So.
Rove got his annual raise, which is more or less giving every American the finger. In particular, the soldiers he helped send into war, who are given a shameful paycheck.
The Bush Administration has two words for America. "Fuck you."
Don't believe me?
Go watch the video.
If you needed any more evidence that our country is being run by a man with the brain of a child, there you go.
(Knick-nack, cross-post, give your dog a bone)
I'm just waiting for the first "Fuck all y'all" during his radio address
"Whee! We’re flyyyyying!"
Recently, I wrote about how unremittingly pissed off I am with this administration’s insistence on insulting me with a neverending string of lies. Driftglass offers a similar piece today, and suggests that perhaps the feeling of being insulted by their lies is contagious—and that it might be the very thing that undermines their majority.
I certainly hope so, although the fact that there are still cognizant humans who continue to believe these are honorable men seriously makes me fear for our collective future.
Porn Police
Really, can’t we leave this kind of culture vulture bullshit to the GOP?
More than a week after news of its existence leaked, a bill seeking a 25 percent excise tax on adult entertainment purchased online and the imposition of mandatory, “certified” age verification of adult website visitors was introduced Wednesday by nine Democratic Senators. Concurrently, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced companion legislation there.Blah blah blah. When is America going to grow up and get out of the sandbox? I’m sick to death of bickering about boobies and condoms.
Just whatever.
First it was Clinton and her idiotic video game nonsense, and now this. I’m so glad to see all the Dems tripping over each other to sound holier than thou, each other, Rick Santorum, Gary Bauer, and Jesus himself. With the Democratic Party having been relegated to near-complete impotency after losing both Houses of Congress, the White House, and—coming soon—the Supreme Court, they need to do better than becoming the porn police. The Bush administration is undoubtedly the most corrupt, disingenuous, opportunistic, hypocritical, morally bankrupt, and probably criminal administration in the nation’s history, and the Dems can barely eke out a remotely favorable rating in national polls. They are lambasted as a party with no new ideas, and if this is the best they can come up with, consider me convinced.
The thing that really annoys me about both Clinton’s Grand Theft Auto campaign and this new porn bill is that they’re ostensibly of concern to “protect children.” (As an aside, I’d be more impressed if the Dems went after this stuff citing concerns about the exploitation of women; I still wouldn’t support either one, but at least I’d respect their argument a little more.) Somehow, I’m just not moved to support grand gestures and sweeping legislation to protect children from video games and internet porn, considering that’s supposed to be the job of the people who birthed them. I don’t particularly enjoy seeing my elected representatives spending their time on protecting children from things that any parent with two brain cells still knocking together could easily keep their kids away from sans a debate on Capitol Hill about it.
And if Dems are really so fired up to protect kids (oh, and I’m sure they are; I’m sure this isn’t just cynical vote-whoring), perhaps the best thing to do is turn their attention to saving the fucking country. I’m sure those kids they’re so desperate to protect from seeing exactly what those kids want to see anyway (and every kid probably should see at some point if they don’t want to turn out a self-loathing mulefucker Republican), if sentient about such things, would tell the Dems to just make sure America is still America when they grow up, okay?
Allegedly, the Dems have brilliant and viable strategies to counter the GOP’s fiscal irresponsibility, multiple national security disasters, emphasis on the reduction of civil liberties, and insistence on pandering to corporate interests. If they do, then they need to hire some halfway decent bloody writers to make those strategies easy to communicate, and then they need to start communicating them. And while they’re at it, they could cease feasting on taxpayer pork, throwing their support behind follies like the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, and snuggling up in the cozy pockets of corporations and lobbyists themselves, all while moving rightward on social issues, and running away from the word liberal like it’s a rabid howler monkey with an ax to grind.
You want to protect kids? Protect their country as they know it. They don’t need porn police; they need someone who will do whatever it takes to make sure America isn’t destroyed by those who seek to protect no one but themselves.
Unbelievable
While currently under investigation for treason, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby have been given raises. I don't know what annoys the fuck out of me more--that these douchebags are now making more money for running our country into the ground, or that just in March, their boss, President Greedyguts, proposed new rules that
would erode the 40-hour workweek and could deny overtime pay protections to millions of workers. The proposed changes to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations would affect a wide range of the more than 80 million workers protected by the FLSA.And don't even get me started on the shit pay our soldiers are getting. Pricks.
(Hat tip Genius of Insanity.)
Latoyia Figueroa
Does that name sound familiar? If not, then you need to head over to The All Spin Zone and get up to speed.
