Celebrate W.'s Birthday The DCCC Way!

The folks who brought you
Republican Survivor
are at it again!

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) invites you to send
Former Governor George W. Bush a Haiku birthday greeting...

The DCCC will publish the Top 10 Entries! LINK

I just posted my entry:


Quench your candles, George
Birthday with a body count
Wishes accomplished? 

Thanks, American Family Association!

I'd like to send out a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Don Wildmon and his fundamentally ignorant followers for making such a BIG DEAL out of some harmless refrigerator magnets!

Without the FUSS, I never would have known about these magnets.

The following headline should read:

Xtian Fundies Promote Free Advertising For Urban Outfitters

But it actually reads:

Urban Outfitters Dumps "Jesus Dressup"

My favorite quote from the press release:

"We're pleased Urban Outfitters came to the same conclusion we did," said American Family Association chairman Don Wildmon. "Marketing a product insulting to the Christian faith is not a wise business choice."* LINK

* Want to bet?



Refrigerator Magnets Made Popular By Fundie Xtian Ignorance
$14.⁰⁰ 

Order Yours Today
While Supplies Last!
www.jesusdressup.com

Something Fishy This Way Comes...

Bite me, Mr. Bradbury!

Remember that LATE FRIDAY NEWS DUMP
I mentioned last Friday?

Well, this little ditty slipped completely under the radar:

Second US cow tests positive for BSE

NewScientist.com news service

A second cow in the US has produced an initial positive result for BSE. US officials are saying it is “very likely” the cow will turn out to be negative. However, in most countries, the test used is wrong about a positive result only about once in a thousand times.

The US Department of Agriculture announced the result late on Friday. It was the first positive test since the US began testing thousands of cattle for BSE on 1 June. The testing is in response to the discovery of its first mad cow in December 2003.

However, the USDA is calling the result “inconclusive” until it is confirmed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) at the US’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa.

IHC is a highly reliable but slower BSE test. In a briefing on Friday, John Clifford, deputy head of the US Department of AgricultureÂ’s Veterinary Services Programme*, said the IHC results will take four to seven days. LINK

*What's with the Brit spelling?

Nestled in the site's FAQs:

Where can I buy a copy of New Scientist?
New Scientist is available in most supermarkets, high street stores and newsagents throughout the UK. You can also pick up a copy outside the UK. Or why not try a subscription?

Neither The NYT, The WaPo, nor The WSJ featured this story prominently.

Fishy.

Hey, Mr. Wilson Bradbury!

Fahrenheit 451 is currently ranked 46^th at amazon.com. LINK

A Thank You Note to Michael Moore would be nice.

Notable Quote

"The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious, and the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."

Winston Churchill

Back Burner News

The Iraq invasion and occupation, the devastated American economy, the historically high gas prices, and LaciKobiObesity have so dominated US News that many important issues have been relegated to America's Back Burners.

It's a ponderous stove top, Folks!

Explosions Wound Up to 27 in Eastern Afghan City

By Amir Shah Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Two explosions Wednesday injured as many as 27 people in an eastern Afghan city, and insurgents in another province burned trucks supplying American troops and abducted their Afghan crews, officials said.

The explosions occurred a few minutes apart near security checkpoints in downtown Jalalabad, 80 miles east of the capital, Kabul, officials said.

snip

Further south, suspected Taliban stopped four trucks bound for an American base, burning them and abducting 12 people manning the vehicles, an Afghan military official said.

The trucks were stopped Tuesday afternoon in Nesh district of Uruzgan province as they were carrying food to American bases, said Khan Mohammed, a senior commander in neighboring Kandahar province.

"We have no idea where the (drivers and the truck crews) have been taken," Mohammed said. LINK


48 school deaths highest in years

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

The school year just ending was one of the deadliest in years,, according to preliminary data showing 48 school-related violent deaths from August through June. That's more than in the past two school years combined and more than in any year in the past decade.

-snip-

The 2002-2003 school year saw 16 violent deaths in and around schools, down from 17 the previous year, according to National School Safety And Security (news - web sites) Services, a Cleveland firm that tracks school violence. That includes not just violence by students but any homicide or suicide on school property, on the way to or from school or while attending or traveling to or from a school-sponsored event. That's the definition used by the federal government.

But a few law enforcement officials and school safety advocates say the nation's focus on terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, is beginning to drain money and attention from efforts to keep schools safe. They also say they're seeing an increase in gang-related school crime that they fear will worsen.

"It's a huge problem," says C. Ronald Huff, a criminology professor at the University of California-Irvine. He says funding for school-based and community policing is "just being decimated." LINK

Berlusconi suffers major setback in Italian election: estimate

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party lost control of its Milan power base in local elections, in another setback for the conservatives following their defeat in European parliamentary polls.

The left-wing challenger, Filippo Penati beat out the incumbent Milan governor Ombretta Colli, garnering 54.2 percent of the vote to her 45.8, RAI television reported citing figures from polling agency Nexus.

snip

The opposition won outright in 40 of the 46 provinces it had held before the first round ballot, while Berlusconi's coalition only kept four of its 17 provinces. LINK

How Low Will GOP Go?

Gloria Borger: "Well, let's get to Mohammed Atta for a minute, because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was quote, "pretty well confirmed."

Vice President Cheney: "No, I never said that."

BORGER: "OK."

CHENEY: "Never said that."

BORGER: "I think that is ..."

CHENEY: Absolutely not.

Now see the transcript, NBC's Meet the Press, Dec. 9, 2001:

CHENEY: "It's been pretty well confirmed that he [Atta] did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April."

Turns out it was not confirmed. Cheney was lying. Bush was lying. We were buffaloed into a war based on lie after lie.

When Bill Clinton lied, the only victim was a blue dress but Congress impeached him. When George W. Bush lied, thousands of Iraqis were killed, more than 800 Americans already have lost their lives, thousands more GIs are wounded and the Republican House can't be bothered to hold hearings to get to the bottom of these discrepancies. LINK

Economic Growth Was Less Robust Than Estimated

By JEFF BATER
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
June 28, 2004; Page A2

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy wasn't as strong during the first quarter as previously estimated, and inflation was a bit higher.

Gross domestic product, the total value of goods and services produced in a nation, increased in the January-March quarter at a 3.9% annual rate from the fourth quarter, a slower rate than the earlier estimated 4.4%, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Inflation as measured by the price index of personal consumption expenditures, which the Federal Reserve considers to be a better gauge of inflation than the better known consumer-price index, rose at an annual rate of 2%, excluding food and energy -- a faster rate than the previous estimate of 1.7%.

Corporate profits increased 2.1% from the previous three months, not at an annual rate, and were up 37.7% from the year-earlier period. LINK

Reports say billions of dollars of Iraqi money unaccounted for

LONDON (AP) Billions of dollars belonging to Iraq is not accounted for by the Coalition Provisional Authority, which was given responsibility by the United Nations for the country's finances, British lawmakers and aid activists said Monday.

There are glaring gaps in the handling of $20 billion generated by Iraq's oil and other sources since the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein ended last year, according to reports from the Liberal Democrats, Britain's third-largest political party, and Christian Aid.

The Christian Aid report also said the majority of Iraq's reconstruction projects have been awarded to U.S. companies, which charge up to 10 times more than Iraqi firms.

There was no immediate reaction from coalition officials to the reports. LINK

US Army Plans to Activate Reserve Troops

VOA News

The U.S. Army is preparing to activate thousands of reserve troops for potential duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army officials say around 6,000 troops from the rarely-used Individual Ready Reserve will be informed of possible deployment.

The troops would be used to help fill gaps in units serving in the two active U.S. combat areas.

Violence in Iraq has forced the Pentagon to keep the troop level there at nearly 140,000, about 30,000 more than planned. The U.S. military has another 20,000 troops in Afghanistan.

