The media, as usual, appalls,
Jim West, at young men, catcalls,
Bush is an ass,
Frist’s got no class,
But George Galloway’s got some balls!
Friday Limerick
What Liberal Media?
It’s nothing new, the conventional wisdom that the media has a liberal bias, and it’s also not new that the media is so afraid of being seen as having a liberal bias that they will go to all lengths to dispel the assumption, often to disastrous results, not the least result of which is a shockingly misinformed public. But some Lefties are reaching a breaking point…
Crooks and Liars is tired of the bullshit refrain about a liberal bias in the media and suggests:
I think it is time we act and let the TV Gods know that we are feed up with not being represented in the media bias arena.Contact information is provided so we can all help inform the media that we’ve had it with being under- and misrepresented.
Meanwhile, Atrios notes:
What [reporters] seem to fail to understand is that they spent the last dozen or so years accomodating and encouraging a bunch of people whose goal it is to effectively wipe them out. Reap, sow, yada yada. As many others have pointed out, while criticism from the left (which they ignore) is about making them better, the right is pretty much out to destroy any media in this country that doesn't exist for the sole purpose of encouraging tax cuts, demonizing gay people, and generally supporting the agenda of Dear Leader.And Skippy says:
we think that most of the liberals' complaints with today's mtm is not that it's slanted conservatively, but rather that the screeching heads happily let people tell outright untruths and get away with it, in the name of "balance" and "objectivity."I think one of the biggest issues liberals face at the moment, as a result of the media’s insistence on balancing facts with conservative spin, is that we have all come to be seen as conspiracy theorists. It’s increasingly difficult to prove to someone the veracity of, say, the fact that the US military was desecrating the Qur’an was known long before it reached the pages of Newsweek.
we believe (and we believe that most lefties believe) that it is not partisan or biased to insist on facts, cites, sources and truth. so if one party can't make their points factually, it's not unfair to call them on it.
instead, blitzer and the gang just let two representatives from either side hurl spin at each other, and call that "journamalism."
we would love to see the screeching heads insist on proof, from both sides, of their respective positions.
Back in February, I wrote about this concern in a post called Truth: The Great Liberal Conspiracy:
----------------------------
Conspiracies are, by their definition, covert, and so perhaps by their surrender to the administration’s wishes of unquestioning compliance, the media have made many of the Bush gang’s machinations conspiracies. They have also made themselves useful tools in a far-reaching propaganda campaign; the reluctance to comment on the accuracy of any of the administration’s claims shows no less a disdain for the truth than those who made the fallacious claims in the first place. Propaganda works best, after all, when it comes under the guise of objectivity, and commandeering the perceived objectivity of the media through intimidation was an integral part of the administration’s strategy. Quietly and slowly relinquishing that objectivity was demonstrative of the media’s acquiescence to fulfilling the role of covert propagandists, and instigated both the general mistrust of any media source and the phenomenon of relegating truth-seekers to the realm of conspiracy theorists.
There was a time when pointing out blatantly obvious political maneuvering would not have warranted charges of being a conspiracy theorist. We used to have a healthy mistrust of our government; we assumed that the flaws of humankind weren’t checked at the doorways of the White House and the Pentagon. When the shit hit the fan, we assumed that the people involved might do less than ethical things in the pursuit of self-preservation. Now to suggest such a thing is to be deemed a paranoiac. It is as though we have been asked, and, inexplicably, collectively agreed, to rid ourselves of common sense and our very understanding of human nature.
Such willful ignorance, such readiness to suppress our instincts and abilities for critical thought, such easy compliance with the suggestions that we should obediently believe what we the administration tells us about themselves and denounce those who don’t as traitors…these are not the healthy attributes of a genuine democracy, and they are not indicators of freedom.
If I am a conspiracy theorist, if my sources are perceived as unreliable, it is the fault of a cowed and impotent media and a manipulative, deceitful administration who care little for what’s right if it impinges upon what they want—an administration who couldn’t be happier that someone like me is seen as little more than a wacky conspiracy theorist with unconfirmable information.
This is a but a symptom of a larger disease. Left indefinitely untreated, it will eventually mean the death of the American Democracy.
----------------------------
Head on over to Crooks and Liars and get the info to tell the media to put an end to this crap.