Briefly, Latoyia Figueroa is missing. And she's not white, and her disappearance is not getting any media attention. Or wasn't, until ASZ's Richard Cranium got on the case. Latoyia is pregnant and has a 7-year-old daughter who's undoubtedly desperate for her mother's return. Action items at ASZ.
If you're a blogger yourself, please swarm it. And if you're the praying type, well, I guess that wouldn't hurt, either.
Turdlet
Personally, I always assumed Karl Rove sprang from the bowels of hell fully-formed. It seemed unlikely that anyone who ever suffered the indignities of youth could have escaped wholly without even a modicum of the empathy which most of us acquire during our fitful trips toward adulthood. But it turns out he was a kid once after all. Go figure.
Hastert La Bevis, Baby
Really, really longtime Shakers will know that Pam and I have a history of trying to gross each other out with images of the most loathsome fuckwit Rightwingers engaging in horrific-to-contemplate sex acts with one another. The mere mention of Denny Hastert is enough to end both of us (and usually Pam gets me with it). This juvenile yet immensely fun (and highly disturbing) habit has led to (in addition to many uproarious late-night IM sessions) two installments of the Official Right-on-Right Get-It-On-a-thon at Shakespeare’s Sister, where I post suggestive photos of wingnuts and open up the competition to see who can come up with most ghastly pairing in the most stomach-churning scenario.
Anyway, the long-time rumors about Turd Blossom’s hottt affair with some obviously desperate and self-loathing woman are starting to creep outside the Beltway, and Pam’s post about it produced this exchange:
Shakes: Great Caesar's ghost! Blurrrrgghhh!!! The only thing that would be more foul is to find out he was doing it with Denny Hastert.
Pam: I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Heh heh heh. Got her!
Anyway, this isn’t another edition of the Official Right-on-Right Get-It-On-a-thon (even though we may have to have another installment soon), but a challenge in a similar vein nonetheless. Complete this simile: The thought of Karl Rove and Denny Hastert having wild monkey sex is as disturbing as…
Have at it, Shakers. (No references to creative juices flowing under these circumstances will be made.) I will meanwhile try to overcome the severe case of midweek slap happiness that is currently plaguing me and write something vaguely intelligent. Or maybe not.
File Under "DUH."
Panel: Bush Was Unready for Postwar Iraq
Yeah, no shit. Hmmm... what else is in the news. Oh, wait, there's more to the article?
WASHINGTON - An independent panel headed by two former U.S. national security advisers said Wednesday that chaos in Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.
How do I get on one of these independent panels? I'm sure they're getting paid well; how do I get in on that money? If your only qualification needs to be that you've got wikked skillz at stating the fucking obvious, I'm golden, baby.
Planning for reconstruction should match the serious planning that goes into making war, said the panel headed by Samuel Berger and Brent Scowcroft. Berger was national security adviser to Democratic President Clinton. Scowcroft held the same post under Republican Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush but has been critical of the current president's Iraq and Mideast policies.
"A dramatic military victory has been overshadowed by chaos and bloodshed in the streets of Baghdad, difficulty in establishing security or providing essential services, and a deadly insurgency," the report said.
Yes, thank you, boys. Good work. Of course, we were all screaming that there was no postwar planning before anyone's boots hit the sand in Iraq, but we'll ignore that for now.
In a speech last month to soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., President Bush pointed to the Iraqi elections and efforts to improve roads, schools and basic services. "Rebuilding a country after three decades of tyranny is hard, and rebuilding while at war is even harder. Our progress has been uneven, but progress is being made."
Yeah, yeah. "It's hard work." When, oh when will we have a President that doesn't sound like a fifth grader trying to make excuses for a late book report?
In Iraq, the task force said, postwar requirements did not get enough attention, and there were misjudgments, as well. This, the report said, "left the United States ill-equipped to address public security, governance and economic demands" after the war.
And this, in turn, undermined U.S. foreign policy and gave an early push to the insurgency in Iraq, the task force said.
In Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, the report said, the postwar period has been marked by inefficient operations and billions of dollars of wasted resources.
Look, I'm trying not to be too nasty here, but this is what we have been trumpeting since day one. It's nice that sources other than "the liberal media" are finally starting to admit these things, but it's a little too late, folks. Progressives knew this war and all the "evidence" that "justified" it were complete horseshit, and you all chose to label us tinfoil mad hatters. Now Iraq is burning, our world image is in the toilet, and you're just now waking up? Thanks heaps.