The Individual Ready Reserve is a pool of more than 100,000 former soldiers who still have some obligations to the military.

The last time the Individual Ready Reserve was used was on the eve of the 1991 war that ended Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. LINK

Lay down your king, BushCo®. Your Eisentrager Gambit is a losing strategy.

The Supreme W. Court has finally decided that enemy combatants held in Guantanamo Bay,Cuba, have the right to ask for a writ of habeas corpus in American courts and petition said court for their release. (after two years of ignoring documented cases of torture and death).

In Rasul Et Al v Bush, SCOTUS ruled against BushCo^®:

The Court rejects respondents’ (BushCo^®'s) primary submission that these cases are controlled by Eisentrager’s holding that a District Court lacked authority to grant habeas relief to German citizens captured by U.S.forces in China, tried and convicted of war crimes by an American military commission headquartered in Nanking, and incarcerated in occupied Germany.

The Eisentrager Court found six critical facts: The German prisoners were

(a)enemy aliens who
(b)had never been or resided in the United States,
(c)were captured outside U.S. territory and there held in military custody,
(d)were there tried and convicted by the military*
(e)for offenses committed there,and
(f)were imprisoned there at all times.

Petitioners here differ from the Eisentrager detainees in important respects:

They are not nationals of countries at war with the United States,
and they deny that they have engaged in or plotted acts of aggression against this country;
they have never been afforded access to any tribunal*, much less charged with and convicted of wrongdoing;
and for more than two years they have been imprisoned in territory over which the United States exercises exclusive jurisdiction and control.

The Eisentrager Court also made clear that all six of the noted critical facts were relevant only to the question of the prisoners’constitutional entitlement to habeas review. LINK

Of course, Sandra Day O'Connor cast the deciding vote.

STEVENS,J., delivered the opinion of the Court,in which O’CONNOR, SOUTER, GINSBURG, and BREYER,JJ., joined.KENNEDY,J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. SCALIA,J.,filed a dissenting opinion, in which REHNQUIST,C.J.,and THOMAS,J., joined.

* Could Military Tribunals be BushCo^®'s way out? Maybe the game isn't over yet.

Name That Republican! (puzzle solution)

Randall Terry "I don't think Christians should use birth control. You consummate your marriage as often as you like--and if you have babies, you have babies."
Dick Cheney "If the Democratic policies had been pursued over the last two or three years, we would not have had the kind of job growth we've had."
Arnold Schwarzenegger "I am very disappointed. I was invited to come and participate as grand marshal of the parade, and then I was disinvited because politics got involved in the whole thing. The reality of it is that I am for the Latin community. I love Mexico. I have done four movies down there."
Jay Garner "We ought to be beating our chests every day. We ought to look in a mirror and get proud. We ought to stick out our chests and suck in our bellies and say, 'Damn, we're Americans.'"
Michael Ledeen "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business."
Tom DeLay "Nothing is more important in the face of war than cutting taxes."
Donald Rumsfeld "Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
Barbara Bush "But why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it's, not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"
Peggy Noonan "(GW Bush is) Clark Kent moving, at the moment of maximum danger, to shed his suit, tear open his shirt, and reveal the big 'S' on this chest."
Ann Coulter "We should invade their [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity."
George W Bush "The world must understand...that its credibility is at stake."
Bob Barr "When are you going to open the gate, you stupid black idiot?"
Darrell Issa (to HWY Patrolman) "It's not your job to stop me for speeding."
JD Haworth (about Jim Jeffords) "Sickening...disgusting...treachery."
John Cooksey "If I see someone come in that's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over."
Barbara Cubin "I know what Victoria's Secret is. She's a slut."
George H W Bush "The caribou love (the Alaska pipeline). They rub up against it and they have babies."
Dick Armey And if there is a "dick army," Barney Frank would want to join up."
Ronald Reagan "What does an actor know about politics?"
Gerald Ford "Things are more like they are now than they have ever been."
Dan Quayle "Republicans understand the importance of bondage between parent and child."
Condoleezza Rice "As I was telling my husb... I mean the president."

Moses, Mary, Mohammed, Spin & Marty!

Here's your hat! Here's your ears!
~OR~
Here's your blue file folder?


The cradle of civilization fits in a file folder? 

Iraq's outgoing U.S. governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraq leaders sealing the formal transfer of powers before flying out of the country. The low-key ceremony was over before it was announced and before ordinary Iraqis were aware of it. LINK

Even ^oO^oHonorary Mouseketeers^oO^o got more attention than the New & Improved Iraqi Government!

After an exciting Fun Filled week, ending with Talent Round Up Day, some lucky kid was celebrated as an Honorary Mousketeer!

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi^® gets a blue file folder?

Blast From The Past:

Monday - Fun With Music Day
Tuesday - Guest Star Day
Wednesday - Anything Can Happen Day
Thursday - Circus Day
Friday - Talent Round-Up Day

I'm sure the original BushCo^® plan called for a week of FABULOUS* CEREMONIES, ending with George W.'s triumphant return to the scene of the Plastic Turkey Escapade.

C'est la vie...

Beheadings, worldwide protests, and Bush's well known cowardice in the face of physical danger might have killed the urge to party; hence, a blue folder and a handshake.

Transfer Of Power?

Like BushCo^® would actually turn over the actual keys to the Oil Kingdom!

I predict we will see:

Fewer and fewer news reports from Iraq

Troop withdrawls by Labor Day

Bin Laden's capture in October

Stay tuned!

*George W. Bush's favorite word LINK

Name That Republican!

Can You Name That Republican?
(Click puzzle to enlarge and print) 

Across

8. "I am very disappointed. I was invited to come and participate as grand marshal of the parade, and then I was disinvited because politics got involved in the whole thing. The reality of it is that I am for the Latin community. I love Mexico. I have done four movies down there."
11. "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business."
12. "What does an actor know about politics?"
14. "Nothing is more important in the face of war than cutting taxes."
15. "We ought to be beating our chests every day. We ought to look in a mirror and get proud. We ought to stick out our chests and suck in our bellies and say, 'Damn, we're Americans.'"
16. "Republicans understand the importance of bondage between parent and child."
17. (about Jim Jeffords) "Sickening...disgusting...treachery."
18. (to HWY Patrolman) "It's not your job to stop me for speeding."
19. "But why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it's, not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"
20. "As I was telling my husb... I mean the president."

Down

1. "Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
2. "The caribou love (the Alaska pipeline). They rub up against it and they have babies."
3. "The world must understand...that its credibility is at stake."
4. "If I see someone come in that's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over."
5. "(GW Bush is) Clark Kent moving, at the moment of maximum danger, to shed his suit, tear open his shirt, and reveal the big 'S' on this chest."
6. And if there is a "dick army," Barney Frank would want to join up."
7. "When are you going to open the gate, you stupid black idiot?"
8. "We should invade their [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity."
9. "Things are more like they are now than they have ever been."
10. "If the Democratic policies had been pursued over the last two or three years, we would not have had the kind of job growth we've had."
12. "I don't think Christians should use birth control. You consummate your marriage as often as you like--and if you have babies, you have babies."
13. "I know what Victoria's Secret is. She's a slut."

I'll post the Answers tomorrow!

Hand me the STUPID STICK!

"The bitter differences of the war are over," Bush told a news conference, which was delayed by anti-American protests staged around the lightning U.S.-EU summit in Ireland.

Fenced off from his detractors by 2,000 soldiers and 4,000 police -- a third of the Irish security forces -- Bush holed up in a picturesque western Irish castle with European Union leaders before flying to Turkey ahead of a NATO summit.

LINK

Notable Quote

"If you think Dick Cheney is cursing today,
wait until you hear what he says on Nov. 2^nd."

Senator John F. Kerry


LINK

Pets 1 / Terminator 0

The will of the Legislature and the people of California has been upheld.

