Category: Politics

Some Texans are boycotting Girl Scout Cookies because of a “cozy” relationship to Planned Parenthood. Although, it’s not just boycotting cookies:

Troop 7527 is down to just two members after the other girls were withdrawn by their parents. And Brownie Troop 7087 is no more.

“You’re telling these girls to raise their fingers up to pledge to honor God and country, and yet you’re handing out materials saying homosexuality is OK,” said Brownie leader Donna Coody, who disbanded her five-member troop.

Yes, that’s right Mrs. Coody, for some people, homosexuality is okay. Just like interracial marriage. Just like a womans “right to choose,” let alone vote. Just like a black man has freedom under the constitution, finally. Just like you are allowed to pursue happiness any way you see fit, including boycotting those things that don’t meet your personal standards.

There are so many things in this story, I just don’t know where to start. Oh wait, Crawford Texas isn’t that where Bush’s ranch is, currently? It becomes clear to me, suddenly.

Well, hopefully, if they continue to preach abstinence, ignorance and stupidity to their children, instead of practical, sensible and common sense sex education and counseling, then maybe their strain of the gene pool won’t reproduce and it will die away. Darwinism in action? Seven generations, my grandmother told me, to get the stupid out of a family… One can only hope.

Today we learn how perilously close, in 1992 we came to having Roe V. Wade overturned. The (then) White House, Inc.™ was not happy in the least. Dissenting justices were, O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter.

It’s hard to believe or, even imagine that we are actually moving backwards in civil liberties, personal freedoms and the end of government sectioned discrimination. However, the truth is, we are doing exactly that… while facing the potential of four more years of the same.

Meanwhile, irresponsible spending increases, reckless foreign policy continues, tax cuts for the wealthy becoming permanent, The White House, Inc.™ has more business interests than ever, and Perot’s “Giant sucking sound” is deafening us all as we hemorrhage jobs overseas. To make us feel better, to ease our worried minds, The present Bush Bunch (just like the past Bush Bunch) will continue to find biblical reasons to remove more and more freedoms that anger their pious christian chcontributors. It is as if a nightmare… can it get worse?

U.S. Senators’ stocks beat the market by 12 percent.

“US senators’ personal stock portfolios outperformed the market by an average of 12 per cent a year in the five years to 1998, according to a new study.

The results suggest that senators knew when to buy their common stocks and when to sell.”

Note: NY Times link, authentication is required, use “paxtonland – paxtonland”.

Nader drops the other shoe and decides to run anyway. Much renting of clothing, wringing of hands, and gnashing of teeth to follow…

My take on the matter? He’s running as another ABB candidate (Anyone But Bush), quite simply. He’ll try and inject some issues. He’ll try and get into the debates again. He’ll try and point out the fundamental similarities between the Republican and Democratic candidates. He’ll try, one more time, to use this position to get us to listen… which most of us won’t. But, I wonder, since it doesn’t look like he’s running with the Greens, is he another Soros funded anti-Bush initiative?

Justice Dept. moves to crack down on pornography.

The Justice Department quietly has installed an outspoken anti-pornography advocate in a senior position in its criminal division, as part of an effort to jump-start obscenity prosecutions.

The Bush administration’s election-year move follows three years of heat from the Christian right, which believes that Attorney General John Ashcroft, a longtime friend and ally, has fallen down on the job when it comes to fighting smut.

I wonder how some of my republican friends both, christian and not… who e-mail me weekly with “boobs of the week” pics are going to feel about this?

When they tampered with our civil liberties, you said: “Okay, that’s for the good of the country and protects us from terrorists. Small price to pay for freedom!”

When they started wars in sanctioned and contained nations, you said: “If we don’t get these guys, they’re bound to do bad things. Who cares about WMD’s?”

While they loosened environmental laws to the point of senselessness, you said: “It’s in the name of progress. Progress can’t come without change! Who cares what kind?”

Whey they removed sex education and access to birth control, you said: “What they don’t know, can’t hurt ’em, I don’t want to know about my kids and sex!”

When they ran the deficit through the roof with no end in sight, you said: “Economic change is coming! Nevermind that I just got laid off”

When Cheney and crew left Haliburton to take office and promptly planned global wars, you said: “Confilct of interest? What conflict of interest?!”

Well, fellas… now they’re messing with your boobs. Let’s see if you finally get the message about these guys we’re been trying to tell you for over 3 years.

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were legally wed in San Francisco yesterday. They were the first same-sex couple to be officially married in the United States… After having been together for over 50 years.

According to the article, that same day 15 more same-sex marriages were preformed and about a dozen marriage licenses were issued.