I love that this is the photo accompanying the story:
Fiddling while Rome burns.
Where are those darn WMDs, anyway? Nope, not here! Nope, not here either!
Har, har, har.
(It's raining cross-posts! Hallelujah!)
Get Down, Mary
These stories always seem to come in flurries:
A statue of the Virgin Mary has reportedly "become flesh" and started to dance.People are now apparently holding vigil and trying to capture their own images of the moving Mary on their cell phones. Good luck with all that.
Over 40,000 catholics are on their way to St Peter's church at Acerra, near Naples to have a closer look.
Witnesses say that the 5ft white marble statue stretched out her arms and moved her legs reports the Daily Express.
Domenico Di Gennaro said: "I saw the statue move without doubt. The legs and the arms were clearly moving and my wife saw it as well. Some people who had phones photographed it."
The parish priest said the church was closed so that tests could be carried out on the statue.
Don’t these people have jobs? If Michelangelo's David came alive and specifically requested my presence, I couldn’t get a day off.
And so it begins.
(Bolds Mine)
High Court Not Bound By Roe Vs. Wade
WASHINGTON - Talking about the landmark court decision legalizing abortion, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said a Supreme Court justice does not have to follow a previous ruling "if you believe it's wrong."
In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Gonzales said the legal right to abortion is settled for lower courts but not the Supreme Court, suggesting high-court nominee John Roberts would not be bound by his past statement that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision settled the issue.
They're not even subtle anymore about laying the foundation for their schemes, are they?
Gonzales said circumstances had changed since Roberts commented on Roe v. Wade during his 2003 confirmation hearing for the seat he now holds on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
"If you're asking a circuit court judge, like Judge Roberts was asked, yes, it is settled law because you're bound by the precedent," Gonzales said.
"If you're a Supreme Court justice, that's a different question because a Supreme Court justice is not obliged to follow precedent if you believe it's wrong," Gonzales said.
--snip--
Gonzales said he has a "preliminary judgment" about whether the Constitution affords the right to an abortion, but he declined to reveal it.
Three guesses, and the first two don't count.
More, including Gonzales stonewalling on the Rove debacle, in the article.
(Blue Cross-Post in the outlet by the light switch, who watches over you...)
Values Voters
If you were to discover your 13-year-old daughter were pregnant by a 22-year-old man, what do you think your response would be? There are lots of possible responses—the least of which is making sure your 13-year-old isn’t having sex with adult men, and the other extreme being turning over the 22-year-old to the cops for statutory rape. I’m sure plenty of people would probably discuss abortion and/or adoption as an option as well, since becoming a parent at 13 isn’t a particularly good idea for either the 13-year-old or her baby.
In any case, I sincerely doubt that the most popular decision in response to this scenario would be sending your daughter across state lines with a pedophile to marry him (link):
A 22-year-old man faces criminal charges in Nebraska for having sex with an underage 13-year-old girl, although he legally married her in Kansas after she became pregnant.A responsible decision to try to cope with the problem?! Oh, yeah—getting married and having a baby at 14 is the best way to cope with a pregnancy. Let’s try to ruin as many lives as possible in the process of saving a pregnancy, the result of which is a baby that now has to be raised by a child and a pedophile.
The man's lawyer said the couple, with their families' support, "made a responsible decision to try to cope with the problem."
Matthew Koso, 22, was charged Monday with first-degree sexual assault, punishable by up to 50 years in prison. He was released on $7,500 bail pending an Aug. 17 preliminary hearing.
After the girl became pregnant, her mother gave permission in May for Koso to take the young woman to Kansas, which allows minors to get married with parental consent. The girl is now 14 and seven months pregnant.
"The idea ... is repugnant to me," said Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning. "These people made the decision to send their ... 14-year-old daughter to Kansas to marry a pedophile."
He said the marriage is valid, thanks to the "ridiculous" Kansas law, "but it doesn't matter. I'm not going to stand by while a grown man ... has a relationship with a 13-year-old -- now 14-year-old -- girl."
What the hell is wrong with this girl’s mother? (The father isn't around.) Her daughter is still a child, and no matter how precocious she may be, nor whether her physical development seems to indicate a bodily maturity beyond her years, there’s no way that a sexual relationship between a 13-year-old and a 22-year-old is appropriate.