Governor Schwarzenegger just announced to the media that he made a terrible mistake proposing the repeal of the Hayden law.

LOL! Looks like your daughter has a future in spinning:

He said he loves animals and his daughter was of particular influence in recognizing the situation created by his repeal suggestion .

Feel free to tell Governor Schwarzenegger how you feel about his attempt to save $14 million by terminating Fido!

While you're at it, ask him who's advising him. Dr. Mengele?

What's next? A Modest Proposal?

Email The Puppy Killer

Backside Of The Bell Curve Update...

Hey, Senator Leahy! He had you at "Hello."



Republican Values^® In Action 

From Reuters:

"I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it," Cheney said.

According to congressional aides, Leahy said hello to Cheney following the taking of the Senate group photo on the floor of the chamber.

Cheney, who is president of the Senate, then ripped into Leahy for the Democratic senator's criticism this week of alleged war profiteering in Iraq by Halliburton, the oil services company that Cheney once ran.

snip

"I expressed my unhappiness with the way he's been conducting himself," Cheney said in his Friday interview. "He had challenged my integrity and I didn't like that. But most of all I didn't like the fact that after he'd done so that he wanted to act like everything is peaches and cream and I informed him of my view of his conduct."

snip

"I think a lot of my colleagues felt what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue," he added.

My favorite part:

Asked if he cursed the Vermont senator, Cheney told the Fox News program, the Cavuto Report, "Probably."

But he said "No" when asked whether he regretted it. LINK

(Cue Mary Bono!)

Bono: What Will We Tell The Children?

Well, Mary, if you're an angry, out-of-control Republican, it's OK to say whatever the fuck you want wherever the fuck you want to say it, including the fucking floor of the fucking US Senate!

Otherwise, it is indecent* and offensive*.


* Terms reserved for registered Democrats

Republican values, my ass!

Freudian Twit Alert!

I wasn't surprised by former Texas Governor George W. Bush's condescending attitude toward Irish TV news correspondent Carole Coleman during yesterday's historic interview.

Excerpt:

But what Mr Bush has been choking on recently is the gristle of the Irish media. Expecting nothing more than a gentle probing from a friendly state which America "helped" to prosper, he gave the first White House interview to an Irish journalist for 20 years. But the state broadcaster RTE subjected him to a grilling which left him fuming and had media commentators and licence-payers debating the Irish style of journalism.

I was surprised that Mr. Bush was Oh, So Pleased with himself after misquoting scripture! When asked about his "devotion to the Lord, Mr. Bush smiled like a kid who finally knows the answer to a teacher's question and replied:

"I get great substance from my personal relationship (with God)," he said. "That doesn't make me think I'm a better person than you are, by the way, because one of the great admonitions in the good book is, 'Don't try to take a speck out of your eye if I got a log in my own.'"

LINK

Ya gotta love the European press!
No Bushspeak to English for their readers!
What he says is what they print.

As one of Mr. Bush's multitude would say, What the pResident meant to say was...

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Let's recap...

"Don't try to take a speck out of your eye if I got a log in my own."

What does that mean?
My undergraduate Minor in Religion rides again!

The speck and the plank refer to the quantity and quality of sins.
We are instructed NOT to judge another's SINGULAR MINOR transgression if we, ourselves, have committed MULTIPLE MAJOR transgressions.

What the pResident actually said:

Ignore your minor transgression because I've transgressed so much that Beelzebub has a devil set aside for me.

Freud would have a picnic with this guy!

'Toon Of The Week

There's a sign post up ahead... 

Word Of The Week

Objurgate (Verb)

Pronunciation: ['ahb-jur-geyt]

Definition 1: To rebuke harshly.

Usage: Cliches like "chew out," "cuss out," "dress down," and "call on the carpet" in contemporary American English have all but obliterated more subtly articulated terms like "censure," "chide," "reproach," "upbraid," "rebuke," "scold," "berate," and "objurgate."

Suggested usage: Take advantage of all the subtle semantic differences in all these near synonyms while avoiding cliches. "Vice President Cheney didn't just berate Senator Leahy, he completely objurgated him!"

Etymology: Latin objurgare "to scold, rebuke" from ob- "to, against" and jurgo "quarrel, dispute, rebuke" itself probably related to jus, jur- "law, right" from which we derive "justice" and "jury."

Bumpersticker Of The Week

So Many Bush Administration Evildoers^®...
So Few Bumpers!

 

Campaign Button Of The Week

At least wear the truth, for cryin' out loud! 

This Week's Losers Hard to believe, isn't it?

Had The Washington Post NOT CHOSEN TO PUBLISH THE F-WORD, Big Time Dick Cheney Might have lost out in this week's competition.

Hhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm...
I wonder how the FCC will handle this.

As promised earlier, here are some of this week's Backside Of The Bell Curve's Top Contenders:

George W. Bush Apologizes Via Email

The White House apologized Thursday to the owners of a Fairfield business after President Bush praised the woman who stole $308,170 from them as a "good soul." LINK

Arnold Schwarzenneger Plans To Kill Your Family Pet

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to repeal a state law that requires animal shelters to hold stray dogs and cats for up to six days before killing them.
Instead, there would be a three-day requirement [72 hours] for strays. Other animals, including birds, hamsters, potbellied pigs, rabbits, snakes and turtles, could be killed immediately. LINK

Ken Melhman Says Anti-Bush People Are "Wild Eyed" (Trans. Insane)

``Today, our campaign is releasing a web video to 6 million of our supporters to show them what we're up against and what we're up against is John Kerry's 'coalition of the wild-eyed,''' said Bush campaign manager Ken Melhman. LINK

Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, Emma E. Booker Elementary School Principal, Says Bush Handled Himself Properly On 9/11

"I don't think anyone could have handled it better," Tose'-Rigell told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in a story published Wednesday. "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?" LINK

The Anonymous Editor of christianexodus.org Inc. Plans To Take Over South Carolina And Secede

It is evident that the U.S. Constitution has been abandoned under our current federal system, and the efforts of Christian activism to restore our Godly republic have proven futile over the past three decades. The time has come for Christians to withdraw our consent from the current federal government and re-establish the sovereign nation of South Carolina upon the Christian principles once so predominant in America. LINK

Paul Wolfowitz Apologizes For Claiming The Press In Iraq Are Cowards And Rumor Reporters

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz issued an unusual apology Thursday to war correspondents in Iraq after saying they reported rumors because they were too afraid to leave their Baghdad hotels. LINK

Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) And Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) Draft "Medicare Lottery" Legislation

Medicare is planning a lottery later this year for people with cancer, multiple sclerosis and several other diseases. For the 50,000 winners, the government will start helping pay for their medicine, but more than 450,000 others must wait until 2006. LINK

Monica Lewinsky is destroyed!

Monica Lewinsky says she feels betrayed by Bill Clinton's failure to acknowledge how he destroyed her life in his newly released memoirs.LINK

Blast From The Past...Anybody else remember the story about teenager Monica hounding her high school teacher/lover until it nearly destroyed his life? LINK

But, wait!
Today is Friday News Dump Day!
No telling who else might emerge as a Top Contender...

THIS JUST IN...

Secretary of State Colin Powell Says terrorists in Iraq are responsible for stabilizing Iraq.

The war in Iraq is straining America's military, and terrorists battling U.S. troops should lay down arms and help the new Iraqi government, Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

snip

Powell added: "This is costing the American taxpayers a great deal of money and it is straining our armed forces considerably."

What was your first clue, Sparky?

snip

Powell called on the "terrorists ... former regime elements and murderers to decide whether or not they will stop this activity and support their own leaders ... or whether they will continue to try to kill innocent people, policemen who are trying to protect the Iraqi people."

Could it be that people don't like being invaded, you dimwit? And I love the "their own leaders" lie!

Powell acknowledged that the decision to interfere militarily in Iraq "has created a difficult situation" made more difficult by the insurgency. LINK

Gee! Ya think?

and the beat goes on...

