Senate tied in knots by filibusters
Margaret Talev | McClatchy Newspapers
Fri, Jul. 20, 2007
WASHINGTON — This year Senate Republicans are threatening filibusters to block more legislation than ever before, a pattern that's rooted in — and could increase — the pettiness and dysfunction in Congress.
Here ...
But no .... then there was THIS not so long ago:
GOP May Target Use of Filibuster
Senate Democrats Want To Retain the Right to Block Judicial Nominees
By Helen Dewar and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 13, 2004; Page A01
Republicans say that Democrats have abused the filibuster by blocking 10 of the president's 229 judicial nominees in his first term -- although confirmation of Bush nominees exceeds in most cases the first-term experience of presidents dating to Ronald Reagan. Describing the filibusters as intolerable, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has hinted he may resort to an unusual parliamentary maneuver, dubbed the "nuclear option," to thwart such filibusters.
"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," he said in a speech to the Federalist Society last month, labeling the use of filibusters against judicial nominees a "formula for tyranny by the minority."
Here.
They're for moral relativism before they're against it? They want rules that only favor them ... not rules that apply to all equally ... and whine when that's not the case? How ironic!
Oh! Bill Frist! Where are you now that we need your voice of reason? If it was so wrong then ... why is it so Right now?
Do I smell hypocracy on the march?
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Harry Potter is ‘sorcery,’ not entertainment
America has given herself over to sorcery if the millions spent for Harry Potter indicate anything. Some think it’s just entertainment. The Bible issues stern warnings against sorcery: “Then will I come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, against false swearers and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless…” (Malachi 3:5)
I believe God’s marking angels that have charge over each city are now marking those who groan over America’s gross sins. Judgment must soon follow and it has begun at God’s house.
Terrorists are here and marking cities also. But few are taking this seriously. Many are benumbed with Harry Potter or too busy screaming at President Bush, “Get out of the war!”
Our great opportunity in this window before the next attack is to repent. Jesus Christ, the only way to God, is still crying out: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Is anyone listening?
REV. ELVA MARTIN,
COORDINATOR, ANDERSON PRAYER TASK FORCE,
ANDERSON, South Carolina
Of course turning water to wine is not sorcery? I guess the only way to tell by who's doing it. If it's someone we agree with, then it's not sorcery. If it's someone we don't agree with, then it is.
As for shouting "get out of the war", I actually hear the words "it must be fought rationally and that's not what you're doing".
Here's a man who lives in a storybook land, pointing at a storybook land and claiming his storybook land is more real ... imagining his angels flying around with big wings are somehow more believable than Harry Potter flying around on a broomstick!
On second though, perhaps he fears that Harry Potter flying around on a broom stick is more believable.
Friday, July 20, 2007
An Activist Judge?
All in a Day's Work
by David Bromwich on HuffPo
A decision yesterday by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates threw out the lawsuit by Valerie Plame against Vice President Cheney and several other government officials. Several news reports have pointed out that the judge followed a narrow jurisdictional view of the case; but not much attention has been given to his reasoning or its implications.
Judge Bates found that government officials are protected under the Privacy Act from liability for actions performed in the course of their normal duties. "The act of rebutting public criticism," he wrote, "such as that levied [sic: he means leveled] by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration's handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials." Notice his choice of words: not prerogatives but "duties." They were obliged by law and compelled by custom to blow the cover of a CIA agent.
There's more ... there usually is.
For those who didn't get the memo, Plame really was an active duty agent.
Here's a full chronology.
And here's her sworn testimony before the House Government Oversight Committee.
Get it? What part of "covert officer" and "traveled to foreign countries on secret missions" is so hard to understand?
Who else is this administration prepared to throw under a bus for political gain? Talk about your honor and integrity!
by David Bromwich on HuffPo
A decision yesterday by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates threw out the lawsuit by Valerie Plame against Vice President Cheney and several other government officials. Several news reports have pointed out that the judge followed a narrow jurisdictional view of the case; but not much attention has been given to his reasoning or its implications.
Judge Bates found that government officials are protected under the Privacy Act from liability for actions performed in the course of their normal duties. "The act of rebutting public criticism," he wrote, "such as that levied [sic: he means leveled] by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration's handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials." Notice his choice of words: not prerogatives but "duties." They were obliged by law and compelled by custom to blow the cover of a CIA agent.
There's more ... there usually is.
For those who didn't get the memo, Plame really was an active duty agent.
Here's a full chronology.
And here's her sworn testimony before the House Government Oversight Committee.