“Hold On, Christian Soldiers”
Check out this great piece by Nancy Goldstein at RawStoryQ. Here’s a little snippet to whet your appetite:
… Democrats were too busy trying to stand as close as possible to the Republicans on all of these issues, in the deluded hope that some swing voter would slip and accidentally pick them instead. Think what kind of populist hay Democrats might have made over the big wet kiss to powerful special interests that is the bankruptcy bill, if only prominent Democrats – from Reid, Biden, Byrd, and Bayh in the Senate to House Minority Whip Hoyer – hadn’t voted for it.Ouch. So true.
You’ve got to read the whole thing, especially as Nancy takes a moment to give props to two of our favorite bloggers, Pen-Elayne and Digby.
Search Me
Okay, this is seriously the weirdest collection of search engine terms used to find this blog I’ve ever seen!
And that’s just the first page.
I’m certainly pleased about “twat,” although “stuffed with rice pudding” is definitely my favorite.
Let's make this the Question of the Day: How did you find Shakespeare's Sister?
Wild Wild Jim West: The Saga Continues
First of all, the people of Spokane might get stuck with West’s legal bills. That’s a hoot and a half. I hope they march on City Hall with their middle fingers raised high.
Secondly, it’s been announced that West, who you may recall has spent his political career on an anti-gay crusade while simultaneously trying to hook up with gay men on the internet, and allegedly using his office to entice dudes to have sex with him and possibly sexually abusing boys as far back as the ’70s, is still welcome at Spokane’s annual Leadership Prayer Breakfast tomorrow.
"We're all sinners," said [Dale Strom, a member of the executive board of Leadership Northwest, the volunteer group that coordinates the annual breakfast], who also works for the city of Spokane. "Prayer is even more important when you're in trouble."So let me get this straight. Gays, lesbians, and their supporters who wear a rainbow sash are denied communion by the Catholic church, but adulterer and possible child molester Jim West is still welcome at a prayer breakfast. Okay, that makes perfect sense.
[…]
In a memo sent to city employees after the newspaper reported the allegations, West asked people to pray on his behalf.
"Since my cancer I've taken to prayer and believe it has healing power," the mayor wrote in a May 5 e-mail. "Please pray for me, the rest of your leaders, the City and our community."
[…]
Organizers of the prayer breakfast hope the event will promote the "message of Jesus Christ" while encouraging "courageous conversations" among those in attendance…
I know I’m sort of treating this as if there’s no distinction between the Catholic church and a conglomeration of people from various religions who hold a prayer breakfast, which clearly isn’t the case, but there does seem to be a recurring pattern among the whole of conservative Christianity, wherein men who abuse boys are generally sheltered and coddled, but the LGBT community is generally rebuked and told they’re going to hell. Similarly, those who support legalized abortion are told they are not good Catholics, or good Christians, but those who support the death penalty, or the Iraq War, aren’t questioned at all.
Tell me again why churches ought to be allowed to keep their tax-exempt status, because the inconsistencies regarding exactly whom they choose to reject and for whom they choose to pray seem to get pretty damn consistent when you look at it along party lines.
Scientists Create Customized Stem Cells
WASHINGTON - South Korean scientists have created the world's first human embryonic stem cells that are customized to injured or sick patients, a major step in the quest to grow patients' own replacement tissue to treat diseases.(more in article)
These same scientists last year became the first to clone a human embryo, sparking international clamor. But those cloned stem cells — the building blocks that give rise to every tissue in the body_ were a genetic match to a healthy woman, not a sick person. And it wasn't easy: It took 242 donated human eggs to grow just one batch.
Now the Seoul scientists have cloned patient-specific stem cells, important if doctors are to develop cell-based therapies that won't be rejected by the body's immune system. The technique worked with males and females, as young as 2 and as old as 56 — all suffering either spinal cord injuries, diabetes or a genetic immune disease, the researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
Amazing. Fantastic. Inspiring.
And in the meantime, we're arguing over "Intelligent Design" and worshipping Virgin Mary cement cracks.
Le Sigh.
(Simon Says cross-post)
Keep him on his bike and out of trouble
And for chrissakes, make him wear a helmet.
Karl at Virtual Pus (eew) has a great post on the Bush/grenade scare. In case you haven't heard, the grenade was not a dud, and could have gone off, killing Dear Leader.