This Week's Backside Of The Bell Curve Winner!

So many Top Contenders this week...

But There can be only one WINNER!



"Big Time" Dick Cheney* 

Cheney Dismisses Critic With Obscenity (New-Explicit Language (R))

By Helen Dewar and Dana Milbank

On Tuesday, Cheney, serving in his ceremonial role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush's judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice.

"Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.

And here's your Republican Non-Denial Denial:

Leahy's spokesman, David Carle, yesterday confirmed the brief but fierce exchange. "The vice president seemed to be taking personally the criticism that Senator Leahy and others have leveled against Halliburton's sole-source contracts in Iraq," Carle said.

From The Stuff You Can't Make Up Department:

As it happens, the exchange occurred on the same day the Senate passed legislation described as the "Defense of Decency Act" by 99 to 1.

But isn't it against Senate rules to use profanity on the Senate floor?

There is no rule against obscene language by a vice president on the Senate floor. The senators were present for a group picture and not in session, so Rule 19 of the Senate rules -- which prohibits vulgar statements "unbecoming a senator" -- does not apply, according to a Senate official. Even if the Senate were in session, the vice president, though constitutionally the president of the Senate, is an executive branch official and therefore free to use whatever language he likes.

LINK To The F-Word Quotin' Washington Post

* When George W. Bush called reporter Adam Clymer a "major league Asshole," VP Candidate Dick (I have no ties to Halliburton) Cheney replied, "Yeah. Big time."

I'll post more on this week's Top Contenders later today.

Just The Facts, Ma'am!

The Republican Spin Machine is twirling like a Dervish, but voters deserve an opportunity to review the bare facts before they vote November 2^nd:

Jobs Created (Clinton): plus 9.7 million (total), 1/93 to 5/96

Jobs Created (Bush): minus 1.2 million (total), 1/01 to 5/04

Jobs in the Last Year (Clinton): plus 9.0 million (private), 1/93 to 5/96

Jobs in the Last Year (Bush): minus 1.9 million (private), 1/01 to 5/04

Real Earnings in Last Year (Clinton): plus .3 percent, 5/95 to 5/96

Real Earnings in Last Year (Bush): minus .5 percent, 5/05 to 5/04

Health Care Premium Increase (Clinton): plus 11 percent, 1992 to 1995

Health Care Premium Increase (Bush): plus 40 percent, 2000-2003

College Tuition Increase (Clinton): plus 20 percent, 92/3 to 95/6

College Tuition Increase (Bush) plus 35 percent, 00/01 to 03/04

Deficit Change (Clinton): minus $183 Billion, FY92 to FY96

Deficit Change (Bush): plus $241 Billion, FY00 to FY04

All employment and wage numbers are Bureau of Labor Statistics (LINK). Health Care is Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (LINK) and Kaiser Family Foundation (LINK). College is College Board (LINK). Deficit is CBO (LINK).

Will Shakespeare on line one for you, Mr. Bradbury...

He wants to talk to you about Something Wicked This Way Comes.

If Mr. Bradbury wants to complain about the word Fahrenheit and the number 1 in Michael Moore's documentary film title, he should first consult his own mirror.

Oh, and Mr. Whitman is on line two... Something about I Sing The Body Electric.

Separated at birth?

You be the judge...


Don't forget that Jack looks this way on purpose! 

Would this face frighten fish, or what?

Was Mrs. Bush the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's Joker make up in that Batman Movie?


First Vehicular Manslaughter Lady 


That glazed look screams "Better Living Through Chemistry" to me!

A Matter Of Trust

Today, more Americans trust Senator John F. Kerry than George W. Bush (52%-39% respectively), and those numbers don't even reflect the administration's Torture Approval document dump.

Gee, I wonder why...


Would you trust
this man to protect you? 


Meet The Press, February 7, 2004:

RUSSERT: If the Iraqis choose, however, an Islamic extremist regime, would you accept that, and would that be better for the United States than Saddam Hussein?

PRESIDENT BUSH: They're not going to develop that. And the reason I can say that is because I'm very aware of this basic law they're writing. They're not going to develop that because right here in the Oval Office I sat down with Mr. Pachachi and Chalabi and al-Hakim, people from different parts of the country that have made the firm commitment, that they want a constitution eventually written that recognizes minority rights and freedom of religion.

Rose Garden press conference, June 1, 2004:

Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Chalabi is an Iraqi leader that's fallen out of favor within your administration. I'm wondering if you feel that he provided any false information, or are you particularly —

BUSH: Chalabi?

Q: Yes, with Chalabi.

BUSH: My meetings with him were very brief. I mean, I think I met with him at the State of the Union and just kind of working through the rope line, and he might have come with a group of leaders. But I haven't had any extensive conversations with him.

Q: I guess I'm asking, do you feel like he misled your administration, in terms of what the expectations were going to be going into Iraq?

BUSH: I don't remember anybody walking into my office saying, Chalabi says this is the way it's going to be in Iraq.

Bumpersticker Of The Week

Bumpersticker + Backfire = Back To The Drawing Board!

You might be a Republican... 25 Telltale Signs

My friend Betty emailed this self-evaluation instrument to me this morning. Take a look, and see if you agree with any of the 25 statements.

1. Jesus loves you, but shares your deep hatred of homosexuals & Hillary Clinton.

2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, but our highest national priority is enforcing UN resolutions against Iraq.

3. "Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and outsourcing their jobs to India.

4. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body; but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all humankind without regulation.

5. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

7. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins, unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

8. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

9. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, but then demand their cooperation and money.

10. HMOs and Insurance Companies make good profits; and have the interest of the public at heart.

11. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

12. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

13. It is okay that the Bush family's "Carlisle Group" has done $$millions$$ of business with the Bin Laden family.

14. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him and
*Rumsfeld reassured him he was our buddy
*a bad guy when Bush's daddy needed a villain for his re-election campaign
*a good guy when Cheney did business with him
*but then a bad guy again when Bush junior needed a villain for his re-election campaign as the "War President!"

15. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying about WMD existence, to enlist support for an unprovoked, undeclared war and occupation, in which thousands of soldiers and civilians die, is somehow, solid "defense" policy in a "War Against Terrorism."

16. Government should limit itself to the powers named the Constitution, which should include "banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet."

17. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades; but George Bush's Harken Oil stock trade should be sealed in his Daddy's library, and is none of our business.

18. What Bill Clinton or John Kerry did in 1971 was of vital national interest; but what Bush did from 1968 - 2000 is irrelevant.

19. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist; but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a "spirit of international harmony."

20. Preemptive war with Iraq was necessary because we thought they had WMD's; but preemptive war with North Korea is not a consideration, even though we KNOW they have them.

21. It's OK for our military to secure the borders of Iraq, but claim they are not "trained" to secure the U.S. borders.

22. Affirmative Action is wrong; but is OK for your Daddy and his friends (here & in Saudi Arabia)
* to help you graduate from Yale w/o studying much
* to assist you in dodging the draft in the Texas Air National Guard
* to rescue you & bail out your company Harken Oil & the Texas
Rangers
* to hand you the Governorship of Texas
* to have the U.S. Supreme Court appoint you President of the USA

23. "Nation-building" is considered a no-no before being elected president, but now it's a top priority.

24. You are a conservative; but it is OK to spend like there is no tomorrow and run up deficits that your grandchildren will have to pay, while at the same time, refunding as much tax money as possible to rich people who do not need it.

25. We're perfectly happy to listen to you and have a debate in principle, but we'll only listen to you if you pass the loyalty test. And you only pass the loyalty test if you agree with us.

If you agreed with even one out of the 25 statements, you might be a Republican!

Seek help at once:

Click here for help

Thanks, Betty!

This Week's Backside Of The Bell Curve Winner!