Plame: "In the run-up to the war with Iraq, I worked in the Counterproliferation Division of the CIA, still as a covert officer whose affiliation with the CIA was classified. I raced to discover solid intelligence for senior policymakers on Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction program."
"While I helped to manage and run secret worldwide operations against this WMD target from CIA headquarters in Washington, I also traveled to foreign countries on secret missions to find vital intelligence."
Get it? What part of "covert officer" and "traveled to foreign countries on secret missions" is so hard to understand?
Who else is this administration prepared to throw under a bus for political gain? Talk about your honor and integrity!
Restoring Dignity and Honor
CREW FILES SENATE ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST SENATOR DAVID VITTER
19 Jul 2007 // Washington, D.C. – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Senate Ethics complaint against Senator David Vitter (R-LA) asking for an investigation into whether he violated the Senate Rules of Conduct by soliciting for prostitution.
Here it is ...
In a round about way, perhaps Republicans are, in fact finally restoring honor, integrity and dignity to our fair government ... by throwing themselves under a bus ... by getting themselves caught with their fingers in the honey pot, as it were.
The scary thing is that Vitter never saw it coming. The Republican Party never saw it coming. They've blind sided themselves ... hoisted by their own petard of hypocritical moralizing! Wrongly assuming that somehow their poop didn't stink!
Shakespeare couldn't have scripted more fitting poetic justice!
19 Jul 2007 // Washington, D.C. – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Senate Ethics complaint against Senator David Vitter (R-LA) asking for an investigation into whether he violated the Senate Rules of Conduct by soliciting for prostitution.
Here it is ...
In a round about way, perhaps Republicans are, in fact finally restoring honor, integrity and dignity to our fair government ... by throwing themselves under a bus ... by getting themselves caught with their fingers in the honey pot, as it were.
The scary thing is that Vitter never saw it coming. The Republican Party never saw it coming. They've blind sided themselves ... hoisted by their own petard of hypocritical moralizing! Wrongly assuming that somehow their poop didn't stink!
Shakespeare couldn't have scripted more fitting poetic justice!
Quoth John Kerry:
"There once was a man named Vitter
Who vowed that he wasn't a quitter
But with stories of women
And all of his sinnin'
He knows his career's in the -- oh, nevermind."
Time to go after someone a little more highly placed ... there certainly are grounds
Alice in Wonderland - Looking Glass shattered!
Finally, Bad News That Even Bush Can't Spin
By Margaret Carlson
July 19 (Bloomberg) -- If I were running for U.S. president, in every debate I'd crib a question from the Ronald Reagan playbook: Are you safer today than you were six years ago?
About 80 percent of Republicans would answer yes. But this week, the nation heard otherwise and from a source that might make even President George W. Bush's base sit up and take notice.
It didn't come from those "defeatist" Democrats living in their "pre-9/11 world." This time, it was Bush's own administration undercutting what has long been his most politically potent rationale for waging war in Iraq -- that we have to fight al-Qaeda over there to keep from having to fight them here; that we've put the "enemy on the run" and "decimated their leadership."
Not so fast. The latest National Intelligence Estimate concludes that al-Qaeda and its leader have only grown stronger since the inception of Bush's war.
The rest of the column is here ...
Some people just don't get it. The Right accuses the Left of not wanting to "fight terrorism" when, more accurately put, the Left would like to fight terrorism more effectively than its being fought now. It's a cheap tactic and just another example of a delusional belief in things that simply aren't true.
By Margaret Carlson
July 19 (Bloomberg) -- If I were running for U.S. president, in every debate I'd crib a question from the Ronald Reagan playbook: Are you safer today than you were six years ago?
About 80 percent of Republicans would answer yes. But this week, the nation heard otherwise and from a source that might make even President George W. Bush's base sit up and take notice.
It didn't come from those "defeatist" Democrats living in their "pre-9/11 world." This time, it was Bush's own administration undercutting what has long been his most politically potent rationale for waging war in Iraq -- that we have to fight al-Qaeda over there to keep from having to fight them here; that we've put the "enemy on the run" and "decimated their leadership."
Not so fast. The latest National Intelligence Estimate concludes that al-Qaeda and its leader have only grown stronger since the inception of Bush's war.
The rest of the column is here ...
