan, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has vowed to slow or halt Senate action on much routine business if Frist follows through with his threat to force up-and-down votes in which nominees could be confirmed by a bare majority of the 100-member Senate.

Without GOP defections, Democrats can't stop Brown and Owen from advancing to the full Senate for approval since the Judiciary Committee has 10 Republicans and eight Democrats. However, Democrats have promised to continue to filibuster all seven nominees they blocked during Bush's first term.

Democrats blocked 10 judicial nominees from confirmation through filibuster threats. Three withdrew and Bush renominated the rest.
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Conservatives during the last Congress accused Democrats of being anti-minority for blocking Brown, who is black; anti-women for blocking Owen, and anti-Catholic for locking Pryor.

Activists plan a similar tactic this year, with Frist planning to deliver a taped message to Christian conservatives on April 24 who say Democrats are "against people of faith" for blocking Bush's nominees.

But Democrats say they blocked Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice and a friend of the president's, because her opinions and rulings are overly influenced by her pro-business and anti-abortion personal beliefs.

Brown, who serves on the California Supreme Court, was described by liberals as being a conservative judicial activist whose personal opinions lead her to decisions limiting abortion rights and corporate liability and opposing affirmative action.

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These repugs will say and do anything to continue to consolidate their power - no lie is too outrageous and no nominee is too ultra-conservative. The repugs love to use minorities to insult the Dems. The idea that Dems are racist, anti-women, anti-Catholic and against people of faith is so absurd that it is incredible that it is said outloud, much less reported. How the repugs can spout this nonsense as they are pushing for initiatives that restrict these people's rights would be beyond belief in any other time - now it is business as usual!
I find it interesting that the repugs main argument is that they want these people, they have the majority, so they should be allowed to vote them in and the Dems should not have a say at all! Wow! There's a democracy for you!!
All the Dems ask is for nominees who have not already proven that they vote according to their politics, not according to the law. The repugs only want judges who will do what they say, regardless of the law.

no compromise EVER

bush continues to be the most obstinate, stubborn and divisive president ever!

President Bush Urges Senate to Confirm John Bolton As Next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Thursday urged the Senate to confirm John R. Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as a key Republican senator signaled he is leaning against the nominee accused of mistreating co-workers.
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Bush blamed partisan bickering in the nation's capital _ "where sometimes politics gets in the way of doing the people's business" _ for a delay in a committee vote on Bolton's nomination, even though that delay came about only because some Republicans have joined Democrats to force it.

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As usual, bush doesn't let facts get in the way of rhetoric! Even though some republicans agree that Bolton shouldn't be the UN ambassador (besides not believing in the UN (!!), he has a record of mistreating his people - not exactly the type of person normally thought of as an ambassador!), bush calls this "partisan bickering"!!! Could you imagine how surprised everyone would be if bush started living in the same world that the rest of us occupy?!

classy!

Man Spits in Jane Fonda's Face at Book Signing

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (April 20) - A man spit tobacco juice into the face of actress Jane Fonda after waiting in line to have her sign her new book, police said.

The man ran off but was quickly caught by police Tuesday night and charged with disorderly conduct.
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Jennings said the actress never got up from her seat and continued autographing books after the tobacco juice was wiped off.

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Fonda, on the other hand, showed true class by not making a scene and by not pressing charges.

A huge difference from the conservatives who are calling pie-throwing a "terrorist act" and are proud that they have thugs beat the crap out of the pie-throwers. This is far more disgusting and personal and Fonda showed how much better she was.

bush - tax fraud?

From Americablog :

They've got a house in rural Texas and a nice home-office setup on Pennsylvania Avenue. But for tax purposes, President Bush and his wife, Laura, claim a Chicago post office box as their "home address."

On the 1040 they signed, which the White House released last week, the listed home address is "Northern Trust Co., P.O. Box 803968, Chicago, IL 60680."

White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said Tuesday that's because Northern Trust handles the blind trust the couple uses for their holdings since Bush took office.

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Not sure what this would accomplish, but weird, none the less....

superficial to the extreme!

