Americans Want Christian (Only) Public Prayer

Oh yeah. It's all about morals, God and apple pie--until it's not:

Smerconish: Public prayer by Muslims "wrong".: "On the November 23 broadcast of Fox News' The Radio Factor, guest host Michael A. Smerconish took issue with a recent decision by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to provide a designated prayer area at Giants Stadium. The decision was in response to a September 19 incident involving the FBI's detention and questioning of five Muslim men who were observed praying near the stadium's main air duct during a New York Giants football game. Smerconish stated: 'I just think that's [the men's public praying] wrong. I just think they're playing a game of, you know, mind blank with the audience. And that they should know better four years removed from September 11.'"

OPEN THREAD--November 29, 2005

I need a break...

Tony Perkins Hates America

Moving on in my personal efforts to "out" the minions of the anti-christ, I bring you Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. From DefCon, here is just a sample of this uber Christian's fanatic agenda:

• Conquering the Judicial Branch: "The Court has become increasingly hostile to Christianity, and it poses a greater threat to representative government – more than anything, more than budget deficits, more than terrorist groups."(Grace, Stephanie, "Failed Politic Gains Weird Clout Over Gop," Times-Picayune, April 26, 2005).

• Tony Perkins consistently labels the courts as an enemy to be conquered. Prior to the first Justice Sunday, Perkins wrote on the Family Research Council's web page, ''the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism.''(Kirkpatrick, David, "Frist Set to Use Religious Stage on Justice Issue," New York Times, April 15, 2005). He has called for the disabling of the judicial branch through denying the court funds, "just take away the bench, all of his staff, and he's just sitting out there with nothing to do." (Wallsten, Peter, "2 Evangelicals Wish to Strip Courts' Funds," Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2005).

• Tearing Down the Wall Between Church and State: "I cannot think of a more foundational element of our republic than the Ten Commandments." (Alpert, Bruce & Bill Walsh, "ON THE HILL," Times-Picayune, August 31, 2003).

• Tony Perkins is a prominent proponent of God in the classroom. As a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1996-2004), he authored legislation calling for "a daily time of silent prayer in Louisiana public schools," and created the American History Preservation Act which "prevents censorship of America's Christian heritage in Louisiana public schools." Tony Perkins has also campaigned in support of religious symbols on federal property.

• Denying Personal Rights: "In [the Schiavo] case ... I think Congress was compelled to act, and I think that there are going to be other cases like this that will need to be addressed." (Simon, Richard, "The Terri Schiavo Case; Political Aftermath," Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2005).

• Tony Perkins was the ringleader of a concerted effort between right wing proselytizers and the conservative congressional leadership during their disturbing exploitation of the Terri Schiavo incident in March 2005. He appeared repeatedly in the media arguing for congressional and judicial invasion of Terri and Michael Schiavo's constitutional rights.

• Supporting White Supremacists: In 2001, Tony Perkins addressed the Louisiana chapter of the white supremacist group Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), the successor of the anti-integration white citizen's council. And, in 1996 Tony Perkins paid former Ku Klux Klan wizard David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list.7

Liberty Counsel's "Head Start" Suggestion -- Boston 1690 Primer

The Christian legal rights advocacy group Liberty Counsel has a suggestion for your Merry Christmas giving. A school primer from a state so religiously conservative that had Jefferson held the Constitutional convention there, the Constitution would not have been ratified for lack of the word "God".

A Great Christmas Gift for Children:

The New England Primer is a good example of early American education. Introduced in the Boston public schools in 1690, for the next two centuries the New England Primer was a required textbook from which every first grader learned grammar and spelling. This little book taught first graders the alphabet using religious references. For the letter "A", the students learned, "In Adam's Fall, We sinned all." For the letter "C", the students recited: "Christ crucified, For sinners died."

To obtain a copy of this wonderful little book, call us at (deleted) or go to our online store.

Hey, weren't those the days of one room school houses and education to the 6th (or was it the 8th) grade? How hard do you think it was for multi-grade home-school teachers to manage those rooms with few resources? Heck, faced with the same thing today one might turn to an empty feed bag to teach the alphabet; "A" is for "Antibiotic"...

Joking aside, the kind of education necessary to get started in a competitive, multi-national world economy should hardly start by learning this ditty: "A": "In Adam's Fall, We sinned all." Given the little time to get important foundational information into kid's heads, why would you start with philosophy instead of data, Adam = sin instead of Apple = fruit? My guess is so that you can raise an ideologically indoctrinated-- not practically educated-- child.

Israeli Arabs Condemn US Policy

...Arabs condemn US policy:

"Talab al-Sana, a member of the Israeli parliament, said protesters had wanted to show solidarity with their fellow Arabs and demonstrate anger at what they regard as US hypocrisy.

'The American policy is feeding the anger, the sense of depression and the extremists among the people here,' he told AFP.

'It is a case of double standards by the Americans. On the one hand they talk about freedom and they think about bombing Aljazeera; they talk about democracy and they occupy Iraq and threaten Syria.'"

Funny, we also talk about freedom while instituting the Patriot Act, supporting American troops while cutting veteran benefits and undersupplying armaments, educating our kids while underfunding No Child Left Behind and student loans--does anybody else see a pattern here? Does it seem like the good old boy's line "You lie and I'll swear to it" is the President's unspoken motto?

EU Gets Tough on CIA

No, you can't bring that detainee in here...

"Any European Union state that secretly hosted a CIA prison faces loss of its voting rights, and Washington should punish any violations that occurred, an EU commissioner said on Monday.

Franco Frattini, commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, said that under EU law, if reports of secret CIA jails were true, states would face 'serious consequences, including the suspension of the right to vote in the Council'."

EU Does Not Invade a Muslim Country (or Two)

Nice to know others in the world can negotiate approaches to combatting terrorism without INVADING a country. Sheesh...

"The European Union and 10 mostly Muslim Mediterranean nations have agreed on an anti-terrorism document at the end of a two-day summit in Barcelona, officials say.

The last-minute agreement Monday on what is called the Code of Conduct to combat terrorism averted what some had predicted was to be a failure at the Euro-Mediterranean summit, already marked by the absence of nine top leaders, leaving nearly a third of the 35 nations attending without top representation."

Diebold Must Comply With Law (You Mean They May Not Have?)

Why would a voting machine company seek to evade transparancy rules? Proprietary security? Nah...

"Responding to arguments made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a North Carolina judge today told Diebold Election Systems that the e-voting company must comply with tough North Carolina election law and dismissed the company's case seeking broad exemptions from the law.

EFF intervened in the case earlier this month, after Diebold obtained a broad temporary restraining order that allowed it to evade key transparency requirements without criminal or civil liability. The law requires escrow of the source code for all voting systems to be certified in the state and identification of programmers. In today's hearing, the judge told Diebold if it wanted to continue in the bidding process for certified election systems in the state, it must follow the law and if it failed to do so, it would face liability.

'The North Carolina legislature showed great leadership and courage in passing one of the most robust voting machine transparency laws in the country,' said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. 'The court decision reiterates what EFF had been arguing on behalf of our client all along: Diebold is not entitled to special rules.'"

Unions Make Progress With Janitors

"Union organizers have obtained what they say is majority support in one of the biggest unionization drives in the South in decades, collecting the signatures of thousands of Houston janitors.

Ercilia Sandoval, top, with her daughters Jennifer, 4, and Genesis, 7, and Flora Aguilar say they struggle to make ends meet as office cleaners in Houston. Janitors in the city typically earn $5.25 an hour.

In an era when unions typically face frustration and failure in attracting workers in the private sector, the Service Employees International Union is bringing in 5,000 janitors from several companies at once. With work force experts saying that unions face a slow death unless they can figure out how to organize private-sector workers in big bunches, labor leaders are looking to the Houston campaign as a model."