Jeff Christie


Self-proclaimed drug addict,
Jeff Christie 

Ya gotta love this quote from Rush Limbaugh (né Jeff Christie)!

Cue (the always whining) Rush Limbaugh!

"Their goal is to use the big media and the law to stop me!"

Ahem. The antecedent of "Their" is "The United States Senate."
And "big media" refers to Media Matters For America, which I'm sure has The New York Times losing sleep with worry.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

Reacting to a unanimous resolution by the U.S. Senate calling on the Pentagon to ensure fairness and balance on American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), Rush Limbaugh -- the only partisan radio host carried on the taxpayer-funded service -- on his June 17 show misrepresented the resolution; assailed resolution sponsor Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA): "[H]e's lying through his teeth about what was said on this program about the prison abuse scandal"; and trashed Media Matters for America as one of the "middle finger appendages of the Democratic Party." [In case you missed it, Jeff Rush said that prison guards were just "blowing off steam" and the abuse was "no worse than frat pranks."]

Limbaugh also complained that he could not "depend on" congressional Republicans to oppose the effort to bring fairness and balance to AFRTS as the controversy about Limbaugh's comments continues to percolate on Capitol Hill and beyond.

The rest of the story...


Hey, Jeff Rush! I thought we were a nation of laws! Did you and your flying dittomonkeys change something when I wasn't looking?

Word Of The Week

It's two words again this week.
Want to make something out of it?

Potemkin village \puh-TEM(P)-kin\, noun:

An impressive facade or display that hides an undesirable fact or state; a false front.

Unless U.S. imperial overstretch is acknowledged and corrected, the United States may someday soon find that it has become a Potemkin village superpower -- with a facade of military strength concealing a core of economic weakness.
--Christopher Layne, "Why the Gulf War Was Not in the National Interest," The Atlantic, July 1991


A Potemkin village is so called after Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, who had elaborate fake villages built in order to impress Catherine the Great on her tours of the Ukraine and the Crimea in the 18th century.

Bush, 9/11 and the nuclear football

Let me get this straight:

Bush and Cheney (hooked at the hips) told the 9/11 Commission that Bush gave Cheney the authority to order planes to be shot down.

Cheney says he gave the order, but pilots didn't follow that order.
Condoleezza Rice NOW verifies that the phone call between Bush and Cheney took place.
No staff notes mention such a call.

The administration also claims that communications broke down that morning, and the pResident couldn't even get a cell phone to work.

So... who was on the line with George W. in that famous (Available to you and your family for $150! Suitable for framing!) Air Force One photo?

Pizza Hut?

Run long, George W.!

What about that stuff inside the nuclear football?

You know, the one that made the papers when you carried it into the Vatican recently for your little chat with the Pope?

The Football
Link

[Note: I copied and pasted this (error for error) from the website.]

It follows the President where ever he goes and is never more that a few steps from his side. It is carried by a military officer who must undergo the nation's most rigorous security background check - the "Yankee White". It contains a secure SATCOM radio and handset, the nuclear launch codes known as the "Gold Codes" and the President's Decision Book - the nuclear playbook that the President would rely on if he would ever have to decide to use nuclear weapons. Its real name is unknown but it is popularly known as "the football".

The concept of the football came about in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy was concerned that some Soviet commander in Cuba might launch their missiles without authorization from Moscow. After the crisis, Kennedy ordered a review of the U.S. Nuclear Command and Control system. The result was the highly classified National security Action Memorandum that created the football.

The White House Communications Agency which oversees the military unit in charge of the Football, was created with personnel from sections of the Defense communications Agency, composed of units fo the Defense Communications Operations Unit (responsible for communications and emergency power engineering) and the Defense Communications Support Unit. To work in these units, a candidate must pas a special seucirty investigation, called "Yankee White." The criteria include U.S. citizenship, unqeustionable loyalty , and an absloute absense of any foreign influence over the individual, his family, or "persons to whom the individual is closely linked." The aide who carries the Football come from the four military branches and are ranked Lt.Colonel, naval Comander, or Marine Major. They must be knowledgeable about all aspects fo the overall SIOP, as well as the various options available to the President for implimenting the war plan.

If you absolutely have to see the words "secure telephone" next to "The Nuclear Football," here you go: Link

White House Communications Agency (WHCA)
Link

DISA-WHCA (Defense Information Systems Agency/ White House Comunications Agency)

* Washington, DC
* (202) 757-5530
* DSN: 284-2000 ext. 5530

Mission:

To provide premier communication systems that enables the President to lead the nation effectively.

The White House Communications Agency (WHCA), originally known as the White House Signal Detachment (WHSD), was officially formed by the War Department on 25 March 1942 during the Roosevelt Administration. The detachment was activated under the Military District of Washington to provide normal and emergency communications requirements in support of the President of the United States.

Functions:

* WHCA provides telecommunications and related support to the President, Vice President, White House Senior Staff, National Security Council, U.S. Secret Service and others as directed by the White House Military Office.

* This support includes non-secure voice, secure voice, record communications, audiovisual services, automated data processing support and photographic and drafting services both in Washington, D.C. and trip sites worldwide.

Something about this whole story really smells!

If passengers and crew members aboard those doomed flights could phone home with no problems, why couldn't the pResident?

I wonder what's in those notes.

Classified?
Come and get me, A$$KKKroft! 

This is no joke! John Stewart's writers didn't create these notes!


These talking points are amazingly (cough) profound*.

Here's what it says on the left hand page:

SADDAM WAS A THREAT

SWORN ENEMY OF THE U.S.

DESTABILIZING FORCE IN VOLATILE PART OF WORLD

TIES TO TERRORIST ORGS... LAST DECADE

Bush needs notes to remind him of stock phrases
he's uttered every single day for years?

And on the right side, a list of reporters
(in different handwriting)
and the order in which he called on them yesterday:

Barbara Reichman (AP)
David Morgan (Reuters)
Roger Runningen (Bloomberg)
John Roberts (CBS News)
Bob Hillman (Dallas Morning News)
Ann Compton (ABC News)

Who could possibly trust this man (who has to have crib notes to remind him of the lies he told to justify invading a sovereign country) to protect our country!

*Profoundly pathetic!

Bush addresses his cabinet

Hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
The freak monkey's notes are probably classified... 

I heard it through the grapevine...

... The entire contingent of the Vermont National Guard has been placed on "Alert" and all members have been told to prepare for deployment in 90 days.

Vermont has 1500 civilian soldiers.

According to the VT National Guard website, the State Guard takes over when the National Guard is deployed.

Makes me think of those old Brit coots (the Home Guard?) who played army at home during WWII... I guess it's better than nothing.

Senate Democrats are more Catholic than Republicans, and John Kerry is the most Catholic of all

So there.

From Summary of US Senators' Support for Issues Important to the USCCB*:

Top Rated Senators and their Overall ratings:

~Democrats~

Kerry- 60.9%
Durbin- 60.5%
Kennedy- 60.4%
Leahy- 59.7
Mikulski- 54.9%
Murray- 54.2%

Finally... a Republican scores!

DeWine (R)- 53.8%

Read the entire report...

*US Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Top 5 George W. Bush Campaign Slogans We'd Like to See

From topfive.com:

#5 Mission Accom-- Hey, Look, the NCAA Tourney Is On!

#4 Vote for Bush! Or Don't, and I'll Just Have the Supreme Court Take Care of It Again.

#3 Tax and Spend -- Without The Tax!

#2 C'mon Guys, Don'tcha Want a Boss, Bitchin', Supercool Moon Base?!?

And the Number 1 George W. Bush Campaign Slogan We'd Like to See...

#1 Vote Bush: It's a No-Brainer!


Link

THWAP Bush for the guy who played The Gipper!!

Did you see George W. at RayGun's Reagan's funeral?

Bush (in his best Speedy Gonzales impersonation) couldn't get away from that casket fast enough!