Coulter is STILL complaining about her photo on the cover of Time! She's on the freakin' cover and she's bitching! She actually has said that she refuses to read the article (which is a completely kiss-ass write-up) because the cover picture distorts her "beauty"!!! I would be willing to bet that no one in their right mind would have had a second thought about this cover if she wasn't making a big deal about it, which she has to do in order to somehow skew this puff piece as an example of "liberal bias"! She knows that the fact that some people (for unknown reasons) find her attractive is the only reason she has a career at all, so she has to blame this perceived slight on "liberals".
In a fit of childishness that is amazing even for a conservative, she has posted a picture of Hillary Clinton on her website, in which a close up of Hillary's face is distorted with a fish-eye effect. Of course, Coulter's face was not distorted in the Time photo, and Clinton had less than nothing to do with the article, but, as usual, logic has nothing to do with her ranting! Added to that is the fact that Hillary's appearance is a complete non-issue and that she is a person of substance and not the superficial nothing that coulter is, so why bother with this kindergarten attack?
Considering that conservatives control all of the government and a vast majority of the media, it is kind of amazing that so many of them are melting down these days. Bizarre times we are living in!!

DeLay investigated!

In Reversal, Ethics Panel to Investigate DeLay

WASHINGTON (April 20) - Retreating under pressure, Republicans on the House ethics committee said Wednesday they were ready to open an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing against Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

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Anyone willing to take a bet that he will get off scott-free (and possibly get a medal)?!?!?!
Still, good that SOMETHING (however inneffectual) is happening!
In the poll attached to the article, 93% of those polled thought that he should be investigated!!!!

i don't even know what to say anymore!

Think Progress :

The people do have a right to know:
“The time has come that the American people know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by special-interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their constituents? The people, the American people, have a right to know. I say the best disinfectant is full disclosure.”

– Rep. Tom DeLay, delivered on the House floor, November1995

Wow!

Via Think Progress :

Is Rice Obstructing the Bolton Investigation?
A very serious allegation buried in a story in today’s Washington Post:
On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told her senior staff she was disappointed about the stream of allegations [about John Bolton] and said she did not want any information coming out of the department that could adversely affect the nomination, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

18 U.S.C. Section 1505:
Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede…the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress– Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

This is serious enough that a reporter covering the State Department should inquire about Rice’s conduct. What, exactly, did Rice tell her subordinates? How is this consistent with their full cooperation with a Congressional inquiry.

how does this stuff get into print?!

Gotta hand it to them, these people have wild imaginations! I don't know where they come up with this stuff:

Was Iraq Behind the Oklahoma City Bombing?

On Tuesday's show you heard FOX News' Rita Cosby talking about the quite shocking claims made by a group of victims' families that Iraq was at the bottom of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City.
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If McVeigh were just the grunt — mixing the chemicals, driving the truck, setting the timer, and running off — guilty though he might be, if the bombing was a plot by a foreign government, his lawyer would have had a chance at the sentencing hearing to argue that others were more responsible and McVeigh should not be executed.

The fear that the McVeigh execution might have been an error — and a mistaken execution — could put the federal death penalty itself in jeopardy. The fear of losing the federal death penalty could explain why the U.S. government does not appear to be anxious to act on evidence it has that Iraq may have been involved in the Oklahoma City bombing.

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First seen at Atrios.
This is so wild on so many levels!! Trying to tie Iraq, of all countries, into the biggest act of domestic terrorism in the US, apparently as an attempt to justify our occupation of their country. Whew!
Then, this wacko says that the guy who murdered 168 people could be "just the grunt" and "should not have been executed"!!! Yikes! I guess if anyone else decides to go on a killing spree, their defense should just be "Iraq made me do it"!!
Put all of this baseless, insane conjecture together, and the federal death penalty might be in jeapordy?!?! Of all the cases against the death penalty and THIS would put an end to it?!?! Yeesh!!!!
This appeared on FoxNews, and, of course, their job is to be as bizarre and irrational as possible, but this is far out even for them!!