The truly pathetic part is that the mother probably defends her decision by saying it’s what her daughter wants. Well, 13-year-olds want a lot of things that aren’t good for them; telling them no is called parenting. Of course, perhaps if there were active parenting going on in that household, the 13-year-old wouldn’t have been having sex in the first place—or would have been having safe sex, at least. (I wonder, as an aside, if this girl had abstinence-only sex education…?)
You know a situation is totally nutty when you find yourself on the same side of an issue as Jon Bruning.
More Mail Bag
As regular Shakers will know, my mom is a retired English teacher who is very involved in her church, and although if you met her casually, you might never know it, she has a very wicked sense of humor, especially about wackjob Christians. I just received the following in an email from her after having directed her to the post just below:
HI, "prozac-popping, pot-smokin', crack-head,"
[...]
I read a column Sunday by Brian Hedger about the "Jesus tree" in East Chicago. I wanted to send the whole article to you, as a companion piece to the one you had a few months ago about the Jesus potato chip (or was that penis potato chip?) I can't seem to find it online, but my favorite line was " . . . nothing says 'Christian' like a bunch of 'religious' lunkheads slugging it out in the middle of a crowded street while police officers 'subdue' them." I'll save the hard copy.
See you this weekend.
Love,
Momuschka
I couldn't find the exact article to which she was referring, but here's an image of the alleged Jesus tree, which is supposed to look like an image of Jesus holding his hands together and looking down. You be the judge:
Lordy begordy.
Fan Mail
This was actually sent to Big Brass Blog, but I thought I’d share it here, anyway:
---------------------------
From: ************
To: mail@bigbrassblog.com
Subject: In you’r World
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:37:03 +0000x
It sure seems to me You're World has to much Prozac,Pot ,and Crack.I my self cannot understand how anyone with a half of a brain,could believe some shmuck,who just sits reed's and regurgitates,what he read,after milling it around in a drug,clouded half of a mind,why do you think an anyone would believe you.
At least the News Media has a structure,they do not print obvious lies,think it's called integrity??.They have others who monitor their news,for truth,and will call them on it,like Dan Rather,who monitors yours Bevis ??
Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted
---------------------------
I love the thought of a mind that evidently believes an email like that will cause me to pause, consider my lot, and close up the blogging shop…ya know, so the rest of my life is not wasted.
(Side note: Isn’t it interesting that the “News Media” doesn’t print obvious lies, but somehow by the sheer act of my regurgitating exactly what’s in the “News Media,” it becomes lies? I’m a black magic woman.)
The most shocking headline I've read all day
Senate Moves to Shield Gun Industry
No!
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Tuesday put off until fall completing a $491 billion defense bill to act this week on the National Rifle Association's top priority: shielding gun manufacturers and dealers from liability suits stemming from gun crimes.
It's also really hard to read the bill, what with all that slime covering it.
Congress was on the way to passing the bill last year when the NRA abruptly asked its chief sponsor, Sen. Larry Craig, R-, R-Idaho, to withdraw it after gun opponents succeeded in amending it to extend an expiring ban on assault weapons. A pickup of four GOP Senate seats in last November's election emboldened gun rights supporters to try again, confident they can block reimposing restrictions on assault-type weapons.
Farnsworth: "So what are you doing to protect my constitutional right to bear doomsday devices?"
NRA Guy: "Well, first off, we're gonna get rid of that three day waiting period for mad scientists."
Farnsworth: "Damn straight! Today the mad scientist can't get a doomsday device, tomorrow it's the mad grad student! Where will it end?!"
NRA Guy: "Amen, brother. I don't go anywhere without my mutated anthrax. For duck huntin'."
The bill would prohibit lawsuits against the firearms industry for damages resulting form the unlawful use of a firearm or ammunition. Craig, a member of the NRA's board of directors, said such lawsuits are "predatory and aimed at bankrupting the firearms industry." Such lawsuits unfairly blame dealers and manufacturers for the crimes of gun users, he added.
My heart bleeds for you.
(We need a little cross-post, right this very minute...)
In a perfect world, this would be the end of it...
...but I'm not holding my breath.
I was jumping around some of my "daily reads" today, when Crooks & Liars directed me to a post by Arthur at The Light of Reason that made my blood run cold.
The exchange occurred during one of Roberts’ informal discussions with senators last week. According to two people who attended the meeting, Roberts was asked by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considers immoral. Roberts is a devout Catholic and is married to an ardent pro-life activist. The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a sin, and various church leaders have stated that government officials supporting abortion should be denied religious rites such as communion. (Pope Benedict XVI is often cited as holding this strict view of the merging of a person’s faith and public duties).