GOOD IDEA: Cut Iraq Loose

Another good idea from the Democrats; why not use the anti-"nanny" mentality wehre it can do some real good:

Iraq’s security situation could improve if Washington cedes more security responsibilities to Iraqi troops while drawing down its own forces there.

“I think (a withdrawal) would really help the Iraqi people come together and to be able to forge a country,” said Democratic senator Russ Feingold on ABC television.

“As long as it’s seen as an American occupation, it helps the Al-Zarqawis and others to bring insurgents in, to bring terrorists in, and we need to reverse that problem... our presence is making things worse,” Feingold said."

Israel Should Begin Nuclear Disarmament

US Report Calls on Israel to Begin Nuclear Disarmament: "n order to contain Iran’s nuclear development and prevent a nuclear arms race in the region, Israel must begin nuclear disarmament.

This, according to a recent report, entitled “Getting Ready for a Nuclear— Ready Iran,” [www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/ pdffiles/PUB629.pdf] published by the US Army War College, commissioned and partially funded by the Pentagon, argues that Iran’s nuclear weapon development cannot be stopped by any current military or diplomatic options."

Medicaid Cutbacks Divide Democrats

Yea, as usual. The guys who don't have to actually administer the budget have no problem making it impossible for those who do. Does this mean we may get some more governors running for legislative office?

Medicaid growth has split Democrats, with lawmakers in Washington united in their opposition while Democratic governors are quietly supporting the provisions and questioning the party's reflexive denunciations.

The Medicaid provisions have become a flashpoint for the opposition of Democrats -- and some moderate Republicans -- to the $50 billion budget-cutting bill that narrowly passed the House last week. The provisions would reduce Medicaid spending by $12 billion through 2010 and $48 billion over the next decade, in part by making it difficult for more affluent seniors to transfer their assets to relatives, then plead poverty to get Medicaid to pay for them to stay in nursing homes."

Plame and Rove Back in the News

Maybe this time Rove won't be able to wriggle out?

A second reporter for Time magazine has been asked to testify under oath in the C.I.A. leak case, about conversations she had in 2004 with a lawyer for Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, the magazine reported on Sunday.

The reporter, Viveca Novak, who has written about the leak investigation, has been asked to testify by the special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, about her conversations with Robert D. Luskin, a lawyer for Mr. Rove, the magazine said.

A trip by Joseph C. Wilson IV to Niger nearly four years ago was the beginning of a series of events now being investigated by a special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Key Articles and Documents

The request for Ms. Novak's testimony is the first tangible sign in weeks that Mr. Fitzgerald has not completed his inquiry into Mr. Rove's actions and may still be considering charges against him. Mr. Rove has long been under scrutiny in the case but has not been accused of any wrongdoing."

Nothing Wreaks Fear Like Sex Education Information (and Tattoos)

"Copies of a high school's student newspaper were seized by administrators because the edition contained stories about birth control and tattoos, stirring a First Amendment debate.

Administrators at Oak Ridge High School went into teachers' classrooms, desks and mailboxes to retrieve all 1,800 copies of the newspaper Tuesday, said teacher Wanda Grooms, who advises the staff, and Brittany Thomas, the student editor.

The Oak Leaf's birth control article listed success rates for different methods and said contraceptives were available from doctors and the local health department. Superintendent Tom Bailey said the article needed to be edited so it would be acceptable for the entire school."

Arabs at the Mexico Border. No Surprise There...

Ugh.

Al-Qaida evidence along U.S. border?: "A U.S. senator says he's been shown 'anecdotal evidence' suggesting an Arabic presence along the U.S.-Mexico border, noting the Bush administration has not publicly released the information because it is 'a matter of intelligence.'

Human Events reported that Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, has seen beverage boxes with Arabic language and other items, including the image of a commercial airliner striking a building."

Dear God, Please Do Something About These, Thy People!

Well, to be fair, I suppose one should do analysis of the course's learning objectives and outcomes before deciding that a class has the components essential to meet the state academic standards. That is something I'm going to bet the insutitution has done. I'm also going to bet that were the classes from privately run Wiccan schools and the courses called something like "Wiccan Influence in American History" they too--if they didn't meet the coursework criteria--would be refused.

This pretty much stinks of the 'If you ain't for'n us yer a'gin us' phobia of the American Neo-Christian movement.

"INTELLIGENT design isn't the only flashpoint in the battle over religion in the nation's classrooms. On Dec. 12, the Federal District Court in Los Angeles will hear a lawsuit filed by a consortium of Christian high schools against the University of California system for refusing to credit some of their courses when their students apply for admission.

Among those courses are 'Christianity's Influence in American History' and 'Christianity and American Literature,' both of which draw on textbooks published by Bob Jones University of Greenville, S.C., which describes itself as having stood for 'the absolute authority of the Bible since 1927.'"

Bush Plan to Bomb Al-Jazeera?

Well, why not. His party has already bombed the American press by simply owning most media outlets...."

A senior Al-Jazeera executive urged Prime Minister Tony Blair in a radio interview Saturday to publish a leaked document that allegedly suggests U.S. President George W. Bush wanted to bomb the headquarters of the Arabic television station in Qatar.

In an interview with BBC radio, the executive, Wadah Khanfar, said he would deliver a letter to Blair's office also demanding a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the document.

'Al-Jazeera is in the foremost of free form and democracy in the Arab world, and therefore this news that we have heard is very concerning,' Khanfar told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. 'So we demand a proper explanation, and we would like to know the facts about this letter.'

The document, which has been described as a transcript of discussions between Bush and Blair, was leaked to the Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper. Earlier this week, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warned editors they could face prosecution under the Official Secrets Act for disclosing the contents of the document."

A New Pole, A New Day

No, it's NOT good for the anti-war movement...so, do we trust the results?

"Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale -- with 44 percent saying morale is hurt 'a lot,' according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale."

When do we get a poll of actual troops themselves?

[UPDATE 11-30-05] Ooops...backtrack:

A November 27 Washington Post article uncritically reported data from a flawed poll, concluding that the majority of Americans are "sympathetic" to "Vice President [Dick] Cheney's suggestion that criticism of the administration's [Iraq] war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort."

Pentagon Expanding Domestic Surveillance Activity -- Next Stop -- Your House

Break out the popcorn and porn--these guys will be sooo disappointed if there's nothing at your house for them to report.:

"Modifications also were made in the provision allowing the FBI to share information with the Pentagon and CIA, requiring the approval of the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, for that to occur, and requiring the Pentagon to make reports to Congress on the subject. Wyden said the legislation 'now strikes a much fairer balance by protecting critical rights for our country's citizens and advancing intelligence operations to meet our security needs.'

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the data-sharing amendment would still give the Pentagon much greater access to the FBI's massive collection of data, including information on citizens not connected to terrorism or espionage.

The measure, she said, 'removes one of the few existing privacy protections against the creation of secret dossiers on Americans by government intelligence agencies.' She said the Pentagon's 'intelligence agencies are quietly expanding their domestic presence without any public debate.'"

ENVIRONMENT: Hey George, Can the USA Come Out and Play?

World Leaders to Discuss Strategies for Climate Control:

"The nations of the world will meet in Montreal this week to start discussing the next step in combating the global warming problem, hoping to devise a successor to the Kyoto Protocol that was scorned by the Bush administration in 2001. But the United States is saying it doesn't want to talk.

Despite the Bush administration's resistance, an assortment of U.S. elected officials, industry representatives and environmentalists are pushing to chart a new climate change strategy that will bring the United States back into international discussions while forcing developing countries to make meaningful cuts in their own carbon dioxide emissions. This push for a more flexible approach than Kyoto provided will be on full display in Montreal and could frame how the world confronts climate change in the years to come."