this gets overwhelming

so, i'll just link to some americablog stories:

Texas Republicans Put Hatred and Profit Ahead of Children

Evangelical Christians terrorizing US Air Force Academy with outright anti-Semitism

Man arrested in NYC for threatening to kill judge, bomb courthouse

Ratzinger accused of cover-up in effort to shelter pedophile priests

Ratzinger intervened in US 2004 election against Kerry

Ratzinger defends violence against gays

Bush During Armstrong Deception Of Public: He Was Either Lying Or Clueless

O'Connor says religious right hate-speech could spur violence against judges, calls her critics "extreme"
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damn, this world is a freakin' mess these days!

only "left-wingers" are dangerous!

According to the Homeland Security Department!

Democrats: HSD Omits Right-Wing Threats

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department is focusing on possible terror threats from radical environmental and animal rights activists without also examining risks that might be posed by right-wing extremists, House Democrats said Tuesday.

A recent internal Homeland Security document lists the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front with a few Islamic groups that could potentially support al-Qaida as domestic terror threats.

The document does not address threats posed by white supremacists, violent militiamen, anti-abortion bombers and other extremists that Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (news, bio, voting record), D-Miss., called "right-wing hate groups."
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Thompson said he reminded Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff of threats by right-wing groups in a letter sent to the department Tuesday — the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. That attack, which killed 168 people, marks the worst act of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil.

ALF and ELF are accused by the FBI of committing hundreds of acts of arson or other attacks on property in the United States, causing millions of dollars in damages. None of their attacks, however, have caused human deaths.

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Funny, in a twisted way, that this is released right after the anniversary of the worst domestic terrorist attack in the US, which, of course, a crazed "right"-winger was responsible for.
It appears that the HSD cares more for property damage than the deaths of it's citizens!

DeLay - deny, deflect, deceive

Once again, DeLay uses the usual repug tactics....Anything to try to take the heat off of himself. What a vile piece of work....

DeLay Criticizes Supreme Court Justice

WASHINGTON (April 20) - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's work from the bench has been "incredibly outrageous," his latest salvo at the federal judiciary in the weeks following the courts' refusal to stop Terri Schiavo's death.

DeLay also labeled a lot of the courts' Republican appointees as "judicial activists," a term applied by conservatives to judges they dislike for not following what they call strict interpretations of the Constitution.
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"Absolutely. We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous," DeLay told Fox News Radio on Tuesday. "And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous."
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Although Kennedy was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan, a conservative icon, he has aroused conservatives' ire by sometimes agreeing with the court's more liberal members. Nevertheless, it is unusual for a congressional leader to single out a Supreme Court justice for criticism.
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However, DeLay has called repeatedly for the House to find a way to hold the federal judiciary accountable for its decisions. "The judiciary has become so activist and so isolated from the American people that it's our job to do that," he said.

One way would be for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the clause in the Constitution that says "judges can serve as long as they serve with good behavior," he said. "We want to define what good behavior means. And that's where you have to start."

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I honestly wonder if ANYONE believes anything that he is saying. The entire world knows that the majority of the American public agreed that the judges did the right thing by letting Terri Schiavo's wishes be upheld and that Congress and the politicians who butted into this personal, family matter were in the wrong. Yet, DeLay continues to try to use this issue as an example of the judiciary being "isolated from the American people"!
I'm not a lawyer or anything, but i fail to see the problem with a judge "doing his own research". Just because DeLay is lazy, why should judges not do their own work?
And this man wants to "define what good behavior means"?!?!?!? Talk about outrageous!!!!!!
Incredible! He continues to deny any wrongdoing himself (which continues to pile up daily), he tries to deflect his problems by concentrating on this issue and he attempts to deceive by misrepresentating the facts!

Americablog weighs in....

incredible even for the repugs

these sleazeballs have the nerve to revile Marla Ruzicka, the American woman who lost her life helping Iraqi civilians during our occupation. see the story at The Road to Surfdom. Every day i find a new reason to be sickened by these people.