Some people just don't get it. The Right accuses the Left of not wanting to "fight terrorism" when, more accurately put, the Left would like to fight terrorism more effectively than its being fought now. It's a cheap tactic and just another example of a delusional belief in things that simply aren't true.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
David Vitter: Party Pooper
Yahoo News
Chris Kelly Tue Jul 17, 10:44 AM ET
Yesterday, David Vitter -- the first Republican elected to the Senate from Louisiana since Reconstruction -- held a press conference, and the gist of it was this:
1) I take full responsibility for something, but I won't say what.
2) Don't believe the rumors about my having a history of doing what I've just been caught repeatedly doing. These are lies spread by my enemies and I take righteous exception to the suggestion that I've ever been diapered by a prostitute, except for those five times you know about.
3) Oh, and when I say, "I take full responsibility" what I mean is, I plan to keep my job and go on with my life exactly as I did before you caught me. Suck it.
Suck the rest of it here ...
Chris Kelly Tue Jul 17, 10:44 AM ET
Yesterday, David Vitter -- the first Republican elected to the Senate from Louisiana since Reconstruction -- held a press conference, and the gist of it was this:
1) I take full responsibility for something, but I won't say what.
2) Don't believe the rumors about my having a history of doing what I've just been caught repeatedly doing. These are lies spread by my enemies and I take righteous exception to the suggestion that I've ever been diapered by a prostitute, except for those five times you know about.
3) Oh, and when I say, "I take full responsibility" what I mean is, I plan to keep my job and go on with my life exactly as I did before you caught me. Suck it.
Suck the rest of it here ...
3.5% military raise too much for Bush
By Tom Philpott in the Honolulu advertiser
Talk about lousy timing. With President Bush's popularity scraping bottom in opinion polls, with U.S. casualties rising in Iraq in a force surge that has stretched tours to 15 months, the Bush administration has said it "strongly opposes" key military pay and benefit gains tossed into the fiscal 2008 defense bill.
There's more ...
For the hell of it, here are the annual inflation figures for the last few years:
1996 - 2.93
1997 - 2.34
1998 - 1.55
1999 - 2.19
2000 - 3.38
2001 - 2.83
2002 - 1.59
2003 - 2.27
2004 - 2.68
2005 - 3.39
2006 - 3.24
2007 - 2.54 (average to date as of June)
You can see that a 3.5% increase is totally unreasonable. When was the last time they gort a raise? In the meantime, doubling up on their duty obligations is OK, right?
Talk about lousy timing. With President Bush's popularity scraping bottom in opinion polls, with U.S. casualties rising in Iraq in a force surge that has stretched tours to 15 months, the Bush administration has said it "strongly opposes" key military pay and benefit gains tossed into the fiscal 2008 defense bill.
There's more ...
For the hell of it, here are the annual inflation figures for the last few years:
1996 - 2.93
1997 - 2.34
1998 - 1.55
1999 - 2.19
2000 - 3.38
2001 - 2.83
2002 - 1.59
2003 - 2.27
2004 - 2.68
2005 - 3.39
2006 - 3.24
2007 - 2.54 (average to date as of June)
You can see that a 3.5% increase is totally unreasonable. When was the last time they gort a raise? In the meantime, doubling up on their duty obligations is OK, right?
Young Republicans Take a Pass on Defendig Their Country
See it here! Up close and personal!
We're BEHIND the troops ... WAY behind!!!
Cheney Republicans ... with something more important to do.
Their motto? "Ask not what you can do for you country. Ask what your country can do for you!"
We're BEHIND the troops ... WAY behind!!!
Cheney Republicans ... with something more important to do.
Their motto? "Ask not what you can do for you country. Ask what your country can do for you!"
Faith Based Math
Blog comment by Steven Wells:
"Fundamentalists": believe 2+2 = 5 because It Is Written. Somewhere. They have a lot of trouble on their tax returns.
"Moderate" believers: live their lives on the basis that 2+2 = 4. but go regularly to church to be told that 2+2 once made 5, or will one day make 5, or in a very real and spiritual sense should make 5.
"Moderate" atheists: know that 2+2 = 4 but think it impolite to say so too loudly as people who think 2+2=5 might be offended.
"Militant" atheists: "Oh for pity's sake. HERE. Two pebbles. Two more pebbles. FOUR pebbles. What is WRONG with you people?"
Find the blog post he commented on here ...
In another comment we are assured that, in fact, 2+2 does = 5 but only for extremely large values of 2 or exceedingly small values of 5.
"Fundamentalists": believe 2+2 = 5 because It Is Written. Somewhere. They have a lot of trouble on their tax returns.