Scanlon Juice Sticks to Congress, K Street and More...

Oh brother, this Scanlon flip is opening up the halls of the Pay to Play. From a detailed WAPO article:

"The 35 to 40 investigators and prosecutors on the Abramoff case are focused on at least half a dozen members of Congress, lawyers and others close to the probe said. The investigators are looking at payments made by Abramoff and his colleagues to the wives of some lawmakers and at actions taken by senior Capitol Hill aides, some of whom went to work for Abramoff at the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, lawyers and others familiar with the probe said."

Let's also add the peripheral players to this, shall we? From the American Progress Action Fund:

David Safavian, former head of the powerful White House Office of Management and Budget, has already gone down as a result of the Abramoff scandals, arrested in September on charges of "lying and obstructing a criminal investigation" into Abramoff. Last week, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee heard testimony from Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), about her "unspoken deal" with Abramoff. The lobbyist funneled nearly $500,000 in client money to CREA, and in return, Federici offered him access "to at least two of her close friends, [Secretary of the Interior Gale] Norton and Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles." Former Christian Coalition director, Ralph Reed, received $10,000 for his campaign to be chair of the Georgia Republican party, paid for Abramoff's tribal clients, unbeknownst to those clients. Additionally, Abramoff actively sought out Reed's guidance "in disguising Indian tribal money sent to anti-gambling campaigns whose leaders were wary of accepting casino cash."

P.S. ANY DEMOCRAT INVOLVED should lose their office. NO exceptions. Corruption on this scale-- and particularly with this pack of liars and thieves-- is intolerable.

[UPDATE 11-25-05] From the WSJ:

Prosecutors in the department's public integrity and fraud divisions -- separate units that report to the assistant attorney general for the criminal division -- are looking into Mr. Abramoff's interactions with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Bob Ney (R., Ohio), Rep. John Doolittle (R., Calif.) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R., Mont.), according to several people close to the investigation. Messrs. DeLay and Ney have retained criminal defense lawyers. Spokespeople for Messrs. Doolittle and Burns said they haven't hired lawyers.

The Liberty Counsel Hates America

In my ongoing campaign to expose those who are hard at work perverting American history to convince you that Christianity is under attack and that you are unpatriotic, I bring you:

Liberty Counsel is a legal organization dedicated to advancing its organizers' conceptions of religious freedom the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. The organization, which describes itself as a "ministry," is headed by attorney Mathew Staver, who is associated with the right side of the political spectrum, and once claimed during a television interview in CSPAN (August 10, 2005) that he was a close personal friend of Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Some feel that Liberty Counsel is an organization intent on eroding the separation of church and state and they feel that Liberty Counsel considers religious freedom to mean the freedom of religion to dominate, as many of the group's statements imply that anything less than active bias for Christianity amounts to bias against Christianity. Others also feel that the Liberty Counsel is only interested in furthering religious freedom as it pertains to Christianity.

The Liberty Counsel and their supporters, however, believe that "separation of church and state" is neither in the law of the United States, nor is it being interpereted correctly with context to the laws that do exist concerning religious freedom. They feel that the courts, by misinterpereting these laws, have been infringing on religious freedoms.

Their current liberation program? The Friend or Foe Campaign which yes, is at the bottom of the current boycott of Target for not using "Merry Christmas" in their Holiday advertising. Where do you think Jesus would stand on adding insult to injury--politicizing a religious holiday that for at least 40 years has been secularized into a golden cash cow?

Can we question their piousness now?

More From the Propoganda Wars

From the front:

Not Necessarily the News: "“Propaganda always works better if it seems not to be propaganda—if it seems to be entertainment, or if it seems to be news,” says Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of culture and communication at New York University. “These people want to dominate the public sphere, but they don’t want us to know that.”

Lately, though, this balancing act has been getting harder to sustain. Especially since last year’s presidential campaign, the company’s efforts to inject partisan spin into its local “news” have become increasingly bold and increasingly obvious. In April 2004, the company forbade all of its ABC stations to air a segment of Nightline in which Ted Koppel read the names of American casualties in Iraq, which Sinclair’s management considered “motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States.” Six months later, Sinclair executives launched a political effort of their own, instructing all their news stations to broadcast a documentary on John Kerry called Stolen Honor, which accused the candidate of treason during the Vietnam War. In the buzz that followed, Sinclair’s vice president of corporate relations, Mark Hyman, stoked the fire even further by announcing that any network that refused to air the anti-Kerry documentary were “acting like Holocaust deniers” and that even if the documentary was a gift to Bush, the effect was balanced by the existence of suicide bombers in the Middle East, since after all, “Every car bomb in Iraq would be considered an in-kind contribution to John Kerry.” Nearly three months later, the company was back in the hot seat, this time forced to admit that one of its most visible reporters, Armstrong Williams, had not only spent recent years landing exclusive interviews with men like Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay but was also getting paid handsomely by the Bush administration, having struck a deal with the White House to receive $240,000 in exchange for “favorable commentaries.” Yes, by the beginning of this year, Sinclair was getting hard to ignore."

Invasion Robs Childhood

A visitor stumbled upon a small cluster of 4-year-olds just in time to hear Ahmed Yousif casually explain: ''Yeah, I saw it on the Internet, but the guy with the long hair wasn't fully decapitated."

Ali Najee, all of 5 years old, was frustrated because even with the authentic three-round burst sounds he made to accompany the shooting of his friends with a toy AK-47 rifle, the game lacked realism. Then he hit on an answer. As he shot, he tossed water onto his friends' clothing. ''There's your blood. Now you're dead," he said.

Three-year-old Safa played with a doll at the feet of her mother, who muttered while solving a crossword puzzle, ''The name of an Iraqi prime minister?" Safa blurted out, ''Jaafari." When her mother asked what she knew about prime ministers and politics, the little girl, barely able to pronounce the words, said, ''Well, I've been wondering about the constitution. Is it a good thing?"

Childhood innocence may not be dead in Iraq, but teachers, parents, and government officials agree that it has taken a bad hit and may not recover without immediate and intensive attention.

Khaldoon Waleed, a Baghdad child psychologist, said a generation of children is growing up with post-traumatic stress disorder. The disorder is commonly associated with soldiers, and Waleed said it could cause everything from nightmares to an inability to connect with people.

Military Loves Poverty

No comment:

As combat in Iraq makes it hard to fill the ranks of the all-volunteer force, Pentagon demographic information shows that the military is leaning heavily for recruits in economically depressed, rural areas where youths' need for jobs may outweigh the risks of going to war.

More than 44 percent of US military recruits come from rural areas, according to Pentagon figures. In contrast, 14 percent come from major cities. Youths living in the most sparsely populated ZIP code areas are 22 percent more likely to join the Army than the norm, with an opposite trend in cities. Regionally, most enlistees come from the South (40 percent) and West (24 percent).

Many recruits are strapped. Almost half come from lower-middle-class to poor households, according to Pentagon data based on ZIP codes and census estimates of mean household income.

Almost two-thirds of Army recruits in 2004 came from counties in which median household income is below the US median.

Reid Thinks Bin Laden Dead

Hmmmm?

"Nevada Senator Harry Reid thinks Osama Bin Laden was killed in last month's earthquake in Pakistan.

Speaking Wednesday on News 4's Nevada News Makers, Reid says he was informed today that Bin Laden may have died in the October temblor.

'I heard today that he may have died in the earthquake that they had in Pakistan, seriously.' Reid says that if that is the case, 'that's good for the world.'