Here's TBogg showing us some of the "concern" and "sympathy" of the "right"-wingers.

I really think i need a break - these scumbags are literally making me sick to my stomach. Is there ANY humanity among the conservatives?

repugs screw us, help big business

House Energy Bill Increases Tax Breaks

The House this week will consider $8 billion in tax breaks targeted to the energy industry at a time when some of those companies are enjoying soaring profits from high consumer prices.
The vast majority of the tax breaks would benefit companies that produce and supply traditional forms of energy, with a large portion going to the oil and natural gas sector.

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Cuz lord knows they need the tax breaks! Do these people even pretend to be working for us anymore?!

we are so f'k'd, part 1 million & 1 (conservative estimate)

Pharmacies Balk on After-Sex Pill and Widen Fight

CHICAGO - As a fourth-generation pharmacist whose drugstore still sits on the courthouse square of his conservative small town downstate, State Senator Frank Watson knew exactly what side to take when Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich ordered pharmacies to fill prescriptions for women wanting the new "morning after" pill, even if it meant putting aside their employees' personal views.

"The governor is trying to make a decision that must be left to the pharmacy," said Senator Watson, whose family business, Watson's Drug Store in Greenville, Ill., does not stock the pill. "It's an infringement on a business decision and also on the pharmacist's right of conscience."

Senator Watson, the Republican leader of the Senate, and Governor Blagojevich, a Democrat, are the latest combatants in a growing battle over emergency contraception. In at least 23 states, legislators and other elected officials have passed laws or are considering measures in a debate that has attracted many of the same advocates and prompted much of the same intensity as the fight over abortion.

In some states, legislators are pushing laws that would explicitly grant pharmacists the right to refuse to dispense drugs related to contraception or abortion on moral grounds. Others want to require pharmacies to fill any legal prescription for birth control, much like Governor Blagojevich's emergency rule in Illinois, which requires pharmacies that stock the morning-after pill to dispense it without delay. And in some states, there are proposals or newly enacted laws to make the morning-after pill more accessible, by requiring hospitals to offer it to rape victims or allowing certain pharmacists to sell it without a prescription.

Some of the bills could become moot if the Food and Drug Administration approves the morning-after pill for over-the-counter sale by pharmacists, something advocates for women's reproductive rights and several Democratic senators have pressured the agency to do.

If over-the-counter sales are allowed, experts on the issue say, pharmacists who do not want to provide the pill on moral grounds could simply decide not to stock it, which current state laws already allow them to do. If a large drugstore chain decided to stock it, but an individual pharmacist in the chain objected, such a dispute might be governed by the employment agreements between the chain and the pharmacist.

But the bills may also lay the groundwork for pharmacists' actions regarding future controversial medications. And both sides in the debate may consider the publicity generated by any proposed legislation to be beneficial to their cause.

"This is going to be a huge national issue in the future," said Paul Caprio, director of Family-Pac, a conservative group that urged pharmacists in Illinois to ignore Governor Blagojevich's rule. "Pharmacists are coming forward saying that they want to exercise their rights of conscience."
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While a few doctors and pharmacists have for years declined to prescribe or sell birth control pills for religious reasons, the objections of some to the morning-after pill are more vehement because they consider it to be more akin to abortion.
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Abortion rights advocates and most physicians say the pill, unlike the French drug RU-486, is not an abortion drug because it does not destroy an embryo. Instead, the pill prevents ovulation or fertilization, or blocks a fertilized egg from becoming implanted in the uterus.
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"This is one of the safest medicines we have available, and it can prevent unplanned pregnancies," said Dr. Karen Lifford, the medical director of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, who testified at a public hearing last week on a bill being considered by the Massachusetts legislature. "We're trying to reduce the number of pregnancies and abortions, and people of different religious views can agree that this is a good thing to do."

But many abortion opponents believe the morning-after pill ends a human life and is therefore tantamount to abortion.