As Karl goes into, I think this would have been a horrible thing. Okay, as much as I hate him, I don't want Bush to be killed. I don't wish death on anyone. But if he had been killed (like Karl, I don't think Bush is deserving of the term "assassination," even if he is a "double ass." Ha!), the Republican Radicals would be basically handed a blank check to pass whatever crazy law they wished. I seriously believe we would become a police state.
Progressives: You may think killing Bush might stop the evil. It won't. It will only make the Republican Radicals more powerful. As Karl says:
In the spirit of the new Star Wars movie that is coming out, I will have to make a Star Wars reference. As Obi Wan Kenobi once said: “Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you could ever imagine”. I would hate to see Bush become some kind of martyr for American imperialism and evangelical christian politicalism. And that’s what would happen if some kind of leftwing foreign nut blew him up.
Bush is the worst, most dangerous president in the history of our country, and that is exactly how he should go down in history. He does not deserve to be a martyr. Don't feed the "Bush=Second Coming" machine any more fuel.
(Cross-posting is your best Blog value)
More (and More) on the Mule-Fucker
A week ago, Neal “Mule-Fucker” Horsley, rabid gay-hater and abortion opponent who famously posts the names and addresses of abortionists on his website, appeared again on Alan Colmes’ radio show to defend and clarify his statements about having had sex with a mule when he was a kid:
It was a natural occurrence, he said, like that of a mutt that will hump everything warm and wet in sight. He maintained that he did not rape the mule. Horsley claimed that the mule consented and was a willing consultant in this match due to the fact that the mule was clearly a whore for accepting the gift of an ear of corn for the sexual act. Now if you are doing a double take on that piece of information, I should advise you, he really said it.Okay, what the hell is wrong with this guy?! He is seriously the ultimate example of someone who has absolutely no self-control or mechanism for censoring his own behavior so thusly seeks to legislate morality. I suppose if abortion had been illegal, he never would have encouraged his mistresses to get abortions, right? Yeah, sure. That’s the problem with these dill-holes; criminalizing a behavior they can’t resist despite its incompatibility with their personal belief systems won’t stop them from engaging in the behavior and they don’t realize it. Making abortion illegal won’t eradicate its existence from the world, nor the associated temptation to urge your pregnant mistress to get one.
Mr. Horsley stated that it is logical and natural to engage in bestiality in today's world, comparing it to consenting gay sex. Mule-man sex is natural, and man-man sex is natural but not normal. He compared it to the paradigm of a dog humping a leg or anything it can find. All men are mutts (well DUH!) when it comes to their sexuality, The mule was just a matter of convenience for him, but it was just one mule. And I'll quote Alan on this one "At least you were a monogamist".
Alan continued the question with "if it were a washing machine would you have sexual intercourse with it?"
Horsley replied, paraphrasing, "I hadn't thought about it, but I would have had sex with anything wet and warm and moved."
At this time all I could think was sending out an APB warning people to lock up their washing appliances tonight.
Horsley continued by saying that you can be forgiven for the "naturalness" of bestiality because animals are dumb and have no feelings, but those involved in homosexuality should be put in prison. That would mean Horsley should be sitting in that prison according to his own convictions. Yes folks, most of you guessed it right, he admitted to 1 homosexual affair with a man and 2 extra-marital affairs that resulted in pregnancies. Mr. Horsley who is staunch anti-abortion advocate, claimed tonight he had "personally seen thousands of abortions walk by him, weeping", (can I please have video of that?), stated he had told the mistresses that they should abort the fetuses. The women didn't chose that option and decided to have the children.
Moving on, the Southern Poverty Law Center also recently profiled Horsley, who I would love to be able to dismiss as a random crackpot with no influence, but unfortunately, that’s not true, since he runs the leading anti-abortion website. You really ought to read the whole thing, because it’s enough to make your head spin right off your shoulders as it details Horsley’s rising influence in the Dominionist and anti-abortion movements (including his involvement with the murderers of abortionists), but here are some choice bits for your perusal and inevitable horror:
At first glance, Neal Horsley appears to be the merry old uncle of his neighborhood on a cul-de-sac in a middle-class Atlanta suburb.Get to know Neal Horsley, because, like it or not, he’s the face of our opponent as we wrestle for control of the direction of America’s future.