When asked about Bin Laden during an exclusive News 4 interview, Reid said, 'I'm not sure he is alive anymore. I think perhaps the earthquake took him down. I certainly hope so.'"

OPEN THREAD--Turkey Day

So, is it a day we eat turkeys or a day turkeys eat crow?

And, this list in my email inbox made me smile. Enjoy:

• If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

• I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it. So I said "Implants?" She hit me.

• I live in my own little world. But it's OK. They know me here.

• I don't approve of political jokes. I've seen too many of them get elected.

• I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

• I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

• How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

• Every time I walk into a singles bar I can hear Mom's wise words: "Don't pick that up, you don't know where it's been!"

• A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "...that was fun!"-

• I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't have signed up in the first place!

• When I was young we used to go "skinny dipping," now I just "chunky dunk."

• The worst thing about accidents in the kitchen is eating them.

• Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over?

• Stress is when you wake up screaming and then you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.

• My husband says I never listen to him (at least I think that's what he said).

• If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called LABOR!

• Wouldn't you know it...Brain cells come and brain cells go, but FAT cells live forever.

Neo-Feminists Take Heart

I was born a feminist. Really. I was born with an independent, self-starting, can-do streak that has served me well except sometimes as a partner-seeking woman, but I digress.

In general men seek women whom they can take care of (a bill I don't fit) but I don't hold that against them. It is part of their biological programming, their drive to procreate--and the more testosterone driven a man the more he seeks an estrogen driven woman--who will likely press for procreation, the ultimate biological goal of life.

Most men and women are born to breed, not challenge their biological code and it is that success of evolution (over human will and to its credit I might add) that has both kept us on the planet but also locked us into the breeding roles we have codified and labeled "family norms."

So, being born to the feminist attitude and not a product of it, I feel nary a worry about feminism when every few years the death of it is announced by a poll or op-ed piece or article or book. I know that the fight of mind over body weaves through all human endeavor. There will always be a questioning of human undertakings that pushes back against biology (e.g. the drive to protect early life hidden behind the tactic of religion).

Further, I only have to look at women like my daughter and others of her generation with kids of their own. While staying home in the first years they plot their return to the outside world; for the stimulation of the persons they grew up expecting to be and now demand to express. They don't question if they need more outside the family, they question how to get more once they are again outside.

So getting more (recognition and pay)--and the neurologically impossible task of emotionally sensitizing men--are still at the core of the feminist challenge, i.e. not much has changed.

So what's a feminist (neo or otherwise) to do? I say, soldier on, but improve your odds of getting something out of your effort:

America's Stay-at-Home Feminists: "There are three rules: Prepare yourself to qualify for good work, treat work seriously, and don't put yourself in a position of unequal resources when you marry."

NEW IDEA: Health Care for Hybrids

Liberals have never had a problem with new ideas. Democrats have a huge problem with getting them heard above the conservative administration and media ruckus about supposedly NOT having them. So here's one of the latest New Ideas from Democrats:

"Last Thursday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) introduced a 'Health Care for Hybrids' bill outlining a new approach for boosting fuel efficiency in Detroit. It would offer struggling U.S. automakers a voluntary but potentially enticing deal: relief from some of the high health-care costs they pay for retired employees (expected to total more than $5 billion in 2005) in exchange for a commitment to reinvest at least half of those savings into the development and manufacture of fuel-efficient vehicles."

The Marine "Mean Jean" Quoted Didn't Make Those Comments...

...and further, he's actually "serving" in the Ohio House of Representatives.

"On November 21, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh and MSNBC host Tucker Carlson defended Rep. Jean Schmidt's (R-OH) controversial remarks regarding Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) by falsely claiming that Col. Dan Bubp, the Marine Reservist whom Schmidt purported to quote, is currently serving in Iraq. In fact, Bubp, a Republican, is currently serving in the Ohio House of Representatives and is a colonel in the Marine Reserves. Media Matters for America has found no evidence to suggest that he has ever served in Iraq. Bubp has since denied making the comments that Schmidt attributed to him."

An American in Paradise (Lost)

Every Thanksgiving I do a little dance in my emotional self. The whole week I feel soooooo incredibly lucky to have been born in a country that has known virtually no war on its shores, plenty in its opportunity and freedom with very, very few encumberments on its people--in other words--all that is my birthright.

But then I remember and shed tears for another part of me, my Cherokee ancestors, whom no one in my family can remember or name before my grandmother; their names are not even written in the only family tree we keep--the frontispiece of my Mother's personal Bible. I am lucky enough however to carry some of their imprint in my features so that even if their names are unspoken they are honored and remembered in the presence of my being.

It may have been on my first learning about the protestant-backed doctrine of Manifest Destiny that I developed my mixed feelings toward religion and my country. The policy that gave God-fearing pioneers a supernatural stamp of approval to colonize the West, embraced the terrorism and genocide necessary to suppress and contain the 'heathen' and 'savage' American and Mexican Indian populations already inhabiting that coveted land.

Did my angst evolve into liberalism--a thinking that some charge "blames America first"? Perhaps, but not unless Americans forget the truth of our foreign military and economic policy; to occupy and usurp through a kind of political terraforming; or when Americans refuse to acknowledge that true intent and deflect rightful and mindful criticism with the shield of the flag or the cross. There is no one else to blame--if it is America--that goes there first.

So I offer, on this white man's holiday, in observance of all the indigenous tribes of the Americas and my heathen ancestors:

One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting.

In fact, indigenous people have offered such a model; since 1970 they have marked the fourth Thursday of November as a Day of Mourning in a spiritual/political ceremony on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, one of the early sites of the European invasion of the Americas.

Not only is the thought of such a change in this white-supremacist holiday impossible to imagine, but the very mention of the idea sends most Americans into apoplectic fits -- which speaks volumes about our historical hypocrisy and its relation to the contemporary politics of empire in the United States.

Scanlon Widens DeLay's Corrupt Circle of Influence

Ohio? Nothing corrupt going on in Ohio... right.

I don't pray but if I did I would pray my ass off that Ney flip in exchange for connections to rigged Ohio elections--including the 2004 presidential return results--but then that would prove God exists and I'd have to become (shiver) religious.

Ex-DeLay Aide Pleads Guilty in Conspiracy: "In an eight-page statement of facts, Scanlon agreed that he and an unidentified person referred to as Lobbyist A 'provided a stream of things of value to public officials in exchange for a series of official acts.'

The items to one unidentified congressman or his staff included all-expense-paid trips to the Northern Marianas Islands in 2000, a trip to the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., in 2001 and a golf trip to Scotland in 2002.

Based on information already placed on the public record by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Lobbyist A is Abramoff and the congressman is Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio.

'Any allegation that Rep. Ney did anything illegal or improper is false,' the congressman's office said in a statement. Calls to the office of Abramoff's lawyer were not immediately returned.

On Friday, Scanlon was charged with conspiracy. On Monday, the Justice Department's statement of facts that Scanlon signed went considerably beyond the earlier charging document, revealing that trips, tickets to sporting events and campaign contributions went to other public officials besides Ney in exchange for official acts."

[UPDATE 11-24-05] New:

In his plea agreement, Scanlon admits helping Abramoff and Kidan buy SunCruz by persuading U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, to insert comments into the Congressional Record that were "calculated to pressure the then-owner to sell on terms favorable" to Abramoff and Kidan.

According to court papers filed in Scanlon's plea deal, Ney received trips, tickets and campaign donations allegedly in exchange for official acts. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said he was duped by Scanlon and Abramoff. He has not been charged.

Venezuela Heats Up Massachusetts

Here's something else for which a round of thanks is due:

Venezuela to provide discount oil to Mass. - Boston.com: "Thousands of low-income Massachusetts residents will receive discounted home heating oil this winter under an agreement signed Tuesday with Venezuela, whose government is a political adversary of the Bush administration.

A subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company will supply oil at 40 percent below market prices. It will be distributed by two nonprofit organizations, Citizens Energy Corp. and the Mass Energy Consumer Alliance.

The agreement gives President Hugo Chavez's government standing as a provider of heating assistance to poor U.S. residents at a time when U.S. oil companies have been reluctant to do so and Congress has failed to expand aid in response to rising oil prices."

It's a Blue, Blue Christmas

About a year ago a group of liberal activists put together BuyBlue. Their mission statement reads:

"BuyBlue.org supports businesses that share our progressive values and ideals. We believe in a triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. BuyBlue.org uses our power as consumers to vote with our wallets, supporting businesses that abide by sustainability, workers' rights, environmental standards, and corporate transparency. At the same time, BuyBlue.org focuses sharply on businesses that violate the essential values of a sustainable, fair and profitable society through their policies and the politicians they support."

and that they do.

Now that the Holiday shopping season is upon us and in additional to the general company listings on their site, the BuyBlue folks have put together a shopping list of companies in most product areas from whom, should you chose to invest your hard-earned dollars, you can reasonably expect a return investment into those social areas you find most compatable with your liberal philosophy.

Now that's a little something worth celebrating.

Thanksgiving Eats...

Thanksgiving -- the Holiday upon which Americans celebrate the indigenous peoples of America (yeah, like that's ever gonna happen) for saving their Puritan asses from dying in the impossible New England winters, is upon us -- so let's start the liberal dinner by giving our thanks for this:

“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”: THOSE WORDS, PENNED IN ARTICLE 11 of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, are as succinct a statement as we have from the Founding Fathers on the role of religion in our government. Their authorship is ascribed variously to George Washington, under whom the treaty was negotiated, or to John Adams, under whom it took effect, or sometimes to Joel Barlow, U.S. consul to Algiers, friend of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, and himself no stranger to the religious ferment of the era, having served as a chaplain in the Revolutionary Army. But the validity of the document transcends its authorship for a simple reason: it was ratified. "

Chemical Farm

Many folks know this--but not so many to (yet) make a difference:

Chemical Farm: "Americans remain largely oblivious to the intrusions of the pharmaceutical industry into our kitchens. Across the pond, however, the Europeans are wising up."

Murtha on Meet the Press

It's always better to read what people have to say in their own words:

Meet the Press November 20, 2005: John Murtha, Anthony Fauci, Julie Gerberding, Michael Leavitt and Michael Ryan.

'In God We Trust'

Removing the motto: " 'In God We Trust' from American currency would mark the end of a tradition that began during the Civil War to rescue the country from 'the ignominy of heathenism' and was expanded in the 1950s to combat the philosophy of communism."

Students Trust UN More Than Bush

Heh, heh, heh...

Students Trust UN More Than Federal Government: "College students trust the United Nations more than they trust the federal government, according to survey results released Wednesday by the Harvard University Institute of Politics.

The survey, the latest in a series of college surveys conducted by the IOP, found that 52 percent of college students 'trust the United Nations to do the right thing all or most of the time.' Forty-four percent felt the same way about the United States government. Even fewer, 39 percent, said they trust President Bush to do the right thing all or most of the time."

Proof The Administration Manipulated Intelligence

The Rendon Group:

"The Rendon Group personally set up the Iraqi National Congress and helped install Ahmad Chalabi as leader, whose main goal — “pressure the United States to attack Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein” — Rendon helped facilitate. Pentagon documents show that Rendon has the highest level of government clearance (above Top Secret), which helped it with its INC work — “a worldwide media blitz designed to turn Hussein…into the greatest threat to world peace.”

While the White House continues to insist it did not manipulate intelligence before the Iraq war, it sure seems that it hired John Rendon and his group to do just that."

A 'Loyal Opposition' Won't End the War

If I believe the administration "fixed" the intelligence to enable an invasion of Iraq, why am I posting the following, seemingly contradictory, view?

First, consistent with my views that human life is not inviolable and that there are special circumstances for and humane processes of killing when necessary, I am not anti-war.

Second, wingers are convinced Clinton and Democrats did nothing about terrorism on their watch. The following demonstrates both did more than enough.

So, from those whose position I do not share, more about pre-invasion Iraq from those farther left than I:

Iraq: A 'Loyal Opposition' Won't End the War: "The Democrats cannot be allowed to use faulty intelligence as a crutch to hold up their unforgivable support for the Iraq invasion. What is DNC Chair Howard Dean's excuse? He wasn't in Congress and didn't have any access to Senate intelligence. Still, on March 9, 2003, just days before the invasion began, Dean told Tim Russert, on NBC's Meet The Press, "I don't want Saddam staying in power with control over those weapons of mass destruction. I want him to be disarmed."

During the New Hampshire primary in January 2004, which I covered for Democracy Now!, I confronted Dean about that statement. I asked him on what intelligence he based that allegation. 'Talks with people who were knowledgeable,' Dean told me. 'Including a series of folks that work in the Clinton administration.'

A series of folks that work in the Clinton administration.

How does that jibe with the official Democratic line that they were misled by the Bush administration? Sounds like Howard Dean, head of the Democratic Party, was misled by... the Democrats. Dean's candor offers us a rare glimpse into the painful truth of the matter. As unpopular as this is to say, when President Bush accuses the Democrats of 'rewriting history' on Iraq, he is right.

None of the horrors playing out in Iraq today would be possible without the Democratic Party. And no matter how hard some party leaders try to deny it, this is their war too and will remain so until every troop is withdrawn. There is no question that the Bush administration is one of the most corrupt, violent and brutal in the history of this country but that doesn't erase the serious responsibility the Democrats bears for the bloodletting in Iraq."

National Parks Have Mexican Pot Farms (?)

Does anybody else find Mexican drug cartels running pot farms in our forests as surprising as I do or am I arriving late to this bit of news?

Scanlon Faces Conspiracy Charge

This news fare is a day or two old but hey--Republican scandals du jour are always on my menu:

Scanlon Faces Conspiracy Charge in Scandal: "A partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff is charged with conspiring to defraud American Indian tribes of millions of dollars in a scheme that lavished trips, sports tickets and campaign donations on a member of Congress.

Michael Scanlon, a one-time aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, will appear in federal court Monday on a single count contained in a criminal information. That typically is a prelude to a guilty plea and cooperation with government investigators."

[UPDATE 11-21-05] Even better. He's turning state's witness!

Rumsfeld Given Iraq Withdrawal Plan

Okay. Are Republicans going to cut and run or not?

And if they are could Dems get some credit for this being one of their ideas or is this too set to be one of those ideas Republicans had before they were against it--or didn't have before they were for it--or never had but don't want to admit it...you figure it out. When you do let me know.

Rumsfeld given Iraq withdrawal plan : "The top U.S. commander in Iraq has submitted a plan to the Pentagon for withdrawing troops in Iraq, according to a senior defense official.

Gen. George Casey submitted the plan to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It includes numerous options and recommends that brigades -- usually made up of about 2,000 soldiers each -- begin pulling out of Iraq early next year."

(Just) Six of the CIA's Interrogation Techniques

But where are "Create Pyramid With Hoods, Whips and Chains" or "Threaten Broom Handle Sodomy" and the ever popular "Lie In Excrement" or "Hang From Cuffs Until Dead"?

News report details CIA's harsh interrogation techniques: "The officials described six 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, ' which they said were used on a dozen top al Qaida targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe.

By 'Long Time Standing,' the technique described as among the most effective, prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

In 'Cold Cell,' the prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 10 degrees Celsius, and throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

By 'Water Boarding,' the prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. The prisoner begins to gag and fearing he is to be drowned, pleas to confess, according to the report.