"Emergency contraceptive pills can be abortifacient if they are taken after ovulation has occurred," Dr. Gertrude Murphy, a retired physician who worked at a Catholic hospital in Boston and is currently on the board of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, testified at the hearing. "An abortifacient is defined here as any medication or device that causes the death of the developing human after fertilization."

Around the country, in at least 12 states, including Indiana, Texas and Tennessee, so-called conscience clause bills have been introduced, which would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptives if they have moral or religious objections. Four states already have such laws applying specifically to pharmacists: Arkansas, South Dakota, Mississippi and Georgia.

Proposals in three states - California, Missouri and New Jersey - would have the opposite effect, compelling pharmacies to fill any legal prescription.
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"As far as being a health care professional, I don't think I should be injecting my moral values on other people," Rod Adams, a pharmacist at the Colorado Pharmacy in Denver, said in an interview last week. "Obviously a morning-after pill is a personal choice that someone has to make. They've already made that choice when they come in here, and I don't think - I'm not a counselor - I don't really think that's my job."

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What would happen if someone working at a convenience store refused to sell cigarettes or beer because they were morally opposed to them? They wouldn't work at that store very long, would they?
These people want to refuse to do their job, which, in this case, would mean literally changing the life of the person they are refusing and, most likely, forcing them to have an abortion that they are trying to avoid! Once again, the lack of logic is boggling!
Apparently, these people seem to think that the only reason anyone should have sex is if they are trying to have children! Apparently, if you are raped, that's just your own tough luck - you probably brought it on yourself....
Even if an egg is fertilized, which this pill is supposed to keep from happening, a 1 day old egg is not a person!!!!! It - and it very much is an "it" and this point - should not have more rights that the fully grown human that is carrying it!!! I can never understand why someone would want to destroy an adult's life for the sake of a microbe!!!
I still think that my idea is the best - every person should be sterilized before puberty and it can only be reversed after they have taken parenting classes and have signed a document saying that they wish to have children and are in a monogamous relationship! This would save a lot of heartbreak!!!

this week's top ten conservative idiots

From Democratic Underground. Always a good read!

Michael Schiavo cleared, "liberal media" ignores

Via Americablog:

When my computer was down, I didn't get to weigh in on a lot of issues, but one drove me the craziest. In the last days of Terri Schiavo, I didn't see ANY balanced reporting. Every lead story on TV, every lead article in the paper was a variation on "Terri Schiavo's parents continue to fight to keep their daughter alive" or "Terri Schiavo's parents fail in their latest attempt to fight for their daughter." CNN Headline News was reduced to airing the years-old doctored footage of Terri edited to mislead people and backed with New Age guitar music.

There wasn't ONE story I saw -- and I started looking obsessively -- that began "Michael Schiavo continues to fight to fulfill his dying wife's wishes" or "Michael Schiavo continues the fight to let his wife die with dignity." Drove me bonkers. Couldn't one news outlet at least have pretended to do balanced coverage?

So now that the MSM has moved on, we get a quiet news item on A-7 of The Washington Post that, by the way, all those baseless absurd charges against Michael Schiavo about abusing his wife were absolutely without merit. Per the Washington Post:

In the four years after Michael Schiavo won the right to remove his wife's feeding tube, the state's social welfare agency investigated 89 complaints of abuse but never found that he or anybody else harmed Terri Schiavo, records released late Friday show.

The state Department of Children and Families repeatedly concluded that Michael Schiavo ensured his wife's physical and medical needs were met, provided proper therapy for her and had no control over her money. They also found no evidence that he beat or strangled her, as his detractors have repeatedly charged.

The 45 pages of confidential abuse reports made public by court order show that despite the litany of complaints, investigators never found that Terri Schiavo had been abused.

The records show that DCF took seriously its duty to investigate abuse allegations, which became familiar fodder on the Internet:
Terri Schiavo was dirty and unkempt. She did not receive proper dental care or rehabilitative therapy. She was kept in isolation. Her husband beat her and broke her bones. He wanted her dead for her money or to remarry. He pumped her full of insulin, hoping to kill her. He often asked, "When will (she) die?" Her lips were cracked and dry.