Before you are quick to criticize or, to wax philosophic about the decline of western civilization or, that the institution of marriage being destroyed… remember: In most of the country, many laws against interracial marriage existed until the 60’s and 70’s. In Alabama, it remained illegal until 2000 (!). Most states included provisions to forbid a white person from marrying outside their “race”, including asians.

Intolerance is just plain intolerance. Hide behind religion all you wish. What is wrong, in my opinion, is just wrong. Telling people with whom they can spend the rest of their lives with, is wrong and intolerant. However, in a country that is increasingly wrong and demonstrates less and less tolerance every day… don’t expect change to come quickly. At least we aren’t lynching same-sex couples…. or, are we?

Naturally, I’m not forgetting the most important aspect of the argument against same-sex marriage. According to the religious right, marriage, as an institution precludes and predates man-made laws such as those in the constitution and in states laws. Marriage is a divine right provided by God for mankind to procreate But, remember, this is the same god that allowed Abraham (2 wives), Jacob (3 wives), David (at least 7 wives) and Solomon (700 wives) just to name a few, to practice polygamy?

Damn, these things just are never quite cut and dried, are they?

In Their Own Words: Iraq’s ‘Imminent’ Threat Even though they say they never said it. Tennet is backing up his agencies and agents, rightfully so. Will the Bush Bunch backpedal about language semantics and nomenclature on this?

There is WMD? There isn’t WMD? What!?

Can someone please define “is” for me again? I don’t remember it being answered properly when the last president asked that question.

How to be a good Democrat or, a Republican. (well, I liked them even though the metafilter-ites didn’t think much of them)

The presidential match quiz will ask you questions about your political polarity and match you with your candidate. No third party candidates are included yet, your results may vary.

Rand Beers, John Kerry’s Drug War Zealot. A nice piece by Sean Donahue carefully researches John Kerry’s potential choice for security advisor or, even secretary of state. Here’s a list of Beer’s noteworty achievements:

Among other things he architechted, advocated, and vehemently defended the disasterous “fumigation” of coca crops in Columbia. Which to me is purely chemical warfare, even though it had zero impact on the trafficing of cocaine in the US.

More of the same, Republican, Democrat… who cares. Third, fourth and fifth verse, same as the first. Of course we’d been alerted to this character before.

Diligent members at Metafilter are uncovering interesting facts about Howard Dean and his position on technology, privacy and piracy. After being called “the technical candidate” by stirring up early interested in himself though the internet it turns out he’d also like to have more controls in it as well.

ZDNet is running a bit of a sensational piece about Dean’s wish to have ID card readers installed in all new computers. One would, apparently, have to use the ID card to access the internet. Then, once on the user could be tracked as well as monitored more closely. This mostly done under the auspices of protecting privacy and under-age internet users from harm.

Meanwhile, his campaign manager, Joe Trippi is a stockholder and supporter of a certain company called Wave Systems. Wave Systems is also the developer of this same technology. However, the company is more known for developing products that implement TCPA specifications and standards which are principally designed to enforce software license compliance.

So, under Dean, you’d take your drivers license (if you are fortunate enough to have one) swipe it in a card reader on your PC and it will happily report every damn thing you write, do or, create on your computer. Worse yet, if it didn’t like the things you were doing or, if it found that you had software or, tried to use a CD/DVD you have no right (in it’s mind) to use… it would simply lock you out of your computer and report you to the authorities.

Nice progress for technology, don’t you think? Yet another reason to avoid Dean…. at least that particular “Dean.” Finally, if this is part of his technology platform and plans to create jobs with it, let me be the first to volunteer to become a farmer and former technical worker.

The President wants some ribs… right now… at the Nothin’ Fancy Cafe in Roswell, New Mexico. As bizzare and strange as the transcript reads, at least he’s starting to catch on about the economy. He went from “Go out and shop! It helps the economy” (re: 9/11/01) to “Spending money helps create jobs for the economy.”

And again and again and..

Bush’s disapproval rating at all time high of 45% with approval rating at all time low of 50%.

At least until the pendullum swings back again or, perhaps if McDonald’s brings back the Mushroom & Swiss burger… Maybe it’ll swing back up when they capture Ronald McDonald… you never know.

It just goes to show you that our opinion is increasingly meaningless since last month, it was at al all time high of after Saddam’s capture.

Nuclear experts scour cities for ‘dirty’ bombs, other terrorist weapons

That also includes the mens restroom at Stuckey’s after the all you-can-eat breakfast bar closes on Sunday around 11:30 am?