"Moderate" believers: live their lives on the basis that 2+2 = 4. but go regularly to church to be told that 2+2 once made 5, or will one day make 5, or in a very real and spiritual sense should make 5.
"Moderate" atheists: know that 2+2 = 4 but think it impolite to say so too loudly as people who think 2+2=5 might be offended.
"Militant" atheists: "Oh for pity's sake. HERE. Two pebbles. Two more pebbles. FOUR pebbles. What is WRONG with you people?"
Find the blog post he commented on here ...
In another comment we are assured that, in fact, 2+2 does = 5 but only for extremely large values of 2 or exceedingly small values of 5.
The Purina Diet
Sent from a friend who shall remain nameless ... who happens to be a world class wise ass:
I was in Walmart buying a large bag of Purina for my dog and was in line to check out. A woman behind me asked me if I had a dog...
(DUHHHH)
I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse, I told her NO and that I was starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital the last time. BUT, I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care unit with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in both arms. Her eyes about bugged out of her head.
I went on and on with the bogus diet story and she was totally buying it. I told her that it was an easy, inexpensive diet and that the way it works is to load your pockets or purse with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The package said the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her.)
Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me and was that why I ended up in the hospital. I said, Oh NO!, I'd been sitting in the street licking my ass when a car hit me.
I thought the tall guy in back of the line was going to have to be carried out.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Inside the Surge
This is the aftermath of an explosion in a munitions dump, an all too common scene in Iraq. U.S. soldiers were summoned to investigate a blast at an insurgent bomb factory. The man on the ground is an Iraqi soldier. After his injury, an American soldier helped tend to his wounds.
Spc. Gabriel Vassell told Smith, "… We have people up there in Congress with the brain of a 2-year-old who don't know what they are doing, they don't experience it. I challenge the president or anyone who has us for 15 months to ride alongside me. I'll do another 15 months if he comes out here and rides alomg with me every day. I'll do 15 more months. They don't even have to pay me extra."
Photo Essay here ...
Spc. Gabriel Vassell told Smith, "… We have people up there in Congress with the brain of a 2-year-old who don't know what they are doing, they don't experience it. I challenge the president or anyone who has us for 15 months to ride alongside me. I'll do another 15 months if he comes out here and rides alomg with me every day. I'll do 15 more months. They don't even have to pay me extra."
Photo Essay here ...
al Qaeda confirms Bush's talking points
Intelligence in the nick of time
Jesus' General
As I'm sure you've all heard by now, the Department of Defense issued a press release Wednesday touting its capture of one of the top leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid. And in a stroke of sheer luck, interrogators were able to get him to confirm all of the Administration's talking points about Al Qaeda's involvement in Iraq just as the Democratic leadership in the Senate was moving to end a Republican filibuster of the Levin-Reed Troop Withdrawal plan.
Unfortunately, the mediaslumunistofascists at CNN only read you the first page of the press release. Abu Shahid had much more information to share. Here are a few of his quotes the media failed to report:
Read the rest here ...
Jesus' General
As I'm sure you've all heard by now, the Department of Defense issued a press release Wednesday touting its capture of one of the top leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid. And in a stroke of sheer luck, interrogators were able to get him to confirm all of the Administration's talking points about Al Qaeda's involvement in Iraq just as the Democratic leadership in the Senate was moving to end a Republican filibuster of the Levin-Reed Troop Withdrawal plan.
Unfortunately, the mediaslumunistofascists at CNN only read you the first page of the press release. Abu Shahid had much more information to share. Here are a few of his quotes the media failed to report:
Read the rest here ...
Vitter
Wonkette: "The stupid creepy diaper-wearing politician stands dumb-eyed and shamed while his crazy-eyed horse-mouthed power-mad wife yells at reporters because her idiot whoremonger husband is repeatedly caught at the whorehouse."
Why does it matter?
It matters because Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who was on the DC Madam escort list, first got his start in Congress after replacing former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA), who “abruptly resigned after disclosures of numerous affairs” in 1998. At the time, Vitter argued forcefully that an extramarital affair was grounds for President Clinton's resignation.
It matters because, in the standard (but somewhat convoluted) Right-think, "the rules that apply to others do not apply to us". That, and because I get really tired of Right wing A$HOLES holding themselves up as models of virtue and hypocritically point fingers at others. It's a function of the old biblical admonition: "judge not lest ye be judged".
Not to put too fine a point on it:
- Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.
- Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper was arrested for soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.
- Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
- Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
- Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
- Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
- Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.
- Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano was arrested for sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl.
- Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.
- Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
- Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
- Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.
- Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.
- Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
- Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
- Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.
- Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
- Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.
- Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
- Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
- Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
- Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
- Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
- Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.
- Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
- Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
- Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
- Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
- Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
- Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.
- Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
- Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
- Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.
- Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
- Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
- Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "
- Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
- Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
- Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
- Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
- Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
- Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
- Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
- Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
- Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
- Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
- Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.
- Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
- Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
- Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
- Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
- Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
- Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
- Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
- Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
- Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
- Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
- Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
- Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
- Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
- Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.
- Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
- Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.
The Republicans opened this Pandora's Box by elevating Bills personal (presidential) peccadilloes to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors necessary for impeachment. I hope they now understand at least one of the principals of unintended consequences ... and the need to clean your own house before you point fingers at others.
I'm certainly NOT saying that what 'ole Bill did was a good thing ... but, the Republicans framed the perspective ... now they have to live with it.
Why does it matter? Because the Republicans made it matter on a national level. Because the Republicans wanted to play a game of "Gotcha". That's why it matters.
"Is there an Artificial God?": Douglas Adams debates himself.
Note:
In honour of Douglas' memory, Biota.org presents the transcript of his speech at Digital Biota 2, held at Magdelene College Cambridge, in September 1998. I would like to thank Steve Grand for providing this to us. Douglas presented this ''off the cuff'' which only magnifies his true genius in our eyes.
Excerpt:
The rest of the "conversation" is here ...
For anyone not familiar with Douglas Adams, who he is and why he's worth reading ...
In honour of Douglas' memory, Biota.org presents the transcript of his speech at Digital Biota 2, held at Magdelene College Cambridge, in September 1998. I would like to thank Steve Grand for providing this to us. Douglas presented this ''off the cuff'' which only magnifies his true genius in our eyes.
-- Bruce Damer
Excerpt:
Where does the idea of God come from? Well, I think we have a very skewed point of view on an awful lot of things, but let's try and see where our point of view comes from. Imagine early man. Early man is, like everything else, an evolved creature and he finds himself in a world that he's begun to take a little charge of; he's begun to be a tool-maker, a changer of his environment with the tools that he's made and he makes tools, when he does, in order to make changes in his environment. To give an example of the way man operates compared to other animals, consider speciation, which, as we know, tends to occur when a small group of animals gets separated from the rest of the herd by some geological upheaval, population pressure, food shortage or whatever and finds itself in a new environment with maybe something different going on. Take a very simple example; maybe a bunch of animals suddenly finds itself in a place where the weather is rather colder. We know that in a few generations those genes which favour a thicker coat will have come to the fore and we'll come and we'll find that the animals have now got thicker coats. Early man, who's a tool maker, doesn't have to do this: he can inhabit an extraordinarily wide range of habitats on earth, from tundra to the Gobi Desert - he even manages to live in New York for heaven's sake - and the reason is that when he arrives in a new environment he doesn't have to wait for several generations; if he arrives in a colder environment and sees an animal that has those genes which favour a thicker coat, he says "I'll have it off him". Tools have enabled us to think intentionally, to make things and to do things to create a world that fits us better. Now imagine an early man surveying his surroundings at the end of a happy day's tool making. He looks around and he sees a world which pleases him mightily: behind him are mountains with caves in - mountains are great because you can go and hide in the caves and you are out of the rain and the bears can't get you; in front of him there's the forest - it's got nuts and berries and delicious food; there's a stream going by, which is full of water - water's delicious to drink, you can float your boats in it and do all sorts of stuff with it; here's cousin Ug and he's caught a mammoth - mammoth's are great, you can eat them, you can wear their coats, you can use their bones to create weapons to catch other mammoths. I mean this is a great world, it's fantastic. But our early man has a moment to reflect and he thinks to himself, 'well, this is an interesting world that I find myself in' and then he asks himself a very treacherous question, a question which is totally meaningless and fallacious, but only comes about because of the nature of the sort of person he is, the sort of person he has evolved into and the sort of person who has thrived because he thinks this particular way. Man the maker looks at his world and says 'So who made this then?' Who made this? - you can see why it's a treacherous question. Early man thinks, 'Well, because there's only one sort of being I know about who makes things, whoever made all this must therefore be a much bigger, much more powerful and necessarily invisible, one of me and because I tend to be the strong one who does all the stuff, he's probably male'. And so we have the idea of a god. Then, because when we make things we do it with the intention of doing something with them, early man asks himself , 'If he made it, what did he make it for?' Now the real trap springs, because early man is thinking, 'This world fits me very well. Here are all these things that support me and feed me and look after me; yes, this world fits me nicely' and he reaches the inescapable conclusion that whoever made it, made it for him.