The way he brushed his hands....it was like saying, "OK, I did that public thing."

He stood there just long enough for the photo op.

He had no trouble using RayGun's casket as a prop, but he won't go near one of a service member returning from his illegal war?

(cue Club For Growth!)

Family Says Group Does Not Have Permission To Use Reagan's Image

POSTED: 10:28 am EDT June 16, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Ronald Reagan's family is criticizing the use of the late president's image in a conservative political ad endorsing President George W. Bush.

The ad comparing Bush's war on terror with Reagan's battle against communism is being run by the conservative interest group Club for Growth starting Wednesday. It shows footage of Reagan at the Berlin Wall, and Bush at ground zero. The ad also said Democratic presidential contender John Kerry was "wrong then, wrong now" on national security.

A Reagan family spokeswoman said the group does not have permission to use Reagan's image in the ad because doing so implies his endorsement.

Club for Growth said it wants to show how similar Bush and Reagan have been "in terms of fighting evil." A Kerry spokesman said it's "pretty sad" that Bush supporters are already politicizing the nation's farewell to Reagan.

Link

(Cue Freepers*!)

To: areafiftyone
America transferred it's love for Ronald Reagan to his wife this past week.

That affection can be taken back in a heartbeat. Something the Reagan family ought to keep in mind.

We can honor and revere Ronald Reagan and revert to our earlier opinions of his chilren and his wife.
7 posted on 06/16/2004 12:01:33 PM PDT by OldFriend (LOSERS quit when they are tired/WINNERS quit when they have won)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

---

To: areafiftyone

We wouldn't want them to "use" him like one of his family members did during the funeral in California by making a political speech against President Bush. Ron, shut up, it is not about you! Just because you and Patti made sure that you were in all the photos while Michael was seen far behind doesn't mean that you get to dictate to the rest of the country. You may be your mother's favorite but you aren't to the rest of the country. I'm sure since you and Patti (the stripper) were so kind to your father while he was alive you are really worried about his image now. That is unless it was used by John Kerry or another of the liberal elite candidates that you favor.

39 posted on 06/16/2004 12:16:45 PM PDT by kcvl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

---

To: OldFriend

How true. You will notice that the two children that Jane/ Wyman had or adopted with Ronald Reagan were mentally sound and both were blessed with great character. Me thinks it might be MaMa Dearest (Nancy).

45 posted on 06/16/2004 12:19:26 PM PDT by Mayflower Sister
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies ]

---

Link... but wash up after your trip!

That place gives me the willies!

To be fair, a few posters thought Club For Growth should have asked for permission to use Ronnie's graven image.




*Freepers- Members of online chat community, freerepublic.com; known for their bad grammar, poor logic, and utter devotion to man's inhumanity to man

Just kill me now!

Iowa Couple Celebrate 80th Anniversary

Tue Jun 15, 4:50 PM ET

LENOX, Iowa - An Iowa couple have been married longer than many people live. Dr. E. R. Pennebaker, 101, and Bessie Pennebaker, 96, of Lenox, celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary Monday. They were married June 14, 1924.

Link

You know what I'd want for my 80th wedding anniversary?

A packet of razor blades.

Paging Mr. Rogers... Mr. Buck Rogers!

Could we be satisfied without the microwave, jet flight, the space station, or the internet?

But for the imagination, from Jules Verne to Gene Roddenberry, where would we be?
And what would our lives be like?

Teleportation breakthrough made

By Paul Rincon
BBC News Online science staff

In the past, teleportation has only been possible with particles of light. Scientists have performed successful teleportation on atoms for the first time, the journal Nature reports.

The feat was achieved by two teams of researchers working independently on the problem
in the US and Austria. The ability to transfer key properties of one particle to another without using any physical link has until now only been achieved with laser light.

Experts say the capability to do the same with massive particles like atoms could lead
to new superfast computers.

This development is a long way from the transporters used by Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Kirk in the famous Star Trek TV series.

Link

I hope they get this to work in my lifetime.
I can think of a few people I'd like to beam up... or wish into the cornfield.

It's time to run for Pope again

It’s Time To Run For Pope Again: Kerry, Bush, and the Ghost of Nixon

Last December, The Washington Times reported that "America's 275 active bishops are gearing up a new task force that could bring Catholic politicians in line in a way not seen before in American politics." Consequently, a few American Bishops have already announced that they would deny Senator Kerry the Holy Eucharist because of his steadfast defense of womenÂ’s reproductive health choices.

There are currently 150 Catholics serving in Congress, and three of the ten 2004 Democratic presidential candidates (Kerry, Kucinich, and Clark) were (and are) practicing Catholics.
Link

In true neocon fashion, The Washington Times story does not mention the church’s staunch opposition to the death penalty. Have any Bishops threatened to deny the Eucharist to Catholic Republicans who support the death penalty?

The last time the Democratic Party chose a Catholic as their presidential candidate, the Pope, Blessed John XXIII (1958-63) was in the middle of his reign. In 1960, Republicans questioned Senator John F. Kennedy’s separation of church and state credentials repeatedly. JFK defeated Richard M. Nixon and proved to the nation that the US Constitution dictated his policies, not Il Papa.

Looking back, the concern demonstrated by Republicans in 1960 seems totally insincere and political. Had abortion been the law of the land at the time, Republicans surely would have attacked JFK the same way they are attacking JK today. To George W. Bush and his Republican attack machine, there are either good Catholics or bad Catholics, not just Catholics. Many devout Catholics struggle daily to reconcile the pastoral and the ecclesiastic. George W. Bush isn’t concerned about the decisions which impact Catholics’ personal lives; he is only concerned with their decisions on Election Day.

A Perfect Political Storm 2004 is now brewing

The combination of Kerry, an ailing Pope, and the heir to Nixon’s 1960 attempt to divide and conquer the nation’s Catholic voters could be volatile in this crucial election year.

Senator Kerry, like his illustrious monogramsake, has been forced to defend both his personal religious beliefs and Constitutional commitment (even when Catholics obviously don't object to his stance) while the Supreme W. Court-appointed pResident pits one Catholic against another.

The Gospel According to Polling Report
“Do you think it is appropriate for Catholic bishops to refuse to give communion to elected officials who publicly disagree with the Church's position on issues like abortion, or is that not appropriate?"

Of Catholics, 17% said it was appropriate, 78% said it was not. This was a stronger opposition than all polled: 19% saying it was appropriate and 72% saying it was not.
Link

The Pope is definitely ailing. John Paul II (1978- ) is as frail as can be. Last October, Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, candidate for the papacy, said the pontiff "is nearing the last days and months of his life."
Link

Earlier this month, Born Again Methodist, George W. Bush, told the ailing Pope, "Not all the American Bishops are with me." Link

Papal Politics Makes Skull and Bones Look Like Child’s Play

The Catholic Church’s exorbitant pay offs and attempts to cover up abuse scandals have called into question the Church’s previously pious reputation and inadvertently invited us to explore further the inner politics of the Vatican, itself. Considering how some glass cathedral dwelling Bishops, Cardinals, and even the Pope, himself, have decided to inject the church into our current presidential election, it is fitting that American voters learn more about papal politics.

Much like our local and state-level politicians, who aspire to higher and higher political offices, many Catholic priests aspire to become Bishops, who aspire to become Archbishops, who aspire to become Cardinals, who aspire to become Pope. Behind the scenes, political campaign supporters and Catholic clergy alike also harbor aspirations: the political appointments (jobs) and the enhanced prestige afforded them when their chosen candidates' aspirations are realized.

Many Catholic clergy have already begun to line up behind various Cardinals, who are rumored to be serious papal candidates. As voting records are highly scrutinized in our election years so are Apostolic Succession credentials in papal election years. The Apostolic Succession traces one’s principal consecrator and then that man’s principal consecrator, etc. A limited number of men today under the papable age of 80 can trace their Apostolic Succession all the way back to one of the original apostles. Running for Pope makes membership in Skull and Bones look like child’s play.