Renowned for his unflappable style in oral argument, Roberts appeared nonplused and, according to sources in the meeting, answered after a long pause that he would probably have to recuse himself.
What the fuck?
Arthur sez (bold mine):
Let me rephrase the central point to emphasize the fundamentality of this issue: if Roberts views particular positions dictated by his religious faith as being on an equal footing with the demands of the Constitution and the laws of the United States—and would view the two as of equal significance as a Supreme Court Justice—that is a very, very serious problem. It is also a disqualifying problem.
For a Supreme Court Justice, there must be only one ultimate authority: the Constitution and the laws. Period. The principle applies to any judge at all, but it is especially critical that a Justice of the Supreme Court hew to this standard. In this sense, Scalia’s observation that resignation is the only proper course for a judge who faces this dilemma is entirely correct.
Goddamn straight. I don't want any judge allowing their personal beliefs to affect their interpretation of the law; if he's Supreme Court Justice, or in traffic court. Personal opinion should never intervene in a judge's decisions; faith-based or otherwise. For the record, if Roberts was pro-choice and still said he would have to recuse himself from a decision because he couldn't make an accurate interpretation of the law due to his beliefs, I would hold the exact same opinion.
Roberts has all but admitted he is unfit to serve as Supreme Court Justice, and everyone in this country, Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what have you, should be opposing his nomination.
So I would go one step further: while I agree with Turley that Roberts demonstrated a welcome honesty in answering the question (at least in this informal setting), if this is indeed Roberts’ perspective, he should remove himself from consideration for the Supreme Court right now. And he would—if, that is, he were a man of honor, and if he took ideas seriously.
I couldn't agree more.
(Apologies if this isn't new news to you, dear reader. I'm a few days out of the loop.)
(Cross the Post, Don't cross the post, baby... don't tip the post over!)
No Santorum Flame-Out in 2008
I have to admit, I’m kind of disappointed that Mr. Man-on-Dog won’t be running for president. I had a whole graphics package ready to go to assert my vociferous dissent.
Maru explains Santorum’s decision thusly:
After irresponsible and constant impregnation of his broodmare wife, thoughtless, sanctimonious Senator/asswipe Rick Santorum rules out a 2008 presidential bid in order to shoulder some of the burden of actually raising his own hellspawn.Plus, there are so many irresponsible things to say about abortion, birth control, homosexuality, the sexual abuse of children, the perfect family, and lots of other things on which he is approximately as well-informed as a salt-encrusted garden slug, and the hard work of presidenting might cut into his precious blurt-time.
That and his poll numbers are totally in the crapper.
Energy Bill
I’ve been kind of thinking about exactly what I wanted to say about (read: how best to register my thorough disgust for) the soon-to-be-passed energy bill, and then I stopped by Ezra’s, and I simply couldn’t improve on what he already said:
Bush's energy bill is headed for passage, and thankfully so. Save for substantive modernization of our electricity grid, an increase in CAFE standards, an actual stance on global warming, a coherent framework for reducing our oil consumption, a serious investment in natural gas, an actual interest in new technologies for alternative sources, and really anything that'd have any sort of worthwhile impact on our energy situation at all, this bill has is just what we need. Subsidies. Giveaways. Handouts. Protection. Guidelines. Bureaucracy. All sprinkled with liberal amounts of Corporate Love and put on the Senate's desk.Read the rest. It’s good.
The War on Terror Gets a Makeover
The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, senior administration and military officials said Monday.Was it technically the phrase that focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign, or was it the mofos who have busily been doing exactly what they’re now accusing the phrase of doing? In fact, frankly, I give the phrase more credit; at least it focuses on terror, whereas said mofos are fighting a war in Iraq that was, at its inception anyway, totally unrelated to terror—unless you count creating terrorists.
In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the nation's senior military officer have spoken of "a global struggle against violent extremism" rather than "the global war on terror," which had been the catchphrase of choice. Administration officials say that phrase may have outlived its
usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.
Anyway, now that the administration is going to be engaging in a “global struggle against violent extremism,” I figure they’ll finally start paying attention to the signs that violent extremism seems poised to explode any moment now right here in the good old US of A. I know it’s a global struggle and all, but there’s no better place to start saving the world than your own backyard.
(BTW, wingnuts—words ending in Y are pluralized by changing the Y to an IE and then adding an S. Ergo, “rally” becomes “rallies.” Just a helpful hint from your friendly neighborhood prey.)
(Hat tip CommonSenseDesk.)