Irreverent, amusing and animated, Horsley seems for all the world a warm and faithful husband, a friend to children, an iconoclastic conversationalist and wry commentator on the state of the world.
A second look reveals an entirely different Horsley — the implacable enemy of homosexuals who promises regularly to "arrest faggots," a man who proposes to use nuclear weapons in a bid for Southern secession, the Scripture-quoting theocrat who wants to force his version of Bible law on American society.
This is the Horsley that rails on about "desecration," "pagans," "lust" and "perverted tolerance."
And then there is the Neal Horsley who boasts to a young acolyte about having sex with men and with mules, the aging Vietnam War protester who says that "smoking dope, fucking and boozing, that's who I am naturally."
The Horsley who served 2 1/2 years in federal prison for dealing hashish oil. The Horsley who put up photographs on his Web site of naked men engaging in homosexual acts and a nude woman engaging in bestiality amid shots of grotesquely maimed fetuses.
[…]
It was Horsley who Clayton Waagner, a self-described anti-abortion "terrorist" on the Ten Most Wanted List, chose to drop in on shortly before being arrested last November. It was Horsley who propelled his notorious website — featuring home addresses and other detailed information about hundreds of abortion providers — into the national limelight after a physician was murdered by a sniper in 1998.
It was Horsley who managed to make himself a central focus of a Home Box Office documentary on the extremist fringe of the anti-abortion movement. Horsley has become so well known that the Southern Party — a neo-Confederate group with strong secessionist elements — had him give a keynote speech last August.
Neal Horsley, the Bob Dylan enthusiast who once begged a girlfriend to get an abortion, may be the most important rising figure on the hard Christian right.
[…]
Not long after beginning a 30-month federal prison sentence, Neal Horsley "surrendered to Jesus." He wrote later that he was among the first prisoners to be "furloughed to the new ministry started by [born-again Watergate felon] Chuck Colson called Prison Fellowship."
Meeting Colson and other prominent Christian evangelicals, Horsley was enthralled. In 1979, after doing some work for Prison Fellowship, he became Colson's first southeastern regional director and served for several years before getting a Fellowship scholarship to attend seminary.
Moving to Philadelphia, Horsley found Westminster Theological Seminary a place where he could study under "some of the most Godly and learned people in the world."
Founded by fundamentalist J. Gresham Machen, who was expelled from mainstream Presbyterianism in 1936, Westminster has been a bastion of theological conservatism. Studying there, Horsley underwent his abortion epiphany.
[…]
What is clear is that by the mid-1990s, Horsley was expressing Reconstructionist ideas.
Among other things, he cited "the elimination of the idea of the Creator from the legal reasoning process leading to the formation of law" as "proving the desecration of God's authority" in America. He wrote about "evil laws and the evil regime that perpetuates those laws."
And he angrily called on fellow Christians to radically reform the "self-indulgent, pagan, idolatrous status quo that goes by the name of the United States."
[…]
In 1995, Neal Horsley logged on to the Internet.
His first website, www.christiangallery.com, carried his writings on a variety of subjects, from essays calling for the arrest of "faggots" to interminable diatribes about abortion.
One section, called the "Desecration Digest," included extremely graphic pornographic photos ostensibly meant to illustrate America's moral degeneracy.
Another, entitled "Secession Via Nuclear Weapons" and illustrated by a large photograph of a mushroom cloud, called for Georgians to threaten to violently secede in a bid to force other states to outlaw abortion.
[…]
Angrily attacking other opponents of abortion for treating mothers sympathetically rather than as murderers, Horsley soon would begin to solicit and put up photos of patients outside abortion facilities.
"There are words for what a mother does when she kills her unborn child for any reason other than clear and present self-defense ... words like infanticide and homicide, and evil, and sin, and punishable by law and God," Horsley writes on the site. "[These] homicidal mothers must be held up for the world to see."
By 2001, the site was up, complete with scores of photos.
[…]
"When it came," Horsley said of what he sees as God's message to him that he was to save the babies, "it opened the door and put me right up there on stage. A big stage with lots of lights. Rather than shrinking back, I saw it as my opportunity. ... To be perfectly honest, I'm having a great time. I love it!"
(Hat tip DC Media Girl.)