This is rather as if you imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in - an interesting hole I find myself in - fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!' This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it's still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for. We all know that at some point in the future the Universe will come to an end and at some other point, considerably in advance from that but still not immediately pressing, the sun will explode. We feel there's plenty of time to worry about that, but on the other hand that's a very dangerous thing to say. Look at what's supposed to be going to happen on the 1st of January 2000 - let's not pretend that we didn't have a warning that the century was going to end! I think that we need to take a larger perspective on who we are and what we are doing here if we are going to survive in the long term.
The rest of the "conversation" is here ...
For anyone not familiar with Douglas Adams, who he is and why he's worth reading ...
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
God's Will
Murder suspect says he was doing God's work
July 15, 2007, 12:34AM
Cypress man is being held in the June death of flight attendant
By PAIGE HEWITT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
The rest of the horror story is here.
Dear Mr. Mangum,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would feel the need to take God's law into your own hands. As you said "homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Yours truly,
Christian
July 15, 2007, 12:34AM
Cypress man is being held in the June death of flight attendant
By PAIGE HEWITT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
A Cypress man charged in the death of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant said Saturday that he was doing God's work when he went to a Montrose-area bar last month, hunting for a gay man to kill.
"I believe I'm Elijah, called by God to be a prophet," said 26-year-old Terry Mark Mangum, charged with murder June 11. " ... I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing."
Interviewed in the Brazoria County Jail Saturday morning, Mangum said he feels no remorse for killing 46-year-old Kenneth Cummings Jr., whom relatives described as a "loving" son who never forgot a holiday and a devoted uncle who had set up college funds for his niece and nephew. He worked at Southwest for 24 years.
The rest of the horror story is here.
Dear Mr. Mangum,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would feel the need to take God's law into your own hands. As you said "homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.
- Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
- I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
- I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
- When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
- I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
- A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?
- Lev.21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
- Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
- I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
- My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev. 24:10-16). Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Yours truly,
Christian
Monday, July 16, 2007
The Case for Impeachment
Bill Moyers talks with Bruce Fein and John Nichols
BILL MOYERS: One of the fellows you're about to meet wrote the first article of impeachment against President Clinton. Bruce Fein did so because perjury is a legal crime. And Fein believed no one is above the law. A constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein served in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration and as general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission. Bruce Fein has been affiliated with conservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation and now writes a weekly column for THE WASHINGTON TIMES and Politico.com.
He's joined by John Nichols, the Washington correspondent for THE NATION and an associate editor of the CAPITOL TIMES. Among his many books is this most recent one, THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT: THE FOUNDERS' CURE FOR ROYALISM. Good to see you both. Bruce, you wrote that article of impeachment against Bill Clinton. Why did you think he should be impeached?
The full transcript is here.
BILL MOYERS: One of the fellows you're about to meet wrote the first article of impeachment against President Clinton. Bruce Fein did so because perjury is a legal crime. And Fein believed no one is above the law. A constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein served in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration and as general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission. Bruce Fein has been affiliated with conservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation and now writes a weekly column for THE WASHINGTON TIMES and Politico.com.
He's joined by John Nichols, the Washington correspondent for THE NATION and an associate editor of the CAPITOL TIMES. Among his many books is this most recent one, THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT: THE FOUNDERS' CURE FOR ROYALISM. Good to see you both. Bruce, you wrote that article of impeachment against Bill Clinton. Why did you think he should be impeached?
The full transcript is here.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
In Intelligence World, A Mute Watchdog
Panel Reported No Violations for Five Years
By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 15, 2007; A03
The WP Article is here. I'd comment but its so frustrating. Of course things don't work ... if you don't want them to work.
By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 15, 2007; A03
An independent oversight board created to identify intelligence abuses after the CIA scandals of the 1970s did not send any reports to the attorney general of legal violations during the first 5 1/2 years of the Bush administration's counterterrorism effort, the Justice Department has told Congress.
Although the FBI told the board of a few hundred legal or rules violations by its agents after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the board did not identify which of them were indeed legal violations. This spring, it forwarded reports of violations in 2006, officials said.
The President's Intelligence Oversight Board -- the principal civilian watchdog of the intelligence community -- is obligated under a 26-year-old executive order to tell the attorney general and the president about any intelligence activities it believes "may be unlawful." The board was vacant for the first two years of the Bush administration.
The WP Article is here. I'd comment but its so frustrating. Of course things don't work ... if you don't want them to work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)