Time.com’s The Papacy (Link) is a “must read” for anyone curious about

The men who would be Pope (and why some Cardinals are suddenly striving to demonstrate their Vatican-worthy Catholic credentials)

How a new Pope is elected

Newswire stories deemed importance to the church

And much more

The best site for quick reference during the next papal election is Catholic-pages.com’s Electing a Pope. (Link).

Storm Warning

George W. Bush (R- former Texas Governor) hopes voters don’t know and don’t care how Popes are elected. He also hopes that his efforts to convince all American Bishops to deny his Democratic Party opponent, Senator John F. Kerry, the Holy Eucharist will secure The Catholic Vote on November 2nd. With so many of his supporters abandoning him because of his disastrous policies and embarrassing incompetence, Bush needs every Catholic voter he can coerce.

The inevitable papal election could enable George W. Bush and his minions to replicate (in reverse) Nixon’s 1960 strategy of religious divide and conquer in 2004, even if a new Pope isn’t chosen until after the November 2nd presidential election. And it doesn't matter if Catholics just don't care; BushCo will be able to divert attention from treason, torture, and the theft of our nation's treasury every time a Bishop or Cardinal questions JK's religious commitment.

Aftermath

As long as Republicans encourage ambitious clergy to further their own political agendas by injecting dogma into our political process, our American history of respecting the separation of church and state remains in jeopardy.

If Democrats don’t demand that George W. Bush and his attack machine stop seeking to divide religious congregations based on the Republicans’ own personal political aspirations, the Ghost of Nixon will rise again, and America will become a house even more divided.

Oh, to be in England...

Two years ago, I lamented during a breakfast chat with US Representative Bart Stupak (D MI) that I believed there should be a law against media personalities (they used to be trained reporters) lying to the American people with such regularity. Congressman Stupak agreed but offered no hope of amelioration as long as BushCo was in power.

Today I read:

Fox News censured for rant at BBC

Ofcom says Murdoch station broke programme code

Fox (Faux) News, the US news network owned by Rupert Murdoch, has been found in breach of British broadcasting rules for an on-air tirade that accused the BBC of "frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Americanism."

Television regulators said the broadcaster failed to show "respect for truth" in a strongly worded opinion item, broadcast on the day the Hutton report was published, which also accused BBC executives of giving reporters a "right to lie."

Ofcom, which licenses commercial channels shown in Britain regardless of where they are based, received 24 complaints about the remarks.

24 complaints?

Here's my favorite passage from the story:

Ofcom said Fox had breached the programme code in three areas: failing to honour the "respect for truth" rule; failing to give the BBC an opportunity to respond; and failing to apply the rule that says, in a personal view section, "opinions expressed must not rest upon false evidence."

Here's the complete story...

I repeat:

Oh, to be in England...

Barr Barred (by 1st Amendment, no less)

Court rejects Barr's suit against Clinton

June 14, 2004 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Rep. Bob Barr cannot bring a $30 million defamation suit against former President Clinton, Democratic political adviser James Carville and publisher Larry Flynt, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The Georgia Republican alleged that the three conspired to smear him by publishing information about his private life as retaliation for his outspoken role in the impeachment proceedings against Clinton.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Barr failed to make his conspiracy claim against Clinton and Carville within the three years permitted by law.

As to Flynt, the panel ruled that Barr's claim is barred by the First Amendment because he failed to show that the information printed in a one-time issue called "The Flynt Report" was false or was published with knowledge that it was false.


more at Salon...

Don't you get it, Bob? You can't sue if it's true.

Supreme W. Court wimps out

Under God (Trans. We are all, every single one of us living in the USA, subject to the whim of the invisible old man in the sky known as The God Of Abraham).

You lose, non-Judeo-Christians!

Technicality, anyone?

Since the man who brought the suit to protect his daughter against Church Crap in school didn't have custody of her AT THE TIME HE FILED SUIT, the Supreme W. Court can't possibly consider his plea...

Which Has Moved Through The Entire Lower Court System All The Way To The Supreme W. Court.

WIMPS!

The architect of soul has passed away

Ray Charles, 73,
musician of many parts,
all brilliant 

Photo Of The Week

Hey, Forrest! Can you show me that move
one more time? 

Et tu, Sun-Sentinel?

A Republican knows he's* in trouble when The Sun-Sentinel, that well known Oh So Self-Righteous Republican-Loving Right Wing Rag, rakes one of its own over the coals.

Not Above Law

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
Posted June 12 2004

No president is above the law. Not even in wartime.

That may seem obvious to most people in this nation of laws, but some Bush administration lawyers don't see it that way. In a March 2003 legal memorandum recently obtained by the media, they opined that President Bush is not bound either by an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal anti-torture law.

Their rationale was that the president, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has the authority to approve any technique needed to protect the nation. That may be true up to a point, but carte blanche approval of torture invites abuse of power.

snip

The implicit notion that the prohibitions against torture generally shouldn't apply in wartime is absurd. Torture doesn't mean being forced to listen to speeches at the United Nations or sit through diplomatic tea parties. Clearly the rules were meant to apply to actions people undertake in wartime or in fighting crime, usually to extract information from prisoners.

Read more...


* Republican- American white male suburban/backwoods dweller; notable examples in great literature: Tom Ewell and Ebeneezer Scrooge (before he gets the shit scared out of him by that hooded guy in the cemetery); the female counterpart does what Republicans tell them to do... And right quick! I mean it, Woman!

Fred Phelps (godhatesfags.com) Protests Reagan's Funeral.

Yep, Fred Phelps (No. 1 Grade-A Hatemonger) has decided that rWr is already rotting in Hell because the recently deceased Reagan "changed his mind when Rock Hudson died and became a homosexual enabler by considering AIDS research."

The flyer is a hoot, too!

Reagan is in Hell!
He betrayed the Great King! He gave America to sodomites!

Take a look...

That has got to be the absolute worst flyer I have ever seen. It looks like it started life as a Word document with pictures pasted on it before being born again in the scanner!

Hey, Fred! God hates Computer Idiots and Lousy Layout Editors!

While you were reagoning...

Now that our national reagasm is waning, it's time to study the news stories which escaped public attention this week:

White House owns up to errors in terror report

The Bush administration yesterday admitted it had got its facts, figures and analysis wrong in its annual report on counter-terrorism, which had been hailed as evidence of a policy triumph based on claims that the number of terrorist attacks worldwide had declined in 2003.

Retracting the "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report released in late April, Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman, said a revised version would show the opposite - "a sharp increase" in both the number of attacks and deaths over 2002.

LINK

Fuel Costs Hitting Farmers Hard

Nationwide, the increased energy costs means it will take $800 million more to bring in this year's crop than it did in 2003, according to projections from the American Farm Bureau. The 2003 tally was $2.6 billion higher than the cost to harvest the 2002 crop, again because of higher energy prices, said Troy Bredenkamp, who monitors fuel and energy for the Washington, D.C.-based organization.

"And it shows no sign of letting up," Bredenkamp said. "It's not good."

A gallon of diesel for farm use costs about $1.39, up from about 90 cents a year ago. Farmers don't pay road tax for their diesel so prices are still below those at commercial pumps, where a gallon is close to $1.80 in West Texas. The price of fertilizer and the energy for irrigation are up, and by as much as 40 percent, said Jay Yates, an economist with the Texas Cooperative Extension in Lubbock. Ninety percent of the cost of nitrogen fertilizer is based on the price of natural gas.

LINK

Bush Drops Hopes for NATO Troops in Iraq

SAVANNAH, Ga., June 10 -- President Bush said Thursday that he did not expect NATO to provide troops to Iraq, abandoning hope for such help after partners in the alliance raised objections.