Quote of the Day
When Americans think of scary persons in dark robes they should be thinking of Darth Vader, not Republican choices for judges.(Hat tip Begging to Differ via CommonSenseDesk.)
Try Equality
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force reports that violence against the LGBT community is on the rise, and they’re not pulling any punches about with whom they believe the responsibility lies:
The leaders of America's anti-gay industry are directly responsible for the continuing surge in hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. While other forms of crime continued to fall, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has documented a 4% increase in anti-LGBT crime in 2004, coming on the heels of a 26% increase in the last half of 2003. This spike in violence parallels the exact same period since the Right went into demonic, anti-gay hyperdrive following the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas decision in July of 2003. Since then, church pews and the public airwaves have been awash in ugly, anti-gay rhetoric and fear-mongering.Absolutely. Their identification of an anti-gay industry is excellent; I can’t even begin to fathom how much money has been raised for churches and conservative politicians on a message of hatred and intolerance toward gays and lesbians. The hate peddlers have found a ripe market for their wares, devotees of a twisted brand of Christianity that thrives on anger and victimhood, waiting to be sold a shiny new supply of anti-gay vitriol, scapegoating, and fear-mongering. The hungry buyers come to the churches and the political rallies with money burning holes in the pockets of their sensible trousers, and they leave satiated, their bellies full of (self-)righteous indignation, a determination to spread the word about the radical homosexual agenda, and a keen eye for the slightest proof that their suspicions about the dastardly fags and dykes who threaten their way of life are all true. This is a booming business, and Falwell, Dobson, Perkins, and their ilk have learned to roll out their product as efficiently as Ford and his Model-Ts.
These words obviously do not just vanish into the ether - as intended, they are absorbed and become fuel and justification for violence. To say otherwise defies reality.
The literal blood of the thousands of gay people physically wounded by hate during 2004 is on the hands of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, and so many others who spew hate for partisan gain and personal enrichment.
Well, I’ve got something to sell, too. And unlike alternatives such as Pepsi to Coke, or Burger King to McDonald’s, it’s not an option that’s little more than a distinction without a difference, dooming it forever to be #2. My product is completely different, totally unique from its competitor … and it’s sexy to boot! It’s called Equality (ooh, ahh), and buying into Equality instead of Intolerance comes with some added bonuses:
* Your outlook will improve by 100%!
* You’ll get to vote for candidates with functioning brains!
* Your policy positions won’t require constant mental contortions to justify!
* You won’t need to exist in a permanent state of cognitive dissonance regarding your own peccadilloes and idiosyncrasies!
* You’ll have better skin!
~ and ~
* Your friends will be hip, exciting, interesting, and literate!
Best yet, buying into Equality is in the price range of every man, woman, and child in America, because it costs absolutely nothing! That’s right—it’s free. You don’t need to spend a penny to throw off your prejudices and buy into Equality instead.
So, whaddaya say? Can I wrap it up for you?
Grrl Power
Following on the heels of the 13-year-old Florida girl who bravely fought the state for her right to get an abortion comes this story of a teenage girl in Montgomery, Alabama, who was banned from participating in the graduation ceremony at her Roman Catholic high school, but decided to announce her own name and walk across the stage anyway.
Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute.This girl is awesome. Not awesome: that girls like Cosby and the girl known only as LG in Florida are forced into such bravery because they are treated like either property or dirt for wanting to make their own choices about childbearing. Even less awesome: that the elected members of the opposition party show not half of the guts and fortitude of these two teenage girls when faced with pressure from conservatives; if they had protected our rights and our country half as well as these girls protected themselves, we’d be in a much different place right now.
But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat.
"I can't believe something like this is happening in 2005,'' said her mother, Sheila Cosby. "My daughter has been through a lot and I am proud of her. She deserved to walk, and she did.''
The school's guidance counselor delivered Cosby's degree to her house earlier Tuesday, but she still wanted to participate.
"I worked hard throughout high school and I wanted to walk with my class,'' she said.
As a side note, I find it interesting that the Roman Catholic church refuses still to endorse or even allow birth control, and yet when a student at a Roman Catholic school turns up pregnant, they ban her from school citing “safety concerns,” bar her from the graduation ceremony, and even refuse to list her name in the program. Here’s the kicker:
The father of Cosby's child, also a senior at the school, was allowed to participate in graduation.Pricks.