The other techniques are 'Belly Slap' -- a hard open-handed slap to the stomach; 'Attention Grab' -- the interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him; and 'Attention Slap' - an open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

In one case, a prisoner was left to stand naked throughout the harsh Afghanistan night after being doused with cold water, and died of hypothermia, the report said."

Sectarian Hatred Pulls Apart Iraq's Mixed Towns

Oh yeah...things are so much better now...

Sectarian Hatred Pulls Apart Iraq's Mixed Towns - New York Times: "Two and a half years after the American invasion, deep divides that have long split Iraqi society have violently burst into full view. As the hatred between Sunni Arabs and Shiites hardens and the relentless toll of bombings and assassinations grows, families are leaving their mixed towns and cities for safer areas where they will not automatically be targets."

US and China to Cooperate More on Terrorism

Oh yeah, this is a country with whom the US should be partnering. Famous for nationalism, dissident suppression, some of the worst pollution and human rights violations in the world and -- may I add -- communism.

When is a (Walmart) Walton running for president, er, Imperial Leader?

"China says its biggest terrorist threat comes from separatist forces in its far-western region of Xinjiang, where most of the population is Muslim and belongs to the Uighur ethnic group. But international human rights groups and advocates of Xinjiang independence say China has exaggerated the threat in the region to suppress legitimate protest.

Asked about the U.S. stance on China's efforts to combat terrorism in Xinjiang, Gonzales said: 'We committed to try to be as helpful as we can, and cooperative as we can, with the Chinese government.'"

"(insert your religion here) Is The Answer!"

There are at least two reasons the following article should raise eyebrows among Conservatives.

First, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that not everybody--in fact it seems damn few--can create American-style democracy just because they get to vote (du-uuh).

Second, catch-phrases work equally well when the guys you don't want to be running your life also use them. Maybe somebody should point this out to our Misleader-in-Chief, Bush.

Banned group earns foothold in Egypt vote: "A surprise showing in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections has given the Muslim Brotherhood its strongest political foothold ever heading into Sunday's vote, hinting at what democracy might look like in the Arab world's largest country.

Secularists and Christians were unsettled by the Brotherhood's initial showing, with the country's oldest Islamic fundamentalist group taking 34 seats, doubling its presence in parliament.

The victories have established the Brotherhood as the leader of the opposition and have proven what the government feared: that the banned group is popular among Egyptians despite, or because of, frequent crackdowns and the government's media campaign against it.

The unanswered question remains: Does Brotherhood success stem from its platform -- summed up in its slogan, 'Islam is the solution,' vague but appealing to some in conservative Egypt -- or to widespread discontent with President Hosni Mubarak's government."

[UPDATE 11-25-05] Poverty matters:

Wafdeya Mohammed, a poor widow with five children to feed, says she usually can't be bothered with political platforms and slogans.

Nevertheless, on Sunday the 32-year-old widow voted for the only group that has stood by her since her husband died seven years ago: The Muslim Brotherhood, which pays her a monthly stipend, keeps her children in school and provides medical care.

In the three-stage parliamentary election now under way, many Egyptians are voting for the Muslim Brotherhood because they agree with its slogan: ''Islam is the solution.''

White House Still Lying About Iraq Pre-Invasion Intelligence

This is NOT going to Go AWAY until we make it known to every man, woman and child with a working brain--BUSH IS LYING.

Here are more links to more facts about how Bush's information WAS NOT the same as that of those in Congress.

Read these facts, learn these facts, make flash cards and test yourselves on these facts, make postcards of these facts and send them to your friends. Hell, make Christmas wrapping paper with these facts potato-printed onto it! DO NOT STOP repeating the truth until the lies are glaring and the liar is exposed!

"Indeed, the Bush administration was not merely a recipient of intelligence, but also a participant in the decisions regarding what intelligence on Iraq would be emphasized and disseminated.: For example, the CIA sent Congress 15 intelligence assessments in 2002 substantiating the White House's claim that Iraq had acquired aluminum tubes designed to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. According to The New York Times, however, 'not one of them' included crucial dissenting views pertaining to the probable use of the tubes. The Times further reported that 'the dissenting views were repeatedly discussed in meetings and telephone calls' between the CIA and administration officials. New evidence, such as the Downing Street Memo, has similarly depicted the administration as an active participant in the interagency debates over the Iraq intelligence."

Ginsburg DOES NOT Agree With Alito on Abortion

In the fight to make Alito look like any other average judge, winger supporter's are (as usual) pulling out the stops; leaving out the qualifiers, distorting the history, repeating their manufactured "news" ad nauseum throughout the echo chamber (a reason why you dear reader, need to read more liberal blogs) and generally trying to sell the same old snake oil to Americans (i.e. "it's all the liberals fault" OR "liberals do it so why can't we").

Here's what Alito said about aboortion:

Most recently it has been an honor and source of personal satisfaction for me to serve in the office of the Solicitor General during President Reagan's administration and to help to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly. I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion.

This is what commentators and others, icluding Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, are claiming:

"Justice Ginsburg, by the way, leveled the same criticism regarding the underpinning of Roe v. Wade. She supports the right to abortion but recognized that it doesn't come out of the Constitution the way it was announced in Roe."

This is the truth from "Some Thoughts on Equality and Autonomy in Relation to Roe v. Wade," published in the January 1985 edition of the North Carolina Law Review, from a lecture of the same name by Ginsburg:

Professor Paul Freund explained where he thought the Court went astray in Roe, and I agree with his statement. The Court properly invalidated the Texas proscription, he indicated, because "[a] law that absolutely made criminal all kinds and forms of abortion could not stand up; it is not a reasonable accommodation of interests."

--snip--

If Roe had left off at that point and not adopted what Professor Freund called a "medical approach," physicians might have been less pleased with the decision, but the legislative trend might have continued in the direction in which it was headed in the early 1970s. "[S]ome of the bitter debate on the issue might have been averted," Professor Freund believed; "[t]he animus against the Court might at least have been diverted to the legislative halls." Overall, he thought that the Roe distinctions turning on trimesters and viability of the fetus illustrated a troublesome tendency of the modern Supreme Court under Chief Justices Burger and Warren "to specify by a kind of legislative code the one alternative pattern that will satisfy the Constitution."

I commented at the outset that I believe the Court presented an incomplete justification for its action. Academic criticism of Roe, charging the Court with reading its own values into the due process clause, might have been less pointed had the Court placed the woman alone, rather than the woman tied to her physician, at the center of its attention. Professor [Kenneth L.] Karst's commentary is indicative of the perspective not developed in the High Court's opinion: he solidly linked abortion prohibitions with discrimination against women. The issue in Roe, he wrote, deeply touched and concerned "women's position in society in relation to men."

--snip--

The conflict, however, is not simply one between a fetus' interests and a woman's interests, narrowly conceived, nor is the overriding issue state versus private control of a woman's body for a span of nine months. Also in the balance is a woman's autonomous charge of her full life's course ... her ability to stand in relation to man, society, and the state as an independent, self-sustaining, equal citizen.

And more from Media Matters, the ommissions replaced where wingers rip them out:

Elsewhere in the media, conservative commentators attempted to equate Alito's comments with those made by other legal scholars. In a November 15 column headlined "The Alito Fight Gets Interesting," New York Post columnist John Podhoretz claimed that Alito's 1985 assertion was entirely consistent with liberal scholar Edward Lazarus's criticism of Roe:

• So what if Edward Lazarus, one of the nation's foremost liberal Supreme Court journalists and a one-time clerk for the justice who wrote the Roe v. Wade decision, put it this way: "As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe borders on the indefensible."