Justice Department officials believe that it will finally provide enough probable cause to finally haul in Bill Clinton and toss him in a hole in Guantanamo Bay with the other terrorists?

Anyway, from the article:

Two days before New Year’s Eve, Energy Department nuclear experts detected radiation coming from a storage rental building near downtown Las Vegas. The White House was called. FBI agents secured the site.

Scientists sent a robot into the building, and it retrieved a duffel bag with a stainless steel capsule of radium used for treating cancer. The homeless man who provided them with a key to the storage site said he’d found the capsule a few years earlier. Officials breathed easier.

Lord help us from the actual terrorists with real plans.

Bush Grabs New Power for FBI

While the nation was distracted last month by images of Saddam Hussein’s spider hole and dental exam, President George W. Bush quietly signed into law a new bill that gives the FBI increased surveillance powers and dramatically expands the reach of the USA Patriot Act.

The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 grants the FBI unprecedented power to obtain records from financial institutions without requiring permission from a judge.

A lot of folks are pissed, claiming that the administration signed it on a Saturday (the 13th of Dec.) knowing new coverage would be slight and the announcement of the capture of Saddam would eclipse any other story out there.

Detroit Mayor Blames ‘Fat City’ Ranking on Autos

“We’re not a walking city…. It’s probably something to do with the culture…”

The major automakers were unavailable for comment.

Bush’s Approval Ratings Climb in Days After Hussein’s Capture

But even in the glow of Mr. Hussein’s capture, Americans worry that United States forces will be mired in Iraq for years, are concerned that the attacks on American troops will continue and say that President Bush has no plan to extricate the United States from Iraq, the poll found. And 60 percent of Americans said the United States was as vulnerable to a terrorist attack as it was before Mr. Hussein was pulled from a hole in Ad Dwar.

Government awards Linda Tripp almost $600,000

In addition, the government agreed to retroactively give Tripp three annual outstanding performance evaluations for her work at the Department of Defense, increasing the value of her retirement.

My goodness. Her privacy was invaded? Why on earth was she recording conversations in the first place? I think I’ll sue everyone involved because it violated my sanctity, peace of mind and right to be left out of the loop while this drama was top news for 3 years, was violated.

South Korea has announced it will send troops to Baghdad, while at the same time in another part of Washington, it is announced that another troop reduction is likely for US soldiers stationed in South Korea?

The Pentagon has been reviewing the worldwide positioning of its forces known as its “footprint” for months, and implementing the changes likely will take years.

Changes to do what? Since 1950, our mission in Korea has not changed one bit. The threat from North Korea has not diminished one bit. Yet… Wolfie said last year, long before our invasion and the strain on our resources, both financial and human:

“No longer will our forces be based near the DMZ as a political `trip wire,’” Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Congress last summer.

Troops going out of Korea to help face down terrorists, South Korean troops heading in to “help?” Sounds like money troubles to me. 137 billion in Iraq and counting… 25 billion in Afghanistan and counting… Suddenly, North Korea (no oil) isn’t much of a threat? Suddenly, our services in South Africa (no oil) aren’t really all that necessary? Suddenly, the tapes from Bin Laden start showing up again (take minds off oil)?

Meanwhile, Haliburton and all of the politically pork-fed energy corporations are struggling under the strain to produce oil revenues in Iraq yet, they are still profiting themselves? Congress, the UN, and the executive branch still argue about what rebuilding means, who keeps most of the money, and what the Iraqi people are expected to pay now and pay back later?

Oh do I wish for the naive days of blow-job scandals right about now.

Condoleezza Rice From yesterday’s “Meet the Press”:
(more…)

Cheney still has financial interest in Halliburton

The report says that the deferred compensation that Cheney receives from Halliburton as well as the more than 433,000 stock options he possesses “is considered among the ‘ties’ retained in or ‘linkages to former employers’ that may ‘represent a continuing financial interest’ in those employers which makes them potential conflicts of interest.”

Conflict of interest… my, do you think? The only thing that makes me feel better about the open door corporate corruption policy the Bush Bunch has is that I know they lost their shirts on Enron. But, unfortunately, not as badly as the employees did.

It looks like the Texas Democrats skipped town again. This time, to New Mexico… they broke loose before the Republicans could lock and bar the doors, forcing them to vote on a redistricting issue that would create seven new Republican seats in state congress.

Most people are disgusted by the Democrats behavior, I’m disgusted with the entire lot of them. I say execute them all, the entire bunch of them… Texans are good at that. Send GeeDubbya back for a week to fry all of them… Democrats and Republicans alike.

While you are at it… Remember, as Jeff says… Vote Against All Incumbents.