The March of Red State Madness Continues
If you want to know why I prefer to identify as Kinda Peachy, eschewing labels like white and straight and all that junk, it’s because even I’m starting to think of straight white folks as being completely and utterly fucking nuts. Yes, I know there are plenty of decent straight white liberal people, and I also know there are sickos and weirdos and freaks of every race and creed and orientation, but between the evil dipshits* running the country, the crackpot Dominionists trying to Jesusize the country, and the slew of deranged psychos that have been in the news lately (BTK serial killer, the dude who kept his dead mom in the basement in a chunk of ice, etc.), I’m just going to pack my bags for a permanent move to Kindapeachistan.
The story of the latest collection of horrific nuts—at least three of them, who were caught running a sex abuse cult involving kids and animals out of a church in Louisiana—comes via Pam, who notes:
Do you even know where to begin with this case? In the deepest part of the fundamentalist bible belt, we all know the darkest of perversions lie. Every possible cliché accompanies this horrible story.This is almost too horrifying to contemplate. These jackass rapists’ victims were as young as two years old, and they ritualistically forced both children and animals to have both oral an anal sex with them. The big break in the case, by the way, was when the minister confessed after a complaint by one of the victims’ mothers prompted a police investigation of the church.
* it takes place in the deep South
* these guys are your typical, redneck crackers
* it involves church members AND the minister
* the acts took place IN the church
* it involves bestiality
* a law enforcement officer allegedly took part in the abuse
Meanwhile, how much you want to bet these lowlife deviant fucks would be the first ones to tell you that we need to ban gay marriage?
* with the exception of the Crusaders’ Hag, of course.
1,346
Today is the 1,346th day since September 11, 2001.
That’s the same number of days between the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) and V-J Day (August 24, 1945), which signaled the end of World War II.
Caluculated Risk, posting at Angry Bear, writes that this milestone provides:
the opportunity to compare the effectiveness of America's responses to both crises. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, America came together, and with determination, shared sacrifice, and the effective and focused leadership of FDR, George C. Marshall, and many others, America and her allies were victorious.Read the rest; it’s really good. CR ends the piece by asking, “It took 1,346 days to win WWII. 1,346 days after 9/11, what have we accomplished?”
After the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, America once again came together. However, within months of 9/11, the Bush Administration lost focus and never clearly defined a winnable GWOT [Global War on Terror]. Monty Python comedian Terry Jones quipped: "With most wars, you can say you've won when the other side is either all dead or surrenders. But how is terrorism going to surrender? It's hard for abstract nouns to surrender."
A more serious critique came from Dr. Jeffrey Record, of the U.S. Army's War College who wrote: "... most of the GWOT's declared objectives ... are unrealistic and condemn the United States to a hopeless quest for absolute security. As such, the GWOT's goals are also politically, fiscally, and militarily unsustainable ... The GWOT as it has so far been defined and conducted is strategically unfocused, promises much more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate scarce U.S. military and other means over too many ends. It violates the fundamental strategic principles of discrimination and concentration."
Ultimately, I suppose the answer to the question depends on one's perspective regarding the administration's ultimate goals. In terms of truly fighting a Global War on Terror, we have accomplished, seemingly, the polar opposite of our intent; our intervention and quick desertion of Afghanistan has left the country in chaos, riddled with violence and drug trafficking; our endeavor in Iraq has served only to fan the flames of hatred among many Muslims toward American imperialism. In terms of the administration exploiting the terrorist attack on American soil to further the neo-con vision of a powerful, centralized federal government with weakened civil liberties and strengthened laws for government secrecy and stealth intervention into private citizens’ lives, plus a Middle Eastern American outpost for the procurement of oil, much indeed has been accomplished.
CR’s critique of what has happened since 9/11 is spot-on, and an unfortunate reminder of how vastly different a man George Bush is from FDR, how far short of greatness he truly is, in spite of his shallow emulation of a great American leader.
Destroying the Republican Brand
Via The Liberal Avenger (I stole the post title from him, too), we link to the Destroying the Republican Brand series of writings by Paperwight. These are brilliant thoughts, and methods that I think would really work in the public mind. Go and read, and put them to use. I myself am going to stop using "conservatives" and begin using "Republican Extremists." Tie the word "Republican" to every negative word you can think of, and slowly it will begin to seep in.