But in quoting an October 2002 column penned by Lazurus, Podhoretz omitted the sentence that followed, in which Lazurus clarified that he believed the right to an abortion "has grounding" in the Constitution -- a position directly at odds with that put forth by Alito:

• As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe borders on the indefensible. I say this as someone utterly committed to the right to choose, as someone who believes such a right has grounding elsewhere in the Constitution instead of where Roe placed it, and as someone who loved Roe's author like a grandfather.

There are links to the left under STOP ALITO. Like I said before, get on those keyboards coz It's Hammertime!

It's Hammertime!

Facts about Alito:

• Alito stated in an application for Asst. Deputy Attorney General that he did not believe women had a constitutional right to reproductive choice.


• As the lone dissenter (disagreeing even with Michael Chertoff, now head of Bush's Homeland Security Department), he would have upheld the strip search of a 10-year-old girl without a valid warrant.


• Again in dissent, Alito would have upheld a PA law requiring women, in many cases, to notify their husbands before obtaining abortions.


• In dissent again, Alito said that a congressional law restricting the transfer and possession of machine guns was unconstitutional.


• While working under Attorney General Edwin Meese, Alito urged President Reagan to veto a bill to protect consumers from used car dealers who roll back odometers -- he said it wasn't the federal government's job to protect citizens' health, safety and welfare!

Let's do what the right ALWAYS does. Get hammering on those keyboards and stop what we don't want!

TGIF-- Open Thread

Have at it...

Don't Christians Believe in Free Speech?

I guess not--especially when it omits them...:

"The American Family Association is asking supporters not to shop at Target due to its continuing ban on Salvation Army bell ringers outside its stores and its shunning of the phrase 'Merry Christmas' in-store promotions and advertising."

Oh yeah, and this is why:

As WorldNetDaily reported, a boycott of Target was organized last year in response to its banning of the Salvation Army's traditional red-kettle solicitors. Christian activists believe Target made the move to appease the homosexual community. The retailer is a contributor to homosexual causes, and the Salvation Army has traditionally opposed the "gay" agenda.

If gay folks are so omniprescent don't you think enough would've showed up at the polls to pass those equality marriage ammendments?

Can you spell Christian?

P-A-R-A-N-O-I-D...

Bush Hires Felon to Handle $82 Billion in Iraq

Oh yeah--the White House has it all under control--yep.

"A North Carolina man who has been charged with accepting kickbacks and bribes was hired as a controller and financial officer for the American occupation authority in Iraq despite having served prison time for felony fraud in the 1990s.

The job gave the man, Robert Stein, control over $82 million in cash earmarked for Iraqi rebuilding projects."

When in Doubt, Pay For Really Big Ads

Is it me or does it seem particularly slimey when the government resorts to advertising to get support? Aren't we all pretty immune to ads--I mean, any third-grader can tell you advertiser's lie, er, advertise to get you to buy stuff you don't usually need--and now the government is trying to sell you something too? Hmmmm....

"Fighting a decline in public support for the Iraq war and his own leadership, U.S. President George W. Bush and Republican allies have chosen to court his political base with a campaign-style offensive against Democrats.

The Republican National Committee on Friday unveiled a new television advertisement accusing Senate Democrats of dishonesty for turning against a war they originally supported, although polls show the broad U.S. public following a similar track from support to disillusionment.

It was the latest volley in an offensive Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney launched last week to attack war critics as unpatriotic and hypocritical.

Analysts saw the push as a response by a worried White House to stop an erosion in popularity that has extended to Bush's bedrock supporters, such as military households, married voters and even the NASCAR auto-racing fans emblematic of his conservative base.

Pollster John Zogby said his surveys showed majorities of such groups no longer supported Bush. 'That's the heart of his base. Bush has to at least get back support from some of those,' Zogby said."

And the Beat Goes On...

Fitzgerald to offer more CIA leak evidence: "The special prosecutor who has been investigating the leak of a CIA operative's identity is continuing his probe and will present additional evidence to another grand jury, according to court papers filed Friday."

Americans Take Heed--This Could be US!

Judge in crucifix dispute gets jail: "'I was convicted because I am a minor-league citizen compared to Catholics,' Tosti said. 'I could be an atheist or a Buddhist, it doesn't matter.' Tosti declined to describe his religious beliefs, calling it a private matter."

Nuclear Iran

First Bush was against it, now he's for it...

US backs role for Iran in nuclear fuel cycle: "In a major concession towards Iran’s nuclear programme, the US on Friday gave its public backing to a proposal by Russia and the European Union that would allow the Islamic republic to develop part of the nuclear fuel cycle on its own territory.

The shift in US policy – revealed after talks between President George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader – came despite a report from the UN nuclear watchdog that lent credence to US and European claims that Iran is trying, or once had ambitions, to develop nuclear weapons."

Republicans Trivialize American Troops

Can we question THEIR patriotism now?

U.S. House, in tactic, to vote on Iraq troops:

"In a maneuver to strike at Iraq war critics, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives engineered a vote on Friday on a resolution to pull U.S. troops immediately from Iraq, which was expected to be defeated overwhelmingly.

Republicans who introduced the surprise resolution hours before lawmakers were to head out for a Thanksgiving holiday recess said the vote slated for 10 p.m. (0300 GMT) was intended to show backing for U.S. forces.

But Democrats bitterly denounced it as a political stunt and an attack on Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a leading Democratic hawk on military affairs who stunned his colleagues on Thursday by calling for troops to be withdrawn as quickly as possible.

The action by Republicans in the House was the latest volley in an offensive President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney launched last week to attack war critics as unpatriotic and hypocritical.

Unlike Murtha's proposal calling for troops to be withdrawn 'as soon as practicable,' which he expected would be about six months, the Republican resolution said deployment of the U.S. forces should be 'terminated immediately.'

Democrats said no one was advocating the immediate end of the deployment without ensuring the safety of forces, and that it was a meaningless resolution that ducked real debate on the situation in Iraq.

'To take this proposal and trash it, trivialize it, is outrageous,' said Rep. John Spratt, a South Carolina Democrat.

Many Democrats have called on Bush to present a plan for ending the war and an estimate of when U.S. forces can start to be withdrawn based on conditions on the ground. Relatively few have called for a withdrawal."

Attack of the Cronies

Oh great.

Attack of the Cronies: "Today's fun challenge is 'Spot the Next Brownie.' In this fab game for the whole family, review a list of Bush administration cronies in office and see if you can pick the next Michael 'Heckuva Job' Brown, another disaster waiting for a hurricane to happen.

Scope out the Bird Flu Czar from Amtrak. Stewart Simonson is now in charge of 'the protection of the civilian population from acts of bioterrorism and other public health emergencies,' according to his government biography. He is also in charge of ensuring the country has adequate vaccines and antiviral meds to combat an avian flu epidemic. This would be peachy-keen if Simonson had any experience in public health, bioterrorism, epidemics or even management. Unfortunately, he's a political lawyer. As he recently told a congressional subcommittee, 'We're learning as we go.'"

Qualifiers DO Matter

The Republican echo chamber is at it again--full force this time because they need to beat back Fitzgerald's hold on Libby desperately--and hope to sidestep the obvious next jump to Cheney. But we won't let them, no...

Media repeated Libby lawyer's falsehood : "In response to Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward's recent disclosure that he testified under oath on November 14 that he had learned from a senior administration official in mid-June 2003 about CIA operative Valerie Plame, lawyers for I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby claimed that this revelation undermined one of special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's key allegations against Libby. Attorney Ted Wells stated that, in his announcemenvt of Libby's indictment for perjury, obstruction of justice, and false statements, Fitzgerald asserted that Libby 'was the first government official to tell a reporter' about Plame -- a statement now proven to be 'totally inaccurate,' according to Wells. But Wells has misrepresented what Fitzgerald actually said: that Libby 'was the first official known to have told a reporter' this information [emphasis added].