But DCF investigators looked into the charges and closed them as unfounded with such comments as "the spouse has always been courteous and very compassionate toward his wife" and "all her needs being met."

Michael Schiavo got poor press for a number of reasons: he tried to keep his wife's plight from being turned into a media circus, he didn't court the media, he refused to taunt and bait his parents with outrageous accusations the way they attacked him, he didn't align himself with fringe groups willing to exploit the situation for their own ends (some of whom didn't give a damn what Terri may have wanted, by their own admission) and so on.

But reason number one was an MSM that didn't do its job. Now that they have a chance to right some of those wrongs and make clear the spurious allegations against Michael Schiavo were unfounded, the MSM can't be bothered. Because clearing someone's good name isn't nearly as important as besmirching it.

the voice of the NRA?

Now, i honestly like Nugent's music (well, the stuff from the 60's and 70's anyway), but he seems to be getting crazier and crazier as the years go by! This is seriously wacko stuff:

Ted Nugent to Fellow NRAers: Get Hardcore

HOUSTON - With an assault weapon in each hand, rocker and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent urged National Rifle Association members to be "hardcore, radical extremists demanding the right to self defense."

Speaking at the NRA's annual convention Saturday, Nugent said each NRA member should try to enroll 10 new members over the next year and associate only with other members.

"Let's next year sit here and say, 'Holy smokes, the NRA has 40 million members now,'" he said. "No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member. Do that in your life."

Nugent sang and played a guitar painted with red and white stripes for the crowd at Houston's downtown convention center.

He drew the most cheers when he told gun owners they should never give up their right to bear arms and should use their guns to protect themselves if needed.

"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

more on the "liberal media"

Is there ANYTHING that is not ultra-conservative these days?
Looney-toon Coulter makes the cover of Time Magazine!
Also :
Time Mag publishes FAKE photo of supposed Anti-Coulter/Pro-Kerry group

And they actually say "is she just having fun"?! I suppose so if tearing down everything that America is supposed to stand for is fun!
I honestly cannot understand how anyone can talk about a "liberal media" with a straight face! America's media is so conservative it is beyond belief!

See here for a hilarious parody of Time's cover!

Another funny twist - Coulter is actually complaining about her cover photo, saying that it is "distorted" (and saying that this was done because she is conservative!!), but the same effect was used on Clinton by the same photographer, in a sexually suggestive manner!

Still more: Think Progress gets upset because Time says they could not find many Coulter "errors". They start a brief list of some of the most obnoxious ones.

is it possible for these people to use logic in their arguments?

High Court Declines to Hear Challenge to Buffer Zones Around Abortion Clinics

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider the constitutionality of state laws that regulate speech and activities within a buffer zone around abortion clinics.

Without comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling upholding a Massachusetts law that was passed after the 1994 fatal shooting of two abortion clinic workers. Anti-abortion protesters say the state-mandated zones have unfairly become a place where only abortion rights rhetoric can be uttered.

The law, which creates a six-foot buffer zone around patients within an 18-foot radius of a clinic entrance, prohibits anyone from approaching without their consent for the purpose of passing leaflets or "engaging in oral protest, education or counseling."

The law created an exemption for clinic workers so long as they're "acting within the scope of their employment."

State lawmakers began pushing for a buffer zone after John Salvi walked into two Boston-area clinics and opened fire, killing two receptionists and wounding five others. He killed himself in prison in 1996.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life, an anti-abortion group, had argued the law denies protection to women and their unborn children. Women considering whether to have abortions benefit by having information distributed to them outside clinics, the group said.

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WHAT?!?! Their argument against this anti-terrorist law, which is used to protect people from being gunned down by lunatics, is that it "denies protection to women"?!?!?! Yeesh! I would sure rather be protected from bullets! I would think that an organization called "Citizens For Life" would not want people to be shot and murdered for no reason! And, quite frankly, I would also love to be protected from these wackos and their words! Having an abortion is probably the most difficult decision a woman will ever have to make and these scumbags want to denigrate these people! Absolutely sickening!

spreading bigotry, ignorance and stupidity via t-shirts!