(Thanks, Avenger)
UPDATE: Now with actual links! I'm a colossal idiot!
(Cross-Posting is good for you)
Bigot-Bustin'
Freiheit und Wissen tipped me off that yesterday was International Day Against Homophobia. I didn’t even know such a day existed. So, belatedly, happy International Day Against Homophobia!
Of course, every day is a Day Against Homophobia around here.
FEMA, Fraud, Florida, and Some More Spectacularly Bad Journalism
The AP reports (emphasis mine):
The Federal Emergency Management Agency gave more than $31 million to thousands of Floridians who may not have qualified for any disaster aid after Hurricane Frances, one of several findings of a federal audit that said the aid system was vulnerable to fraud.1. The AP isn’t doing its job.
The finding, released to a Senate committee Wednesday, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency granted requests for aid in Miami-Dade County on verbal assurances, without proof of damage like repair receipts or proof of ownership.
[…]
FEMA chief Michael D. Brown said he regretted the findings, but said such problems are not widespread in his agency.
"While sadly in every disaster there will be those who attempt to abuse or defraud FEMA, I am pleased by the report's findings verifying our own initial conclusions of nothing widespread," Brown told the committee in a prepared statement.
2. Brown’s a fucking liar.
It’s a strangely comforting thought to many people that the problem is a result of “those who attempt to abuse or defraud FEMA,” because the news is always rife with stories about scammers; these FEMA-defrauding crooks (we are meant to tell ourselves) are cut from the same cloth as the yokels who claim to have found fingers in their fast food chili, or get caught on video by the local news channel playing golf while they’re collecting disability payments from the government. And it’s a convenient excuse for the government, too. It’s not our fault; come on—you know how the world’s full of people who want something for nothing! And because there really are people like that in the world, we accept it.
But not this time. This time, I’m afraid, I’ve been paying attention.
First, in March, I wrote about a story in the Sun-Sentinel that revealed, in spite of the Brown’s claims that FEMA wasn’t playing politics with hurricane aid distribution (which, mind you, was taking place just before the hotly contested presidential election in a swing state governed by the president’s brother), a FEMA consultant by the name of Glenn Garcelon had authored a memo outlining exactly how they could and should play politics with the aid funds, including a recommendation that "top-level people from FEMA and the White House need to develop a communication strategy and an agreed-upon set of themes and communications objectives."
If that wasn’t enough to encourage the AP to note somewhere in its ridiculously one-sided story that this fraud may have started in the White House, instead of allowing Brown to place the entirety of the responsibility for this mess on conmen, surely the fact that an email message from the state's labor chief, Susan Pareigis (four days after whose request for federal assistance Labor Secretary Elaine Chao traveled to Florida personally to award the money) sent to Governor Bush asking that he pass on her appreciation “for such an instantaneous response" and forwarded to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card less than 10 minutes later is enough to raise the possibility that this might have had the president’s attention. Maybe, just maybe, this massive fraud isn’t just down to clever swindlers, but a government that was willing to look the other way as any deadbeat with a pulse and a willingness to take advantage of “free money” stepped forward with his or her hand out. Maybe, just maybe, 9/11 wasn't the only tragedy this administration exploited for its reelection, using the hurricanes as a perfect cover for funneling all kinds of money into the hands of important swing voters.
And it wasn’t only rental assistance and property replacement costs. In April, I wrote about another story in the Sun-Sentinel in which Dr. Stephen Nelson, head of Florida's Medical Examiners Commission, was quoted as saying that the number of deaths deemed hurricane-related by FEMA was “just an incredible number -- a difference of 192. This is the Free Funeral Payment Act."
FEMA worker Mary Ann Carlisle tried to make it easy for the medical examiner, providing "sample letters" he could use as a guide.Brown should in no way be asserting that the problem primarily lies with those outwith the agency, or even that this was a limited problem within the agency, and the AP should not allow him to get away with such blatant misrepresentation of the facts. Why is Garcelon’s memo not mentioned? Why not Pareigis’ email? There is every reason to believe, and some evidence behind the suspicion, that the White House knew about what was happening with FEMA’s hurricane aid distribution and not only didn’t mind, but encouraged the quick dispersion of federal funds to those even remotely affected by the hurricanes.