Later in the press conference, Fitzgerald repeated that Libby was the first official to disclose Plame's identity to a reporter -- this time without the qualifier. But by making it clear at the outset that Libby was only the first official known to have disclosed the information, as MSNBC host Keith Olbermann noted in a weblog post, 'Fitzgerald was clearly and meticulously leaving his case open in case an earlier leaker later turned up -- as evidently he just did.'

Despite Fitzgerald's use of this crucial qualifier, numerous news outlets and media figures have repeated Wells's claim -- that Woodward's disclosure contradicted what Fitzgerald said -- as fact. They include the Associated Press, The Washington Post, NBC News correspondent David Shuster, Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle, ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas, and others."

Robert Sheer Dumped by LA Times

Wait, I thought this was a free country? I thought we had tolerance for differing views? I thought we loved the truth? Oh, we love CONSERVATIVE truth.

Well, that IS different.

Scheer's forceful and independent commentary has often placed him in the middle of national debates. He has been one of the strongest critics of the White House over the Iraq War. For instance, in a pre-war column (8/6/02) that undercuts the current notion that everyone got the WMD story wrong, Scheer wrote that “a consensus of experts” told the Senate that Iraq’s chemical and biological arsenals were “almost totally destroyed during eight years of inspections.” Shortly after George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech, and well ahead of the pack, Scheer (6/3/03) called White House pretexts for war a “big lie.”

Scheer was also one of the first columnists to call for withdrawal from Iraq, in a November 4, 2003 column that presaged shifting public opinion on the issue--though his position is still hard to find among his fellow pundits. More than 1,700 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died since Scheer’s call for withdrawal was published.

In 1999, with a Democrat in the White House, Scheer used his column to expose the racism and unfairness driving the government's (and media's) case against Wen Ho Lee, a Chinese-American scientist wrongly accused of spying. And when a federal court struck the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance in 2002, Scheer was one of the rare media figures who bucked the Republican/Democratic consensus by strongly defending the court's decision (See Extra! Update, 8/02.)

--snip--

"The Times has suggested that (Robert) Scheer's firing was simply part of a larger revamping of its opinion pages, but Scheer says he was fired for ideological reasons and because the Times' corporate parent, Tribune Company of Chicago, was caving in to outside pressure from conservatives. As Scheer told Democracy Now! (11/14/05), 'What happened is that I had been the subject of vicious attacks by Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh…. I was a punching bag for those guys. I'm still standing, and the people who run the paper collapsed.'"

Nixon Redux

Speaking of Nixon:

When did this happen?:

WASHINGTON - White House advisers convene secret sessions about the political dangers of revelations that American troops committed atrocities in the war zone ….. in the face of an increasingly unpopular war, they wonder at the impact on support at home. The best way out of the war, they agree, is to prop up a new government that they hope can unite the fractured foreign land… The President, meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told them to pull out all the stops. 'don't worry, we're taking the political heat. 'Publicly, we say one thing,' he told aides. 'Actually, we do another.'

You are forgiven for assuming that was from George Bush and Dick Cheney's talking points the other day. Actually, it's straight out of newly-released Nixon administration documents from 1969.

Back then Nixon was trying to worm out of blow-back from the Mai Lai massacre and his illegal bombing of neutral Cambodia."

DuPont Hates Its Consumers

There's a reason big corporations need strict regulation and supervision: they are not corporeal beings (though they have first amendment protection), they do not have moral reflection (though their administrator's craft soulful Mission Statements suggesting otherwise) and they are beholden to nobody (except the corporate share-holders who are given the same 'data' as those consuming the product).

We need to dump all the legislators--Republican and Democrat alike who are in the pockets of these liars--NOW would be a good time to start:

DuPont Co. hid studies showing the risks of a Teflon-related chemical used to line candy wrappers, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags and hundreds of other food containers, according to internal company documents and a former employee.

The chemical Zonyl can rub off the liner and get into food. Once in a person's body, it can break down into perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts, known as PFOA, a related chemical used in the making of Teflon-coated cookware.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been trying to decide whether to classify PFOA as a 'likely' human carcinogen. The Food and Drug Administration, in a letter released Wednesday evening by DuPont, said it was continuing to monitor the safety of PFOA chemicals in food.

The DuPont documents were made public Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization.

At the same time, a former DuPont chemical engineer, Glenn Evers, told reporters at a news conference at EWG's office that the company long suppressed its studies on the chemical.

'They are toxic,' Evers said of the PFOA chemicals. 'They get into human blood. And they are also in every one of you. Your loved ones, your fellow citizens.'

From 1981 to 2002, Evers helped DuPont develop new products. He lost his job in 2002 in what DuPont described as a company restructuring."

On Language and Responsibility: A Progressive View

Great piece on language, credibility and winger "reality" distortion:

Political Cortex: "So, let me understand this: Saddam was a threat. No, wait, . . . Saddam wasn't a threat but his policies were. No, wait, . . he wasn't a threat, but 'it was important that we confront threats before they are fully threats.' Is that about it, Dan? Is that another way of saying launching a 'pre-emptive war'?"

Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch

Why doesn't this surprise me?

Work at the base has been a source of dispute in recent weeks because dozens of unionized electricians, many of them local residents who had their homes destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, claim they were let go by another Halliburton subcontractor, Alabama-based BE&K, in favor of lower wage workers. That came after the Bush administration suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, a law that guarantees the prevailing local wage for workers operating under federal contracts.

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), who has been following the case closely, said the discovery of illegal immigrants at the naval base confirms that Gulf Coast workers looking for livable wages are getting left out of the federally funded reconstruction.

So, a watch-dog site like this: Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch, is necessary.

Big Bizness is a thousand-fold pack of wolves that does nothing except endlessly circle the herd looking for easy prey--US--to pick-off. We Americans have to invest far too many resources of time and energy to keep them from ripping the flesh right off our bones as we do the simplest and most meanial chores, like survive.

I get tired of the predator class...don't you? Please let's get these guys under control by putting Republican's out of business in 2006...

Alito Against Democracy

This guy just gets worse and worse...

Worse than Roe- Alito Against Democracy: "You can be against judicial action to override the democratic will of the people -- as I am -- and still recognize that where legislatures cease to reflect that will, courts have a reasonable role in stopping elite minorities from manipulating voting rules to establish a tyranny over the majority.

But Alito's supposed deference to the elected branches isn't about deference to democracy, but deference to the racist power of states in our history to oppress majority power-- which is what makes his professed hostility to affirmative action and federal power and his decisions against plaintiffs making claims of discrimination even more disturbing."

The Case of Plame: curioser and curioser...

Are you kidding me?

Talking Points Memo : "So the news is out from the Post now -- both in a statement from Bob Woodward and in an article from the Post.

The details still seem sketchy and I suspect we're going to find out a lot more in the next few days. But it now seems that Woodward -- who has long been publicly critical of the Fitzgerald investigation -- has been part of it from the beginning. Literally, the beginning.

From the Post account it appears that Woodward was told of Valerie Plame's identity before any other journalist by an as-yet-unnamed senior administration official who is not Karl Rove or Scooter Libby.

More problematically for Woodward, he didn't tell his own Post editors about any of this until last month and then only after the unnamed senior administration official came forward to Fitzgerald and told him about it. That apparently led Fitzgerald to subpoena Woodward

Woodward claims that he told Post reporter Walter Pincus about it at the time. But Pincus says he has no recollection of such a conversation."