Guess that has always been going on, but now its in the name of the lord!

Slogans on Edgy Religious T-Shirts Gain Notice, Sales

LAWRENCE, Kansas (April 17) - Walk into Lori Devins' downtown shop and it's clear this isn't a typical Christian retail store. First of all, Extreme Christian Clothing features T-shirts. Then, there are the shirts' in-your-face messages.

Along with ones saying "Got Jesus?" and "Fear God" are shirts declaring, "Satan Sucks," "My God can kick your god's butt," and "To Hell with the Devil."

"Our shirts are a little extreme, but I think God is spreading the word and having the youngsters shout out their faith," Devins said. "I think teenagers want to evoke a response."
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But extreme clothing has appeal, said Abe Hernandez, a founder of a chain of five C28 stores in southern California and a line of wholesale clothing that includes T-shirts sporting "King Kong Wasn't My Grandpa."
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"If I wear it, I'm not only saying that I'm a religious believer but that I'm also a cool and clever religious believer," Cobb said. "Being cool and clever is what young people want to do."

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Whew! So, they think that being close-minded to science and offensive to people with other beliefs is "cool and clever"!??! It is so frightening that we are devolving so quickly.

a democracy not a theocracy

Reid's statement regarding Frist trying to make the filibuster a religious issue (via Atrios):

I am disappointed that in an attempt to hide what the debate is really about, Senator Frist would exploit religion like this. Religion to me is a very personal thing. I have been a religious man all my adult life. My wife and I have lived our lives and raised our children according to the morals and values taught by the faith to which we prescribe. No one has the right to judge mine or anyone else’s personal commitment to faith and religion.

God isn’t partisan.

As His children, he does ask us to do our very best and treat each other with kindness. Republicans have crossed a line today. America is better than this and Republicans need to remember that. This is a democracy, not a theocracy. We are people of faith, and in many ways are doing God’s work. But we represent all Americans, regardless of religion. Our founding fathers had the superior vision to separate Church and State in our democracy. It is a fundamental principle that has allowed our great, diverse nation to grow and flourish peacefully.
Blurring the line between Church and State erodes our Constitution, and our democracy. It is a blatant abuse of power. Participating in something designed to incite divisiveness and encourage contention is unacceptable. I would hope that Sen. Frist will rise above something so beyond the pale.

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And more also from Atrios :

Deeply troubled by reports that Senator Bill Frist will appear in a telecast organized by conservative Christian groups that portrays the filibustering of judicial nominees as "against people of faith," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged Dr. Frist to reconsider his participation in the telecast, stating that: "Whatever one's views may be on this or any other issue, playing the 'religious' card is as unacceptable as playing the race card."

In a strongly worded letter to the Senate majority leader, Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National director, said he was "deeply troubled" by Dr. Frist's decision to appear in the "Justice Sunday" telecast on April 24. The program's message, "...is deeply flawed and a dangerous affront to fundamental principles of American democracy," Foxman said."

The heated debate regarding the status of the filibuster in the United States Senate is a quintessentially political contest, not a religious struggle," Foxman said. "Nor should it be portrayed as such. Whatever one's views may be on this or any other issue, playing the 'religious' card is as unacceptable as playing the race card."

Organized by the Family Research Council, the "Justice Sunday" telecast will be aired on Christian television and radio networks and stations and will be broadcast over the Internet.

check out this great pic!

THIS is our "commander-in-chief"!
Please, someone, tell me that the last 4+ years have all been a joke!!!! Honest, i'll laugh and then we can get back to reality!!!

the never-ending saga of our "liberal media"...

....which explains why you never saw this story.
Check it out to see photos of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis protesting our continued occupation of their country.
Compare it to the photo also shown of the "crowd" at the time of Saddam's statue being torn down.
Damn our "liberal media" for showing these images to us over and over in order to undermine our efforts....oh wait...that's right....these haven't been shown....never mind.....