"Mr. James Doe, a patient under my care during Hurricane [blank], was terminally ill when evacuated from his home," said FEMA's sample letter from a doctor. "The stress and trauma of the storm and evacuation may have, in my opinion, hastened his demise. Any help you can give Mrs. James Doe would be greatly appreciated."
Carlisle even included a sample letter for terminally ill hospice patients.
Back in March and April, the White House directed all inquiries to FEMA. Now FEMA is placing responsibility onto some of its employees and the recipients of misappropriated aid. The funding went from George Bush all the down to Joe Schmoe in the Sunshine State, and now the buck’s getting passed his way, too.
No Self-Control
Dear Dominionists:
I’m very sorry you are utterly devoid of a self-control mechanism, and that access to abortion, birth control, booze, drugs, cigarettes, violent and/or sexually explicit television shows, books, music, and movies, and that the legalization of sex acts or relationships you find offensive to your delicate sensibilities, mean that you will be unavoidably compelled to use, watch, read, listen to, imbibe, and otherwise engage in or with all of the above.
However, that you have no self-control is, quite frankly, your fucking problem. The rest of us who have self-control would appreciate it if you would attend to your own futile struggles against “debauchery and deviance” in some other way besides trying to impose controls on the population at large. You see, we have self-control, and have the ability to engage in or with the above in moderation, avoid them completely, or immerse ourselves quite happily without feelings of guilt, angst, or self-hatred.
Get with the program or fuck off.
Love,
Shakespeare’s Sister
Via Pam posting at Big Brass Blog:
A new website is up and running, providing a valuable service to families and business travelers who don't want to stay in hotels that offer in-room pornography. The website has been in the works for four years -- and now, CleanHotels.com is a reality. Phil Burress of the Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values came up with the idea because he felt there needed to be a resource for people to book a hotel room and be assured there would be no pornography on the room's television. "So rather than just curse the darkness and just keep complaining about this, we decided to launch into an opportunity to offer people a new way of dealing with this problem," Burress explains. "About four years ago, we birthed the idea of CleanHotels.com, and we surveyed 43,000 hotels across America. We identified the hotels that do not offer in-room, hard-core, pay-per-view pornography." Burress says by using the website, not only can families be assured they will not be exposed to pornography, but they will be supporting companies that care enough about their customers to not offer pay-per-view porn.(Link.)
Pam asks, “Can they just not order the porn?” Apparently not.
Freaks.
Heads of State
If you were the Bush administration, and you had $2 billion to spend on a healthcare issue, would you choose:
A) Stem cell research
B) Traumatic brain injury research
C) Children’s medical coverage
D) Male impotence drugs
If you guessed A, well, you’ve clearly forgotten that nearly any and all stem cell research is verboten, and that the administration finds discarding unused fetuses from fertility centers a better option than allowing the couples who produced the fetuses to donate them to research.
If you guessed B, then you’ve forgotten this little news item I wrote about in April, during the height of the Schiavo fiasco, when the Bush administration cancelled all funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Traumatic Brain Injury Program, in spite of the fact that fully 60% of wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan have traumatic brain injuries.
If you guessed C, then you probably haven’t read about the $1.1 billion of federal funds taken away from the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, leaving nearly a million children without health insurance.
If you guessed D, then you are correct…and obviously well aware of the truly revolting priorities of this administration. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that $2 billion will be spent by the federal government over the next decade on male impotence drugs—through the new Medicare program, by the way, which means that these drugs are likely going mostly to older guys, which makes any claims that this is about helping men who want to have families highly suspect.
This is just about horny old duffers who still want to get some, and more power to them; I’ve got no problem with that, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of children’s health insurance or medical research that is integral to finding new information about a devastating injury that’s plaguing our troops. And here’s another confounding question: If abortion, abortifacients, and contraceptives, sex outside of marriage (or sex for fun), and homosexual sex are all bad because they interfere with God’s plan regarding childbearing—that is, they’re unnatural—then can someone please explain to me how drugs which allow men, who would not otherwise be able to do so, to have sex, is not as equally unnatural as all of the above? Maybe God’s plan for some dudes is a limp dick. Who are we mere mortals to mess with that?
It’s quite a coincidence that God’s laws about unnatural sex and sex-related decisions seem to only apply to controlling gays and women. Don’tcha think?
(Hat tip Think Progress.)