In a news conference ending the three-day Group of Eight meeting of industrialized nations, which Bush hosted in Sea Island, Ga., the president said his only hope for the military alliance would be for help in training Iraqi troops if the new interim government requests it. "I don't expect more troops from NATO to be offered up," he said. "That's an unrealistic expectation. Nobody is suggesting that"

Administration officials had been hoping that passage Tuesday of the U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing U.S. plans for Iraq would make it easier to recruit more international funds and manpower. Bush said Wednesday that "NATO ought to be involved" in Iraq -- a contention quickly rebutted by French President Jacques Chirac and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayy.

LINK

'Made in Mexico' uniforms chafe Border Patrol agents

WASHINGTON - It seems an odd fit: U.S. Border Patrol uniforms with labels that say, "Made in Mexico."

Some agents are irate and said they are amazed and embarrassed to find that their new orders for green shirts and trousers - and maybe other uniform items - are being filled with articles of clothing manufactured south of the border.

It is an ironic twist, they said, for the agency whose job it is to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I just received a half-dozen new shirts, pants - and the labels all say they are made in Mexico," said Rich Pierce, a Tampa-based agent and executive vice president of the 16,000-member National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union. "Why can't we have uniforms made in the U.S.? What's next? Shipping our Border Patrol jobs to the Mexicans? The other agents I've talked to all think this is some bad joke."

LINK

These are but a few of the stories you may have missed this week. And the Bush administration hopes you were in mourning and NOT PAYING ATTENTION!

This Week's Backside Of The Bell Curve Winner!

Dennis Hastert



 Ham(mer) Handed* Dennis Hastert

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R Lesser Evil Than Tom DeLay) has helped insurance companies block legislation which would make them provide equal coverage for mental and physical illnesses (if policies include both).

Even pResident Bush (R Off Script That Day) endorsed the concept two years ago, for cryin' out loud!

Dastard Bastard Hastert has declined to schedule a House vote.


Shocker!


The jubilant insurance companies include:

BlueCross BlueShield Association

United Healthcare Corp.

and WellPoint Health Networks


And It only cost insurance companies $13 million in lobbying costs to win this important victory against helping people get well!


Karen Ignagni, chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, said employers worried that would drive up health care costs and might cause some to drop mental health coverage altogether. (Translation: If Congressional Do-Gooder Bleeding Heart Liberal Commies force us to treat all mental illnesses as bona fide medical conditions, we'll just put a stop to treating mental illness altogether and let these people loose on an unsuspecting public-at-large! So there!)

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the legislation would increase health insurance costs slightly less than 1 percent.


Mr. Speaker, have you no shame?


See you next week!

This AP Photo or The Snapshot Photo Posted Earlier (Scroll down): Which one tells the real story? 

CNN reports 5,000 mourners per hour filed past Reagan's coffin yesterday. Roped areas were widened to accommodate the "throngs."


It's Tourist Season again in DC. Does that make these few a "throng?" 

Is there such a thing as a single file throng? 

I thought there were throngs. 

Nope. No throngs here. 

Press reports claim that 80,000 lined the street along the Reagan funeral procession route yesterday.

And you believed the press?

I'll bet you're still waiting for The Great Pumpkin, too.


Where are the throngs? 

Notable Quotes

In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.
White House counsel Alberto Gonzales

The day the world learned that American soldiers had tortured Iraqi prisoners belongs high on the list of worst things that ever happened to our country. It's a black mark that will be in the history books in a hundred languages for as long as there are history books.
Andy Rooney

We'll always have Paris ...Sea Island...

Paging Neil Sedaka! 

G8 harmony shattered, as France and US duel over Iraq

SEA ISLAND, United States (AFP) - The United States and France clashed again over Iraq, sparring over NATO's role in the occupation, one day after soothing their dispute on post-war strategy with a new UN resolution.

Diplomatic hostilities reignited at the Group of Eight summit, after Bush, emboldened by the Security Council green light for his bid to remake Iraq, went on the offensive, calling for a greater NATO presence in the country.

snip

The clash overshadowed a display of unity put on by smiling leaders, zipping to talks at a plush east coast resort in hi-tech golf buggies.

Discord also surfaced over the issue of Iraq's mountainous debt, with European states resisting US calls to quickly forgive almost all of it.

The juicy details are here (Be sure to rate the story!)...

Separated at birth?

I knew it would come to me!

George W. does have that Oh So Familiar smile...


George W. Bush and Crazy Guggenheim:
separated at birth? 

The guy in the pimp-assed prezmobile looks familiar.

Could the handlers of George W. Bush remind him to keep his mouth shut and look... Oh, I don't know... Presidential?

George W. is supposed to be representing The United States Of America at the G8 Summit, for crying out loud!

That silly half-smirk reminds me of someone...

It'll come to me.


Laura, the Stepford Wife cum laudanum and George W.,
the Brown Shoed (w/ obvious height enhancers)
Grey Slacks Slacker 

WSJ publishes A$$KKKroft's Super Secret Torture Memo

In case you missed the hoopla yesterday when Attorney General John A$$KKKroft refused to release, discuss, or even acknowledge the physical existence of the leaked memo which should be called How To Ignore The Geneva Conventions: Torturing People By Your Liege...

The Wall Street Journal Has published it.

How do you like that, Jeezus Johnny?

Are those eagles still soaring for ya, Fella?

In a move that suggests one of those things that makes you go hhhmmmmmmmmmm, The WSJ, in a rare Double Dog Dare moment, has decided to do the right thing.

Read the (in)famous March 6, 2003 Memo...

There's just one problem...

The only problem BushCo^® has with torturing suspects 

Yes, Bush can torture. (Repeat twice) His lawyers tell him so.

George W. Bush doesn't need to
Come To Jesus.

He needs to
Come To Runnymede!


In a March 6, 2003 document labeled Draft, Bush administration lawyers concluded that the president had the legal authority to "order interrogators to torture terrorist suspects."

For an administration, which delights in railing against the evils^™ of trial lawyers almost on a daily basis, they sure do find them useful!

Anyone else curious as to who asked these lawyers to abandon the Geneva Conventions and devise a scenario in which a sitting president could torture suspects in the name of the citizens of The United States Of America?

We'll probably never know the answer because these folks don't fess up to anything. Ever.

Why was this Draft leaked to the Wall St Journal and The Associated Press?

There are two possible motives behind leaks: an attack of conscience or a thirst for revenge.

Why did it have to be leaked at all if it's oh so darned legal?

If this were really such a good, legally-sound document, you can bet your whips and chains that Bush would have bragged about it!


Now that the Draft has emerged from the bowels of the Bush administration (as all fecal waste matter, by its very nature, must), the Pentagon has trotted out spokesman Lawrence Di Rita to explain that "the final set of interrogation methods adopted for use at Guantanamo in April 2003 are humane, legal and useful - and more restrictive than the methods some had proposed."

Oh! Well, then! It could have been much worse! We should all just quit quibbling, shouldn't we?

The lawyers who prepared it include attorneys from both the Defense and Justice Departments, and possibly other parts of the government.

7 New & Improved Techniques!

The seven techniques not found in military manuals include:

Isolating a prisoner from others (Doesn't sound so bad until you hear the horror stories from The Red Cross)

Altering his diet, but still providing him adequate food to survive (Let Muslims eat pork!)

"Some" drug injections

Questioning him up to 20 hours at a time for up to three days (isolated, offered pork, and injected with "some" drugs)

I can't imagine why Bush administration officials wouldn't want this information made public!

Four of the seven nonstandard methods require at least tacit approval from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"None are torture in the Pentagon's view," Di Rita said.

Ignoring Di Rita's ignorance of subject-verb agreement, who the hell died and made Pentagon officials Mengele?


Wade through the watered down (AP news story) drek for yourself...

Dr. Mengele's idea of fun!